Hecate on Roman Halloween

[Espi]

Stooped over his bowl of clam chowder, Billl contemplated the audacity of a perfectly serviceable restaurant throwing gimmicks at its patrons.

Trivia night. Such a stupid idea. Who wanted to deal with it? Not him, that was for sure. Sometimes a man wants to enjoy his goddamn meal after a long day of work. Ugh, the nerve of these people. Why did they-

"Hi! You wanna be on my team?"

((Henry Spencer continued from There's No Time Here in Space))

...Oh. This guy didn't look too happy. "What? No. Leave me alone, can't you tell I'm eating?" The man said. He sounded mad so Henry just smiled and nodded before wandering off. He needed a partner within the next 7 minutes or he couldn't play tonight. And he'd brought his quiz pen and everything!

Ah, quiz night. What a wonderful idea! Trivia, obscure knowledge, camaraderie with your fellow quiz enthusiasts, or 'quizists'. Trivia apparently dated back to ancient Rome and Greece, which Henry had learned that afternoon on the internet! Trivia about trivia, some of Henry's favorite trivia besides stuff about dinosaurs and the Mongollan Monster, an ape-like cryptid known to be seen in the county adjacent to Henry's.

Regardless! Teams were necessary, which was challenging when people were already teamed up. Henry didn't seem to be able to find a partner. A team needed at least two people on it to be a team. Otherwise it was hardly a team, but a solo player. So Henry needed another member. A teammate, if you will.

Henry glanced around the tables and booths, picking out the first person he saw (besides the cranky guy with the soup) and approached. "Hi! You wanna be teammates? I'm really good at trivia."

[NotAFlyingToy]

When Henry approached him, Asher was biting into a BLT sandwich messily, mayonnaise and tomato juice spurting onto his chin through the bread as Henry spoke. Startled, Asher made a sound somewhere between a cry and a muffled oink, struggling to wipe at the errant juices that had escaped him while simultaneously trying to work his jaw fast enough to answer the other boy's question - or more declaration, really - without doing so around toasted rye and strips of crispy bacon.

"Muh," he started, judged his food still not chewed enough, and held up a finger as he swallowed somewhat painfully, half forms of grainy bread scraping down the sides of his throat.

"Uh," he said with a slight rasp, "sure. I hadn't really-" here, a cough "Hadn't really planned on playing, but I can stick around if you need."

If Henry was observant enough, he'd notice the second glass across from Asher's, filled with water too close to the brim, the ice having long since melted. He'd also notice the slight hesitation in Asher's gesture of him to take the vacant spot across from him, and the slight furrowed brow when he did it.

"Henry, right? You go to Cochise?"

[Latin For Dragula]

((Caedyn Miller Continued From Hot Problems))

Trivia night was kind of an inherently terrible idea. It was like a test you volunteered for. Who even does that? Like, what kind of nerd did that? There were probably prizes, or something, but that kind of chintzy thing was just, like, the Man stringing you along with shiny trinkets down to Babylon. No need to get caught up in all that nonsense when you were as enlightened as she was.

Besides, she could find a higher quality version of what they were giving away online for a fraction of her allowance.

Caedyn wasn't here to take part in whatever little show Cheryl's was putting on. She was here for two things: that bomb-ass clam chowder they cooked up in the back, and to watch what was basically a petting zoo of nerdlings topple over each other to show the mirror mirror on the wall that they were, without a doubt, the nerdiest of them all.

Take Nerd One and Nerd Two over there. She sorta recognized the first guy as Henry, a gothy, gangly kid that she saw around school all the time. Jah, did she ever think that look really worked? Maybe it had for her, because what didn't, but it definitely wasn't for him. He looked like a sad raccoon. Yeah, that was exactly it. Just, like, a really depressed raccoon, and that didn't even make sense, because what do raccoons have to be sad about? Didn't he see Over The Hedge? Avoid bears, and the raccoon life is pretty, y'know, kush.

He was also way too bubbly to be a goth. He was just so jazzed to be here, and that made the whole thing weirder. It's like, pick an aesthetic and live it. You don't get to be all dark and brooding with your look and then happy and outgoing when you step out the door. How did that make any sense?

She smirked over her bowl as he enthusiastically started to drag the more apathetic Asher into this whole thing. She didn't know much about Asher, but she wasn't exactly who she pictured hanging out at one of these things. From the sounds of it, he hadn't either.

There was some juicy potential awkwardness there. She had a pretty good feeling that this wasn't going to disappoint.

[Espi]

"Alright, cool!" Henry exclaimed, cracking his neck as he sat down next to his new friend.

"Yeah, I go to Cochise. I'm a junior. You're a...senior? I've seen you before buuut I don't think we share any classes." Henry said, still grinning. Oh, this was going to be so cool! It was like a cop show, with the grumpy veteran and the nervous rookie. Except Henry wasn't grumpy, nor was his new buddy nervous. Hopefully.

"Hey, mind if I order some-oh, never mind!" Henry was about to request a drink, as trivia made him thirsty with mental exertion, but he spied a glass already on the table. It was pretty full, so a little sloshed out onto the table when Henry picked it up, but it quenched his thirst regardless. "Thanks!"

A moment passed.

"Hey, why was that there...did I interrupt a date?"

Oops.

[ViolentMedic]

((Clarice Halwood continued from Spare Tire.))

For once, Clarice had a free evening. Okay, so she hadn't originally had a free evening. Originally her dad had wanted them to do a family thing and to talk about something, but then he'd had to switch shifts and so it'd been cancelled. So, it was basically a free evening. And she could make a web video or try to film something, but she'd already done that heaps this week. So, hey. Trivia night. Why the hell not.

And one of her co-workers was here, so that seemed like a natural place to head for once she'd gotten hold of her food. Especially since she didn't actually have anyone to trivia with—kind of an oversight.

"Asher!" Clarice appeared next to the table, carrying a plate of burger and fries (hey, maybe not the healthiest thing, but fuck it, wrestling was off-season). "Hey, what's—"

And then the other guy—Harry? No, Henry—asked at about the same time if he'd interrupted a date.

Ah, fuck, now she was interrupting, too.

"Oh, you're on a date? Should I go? Don't wanna interrupt or anything. Nice seeing you, though! Have fun!"

[NotAFlyingToy]

((You can pretty much blame it on Fallout))

"Oh," Asher said, still trying to mop up errant splurts of sauce with a used napkin, "Uh, no, you're not-"

Asher's head whipped so fast towards Clarice that it hurt a little bit when she approached him, and he felt a migraine steal into his skull as Henry looked at him expectantly and Clarice made an awkward situation even moreso.

"Hi- uh," he said, as she barreled forwards with her train of thought, "Oh, me and-"

He pointed between himself and Henry.

"No, we're just- you know, chilling. Hanging out." Rushing out his words, now, trying to fend off embarrassment, Asher scooted over in the booth. "Want to sit down? Henry's asked me to be on his Trivia team. Henry, this is Clarice, she and I work together."

[Latin For Dragula]

And then there were three.

Clarice made things interesting. She was that kinda bitchy chick who was always trying to put her on blast over living Rasta. A grumpy know-it-all that didn't seem to play well with others. So, y'know, pretty much the perfect kind of girl to have around for a trivia night.

This was going to be a train wreck. It was tempting to dip into it and watch from the wreckage, but for now she was just going to eat her chowder, enjoy the drama vicariously, and live tweet the shit out of the whole thing.

[Espi]

((sorry!))


"Yeah, what he said!" Henry exclaimed cheerfully, glancing up at Clarice as she approached. "Trivia is really fun, but it's even more fun with a bunch of people, right? You wanna play with us?"

He looked back over at Asher. "You guys work together? Sweet! Where do you work?"

Trivia night was going swimmingly. He had the makings of a team, which was not usually the case, so he was pretty excited!

Plopping down at Asher's table, he looked expectantly over at the main stand, where the host was setting up. Buzzers were being set out at tables, so Henry raised his hand and called out eagerly, "Hey, we're playing!"

[Latin For Dragula]

(Breaking order to leave thread)

Caedyn was all settled in to watch the weirdness unfold when her phone started blowing up with promises of some party being held across town. Enough people were on her about it that it seemed sort of promising, and things were running pretty slow here. Given the choice, she was definitely going to pay her check quietly and jet.

After all, the zoo was a nice place to visit, but if the animals weren't doing much it got pretty boring before long.

((Caedyn Miller Continued In My Friends Are Assholes))

[ViolentMedic]

Asher sounded kinda embarrassed. But he probably didn't want anyone to realise he was embarrassed, otherwise he'd say whatever was embarrassing him. Probably best to just plow on like normal, although maybe she should ask if he was alright later. Maybe not in front of the Henry guy, though.

"Absolutely. Beats sitting in a corner probably failing everything but any film-related questions, right?"

Clarice sat down, dropping her food on the table with a clunk. She reached out a hand to shake Henry's, because manners and who didn't love handshakes?

"Nice to meet you, Henry! And yeah, we work at distributing food and stuff. It's super boring, but you do what you gotta do. Anyway, if there's film questions in this I'm all over it. If not, it'll still be fun."

[ViolentMedic]

(Skipping to leave.)

Clarice had barely sat down when her phone went off. Message from her dad. Turns out the shifts got re-switched back. Jesus, who was running the shifts? Was family night still a thing, then? Yes. Yes, it was.

"Ah, shit. Sorry, I gotta go. You guys... win the trivia, good luck, wooo!" Clarice scooped her food up and left in search of a bag or something to put it in, because like hell she was wasting her food just because someone couldn't keep shifts straight.

((Clarice Halwood continued in Roots of Jade.))

[Espi]

((Same for me))

"Ooooh, food is good! I need food to live, so shipping it to places where I can get it is nice. Thanks!"

Henry grinned enthusiastically, and that grin only expanded when the buzzer was set to his table. Clarice suddenly apologized and ran off, which was unfortunate. Probably had some kind of food emergency at the place they worked. Perhaps a vegetable catastrophe, or a molasses meltdown, like in Boston, 1919. Food was dangerous business after all. "See you!" He called out after her.

Henry turned back to Asher, bouncing up and down in his seat in excitement.

This was gonna be good.

And it was.

((Henry Spencer continued in A Trout Tussle))