network | text

[haircaring]

Who: Steve Harrington
Username: harrington
Warnings: none rn, will update if needed/requested

Hey so is this a regular Halloween parties and trick or treat kind of town, or is it gonna be like a portal to hell opens and rains unearthly terrors down on us kind of town tomorrow?

I mean I think this month's already been kind of a lot. Personally. But I know that's basically worthless to a demon or whatever. I just want to know my odds of having to deal with MORE horror movie bullshit.

But uh

also don't be a dick to trick or treaters no matter where we land on that. Like, be cool. They're kids. Between the hell portal and the popcorn balls, those twerps are gonna have enough to complain about.

Ok thanks

Comments

text | un: carter

[setthetone]

I mean now you probably jinxed it.

If I get struck by a flaming meteor, I'm blaming you.

[haircaring]

Pretty sure it only counts as jinxing if I try to say it's not gonna happen.

I guess I can't stop you from blaming me if that happens? But like, it would be over with super fast if you just got hit by a meteor so maybe appreciate it instead.

un: hickey

[friendsfordinner]

What the hell is trick or treat?

[haircaring]

Oh it's a whole holiday... tradition. Thing. Kids are gonna wear costumes and go around and knock on doors. And that's the thing they say. Trick or treat. I don't know why that's the thing they say. I didn't pay attention in history.

Anyway, they say it and you give them a piece of candy.

Like, it's optional, though. Uhh participation. Is optional. You can just not answer and not give out candy. Trust me they'll still get plenty anyway.

[friendsfordinner]

That's it?

Why do they have to wear costumes?

[haircaring]

Yeah that's it.

And I don't know, dude, it's part of the whole thing. I think it was something about being disguised from ghosts back in the old days? Now it's just that people like costumes.

Not that I've ever needed to hide out from ghosts. So who knows. Maybe around here that's a thing still?

un: Aberration, text

[aelwyn_aberration]

Last year we were all trapped in a neverending cycle of nightmares that concluded with one final nightmare that convinced us it was reality and ended at the annual Halloween party.

We all turned into our costumes and were forced to brutally murder eachother in the dream.

Don't go to Halloween parties basically.

[haircaring]

Okay see THANK YOU. These are the kinds of things I mean. They're exactly what I meant. Horror movie shit! Everything going super wrong for no good reason and people dying! I KNEW it.

[ And then slightly belatedly: ]

I'm sorry that all happened to you, though. Seriously.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[This is the first time she's gotten condolences that she felt were completely sincere in their simplicity - okay, that's not true, but they're a different type that makes sense to her. It's an odd feeling, and she's not sure she cares for it. She decides to breeze right past it.]

Oh, that's just another day here in Gloucester. At least it wasn't the blood curdling experience that was the pigs with arms incident. Horrid.

Experienced with this kind of thing?

[haircaring]

Pigs with

Was it like all four legs were arms?

I dabble. Mostly to try to keep people I know alive. It's usually way less cursed costumes and more actual monsters.

text | un: jelica

[musicdied]

Don't be silly. The hell portal spawning unearthly terrors happens at Christmas.

It's possible something especially terrible will happen tomorrow, but it isn't any more likely than on any other day. We'll probably just have to deal with more idiots than usual trying to sneak into Dogtown tomorrow night.

[haircaring]

That was gonna be my second guess for a hell portal holiday. Anywhere between Halloween and Christmas is ripe for it.

Ugh, I forgot about that.

When do we just start letting idiots get eaten or build like a pit trap they can fall into or something?

[musicdied]

When we can be sure the idiots will be eaten, and not worn as a skin suit to cause even more trouble.

Pit traps aren't a bad idea, though there are enough access points that we might need to upgrade to a moat.

[haircaring]

Yeah, fair point. The evil twin stuff has been bad enough, we don't need body snatchers.

I think a moat's gonna pay for itself by the end of the first month it's there. Anything that makes it not worth the effort of not sneaking in on a dare or whatever.

text; un: dethhead

[bardsofprey]

["A lot" is one way to describe it- but Eddie isn't here to focus on their completely fucked up month; he's sure Steve is already thinking about it plenty.]

can't help but look out for the little ratbags of the world, huh harrington?

[He gets it. Eddie misses them too.]

hey uh
you doing anything tomorrow or just planning to hole up and wait it out?

[haircaring]

I got to be a ratbag, so it's only fair that they get a chance to be little ratbags.

[ At least they have the twerp-missing solidarity. And the solidarity of "being here is bad but slightly less bad because there's at least one person who's been to the same parallel time-frozen hell dimension as me." ]

I don't know. I mean I don't exactly have plans. Why? Something you wanna check out?

[bardsofprey]

yeah i bet you were an absolute menace

[He's not sure if that's true, actually. It's just as easy to imagine Steve as a quiet kid.]

nooooope not exactly
theres not really a non embarrassing way to say this
i dont REALLY want to wait and see what kind of hellmouth is gonna crack open and spew evil shit on halloween here by myself
do you wanna just hang out

[haircaring]

I was terrifying.

[ inb4 he was a polite-ass little guy. ]

Oh my god are you using me for my monster killing skills? I should have known.
I'll hang out though yeah.
See what kind of weird movies they put on TV these days.

[text] un: cupkate

[bossyboiler]

Halloween has been forever ruined. Don't go to any parties. I doubt we'll get trick-or-treaters at the ADI apartments.

[haircaring]

You know what, Halloween parties suck anyway. The music's lame and the pranks are worse. Totally not even worth it.

Guess the apartments don't really have that "parade of random kids welcome" feeling huh?

[bossyboiler]

They don't always suck but the last party that ADI held ended up being a massive shared dream where people turned into monsters and the decorations came alive. It has ruined the experience entirely for me.

They don't.

[haircaring]

Oh that's fair. Kind of makes the pranks and relationship drama angle look dumb in comparison.

Maybe it's time to flip to new holidays. Take some of the heat off the big ones. Do we still have Arbor Day in the 2000s?

action??

[conning]

Neal sees the message pop up on the network as he's washing some dishes in the kitchen. Or rather, he hears the notification on his phone, finishes drying the plate he's just cleaned, and then goes over to check it because he can't help himself. He smiles at the note, a little sad and a little amused and a little fond all at once, then goes over to knock on Steve's door and see if he's inside.

heck yeah!

[haircaring]

Oh, shit. He got a knock.

Steve opens up in pretty short order, since he's just been in here getting all those vital text Halloween details.

"Hey. Everything okay?" It wasn't a building-burning-down knock and Neal doesn't look like there's a big emergency, so probably fine. Oh, or-- "Too much noise?"

He doesn't attempt to hide the fact that he has no idea how that could possibly even be the case. But who knows, everyone's got their stuff.

[conning]

The 'too much noise' question prompts a startled laugh. "Steve, Malcolm starts screaming almost every night between three and five in the morning. You can make all the noise you want."

He holds up his phone and gives it a little wriggle, drawing attention to the network post on its screen. "What's wrong with popcorn balls?"