​​​​​Halloween was fast approaching as the air had begun to turn chilly in earnest. Robert hoped that it wouldn’t snow just yet, holding off for a few more days until the costume party was over. There was little fuss back in Scotland about the holiday though his Irish neighbors still celebrated Samhain in Ireland. Here in America, however, it seemed as though it was nothing but a huge party. Children dressed up as ghouls and goblins, witches and ghosts seemed to be on every magazine and post card, and he had received no less than three invitations to attend get-togethers. 
 

Despite these tempting offers, he was busy with Ham planning their own get together. Now that they had settled back in Detroit and business was booming, they were able to dedicate their time to planning it just right. Gordon would be providing the catering and had perfectly encapsulated their idea for a frightful feast in his menu plan.

The invitations had just arrived from the printers, done up in a fabulous Art Deco style with gold embellishments. They were the tip of the iceberg of decadence that the party promised. It was meant to be a kickoff for the city as they branched out into Detroit. An hour later, the envelopes had been stuffed and sealed and sent with the evening post to every member of the families within the city. 

*WELCOME TO THE WICKED WALTZ*

An evening of trickery and scares as we celebrate The Brown Gang. The theme is classic monsters and prizes will be awarded for the scariest and the funniest costumes. Food and drink will be provided as well as dancing and a live band. 
 

Come prepared to dance the night away as we celebrate new beginnings for Detroit and the festivities of the holiday. You must come in costume and it should stick to the theme of classic monsters either from literature or recent cinematic entertainment.

Diego dusts off his well used costume to attend the Halloween party. He enters the party room and takes a look around.

Seems like I'm the first arrival. No problem, more food for me.

He makes his way to the buffet. 

Great set-up Robert. Place looks quality. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else arrives as.

Angela brushed the cat hair off of her small pile of mail she'd scooped up from inside of her front door. Bill, notice, another bill- hmm what was this? The gold embossment glittered under her foyer light as she delicately slipped a finger under the envelope's edge. 

It was a party!

Angela was both titilated and appalled. Parties were always magnets for debauchery and ne'er do wells- but this party, this one was different. It was her duty to attend, was it not? 

Sitting down at her small desk there in her living room, Angela quickly penned notes to Svent and Hanabi , she was fairly certain they'd enjoy the festivities. thetallguy and Cal_Lightman she wasn't so sure of. Unbeknownst to her, DiegoCortez had already arrived!

"Alright, Sprinkles, Mommy needs to go shopping for an appropriate costume. You behave!" Angela flitted back out the front door again, determined to find just the right outfit for the party.

Dokuhebi was sitting in his bed and holding a piece of well decorated paper. He had a day, a time and an adress. Everything was ready.

Driving down the streets of Detroit in his Cadillac, Dokuhebi parks and jumps off of the car dressing in his twisted costume. Not a normal halloween costume, it was one no one had seen before, it was something used only in japan. The mix between children's clothing and a mask representing the darkest fears and sensations the mind could possibly imagine and feel.

At the party, he noticed the well decorated place and reached for Angela, Diego and Robert.

"It's good to see you guys again, now lets party and show Detroit what we cappable of!"

The first thing Dokuhebi did after shaking everyone's hand was spooking a few children running down the street outside. The first package of dough candy was acquired!

Watching Diego surprised with such a spooky costume, Dokuhebi felt he had made the right choice. Diego's costume was very scary as well, he got children and even petty thiefs running.

"Let's see whos coming next."

After a quick glance, Dokuhebi noticed the bar. Sitting at it there was a bottle of the best scotch to be found, brought directly from Scotland.

"A FEW ON THE ROCKS WOULD GO EXCELENT, RIGHT?"

Feeling like a zombie after working so many shifts in the HQ kitchen after Artie having set up his world buffet Gordon decides that will be his costume of choice for the festivities. Not really needing to apply too much make up to his tired black eyes and suffering a cut to his cheek after an argument with a cupboard door maybe just adding an eye patch and a little blood to an old jacket would suffice.

Walking through his apartment Gordon grabs a case of vintage champagne as a gift for Robert for putting this together and a case of fine Cuban cigars for TaylorBrown for just being TaylorBrown and hails a taxi so he entourage can take the night off and so he can out drink everyone else and not have to drive home 

Arriving at the venue gifts are given handshakes and pats on the back are given and Gordon makes his first of many trips to the bar he has to show these people that the Scottish can drink   

Hanabi had gotten the note about the Halloween festival called the wicked waltz here. As this sort of festival was not popular in her home country at all, she had to research a bit about all this. She quickly found out that this was basically just a fascination with monsters, murderers and everything else that can represent the evil. She could not help but chuckle a bit, and in Japan, they have more than enough such stories about yokai, oni and other beings of mostly spiritual nature.

As the day was quickly approaching, she talked a bit about it with her maids and butlers, and they were happy to help her prepare for it. After all, Hanabi had already made up her mind on what folklore legend she wanted to represent at the party. No one said that it has to be an American one after all so she would also make use of that. Moreover, she is quite a traditional woman.

She finally arrived at the venue and slowly and represented the tale of the Yuki-Onna or in other words, snow woman. While it is a tale that dates very far back, it is still one of the most popular ones all around her country. How she is, however, represented in those stories and the specific of what she does with her victims is very different from region to region. As this was supposed to be a spooky festival, Hanabi represented an evil form of her. Wearing her typical Kimono, a completely white makeup as well as some red painting over her face that looks like some signs painted with blood. Those are representative of the spells that the exorcists painted as of last efforts on her face to partly seal her demonic powers away. 

Robert pulled at his collar, trying not to scratch the cakey makeup that lent his skin a greenish hue. So far, several members of Detroit had shown up and begun mingling, though it was hard to tell who was who. Gordon_Ramsay was the exception while he too looked somewhat like a rotten corpse, his mouth was still lively as ever. Currently he was shouting at a kitchen hand to be careful with a box full of what looked like alcohol. He grinned no made his way over, greeting the guests on the way.

“Diego! It’s a pleasure to see you here. Beware of the ham, I’ve heard he’s gone off.”

He glanced over at his brother who was quite busy with a bottle of scotch and grinned. He made his way next towards Angela, thanking her for coming to the party. She was dressed in a nursing costume and Robert pondered that after the 1918 flu pandemic, healthcare was a rather frightening profession. The creativity didn’t end there as Hanabi was wearing a very traditional outfit. 
 

“Hanabi, you simply must tell me about what you are wearing, have you also gone with a traditional monster from your culture?”

He tugged at his long red cap and grinned a rather toothy smile. The false teeth were rather sharp but they lent themselves rather well to the overall look he was going for. The red cap was not a nice figure in Gaelic tradition and fit the theme of monsters to a T. 

Svent was whittling away on a piece of wood, already making his hand crafted Christmas presents, when he received a note and an invitation. The male put his woodworking down to look at the items. He looked at the invitation first, seeing it was for a Halloween party. He then read the note which was also about the party. It seemed like here, people put on costumes for festivities. Thinking about it, he recalled one of his cousins telling him about such a tradition once. Something about scaring evil spirits away. So now he had to think of a costume. 

The male went over to his bookshelf and picked out a book on mythical monsters around the world. He looked at Sweden first and didn’t see anything that particularly called out to him from his homeland. He then flipped randomly through the pages before settling on the Philippines. A monster though resembled the minotaur caught his eye. The creature was called a Sarangay, while it physically resembled the minotaur there was a difference. The creature wore gems in its ears. He looked at the picture for a moment and realized he had everything he needed in the basement.

A few moments later he was ready to go, moving his arm a little to test the weight of the bracers, going out the door.

When he arrived at the party, he was impressed by all of the outfits. He could tell everyone put as much effort in theirs as he did his, which pleased him a lot. He greeted Monkey_Schrute and Robert first, though seeing he was talking to Hanibi, he kept his greeting short so as not to interrupt the two. He found a spot where he could sit and watch all the guests arrive, wanting to see the costumes as people walked in.

Diego pockets some sugary looking jellies and makes his way to his comrades that recently arrived.

Great costume Svent. I like the traditional cultural link. I was going to choose a costume linked with my Irish heritage but couldn't resist this old fashioned witch costume which works well in scaring the life out of any little runts that knock at my door.

More people arrived at the party, Dokuhebi noded to Svent, Gordon and Hanabi, stood up form his chair and went to their direction with a bottle of scotch, the same bottle he saw at the bar earlier.

"Welcomo my friends, it's a pleasure to meet with you, and nice costumes by the way, all original and scary. Guess this will be a tight contest, but that apart, i'm all about the fun and the good time we are sharing. May this party represent our friendship and respect to each other!"

Dokuhebi then proceded to light a cigarette with a big smile on his face.

"You guys have some good horror stories to tell?" - "I have one particular story. Legit one. Years ago, my Grandfather was riding his horse throught the woods of japan, only with courage, when out of the sudden he saw a white dressed gueisha-style woman with blood marks all over her kimono. Of course he offered a ride, not because of honor itself, but because she might have been attacked and in need of medical atention. Half away from the nearest village, my Grandfather felt a strange sensation, a extremely cold breeze, his horse became nervous, and as he took a look back, no sign of the white dressed womam, not a single foot print around the horse, she was gone. She never existed. Who knows?"

It was rare for Robert to drink, however Gordon and Hamish had both made it impossible for him to avoid this time and he was definitely feeling it. It was perhaps his third...or fourth glass of champagne and he couldn't quite feel his nose anymore. He stood, with rapt attention, listening to Dokuhebi's spooky story about the woman in white. His eyes were wide with amazement as she finished which gave him a slightly stupid look. 

"She was a ghost?!" He exclaimed, the champagne in his glass sloshing as he gestured widely. "I've heard of stories like that, children disappearing from the moors but I was always told it was the fae. You never cross the fae or step into their sacred spaces. There's also the Bean Nighe, I met her just days before we traveled here to America. I didn't realize at the time she was telling us that our father was dying and that'd we'd never see him alive again."

He stared purposefully into his glass, noting that it was empty and abruptly turned to locate his brother who was waltzing on the dance floor, dressed as a large glazed ham. He turned back to Dokuhebi and nodded, offering her a somewhat lopsided smile. 

"Amazing story, I've still got chills. Pardon me, I need to go catch a ham."

He tottered off, clumsily placing his glass on a tray and waving his hand to say no thanks as he was offered another one. He managed to reach Hamish but not before he came across Svent and DiegoCortez. He paused, offering a flourished bow in greeting which he pulled off with surprising grace. 

"Good evening, it's a pleasure to see you here at the party. You, green one, are simply horrifying. I think you have captured the spirit of the event, I love it! And you? The tall and scary looking Minotaur, I am in awe of the detail you have put into your costume. You look fantastic! I haven't learned your names yet so I will introduce myself, I am Robert your host. It's a pleasure to have you. There is food, dancing, live music, and of course plenty of refreshments. I recommend the champagne, it goes straight to your head!"

He grinned, bowing once more before turning again to scout out just where his brother had disappeared to. The ham was no longer on the dance floor and with the increase in guests arriving, he wasn't as easy to spot above the other costumes. Turning once again, he excused himself and explained that he was off to seek his brother. 

Hamish walked in the door and immediately walked out.  He has missed the brief, he had completely missed it.  After a few minutes of sweating out on the porch he rubbed his forehead and wiped away a sheen of cold sweat.  Everyone else looked amazing.  He rustled in the pockets of the costume and took out the gilt invitation.  It said monsters.  Monsters were scary.  His costume was the furthest thing from scary on the East coast.  He coughed as several children ran past dressed lile little witches and ghouls.  One of them stopped short and pointed.  

"Hey Mister!!! You look funny!"  Hamish nodded and wiped his brow again.  Robert had already seen him come in, so he knew he couldn't just run off.  Besides that, his costume was too bulky for any real running.  With a grim sigh he turned and waddled back in through the doors. 

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light he saw Hanabi glide past in a gorgeous kimono and full face makeup.  He was impressed.  Diego waved a quick hello, his eyebrows raised only slightly.  Hamish waved back.  Robert, his brother, was dressed like a red cap and he felt a wave of panic wash over him.  That was a costume a little too close to home.  Dokuhebi had a mysterious frightening look that was hard to describe but gave Hamish a shudder.  Angela and Gordon weren't as scary, although Gordon looked a little rough.   He nodded at Gorden and wandered over to the bar to get a drink. 

"Scotch" was all he said.  

Eventually Robert came over, his face crinkling in a very un-frightening way. 

"My god you did it.  You really did it you mad lad.  You look ridiculous!"   Hamish twisted uncomfortably and raised his glass. 

"I came as the scariest thing I could think of." 

"And what's that? Sunday dinner?" 

"I-uh. Fuck it." He slammed the scotch. "I came as a HAMpire." 

Now Hanabi was not the most social person of all, but this party was fun so far. She also took her time to greet all of her family members by slightly bowing in front of them and giving them a warm hello. She hears Dokuhebi saying that and then cannot help but laugh. It is rare to see another Japanese person especially being in one crew with her, but it makes her feel all the more comfortable also to see him here when Japanese people are known to be rather introverted and not to go to the party too much. 

She cannot help but get closer to him and then tell him ''Dokuhebi am I not proof that this woman exists? Maybe your father saw me if that happened in Nara!'' Of course, she also heard the question of Robert, and so she smiles at him before of course also giving him an explanation ''Yes this costume was inspired by the well-known folktale of the Yuki-onna also known as the snow woman. The tale differs a bit from region to region. Most tales describe her as a beautiful woman that appears in front of victims during snowy weather such as snowstorms. You see some say that she seduces the men and take their life energy away with passion, others say that her touch freezes them. I went for a more scary depiction of her that is popular in ancient cities such as mine that describe her as more of a yokai or evil spirit that once a year trespasses the spirit-realm to come to the realm of humans and feasts upon them. Certain exorcists are specialized in hunting demons and evil spirits, so I painted the blood that represents them on my face'' She smiles after giving a long explanation to him.

Of course, she could not also help to drink a bit of the alcohol. Hanabi is not a heavy drinker, but she is most certainly not a newbie when it comes to it. Especially not sake, that she also served quite often to other guests in Japan. It did not take too long until she also saw Hamish walk in and so she warmly greeted him with a  ''Konban-wa Hamish-kun.''

Gordon in his drunken stupor laughed at the Hampire outfit and decided that he had best sample some of the canapes he was getting too drunk too quickly realising he had been out of Scotland too long and the magical gift of being able to drink unbelievable amounts of Buckfast had certainly waned.

Realising he would have to get off his bar stool to sample the canapes Gordon decides that it may not be a good idea to walk around on jelly legs so he stays sitting and instead orders another round of drinks for his friends "Ayyyye gesh I will hash sum moooooore drinkies fur me and my weeee frends pleash barkeeeeeeep"

    Arriving fashionably late Taylor could see the festivities were already in full swing. It was hard to decide what to wear but he landed on the classic Dracula. He even went as far as wearing some makeup, fake fangs, and fake ears to really seal the look. Plus how could he possibly be seen without a tux, and the cape just only added to his gravitas, at least that's what the shop clerk told him.

  Dokuhebi was drinking scotch, still laughing, and telling stories of the children he had scared and the candy he had accumulated by doing so. It was refreshing seeing him taking time away from snatching old ladies' purses and instead robbing kids. They needed to learn young that someone was going to, either his scary arse or the government. Spotting Gordon_Ramsay dressed like a zombie he couldn't help but shake his head and smirk. 'Maybe we should give him a few days off from cooking after this' he thought to himself. The buffet looked to die for, and the people eating looked like they did. Zombies, ghouls, mythical creatures, and such dining, drinking, and laughing as they celebrate their first Halloween together.

    Making his way through the crowd he spotted Monkey_Schrute talking to her cat sprinkles and quickly B-lined it to the bar. That was a sight he wish he hadn't seen but a scene he was quite accustomed to since her office was to the left of his own. Having made it to the bar it seemed that's were the real action was. One of Ramsay's kitchen hands was quick to pour a round and hand out cigars. Shaking hands and hugging, he was surrounded by friends..loved ones. When Svent and Hanabi came to show off their costumes he was amazed at the effort they had put in, he also nearly dropped a few chocolates in his boxers. Next was DiegoCortez , truthfully he looked like some of the 'dancers' back in the slums of London's outskirts, a truly terrifying sight. Approaching Robert, who was standing next to the Hampire Hamish, he extended his hand for a shake, patting his left hand on his Right Hand Mans back. "You've out done yourself my friend, couldn't have imagined such a great turn out. Can't wait for our Thanksgiving party, if Monkey_Schrute and accounting can find the funds."

   With a cigar resting between his lips and the warmth of scotch lingering in his chest it was time to take a seat and mingle with some of the finest mafioso in the western hemisphere.. 

Hanabi continues to enjoy the presence of the people here and also takes some more of the alcohol. Why not make use of it after all if it is already there. She might become a bit tipsy, but that is still a long time away. She is not used to drinking a bit, but when she did back in Japan, she drank a lot in the company of others. She heard from some other people that @Gordon_Ramsey is a great cook so she could not help but now ask him a rather direct and personal question as she approaches him ''Gordon-kun, do you think you could someday show me your cooking skills? I would love to eat a truly class dish again.''

She smiles as she says that and it does not take too long until TaylorBrown arrived. His costume was inspired by one of the best known Western mythical creatures known as a vampire. These were not really popular in Japan at all. Nonetheless, people knew about them. They just had their own versions of similar creatures. She looks at him and then asks him ''Even using makeup huh? I am surprised, that you know how to use that one'' she laughs but then adds, that the whole package looks good and the makeup certainly adds a lot onto the costume.

Sinking his fifth whiskey straight, Diego was starting to wobble. The party was in full swing now. After some funny looks from Taylor and Robert, he was starting to feel like he was making a fool of himself. Perhaps pushing the singer away and 'treating' everyone to a solo of epic proportions didn't go down as well as he thought.

"Eh Diego....I think you should clean yourself up" Angela whispered. 

Ah shit, my green paint is running off. I'm leaving a green trail all over the dance floor. Ah well. This needs to hold out a few hours more.