Taiga's Halloween Party

Posted on Tue Nov 14th, 2023 @ 6:02am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Chief Warrant Officer Karuta Roromiya & Mikoto Roromiya & Commander Thomas Johnson & Lieutenant Commander K'retok & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Commander Moklor ‘Shell Squid’ & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant Kylynn Adams & Lieutenant Talia Johnson & Lieutenant Dr. Eli Ellis M.D. & Lieutenant JG Nezuko & Lieutenant JG Amari & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada & Alice Shimada
Edited on on Tue Nov 14th, 2023 @ 6:02am

2,536 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Spooky Season
Location: Officer's Lounge

The officer's lounge of the Tokyo had been decorated in true Halloween spirit. A smoke fog machine layered the floor with ice fog to create atmosphere. A large table had been set up to hold a buffet of different autumn foods from Earth and around the Federation. Jack o lanterns had been placed around, each carved with a spooky face and from the ceiling hung decorations comprised of bats, spiders, pumpkins and black cats. It wasn't very often that the crew of the Tokyo got to let their hair down, but tonight was Halloween and Captain Aisaka had insisted on a Halloween Costume Party.

Some of the chairs and tables in the lounge had been moved aside to create room for a dance floor which was now illuminated with Disco Lights. A old fashioned DJ station had been set up, along with Karaoke for them all to enjoy. Taiga had also pulled some strings and the bar was stocked with real alcohol, everything from apple cider to blood wine. There was of course non-alcoholic drinks for the crew to enjoy.

A signboard had been set up outside the doors into the lounge. It had a few basic lines written on it in Taiga's handwriting, read the following:

Taiga's Halloween Party Rules!
- Leave ranks and positions at the door!
- You must be in costume or equivalent!
- Drink and eat responsibly!
- Everyone welcome!
- Have fun!

As was half to be expected, the Tokyo's resident girly-girl Chief of Intel was drawn to the opportunity to cosplay like a moth was drawn to the flame, so she went all out on the costumes this year, both for herself and for her department. Of course, in her zeal she had failed to consult with her department as to whether or not they actually wanted to show up to this party decked out in full maid garb, so the look on many of their faces as they shuffled into the officers lounge looking straight out of a 19th-century French Chateau was... admittedly not one too pleased.

"I wanna die," Lieutenant Inoue grumbled as she fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

"Cheer up, Takina-Chan!" Chisato insisted. "Consider this a... team-building exercise, if you will! A good intel operative needs to be fluid with whatever role they find themselves in?"

"I'm sorry, but is infiltrating an upper-class estate in the French Countryside on our manifesto?" Takina was quick to point out.

"Well... maybe," Chisato giggled.

"You could have at least had the decency of giving me gender-appropriate clothing, Nishikigi." Chrirhc grumbled. "What my family would think if they saw me looking this... Indecent..."

"Hey, you never know if you're going to have to pose as a woman some day!" Chisato chuckled, clearly running with the joke. "With some Intel postings, it may be beneficial to pose as a woman."

"That is probably the most bullshit excuse I've ever heard," Takina sighed. "You're just enjoying this too much, aren't you?"

"Definitely," Chisato admitted.

Kurumi just scowled. She found this stupid outfit very uncomfortable.

Moklor stood outside of the lounge's entrance. People were still filing in. He chose to watch the colorful costumes of those who walked by. A suit of brown fur, puffed out to give the Klingon a rotund appearance, covered Moklor from neck to calves. Covers designed to look like clawed feet were worn over his boots and gloves. Long, quill-like fibers extended from the back of his scalp, down to his lower back. His facial features peered out from underneath a furry cowl. The pilot stood like a sentinel as he watched and waited.

It was Alice whom had selected the costume theme for herself and her parents: Characters from her favorite Paper Fantasies campaign: Alice was dressed as the rogue from the show's second campaign; a Tiefling who was trained from birth to become an assassin and take over her mother's crime syndicate.

Naturally, this meant that Chiyo was dressed as the Tiefling's crime boss mother, for whom the party had briefly worked during the campaign. Due to the nature of the characters' designs, it meant that both Chiyo and Alice were wearing particularly revealing costumes, notably baring midriff.

Lastly, Tatsuo was dressed as the character of Alice's favorite cast member on the show; a Half-orc cleric whom the Tiefling rogue saw as a bit of a loveable idiot, and whom had harbored romantic feelings for the crime boss mother. Hence why Alice saw the three characters as a perfect fit for the three of them.

All three characters required elaborate makeup, so the Shimadas had opted to go holographic, as they would retain their look as long as they wished, and they wouldn't sweat it off like they would with traditional face and body paint. Going holographic also meant that they could take advantage of voice changers built into the devices they wore to project their appearance to sound like the characters (which, for Chiyo's case, had been supplied by a guest voice actress, as the crime boss mother was an NPC controlled by the game master in the campaign). While the three of them looked like they had stepped straight out of the pages of one of Alice's fanart books, their costumes were also concealing an impressive amount of technology.

Taiga and Ryuuji were next to enter the party, they would have been sooner but Taiga had taken her time to get ready. She was dressed as a witch, all I'm black complete with hat. She wore a pleated black skirt, long leggings and boots. Her shirt was a tank top style shirt which was a little short, revealing a slim line of her stomach and her navel. A black Cape hung over her back and it was all finished with a pointed witches hat.

Ryuuji on the other hand stood tall and impressive, dressed as a traditional vampire. His long black and red coat over a neat suit style outfit was impressive and gand made. Makeup on his face made him pale and he had fake vampire fangs in his mouth. He looked like he was right out of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel.

Taiga approached the officers who were already there, the music had already started and was playing in the background. "Thanks for coming!" She smiled at them all.

The doors if the lounge opened and in walked Warrant Officer Karuta Roromiya, her daughter Mikoto bounded in all excited to be going to a party. The Half Vulcan wore a long robed outfit, the best she could warrant as 'dressing up', to her it seemed illogical however she was attending due to the insistence of her daughter.

Moklor nodded unintentionally formal greetings. His stern posture contrasted with his warm expression and festive attire. He soon turned to enter.

Mikoto wore a silver dress and had cat ears in her hair. She even had whiskers painted on her face. She immediately spotted Alice and went bounding over towards her. "Alice!" She called a huge smile on her face as she rushed over.

Damn, she made me right away! Alice thought.

"Alice? Who is this 'Alice' you speak of?" Alice asked. The voice in which she spoke was not her own, but rather an adaptive voice algorithm based on the character voice from Paper Fantasies, and as such, her accent was vaguely Eastern European.

Mikoto giggled. "You!" She said with a smile. "You smell like Alice, and you're the right height..."

"Smell? How did you-?" Alice stammered before realizing it was more than likely her shampoo. "You know what, never mind."

"What are you dressed as?" She asked curiously tilting her head to one side.

"I am Joker Lafuerge, clown princess of crime." Alice responded. "Or, at least, that's who my mother wanted me to be, but it was not a life I wanted to live. Reader's digest, I am Joker from Paper Fantasies Campaign Two."

"I don't know what that is..." Mikoto said. "Aren't you cold?"

"Not in the slightest." Alice replied. "Have you never been to a Halloween party and how freaking stuffy they get?"

Mikoto shook her head. "No I have not been to a party before." She stated with a smile. "I find your outfit interesting, do all 'Jokers' show their belly buttons?" she asked cocking her head to one side. "Is that part of the theme?"

"It is a part of the character design." Alice responded. "What, is it unnatural to show belly button at a costume party?

That threw the young girl off. "I don't know. There's a lot of people doing that. Should I do it too?" she asked as she reached for the hem of the silver dress she was wearing. "Is that a 'Human' thing?"

"Is your costume supposed to be that revealing?" Alice asked. "What are you supposed to be dressed as, anyway?"

Mikoto let the hem of her silver dress go. "I'm a cat!" she exclaimed as she pointed to the ears.

"Wow, I never would have guessed..." Alice said in an evidently sarcastic tone. "Do cats normally dress up like runway models?"

"Runaway what now?" Mikoto asked cooking her head to one side again in confusion.

Alice sighed.

"Fashion models." She attempted to clarify. "Do you ever flip through fashion magazines? Or does your mother consider independent fashion to be... Illogical?"

Mikoto stared blankly at Alice, it was obvious she didn't have any idea what Alice was talking about. That was her answer.

The door to the officers lounge opened and Amari made her way inside, when she’s heard about this party she had to research what ‘halloween’ was. The computers response had been interesting and had explained the religious origins of it but when she’d asked some of the engineers about it a more interesting reason had come up ‘an excuse to dress up as something scary and drink and have fun’ There were a few scary things in her peoples culture and she decided to pick the scariest.

She wore a short tattered black dress, the blue skin was streaked and mottled with red and gold makeup and her face that already bore clan marking tattoos was covered in a more distorted and jagged pattern compared to the smooth pattern of her own clan.

Moklor noticed Ensign Teela in the distance. She wore a short, low-cut black dress and a wide-brimmed witch hat.

He approached her with a roar. The verdant woman broke into laughter. "What are you supposed to be, sir?!" She couldn't believe her eyes.

"I am a saber bear", Moklor exclaimed. "A fierce predator known to hunt north of First City, near Kang's Summit."

"Aww, sir.. It's adorable", her endearing expression made Moklor uncomfortable. He'd hoped for a different reaction.

"A saber bear is a fierce predator. Klingons climb treacherous peaks just for a chance to challenge such a fine beast."

"That doesn't sound nice", she chided. "I think they're cute."

Moklor sighed, resigned to quickly order a replicated bloodwine. Teela sipped on an Andorian sunset.

Talia entered the party alongside Thomas, she’d chosen to come as a freshly born vampire, fake bite marks on her neck trailing fake blood down her neck. “Of all the things I’ve never done attending a Halloween party is one of them.” She smiled at Thomas.

A bit late to the party was Nezuko. Halloween was something she first learned about on Earth in the Academy. An event common in certain parts of Human culture, which for Starfleet cadets, mostly aged somewhere between 18 and 25 or equivalent, usually meant drinking, dancing, and costumes that left little to the imagination. A bit older now, Nezuko still enjoyed finding a costume and socializing with her crewmates.

It was just a shame that she couldn't show off her fangs. There were a few good costume ideas that benefited from those.

So while her mask was definitely out of place (can't be helped), she coloured her hair black, put on red combat boots, black thigh-high socks, a black mini-skirt with shorts underneath - held up by black suspenders - and a white tight-fitting tank top that left her midriff bare. She also wore fighting gloves and red vambraces on her forearms. A very good re-creation of that character from the holo game that she liked.

She collected a drink, inserted a straw, and found her friend Amari. Hello!, she waved.

Amari smiled when she saw Nezuko looking quite distinctive. "Hello Nezuko, you look very interesting, like something out of a fantasy holo novel."

Nezuko's eyes beamed with delight at the description of her costume. She set her drink down and mimed getting into a punching fight with someone. She then gestured to Amari's costume and gave it a thumbs-up.

"I was told this is a chance to dress up as something scary and drink and have fun." Amari gave Nezuko a slight twirl. "The scariest thing in my culture is a member of clan Isaraya."

Nezuko wasn’t familiar with the reference, but it made sense that every culture would have unique things that scared them. Amphea evolved from apex predators but there were always other things to compete against, animals that would tear you to shreds and/or steal your kill. But she was happy to go as a fun fictional character, and one that looked as good.

Already knowing she was going to have to explain what one was Amari began to add. "They are..... I think the closest translation would be daemons. At least that is what the stories about them would describe them as. Vicious monsters who terrorized the clans of Lesra until we all banded together and wiped them all out."

Nezuko’s eyes went wide at that description. Her culture didn’t have anything quite like that! At least, not that her and her siblings were taught. Maybe this demanded a folklore search…

Upon spotting Nezuko, Taiga wandered over rather curious about her outfit. "Oh hello Nezuko, what are you dressed as?" she asked curiously.

Not wanting to be unable to communicate, she kept a small version of her PADD under one of her vambraces. She took it out and quickly typed a reply. A character from a holo novel I enjoy. She operates a drinking establishment in the slums of a city controlled by an evil corporation, and supports freedom fighters who want to save their planet.

Taiga read the PADD and smiled. "I've not played that one." She smiled.

Nezuko cocked her head slightly and smiled.

Taiga made her way to the middle of the room, after taking a glass of Halloween Punch from the drinks table. She used a spoon and tapped loudly on the side to get everyones attention.

"Attention all!" she called. "Welcome to my Halloween Party! Tonight we celebrate Hallow's Eve! An old Earth holiday of everything spooky!" she told them all with a smile. "So, in true spirit, drink, sing, dance, eat and have some fun!" she announced to them all. "The party begins now!"

Happy Halloween from the crew of the USS Tokyo!

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