acrookedchild: (He found a crooked sixpence)
Abigail Widdowson ([personal profile] acrookedchild) wrote in [community profile] undergrounds2015-07-01 07:21 am

Stroke of Midnight [OPEN]

Miss Abigail Widdowson cordially invites you to Geap Manor on Wednesday, July 1st at 19:00.

Food, drinks, and music will be provided.

All are welcome, but individuals are to be aware that any hostilities during the evening's festivities will not be tolerated.


It is the first time in at least a generation that the doors of Geap Manor have been opened to the general population. Or, at least, as general as the supernatural community could be considered. Some invitiations were made personally, but most were formally sent to the higher ranking members of the various factions.

Dinner is announced precisely at 19:30. The small, intimate eating area for the family has been turned into a buffet room. The caterers Abigail hired have obviously been paid well to make sure there is something for everyone. Rich meat dishes, hearty vegetarian dishes, light fish dishes, plenty of accompaniments and finger food. There is also plenty of fairly fresh blood for vampires. For the others, there are wines, water, and tea available.

The grand dining room has had its large table removed, replaced, instead, by small tables that can comfortably hold four. They can, of course, be pushed together to allow for more room.

The ballroom is open to the guests, and the DJ has also been highly paid to make sure the music played is precisely to the hostess's tastes. There is plenty of modern music, good for dancing, as well as older classics. However, interspersed are classical pieces meant for waltzes and foxtrots and other such ballroom dances.

In the sitting room is a drink cart with wine, tea, water, and blood. Chairs and divans are available, as the room is a quiet place, a little away from the ballroom, so conversation can be had with ease. There is an unlit fireplace, and a portrait of Abigail a few years younger than she is now hangs above it.

Most of the rest of the house is locked. One can wander the hallways, but it may prove ultimately fruitless. One who simply walks up the stairways will find the walls of each lined with the Widdowson family portraits of every generation, starting with one of a ten-year-old Abby, her parents, and her six-year-old brother. As one takes in all the paintings, a pattern presents itself. Every Widdowson woman featured is pale, thin, and blonde.

The grounds are beautifully maintained and fenced in by wrought iron on top of stone. A very traditional look for such an imposing manor. On the path from the street to the house, there's little remarkable, save the knocker on the door. Behind the house, however, if one ventures away, one might get the keen sense of something from inside the house watching, waiting, and hungering. On the ground floor, the locked rooms are mostly unremarkable, save for the study at the back of the house. Linger too long near there, and one might hear a sound coming in a pattering set. It isn't a knock against the door, no. Instead, it is the sound of something hitting the wall. If someone were to force their way into the nursery on the second floor or the attic several stories up... Well. They likely won't be coming back to the party. Or to anything.

Wandering, of course, isn't a suggested enterprise. The old house doesn't like people poking around and trying to find its secrets.


(Everyone who has at least a familiarity with the supernatural is welcome, as the invitations were distributed widely. Mingle, make your own top comments, enjoy the food, etc!)
entitles: (i really want earth back)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-02 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Call me Cephei," he said, taking a drink of wine, "And pardon my manners, I suppose you might not be very young after all."

Although Balem had a habit of addressing almost anyone as 'young man' or 'young lady' unless they were clearly elderly.
emotioneater: (Immortal)

[personal profile] emotioneater 2015-07-02 07:22 am (UTC)(link)
Cooper shrugs. Everyone thinks he's young, even those who know better. It's a part of life for him. "I doubt you are either." He hasn't outright said it, but Cooper is no fool. With a name like that and looking as pretty as he does, he's got to be a fae.
entitles: (thinking about dragons)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-02 07:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Young in comparison to the meteorite, but I suppose all of us are," he said, "But I was born a little over fifty-thousand years ago now. How time flies."
emotioneater: (Shock)

[personal profile] emotioneater 2015-07-06 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
Cooper looks shocked. He's met some old beings in his time, but few with that span of years behind them. "You look good for someone who was already old when the Egyptian pyramids were getting built." He looks Balem up and down. "Assuming, of course, this is what you really look like."
entitles: (yeah it still counts as a shirt)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-06 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"I was there when those pyramids were built. I drank with the pharaohs and they had servants to fan me. A shame we are not treated as such anymore," he said with a sigh, missing the days of being considered close to a god, "And this is not what I really look like, but I don't look old in any sense no matter what."

Just brighter and with a lot more fire.
emotioneater: (Immortal)

[personal profile] emotioneater 2015-07-08 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Must be quite a step down for you, not having a bunch of superstitious peasants kissing your feet anymore." Balem certainly looks like the type of guy who would have been right at home being fanned with giant palm leaves while someone fed him a plate full of grapes. Cooper was sure that he needed to crack open a history book once in a while instead of letting common pop culture cliches sink their way into his brain.
entitles: (yeah it still counts as a shirt)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-08 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, somehow I manage," he said, purposely over-dramatic in tone, "But if anyone wanted to return to the old ways I'd hardly complain. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely."

Humans were standing up to fae more now than they ever had. As much as Balem liked science, it made people a lot less superstitious and reverent of the unknown.
emotioneater: (Smile)

[personal profile] emotioneater 2015-07-16 08:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Just wait for some dumb author t'write a book series about fae. The teenagers will come and fawn all over you then." Personally, he would have paid good money to see Balem dealing with a sixteen year old girl trying to pledge her undying love to him.

The only good thing that had come of humanity's latest obsession with literary vampires was providing the Islington Nest with plenty of little blood-bags who were oh-so-willing to be fed off of. Cooper would still be glad when pop culture replaced them with some other fad.
entitles: (regal as hell)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-16 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"I certainly wouldn't mind some fawning, although I suppose if the author had...strange misconceptions, it would be aggravating," he said, "I'm going to assume you don't sparkle."

He wasn't above allowing teenagers to sell him their soul or otherwise make a terrible deal borne out of misguided love.
emotioneater: (So done with your shit)

[personal profile] emotioneater 2015-07-20 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
Balem gets a flat look. That damnable woman just had to go and put the most annoying misconception ever in those wretched books. If he had a penny for every time someone had said that to him, he'd be a very rich vampire indeed. "Don't even go there."
entitles: (regal as hell)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-22 03:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's nothing wrong with it, really," he said, because he himself was often covered in glitter. He found it quite appealing.

"But those books do reduce your kind to something rather silly and melodramatic. At least it may get you a willing bite once in a while, and I'm sure they'll move on to the next fad soon."
emotioneater: (Smile)

[personal profile] emotioneater 2015-07-26 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, he'd expect a fae to find it appealing. He was thousands of years old and had no taste. But Cooper happened to be a predator who was supposed to be striking fear into the hearts of his prey. Hard to do that when the image of sparkly vampires was stuck in their heads.

"Teenagers do taste rather nice, especially when they're willing 'stead of screaming in terror." He smiled fondly at the thought. Having food come to him instead of seeking it out was a nice change of pace.
entitles: (old as fuck)

[personal profile] entitles 2015-07-27 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Balem considered himself to have extremely refined taste that the young'uns just didn't understand. Glitter is always in.

"And you don't even have to give anything in return but your attention, really," he said, and what were a few moments of attention worth for an immortal?

"Not a bad deal, if you ask me."