Ain't No Party Like an Undead Party {open}

[Hades]

Was there really a better place and time to arrive than in the middle of a bonfire celebration? Particularly if you just happened to be the god of death and you'd just missed Halloween by that much. Of course, Hades didn't really adhere to the modern calendar or anything. He did see a celebration, however, some great party likely rooting for the heroes having reconquered the castle or something. He didn't really care.

What he cared about was messing with people.

"Hey, who's up for some fun party games? I got us some twister,' he gestured, where a mat had been spread out, though there was something... off about the spacing. "Got pin the tail on the donkey," it's a skeleton donkey. Seriously. "Maybe bobbing for apples," that looked strangely normal. I mean, the apples were gold, and there seemed to be pomegranates in there, but otherwise perfectly normal. "Or how about a pinata?" another gesture, this one indicating what appeared to be a zombie strung up that leaked some greenish candy.

Hey, Hades was the life of the party.

[Olaf]

This was the best party Olaf had ever been to. There were people and there was food and there was drink and there was a huge bonfire, which was just amazing! Olaf had never been able to get too close to fire before; he'd always had this annoying habit of melting when he got too close - he'd been really disappointed to find out that fire and snow didn't mix, because fire was just so pretty and bright and hot! It had never really made sense to him - after all, the hot and the cold were both so intense, to him putting them together just made sense! Except it didn't, because apparently heat made cold things hot. And turned out, when snow got hot, it melted. Even his flurry couldn't help him when it came to fire.

But now! Now he was a flesh-man! And flesh-men could get much closer to fire than snowmen could! Although, apparently still not as close as he would like - something else he'd learnt the hard way. Having burnt his hand a little by reaching out to stick his hand into the flames, he'd decided to go and see what else was going on, and, blowing his hand to try and cool it a little, he wandered through the crowds until he heard a voice ringing out a little louder than the others.

A voice that was talking about games! Olaf loved games! He made his way over, looking at the different games the tall man had brought with him, getting more excited by the minute. He'd never played twister before, but it looked super fun with all those colours. Oooo, and pin the tail on the donkey - Olaf was good at that one. And a pinata? Olaf's excitement reached peak when he heard that. He'd always been too short to actually hit pinatas in the past, but he had always been enthusiastic about it nonetheless. He pushed through the crowd and wandered straight towards the man with the games.

"I love pinatas! I love candy! Can I play?" He asked loudly, his face shining with excitement.

[Hades]

Who the hell was this weirdo? Hades turned to him, his smile wide, only to freeze as he scanned him. Wasn't this school supposed to cater to heroes and the like? What was this guy's story? Saving the world from killer Gingerbread Men?

"Sure thing," Hades said, gesturing toward the pinata, "you know how the game works, right? Just pick up the stick here," Hades gestured toward what was obviously a spiked club, likely made out of actual bone given the strange texture and coloration it had, "and take some swings at the thing there," he pointed at the pinata. "'course, we gotta make it interesting, right?" Hades gestured, conjuring a blindfold out of thin air.

"Put this on, kiddo," he said, holding it out toward the jovial guy. Hades wouldn't even have to do anything extra here. Watching this dork swinging at the zombie while blindfolded was going to be entertaining in its own right. Plus, the look on the kid's face when he started eating Hades' sour candy would be worth it (no, it wasn't poisoned; he worked here; don't shit where you eat).

[Olaf]

Olaf nodded enthusiastically, picking up the club and looking at it. "Wow, this isn't like the sticks we use at home. This one looks scary. Could it hurt people if I hit them? Maybe everyone should back up, I don't wanna hurt anyone! This looks like it would be good for Halloween! You know Halloween was last week, right? Oh, wait, I know, you had leftovers, huh? I never have leftovers. Did you have leftover games too? You're such a nice person to bring them here and let us play them! Most people would just throw them out, but that's such a waste! You must be a really nice person. Hey, maybe we can be friends! Do you like hugs? I like warm hugs. You look like you'd give great hugs!"

He finally paused for breath, and took the blindfold he was being offered, tying it over his eyes and grinning at a space about two feet to Hades' left. "OK, I'm ready! I'm gonna get all the candy!"

He started swinging the club, the 'pinata' swinging slightly in the breeze, three feet behind Olaf.

[Hades]

And people said Hades talked too much. He stood there, smile frozen on his face. "Oh yeah, leftovers, because everyone--no hugs, kiddo, just," He moved to try and redirect Olaf. Okay, the kid was grinning to Hades' left. That was handable.

"You're gonna get it alright," mumbled Hades, grinning. He moved forward, only to duck back as the kid started swinging. "Whoa, hold on there, slugger,' he said, reaching out to grab Olaf by the head. "You need to get spun a few times first. Part of the fun and all that," okay, Hades wasn't sure, but it would be fun for him. He raised his hand up, twisting in a circular motion. Godly powers would spin Olaf a few times normally, then give him a good rotation at just slightly faster than should be allowed.

Then Hades would set him down, and, perhaps feeling a bit favorable, gave him a slight nudge in the actual direction. "Candy's that way. Go in swinging, slugger."

[Olaf]

It was safe to say, Olaf didn’t like spinning. He let out a long and slightly anguished “woah!” as he felt his feet leave before and his body spinning, and by the time he was set down he was stumbling and weaving, completely incapable of staying upright or still. He felt a nudge, and started weaving inf the direction he’d been directed, swinging the club as he went.

“I don’t think I like this game so much with the spinning...” he said to no one in particular, feeling dizzy and a little sick. Still, a game was a game, and Olaf loved games, so he continued swinging, focussing his thoughts on the candy that would be at the end of the game.

The club finally made contact with something that felt oddly squidgy, and with a cheer Olaf continued swinging and hitting. “Am I it, am I doing it?!” He called out cheerfully, his dizziness forgotten in the excitement of the game.

[Hades]

How? Just how? The kid was dizzy, he'd been spun, and he had even started walking in the right direction. Okay, yes, he'd done it while whining about the spinning and all (really should've seen that coming). But he'd been heading towards the pinata?

So why was he hitting Hades with a stick?

"No, no, no," he said, lifting up the chubby guy. "You're hitting the wrong squishy thing," he said, giving the kid a gentle nudge. "You need to go that way. It should feel a lot less like you're hitting a person and a lot more like acid's dripping in your face," a pause. "I mean, like you're hitting something solid and candy's just leaking everywhere!"

Please say this kid wasn't somehow one of the heroes...

[Olaf]

Olaf didn't know what acid was, but it sounded like something that was going to be super fun. He told Hades as much. "Oooo is acid a kind of candy? I've never heard of acid before, does it taste super yummy? I bet it does, candy is just the best, I bet acid is going to be even better! What does it feel like on your face? Is it like snow falling on your face? Although I don't actually know what feels like, I had a flurry that always snowed when I was a snowman but I bet snow falling on snow doesn't feel the same as snow falling on skin. I'm so excited to know what that feels like! And rain, what does rain feel like? Is it like being in the shower? I had a shower when I got here, my mommy Elsa told me all about how to keep clean so now I shower every day! Water feels so good on flesh-man skin! If I had a shower when I was a snowman I think I would have melted. I nearly melted a few times, it wasn't a very nice feeling. But my mommy fixed me and that's when she gave me my flurry, so I'd never melt again! I don't need the flurry anymore though now I'm a flesh-man, but sometimes I miss it but then all I have to do is go and see my Mommy and she gives me a flurry and then I'm super happy!"

He'd taken a few steps when he'd started talking, but he'd soon forgotten what he was doing and where he was heading and stopped, the club hanging loosely at his side, blindfold still on, talking to the air and anyone who'd listen.

"What was I doing again?"

[Hades]

Hades brain stopped. He had to just stand there and stare, not quite believing this was happening. Had this... was this... what was going on here? How could Hades, who'd lasted millenia, literally lived in a version of hell, been to Olympus a few times (mostly to crash parties or to yell at his mother-in-law), be caught with---could someone seriously be this stupid? No, wait, Hades had met gods. He knew stupidity. It was technically worse.

"You're hitting," said Hades, smoke starting to rise from him. He took a breath, running his hands along his arms, patting down the rising flames, "you're taking the stick there, bucko, and swinging it at the pinata. To get all that delicious acid on you. Make sure to open your mouth good and wide when it starts coming. Don't want to miss a single drop of the good stuff!"

Please let the acid melt him. The school wouldn't miss anyone, right? And his mommy was probably just a freaky sex thing or something. Or his mommy was not here. Did Hades know an Elsa? He didn't think he did...

[Olaf]

"Oh yeah!" He remembered what he was supposed to be doing at Hades' reminder and his face lit up, his smile huge and goofy below the blindfold. He took a tentative step forward again, opening his mouth wide just as Hades had suggested, swinging the club behind his head ready to give the pinata the biggest whack he could muster. He took a deep breath and swung it round, cheering himself as he felt it make contact with the soft lumpy 'pinata'...

Where it got stuck. Olaf tugged at the club, but it wouldn't come away - the spikes in the club had become lodged in the 'pinata', and no matter how hard he tugged, Olaf couldn't free the thing.

Blindfold still covering his eyes, he let go of the club and spun around, speaking in a direction about 4 foot the side of Hades. "Where's my acid? I thought I was going to get candy? Didn't I do it right? Can I look? I've never done it before where the stick got stuck, is that an extra challenge to make it harder? Because it's working, it's super hard now. Can I have some candy-acid anyway?"