Safe and Sane

Russ wasn't surprised that the lounge wasn't empty that night. It was after all the weekend, and he'd been hoping this might mean company. He was still getting a feel for the place, and while he'd met a few people and perused a few lists he hadn't actively sought anyone or anything out. He was still working on socializing. Or, he was possibly having a streak of what he wasn't willing to call shyness. This was probably why he grabbed a drink before glancing over at the rather harmless but handsome young man who was sitting alone on one of the couches. He might be a little young for Russ' normal taste, but at this point he'd fully realized there was no such thing as normal anymore. Also, there was absolutely nothing intimidating about this boy. Russ took his drink and headed over.

"Care for company?" he asked.

The club had been transformed. The main room was no longer recognizable as a lounge; it had been made over with mood lighting and subtle decorations. On one end there was a huge buffet, the bar was open and tended. There was even room for dancing on a small wooden floor that had been laid down on the opposite end of the room. Scattered about were bowls of candy of all kinds.

One of the smaller lounges hosted traditional party games -- bobbing for apples, donuts on a string, even a table set up for carving small gourds and pumpkins. A few of the private play rooms on the main level had also been opened, set up for groups or exhibitionism, but as in previous year that wasn't the focus of the night. And, in case anyone had forgotten a costume or hadn't been able to find one, the smallest public lounge was being used as sort of a large wardrobe.

A large poster in the hallway announced the categories for the costume contest: scariest, funniest, the most creative, best couple or group, and -- of course -- the sexiest.

The weather had been up and down -- freezing cold, not bad, and, if the forecasters were correct, outright pleasant for the rest of the week. The crew at the coffee shop had given up trying to predict what was going to sell and had decided to just offer everything up. Hot, spiced, cold, chocolate. If you wanted it, you could have it.

Aleksandr was quite enjoying the wandering around the club he was doing at the moment. He'd been given the guided tour, filed his list, and was now happily looking through the contents of the bar before he decided to be good and went for a soda.

He jumped a little as he turned, not expecting anyone there. Grinning sheepishly, he gestured at the bar. "Would you like anything?"

Another week, another Wednesday, another buy-one-get-one-free offer on all hot drinks from the cafe. Coming up to the full moon, the weather was uniformly dull, cloudy, and warm, long days with no rain, long nights too warm to really sleep, tempers were beginning to fray among the staff.