Booker DeWitt isn't father of the year (dewitt) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-11-14 17:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anna marie (rogue), booker dewitt, elizabeth comstock, lina inverse |
Someone took our van
Who: Booker, Lina, Elizabeth and Rogue
What: Halloween shenanigans, jinkies!
Where: out and about
When: 10/31
Rating: PG-13
Status: complete
5:30pm
“Why did I agree to this again?” Booker tugged at his ascot. He hadn’t bothered with the wig, but he actually looked pretty good in that polo shirt and jeans. Even if he felt like a complete idiot. At least Astrid and Neena couldn’t see him…
“Because Lina and I have you wrapped around our fingers?” Elizabeth adjusted the fake glasses on her nose and tugged on her sleeves a bit. Her hair in its shorter state was perfect for Velma, at least, so she hadn’t needed a wig, either. She had a gigantic bag with her that Lina assured her would be filled with candy at some point, “You look good, anyway.”
Tonight was going to be awesome, Lina was sure of that. The Daphne ensemble suited her well, although it really was the opposite of her usual style. And since most things were sluttified these days, a little short, even on her (and she was kind of already vertically challenged enough). “Quit complaining,” she remarked, passing Booker a sideways glance with a smirk. “It’s her first Halloween. This is like, what, one of those special moments in her life, right? Aside from prom or whatever it is kids do these days.”
Lina’s candy carrier for the night was a plastic pumpkin, because that shit was classic. And she wasn’t about to tolerate people giving them lip about their age. This was America, land of the free, and they were free to knock on people’s doors and hold their shit out for candy.
She was living the American Dream.
And then came Rogue. Who was the odd ball out but you weren’t going to get her into a Scrappy, Scooby or Shaggy costume to save your own life. Sorry. Instead after days of hunting, Rogue had managed to get her hands on a full Mord Sith costume, so she was the leather clad bodyguard to the Scooby gang. That’s it. Right.
She had a leather bag for candy. It fit the outfit, okay? She smiled at her friends. “This is certainly going to be fun. Also, it’s in our right to give her the best Halloween ever, hush your complaining mouth, Booker.” she grinned at him. “Be good and I’ll make you booze filled candy that’ll make up for this.”
Booker didn’t mind either the Mord Sith costume or the short skirt on Lina. Really, he felt kind of like a pervert dolled up like this with this kind of arm candy, but honestly, he should just enjoy himself. “Well if you’re gonna bribe me, then I guess I’ll have to play along. But I ain’t cleanin’ up the rainbow that Elizabeth is gonna make.”
"You should want to do it because it's a father-daughter milestone, not because Rogue's giving you booze candy." Elizabeth corrected, while rolling her eyes a bit. She was probably the only person in the group who actually thought they were too old for this, but Lina had promised her they'd still get candy. That was their right as Americans or something, and she couldn't really deny them the fun of watching her barf rainbows.
Though that didn't really sound that fun to her, eating all the candy would at least.
"I hope one of you will at least hold the rest of my candy while I make your rainbow colored mess. Where should we start?" She glanced at Lina because she seemed the most experienced about all this.
Elizabeth had years of making up to do, and Lina had been convinced that barfing up rainbows was simply a rite of passage she couldn’t be denied. That, and Lina was using this as another excuse to actually get out of the house and go enjoy the festivities. Festivities typically enjoyed by little brats dressed up as superheroes or Elsa. There were a lot of Elsa’s. Good god.
“I want some!” Lina pouted, lower-lip jutted out to quiver at the mention of alcohol infused goodies. “And, yeah. I’ll happily take the burden of holding your candy.” With the intention of taking at least a third of it for payment.
You know, payment for holding the candy. She gave her friends discounts when it came to favors, because she was nice like that.
“We’re gonna cut the line of kids,” Lina decided, her red-brown eyes fixating into a glare. Ahead of them was a group of brightly costumed children of various ages, following each other like a train. “If we’re lucky, we’ll wipe out the houses before they do. C’mon. Let’s move!”
No joke, this was serious.
“You get some every time I make a batch!” Rogue laughed softly, though, as she shook her head gently, the long braid threatening to slap her in the face. She tucked it back over her shoulder. “And good, we’ll make sure Elizabeth makes the rainbow colored mess on the sidewalk somewhere, no one is cleaning that up. But it’s a rite of passage.” she grinned.
“Oh Lina” she sighed but grinned a little evilly. She could muster up a stern look that her costume demanded, then took point on cutting the train of small children. Because well she was the evil looking one, not Lina. May as well play the part.
Booker stared at Lina’s back(side), then shook his head. “This entire night is gonna end in tears.” He looked at his watch. It was almost six by now, so they still had a good four hours to get as much loot as possible. Part of him wondered if they could steal a few more valuable things in the process.
"This doesn't seem very nice."
It was only a minor complaint on Elizabeth's part. She didn't want to be a party pooper, especially since they were doing all of this for her benefit. Mostly. She was pretty sure that Lina would be rushing to get her hands on all the candy before the other Elsas could, regardless.
She chased after Lina, giving a few apologetic looks to some of the kids they cut off, and took her place next to her friend. "But it's also kind of fun."
Lina had no idea what the hell possessed her to go full-blown with this costume and actually get a matching pair of heels closest to what the damn cartoon character wore, but she was almost beginning to regret it. Racing from house to house and obtaining all kinds of cavity-inducing candy was going to be difficult in these things, but Lina never backed down from a challenge.
Even if the challenge was obviously a first world problem.
“War isn’t nice, Elizabeth,” Lina said seriously. She was way into this Halloween thing, but really, when they were dealing with a holiday mostly overrun by kids, no other word came close to describing it but war. “These kids don’t play games when it comes to their Snickers bars. And we shouldn’t either. Rogue; good call on the outfit. There’s no way in hell these snots will tremble in fear facing the Scooby Gang!”
Damn meddling kids.
But they beat the crowd to the first house, and Lina boldly nudged Elizabeth towards the front door, grinning in utter glee. “You got the honors of the first knock. This is a pretty good neighborhood, so our chances in coming across creeps are pretty slim.”
Rogue grinned at Lina. "They'll be staring at me so you can slip past and get more goods!" She said laughing as she rested a leather gloved hand on her hip. Then she too stepped behind Elizabeth. "Go on" she'd nudge too, grinning. This was ridiculously fun already.
The person who answered the door was a petite blonde woman wearing a jester’s costume. She tilted her head and stared at them. “Aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating? But I love the getup so I’m still gonna give you some candy.” She waggled her eyebrows at Booker. “Love the ascot.”
Booker cleared his throat and nudged Elizabeth in the back. “Ain’t you forgettin’ something?”
Elizabeth wasn't sure what she was forgetting. She had her bag out like everyone else to receive candy, and it's not like she'd gotten a chance to even utter the words 'trick or treat' before the blonde woman had spoken. She glanced at Booker uncertainly, then looked back at the jester woman and said, "Jinkies?"
Lina smiled awkwardly. Oh, Elizabeth.
“She means trick or treat,” she supplied helpfully and scooted next to her, cheerfully holding out her pumpkin bucket. “But there’s no law that says people with a young heart can’t trick or treat, either.”
Well, she was sure there wasn’t anyway. But that was Lina’s way of saying ‘give me some goddamn candy before I wrestle you for it.’
Rogue sighed at Elizabeth then smirked at Lina, she dangled the bag over top both women. "You're only too old if you let yourself think that" green eyes sparkled with mischief. "Trick or treat!".She supplied in a rather devious tone of voice.
The woman smiled at them. "See, this is the best house on the street cause I always give out full sized snickers bars. But just because you're so damn cute I'm gonna give you two."
And into each bag went two snickers bars. The woman leaned in close to the women and whispered. "You sure you're okay, he isn't some kinda creeper or nothing? He seems a little old to be runnin' around with a buncha teenagers. I got a mallet."
Violence solves everything.
"Oh he's a thug alright, but don't worry. We've got him under control. He's my dad, it's my first halloween. So you should probably give him a snickers bar, too, just for doing this for me." Elizabeth replied. This all felt a little less out of place, now, and she figured Booker deserved some candy, too.
Lina tried not to laugh at the woman’s concern - Booker had his own criminal streak but goddamn, he was a big ol’ woobie underneath it and Lina had that cuddly shark photo to prove it. Her eyes lit up like Christmas at the Snickers bars, and then she eyed the woman’s stash suspiciously and began to wonder just what else she had in there…
“Or two? He likes Snickers bars.” Actually, she didn’t know if it was true but she was going to do her damn best to convince him to give her his candy.
She turned to Booker and gave him a thumbs up.
Rogue grinned at the woman. "Oh I like you" she grinned. "He's a little creepy when he's all surly, but who else is going to keep three women safe from the real creepers?" She said, knowing full well none of them actually needed the protection. "He's playing along with us for her sake" and boozy chocolates.
Booker wasn't going to give up his snickers bars without some super-serious convincing on Lina's part. He held out his candy bucket and waggled his eyebrows at the woman. She laughed, and tapped the side of her nose with a pointer finger. "Well if you're bein' all protecty, I suppose I can spare a couple candy bars."
In a stage whisper, she added. "But if he's doing some kinda creepy daddy play or somethin' invite me along."
Though she probably should have looked a little more disgusted by the blonde woman’s insinuation, Elizabeth only rolled her eyes a bit and shook her head, “Nope, sadly, he really IS my dad. No playing around there. But he definitely IS also very protecty. Snickers bar worthy protecty! Promise.”
She wondered if they should be spending this much time at this house with so many others waiting for them. Elizabeth was certain Lina considered the candy such serious business that maximizing efficiency was probably something they should think of. With that in mind she glanced to the next house to see what might be waiting there.
Once Lina got her pieces, she stepped back so the rest could - and gave a sympathetic pat to Booker’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy. I never thought you were a creepy old man.” Sure, he was a dirty one, but not a creepy one.
But still, she was totally aiming for his Snickers bars later on. And probably the rest of his hoard, too. This was her idea after all - maybe she could get a percentage out of everyone’s candy collections? Lina squinted and rubbed her chin in serious thought.
“Hurry up, old people. We don’t have all day!” exclaimed a huffy little person - a elementary school student dressed as a certain Disney icequeen along with four others in tow.
Lina shot her a glare. “Hey. Let it go, kid.”
Rogue got out of the way and set her sights on the next place. Lina could have all of Rogue’s candy except any peppermint patties she ended up with, or Dots, she loved those. The rest she could give or take and not care.
She did stop to bend down to get nose to nose with an Elsa. “Scram.” she snapped in as scary voice she could muster, not caring much, they called her old. She resented that remark and huffed instead.
“Plenty of candy to go around kid, take a chill and stay out of our way.” she had a feeling they’d be staring down the kids all night.
Booker shook his head as he sidestepped a group of ninja turtles and transformers, making his way to the side walk. He turned to wait for them, but then started looking around, puzzled. “Hey gang? This is kind of crazy but where are we? And have you seen Shaggy and Scooby?”
He could smell a MYSTERY BREWING.
That was a very good question! Gosh, where were they? Elizabeth surveyed the area, taking in the scene. She had excellent observational powers and it was her job as a member of this gang to make sure she put them to use. Her eyes could spot neither Scooby, Nor Shaggy, and another thing was missing, too.
"Jinkies! Our van's gone missing, too!" She pointed towards the street, where it should have been parked, "Do you think they took off in the Mystery Machine together?"
Lina dropped her bucket of candy goodness and crossed her arms with a giant puffy huff. “They better have not! It’s still mine, you know.” She just let Freddie drive it - out of the kindness of her heart. With a sigh, she glanced down to pick up her mess - and then looked down at her feet, horrified.
“Who let me leave the house with these shoes on? Like, really?”
Rogue was the oddball. She was looking around, bag dropped as she pulled out the agiel. Fingers curled tightly around it as she moved away from the weirdly dressed group.
"Where am I?" She snapped out in a tone that was more commanding than anything. She looked around, slowly.
“Someone took our van. It looks like we have a mystery on our hands.” They just needed to find some rich old white guy trying to get gold or something. “We should check the nearest diner. Chances are Scoobs and Shaggy got hungry.”
There was also that strangely dressed person in too-tight leather that made “Fred” Blush. “I uh. Hi.”
"This sure is one mystery we've been put in the middle of," 'Velma' replied, while putting her most thinky face. The person nearby in the tight leather seemed just as confused as the rest of them were, and she indicated the woman with a finger, "Gang, I think I found our first clue! This... person... seems just as confused as we are!"
As for who let 'Daphne' out in those shoes, 'Velma' could only speculate. "I think we have worse things to worry about than questionable fashion choices. We've got to find the rest of the gang and figure out where we are!"
‘Daphne’ could argue otherwise, but she gave her bizarre shoe selection one last, forlorn look before finally paying attention to the issue that actually mattered. It was the first time she took notice of the strange woman in leather - mostly because she also noticed the way ‘Freddie’ blushed like a school boy. “Well, maybe she took the van! ...Somewhere…”
Another huff, with her nose stuck in the air, because it was totally possible. Right?
Rogue groaned at them like they were utter idiots. She settled into a fighting stance. "What is a van?" She asked blank stared, she had no idea what so ever but if they came too close she was ready to lay a beating down. Her agiel didn't just hurt it could break bones. She'd use it.
“Miss. I’m Fred, this is Daphne,” He gestured at Lina, stepping closer to her. But then their relationship had never been that well defined so he took a step away again. “And this is Velma. We’re mystery solvers!”
"And this sure is a mystery, isn't it?" 'Velma' smiled a bit and tried to approach Rogue, both of her hands out in front of her. As the scooby gang, they'd traveled lots of places and come across lots of people who looked scary or dangerous at first. Usually it was all just some misunderstanding, "A van is a mode of transportation. It has a huge back area for moving around lots of people or cargo, and ours is painted with some really groovy colors. You can't miss it. I can find it even when I lose my glasses."
Most of the time.
"I think she's from a foreign country?" 'Daphne' suggested, arms folded over her chest after giving Rogue a suspicious look over. Then she inched towards Booker Freddie and whispered kind of loudly. "Who doesn't know what a van is??"
Her brows knitted a bit as she looked over the group. Then frowned a bit. It sounded like a strange carriage to her. Then she looked around and saw more of those weird vehicles around. It was giving her the creeps. “Well met, Fred, Daphne and Velma.” She canted her head at them. “I am Anna, but I do not think I have ever seen a van.” then she narrowed her eyes at Daphne’s “whisper” “Someone who is not from here, obviously. I do not like your tone.”
“Now gang, there’s no need for a cat fight.” Booker held out his hands like he was trying to prevent just such an occurrence. He looked around. “So either there’s a lot of spooky things going on or it’s halloween. And you know what that means, right?”
"Even more creepy haunting mysteries to solve!" Velma replied, cheerfully. Their entire life was about solving mysteries, and Velma loved that. She turned her attention back to their new foreign friend, and adjusted her glasses on her nose, "It's nice to meet you, Anna! You should stick with us, we can all solve the mystery together... and I think it's a good idea to keep an eye on you."
The other woman was definitely very lost, after all. Especially if she didn't even know what a van was, and she looked over at Daphne. "What do you think, Daphne?"
Daphne looked a little irked at that look - she should have probably been a little more discreet about the entire thing, but really. This lady was suspicious - she spoke suspiciously, dressed suspiciously (or tastelessly, she couldn’t decide), and still didn’t know what a van was? She obviously looked lost, so where did she exactly come from?
“There’s no catfight, Freddie,” she mumbled, shooting him a look before answering Velma’s question. She didn’t look excited about the suggestion, but she sighed and eventually nodded. “Fine. Let’s solve this mystery, then.” The mystery of where Shaggy and Scooby were with their van.
Seriously, Scooby Doo? Where the hell are you?
She watched them all warily. “Alright for now I shall accompany you.” she said, carefully, fingers twitching. She wasn’t sure what they were solving, and all that, but she had no idea where she was. And it was safer to follow someone who was from here. If they got too annoying, she’d just knock them out and disappear. She’d figure this place out soon enough, right? Right.
Fred, of course, set out in the lead. They just had to find the nearest diner. Scoobs and Shaggy had to be stuffing their faces, and once the entire gang was reunited they could dig into this mystery. Or his name wasn’t Fred Jones Jr.