![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ax_troubadour posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ax_mainVax'ildan and Scanlan enhance the school Halloween party as only they can. Which is to say, extraordinarily haphazardly and possibly boderline-dangerous to life and limb.
It was mid-way through the Halloween party that Vax and Scanlan suddenly appeared in a pool of shadow on the front lawn, a huge bag of industrial strength detergent at their feet. Vax was still dressed in his Van Halen costume, though he'd kicked off the platform shoes at some point, and the guitar was missing. "Okay, so I get things started in the fountain, then you make it... bigger and better, yeah?"
Scanlan--in what he considered a scathingly ironic Beatnik costume of black turtleneck and trousers and a jaunty purple beret--offered a sniff. "Bigger and better is how I roll, Vax." He gave a roll of his large, dark eyes, and gestured toward the fountain. Streamers of violet energy had already begun to coalesce around his hands. "I swear, some days it's like you don't even know me. Once you've added our special ingredient, I'll give it the extra pizzazz to take this from boyish prank to pop art installation piece."
Vax wasn't even sure what that meant, let alone what it would do to their prank. Still, he'd been itching to force the school to lighten up a little, and Gilmore aside, he just didn't think a party was going to cut it. That's why he and Scanlan had come up with this little idea. If anything was going to loosen things up around the campus, it was going to be Scanlan Shorthalt. Leaning down, Vax hefted the bag up over one shoulder and headed toward the fountain, flipping a knife from his pocket. The teachers were all wrapped up in the festivities, just like everyone else at the school, so he didn't feel the need to be overly stealthy. Still, he was practically visible as he slinked out of the shadows next to the fountain and began to pour the powder into the massive bubbling fountain.
While he wasn't nearly as sneaky as Vax could be, Scanlan could be inconspicuous, when he needed to be; his diminutive stature tended to be an asset, that regard. As the fountain began to foam with suds from the bag of industrial detergent, he thrust his glowing hands into the frothing water, encouraging the natural, chemical reaction to expand and spread far faster and much further than it would have naturally. At the same time, he subtly modified the effect, so that the now-heaving mass of bubbles spilling over the edge of the fountain took on a distinctly purple, markedly-sparkling cast. As the eruption of iridescent magnificence began to burst over the sides of the fountain with increasing speed and impossible volume, Scanlan conjured a familiar, glowing hand to hoist him up above the results of his handiwork.
Vax, he assumed, was perfectly capable of getting clear, himself. Though ... if he didn't, that would be awfully funny, too.
"Shit!" Vax exclaimed, as the whole thing became like a living monster of foam. It happened so much faster than he'd expected, he danced backward, trying to stay out of its way. Eventually, he was forced to reach for the nearest shadow, slipping into the darkness and skating across the lawn until he was far enough away as to watch the explosion of foam from afar. It was...in a word, magnificent. "Scanlan, you beautiful bastard."
Scanlan was unable to withhold his manic cackle as his magnificent creation began to spread out in a deep mass of purple and sparkles from the fountain, creeping slowly across the lawn like a living thing. "I have to admit," he said, with a decidedly immodest smirk, "I really have outdone myself, this time. It will take me weeks to think of an encore for a spectacle of this caliber!" But even as he patted himself on the back shamelessly, he noted with a touch of alarm how the wall of foamy suds continued to pour from the fountain. Much further and quite a bit faster than he'd anticipated, actually ...
"Uhm ... " he trailed off, blinking, then gave Vax a serious look. "It might be time to start getting our stories straight. Do you think they'd buy a mutant Mr. Bubble rampaging across the campus? Man-Soap? Detergent-By-Night? No?"
Vax eyed the fountain with mixed hilarity and surprise. He found it really hard to keep from laughing nonetheless. It was like... a giant purple foam monster, oozing and wriggling, and bubbling its way across the lawn. "Maybe we could blame it on a mysterious fountain-hating time-traveler?"
"I like it!" Scanlan decide, eyes brightening. "It's too implausible to be a lie, and it wouldn't even be the weirdest thing ever to happen around here. It's foolproof!" He glanced toward the mansion from his perch. "Sooooo ... should we drift back to the party and wait for somebody to notice? Or do I set off some fireworks to get their attention, then we scramble away and lie about what we know to anyone who asks?"
Vax's eyes sparkled at the thought. "You know, fireworks would give the whole thing a certain... splash."
"Splash. We're all about splash!" Scanlan set his jaw in a look of determination and cracked his knuckles, giving the night sky a considering look.
"Okay. This is something I've never really attempted before, but it'll probably work. You know. Maybe." With that qualified assertion, he threw his hands into the air and released a jagged arc of crackling purple lightning, which appeared to explode once it was a hundred feet or so up. The display was impressive, if not overpowering, with seemingly distant crackling and pops to accompany sudden flashes of purple sparks set brilliantly against the backdrop of stars and midnight-blue clouds.
As soon as that happened, Vax pulled the shadows close around the both of them, drawing them back behind a thin curtain of darkness - just enough to keep any onlookers from seeing the perpetrators. Still, they could both continue to witness the magnificence of Scanlan's creations. "It's like every hallucination I've ever had on Vex's brownies...."
"That's pretty much the effect I was going for," Scanlan nodded, satisfied. The bursts of color and sound continued for a few minutes more, before fading into a final cascade of glittering purple. "Now, methinks it's time to re-join our fellow revelers, lest we provoke suspicion by our absence. You know your sister probably started looking for us as soon as the sky started lighting up purple."
Vax wasn't so sure about that. If he could kill that tree all over again, he would in a heartbeat. Still, maybe she had allowed herself to relax a little at the party. He could only hope. Maybe this would make her smile again. Quirking a small grin, he nodded, pulling them further into the shadows. "One express trip back to the party it is."
It was mid-way through the Halloween party that Vax and Scanlan suddenly appeared in a pool of shadow on the front lawn, a huge bag of industrial strength detergent at their feet. Vax was still dressed in his Van Halen costume, though he'd kicked off the platform shoes at some point, and the guitar was missing. "Okay, so I get things started in the fountain, then you make it... bigger and better, yeah?"
Scanlan--in what he considered a scathingly ironic Beatnik costume of black turtleneck and trousers and a jaunty purple beret--offered a sniff. "Bigger and better is how I roll, Vax." He gave a roll of his large, dark eyes, and gestured toward the fountain. Streamers of violet energy had already begun to coalesce around his hands. "I swear, some days it's like you don't even know me. Once you've added our special ingredient, I'll give it the extra pizzazz to take this from boyish prank to pop art installation piece."
Vax wasn't even sure what that meant, let alone what it would do to their prank. Still, he'd been itching to force the school to lighten up a little, and Gilmore aside, he just didn't think a party was going to cut it. That's why he and Scanlan had come up with this little idea. If anything was going to loosen things up around the campus, it was going to be Scanlan Shorthalt. Leaning down, Vax hefted the bag up over one shoulder and headed toward the fountain, flipping a knife from his pocket. The teachers were all wrapped up in the festivities, just like everyone else at the school, so he didn't feel the need to be overly stealthy. Still, he was practically visible as he slinked out of the shadows next to the fountain and began to pour the powder into the massive bubbling fountain.
While he wasn't nearly as sneaky as Vax could be, Scanlan could be inconspicuous, when he needed to be; his diminutive stature tended to be an asset, that regard. As the fountain began to foam with suds from the bag of industrial detergent, he thrust his glowing hands into the frothing water, encouraging the natural, chemical reaction to expand and spread far faster and much further than it would have naturally. At the same time, he subtly modified the effect, so that the now-heaving mass of bubbles spilling over the edge of the fountain took on a distinctly purple, markedly-sparkling cast. As the eruption of iridescent magnificence began to burst over the sides of the fountain with increasing speed and impossible volume, Scanlan conjured a familiar, glowing hand to hoist him up above the results of his handiwork.
Vax, he assumed, was perfectly capable of getting clear, himself. Though ... if he didn't, that would be awfully funny, too.
"Shit!" Vax exclaimed, as the whole thing became like a living monster of foam. It happened so much faster than he'd expected, he danced backward, trying to stay out of its way. Eventually, he was forced to reach for the nearest shadow, slipping into the darkness and skating across the lawn until he was far enough away as to watch the explosion of foam from afar. It was...in a word, magnificent. "Scanlan, you beautiful bastard."
Scanlan was unable to withhold his manic cackle as his magnificent creation began to spread out in a deep mass of purple and sparkles from the fountain, creeping slowly across the lawn like a living thing. "I have to admit," he said, with a decidedly immodest smirk, "I really have outdone myself, this time. It will take me weeks to think of an encore for a spectacle of this caliber!" But even as he patted himself on the back shamelessly, he noted with a touch of alarm how the wall of foamy suds continued to pour from the fountain. Much further and quite a bit faster than he'd anticipated, actually ...
"Uhm ... " he trailed off, blinking, then gave Vax a serious look. "It might be time to start getting our stories straight. Do you think they'd buy a mutant Mr. Bubble rampaging across the campus? Man-Soap? Detergent-By-Night? No?"
Vax eyed the fountain with mixed hilarity and surprise. He found it really hard to keep from laughing nonetheless. It was like... a giant purple foam monster, oozing and wriggling, and bubbling its way across the lawn. "Maybe we could blame it on a mysterious fountain-hating time-traveler?"
"I like it!" Scanlan decide, eyes brightening. "It's too implausible to be a lie, and it wouldn't even be the weirdest thing ever to happen around here. It's foolproof!" He glanced toward the mansion from his perch. "Sooooo ... should we drift back to the party and wait for somebody to notice? Or do I set off some fireworks to get their attention, then we scramble away and lie about what we know to anyone who asks?"
Vax's eyes sparkled at the thought. "You know, fireworks would give the whole thing a certain... splash."
"Splash. We're all about splash!" Scanlan set his jaw in a look of determination and cracked his knuckles, giving the night sky a considering look.
"Okay. This is something I've never really attempted before, but it'll probably work. You know. Maybe." With that qualified assertion, he threw his hands into the air and released a jagged arc of crackling purple lightning, which appeared to explode once it was a hundred feet or so up. The display was impressive, if not overpowering, with seemingly distant crackling and pops to accompany sudden flashes of purple sparks set brilliantly against the backdrop of stars and midnight-blue clouds.
As soon as that happened, Vax pulled the shadows close around the both of them, drawing them back behind a thin curtain of darkness - just enough to keep any onlookers from seeing the perpetrators. Still, they could both continue to witness the magnificence of Scanlan's creations. "It's like every hallucination I've ever had on Vex's brownies...."
"That's pretty much the effect I was going for," Scanlan nodded, satisfied. The bursts of color and sound continued for a few minutes more, before fading into a final cascade of glittering purple. "Now, methinks it's time to re-join our fellow revelers, lest we provoke suspicion by our absence. You know your sister probably started looking for us as soon as the sky started lighting up purple."
Vax wasn't so sure about that. If he could kill that tree all over again, he would in a heartbeat. Still, maybe she had allowed herself to relax a little at the party. He could only hope. Maybe this would make her smile again. Quirking a small grin, he nodded, pulling them further into the shadows. "One express trip back to the party it is."
no subject
Date: 2018-11-07 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-11-08 04:32 am (UTC)