(open) Where in the Maze is Carmen Sandiego?

[Isabella Jillian Avadore]

Trick or treating had been fun. And now, with a mild sugar rush, and her candy securely hidden - she fully intended to share, but didn't want to risk losing it all given her roommates - Isabella was wandering the basement maze.

Her bright red costume was a bit more muted here, the long crimson trench coat and matching hat with a yellow band now quite as standalone. The maze wasn't all the spooky to Isabella, probably due to her past, but that by no means meant the teachers did not go above and beyond what was warranted for a 'haunted basement'. Music varied from area to area, from "double trouble" to something that she was pretty sure came from the Saw soundtrack. How they got their hands on all these decorations in this town, she really had no idea, unless Principal Hanston's 'day off' resulted in her driving to a bigger town and buying what she could find.

Carmen Sandiego stepped over a apparently severed arm, past the locked door to the janitor's office. It was covered in some sort of glowing substance, with a sign warning of radiation beside it. Funnily enough, the janitor (who she passed in the hallway on her way here) was dressed as some mutated zombie of sorts. Wonder how THAT came to be? She made no attempt to really find her way, since she only had the dance to attend after this, and didn't plan on dancing. Dressed up as a thief of not, she was also a saint...and dancing, well...she didn't know. She'd love to, in truth, to dance at a dance. But something made Jehanne hesitate. She wouldn't bat an eye at staring down the barrel of a gun, wouldn't hesitate to wear mens clothes, but dance? That was a little different to her. She wandered past assorted severed heads on sticks. They looked quite realistic, for, after a poke, discovering they weren't some sort of plastic, but rubber. At least, she was pretty sure it was rubber. Though her long black gloves, it was a little hard to tell sometimes.

Isabella walked a little further, into a room that was dungeon like in nature. She walked in with a little more hesitation, noting one of the staff had gone through the trouble of replicas of torture devices, courtesy of the metalworkers in shop class, she assumed. This room brought back memories, and none too nice. Curious, though, she looked at one, a claw-like instrument used to remove skin a little closer. "Don't swipe it, Miss. Sandiego." Isabella jumped as she saw one of the teachers, Mr. DuPoint, lurking among the assorted dungeon instruments. He gave her a smile from under his blood executioner's mask, and Joan couldn't help but think she'd seen those eyes before, the look in them...some shadow of something - no, someone. Weird. "Like my costume?" He asked, in response to her a little long glance.

"You look more like a VILE villain than someone telling me not to swipe things." Isabella said, recovering without a missed beat. Mr. DuPoint laughed. Isabella pulled her red collar up further, and her hat down. Despite hair shorter than Carmen Sandiego every wore it, she looked the part - a yellow turtleneck his most of the bandaging she wore on her neck still, and slipped out of the room without another word. That had been the creepiest experience of the night, and none of the smoke from dry ice, screams or freaky songs (she listened to a lot of the "freaky songs" they used) came close. Isabella turned a corner, then heard footsteps. She glanced back, and caught sight of someone she knew.

Carefully, she concealed herself behind a large headless horseman, and waited, hoping her bright colors wouldn't give her away, before...

"Boo!" Isabella leapt out from her little hiding spot, right at the person, laughing as she said boo. Whether or not she scared them was another matter, but jumping out had been fun. "How's your night going?"

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words| 730
tagged| open for one. =D
notes| n/a

[Oliver Lee Winchester]

Oliver was in Room 220 of the boys dorms, putting the finishing touching on his costume. This consisted of adjusting and readjusting the fake mustache on his face. He had already donned the rest of his costume, which consisted of a bright red shirt covered with blue overalls, and a red hat marked with an M.

Orville Wright was dressed up as Mario.

In retrospect, he wondered if this was perhaps the best costume choice. In all honesty, he'd only gone with it in the first place to hold up his end of Isabella's dare to grow a mustache. However, the costume was already a bit hot, and his mustache just was not doing what he wanted it to do! The fourteen year old sighed in frustration as he pushed on the mustache one more time, gave himself a look over in the mirror, and nodded before turning away.

At least he wouldn't be alone. He had originally planned to go as Mario in the first place (again, for the mustache), but it worked out incredibly well in the end when he discovered that one of his roommates was, in fact, his brother. So after the heartfelt reunion and discussions about newfangled flying machines, the two had gotten to work planning out a joint Halloween costume. Now Nate Driscoll would be joining Oliver Winchester as Luigi. Certainly made running around like this a bit more appealing. At least they might get some laughs out of it?

Oliver left the dorm, wishing that he'd had a chance to see his other roommate's costume. He had yet to see what Xelios Savas (formerly Charles Darwin) was wearing for Halloween, although he had a strong suspicion that a bra was involved. Oliver was glad that he'd asked Cindy if he could borrow her bra over the internet, as he would have hated to see the look on Cindy's face as she read that IM.

He decided to head down to the basement first. The gymnasium was where the real party was at, of course, but he had a feeling that most students would be heading there later on if they were attending at all. Thus, it was best to get the maze out of the way first then go for broke at the party later on. Then again, he doubted he'd be doing much at the party other than sitting and watching.

Oliver entered the maze, bracing himself as he entered. In all honesty, most of the items in the maze did not scare him too much, simply for the knowledge that they were all props. The music did help to create an eerie environment, though, and Oliver could not help but feel his heart rate speed up a bit at the atmosphere created by the music. He had only really been scared a couple of times, when he was least expecting it of course. Most of this consisted of people jumping out at him and nearly giving him a heart attack...though perhaps that wasn't the best way of putting it?

He rounded another corner of the maze, pondering who he might see at the dance (and what Xelios' costume might be). As such, he was leaving himself open for the attack...and someone took advantage of it. Just not someone that he was expecting. He jumped at once at the sound of a 'Boo!', letting out a small grunt of shock. Then he took a closer look at the figure that jumped out at him and smiled slightly. "Hmm, Carmen Sandiego in a haunted maze? Never thought I'd see it, but I guess there's probably something worthy of swiping in here."[/color]

Their costumes matched to some extent. They were both game characters, although Isabella's character of choice had TV shows in addition to her roles in games. They were also both staples of their childhoods in this lifetime.

Operative word being this lifetime.

"My night? Decent so far. Still have yet to see what Xelios did with that bra, though..."[/color] He lowered his voice to a whisper with the last part, and flashed Isa a small grin. "Yours?"[/color] The idea of Mario and Carmen Sandiego carrying on a casual conversation within a haunted maze was strange enough, without taking into effect that Mario in this case was the reincarnation of Orville Wright and Carmen Sandiego was the reincarnation of Joan of Arc.

Sometimes truth was stranger than fiction, but most of the world would never know. Perhaps making it that much more amusing to those involved.

Word count: 772
To: Isa/Dante
Notes: Hope it's decent?

[Isabella Jillian Avadore]

Poor Mario. He never saw it coming. Carmen Sandiego leapt out from her hidey hole and gave him a shock. But truth be told, he ought to have expected it. It was a staple joke, moreso in haunted houses like these ones...or haunted basements. "I scared you!" Isabella laughed, knowing she'd have jumped just the same if someone did that to her. Didn't make it much less funny though, as it was all harmless at the end of the day. "Nice costume. And moustache." She really shouldn't have been so amused, but she was. In her day moustaches weren't uncommon at all, never mind strange ones, but something had always amused her about the moustache of Orville Wright. Or in this case Mario. Or Oliver Or some poor soul in a different body, or...

Something along those lines, anyhow.

"There's plenty of things worth stealing, I'm sure." Isabella mused. "I do steal the oddest things sometimes." The colosseum? How about the book of the dead, or the keys to the forbidden city, right down to the Niger River Delta and the abominable snowman. Isabella wasn't quite sure how one could even steal some of those. But. Then again. Anyone who could commit daring robberies in bright red and somehow never get caught (or if she did, never for long) probably could find a means to steal a river delta and stash it somewhere.

"Maybe I've swiped something already." Yeah, right. St. Joan of Arc typically wasn't into theft, she'd leave it to the playboy bunny that was Bonnie Parker to that. But she'd had sugar, and well, Halloween was an odd time of year.

She asked about his night and looked over his costume again. It wasn't bad, overall. Given sometimes what Internet orders could be (too small, what have you) she had to say his costume had done very well. "You best hope it's part of his costume!" Isabella laughed, knowing full well it couldn't possibly be for anything else. If it had been....well. THAT was something she didn't want to get into. "My night's been great. And look at this," She shifted for she was facing him better. "I'm your size! Maybe even a bit taller." Courtesy of the black, Gothic style boots she was wearing, she had a a good couple inch (thick, since she couldn't walk on those pointy ones) heel, and her hat made her seem a bit bigger still. Besides. Carmen Sandiego was one of the taller cartoon women; no doubt she'd have towered over a Mario, or even a Luigi. In Isa's case, a tie was good enough for her. Joan of Arc was not, by any means, taller than Orville Wright, in either lifetime.

But it was fun to play pretend for a night, to be someone other than who they were; despite the fact that the two teens sort of did that every day.

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words| 547
tagged| Oliver / Mandee
notes| This be long overdue.

[Oliver Lee Winchester]

Oliver should have expected it, and would have expected it had his mind not been elsewhere. He walked right into it, and he knew it. Nevertheless, when Joan exclaimed in excitement that she scared him, Oliver folded his arms across his chest and shook his head exaggeratedly. "Did not!"[/color] The pubescent voice that he possessed at this point in his second life only proceeded to add to the illusion that he was throwing a tantrum, especially as it cracked in the middle of the word 'did'. Fortunately, Oliver possessed a sense of humor, and could not help but grin after his own display.

"Thank you. Your costume is quite nice as well."[/color] As she mentioned the mustache, his hand went up to his face to itch that area once more. "Unfortunately, fake mustaches itch like no one's business..."[/color] Oliver sighed and removed his hand once more, wishing that there was some way to make this mustache feel natural. It wasn't the idea of having something on his face that was bothering him, it was more the fact that he knew that this something was entirely foreign. That, added on to the fact that whatever material was used to stick it to his face and instant discomfort.

"Well for the love of God, don't steal Princess Peach. I'm looking forward to a night off for once."[/color] Oliver joked right back as Carmen Sandiego admitted that she sometimes stole the strangest items. On another odd note, Oliver was fairly certain that he'd seen another student dressed as Princess Peach earlier. This posed a small problem, as Oliver had a feeling that others might push him to dance with said Princess Peach. And he was nervous enough about dancing, let alone with some girl that he'd never met!

Oliver shook his head. "Well, if your fingers are getting that sticky, you can have this mustache. It itches."[/color] Oliver scrunched his nose, trying to resist the urge to bring his hands up to his face once more.

Fortunately, the subject of Xelios offered a lovely distraction from this. "I would hope so. Either that or it's some twisted new take on survival of the fittest."[/color] At these words, a picture of Xelios standing in Victoria's Secret getting fitted for a bra popped into Oliver's head, and he could hardly contain himself. Finally, he had to let a few chuckles escape. He had to take a few deeps breaths to get himself back under control to see what Joan was referring to, and he smirked as he saw that she was indeed standing at the same height as he was. That, of course, was before the hat as well. "Well. Guess you can't call me ganglylimbs tonight."[/color] It was only fair, as he couldn't very well call her shortstop when she was at the same height he was. Albeit with the help of high-heeled shoes, but nevertheless.

Speaking of Luigi, Oliver had to wonder where his brother was. He was a tad nervous about tonight, if he had to be honest. He found the joint costume idea quite amusing, but at the same time, this would be the first time he'd spend time with Nate in this life front of a bunch of other people. They'd toss around their old names like it was nothing in the dorm now, but that was no big deal, as Charles Darwin happened to be their roommate. There was nothing to fear there. Out in public was a different story. Out here a misplaced Wilbur or Orville could send the whole thing sky high.

...pun intended.

"So, what's on your agenda tonight? Seen any interesting costumes?"[/color] Thus far, Oliver only knew of a few costumes, and was quite curious to see what some of his schoolmates would come up with. Especially those in the RSOR.

Word count: 772
To: Isa/Dante
Notes: Hope it's decent?

[Isabella Jillian Avadore]

Isabella could only laugh when Oliver's voice chose that moment to crack. "If I didn't scare you, I most certainly did terrify your voice." She teased, knowing full well he couldn't exactly help it...but really, who could resist making the comment? She couldn't. He was grinning, anyways, it wasn't like he'd off and cried, now had he?

And frankly, it'd have been pathetic if he had.

"Thanks." Isa said with a smile when he mentioned the costume. With no readily available Sandiego costumes, Isabella had turned to making her own. Sewing was a skill she'd gotten from her past mother, though in this life her mother was a seamstress - which gave Isabella the chance to sew to her heart's content as a child, and yes, she did sew more than most little girls with a tomboy streak. "What sort of adhesive did you use?" She inquired as Oliver commented about the moustache itch. The wrong adhesive could give him...a rash or something. Granted, synthetic hair under one's nose was probably itchy at the best of times.

At the idea of stealing Princess Peach, Isabella eyes light up, and she grinned at the idea. Now that would make for an interesting crossover game, to be sure. Carmen Sandiego steals Princess Peach. Mario thinks it's Bowser. He comes to fight Bowser and BAM Sandiego swipes him, too. Could be fun. "Thanks for the idea, Mario," Isabella laughed. "You take the night off tonight, and tomorrow you go find Peach." Wasn't there a girl dressed up as Peach? She could have sworn there was one, as she came into the school. As far as he moustache was concerned... "Thank would be an interesting steal, Mario's moustache. But it wouldn't be that great if you just gave it up." What kind of criminal stole things people were willing to part with? That was kinda lame, she had to say.

The subject turned to Xelios and the bra, and that was one costume Isa was eager to see. It didn't seem like Xelios to do something like that, but who knew. Maybe Darwin was braver than she took him for. That wasn't to say she thought he was a coward, but it was one thing to stand and fight an another to parade about in a borrowed bra. "I don't think I want to know the correlation between survival of the fittest and bra thievery, thanks...and I don't see the correlation." Frankly...she did not want to know ow that tied into it. It would be perverse to steal someone's bra in this situation, let's leave it there. "Well, I suppose I can't call you ganglylimbs, but you can't call me shortstop, either." Not that he often did. One thing could be said of Joan; she had a habit of scaring people, or just commanding their respect. Not that she meant to in the former of those cases, but it did play to her advantage more than once, even on something like a nickname. On a larger scale, it got her control of the armies of a nation, despite being one of the last people that would else wise be considered for the job.

"My agenda?" Isa asked when Oliver spoke again. "Wander around here for a bit, then head up into the dance and see what I can see. You?" Isabella didn't have an intentions of dancing. She didn't have anything against dancing, persay, but it was just one of those things. She didn't particularly have dancing skill, nor did she particularly think it made sense for her to dance. Some of the quicker dances were, well...the lyrics spoke for themselves and the slower ones, if you didn't have a boy or girlfriend, didn't make sense. She didn't think it made much sense for her to go out on the dance floor, and she knew she could enjoy the night just as easily watching and hanging out with friend on the sidelines, though she had a feeling Chess was doing to try and dance with her...which she'd really rather not do. Really.


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words| 769
tagged| Oliver / Mandee
notes| Ta-da!

[Oliver Lee Winchester]

Oliver did not fail to recognize the comedic effect of his voice choosing to crack at that time. Thus, he grinned. This did not mean that he wasn't embarrassed, of course. Therefore, he wanted to get off of the subject as fast as possible. He acknowledged Isabella's comment about terrifying his voice with a sheepish grin, then proceeded to focus on the next part of the conversation. Namely, discussing costumes.

"I just used the adhesive that came with the set."[/color] Oliver did not figure that this had anything to do with the adhesive, however - He figured it was more the synthetic hair that was bothering him. Nonetheless, there was still a chance he could get a rash if he continued to itch at his face, part of the reason why he was keeping his hands away. The other reason? Well, Mario didn't look very much like Mario when he kept itching his mustache, now did he?

Oliver raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Idea?"[/color] Sure enough, Joan of Arc spilled exactly what she was referring to just a few seconds later. "We have a deal, Ms. Sandiego. Or Mrs."[/color] Oliver added as an afterthought. Was Carmen Sandiego married? He somehow doubted it, as he didn't picture a married woman globetrotting and thieving to her heart's content. Of course, there was Bonnie and Clyde to consider when it came to criminal couples, but certainly Carmen Sandiego would not opt to travel by herself if she were indeed married. Her husband would be right there along with her.

"Not really thieving if I just give it away, true. Plus as far as I know Carmen Sandiego has only traveled around the Earth and through time. I've never heard of her making a stop in Mushroom Kingdom before. Though I guess if she wishes to steal Princess Peach, she kind of has to."[/color] Oliver gave a halfhearted shrug. If it was at all possible, conversations at Riverdale High were taking an even stranger turn now that it was Halloween. After all, what other time could the subject of Charles Darwin in a bra repeatedly come up?

Speaking of which, Oliver waggled an eyebrow and smirked. "Honestly, you don't see the correlation? Survival of the fittest and bras? Survival of the fittest?"[/color] He decided to leave it there, because really, the mental image was making him a tad uncomfortable. He just enjoyed flaunting when he had one over on Joan, and he wasn't about to give up this golden opportunity.

No calling Joan of Arc shortstop tonight. He could deal with that. He did not typically call her shortstop anyway, especially after what happened the last time. Orville Wright could best Joan of Arc at the science fair, but hand to hand combat? Joan would win, hands down, as was already proven in the RSOR room.

"That was my plan too. Figure I'll go to the dance when everyone else is. Less of a chance of being dragged out onto the dance floor that way."[/color] Oliver was not a huge fan of crowds, but he also planned to use the crowd at the dance to his advantage. People weren't as likely to notice him if there were plenty of other people at the dance. He did intend on enjoying himself, of course, but there was a difference between break dancing to your heart's content in the middle of the dance floor and standing off to the side, talking with friends and taking in the entertainment of others goofing off on the dance floor. Hayden Callaghan in a Barrack Obama mask with a crowd of girls flocking around him, for example.

"Somehow I can't see Mario or Carmen Sandiego being particularly good dancers anyway."[/color] Oliver added with a wry smile.

Word count: 633
To: Isa/Dante
Notes: Bwoop?