yumemigaoka | happy halloween housewarming!

happy halloween housewarming!

⭐ Who: Sam, Zeke...you know the drill
⭐ When: Halloween weekend.
⭐ Where: Sam and Zeke's new house!
⭐ What: A housewarming! Gifts and costumes are entirely optional.
⭐ Warnings: Zeke, as usual.

The first thing that anyone notices entering the newly-christened Casa de Chaos is how much bigger it is, compared to Sam's (comparatively tiny!) old apartment. She'd done her best to keep the space bright and welcoming, but the house is so much more, even when one considers the constraints of housing in Japan. There's a well-lit patio in the backyard (though when the party starts, it's due to sunlight! For the evening, there's a ton of fairy lights...). Even with the Halloween decor, it's both surprisingly normal and surprisingly clean, considering Chaosbringer lives there.

As is fairly typical for one of their parties, Sam has Zeke fielding people at the door, while she finishes up food in the kitchen. As usual, there's her specialty--pizza! But she also has an assortment of things one might find in a local restaurant, and a few coolers full of (non-alcoholic) drinks. There's plenty of things to choose from to watch on TV, from the Nightmare Before Christmas, and enough Teki-Terra movies to satisfy Amane (and Zeke, let's be real, here).

For those nosy enough to poke through the house, the main level has a kitchen and living room, and a foyer where people can remove their shoes. (The kitchen, of course, is where all the food is! Though Sam's fine with people wandering around with their plates.) Upstairs is a small library with a guitar in it--probably where Sam practices her guitar. There's a room with exercise equipment in it, as well--not a surprise, considering both of them are somewhat athletic types. The exercise room is directly off the bedroom, which is a bit more traditional--at the moment the futon mattresses are put away in the closet, so there's more floor space!

There is a very particular guest of honor, here! He wasn't seen at Sam's last party--mostly, because he was still living at Zeke's apartment. It's a very small box turtle--he's barely palm sized on Sam, and he usually is in a fancy tank in the living room. When asked, Zeke proclaims with grandiosity that Turters is TURTERS!!, while Sam quietly supplies that Turters is a very good boy.

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Zeke struts around like he owns the place, which of course he partially does, but that ownership comes with a sense of responsibility to his guests that he takes very seriously.

At the moment, it's ushering people in. The unmistakable figure of Chaosbringer in the doorway is a bulwark against those who might have social anxiety about knocking on a strange door... and a symbol that this house is friendly ground.

"Hey! Come on in!"

Lisa does not have the social anxiety problem in this specific context; instead, seeing Zeke in the doorway means she's found the right place, and her face lights up in a warm smile as she picks up the pace to close the rest of the distance to the step. And, of course, once she gets there she won't be able to help herself from giving Zeke an excited hug, if a quick one since he's. Busy. Kinda.

"Ooh, I'm so happy for you two! Congratulations!!" she gets out as she tries to squeeze the stuffing out of him (and fails miserably) before taking half a step back. "And thanks for inviting me, before I forget. Do you or your lovely partner need a hand anywhere before I get stuck in?"

...she's holding a little gift bag, but makes no move to hand it over.

Well! Lisa is certainly in a good mood, and that makes the evening all the brighter. Zeke's positively beaming as he gives her a big thumbs-up.

"It's not that complicated a party, promise! If you enjoy yourself you've done everything we ever wanted."

"It's polite to ask either way, yeah? And I'd feel wrong not to, it's why I showed up a touch early," Lisa admits lamely; clearly she still has some nervous energy. "But if all you want from me is to party, I can definitely arrange that." Her answering grin is wide as she nods, before she looks up at the house itself; she'd been so glad to see Zeke, she hadn't really even looked at it. It's a matter of moments to examine it, but... between both the gravity of the achievement for them and the comparison in her mind for what she wants for herself in the immediate future, the moment has weight, and she finds her smile slipping into something honest, if no less upbeat. "Really though, this is a big deal, and I'm excited. You've been working hard for this for a while now," Lisa adds more soberly.

"I can't argue with that. At least as far as actually finding a place goes." The whole 'developing a relationship to the point where they could live together' part hadn't been too bad at all! "I think the hardest part was finding some jolly parking."

Lisa's in about the same boat with you there, bub, don't say that out loud. "You and your car," she scoffs playfully. "Call me a city girl, but I'll stick to the train any day. I don't have to remember where I left the thing."

"Heh, you say that because you don't understand unparalleled convenience. Or my bloody commute if I'm not driving." Zeke steps aside, ushering her in with a grand sweeping gesture that would be over the top for anyone else, and is generally mid for him.

"That's fair, I'm used to the commute by now and I don't have that many things I need to show up to now." She sweeps past him into the house proper - yeah, it's showy, but it's Zeke, anything less would be suspicious - and clears the entryway but also slows to a stop once she does? Lisa just... looks around slowly, taking it in. She doesn't spend time in a lot of living spaces these days - the one she shares with Junna and Karen, mostly - and this feels like... like someone's home, not just their apartment, or the space they bring people to to entertain. Something about this hits a nerve she didn't think she had anymore after she moved out, and her breath hitches; the moment passes quickly, but the hesitation is probably noticeable as she continues to look around, head on a swivel as she absently pulls her shoes off in the genkan.

"Heh, get used to it. I expect all of you are going to be seeing a lot of it." Zeke knows full well that he and Sam are sort of the parents of the DU, despite the DU having at least one actual parent. Implicitly, this is a refuge and safe space for anyone who needs it -- and someone certainly will, he has no doubt. "Especially once you all get too addicted to Sam's pizza."

The last guest is sent off (probably with leftovers) and, thusly, Sam allows herself to flop down in one of the comfy chairs. And, in her house? She allows herself to put her feet up on the table.

She's the one who's going to clean later, after all.

"Well, we did it again. And in our own place, now, too. Bonus! Oh, you're gonna be stuck with leftovers tomorrow night, I've got a final during the day and then we're performing later. I'll try to pop in if I can, but..."

She trails off, because Sam just has no idea how time will fall out.

"Hey, you just kick ass at whatever you're doing and I'm happy."

Zeke drops down next to her, leaning a little of his weight onto her. He's tired, sure, but it's a good kind of tired, so his smile is entirely content.

"After all, one way or the other, we're both coming back here, right?"

She has to laugh at that, scooting over to make room--those chairs are big enough to hold two, even if it is a little bit of a squeeze. Sam nudges Zeke right back, reaching out to pat his knee.

"Yeah, even if it's late, I will be. It's for a cultural festival, you know how those go. At least my costume for that is ready. Or ready enough."

She might not be playing tabletop, or running any games at the moment, but there's no reason why Sam can't end up performing as one of her characters.

Easy enough for a chair to hold two if one of them is going to tug the other into his lap a little, too.

"Like you couldn't toss one together in a matter of seconds," he scoffs. "Do I get a sneak peek? Or at least a picture?"

"Yeah, of course! I mean assuming you're not here, I just planned to wear it to finals. I doubt it'd be the weirdest thing that class has seen me wear, anyway."

Considering it's one of her music classes, and Sam just tends to throw on ripped jeans, band t-shirts, and boots to attend it, half of the time.

"And I admit I was kind of hoping I could get a ride. I hate taking your car when you might need it, while I'm out. Not to mention there's barely any parking on campus anyhow. Not like here." They had both made certain there was a parking spot by their house.

"I think my grandpa would be proud of how we made out for ourselves, now."

"Yeah, sure, I'll get you there."

A little distracted from his offer by the last sentence, Zeke lifts his free arm to tap his forehead. Look out, he's actually thinking!

"Speaking of how we made out... what are we thinking about making this form? On paper and legal and all."

"Form?" Sam's brain chugs a moment, because this is a curveball she wasn't expecting, and after a big day like they've had, they're both tired.

"Formal? Uh. I mean, it's not like we'd have anything huge considering our family situations, huh?"

She gnaws on her lower lip, and then shrugs a little. "I don't know? I mean, we're getting into the time of year where holidays make things crazy. Maybe early next year? Have a little time between getting engaged and getting hitched?"

Both of those thoughts make Sam look a little shaken, but it's not like they haven't been together, been fine, for a good year or two. And it wasn't like that wasn't going to fulfill another final wish her grandpa had had, as well...

"Oh yeah, definitely not during holidays. What about early summer? Dodge the graduations and exams and all that for everyone in school, but not into the major summer holidays?"

Never mind how it seems like everyone is graduating. There'll always be more Dreamers, or even current ones deciding to further their education. No sense inconveniencing anyone who they'd want to show up.

"Not that we couldn't put it off if we wanted,. just... Here we are," he adds, gesturing at the house around them.

"Well, yeah, but this was supposed to be a step, not an avalanche. Then again, look at who I'm talking to!"

Sam has to laugh a little--because really, she should have known better. He goes by "Chaosbringer", after all. And while her life has been a lot more chaotic for him being in it, it's mostly been the good kind of chaos.

"But...yeah, maybe a summer wedding would be nice. Are we going to invite the entire DU?" Sam figures they could, after all. Most of their friends are there. And others who mean a lot to them.

"Why not? They all deserve it. Half of them are practically our adoptees at this point."

How they ended up as team parents is a mystery... well, perhaps less so if you take into account Ai's Everything lately. How they appear to be the most with-it and sensible Dreamers? Same deal. But all that's true, and he wouldn't change it.

Sam had her crisis, it was just last year and it was in America. The only Nightmare there was in the waking world; she never went to sleep for it. Unfortunately. She'd have liked her grandfather to still be around.

"I guess it's a crash course for if we ever actually become parents? Not that I'm anywhere near ready for that."

Not that Sam would give up being an older sibling for any Dreamer who needed it, either.

"And yeah, it's not like we can't afford to invite the whole DU. And Grandpa's girlfriend, she'd like to see that. She's halfway through her world tour now, last I heard."

"Of course! Though planning the guest list now might be jumping the gun just a little." The important thing is, of course, the agreement. Everything else is just an inevitability flowing from it. "Hmm. Ring, some other form of jewelry? I don't know how much something will get in the way of rocking out, after all."

"Better to plan now and adjust accordingly. Just because a name's on the list doesn't mean it's set in stone." Sam shrugged at that. There was plenty of time ahead to get all the logistics set up.

Because really, that agreement could just be verbal. Though most governments didn't like that, and Zeke, being a government worker, would think of that.

"Men's ring or a necklace, probably? I could do earrings, but I've got a bunch of those, and they get traded out a lot. I mean, I'm not picky."

Picky: the last thing Sam was.

If they had to do things like make decisions for each other, for whatever reason? He didn't want any doubt in anyone's mind, legal or otherwise, that she was qualified.

"Hmm. That could go either way. Tell you what, we'll go looking next month and see what appeals?"

"Sure, that works for me! You want anything in turn? I know that's not exactly traditional, but..."

Sam never had been a stickler for tradition. But in truth, if something happened to her--it was true that she wanted Zeke to make decisions for her, if it came to that. Though she glanced over at him.

"I do have an idea or two for you, maybe. But I'm not going to make any snap decisions. Not yet."

"I'm perfectly happy with a ring, believe it or not." One or two things, even Chaosbringer can do conventionally. Shocking, isn't it? "But if you have other ideas? Totally open."

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happy halloween housewarming!

Zeke!

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Sam (post-party, closed to Zeke, she mingles elsewhere!)

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