The PET House was jumping as Halloween approached, and even had some visitors from outside the new fraternity/sorority that had come as well. It made for a good Saturday evening gathering. There had been some complaint on the fact that it was being held on a weekend, rather than on Halloween Night, but unlike holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July, Halloween was not one that gave people paid leave and cancelled school. This meant that everyone had to be able to get too school, and that included college students.
"I'd think we ought to make a petition that would move Halloween to the last weekend in October," Sylvia commented of hand as she sipped from a small glass of water as she looked over one of the living rooms where there were many in costume socializing, snacking, an having some fun. She thought she heard a "boo" and a faux "eeeek" somewhere in the background that was followed by giggles.
"You really think that would work, Sheriff?" one of Sylvia's classmates at the law school that had its grounds near the UNLV campus.
Sylvia looked over to her classmate and gave a shrug. Much of it was in their costumes. Sylvia had dressed up as a old western sheriff, with a leather vest with a gold star pinned to it with a white shirt with red stripes underneath and a denim skirt that wrapped around her tail. The shirt and vest were also buttoned in a way that tried to balance both professional and sexy in a way. It gave some view on the broad belly scales that ran down the Rattlesnake Animalian's neck, chest, torso, and then down her tail, but not quite enough to make it seem like she was out for something. Her friend was dressed up as what one would expect from an old English judge, complete with black robes and wig.
"Of course, if we get enough signatures," Sylvia shrugged, "and it'd be good for everybody. Kids don't have to worry about trick or treating on a school night."
There was a crash that came from somewhere else in the house that made both jump and look to the wall behind them, and thus the room on the other side of that wall where they thought the crash had come from.
"It would also mean that drunken frat guys wouldn't have to worry about hangovers before going to class," Sylvia then finished with some measure of humor in her voice.
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The source of the crash was from someone who'd had one too many, but thankfully it was also in the kitchen and while the guy had fallen with quite a noise, as Princess and Tiffany made their way into investigate, they found that others had also arrived and an unconscious man laying on his back on the tile in front of the fridge.
"Great... just what we need... a drunken idiot," Tiffany grumbled with a frown as she looked down to the guy, dressed up as Superman with a open can of Coors pouring onto the floor.
"Well, you are the one that wanted to host the party," Princess reminded her sister, "and at least he passed out here rather than in one of the other rooms. Some paper towels can clean up the spilled bear well enough."
The party had been planned out and a few of the other fraternities/sororities on campus had contributed to it, but the PET house had won the right to host the party. Much of the decoration for the party had been to have orange and black streamers along with some choice jack-o-lanterns, though most were artificial to help set the theme. They'd set up various bowls and trays of food and snacks, with much of it being finger food. There were crackers, olives, carrots, and apples for the herbivorous Animalians, with some smoked meats, jerky, and sandwich meats for carnivorous Animalians. For the Human guests and for any Animalians that could safely handle things like chocolate or the artificial ingredients in most candies there were bowels of candy that were available. Some had things like party packs while others had individual servings of chocolate bars and the like. And these were all distributed through the various parts of the house where the party was ongoing and the guests could hang out.
Guests could bring their own beverages, but it had been put as a rule that all loose beverages, be kept in the kitchen. It was hoped that this would keep things like stray cans being left all over the place and make sure that if there was a spill, it would be in a place where there wouldn't be a massive cleanup that would have to be done. And that was apparently what happened here that had caused the crash. The guy, who'd probably had a bit too much, came in for more beer, slipped on something on the floor and passed out after he hit the ground. As Princess and Tiffany looked on the unconscious guy they also watched as Marvin and Stuart came in from the other doorway.
"Did you two see what happened?" Tiffany demanded.
Marvin gave a low whimper and backed away. He'd never gotten a shot for much more than a few hellos with Princess over the course of the summer, after learning that Tiffany was "taken," but their actual meeting had gone fairly well and that let him break the ice with regards to talking with Princess during some time between classes on the UNLV campus. It made him feel more confident, particularly as Stuart had seemed to really hit it up with Cammy toward the end of the summer. Their parents weren't particularly fond of the fact that their sons had decided to become Animalians over the summer, but as Marvin had explained to Princess one afternoon after they'd returned to campus, they did seem to get over it. And Princess quite happily indulged him conversation and fun.
Though, Tiffany was different. Marvin didn't necessarily find Tiffany unfriendly, but Tiffany was more assertive and in a certain way, dominant. In this, Marvin didn't want to get on Tiffany's bad side. Particularly as it might mean that Tiffany would forbid him from seeing her sister, and that was something he wanted to avoid. Stuart was a bit more confident, but then, he'd also become a Great Dane and had found Cammy, and thus had no real reason to feel threatened.
"No, we were just getting some snacks in the other room when he said he was going for another beer," Marvin spoke, "then boom... we came in and there he was."
"Though something smells fruity," Stuart commented, sniffing at something.
That then lead to a groan from the floor as the guy began to wake up, drawing attention down to him. As Stuart looked down, he thought he saw a crushed kiwi under one of the cabinets. The group began to move in and Stuart even got down to a knee to check on the guy.
"You okay, Carter?" Marvin asked.
"Yeah... I just came in for the beer," the guy, Carter, said, "I just got the can open when I slipped on something."
"You didn't just pass out drunk?" Tiffany asked with a questioning tone.
"I'm not! I promise!" Carter insisted, "I slipped on something."
"There does seem to be a crushed kiwi over there," Stuart said as he pointed to the piece of crushed fruit.
Princess and Tiffany looked over to it following Stuart's arm. And there they could find the crushed kiwi laying under one of the cabinets. Both soon figured that it must have fallen onto the floor when they were getting ready before the party. Marvin meanwhile helped Carter to his feet and brushed off some of the dust that had been on the floor.
"Sorry about the mess," Carter apologized to Tiffany and Princess.
"It's alright," Princess answered, "I think one of the sets of fruit that had been cut up for some of the snacks feel on the floor and no one noticed. That's what you slipped on."
And thankfully that was the worst of what happened at the party.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In another room, Maddie sat quietly with one of the classmates she'd made at college. She'd enjoyed her studies so far, and while UNLV had found itself going through many of the same infrastructure problems that had lead to Animalia putting WSA together to provide larger Animalians more room for comfort, things weren't too terribly bad. She managed and for the most part many had been fairly accommodating of Animalians. She'd made friends with a girl from California named Sadie Hawkins. There were some playful jabs at school dances, but it all went in good fun, and the two often worked together on notes and projects.
"The only thing missing is bobbing for apples," said Sadie from the couch as they watched an old horror movie that was being shown on the television, "that was a big thing at some Halloween parties we had back at home."
Maddie chuckled at Sadie's reference to things done in her home town in California, "well sure... that'd work... if we filled the bathtub to bob for apples in."
"It doesn't have to be a bathtub," Sadie answered, "you could just have a big metal tub and fill it with water, and then apples."
"I think if we did that, you'd see people coming here for more than just apples," Maddie gave a chuckle and gestured to the Wonder Woman costume she was wearing, "largely hoping I fall out of this."
"Not that you haven't done that already," Sadie teased in reference to Maddie's time at the Meat Market in Lyre/Animalia.
"That was different," Maddie answered with a chuckle and a dismissive wave.
The two soon laughed and turned back to the movie.