Work Text:
The Halloween party hadn't been planned. It started as a few offhand comments about the holiday, but the spirit of celebration on Stratt's vat was mostly overshadowed by the heaps of work the taskforce faces just like every other day of the year. No rest for the wicked, one of them had joked.
The universe decided to reward them, however, around nine in the afternoon a handful of the scientists actually completed their to do's and ran into each other in pursuit of a late night snack. With a few hours left in the day to kick back before the need for sleep finally came, they decided to make a thing of it.
Steve has a steady game of Clue going with Lamai and Leclerc, and Olesya has her makeup and minimalistic craft supplies with which she's began to engineer some very last minute costumes for everyone who will let her (she is a cat). Du Bois and Shapiro were the first to lay claim to Victor Frankenstein and The Monster, a fairly simple costume idea half of the present company wish they had come up with first. Yao retrieved his bedsheet and is in his seat looking like a very cozy ghost. A comfortable chatter fills the room as everyone sips on drinks and enjoys themselves.
Ryland Grace never runs out of work to do, of course, though when he heard what was happening he decides to bring his work out of the lab to quietly join. He enters with his work in one hand and a bowl of skittles in the other.
"Grace!" Olesya greets him when he tries to sneak in unseen. She's got her fingers in Dimitri's mouth, shoving a bit of straw onto his teeth like fangs. He flashes a grin his way, baring his teeth.
"Come, sit, I have perfect thing." He makes his way to join them, and Olesya places a pair of paper ears onto his head and wraps her flannel around his shoulders.
"You are the werewolf. Stay still, I will draw snout."
"Oh yeah, you know me. I'm a wild beast."
"No, you are puppy."
"Oh." The two laugh at his reaction and, like a good sport, he leans forward so Olesya can paint a dot on his nose with her eyeliner.
"Awoo. Don't mind me, I just-" He gestures to his work and Dimitri nods sagely.
"No rest for wicked."
The party continues around him. Several little cliques eventually coalesce into one group as urban legends and folktales from everyone's hometowns are shared. At some point the Halloween playlist churns out the Monster Mash for the third or fourth time and Lokken announces she's queuing up this 'cool band, i don't think any of you would know them'.
Ryland's head snaps up so hard he loses his glasses when he hears what she plays.
"They're very underground."
"Ooh, spooky!"
"Are you gatekeeping halloween music?" Ryland grins nervously, trying not to look like a deer caught in headlights. "Why? It's kind of.."
"It's a good album, Doctor Grace, they're talented artists. Honestly, you may be an appalling scientist but I know you have taste."
"Oh, sorry, that's just, uh, it's my band." He says it kind of lamely, and the group goes quiet. And now everyone is looking at him. Yay.
"You're in a band? No, no."
"Well.. i was in a band. Dead Man's Bones, this was way back, i don't know, one or two years into my degree?" He smiles and sings along,"When I think about you, flowers grow out of my grave, grave, grave! So. Thank you, i think."
"Wicked! I didn't know you were chill like that, doctor Grace." He feels someone clap a hand on his shoulder.
"That is pretty cool." Lokken's gone a bit pink, she seems a little embarrassed about snapping at him. He smiles a little and lets the conversation drift towards other topics as he gets back to his tasks. Half an hour passes and the scientists are tipsy enough to pull out the karaoke machine- something he finds himself dragged into stone cold sober. The festive spirit lasts about an hour later than it should, and by the time Ryland makes it back to his quarters he's properly tuckered out. There's that heavy bone tiredness that always comes after a long days work, but on top of that, he passes out on his bed feeling a little warm and nice inside.