"I'm with Teo on this one. If you don't show up to the winter event, I'm going to be so disappointed! Seriously, I'm going to tell all of my friends about you. You're amazing! You're, like, the best! This game has been so much fun. Even when we've been wrong. Right, Cal, Teo?" When her friends nodded, she flashed the Chimera a grin.
"Stop it, you're making me blush," the game master said. But her face was proud and just a little bit wicked--even if it was blushing a little. Eidil stuck her hand in the box and felt around. "Hm...this one's...flexible...um..." It felt a little rubbery, and there was a weird groove in the center of it. "Okay, I'm stumped."
"It's something you've no doubt touched today," the Chimera said.
Eidil shook her head. "Nope, still no clue. Cal, your turn!"
But just then, a third small, warm body hit Eidil's back. She craned her neck around to figure out what had happened. "Am I a roost now?" she asked. She turned her back towards Cal. "What's back there, anyway?!"
Cal peered at Eidil's fine back. "Three nezubats." Okay, she'd probably guessed that already, she wasn't stupid. "Um, there's a green and pink one, a brown one, and a pink one. They're all very pretty," she said.
Eidil nodded in satisfaction and stepped aside to let Cal try. Cal stuck her hand in the box and squeezed the coiled object inside. Oh, duh! This one was easy! Just as the Chimera said, it was something they handled every day! "It's a pair of ear buds!" she said triumphantly. "Or rather," she added, "it's the wires to a pair of ear buds. The buds themselves and the connector have been cut off, probably with a pair of wire cutters."
"Have you considered being a detective someday?" the Chimera asked. She opened the box to reveal the white wires inside.
Cal shook her head ruefully. "I've sold my soul to the science of botany," she said as she accepted a green cotton candy. "And anyway, I keep getting these wrong. You're turn, Teo."
Teo was a little too distracted to step forward. Something had been running into his ankles and screaming at him. At first he had thought it was his sister's new pumpka. She had two of them, but one of them was back at the table, so this was probably the second one, the new one. But no...Cal had done something to that one and it had fallen asleep. So what was this one?
He bent down to pick up the pumpka, but it shrieked at him and floated away. He swatted it with his stick, soliciting a cry of protest from the demented gourd. He tried to catch it with the end of his cane and missed. "Cal, help!" he squeaked out.
Cal turned to see what her brother was doing just in time. A purple pumpka was floating around his head, taunting him, as he swung at it with his cane. She waited until it was distracted and grabbed it with both hands. She blew sharply into it, putting out the candle, and de-animating it. Its face, now that it wasn't screaming, was quite jolly, as if it was laughing. It was quite cute! She held it out to her brother. "Very nice catch."
Teo shook his head. "You can have it," he said. "I'm not really a pumpka fan, I think. And yes, I'm sure." He pushed it towards his sister, who clutched it to her chest.
The room at the top of the stairs was dusty and empty. There was an old bedframe, much covered in dust and rust, in teh corner. There was a full-length mirror, but it had been broken at some point. The pieces were scattered across the floor, though not, he noticed, any small pieces that could get lodged in the feet. The windows were boarded up; the only light came from a faint green glow up above. Quilo looked up...and sort of wished he hadn't.
Hanging from the ceiling were row after row after row of dolls. The dolls represented all of the races of nightmares--baphomets and geists and demons and grimms, all dangling from the ceiling. Some were wrapped up in string, others in shrouds or black cloaks. The blue light came from wisps in lanterns hanging from chains from the ceiling. Quilo shivered. There was...movement...up above...in the rafters...a scuttling sound in the walls, as if something were crawling past the peeling wallpaper, coming towards him...
The sound he had heard from outside of the room was a soft sighing sound, eerie, and almost musical. It seemed to be coming from the broken mirror frame. He cautiously approached it, prepared to get scared. As he approached the mirror, something dropped from the ceiling once more, landing in front of him. He picked up the white object. It was one of those paper ghosts. He turned it around to see what its face was. It was the angry face. He looked up at the mirror frame.
There are some things you can't get prepared for--not properly prepared for, anyway. A sudden face of a screaming child with wide, empty eyesockets is one of them. It leapt from the empty mirror frame, its gaping jaw opening as if to swallow Quilo whole!
Quilo screamed and ran from the apparition. He ran out the door and headed for the stairs.
"Oh hey, look! Another one!" Odessa held out the little plushie for Kara to see. "These things are too adorable! Even if I don't get any other candy I think I made out pretty well with these guys!"
Kiessi grinned when the next person slipped a cute little bracelet on they're arm. "Oh hey! Thanks!"
"It really looks like you have!" Kara agreed and held out her sugar skull. "These things are pretty cute too."
Anara's eyes narrowed when she came across some rather nasty gum in her bucket, the wrapper even said so. She swore she had to find some better candy than this!
"Sounds good to me," Chries said. He'd had rotten luck last time, but he was certain he'd have better luck this time. He watched as the game master scooped up the cards and put it into a deck, shuffling and cutting them several times before dealing them back out in a grid. Okay. Go time, Anchriesel. Pick a strategy, and go with it.
He first picked the card in the upper left corner. Yellow star. Okay, the card diagonally below it and to the right. Red candy. Below and to the right. Blue flitterrat. Okay, okay, not good so far... he turned over the next in the sequence. The orange pumpkin...and then the next. The purple bat. Oh, come on! At this rate, he wouldn't get anything good at all! He turned over the last card and breathed a sigh of relief to see a purple bat. "I'll take another pack of gum. This just doesn't seem to be my night."
Anchriesel takes another stick of gum
Man, tough luck for Anchriesel. Was just nothing going his way tonight? Besides the copious wins he'd already made? Peri found it sort of hard to feel sorry for his savior. Nice guy, but didn't take losing well. Was starting to develop a grudge against the cards. Yeesh. And people thought Peri was the crazy one?
Well, no, they knew he was crazy. Not the point. The point was that Anchriesel was taking this too seriously, and too hard. Peri was picking his cards at random. This was a game of chance, not a game of strategy, after all! He picked a random card--the red candy--and then picked another random card, the blue flitterrat. That one was followed by a green cauldron, which was a shape he hadn't seen yet. It seemed though that they were ready to come out of hiding now, because the one after that was another green cauldron, followed by a yellow star and a blue flitterrat. Perigor nodded in satisfaction. "Do you have anything that isn't candy?" he asked.
The adult blinked in surprise. "We do, actually," she murmured. "Would you like a bracelet?"
Peri nodded. Half the fun of events like this were the non-disposable prizes, after all. The adult handed him a pumpkin bracelet--score! It was adorable, and it had pumpkins on it! He slid it onto his wrist and admired it. "Okay, you're up, Anchriesel!"
Verve loved Haunted Hallow. Loved it. Which didn't exactly explain why it took her so long to actually go out but she was here, wasn't she? That was what counted, right? Okay so maybe she uh spent more time scoping out the awesome stuff being given out first before making a beeline for the bracelets because you seriously can't have enough colors.
After all, she'd gone as a rainbow knight last year. Colors were awesome in her book.
Charmstar was sticking close to his caretaker because of all the costumes and the tricking going around. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to act or sound and went with the tried and tested method of switching his consonants and acting as twee as possible.
It seemed to work because he was given a sugar skull. So what if it wasn't pink? He'd seen some of the things the other nightmares were getting and made a face at the thought. One such unfortunate nightmare was the chimera senior ahead of him.
Mytrax was not entirely sure of her thoughts on her first Haunted Hallows. The idea of dressing up in costumes had its appeal if the chimera was actually confident in her artistic skills. Which she wasn't. Which probably explained why the other nightmares who came before her were being given plushies and familiars and sugary sweets, while she got a rock.
In all fairness, it was a nice rock. Smooth and easy to grip, Mytrax could appreciate the tiny geological chunk she held nestled in the palm of her hand.
Well, since it was getting late, there didn't seem to be very much left for them to peruse through. Laurel suggested another game of ring toss and won a plushie. However, the plushie came with a packet of gross candy stuck to it's backside, which was the sad thing. He'd have to go back to the dorm and wash it out!
Emma giggled when Laurel whined about the gum attached to their new plushie and bit into their candy bar. Their next sentence, however, shocked them and the candy bar was abandoned. Enchanted candy, huh? That wasn't a treat or a trick! It was just plain scary! They stuck their tongue out and wandered after Laurel.
Items
Laurel
Emma
Points
October 15th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 16th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 17th: Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 18th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 19th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 20th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 21st:
Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 22nd: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 23rd: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 24th: (Maxed)
Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 25th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 26th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 27th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 28th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 29th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 30th: (Maxed)
Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
Sascha, now more than thoroughly done with this event, took Dahlia's hand and tried his best to lead her toward the entrance. Maybe, just maybe, if she were distracted enough, she wouldn't notice that they were leaving. Hey, maybe she's fall asleep before they got there, and he'd be able to just carry her home!
... No such luck.
"Dahlia, wait! Stop right there, or we're going home this instant!" He exclaimed, nearly tripping over a discarded box of raisins as he chased after his daughter.
Dahlia wasn't nearly done having fun, but she was oblivious to her daddy's plan. There were more candies and plushies to get, she saw them! She just had to out run her daddy to find them! She scurried through the crowd and ducked behind a booth, before beaming at a stand in the corner. Boom, jackpot!
"Wooow, so orange!" She said, patting the plushie on the head. "I'll save that apple for later, thank you very much!"
Items
Sascha
Dahlia
Points
October 15th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 16th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 17th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 18th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 19th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 20th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 21st:
Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 22nd: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 23rd: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 24th: (Maxed)
Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 25th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 26th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 27th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 28th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 29th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 30th: (Maxed)
Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
*Because I'm brainless, I rolled two dice for Sequoia instead of one. |D Only counting the first roll! (6)
Sequoia was starting to notice the dwindling amount of people as she neared the entrance again. Were a lot of people heading back to the dorms now? Hm. She just wanted to get one or two more things before she headed back, too.
"Uh... Thank you?" She said, giving the oddly shaped plushie a look. "It's... Lovely?"
Well, at least it came with cotton candy that matched it.
Items
Points
October 15th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 16th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 17th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 18th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 19th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 20th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 21st:
Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 22nd: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 23rd: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 24th: (Maxed)
Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 25th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 26th:
Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 27th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 28th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sascha - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 29th: (Maxed)
Laurel - Rolled a treat - 1pt Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
October 30th: (Maxed)
Emma - Rolled a treat - 1pt Dahlia - Rolled a treat - 1pt Sequoia - Rolled a treat - 1pt
Lavender Hues
Hatted Fatcat
Offline
Random Nobody 13 rolled 1 20-sided dice:
5Total: 5 (1-20)
The next house was a total bust. All they had to give to the pastel blue was a bag of popcorn that felt pretty hard with nubbly bits of candy corn jammed into the fingers. She had thanked them, but it hadn't been very happily. Leaving that house was a big relief.
As she trailed after her caretaker, she opened the hand-shaped bag and pulled out a piece. Tentatively taking a bite, her face scrunched up in disgust and she spat it out. This popcorn was WAY too old and gross. She didn't even want to think about trying one of the candy corn pieces! "Yuck!" her upper lip curled up and she dropped some of the popcorn on the ground.
Stepping around it, she suddenly had a face full of black fluff. What the--! Eyes wide, she stepped back as she saw a giant spectrefox sniffing the ground. As she watched it ate the popcorn she had dropped and then turned to her with ears perked up. Its gaze was riveted on the bag in her hands. "Y-You. . .like popcorn?" she asked it tentatively. "It's gross though. . you must be really hungry." Pulling out some more pieces, she held them out to it with her hand flat. Within moments the fox had licked her hand clean. Giggling, she fed it more. "We can get you some better food if you come with me," she told it, gently petting the top of its' head. With a soft noise of approval, it nudged her with its' head and then followed after her when she took off to catch up with her caretaker.
Treats
Tricks
Treat points: 0 Total: 18 10-16 +1 From Pepper 10-17 +1 From Pepper 10-18 +1 From Pepper +1 From Ares 10-19 +1 From Pepper +1 From Ares 10-20 +1 From Pepper 10-21 +1 From Pepper +1 From Ares 10-23 +1 From Pepper 10-24 +1 From Ares 10-25 +1 From Ares 10-26 +1 From Pepper 10-27 +1 From Ares + 1 from Pepper 10-28 +1 From Elliah +1 From Ares 10-30 +1 From Ares
Sweet! A lollipop! Yua added it to her basket with a grin, she had a hard time not thinking about eating the treat instantly on the way to the next house...
Oct 24 - rolled a trick Oct 26 - rolled a treat Oct 28 - rolled a trick + plushie Oct 29 - rolled a treat Oct 30 - rolled a treat
It was a mystery on how Hailey was going to continue trick-or-treating now. Her arms were full of kitty cat... Big kitty cat. Well, if anything she knew that Malachi would help her out!And then they reached the next stop.... "Hey Khai... Could you get my stuff for me?" she asked as she shifted some, trying to keep a hold on her kitty. But then Malachi's mom came over, scooping the kitty up with a smile as she said she'd hold him for her. Maybe she was wrong about her... "Thank you!" she chimed before diving that little hand into the basket.
Malachi smiled up to his mom, beaming happily that his friend seemed to finally be warming up to her. Laughing a little bit at Hailey, he waited for his turn patiently.... but then he decided that he liked doing things with her better, so he went ahead to see what this time would hold for him as well.
And then it happened... she pulled out another gummy poo... "This is the unholy trio of candy..." So gross... so gross... She stuffed it in her pail and sighed. "Candy is candy, but yucky! I don't think I can eat those thi.... AHG!" she yelped as a Flitterat popped it's head out from her bucket! "KHAIIII! Get it get it, please! AH!"
Malachi paid no attention to the gross candy he ended up with as he rushed to snitch up the rat that had gotten into Hailey's bucket. He giggled at her for the reaction as he held the rat. It was really cute... and had extra wings! That was unusual. He looked up at mom, and as she gave a simple nod, he set it on his shoulder. Hello new friend!
Hailey's 10.31.15 Gave the familiar to Malachi
10.23.15 Gave her bracelet to Malachi 10.24.15 10.25.15 10.26.15 10.27.15 10.28.15 10.29.15 10.30.15
Malachi's 10.31.15
10.23.15 10.24.15 Gave his treat to Hailey 10.25.15 10.26.15 10.27.15 10.28.15 10.29.15 Gave his plushie to Hailey 10.30.15
Well, okay the raisins weren't so candy-like. The recent house she had gone too had a bowl placed out front, filled with... Healthy snacks. But it was still food, so Yua had put it in her basket anyways. At least they also had a bowl with little toys in it as well! Now she had yet another plushie! And it was a cute bat-shaped one!
Oct 24 - rolled a trick Oct 26 - rolled a treat Oct 28 - rolled a trick + plushie Oct 29 - rolled a treat Oct 30 - rolled a treat Oct 31 - rolled a trick + plushie
It was still Teo's turn to go up to the board, so Eidil distracted herself easing the nezubats on her back into a more manageable position. Gently she coaxed each one onto her sleeve, then coaxed them onto the front of her shirt. There were indeed three of the little dears--one green and pink, one just pink, and one brown. Each of them was cuter than the last and the next! Oh, such luck! Eidil also paused to chekc to see which prizes she'd won so far. She had collected nearly all of the bat plushies, as well as collecting four bat-shaped chocolates. Today was a good day to be a bat-lover. Soon it would be winter--which was a sad time to be a bat-lover. The wild bats would be going into hibernation soon. Their caves would be locked to the outside world, keeping them safe from careless park visitors. She wondered if their local parks would like some volunteers...she could surely find time to do that! She stroked her brown bat on the head. "What am I going to call you?" she murmured softly to it. It squeaked and nuzzled her hand. Eidil smiled at a passerby who tossed a bracelet into her bucket. "Thank you!" she said.
Cal took stock of the latest additions to her flotilla of pumpkas. She had been satisfied with just the one she had collected earlier--but now she had three! Three! That would be a lot of pumpkas to train. What would she do with so many? Well, the same she'd been planning to do with one, she supposed. They were a pretty low-maintenance pet, since they were fueled by magic. They didn't eat anything, and they didn't rot. She supposed they might rot if their candle was out for too long. She would prefer not to find that out the hard way, though! Instead, she gently petted her new friends. "I'll put your light back on tomorrow," she murmured. Tomorrow would probably be a good day to do it--except, no, wait, tomorrow was a big dinner day. Tonight was technically Haunted Hallows Eve, which meant that tomorrow was Haunted Hallows. To her mother, at least, it was a sacred day--a day to honor the gods and thank them for all of the relatives and loved ones they'd allowed. Cal wondered if that was normal for a Fallen. Certainly no one else she knew celebrated that. But then, Elienne was not a normal person...
So now it was Teo's turn, after the excitement of the pumpka. He stepped forward, passing a cooing Eidil and a murmuring Cal. Cal seemed to be muttering something about Mom and dinner tomorrow. Mom had been baking for it all week--apparently they were going to have pie. Apple pie, to be specific. She'd made some joke on Monday about how a pumpkin pie might be in poor taste. He hadn't understood the joke then, but with Cal now snuggling a crazy pumpkin? Yes, he could sort of understand that now.
Teo stuck his hand in the next offered bucket and felt around. Hum...okay, this was hard, but delicate, very lightweight. It wasn't plastic--it was too cold to be plastic--but it also wasn't metal. So what could it be? "Is it..."
Wait...he'd felt it before. Hadn't he? Those earrings Taladial had worn? The ones that clinked and clattered? What had the noisy dangles been made of? "Is it a beetle wing?" he asked.
Before the adult could say anything, Eidil and Cal said, in perfect unison (and synchronized distraction) "Elytra."
The adult paused. "Um..."
Eidil stepped in close and nodded at the open box. "Yup, an elytron. A beetle's wing."
Teo shrugged. Such was the life, hanging out with Cal and her friend. "Do you have any stuffed animals?" he asked the game master.
Okay, this time, Anchriesel was going to show those stupid frigging cards who was boss! There was a sixth color? Blimey, it was a wonder he'd managed to get as far as he did! What had Perigor done? He'd just picked random cards? Okay, Chries could do that! He picked up a card and flipped it over. Yellow star. The second card was an orange pumpkin. The third was...another yellow star. He sighed with relief, then picked the next card. Another orange pumpkin! He was on a roll! The next card was a green cauldron, and the next one...
Chries blinked. "So...what are the major prizes?"
"Plushies! We've...sort of run out the vespercats a few hours ago, though."
That was...not all that disappointing. The bats were way cuter than the vespercat plushes. The vespercat plushes always looked like they were frowning and angry. But the bat plushes actually looked cute and happy. "Do you have a purple one?"
"Sure do!" She tossed him the bat and he caught it, dropping it in his bucket. Another stick of gum
It was nice to see the grumpy Imp get something good for once. Peri patted Anchriesel on the arm, cracked his knuckles again, and tried his hand once more. First card? Red candy. Second card? Purple bat. Third card was another purple bat. Well, that at least guaranteed him something like another fricking popcorn glove. Those things were always made with stale popcorn. What was up with that, anyway? Why couldn't people make them with fresh popcorn? And real candy-corn? Not that sugar-free junk?
Anyway, fourth card. Another red candy. That was nice. And the next two were the yellow star. Peri waggled his eyebrows. He knew what came next. "I'm a big fan of orange," he said. "Do you have any orange bats?"
The adult frowned. "Orange with black wings, or black with orange wings?"
Perigor pondered the conundrum for a minute. What a choice! "Uh...orange with black wings, please. That's more my for-tay."
They were very nearly at the front gates, and Xenophon's feet were already hurting badly. But his father squeezed his hand and gave him an encouraging smile. Xeno smiled back. He leaned against his father's side and whispered, "Thank you for the day."
"Not a problem," Jurvik murmured back. "Thank you, Xenophon."
Xenophon blinked. Why was Dad thanking him? What had he done today? "Why? What did I do?"
"You let me into your life," Jurvik said. "You welcomed me in--"
"You adopted me. You adopted me. I didn't think anyone was gonna adopt me. Most kids don't get adopted, y'know. Most of them just end up going on to public schools and that's it. But you adopted me. And...you let me live with you." A sudden worry crossed Xeno's mind. "You're not going to get rid of me, are you?"
Jurvik stopped dead and turned to him. "What?! Xeno! No! I'm..." He got down on his knees and looked his son in the eye. "Xenophon, I will never get rid of you. I will never abandon you. I love you. I am so glad that you're in my life. I am so grateful. You have made my life a hundred times better after we met, and you've made it a million times better now that we're a family." His eyes were filling with tears.
As were Xenophon's. He held out his arms to his father, who grabbed him and pulled him into a tight, fierce hug. "Thank you, Dad," Xeno whispered. "I love you."
"And I love you too, Xenophon. Thank you and you're welcome. Now come on. It's been a long day." He pulled away, pet the affronted nezubat on the head, and picked up his son to carry him to the gates.
Batholith picked up the next dart. Everyone was leaving now, or at least, that's what it felt like. But he didn't want to go home yet--not until he'd collected every single nezubat plush for Foras. It was almost as if he had something to prove now... He carefully aimed the dart at an unassuming blue balloon and threw the dart. It made a satisfying pop! and a white card tumbled out.
The game master presented him with the card. "Which color would you like?"
Bath looked at Foras's bucket and then back up at the prize board. "I don't think we have the orange one with the black wings yet. So that one, please?"
"Right you are! Would you like another go?" And another rock!
"I'm with Teo on this one. If you don't show up to the winter event, I'm going to be so disappointed! Seriously, I'm going to tell all of my friends about you. You're amazing! You're, like, the best! This game has been so much fun. Even when we've been wrong. Right, Cal, Teo?" When her friends nodded, she flashed the Chimera a grin.
Cal peered at Eidil's fine back. "Three nezubats." Okay, she'd probably guessed that already, she wasn't stupid. "Um, there's a green and pink one, a brown one, and a pink one. They're all very pretty," she said.
Teo was a little too distracted to step forward. Something had been running into his ankles and screaming at him. At first he had thought it was his sister's new pumpka. She had two of them, but one of them was back at the table, so this was probably the second one, the new one. But no...Cal had done something to that one and it had fallen asleep. So what was this one?
Verve loved Haunted Hallow. Loved it. Which didn't exactly explain why it took her so long to actually go out but she was here, wasn't she? That was what counted, right? Okay so maybe she uh spent more time scoping out the awesome stuff being given out first before making a beeline for the bracelets because you seriously can't have enough colors.
