All Hallows Eve was probably Marrow's favorite holiday as well as a bunch of other little sweet toothed Freshlings running around dressed up as little monsters. This little hybrid's costume of choice this year was rather alarming to some of the other festival goers who passed by. He decided to dress normally but rip and tear his sweater up before applying copious amounts of blackberry stains to his outfit. Sure, his 'blood splatters' looked a little purple in hue but Marrow was pretty proud of it. After all, he liked to do things himself whether or not that meant they turned out right. Being an orphaned little litch-geist left the boy feeling somewhat bitter when it came to others offering him help.
While Marrow wandered around with 'blood' splattered all over him as though he had been mauled be some sort of large animal he kept his big off red eyes scanning the area. Which place would give him the best treats? He decided to go up to the most promising house and held up his little cauldron in a rather demanding manor. "I want treats," he said with a wicked little smile and plunk went an item right into his little basket. Without thanks he turned and wandered off with his Caretaker begrudgingly following the little Freshlings. Digging his hand into the bucket he pulled out a glowing little vial that was strung on a necklace. "Oh.... nice!" he was pleasantly surprised and quickly put the little glowing treat around his neck with glee. At least people would be able to see him coming now in the dark.
As the youngster was scanning for his next stop his eyes landed on a pair of fellow Freshlings that looked familiar. Even in costume he could spot them from a good distance. "Hehehe," the little boy chuckled deep in his chest and without warning started to scurry his way in their direction. His caretaker simply followed, figuring that he was headed towards another house. Clearly that wasn't the case though because just as he was within lunging distance the little victim lunged out at Bailey since he was a little less intimidating than his sister. "Help me! Something attacked me! Gah, I'm bleeding everywhere!" He put on a dramatic act hoping that Bailey would buy into his costume.
Quilo nodded. "I'm up for another game if you all are." Apparently they were, so they got back in line, once again set their stuff down safely with the vendor, and ran the course again. This time, they all got roughly equal times, and each one earned a bag of candy. Panting, Quilo dropped his bag of candy skulls into his cauldron and collected his possessions. "I think I'm all ran out," he said. "We could go to the beanbag toss or something?"
Yaviss kind of enjoyed running the obstacle course, but he didn't want to stick his head too far above the water line. If Quilo was too tired to keep running, then he wasn't going to press the matter. He stuffed his bag of candy, some caramel eyeballs, into his own pumpkin and picked it up. "Beanbag toss sounds okay to me," he said. He hoped his claws wouldn't get stuck in the bags, though.
Talya put the stuffed cat away and looked around. There was still no sign of either Evelyn or Lillian anywhere. "I think we should stay in one place," she said. She was, admittedly, eyeing the pink nezubat plushes among the prizes for the ring toss. Luckily for her, the vendor let her have three more rings to try on them. Her first ring missed, but her second ring one her a--well, a locket. She shivered as she touched it, feeling a sudden feeling of sadness. Her friends weren't here--where were they? She put the locket in her bucket and felt her heart lighten again. Oh. So it was a cursed locket. Whose idea was it to give out these nasty tricks?!
Her third ring earned her one of the bat plushies, which she put away in her pumpkin. She had no idea what she was going to do with that stupid locket--throw it out? Or should she bury it on consecrated ground?
Xenophon shrugged. Playing ring toss again sounded pretty good to him. He paused to hug his sister--when that fennekit had come tearing through, he'd been terrified for her!--then collected his rings and began to toss them. His only prize was a large lollipop. Curious about the flavor, he tried to find some sort of label on it as to the flavor. He licked it idly while waiting for everyone else to have their turn. It was cola flavored, apparently. Interesting. He watched the little Demon/Chimera hybrid take his turn. He had never met Darryl before, though he'd heard a reference to him before, of course.
Darryl wasn't sure what he felt about his fellow freshling. He didn't recognize her, although that wasn't really all that surprising. She seemed to be afraid of Mother, though, which did not bode well. He decided that he didn't like her very much and just moved on. He picked up his rings and tossed them carefully, earning himself a bag of skull candies.
Mesektet held out a hand warmly to the Geist. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jurvik," they murmured. "This is my son, Darryl. My daughter, Evelyn, is one of Talya's other friends--the one who's going dressed as a knight in shining armor." It was nice to meet other parents sometimes. They didn't get the opportunity very often, for all that they took the children to school half of the time.
Before Mesektet could say anything else, however, a rubber glove full of popcorn was lobbed at their head. They picked it up and looked around, but there was no sign of the popcorn bandit. "It seems that there are ghouls out tonight," they said.
Jurvik shook Mesetket's hand. "Like Xeno said, my name's Jurvik. Xenophon's another friend of Talya's. He said he belongs to the same house as your daughter, though." House Arkham was a tradition now for the Piper family. Jurvik had been a member of Arkham, as had Xeno, and now Nkiruka was. He had no idea if Mesektet had gone to the Academy--it was hard to tell their age. If they had, it had only been for a year or two as a senior. "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm glad to see my son's--ey!" A rubber glove full of popcorn hit his head too. It would appear that it was raining popcorn hands.
Raining popcorn gloves indeed! Nkiruka, too, was hit by one just as she was lining up her third shot with the rings. Everyone else had had a second go, but she was still on her first. She sighed, picked up the popcorn glove before her new pet (whom she had already started calling "Ampz" in the privacy of her head) could do anything about it, then threw her last ring. She was in luck! She won a plushie of her choice. There were several red and black stuffed animals, but the one that caught her eye first and foremost was a big stuffed spider. "I'd like that one, please!" she said to the vendor. They handed her the plush, which she squeezed tight. Ampz barked in jealousy.
There came a sound at the door of the room Ciel was sitting in. It was a peculiar knock, accompanied by a clicking sound. She recognized it--it was the signal that the person entering the room was another actor. "Just doing a bit of last-minute set-dressing," the person whispered. "We made, like, a million of these candle skulls. We're asking everyone to take one home when we're done."
"Alright," Ciel whispered. She hated stuff like that, but she didn't have much of a choice there. She didn't dare refuse a plea for help, especially one that revealed that some of this stuff really creeped her out..
Anchriesel was just turning from the darts booth to find something else to do when someone brushed past him, hard, almost knocking him off his feet. He stumbled backwards. "Hey--" he began.
The person grinned at him. "Happy Haunted Hallows!" they said, then they scampered off. Chries looked into his bucket, from which he had heard a thump when the stranger walked past. To his surprise--and delight--the only new object in the bucket was a lollipop, one of the good kinds. "Hey, thanks!" Chries shouted back. The person who had given him the lollipop gave him a cheery wave before moving on. They were nice, Chries thought.
With their prizes (and stinkers) all in hand, and with Dust the cat and Vine the kit still following them closely, Oriset opened the door at the end of the hall. The other doors were all locked. Probably they weren't supposed to enter those. The room beyond the open-able door was dark and oddly lit. There were...things...shapes...indistinct ones, hanging from the walls. No matter. Holding her lantern out in front of her, Oriset stepped boldly into the next room.
The objects hanging from the walls? For the most part, it was just peeling wall paper. Oriset breathed a sigh of relief as she walked across the cobbled floor and investigated one of the objects that wasn't clearly peeling wallpaper. It was the mounted head of an animal, some sort of ape. Interesting. Oriset turned back to see that the rest of their party had entered the room. The last one in, Naihilus, stumbled on the floor. "Sorry about that," he muttered. Then he stopped and stared at the floor.
The floor was cobbled in skulls. Some large, some small. Jie shrieked, while Oriset got down on her knees to inspect it. Yes, they were skulls--probably plastic, she told herself. Reinforced through strengthening enchantments to hold their weight? Probably, probably...
Clenched tight in the teeth of one of the skulls was a key. Oriset wriggled it out of the skull's mouth and looked around. A key...a lock...
The room they were in had no exit besides the one they had walked into. It was a sitting room, with a few chairs in it and a large wardrobe. Cautiously, Oriset opened the cabinet. Inside were five objects. Oriset blinked. "Do you reckon we're supposed to take these?" she asked the others. There were two skull candles and three bags of candy. Behind them was what was very clearly a door. Oriset checked out the symbol on the lock--a skull. In her hands was a key with a skull on it. "I guess this is the skull room," she said. She picked up a bag of candy and looked towards the others.
Wyrdda shuddered. This room was strange, indeed...the mounted monkey's heads on the wall--monkeys were similar enough in appearance to Nightmares and Daydreams that some theories abounded that they were evolved from apes, or from ape-like creatures. Was this room trying to send a message?
She picked up another bag of candy, the only one with a blue ribbon, and stepped back. If nothing else, they had to remove the objects before they could open the door beyond.
Jie was the first person to, reluctantly, pick up the skull candle. Underneath it was a sign that said, You'll need these. Jie blinked. "Um..." She pointed to it. "Am I the only person seeing this?"
Kunibert leaned over and inspected the note. It looked the way the voice that had spoken to them earlier sounded like it would write. Really, that was a roundabout way of saying that it fit the mood of this place. Kuni picked up the note and turned it over. It was blank on the other side. An idea formed in his head. He pulled out a golf pencil from his pocket and drew a crude map of where they'd been so far, then picked up the remaining candle. "I guess ve should just go along vis it for now?"
With the two candles picked up, all there was left for Nai to pick up was the last of the candy bags. "I think Kuni is right. We just go along with it now. They're playing some sort of game with us. If we want the full experience of a haunted house, we need to go along with it."
Everyone--even Jie--groaned when he said that. "There goes the immersion," Oriset muttered.
Zuna collected their bag. They knew they were picking the same one as Quilo was, but they liked the color of the ribbon on this bag. Zuna didn't like to have the same prize as anyone else, but they didn't have much of a choice. That blue ribbon called to them.
Zuna shrugged. They would have liked another go, but if no one else wanted to do the obstacle course again, then they were going to go with it. "Alright," Zuna said. A beanbag toss sounds okay." They looked around for it. "Sounds kind of juvenile, but okay."
Denidar got to pick their next game. He wanted to go to a haunted house he'd heard about it, but the man in a cloak with a sign advertising it hanging around his neck shook his head, holding up another sign that said, We do not yet hunger for victims. In smaller font, it said We currently have a group going through. Okay, so it was a really selective haunted house? Oh well. He resolved to keep an eye on it. It sounded like something his siblings would enjoy, if nothing else.
Well, anyway, he wasn't just here to play games, he was here to trick-or-treat. While deciding on where he wanted them to go next, he saw someone handing out candy. He held out his bucket to them. "Trick-or-treat!" he said. The adult handed him a box of raisins. They weren't candy, but actually, Deni kind of liked raisins. "Thanks! Happy Haunted Hallows!"
So the last house had been a bust. Aurabelle and Ved had gotten prizes, but Sound Lee had not, and so far as Aura could tell, it was because the grown-up didn't like his costume. Jerk! So what if he was a Bakeneko? Dressing up as a cat still took effort! They resolved to find a better house. No one got to treat one of Aura's friends like that! The Elf felt personally offended. They grabbed their friends' hands and pulled them right up the steps to the next house. When the door opened, they held out their buckets in unison. "Trick or treat!"
This house wasn't looking so good, either. Aura got a bottle of some ominous brown fluid. Uh-oh...
Sound Lee liked this house better than the last one, which had left him with his tail drooping. This house didn't seem to mind that he was a 'Neko dressed as a cat, and he got a plushie from it. He wasn't sure what he'd done to merit one, but that sort of didn't matter. He also got a gummy in the shape of a turd, which was...gross? He wondered what it tasted like, which was probably not a good thing to admit to his friends. "Thank you!" he said to the grown-up. "I hope you have a nice Haunted Hallows."
"Aww, thank you," the grown-up said. "You too. You three stay safe, okay?"
Vederat got a bottle of some sort of green goo, but he didn't comment. Instead, he promised, alongside the others, that they would stay safe. With that, they set off again. He held up his goo to the others. "Do you think it's slime, or some other type of toy?"
They shrugged. No one quite knew, but no one was willing to find out.
Cal took another turn at the wheel. "Let's see what I get," she said to Eidil. Her "prize," if you could call it that was a bottle full of a dark substance. It was the approximate color of clotted blood, which told her right away that it wasn't blood. "It's not bright enough to be liquid blood," she said. "And it's definitely a liquid." It was sort of creepy, but hey, the bottle it came in looked nice. She'd find out what it was later. If it was disgusting, she'd throw it out and keep the bottle. "Alright, Eidil, your turn!"
Apparently, most of the "prizes" on this wheel were yucky tricks. Eidil took her last turn on the wheel, which earned her a--a bird skull?! She held it up to the light and turned it over. "I think it's a crow skull," she said finally. "Hey, Cal, do you want it, for your scarecrow theme?"
Before she could say anything else, something hit Eidil's back. Eidil was dressed up as the Guardian of Animals, a mythological figure she'd made up in games when she was a little kid. To go along with the outfit, she'd brought along one of her bats, Mouse, to complete the look. A little brown bat definitely made her costume look better. But as she tried to turn her head to see her back, she could see that she now had two brown bats on her back. "Score!" she giggled. There was nothing quite like coming back from an event with a new pet bat!
By the time they got to the next house, the kitten was still following them. There was still no sign of an adult cat anywhere. Fena smiled at the kitten. It was obviously a mu--a hallowed kitten. He was amazed--he hadn't thought that pets could be muta--hallowed like people were. Anyway. So they got to the next house, rang the doorbell and said trick-or-treat, and once again, Fena came upon one of the greatest mysteries of Below. He held up a carved turnip to the light. "Why does anyone give these out?" he asked when they were a safe distance from the house.
"Dunno," Bath said. He had some other things on his mind. First of all, there was the kitten. He'd asked the owner of the last house if they knew who owned the kitten, but they had replied that they didn't know anyone who owned a mutant kitten. The owner said that they knew there was a mutant feral cat around here that was probably one of the parents of the kits--oh yes, apparently there was more than one--but that so far as he knew, the kittens were strays.
The longer they walked, the more Bath wanted to keep the kitten--even when the second thing now on his mind showed up. There was another one of the kittens, lolloping in from behind to tackle its sibling. They quietly wrestled for two seconds, then parted to bathe themselves. The new one was a little more skittish of Bath, but seemed devoted to its sibling. "Uh, I think Nightmares carved turnips into lanterns before they carved pumpkins. No idea why people give them out as pranks, though."
Frankie was getting a little jealous of Bath by this point. Their babysitter had two kittens following him, and he seemed worried! Frankie sampled some of the candy he'd gotten at the last house, which turned out to be disgusting. "Y'know, Bath, if you don't want the kittens, we can take 'em. My parents have, like, a million cats. We can take two more."
Ustule nodded. Come to that, she probably couldn't say where all of the ramps were in Asphodel. It wasn't something she had need to think of much. But she knew that from here on out, she'd be noticing them a lot more. "Yes, I cen see thet. End yes." She sighed. "Perigor hes not been sleeping well lately. He says thet he cennot turn his mind off, no metter how hard he tries." It had been worrying both of them, both herself and Histeol, lately. Their normally effervescent friend was becoming withdrawn from lack of sleep. "I hope eet ends soon. I mean the sleeplessness," she added. It occurred to her that she had not been very specific there.
She looked around the fair and nodded in satisfaction. "There are a goodly number here," she said. She was about to ask Xei which game he wanted to start off with (not because he was in a wheelchair, but because he was new here--the rest of them had seen these games a few too many times to be dazzled by them anymore, and they'd see them at least two more times by the end of the school year) when the import of what Xei had said hit her. "What do you mean, the climet hes changed?" she asked. Prometheus and Xei's family didn't come from the same region of Boreas as Ustule's village, and she hadn't seen her village in years (she estimated that she had now spent at least half of her life in Asphodel now), but they were roughly on the same latitude, so she was immediately worried for her distant kinsfolk. If Boreas's climate was worsening... Well, she didn't know what to think. But some half-formed plans and idle fantasies would have to be drastically re-arranged.
Ustule smiled. "Taking care of Prometheus hes been our pleasure." She knew exactly how Prometheus felt--she'd known that since the beginning. "I do what I cen to help weeth the homeseekness." She glanced at Xei's prize. "Ah," she said. "Thet is a scream bar. You weel scream when you eat it. Don't say I didn't warn you." Someone threw a bag of candy in her direction. She picked it up and nodded in satisfaction. Chocolate skulls? Very nice. She put it in her pumpkin.
Teo sighed. "We've tried to get him to go to the school nurse for sleeping pills, but he says it isn't serious enough for it." He kicked his foot against the ground idly. "We were, um...kind of hoping you could help us out with that, Prometheus. He respects you in a way he doesn't so much us."
He smiled at Xei, or where he estimated Xei to be. "Yes, fennekits are nice. Loud, but nice." He shifted position. "I'm sorry to hear about the climate," he said softly. "I've never been to Boreas. It would be nice to visit there at least once. I hope the climate isn't getting too inhospitable." He gave the general vicinity of Prometheus a wry face. "That makes a lot of sense, actually. If I was away from home, I might find it difficult to talk about my own family."
Teo chuckled. Ah, the memories... "Scream bars are really good, though. Other than the sound, anyway. But the chocolate's really tasty." Someone was going around throwing prizes at them. The ones that hit Teo appeared to be a plushie and a turnip. He had enough plushies as it was--he would ask Peri if he wanted it.
nepsah
Sara saw the same person giving out treats as Deni saw and held out her pumpkin to them. "Trick or treat!" she said. To her surprise, rather than admonishing her for being too old for this, the passerby handed her a paper ghost. "Thank you!" she said. This was one she didn't have yet! "Happy Haunted Hallows!" she said with a curtsy.
Niol ran up to the stranger and held out his pumpkin as well. "Trick or treat!" To his surprise, he was handed not only a handful of candy, but also a stuffed animal. "I see you're collecting the vespercats," they said with a wink.
Niol opened his mouth to say something, but Deni nudged him, so instead, Niol said, "Thanks! Er, happy Haunted Hallows!" When the stranger had gone, he held out the plushie to his brother. "Here, this is fer you. That way, we're even."
As per her norm, Hailey dragged her fiance into the Haunted Hallows festivities! It was their time of year and she couldn't wait to not only spend the time with him, but her long lost sister it would seem! Kitty held onto the free hand of the tall fallen that she just recently met, giving a big crooked smile as she grabbed up her pail and a lolli! Malachi, though not really feeling in the mood, smiled all the same as he was drug through the grounds once more. An all too familiar happening, though the little hand latching onto his this go was new
Dodger grinned as he strolled about with his daughter and her "little sibling", Trevor. He was a welcomed addition to their little family and a lot of fun! Trevor took no time grabbing up a pail and grabbing up a rock. It was freaking COOL! Kismet laughed as her little bro, as she started calling him, grabbed stuff up right away. She, herself, found herself interested in some strange bones... and when she went to put them in her pail, there was a freakin' spider in it! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she yelped, but turns out it was just a plushie. phew
Matty was thrilled as part of the large family he ended up being a part of made their way into the festivities! It was a great time of year... The time of year where he and his bae met! Pawsa may have been the most excited part of the family as she pranced around in a rather revealing outfit which partially included her husband's work 'clothes'. Popple groaned, holding her hands up in hopes her classmates may not recognize her along side her shameless hussy of a mother.
Cookie clung to her big brother's rather large hand, nestled against his leg as well to hide herself from the rest of everyone as they walked. Tullio couldn't help his mind wandering while he walked with little sister attached, if he might have the luck of running into Iris. He was missing her so, even though they saw each other not long ago. Bambi skipped about, humming to herself excitedly, looking for goodies and stuff to stuff into her pail.
Tira was happy to bring up the tail of the family, but then she noticed that her brother, Piero, was missing! Running up to mommy, she tugged on her tail. "mommy, mommy! Where's Piero?!"
Walking with the only person she would think of as a friend, Sepphora yelped at someone who tossed a bottle of slime at her. "Nasty!" she yelped, throwing it in Tricia's bucket. Cocking a brow, Tricia rolled her eyes at her friend, but smirked all the same. The slime amused her, so whatever. Zzyzx wandered around, yawning and whatever, trying to decide what to do with himself.
Callie happily snitched up a bright pink plushie as she began to wander the Haunted Hallows festivities, clinging to it. The moment the grimm saw the pink and blue cotton candy, he grinned and ran off to find his girl! It just made him think of her! Corasett wandered about, finding herself curious about a skull and candle set. Picking it up, she examined it and smiled to herself.
Katinka bounced around as she scooped up a spider plush, smirking in amusement to herself about it.
Quirking a brow at a plush presented to him, the Fey saw a little chimera girl and passed it along to her. "Here you go, youngin'" he said with a smile, happy that the toy was accepted.
Maerad was super excited to go trick or treating! It was her first time celebrating Haunted Hallows outside of the desert, and she had needed the coaxing of a few of her classmates to decide it would be appropriate for her to go. She had slithered into a swimsuit top, and attached some fins to her tail - she was going as a Naiad. She flipped the fin back and forth a few times, hoping it wouldn't offend any Naiads she ran into. Maybe they were going as Nagas! She clutched her brand new pail - paid for by her allowance - and joined her friends. The volunteer leading the group of freshlings around dropped a treat into her pail.
Maerad's Prizes
Jeanette would rather have a nose in a book this chilly night, but when her friends found out that neither she nor Maerad had ever celebrated Haunted Hallows in such a way in the desert, she was unceremoniously dragged along. She had dressed up in a costume tha tlooked like it was made of black spiderwebs, hoping to be a ghost or a witch or... something. And now here she was, wishing she had worn a slightly heaver sweater, maybe wishing she had an audio player so she might listen to an audiobook while they were out here. She thanked the leader sweetly for the treat placed in her bag, although.... that candy looked kinda stale...
Jeanette Prizes
Primrose was excited to trick or treat! It wasn't a tradition that was completely forgotten in the Kirin society, but it seemed to be executed at a much larger scale here. She had dressed up in an angel costume, complete with little wings like the Fallen had, and a little halo around her horn. She hoped she looked as splendid as one of the Nine. The festival was enormous, and she couldn't help but stare in awe at all the festivities. Even adults were out and about tonight, just enjoying themselves. She clutched her little candy bucket eagerly, excited to get going. It was almost sundown, but already she could feel the hypothetical excitement of spirits and haunts in the air.
Primrose's Prizes
Kiralin was the one who had dragged all her other friends along. She was excited for Haunted Hallows this year, and even more excited for all the candy she'd probably be receiving. She and her siblings even had matching buckets! She'd insisted on dressing up as a vampire, but the biggest indicator of that was the little fangs she kept sucking on in her mouth. Eagerly, she reached out to receive her first prize, but it seemed... well, it was just a rock. She frowned at her first receipt of the night, hoping her optimism might bring her a little more.
Kiralin's Prizes
Areka was ready for tonight. She was so ready, in fact, that she had brought a few tricks of her own along tonight. She'd stocked up on a few of those sadness rocks and weird bones at the festival, and she was ready to slip them into the buckets of her classmates at odd intervals. Still, she made sure to give a smile whenever someone approached her with a prize, hoping it wasn't a trick for her instead! Sure enough, the very first thing she got was a weird-looking turnip head. The little hybrid grinned anyway - she was sure she could probably prank someone with this thing. But then, when she peeked into her bucket again, she saw a little flitterat nibbling on it. "Oooo!" she squealed as it ran out and up her arm. Annie's first familiar had been a flitterat! Maybe this one would want to come home with her.
Areka's Prizes
Yushika
I'm gonna do this one twin at least a couple times, you're welcome to bring the other bab in or I'll just dance around it! She's more of a troublemaker than I thought she'd be mad
Emmarylis had worn a long, pretty dress tonight. She was dressed as an opera singer! It wasn't something she really wanted to be, but it was fun to pretend anyway. She was with a large group of other freshlings, who all seemed excited to be trick or treating as well. The tiny Fallen fell in line beside them as they all received their first treat, and she examined the candy as it fell into her bucket. Jackpot!
Emmarylis' Prizes
Points: 4 All these kids are open for interaction!
<--Gifted to Denidar. 
