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 Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:49 pm
 Evelyn narrowed her eyes as she went through the costumes. There had to be a—aha! Yes! There it was. A knight costume in her size. There didn’t seem to be very many in medium, which was apparently her size now. Mother said that it was a sign that she was growing up. Considering how much work being a grown-up was—her parents spent a lot of time discussing rent and bills—Evey wasn’t sure she actually wanted to grow up. It seemed like a hassle. And judging by how Da and Mother reacted to her growing, they didn’t seem to like it either. Evey twitched her tail and draped the costume over her arm. Good, that was the costume dealt with. Now it was time to track down the props. There was a barrel nearby full of all sorts of stuff—plastic swords and shields included. She held one up to Talya, who was sorting through a similar barrel nearby. “Does this look right for my character?” The shield was a typical shield, with a dragon on it. That’s why she wasn’t so sure. “Will a dragon send the wrong message? Since I’m supposed to be fighting one. I like the sword, though.” It was exactly what a plastic sword was supposed to be—plain, with silver bits and a blackened handle. A lot of the other swords in this barrel were curved pirate swords, which did not go along with a “knight” at all. Thank goodness she didn’t have to find a helmet—that came with the knight costume.
Thank goodness she didn’t have to find a helmet—that came with the knight costume.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:50 pm
 Talya looked up at her friend’s choice and nodded in approval. “That looks just right. See if you can find a cape or something. Knights don’t look right without a cape.” She continued to search through the barrel. Last year she’d gone to Haunted Hallows dressed up as a princess. In fact, almost every year she’d gone as a princess (except when she’d gone as a cat or a rabbit). But this year she was mixing it up a bit—this year, she was going as a queen, all regal and stuff. The difference between a queen and a princess was, basically, a queen wore a longer dress and had a larger crown. She also needed a scepter. So, a scepter, a crown, some rings, and some necklaces—pearl necklaces, of course, or fake crystals if she could find them. She supposed she could use the same crown as her princess costume, but, well, it didn’t look queenly enough. A queenly crown should have a tear-drop shaped gem hanging down in the center of the forehead. If nothing else, it would hide her eye. There was such a thing as style after all.
But Talya wasn’t just here for herself. Talya was the self-appointed princess/queen of her band of friends, which meant that she had to look out for all of them—even the unofficial friends, like Evey’s little brother Darryl. On most days it meant she had three people other than herself to look after. On Haunted Hallows, it would give her another with her new friend Xeno. She sighed. Uneasy lay the head, indeed. She lifted said head and looked to a clothing rack. “Having any luck, Lilly?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:51 pm
 Lillian pulled her head out of the clothing racks and walked over to Talya. She held a costume in each hand. The costume rack she’d been searching through hadn’t been all that far from Talya, but even at that distance, the Nixie hated to shout. It was just…unnecessary. It was so much better to go over to where someone was standing and have a civilized conversation with them in a normal tone of voice. “You were right,” she murmured. “They do have dragon costumes. But they have two of them.” She lifted one of them. “This one’s green.” She lifted the other one. “And this one’s purple. I’m not sure which one I should pick. What do you think?” Lilly always deferred to Talya’s judgment, not so much because of Talya’s force of will (which was, admittedly, very strong), but more because Talya cared a lot more than Lillian did. This wasn’t to say that Lillian didn’t care, it was just that…well, Talya cared more. She had a vision for what she wanted in the world that Lilly just didn’t have. And Lillian would rather defer to a vision than linger in indecision.
If forced to make a decision on her own, Lilly would have picked the purple dragon costume. She liked purple better, for one thing, and it went better with her hair and her skin. The only question was…well, Talya. Her friend had…ideas about colors and what they represented. She didn’t want to go against Talya’s instincts. It would just be too much effort, and for very little reward.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:52 pm
Evey looked again at the packaging. This costume came with a cape—a red one. It would have been nicer if it had come in blue or pink or something, those being colors she preferred, but she supposed that if they were going to only sell one color of cape, then they’d probably make it a red one. Red ones seemed more…traditional, somehow. It would probably sell better. Well, that was good then—the fact that there was a dragon symbol on the shield didn’t seem to have bothered Talya any, and she knew from experience that her friend had pretty good eyesight (in one eye, anyway). She heaved the props under her arm and looked around for her brother. Darryl was behind her, sorting through costumes. Talya was to be the queen, kidnapped by the foul dragon. Lillian would be the dragon (believe it or not, the Nixie had volunteered first! Evey smiled at the memory. She’d rarely seen Lilly so excited about something. She might not have seemed as excited if you didn’t know her, but Evey had been friends with her long enough to know that look in Lillian’s eyes). Evey would of course be the knight coming to her aid. When Darryl had asked to be included, they had agreed. Darryl was…odd. He didn’t like to be included, but he also really hated being excluded. It made it hard to include him, but for once he had made it easy. They’d discussed it, and once again Lilly had surprised them all with the answer. Darryl could be the wizard aiding the knight in her quest. Darryl had nodded and gotten straight to work looking for a costume. He turned to look at his sister and held up the costume. A size small Mystic Wizard, in purple. Evey held a thumb’s up and nodded. When in doubt, in their circle of friends, go with purple or pink. It was always a safe bet.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:53 pm
Talya looked from one dragon costume to the other. They were identical—same accessories, same costume design…the only difference was the color. She pointed to the purple costume. “That one, definitely. The way it glitters is prettier—it’s like it’s two colors instead of just the green’s one. Besides, that way we have a consistent theme.” She brandished her purple and white Queen Dress. Apparently that was another difference between princesses and queens—apparently queens didn’t get to wear pink. It was a blow to the Imp, and no mistake, to learn that pink wasn’t a regal color. “I’ll be in purple, you’ll be in purple—” she turned to look at Darryl “—our wizard’s in purple, I think. All we have to do is let Xeno know. There’s bound to be a purple feather in a minstrel cap or something.” She smiled. A theme, that was the trick. And Evey had been right—with a queen, a dragon, a knight, a wizard, and, now, a bard, they had all of the characters of a fairy tale. And this way, they could act out a scene at a door and hopefully get rewarded for their creativity. Of course, that would mean they’d need to practice…
Eh, she could arrange that later. For now, Talya went back to digging through the props bin until she found what she was looking for: a large crown, with white and black feathers on it, attached to a piece of cardboard that said ROYAL CROWN in curly writing. “Alright, is there anything else we need while we’re here?” She looked around. Yes, they’d all found a costume (hopefully Xeno had found a costume, he wasn’t with them right now, being off with his dad or something). Evey and Darryl’s parents were at the back of the store looking at decorations. She wondered what they’d be doing—probably not decorating, since they were coming to the festival, and there was really no point in decorating your house if you’re not going to be home, is there?
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:55 pm
Lillian looked down at her costume and shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose we should get buckets to carry something in. They might not be giving out pails this year, after all, and I don’t have one from last year.” Lilly hadn’t gone trick-or-treating at Haunted Hallows before. Before joining the Academy, she hadn’t had the tradition, and after joining, well, she’d always been too afraid of the crowds. It was only by a lot of coaxing that she’d been convinced to go this year. Reassurances that it was fun, that there would be a haunted house, that there might be some animals to meet…and, of course, what had really sold it was that there would be a lot more candy if she went with. As it currently stood, Lillian got whatever candy her friends surplussed from their stock. If she went with, she’d…what, triple it? Lilly wasn’t sure. Math wasn’t really her strong suit…
Everyone else seemed to have props—even as she watched, Darryl was cautiously approaching the bins. Probably he needed a wand. Talya had her jewelry and scepter, and Evey had her sword and shield… actually, that was sort of bothering her. Just a little. Lillian mentally shook her head. Why was she bothered? Jealousy that she wouldn’t have a prop? Yes. Admitting it made her feel…better, actually. Dragons didn’t need props. They were dragons. “Are you sure the shield should have a dragon on it? I mean, you are supposed to be a dragon slayer. Doesn’t that send the wrong message?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:56 pm
Evey giggled. “Well, most of a color theme, anyway. My cape’s red, but maybe we can find a piece of purple cloth somewhere and replace it. I think there’s a fabric shop somewhere. It’d be a shame to waste a piece of costume, but if we want to stick to a theme…” she shrugged. Now that Talya had mentioned a theme, she really did want to fit into it…
She looked down at her shield again. “Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. I mean, a knight probably shouldn’t have the thing she’s fighting on it, should she? I mean, unless she wears a dragon on her shield to show that she doesn’t like them. Or that she has a grudge against them. Or…” Evey’s eye lit up. Da was a writer—they were always telling Evey and Darryl stories. They’d started out simple, back when the kids were younger, but as they got older, the stories got more and more elaborate. The way Da told the stories—and the things that happened in them—suddenly filled Evey’s head with ideas. “Or maybe! Maybe most dragons are good, and this knight learned from them, so she really likes dragons and put a dragon on her shield, but this dragon who stole the queen is an evil dragon, and shames all of the other dragons, so she’s fighting this dragon even though she has a dragon on her shield!” Exilarated at the sudden bloom of a story, Evey looked at her friends and grinned wildly. Lillian was nodding in approval, while Darryl looked thoughtful. Talya wasn’t looking at her, but looking at the prop bin. She looked lost in thought. “Talya?” she said. “What’s wrong?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:58 pm
There had been a dragon on Evey’s shield?
Talya looked away to hide her sudden embarassment. She hadn’t seen the shield. Well, she’d seen it, but she hadn’t seen a design on it. It had been a shield, y’know? Silver? Black stuff on it, to make it look worn? And a raised bit on it? Casually she looked at it again. She still couldn’t see a dragon on it. There was a shape in the middle, but it wasn’t exactly… She squinted, and slowly, gradually, a dragon, body twisted and wings outstretched in flight, swam into focus on the shield. Talya felt her cheeks grow hot and she quickly looked away. Why hadn’t she seen the dragon when she’d first looked at it? And why could she only see it when she squinted?
Fear gripped her. She tried to hide it by digging through the bin for a wizard’s wand for Darryl. She hadn’t seen it. Oh Nine. Was she going blind?! That was it, wasn’t it, she was going blind! She couldn’t let her friends panic, though, she mustn’t let them panic! “No-nothing’s wrong!” she said quickly. She stood up and handed a wand, with a star on the end, to a solemn-faced Darryl, and flashed Evey a smile. “I was just distracted. Lilly, you can bring a pillow case instead, just in case they don’t have buckets. I like your story about the dragon, Evey. And don’t worry about the cape—my costume comes with a purple one. We’ll just swap. That way, we both have some purple.” She added another manic smile. “So, um, I guess we all have what we need?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:59 pm
Talya’s moment of panic had not gone unnoticed by Lillian, and judging by the look her Demon friend shot her, Evey had noticed, too. Nothing was not wrong with Talya. Something had upset her. And by the way she’d reacted—by switching topics, by helping out without even a huff or a sigh—it was a problem with herself, not with her friends. “I…might like some props of my own,” she murmured. “I’m still under budget with this costume. Thing is, I don’t know what sort of props a dragon would need.” Needed props indeed. The only props a dragon needed were jewelry, something the three—the four of them—had in ample supply. The reason she’d asked for props was that it gave Talya something to do while Lilly pulled her other friends aside. She’d never seen Talya act like that. Well, okay, she had—she’d seen Talya act like that enough times to know that Talya’s problem was with herself and not with the others. But she had never been in a situation in which she couldn’t guess what was wrong. Usually it was about grades, or behavior, or having no family or something. By comparison, this sudden attack of nerves was unprovoked. Something was…wrong with their friend. She motioned Evey away.
“What do you think is wrong?” she murmured. “I can’t think what made her do that.” She looked over at Talya again—still searching through the bin with gusto—and over at Darryl, who had followed them. He looked as confused as she herself felt.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:00 pm
Evelyn had also caught her friend’s shock, and she, too, was worried about it. “I don’t think it had anything to do with either of us,” she said slowly. “If it was, she would have mentioned it, or at least sighed. She didn’t do that. So I think it was something else.” Her tail flicked as she frowned in concentration. “It was probably something to do with our conversation. We were talking about capes. Maybe she realized that she’d said we had a theme before she heard about my cape, so she hadn’t realized that we hadn’t settled on a color theme, so she was embarassed that she had presumed.” Evey made a face. Her eye caught her brother’s. Darryl was rolling his eyes. “Yeah, Darryl’s right. If that was it, Talya would have suggested another cape color. Um, we were talking about buckets—maybe she forgot that you didn’t go last year? No, because she mentioned that on the way here. What else were we talking about, then?”
Darryl tapped her sword-and-shield prop. Evey blinked and looked at it. “We were talking about my shield, and the dragon on it.” A suspicion began to grow in her mind. “She didn’t mention the shield at first. She hardly commented on anything. She always comments on details.” Another thought occurred to her, and her eyes grew wide. “Talya’s got better color sense than any of us—what’s with the ‘he’s in purple, I think’?” The suspicion was rapidly approaching adult size. “Do you think Talya’s going blind, Lilly?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:02 pm
Prop for a dragon, prop for a dragon… Talya threw herself into the task with gusto. Of course, a dragon should be bedecked in jewelry. That would be easy, since between them they had plenty of costume jewelry. Mind you, a lot of it was spring themed, but Talya had a respectable number of bracelets from events other than the spring fling…they could add that on. But they should also find something new, something unique for Lillian to wear. Something that would scream, I’m an ancient, evil dragon, one who shames all of the nice ones, fear me! So what would scream that? Horns? Did the costume have horns? She looked over at Lilly, only to find that the Nixie had moved. Dang, she moved quietly. Lilly was now standing a few feet away, talking in hushed tones to Evey and—squint—Darryl.
Talya’s heart plummeted. Oh no. Were they—ulp—were they talking about her? Behind her back?! Talya’s ears flattened and her tail curled around her legs involuntarily. They were. They really were. They were talking about her behind her back. This was the end of their friendship. That’s what it said in books. This was always the point where the friendship ended. She’d bossed them around too much. She hadn’t given them enough space to make their own decisions. She was always telling them what colors they should wear on their costumes. Talya sniffed and turned away hurriedly, her vision blurring with tears. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Prop. Prop. Prop. Horns probably included, wings probably included…
At the bottom of the barrel she found a mystic-looking amulet in plastic. Yes, that looked like something a dragon would wear. It looked really nice, not evil at all—but the dragon would have stolen it from someone else, wouldn’t she? Talya picked up the accessory with trembling hands and tried to hold back a fresh gush of tears.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:05 pm
Lillian shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not blind blind. Probably she’s just going near-sighted. Lots of people go near-sighted. Usually when they’re grown-ups, but she could be going near-sighted now.” Lilly shrugged. “She probably just needs glasses, that’s all.” A sound caught Lilly’s attention. It was a soft, wretched sound, the sound of something soft and delicate being torn. It was coming from the direction of the prop bucket. She looked over to see Talya bent double and shaking. Alright. Emergency huddle over. Commencing emergency cuddle. Without further word, she rushed over to Talya and wrapped her arms around her friend’s shoulders. She held her friend tight and leaned her head against the Imp’s. From this angle she could see the object in Talya’s hand. It was a circular medallion with a fake opal in the center. Very schnazzy. Lilly smiled. “Talya, that’s perfect. Thank you for finding that for me.” When this only elicited a sob, Lillian sighed. Sighs, huffs—and sobs. These were all signs that Talya was upset at someone other than herself. Obviously Lillian had done something to upset her—and looking back over the last few minutes, she knew exactly what it was. “I’m sorry we left you to talk. We were worried about you, and we didn’t want to scare you by talking. You couldn’t see the shield, not from that distance, could you? It’s okay. You’re probably near-sighted.” She hoped that would make Talya feel better. It was sometimes a toss-up whether something would make her feel better or worse. Lilly figured this would make her feel better, but the shuddering in her friend’s body said otherwise. “What did I say wrong?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:09 pm
Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief. Not blind. Just…near-sighted, which was apparently like being blind, but less so. Like, treatable? Apparently glasses helped. She wasn’t sure how. But now Talya was upset, and the problem of lenticular magic was shoved rather rudely to the side in favor of the problem of a friend making sounds like her heart was being chopped to pieces. She followed the Nixie over to Talya and arrived half a second later. She wrapped her arms around Talya’s waist, the shoulders already being occupied. “I’m sorry we left you,” she said, pressing her head against Talya’s side. “We were really worried about you, but we thought it would be rude if we talked about it in front of you.” She sighed. “I guess what we did instead was just as rude.” She felt Talya shudder in response to Lillian’s diagnosis and shot the Nixie a look. She knew that it was her job, as the resident cook and sweet-tooth extraordinaire, to sugar-coat things, but that was just a little…rough. “I think the school nurse can help you out. We can go with you to the office when we get back to school. I think you get to pick out your own glasses. They’re sure to have something pretty and sparkly there. Probably something pink, too. Something that will go with your crown, maybe?” She swallowed. “Look, don’t worry about anything right now, not dragons, not glasses, nothing. I think we all have our costumes and our accessories. I think we’re all ready to go now, if we can get my parents’ attentions. What do you think?” She tried to smile, but knew she was failing miserably.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:10 pm
The warmth and her breath had seemed to leave her body when she saw her friends huddled far away from her. The feeling slowly seeped back into her body when three pairs of arms—Lilly’s around her shoulder’s, Talya’s around her waist, and Darryl’s around her tail—wrapped themselves around her. And with her friend’s words, some more warmth came back. They weren’t abandoning her. Not yet. They weren’t talking mean stuff or spreading rumors. Not yet, anyway. They were…concerned about her, apparently? Yes, that seemed to be it. They were concerned about her. It was true, she had had trouble seeing things far away, the details on Evey and Darryl’s costumes—but the idea that it was because she was near-sighted? Wasn’t that like being—ulp—blind? And now she would have to wear glasses? She shuddered. Glasses were so…unregal! In fact, they were downright dorky looking! She didn’t want to wear glasses, she didn’t want to be condemned to wear glasses. What if she looked like a freak with glasses?
If I look like a freak without glasses, she told herself, Evey and Lilly will still care about me. They don’t spread rumors about people. They don’t talk about me behind my back. Or if they do, it’s because they care about me. They want me to feel happy. And if I do look like a freak with glasses, then that just means I didn’t look like a freak before, and that’s a pretty good start, isn’t it? “Thanks, girls,” she croaked. “That means a lot to me.” She sniffed. “Um…okay…uh…D-Darryl? Have you got your robe, your hat, and your wand?” She looked down at the boy, who nodded. “O-okay.” She took a deep breath. “A-and beard? Do you need a beard? Beards are very wizardly.” She felt a bit of her old self start to come back. Darryl shrugged.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:14 pm
Lillian continued to rub circles over Talya’s back as Talya performed a role-call for the three of them and their costumes. Talya wasn’t back to normal—not quite yet—but she was getting close. That was a good sign. Although Talya was prone to fits of, how should she call it, melodrama, she wasn’t prone to melancholy as such (except during October, and even then she’d been a lot more cheerful lately). “I think there are some false beards in the wig department,” Lilly murmured. “We could get one with mylar strands in it, for a bit of sparkle.” She winked at Darryl. “Maybe blue sparkle?” There was no mistaking the glimmer in Darryl’s eyes. She smiled. The other two had noticed, right? That Darryl liked blue more than any other color? There were at least three wizard’s costumes on that shelf, including a blue one—and yet, Evey’s younger brother had chosen the purple robe…interesting, that.
Still holding Talya’s hand firmly in her own, Lilly lead the way to the back of the store, adding a genuine Wizard’s Beard (With Magic Streaks!!) to their ever-growing pile of costumes, and a pair of parents to their ever-growing entourage. Lilly fell back to let the others take the lead. “You feeling better?” she asked Talya. The Imp nodded. Lilly gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “You let us know if you’re feeling sad, Talya. We don’t want to make you feel bad. Earlier was a…a mistake.” She pulled Talya a little closer as the grown-ups piled their purchashes on the counter.
As they got older, things changed, didn’t they? She was about to go trick-or-treating for the first time. And Darryl was getting…friendlier. And Talya was going to need glasses now. She sighed. Stupid time, Lilly thought. Always growing longer.
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