Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cool dusk was settling softly around him as a quick, sudden breeze ruffled through his hair. Wraith looked out at the desaturated, olive hills that stretched out infinitesmally across the Irish countryside.

There was already quite a crowd gathered around a large bonfire that crackled and snapped bright, orange flames through the air, piercing the grey night sky. A dull clamour could be heard; they were still fairly far away.

Tonight was the night the barrier between this world and the next was said to thin, when spirits and magical beings crossed through and when the air was said to sparkle with drops of magic suspended like brilliant stars.

Wraith pulled one of his bandages that had come loose tight again. A requirement of holding a Halloween event in Ireland was that you had to uphold superstition. If you weren't scary, how could you frighten away the spirits? Wraith had chosen (more or less) to dress as a mummy. Not a rotten sort, but one where through the bandages you could see hints of gold and red-- the effects of an Egyptian pharaoh. That had been Wraith's personal touch; he'd just finished a book on ancient Egypt.

Shee looked the most unlike herself he'd ever seen. Her innate and never-ending happiness had all but vanished, replaced by a deadened stillness. All in character, of course-- she was a pale, wispy ghost. Although to Wraith, it seemed like something more than a costume. It unnerved him.

They should be getting to the fire, he thought. He turned to face the recruits that had come for the party. He hoped Estrelas and Eponine had figured out what Halloween was.

Moira Vontage had no problem figuring out what Halloween was, nor what she should dress up as. Something that fit her. However, she hadn't accounted for the weather. Ah, well.

Moira was dressed in an elaborate Seductress costume. Naturally, it was the Succubus that she chose to mock that evening, donning a mask named for the creature of seduction and an appropriate garb.

The mask itself was pure black, but her costume wasn't. Donning a very frilly and short skirt that slipped beneath the blood red corset she wore, Moira had worked to pull off the confidence of the creature. She straightened, and pulled the cloak she'd grabbed around her, giving the mummified Wraith a cool smile.

"Nice choice for the trip, Wraith." She noted bemusedly, throwing her head back and spinning in a full circle, cloak circling about her, under the starlight. Halloween was definitely Moi's holiday.

((EDIT: Mask, corset, skirt, cloak.))

Moira noted with bemusement Wraith's expression, and she bowed low at him. "I did hope my costume would surprise." Shane. She finished mentally. She looked around him at Shee, and frowned quietly.

She grinned at Wraith, impish, then moved around to Shee quietly. Once she was near, she drew her cloak around her, and watched Shee. "... Are you okay?" She asked gently, watching her with a faintly worried expression. Something was very obviously wrong.

((Artsies: http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e374/Mako_Streak/EstrelasBunny-1.jpg ))

"Eponine, what's wrong?"

As mysteriously as a white rabbit could, Estrelas materialized at her elbow, Angel curiously sniffing the air on a leash but in Estrelas' arms. The large rabbit wore a modified headress, a smaller duplicate of the one that Estrelas always wore on normal days.

Estrelas looked concernedly ((or as concernedly as a bland-faced woman could)) at Eponine, and despite being dressed in a leotard with fishnet stockings and rabbit assecories to match Angel, she did not show signs of being cold. THe logo of a rabbit in a tophat and bowtie were stencilled on her thighs. In Estrelas' other hand was a rather large and heavy metal carrot, about as large as her forearm and three times as thick. And her assortment of anti-evil Spirit amulets hung clattering from her neck and arms. From three yards away, one could smell the mixture of crushed rosemary, mistletoe, and Evening Yew on her, as if she had taken whole bushels of the fragrant plants, crushed them, and steeped herself in their juices for two hours... Which in fact she had. Even Angel was not excused from the ritual.

"You look frightening," Estrelas said. Angel sniffed Eponine's furry green costume and chewed on the polyester threads as Estrelas turned her attention to Moira and Shee.

"We be sistas," she said smugly to Moira. "We both very beautiful tonight, men look at us."

Now, she had never met Shee before, but had heard of her and seen her in passing. And judging from the other's expressions, something was up...

Estrelas immediately knew what it was. She took one of the iron crosses and handed it to Shee as well as performing a simple exoricsing prayer for Shee. "O caro Senhor, relógio sobre esta alma e remove-nos dos sins que atraíram este blight... Amena." ((Translation: Dear Lord, watch over this soul and purge us of sins that have attracted this blight... Amen.))

"Are you sure, Shee? If you like, I'll go home with you." Partly because she was worried about Shee, partly because, hey, anything to get out of this embarrassing costume.

"Is anyone else coming? Shane, new recruits? Should we wait for them first?"

Estrelas watched concernedly as the iron cross dropped to the grass below, which unlike Shee, looked very healthy and vibrant. The cross falling was not a good sign…. Was the Lord testing or punishing the poor woman somehow?

“If you go baaack, Ah go too,” she added, selfishly not out of concern for Shee but because she had only come because she had verified that Eponine was a Friend. Without her and with her back exposed (literally as well as figuratively), Estrelas did not want to face the evil spirits alone.

She carefully adjusted the ghost costume hanging about Shee.

“Misseh, if you no fine then you go home, we go with you,” she said and held out Angel for Shee to pet. Father Ferdinando would be ashamed of her, but the large creamy-coated rabbit comforted her more than prayers, confessions, and blessings of God.

"But eef you wish, Misseh, we go on," she said, but perked up at Wraith's words. "Bonfia? Eet is a large warm fira," she said automatically and stroked Angel's head.

"We meet everyone?"

Shee stretched out her hand to pet the rabbit. It felt good to see something so relaxed and innocent. The rabbit didn't have anything to do with Janus or with her dreams.

"I don't want to go back though. I want to try to enjoy Halloween with all of you. We really should get going, or we'll miss everything."