[SpringsSong]

Theron Shan. (Not pictured: Arcann. Senya Tirall.)

A trio of figures approached the mansion: a man with his hair styled up into a fauxhawk with some cybernetic implants near his eyes and temples, a man with only the faintest hint of hair growth to cover his head with scarring over the left side of his face and a completely cybernetic arm, and a woman with metal adornments above her eyebrows, her salt-and-pepper hair tied back into a tight bun. The man with the cybernetic arm seemed a little more on edge than the other two.

"You think they'll really be all right with--?" he asked, and the other man waved a hand.

"Look, I may not have agreed with some of their actions in the past, but if there's one thing I do know, it's that Xyshari trusted him when it came down to it, Arcann. He might be a little strange, but... well, he's definitely not as bad as Koth, or Kaliyo," he said.

"I won't restate my opinions on Firebrand," Senya said. "I may have forgiven her for that, but it still happened. Still... the children are quite fascinated by those holograms of his."

"Don't let him hear you call them that," Theron warned.

[Treat]

[GrayGriffin]

The man who walked up to the door was dressed most finely, his costume apparently quite elaborate as well. He'd somehow managed to work many realistic-looking plant patterns into it-or were those real plants? Even his hair had vines woven through it, and the wings on his back buzzed as if they were really about to take flight. He approached Metha, grinning as he held out a worn bag made of what seemed to be bark.

"Trick or treat," he said, baring surprisingly pointy teeth.

[Treat]

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

The door closed behind him, and everything went black. All around him, peals of eerie laughter began to echo, and the fur on Ichabod's back stood on end. He thought this wasn't necessarily his worst fear, but being blinded was definitely in his top five, and if his heart still had a beat it would have been thrumming like a hummingbird's wings.

A small skeletal paw touched his own, and in the darkness a loud 'SQUEAK' pierced through the laughter, before Ichabod heard the scurrying of little feet. He followed the noise as quickly as he could without risking stepping on the rattegan, and before he knew it his nose bumped into a door handle which suddenly lit up into a burning jack o' lantern.

"Trick or Treat" he rushed out, shoving himself through the door as soon as it had opened a crack.

[Treat]

[Jaden Wolf]

"You could have got more if they could see you the whole time," Monday said importantly. Cassidy narrowed her eyes at him.

"You go then," she muttered, snatching up most of the candy and pulling it away protectively. Monday whined and lunged after it. A brief scuffle ensued, before Monday simply fell through Cassidy's now semi-transparent form.

"You shouldn't pick fights with ghosts," she said down to him in a matter-of-fact tone, "you'll just lose."

Monday sulked on his new spot on the floor, arms and legs crossed. Cass rolled her eyes. "Just go get more. I got this one. Your turn."

[Good Treat]

[FrostWynd]

The many, many bones she'd see, but absolutely could not name individually, were all stacked together neatly into a formation that created the form of some kind of animal-like creature looming above her. And the large skull attached to the front was almost... peering down right at her. Which also didn't sit right with her as she stared up into the dark empty sockets for a long moment. It was an eerie sight, as entire intact skeletons weren't a common sight for her at all. And it did give off the impression that she was being watched by it, though it made no attempts at movement as she stood back up to step around it and tentatively investigate it further.

This definitely wasn't here moments before. It was a lot like as if it had deliberately moved right into her path to stop her in her tracks at the very last moment. But something like that shouldn't be possible... right? Skeletons don't just walk on their own!

To test things further, the pup slowly raised up a paw to touch the surface of what was part of the skeleton's leg.

[Treat]

[amapup]

The doorbell to the palace rang out, indicating the arrival of new trick-or-treaters.

But when the door was opened with candy bowl in hand, the sights and sounds of the Halloween party disappeared. No chorus of children's voices rang out, and even the skeletal beasts that roamed the gardens were nowhere to be seen.

Instead there was a large room. The checkerboard tiles had melted into black and white chevron stripes, and in place of walls rich velvet curtains rose up into an inky void above. The silence was filled by the notes of some distant trumpetter, playing a jazzy rendition of...

was that Thriller? ...

...or no, wait...

...now it sounded like The Blob...

The only objects that filled the room were a black armchair and a floor lamp in the far corner. And there stood a man. He was short, half the height of average, dressed in a red suit. His eyes were closed in rapture as he grooved along to the music, snapping his fingers to the shifting beat.

Closer and closer he came, dancing in stiff jerky moments that at times almost resembled spasms, or perhaps tugs from an invisible string. And as he neared the threshold he spoke in words that were clear yet distorted, as though someone had said them backwards and rewound the tape.

"Treat"

*snap*

"or"

*snap* - and his eyes snapped open into yours -

"Trick."

[Post voided, no roll awarded. (Second post made on the 31st.)]

[Firetra]

Awyn quickly realized that he was, in fact, not speaking to a security guard. His eyes slowly gazed upwards to the face of the spectral being who was still clasped onto his shoulders. "Ummm," he said quietly "may I help you?" He tucked his head down like he was a turtle with a nervous smile on his lips. The poltergeist's wispy hair covered her face from his gaze but he could catch small glimpses of her face as the hair floated around. And from what he saw, he was more inclined to leave the hair obscuring her visage.

[Trick]

[Kitsumi]

"Stick in the mud." Russell grumbled without any spite, nudging his cousin playfully. "Are you sure you don't wanna just take a tiny sip? Maybe it tastes good!"

Kaden, used to this sort of treatment, simply rolled his eyes. "I mean, if you'd rather our night end with a trip to the emergency room, I suppose I could go ahead and give the water a lil taste. I've always wanted to see what it felt like to get my stomach pumped. Hey, maybe I'll even get to ride in an ambulance. And everyone will be staring at us while the toxic chemicals have me seizing on the ground and foaming at the mouth. But hey, you like attention right? Maybe we'll even-"

"I get it, I get it!" Russell finally cut him off. "You could've just said no."

"Yeah, I tried that. You called me a stick in the mud."

"...Let's just go and look at some of the other decorations and then get outta here, yeah?"

[Treat]

[Adelie]

She had actually floated the idea of a Halloween party to the department, in one of the rare moments where she actually felt like putting in effort to talk to the rest of her department. It turned out to be entirely futile, of course. Her casual mention of a Halloween party had only been greeted with blank stares and an occasional Sure, but I'm already booked for another Halloween party. The cooler part went unspoken.

Luckily, those other Halloween parties weren't exclusive. In that respect, she had been the fool for bringing it up - there was really no need for her department to host another party when there was a perfectly good one right here. With a far larger budget, too.

[Treat]

[Jaykobell]

So far, so good. They hadn't forgotten to pass by yet! But they had come close a few times. After a long, grueling day of work, and traveling to go back home, and needing to feed the critters, and then eating too...sometimes, they just sat down and forgot about everything else. Fortunately, their memory hadn't failed them yet.

Although very tired, they made their way through the mansion's entrance, passing by the funny decorations as many did as well. As cute as the decorations were, the candies were the goal!

[Treat]

[Wyvern]

The Tundragoon didn’t think about it too much, in the matter as to how and why did Kumara took the time and effort to... somehow bring over a big cup of “witch brew” to them.

Jace appreciate the lengths of effort and patience the Temple Fellox was giving towards him. But he wanted a bit more time to grow at ease and approach the rest of the tables with treats and beverages himself. He saw how Kumara gently dropped the cup of bright red brew at their front paws.


“Try it out, I think you’ll love it too!”

“Really?” Jace stood there, replying with a single word, mouth left half-open as he could clearly see something “wrong” with the beverage.

“Doesn’t this look like... blood to you?!” He raised his voice a little, front claws anxiously gripping on the bag of candy Kumara gave to him earlier.

“Uh? Blood? N-no, no, this is perfectly safe and drinkable.”

“Are you... sure? So... are they really magical witch brews?”

“Now that you mentioned it... well, just try it for yourself. It’s harmless, I assure you!”

Jace reached down to take the cup of brew in his claw, leaving the bag of candy on the stone edge of the fountain. He hesitated for a few seconds before taking a tiny sip from the mug.

“This is just... fruit punch... with oranges...” The Tundragoon shook the cup gently, observing thin slices of citrus stir inside the liquid. “It is quite savoury, but I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary.”

Kumara gently shook their head. “As much as I think it would be interesting if they offered actual... magic brews made by a real witch, I don’t believe it would be safe for everyone to try them out.”

(Everyone is reposting character images and I keep forgetting to do so. R.I.P. me!)

[Treat]

[crow]

At Soda's words, Alex's eyes widened, and he turned to look too. If he had thought it through just a little bit, maybe he wouldn't have been so hasty; it wasn't inconspicuous, and Alex remembered the person Soda had been talking about. If that was him, the last thing Alex wanted to do was attract his attention.

Fortunately though, it wasn't. As soon as Alex recognized the man that Soda was looking at, he relaxed with a sigh. "No, that was just the girl that was with him." He was a little more familiar with her, honestly. She was done up in a pretty thorough costume, but she was also a regular on the club scene, and she had a tendency to be around trouble without ever quite being in the middle of it. Though usually the kind of 'trouble' she attracted was a little less dramatic than the incident they were all remembering.

Xinyi had an unimpressed look on their face. "Vivi, I think her name is. She sure landed a crazy one this time. He was loaded, but... Yikes."

[Treat]

[Lilith Michaelis]

Luce shrugged, content with his guess and not interested enough to further verify the fountain. He continued onward, approaching the house proper now. As he did so, he waved a hand over his face, materializing a mask into existence over his features. It covered his entire skull and greatly resembled how Wrath appeared in his true form. It was pale, bone white, with deep dark sockets for eyes and a mouth full of needled teeth. A crown of sharp finger bone adorned the mask, digging into the sockets. His fur colloar poofed up around his neck to match and he approached, grinning under his mask as he spoke in his gravely tone.

"Trick o'treat."

[Treat]

[SpringsSong]

The trio of spy, enforcer, and former emperor made their way into the mansion, with two of them almost immediately turning in a particular direction. Theron simply shrugged and sighed, following after the two - they were Force-sensitive, not unlike Xyshari and Lana, so he was well aware that they would be able to sense the two women's unique presences in the Force long before he would ever see them.

"They're over there," Arcann said after a moment. Senya nodded, and Theron followed after the two, walking until they came up to the two women.

"Ah, we were wondering when you were going to-- where are the children," Lana asked, looking around with her senses on high alert as she looked around the room.

"They're with your exotechnology expert, Xyshari," Arcann said to Xyshari. "They're quite entertained by his stories and creations."

[Treat]

[GrayGriffin]

Nikey skipped happily up to the doorway, his bag of candy clutched tightly in one hand. He'd slathered on a bunch of green makeup to make himself look even more zombielike, yet no one was giving him a second look! He was still wearing his hat to conceal his horns, although Tayne, walking behind him, wasn't concealing hers. She, like him, had leaned into her "costume," adding wings and a demonic-looking tail to make herself look like a proper demoness.

"Trick or treat!" called Nikey as they arrived at the door, and he held up his bag happily.

[Treat]