[Thunder]

"Claywick Hawnting! If the decorations aren't all up, I'll have your head in a matter of seconds!" The Headmaster's impatient voice rang out from an adjacent room.

"Ok, ok!" Claywick complained as he stuck up another small pumpkin sticker on the cathedral window. "I'm almost done, just gimme a sec!" The Headless Kuhna huffed and gathered up the decorations that were yet to be used. "Geeze, Headmaster gets so worked up over these things... If getting reading for a party is so stressing, why doesn't he just not do parties?"

"Chill out, brother!" Claywick's sister, Sherry, was across the room, decorating another set of windows. "We're almost done. I'll help you out, don't worry." Her brother muttered a nearly inaudible thanks.

----------

It felt like forever, but at last, all the decorations were done with. Sulliman gazed at the room with pride.

"Good work, you two," he praised the Kuhnas. The siblings beamed at their master's words. "Alright, let's open the doors up now, and watch the people pour in." Sulliman drifted over to the giant stone doors and swung them open, making a blast of wind smack into the Kuhnas' faces. "It's time for some festivities!"

[Freezair]

Par-tay time!

Memory had often suggested to Figment, in her way, that there was no place he belonged more than a spook's school. And, in his way, he often ignored her. But tonight was a night when heading out to the spook parade might actually be worthwhile. He'd heard about the Halloween dinner, and he wanted to kick it up. He was already a bit of a spook himself, what with his psychic powers and all.

For a costume, he'd simply thrown on a scarf and vest--now he was a full-blown pilot, not just someone with the hat! Mellan, his brother, tagged along with a few pieces of cardboard-and-tinfoil armor thrown on over his usual tinfoil hat. For a knight, however, he seemed rather creeped out by his surroundings.

"F-Figment..." The little Shimin clung to his leg. "This place is creepy... are you sure it'll be OK?"

"Sure thing, little bro," Figment replied breezily. "It's only dinner. C'mon! There's gonna be pumpkin pie and candy!"

The Lucain wandered up to the cathedral door, and sized up the building. "Hmm... Think we just knock and ask to be let in?"
The only things knocking just then, however, were Mellan's knees.
[36, 11]

[Thunder]

Just as the two arrived at the cathedral, Sulliman's head popped out from behind one of the doors, a rather creepy sight as his head was merely a floating piece of carved pumpkin.

"Welcome!" He greeted the visitors with a booming voice. "Welcome to Sulliman's Smashing Halloween Supper! I am none other than Headmaster Sulliman himself, and you are quite welcome to enter and enjoy some dinner and festivity." He glanced at the Shimin, who appeared to be dressed as a knight. "Well well!" he cackled, seeing the little thing's legs shaking. "This one seems rather scared, isn't he? But you have nothing to fear at this party, small one. The tricks have been disallowed...for the time being."

Inside the main room of the cathedral, Sherry and Claywick saw that someone had arrived, and the two Kuhnas bounded over to the front door, wanting to see who the guests were. Their eyes landed on a Lucain in a pilot's dress and a small, trembling Shimin.

"Oh hey, our first guests," Claywick commented. "Hey, what are your names?"

[Jaden Wolf]

Seastar (Star)
Summersplash (Splash)

"Oh, come on now, Splashy, smile! We're going to have fun!"
"Don't call me that."
Two lucain were walking up to the doors of the Lya Pointa Cathedral, one with a smile on her face. Her companion, so nicely referred to as "Splashy", seemed rather gloomy...or perhaps, just not very pleased. He was dressed as a King of some sort, which matched his usual, regal personality. Which explained why the other, Seastar, was dressed as some sort of mythical queen.
"Why am I here? I should be at home, enjoying the peace and quiet since your daughter's not around."
"Now, now, Splashy. Don't go talkin' about my girl like that. She's grown up now, not the child she used to be."
Whether or not the conversation could be called an argument could probably depend on point of view, since Splash wanted to argue, while Star just blew it off. She was already in her partying mood. Perhaps because she heard there was going to be pie. PUMPKIN pie. Which she loved, nay adored. Alot. Sighing, Splash gave in, relaxing into a small, regal smile as they reached the doors. It seemed some people were already here...Star wondered which ones were the hosts.

[Freezair]

"Oh! Hello, Mr., uh, Sulliman," Figment said uncertainly. "Name's Figment. Figment Bluefrill! And my bro here is Mellan." He indicated the little Shimin.

"H-h-hello," Mellan stuttered.

"Nice meeting you," Figment said. "Can we come in?" Without waiting for a response (he expected the answer was "yes," anyway), Figment permitted himself inside.

The two brothers went in, their eyes sweeping over the decorations. Mellan's tense claws went lax as he saw the grinning paper and sitcker pumpkins, and the streamers. And food! That looked like a whole table full of food! A few snacks would be good.

"Hey, Figgy... can I go get some punch?"

"Sure," Figment said. "No need to ask me. Careful, though! I hear other guests coming."

[37, 12]

[Thunder]

Claywick puffed out his chest a bit when he saw Mellan brighten up at the decorations, feeling special since those were his decorations. At least, that's what ran through his mind. He had forgotten that his sister helped out with them too. But his thoughts were disrupted when two more guests, two Lucain dressed as a king and queen.

"Ah, welcome, welcome!" Sulliman greeted the pair. "I am Headmaster Sulliman, the host of this party, and these are Claywick and Sherry, my students at the School for Subpar Spooks." The two Kuhnas next to him waved at the guests. "Please do come in. Your outfits are quite lovely."

"Do ya really just want to greet people the whole time?" Claywick whispered to his sister.

"Huh?" Sherry said.

"I mean, c'mon, there's food!"

"But that's for the guests!"

"What, just because we're hosting the party doesn't mean we can eat! Let's go!" He grabbed her paw and tugged her along, resulting in mewls of "but what if Master Sulliman cares?" and "let me go!" from Sherry. But the Headmaster didn't seem to mind.

[Freezair]

Figment, as it happened, was a rather chatty sort to begin with. He gobbled up a bit of a cheese ball and some crackers, and slid himself over toward Claywick and Sherry. He had the devilish look of someone looking to pounce on an unsuspecting stranger for conversation. Exactly what he had in mind, of course.

He approached Claywick first. "He-hey! Chadwick, wasn't it?" He grinned somewhat artificially. "Figment. Sooooo! Tell me about this little school project... thingy of yours! What kinda school is this? What made you guys want to host an open Halloween party? Tell me about this Sulliman fella you got."

Mellan, shivering with his cup of punch, shifted under the table and observed fearfully.

[38, 13]

[Jaden Wolf]

Splash inclined his head towards Sulliman, as Star simply gave him a kind smile. Her eyes flicked down to the kuhnas and she presented them with the same white-toothed smile. She barely listened as Splash returned the greetings in his formal way.
"Ah, we are pleased to meet you. My name is Summersplash, but I am simply known as Splash. My elegant companion here is Seastar, or as she wishes, just Star."
As Star turned back to Sulliman, she noticed the little ones run off, and looked back to see where it was they were headed. Upon seeing the food tables, her eyes lit up with a vacant stare and she slowly walked away. She hardly heard Splash calling her name, as her eyes scoured the foods for pie. Dimly, she registered another lucain guest at the table talking to the kuhnas, but nothing else. At least...until she caught sight of a scared little Shimin under the table. She blinked, pie momentarily forgotten, and lowered her head so as to see him better.
"Hello, little one. What's wrong?" she asked kindly, with a warm, gentle smile that seemed like a mother's.

Meanwhile, Splash had given up trying to call his temporary companion back. He turned instead to the Headmaster.
"So, Subpar Spooks, hmm? What is the school like?" he asked curiously, his face still calm and regal despite the emotion portrayed in his voice.

[Thunder]

Claywick was picking up some cheese and crackers from the table when Figment came over and addressed him.

"It's Claywick," he muttered, shoving a cracker into his mouth. "And the School for Subpar Spooks is for people who want to learn how to scare others really well. Like jumping out from behind walls, rigging traps, that stuff. And Master Sulliman wanted a party, so here it is."

"He's a pretty scary guy when he's mad," Sherry added, whispering to Figment so the Headmaster wouldn't hear. "They don't call him the headmaster for nothing! They say he has a collection of chopped of heads somewhere..." Claywick's sister shivered at the thought.

While that conversation was going on, Sulliman himself was answering Splash. "Ah, yes, our fine school. The school is open to anyone who wants to learn how to frighten and terrify others, Halloween being our most important event because the spooky atmosphere fits well with our ideals. Most of the time it's mischievous little children who register." He cast a sideways glance at Claywick.

[Freezair]

At first, Mellan flinched away from Star. But her sweet, worried voice put him in mind of no one so much as his mother. Mama, with her eternal concern, and Grandpa always hanging around her. He crept forward from underneath the table, looking up into Star's face.

"...I'm scared," he confided. "It's dark, an' there's a lot of people I don't know around, an' lots of spooky creaky sounds. I don't mind funny monsters like the kind you see on a Trick-or-Treat bag or you carve on a Jack-o'-Lantern, but this is scary..."

Figment laughed with Claywick. "Sorry, man. I'm a flake," he apologized. "Cool! So, if you guys are, like, studying to scare people, does that mean your final exams are like... build a haunted house? Hey, did you set one up for the party? I bet that'd be super-cool!"

[39, 14]

[Jaden Wolf]

Splash nodded to Sulliman, interested...somewhat. He knew of a couple of people that could very well be a part of the school. Although...they could never actually join. Some were just...too troublesome, and the last...as a clone of Jaden, there was more pressure to stop the trickery than encourage it. He was not a fan of trickery himself, but he well understood that there were people who needed to do whatever it is they could not help but do, and better in an oragnized fashion, like a school, than randomly on their own.
"It must be difficult, then, to manage such a school. Is it?" he asked, with a light smile on his face.

Star, meanwhile, never ceased smiling down at the Shimin in that same motherly manner.
"Well, little one, I'm sure none of these people are real monsters, so as scary as they may be, isn't it just a bit less scary to know that? Also, even though they are all strangers, myself included, isn't it true that you can't know anyone, unless you meet them first? Everyone you know would have been a stranger to you at some point, right? Besides," she paused, looking up at Figment, "not everyone is a stranger. Doesn't that help?" she asked, as she lifted a cookie off the table and offered it to him.

[Thunder]

Claywick was a bit irritated by the number of questions that were being flung at him, but he didn't show it. "I think Headmaster did do a haunted house one time, yeah," he responded to Figment. "But I wasn't there for it. I'm still learnin. I haven't taken my final exams yet...but I will do it someday. I'm going to be the greatest spook that anyone has ever seen!" He grabbed a cracker from a bowl and chomped on it rather aggressively. "And no, there isn't one for the party...sorry."

"The Headmaster told us not to frighten everyone today," Sherry mentioned to Figment. "He's using the party as a promotion of sorts...so he doesn't want to scare potential students away! Of course the best students won't be scared..."

Sulliman, meanwhile, smirked at Splash's comment. "Indeed, there are quite a few...headaches in the school," he answered, "but a good amount of discipline and a few of my own homemade terrors quickly teaches them a lesson." Then, realizing that sounded a bit malevolent, Sulliman quickly added, "Of course, it's nothing that could physically harm the students...just give them a bit of shock, that's all. The best students have learned proper behavior and how not to be scared of anything themselves."

[Freezair]

Mellan fidgeted with his fingers. "I guess you're right. They're not all real." He gulped, and nervously slurped up the final droplets of punch running around the bottom of his cup. "But... they all LOOK really real. And it's scary, because it's Halloween! Isn't it supposed to be the day where... where real monsters and demons can come out? And I just don't know..." He hopped up to the table, grabbing a peanut butter cup out of the candy dish. He popped it in his mouth, letting the chocolate soothe him.

"Mama says that... that with strangers... It's if somebody is the same age or younger than you, or it's somebody your parents know, it's probably OK. ...Oh!" Mellan looked up at Star, shocked. "I guess I'm breaking that rule. ...Sorry."

"Ooh! So you're enrolling new students?" Figment's eyes perked. "Do you teach, like, how to use psychic powers to scare people into thinking there's ghosts and stuff? Because if you teach one or two day classes--if you accept part-time students, that is--then maybe I've got something to offer." Figment looked at an orange-frosted cookie on the table. With a squint and a growl, he dragged the cookie through the air. He bit the airborn treat out of the air with a satisfied chomp.  

[40, 15]

[Thunder]

(OOC: Is Jaden still with us? And. Uh. Don't question how Claywick can eat crackers with a pumpkin on his head. He...sticks it through the mouth of the pumpkin. Yeah. )

"Uh, yeah, I guess we're enrolling students," Claywick replied, munching on another cracker. He was a rather messy eater, with the crumbs getting all over the floor and on his fur. "I think Headmaster would appreciate it if you joined. 'Course, you'll have to go against my skills." He watched as Figment caught the cookie mid-air and rolled his eyes within his pumpkin "head". He didn't know if he really wanted to attend school with this guy, but hey, if attracting new students would make Sulliman like Claywick more, he'd do it.

"Our school has a bit of a wacky schedule," Sherry added. "We usually only meet at night, so if you have a job in the morning, that should be fine. Very rarely do we do pranks in the middle of day."

[Freezair]

((I'm gonna pull out. It's hard when Mellan has no one to interact with.))

"Oh," Figment's face fell. "My bedtime is kinda early a lot of days, and this is sort of far. What I really need is a psychic teacher... Sorry. But--your party is really nice though!" As if to prove his point, Figment snapped up another snack from the table and gulped it down. He seemed rather disappointed. He would enjoy the party tonight--of course--but if this place wasn't for him, well, that was sort of sad.

Mellan did seem to be getting the idea, at least, that this place wasn't so bad. He came out and started dancing, if in his own, meek way. At least the rest of tonight would be fun!

[41, 16]