[Azura Rayume]

This was going to be fun, he could feel it. The changing seasons stirred in both him and the stars, and Loke was eager to finally get to do something productive around here. He smiled up at the stars out the window, his eyes first on his own constellation, Leo, on the far west horizon, then to Libra and Scorpio sharing the cradle of the sky. Libra was on her way out of center stage and Scorpio was on his way in. A perfect time for the students to try something new; Scorpio stood for resourcefulness and truth and-

"Mr. Regulus, can we pleeeeease get started? Class started ten minutes ago, and you've been staring out the window the whole time."

"Hm? What?" Loke turned on his heel to stare at the confused, bored students; he had nearly forgotten that they were here. He gave a quick headcount to make sure everyone had actually shown up during his mental absence. "Right, well, I was just... making sure everything was in the proper places for the lesson tonight. Now-" He clapped his hands, accidentally making one of the kids jump, "does anyone have a guess as to the importance of this time of the year?"

[Azura Rayume]

The murmur of mumbling was... less than encouraging. Loke was a bit disappointed, but not everyone paid quite so close attention to seasons and holidays. He gave them a few minutes to work it out, doing his best to not look impatient, then a hand slowly raised from the middle of the group.

"Yes, Silas?"

The summoner hesitated, but the small winged rabbit on his shoulder edged him on. The boy took a deep breath before he spoke. "W-well, uh," he stammered, drawing an eyeroll from a few of his fellow students. "We don't do a lot with it here, but, um... Isn't Halloween tomorrow? Er, in the morning, really?"

Loke beamed at him and nodded. "You are correct, sir!" he said, relieved that one of them had figured it out. "All Hallows Eve, or Samhain, or Halloween, all of them are the right names. Non-magical people attribute many a magic thing to this day, and for good reason. We of the more magically inclined have used the day for eons as a centering point on our calendars, and there are a few very choice ingredients for several powerful spells that can only be found on this day. You-" He quickly recounted the students (he really needed to remember how many there were supposed to be), "-six will be participating in a very different manner, however. It's a team building exercise that you will be taking part in starting tomorrow evening at seven o'clock, something that non-magic children do every year. It's called 'trick-or-treating.'"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Nathaniel groaned. "Isn't that for kids and stuff?"

"Normally? Yes. For this? No. Capello has already given the go-ahead, Tramner thinks it's a marvelous idea, and I'm just giving you a heads up." Loke gave a curt nod before turning to the blackboard and picking up a piece of chalk. "Now, onto tonight's actual lesson: Scorpio's dominion over water- and luck-based incantations."

[Azura Rayume]

"This is so stupid!" Nathaniel complained, tugging at the hem of his jacket before crossing his arms over his chest. Having to go experience this bland holiday and deal with screaming small children in costumes was one thing, but it was quite another to get stuck with, ugh, him. Druj of all people. The guy was practically a hippy. He had tried to team up with Kizzy- man, the two of them could have wreaked some real havoc out here with all these gullible children around- but Capello and Regulus had insisted on choosing their partners for them, and he got stuck with... Druj.

Druj gave him a soft smile. "It's not that bad, kid," he said, walking off toward the first house. Nathaniel was likely to complain the entire time, but Druj had had little opportunity to get to know the water mage. Probably because their magics were so opposed. "They aren't making us do anything all that hard, and we didn't have to actually dress up for it. It's just a couple of hours out of the school, plus we get free candy."

Nathaniel's face twisted into an annoyed grimace. "You... I..." he stammered, stomping after the other student. "You don't... I wa... We're the same age!"

[Azura Rayume]

"Ooh, this is gonna be fun, don't ya think?" Unlike the other students who all kept their normal clothes, Shensha had gone out of her way to wear the most extravagant ninja costume she could come up with. Belts and sashes and a scarf, fake throwing stars and all- if it hadn't been that Silas was so absolutely slow, she would have probably bounded off like a kid who had already downed the entirety of their candy haul. She instead opted for bouncing on her toes, backwards, all the way down the street.

Silas watched her bounce, his eyes tracking her movement without really registering what it meant. "Hm? What? he said eventually, the fact that Sensha was speaking to him finally clicking into place in his brain. "Oh, yeah. I guess it is." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his head to watch a group of children pass by. They were supposed to actually be trick-or-treating, yes, but he was more inclined to just watch than actively participate.

Sensha stopped bouncing and turned away, her scarf swaying behind her and exaggerating her steps. "I know we're suppose to just do a little of this and go home, but I think this would be the perfect time to work on my ninja skills, too. Liiiiiike this!" She pulled a small packet out of a pocket in her outfit and threw it to the ground. There was a loud bang immediately followed by a black cloud of smoke, and Sensha took off running.

"Ninja skills. Right. Wait." Silas caught a whiff of the gunpowder and began to panic. "Sensha, wait!" he shouted, bolting off after her. "Watch out for cars!"

[Azura Rayume]

Kizzy muttered something under her breath, arms crossed defensively over her chest. If it wasn't for this assignment, she would have had a lesson with Tramner tonight, but instead she was wandering around in the streets trying to get candy from strangers. She distinctly remembered that being something people told children not to do, but apparently that rule was void tonight. On top of that, she hadn't even been paired up with Nathaniel; instead, she got stuck with shadow girl. Who was, by the way, huddled in a corner talking to herself, it seemed.

She seems nice, hissed the voice in her ear, Rou spying on her life again. She waved a dismissive hand at him, but the dragon spirit ignored her. You really should try making more friends. Nate is fine, yeah, but you have other people in your class.

"I don't need friends," Kizzy hissed at Rou, but she also managed to catch Layla's attention as well. Kizzy scowled at the spirit and tried to shoo him off. "Would you get outta here already? I don't need your help with this."

Layla waved to whatever she was talking to and stood up, cocking her head curiously at her classmate. "Who were you talking to?" she asked, her voice strangely soft and curious.

"Uh... nobody," Kizzy said, giving the other girl a nervous smile. "Nobody important anyway. We should, uh, go do this thing Regulus wants us to do so I can get home. Sound like a plan?"

[Azura Rayume]

The first door they approached seemed promising. A brightly lit street, a friendly woman at the door, children laughing and carrying on; all the indicators pointed to a perfect place to start.

"Trick or treat!" Druj said, a bright smile on his face as he held up the little plastic bag Regulus had handed out before they left. Nathaniel hung back a bit; this wasn't his kind of deal, but at least Druj was friendly with strangers enough for the both of them.

The woman gave him a quizzical look and frowned. "Aren't you a little old for trick-or-treating, young man?" she asked. She was probably far more skeptical than she needed to be for someone handing out candy to strangers' children, but that was her own problem.

Druj balked, taking a step back. "I, uh, he stammered; what did she mean, too old? He was supposed to be doing this. "I don't think so. I-"

"He's foreign," Nathaniel interjected, stepping up and putting an arm around Druj's shoulders. "They don't do this kind of thing where he's from, and he got all excited and just had to come out and see what was up. You don't wanna crush his first Halloween in town, do you?"

The woman stared them down for a moment longer but finally relented. "I supposed not," she said, reaching into her own bucket and dropping a handful of sweets in Druj's outstretched bag. "Just be careful, boys."

[Azura Rayume]

"TRICK OR TREAT! SMELL MY FEET! GIMME SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT!" Sensha was all smiles even though she was shouting, and the fairly concerned-looking forty-something-year-old man who answered his door looked both confused and afraid. Even rattled, he had the peace of mind to drop a few candies in her bag before shooing her off, and Sensha bounced off, just as gleeful as at the beginning.

Silas watched her skip off with a sigh, quietly taking the treat the man offered him. She had done more than enough shouting for the both of them and was likely to scare half this street into never giving candy to anyone over the age of seven again. The man made a noise to get Silas' attention, then muttered low enough that Sensha couldn't here, "You might want to keep an eye on that sister of yours."

"She's not my sister," Silas responded, much louder than he intended. Both the man and Sensha stared at him, and his classmate looked mildly hurt. "I mean. She's not... not really my sister. We're, uh, friends. Classmates. That sort of thing. Anyway, uh... Yeah, I'll watch her." He could feel his face flush with embarrassment, and he stomped off after Sensha. Her bouncing had calmed a bit, but she seemed sad about it.

[Azura Rayume]

The girls walked side-by-side in relative silence, neither of them really too keen on approaching strangers. Human strangers anyway. Kizzy swatted at the air from time to time, trying to keep Rou from hissing ideas for forging friendships in her ear, and Layla was easily distracted, wandering off and muttering to corners and alleys.

Finally, after a few awkward minutes of waiting for Layla to stop talking to a trashcan- at least, that's what it looked like she was doing, Kizzy finally broke their established silence. "What exactly are you doing?" she asked, her voice annoyed. This was probably the eighth time they had stopped in ten minutes, and she just wanted to get this over with and go home.

"The shadows," Layla said, standing up and brushing some dirt from her clothes. "They speak to me, and they lend me their power when I need it. They're gossipy things, though, and they're very excited for this holiday. So many people around, so much to see."

Kizzy cocked her head curious. "That's... really cool," she said, a smile tugging at the edge of her lips. "I talk to spirits, actually... Hey! How about we ditch this stupid assignment and see who we can stir up in the graveyard?"

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go."

[Azura Rayume]

"You lied to her." Druj sounded more horrified than impressed, which was a disappointment. The fire mage kept staring at the candy in his bag. "This was gotten wrongfully because you lied to that woman."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes; he was tired of going over this. "Look, it's not like she would have given it to you any other way," he explained in a bored tone. "Besides it's not the how that mattered here, it's the what. We got what we came for- something of it anyway- and we worked together to get it. You with the stuttering and the friendly face and me with the story that covered up the fact that you're eighteen and not that weird for doing this. Isn't that what this was about anyway?"

Druj shook his head, still unconvinced. "Deception is wrong, Nathaniel. You should never use something like that just to get... What is this?" He held up a bright orange wrapper and stared at it. A moment later, Nathaniel snatched it from his hand.

"Peanut butter cup. And maybe it's a little bad, yeah, but a little bad never hurt anyone too much. You really need to lighten up, bud."

[Azura Rayume]

The pair walked on in silence, Silas hovering just a bit more than before. He wasn't quite sure what to do; something about the conversation he had had with that man had broken something in Sensha, and he wasn't sure how to fix it. Or even if he could.

After a hesitant moment, he laid a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped under his touch. "Hey," he muttered, trying to smile. "I don't know what I did, but-"

"Am I really not your sister?" Sensha interjected, bringing out a blush from the boy.

"Uh, no?" How she could have made an assumption like that was beyond him. They both knew their parents, as far as he understood anyway, and their relationship was very much that of classmates. None of that screamed a "brother" vibe to him, but Shensha had always been a weird one, he supposed.

"I just... I always thought of the class as like a family..." She looked away from him and down to her shoes, kicking at a leaf. "I don't have a family, and I thought this was what it was like. I thought maybe you guys all thought that, too. Now it sounds stupid..."

"Hey! No, that's not stupid!" At least her reasoning made sense now. "I'm not gonna stop you from thinking that way. If it helps, I'd say go for it. Plus, hey, maybe we are like a little weird family sometimes. We don't always get along or even come close to agreeing, but what family does?"