[FrostWynd]

”Sister… Can you tell me what it is we’re doing exactly?” A young woman, with pale skin and crimson hair, that was wearing elegantly made red and white robes had asked another woman. A dark skinned woman who instead wore a more fancy and slightly more revealing dress. ”We aren’t supposed to be wandering around y’know!” The younger one, named Svanda, had quickly added to further press the issue. But the one she called ‘Sister’ had simply laughed at the questions instead, like as if she had said something funny. ”Sister!” Svanda had yelled this time, as she was now getting annoyed.

She hadn't the faintest idea for why they were out here in the city, with the sun only just starting to set, but it did seem like something was going on…

[FrostWynd]

It seemed to the other woman, who was some years older, that the younger one wasn’t going to quite settle down, so she tried to fix that by bringing a finger up to her lips. ”Sshhh... Patience, little Sister. I’ll explain very soon.” They were getting close to what had her interest anyway. Although Svanda didn’t seem to approve still, it didn’t at all matter to her. Stopping for a moment once they were close enough, she turned to face the younger one. ”It’s something called… Trick-or-Treating! Ta-dah!” Harmonia had suddenly pulled out something that she been keen about hiding beneath a black cloth. What was unveiled had gotten a look of surprise out of her dear little Sister, which she smiled slyly at. ”What… In the world are those? They look like disfigured watermelon.” Her sister had eyed what was actually bright orange pumpkins, that was being suspended in the air with black handles, with suspicion. Not taking any notice to the random passersby who gave her odd looks, overhearing the watermelon comment. A comment that wouldn’t make sense to anyone from around here, naturally.

[FrostWynd]

Giving one of them a light poke. Svanda’s surprise only escalated further when it moved, bumping against the other with no effort and creating a hollow sound. ”Unholy Shade!” She’d exclaim in surprise. The woman in the dress had burst out laughing as she’d witnessed this. ”Quite wrong, my dear Sister. They’re actually called pumpkins, something that seems common in this world. Including for tonight.” She explained as she encouraged Svanda to walk with her once more. Now going around a corner to another street. A street that was heavily decorated for the occasion with all sorts of things, including these pumpkins she’d mentioned, of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

With widened red eyes and a bit of a hanging mouth, which wasn’t the most elegant thing she’s done tonight, Svanda began to take in this strange sight. Seeing families coming and going through the street with their children, all wearing all sorts of getups that appeared random and strange. Watching as they walked up to doors and leaving soon after they’d been answered. Among the excited shouts she heard plenty of the phrase ‘trick-or-treat’ from them. ”This… ‘Trick-or-treating’ you mentioned. What is it exactly?”

[FrostWynd]

Waiting patiently for the initial awe and curiosity to pass in it’s own time, Harmonia’s smile only seemed to grow wider and wider once it was her time to shine. ”So glad you asked, little Sister! I found out just recently that it’s part of a human tradition, where for one night they collect these things called candy, and get to have some fun with scaring people!” Just as she said that, they both could hear the loud screams of some kids a few houses down. Glancing over at the scene, there were several children running for their lives, quite a few of them seemed to be crying too like a couple of pansies. When it was over, they returned to their conversation. Svanda appearing very interested now. ”Is there a name to this day?” It sounded almost like the festivals that they had where they were from, which had names of their own. Her question was answered with an excited nod. ”Indeed it does. The humans here have called it Halloween. And tonight, we’re going to have some fun of our own.” There was an ominous giggle from Harmonia, one that Svanda seemed to understand.

[FrostWynd]

She had been handed the strange thing called a pumpkin, and soon after was told about the lid on the top that she could pop off to collect the candy. (Which was after her 'Sister' had to attempt explaining to her what material it was made out of. As they both held very little to no understanding of this stuff called plastic.) They headed right on in for the Halloween fun. ”Now then, remember my instructions that I gave you. Knock on doors, say trick-or-treat, get candy. Simple!” Her Sister had explained to her one last time, before they both split up to cover more ground. ”We’ll meet up at the usual spot! And don’t forget, to have some fun!” Harmonia had called out one last time, Placing a lot of extra emphasis on one single word.  After that, Svanda watched as she disappeared within a small crowd of people.

”Yes… I’ll have some 'fun' alright.” Following behind a group of people, another family by the looks of it, she began to make her own preparations for this occasion.

[FrostWynd]

Arriving at the doorstep of one of many houses. Svanda silently awaited her turn, observing the surrounding yard that held all sorts of decorations with many meanings that were lost on her. Such as the one of a gravestone with a half decayed hand emerging out of it. ”Hmm…” Was all that could be said in response to that. Trick-or-treat! She’d heard yet again, the phrase drawing her attention now as she turned her eyes to the family ahead of her. Watching as the younger humans lifted up bags to retrieve their prize. It did look like a very simple affair. Once it was her turn, stepping aside just a moment to let the family pass, she walked up to the doorstep and held out her pumpkin. ”Trick-or-treat.” Unlike the children, her version of it seemed to hold significantly less excitement. After she was held victim to the atrocious sight of what this woman, who was giving out the candy, was wearing.

It was something hideously frilly, and a ghastly color she would never be caught dead wearing. Atop her blonde head was a thin, tall silvery crown. When she twisted a bit, Svanda caught sight of what looked like insect wings, and she was holding a pathetically small stick with a strange star on the tip. What the redhead didn’t know, was that the woman was just dressed up in a fairy queen costume. But the damage was done, as she looked disgusted. Even after hearing something fall into her pumpkin, she didn’t bother saying anything. Instead turning to leave without another word. The woman just watched with a scowl, before going to close the door shut.

”That wasn’t fun to see. But I can fix it.” Svanda muttered to herself as she slipped something small out of her sleeve, and tossed it behind her onto the woman’s house.

[FrostWynd]

”Trick-or-treat~!” Now wearing a mask, Harmonia had called out with many giggles as her knuckles rapped against the door roughly. She had to avoid what looked like some dirty torn up cloth that swung by on the porch of this house, that had screamed out at her, to even reach the door. That might’ve been a ghost of some sort, she wasn’t really sure. It wasn’t scary at all though, just more of a poor laughable attempt at doing so, she could see very well how fake it really was. Once she heard the jiggle of the doorknob as it was about to open, she lifted up her own pumpkin with a wide, and slightly creepy, smile. ”Hello! I’m here for candy.” She told the man straightforwardly as she shoved the plastic closer to his face. Which may have gotten on his nerves a bit as he smacked it out of the way, giving her a dubious look afterwards. ”Ain’t you a bit old for this, m’am?”  He’d questioned. Which in turn made her happy smile turn into a hostile one. ”Are you looking to lose a few teeth? Or shall we forget this ever happened?” She’d asked him in a tone that made it hard to guess if she was actually serious. But it seemed there could be a problem if he didn’t give in, as she once again shoved the pumpkin towards him. ”Alright, alright... Calm down, lady.” With hands up in the air, to signal him giving in, he reached over to a nearby bowl to grab some candy. Which he then tossed into that annoying pumpkin.

Once that was done, her behavior changed once again. ”Thanks~!” And she suddenly came forward to give him a hug, which he wasn’t prepared for. That was all she needed to serve as her distraction, as she left something on the back of his neck with a simple touch. A red mark that quickly faded from sight. Then as soon as she had invaded his personal space, she was already gone. Leaving the man quite confused.

[FrostWynd]

In due time, the sun had already gone down. Leaving behind darkness, and the various lights from all the houses and the streets to take its place. Making her way down to several more houses in the neighborhood between this time, Harmonia’s pumpkin was getting very full. But she was far from done. More work needed to be done, to make this a truly fantastic Halloween. Getting up to even more of her little tricks, she started applying her mark on even more unsuspecting people she visited for her candies. But as it grew late, she began to go for other things as well. Trees, fences, some dogs, docile cats, even a couple of decorations in the yards of these houses. Some people wearing the most intriguing costumes were not spared from these actions either.

”Phew… There, that should do it!” Harmonia looked quite satisfied by her handiwork, watching as a passerby wearing a werewolf costume walked down the street. A large mark right on his back, and he didn’t even notice! This was going to be really fun, and Svanda outta be finished with her work as well. ”We’ll see if she brings enough candy herself.” She had remarked with a grin, walking down the road and vanishing into the darkness.

[FrostWynd]

Over with Svanda, she was having a… More difficult time compared to Harmonia. Her own pumpkin was only slightly more than half-full. But she did have plenty more reasons to go tossing around small objects that were hidden among her sleeves, little red pearls that held a strange glow. By the time she would be finished, the whole neighborhood would be littered with them. The only reason she didn’t have as much candy must have had to do with her own lack of charisma, and her great dislike of most costumes she had come across. Even the people were disagreeable, like the one that let loose a random dog that had chased her down. They said it was an accident, but she knew… Oh, she knew that they had done that on purpose!

Growing tired of collecting candy, Svanda had soon enough nearly stopped knocking on doors completely. Instead having more fun with finding ways of sneaking her pearls into houses, and any stray purses or pockets that came too close. Nobody was spared when she saw an opportunity. Her fun was cut short though, as she realized she was starting to run out, and it seemed people were starting to head back home as well. Which meant now was a good time for her to meet up with Harmonia.

[FrostWynd]

By the time Svanda had gotten back to the place the agreed on, and old house that was beyond decrepit, it seemed her Sister had already gotten there first. It looked like she was starting to dig into her hard earned treats, having gotten a bit of chocolate on her fingers and the corner of her lips. ”Oh, hey! Welcome back, little Sister.” She’d said, waving a half-eaten candy bar around as she beckoned her closer. ”So how’d it go? Get lots of candy?”

Already Svanda looked pretty annoyed by that question, and kept herself at a good distance away from that candy when she noticed how messy it actually was. ”Yeah, I think so.” She replied, her eyes following after that candy bar the other held. Lifting up her pumpkin, Svanda allowed for her to take a peek inside, popping open the lid. There was a whistle from her Sister as she’d reached in with her clean hand to mix things around inside. ”Very nice. Here, you can look at what I got too.” Watching her reach over for the other one, Svanda instantly noticed that it was filled even more compared to her own. She growled unhappily, and already started complaining. ”How did you get more than me? We started at the same time!”

This got an amused laugh out of Harmonia, as she took another bite out of her candy bar. ”Aww, don’t be mad~ You just need more practice.” Although she seemed to think it cute when her little Sister got mad. ”Oh yeah! Did you also do what needed to be done?” Pointing that candy bar dangerously close to Svanda’s face, the poor young woman had to lean back to avoid getting chocolate on herself. ”Yes, Sister. We just have to complete the final step, and everything will go as planned. And get that thing out of my face!”

”Very well. Let’s go!” Grabbing the pumpkin out of Svanda’s hand, Harmonia got behind her and gave her rump a quick bump with her knee to push her forward into the other room. Getting an angry,  ”Hey! out of her from doing that. Depositing both of their candy in the corner, finishing up her candy bar quickly, and cleaning herself up, it was finally time! Some preparations needed to be made, as they used the cleanest room in the house to put down a circle, got out the things they needed, lit some candles, and began memorizing some important lines. Once that was finished, they waited.

It was nearly midnight. That was when they began to chant, speaking many words that made no sense, but held a clear purpose. Power began to radiate, and culminated into a powerful release once the ritual was complete, blasting the room with a mist. ”Happy Halloween~” Harmonia had cackled, and Svanda joined in with laughter of her own.

All over in the city, small pearls had burst open into a thick fog, releasing wicked magic into many homes to wreak havoc with illusions, and possibly lead to injury. Stealthily placed markings revealed themselves again, glowing brighter than before as they transformed everything they were applied to into terrifying monsters.

At the stroke of midnight, from the ultimate prank, the city was enveloped with many terrified screams.