[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Ichabod trembled as the room he entered seemed to fill with fog again, but this time he recognised the smells around him, and his surroundings were lit with a midnight glow, as if there was a full moon overhead.

All around him, it was as if his forest had been re-created - right down to the shack in the middle of the clearing, and the half-rotted pumpkin patch. The skeletal rattegan was perched on the largest of the remaining whole pumpkins, staring at him with its empty sockets.

Ichabod leaned in as closely as he could without scaring it off, and whispered - "Trick or Treat"

[Treat]

[Kitsumi]

"Sure." Kaden could have easily brought up that Russell was the one who had insisted on coming. It was Russell who had made Kaden promise not to duck out early, to stay and let himself enjoy the experience. And now it was Russell who seemed fed up and ready to leave. But instead of mentioning this, Kaden bit his tongue and followed his cousin away from the fountain.

The skeletons were especially interesting, and the two men both felt drawn to them. Although there was certainly something unnatural about them. Kaden felt a chill go down his spine as one of the skeletons seemed to be staring right at him, following the man with its gaze somehow despite the empty sockets where its eyes had once been.

[Treat]

[Firetra]

The two stared at each other in silence as a small crowd gathered around them, curious as to how this was going to play out. Awyn's eyes kept darting around, looking for someone out of the crowd who could possibly get him out of this situation.

The pale woman floated over him, small waves of chilled air wafting over his face. Her face and posture were stoic, but the spirit who had taken this form was desperately trying to hold back her laughter, lest she break her performance. She gathered herself mentally before thinking to herself "time to say something cryptic to scare the crap out of this man."

[Treat]

[crow]

Something about the way Xinyi said it made Alex frown. "Do you know about him?"

Xinyi shrugged. "A little. Not a lot. He was in the news a few years ago. Some rich old lady died and left everything to her carer -- that would be him. And he's been living it up ever since, I guess, though there's all kinds of crazy rumors."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Soda, with feeling.

But Xinyi shook their head. "Not what he got up to after... Although there were plenty of tabloids about that too. The more interesting rumors were all about what it was like in the old broad's household before she croaked, what kind of 'carer' he was. Read between the lines a little, and..." Xinyi made a vague hand gesture. Soda looked mostly confused, but Alex blanched. Xinyi clocked his expression and shrugged again. "Look, he got his fortune, right? That's about as happy an ending as he could get, even if all the rumors were true."

[Treat]

[Kylo]

Orion was not scared, at least that's what he told himself. Frankly he wasn't sure this was a good idea after all. Xanatos seemed to be having fun at least and was more often than not laughing at the things meant to scare him. Orion however was jumping at every little sound. Mainly because he didn't deal with ludden noises or sudden movements well. He was already hypervigilant most days, but in places like this he was worse.

He knew it was fake, but his anxiety didn't care.

He clung to his husband tightly as Xanatos gently patted his hand in a soothing motion.

"We can leave if you're not comfortable, Orion," he said softly.

[Treat]

[Adelie]

This was going to be his big break. Well, more like a medium-sized break in a long string of medium-sized breaks. But it was the spirit of it that counted, after all. This was his first time being invited to cater at a Halloween party, and Metha's trick-or-treat was definitely the biggest one of those this side of the two continents. It was an absolute honor to be invited here, and he was going to make the best out of it.

Of course, he certainly wasn't the solo star of the show here. Far from it, in fact - Metha had clearly made an effort to provide snacks and treats that catered to all segments of the population, whether that ranged from taco enthusiasts to obligate blood-drinkers. He had to compete with a myriad array of everything from daintily decorated cookies flavored with fruits and nuts he'd never heard of to elaborate cocktails that he wasn't sure could even be served at an event with children around.

No matter. He believed in himself; he believed in his craft. He would prove himself the best cook here, and he'd do it with nothing but tacos.

[Treat]

[FrostWynd]

Slow and steady was her method as she reached her paw forward, and then...

...Tap.

If something were to happen, this would've been the perfect moment for it. Then after the first, there would be a couple more taps on the bone to follow.

It didn't seem to do anything.

Casting her gaze back to at the empty sockets above, Tondra had managed to confirm two things. For starters, this skeleton was absolutely real. Which... it wasn't that she necessarily doubted the realness of it to begin with, as she did just get through hitting her head against it moments ago. But the situation was bizarre enough for the pup that she did feel the need to doublecheck anyway. But the second thing that the surprisingly delicate act had accomplished, was that this thing was just here, existing. It was simply a skeleton, and nothing else.

Perhaps the failure in seeing it as she was running along was entirely her own fault, and whatever she thought was happening had been nothing more than pure coincidence. Still... she didn't seem entirely sure about that as she kept her eyes on it for a little bit longer, and moved to walk around it and keep going further into the palace grounds.

[Treat]

[Jaykobell]

Hearing someone call his name startled Sergio. It was ironic that the decorations and costumes hadn't had much of an effect, but someone surprising him from behind had done the trick.

He turned around, expecting a stranger, but he was pleasantly surprised to see his colleague looking back at him with that familiar sour look. "Why, Clovis! You changed your mind?" "You won't see me going to that kind of stupid event," the other priest had said. And yet, here he was!

There was a small embarrassed grunt from the smaller priest. "Just 5 minutes," he warned.

[Treat]

[Wyvern]

The Temple Fellox's attention became briefly diverted by the shuffling of the candy bag laid on the intricate stone of the magical fountain. Their ears perked up as they lept forward, noticing a rat-like skeletal creature creep inside the bag, squeaking loudly before running off with a piece of candy.

"Well, there goes some of the treats..." Their paws softly laid on the stone; they were too late to catch the rodent who also caused a few more of the candy to slip off and drop into the bright green water. Jace reacted far too slowly, he didn't even flinch or move at all until he saw Kumara look down at the water, the candies slowly sinking to the shallow depths of the fountain.

He gave a soft, but clearly anxious sigh in concern. "Oh dear. Listen, um, I'm too afraid to... uh..." He paused, but Kumara quickly responded, "Would you like me to get you more candy? Perhaps this time you should come closer? Everyone here is so friendly! Maybe the little critters are hungry, even though... do they really need to eat? They... are SKELETONS, after all... unless, I wonder..." The Fellox began to ponder, as they reached out to grab what remained of the candy bag with one paw.

[Trick]

[zapdragon555]

The two men turned simultaneously, their faces rather open with surprise to see a young woman with her hands clasped tight, wrung together with worry. "Are you two about to go into the manor?"

Tenma and Grimmer exchanged a glance, and Tenma uttered a soft sound, a bit taken aback. "We—"

"Because my daughter, I've—I've been looking everywhere, she was right with me outside, but she's wandered off... and I've asked around, and no one had seen her. I—I think she must be inside..." Ah... she was shaking. Grimmer's gaze had grown slightly hollow as he looked towards the manor, leaving Tenma to gently console the woman, laying a hand soft on her shoulder. "M-my husband and I separated recently. She's been unruly ever since. I don't blame her, but... but just in case she's wandering around out here, I want to stay here. I thought if I could catch someone who was going in, they could help..."

"We'll help," Grimmer stated, his voice flatter and more subdued than Tenma had heard in some time. His gaze was focused as he looked past the warning sign on the door, and deeper into the foyer of the place. "We'll go in and look for your daughter. What's her name?" he asked, unaware that the intense look in his eyes might not be so helpful to the woman's nerves. Tenma gave her shoulder a light squeeze and smiled.

"My friend here is very reliable," Tenma said, letting go of her to lightly touch Grimmer's arm, gesturing to him. "He's good at finding people who are in trouble. We'll go in, and—"

"Y-you think my little Sandra is in trouble—?!"

"Ah! N—no, n-not necessarily... no, probably not," Tenma breathed, and jolted slightly to see Grimmer already walking inside. His jaw set, and he turned back to her with an encouraging smile. "Wait here, to see if she comes out before us. If not, we'll bring her to you."

[Treat]

[amapup]

It was that time of year again; when the air grew colder, the leaves turned colors, and the veil between the living and the spirit world grew thin. The holidays helped too, allowing the dead to intermingle amongst the living without anyone batting an eye.

Indeed, the spectral fenref had already garnered a few complements of "Great costume!" for its glowing eyes.

This made October and January the two busiest months for the reapers of the northern hemisphere, collecting souls and making sure they stayed where they belonged. The two were unfortunately here on business, not pleasure. Though at least it was one of the routine jobs. Someone was going to die here tonight.

Specifically, from a heart attack. The drakel supposed it was a result to be expected from such an attraction as a Face Your Greatest Fear Room. Presumably Metha (or whoever was in charge) had had the forsight to require some kind of liability waiver for the participants. Or not, legal culpability wasn't part of the reapers' purview. Once they had collected the soul they would be on to the next assignment; the rest of the story didn't affect them.

Fortunately, said heart attack wasn't scheduled for another 16 minutes. The drakel grabbed a poisonous-colored concoction from the nearest drink tray being carried around. An eyeball stared up at them as it bobbed in the liquid. Might as well enjoy the festivities while they could.

[Treat]

[Lilith Michaelis]

Luce took his candied prize into his hand and pocketed it. He didn't come here to trick or treat and therefore didn't bring any bags to carry such things. But he had enchanted his coat pockets to contain their own pocket dimensions, so they were better than any old random pillow case anyway. And now he had snacks to munch on while he explored the palace.

He easily slipped passed the person giving out treats and joined the crowd inside. There were less people gathered within the palace, probably due to the warnings about it being a little more arduous. But Luce was curious and wanted to see more; wanted to see what just how well this little haunted attraction had been set up.

[Treat]

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

The skeletal rattegan rubbed its skull with its paws and jumped off the pumpkin, looking back at him at it scurried towards the shack in the centre of the clearing.

Ichabod followed, keeping one eye on his surroundings and his ears pricked up at all times. It was strange to him how the house seemed to be linear, yet he had yet to see any of the people who had been ahead of him at the front door.

The rattegan darted through a hole in the wall, and Ichabod paused beside the shack door, where a door knocker in the shape of a face hung, staring at him blankly.

"Trick or Treat" he murmured, and jumped back as the knocker came to life and shouted "Pass!" whilst the door opened behind it.

[Treat]

[SpringsSong]

"...you left them... with Tharan," Xyshari repeated. "Oh, this couldn't possibly go wrong in any way, especially since Holliday has been traveling the wider galaxy for Ashla knows how long..." she muttered, and Lana placed a hand on Xyshari's shoulder.

"There are admittedly worse things that could happen, my love," Lana said. "It's hardly the worst choice that they could have made for leaving the children with."

"I'll grant you that," Xyshari said with a sigh. "Probably for the best this time around - there are things in this house that would undoubtedly scare them."

[Treat]

[amapup]

Kit had been dropped off in the kids area of the palace party. There were a lot of fun things to do here. There was a crafts table where you could make your own paper pumpkin, and a table with juice and snacks. The walls were decorated with cartoon bats and streamers, and classic Halloween songs played in the background. One door was surrounded by a cutout of a spooky castle and a sign that read "Haunted House".

Kit was currently playing in a pit filled with foam skulls. They liked the pit! The skulls were fun to squish.

There was another kid sitting by the edge of the pit. They were a squeaker, wearing a small carboard box taped on top of a bigger one and painted blue. Two circles were drawn on the front, and there were two big black circles on each side. It looked a bit like a car.

Kit waded over to the other kid. "What are you supposed to be?"

The squeaker turned around, placing a flipper on their chest. "I am the most evil entity of all: TRAFFIC! Everybody hates traffic!"

Kit nodded. They had often heard adults complain about traffic.

"What is your costume?" the squeaker asked.

"Oh, I didn't wear one," Kit said. "But watch this!" Kit opened their mouth and a big gaseous cloud came out.

"Eeew," the squeaker said, waving a flipper in front of their beak. "That stinks!"

"Thanks! I'm famous for it."

The squeaker's eyes lit up. "Traffic is always really smelly. Together we could be unstoppable! Would you like to be my minion?"

Kit didn't know what a minion was, but the other kid made it sound cool. "Sure!" they said, wagging their tail.

"Awesome!"

The squeaker went quiet again, staring at the castle entrance.

"Did you go in the haunted house yet?" Kit asked.

"No. I want to, but I'm kinda scared."

"I can go with you if you want."

"It's true a villain can never be defeated with a trusty minion by their side..." They held out a flipper to Kit. "Deal." Kit slapped the flipper.

"BUT you have to go in front."

"Don't worry," Kit said, crawling out of the pit as the two squared off with the castle entrance. "I can scare off anything with my breath! Mom says I'm good at that."

[Treat]