jack skellington (kingofscares) wrote in halloweening, @ 2013-10-01 08:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, jack skellington, sally |
Who: Jack Skellington & Sally
What: Jack has a confession to make...
When: early morning, October 1st
Where: Halloween Town Proper
Status: Complete
Warnings: NA
Sally didn't actually know how she knew when things were awry; Dr. Finkelstein had never disclosed if that had been something just included in her making when he created her or if it was a happy coincidence. It didn't really occur to her to wonder, though. Her abilities to sense that something was wrong and visions were an asset, that much was for sure, even if they were a bit foreboding. It had come to her when she was gathering ingredients for her potions. Something had happened. Sally didn't know what, but she knew that it was much more important than gathering nightshade. She picked up her basket and hurried out of the garden in search of Jack. She didn't have to search for long. "Jack," she greeted, her tone concerned as she approached. "Something has happened." Jack was not blessed with the gift of Sight, but in this particular case of him being the guilty party, he didn’t need it. “Sally!” It just about figured that when his ghost of brain was kicking in to figure out how to handle the public relations side of this that Sally would have already figured out that something was terribly awry. A witch and two werewolves eyed them with a mix of confusion and interest. This would not do. “Sally,” he repeated her name, flavoring the word with candy canes and amber-colored honey and nothing remotely panic-inducing, “why don’t we go have a private chat?” “You two lovebirds,” sighed the witch. “Get a grave!” supplied one of the werewolves, toddling off toward the butchers. Jack steered Sally around the corner and to a less-crowded alley. All of Halloween Town was in full-throttle, preparing for Halloween (which was only 30 days away!). Despite it being so early in the morning, children were already practicing their calls of “trick or treat”, goblins were giggling from the gutters, and everyone everywhere was alive with the thrill of the season. Except Jack, whose skull had turned a shade mournful as it gazed upon the rag doll. “Sally,” he said again, and this time, there was no sweetness or surprise to his tone - only despair. “I think I’ve made a terrible error in judgment.” A pause. “Again!” Sally's already concerned expression only grew, her eyes widening as he spoke. Time had passed since the Christmas prior, when Jack had decided it wise to take over the holiday. She had known then that it wouldn't turn out the way he had hoped, but it had turned out well enough and enough time had passed for most to have put it behind them to instead focus on the preparations for their own upcoming holiday. But for Jack to have made an error in judgment once more -- and to freely admit it -- the sense of foreboding that Sally was feeling only weighed upon her even more. "Oh, Jack," she replied, her voice more gentle and comforting rather than judging. "What's happened?" “Well… nothing… yet…” Jack hedged, clasping her hands in his bony digits, casting a wide net for hope and coming up lacking. “But--” he winced, gesturing as he struggled with the most positive spin he could put on this. “Hrm. Do you remember those three witches who come through once a year, granting wishes? And do you remember how we always put out an advertisement to the public not to buy a wish, because wishes never turn out exactly like you might expect...?” Sally knew exactly of the witches that he was talking of and the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. While she knew Jack and was completely aware that he would never wish anything that might cause ill will to the people in Halloween Town and out, the witches seemed to get great pleasure in taking a completely innocent wish and turning it into something dreadful. Her fingers tightened around Jack's own as she drew in a breath before asking, "What did you wish for?" “It was a simple wish,” he admitted. And he probably wouldn’t have been so foolish as to wish it had the spectre of last year’s Christmas not hung over his head. Jack Skellington was more than a perfectionist; he was the King of Scares! This year Halloween had to be perfect, lest his fans think that he’d lost his edge. Of course, what was even worse was that Jack worried sometimes that he had lost his edge. Could one even be the King of Scares if one enjoyed melting a festive candy cane in a thick hot cocoa now and then? “I wished that Halloween this year have more scares, thrills, and excitement than ever before,” he said, his skull moving into a wince as he said it out loud. While Sally didn’t judge him, she could - and had - felt disappointment in him before. Jack felt disappointment in himself. “Who knows what’s coming, now!” Sally did feel a shred of disappointment in Jack, but not because of what he did. Instead, she was disappointed that after all of these years and so many Halloweens, he seemed to be doubting himself. She knew that he was worthy of his title and it was all too obvious judging by the throngs of admirers he had in Halloween Town that the citizens agreed. What's done was done, though, and Sally knew that they couldn't spend but so much time preparing for whatever was to come. The not knowing was the hardest -- how did they even prepare when it could be anything? "It will be fine," Sally said after a moment's hesitation, pulling herself to her full height and squeezing his bony hands once again. "We don't know what's to come, but I do know that we can handle it. We can handle anything, Jack." Jack didn’t need to breathe, but he was very keen on dramatic sighing. Which he did now. At length. “We can handle anything,” he repeated, wondering if it’d sound like he believed it. And he did - mostly. He had all of Halloween Town who had proved themselves capable of rallying to nearly any cause, he had his past experiences, and most importantly - he had Sally. “We can handle anything,” he repeated, a little more buoyantly. “Anything at all. And after all - it’s only 30 days until Halloween!” He smiled a skeletal grin, teeth clacking together. “How bad could it possibly be?” Despite that she was trying to be optimistic, Sally could think of all sorts of ways that it could most certainly be bad. Very bad. Now wasn't the time to bring that up, though. Later, maybe, when they found out just what his actions had done and they had to deal with the potentially terrible consequences. But still, she could keep from saying, even with the smile she was managing to give him, "I suppose we'll see!" “We’ll see indeed,” Jack agreed, “and in the meantime, I’m going to not worry about it. Did I tell you about the outlines for this year’s broom race? They’re truly blood-curdl--” “Jack! Jack!” The little boy that came scurrying around the corner might have been six or seven, had he not died twenty years before. “There are strangers!” “Strangers? You mean-- visitors?” Jack had never quite given up hope that Sandy Claws would agree to put the whole Christmas-destruction behind him and come by for a peace offering and a hot cider. But the boy was shaking his head vigorously. “No! Strangers! Hundreds of ‘em! Comin’ out of the woods!” Jack exchanged a worried expression with Sally. “Well. I suppose we’d… best go see about that, shouldn’t we?” He laughed. It sounded half-strangled. |