Thread: All Hallow's Eve [2014] WHO: OPEN TO EVERYONE. Tag yourself in. Or build your own seperate thread. WHEN: The night of Halloween. WHERE: All over the Academy grounds.
It had been a clear, windy day, the clouds rollicking along a great, blue sky. The night would be the same: clear and many-starred, but cold. Mickey was at the school graveyard, part of a disconcertingly quiet crowd. Mickey saw that the teachers had gathered here, serious and solemn. Even the snakes on Ms. Stheno's head had curled up, observing the world with their reptile gaze. Mr. Pheres was standing to the side, his large equine form silhouetted by the moonlight, and he was looking at the gravestones without really seeing them. To his side was Ms. Menides, her expression as unreadable as ever.
There weren't only teachers, though they were the majority. Most students kept clear of the graveyard, either out of some atavistic respect for the places where the dead dwell, or because they were too busy preparing for the night proper, dressing up and doing their hair or setting up their Houses for the night. It was somewhat of a tradition among Experts to be there when the dead rose from their graves. It was their last year: they wanted to satisfy their curiosity and pay their respects. The Experts had been the ones who had worked hardest to prepare their Houses for the night, so perhaps they deserved this moment of respite.
Mickey knew he hadn't been pulling his weight. Perhaps tonight, he could change that.
The light was fading as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. The silence grew more restless, anticipating. Mickey was staring at the tombstones when he felt her eyes on him. He looked at Ms. Menides. Her voice was quiet and clear when she said: "I'm glad you're out and about tonight, Mr. Torres. Happy Halloween."
Mickey returned the greeting. When her eyes swerved away, he permitted himself a tiny grin.
They rose like smoke from the graves, strands of thin ethereal white that slowly shaped themselves into human-like shapes of silvery grey and translucent blue. An unimaginative teacher did the same thing he did every year and started playing La Danse Macabre. It sent shivers down Mickey's spine when a voice joined in with the music. The voice was low and melodic, forcing the music to go at a far slower, more dirge-like pace. It was gorgeous. Haunting. He noticed people looking around and then Mickey saw who was singing: Mr. Cavanaugh. Even the spirits took notice, looking at the banshee with their hollow eyes.
It gave Mickey a chance to examine them. A pale, thin man with a commanding presence - Mickey thought he recognized him from one of the paintings in the hallways. A sad-looking maid with an apron and a bonnet, her wrists cut open and a silvery light pouring out. A Native American man covered in tattoos and scars. A boy with an empty eyesocket. Mickey even saw a woman he recognized: it startled him to realize it was the teacher that had been killed by the Wendigo last year. But the most beautiful was a young girl in a beautiful, frilly dress. She had a flower in her braided hair and she carried a parasol. She was smiling, even though there was a gaping hole in her chest.
The violin finished long before Mr. Cavanaugh did. When the song died down, Mr. Cavanaugh bowed his head. The ghosts who had gathered together were shaken out of their reverie and started to glide towards the school grounds, following path of the warm yellow lights that would lead them to the dorms and the school buildings. Mickey knew most of them would go to the Pegasus house, where the living and the dead gathered and communed. The living shared a meal while the dead could share their experiences. It was never Mickey's favorite house during Halloween, but their food was always excellent.
He knew the spirits would avoid House Hydra, which had, as always, made a proper haunted house. The theme this year was Día de Muertos, adopting a proper Mexican flair for their house of horrors. Mickey had seen lots of skeletons and had heard that, this year, they'd be relying on hallucinogenic powders and optical tricks a lot to scare their fellow students. House Kitsune had been turned into a paradise for AV geeks, with their movies and video games. This year, their house had been themed towards horror movies, giving each room a particular franchise. House Sphinx would be all about the board games, though rumor had that they'd picked up a few pool tables this year. There'd be poker tables as well, though the students had to bet with M&M's, not money.
And then you had House Ladon, which is where most everyone alive ended up to see the sun rise. It was where they built the bonfire and where the music was the loudest and the most danceable. Usually, students were the music-makers, the most promising disk jockeys getting about an hour to get everyone dancing. No matter how vigilant the teachers were, there was always some way to get alcohol. Mickey mused that it might have something to do with the fact that every year, all the teachers gathered here during the crucial hour before the festivities started. Ladons weren't known for their intelligence, but when it came to creatively breaking the rules, they were a match for most Hydras. There were some rumors that Mr. Kaden would knuckle down on the Ladons for this day, however, so there were plenty of students from the other Houses who had taken their own precautions.
Mickey knew Leon wouldn't doing much for this night, but they might meet up at dawn, near the bonfire, which would be smoldering down at that point. Mickey nodded to himself as both the living and the dead started to move towards the festivities, drawn in by the liveliness of the students. Yes, the djinn vowed, tonight he'd try to have fun. He'd try to forget.
He was still lingering on the graveyard when it had almost emptied out. He saw Ms. Menides still standing there, watching the graveyard. Mickey could see she was sad - almost. He looked where she was looking. A ghostly couple was dancing to unheard music, a lovely girl dressed in a wedding dress and a handsome guy in a suit. His shirt had a large stain on it, her neck was broken. Mickey felt himself standing on the edge of that pit again, the sadness threatening to rise up and swallow him whole again.
He realized Ms. Menides was looking at him again. She frowned and then said, almost commanding him: "Go. Live." Mickey quickly obeyed.