Mod Journal for St. Margaret's. (saintly_mods) wrote in st_margarets, @ 2013-10-31 14:57:00 |
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Thread: Halloween - Old Souls Eve
WHO: OPEN TO EVERYONE. Feel free to subthread it up, or just open a new thread.
WHEN: The Night of Halloween.
WHERE: All over the Academy grounds.
Every year would be the same. As the sun set, its last golden fingers peeking over the mountains, the graveyard would stir. Teachers would be gathered, quiet and solemn. There would be very few students: they were too busy preparing for the coming night, getting in their costumes and planning their activities. There would be some Expert-level students, and a few vampires who were curious to see how the other side lived. There was one teacher, talented at playing the violin but lacking in imagination, who'd made a habit of playing La Danse Macabre as the spirits rose into the air, faint wisps curling out of the graves and slowly forming into recognizable shapes.
You learned to recognize them. The stern woman with the tiny glasses and the commanding presence. The man with the enormous fangs. The three young children in their old-fashioned dress, their skin pale and their long hair wet, reminders of a tragedy that happened two centuries ago. And then, there were the more macabre ones: the man with the noose, the maid with her cut wrists, the little boy with the scissors and the missing eye. Most of them looked to be fairly recent, deceased on American soil, but some spirits had moved with the Academy when the institute had crossed the oceans: Ms. Menides saw a monk, a sailor, a woman in a toga. All of them collected themselves and moved on from the graveyard, going through the spiked iron fence and into the school grounds beyond.
Lights lit up the paths connecting the dorms and the school buildings. Ms. Menides knew what the ghosts would find. Most of them would be drawn to Pegasus dorm, where the living would eat their meals and snacks, while the friendlier spirits were encouraged to join them, to communicate with the students. Apparently, being a slumbering spirit could make you quite talkative. Ms. Menides remembered how, last year, one witch and one spirit had spent the night behind a computer, googling long-lost relatives and friends of the ghost.
The dead avoided House Hydra, which was ominously lit and decorated. The students had turned it into a proper haunted house, a 'Funhouse of Fear', artificial mist swirling around the building. Further on, there was the Kitsune dorm. When Ms. Menides had walked past it just now, the students had still been scattering around, hooking up screens and gaming consoles. They would have movies and computer games: their house was usually one of the most popular ones. She'd seen Mr. Torres lighting up some of the torches lighting up the path to the house.
She'd also seen Sphinxes roaming about, planning their foxhunt and taking enjoyment from being secretive and hush-hush. Their house would be boasting the board games: Monopoly, Settlers, poker (by House Head decree, they would be betting M&M's only) and many, many more. And then, of course, you had the most troublesome house on Halloween: Ladon, where they had their bonfire and their music. Every year, the Ladons would find a way to sneak alcohol on school grounds. It didn't help that, in a school of freaks and monsters, the teachers were also freaks and monsters. Some of them tended to regard the rules more as guidelines, the Head of House Ladon included. Ms. Menides winced when, in the distance, she heard the Ladon sound system going life with a deep, vibrant bass sound.
Most of the spirits departed from the graveyard, and so did the spectators, both groups drawn to the liveliness of the students and their houses. Ms. Menides lingered, her arms crossed. She was dressed up as a witch, an old-fashioned one in black robes and a pointy hat. In the graveyard, floating above the headstones, two ghosts were dancing to unheard music.
Ms. Menides saw them every year. She was a lovely girl with blond braids, wearing a gorgeous white dress. Her eyes seemed hollow, but there was something enchanting about the way she smiled to her dance partner. Her neck was crooked, obviously broken. He was tall young man, with curly hair and dimples in his cheeks. He had on a proper suit, but the white shirt had a large red stain on it. Ms. Menides thought he might have been shot in the chest.
In her head, she called them the Bride and the Groom. She didn't know their name, nor did she know their story. She just knew it had to be sad.
The wind whipped some of her hair aside. Ms. Menides didn't move. The party would start without her, but she didn't mind. For now, she would enjoy watching the couple.
The Groom dipped his Bride. She chuckled, and it sounded like silver bells.