Halloween II, for Ilsa and Nall.

[velesdonnersen]

[Tarvek has been busy-busy-busy making costumes.  He's got one for Ilsa, a beautiful knight's armor, weapons and accessories for Nall, and he's working on his own costume, chuckling over the details

Comments

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa has taken to knocking at the garage door, when she comes over. The drones still bother her, especially now that she can sense that there is nothing behind their eyes. ]

[ She's brought things for Halloween planning as well, but it is mostly maps and lists. ]

[velesdonnersen]

[He smiles, then sobers as he realizes she's uneasy.]

Liebchen?

Are you all right?

[ooeeooahah]

Just... wrapped up in preparations. Besides trying to figure out which way to jump for Halloween, there's the usual things I would be doing at home, canvassing the neighborhoods to see where it's safe to take the kids from the center, making sure all the doors between are being watched...

[ She brightens a little and hands over a list of measurements. ]

...and helping costumers.

[velesdonnersen]

[He gives her The Look. The look all GOOD costumers give darling friends and associates who think they can take their own measurements accurately and effectively. No-no-no, silly girl. He will take your measurements, thank you very much, and then you can watch him transform a dressmaker's dummy into your twin.]

Tsk. [Takes measurements and tucks them into pocket.] This I will do myself, love.

[He begins the dressmaker's samba, dancing around her, clucking softly, considering angles and lines and drape even as he gets her sizing. Now add in that he's a sparky madboy, and costumes in that mind-set...]

Hmmmm. I supposed someday I will be able to make you a true dress, liebchen. But I'll give you a fantastic little outfit even as it is.

I must admit, I don't entirely understand what this is about, though. All Hallow's, yes? Like All Saints? But the night before -- this we don't celebrate. Certainly not with all this costumes and children and not with scary stories...

1 of 2

[ooeeooahah]

Actually, those aren't mine - they're likely not as accurate as you'd like, but remember how I measured the basement?

[ She grins. ]

I got Egon's measurements for you.

2 of 2

[ooeeooahah]

And the evening has a few more connotations when you can see the power flows.

[ She calmly follows his instructions for the measurements, and continues. ]

Especially when you've been taught in several different cultures and schools of magecraft.

Re: 2 of 2

[velesdonnersen]

[He's surprised. He'd gotten the feeling Egon didn't want a costume... or had other plans and concerns. But he's also pleased...]

Do you have any idea what he'd like as a costume?

Precision... the truth is I've got a very good eye. Between your measurements and my own guesses, it's likely to fit very well, so long as it's not close-fit like yours.

So... The time of year matters, for some reason? I find that aspect of the supernatural strange. Even a bit funny. Sparking doesn't depend on the dark of the moon or the right holiday to work properly.

[He's begun to transform a dummy into a doppelganger. There will be moments when she should almost feel reality shifting a little, as he makes things do what they're not quite intended to do. His spark is beginning to return...]

[ooeeooahah]

Honestly? He probably doesn't want a costume, but... if we can get some protective gear started for him, it won't take that much to alter it to fit, will it? Depending on the construction?

[ Still a bit of a worried look about her eyes, she "listens" closely to his responses as he works. Her tone is quiet as she explains the holiday as she understands it. ]

Well, the calendar isn't important for everything, but there are some schools that do use the wheel of the year. The schools based in agrarian traditions are tied closely to it.

But any of the traditions that follow the calendar generally mark the cross-quarter between equinox and solstice as a time when the barrier between worlds is thin, and spirits can walk the earth. So you need to hide behind a mask to fool them, and give tribute to turn their wrath away from your door.

[ She shrugs. ] All Saints and All Souls were the church's answer to the traditions in some areas. Then there's the different flavors that occur with the location, like Dia de los Muertos.

[ She opens the

[velesdonnersen]

[Putter-putter. A startlingly good sculpture of headless-Ilsa forms. He's caught the cant of her shoulders, the weight of her breasts, the strength of her waist... It's clear he's an artist, among his other abilities.]

[He looks at the little candy skull, and twitches, slighly, then grimaces.]

"Eat flaming death"? [dry chuckle] That's a term I've heard since coming here. It kind of fits my world's fire, flame, lighting and storm cursing.

So, date or no date, this is about...thin walls, scary other worlds, and spirits misplaced?

Sounds like us. Sounds like Mayfield.

[ooeeooahah]

Displaced, but unable to wander.

[ She's still worried, but wanting to hide it from him. ]

Considering what other residents have reported about last year, I'm not sure it's all that inaccurate.

[velesdonnersen]

[He may not have her skill reading people, but he does have the skills of a boy whose life has depended on being able to read others. And he loves Ilsa.]

Ach, sweet: what's wrong. Something surely is...

[ooeeooahah]

[ She sighs. ]

The more I gain back, the more I'm aware there's something I should be doing, but the ability isn't there yet. The casual deaths here are getting to me, I think.

I met Death, in the park the other day... he isn't a figure for fear, not always, but here he seems, I don't know, out of sorts.

[ Ilsa is pacing, and mostly murmuring to herself. ]

I can't see the edges here, and I don't know if it's because I haven't gained that back, or if I've been blinded to them.

[velesdonnersen]

[Fascinated, but also skeptical of some aspects.]

Death? A person-Death? I'd expect that to be... not quite Death itself in any world... and almost certainly not the one true death if it's here. I still think we're all just echoes of other people.

[Reaches out, and smiles, tracing her hand.]

Really great echoes. But...I have a hard time believing you met Death itself, as a person, here.

As for not seeing the edges? I don't know what to say about that. And I don't really know what the difference is between being blinded to the edges, and not having been given back the skill.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa shakes her head, not at him but at her line of thought. ]

It's not like I know how to slide between planes yet, Daddy says I need more practice, like a couple of decades. But being able to see the edges, I could point them out to others, and maybe we could focus on them for more study. If the ability is tied to my father's bloodline, it could be that I haven't gotten the ability back. If it was tied to Mama's I could have it, but be blocked from using it.

I haven't tried trancing out to find them anywhere else but the house. Not something I'm comfortable with doing in an unsecured spot, not without having someone to watch out for me. But I will try if we need more information.

[ She seems to wake up out of her fugue and smile at him, only to be distracted by the dummy he's constructed while she was distracted. ]

That is... amazing and creepy at the same time.

[velesdonnersen]

[Hands on hips he looks, very pleased with himself.]

It is, isn't it? Maybe when the costume is finished I should add some fake blood and a disembodied head, and use it as decoration for this Halloween thing?

[Considers what she's been saying.]

So... you think if you could see edges and travel between planes it might provide a way out of Mayfield...assuming Mayfield is within a "normal" plane. I'm still not convinced it's not a completely artificial reality, contained, and possibly actually cut off from the sort of thing you're talking about. You don't expect... a book, for example... to contain "planes" or for characters in the book to be able to escape.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa shudders at the image of herself as a headless corpse, turning her back on the dummy. ]

It's what I have to work with, as far as the tools. If we can mix everything, our talents, ideas, and will, getting us... out could happen.

[ Not a suspicious hesitation, nope. ]