On Hallow's Eve (Jo) [October]

[trentonsullivan]

Trick or Treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat
If you don't
I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear

The sun had set long ago and the children were running amok through the city, collecting candy from homes, apartments, public buildings, and even a few shops that decided to stay open late and feature a Halloween display in their store's windows. Kids dressed as ghosts, faeries and vampires screamed and laughed. The shrill sounds of people enjoying the night rang through the streets. It was louder than usual.

Trenton chose not to wander off that night. There were too many people out and he wasn't into partaking in the festivities of the night. But surely he could lean against one of the columns of City Hall's building and watch the rest of the residents enjoy the night that came once a year. On the roof of City Hall the gargoyles were being too rambunctious for his liking. He didn't want to be surrounded by a group of animals and knew that at some point in the night, like every Halloween, a group of drunken teenagers will find their way up onto the roof of City Hall in their attempts to find something supernatural. It was the same each year. Some spent it in the cemetery, some on the rooftops of old buildings, and the majority of them preferred the Tree that was found in the heart of the city.

Trenton's eyes moved up, his head tilting back a little so he could gaze up at the beautiful moon. It wasn't full tonight but it was still an orb of beauty nonetheless. "AAAHHH!" The male jumped when he heard a young woman shriek only to catch sight of the female slapping her male counterpart. He could only assume that he jumped out and frightened her and his brows arced down in a deep furrow, looking like he was a mix of brooding and worried.

"Happy Halloween!" An elderly lady was walking up the stoop of the City Hall building, toting a wicker basket slung over one arm filled with tasty treats! She was on the candy committee this year and the treats were especially delicious this year! "Care for a treat?" She reached into the basket and pulled out a piece of plastic wrapped chocolate and held it out for the young man.

"You're too kind." Trenton didn't want to take the candy and found it reluctant almost. He wasn't a chocolate kind of guy, but he wasn't going to be rude to this woman. "Thank you. I hope you have a safe night, ma'am."

The old woman smiled, the corners of her mouth and eyes creasing with wrinkles from old age. She called them 'smiling lines' refusing to think of them as anything else. "Stay old of trouble young man." She said playfully, and headed off to hand out some more treats. "Have a chocolate, darling!" She said to another person, a young lady this time. "Happy Halloween."

Trenton could only look down at the ground to conceal the smile that was planted on his face. If only she knew just how old he was. His eyes panned to the piece of candy and he started to unwrap it and inspected it. It was a piece of what appeared to be milk chocolate in the shape of a smiling pumpkin. The pumpkin almost looked like the old woman and that made him let out a chuckle before he popped the candy into his mouth. Happy Halloween. He thought to himself.

[JORDANNA HAILE GARCIA]

"Trick or Treat!!"

"Aren't you guys cute!" Jo gushed at the three children that came to her store all decked out for Halloween. It was nice how the city got so involved in the festivities of each holiday. Christmas in Scriptor Bay was always beautiful, Thanksgiving had the city decorated in wreaths and pumpkins and anything warm colored. October was full of purples and oranges and creepy decorations! It was a blast! And now, on Halloween night, she was handing out caramel apple lollipops to all the kids that came into her store with their costumes on.

"I'm not cute! I'm Batman!" The little boy insisted. "Yeah, Batmans not cute, he's ugly." One of the girls countered. "I'm not ugly!" "Can I have two lollies?" Jo simply laughed and gave them each two lollipops. "Well, you two girls are cute. You, batman, are cool and dangerous. How about that?" The boy stuck his tongue out at what Jo could only assume was his sister. "Thank you!" They all chimed in unison and ran off. "You're welcome. Be safe!" She called after them before putting her bucket of candy back down on the counter.

The night was growing darker and it was getting closer to closing time. The store was dead since everyone was out with their kids or home handing out candy. With a heavy sigh Jo decided to close early. She knew it would be dead in there, which was why she allowed her workers all to leave early. Each one had a party to attend! One of the girls even told her to drop by the party she was attending and Jo was seriously considering it, but thought she would see how she felt when she got home. She didn't have a costume, really. Aside from the mouse ears and tails she purchased a few years ago. She thought the costume was ironic, even if no one else understood why. Even with, it wasn't sexy, and halloween costumes were supposed to be sexy. She supposed she could wear a little skirt and boots with it, but it seemed so... soo... not mouse like! Minnie Mouse wore a short skirt she reminded herself with a little laugh, but Minnie Mouse set a poor example for mice women everywhere!!

The young woman left her store and locked up, taking the bus all the way up to city hall where she got off and walked to her apartment. It was a cool night, the moon was full, and there was a gentle breeze sweeping through the city. Jo took a deep breath as she walked along, noticing an older woman as she passed. Jo smiled pleasantly at her as she continued on, her breath foggy as it curled out of her lips.

"Happy Halloween." Came the voice of the elderly woman. Jo again glanced up and nodded. "Happy Halloween." She replied wanting to get home to he nice warm apartment and look through her closet to see if she really had anything appropriate for a halloween costume available. "Care for a treat?" Jo stopped when the woman said this, realizing sh had candy she wanted to pass out. The girl let out a soft little laugh. "Well a treats better than a trick, I suppose. But I'm not all dressed up." She said with a cheerful voice, grinning contently at the woman. "Halloween isn't about costumes. Have a chocolate, darling!" The woman said kindly, pulling out a chocolate from her bag and offering it to Jo, who couldn't resist a good piece of chocolate. "Thank you. You have a great night, miss." She said appreciatively and returned the smile the old woman offered as she continued on her way. Jo looked at the candy ad unwrapped it, slipping it into her mouth.

The chocolate melted on her tongue and she couldn't help but think it had been the best chocolate she had ever had! Smoother than Dove! "Mmm.." Came her own voice as her eyes slipped shut and she savored the taste of the candy melting in her mouth. It was sinful! As the candy melted she felt her body almost warm up from it. "Shoot, the party!" She said suddenly to no one in particular, pulling her phone out and looking at the time. It was still plenty early, and she didn't even have to GO to the party! A noise suddenly pulled her from her thoughts, though. A sound she didn't know. It sounded like an animals noise, but where the hell was it? She looked around and then up in the sky as it got suddenly deafening loud as if the creature were by her side. Way up above she saw a bat. That was one LOUD freaking bat! Her hands went to her ears and she put them over them, wincing at the sharpness of the sounds of the bat which were suddenly drowned out by the loud beating of her own heart. "The hell?!"

[trentonsullivan]

Trenton continued to stand there, just watching the children who rushed by with their parents to try and go to every door they could and make sure they were getting candy. He heard one little girl humming to herself and skipping by holding her mother's hand. Or aunt or older sister. There was no way for him to know without asking the woman, which he didn't intend to do. The little girl kept humming and getting closer, looking up at Trenton and offering him a sweet little smile. She was dressed up like a lady bug, with pink makeup on her cheeks to give them a rosy effect and black and sparkly wings. It looked like a homemade costume, which Trenton always preferred over the packaged ones. He just figured they looked nicer and meant more, having a personable touch to them.

The little girl tugged on her mom's hand to move towards Trenton, who was smiling back at the child. When she was close enough she stared up at him quietly while the mother tried to tug her away. Being careful and very slow Trenton crouched down next to the little girl curiously. 'What are you as'pose to be?" The child asked and Trenton chuckled. He wasn't wearing a costume. "I'm a vampire disguised as a human, of course." He told her softly, knowing that seemed to be the popular costume the last few years. He didn't understand it but figured it had something to do with those funny teenage movies that were coming out all about vampires and werewolves. The child seemed to like that answer and smiled at him and reached into a little glowing pale she had and pulled out a lollipop and handed it over. Trenton's eyes moved up to the woman who looked both impatient and a little annoyed before he took it from the child. "Thank you. Happy Halloween."

He didn't know if it was his voice, or if maybe at that angle the woman caught a glimpse of Trenton's abnormal horns that stuck out at the top of his head. He was always careful about them but sometimes if you looked at a certain angle they were visible. The woman snatched the child up in her arms and started to hurry down the stairs while the child stared at him with wide eyes. "Cool trick!" She called out to him before they were making their way across the street.

Trenton wasn't sure what happened exactly but he figured it couldn't be too bad. It was Halloween after all. He frowned, a pained look on his face. Although it wasn't a big deal he didn't like when people ran from him like that. He didn't like to be a monster who caused fear in others which was why he tried really hard not to be. It wasn't until then that he noticed he was getting looks from others and heard them whispering and huddling close to one another.

"Hey how you doin' that, man?!" A man dressed as a hippie was staring at Trenton and clapping his hands. What was going on?! He didn't say anything but gave the man a look to show he didn't understand what he meant. But then something funny happened. He realized the man wasn't staring at his face. It didn't seem like the man was really looking at him at all but looking through him. Trenton decided to look down at his clothes. Had he spilled something? No. His clothes were there and looked the way they were. He reached his hand to brush it over the front of his shirt in case there was something he wasn't noticing.

That was when he saw it. Or in his case, didn't see it.

His hand was gone! So was his arm! He held his hands out in front of him and all he could see was the sleeves of his jacket. He pulled them up and his arms were missing! It was almost as if he were invisible! He touched his hands to his face and felt relief to feel his hard skin. What was going on?

He could feel the eyes on him and started to make his way down the steps, trying to get away from the growing crowd as quickly as he could without making matters worse. "What's happening to me?" He whispered under his breath, still looking at the disappearance of his hands in disbelief and being careless to watch where he was going. That's when he ran into someone. Or something. He didn't fall over but he did stumble a bit, more out of surprise than anything else. He hadn't meant to run into someone. "Excuse me." He said curtly and looked up to see exactly who he ran into.

[That can be you he ran into or someone else. It's up to you but I'm giving a doorway! =D]

[JORDANNA HAILE GARCIA]

The sound of the bat faded, but other sounds began to circle around her, sounds she shouldn't be hearing. The sound of a lighter flickering, a zipper being pulled up, foot steps and doors creaking open and shut. Jo looked around for the sounds and found that she could see farther, or rather the objects in the far distance seemed more sharp and clear. She squinted her eyes curiously, which was when she smelled it; gas, chocolate, cologne... There were no cars or men near her, not that she saw, yet she could smell all these things. The chocolate was coming from her fingertips. She lifted her hand to her nose to get a good sniff, but the smell was so strong she had to pull it away, fearing that the smell alone could give her a cavity it was so pungent!

"What the hell's going on?" She whispered to herself as a chill ran down her spine. It was obvious that her senses had somehow been heightened; strong smells, better eye sight, clear sounds... but why? What was going on? Why was that happening to her? Could it be the side effect of her own abilities? Was Kit, perhaps, feeling the same things as she was given he was the same as her? A therianthrope?

She quickly grabbed for her purse and started to frantically search around for her cell phone, not keen on the idea of calling her ex with a problem, but also afraid of what was happening to her. If it was happening to Kit too she would at least have an answer as to why it was happening at all, but if it wasn't, well, she would sort of have an answer then, too. It had nothing to do with her ability to shift into an animal.

The sound of running steps caught her attention and she turned her head right as someone plowed into her. Jo stumbled forward and dropped her bag, catching her footing just before she fell. She turned to see what had happened when her eyes grew wide with fear. "Excuse me."

Her lips parted slightly as she stared at the faceless stranger. He wasn't just faceless, though. He was headless! Jo's eyes scanned downward and she realized his hands were missing, too. Her eyes narrowed in confusion and she shook her head. She could clearly hear him breathing, but he had no body to speak of! "How...are you doing that?" She asked skeptically, unsure what the hell was going on with this strangers costume. "It's like... you're invisible. How..." She stammered, her bag still lying on the floor, her own predicament halted as her brain desperately tried to figure out how this stranger made his costume!