Ghouls and Ghosts (Very Open)

[Dmitry Gilespi]

APOTHECARIE COSTUMES 'N' JUNK

read the sign ten feet tall in spidery paint, flanked on either side by creaky animatronic figures of black cats and cartoon devils. The "Apothecarie" itself seemed from the outside to be a gigantic circus tent, striped purple and black, surrounded by a soft and eerie fog. It had sprung up overnight in a wide lot between two buildings that hadn't been there before, and as soon as it did, tales began to circulate through the bordertown of the strange and wonderful things that could be had inside... for a price.

Just like every other year.

The proprietor of the Apothecarie was a closely-guarded secret, and their prices were usually silly "tricks", minor pranks, or other such fare. There were rumors of much darker things, if you knew what to ask... but weren't there always?

Dmitry headed there the first day it opened, dragging along whoever he could with a list, a tote bag, and a wicked grin on his face.

[Sarah Sternberg]

Sarah had gladly accepted Thrall's invite to come to the costume shop, and pulled Gorokhan along with her for good measure. What else were they going to spend their hard-earned money on aside from books?

"I hope they have the stuff to make a Chihiro costume," she said, looking around as she followed Thrall inside. "And Haku, for that matter." She wasn't looking forward to having to straighten her hair, or figuring out how to do her makeup, but she figured she had time to figure that out before Halloween.

[Jaebi Lyckander]

Jaebi ambled along behind Gorokhan, ducking occasionally to pass safely under overhanging decorations. Kemekin was meeting up with them later, after he visited the Dewdrop market-- Jaebi usually went with him, but he didn't particularly like the idea of being covered in glitter today. The Dewdrop market was perpetually sparkly, and Jaebi was starting to believe that Kemekin brought him along to use him as a shield from the stuff.

His gaze swept from left to right as he walked, a slow grin curling across his face. He had yet to pick a costume for this year, but he was hoping to find inspiration today.

[Kazari Baratoge]

Kazari toddled faster to catch up with her fellow students. She hugged Jaebi's arm as she looked around. She was on the hunt for hair extensions and white cloth, or at the very least a white dress she could alter for a viable Rose Quartz costume.

Also, a white wig. Kazuo was being Jasper this year. He just didn't know it yet.

[Jaebi Lyckander]

Jaebi was in the process of turning around to check on Kazari when he felt her smoosh against his side as she hugged his arm. On a reflex he flinched, tripping over his own damn feet and colliding with Gorokhan.

[Gorokhan]

Gorokhan stumbled back a step as the taller student fell into her, and steadied both them and herself. "Careful there. Are you hurt?"

[Jaebi Lyckander]

Jaebi blushed and shook his head. He made a mewling noise in a way that implied sorry about that, and bowed his thanks to her.

[Gorokhan]

Gorokhan nodded, smiling in curiosity as much as relief. "Can you not speak?" That would make any potential conversation awkward. She wasn't practiced at all in the hand-signs her English teacher used instead of speech.

[Dmitry Gilespi]

Thrall wasn't entirely sure how he'd wound up with a small crowd of people in the first place, even after inviting some of them, but this was about Halloween, so it didn't seem to matter much.

"Who are those?" he said, responding to Sarah.

"Think I'm going for splatterpunk. Maybe something with glow-in-the-dark blood." He grinned wickedly at no one in particular. "Or knife hands, but not sophomore year knife hands. Something a little simpler." There were some rules of costuming that were hard lessons to learn, and "don't wear anything that makes it really hard to eat or use the bathroom" was one of them.

[Sarah Sternberg]

"They're from Spirited Away," Sarah said. "Dunno if you've heard of it. Chihiro is the protagonist, and Haku is the first friend she meets when she gets lost in the spirit world. It's a really good movie. But Miyazaki's always awesome."

She tilted her head at his ideas. "Knife hands? Are we talking Edward Scissorhands or Freddy Krueger?"

[Jaebi Lyckander]

Jaebi gave Gorokhan a light grin and tapped his fingers against his scarred throat. He shook his head no, and made another grumbling mewl, as if to demonstrate that while he wasn't technically mute, he certainly wasn't capable of human speech.

[Gorokhan]

Gorokhan nodded. "I see. How do you normally communicate, then?"

[Jaebi Lyckander]

Jaebi opened his mouth, realised that trying to explain in cat noises would make no headway, then huffed and pouted a bit, letting his shoulders slump in defeat. He straightened, and flailed a bit to show that he got by on pantomiming, then pulled a pencil and note pad from his back pocket to show that he wrote things if it was easier.

[Gorokhan]

Gorokhan frowned slightly at the student's pouting and flailing, then brightened as they pulled out writing materials. "Aaaah. Yes, writing is best, I think."

[Kazari Baratoge]

Kazari looked between the two of them, brow furrowing slightly. "He's managed to whisper once or twice..."

Though she and her brother could usually get the gist of Jaebi's sentiments from his feline vocals. Maybe that was from being born shifters. Kazuo especially seemed able to communicate with Jaebi, perhaps not precisely, but enough to understand what the giant teenager meant.

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