Pre-Halloween Dance: Decorating

[Event !]

((OOC: This is set on Thursday, October 29, 2015, after classes have ended.))

The Student Activities Council served as the student committee in charge of activities big and small during the school year, which included fundraisers, events, and dances. The Council members had sent around a sign-up sheet to get support for anyone who wanted to help them decorate for the dance on Friday. They had gotten a good amount of volunteers, and they had been left under the watchful eye of one of the trainers while Doctor Neville (the club adviser) tended to a complicated session and then a family situation for a different student.

Unfortunately, the trainer was paged because one of their students had a power meltdown in the cafeteria, and they needed immediate attention. Engrossed in that, the trainer left and didn't ask someone else to fill in for them.

That left the students alone with the full compliment of decorations and no adults to direct them.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

When Ms. Levi dashed out of the auditorium with her cell phone held to her ear, Nory's attention was all concern for the students in the cafeteria. She hoped it wasn't Roberto. He'd been having trouble for weeks, and it would take ages to get the smell of chlorine out of everything.

But as the minutes ticked by and no notice came over the loud speaker, Nora Marie's worries settled. You got pretty used to that sort of thing at Hammel. She resumed her station on top of the step ladder, twisting and taping black streamers around the doors to the auditorium. Someone with portable iPod speakers had 'Thriller' playing anemically on the table that would eventually hold the punch and cookies, and her peers on the student council and numerous volunteers laughed, mingled, and argued over the placement of papier-mâché pumpkins.

She noticed the shipment of fake blood on her way to get another roll of tape. Whoever had ordered the slimy red paste had mixed something up on Amazon, and rather than a few tubes they had three boxes of the stuff. Her walk slowed to a halt, and she tapped her nearest co-decorator on the shoulder. "Hey, you think there's enough in that box to do, like, drag marks across the floor or something?"

Nory had watched a lot of horror movies. And she was suddenly getting ideas. She twisted around to look at the crowd. "Hey, what have we got in here for powers? Any shadow people? Ooh, or bio manipulators?" Why settle for fake blood when they could have real blood?

[Damien Johannes]

Damien watch as the trainer that was suppose to be watching over the decoration crew left the auditorium. For whatever the reason he didn't know and since it didn't involve him it was no concern of his. He took a look around and spotted the boxes upon boxes of goodies that needed to be put on display for the up and coming dance. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to help but it got him out of the dorm room for a while and since he was inside his fatigue wouldn't worsen as much.

He riffled though the boxes and found some orange streamers that he could put up around the entrances, he pushed 2 around his right hand and walked over to one of the doors that one of his classmate was already working on. He thought her name was Dora or Nora, something like that but when she said something about needing a shadow person, as she so eloquently put it, he laughed internally and walked up near her adding some orange streamers to where it would look right.

He opening responded with, "I'm one of your shadow people. Something I can help you with, Nora?" He tested the name, just to make sure if that was the right name, if not she would either correct him or he would easily read her emotions to try a different name.

[Kimi Tachibana]

Kimi liked helping and she liked the Student Activities Council. It meant she did school things that weren't just academic! It was probably really good for her, and she enjoyed it. She was enjoying putting up decorations, when the trainer in charge disappeared. Kimi blinked for a couple seconds before watching some of the other chatter amongst themselves. She didn't really want to be a part of that... so she kept quiet.

She also wanted to just continue what she had been doing. Whilst Nora(?) spoke, she grabbed a box of something-or-other. The girl was asking about people's powers, and she saw someone volunteer themselves as such a person. She did stop to consider for a second. Despite being quiet and demure, she did, kind of, want to join in, but.... she wasn't a 'shadow person' or a 'bio manipulator. She glanced around before turning invisible and walking in front of the pair. She looked at Nora as she walked - who obviously wouldn't be able to look back - and noticed the mischievous glint in her eye, and deduced that this little bit of decorating was probably going to become something more. What the shy girl didn't notice or realise was that the box she was holding looked like it was now floating, and as she continued to decorate, whatever streamers, posters or whatever else she was putting up all looked like they were floating too. She was thinking about the situation so much that these facts skipped her mind. To the others, she may as well have been a ghost.

[Jacob Tapper]

It had started as a joke, really.

Jake and some of his friends - most, but not all, of whom were on the basketball team with him - had been in the cafeteria one lunchtime a few weeks ago, talking about the upcoming Halloween dance. A bunch of them seemed to agree that, best of intentions aside, it was usually pretty lame. Wasn't the theme Disney or something last year, they asked one another. Nobody could really remember; they just knew it didn't exactly give the right Halloween vibe. So they'd started joking about how they could make the party more thrilling. Blood all over the place, slime dripping down from the walls, projections of ghosts or moving shadows, axe murderers jumping out from behind the speakers... whatever would scare the actual Hell out of people. They were mostly just making each other laugh with the scariest, most gruesome ideas they could come up with.

But by the end of the conversation, it wasn't a joke anymore.

Admittedly, Jake didn't always like scary things. Sure, he watched "American Horror Story" when he could catch it, but it wasn't that scary. He'd watched some scary movies when he was younger, and he knew by now not to mess with them when it was too close to bedtime. But there was something about Halloween that brought it out in him: he wanted to indulge in all the scary stuff he usually tried to avoid. And the Halloween dance would be the perfect time to do that, and get everyone else in on it too.

Jake wasn't on the Student Activities Council himself, but he was acquaintances with some of them and so could work his will a bit. Orders got mixed up, playlists got changed, trainers got distracted... This wasn't exactly the Heist of the Century, but he was just popular enough to convince the right people to help make this year's dance - his last at Hammel - the best it could possibly be.

He had been standing around unproductively in the auditorium with some of his friends and other students who were generally aware of what was going on, when the trainer dashed out of the room. By pure, happy coincidence, that was the exact moment the UPS driver walked in with the giant boxes of fake blood. He walked over to the door, accepting the delivery and tearing into the first big cardboard box. His irises almost seemed to turn red themselves, reflecting the large quantities of crimson liquid contained in plastic tubes within the box. A smile spread across Jake's lips. This was going to work.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Nory chirped back to Damien, rubbing her hands together. “How spooky do you think you can make this place look, if we turn all the lights down? Weird moving shadows, flickering lights, that kind of thi—whoa!”

The floating black cat poster hijacked her brainstorming session mid-sentence. “Hey, who's doing that? Telekinetic?” She looked around over her shoulders. “It looks awesome! We could totally freak people out at the front door or something!”

She spotted Jake in the midst of the growing excitement, and instantly knew another of her ilk. She scurried over, grinned, then called, “Who wants to help me raid the drama department prop closet?”

[Deleted]

Mei loved Halloween. Despite it being the reason her birthday was always overlooked, Mei loved all things horror and scary. So it was matter-of-fact for the goth girl to raise her hand(meekly) when her teacher was vying for volunteers to decorate for the upcoming dance.

Now she was seated at the table that everyone was starting to gather around. There were boxes of fake blood that some mischievous person had ordered as some sort of prank. She knew this because she had been eavesdropping on the random thoughts circulating through the auditorium. She knew that the matter in the cafeteria was due to some poor soul getting a bit out of tune with his powers. Mei could sympathize with that. It happened to her just a few weeks ago. But she wasn’t going to say anything unless somebody asked.

Mei was concentrating on her paper-cutting while the students around her talked. The project was enough to keep her anxiety calm, at least a little bit. And these people were all (generally) peaceful people. They weren’t exactly the loud sort. That helped too.

“That’s Kimi,” she said simply and softly when Nora asked about the floating box. Kimi and Mei knew each other from choir. Kimi had a pretty voice. The two of them spoke little, however, though that may have just been because they were both extreme introverts. “She’s invisible.” Whoops, was she not supposed to say anything? Mei blushed slightly, wondering if that was the case. She set down her scissors and spread the paper chain of spiders she’d just finished. Yes, Mei was proud of her work.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Kuni had joined the Student Activities Council last year, and therefore was more than happy (as well as pretty much required) to help out with the decorating for the dance. He’d helped out with other events previous to this one, and found that his height of six-foot-four could be really useful for reaching high places that may be difficult to get to with a ladder. Not to mention he could easily cart around a bunch of heavy boxes at once if it was needed.

The downside was his lack of familiarity with Halloween. It hadn’t really been celebrated in his tiny town in north-western Alaska, and even after several years in the lower States, the holiday was still fairly foreign to him. Kuni didn’t quite understand why it was considered fun to make things look creepy and scary (he much preferred calm and light atmospheres), but since it was what his classmates wanted, he was willing to help out. Even if he was sort of lost on his own and had to ask what to do to help since he was afraid of making something look out of place from his own lack of knowledge.

When Nora spoke up about “raiding” the prop supply closet, he frowned slightly and turned away from the paper decorations he’d been hanging up. “Isn’t raiding bad?” he asked in confusion. “But… If it’s not, I can help carry things.” He just didn’t want to get in trouble, especially since he was supposed to be a responsible student in the Council.

Kuni glanced at the boy that had just received some sort of box of… Red fluid?... and was looking pretty excited with whatever it was. He’d missed the talk of blood. “Are those more decorations?” He was so far oblivious to the floating box that was Kimi, and might accidentally bump into her with his large frame as he stepped closer to the other students and wasn’t paying attention to what was (not) in front of him.

[Jacob Tapper]

Jake was just opening up the first vial of fake blood when a girl approached him. It seemed she was just as enthusiastic about making this a real Halloween party as he was. Good: he couldn't terrify everyone on his own, and naturally a lot of his friends hadn't shown up yet (or, more likely for a bunch of lazy guys, weren't planning on coming at all). He wordlessly declined the girl's offer of joining her in the prop closet; he knew his place was right here with all of this red liquid, and he had a feeling he could come up with a million ways of using it.

One came to mind instantly: dipping his right pointer finger into the vial, he pulled it out dripping with the crimson fluid. He stood, moving quickly over to one of the walls and inscribing the words "HELP ME" in big, bold, red letters. The letters were progressively faded, like someone had actually, hastily written it with their own blood before being dragged off to some unknown demise. He took a few steps back and admired his handiwork.

[Kimi Tachibana]

As much as Kimi was eavesdropping on the conversation nearby, she wasn't sure she wanted any part of it. It sounded like it was against the rules, and she didn't want to do anything bad, she just wanted to help. As her friends would probably remind her, it was better than staying locked up in her room all the time. Then again... they would probably also say she should lighten up and join in with the fun. She could do that. Maybe.

She heard when the conversation turned to her, and age tried very hard not to reveal herself. She continued moving along, but abruptly stopped when she heard her own name, and in a familiar voice. She watched Mei as she spoke and let out a tiny sigh. It was alright. Kimi knew it would be impossible to hide forever anyway.

She took that moment to look at the crowd that had gathered. She... didn't recognise some of the people. Her first thoughts were to run to Mei and cling to her (now that she had emptied her box of decorations) but... oh, she didn't know... the timid girl took a moment to compose herself before approaching. She then realised, still invisible, that maybe... a couple of the more recent ones to join the fuss wouldn't know she was there. She smiled to herself. Acting wasn't too hard, right? She was just acting. And maybe she could be funny! She took an extra moment to compose her words correctly before slipping closer to the group, going behind one of the more recent people (who looked a whole lot bigger closer up). She took another breath before breathing on his neck lightly (she had to blow pretty hard, being so small, but she hoped that he would feel it). "The basement... they killed me in the basement.... murder... murder...." She whispered all of this, slipping between English and Japanese as she did, blowing on him once more before walking closer to Mei and hopefully, watching someone get very twitchy. She let out a soft giggle.

Then she remembered this fake blood, and smiled to herself once more, skittering over to some and getting it on her hand, before going near to Jake, underlining the 'HELP ME' that was already written and wiping her bloody handprint down the wall.

Ehe. Having courage was fun.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

"Oh, yeah?” Nory replied with surprise to Mei's revelation. Invisibility, huh? “Well, that's useful,” she mused. She grinned as Mei unfurled her chain of delicate black paper spiders. “Nice,” she said appreciatively. There was a reason she had been originally taping up streamers rather than handling scissors. 

Jacob did not take her up on her offer to raid the drama department, but he was sufficiently into the spirit of the thing that Nory was perfectly happy to leave him to direct the decorations they had for the present. She gave his bloody message a nod of approval, one Halloween enthusiast to another. “Seven or eight more of those would be a great start. And maybe some gut splatters.”

Kuni's offer of assistance was very welcome. More than welcome. The day that the tall, gentle, handsome shifter had joined the student council had been a good day for Nora Marie. Nory placed her hand reassuringly on his muscular forearm. “Raiding's not bad,” she said soothingly. “We're borrowing. It's all for student use, and the next school play doesn't start rehearsals until November.” She removed her hand a little too quickly and beamed at him. “I would love if you could help carry things.”

It was at this point that Kimi got in touch with her creative spirit. Nory whirled around at the barely intelligible whispers, heart hammering, then burst out in laughter. “That was awesome! Kimi, was that you again?” she asked, staring at a spot six feet to Kimi's right. “Seriously, we've got to put you by the door or something, that is wicked.”

Unsure of whether Kuni was coming after a scare like that, it was nevertheless time to get moving. Another teacher would wander by eventually. “Okay!” she announced. “I'm going to go get more props. Jacob, I'm leaving you in charge,” she added sanctimoniously, pointing her fingers at him in double guns. “Let's go!” And with that she set off at a trot towards the side doors.

[Deleted]

Considering the assortment of people here - Kimi with her invisibility, Mei and telepathy, Jake with his buckets of blood, and Nora with her take charge attitude - Mei was starting to think they could really pull off something amazing. Mei wouldn’t mind using her ability to scare people, like Kimi was doing with hers. It was amusing, to say the least.

Mei followed Kimi with her eyes - though she couldn’t see her, Mei could discern where the Japanese girl’s mischievous thoughts were originating from - and giggled softly at her antics. Who knew Kimi had such spunk in her? She did feel a little sorry, however, for the people she ended up startling. Mei wasn’t bothered. She lived for horror. If she could figure out how to bring Cthulhu into this game, she would in a heartbeat.

Mei pushed up from the table and walked with heavy footsteps to the boxes of blood, where she kneeled down on her haunches for a closer look, the train of her black-knit duster-cardigan draping on the floor behind her. ”Do you think we have enough for a Carrie re-enactment?” she thought out loud. She grinned devilishly down into the pool, then stood up again quickly to grab a sponge from the table, then raced back again, her platform boots thudding against the tile floor with every step. Mei squeezed a generous helping of ‘blood’ onto the sponge and started to smear it across the floor, designing a summoning circle with eldritch runes. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement and delight.

[Kunikpok "Kuni" Arrluk]

Kuni’s worried expression relaxed into a relieved smile when Nora assured him that her ‘raiding’ plot wasn’t bad. He didn’t move as she touched his arm, since he liked the younger girl and wasn’t afraid of casual physical contact. “Oh, well if that’s the case, I’d be happy to help,” he told her with a nod. “I just didn’t want to get in trouble with the theater teacher.” Or any other Hammel staff, for that matter. Kuni had a totally clean record at Hammel, apart from the occasional (accidental) shifting in inconvenient places. And he would likely be here for another couple of years, so he wanted to keep it that way. “I can do that,” he beamed. Kuni was great at carrying things. “Just lead the way.”

He was all set on following after her when a sudden hot breath of air hit his skin, and shivers ran down his spine. Kuni whirled around to see… Nothing!? And then he heard voices…. Not just English voices either…. What on earth?? He yelped a little and took a few steps back, eyes wide with alarm. “Did you guys hear that??” he asked fearfully. “Someone was killed in the basement! We have to…” He trailed off upon seeing the blood ‘magically’ smearing itself on the wall. Now normally, Kuni was a very brave, protective guy – but that was against things he could touch and feel. This was totally out of his league. “We need to tell someone! We need to…”

His panic was brought short by Nory’s laughter. Kuni gave her an incredulous look, not understanding what was funny until he realized she seemed to be talking to someone she knew. “…. Was… was that a prank…?” he asked dumbly, still a little on edge. “Nory, please tell me it was a joke.” Students did have all kinds of powers, after all…

Once reassured, he would (still nervously) follow the younger girl into the theater supply closet. “I don’t think I’m good at Halloween,” he sighed, somewhat miserably. “I like Christmas and Thanksgiving more.” And who could blame the tall guy? “I don’t think I could ever scare someone like that. I’d feel bad.” Although it was pretty silly that such a tiny girl could intimidate such a big man like Kuni.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

“Yeah it was! A great one,” Nory laughed. She shook her head. “Seriously, Kimi, when I get back we've got to talk.” And with that she set out for the prop closet.

She was thrilled that Kuni followed, and not just because it meant she wouldn't have to take four trips to carry all the stuff back herself. “It's alright,” she said consolingly. “Christmas and Thanksgiving are important too. I'm really glad you're helping out, even if Halloween isn't your favorite.” She beamed at him. Kuni wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but hey, who was she too judge? She bounded up the stairs at the end of the hallway, took a left, and in moments they were opening the back door of the theater classroom.

“Right over there,” Nory nodded, pointing to a half-closed door in front of a large hallway stuffed with costumes, pieces of sets, and props. As Nory watched, a red wig trembled on the end of a paper mache balcony, slipped, and fluttered to the ground. She rubbed her hands together in delight. “Let's get started.”

Ten minutes later, Nory reappeared with, hopefully, Kuni in tow, assuming he hadn't bailed at the skeletons, prop spiders, spooky woods set board, capes, swords, sheets, and heavens knew what else she had piled into his arms. Nory held the doors open and looked eagerly at what the others had managed in her absence. “Fresh supplies!” she called.