Post by namenai on Oct 15, 2011 21:16:34 GMT -5
(All characters within this fanfic are portrayed as human children with no magical abilities. The costumes I've picked out for them are meant to either mirror what Litharian species they are, or what their personality is like. I tried to match their personalities up as best as I can while still giving them child-like innocence and interests. Hope you like it! Characters used are: Gwendolyn, Auburn, Rosalind, Astal, Gabriel, Icarus, Hadjara, Van, Shiro, Rodi, Flynn, Searene, Namenai, Naine, Emon and Arvid)
The street was not particularly full since it was still fairly early to start trick or treating, but a few of the younger children were out with their parents already. This didn't mean that older children were excluded. A few of them, ones who knew that the earlier they went to peoples houses the more candy they had a chance of getting, were also strewn about. They walked along the sidewalks as the last rays of light began to be swallowed up by the horizon.
Naine and Emon had turned the corner right as the streetlamps came on, heading in the direction of the carnival that arrived in their town just a day earlier.. They had taken their time getting this far, stopping to trick or treat at various houses on the way. It only made sense to pick up some free candy while they could.
“Oh, a pirate! Very nice costume!” The woman at the door said, smiling down at Emon. She loved seeing all of the different costumes children came up with each year. She couldn't wait for the rest of the evening, when more children were bound to show up. She had seen just about every costume imaginable over the years. Witches, cats, clowns, pumpkins, superheroes... She turned to the girl standing near Emon expectantly, and blinked in confusion. “And what are you supposed to be?”
Naine looked down at her costume. She wore all black, from her turtleneck top, to her skirt, the tights and the shoes she had on, and even a pair of gloves. They were all black, and contrasted nicely with her brilliant red hair. “I'm a black hole. It's absolutely terrifying, right? I will eat anything and everything around, destroying whole families and everything you hold dear. Plus, black holes can soak up more candy.” She did not smile, she was serious. She had taken this matter into careful consideration weeks before Halloween and was quite content with her decision. Emon just rolled his eyes.
The woman was dumbfounded. She nodded, unable to find the words to say to the girl in front of her. There was only one thing the woman was completely sure of. That child was very odd. She wondered if she was always that way, and if the parents realized there was something wrong with her. She would ask the neighbors the next day to see what they thought.
“Why do you always have to be so weird?” Emon asked Naine, feeling awkward as they walked away from the house. It had been like that at nearly every house they had stopped at. Of course, they did run into the occasional adult who thought she was brilliant. Just a few houses before they had happened upon a retired science teacher who exclaimed how he wished that Naine was his own daughter.
Naine didn't reply. She may be weird to Emon, but she was who she was and for him to expect her to change was shallow. Instead she turned her attention to another small group just across the street. When they passed under a streetlight she recognized one of them. She waved as Rodi looked over, making sure to catch his attention before running to join him.
It took Emon a moment to realize he had been left behind and he grumbled as he had to backtrack and attempt to catch up to the other group. When he got there Naine and Rodi were just saying hello. He waved at Rodi who had chosen to dress at a knight. He wore plastic armor and even had a sheath which held a wooden sword. To top it all off Rodi also wore a blood red cape which almost matched his hair. It suited him, Emon thought to himself, knowing how Rodi tended to act. He then looked around to see why they had stopped walking. The sound of laughter emerging from the doorway of the household they were standing in front of startled him. He looked up to see that two figures were returning now, one clinging to the arm of the other as though it was all that was keeping him from running away.
It was easy to see what the owner of the house had laughed at. While the girl was pretty and done up as a little bride, all in white, the boy was just odd. He had on yellow swim flippers, green pants, a fox tail, a yellow and green shirt, red gloves, a duck beak and some strange purple neck ornament that puffed out ridiculously. He appeared to be some sort of duck/clown/fox thing. Emon couldn't decide what.
He looked from Naine to Arvid, trying to decide which costume was worse and finally decided that Arvids was better simply since one could recognize parts of it. Even if it was bizarre looking nobody felt compelled to ask about it. It was strange, and funny, that was all.
“This is Arvid,” Rodi said, gesturing to the duck/clown creature. “He is a bit skittish so I've been traveling with him, and this is Gwendolyn. We just ran into her a little while ago. Quite literally in Arvid's case.”
“Hello, I'm Emon, and this is Naine,” said Emon, trying to be welcoming. Naine just nodded her head.
“Arvid here got scared of... what was it again?” Gwendolyn turned to Rodi.
“It was a little girl in a ladybug costume,” Rodi said. He sounded quite embarrassed to even say it, and he shifted his feet a little when he did.
“Yea, he got frightened of a girl dressed as a ladybug and went running. He just so happened to run into me and hide for a while until Rodi found us. They decided to let me come along with them since it seems to help Arvid and I'm headed to the carnival to meet some friends anyways. Besides, it's much better to travel in groups.” Gwendolyn smiled, not paying much mind to the pathetic boy clinging to her arm and attempting to hide behind her dress.
Emon nodded, the larger the group the safer the travels should be. Rodi had to agree as well, though more because he didn't want the others left on their own. He saw no reason to really worry about himself. If anything were to happen he wanted to be there to help, and he would have some good backup now that Naine was here. She didn't seem to be afraid of anything. In fact, most others seemed wary of her, so she could be a great help to his cause.
“Did you want to pick up more candy, or head straight over to the carnival?” Rodi turned to Gwendolyn questioningly.
“I've got more than enough candy, plus they will probably be giving more out at the carnival as prizes.”
“I have to agree with her,” Emon piped in. Truthfully, he was more embarrassed to go up to houses now than ever before. It was bad enough that he had to put up with Naine's oddities, but now he had Arvid, the terrified thing to deal with. He would rather not be associated with someone like him, but he wasn't about to say that out loud, and Gwendolyn had made a good point.
“Lets go then.” Naine turned away from the group before any of them had time to reply and started walking off. She saw no point in debating the issue further since she didn't mind skipping the rest of the houses either. In her mind, majority ruled and that was the end of it. Whoever wanted to continue getting candy could break from the group and do so. She doubted they would.
Gabriel and Hadjara had been waiting for Gwendolyn for about ten minutes before they decided that it was better to have something to nibble on while waiting. They had promptly located a cotton candy stand, picked some of the fluffy substance up, and seated themselves at some small tables pointing in the direction of the carnival entrance. From here they would clearly be able to see when Gwen arrived and they would also have the liberty of relaxing.
All around them brightly colored tents of all sizes shot up from the ground. Food, games, rides, entertainment, it was all waiting for them. Hadjara smiled as the candy melted to pure sugar in her mouth.
“So why'd you pick that there costume of yours?” she asked, figuring conversation was better than silence. It was a noisy night anyways and it would be a shame not to partake in the fun.
“Why did you pick yours?” Gabriel countered coolly. He enjoyed the chaos of the carnival, listening to the different people sharing in their laughter and their fears on this Halloween night. He had countered Hadjara's question for the fun of it. Besides, he was allowed to be difficult, it was his birthday.
“'Cause crocodiles are awesome, don't need no other reason.” Hadjara spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. She didn't know about a lot of things, but she knew that much. It had made picking her costume an easy task.
“I chose to be Dracula because he is the all-powerful leader of the vampires. Plus, he isn't all that bad with the ladies,” Gabriel said. He doubted Hadjara would quite understand his reasons behind his appearance, for she was still young and naive. Not that he was terribly old, but he was old enough to recognize that there was a fairer sex, and that having power was good. So he chose the one costume featuring the person who embodied the two.
“Why would ya want more power?” Hadjara asked, “Ya seem to be doin' fine now.”
“I'll explain it in more detail later. Look, here comes Gwendolyn.” He nodded towards a group heading towards them. Gwen stood out amongst them with her bright white bride's outfit and long golden hair. She was a hard one to miss.
Hadjara stood up from the table and waved at the group, making sure they had see them. Gwen returned her wave with a smile and picked up the pace until she was standing in front of them.
“Sorry I'm late,” she said, beaming at the two of them. “These are my new friends: Rodi, Arvid, Naine and Emon.” She gestured to each of them as she said their names.
“Howdy! Name's Hadjara.” Hadjara stood up as tall as she could and pointed to herself as she made her introduction. “And that there's Gabriel,” she pointed to him, not waiting for him to introduce himself.
“Nice to meet you,” Gabriel said, standing up from the table.
“Huh,” Hadjara said, looking from Gabriel to Gwen. “Here we got Dracula, and now his bride.” Hadjara beamed at having made the connection. Gwen looked away from them, doing her best to hide her face as it turned completely red.
“I don't... Hadjara, you shouldn't say such things. I'm sure Gabriel has other girls in mind. I... I'm sorry,” she said turning to Gabe. “I just dressed this way because its pretty and I like the lace.”
Gabriel didn't grace Hadjara's comment with an answer, but grinned when Gwen became flustered over it. He decided to spare her any more embarrassment and move on as though it had never happened.
“Are you guys looking to meet anyone else?”
“No,” replied Rodi. “Our groups were actually separate and we happened upon each other by mistake. It worked out well, though. The more people in a group the safer we are. Plus, its more fun that way.”
Gwendolyn nodded in agreement with him, thinking that it had been a lot better to travel with pleasant company than it had been alone. “I hope you guys weren't waiting too long.” She said, feeling somewhat guilty for the delay. “What were you up to?”
“I was jus' askin' Gabriel 'bout his costume,” Hadjara said, gesturing to him once more before catching eye of Arvid. “That there's the funniest lookin' outfit I've ever seen! And you,” she said looking to Naine. “What're you supposed to be?”
“A black hole,” Naine replied flatly.
“No clue what that is,” Hadjara said. She was about to ask about black holes when Emon confronted Naine.
“See? Nobody gets your costume. Why do you have to be so different? You could have been anything!”
Naine calmly pointed to Arvid, “He could have been something recognizable too.” She then pointed at two complete strangers right as they passed by. “They have an odd costume as well. So I will dress however I see fit to dress.”
A squeak came from Arvid and he clung to Emon on instinct, hiding behind him. It appeared that he was afraid of the costume they were wearing. Emon would have felt sorry for him if he was not so appalled that Naine would accuse complete strangers of dressing funny.
The couple in question were certainly an odd pair. They had managed to put together a costume that was half horse, half wolf. When they were mentioned they stopped and the top half of the horse removed the hood of her costume, laughing heartily. As she did this the opposite end of her outfit pulled himself free and stood up straight, revealing that it was not just his bottom half that was dressed as a wolf, but that he had put together the whole outfit.
“I suppose it does look odd, doesn't it?” Asked the girl as she smiled at the group. “But you have the right idea, if you are going to dress differently, do it with pride. Right?” Rosalind addressed Naine happily, not at all put off by her observation. “I'm Rosalind,” the girl said, introducing herself, “and this is my good friend Astal.”
“It's my fault, really,” said Astal, looking at the ground and shifting his feet. “I didn't realize we were going to do a two-part costume and by the time we met up it was too late to change. It's only proper that I complete her costume for her, odd-looking or not.”
“He is such a great person,” Rosalind said, beaming at him. “It wasn't all his fault but he insists on taking the blame for it. I could have made the idea clearer so this misunderstanding would have never happened.” She hugged Astal then, making him blush a deeper red than Arvid had turned after having his costume laughed at.
“I-I-I'm sorry!” Babbled Arvid, having just realized that he had been clinging to Emon. “Didn't mean to! I'm Arvid,” he said the two close together, making it hard to determine who he was actually directing his speech to.
“It appears that tonight is a night for meeting new people,” Rodi said, stepping forward. “I'm Rodi, and these are my friends Naine and Emon. Also there are my new acquaintances, Gwendolyn, Hadjara, and Gabriel.” Rodi had always been articulate in his speech and it made him seem so much older than he actually was.
“It's nice to meet you!” Rosalind chimed.
“Nice meetin' y'all as well,” Hadjara added. “Should we be gettin' on over to some rides now? Didn't come all this way just to chat in a corner. Why don't y'all join us. Tis Gabriel here's birthday, and he ain't been given' nearly enough attention for it.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rosalind said, letting go of a still-red Astal.
“I'm all for it as well,” Rodi exclaimed, which meant that Naine, Emon and Arvid were sure to come along with him.
As the group of new-found friends walked towards the more exciting carnival attractions, they passed by another couple, talking together in the food court.
“I still can't believe you've never been to a carnival before.” Namenai shook her head trying to understand how Shiro could have missed so much in his life. “Since it's your first time to one of these, I'll treat. As it goes, everyone who has ever been to a carnival knows that you can't get the full experience without trying the food. So you just wait here and I'll pick something out for us.”
“Okay,” was all Shiro said. He really didn't know anything about these places and he had to trust Namenai's judgment. She had never steered him wrong before so he felt it safe to assume that she would know what was best. “I'll just be sitting at the table over there.” He pointed to the particular table and started to walk away, thinking about how nice a person Namenai was, even if she could be a little scary at times.
“Make sure not to take off while I'm away,” Namenai called out to him as she turned in the opposite direction.
What to buy... There were all sorts of different foods to choose from at a fair. Considering neither of them had eaten anything that day, they would probably be better off with something filling. She looked up at the menus, written above the different tents and read each item carefully. She had plenty of money to spend tonight, so if they got hungry later they could try out some more of the non-traditional snacks. For now she figured they could stick with a couple of corn dogs. As she got in line, she decided to get an order of garlic fries as well as something they could share.
Namenai looked over at the table where Shiro was sitting obediently, looking all too innocent with his fake elf ears and toy bow and arrows. She didn't like leaving him alone like that, for he was too naive and friendly to strangers. She had no choice in the matter now, though. She sighed as she was forced to step forward to an area where the elf-dressed boy was no longer visible. Frowning, she tried to adjust herself again so she could see him but only proceeded in bumping another person in line with her wings.
The man she hit glared at her and she resisted the urge to hit him again. She liked her costume in that it was all black and resembled a bat, but the wings that stretched out from her back were sometimes a hassle. Because of them, there was no safe way to maneuver herself so she could keep an eye on Shiro, so she gave up. She just had to hope that all went well while she purchased the food.
Meanwhile, Shiro did as he was told and stayed sitting at the table he had pointed to. He couldn't see Namenai from where he was, which made him a little nervous, but he knew she would be back so he tried not to fidget too much. Instead he shuffled through the bag of candy he had managed to collect on his way to the fair. Namenai had given him her share of collected candy so the backpack holding it all was quite heavy and nearly full. He knew there was no way he would manage to eat all of this candy by himself, and really hoped that Namenai planned on sharing it with him. He had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't and that the only reason why she picked up candy in the first place was to give to him, but he appreciated it all the same.
“You got a lot of candy there,” said a boy from behind Shiro.
Shiro jumped, nearly spilling the candy all over the place. He hadn't noticed that he was being watched until this moment and really wished that Namenai had been there with him.
The boy was tall, but that's all Shiro could really tell about his features. He was wearing a black mask, made of plastic which covered the top half of his face. He also had on a black robe with a pointed hood which came well over the boys head. He looked like death himself and made Shiro feel even more nervous than he was before. Still, he thought it rude to judge the boy simply by how he was dressed. It was Halloween, after all. Lots of kids dressed in frightening outfits.
“Hi! I'm Shiro,” he said, smiling up at the boy.
“I'm Van,” came the reply as he stepped to the side of Shiro, rather than standing behind him. “I've got lots of candy too, see.” The boy held out a pillowcase, almost filled to the brim with candy. “I got a lot of stuff like crackers and pretzels though,” he said, sounding disappointed.
“Hey, would you mind if I looked to see what you got? I'll give your backpack right back.”
Shiro thought about this a moment, not quite sure whether or not to trust him, before handing the backpack full of candy over. “As long as you give it right back, I guess.”
“Thank you,” said the boy, taking the backpack with both hands. “See ya!” He then proceeded to take off with all of the candy. He made sure to add insult to injury by calling out 'sucker!' behind him.
Shiro was poised to run after him when he remembered Namenai's specific instructions for him not to leave the table. He looked back at the line where she had been standing and then towards the runaway thief. He was torn between what to do, chase after the boy, or wait. He settled on waiting for Namenai. It was only candy after all. Still, he felt rather distressed over having lost all of it, and knew he would have to tell her what had happened.
Shiro sat down at the table again, feeling disappointed in himself for being so gullible. This was exactly what Namenai had always warned him about. He had been given just one test on this and he had failed miserably. She was never going to let him live this down.
“Hey you,” came Namenai's voice as she set down a large cup full of fries. “Why the long face? You didn't miss me that much.” She handed him a corn dog, which he took with a shaky hand.
“I'm sorry,” he said looking down at the table apologetically.
“Sorry for what?” Namenai gave him a concerned look, not quite understanding what he had to be sorry for.
“I let somebody steal our candy. He said he just wanted to see what type we got, and then he took off with the whole backpack. I wanted to chase after him but you told me to stay here and I didn't want to make you worry so I stayed.”
Shiro's story came out all at once. It felt nice to get it all off of his chest and he hoped that Namenai had understood it well enough and wouldn't be too angry with him.
“I see,” Namenai said, being far too quiet for Shiro's comfort. “Do you think you would recognize him if you saw him again?”
Shiro thought about this a moment. He hadn't considered that before. Van's costume was very unique and would be easy to pick out among a crowd. “Yea, I'm sure I would be able to.”
Namenai smiled and sat down across from Shiro. “Then there is nothing to worry about. Just enjoy your corn dog and eat some fries. We will carry on tonight and have fun. Just make sure you keep an eye out for him, okay? You just point him out to me and I'll get your candy back, no problem. Not a thing to worry about at all.” She took a bite of her corn dog, enjoying the taste.
Shiro smiled, glad that Namenai was ready to take care of him, even though he messed up. She hadn't even scolded him. He took a bite out of his own corn dog, suddenly realizing that he had regained an appetite he didn't know he had lost. Carnival food. He decided right then that it had to be some of the best food on Earth.
Flynn winced as Icarus's bumper car slammed into another one, knocking it into at least five others. He would never understand how somebody so nice to him could be so violent. This was the third time she had gotten on the ride and she was undoubtedly having fun running down each and every person she could possibly find. Her laughter at hitting another car rang in his ears as he stepped away from the exit gate. She was going to be a while.
Flynn stood apart from the rest of the people getting in line for the bumper cars. They obviously didn't know what they were getting themselves into. After one run through while Icarus was out there, he was more than happy to wait on the sidelines. He had attempted to warn a few of the other riders earlier, but had given up when they laughed and pushed him aside. Of course nobody would take him seriously.
The farther away he was from the light, the more Flynn's skin blended into the background. His body was covered with blue paint and he wore a white hat and pants. His smurf costume would have been perfect if he had been two feet shorter and his nose five times bigger. As it was he was too gangly and his hair a bit too long. Somehow, he still managed to look the part.
Flynn started at the sound of rustling leaves. Was there a bird of some sort nearby? He had always enjoyed studying various animals. Or perhaps it was a cat, stuck in a tree. His curiosity got the best of him and he couldn't help but seek out the source of the noise. This endeavor led him to a tree, not too far off from where he had been standing. From a distance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then he heard the sound again..
He began to feel quite nervous about his decision to come here, for it was darker, and there were fewer people around. Still, it seemed cowardly of him to give up now that he had found the source of the rustling sound. Stepping forward cautiously Flynn came nearer to the tree, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
“Boo!”
Something swung at him from a high tree branch causing Flynn to cry out in terror and fall over backwards.
He was in such a rush to run away from his attacker that he caused himself to fall over a number of times before actually managing to stand up and dart over to where Icarus was getting off of the bumper cars. He hid behind her, exclaiming that something had pounced out of the try and tried to eat him.
“Why does everything try to eat me?!” He asked despairingly.
“I don't know, you don't look all that tasty to me,” Icarus replied, walking over to the suspect tree. It didn't look like the ideal place for a hideous monster to lurk. The branches would undoubtedly break under the weight of anything big enough to eat a person like Flynn. “Are you sure it wasn't a squirrel? Could have been rabid, which would explain its poorly chosen diet.”
“It was much bigger than a squirrel, I swear! A squirrel wouldn't frighten me anyways.” Flynn seemed a little offended by the fact that Icarus believed he would run away from something so trivial. What had attacked him had been big, and it had wings, but it wasn't a bird.
“Icarus?” an airy voice floated down from the tree, followed by a head. A small girl, with long black hair, dressed in a blue outfit with glittery blue wings hung upside down from the tree, holding her dress in place with one had. “I thought that was you!” She smiled, swung back up into the tree and then jumped down. “Hi!”
“You were scared of a girl dressed as a butterfly,” Icarus said, smirking at the idea. “Wouldn't it be strange if all butterflies hung upside down off of tree branches, just like that?”
“I'm dressed as a fairy, not a butterfly,” the girl said, straightening her wings out a bit. “And I do imagine it would look strange.”
“Fairies too! Little people all hanging down, letting the blood rush to their heads until they pass out! Not the smartest thing to do,” Icarus mused. She seemed intrigued by the idea, but she was always like that.
“Oh, I'm Searene, by the way,” the girl said, turning back to Flynn. She smiled and held out her hand in greeting. “Sorry for scaring you, it was just all too tempting. Plus, I had gotten so bored hanging out on my own. I had to do something to pass the time.”
Flynn debated taking her hand at first. He was just a little wary of the girl who had purposely scared him a minute earlier. She seemed friendly enough, even though she believed scaring people and climbing trees was a good way to pass the time.
“I'm Flynn.” He shook her hand, hoping that they were not so sweaty as to leave blue paint behind. He really had been terrified. Anyone would be, if they had been convinced something was going to kill them.
“You're friends with Icarus?” Flynn asked, trying to figure out how the two girls knew each other.
“Yea, we met a while ago. She beat up some bullies with me. She is much stronger than I am, though.” Searene smiled, remembering the looks on their faces when Icarus pounced on them out of nowhere. They didn't last long after that.
“What do you think happened?”
Searene glanced up at a bystanders comment to see a girl with long blonde hair stumbling in their direction. She didn't seem to be interested in them. Instead she seemed walking blindly forward with no sense of direction. Searene couldn't help but go up to her. She didn't much like seeing people cry.
“Are you okay?” She asked, reaching out a friendly hand to the girl. She didn't want to frighten her any more than she was already. “What happened?”
The girl burst into new tears and ran to Searene's arms. Searene embraced her and stroked her hair to calm her. The girl was taller than her, so doing so felt a little awkward, but she hoped to at least settle her down a bit before asking more questions.
They stood like that for a few minutes, the girl crying and Searene comforting her. Flynn was awkwardly shifting his weight back and forth between feet, not quite sure how to react to the public affection they were showing. Icarus had joined them as well, making a few comments about skeletons and pumpkins and how ridiculous skeletons would look if they had pumpkins as heads due to the pumpkins being so round. Eventually, the girls sobs slowed and she pulled away.
“What's your name?” asked Searene, putting a reassuring hand on the girls shoulder.
“I'm Gwendolyn,” the girl said wiping away the last of her tears.
“What got you all worked up, Gwen?” asked Icarus, finally taking an interest in the girl now that she wasn't crying.
“Gwendolyn, please,” replied the girl, attempting to smile weakly. “I was checking out some of the rides with my friends when I got separated from the group. I looked around, but I couldn't find them...” she broke off here, sniffling a bit and attempting not to burst into tears again.
“Pretty irresponsible of your group, leaving you behind like that,” Icarus said. If given the chance, she would surely scold each and every one of the members.
“It wasn't their fault,” Gwen protested, shaking her head a bit. “We had such a large group and it is difficult to keep track of everyone at once. They were probably chasing after a frightened Arvid again.” She smiled a little here at the thought of the bizarre little boy running away from a random person dressed as a spider. “I didn't wander too far because I knew they would come and find me but then this boy started following me. He wouldn't leave me alone and grabbed my arm so I ran away. He chased me and I didn't know what to do. I was so scared!” Gwendolyn's eyes started to water, and she shivered under Searene's touch.
“Umm...” Flynn started, not really wanting to interrupt and not quite sure how to react to Gwen's breakdown. “I'm sure your group is looking for you. We could stay with you until you find them... or... yea... if that's okay, that is. I can understand if you would rather hang around others, but I just thought... maybe... we could help. You know?” Flynn went quiet again.
Gwendolyn perked up at this. “Could you?” She looked at each of the group members in turn.
“Sure, why not?” said Searene, smiling. “I'm Searene, by the way. The crazy fox girl is Icarus and the blue guy is Flynn.”
“Nice to meet you,” Gwen replied, looking much happier already. “Umm,” a cloud crossed her face. She was still afraid. “What if that boy comes after me again?”
“That disgusting pig had better not come within a mile of you.” Icarus practically spat the words, looking wilder and more frightening than usual. “I'll take care of him if he does.”
Namenai was growing upset as the night went on. She had really hoped that if they continued to partake in the carnival activities, Shiro might spot the boy who had stolen their candy.
“What should we do next?” Shiro asked, smiling the goofy smile he always seemed to have.
“Whatever you want,” Namenai replied, not really in the mood to be playing around. “You're the one who has never been to a carnival before, so we will try out what you think looks fun.”
She put her hand on the elf's head, a sign of affection she had developed without realizing it. He was one of the few people who wasn't put off by her mismatched eyes. He also didn't seem to mind that she wasn't big on socializing with many people besides him. She really didn't feel any need to.
“Let's head to the Ferris Wheel then!” Shiro said, beaming up at her. He had never ridden on one of them before and thought it would be fun to see the carnival from up high.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Namenai said absently, other thoughts on her mind. Perhaps it was a good idea. If they looked at all the people from up high they could see more of them, and maybe Shiro would spot Van. Or that's what Shiro said the kid had called himself. She just hoped that if he did, she managed to get off the ride fast enough to catch and clobber him.
It was worth a try at least
“Hey, you! Come back here!” Heads turned as several figures took off running at once. One of them, dressed in a black robe, bumped into Namenai in his attempt to get away.
“That was the guy!” Shiro said, eyes wide while pointing at the stranger. “That's Van!”
“Stay here,” Namenai said, taking off after him. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, doing her best to catch up to the boy. She smiled as she gained on him, ready to tackle him just as soon as she got close enough.
Almost there, just a little farther, Namenai stretched out her hand to grab a hold of his robe as two other kids came out of nowhere, causing all three of them to collide with one another.
“What did you do that for?!” cried a red haired girl, looking furious. “You made me lose him!”
“S-s-s-sorry,” stuttered the small boy from underneath them. He was rubbing his head with one hand and attempting to straighten a duck beak with another. Looking down Namenai noticed that he was wearing flippers as well. She was surprised he had even managed to run in those things, let alone manage to collide with them on purpose.
“Why must you be afraid of everything?” came a voice from above them. Namenai looked up to see a boy dressed as a pirate. The duck/clown dressed boy looked down at the ground, seemingly ashamed. She felt a little sorry for him, some people couldn't help their fears.
“Hey, are you guys alright?” Searene, Flynn and Gwendolyn all came up to where the collision had occurred. “That looked painful.” Searene held her hand out to a still disgruntled Icarus, helping her off the ground.
“Yea, I'm fine, but I lost him,” Icarus said. She was clearly angry about this.
“Gwendolyn!” They all watched as Arvid, who was the boy who had accidentally gotten in their way, ran over to Gwen and gave her a hug. “You're back!”
Gwen hugged Arvid in return, letting out some relieved laughter. “I'm so glad I found you guys again! Icarus, Searene, Flynn? This is my friend Arvid. And those...” she referred to a group of friends who had joined them and watched the reunion quietly. “Are my friends Rodi, Gabriel, Hadjara, Naine, Emon, Rosalind, and Astal. Wow... our group really did get big.”
“Thanks for watching out for our friend. We had been searching everywhere for her,” Rodi said, turning directly to Icarus, who was still muttering under her breath about what she would have done to the boy had she caught him.
“Don't thank us yet, the stalker boy is still out there and he seems to have a thing for her. Wouldn't have been a problem had I been given a clear path to him. Did you see which way he went? Skinny boy, malnourished looking, dressed like a devil?” She looked around again, trying to catch a view of him.
“Did you catch him?” Shiro came up, at a jog.
“No, kind of hit a collision course. I know what he looks like now, though. It's only a matter of time until I find him. And when I do...” Namenai's eyes got dark. “I thought I told you to stay where you were,” Namenai said, shaking off the anger that had settled over her.
“I wanted to help you,” Shiro said, frowning. “I'm a fast runner too, I could have caught up.”
Namenai sighed and took a hand that Shiro put out for her. Arguing with him wasn't going to get them anywhere and they needed to find the candy thief.
“Did any of you see where that kid with the black robe ran off to? He says his name's Van. He's been running around stealing candy from people.”
“You two aren't looking for the same person?” Rodi asked, looking between Namenai and Icarus.
“No. But when I find that kid...” Namenai paused here, “He is going to reap the rewards of his actions.” Her hands rolled into tight fists.
“We can't let these kids go harming other people,” Rodi mused, considering the situation. “Could we help you find and catch them?”
Namenai tilted her head, contemplating the benefits of having the assistance of more people. “That might help, but I don't think all of us are suited for this, and I don't like leaving Shiro on his own. Oh, and I'm Namenai.” She hardly ever spoke with other children, so she nearly forgot to introduce herself.
“I can help!” Shiro protested.
“Van knows your face and while you are fast, you are not good in a fight. You would alert him to our presence and end up getting hurt. I don't want that.” Namenai countered him calmly, he had to understand why she wouldn't let him go or he would keep insisting. “We can't just knock him down and take the candy back either, since he didn't seem to be carrying it with him when I chased him. I would have recognized our backpack. He must be stashing it somewhere. I suppose we could beat the location out of him, but he could lie so its probably best if we follow him there.” Namenai puzzled over the situation out loud, realizing that her normal approach of catch and beat was not going to work here.
“If you get caught beating up a kid in the carnival, for whatever reason, they are going to throw you out too,” Searene added in, though it was more directed towards Icarus.
“Searene and I are the best people to go after the stalker. We know what he looks like and Searene can be pretty crafty,” Icarus decided her group out loud. “She can help set things up so that we don't get caught.”
Searene blushed at this, “I'll do my best! He's never seen me before, so it shouldn't be too hard. We just have to locate him first!”
“I'm not... I don't know... you could get in trouble! I don't think I want to be there when you beat him up,” Flynn stumbled over what he wanted to say. He really didn't like where this whole thing was going.
“I guess you could stay with me,” Shiro said, sounding a little disappointed. He didn't like that he couldn't help Namenai out. It made him feel useless. He did understand where she was coming from, though.
“Both of you could stay with us,” Rodi said decisively. When Rodi came to a decision, it tended to stick. “Nothing would dare hurt you while we're around. Safety in groups, you know. Provided none of you end up separated from us,” Rodi frowned, recalling that Gwen had suffered already. He felt responsible for what happened to her, but Icarus was right in saying that he did not know what the perpetrator looked like and wouldn't be very much help if he went along with them. It was much better to have a core group of strong people to watch over the ones who needed protecting.
“We'll do our best to make sure you are safe while your friends are away,” he grinned. Yes, he could do loads of good watching over them, and if the bullies did show up, he would have his own chance to clobber them.
“I think I have a plan that will help locate the candy thief,” Naine piped in, drawing attention to herself. “We'll need more candy and I'll need to borrow Hadjara. The two of us are more than enough to help Namenai find, and take down, her target. For what we want to do, it's better if we work in small groups, so the rest of you can pick a spot to watch over each other until we finish up.”
After debating for several minutes the groups were finalized and they had established both plans, and a meeting place. Gabriel, Rodi and Emon would watch over Gwen, Shiro, Arvid and Flynn, while Rosalind and Astal acquired a first aid kit just in case anyone got injured. Arvid already had a nice little cut on his head, but that was hardly a surprise with how much running and falling he had accomplished that evening.
Icarus was searching for the boy dressed as a devil, with the assistance of Searene. Once he was located Searene would guide him to a secluded area where Icarus would be waiting for them. Both of them had thought this plan to be great fun and had a gleeful conversation about what the boy's face would look like when he came across his nasty surprise. Namenai couldn't help but enjoy the thought of it as well. A lot of their descriptions made her think of what her own target would look like as she beat him up. She would have to remove his disguise first.
She had to applaud Naine in coming up with such a brilliant plan on the spot. Since Van seemed to go after the most vulnerable victims, which Shiro resented but had to admit was true, they would put a lot of their candy together in one container, and have Hadjara guard it. She was both the youngest, and smallest of the group so she would be a perfect target. From what they knew of Van, there was no way he could possibly overlook such an opportunity. When the candy was stolen, Namenai would follow Van back to where he was stashing all of it. It would have to be someplace discreet and fairly secluded, so it would be the perfect place for her to confront him. Namenai couldn't wait.
It didn't take very long for Icarus and Searene to spot their target once they broke off from the larger group. He was undoubtedly looking for another victim while lurking about in the shadows. In seeing him, Icarus had to do everything in her power not to chase after him. There were far too many people about, and if she attacked him now, there was a good chance she would lose him in a crowd again.
Icarus motioned to a cluster of tents a short ways away, where the shadows were heavy and the crowd was thinner. That was where she would wait. Searene nodded, understanding what she meant and split off from her friend. It was show time.
“I know who you're looking for,” came a sing-song voice from the shadows.
Auburn started, not having noticed that he was being watched. He didn't like unknowns.
“Yeah? What makes you think that? You don't know me,” he challenged the air, looking around for the body to the voice. A bit of shadow moved and a small girl, dressed as a fairy stepped forward, smile wide.
“Maybe not, but I saw you chasing her. The girl in the wedding dress, right? I know where she is...” she slipped back into her sing song voice, rocking back and forth between her feet. “She's hiding from you.”
“Oh yeah?” Aurburn's eyes lit up excitedly. He had not expected to have a chance at that particular girl again since she seemed to have such a large group of friends, but if she was simply hiding he may have another opportunity. “Where?”
“Tell you what,” said the girl, standing on her tip toes, and looking straight into his eyes. Her own shone, bright, blue and filled with excitement. “I'll show you where she is hiding in return for ten pieces of candy.” She flashed another large smile. The candy actually wasn't part of the plan, but Searene had a bit of a sweet tooth and couldn't resist sweetening the deal on her end.
“Don't you have your own candy?” Auburn asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing. “What would you want more for?”
“Some jerk is going around and stealing all of the candy from little kids. He took mine too.” She wasn't lying. She had given up her candy in hopes that it would draw out the candy thief. If they caught him, it would actually mean more candy for them all. With what she saw of Namenai, she was willing to take that gamble. “But if you don't want to find the girl, that's fine too, I'll just go find some candy elsewhere. I thought I was making a good deal, I could have asked for all your candy.”
Searene turned around and started walking away from the boy, knowing full well that he wouldn't let her just leave like that. He had been offered a fair deal, and he had no reason not to accept it.
“Wait,” his voice sounded hesitant, but earnest. Searene stifled a large grin as she turned around expectantly.
“Do we have a deal devil boy?” she held out her hand and stared at him, refusing to smile until he finally caved and took it.
“Deal. My name's Auburn by the way,” he said, gripping her hand tighter. “However, just to make sure you aren't lying to me, I'll give you half of the candy now, and half when you show me to the girl.”
Searene pursed her lips a little, feeling a little upset with herself for not asking for more candy. She didn't really feel like just five pieces were worth her troubles, but she couldn't turn back now. “That's fine.” She held out her hand for her half-payment. Smiling once again as it was filled. Wonderful, she would now have a snack while watching the show.
“Follow me, I'll lead the way.” She skipped away from Auburn, humming as she went. They wouldn't have too far to go so she wasn't really worried about losing him. She couldn't get that far ahead and he wasn't about to let his investment prance off without him.
“She's in there,” Searene pointed to the dark area between a few tents, set off from a good deal of the crowd.
“You couldn't have just pointed it out to me from where we were? If I had known she was this close I never would have agreed to let you lead me here. There's no way I'm giving you the other half of your candy.” Auburn shot Searene an angry look before storming into the shadows.
Searene shrugged and unwrapped a piece of her reward candy, biting into it happily as she heard a satisfying 'smack' come from a few feet away. Then she felt free to enter the shadows and watch the fun unfold.
Icarus had Auburn by the back of his collar, stopping him from running away. She was grinning evilly, hand raised and ready to give another blow.
“You deceived me,” spat Auburn, looking up at Searene with hateful eyes.
“Yea, and you didn't follow through with your end of the deal, so I guess that makes us even,” Searene stared down at the boy, no pity in her eyes. “Perhaps this will teach you a lesson about stalking and attacking unsuspecting girls.”
He opened his mouth to argue more, or perhaps it was to call for help, but he was stifled by a candy bar. Searene, laughed as he spluttered and tried to spit out the large amount of candy she had given him. Icarus joined in on the laughter as she proceeded to pummel him.
Namenai's target had taken longer to arrive since they had to guess as to where they should place the bait. He didn't have any specific habits that would suggest that he had a preference as to where he would strike. In fact, he didn't seem to care whether people saw him steal or not. This suggested that he didn't even want the candy for himself, he was just stealing to mess with people.
Namenai paced back and forth, getting more irritable by the minute. If he didn't show up soon she would hunt him down. She could live with being banned from this particular carnival.
Her eyes stayed trained on Hadjara, occasionally switching back to where Naine was crouched. The girl was trained on Hadjara, just the same, but she showed no sign of tension. She wasn't at all anxious about what would happen. Namenai actually liked her more for it. The last thing she needed was for someone else to fidget like she was, adding to her apprehensions.
Namenai stopped dead, and Naine stood up as they finally spotted Van. He seemed to be walking around without a care. He even bumped into people who were in front of him, seeming to think that they should all step out of his way.
Van strolled right up to innocent little Hadjara, who was counting how many snicker bars she found in the large bag of candy sitting in front of her. The girls watched as he knelt down and looked straight at the girl, and then took the bag, walking away. Hadjara called out after him, but he didn't care. He didn't even bother running. Namenai smiled. He had brought about his own destruction.
Naine was with Hadjara now, and would take the girl back to the group. Perhaps Icarus and Searene would already be there. Namenai could only hope she would return in time to hear all about their success. Still, she had to make sure her own story was just as entertaining.
She followed Van silently, blending in with the crowd with little difficulty. He stuck out like a sore thumb, and was completely oblivious to what she had planned. Though, he had good reason to be as arrogant as he was. From the amount of candy Shiro had described, he had obviously gotten away with this countless times before. She could almost respect that. Unfortunately for him, he had stolen from the wrong kid... twice.
The boy walked around for a while, apparently making sure that whoever was following him got bored and gave up. Namenai was certainly bored, but there was no way she was going to let down the others. If anything, his stalling in getting to his candy stash made her want to beat him up even more. He deserved it, if not for the candy stealing, for being a waste of her time.
Eventually they made their way to a haunted house, one of those ones you walked through in small groups and people would jump out and scare you. Namenai had to do her best not to cry out 'finally,' in relief. She never expected following someone could be so dull. You would think that someone who ran around as a hooded villain, stealing other peoples candy for fun, would be more interesting.
At least his hiding place was cool.
She doubted any of the actors within the house could scare her, especially when she was so intent on following her target. She was probably the most dangerous being around there. Not that anyone would actually notice.
“Back again, Van?” said the man at the entrance. “Go on through, you know the way well enough.”
The boy was waved through without a problem. Namenai frowned, did nobody suspect foul play with all of the candy he was bringing through? Or the number of times he had visited? People certainly were stupid. Namenai slipped around the greeter, staying just out of his line of sight. She didn't have time to deal with him now, she was so close to finding that candy, she could taste it.
She proceeded following Van through the house, sidestepping people as they jumped at her, keeping just far enough away to remain inconspicuous, but close enough to see if he made any sudden turns, which he did. Just as they entered an area thick with fog he veered to the left and pushed away a bit of fabric which had been hiding a doorway. It was the perfect hideout since it was already difficult to see with all the fog, and there were so many distractions happening around them.
Namenai just smiled as she ducked in behind him.
The hallway she entered was long and dark, but had a few windows along it that allowed for just enough light to illuminate a large pile of bags, all filled to the brim with candy. The stash.
Van didn't suspect a thing as he dropped his latest loot on the top of the pile. He didn't even know what hit him. Namenai pounced, tackling and then pinning him to the ground, and ripping off his mask. His cold eyes bored into hers as she looked over the face of her victim. Older boy, brown hair, green eyes, hard features. He wasn't frightened of her at all. What a pity. She would have to fix that.
No exchange of words passed between them, just a flurry of movements and the sound of her fists smashing against his face. He knew what he had been caught for, and he took it. That gave Namenai more satisfaction than any whining or cowering would have.
She dragged his unconscious body off to the side, leaving a single bag of candy underneath his head, just to remind him why he was there. Besides, its not like anyone could consume the amount he had managed to collect, and she would have enough trouble trying to transport the amount that was left.
Namenai said nothing as she walked up to the rest of the group. As expected, everybody else had already arrived. She couldn't complain too much though, her own adventure had been well worth it.
The group just stared at her as she removed the bags of candy from her back. There were two backpacks, filled and nearly breaking the zippers, and then three smaller pillowcases filled at least half way each tied to the bottom of those. She had also been carrying one more bucket of candy in her hands.
“How did you manage to make it here without a ton of people asking you questions,” Gabriel asked, intrigued by the whole thing.
“When they asked, I gave them a handful of candy. They kind of forget what they were asking when you take the time to do that much. I mean, what type of candy thief gives away what they steal? In any case, I don't think we'll have to worry about him again. At least, not this Halloween,” Namenai smiled at Shiro reassuringly. “He's going to have a pretty big headache when he wakes up though.”
“Our mission was successful as well,” Searene said around a lollipop. “He never even saw it coming.”
“Ya didn't hurt them too bad, did ya?” Hadjara asked. “I don't much like this hurtin' people for fun, thing. It don't make no sense.”
“They'll live,” Icarus said, dismissing the whole thing.
“Well,” Searene came in again, smiling the brightest smile of the night. “How about we divvy up some of that candy!?”
Namenai opened up each bag separately, taking time in helping them give out equal amounts to everyone. Everyone, except Gabriel, of course. They all agreed that since it was his birthday, and they had already gone through enough trouble, he would get the biggest share.
They laughed at the amount of candy he got stuck with, telling him that he could use it to bribe others later. Searene raised her hand mentioning that she would do pretty much anything if he was offering her candy.
As predicted, they didn't have to worry about any more bullies that evening, though they still had their fair share of problems: what with with Arvid's fears and Flynn's clumsiness. Nonetheless, the rest of the night was quite enjoyable, leading to an agreement to meet again the next year. Not that they planned on waiting that long before meeting up again.
No doubt the night past would lead to some interesting relationships in the future.
The street was not particularly full since it was still fairly early to start trick or treating, but a few of the younger children were out with their parents already. This didn't mean that older children were excluded. A few of them, ones who knew that the earlier they went to peoples houses the more candy they had a chance of getting, were also strewn about. They walked along the sidewalks as the last rays of light began to be swallowed up by the horizon.
Naine and Emon had turned the corner right as the streetlamps came on, heading in the direction of the carnival that arrived in their town just a day earlier.. They had taken their time getting this far, stopping to trick or treat at various houses on the way. It only made sense to pick up some free candy while they could.
“Oh, a pirate! Very nice costume!” The woman at the door said, smiling down at Emon. She loved seeing all of the different costumes children came up with each year. She couldn't wait for the rest of the evening, when more children were bound to show up. She had seen just about every costume imaginable over the years. Witches, cats, clowns, pumpkins, superheroes... She turned to the girl standing near Emon expectantly, and blinked in confusion. “And what are you supposed to be?”
Naine looked down at her costume. She wore all black, from her turtleneck top, to her skirt, the tights and the shoes she had on, and even a pair of gloves. They were all black, and contrasted nicely with her brilliant red hair. “I'm a black hole. It's absolutely terrifying, right? I will eat anything and everything around, destroying whole families and everything you hold dear. Plus, black holes can soak up more candy.” She did not smile, she was serious. She had taken this matter into careful consideration weeks before Halloween and was quite content with her decision. Emon just rolled his eyes.
The woman was dumbfounded. She nodded, unable to find the words to say to the girl in front of her. There was only one thing the woman was completely sure of. That child was very odd. She wondered if she was always that way, and if the parents realized there was something wrong with her. She would ask the neighbors the next day to see what they thought.
“Why do you always have to be so weird?” Emon asked Naine, feeling awkward as they walked away from the house. It had been like that at nearly every house they had stopped at. Of course, they did run into the occasional adult who thought she was brilliant. Just a few houses before they had happened upon a retired science teacher who exclaimed how he wished that Naine was his own daughter.
Naine didn't reply. She may be weird to Emon, but she was who she was and for him to expect her to change was shallow. Instead she turned her attention to another small group just across the street. When they passed under a streetlight she recognized one of them. She waved as Rodi looked over, making sure to catch his attention before running to join him.
It took Emon a moment to realize he had been left behind and he grumbled as he had to backtrack and attempt to catch up to the other group. When he got there Naine and Rodi were just saying hello. He waved at Rodi who had chosen to dress at a knight. He wore plastic armor and even had a sheath which held a wooden sword. To top it all off Rodi also wore a blood red cape which almost matched his hair. It suited him, Emon thought to himself, knowing how Rodi tended to act. He then looked around to see why they had stopped walking. The sound of laughter emerging from the doorway of the household they were standing in front of startled him. He looked up to see that two figures were returning now, one clinging to the arm of the other as though it was all that was keeping him from running away.
It was easy to see what the owner of the house had laughed at. While the girl was pretty and done up as a little bride, all in white, the boy was just odd. He had on yellow swim flippers, green pants, a fox tail, a yellow and green shirt, red gloves, a duck beak and some strange purple neck ornament that puffed out ridiculously. He appeared to be some sort of duck/clown/fox thing. Emon couldn't decide what.
He looked from Naine to Arvid, trying to decide which costume was worse and finally decided that Arvids was better simply since one could recognize parts of it. Even if it was bizarre looking nobody felt compelled to ask about it. It was strange, and funny, that was all.
“This is Arvid,” Rodi said, gesturing to the duck/clown creature. “He is a bit skittish so I've been traveling with him, and this is Gwendolyn. We just ran into her a little while ago. Quite literally in Arvid's case.”
“Hello, I'm Emon, and this is Naine,” said Emon, trying to be welcoming. Naine just nodded her head.
“Arvid here got scared of... what was it again?” Gwendolyn turned to Rodi.
“It was a little girl in a ladybug costume,” Rodi said. He sounded quite embarrassed to even say it, and he shifted his feet a little when he did.
“Yea, he got frightened of a girl dressed as a ladybug and went running. He just so happened to run into me and hide for a while until Rodi found us. They decided to let me come along with them since it seems to help Arvid and I'm headed to the carnival to meet some friends anyways. Besides, it's much better to travel in groups.” Gwendolyn smiled, not paying much mind to the pathetic boy clinging to her arm and attempting to hide behind her dress.
Emon nodded, the larger the group the safer the travels should be. Rodi had to agree as well, though more because he didn't want the others left on their own. He saw no reason to really worry about himself. If anything were to happen he wanted to be there to help, and he would have some good backup now that Naine was here. She didn't seem to be afraid of anything. In fact, most others seemed wary of her, so she could be a great help to his cause.
“Did you want to pick up more candy, or head straight over to the carnival?” Rodi turned to Gwendolyn questioningly.
“I've got more than enough candy, plus they will probably be giving more out at the carnival as prizes.”
“I have to agree with her,” Emon piped in. Truthfully, he was more embarrassed to go up to houses now than ever before. It was bad enough that he had to put up with Naine's oddities, but now he had Arvid, the terrified thing to deal with. He would rather not be associated with someone like him, but he wasn't about to say that out loud, and Gwendolyn had made a good point.
“Lets go then.” Naine turned away from the group before any of them had time to reply and started walking off. She saw no point in debating the issue further since she didn't mind skipping the rest of the houses either. In her mind, majority ruled and that was the end of it. Whoever wanted to continue getting candy could break from the group and do so. She doubted they would.
~~~~~~~
Gabriel and Hadjara had been waiting for Gwendolyn for about ten minutes before they decided that it was better to have something to nibble on while waiting. They had promptly located a cotton candy stand, picked some of the fluffy substance up, and seated themselves at some small tables pointing in the direction of the carnival entrance. From here they would clearly be able to see when Gwen arrived and they would also have the liberty of relaxing.
All around them brightly colored tents of all sizes shot up from the ground. Food, games, rides, entertainment, it was all waiting for them. Hadjara smiled as the candy melted to pure sugar in her mouth.
“So why'd you pick that there costume of yours?” she asked, figuring conversation was better than silence. It was a noisy night anyways and it would be a shame not to partake in the fun.
“Why did you pick yours?” Gabriel countered coolly. He enjoyed the chaos of the carnival, listening to the different people sharing in their laughter and their fears on this Halloween night. He had countered Hadjara's question for the fun of it. Besides, he was allowed to be difficult, it was his birthday.
“'Cause crocodiles are awesome, don't need no other reason.” Hadjara spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. She didn't know about a lot of things, but she knew that much. It had made picking her costume an easy task.
“I chose to be Dracula because he is the all-powerful leader of the vampires. Plus, he isn't all that bad with the ladies,” Gabriel said. He doubted Hadjara would quite understand his reasons behind his appearance, for she was still young and naive. Not that he was terribly old, but he was old enough to recognize that there was a fairer sex, and that having power was good. So he chose the one costume featuring the person who embodied the two.
“Why would ya want more power?” Hadjara asked, “Ya seem to be doin' fine now.”
“I'll explain it in more detail later. Look, here comes Gwendolyn.” He nodded towards a group heading towards them. Gwen stood out amongst them with her bright white bride's outfit and long golden hair. She was a hard one to miss.
Hadjara stood up from the table and waved at the group, making sure they had see them. Gwen returned her wave with a smile and picked up the pace until she was standing in front of them.
“Sorry I'm late,” she said, beaming at the two of them. “These are my new friends: Rodi, Arvid, Naine and Emon.” She gestured to each of them as she said their names.
“Howdy! Name's Hadjara.” Hadjara stood up as tall as she could and pointed to herself as she made her introduction. “And that there's Gabriel,” she pointed to him, not waiting for him to introduce himself.
“Nice to meet you,” Gabriel said, standing up from the table.
“Huh,” Hadjara said, looking from Gabriel to Gwen. “Here we got Dracula, and now his bride.” Hadjara beamed at having made the connection. Gwen looked away from them, doing her best to hide her face as it turned completely red.
“I don't... Hadjara, you shouldn't say such things. I'm sure Gabriel has other girls in mind. I... I'm sorry,” she said turning to Gabe. “I just dressed this way because its pretty and I like the lace.”
Gabriel didn't grace Hadjara's comment with an answer, but grinned when Gwen became flustered over it. He decided to spare her any more embarrassment and move on as though it had never happened.
“Are you guys looking to meet anyone else?”
“No,” replied Rodi. “Our groups were actually separate and we happened upon each other by mistake. It worked out well, though. The more people in a group the safer we are. Plus, its more fun that way.”
Gwendolyn nodded in agreement with him, thinking that it had been a lot better to travel with pleasant company than it had been alone. “I hope you guys weren't waiting too long.” She said, feeling somewhat guilty for the delay. “What were you up to?”
“I was jus' askin' Gabriel 'bout his costume,” Hadjara said, gesturing to him once more before catching eye of Arvid. “That there's the funniest lookin' outfit I've ever seen! And you,” she said looking to Naine. “What're you supposed to be?”
“A black hole,” Naine replied flatly.
“No clue what that is,” Hadjara said. She was about to ask about black holes when Emon confronted Naine.
“See? Nobody gets your costume. Why do you have to be so different? You could have been anything!”
Naine calmly pointed to Arvid, “He could have been something recognizable too.” She then pointed at two complete strangers right as they passed by. “They have an odd costume as well. So I will dress however I see fit to dress.”
A squeak came from Arvid and he clung to Emon on instinct, hiding behind him. It appeared that he was afraid of the costume they were wearing. Emon would have felt sorry for him if he was not so appalled that Naine would accuse complete strangers of dressing funny.
The couple in question were certainly an odd pair. They had managed to put together a costume that was half horse, half wolf. When they were mentioned they stopped and the top half of the horse removed the hood of her costume, laughing heartily. As she did this the opposite end of her outfit pulled himself free and stood up straight, revealing that it was not just his bottom half that was dressed as a wolf, but that he had put together the whole outfit.
“I suppose it does look odd, doesn't it?” Asked the girl as she smiled at the group. “But you have the right idea, if you are going to dress differently, do it with pride. Right?” Rosalind addressed Naine happily, not at all put off by her observation. “I'm Rosalind,” the girl said, introducing herself, “and this is my good friend Astal.”
“It's my fault, really,” said Astal, looking at the ground and shifting his feet. “I didn't realize we were going to do a two-part costume and by the time we met up it was too late to change. It's only proper that I complete her costume for her, odd-looking or not.”
“He is such a great person,” Rosalind said, beaming at him. “It wasn't all his fault but he insists on taking the blame for it. I could have made the idea clearer so this misunderstanding would have never happened.” She hugged Astal then, making him blush a deeper red than Arvid had turned after having his costume laughed at.
“I-I-I'm sorry!” Babbled Arvid, having just realized that he had been clinging to Emon. “Didn't mean to! I'm Arvid,” he said the two close together, making it hard to determine who he was actually directing his speech to.
“It appears that tonight is a night for meeting new people,” Rodi said, stepping forward. “I'm Rodi, and these are my friends Naine and Emon. Also there are my new acquaintances, Gwendolyn, Hadjara, and Gabriel.” Rodi had always been articulate in his speech and it made him seem so much older than he actually was.
“It's nice to meet you!” Rosalind chimed.
“Nice meetin' y'all as well,” Hadjara added. “Should we be gettin' on over to some rides now? Didn't come all this way just to chat in a corner. Why don't y'all join us. Tis Gabriel here's birthday, and he ain't been given' nearly enough attention for it.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rosalind said, letting go of a still-red Astal.
“I'm all for it as well,” Rodi exclaimed, which meant that Naine, Emon and Arvid were sure to come along with him.
~~~~~~~
As the group of new-found friends walked towards the more exciting carnival attractions, they passed by another couple, talking together in the food court.
“I still can't believe you've never been to a carnival before.” Namenai shook her head trying to understand how Shiro could have missed so much in his life. “Since it's your first time to one of these, I'll treat. As it goes, everyone who has ever been to a carnival knows that you can't get the full experience without trying the food. So you just wait here and I'll pick something out for us.”
“Okay,” was all Shiro said. He really didn't know anything about these places and he had to trust Namenai's judgment. She had never steered him wrong before so he felt it safe to assume that she would know what was best. “I'll just be sitting at the table over there.” He pointed to the particular table and started to walk away, thinking about how nice a person Namenai was, even if she could be a little scary at times.
“Make sure not to take off while I'm away,” Namenai called out to him as she turned in the opposite direction.
What to buy... There were all sorts of different foods to choose from at a fair. Considering neither of them had eaten anything that day, they would probably be better off with something filling. She looked up at the menus, written above the different tents and read each item carefully. She had plenty of money to spend tonight, so if they got hungry later they could try out some more of the non-traditional snacks. For now she figured they could stick with a couple of corn dogs. As she got in line, she decided to get an order of garlic fries as well as something they could share.
Namenai looked over at the table where Shiro was sitting obediently, looking all too innocent with his fake elf ears and toy bow and arrows. She didn't like leaving him alone like that, for he was too naive and friendly to strangers. She had no choice in the matter now, though. She sighed as she was forced to step forward to an area where the elf-dressed boy was no longer visible. Frowning, she tried to adjust herself again so she could see him but only proceeded in bumping another person in line with her wings.
The man she hit glared at her and she resisted the urge to hit him again. She liked her costume in that it was all black and resembled a bat, but the wings that stretched out from her back were sometimes a hassle. Because of them, there was no safe way to maneuver herself so she could keep an eye on Shiro, so she gave up. She just had to hope that all went well while she purchased the food.
Meanwhile, Shiro did as he was told and stayed sitting at the table he had pointed to. He couldn't see Namenai from where he was, which made him a little nervous, but he knew she would be back so he tried not to fidget too much. Instead he shuffled through the bag of candy he had managed to collect on his way to the fair. Namenai had given him her share of collected candy so the backpack holding it all was quite heavy and nearly full. He knew there was no way he would manage to eat all of this candy by himself, and really hoped that Namenai planned on sharing it with him. He had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't and that the only reason why she picked up candy in the first place was to give to him, but he appreciated it all the same.
“You got a lot of candy there,” said a boy from behind Shiro.
Shiro jumped, nearly spilling the candy all over the place. He hadn't noticed that he was being watched until this moment and really wished that Namenai had been there with him.
The boy was tall, but that's all Shiro could really tell about his features. He was wearing a black mask, made of plastic which covered the top half of his face. He also had on a black robe with a pointed hood which came well over the boys head. He looked like death himself and made Shiro feel even more nervous than he was before. Still, he thought it rude to judge the boy simply by how he was dressed. It was Halloween, after all. Lots of kids dressed in frightening outfits.
“Hi! I'm Shiro,” he said, smiling up at the boy.
“I'm Van,” came the reply as he stepped to the side of Shiro, rather than standing behind him. “I've got lots of candy too, see.” The boy held out a pillowcase, almost filled to the brim with candy. “I got a lot of stuff like crackers and pretzels though,” he said, sounding disappointed.
“Hey, would you mind if I looked to see what you got? I'll give your backpack right back.”
Shiro thought about this a moment, not quite sure whether or not to trust him, before handing the backpack full of candy over. “As long as you give it right back, I guess.”
“Thank you,” said the boy, taking the backpack with both hands. “See ya!” He then proceeded to take off with all of the candy. He made sure to add insult to injury by calling out 'sucker!' behind him.
Shiro was poised to run after him when he remembered Namenai's specific instructions for him not to leave the table. He looked back at the line where she had been standing and then towards the runaway thief. He was torn between what to do, chase after the boy, or wait. He settled on waiting for Namenai. It was only candy after all. Still, he felt rather distressed over having lost all of it, and knew he would have to tell her what had happened.
Shiro sat down at the table again, feeling disappointed in himself for being so gullible. This was exactly what Namenai had always warned him about. He had been given just one test on this and he had failed miserably. She was never going to let him live this down.
“Hey you,” came Namenai's voice as she set down a large cup full of fries. “Why the long face? You didn't miss me that much.” She handed him a corn dog, which he took with a shaky hand.
“I'm sorry,” he said looking down at the table apologetically.
“Sorry for what?” Namenai gave him a concerned look, not quite understanding what he had to be sorry for.
“I let somebody steal our candy. He said he just wanted to see what type we got, and then he took off with the whole backpack. I wanted to chase after him but you told me to stay here and I didn't want to make you worry so I stayed.”
Shiro's story came out all at once. It felt nice to get it all off of his chest and he hoped that Namenai had understood it well enough and wouldn't be too angry with him.
“I see,” Namenai said, being far too quiet for Shiro's comfort. “Do you think you would recognize him if you saw him again?”
Shiro thought about this a moment. He hadn't considered that before. Van's costume was very unique and would be easy to pick out among a crowd. “Yea, I'm sure I would be able to.”
Namenai smiled and sat down across from Shiro. “Then there is nothing to worry about. Just enjoy your corn dog and eat some fries. We will carry on tonight and have fun. Just make sure you keep an eye out for him, okay? You just point him out to me and I'll get your candy back, no problem. Not a thing to worry about at all.” She took a bite of her corn dog, enjoying the taste.
Shiro smiled, glad that Namenai was ready to take care of him, even though he messed up. She hadn't even scolded him. He took a bite out of his own corn dog, suddenly realizing that he had regained an appetite he didn't know he had lost. Carnival food. He decided right then that it had to be some of the best food on Earth.
~~~~~~~
Flynn winced as Icarus's bumper car slammed into another one, knocking it into at least five others. He would never understand how somebody so nice to him could be so violent. This was the third time she had gotten on the ride and she was undoubtedly having fun running down each and every person she could possibly find. Her laughter at hitting another car rang in his ears as he stepped away from the exit gate. She was going to be a while.
Flynn stood apart from the rest of the people getting in line for the bumper cars. They obviously didn't know what they were getting themselves into. After one run through while Icarus was out there, he was more than happy to wait on the sidelines. He had attempted to warn a few of the other riders earlier, but had given up when they laughed and pushed him aside. Of course nobody would take him seriously.
The farther away he was from the light, the more Flynn's skin blended into the background. His body was covered with blue paint and he wore a white hat and pants. His smurf costume would have been perfect if he had been two feet shorter and his nose five times bigger. As it was he was too gangly and his hair a bit too long. Somehow, he still managed to look the part.
Flynn started at the sound of rustling leaves. Was there a bird of some sort nearby? He had always enjoyed studying various animals. Or perhaps it was a cat, stuck in a tree. His curiosity got the best of him and he couldn't help but seek out the source of the noise. This endeavor led him to a tree, not too far off from where he had been standing. From a distance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then he heard the sound again..
He began to feel quite nervous about his decision to come here, for it was darker, and there were fewer people around. Still, it seemed cowardly of him to give up now that he had found the source of the rustling sound. Stepping forward cautiously Flynn came nearer to the tree, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
“Boo!”
Something swung at him from a high tree branch causing Flynn to cry out in terror and fall over backwards.
He was in such a rush to run away from his attacker that he caused himself to fall over a number of times before actually managing to stand up and dart over to where Icarus was getting off of the bumper cars. He hid behind her, exclaiming that something had pounced out of the try and tried to eat him.
“Why does everything try to eat me?!” He asked despairingly.
“I don't know, you don't look all that tasty to me,” Icarus replied, walking over to the suspect tree. It didn't look like the ideal place for a hideous monster to lurk. The branches would undoubtedly break under the weight of anything big enough to eat a person like Flynn. “Are you sure it wasn't a squirrel? Could have been rabid, which would explain its poorly chosen diet.”
“It was much bigger than a squirrel, I swear! A squirrel wouldn't frighten me anyways.” Flynn seemed a little offended by the fact that Icarus believed he would run away from something so trivial. What had attacked him had been big, and it had wings, but it wasn't a bird.
“Icarus?” an airy voice floated down from the tree, followed by a head. A small girl, with long black hair, dressed in a blue outfit with glittery blue wings hung upside down from the tree, holding her dress in place with one had. “I thought that was you!” She smiled, swung back up into the tree and then jumped down. “Hi!”
“You were scared of a girl dressed as a butterfly,” Icarus said, smirking at the idea. “Wouldn't it be strange if all butterflies hung upside down off of tree branches, just like that?”
“I'm dressed as a fairy, not a butterfly,” the girl said, straightening her wings out a bit. “And I do imagine it would look strange.”
“Fairies too! Little people all hanging down, letting the blood rush to their heads until they pass out! Not the smartest thing to do,” Icarus mused. She seemed intrigued by the idea, but she was always like that.
“Oh, I'm Searene, by the way,” the girl said, turning back to Flynn. She smiled and held out her hand in greeting. “Sorry for scaring you, it was just all too tempting. Plus, I had gotten so bored hanging out on my own. I had to do something to pass the time.”
Flynn debated taking her hand at first. He was just a little wary of the girl who had purposely scared him a minute earlier. She seemed friendly enough, even though she believed scaring people and climbing trees was a good way to pass the time.
“I'm Flynn.” He shook her hand, hoping that they were not so sweaty as to leave blue paint behind. He really had been terrified. Anyone would be, if they had been convinced something was going to kill them.
“You're friends with Icarus?” Flynn asked, trying to figure out how the two girls knew each other.
“Yea, we met a while ago. She beat up some bullies with me. She is much stronger than I am, though.” Searene smiled, remembering the looks on their faces when Icarus pounced on them out of nowhere. They didn't last long after that.
“What do you think happened?”
Searene glanced up at a bystanders comment to see a girl with long blonde hair stumbling in their direction. She didn't seem to be interested in them. Instead she seemed walking blindly forward with no sense of direction. Searene couldn't help but go up to her. She didn't much like seeing people cry.
“Are you okay?” She asked, reaching out a friendly hand to the girl. She didn't want to frighten her any more than she was already. “What happened?”
The girl burst into new tears and ran to Searene's arms. Searene embraced her and stroked her hair to calm her. The girl was taller than her, so doing so felt a little awkward, but she hoped to at least settle her down a bit before asking more questions.
They stood like that for a few minutes, the girl crying and Searene comforting her. Flynn was awkwardly shifting his weight back and forth between feet, not quite sure how to react to the public affection they were showing. Icarus had joined them as well, making a few comments about skeletons and pumpkins and how ridiculous skeletons would look if they had pumpkins as heads due to the pumpkins being so round. Eventually, the girls sobs slowed and she pulled away.
“What's your name?” asked Searene, putting a reassuring hand on the girls shoulder.
“I'm Gwendolyn,” the girl said wiping away the last of her tears.
“What got you all worked up, Gwen?” asked Icarus, finally taking an interest in the girl now that she wasn't crying.
“Gwendolyn, please,” replied the girl, attempting to smile weakly. “I was checking out some of the rides with my friends when I got separated from the group. I looked around, but I couldn't find them...” she broke off here, sniffling a bit and attempting not to burst into tears again.
“Pretty irresponsible of your group, leaving you behind like that,” Icarus said. If given the chance, she would surely scold each and every one of the members.
“It wasn't their fault,” Gwen protested, shaking her head a bit. “We had such a large group and it is difficult to keep track of everyone at once. They were probably chasing after a frightened Arvid again.” She smiled a little here at the thought of the bizarre little boy running away from a random person dressed as a spider. “I didn't wander too far because I knew they would come and find me but then this boy started following me. He wouldn't leave me alone and grabbed my arm so I ran away. He chased me and I didn't know what to do. I was so scared!” Gwendolyn's eyes started to water, and she shivered under Searene's touch.
“Umm...” Flynn started, not really wanting to interrupt and not quite sure how to react to Gwen's breakdown. “I'm sure your group is looking for you. We could stay with you until you find them... or... yea... if that's okay, that is. I can understand if you would rather hang around others, but I just thought... maybe... we could help. You know?” Flynn went quiet again.
Gwendolyn perked up at this. “Could you?” She looked at each of the group members in turn.
“Sure, why not?” said Searene, smiling. “I'm Searene, by the way. The crazy fox girl is Icarus and the blue guy is Flynn.”
“Nice to meet you,” Gwen replied, looking much happier already. “Umm,” a cloud crossed her face. She was still afraid. “What if that boy comes after me again?”
“That disgusting pig had better not come within a mile of you.” Icarus practically spat the words, looking wilder and more frightening than usual. “I'll take care of him if he does.”
~~~~~~~
Namenai was growing upset as the night went on. She had really hoped that if they continued to partake in the carnival activities, Shiro might spot the boy who had stolen their candy.
“What should we do next?” Shiro asked, smiling the goofy smile he always seemed to have.
“Whatever you want,” Namenai replied, not really in the mood to be playing around. “You're the one who has never been to a carnival before, so we will try out what you think looks fun.”
She put her hand on the elf's head, a sign of affection she had developed without realizing it. He was one of the few people who wasn't put off by her mismatched eyes. He also didn't seem to mind that she wasn't big on socializing with many people besides him. She really didn't feel any need to.
“Let's head to the Ferris Wheel then!” Shiro said, beaming up at her. He had never ridden on one of them before and thought it would be fun to see the carnival from up high.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Namenai said absently, other thoughts on her mind. Perhaps it was a good idea. If they looked at all the people from up high they could see more of them, and maybe Shiro would spot Van. Or that's what Shiro said the kid had called himself. She just hoped that if he did, she managed to get off the ride fast enough to catch and clobber him.
It was worth a try at least
“Hey, you! Come back here!” Heads turned as several figures took off running at once. One of them, dressed in a black robe, bumped into Namenai in his attempt to get away.
“That was the guy!” Shiro said, eyes wide while pointing at the stranger. “That's Van!”
“Stay here,” Namenai said, taking off after him. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, doing her best to catch up to the boy. She smiled as she gained on him, ready to tackle him just as soon as she got close enough.
Almost there, just a little farther, Namenai stretched out her hand to grab a hold of his robe as two other kids came out of nowhere, causing all three of them to collide with one another.
“What did you do that for?!” cried a red haired girl, looking furious. “You made me lose him!”
“S-s-s-sorry,” stuttered the small boy from underneath them. He was rubbing his head with one hand and attempting to straighten a duck beak with another. Looking down Namenai noticed that he was wearing flippers as well. She was surprised he had even managed to run in those things, let alone manage to collide with them on purpose.
“Why must you be afraid of everything?” came a voice from above them. Namenai looked up to see a boy dressed as a pirate. The duck/clown dressed boy looked down at the ground, seemingly ashamed. She felt a little sorry for him, some people couldn't help their fears.
“Hey, are you guys alright?” Searene, Flynn and Gwendolyn all came up to where the collision had occurred. “That looked painful.” Searene held her hand out to a still disgruntled Icarus, helping her off the ground.
“Yea, I'm fine, but I lost him,” Icarus said. She was clearly angry about this.
“Gwendolyn!” They all watched as Arvid, who was the boy who had accidentally gotten in their way, ran over to Gwen and gave her a hug. “You're back!”
Gwen hugged Arvid in return, letting out some relieved laughter. “I'm so glad I found you guys again! Icarus, Searene, Flynn? This is my friend Arvid. And those...” she referred to a group of friends who had joined them and watched the reunion quietly. “Are my friends Rodi, Gabriel, Hadjara, Naine, Emon, Rosalind, and Astal. Wow... our group really did get big.”
“Thanks for watching out for our friend. We had been searching everywhere for her,” Rodi said, turning directly to Icarus, who was still muttering under her breath about what she would have done to the boy had she caught him.
“Don't thank us yet, the stalker boy is still out there and he seems to have a thing for her. Wouldn't have been a problem had I been given a clear path to him. Did you see which way he went? Skinny boy, malnourished looking, dressed like a devil?” She looked around again, trying to catch a view of him.
“Did you catch him?” Shiro came up, at a jog.
“No, kind of hit a collision course. I know what he looks like now, though. It's only a matter of time until I find him. And when I do...” Namenai's eyes got dark. “I thought I told you to stay where you were,” Namenai said, shaking off the anger that had settled over her.
“I wanted to help you,” Shiro said, frowning. “I'm a fast runner too, I could have caught up.”
Namenai sighed and took a hand that Shiro put out for her. Arguing with him wasn't going to get them anywhere and they needed to find the candy thief.
“Did any of you see where that kid with the black robe ran off to? He says his name's Van. He's been running around stealing candy from people.”
“You two aren't looking for the same person?” Rodi asked, looking between Namenai and Icarus.
“No. But when I find that kid...” Namenai paused here, “He is going to reap the rewards of his actions.” Her hands rolled into tight fists.
“We can't let these kids go harming other people,” Rodi mused, considering the situation. “Could we help you find and catch them?”
Namenai tilted her head, contemplating the benefits of having the assistance of more people. “That might help, but I don't think all of us are suited for this, and I don't like leaving Shiro on his own. Oh, and I'm Namenai.” She hardly ever spoke with other children, so she nearly forgot to introduce herself.
“I can help!” Shiro protested.
“Van knows your face and while you are fast, you are not good in a fight. You would alert him to our presence and end up getting hurt. I don't want that.” Namenai countered him calmly, he had to understand why she wouldn't let him go or he would keep insisting. “We can't just knock him down and take the candy back either, since he didn't seem to be carrying it with him when I chased him. I would have recognized our backpack. He must be stashing it somewhere. I suppose we could beat the location out of him, but he could lie so its probably best if we follow him there.” Namenai puzzled over the situation out loud, realizing that her normal approach of catch and beat was not going to work here.
“If you get caught beating up a kid in the carnival, for whatever reason, they are going to throw you out too,” Searene added in, though it was more directed towards Icarus.
“Searene and I are the best people to go after the stalker. We know what he looks like and Searene can be pretty crafty,” Icarus decided her group out loud. “She can help set things up so that we don't get caught.”
Searene blushed at this, “I'll do my best! He's never seen me before, so it shouldn't be too hard. We just have to locate him first!”
“I'm not... I don't know... you could get in trouble! I don't think I want to be there when you beat him up,” Flynn stumbled over what he wanted to say. He really didn't like where this whole thing was going.
“I guess you could stay with me,” Shiro said, sounding a little disappointed. He didn't like that he couldn't help Namenai out. It made him feel useless. He did understand where she was coming from, though.
“Both of you could stay with us,” Rodi said decisively. When Rodi came to a decision, it tended to stick. “Nothing would dare hurt you while we're around. Safety in groups, you know. Provided none of you end up separated from us,” Rodi frowned, recalling that Gwen had suffered already. He felt responsible for what happened to her, but Icarus was right in saying that he did not know what the perpetrator looked like and wouldn't be very much help if he went along with them. It was much better to have a core group of strong people to watch over the ones who needed protecting.
“We'll do our best to make sure you are safe while your friends are away,” he grinned. Yes, he could do loads of good watching over them, and if the bullies did show up, he would have his own chance to clobber them.
“I think I have a plan that will help locate the candy thief,” Naine piped in, drawing attention to herself. “We'll need more candy and I'll need to borrow Hadjara. The two of us are more than enough to help Namenai find, and take down, her target. For what we want to do, it's better if we work in small groups, so the rest of you can pick a spot to watch over each other until we finish up.”
After debating for several minutes the groups were finalized and they had established both plans, and a meeting place. Gabriel, Rodi and Emon would watch over Gwen, Shiro, Arvid and Flynn, while Rosalind and Astal acquired a first aid kit just in case anyone got injured. Arvid already had a nice little cut on his head, but that was hardly a surprise with how much running and falling he had accomplished that evening.
Icarus was searching for the boy dressed as a devil, with the assistance of Searene. Once he was located Searene would guide him to a secluded area where Icarus would be waiting for them. Both of them had thought this plan to be great fun and had a gleeful conversation about what the boy's face would look like when he came across his nasty surprise. Namenai couldn't help but enjoy the thought of it as well. A lot of their descriptions made her think of what her own target would look like as she beat him up. She would have to remove his disguise first.
She had to applaud Naine in coming up with such a brilliant plan on the spot. Since Van seemed to go after the most vulnerable victims, which Shiro resented but had to admit was true, they would put a lot of their candy together in one container, and have Hadjara guard it. She was both the youngest, and smallest of the group so she would be a perfect target. From what they knew of Van, there was no way he could possibly overlook such an opportunity. When the candy was stolen, Namenai would follow Van back to where he was stashing all of it. It would have to be someplace discreet and fairly secluded, so it would be the perfect place for her to confront him. Namenai couldn't wait.
~~~~~~~
It didn't take very long for Icarus and Searene to spot their target once they broke off from the larger group. He was undoubtedly looking for another victim while lurking about in the shadows. In seeing him, Icarus had to do everything in her power not to chase after him. There were far too many people about, and if she attacked him now, there was a good chance she would lose him in a crowd again.
Icarus motioned to a cluster of tents a short ways away, where the shadows were heavy and the crowd was thinner. That was where she would wait. Searene nodded, understanding what she meant and split off from her friend. It was show time.
“I know who you're looking for,” came a sing-song voice from the shadows.
Auburn started, not having noticed that he was being watched. He didn't like unknowns.
“Yeah? What makes you think that? You don't know me,” he challenged the air, looking around for the body to the voice. A bit of shadow moved and a small girl, dressed as a fairy stepped forward, smile wide.
“Maybe not, but I saw you chasing her. The girl in the wedding dress, right? I know where she is...” she slipped back into her sing song voice, rocking back and forth between her feet. “She's hiding from you.”
“Oh yeah?” Aurburn's eyes lit up excitedly. He had not expected to have a chance at that particular girl again since she seemed to have such a large group of friends, but if she was simply hiding he may have another opportunity. “Where?”
“Tell you what,” said the girl, standing on her tip toes, and looking straight into his eyes. Her own shone, bright, blue and filled with excitement. “I'll show you where she is hiding in return for ten pieces of candy.” She flashed another large smile. The candy actually wasn't part of the plan, but Searene had a bit of a sweet tooth and couldn't resist sweetening the deal on her end.
“Don't you have your own candy?” Auburn asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing. “What would you want more for?”
“Some jerk is going around and stealing all of the candy from little kids. He took mine too.” She wasn't lying. She had given up her candy in hopes that it would draw out the candy thief. If they caught him, it would actually mean more candy for them all. With what she saw of Namenai, she was willing to take that gamble. “But if you don't want to find the girl, that's fine too, I'll just go find some candy elsewhere. I thought I was making a good deal, I could have asked for all your candy.”
Searene turned around and started walking away from the boy, knowing full well that he wouldn't let her just leave like that. He had been offered a fair deal, and he had no reason not to accept it.
“Wait,” his voice sounded hesitant, but earnest. Searene stifled a large grin as she turned around expectantly.
“Do we have a deal devil boy?” she held out her hand and stared at him, refusing to smile until he finally caved and took it.
“Deal. My name's Auburn by the way,” he said, gripping her hand tighter. “However, just to make sure you aren't lying to me, I'll give you half of the candy now, and half when you show me to the girl.”
Searene pursed her lips a little, feeling a little upset with herself for not asking for more candy. She didn't really feel like just five pieces were worth her troubles, but she couldn't turn back now. “That's fine.” She held out her hand for her half-payment. Smiling once again as it was filled. Wonderful, she would now have a snack while watching the show.
“Follow me, I'll lead the way.” She skipped away from Auburn, humming as she went. They wouldn't have too far to go so she wasn't really worried about losing him. She couldn't get that far ahead and he wasn't about to let his investment prance off without him.
“She's in there,” Searene pointed to the dark area between a few tents, set off from a good deal of the crowd.
“You couldn't have just pointed it out to me from where we were? If I had known she was this close I never would have agreed to let you lead me here. There's no way I'm giving you the other half of your candy.” Auburn shot Searene an angry look before storming into the shadows.
Searene shrugged and unwrapped a piece of her reward candy, biting into it happily as she heard a satisfying 'smack' come from a few feet away. Then she felt free to enter the shadows and watch the fun unfold.
Icarus had Auburn by the back of his collar, stopping him from running away. She was grinning evilly, hand raised and ready to give another blow.
“You deceived me,” spat Auburn, looking up at Searene with hateful eyes.
“Yea, and you didn't follow through with your end of the deal, so I guess that makes us even,” Searene stared down at the boy, no pity in her eyes. “Perhaps this will teach you a lesson about stalking and attacking unsuspecting girls.”
He opened his mouth to argue more, or perhaps it was to call for help, but he was stifled by a candy bar. Searene, laughed as he spluttered and tried to spit out the large amount of candy she had given him. Icarus joined in on the laughter as she proceeded to pummel him.
~~~~~~~
Namenai's target had taken longer to arrive since they had to guess as to where they should place the bait. He didn't have any specific habits that would suggest that he had a preference as to where he would strike. In fact, he didn't seem to care whether people saw him steal or not. This suggested that he didn't even want the candy for himself, he was just stealing to mess with people.
Namenai paced back and forth, getting more irritable by the minute. If he didn't show up soon she would hunt him down. She could live with being banned from this particular carnival.
Her eyes stayed trained on Hadjara, occasionally switching back to where Naine was crouched. The girl was trained on Hadjara, just the same, but she showed no sign of tension. She wasn't at all anxious about what would happen. Namenai actually liked her more for it. The last thing she needed was for someone else to fidget like she was, adding to her apprehensions.
Namenai stopped dead, and Naine stood up as they finally spotted Van. He seemed to be walking around without a care. He even bumped into people who were in front of him, seeming to think that they should all step out of his way.
Van strolled right up to innocent little Hadjara, who was counting how many snicker bars she found in the large bag of candy sitting in front of her. The girls watched as he knelt down and looked straight at the girl, and then took the bag, walking away. Hadjara called out after him, but he didn't care. He didn't even bother running. Namenai smiled. He had brought about his own destruction.
Naine was with Hadjara now, and would take the girl back to the group. Perhaps Icarus and Searene would already be there. Namenai could only hope she would return in time to hear all about their success. Still, she had to make sure her own story was just as entertaining.
She followed Van silently, blending in with the crowd with little difficulty. He stuck out like a sore thumb, and was completely oblivious to what she had planned. Though, he had good reason to be as arrogant as he was. From the amount of candy Shiro had described, he had obviously gotten away with this countless times before. She could almost respect that. Unfortunately for him, he had stolen from the wrong kid... twice.
The boy walked around for a while, apparently making sure that whoever was following him got bored and gave up. Namenai was certainly bored, but there was no way she was going to let down the others. If anything, his stalling in getting to his candy stash made her want to beat him up even more. He deserved it, if not for the candy stealing, for being a waste of her time.
Eventually they made their way to a haunted house, one of those ones you walked through in small groups and people would jump out and scare you. Namenai had to do her best not to cry out 'finally,' in relief. She never expected following someone could be so dull. You would think that someone who ran around as a hooded villain, stealing other peoples candy for fun, would be more interesting.
At least his hiding place was cool.
She doubted any of the actors within the house could scare her, especially when she was so intent on following her target. She was probably the most dangerous being around there. Not that anyone would actually notice.
“Back again, Van?” said the man at the entrance. “Go on through, you know the way well enough.”
The boy was waved through without a problem. Namenai frowned, did nobody suspect foul play with all of the candy he was bringing through? Or the number of times he had visited? People certainly were stupid. Namenai slipped around the greeter, staying just out of his line of sight. She didn't have time to deal with him now, she was so close to finding that candy, she could taste it.
She proceeded following Van through the house, sidestepping people as they jumped at her, keeping just far enough away to remain inconspicuous, but close enough to see if he made any sudden turns, which he did. Just as they entered an area thick with fog he veered to the left and pushed away a bit of fabric which had been hiding a doorway. It was the perfect hideout since it was already difficult to see with all the fog, and there were so many distractions happening around them.
Namenai just smiled as she ducked in behind him.
The hallway she entered was long and dark, but had a few windows along it that allowed for just enough light to illuminate a large pile of bags, all filled to the brim with candy. The stash.
Van didn't suspect a thing as he dropped his latest loot on the top of the pile. He didn't even know what hit him. Namenai pounced, tackling and then pinning him to the ground, and ripping off his mask. His cold eyes bored into hers as she looked over the face of her victim. Older boy, brown hair, green eyes, hard features. He wasn't frightened of her at all. What a pity. She would have to fix that.
No exchange of words passed between them, just a flurry of movements and the sound of her fists smashing against his face. He knew what he had been caught for, and he took it. That gave Namenai more satisfaction than any whining or cowering would have.
She dragged his unconscious body off to the side, leaving a single bag of candy underneath his head, just to remind him why he was there. Besides, its not like anyone could consume the amount he had managed to collect, and she would have enough trouble trying to transport the amount that was left.
~~~~~~~
Namenai said nothing as she walked up to the rest of the group. As expected, everybody else had already arrived. She couldn't complain too much though, her own adventure had been well worth it.
The group just stared at her as she removed the bags of candy from her back. There were two backpacks, filled and nearly breaking the zippers, and then three smaller pillowcases filled at least half way each tied to the bottom of those. She had also been carrying one more bucket of candy in her hands.
“How did you manage to make it here without a ton of people asking you questions,” Gabriel asked, intrigued by the whole thing.
“When they asked, I gave them a handful of candy. They kind of forget what they were asking when you take the time to do that much. I mean, what type of candy thief gives away what they steal? In any case, I don't think we'll have to worry about him again. At least, not this Halloween,” Namenai smiled at Shiro reassuringly. “He's going to have a pretty big headache when he wakes up though.”
“Our mission was successful as well,” Searene said around a lollipop. “He never even saw it coming.”
“Ya didn't hurt them too bad, did ya?” Hadjara asked. “I don't much like this hurtin' people for fun, thing. It don't make no sense.”
“They'll live,” Icarus said, dismissing the whole thing.
“Well,” Searene came in again, smiling the brightest smile of the night. “How about we divvy up some of that candy!?”
Namenai opened up each bag separately, taking time in helping them give out equal amounts to everyone. Everyone, except Gabriel, of course. They all agreed that since it was his birthday, and they had already gone through enough trouble, he would get the biggest share.
They laughed at the amount of candy he got stuck with, telling him that he could use it to bribe others later. Searene raised her hand mentioning that she would do pretty much anything if he was offering her candy.
As predicted, they didn't have to worry about any more bullies that evening, though they still had their fair share of problems: what with with Arvid's fears and Flynn's clumsiness. Nonetheless, the rest of the night was quite enjoyable, leading to an agreement to meet again the next year. Not that they planned on waiting that long before meeting up again.
No doubt the night past would lead to some interesting relationships in the future.