A Halloween Haunting (Holiday Event)

We're trying out a holiday event for the first time! 


In Hawthorne Valley the town his having their annual Halloween Festival at the convention center. It seems just about everyone in town has come out for some Halloween fun

But something's amiss on this cool October night.
How will our heroes fair when haunted by their fears?


Happy Halloween!


Jake flicked aside the cape as he plopped down in a plush seat in one of the side lobbies of the building. Halloween was great! Candy, costumes, pranks and just fun all around! 
Jake and Wayne were pretty glad that this town had this huge Halloween event. Obviously, Jake was dressed up as Batman. His mask was hanging off of his belt, as he didn't feel like wearing it. 

The festival had officially opened up to the public about an hour ago, with the opening ceremony taking place in another half an hour or so in the auditorium. Jake was munching on some kettle corn he had gotten from one of the vendors outside. 
He wondered if he'd see anyone from the academy around. 



[Alright guys, here's how this is going to work:
We're going to only have this topic up for a short period of time, about a week or two. This means, you need to post promptly. We won't enforce a strict turn order, but try not to have every other post. If you don't post for more than a few days, I'll write you out of the scenario, because we need to keep it moving. I will be posting as the scenario every few posts or when something demands a response. 

The setting: The annual Halloween Festival is a rather large event that takes place both inside and outside of the convention center. The outside is opened first, and hosts a wide variety of vendors and attractions. Inside there are a few more vendors and attractions, but it is mostly a show with a lot of contests and skits and movies and such. 

Any characters that are going to take place in the event will need to be inside the convention center. Because reasons. So get your character inside, the sooner the better.
Bear with us as this is our first holiday event, but hopefully this'll work out well. 
Happy Halloween!]

[Ok for reasons, Ax and the instructors are outside, as well as some of the other experienced campers, everyone has been warned to keep power usage to a minimum unless you can find a way to use it out of sight of the normal people]

Atiya was rather surprised by the amount of booths, she usually wasn't able to do much during Halloween, since her family had been too poor to afford costumes or candy. Then there was foster care, where she was never really able to celebrate it Halloween then either, though mostly because there were too many kids in the home to keep track of, as well as other reasons. She had never really been able to spend much time doing Halloween stuff, and had been able to celebrate only a few Halloweens in all. Luckily the academy had acquired a number of costumes over the years, and the festival was a free event to attend. She recognized a kid from the academy, though she had never really talked to him much.
“Batman? What are you, eight?”

"Pssh, no," Jake said reflexively. "I'm Batman," he said, dropping his voice lower to imitate the famous line. He looked up to see a girl dressed as the devil, and he thought he had seen her around. 
"You're from the Academy, right?" Jake asked. He paused. Jake held out the bag. "Kettle corn?"

"I think a clown costume would suit you better." The boy seemed like the class clown type, though she wasn't quite sure. Actually she remembered seeing him in her English class, though she usually just sat in the back and watched the clock until class was over so they had never actually met.
"Yea, and you're...John right?" Atiya answered, still rather distracted, it was her first time being at anything like this, so it was understandable that she would be a bit overwhelmed. Atiya tried some of the kettle corn the boy offered. She liked the taste, and snatched the bag out of his hand before he could react.
"This stuff is great."

Naomi walked around the carnival, munching on some cotton candy. She was dressed as the protagonist of one of her favorite manga, Kip Teitei!

I love this carnival! There's so many good snacks! Natasha replied.

Naomi was still munching on some of her cotton candy. "I know! If it weren't for the snacks, I probably wouldn't show up... I'm not a big fan of haunted houses and stuff like that... I get scared too easily... But I do like wearing this costume! I'm really proud of it." Naomi said, proud of herself. For the most part, Naomi was wandering around the carnival, occasionally seeing some folks from the Academy, but she didn't think much of it. She wasn't good enough friends with anyone to hang out with them.

Cat's parka hood obscured her face as she drifted among the booths, watching the costumed people laugh and try to win prizes. None of the games really caught her attention, so she just continued strolling along the path, being careful not to get in anyone's way. She noticed a stand where a man was selling caramel apples, and walked over. She paid and thanked him, then continued walking, the apple-on-a-stick in hand.
    Tonight, Cat was dressed as Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She usually wasn't all that into dressing up for Halloween, but she felt secure in the blue parka, and although it blocked a lot of her peripheral vision, she could still peer out from under the hood and watch her surroundings, and no one would notice.

"Jake, actually," he corrected as she swiped the entire bag. "And yes it is." 
Jake debated for a moment asking for the bag back, but it hadn't been that expensive, so it wasn't really worth the trouble.
"What's your name, again?" Jake asked, since neither he nor Wayne could recall it. He didn't think they had been formally introduced anyway. 

The intercom buzzed to life. 
"The opening ceremony is about to begin in the auditorium. Please make your way inside or to your alternate viewing area to see the show." 

Heh, 'Alternate viewing area'. Wayne said, noting their plans for watching the show. Jake couldn't help but grin at that. He didn't make a move to get up just yet, though.


[There's a speaker outside that also has the announcement, for anyone not inside yet.]

Having gone through every aisle and past every stand, Cat decided to head on inside; there was usually some live music, and that was something she didn't want to miss. She could sense Claudia agreeing. Cat was always thankful that her wisp appreciated music, and had similar tastes in it as well. However, before she even took another step, the speaker buzzed, and they announced the beginning of the opening ceremonies.
    Cat sighed inwardly, and, blocking out the sound of Claudia chastising her for not heading in sooner and dawdling outside, she slipped through the throng of people to get inside, and get a good seat.
    As she went, she recognized some people from the Academy, but she didn't bother going over to talk to them. Perhaps she could get a seat beside someone she was familiar with, but she wasn't going to hold her breath.

"I'm Atiya" She continued eating, and didn't since Jake didn't ask for the bag back, assumed it was fine for her to keep it. Though she probably wouldn't have given it back anyways. She caught a glimpse of Naomi, the large girl she had met in the Rec room.
you should invite her over Mia chimed.
"Ey, Chica over here." Attracting a decent amount of attention from those around her, as well as causing a few to glance at the other girl.
Subtle
Whatever.
She turned back to Jake before the other girl came within earshot. "So what are your plans for this entrance ceremony thing?"

Naomi jumped when she felt that someone was trying to get her attention. Suddenly, there were multiple pairs of eyes glancing at her. Suddenly, she got self-conscious again.

Chica? Is that a new nickname? Natasha asked naively. Naomi shrugged as she walked over to the person who called her. It was the same girl from the rec room, but she never got her name. Naomi's orange hair was dyed a teal color, and she had small wings behind her ears. She was dressed in a teal skirt, the same color as her hair, and she was wearing a plain white shirt that was a little more low-cut than usual, and exposed a good amount of her belly. Of course, her belly was usually exposed, but this time she did it on purpose! She thought she was a pretty good likeness of the character she dressed as.

She still felt a little shy about going to her, but she recognized Jake. With the call on the intercom, Naomi decided that she would just sit with Jake and the other girl. She should probably ask her name...

Ginger strolled along the sidewalk, a collar dangling around her neck. She didn't normally trick or treat, because she would get was, 'Git, you darned fox!' But today, at Vixen's insistence, she had created a makeshift collar with some cloth and wrote on it, 'Owner is sick, some candy?' Ginger felt confident, even when Vixen pointed out that a sick owner couldn't eat candy. Now she was half dragging, half carrying, her backpack around, but people cooed at her when she tilted her head when they read the collar, and then they stuffed candy into her backpack.

After hearing the announcement on the intercom, she padded inside, trying to weave around people’s legs to find someone she knew.

Jake waved to Naomi as Atiya called her over. 
He grinned at Atiya when she asked what he was going to do for the opening ceremony. 
"I'm going to go watch the show, what else?" His grin grew a bit more crooked. "I've got the best seat in the house all planned out." 

People were heading in towards the auditorium now, filing into the normal seats now.

"Well then it's settled, guess we'll all be sitting together." Atiya decided without consulting either of the others. She couldn't really tell what the girl was supposed to be, probably some kind of comic book character or something.
"Either of you have money for snacks."

(and after that line we can just assume we went to the rafters : D lol Naomi has no clue who she just got stuck with xP" JAAAAKE Start the scenerio soon)

(No, we need to at least wait for Naomi to actually interact with us first.... then I can move along the event.)

(Geeze, you guys are impatient.)

Naomi didn't expect anyone to really know what character she was from. In fact, she might be embarrassed if someone actually recognized her costume. Naomi silently followed the group to the auditorium. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but she just sat next to the other people from the academy she recognized. She didn't say anything when the girl asked for money for snacks. She had some, but she wasn't planning on sharing. This is so exciting! What do you think is going to happen? Natasha asked.

"I'm not sure..." Naomi whispered. "I guess we'll find out..."

(Lawl would it be realistic enough if Amber saw Ax and Jake?)

(lol not my fault, that was all Ax.)
(lol sure, I mean, they're just hanging out in one of the lobbies.)

Jake was a bit disappointed. No one even asked him about his great seats. The girls started heading towards the auditorium. 
"We're not going to the normal seats," he said, standing up but not heading towards the auditorium yet. He was still dragging things out, hoping he wouldn't need to prompt them more.
"And you already took my kettle corn."

When no one asked the question, he just sighed and said, "Come on."

They headed up one of the staff entrances for the second floor (inviting Amber with them on the way.). In a few minutes, they were up in a balcony overlooking the whole auditorium below, leaning against the railing. 
"So? This is much better than fold-out chairs, isn't it?" Jake said with a crooked grin. They could see the whole audience below them, with the last few people coming in and the whole stage, as well as a bit of the backstage. 

[Okay, one last round for everyone, then I'm starting the topic. We got the four of us up here in the crew balcony, with everyone else down below.]

Atiya at first thought whatever Jake seemed to have in mind was probably something stupid, judging by the person it was coming from. But she decided to follow him anyway, since it was better than standing around or looking for a seat.

"Wow, you actually had a good idea." Atiya said with exaggerated surprise. "Gotta love that view."

Naomi stopped in her tracks once they were about to head to the balcony. Naomi just followed Jake around, then she was surprised to see that they entered a door labeled 'staff entrance'. "Um... are we allowed to go there?" Naomi asked. She was ignored. Naomi quickly went through the door before it closed and she followed everyone to the crew balcony. She felt a little uneasy.

"We...are really high up..." Naomi said, feeling uncomfortable. She ducked down a bit, making sure she wasn't leaning against the railing. But we can see everything from up here! Natasha replied. You should've brought more snacks! Naomi ignored her. "Are you sure no one will see us up here?" Naomi asked.

(um, Ax isn't here, he's outside, flirting with girls)

((oops. Gotta fix that))

"Right?" Jake said with his trademark crooked grin, responding to the praise of the view he got them. "This balcony won't even be used tonight, so no one would mind us being up here," he assured. 

A man came onto the stage, signalling for the music to die down and greeted the crowd.
"Good evening everyone!" the man boomed cheerfully. "We have a great line up for tonight, with some more music from our local bands, a spooky skit," the man drew out 'spooky' in what was probably supposed to be dramatic. "And a Halloween movie marathon!" 

Some people clapped when he paused. 
"And don't worry folks, we won't have anything too scary in here. Just a whole lot of good, clean fun." 

"FUN?" a new voice suddenly boomed. The lights flickered and dimmed while a speaker squealed somewhere. The voice gave a long, hearty laugh. "It's Halloween, my good man," the voice continued as he stopped laughing. 

The man on stage was looking around for whoever was talking, as was the crowd. He checked his mike and gave the sound crew a look. 

"HOW," the voice said, "can you have FUN on Halloween without it being scary?" 
Music suddenly started up, low and rumbling all around in ominous tones. The man on stage was looking around, trying to get cues from the other staff to fix something. The voice chuckled. 
"Let's liven up this party, shall we?" With that, the voice started into laughter again. Suddenly, things that could only be described as 'ghosts' pulled through the walls and ceiling, joining in on the rumbling laughter as the music droned on in the background. Some people stood up now, a few gave startled shouts, but most looked around in confusion. 

Suddenly, on the stage appeared a man in a dark cloak wearing an orange and black mask with a grin that rivaled the Cheshire Cat's. He threw his arms out in a broad gesture. 
"A Halloween Haunting, for your viewing pleasure!" he said, clearly the owner of the voice from before. The ghosts above burst into lively laughter. "Until midnight, you get to star in your very own movie marathon." 

The man who had been thoroughly upstaged pointed an accusing finger at the masked man. "Who do you think you are? Get out--!" 

"Oh, I almost forgot," the masked man purred, clearly not bothered by the hostility. He waved an arm, and the windows flashed and glowing, translucent chains locked themselves over them. "It's no fun if you just leave before the climax," he chided. He gave one more booming laugh. "ENJOY THE SHOW!" 

With that, the masked man grabbed the edge of his cloak and whipped it around him, disappearing, leaving them with the ghosts. There was a hard, repetitive pounding on one of the double doors back by the stage. The audience and crew exchanged uncertain looks. 

Wow, Wayne marveled. Those are some effects!  
"I... I'm not sure that was part of the script," Jake said aloud. 
Oh. Then we might have a problem.

"What the hell, is this part of the show?" Atiya asked, she didn't remember this being mentioned before. Not to mention these special effects looked far to real to her. Her question was answered when some panicked stage crew member made a run for the door, and seemed to be unable to open it.

"Well looks like we are in a horror movie, bet your gonna get killed off first." Atiya grinned slightly in Jake's direction, whatever prank was being done was amusing enough for her to play along with, though she still wanted to kick the a** of whoever locked them into the building.