PARTYING DURING WITCHING HOUR (ARTHUR / AE007, SOLO)

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It had been some time since Arthur’s latest adventures in the way of his psychic detective mage work and since then, he had gotten back to the daily grind of his everyday life part of which involved assisting his ultrawealthy and highly influential family and clan in the running of the multinational business conglomerate that they owned and ran due to his position as the sole heir to his family and clan as well as the next in line CEO of the associated multinational business conglomerate. The other part involved furthering his prowess as a mage slowly but surely and he had been making great strides in this regard as of late. In this manner, time had marched on for him until the present day, wherein he was relaxing in his exquisitely designed personal manor located in the heart of Crocus, the capital city of Fiore, which happened to be his current main base of operations.

Naturally, as was his routine and that of his diverse group of 6 personal monstergirl maids whenever he was at home alone and relaxing, they were keeping him company and had arranged themselves at various points around him. For instance, 2 were seated on the armrests of the large, rather comfy, and ornately designed couch while 4 were sitting on the ground at his feet, and the remaining 2 were resting their heads on his lap currently. The head of these maids, a young female Dullahan named “Jeanne” who was in her mid-20s just as were the rest of her five subordinates, had noticed just how exhausted and overworked her master (i.e., Arthur) was at present since she was gazing up at him. So, she suggested a remedy in the hopes of ameliorating his plight. Thus, her clear and beautiful bell-like voice cut through air gently and yet effortlessly before reaching his ears from her position wherein she was one of the two maids resting her head on his lap currently

“Master Edogawa, your bad habit of always overworking yourself and of ignoring your bodily needs completely whilst engrossed in your work seems to have reared its ugly head again…so, why not take a brief hiatus from this…you could use this time to go enjoy the Halloween festivities that have come to this fine city…lest it cause all of your servants and subordinates a great deal of undue worry and concern…”

Upon hearing this, Arthur turned his attention from the other maids he was conversing with to Jeanne and flashed her a bemused smirk before remarking

“Is it that obvious, dear Jeanne? My apologies for worrying all of you over a matter such as this…Very well then, I shall take your suggestion under consideration and go enjoy the festivities that currently abound in this fine city.”

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With that having been decided, Arthur wasted no time in setting about getting the preparations for his imminent participation in the Halloween festivities under way. To that end, he instructed his maids to go forth and purchase for him the finest silken cloak that money could buy as well as a vial of fake blood makeup and fake vampire fangs, the latter also being of the highest quality possible. His maids obeyed as per usual and within a few short hours from then, he had all the materials he needed for his chosen Halloween costume, namely, that of a vampire. Naturally, the ever-present dark circles under his eyes that were naturally present due to his near-chronic and self-afflicted sleep deprivation meant that he did not have to use any makeup to achieve that effect.

However, his maids suggested that he should put on some special makeup to make his skin look paler and sallower than it was usually to accentuate the visual effect that the dark circles under his eyes would have on any beholders more effectively. So, he heeded their advice and instructed them to assist him in that regard. Once that was done, he affixed the fake vampire fangs to his natural human canines and secured them in place with a magic seal after which he applied the fake blood to one of the corners of his mouth, again with the help of his maids so that it would turn out well and so that he could get an objective, third-party assessment of his costume in the same breath. Finally, he put on the cloak and secured it with the attached bolo tie that came with it and put on his usual long-sleeved casual white shirt along with a pair of jeans which was one of his favorite choices of attire when roaming in the city and not on the clock. For footwear, he decided to wear a pair of simple sneakers since he did not want to overcomplicate his costume by much more than what he had already.

So, his plan worked quite well and by the time the festivities began in his locale, he was fully ready to descend on the unsuspecting Halloween festival gathering with his Halloween regalia in all its spooky glory. Once that was done, he took his jack-o-lantern-shaped basket for collecting treats and other such goodies for the evening’s celebrations and before heading out, he inquired of his maids and other subordinates in the manor

“Would you like me to bring anything back from the celebration tonight for you all to enjoy for this Halloween season, perhaps?”

In response, of course, his maids and other subordinates called out various ideas and wishes for him to fulfil for them for this Halloween season. After collecting all of these in a list, he set off to attend the celebrations, looking forward very much to enjoying himself to the fullest, though outwardly this showed in the form of his usual smug smirk.

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It did not take Arthur long to reach the venue in question thanks to his superhuman movement velocity, and once there, he engaged the clerks at the entrance to the venue in registering him for the activities he intended to take part in.

“Happy Halloween to you! I received word of a lively celebration going on here and that it had several amusing activities to participate in, so, I would like to register myself for the ‘Costume Contest’, the ‘Pumpkin Carving Contest’, and the ‘Fortune Telling’ activities from this list here, please.”

The clerks nodded and registered him for the activities he had specified and sent word ahead that one last participant was to be joining those already on site. Once that was done, he made his way over to the first of the activities on his to-do list, namely, the “Costume Contest”. By the time he arrived there, all the other participants were already standing up before the contest judges, their faces eagerly awaiting the results and the prizes that were sure to follow for the winner of said contest. So, Arthur quickened his pace a bit more and swiftly made his way up onto the stage as well and took his place alongside the other contestants after giving a brief apology to the contest judges for his late arrival

“My apologies for my late arrival, ladies and gentlemen, but I was held up with quite a few engagements at home. However, since I am the final contestant here, the judging process can get underway immediately. Please, do proceed at your leisure.”

Thankfully, the judges were kind enough to forgive his lateness and assured him that they would not dock any points from his score in the contest due to that as well. After that, they started to make their rounds, examining each of the costumes the contestants had to display for them. This process took a while since there were quite a few well-made ones in the competition. However, in due course, 5 of the contestants including Arthur himself were selected to move on to the semi-finals from the 20 that started the contest. Among these 5 semifinalists, there was Arthur with his vampire costume, a young woman who was dressed as a rather statuesque witch, a pair of identical twin young men who were dressed as a pharaoh and his royal mummy bodyguard, and finally another young woman who was dressed as an alraune monstergirl and this costume was also made to look extremely alluring in design just as the young woman with the witch costume.

From there, the two young men and the young woman with the witch costume were eliminated, leaving Arthur and the young woman with the alraune costume to proceed to the finals. This was where Arthur’s beginner’s luck ran out, sadly, for he was eliminated and the young woman with the alraune costume was left as the winner of the costume contest and thus, she received the grand prize for said contest. The rest, including Arthur, received a large, coin-sized, single kernel of candy corn as a consolation prize.

Ah well, perhaps my costume was a tad too pedestrian to grant me a victory in this contest…There is always next year, I suppose, and so I shall learn from this experience and use it to guarantee my win next time if there should be a costume contest then as well…

Arthur sighed and mused silently as he took the candy corn kernel and put it in his jack-o-lantern-shaped basket while thanking the judges for letting him participate in such a fun contest. Then, he excused himself and started to make his way over to the next activity on his to-do list, namely the “Pumpkin Carving Contest”.

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Naturally, to keep with the spirit of the occasion, Arthur remained in his vampire costume even after the costume contest was over and while looking thus, he headed over to the “Pumpkin Carving Contest” area of the venue, his cloak fluttering and swishing softly in his wake as he ran swiftly over there. It did not take him long to get there thanks once again to his superhuman movement velocity and once there he apologized again to the contest judges

“My apologies for my late arrival, ladies and gentlemen, but I was held up with quite a few engagements at home. However, since I am the final contestant here, the contest and judging process can get underway immediately. Please, do proceed at your leisure.”

Thankfully, the judges were kind enough to forgive his lateness and assured him that they would not dock any points from his score in the contest due to that as well, though they were quite amused by the fact that Arthur was going to participate in the pumpkin carving contest while still in full Halloween regalia, aka his vampire costume. After that, they started to make their rounds, handing out the knives and pumpkins to be carved to each contestant. It took a while since there were about 20 contestants in all for this activity just as there were for the costume contest earlier.

Now then, what should I make this look like, I wonder? Methinks the usual jack-o-lantern shape would suffice…and perhaps I can add some candles inside to give it more of a spooky feel…

Arthur mused thus silently while gazing at his pumpkin and after a brief while, decided on his plan of action for this contest. Then, he began the carving process and according to his mental schematic of the finished product, he first carved out a pair of perfect equilateral triangles for eyes, each of which was set at the same distance from the periphery of the front of the pumpkin as its counterpart on the other side and then, he went ahead and carved a third, perfectly equilateral triangle for the nose and made sure this was set equidistant from each of the two eyes and also was located at the dead center of the front of the pumpkin. After that, he carved a perfectly semilunar mouth with a set of 8 perfectly square-shaped teeth, 4 in the upper part of the mouth and 4 in the lower and made sure these were equidistant from each other and from the corners of the mouth as well and then hollowed out the inside of the pumpkin from the topside.

Finally, he cleaned and polished his work after which point, he lit a large and flat candle, placing it directly in the center of the base of the pumpkin’s interior. At this stage, his work was finished at last and so, he began the wait for the judges to come around and assess his workmanship for the pumpkin carving.

Well, I have done the best I can…may the Norn of the Future, Skuld grant me victory in this impending competition…

He mused silently thus and shortly thereafter, the judges finally came around to his station, made their assessment and then moved on, albeit with impressed looks on their faces. Then, they began to announce the results according to which 5 of the 20 contestants moved onto the semifinals, and this group of 5 included Arthur himself as well. Then, they convened again and after discussing the assessments for a short while, they announced that Arthur and one young woman would be moving on to the finals. After that, there was one final convening of the judges’ council and at last, they crowned Arthur as the victor of the pumpkin carving contest at which time, they presented everyone else with the designated consolation prize of the large, coin-sized, single kernel of candy corn for their efforts.

For his, Arthur received the pumpkin he had so carefully carved as the grand prize along with the large, coin-sized, single kernel of candy corn as a symbol of him having participated in this contest as well. So, Arthur thanked them, placed the candy corn kernel in his jack-o-lantern-shaped basket and then headed off to the next activity on the list after excusing himself.

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By the time that Arthur made it all the way to the third activity on his list, it was already quite late, and most people had already doffed their Halloween costume, but he was not one of them. No, he had decided when he first entered the venue that he would remain in costume to keep with the spirit of the festivities all the way through and only remove it from his person once he had left the premises and returned to his manor with the souvenirs and other goodies from the evening’s festivities and stalls therein in tow.

So, the third thing I signed up for is some sort of fortune telling activity, eh? This should be intriguing…I am not the sort of man who puts any stock in this type of thing as I prefer to mold my destiny with my own two hands and therefore, I believe it to be completely malleable by human hands and amorphous too…however, who knows…perhaps this fortune-teller has some sort of actual magic that allows them to truly divine the possibilities of someone’s future…

Musing thus silently, Arthur made his way over to the fortune teller’s tent with his rather ornate vampire cloak fluttering behind him due to how fast he was moving at present. As he drew near, his keen ears caught the sounds of the typical Desiertan music emanating from within said tent which was styled like that of one of the many nomadic tribes in said country of deserts. Once he was even nearer, his nose detected the rather enchanting scent of incense from that country as well

My, this one really did go all out, eh? Impressive, to say the least…

Musing further still in this silent manner, he stepped into the tent and greeted the fortune teller who, upon closer inspection once his eyes had adjusted to the dramatically dim lighting inside the tent, was revealed to be a rather statuesque woman with a magnificent olivine complexion as was the case with many from Desierto. She was dressed in the usual fortune teller’s garb but hers was also unique in that it also had elements in it that resembled those one would find in the outfit a traditional belly dancer  would be seen wearing during their performances. She greeted him back, her voice adorned with a rather thick Desiertan accent

“Greetings, and welcome to Madame Ishtar’s Fortune Telling Service. Please, do have a seat so we can begin…Mr. Edogawa”

Arthur was faintly surprised that a random fortune teller at a random Halloween event venue would know his name, but then, he realized that with a little research, anyone could have found that out. Still, he pressed onwards with his usual cordial businessman’s smile while feigning the notion of being impressed by her

“My, you are certainly talented, Lady Ishtar…to know my surname without me even giving it to you…”

He finished saying thus and then took a seat across from her at her table which was a large, ornately hand-carved and decorated one made of expensive teakwood. Atop it rested a table cover which was clearly made by one of the weavers from Desierto, judging from the designs spanning it. Finally, there was the stereotypical crystal ball sitting in the dead center of the table. In response to his remark, Madame Ishtar laughed gently, her bell-like voice cutting through the air before she replied

“That is merely the beginning of our session, Mr. Edogawa…now then…allow me to demonstrate some more of my prowess…as I seem to sense some doubts about it in your heart of hearts…”

Arthur saw her remark thus and smirk at the end and so, he had the grace to look sheepish and contrite as he responded

“Ah, forgive me, I am a man of science and logic, you see…I do not usually participate in such occult affairs…but please, do proceed.”

To that, Madame Ishtar nodded with a gentle, forgiving smile, though the purple gossamer veil across the lower half of her face obscured it to some extent. Then, she continued with her endeavor

“I sense…a great spirit inside you…a truly ancient one…oh my, this is quite an honor, indeed…it is the one who had once ruled over my country in antediluvian times, before it was given its current name of Desierto…which brings me to my reading of your fortune…”

Arthur heard her remark in a genuinely astonished tone and then he watched onwards as she instructed him to place his hands atop the crystal ball at which point, she placed her own atop his. Then, as Arthur beheld her further, she proceeded to go into a trance-like state and the crystal ball started to glow and show images of Arthur’s predicted future to him. At the same time, Arthur saw Madame Ishtar speak in a rather inhuman voice, like something unearthly had possessed her

“Take heed to these words of mine, o ye bearer of the soul of Māleḵhâzâēl…an envoy shall come to visit you…from the land of deserts…it would behoove you to take up her cause…and assist her with all that you have at your disposal…for this shall be one of the keys that unlocks…your future destiny…”

While this was occurring, Arthur beheld the images of two vast armies clashing, followed by a pair of ethereally beauteous, young Desiertan women getting captured and being put in chains and finally, of himself rescuing them successfully and them pledging their undying fealty to him.
After that, the crystal ball went dark and Madame Ishtar’s trance state was over at which point, she asked him how it went and so he remarked

“That was certainly quite illuminating, Lady Ishtar…you have my thanks for putting me on guard so that I may have a fighting chance in this soon-to-come adventure of mine. Good day to you and here is your fee.”

Saying thus, he handed over a huge pouch of jewels to her in return for her services, was handed the single, large, coin-sized candy corn kernel as a sign that he finished that activity, and after excusing himself, he headed out of her tent and then exited the Halloween event premises. Naturally, he divested himself of his Halloween-themed costume only after he had reached to and entered his manor as per his plan and thus, he had successfully completed all his planned activities while wearing his chosen Halloween costume, aka that of a vampire. Of course, after doing so, he distributed the goodies and souvenirs he had picked up from the various Halloween stalls along the way back home to his maids, butlers, and other subordinates and house staff.

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(ARTHUR'S EXIT)

Event Winnings (3x CANDY CORN KERNELS WON TOTAL):

• Costume Contest (COMPLETE, 1X CANDY CORN KERNEL WON)
  
  
• Pumpkin Carving Contest (COMPLETE, 1X CANDY CORN KERNEL WON)
  
  
• Fortune Telling (COMPLETE, 1X CANDY CORN KERNEL WON)
  

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