Aww, Pumpkin!

Rhace Tarrin

Aww, Pumpkin! - Halloween!

Once again, we come to the intrepid trio of Meliora Vitae making their way to a seasonal event - this seemed to be a consistent tradition for the captain and his two lieutenants. Was it the fact that they were glued together at the hip both for the necessities of their work, or for the sheer fact that they actually enjoyed each others’ company? No matter what the reason was for this, it was obviously going to come to pass that they would go to the next available event for them to attend. This was the way their collective relationship worked - Rhace proposed to attend an event, promised to the both of them that he would be footing the bill for it, and then he flew them both to wherever it was they were attending the event. If nothing else, he was a sucker for being a gentleman for the both of them, for in his mind he owed them about a million times over for all the hard work they put in to assist him being the captain of the ship. It was lonely at the top, and without their constant care and work for the people in their charge, he would have been flying a crashing and burning vessel directly into the side of a mountain for his own incompetence. However, with their help, he was learning- and that deserved the gratitude of a man who had not signed up to join this guild with the intent of becoming its leader. That alone had sort of made it… just happen. Such being the case, Rhace had vowed to show his gratitude to them in every way he possibly could, because they deserved it. Without them, he would not be even a quarter of the Captain he was now.

This time around, it was Halloween - a fall season spectacular where all sorts of spooky things came out to play, and apparently pumpkins were the theme of the day. Back home, this wasn’t something he had really celebrated. It wasn’t a big deal for him there, especially when he was surrounded by the four walls of Gran Keep. However, it was going to be a nice distraction from the work they had to put in. So, with gamma watch in charge of the Endeavor, the three heads of the guild had flown their way down to the surface world, where Rhace had selected Oak Town as their destination– and yes, he had literally pulled up a map of Fiore and thrown a dart at it with his eyes closed in order to pick precisely where they were going. He vowed not to tell anyone about the two small holes he put in the closest cabinet to the board in his office, having missed his first two shots. I mean, look, his eyes were closed, okay?

So, the shuttle touched down in a convenient clearing on the outskirts of town, and was sufficiently locked up so that none could steal their vessel. To this event, Rhace had decided to eschew his normal cape and switched it for a double-breasted black coat; it was a departure from his normal shoulder cloak, but hey, the weather was turning colder and it would be more suitable for the trip. With emerald eyes cast around, Rhace took a good look at the place they had arrived to. The festival appeared to be in full swing and people were milling about; nobody seemed to care that an aerial vessel had made a landing nearby and three people had stepped out of it; the place was too busy and too popular for most others to actually care. The place was festooned in hues of orange and black, with the entire event decorated wildly with fake skeletons, bats, spiders and other creatures of the night - as well as pumpkins. Pumpkins on little white picket fences. Pumpkins on hay bales. Pumpkins on tables. Everywhere you looked? Gourds. Too many gourds.

”Right then. I guess we’re here now,” he said to the ladies on either side of him, knowing full well that this was going to be an interesting night the second they actually decided to dip their toes into the festivities, to which there were plenty to experience. Music was blasting somewhere in the distance and Rhace knew that there was going to be a party kicking off any moment. ”Where to first?”

Rhace Tarrin

Aww, Pumpkin! - Halloween!

The dark-skinned woman's decision brought them to the end of the line for a drink stand, which Rhace had absolutely no argument with. Given that the line was at least reasonably short, the wait to get their drinks wasn't too bad at all, and once all three had their beverages, they all took their drinks together. The drink itself was certainly very interesting. Now, Rhace was at least somewhat accustomed to wintertime drinks - spiced mead and warm cider were entirely commonplace back home, when the family and the students would brew entire batches of these and keep them warm in large cast iron cauldrons for the bracing cold of winter. It was most certainly appreciated when you lived in a stone castle, and heating elements were only so effective within those walls. This reminded him of what was effectively a non-alcoholic version of that, which - given that this was a family-friendly event - seemed like a reasonable idea. Rhace devoured the entire thing in one go, savouring the mild burn that followed down his throat, coupled with the warming sensation that tingled its way through his body moments later. It was a nice drink, to be sure, and he would have likely stood there and had plenty more if it was available for him to do so. However, sharing was a thing, as was letting the rest of the line move along and the other people have a try of the same stuff.

The three of them having finished their drinks, their changes began to take place almost simultaneously; he watched as Cord's fangs began to grow in, and Cass' body began to take on a translucent shade of blue. He wondered what would follow for him - and sure enough, the warmth that filled his body was almost chilling a moment later and his veins almost icy while his own skin began to fade away into a similar shade of blue that Cassiti was experiencing. He took a look at his hands, and realised he could still touch and feel, but everything about him felt so very light. Really, this was a very fun side-effect of this. Then, Cord in her infinite wisom, decided to take on the role of the vampire lord - and made a rather unfortunate comment that he couldn't help himself but react to. Pfft, use you how I please. Rhace had to bite his tongue at her comment, because there were children around and now was not the time to respond directly to that comment but it was going to be absolutely inevitable that Cordelia would know that Rhace was staring directly at her the moment she said that, with one eyebrow slightly quirked. She wasn't going to get away with that particular comment, but that was a future Rhace problem.  

The spectral swordsman took a glance at Cord and Cass for just a moment, then wiggled his arms like he was in fact pretending to be a ghost. "Lots of stuff like this can be fun, Cass. It's all pretty harmless," Rhace replied with a chuckle, knowing that her experience with the cultural mores that were prevalent in Fiore and Earthland as a whole was a very different experience to what Rhace and Cordelia had growing up, especially given that they had the same heritage - their life experience was actually rather similar as a result. However, they were all too happy to show Cass what their lives were like and welcome her into the way they lived. She was unmistakeably part of the group, and she was as much a valuable part of their friendship as either of the two Elumish.

However, now that he had become a spooky ghost boy, it was time to play it up a little. "But if you wanna bite me, Cord... you're gonna have to catch me first, vampire!"

And with that, Rhace took off in the direction of the next attraction, paying more attention to navigating the crowd than where he was actually going. Apparently, it was time to embrace utter chaos, and he was most certainly here to have a little fun and blow off some steam.

Where he ended up was in front of a small river, one presumably set up for the purposes of this event - where the passengers of the boat, ushered on by witches and warlocks, would go through a tunnel set up further downstream, which was all rather foggy and decorated with fake spider webs and all such manner of things. Usually, things like valentine's day had tunnels of love. This was clearly a tunnel of terror. To be fair, this seemed like a good distraction, and now that the not-so-costumed Rhace and Cass were appropriately halloween-looking, it seemed like a fitting place for the three of them to try next. Once they caught up to him, Rhace turned around to face them, and cast them a quick glance, before jabbing his thumb over his shoulder as if to point at the next empty boat that was now being prepared at the pier.

"How about this then?" he asked, clearly wondering if they were up to trying the challenge placed before them. "You two up for a little boat ride?"

Rhace Tarrin

Aww, Pumpkin! - Halloween!

The eventual acquiescence of his companions to his request was enough to make him smile slightly and nod, ushering them both onto the boat. Once it began to set sail, Rhace could finally relax a little, and let the gentle rocking of the little wooden craft on the water relax them both. The lights, movements and sounds coming from the decorations all through this ride were nice, and the dim ambient lighting that had been set up certainly portrayed the mood as the fog that was whipping up from the surface of the water grew higher before it consumed them, and they came to the entrance of the tunnel, guarded by a large, glowing portal.

As they sailed through the shimmering purple barrier that indicated the second half of the ride and into the tunnel, Rhace realised that what he was seeing was nothing. However, there was a little hint that this wasn't just a lack of an illusion cast about him - this was a purposeful void. Everything around him fell utter dark, as if the absence of light was preparing to consume him whole. Turning his head back to the barrier they had passed through, he found that he could not spy its glow any longer - everything for him had become the total essence of darkness, with no light entering or leaving. He could not see Cassiti or Cordelia, but knew they were still there given that there was still weight in the boat and that he was seated. This, then, was his fear made manifest - death, and the total absence of all other things. Utter isolation from the rest of the world. However, the thing that carried him through this was knowing that they were still together, and the power of this illusion on the non-magical guildmaster would not be given any form of sway.

What Rhace realised, as nails scratched gently across the flesh of his opposite shoulder, was that Cordelia was not handling this particular situation. What she was seeing was rather clearly deeply troubling her, for the fact that her face was now buried against him, clearly trying to fight back the response. Emerald eyes cast down, Rhace saw that the knuckles on her other hand were going white as she clasped fabric and skin in a desperate attempt to fight away what she was seeing. However, the sheer intensity of the situation was enough to sway her and shake her to the very core. The swordsman could not bear to see that be the case; there was an immediate response on his part where one of his arms wrapped around her, drawing her body as close as he possibly could so that she could simply feel his warmth and curl in until she felt that she was able to cope with the powerful sway of her mind. Without thinking, he pressed a very tender kiss to her forehead as it peeked out of the tyrian hat adorning her head - an acknowledgement that she was not alone in facing the demons that plagued her. At this point, it was simply reflexive. Not a single thought went into anything other than protecting her and being her shield.  

As the ride came to a halt and the boat was lashed to the pier for its next set of passengers, the man finally rose from his seat after giving Cassiti the opportunity to get out first - and, truthfully, to give Cord a few more moments of sanctity so that she could compose herself before he offered her his hand and helped her up. If nothing else, he felt a rather serious pang of guilt for having accidentally subjecting her to that quiet form of torture, but he genuinely did not expect that ride to be able to affect people like that. One more reason he was rather glad he was not a mage of any kind - if an amusement park ride had the ability to assault someone so powerfully mentally that they were reduced to tears, then he wanted absolutely no part of that kind of horror. He went to say something, anything, to assuage Cord's fears - but found that there were no words that were applicable to the situation, especially given that she was trying so desperately to not address the proverbial elephant in the room. He did not want to upset her further, so he left it at that. Even as she dug deep to find some of her usual effervescence and came up short, he was going to leave well enough alone, hold his tongue, and let her come to him about it if she wished.

Truly a marvel, ladies and gentlemen - Rhace Tarrin making a wise decision.

"Something simple, I think," he commented. In that instant, there was a very short line for another game that was being played nearby; it was a twist on the normal shell game, but this time played with coffins. Well, that could only lead to bad omens, but whatever - Rhace was more than happy for anything that would provide sufficient distraction for the girls now that they'd just been through an experience slightly more harrowing than anticipated. This would do nicely. "Let's go play that, hey?"

Rhace drew them both over to the game, with his arm still firmly around Cord's shoulders so that she could just lean against him if required, he looked over the woman who was operating the game. This one was dressed for the occasion - in truth she physically looked like the perfect bog witch, with her skin tinged green with boils and warts dotting it and a black mane of frizzy, untamed hair down to her shoulders, through her robes of midnight shimmered with wispy threads of silver through them all showed that this was a woman who only went for finery - there was a hint of magic all about this game. Which, given the fact that the coffins were dancing across the table of their own volition, seemed to track well.

The three coffins opened up, one of which revealed a pink candy wrapper and two more revealed plastic skeletons, before they all began to close and whir about in a circle faster than his eye could track. He would have expected his extensive combat training would have given him the eyes of a hawk, but this was absolutely not the case in this instance. He'd have to rely on something a little more deep and arcane than skill: pure luck. Eventually, the coffins came to rest on the table, and his eyes met the sunken form of the bog witch across from him, with her deep, gray eyes - and Rhace pointed to the leftmost of the three receptacles, hoping that sheer, blind guesswork would get him across the line. The coffin opened on its own - and revealed, unfortunately, a skeleton within. The witch cackled that ever-familiar high-pitched trill, to which Rhace knew that he was out of luck after all.

"I hope you two are luckier than I am," he commented dryly, hoping very much that he could get at least one of them the reward.