☾ harminchat ☽
[Hebe had taken her time with her costume. Lots of time. In the beginning, it had been a toss up between a mermaid and Alice in Wonderland, but the latter was likely too childish, and she was too old to trick-or-treat anyway. Who would even see her costume except schoolmates? School had been a daze for her. Nothing seemed real as she'd been launched back into her regular routine, listening to boring lectures after she'd just been trapped inside of a room for days, bleeding and frightened and alone.
But the prospect of Halloween had cheered her up. Slightly. There came very few opportunities during a year to dress up, and she leapt at it while knowing very few classmates would dress up, and there would be no chance to trick-or-treat. Still she managed to sew together a sequin-y costume that would allow for movement, and also not be completely revealing. It had saved her at least forty dollars, when all it'd taken her was some of her old clothes, some glitter, sequins, and thread.
Being thrust into the ballroom had been a surprise, yet also not. Somehow, Hebe was beginning to accept that nothing could be strange anymore to her. The room, at least, was gorgeous. Massive, too, and the stairs were amazing. Sometime later, though, the little goddess began to feel her throat tighten. She'd gasped for air, feeling as though someone had punched her right in the gut as she bolted up the stairs, nearly tripping over herself. The first room on her left was her target, and she sprinted inside the washroom for a drink right out of the tap.
Not fifteen minutes later, the girl was relaxing in an overflowing bathtub, her nose less than an inch above the water. At the end of her legs was a shimmering mermaid tail of beautiful aquamarine and sea green, from the tips all the way up until just below her belly button. Below the water, webs stretched between her fingers. Sharp claws extended where her nails were.
And with the doors to both the bathroom and room open, she began to sing, her voice echoing down the corridor.]