chapter 4 - in which we augment the ambiance

[toolshedarsenal]

[Mort appreciates the fact that the decorations have been stepped up a notch, but they're still lacking. so he's down in the lobby, tying cornstalks to the ends of the banisters and around the columns. some of them look a little bloody. and he's humming to himself, half-singing with the song in his head]And you may ask yourself - am I right, or

Comments

[dutyandpride]

No.

[toolshedarsenal]

[laughs] Why not? Floor's not that dirty.

[dutyandpride]

Such a suggestion is ridiculous.

[toolshedarsenal]

Don't know if you've noticed, but the whole holiday pretty much is. That's what makes it so fun. [smiles] They don't have Halloween where you're from, m'guessing?

[seeded_flame]

[is... just going to be over here, looking at those tacky corn decorations]

... What does corn have to do with Halloween?

[toolshedarsenal]

Well, Halloween was originally a harvest festival. So up in New England, where I'm from, a lot of people put up old cornstalks along with all the pumpkins n' stuff. [smiles at her]

Besides, if you put 'em outside, when the wind goes through them, they make this great, spooky rustling noise. [shakes a bundle of them demonstratively]

[seeded_flame]

....

[being that this is Mai, she does not look particularly impressed, but she'll nod anyways]

[toolshedarsenal]

So, if you didn't have Halloween, this is your first one, huh? [he's kind of guessing]

[thirteenth]

Why?

[toolshedarsenal]

It adds to the atmosphere. Back where I'm from, investigators draw chalk outlines around bodies before they're removed from a murder scene, for reference while they investigate it.

So, we need some chalk outlines. It'd make it a little spookier, see?

[thirteenth]

Oh, I see. And the point of this holiday is to frighten people?

[toolshedarsenal]

In part? Nothing too serious though. It's all in good fun. People ... like to be scared. We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones. So ... it's only natural that people around here who say that all kinds of bad shit's happened here are eating this up. Because none of it's real.

[fishy_go_byebye]

[From up the stairs] Are there squares?

[toolshedarsenal]

What, like hopscotch? I guess there could be?

[fishy_go_byebye]

[Skips down the stairs, and pokes at his corn]

Isn't Samhain.

[toolshedarsenal]

No, but it will be, soon. I'm just a little early.

[trulyterrible]

[wandering by]

Bloody cornstalks. Very creepy.

[toolshedarsenal]

Hey, thanks. [smiles!]

[trulyterrible]

Well the rest of the decorations were kind of an embarrassment.

[toolshedarsenal]

True. ... I thought I could spice it up a little. [winks]