Take Two: The Halloween Party

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Okay. He’s supposed to be here. They’re here. I can see them. But where’s he?
“Kira! Wow, I… this… it looks fantastic!”
Lee’s face was alight with enthusiasm- mainly, she supposed, because he’d been involved in the actual setting up of the Halloween party- but even as she turned for the millionth time to survey the Hall, and her party, she couldn’t help but feel the slightest tinge of pride in herself, and in her Spies.
Jack’s claims- she wondered if he knew he said the same thing every year- that Halloween was never scary, just cheesy, cheap and overloaded with sugar had not gone unacknowledged. What with Jude and several other friends echoing the same opinion, Kira had given up on the idea of trying to make it seem in any way frightening, or disturbing. After all, these were Orchid Hill pupils. They went to war. They were de-sensitised, big time.
So.
She’d made it fun.
Music was everywhere. Food was… well, it wasn’t originally on the floor, but apparently, teenagers didn’t know what plates are. But it was good food- it was disappearing fast. There was something elegant about the cobwebs that criss-crossed the canopy of the Hall; something intriguing about shadows cast by the network of lighting that ran the length of the walls; something artful about the way those pumpkins piled together, their lop-sided smiles wide and leering at any pupils who dared to dance too near.
Yes.
This was good.
This was definitely good.
“It’s a shame you didn’t dress up.”
“I did!” she cried in surprise, rounding on Lee. “Look-” she trailed a delicate finger along the side of her neck. For the first time, Lee looked at her properly.
“Is that-?”
“Blood,” she said smugly. “I’m a vampire victim. A walking corpse. Can’t you see the rings around my eyes? The dirt on my clothes?”
Lee chuckled. “You look kinda the same as usual.”
His laughter turned to a yelp as her foot slammed down on his. “Prick.”
“Temper, temper…” he muttered darkly, but the grin he then gave her told her she was already forgiven.
She acknowledged it with a smiling nod, but already, her eyes were turning back to the hall, scanning it.
Scanning it once.
Twice.
Three times.
She could see the Delaney twins so clearly; their shadows flitting across the crowds that swarmed and spun upon the slightly raised dance floor.
But where was he?
Where is Ari?

[Nadia Donovan]

Nadia approached the common room. People were already in there. She was scared that Francis or Ienzo, especially Ienzo, would be there. But she had convinced herself to come this far. And she could always go again... say she was going to the toilet or something... She ahd stopped outside the door to the common room. She checked herself over again. She had decided to come as a black cat. Maybe not the best idea as black cats made her think of Aeleus who made her think of... Best not to think about it. She had black cat ears, her usually brown hair she'd turned black for the night's purposes. Her eyes she'd changed to green. The rest of the costuume was a bit different. Instead of the catsuit she could have worn, she decided on something a bit more unusual. She'd bought some fake black fur of some sort and managed to make a suit thing out of that. The tail was a black feather boa. No doubt others would have made illusions of their costumess so they owuld be in a different class, but she hadn't come to the party to win a prize for the best costume, she'd come to have simple fun. Of course it would be easier if certain people weren't there but you can't win them all.
Nadia took a deep breath and entered the room. She didn't want to stand there at the dorr, searching the faces for someone she could actually go over and talk to so she headed in the general direction of the food. Arriving there she looked aroung her. The decorations were superb. The spies were hosting the party this year. They'd done a good job. She recognised most of the face but she couldn't put names to a lot of them. Kira Norris, Head of the Spies, a few other people. So far she hadn't spotted Ienzo. She was a bit relieved. She got herself a drink and proceeded to watch the people around her.

[The Delaney Twins]

“Wow, Kira really went to town on this, didn’t she?” Lynn said as they walked into the common room, decked to the nines with pumpkins and glitter and streamers and just about every conceivable vaguely-Hallowe’en-related decoration that you could obtain from Orchid, which, considering the vast number of conjurers here, was probably rather a lot. It was… incredible, really, but that was no surprise, was it? They had last year to beat – a party which Lynn and Cass and Kennedy hadn’t actually really bothered themselves going to, seeing as it was an Academic affair and nothing was obliging them to be there, but they had most definitely heard of it. Considering the amount of time that Jamie was absent making decorations, it must have been pretty awesome.
Maybe the Delaneys should do this dance thing more often.
“Every single Spy went to motherfu – fudging town on this,” grouched Kennedy, modifying his language as he saw a teacher standing relatively nearby. “Would you like to know how many streamers I hung up on these bloody walls? Would you?”
“No, not really, actually.”
“One hundred. And twenty-seven”
“In terms of hanging up streamers, that’s probably not all that much, Kenny.”
“Yes it dàmn well is!”
If this had been a normal night, Lynn might have persisted with this conversation, but as it was she settled for just smirking and shaking her head slowly, looking back up at the room. The common room wasn't always this big, was it?
Didn’t really matter, in the grander scheme of things. She was only really looking at it, spectacular as it was, in order to avoid looking at her brother. Really, all things considered, it was just as well they hadn’t gone to a Hallowe’en party before, because the way Kennedy decided to dress up was really bloody creepy. If he wanted to go as Captain Jack Sparrow to a party, well, fine, more power to him – but did he really have to go and mimic Johnny Depp’s appearance? And his voice, too, for that matter. It was strange, when Kennedy mimicked other people’s voices: he did take on their accents, too, but the fact that Lynn knew exactly how his words would sound in his normal Scottish voice made Mr Depp’s dulcet American tones grate against her ears uncomfortably.
Lynn herself was not told until last minute that she was actually expected to be in attendance at this party. Last year, Jamie had been reasonable enough not to insist on all her friends attending to marvel at her handiwork. Kennedy and ‘Cardo and Carmen had done no such thing. It was really Lynn’s fault for knowing so many Spies to begin with, but it was a little late to remedy that situation.
So as a result of Lynn’s lack of awareness of this party, she had been forced to come as Lara Croft in a very under-prepared and generally crappy outfit that was basically her Warrior training outfit, only slùttier, as Carmen had forced her to borrow her scary boots and wear make-up, because, apparently, “Lara Croft doesn’t have freckles!” Lynn had no issue with hiding the freckles, obviously, but the eyeliner and mascara were far more pronounced than she would have liked. And plaiting her hair just felt very… strange.
But it was all right, because she only needed to be dressed like this for one night, and because she was standing beside Carmen, who, no matter how risqué Lynn may look, would always manage to outdo her by around a thousand times.
Lynn and Kennedy’s friends Carmen Escamilla and ‘Cardo Sierra were fairly strange in their attire. They had decided to do away with the whole having-a-costume-that-actually-vaguely-resembles-anything scheme this year, and both had simply decided to wear every single item of clothing that they possessed which was made out of black leather. This scheme was interesting, at best, because both friends had a tendency towards promiscuity in their clothing (which, considering the fact that they both possessed the power of seduction, wasn’t remarkably surprising), and the amount of flesh that was on show was going to get them taken down by whichever teacher saw them next, but that was just how her mad friends rolled. They would have looked like complete and utter idiots if it weren’t for the fact that their power had them both looking like supermodels 24/7.
And as for Ari and Jamie…
As it stood, Kennedy, Lynn, Carmen and ‘Cardo were the only ones there. It wasn’t a bad scheme – two guys, two girls, and Lynn didn’t object to dancing with ‘Cardo, because he was a very dear friend of hers. Strangely, he had the looks that would have made him one of those guys if his nature would have allowed it, the lock-up-your-daughters type that seemed to be becoming fairly common around Orchid recently. Luckily for ‘Cardo, he was kept out of the alpha male pissing contests by the fact that…
Well, when it came to ‘Cardo, it would really have been more appropriate to advise the general public to lock up their sons.
That was why it was so easy dancing with him. And Kennedy and Carmen seemed to be having an all right time, too – in his Johnny Depp garb, he was even close to being an appropriate partner for her.
Tonight was all about easiness.
Except, of course, when it came to Arihant.
She’d tried to get him to come, she really had. After all, she knew that he couldn’t dance with anyone (although, in all actuality, he probably could, if he was careful), but it wasn’t like they were going to all go and abandon him while they danced the night away. In fact, there was no way that Lynn was going to be able to dance at all, probably, seeing as Jamie had extorted that promise not to make a fool of herself by exhibiting her lack of rhythmic ability tonight…
But she digressed.
And the thing that really got to Lynn was that, by not coming, Arihant was really just being rude. She didn’t want to pry into whatever screwed up mess he had managed to turn his relationship with Kira into, she really didn’t, but the fact remained that they had been friends, and that Kira had nearly (if what her brother had told her was correct) given herself an embolism arranging this party, and so he was obliged to come, in her book.
But when she’d suggested it, his eyes had widened with that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look that he always got, and his fists clenched, and he looked for all intents and purposes like he was going to jump out the bloody window, so Lynn had left it. It wasn’t her responsibility to sort out Arihant’s personal life for him, anyway. Jamie had offered to stay up with him – something that Lynn would have done herself, if it weren’t for her brother forcing her to come down to this ‘Spy triumph’. It wasn’t like he was going to force Jamie to come with him to a party any time soon.
But as the song changed and Lynn found herself tapping her foot (incorrectly) to the upbeat rhythm, she decided to force all thoughts of Arihant and his idiocy out of her mind. He’d be all right. He was a big boy. And if Kira came over to ask her, then Lynn would just have to tell her that, unfortunately, her almost-boyfriend was one of the greatest idiots to grace God’s green earth. No biggie.
Now that she was here, she’d be dàmned if she wasn’t going to have fun.

[Jack Trove]

Last year, he was a puck victim.
The year before that, he was a bloodied football fanatic.
The year before that, he’d been a zombie referee.
Tonight, Jack Trove had come as the greatest monster of them all-
Himself.
Or rather, a parody of himself.
He’d come along missing a couple of teeth (the wonders of magic had no limit when it came to altering peoples’ appearances), smeared war paint across his cheeks, wore a bloodied and battered rugby shirt which screamed, ‘CAPTAIN!’ along the front of it, and gotten a willing friend to wear a lot of lipstick before planting a large (and very obvious) kiss on his cheek.
Jack Trove: the walking joke.
They all loved it, of course. All he needed was a ginger girl on his arm and he was good to go. But the ginger girl in question, ‘hadn’t felt like Halloween,’ or so he’d been told at her dorm door.
Which was too bad, really, because tonight was the night he’d planned to…
Well, he had to…
Break up with Olivia. Not a good thing to do at a holiday, granted, but… he was sick of this. He’d wanted to come to this party with Sophie, but couldn’t because of his, ‘girlfriend’. He wanted to… just be with Sophie. Not care what people thought or said when they looked at them. He wanted her to just be his girlfriend, and to simply be her boyfriend.
Olivia was a complication in this, however.
Whatever the case, Jack was-
…
No way.
Sophie had just emerged from a gaggle of fake wings and masks… dressed in… well… hardly dressed at all. The girl had just stepped straight out of one his dreams. Well. The majority of his dreams.
Hell. His dreams hadn’t gone into that much detail!
Once he’d remembered to breathe again, Jack, suddenly ashamed of his missing teeth, stepped forward and smiled graciously.
“Hullo.”

[Jack Trove]

“Yes, well, er…” Jack’s cheeks burned, and he ducked his head. “Funny story actually…” Catching sight of Sophie’s aghast expression, he started to laugh. “Fake. My teeth are still intact. You just can’t see them.”
There was nothing invisible about Sophie. She stood out naturally anyway… but tonight… well, heck. She couldn’t have stood out more if she’d painted herself fluorescent yellow and attached a siren to her head. Funny. So many girls would look very slútty like that.
But Sophie had class.
… he supposed it was something she and Olivia had in common.
Jack, shaking thoughts of his ‘girlfriend’ from his mind, leaned forward and muttered in Sophie’s ear-
“Just, by the way, you look fúcking incredible.”
The girl was due some credit here!

[Jack Trove]

Jack was suddenly hotly aware of the room’s eyes on them. Jack and Sophie were like beacons. If she was florescent yellow, he was bloody pink! Enough guys glanced her way already as it was-
Hang on.
It was okay. This was okay. They weren’t doing anything wrong. They were just two frie- acquaintances making small talk by the punch bowl.
Sophie’s two front teeth were digging into her bottom lip, causing the contours of the pink flesh to curve downwards. Her teeth, he noted suddenly, were slightly smaller than average; sharper, straighter and whiter.
He laughed at her raised eyebrow.
“Ten outta’ ten, Miss Mathieu.”

[Jack Trove]

Her fingertips seared with guilt.
"You weren't there," Jack laughed- awkwardly, at best, "and I was in a hurry. Why? Not jealous, are you?"
As though anyone could ever make Sophie Mathieu jealous.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Jack could see a girl dressed as a cat watching them. He met her gaze directly, and she, flushing suddenly, turned her head toward her neighbour.
This room was too hot. Jack wondered why Kira hadn't just stuck to her original plan of setting up the party in the Assembly Hall. It was much cooler, and larger in there, without the necessity of magical enhancements.
But the Common Room was far too claustrophobic. And the fires of the pumpkin lanterns were heating up fast.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira was dressed as a reincarnation of Thing 1. She had no more dignity left to lose.
"Lynn," her appearance beside Arihant's friend shocked them both. Lynn had probably been no more expecting Kira to approach her than Kira had. "I'm sorry... er, hi, how are you enjoying the party...?"
It was also pretty much a cert that Kira's pretence wasn't fooling either of them. Her pitch was far too quick; uncomfortable; urgent.
It was almost like... their conversation in the corridor hadn't happened at all the other day; like they'd gone straight back to him avoiding her, and it upset her. A lot more than it should have.
And it didn't seem fair, either, that it should be necessary for her to approach Lynn about this. If anyone made her uncomfortable about Arihant, it was Lynn Delaney.
Lynn Delaney and her freckles.
"I'm sorry," she repeated, reddening. "It's just... where's Arihant?"

[The Delaney Twins]

Oh, God.
So Lynn had been preparing for Kira to come and speak to her, just in case, but apparently, merely thinking I'll be prepared in case she comes over wasn't enough to do that.
"I'll just be a min, 'Cardo," she said to her friend, realising that Kira probably thought that he was some sort of freak. The fact that he was wearing an open black leather waistcoat over... well, nothing, only added to the aura of extreme weirdness that he had already cultivated so well just with that Hispanic-skin-and-dyed-white-hair combination that he was rocking. And the perma-sunglasses. That one was kind of necessary, seeing as eye-contact was what his seduction power required.
Well, if she thought he was weird, she had to see her brother.
He laughed. "Of course, darling. Missing you already," he said, and made his way over to talk to some guy who Lynn didn't know, but she could tell he was an Academic just by looking at his outfit. Was that... Einstein, or...?
She didn't want to know.
She turned back to Kira, smiling widely in an attempt to put her at her ease. She could tell she made Kira uncomfortable. It happened sometimes. The Delaneys were a little... what was the word? - overbearing.
"Don't apologise, you're fine," she said. "And yes, the party is awesome. Seriously. You guys have worked wonders on this place - you just have to pity whoever's cleaning it up tomorrow, I guess..."
Babble babble babble. Get to the point.
"But, um, awesome though it is, Arihant has... decided not to come."
Prick that he was. Lynn understood - she knew that he had that whole being-socially-retarded thing going on, but this was just downright rude.
"I tried to get him to, you understand, we all did, but he... I don't know. I don't - did you guys have a fight, or something?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

The colour now drained slightly from Kira's cheeks under the plaster of white make-up she'd applied earlier.
Did they have a fight?
Well, almost. If Arihant had actually gotten into the flow of the argument, and shouted back, gotten mad... well, Kira couldn't help but think that would've made things easier. It'd be just like Valentine's- heck, that was normality for them.
As it was, Kira had no idea what Arihant had said to her. So taken aback was she by his random switch in language, she barely registered his expression, tone, body language...
In all honesty, Kira didn't know whether or not he was making fun of her. Some guys did that- babbled nonsensically, thinking they were funny. But she'd never have expected it of Arihant...
Arihant. As if he was any different from the rest.
"I think... he may be mad at me," admitted Kira, clearing her throat. "I... er... where is he?"

[The Delaney Twins]

ooc: Sorry about the character switch, Kira, but I needed to get Lynn freed up =] Kennedy will do his best.

Lynn said, "He's upstairs," but her voice was vacant, as she rushed onto the next part of her sentence. It was only fair to make her aware of the fact that whatever this was was not her fault. It was just Mr Neurotic doing what he did best. "But Kira, I don't think he's mad at you, I really don't. It's just-"
And at that, Kennedy Depp came up and very, very rudely interrupted them.
"Sally," he said, and she didn't want to look at him. Chrissake. It was just freaky, seeing her mad seventeen-year-old brother masquerading very convincingly as a pirate in his forties. But unfortunately, eye contact was sort of necessary.
"We're talking, Kennedy," she said brightly, and her smile at him was rather pointed.
"Yeah, I know - sorry, Kira," he said, smiling Mr Depp's disarming smile at her, and turned back to Lynn, "it's just, Carmen says she needs you. She doesn't feel well."
"Doesn't feel well how?"
"I didn't ask."
"Of course."
"Well, y'know, it might have been..."
"Girl stuff?" she asked, exaggeratedly patronisingly.
"Shut up."
"Right." She smiled apologetically at Kira. "I'm sorry," she said, "I... uh, I have to go, I guess. But Kennedy can take you up, right?"
"Huh?"
"To your dorm. She wants to see Arihant. That OK?"
And she realised that once she had said that, Kira hadn't actually said she was going up to see him, but - well, she could explain that to Kennedy, if she didn't want to.
"Oh," he said, "oh, sure, that's fine."
"Good, good. Good luck with that Ari, Kira - oh, that reminds me, I was saying - he's not mad at you. I'm certain he's not mad at you. I think he's actually mad at himself, which doesn't really make sense but... well, you know what Ari's like, right?"
"Don't we all," said Kennedy flatly, and Lynn laughed, before turning to leave. As she walked away, she heard him say - "But we'll go up, anyway - oh. Um, you're a Head. Is it OK with you, gatecrashing the boys' dorms? I know it's not technically allowed... Is that OK with you?"

---

Lynn silently cursed the peanut of a brain her brother had been born with, before asking Carmen, "That's seriously what your problem was? That's how you're feeling ill? You're too hot?"
She wouldn't have been so short, if it weren't for the residual irritation that she was still feeling at Arihant for behaving that way with Kira.
"Cristo, Lynn, calm down," Carmen laughed, the sound as loud as ever despite the unhealthy flush that was spreading across her olive cheeks. "I'm sure you weren't doing anything important."
She rolled her eyes. "You have such faith in my social life," she said, but the irritation was calming now. Lynn wasn't good at retaining negative emotions in social circumstances. It was a useful aspect of her personality, to put it lightly.
"A thought," she continued.
"Yes?" asked Carmen.
"Perhaps, if you are in such danger of overheating, it was not the wisest idea to go out clothed in what must be at least a small cow?"
"Maybe..." She smiled widely. "Does that mean you're not going to fix it?"
Lynn sighed heavily. "I guess not. I'm far too nice for my own good, you know?"
"Oh, I know, you saint."
Lynn raised an eyebrow, slipped into her other vision, and quickly directed the heat waves away from Carmen's body. Or at least, as many as she could get away without running the risk of killing her. Maybe a little chill would convince her to clothe herself a little more effectively...
"Ack, Lynn, too far!"
Lynn smiled sweetly. "Sorry, I overshot."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

“That is called cheating, you are aware.”
Russ laughed, sidestepping the taller-than-usual, black-bedecked girl in front of him and ruffling her hair, making her scowl. “How so?”
Madeleine smacked him away. “Not scary enough.You look more like, I don’t know… Dorian Gray than Sweeney Todd.”
He frowned. “Wasn’t he blonde? And he wouldn’t have been wearing a coat like this. Bit more dapper. Besides, what does it actually matter?” Russ was sure that he didn’t know what Madeleine was supposed to be. She’d shapeshifted her eyes a scarlet colour to match her ragged red dress and heels, had made herself a little paler, given her skin a weird black tone and become a lot taller. “I don’t know what the hell you’re supposed to be, though. What happened to the catsuit?”
The crimson eyes flashed and a curse word was uttered, to his amusement. He laughed, moving backwards out of her reach in case she attacked him. “I saw the pictures by the way, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to say … nice.”
“Go to hell,” she muttered, shaking her head and grimacing.
No catsuits this year, as far as he could see. Maybe because Olivia was on duty tonight, of course, but what could you do? Everything was a little more decent this year.
That could be because Kira was running it, and few people wanted to get on her wrong side.
“You need to be a bit paler,” Madeleine commented, choosing to ignore the catsuit reference. “And your shirt isn’t frilly, or anything.”
Russ snorted, looking around the room for people he recognised. With the amount of shapeshifters at hand, well… it was pretty difficult. “Like I’m wearing a fúcking frilly shirt. It wasn’t ‘frilly’ in the movie, anyway, so fúck it. You can fix the skin thing, if you like, though. Do your worst.”
At least he’d attempted making an effort. Russ had never taken part in a Hallowe’en party before. There was never any point. Well, he’d never seen it. But Madeleine insisted that he needed to integrate himself properly with everyone, so he’d picked a film and gone for it. It didn’t take much, in the end. An ‘off-white’ shirt, black cravat, a beaten up Victorian leather coat that he’d (probably luckily) seen in Cardsdale, some blades that he’d gotten a girl from his maths class to conjure up for him, and not much more effort needed. He’d opted to leave the white streak out of his hair, and just ran his hands through it a couple of times. That was it. All done. Some guys here really did spend a hell of a lot of time on their outfits, but come on. What’s the point?
Madeleine stared at him for a minute, before cocking her head. “There you go.”
He hadn’t felt anything, so Russ looked down at his hands, which were now about as white as talculm powder. Again with a slightly grey tinge.
“And your eyes look a bit more sunken and tired. You’re done. Oh, hey, Anna!” Madeleine smiled, eyes snapping in the other direction as she headed towards a luminescent green witch.
The room looked … well, it wasn’t the usual state, anyway. Spiders. Cobwebs. Pumpkins. Feckin’ glitter just about everywhere. Christ Almighty, what was that about? It was like an explosion of several discoballs. Everywhere.
The selection of costumes was pretty diverse. Fairies, witches, demons, Tinkerbell, the Cruella De Vil in the corner, a knight over at the other side of the room, in full armour, and an interestingly clad pair, decked out in black leather, one of them standing beside…
He grinned, and headed over to her, weaving through the pumpkins and general motley crew until he ended up beside Lynn and Leather Girl, tapping her on the shoulder. “And what are you supposed to be, then?”

[The Delaney Twins]

"And what are you supposed to be, then?"
She couldn't see his face, true, but she'd recognise the voice of her little dog-walking buddy anywhere. After all, when you started your day with the same voice every day, it tended to get ever so slightly ingrained on your memory.
But she didn't turn around straight away. "See?" she said, smacking Carmen lightly on her shoulder. "I told you no one would be able to tell!"
She smirked. "Sure they can. And Lynn, your wardrobe didn't leave me with a lot of choice."
"My wardrobe is fine!" she said. "In fact, I think the fact that you had such difficulty getting a Hallowe'en costume out of it should show that, no?"
Carmen laughed, took a sip of her drink. "Whatever. I'm just happy that I managed to get you into heels."
"I wear heels, Carmen."
"Proper ones, dear."
"What, heels have to be more than three inches to be proper, now? Since when?"
"Since forever!"
Lynn rolled her eyes. "I have no patience for you, my friend," she said, and turned around to Russ, grinning more brightly than she had before. Despite the fact that she had seen him and Jake just this morning, she was still ridiculously glad to see him.
"Jesus, Russ, Carmen's right - isn't it obvious?" she asked. "Lara Croft! I mean, I know I'm no Angelina Jolie, but still. I'm offended!"
"All right, Lynn, no need to be so over the top."
"Awk, sure there is, Carrie!"
Lynn wasn't looking, but she could almost feel the eye roll emanating from behind her. "Right, dear, I'm going now. 'Cardo will be more pleasant company right now -"
"Jeez, Carmen, that's harsh!"
"But fair. See you later."
Lynn turned round to grin at her for a moment - "Bye!"
And then back to Russ. "And you are..."
Hmmm. Waistcoat, black cravat, leather coat and - knives?
Hallowe'en, Lynn. Hallowe'en.
She laughed. "OK, you're going to have to tell me who you are."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

“Now, you give up all right to be offended,” Russ laughed, flicking out one of the knives. “Sweeney Todd. Madeleine told me I had to go as something, anything, so, I did. The first film I could think of.”
The height difference was, again, really noticeable with Lynn. There wasn’t the usual height gap between them now, thanks to the heels that the leather-clad “Carrie” had apparently forced onto her feet. They weren’t the usual sort of shoes that he’d see Lynn wearing, but then again, he did see her in Warrior Training and on their morning walks. Heels weren’t exactly practical.
Still, they looked nice.
“She’d have dressed Jake up, had she gotten the chance. I actually think Mocha’s about here somewhere – not that that thing needs to go as anything else.”
They’d been walking every morning since that day in the gym, rain or shine. Russ still needed to get out of the stone walls if it rained, and there was something about Lynn that made the rain seem altogether less crap. Maybe it was just the general good mood her smile and freckles seemed to radiate. She was just always cheerful; not once had he seen her in the early-morning mood that most people usually had. Even when it was pissing down. And there were a lot of mornings.
The weird thing was, though, sometimes, Russ wasn’t sure what messages he was receiving from Lynn. She was always open to flirtatious banter, but when it came to actually getting the hint, she never seemed to get it. It was weird. Girls always got it. Even when there wasn’t a friggin’ hint to get, they got it.
And now there was a hint. There was always flirting with girls, but there wasn’t always a hint that Russ felt he wanted to give out. Now there was a hint, she wasn’t getting it. What was with it?
“So, ah, has your friend got an entire cow on her?” he said, nodding after “Carrie”, the attractive girl in leather and sunglasses. “What’s she supposed to be?”

[The Delaney Twins]

"Carmen is being... Carmen, for lack of a better explanation," she laughed. "She and 'Cardo - her cousin - decided to... more or less... wear every single bovine item of clothing that they possessed for Hallowe'en. Apparently it's original, not lazy."
Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd... The name was familiar, but she couldn't place it right now. Lynn was a TV girl, not a movie one. It was too depressing, sitting in the cinema in the dark in silence. When you watched the TV, you could make... well, 'helpful suggestions' for the idiotic characters that invariably appeared in just about every program, and that was, obviously, the best part of watching.
But she had heard of Sweeney Todd. It was that - a horror, was it? Oh! It was the horror musical, with that... that woman who was in that thing...
She had the most dreadful knowledge of popular culture.
And then it struck her.
"Wait, Sweeney Todd - that's Johnny Depp, isn't it? Christ!" she exclaimed, her hands going up to her mouth. "Oh, Lord Almighty, that man is haunting me. Kennedy went as Captain Jack Sparrow" - she had seen that film, at least - "but he's a mimic, and so his costume is very accurate. Disturbingly accurate. In fact, it's downright creepy. Johnny Depp is not supposed to be my brother!"
She sighed, and lowered her hands. Then smiled, and clarified - "Not, of course, that there's anything wrong with going as Johnny Depp. I mean, you look great. But... Well. My brother isn't exactly the most Depp-esque man in the world, to put it lightly.
"That's weird, that there's two of you. You and he must be of one mind," she concluded, grinning.