MISCHIEF NIGHT

[indigo_league]

Who: All the Dark-types put your paws up!
Where: Anywhere and everywhere!
When: Sunset on Halloween Night to sunrise on November 1st!
Summary: MISCHIEF NIGHT MISCHIEF NIGHT
Rating: G-PG13
Log:


There’s a sour-sweet wind a-blowing this eve as the sun hangs low and red in the sky. The leaves have turned, windows glow like jack-o-lantern eyes, and the streets hum with the excitement that the night will bring. There’s no mysterious trees growing straight out of the concrete this year, and there’s a palpable sense of relief as those who were waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to fall finally set about hanging up last-minute decorations and picking the candy aisles at every PokeMart bare.

It is Halloween, and for the first time in a few years, it would seem nothing is going to get in the way of the holiday.

… At least, right up until the last sliver of sun dips below the horizon.

A flock of Murkrow explodes up from the woods around Violet City, cawing in excitement. On the Sevii Islands, Alolan Rattata pop out of their burrows with bright eyes and quivering noses. In the glens outside Celadon City, the Houndooms start to howl.

Almost as one, all Dark-type Pokemon, big and small, young and old, stop and lift their noses to the crisp breeze. Something ancient tingles in their bones. Oh, tonight...tonight is their night. However much they may love their trainer, something higher is calling them. Mischief! Adventure! CANDY!

It’s time!

Fast or slow, brazen or sneaky, the sunset is the signal for each and every Dark-type to break away from their trainers and run off into the night. To do what? Well what do you think, silly humans? You know what night it is!

Some fashion their own costumes and go door to door earning sweet treats alongside the excited children who are out in droves. Or perhaps they might pursue some more unconventional treat-seeking avenues -- sometimes one man’s trash is another mon’s treat!

But there’s more to Halloween than candy; others will develop a nasty streak and put the ‘trick’ in ‘trick or treat’, upsetting outdoor decorations, frighten childrening and little old ladies, or even pantsing people! The horror! Anything can happen on Halloween!

Even the wild Dark-types are filled with the holiday spirit. Last year everyone was too wrapped up with that Ghost-type nonsense to properly enjoy Halloween, so they’re all too happy to make up for lost time. Harried trainers trying to track down their tricky runaways might find themselves befriending the Poochyenas, Murkrows, or even Alolan Meowths that have come out of the woodwork to celebrate. After all, what good is a grand trick if there’s no one to tell about it? What good is a tasty treat with no one to share? Even trainers who don’t have any Dark-types in their arsenal will find themselves approached by these wild Pokemon and invited to tag along!

Comments

boo

[lyingheart]

[ Annie hits the warp pads without pause, barely waiting in line when applicable; Lute's been leading her a merry chase, and while they've been training like this specifically, it doesn't make the transition between cities easier, just a pain she's used to dealing with. This is the second time she's been in Ecruteak tonight, and she doesn't even know where Lute's been hiding his candy as he goes, or who thinks giving unattended pokemon treats is a good plan, but with Arlert flying overhead, she's at least on his trail.

Libera is cities away with her pack now, curled up and waiting, and she wants to get back to her before it's too hideously late, if she can convince Lute to leave off on his wild candy drive. So far she's had no luck.

Lute's wearing a bell hung on a ribbon around his neck, a grass-woven halter on his head, his "goat" costume more referential than particularly dedicated. He has a satchel across his back, over half full, and he's still looking for more, more, more. The haunted house captures his curiosity as much as his current avarice, and the pairing of the two means he trots happily on by Armin, no more recognisable than any other Absol out and about. He slips past the disinterested girl, disappearing inside.

Annie arrives not long after, slowing down from her run to a jog as Arlert calls out and angles down to perch on a lamp post outside the haunted house. She hoots again, using a wing to indicate toward the building. Annie grimaces, resigning herself to an indoor tracking down now, adjusting the hat on her head and glad most of her low-banded pigtails have managed to stay captured even as she runs around.

She doesn't recognise Armin in his costume, flowing robes and a star speckled hat, particularly not from behind. He's one more costumed person she's run past tonight. ]

Arlert!

[ So she's only speaking to her hoothoot when she's behind Armin, her ankle length dress very country-stylish, and her long coat hanging open in the front. She's wearing glasses, big round lenses, and with the hat she'd found, she looks vaguely like a country girl stepping into the city in order to solve crime through sheer determination and grit. (It'd be spunk, but nothing about Annie cries spunky.) ]

Keep watch on the doors. I'm heading in.

[schachmeister]

[Armin jumps in surprise, his spine shooting ram-rod straight at the sound of his last name. People rarely refer to him here by his last name, so it cannot help but bring to mind his time in the training corps, and the way Shadis would bark his last name like that when he was in a good mood.

Or, well, what passed for a good mood in their commander.

Even though he logically knows Shadis is not here, and a small part of his mind is rather belatedly recalling that Shadis has never sounded like a teenage girl, he still spins around, hat slipping slightly, and his hand immediately going to his chest in a salute.]

Sir!

[lyingheart]

[ The problem with being confronted with someone saluting in the same manner she's saluted for the last three years is that Annie automatically returns the salute, back of her fist thudding home over her heart, her other arm pressed against the small of her back. She processes who she's saluting even as she processes the fact he called her sir; Annie's eyebrows arch behind her glasses, and she blinks as she jerkily pulls her arm down and feigns nonchalance, arms hanging loose at her sides.

Arlert, the one she'd been addressing knowingly, calls out a hoot to let Annie know she's heard. ]

... Well this wasn't expected.

[ The salute, the fact he's here. Her eyes flick from Armin's face and the slightly tilted star-studded hat to the girl looking their way from by the haunted house doors. She's blowing a bubble that slowly grows, eyes clearly on them, curious. ]

[schachmeister]

[Not expected is certainly one way to put it.

Looking slightly flustered, Armin lowers his hand. An embarrassing reflex it had been, really. Though it seems Annie had gotten caught in it too. Embarrassment shared is embarrassment halved? Or was that just embarrassment doubled. Not that Annie looks anywhere near as embarrassed as he does.]

Annie. I... I wasn't expecting you here.

[Here meaning out in general during Halloween. She had always kept herself from getting involved in things back home. Though, of course, she had had her reasons for that. (reasons he now knows a bit about.)]

[lyingheart]

[ It's still much more real for her to react in those ways, and she can't feel embarrassed about trained responses. Or she could, but it's a waste of energy, and she's conserving that tonight for the concentrated effort of tracking down Lute.

Still. ]

I hadn't planned on it.

[ She says, more or less being truthful. She glances past Armin to the entrance of the haunted house, breathing out in a sigh. ]

Let alone considering entering something called a Haunted House, but Lute took off, and so here I am.

[ She falls silent, standing still for a few seconds, then shifts forward, giving Armin a subtle sort of space by angling slightly around him and his pokemon companion. ]

What are the chances the whole damn place is full of ghost types.

[ Pokemon she's now seen possess shadows, manipulate 'gears, and attack in giant swarms. Annie doesn't have any ghost types of her own, and she's not even taking Arlert in with her. Heather's comment about having a ghost type that can't even be properly punched is somewhat reassuring. If anyone does manage to trip a knee-jerk response from her, there's a good chance she'll pass through the responsible pokemon, and there'll be no harm, no foul. She heads for the stairs, pausing on the first step with a slight frown to look back over her shoulder. ]

You coming?

[ Since he'd been the one standing outside before. Annie knows why she's here. She assumes he's here for that elusive concept of "fun" people keep trying to tell her she needs more of in her life. ]

[schachmeister]

Lute too?

[Too, because despite plans for Magellan to accompany him while Trick or Treating, the big musclecat had taken off almost instantly when the night had started to fall. A little odd, but Armin knew Magellan was harmless and it is not like he could go far. It's not like pokemon can use the warp pads or some nonsense like that.

And despite the very real danger of hauntings here in the Pokemon world, Armin somewhat doubts this particular place is full of ghosts. If only because it looks too shabby. Not shabby in a derelict aged building sort of way, but shabby in a 'we put this together in a day and nobody bothered to sprung for good markers' sort of way.

Before Armin can react to Annie inviting him in, the girl at the entrance speaks. Or rather, she first pops her bubble, looking up somewhat lazily from her phone.]

Hey, like, if you two are a couple, there is totes a discount for you. Gotta protect your bae from all that spooky shit, right?

[lyingheart]

Yes. He's been jumping towns all night.

[ Arlert has gained levels in her ability to tolerate warp pad nausea, that's for sure. Annie's simply powering through it best as she can, thankful she'd already been practicing beforehand.

Annie blinks when the girl at the entrance speaks, brow furrowing. Hadn't the sign said free if you dare? Whatever. She fixes the girl with a flat look, hiking a thumb back over her shoulder at Armin. ]

He'll be fine. Besides...

[ She peers at the girl over the top of her unnecessary glasses as she takes each step in a slow, deliberate manner. ]

The sign says free if we dare, doesn't it? Even with this weak heart of mine, I do dare. Very much so.

[ Her hand presses over her heart. What a sweet, semi-sincere picture she makes, not concerned with the mistaken nature of their relationship... just not wanting to freaking pay to chase after Lute's fuzzy backside. ]