The Boards, Tuesday Afternoon

[furnaceface]

Tomorrow was Halloween, and while Jono had never really done much for Halloween in his pre-America days, it was one of those holidays that had managed to quickly grow on him. Something about being a night for monsters, coupled with being a teenaged monster himself, had appealed, and he'd made an attempt to enjoy it as much as his circumstances would allow, since.

That was why the doors to the theatre were open today to anyone who wanted to pitch in and assist with decorating the place for tomorrow's Haunted Theatre. He'd gotten as far as setting up a few assorted displays, and there were extra canvas corridors set up in the already dark backstage, leading into costume racks and props storage and dressing rooms that were practically crying to be booby-trapped. He was fairly certain that his collar had enough power in it to maintain a hard-light audience of the undead up in the seating, just so long as he only projected it while people were wandering through, and he'd stocked up on refreshments for people who'd like to help out today. The more spooky fare was being saved for the actual event.

Unless he started nibbling, which was always a possibility.

[Open for anyone who wants to drop in to visit Jono or help set up spoooooky things in the theatre! OCD-free because I'm a lazy, lazy thing.]

Comments

[pulseof_life]

Yeul was wandering the town (yes, in the rain) with little care about where she ended up. So when a building she hadn't been in before had open doors she saw no reason to not drift over to see it.

She lingered just inside the doorway, taking her time to look around.

[furnaceface]

Which was fair enough. After all, the doorway was open for just that purpose, and occasionally Jono would wander by it with an armload of this or that. There was a box of old, ragged costumes in his arms when he passed by this particular time, and he paused and offered her a smile.

"Yeul, luv," he greeted. "Out for a walk, are you?"

She was spontaneous like that, he was coming to learn. He figured it was a fair assumption.

[pulseof_life]

"Hello Professor," she said, smiling slightly. "It seemed like a nice day for a walk. May I ask what you are doing?"

Because he seemed rather busy...

"I am not interrupting you, I hope?"

[furnaceface]

Someday, Jono would get used to being called that. There was only one person he'd ever bothered calling Professor with no name attached, and that man wasn't here.

"No interruption at all," he replied, managing not to make a face. "I'm just putting out some decorations for Halloween... Do you have that holiday where you're from?"

It was hard to tell. She did come from crazy pockets and monsters land, after all.

[pulseof_life]

But the pockets were awesome.

"I do not believe so," she replied. "I have seen decorations up for it around town however. Is it a large holiday here?"

[furnaceface]

"Here, fairly large, yes," Jono agreed, smiling and shrugging. "People put on costumes, wander around getting lollies or playing tricks on people. The island itself usually plays the biggest of the tricks, but that's just the way it is."

He propped the box against his hip and waved vaguely into the theatre. "Some people set up fake haunted houses or the like. This is the holiday where spirits and monsters are supposed to have free reign, after all." A beat. "Probably not monsters quite the way you'd know them, mind."

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"Oooooh!" Rapunzel exclaimed, poking her head in the door. "Decorations!"

Rapunzel liked theater well enough, but she loved decorating!

[pulseof_life]

"Oh, hello Rapunzel," Yeul said, having heard the voice and come to see who it was. She held a bag full of fake cobwebs in her hands.

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"Yeul!" Rapunzel beamed. "Are you decorating?" Could Rapunzel help!?

[pulseof_life]

"I am decorating! Professor Starsmore is making the place festive for tomorrow and I thought I might help."

And then, because Rapunzel seemed rather excited...

"Did you wish to help? I am sure he would not mind additional hands at work."

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"YES!"

"Er, I mean... if you're sure you don't mind..."

[pulseof_life]

Yeul laughed and offered the bag of fake cobwebs to Rapunzel. "I don't mind! Take them and we'll see what else the Professor has laying around for us to use."

"There's also things to eat," she added, in case Rapunzel was hungry.

[furnaceface]

"Decorations," Jono echoed, giving her a smile and a nod from where he was elbows-deep in pumpkin innards. "Feel free to help yourself to them, luv, if you're interested in participating. The more the merrier, right?"

Something like that?

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"Yay!"

Er.

"I mean," Rapunzel ducked her head slightly, "thank you."

[glacial_queen]

"I can deliver you the spider," Karla said from her spot in the doorway. "But that's it. I can't help you with the spooky house."

Still too soon for that. Sorry, Jon.

[furnaceface]

"Er... no?"

That was... news, of a sort. Jono put down the box of props and turned to look at her, assessing that decision with a frown on his face.

"What happened?"

Something always happened. It was a fair assumption.

[glacial_queen]

"Who said anything happened?" Karla asked with a shrug that fell far short of casual.

[furnaceface]

Karla, Jonothon was going to raise an eyebrow at you.

"We've met," he noted, maybe a touch dryly.

[glacial_queen]

"Which is why I am vastly unsurprised that you're a brat," was Karla's haughty answer.

...Which soon gave way to a guilty duck of the head, her shoulders slumping and her hands finding their way into her pockets.

"Fandom's not the only place that has weird," she mumbled. "Sunnydale does, too. And it popped up over the weekend in the form of some kind of...demonic spooky house."

[furnaceface]

"Ah..."

Jono frowned a little, giving Karla one more once over before sighing and stepping forward, reaching an arm around her shoulder so that he could lead her to his office, some place with a door that could close behind them.

"So the house itself came alive, then?"

It was funny, the things he could say without thinking them weird after years of both Fandom and his own world working in tandem to mess with his head.

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy made her way in looking a little sheepish. "So... Um... I would have stayed to talk Friday, but I had to pack to leave for space."

[furnaceface]

"What a coincidence," Jono replied, glancing over at Mercy and setting down a scarecrow... thing... that he'd been constructing. "I had to do the same."

Since he'd been one of the chaperones, and all.

[walkswithcoyote]

"Yeah, I know," Mercy said, ducking her head. "Lame excuse. I guess... I just felt safer talking about things here, rather than at the school."

It had been where she'd ended up when she'd looked for a safe space as a kid, after all.

"So, I guess you know what I've been keeping secret now."

[furnaceface]

"I think I can manage a guess," Jonothon agreed with a little nod. "It's nothing that I haven't seen before, though. It's something that's hardly uncommon back home."

Or, well, it wasn't particularly rare before mutants had been rendered functionally extinct, and all.

[walkswithcoyote]

"Do you have walkers in your world?" Her eyes were hopeful. "I've never met another. That's why I ended up raised by werewolves - which is a whole other secret and the one I'm really not supposed to talk about."

She sighed. "Though, I've had it shoved in my face often enough that I'm not pack, so technically I can't be bound by their rules. Not that they'd hesitate to kill me anyway if I did something that outed them in my world."