Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Trick or Treat: Cris "Light Raygun"

Arranging the house for the holidays was always fun, one of the occasions where the vigilante known as Light Raygun - on the doorbell, Lady Cris Aliprandi Della Scala Di Rocca Martinez - could indulge in her creativity. On both sides of the gate stood two holographic sculptures of witches mid-flight, cackling. Spider webs hung everhywhere in the vast garden, decorated by tiny felt huntsman spiders, a memento to her dear old late pet, Biff.

For the occasion the door bell had been replaced by a knocker withban animated skull, whose malevolent red eyes were ready to glow. Shaper balloons resembling ghosts grinned from the side of the trees around which they were tightly coiled: others, black and orange, lined up the garden's courtyard to the main home.

Spooky images of undead, zombies (looking eerily similar to Aliprandi Clan members) and ghostly visage had been projected on the windows, giving the appearance of ancient evils peeking out. But the crowning of the setup was a headless figure trying to climb to the second floor window: no head was visible above the shoulders, but a what looked like a crushed pumpkin hung halfway from the shutter below, as if the head had just rolled off the "headless horseman" who had a long black tablecloth around it's neck... but underneath sported a bizzarre red suit with white fur trimmings. Was that actually a beheaded Santa Claus ornament?! Sure, the lights flickering at the sides of the rope ladder it was climbing were now painted black and orange, but was it possible that they might once have been multicolored? How did the Fully-Headless-Nick decoration lose its head to have it replaced by a pumpkin? Well whatever the reason, it got the honor place among the decorations and a lot of kids passers by seemed to find it funny, even if the parents were more than a little disconcerted.

On the front porch, Cris and Emily had dragged a massive cauldron from which whisps of colored smoke erupted. No need for projectors here - just good ol' scenic dry ice, a source of light and a prism.

Cris was in her customary mask and kimono outfit as she examined the candies and treats in the cauldron and looked on to the courtyard. Emily, at her side, has a cute witch outfit with glittering cold trimmings - a spiderweb on the dress, a spider on the hat - and the exposed circuitry on her cheeks had been scribbled around to suggest a zombie-like missing chunk of flesh.

"Ready?" the robot woman asked her heart's daughter.

"You bet!" Cris nodded, and turned her eyes back on the still empty courtyard, waiting for the first trick or Treaters, masks, and costumes to walk up to the porch.

It was the start of the year for the Mages' Guild and the Exorcists' Guild both. That also meant it was time for 'guising' to protect oneself from evil spirits. However, it was hard to try and fight ghosts when the rift between worlds was thinnest at this point in the year. At least it meant Yanfeng could go about without worrying about people thinking his behavior was strange, though he normally veiled himself magically while ghost-hunting to protect his identity.

Given he came across Cris' house and saw the beheaded Old Man Christmas, what was one other oddity?

His magical veil that was provided by the Dark Arts was lifted to reveal his identity to them. He's donning a Chinese zombie costume and riding Little Lady, who was - well, being the nightmare she was, didn't really have need of a costume. He could've painted a skeleton on her, but she'd never stay still for it. As they approached, Little Lady's hoof-beats slowed to a walk as she moved up the giant road to their house. Coming to a stop at Yanfeng's command, she grunted as the weight was lifted when he dismounted her. To the Aliprandi's, Yanfeng waved a long sleeve.

"Blessed Samhain, as the mages say," he said, his magical Teller earring translating his Mandarin Chinese to English and reversing it for him. "And happy Halloween. It's nice to meet you again."

With his veil lifted, he had taken the time to fix himself up previously, so that he looked less roughed up. It was a very dangerous time for exorcists, after all.

In the dead of the night, a hunched figure stalked through the forest. Grotesque and lumbering, it carried itself with sickly reluctance- driven only by its burning hunger for living flesh. Strangely, there weren't many around in this area, and as such, Clickjaw, the malformed avatar of Him, found itself attracted to a large and unusually well-kept house that stuck out in the distance. Its eyesight had long rotten away, but it stared regardless: right at the woman of the hour, the lady in the kimono who sat on the front porch, and was about to welcome her first guest. It was a robed man riding a shadowy, Earthly steed. Living flesh he was, for certain, but there was a magickal twang about him that made Him hesitant. No, for the time being, Clickjaw would only investigate. If it hung around mortals long enough, a suitable prey would come along eventually. And, well, if it wouldn't, He would make sure that they'd make the best meal out of these less-ideal prey. First, though, it needed a disguise, as per the tradition of this alienating realm. Dead eyes still fixated on Cris and Yanfeng from over half a mile away, the monstrous abomination raised its decaying claws and hacked into the nearby branches. Undergrowth, moss and colorful autumn leaves flew left and right, and stuck to Clickjaw's body by the grace of all the mud, blood and other muck stuck to its skin. Now a fully-fletched.. eh.. forest sprite, it then went on its merry way again. Its sickly green core pulsing as it went, it soon emerged from the treeline and approached the two mortals and their.. companions. The steed was already puzzling to Him; it had the general shape of a living being, but its energy confused Him, and as for the woman sat next to the kimono-sporting house owners, well, He couldn't quite pin her down either. The visage and voice of a living creature, yet without flesh. A pity. Out of all of them, she looked the most helpless, so if it hadn't been for the abundance of metal in her body, Clickjaw would've surely had an easy time hunting her down and gobbling her up. The enormous being came to a standstill right behind Yanfeng and his night-colored steed. Its ever-staring eyes flicked between him and Cris, and after a long pause, it began to twitch its head. With a sickening crack, its jaw unhinged, and its inky black tendril-tongue and choir of undead voices came pouring out. "..Tttttrrreeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt...." groaned Clickjaw. Whether or not it decided to leave out the other option, could only be guessed.

Emily's optics took in the sudden appearance of Yanfeng and her positronic brain registered it as unexpected event, like most magical manifestations. She could find no records of the ghostly steed in her knowledge, and watched in fascination.

Cris's eyes brightened behind the mask, amd she waved. "Hello again, stranger", she joked. "Happy Samhain! Ma, this is Yanfeng, he has a lovely dog named Snowy, we met at dog part..."

"Aren't you that kind guy from the Full Moon Ranch?" Emily said, her optical recognituob software hsving already found a matching log for Yanfeng.

"Oh, you know each other?" Cris toom a step out of the porch and toward Little Lady. They had pnly met once before snd she had been peeved to not get the chance to pet the ghpstly horse, but maybe now she would get the chance? "And what about you, remember me?" she asked to the Nightmare, careful to not startle her. "Is thete any paryicular treat she might like? Ma, do you know what ghost horse eat?"

At those wprds a tiny voice could be heard indoors. "Ghost horse??? There's a ghost horse outside?? Joy, give it back!!" Chiara amd Reyn, both dressed as pirate foxes, were trying to retrieve their trick or treat bags from Joy, who had improvised a hide and seek mstch in the hall. Chiara ran to peek out of the window pane, her tiny face appearing for a moment next to the holographic zombies: she saw Little Lady, gawked, and darted vack to chade their hyperactive border collie. "Theres a ghost horse, I want to go pet it!!" she happily told her little brother, but first thry had to get their jack o lantern bags back...

Outsude, Emily had no time to answer Cris's question as a hulking shape dragged itself toward the porch, groaning and rustling. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight of Clickjaw. What in all the world that were... Incredulous, she bolted to her feet.

Cris had seen him too. She stared for a split instant, then took a step closer, with a fluid but controlled, slow movement. "Hush, hush, quietly, don't scare them..." Her heart was racing she had caught many a glimpse of this creature throughput her cryptid-watching experiences but it was the first time they tried to approach. In most their previous encounters Clickjaw had seemed either to be writhing in pain or on the hunt. And she knew a hurting, injured or sick creatute had to be approached cautioysly, because pain or fear could make them lash out. So she had always lingered at some distance, waiting for a good opportunity... and now, Clickjaw had sought out an interaction!

Still moving slowly to not scare them, Cris called: "Hey... yes, we have treats! We don't want to harm you..."

Emily fkashed her a concerned look, but Cris was elated and continued to say in a spothing voice: "Easy, it's safe here... what treats you want? You can eat candies? Sweets, you know?..." They had prepared buckets of fried chicken too for xarnivores, just in case: wings, nuggets and chicken legs so that hopefully every trick or treater cpuld get theor favorite picks.

Standing back at the sight of….everything! Yaaz questioned if this was a suitable first house. It was certainly spooky, with all the decorations, was that an undead horse and a giant undead beast??? maybe this wasn’t a good idea to bring the babies here for their very first trick or treating, but he knew Cris and wanted to see her again, it had been a while since the tea party when the pups were much smaller.

His smallest child Lawal, smushed his face into Yaaz’s arm and tried to be as small as possible. The two girls, Nava and Kaziah were hiding behind his legs. Nava was painted with stripes like a tiger whereas Kaziah was able to walk upright and dressed up as a tiny witch. Yavis, standing on the other side was simply dressed as a ghost, a sheet thrown over the top of him with two eye holes.
It would be unlikely that any of the babies would be able to have any sweets but it was mostly for the experience and to get out of the house, they needed to be exposed to the larger world at some point, Yaaz just hoped this wasn’t going to scare them off future outings.

...Was that movement just now over in the garden?

Indeed, someone- or something- was stalking the courtyard, its presence only noticeable by the brief flashes of light from a nearby hologram or decoration. A whip of a tail or some other slimy appendage sprouting from its back could be seen as it darted into the bushes. If one looked carefully, they could see faint red glows in the shadows. Eyes. Too many eyes.

A voice, sweet and syrupy but about as gentle as a cheese grater being rubbed against bare skin, suddenly rang out from the garden's bushes.

"Ohhhhh Kiiillljooooy...~"

The voice was drawing closer, as was the frantic rustling. Louder. Harsher. Yet it sounded so, so familiar.

"KIIIILLLJOOOOYYY!~"

It was heading straight for the porch. It was heading for Cris.

"I'M HUUUNGRYYYY!!~"

The frantic stomping from the bushes came to a stop as Mixie lunged out from her hiding place, her claws shrieking against the linoleum of the porch to slow her down in time to keep her from crashing through the wall. Eyes, too many of them, in places where they shouldn't be, locked onto Cris as Mixie came bounding forward on all six limbs in a feral burst of energy.

Finally, Mixie came to a sliding halt about a foot away from Cris, as her head- which was now nothing more than a gigantic, toothy maw, reared up and roared, right in the vigilante's face.


...It was obvious as to what Mixie was here for. The smell of fried chicken was enough to send the little maneater running.

That dealer of dark magicks was off the menu for now, as was the metal woman, the four-legged steed. Clickjaw let out a low, moaning huff that echoed softly with the cries of despair that lingered of the souls that still lingered in its gut. Disappointing. There was living flesh readily available, but for some reason, He wouldn't let Clickjaw have it. Not yet. Until.. Tiny creatures. Many of them. Unable to be visibly startled - most of its nervous system had melted into its flesh -, Clickjaw jerked its head towards the window. They heard the sounds of an excited child's voice, something they hadn't even heard often during their days of living, only to be interrupted by the masked mortal coming closer. Was she.. trying to soothe it? Clickjaw remained entirely still when Cris approached it, more confused than anything. Most prey were aware of their position, but this woman, with her strange robes and soft voice, didn't seem to understand the situation that she was in. If anything, she was the only one here who wasn't ghostly, practiced dark magicks or was made of metal.. thus: the only one who could be easily consumed. Not that her unusual sympathy for Clickjaw mattered to Him. It would only make it easier. Twitching with manic hunger, Clickjaw lowered itself to a squat, bringing its face closer to Cris, eyes staring into hers. Its long, inky tongue slithered through the air like a headless snake, ready to wrap around Cris' throat and lift her up into its maw. Close, so close.. and then, came the sparkly being. He had many colors on his hide, and brought with him four other small preys. Had Clickjaw been able to express gratitude, they certainly would have. It had asked Cris for treats, and not only did she offer herself, but five more living morsels of meat, as well! Alas, nothing good could last long, because before Clickjaw was even able to turn towards the children and prepare to feed on them, He detected another demonic presence nearby. Approaching fast, faster than Click could run without having to break some bones here and there. This one was a polar opposite of Click: while they were towering and doom-like, they were small, vicious and fearsome in a more rapid sense. Teeth and eyes were everywhere, and also unlike Click, they had no trouble speaking.. or screeching like a madman. "..yyyyyyyooouuuuuu..." Clickjaw tried to protest, ramming its knuckles into the earth as they watched. Even without sight, He knew to steer Clickjaw's eyes to remain fixed on Cris and the teethy bouncing ball. "..mmmmmmiiiiiiinnnnnnnnneeeee..." It had arrived here first, and deserved these treats just as much as any other man-eating monstrosity!

Yanfeng smiled, a bit embarrassed if anything else. It wasn't for the mischaracterization of Little Lady, but rather, the fact he went noticed. Even if it was for something good, it felt a bit awkward to be put on the spot. He did not directly answer about his involvement with the Full Moon Ranch, letting them figure it out rather than put the ranch owner up like that.

"Well, she's not a ghost, actually," he explained. "She's a feral nightmare. Metaphysical, not spiritual. Er, what we consider a corporeal body, I guess. She's like a regular horse. She just. . . feeds on fear, primarily, so she visits and causes nightmares."

He scratched his cheek. It was hard to explain. . .

"Oh, she likes peppermints, if you want-"

Before he could finish that thought, all hell broke loose. First, one horrendous creature from whatever void it crawled out of lingered towards Cris. Yanfeng positioned himself defensively, ready to summon his polearm to deal with it - strong as it may seem - until she seemed to try to. . . soothe it? Confused, he stared at her with his own mouth agape until Mixie came galloping towards the group in a manner that was almost more impressive than Little Lady.

Speaking of Little Lady, she reared her head with a whinny at the sudden arrivals. Yanfeng placed a hand on her neck and took her reigns, trying to soothe her with his words - and perhaps some of the Dark Arts to tame her. She wasn't actually intimidated herself, but upset by the lack of fear she was provided to feed off of, Yanfeng's anxiety notwithstanding. Hopefully this meant she got some sustenance soon.

"Sorry!" Yanfeng still tried to be cordial. "I guess all this excitement is making Little Lady antsy!"

Little Lady grunted at this.

Cris could not help chuckle at Yanfeng's words and reached out to have Little Lady sniff her hand. "Hey, remember me?" she asked softly, before smiling sheepishly at Yanfeng. "She'd have a field day with all the nightmares I have, this much is sure... But peppermints? Why that is great, we have them!" And she had just begun fishing in the cauldron of candies when Clickjaw moved closer. Seeing Yanfeng take a defensive stance, she gently raised a hand to reassure him." No no, no sudden moves... I have seen this creature around, they are heavily unwell but it's a positive thing they are approaching of their own will, easy..."

She turned back toward Clickjaw, and seeing the massive creature squat down, she made slow gestures toward the papier mache sarcophagus with the bowls of fried chicken treats for carnivore guests." Yes, you smell the chicken? You can have it, we have made plenty", she assured in a gentle, reassuring voice. That Clickjaw was a carnivore she assumed by the fangs, though of course that alone was no guarantee of their dietary habits, but she figured if the candies appealed to them more, they would find ways to express--

Suddenly, Clickjaw turned around, and behind them Cris saw Yaaz and the kids halting in the courtyard. "Yaaz! Hi, how great that you could visit!", she called out, still minding to not startle Clickjaw. Kneeling to be on eye level with the kids, she said playfully: "And who are these spooky guests? Surely you can't be Kaziah, Nava, Lawall and Yavis, you are much too grown", she joked, her eyes twinkling with amusement as she beamed at the kids.

Still moving slowly to not scare off Clickjaw, she began to straighten up, her intention to get around the suffering creature so she could warn Yaaz of Clickjaw's... conditions (and possibly ask if he had any clue what affliction the poor being suffered from), while also ensuring that the kids were not scared.

As it was, however, a familiar voice called out from the bushes and before she could complete the movement and straighten up fully, SUDDENLY! a too-many toothed and too-many eyed Tazmanian devil-equivalent nearly ran her over.

Emily startled and let out a startled cry, her power core skipping several beats. If her systems had detected Clickjaw as an unforeseen event, the roaring maws with limbs were flat out flagged as a critical danger, and all her subroutines flared with pop-ups urging to activate the arm cannons. However, her registry log was in for the umpteenth shock of that Halloween as Cris didn't even bat an eyelash, reassuring her: "Don't worry, ma, it's Mixie. Right in time, aren't you?" she asked to the GAPING MAWS OF DEATH. "We just got a load of fried chicken out of the fryer, it's still hot and crispy - I would have made you a trick or Treat bag with it if you did not drop by and came to look for--"

She was interrupted as Clickjaw reacted defensively, rammingtgeir knuckles on the concrete. Quickly this time, she moved to stand between Click and Mixie, not wanting two carnivores to start fighting for food on her porch, after all they both had predator instincts so it would make sense to compete for nourishment. "Easy, easy!! It's all right, we have enough chicken for everyone and there is more cooking just now as we speak", she said before Mixie could protest. "No one is going to leave without treats, alright? Don't worry!"

No sooner had she said that, when it was Little Lady's turn to whinny in what she took to be anxiety at the two predators. "Sorry! You're right, sweetie", she apologized to the nightmare, "I promised you peppermints and then got distracted, forgive me?" Her eyes, however, were full of enthusiasm. Their little Halloween setup seemed quite successful! "Quite a lot of people, huh? It's awesome, I hope this is the beginning of a great Halloween for everyone", she said, fishing out a packet of peppermints and pouring some on her palm, which she offered to Little Lady. Then she closed the packet again and gave it to Yanfeng, smiling. "What about you, what are your favorite candies? Ma - can you give Mixie one of the wings buckets as a snack to munch on? If you don't mind staying around until we finish distributing here, I can look for a bigger container to take away... or you can just take the cauldron once it's empty", she added to Mixie, knowing that a single bucket would not be enough for the demon's Neverending hunger. Meanwhile, she gestured reassuringly for Yaaz and the kids to come forth ad get the candies, while waiting to see for which food variety Clickjaw would go.

"OH right, sorry--" Emily stammered as she turned to the sarcophagus and took one of the XL chicken wings buckets, handing it to Mixie. "I uh... Didn't recognize you, er - like this..." she awkwardly pointed to the MAWS OF DEATH that were Mixie's face. She had heard of her from Cris, of course, and she had a memory log from a conga line but no record of - well... This.

Although disappointed that Cris didn't even bat an eye at being roared at by a vaguely-eldritch abomination, Mixie got quite the kick out of Emily's startled reaction. She tilted her head back to let out a gargling cackle, before sighing with satisfaction and turning to address Cris. At least, that was the plan before Mixie was alerted to Clickjaw's moaning.

She recognized the beast. Didn't it show up on her porch last year for something to eat? Yes, she could've sworn she coughed up part of her own dinner for it to eat- she was in a particularly good mood that night- and gave it that instead of candy. It likes the taste of flesh... and it was getting defensive now that Mixie was standing so close to Cris.

Mixie pieced the puzzle together quickly.

The vigilante positioned herself between the two of them, like she were trying to keep them apart. Mixie let out a low growl, before glaring at Clickjaw and allowing the majority of her mouths to smirk.

"Ohhhh, I get it," Mixie laughed. "You're not here for chicken, are ya? Hmmmm, yeah, sucks to suck, doll! If anyone's gonna eat Killjoy, it's gonna be ME. Got it?"

The many smiling mouths began to salivate heavily as Mixie smelled the aforementioned chicken. Cris guided her towards Emily, who had the chicken, effectively putting a stop to what could have been a bit of a brawl on the porch. Some eyes remained focused on Clickjaw as Mixie stalked her way over towards the tasty fried treats.

"Awwww, what's the matter? Don't like it?" Mixie casually chatted up with Emily, before taking a wing and biting into it. The crunch of the chicken's bone was horrific, as Mixie was chewing it up as if it were a potato chip. "I'm not changin' my face back tonight, y'know. I've gotta keep it terrifyin'! Gotta give all the kids one last good scare before I-"

A couple of eyes darted over in Cris' general direction, as if the demon didn't want Cris to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"...Before I, well, y'know," For emphasis, Mixie grabbed another chicken wing from the bucket, waving it around a little before tossing it into the air and catching it with a deafening snap of her jaws.

Mixie chuckled evilly. It seemed she was trying to get another reaction out of Emily. Though this time, she wanted to focus less on startling, and more, well... Invoking actual fear.

Having seen so many slaughters occur at its own rotting fingertips, Clickjaw wasn't sure how to deal with a situation where it was surrounded by so many living, unkilled people. Its malformed gut craved the taste of living essence, yet He was very adamant about suppressing its urge to feast. He wanted to remain idle for a minute. He wanted to observe. Clickjaw recalled seeing the blonde-maned demon many moons ago, back during the previous installment of this strange Earth ritual. She had been far more agreeable back then- they'd even offered a piece of meat, dead at that, but meat nonetheless. Yet out here, far away from her home turf, it appeared that a sense of competition and predatory jealousy had gotten ahold of her. Not unexpected. It wasn't often that two cannibals crossed paths, and He was fascinated by how the many-teethed creature went out of her way to claim what He'd lain eyes on first. Yes, feasting on the Fox-Masked Woman would certainly prove a point.. but that was the way a regular Therion would act, and He had no interest at all in emulating the arrogant, domineering nature of His avatar. He'd only really chosen a Therion as His vessel for their impressive size and physique.. and even that seemed to be fading, with how He'd mutilated Clickjaw. Ah, well. If terror and aggression were the Competitor's style, He would deal in dread. Creeping, unnerving, quiet dread, like a cancer spreading across innocent flesh. That was why it remained perfectly still as Mixie taunted it, staring through the metaphorical fabric of her being as she sauntered about, ate her fried chicken and terrorized the metallic grandmother of their humble and seemingly fearless host. Though, with so many around, it was hardly possible to focus on one visitor at the time. As Clickjaw silently reached its long, black tongue-tendril across the porch to steal a chicken wing out of Mixie's bucket, it began to bend its head around. Unable to move or blink its dead, eternally gawking eyes, it cracked its neck in an uncanny position to stare directly at Yanfeng and Yaaz, just towering high enough above them to have its stare land ambigiously between them. They weren't demons, but carried with them a strong magickal aura that intrigued Him. "..hhhhhhhhhhhoooooooowwwww..ddddddoooooo..yyyyyouuuu.." it began, though halfway through, as usual, its not-speech-adjusted larynx began to falter, and blood dripped on its muddy paws. "..ffffeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssstttt..?" By how agonizing its forced speech was, it was likely that Clickjaw - or rather, He - would've asked a more intricely-worded question if He could've, so it was really up to the duo of very differently magickally-inclined guys to figure out what Click really meant by this. All that He could really hope for was that these unknown mortal-shaped strangers realized that the grotesquely malformed Therion wasn't croaking about fried chicken.

This…might have been a bad idea Yaaz was quickly believing and waved in a shy manner to Cris with his free hand. The babies had rarely been outside by this point and it was obvious they were frightened. “You seem to be busy..with….everything…..I think we might come back another time…” maybe in a few years when the pups were A LOT bigger and able to look at a giant mutant Therion without crying as Lawal and Nava were now doing.

Mixie's words to Click would have made Cris chuckle - if something Clickjaw's size had wanted to attack, it would be far more similar to the carnage Sprite's Therion hsd ubleashed on the goons who tried to threaren them out of a hospital some time prior, while here they were approaching a crowded porch and asking for food treats in an overall calm way - when she caught note of the implications and bared fangs.

Was Mixie actually - in her own cannibalistic way, but she wouldn't be Mixie otherwise - attempting to... defend her? That... chuffed Cris because it came out if the blue, while thry had had each other's back it had been in an actual combst situation, but the unexpected gesture had her look up with a mix of surprise and gratefulness as she hastened to assure: "It's okay, Mixie, they don't seem to be on a hunt. Probably they just smelled the chicken from a distance and--" her words were cut short by a sound if children crying.

Maybe it was a motherhood side effwct but seeing a child in tears was one of Cris's greatest weak spots. Forgetting for the moment even her good natured attempt to not startle Clickjaw, she quickly grabbed some handful candies from the cauldron and ran around Click's massive shape in a beeline to Yaz's frightened kids. "No no no, don't cry, it's allright! Look how many candies there are, take them!" She offered, kneeling to be on the kids eyes level and opening her hands in a reassuring offer of sweets. Then she straightened and quietly whispered to Yaaz: "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to get them scared... want to go indoors snd have them play with Reyn and Chiara while I finish here?" She shook her head, honestly saddened that their first visit to her world was proving too scary for the little ones - it reminded her of when poor Kiran had been startled by her household robots! Throwinf a quick glance in Clickjaw's direction, she explained in a sorry tone: "I couldn't imagine they would get this close you see, whenever I have seen them in the past they were keeping to themselves, I think they are really ill-- but a doctor is going to help them feel better", she added in a louder voice smiling reassuringly at the kids in case they caught the word 'ill' and it scared them again. Then, hushed again, she continued, looking at Yaaz with concern: "... and I couldn't just not give them anything or scare them, if they see it's safe they may allow a medic or a healer to approach next time... but I'd hate if this accident ruins your Halloween so if you want to go inside until they leave or trick or treat some other house nearby and then come back? Whichever you prefer..."

She was still midway in her spology when Click spoke up. And Cris being Cris, she did not only think that the question wss meant for everyone present rsther than just Yaaz and Ysnfeng but that it was absolutely about fried chicken. Turning to look at the hulking creature, she smiled sheepishly behind the mask. "Well, mostly we share food - usually candies but not only - woth those who visit and ask for it, and they wesr costumes that we can admire and praise, again costumes can be spooky or not... it's, well, mostly about having fun." She wasn't sure how much of her explanation would be understandable as she moved back toward the sarcophagus (tracing a safe route for Yaaz and the kids if they decided to indeed go inside), took two buckets of chicken nuggets - she was not sure if bobes were safe in Clickjaw's conditions - and extended then toward the creature's blsck tongue. "Here... take them. Don't be afraid! It's chicken, nommy! Er - it means good! Take it", she repeated, encouragingly.

As for Emily, she was trying to loom directly at the MAWS OF DEATH as little as possible. Despite all of Cris's stories and her overall ease, every single security protocol in Emily's programming was going red alert sbout Mixie. "Oh - no no, it's a very... uh... unique appearance and perfect for Halloween", she stammered, trying to hide her discomfort. "I just didn't immediately match it with..." when Mixue caught the chicken leg mid air and crunched it like an extra crispy chip, a small "Ew!" escaped Emily, who tried to conceal it fir a cough, with poor results. "I, er, I'm sure you will startle a lot of people with your... dusguise, and get plenty of..." Clearly candies could not interest Mixie but she'd rather not think about what other treats--

"Mixie", Cris called out from over her shoulder, in a playfullt scolding tone, "don't pester 'your grandma'!" Playing on Mixie's complain that Cris wasn't her mother was part of their usual banter, but Emily cpuld not repress snother little stifled cry of "Ew!"

Little Lady was dismayed to be granted only peppermints in place of her main sustenance. Unfortunately, fear offered by a machine - though genuine - did not count for nightmares. At least, picky feral ones, such as Little Lady, didn't accept it. Thus, when she was presented the peppermints, the holes that formed her maw gaped open and leaned towards Cris' hand, but horizontally rather than vertically. Seeing this, Yanfeng quickly swiped off the sweets, gently bonking Little Lady on the snout as he did so, though it was an accident. Luckily, it also worked as a preventative measure for any potentially lost fingers.

"Thank you!" Yanfeng was quick to speak. "I'll feed these to her later. She'll enjoy them, I'm sure. A special Samhain treat for her would be nice."

The nightmare blinked slowly, nostrils flaring as she huffed. If anthropomorphized, perhaps this could be construed as frustration rather than simply a gesture at having her nose touched. Regardless, she shook her head, ears flopping before they perked up when she stopped. Crying. . . ?

Yes, those 'foals' were crying. They were afraid. Simply terrified of the beasts before them. And for Little Lady, it smelled delicious. Smoky wafted from her form and creeped subtly around Yaaz. It was harmless and didn't seem to have any outward affect, but Little Lady feasted until they were reassured.

Meanwhile, Yanfeng scowled up at the monstrous Therion, both defensively and to try and understand them. Unsure if this was genuine curiosity or a precursor to something, he decided to entertain them for now.

"I feast on anything humans do," was his response. Great work, Yanfeng. "I help monsters feast, but only under certain conditions."

Even though Yanfeng spoke in simple sentences, whether this was understood was unknown to him. Still, he didn't seem to keen on giving the beast the time of day. His turn towards Little Lady is sharp as he tightened his grip on her reigns. He was uncertain if he should leave while these beasts were around. He might as well stay, in case he needed to protect the people here. It wouldn't be like an exorcist to abandon innocents, especially during Samhain.

"Oh!" Finally, Cris' question reached his teller. He seemed nonchalant about Mixie eating the chicken like chips - Snowy would probably do the same. "I like fruit candies. I don't care for chocolate much, but I don't mind anything you have to offer. Thank you!"

It was better than saying he outright disliked it, even though that was true.

Thsnks goodness, Little Lady seemed somewhat less alarmed than Emily snd way less scared than Yaaz and Curly's kids: Cris turned to smile at the nightmare as she huffed. Tendrils of smoke werw stretching out from her shape, but Yanfeng did not seem slarmed so she assumed it was nothing negative or an indication that she was uncomfortable.

"Everyone's getting a treat until we run out, and we have tons!", she chuckled. At Yamfeng's words she sounded interested. "Oh, you also work at helping cryptids?... One of these days we have to speak business", she said. In their earlier encounters it had never really come up what either of them did for a living, but it sounded like Yanfeng was the kind of person whi might be interested to hear about the plans for the Embassy.

"Fruit candies? On the way!" She sorted through the candues packages in the cauldron snd fished out three. One was decorated by a shiny-looking fruit and contained traditional wrapped candies. "This is a mix of hard candues and gelees
.. there is strawberry, lemon, orange, blueberries, bananas, apples and... grapes, I think", looking at the colors to make sure she dud not forget anything. "These ones instead", she raised a packet with green candies skrinkled with what seemed minced nut zesr, "is Bronte pistachio, you like pistachio? And these..." the third package contained the same sort of minkature fruit that decorated the first, "are frutta martorana, an italian tradition - made from almond paste and hand-sculpted and painted, bit each flavored after the fruit it reptesents." She smiled. "Which one you'd prefer? Or all three?.."

Yanfeng kept a close eye on the beasts' further actions, Little Lady included. Even while she drank in the cries of the innocent, at least she wasn't harming anybody. Currently. Side-eying Clickjaw for a second, he turned back to Cris and was positively bombarded by options. He eyed the package with the painted almond paste the longest before looking to Cris, brows raised.

"All three? You're serious?"

He didn't take her to be joking, but her generosity truly knew no bounds. She had a good heart about her, that much was for certain. Especially considering how she treated man-eating monstrosities.

"Oh, I can't take all three. That'd be too much!" Though it was Halloween, Yanfeng wasn't sure of how to accept a gift of the season and thus turned it down. As was tradition in China.

Much of the candy wasn't even going to himself and would certainly gain him the favor of the allied ghosts, but he didn't want to rob Cris blind. At least, it felt that way!

"I do like the sound of the last one though. The. . . frui-da mor-da-rana?" Having been speaking in a translated version of Mandarin Chinese, it was prominently accented. He leaned in a bit closer to observe the traditional desserts, still gripping Little Lady's reigns firmly as he stood next to her.

"They're beautiful," he added. "I can't imagine eating them will be easy. Not because they aren't tasty, but because they're so artful. Are you really sure I can have this?"

It felt different to accept candies for Little Lady. She was an 'animal,' after all. The possibility of her becoming disgruntled aside. . .

Cris's eyes smiled behind the mask. "It's not a problem, really! If you want all three you can have them, I made sure we had a lot so everyone could take what they want", she gestured to the cauldron, filled to the brim. "We aren't running out anytime soon! Just don't eat all three packets at once... unless you can eat as much as Mixie", she joked, glancing playfully at the MAWS OF DEATH.

When he expressed interest in the frutta martorana, she happily let him take the packet. "Ah yes, there is a lot of artcraft that goes in those, but they are decorated so we because they are meant to be enjoyed! I'm the ancient traditions they were offered to the spirits of the departed together with other sweets and candies in a canopy... These days they are rare to find but the Mooncake believes in preserving traditions, like sculpted almond paste. It was such a cool surprise to find them, I knew I had to include them in the Halloween supplies", she explained brightly.

The scent from the package was faintly sweet, resembling a mix between soft candy and maezipan, plus the additional fruits scents.