Forums » General Roleplay » Trick or Treat: Sunny Pines Funeral Home

Sunny Pines Funeral Home, a large Victorian style house converted into a place of business, was always big on opening activities for the general public. They liked to be part of the community, this year was a Trunk-and-Treat. Their little parking lot filled with cars each with an open trunk where volunteers passed out candy to boys and girls who could walk around the lot and not worry about getting run over in the streets. Seeing as the funeral home was in fact a family friendly kind of place, they chose to offer this service just after sundown for a few hours, nothing too late of course. Large floodlights and strung up glowing pumpkins offered ample ability to see and the numerous amount of jock-o-lanterns filled with electric tealights offered that halfway spooky ambiance kids could easily handle.

Willy, the groundskeeper, stood by the front door of Sunny Pines handing out small paper cups filled with warm spiced cider that came straight from the staff kitchen. Nobody but staff were allowed inside, though there was no reason they should go anyway, seeing that the event was in the parking lot. She dressed as a black cat with a little black tutu and cat ears made of fake fur. On the table beside Willy sat a cornucopia of papers from youth basketball signups to cooking classes at the Jr college. She passed out fliers on life insurance and family grief counselling. Perhaps it was macabre, but people needed to think about what came next after death. It was only fair to one-self and their family, and what better time to do it than in the fun of a safe family oriented event where all the kids were easy to watch and account for. Adults were free to take candy too, but mostly the event was geared towards kids and the odd ‘child at heart.’

When Zach rocked up the Sunny Pines Funeral home, he realized it had been more than several months since he'd last been around...maybe even a year. It was hard to keep track sometimes, dates blurring by far too fast for his liking. But he was back in town and just in time for Halloween festivities. He knew how much it meant to Willy and his cousin Abby, so really the fact that he was back now meant he had perfect timing.

As he walked up to the entrance, trying to be as careful as he could in not stepping off the sidewalk or tripping over his own feet, it was soon revealed that he had a massive cat head on his head. It looked like it was something that was supposed to be for a mascot costume, except less campy and not as dirty, but it was also not the type of animal heads that furies used at conventions.

He managed to get himself to approach Willy and said, "Trick or treat. I would like a skeleton, please." If the voice didn't give away who it was to the Funeral Home worker, then surly the fully visible tattoos on his hands would. No one else had them in the exact same arrangement or pattern. He turned to face a toddler dressed in a lady bug costume that was staring at him oddly before saying loudly, "BOO!" The laughter that came from him was amused as the kid ran back screaming to their mom, wailing even louder with every inhaled breath she took.

Willy kept her eye on the crowd, and on the approaching head as Zach moved closer, about to offer him a flier and a cup of cider when she heard the voice. It brought a smile to her lips past the polite one used for the crowds of kids, she hadn't heard it in way too long.

"ZACH!" She laughed and offered up a quick hug before going back to what she was doing, passing a cup of cider to a young girl in a pretty princess dress. From the blue she could only guess it was Cinderella, but who's to really say? As the girl tottered away she continued, "Sorry, we respectfully bury people before they are skeletons, and I'm not going to get the shovel so you're out of lock tonight." She laughed as he scared one of the kids and half scolded him.

"Now now, don't be cruel!" But it might be hard to take her seriously as she was laughing. "Why don't you take your head off and have some cider? I'm sure you'd be more comfortable. Are you here for the candy? I mean, you have always been a big kid after all."

Zach returned the hug to Willy, laughing deeply even though it was kinda hard to hear with the cat-head. "Wiiiilly!" he shouted back to her, but again...his voice was muffled because of the 'costume' that he wore. "Well, that's unfortunate that I can't get my skeleton, buuuut, guess I have to settle with harassing you instead," he said.

"Cruel? Cruel?! You think I was cruel?" he asked, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. Finally, he pulled the cat head off his head, letting out a heavy breath. A finger went up and raked through his longish hair at the top of his head. He let out a breath of relief, "Ya. Candy please. And cider. And hey, ya need help passing out that candy or papers or anything? I have hands and they're not useless."

He turned around and peered into the candy bowl that Willy had sitting on a table, pursing his lips slightly as he looked at the various options he had. "Fruit or chocolate? Fruit? Or chocolate?"

Willy laughed, "I think harassment is supposed to be unwanted, not that you'd be good at it if this was some sort of harassment. You've always been far too charming." She shook her head with another laugh and placed her fist to his shoulder giving the young man a shove.

"You got it, candy and a cup of cider." While Zach tried to pick out what he wanted she plucked out two, both chocolate and fruity and shoved them into his hands. "There's no reason why you need to choose, plus, if you're going to be helping me with the fliers you deserve it." When she was sure she could let the candy go and it would be his own fault if they fell, Willy reached for one of the extra full cups and held it out for him. "I am glad you're here though, I wasn't expecting to be working on Halloween this year and as adorable as these kids are it's not exactly the most exciting." She giggled, watching a toddler dressed like a minion teeter along beside his guardian as his overalls began to fall down a touch too far. The woman, who Willy assumed to be his mother, caught it soon and pulled the baggy, homemade costume up and back over his shoulders before picking the kid up to carry him to the next trunk.

"I'm sure with you by mu side" Willy said, turning her attention back to Zach, "We could hand out twice as many fliers, but be warned, you might get hit on by single moms." With a wink to him she reached out a flier to another parent who thanked her and took the paper they were likely not going to read. That was okay, they were at an event where their kid would be safe and that's what mattered.

There was a mock gasp that came from the musician. "Willow Rose, did you just call me charming?" he asked as he took the few steps back, playing along with her being so strong that she could actually shove him away whenever she wanted. His hand managed to grab the cup of cider that was shoved out towards him, trying not to spill that all over the place had him distracted and he was barely able to get his hand around the candy before she let them go. Hearing and watching them drop onto the porch, he let out a playful complaint, "Awh man. I didn't want floor candy. If I wanted floor candy, I would've bashed in a pinata."

Leaning down to pick up the little fun sized things, he straightened up, only to put them into the plastic pumpkin bucket of...a cat? A bat? A soot sprite? He couldn't really tell. All he knew was that the costume was black and fuzzy. He gave the kid a pat on the head and said, "There ya go." Taking a long drink of his cider, he watched the kid bounce off to the next place to get some treats before arching a brow at Willy.

"Are you saying that because you want me to get hit on by single mothers?" Zach asked, giving her a mildly bewildered look. "You just want me to be a father already and I'm not ready for that type of commitment. Besides, shouldn't you be giving Abby grief about giving you children and babies to dote over? She's far more along in that aspect than I'll ever be...You know me, I've thought about calming down so many times, but..." He shrugged. "Anyway, what about you? Who're you making hearteyes at now since it's not me? I can tell I've lost your love since you're trying to marry me off." He was teasing her right back.

"Don't you judge floor candy." Willy chastised with a laugh. "It's just as good as bowl or hand candy. Besides, if you wanted it to stay off the ground, you shouldn't have dropped it." It was clear she was teasing him, one of the groundskeeper's favorite things to to whenever Zach was around.

"I'm saying that because you are going to but it's also funny to watch you squirm a little bit." She glanced over to him as she handed out another colorful piece of paper. "Yeah, you're right, you'd make a terrible father. But Abby isn't here to get my grief sooooo her blood relative is the next best thing." Smiling wide she grabbed a piece of candy and tossed it at Zach hoping he wouldn't drop it this time.

"Why, Zach, I will always be making heart eyes at you. Forever. I'm just deflecting and playing coy while I wait for you to pick me up and whisk me away in your white horse. Every girl wants a tattooed DJ for a prince." She wasn't really wrong, he got lots of attention, just not from her, not like that anyway. "I for sure don't have my eye on a cute garbageman with a funny accent and a liking for gas station beer. That would be weird." Glancing at her watch Willy tapped it with her finger as if to prove a point that yes, she could tell time.

"Event ends in about an hour, want to come over after and have a bowl of cereal? My treat."

Zach gave Willy a look, one that was supposed to be something serious, like he was going to give her a lecture...but he couldn't keep that expression for long. Soon he was laughing deeply, smiling wide and shaking his head. "Have you gotten into the candy? Because you're acting hyper and wriggly and I don't think I have to put up with this abuse," he teased her. Seeing that she was reaching for the candy, he shoved his hands firmly in his pocket and made a big show about wincing, turning his head and letting things fall to the ground. "Oh geeze, there you go, making ground candy again..."

Taking his hands out of his pocket, he leaned down and picked up the piece of candy, giving it to the next kid that came toddling along. He could always raid the leftovers, or the girls' cabinets later on. "I'll have you know that nothing replaces tormenting Abby. So when she comes back from whatever she's doing, we'll gang up on her," he said with a laugh.

Placing a hand on the middle of his chest, he looked at Willy, his expression softening playfully in a show, "Always making heart eyes at me? I'm touched. But sorry, babe, I don't have a white horse. Will a white Tesla do? It's the next best thing..." But Zach rose his brows upwards, a smile coming wider on his lips as she gave him that little tidbit of information. "Ooooh, you doooooon't??" he asked, drawing out the words, but there was a knowing look on his face. "Well, I'd try to be overprotective of you, but Abby tells me that the certain garbage man is someone super close to you all. And that he sticks up for you two. And Roman and his dog likes him. So hey, can't go wrong with that stamp of approval. Not unless you want me to do the weird overprotective thing and shake him up a bit," he added with a wink.

"Yeah, okay. I'll come in for some cereal. But if it's your treat, then I'm eating TWO boxes. And you can't stop me. Just no ground milk, please, okay?" he asked with a mock pout.