#ft flare

inktober day 20: Young 

Treat for Flare Corona x Risley Law

Trick for Beth Vanderwood x Arana Webb.

Ah yes! Thank you for your patience; I will be attending to those soon, hopefully! Slowly slogging my way through requests! 

Old Habits, New Traditions

Flare’s eyes were wide and her eyebrows cinched as she watched Araña and Beth string papercraft bats from the second-floor banister of the guild’s upper level. Her head slowly cocked, ear approaching her shoulder, as her eyes beheld the little black crafts bobbing up and down with every jostle of the string on which they were suspended. She was unsure what the little papercrafts represented— as well as the pumpkins with faces carved in them or the skeletons in funny hats propped in the corner. 

It was clear that some sort of celebration was happening, but she had no idea what. 

Flare continued to stare owlishly at the strange decorations adorning the hall of Mermaid Heel as Risley Law came bundling down the steps, little paper ghosts wiggling stubby arms at her with every bounce of her body. Flare had only been a member of Mermaid Heel for a few months, so she wondered if this was perhaps some bizarre tradition to usher in the autumn season, or a strange ceremony to of some kind. 

Risley plopped the paper ghosts onto the table  in front of Flare with a satisfied sigh. When she noticed Flare gawking impishly at the little decorations, she smiled kindly. 

“Hey, Flare, what’s up?” 

Flare gestured generically around the room undergoing the odd transformation. 

“What is all this for?” she inquired with another cock of her head. Risley stared quietly her for a moment, and then broke out into a large grin. 

“Don’t you know it’s Halloween?” When Flare shook her head and slowly echoed the foreign term, Risley’s amused smile softened into one of endearing. “Halloween is a national holiday. You put up lots of spooky decorations, carve pumpkins, and on Halloween night, you go trick-or-treating to get lots of free candy!” she explained enthusiastically while taking the paper ghosts and placing them in the middle of the guild hall tables as centerpieces. Araña and Beth followed with black candles. 

Flare considered Risley’s explanation with wide eyes. The Sun Village had no such tradition, yet they were a different culture with different holidays, so she supposed it made sense. Flare began to follow Risley around to pester her with the many questions springing into her brain. Her curiosity overtook her mind sometimes, so gleaning all the information she could about a novel topic to the point of annoyance was an old habit Flare had yet to break. Risley never minded, though. The girl patiently answered all her questions about the strange new event, describing its rich history of ghouls and ghosts. 

Risley paused at a giant black cauldron that had been placed near the guild hall door with a light chuckle. “Regardless of the history, now, it’s a children’s holiday. They dress up in cute costumes and adults give them free candy; that’s called trick-or-treating. Mermaid Heel organizes the largest event for Halloween night, so kids of all ages come here to get candy and play games.”

Now that Flare noticed, little games and other fun activities had been set up around the guild hall while she had been tailing Risley. Risley dunked her hand into the cauldron to procure some wrapped taffy, holding it out to Flare. The red-haired mage took it with a infantile look, unsure what to do with it, while Risley swung open the massive oaken doors of the guild. Flare jumped as a cacophony of delighted screams filled her ears, emanating from the crowd of children gathered at the entrance. 

“So, as Mermaid Heel’s newest mage, would you like to be the first to greet the children of our beautiful city?” Risley asked with a smirk. Flare blinked slowly, holding the candy to her chest, while a little girl in sparkly wings and a tutu bashfully approached and beseeched her with big, cute eyes. 

“Trick or treat!” the child smiled while holding out a pink plastic bag. 

Flare smiled and dropped the taffy into the bag, then patted the girl’s head. She rather liked this holiday, if it meant she could be blessed with so many smiling faces. 

Enjoy this drabble? Feel free to find more on my Table of Contents!

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Arachnophobia

Beth’s eyes were lidded in contentment as she fluffed the blooms of the special black and orange potted flowers the guildmaster had purchased to adorn their entranceway. The colorful blossoms were the perfect way to usher in the fall season, and the month of October especially, and Beth always thoroughly enjoyed arranging the pots around the great doorway of the guild. Though Beth’s specialty was vegetables, she had a green thumb in general. 

“There you go,” Beth hummed as she grabbed the plastic spray bottle beside her and spritzed fresh water onto the plants. “Drink up!” She could almost imagine the plants absorbing the moisture instantly. As the autumn night breeze rolled through, the green leaves and bright blossoms fluttered, and Beth imagined they were waving gratefully at her. 

“Now, then. Plenty of work to do inside, too,” she sighed, brushing soil off the legs of her overalls before standing. As she removed her gardening gloves and tucked them into her back pocket, a commotion above her head caught her attention. The redhead blinked as she craned her head back to peer at the windows lining the second story. One of them was open. 

“Beth! Look out!” came Risley’s panicked voice. 

Beth narrowed her eyes in confusion; there seemed to be nothing the matter, at least not in her eyes. However, a large black speck soon came plummeting from the window, and before she could move, the mystery item plopped onto her face. Beth crossed her eyes to look at the dark blob on her nose, finding eight legs attached to a lumpy body and eight pairs of beady white eyes shining at her. 

Beth’s screech pierced the peaceful night air, echoing into the distance and startling a flock of crows from the rooftop next door. 

“Get it off, get it off, get it off, get it ooooooff!” she wailed as she charged through the doorway into the common room. She tore around blindly, upending chairs and spilling drinks with her flailing arms. “Help! Somebody help me! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh; I’m gonna die! Help! Help! Help!” 

Beth continued to run in circles around the room until Araña rose from her chair to snatch her by the collar of her overalls. Beth’s legs had been churning so fast that her feet still carried her lower body a foot, making her legs swing out from under her. Her upper body dangled from Araña’s strong grip as her feet swung back towards her. 

“Help... Araña... Spider...” she whimpered pathetically. The older woman tutted understandingly and reached up to pluck the spidar from Beth’s face by a leg. Beth immediately sagged in relief, but the feeling of its spindly feet on the bridge of her nose haunted her skin for several seconds more. She was so busy basking in the joy of the life that had been spared that she didn’t notice Araña click her tongue. 

“Beth?” 

“Huh?” 

“This is made of plastic.” 

Beth’s face bloomed a bright apple red as her guildmates burst into laughter. Risley, the apparent instigator of the prank, rolled on the floor holding her belly and kicking her legs. Beth curled in on herself, mortified to have fallen victim to such an obvious trick. I just made a huge fool of myself... 

“Beth?” 

Beth flinched as Araña spoke again, thinking she was going to be scolded for making such a fuss. Araña’s face bloomed with a serene smile, however, and she patted Beth’s head. 

“Don’t worry about it, sweetie. I thought you looked so cute!” 

Beth blushed fiercely again, but this time with a weensy smile. Beth tossed the fake spider on the table and the grinned, looping her arm around Beth’s neck and bringing her glossed lips close to Beth’s ear. 

“Now... Let’s see about getting revenge on Risley for that stunt, hmm...?”