paixaorpg | Certainly Not Halloween Town [Active]

Entry tags:

Certainly Not Halloween Town [Active]

Character(s): Sally, Mia Fey
Content: Sally arrives in Paixao. Mia Fey arrives moments after.
Setting: Vanaheim Gate
Time: afternoon
Warnings: none

She wasn't certain how she had managed to get quite this lost. Just moments before, Sally had been picking herbs--she was running low on deadly nightshade, amongst other things--and what had been perhaps one wrong turn in the graveyard on her way back home had led to... This.

"This" being a large gate formed by two large trees, with a short line of blond-haired humans waiting to get in whatever was inside the gate. This certainly wasn't Halloween Town, and of what little she knew of the surrounding area, it wasn't that, either. Unless she had gotten spectacularly lost in an extraordinarily short amount of time, which didn't seem possible given she had not traveled for more than ten minutes.

As there was no other sign of a place which might help her, she fell into line to enter the gate. She peered at the city inside the gates as she waited. The entire place seemed to sparkle, and Sally couldn't help but be a bit awed at such a place. It was nothing like Halloween Town, that was certain.

"Name, please?" a man, presumably guarding the gate, asked, startling her out of her reverie.

"O-oh! It's Sally," the rag doll said, smiling uncertainly. "U-um, do you know where this is?"

"This is Paixao," the gatekeeper said, handing her a thin violet machine and a few papers. "That's your journal, and some information on the city. Enjoy your stay."

She was shooed into the gate before she could ask anything more. And now, alone, with nothing more than a strange machine, a brochure, and pockets full of herbs and thread, she stared at the city before her and had no idea what to do now.

If Jack were here, Sally thought, he would know what to do.

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Mia stood before the huge gates, looking up at them with unabashed awe. She had never seen anything quite like this place; Los Angeles, while a nice enough place to live and work, had no such impressive monuments, unless one counted the Hollywood sign—and her own apartment and office had been dreadfully, regrettably boring. What she could see of the city beyond the gates looked fantastic, another world of spires and strange buildings and cobbled streets under what seemed like a great dome—what a place this must be to live! Was this really heaven? Mia had always pictured clouds and halos and fat, naked cherubs, but there seemed to be nothing of that variety around.

With some slight trepidation, but overcome by curiosity, Mia moved forward to join the line queued in front of the gates. These must be the recently dead, like she was—well, not that she was recently dead. And there were some awfully strange figures among the crowd, men and women dressed in fantastic clothes, and—was that a talking chipmunk? But the creature was gone through the gates before Mia could get a better look.

The line was moving along efficiently, and it wasn’t long before she stood at the threshold of those great gates, so amazed by the sight of them that the woman who seemed to be directing the line had to say “hello” twice before Mia realized she was being addressed.

“Oh! Sorry. Hi.” Mia smiled at the woman, who smiled back. St. Pete she was not, but she seemed friendly.

“May I have your name, please?” the woman asked.

“Of course—it’s Mia Fey.”

“Thank you.” The woman handed her a little device that reminded her of a Palm Pilot. “This is yours. It’s an electronic journal, and you can use it to communicate with anyone in the city. Please proceed when you’re ready.”

And that was when it suddenly hit her—this was it, she was moving on. Mia Fey was really and truly moving on. Some new certainty told her that Maya wasn’t going to be able to channel her anymore; this was a place beyond the life she had known as a defense attorney, beyond the people who had been her friends, her family, her supporters. Once she walked through those gates, there was no going back.

She had few regrets. She had died young, it was true, but she had the satisfaction of helping to jail her own murderer, and knowing that her work would be continued long after she was gone. But to truly let go—especially of the people she had loved, and still loved—that was far more painful than dying.

But Mia had already learned, years ago, what it was like to have to let go of a loved one. Squaring her shoulders, she said one last, final goodbye in her mind, hoping that her voice would be heard by the people she’d left behind, and walked forward into the city.

Sally was still standing uncertainly near the gate when she spotted a woman moving past her. Her dark brown hair stood out against the blonds the city seemed to be primarily composed of, and furthermore, she didn't look as confused as Sally thought she must have. Maybe Sally could ask this woman for more information?

She hesitated a moment, though, even after deciding to approach. Sally was used to remaining in the background even in the town she'd lived in all her life. But this wasn't Halloween Town, and that was the problem. If she wanted to find a way home, she would have to ask someone.

She took a hesitant step forward, and then proceeded with more confidence, even if she did keep her journal clutched tightly to her chest.

"Ex.. Excuse me," Sally said, at first timidly but then raising her voice a bit so she could be better heard. "Do you live here?"

Mia clutched the Palm Pilot-journal close to her chest as she stepped into the city, looking around curiously. The sadness of crossing over was momentarily forgotten as she took in her new home, its old-fashioned looking building and strange people, many very pale figures with blond hair and others like nothing she had ever imagined before--like the woman who appeared at her elbow and spoke to her.

Mia did a double-take, her mouth falling open in shock. The woman looked like a life-sized rag doll haphazardly sewn together. Her first thought was that it must be make-up, but looking closer...her skin actually looked like fabric, the stitching like real black thread. If it was make-up, it was extremely convincing.

C'mon, Fey, this is the afterlife, she chided herself. Who knows what kind of people you're going to meet here? The thought reassured her, and Mia was able to offer a sincere smile back, ducking her head apologetically for her rude reaction.

"I'm so sorry! I'm new here--I didn't mean to stare like that. I guess I do live here now. My name's Mia Fey."

Sally watched the Mia's reaction uncertainly--she had never gotten surprised looks at her appearance before. But, she reminded herself, this wasn't home, and the people here did seem to all look far more similar to one another than she was used to. Maybe rag dolls weren't all that common here. When Mia smiled, Sally offered a smile in return.

"I'm Sally," she said. "I just got here, too, though I think I got lost somehow... Unless I'm supposed to live here now?"

The thought was a distressing one. Sally liked living in Halloween Town; the idea that she might one day have to leave wasn't one she had considered. It didn't seem possible for her to be so far from home.

"Do you know anything about this place?" Sally asked, feeling a bit helpless.

"It's nice to meet you, Sally." Mia offered her hand to shake, very curious to find out what Sally's fabric-looking skin would feel like.

"You're lost? Where did you come from?" Mia's first instinct was to help the woman find her way back home--but then again, if this really was the afterlife, there was probably no going home at all. "Well...I couldn't say for sure. I just got here myself. But I have a feeling that I'm here to stay.

"Maybe we could look around together?" she offered.

Sally accepted the handshake, glad to have found someone friendly right away. The rag doll was not so naive as to think everyone in the city would be so nice to a complete stranger.

"I'm from Halloween Town," Sally said. "I took a wrong turn, I think, and then I ended up here... Where were you from?"

"That would be nice," Sally said, smiling a bit more. She had gotten lucky, finding someone she could explore with right away. She didn't want to be in a strange city all by herself.

She really was made of cloth. Mia was amazed.

"Halloween Town? Never heard of...though I've heard of Halloween, of course. My sister and I always used to go as witches." Mia smiled at the memory. "I'm from Los Angeles, though I was born in a small town called Kurain."

It was nice to have met someone willing to explore with her. Adventures were always better in company. "Well, should we get going?"

Sally smiled, the fact that Mia knew about Halloween making her more confident somehow. Of course, she had never met anyone who didn't know what Halloween was, but this was a different world, or something, so she couldn't be guaranteed everyone would know.

"Halloween Town is the place that creates Halloween," Sally said. "I've never heard of Los Angeles or Kurain, but perhaps Jack might have--he travels to different worlds sometimes. Do you know how you ended up here?" Sally certainly had no idea how she had.

Sally nodded in response to the question. "There's no sense in standing around here."

"It creates Halloween? I don't understand. Do you mean it originated there, or...?" Mia jumped at the chance to learn about a new mystery. This place was proving very unexpected thus far, not to mention exciting.

"Los Angeles is a big city where I come from," Mia explained. "A lot of celebrities live there, and some excellent lawyers." She smiled, thinking of her former student Phoenix. "And Kurain's just a little village, mostly populated by Fey women. We're spirit mediums--at least, most of my family is. I never received formal training."

She picked a random direction and started walking up the cobbled street. "Well, in all honesty...I died, back in Los Angeles. I suppose I'm here because this is my afterlife."

"Everyone in Halloween Town works toward bringing Halloween to other worlds," Sally said, hoping she was explaining properly. It hadn't been that long since it had been explained to her, actually. "We work all year toward making Halloween, led by Jack--he's the Pumpkin King." A brilliant Pumpkin King, in Sally's opinion.

Sally listened to Mia's explanations curiously. "It sounds interesting. I've never been to a big city before," Sally said with a smile.

She fell into step beside Mia and then frowned. "You died? I'm sorry!" She didn't seem entirely surprised by it, though--many of the citizens of Halloween Town died and then came there. "That could be why you're here, though some people come to Halloween Town when they die, so I don't know why I would have left there..."

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Certainly Not Halloween Town [Active]

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