Open Unforeseen Consequences

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy loved Halloween. She loved the decorations, the costumes, and the snacks especially. This year she was pretty excited about her costume and she had put a lot of work into it. She had carved the pumpkin and enchanted it so the eyes glowed as if there was a light on the inside. It had taken a while to figure out what she even wanted to be this year but thankfully the idea came to her eventually, after all she had won a prize in the costume contest two out of her three years so far and she wanted to keep up her streak. But now as she stood at the snack table she realized a fatal flaw in her costumes premise. With her head fully inside the pumpkin there wasn't exactly an easy way to eat any of the candy or drink anything at all. She unwrapped a chocolate and considered how easy it might be to just toss it through the mouth hole and try and catch it on the inside.

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma knew she was cute, but she usually didn't feel beautiful the way she did today. Emma loved girly things, but she never really had the patience to dress up properly. But with her costume tonight, Emma felt like a real, actual, princess. Her dress looked so nice, especially with the blond wig she was wearing. It made her really feel like a princess, and she walked around the Great Hall with confidence. She bet if Sully saw her now, he would regret treating her badly last year. Not that she would ever give him any sort of attention again. She did wonder if other boys would notice her, like maybe Issac. But she didn't spot him. The girl was looking around for someone familiar, when she saw a struggling pumpkin. Someone in a great pumpkin costume was trying to eat chocolate, and Emma couldn't help a slight giggle at the sight. She headed over. "Um, hi. Can I help?" She offered.

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy turned when she heard giggling and brightened as she saw Emma in an absolutely beautiful costume, not that anyone could see her face at the moment but she was happy to see her friend. "Oh wow Emma you look great!" she exclaimed and clapped her hands in excitement before looking back to the chocolate in her hand. "Yeah I think so." she said with a laugh. "I didn't really think about how this costume would work like realistically. Like how hard it is to see where I'm going or how it's impossible to have any of the Halloween treats." she sighed and gestured to the table full of snacks.

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma gasped when she recognized the voice coming out of the pumpkin. "Oh, Poppy!" She said, leaning closer to try and peer through the eye hole. "Is that you in there?" She asked her, though she clearly recognized her friend. "Thanks." She then said brightly, smoothing down her dress. "The wig is pretty heavy." she admitted. "Okay, should I aim some food into your mouth and just... kind of throw it in there?" She asked, tilting her head a bit. "Or do you have a better idea? I could reach into it too but only if you promise not to bite my fingers." She added.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had once again, not thoroughly thought his own costume through. It wasn't all that fun carrying around a large, enchanted frame. It had this cool effect, making him look like an oil painting through one side, but it also made everyone else look like oil paintings to him, too. He wasn't able to recognise any of his friends as he dawdled around the snack table until he heard their familiar voices nearby and lowered it down, realising that even without it he couldn't have possibly recognised Poppy. Even Emma looked very different with blonde hair. He liked it. "We could just eat all of the treats for you, and tell you what they're like." He interjected as he sidled on closer to them. He set down his oversized picture frame and helped himself to a spidery cupcake. "Mmm, it tastes so good. Super chocolatey." He teased as he bit into it.​

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy was confused by Emma's surprised reaction until she realized, obviously the other girl couldn't actually see her. “Yeah, sorry. I keep forgetting I’m wearing a mask essentially.” she said before considering her friend's advice. “Tossing was my first idea but I don’t know how well that would work, or if I’m just going to end up with a head full of chocolate.” she said joked. Poppy laughed again when Emma offered to stick her fingers through the pumpkin for her. “I promise.” she said after her giggles finally stopped, but she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to test that particular strategy. “Wow! What a cool costume!” she said excitedly, as Lysander joined them. “Ha ha.” she said dryly, and rolled her eyes even if no one could see her.

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma grinned and nudged Poppy teasingly. "Don't worry, your mask looks just like your normal face anyway." She teased. She then pondered her words. "A head full of chocolate doesn't sound terrible." She mused out loud. Then Lysander showed up, and Emma waved at him. She laughed when he also started to joke around, telling Poppy they could just describe the treats for her. She was tempted to go along with it, but also felt a little bad for her friend. "You do have a cool costume." She admitted to Lysander. "But clearly you're a very mean portrait, teasing the poor pumpkin like that." Emma said, frowning in fake disapproval. "While I'm a princess who is both beautiful and bena..ben... benavo... nice!" She said. Then she grabbed a cookie and stuck her hand in Poppy's pumpkin mouth to feed it to her. "Don't bite." She said again, glaring in a not very benevolent manner.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander grinned as the girls complimented his costume, lifting the frame back up to show it off. He stuck out a painted tongue toward Emma. "Hey! I'm a portrait of a daring hero." He chuckled, and watched her feed the pumpkin hole. "A portrait, a pumpkin, and a beautiful and benavo-nice princess. Do you think we could pull off "best group"?" He asked jokingly. They were an odd group to be hovering around the snack table. Odder still when one was struggling to eat on their own.​

 

[Poppy Perkins]

“Thank you, was it my smile that gave it away?” Poppy asked and dramatically gestured to her carved face before laughing. “I guess not. Or at least until it starts melting.” she mused, considering the logistics of a pumpkin head full of chocolate. She grinned as Emma started to defend her to Lysander. “Benevolent?” she suggested, while her friend struggled with the word. “A hero?” she asked curiously. “And what kind of heroics have you accomplished dear portrait?” she asked. “I think we’d definitely be a shoe in for “most interesting” group for sure.” she giggled thinking about it. She was startled the next second as Emma warned her not to bite as a cookie entered her headspace. She managed to take a gentle nibble or two before laughing and grabbing the treat from Emma.