A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending

Chapter 7: Niiice and Creepy

Soon, everyone arrives at the Botanical garden, where it's decorated with tombstones, jack-o'-lanterns, along with a creepy old gate. Riddle, Ace, and Trey are there to greet them.

"Hello, everybody. It's nice to have you," Riddle says.

Then Trey says, "Step into our chilling conservatory."

Everyone looks around to see the graveyard like theme for the garden.

Ace confirms it, "For Heartslabyul, we decided to go with graveyard decor."

Suddenly, Cater's voice appears, "And for our costumes..."

Then Carer and Deuce come out. They're both wearing black suits with white laces and ribbons on the arms and the front. They're both wearing top hats with a skull of what looks like a bird, and a veil on front.

Cater smiles and says, "Check THIS out. Skelebones!"

"Ghosts risen from the grave through sheer willpower!" Deuce says, cracking his knuckles.

"Skele-what?" Malleus says, confused.

But soon understands, "Oh. You mean skeletons. Hm? Those aren't bones on your costumes, though."

"No, sir. They're white ribbons designed to look like bones," Deuce says. "We agreed to decorate the garden like a graveyard and dress up as skeletons... But we had a hard time designing something that was realistic, while also fun for Halloween."

"Deuce's idea was hilaribad, lemme tell you," Ace says with a smirk on his face. "He said skeletons should look dirty and grimy! And sure, that might've made it more convincing, but YOU try convincing anyone to dress like that."

"Your suggestion was just as bad, for the record!" Deuce says with a frown.

"Ahem," Riddle replies, sternly.

"Ah!" Deuce says, startled.

Ace feels started as well.

The Deuce says, "A-anyway, Cater stepped up and shared some great insights."

"I'm always mashing that like button on cool displays I see on Magicam. It's great hashtag #inspo for the dorm's tea parties," Cater says as he holds his phone. "Ribbons and lace are, like, a staple of picturesque decor, right? Just because we're going with skeletons as a theme... Why ruin a perfectly good Halloween by making everyone roll around in dirt or whatever?"

He then happily says, "See this?" and ponts to the top hat and parts of the costume, "Isn't it cute how you can see the heart made of roses underneath the RIB-bons?... That was another bone pun. Please clap."

"We couldn't have pulled it off convincingly and with respect for everyone's opinions if not for Cater's skills and know-how. I'm satisfied that our costumes are both refined and fearsome - a perfect fit for a dorm embodying the spirit of strictness," Riddle says.

"Yup! You gotta have a horror vibe for Halloween. So we put extra effort into the decorations and made sure they came out niiice and creepy. Deucey led the group of students that painted the styrofoam tombstones," Cater happily replies.

"Oho! It can't have been easy for a freshman to issue orders to his upperclassman," Lilia replies.

"My daily training helped with that, I guess," Deuce says.

"Whatever do you mean?" Lilia asks.

"It was all basically the same as what we've expected to do for unbirthday parties," Deuce answers.

"Yeah," Trey says, "Specifically, the part about following the rules to the letter, adding polish wherever possible, and never being late."

"Every Heartslabyul student's got all that stuff down pat," Cater replies.

"Without any crazy supplemental rules to follow, it was actually way easier than our usual prep work," Ace adds.

"Well, well. I'm impressed, Roseheart. You do a fine job keeping your students in line," Malleus says.

Then Riddle quickly says, "I-I'm not constantly cracking a whip or anything, okay?"

Then calmly says, "Our students simply remain unified and carry out their duties at all times, lik the card soldiers of yore."

Then turns to the others, "Isn't that right, everyone?"

"Yes housewarden," Ace, Trey, and Cater reply.

"Absolutely, Boss, sir! Thanks to the tight ship you run, our Halloween preparations went off without a hitch," Deuce says.

Cater brings down his phone and types, "Hashtag #HeartLabor #WeGotDecorationsCovered #NRCHalloween... There we go!" and submit a post.

Crowley says, "Hearthslabyul is built around a famously strict set of roles... and you've pulled off a creative twist on Halloween while adhering to them just the same! Very nice! Next up, let's visit the alchemy workshop. That's Octavinelle's jurisdiction!"