A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending

Chapter 8: The Ritziest by Far

Sometime later at the Alchemy Workshop, Crowley and the rest of the committee arrive to see the workshop, decorated differently. There are jack-o'-lanters on the shelves, along with some green slime at some locations, and some transparent clothes, and other essentials, like a large tank. It is kind of like something you see in a mad scientist lab.

There, Floyd greets them, "Welcome! Check it out - Halloween, Octavinelle style."

"Goodness..." Kalim replies. And then grins, "This is eerie!"

"This could legitimately make kids cry," Jack replies.

"Right?" Floyd happily replies. "If you think THAT'S somethin' then Azul and Jade's costumes are gonna knock your socks off."

"Heh. Our theme is..." Azul speaks up.

Soon, Azul and Jaze walk out wearing their costumes. They're wearing what appears to be white suit jackets with black laces and black suits underneath, and black belts. They are also wearing a white hat with a black ring around it, and the hat has a white ribbon on it with a bow.

"The mummified," Azul adds.

"I think calling them 'mummies' would make it more intuitive," Jade adds.

Then says, "Since Azul and I are both Halloween management committee members this year... We decided to go with the opposite of a merman for our costumes - a completely dried-out mummy."

"It's somethin' you could never pull off under the sea, so I'm totally on board with this," Floyd happily replies.

"Mm. But it's hardly fun simply winding bandages around ourselves. So we decided to modernize the outdated mummy look into something more stylish," Azul explains.

"As for our decor, it is intended to resemble a mad scientist's laboratory," Jade says.

Then explains, "The vats in the back are supposed to look like cultivation tanks. They light up at night. We thought putting in some creepy mannequins would add to the atmosphere."

"Whoa... This is put together incredibly well," Kalim says, surprised.

"You have an eye for quality, Kalim. I supposed I shouldn't be surprised that a wealthy heir would," Azul replies. "We had the costumes, the tanks, and everything else made professionally, by only the best. After all, we have another pressing concern that the rest of the dorms don't... Namely, the Monstro Lounge's Halloween menu."

"Dude..." Idia replies, a little dumbfounded.

Then Kalim says, "Wiat, I thought all dorms would have the same budget for costumes and sets."

"They do. Making the most of limited resources is part of the school experience," Crowley says.

Then says, "I don't want any funny business with students spending money out of pocket, exceeding their budget, or otherwise circumventing the rules. Jade Leech is the student treasurer, and I've had to keep a close eye out for any such transgression."

"Okay, make sense," Kalim says.

Then questions, "And you guys managed to hire outside help going solely on your original budget?"

"Are you suggesting that I helped them circumvent the rules?" Jade asks.

"No, no! That's not what I meant at all," Kalim says. "I wanted to spend my own money to go bigger and fancier with my dorm's stuff, and I got told I couldn't. So I was wondering how you guys pulled it off."

"Heh. So we've piqued your interest," Jade replies with a calm smile. "For the record, not a single dorm went over budget - Octavinelle included. Our Halloween focus at Octavinelle was... Exhaustive cost optimization.

"Meaning...?" Kalim asks, confused.

"We put restrictions on costume fabric colors and types, and we bought cloth in those colors in bulk to cut down on per-person costs. By leaving frayed edges as is and taking other shortcuts, we were able to cut our tailoring man-hours considerably. As for the professional who made us custom tanks, they gave us a very generous quote in return for a long-term Monstro Lounge maintenance contract. For the lighting, we repurposed some older light fixtures from the dorm itself," Azul explains.

"Furnishing supplies from unused on-hand stock doesn't count as using pocket money. Clever, no?" Jade relies. "We painstakingly worked out which elements we could assemble at no cost, and which we couldn't.

"Our dorm spent every single bit of our budget on equipment and costumes, down to the last thaumark. Any unspent budget for our dorms gets added to the expense pool for the part on the last day. If we're losing it anyway, why NOT spend it all?" Azul adds.

Meanwhile, Deuce and Cater look at the tank.

"Man, that water tank is definitely the MVP. You got the discount on long-term lounge maintenance cost way past Halloween... Gotta hand it to you, that's slick." Cater says.

"We were only focused on staying under budget," Deuce replies.

"And yet you made such painstaking calculations that you used every single thaumark in the budget. I wouldn't be so flippant," Vil adds.

Azul smiles, "Heh. It simply means our Halooween display is the ritziest by far."

"I have to hand it to Octavinelle! You guys know your stuff," Kalim says with a grin.

Then Crowley says, "You put together these professional-looking decorations and these striking costumes, all while preparing to run the lounge... Only Octavinelle could handle this so resourcefully. I take my hat off to you! Let's take a look at the Scarabia display next. I believe theirs was at the school store?"