The Castle on the Hill

He couldn't quite blink, so he did the next best thing - he stared blankly at Bleffles from behind his plague doctor mask. The name was one of the more bizarre ones he had heard in recent years, but, then again, modern names could be kind of weird. What was even more startling was the fact that someone had wished him a Happy Halloween. No one ever wanted to talked to him so pleasantly, and the times where he had his face hidden like it was now never failed to shock him.

"Happy-Happy Halloween," he managed to get out. "I'm Griffith."

"Nice to meetcha. Hey, do you know how far we are from Welling-" Bleffles stopped when she saw the castle.

"Oh, not even the same country! Joey! Christ!" she exclaimed.

"How did he manage to teleport me this far." she muttered in bewilderment.

Adeline peered at the girl that stepped out, relieved and a bit embarrassed at her outburst. Though the girl in the dinosaur costume didn't seem to be looking at her, she waved all the same.

"Hello Bleffles. I'm Adeline. And, uh, yeah. Neither of us know where we are."

"Cheers. Happy Halloween. It's cool, it's all good, I'm sure thing'sll work out.

Wait, Adeline- Can I call you Addie? What were you doing behind there? Were you hiding? I didn't expect to actually scare anyone as Princess Dinosaur." she made little t-rex arm movements to punctuate those last two words.

Not sure what to make of this, Adeline shrugged her permission. Feeling slightly defensive at Bleffles' comment, she gripped the handles of her pumpkin tighter.

"N- no! I wasn't hiding! I was just... trying to scare whoever showed up. And- um- decided not to." As soon as this weak excuse left her mouth, she was wincing.

"Nice costume, by the way." She mumbled as a last effort to save face.

Griffith just stood there and observed the two as they talked. He felt increasingly more nervous the longer he stood there with the two of them, but he desperately craved some interaction with other people. Even if he was terrified at the thought of being discovered, he had to stay. He couldn't go running off - at least, not yet, anyways. If one of his limbs decided to pop off in front of them, that would be an entirely different story.

He glanced at the castle behind them, and decided to address the elephant in the room.

"I think we should go into the castle," he said, his voice shaking as he spoke - no, wait, that was just his bones rattling in fear. He wasn't so much as scared but what could possibly be inside of it, but rather terrified of what could happen when he stayed with these two for a longer period of time. "It's the only place here, so maybe we can find answers on how we got here in the first place."

Bleffles looked down, and considered for a moment. Whatever messes Joey's wizardry got people into, he was usually able to wizard them out of it again, in a little while. (Or a day or two.) Yep. It'd be fiiiiine.

Bleffles looked up at Griffith, eyes sparkling.

"That's a great idea. I'd love to see the castle!"

"Sure thing..." Adeline mumbled, much less enthusiastically. The only thing that was keeping her from completely refusing to go inside was the prospect of finding answers and getting back home.

"Okay," Griffith said. When none of them moved in the following - and, in retrospect - brief second, he realized he had accidentally made himself the leader of the group and would have to take the first step forward. Doing that was difficult, but he managed to muster the courage needed to head towards the castle that towered above him.

He took a deep breath - or the closest he could do - underneath his plague doctor mask and grabbed onto one of the metal rings hanging off of the front doors. The metal felt cool in his gloved hands, sending a chill running up and down his spine as he started to pull back. The door was heavy. He could do it, but it took more effort than he was used to, and his arm threatened to pop out of its socket the entire time he was bringing it back.

And then he stepped inside.

An almost cartoonish swarm of bats immediately shot out of the open castle door, knocking his hat off and nearly taking his wig off as well. He managed to stop that from coming off by grabbing onto the very top of the wig, but the hat went flying to the ground behind him.

"Ooooh," oohed Bleffles, in appreciation of the thematically appropriate bat flurry.

She stopped to pick up Griffith's hat, and offered it to him as she walked through the doors, still starry-eyed.

Adeline let out a little shriek and ducked down. It didn't take very long for the bats to fly away, but it took a little longer for her to peek back up and brave a step inside.

"I'm not going to like this very much..." she murmured to herself, half-hidden behind Bleffles, who seemed to be enjoying this.

Natalia heard voices, and opening a door, stopped short as she saw a group of people.

Spoiler

Trevor is dressed in a Star Trek costume (Spock!) for Halloween, so he's wearing a blue shirt with black pants and boots. His hair is dark brown and rather curly/tousled. He doesn't have a candy bag, only a fake tricorder and communicator because he's a dork.

Trevor thought he was too old for Halloween, but he had gone out trick-or-treating with his little brother anyway. After dropping him off at a friend's house for a party, he was absentmindedly walking home when he found himself very distinctly not at home.

Looming above him on a dark hill was an equally dark castle. When he looked behind him, he could no longer make out the streets of his neighborhood. He thought he heard the caw of a raven, and though it was no colder, he shivered. A... haunted house, perhaps?

Squinting, he noticed a group of people at the door to the castle. They looked like they were about to go in! He hated to admit it, but Trevor was terrified. The darkness was closing in on him, and it felt oppressive. He didn't know where he was and how he could get home. Not wanting to be left alone in this strange place, he yelled, "Wait!" and began sprinting awkwardly up the hill in his boots.

Adeline could have sworn she saw a person step out of the shadows in front of them, but didn't have time to react before she heard a voice call distantly behind them. Being the last one in the line to step inside, she hesitated with a foot through the door and turned.

Someone seemed to be running toward the castle- another unfortunate person in a costume who had ended up with more then they had bargained for, just like her. She hesitantly raised a hand in greeting.

"Ah, hello!" She called, wincing at how her voice squeaked.

Natalia hesitated, then asked "Are you guys here to harm?" Her Egyptian Princess costume had become real, and it still felt really weird. She needed a group of people to be with, but who knew what this castle held? This group could just be another trick.