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Home Decor
  • Prompt: Decorate your dorm room to make it as spoopy as possible! You may do this in a PRP, or as a Solo.
  • Prize: +1 raffle ticket that can be used
    here! In order to qualify, the RP/solo MUST be complete, and you must have written over 600 words!


When Brenley had been a scareling—or at least when he had considered himself one—he had always wondered at the purpose of the number of additional decorations present around this time of year. He had concluded that they already lived in Halloween... obviously, so why would they celebrate it more fervently over one specific month than during any other? His mother had no explanation for him, only that "this was the way things were," and eventually, the boil dropped it. But now that he was largely on his own, he found himself mentally turning around to embrace the holiday within a holiday. Decorating, even if all it entailed was adding a bat here or a cobweb there, was comforting. It reminded him that no matter how unremarkable he was, Brenley Davis Quinn was still a part of Halloween.

With this year's October Prime marking his infant sister's first, Bren decided that he would try a little harder to be festive than he normally might have. He stood in Fright Central, one store in a chain of decoration supermarts, peering at a wall covered in bloody skulls, candy corn knitted caps, large plastic teeth strung together with licorice, and stuffed, smiling plush patchworks. Trusting that any sister of his wouldn't be frightened by such base fare, the boil picked up one of each, waddling to the counter under their bulk.

"We also got these witches' hats. And all kindsa bandages. It's fun dressin' like a mummy for a while."

Yeah. Sure. Bren could see that, kind of. He grabbed one of each, finally insisting that he pay and move on after the cashier had convinced him to take another four items.

- - -

It was no easy task to get to Nel on his own, even when he wasn't carrying a staggering number of bags. Brenley finally shuffled through the door of his childhood home, nearly tripping over the sister whom he had made this trip for. Tana was lying on her back on the floor, paws and claws waving through the air. She couldn't yet speak, but the light in her eyes when he put down his parcels and got a good look at her made him glad for a moment that he had warmed to the idea of a sibling.

"Good afternoon, Tanaela," he said with a nod. "I've brought some things for the house."

She stared up at him, wiggling back and forth a bit in response. Bren pulled the witch's hat out of hiding and dropped it onto her, chuckling as it covered her almost entirely.

- - -

After welcoming him with an unnecessary amount of excitement, his mother had directed him to the porch, or at least what passed for one. Bren's hometown was as close to the desert as one could be without actually living in it, and their house was open to the air, enchantments and other hidden measures keeping their belongings safe. The "porch" was almost an extension of the house.

"Are you coming?" he asked his sister as he headed outside. The little gryphon squeaked happily and toddled after him.

Outside, Brenley pulled a strand of pumpkin lights out of one of his bags and got to work stringing them above the door. Tana sat nearby, watching him. It was a little uncomfortable. "Here," he said, rummaging through a second bad and producing the hat and patchwork toy. "Put these on. Or hold them. Since you can't put a stuffed animal on..." Eventually he trailed off, realizing just how futile rationalizing such things with a child actually was. At least she wasn't staring any longer.

Less than an hour later, the reaper took a few steps back, admiring his handiwork. The skull had fit nicely right above the door, the lights were twinkling merrily around the nearest window, and the string of giant teeth served to mark a handsome path inside.

"How's it look, Tana?" he asked the ghoul.

She shrieked and threw her toy at him, which he could only assume meant that it met her exacting standards.