-The Five Senses of Halloween-
-A 'Kingdom Hearts' holiday drabble collection-
=^w^=
Seeing:
"Leon! We've arrived, so you can come out now!"
The Gunblade wielder gave a loud sigh and tugged at one of the...oh, dear God...lion ears poking out from underneath his hair, dark brown like his natural colour. A long tail poked out from underneath his jacket, his shirt having disappeared when they entered Halloween Town. His nails had sharpened into claws, and two fangs jutted out underneath his top lip – cutely, according to Yuffie. Flicking his tail out of pure agitation, Leon left the Gummi Ship and stepped into the chilly air of the scary world, again according to Yuffie.
"There you are!" Sora jogged up to the taller brunet , his pumpkin mask glowing in the dim lights strung up down the Graveyard, "Tora's already here; she said she had a few things to do with Santa before she could meet us here."
"Why is Tora here?" Storm grey eyes took in the tall headstones silhouetted against the creamy moon, and Leon fought the urge to shudder. Following Sora into Guillotine Square, he allowed his eyes to widen slightly. A large guillotine stood near a fountain that oozed with acidic-looking water, spitting out balls of said stuff every so often. Sora gave a loud sigh of content and jumped as a large rat scurried past his feet.
"Sora! Donald! Goofy! Leon!" The Pumpkin King himself descended the stairs to Doctor Finkelstein's laboratory, his skeletal arms waving about wildly, "Did you see Missy anywhere?"
"Missy?" Donald asked.
"The rat the doctor's experimenting on. She keeps escaping." Jack placed one of his bony hands to his chin as he thought about where the large rat they saw earlier could've gone. Leon pinched the bridge of his nose to stop himself from saying something he was probably going to regret.
"FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING NOXIOUS AND CORROSIVE! THAT'S ONE HUGE MOUSE!"
"YOU HAVE SNAKES ON YOUR HEAD!"
"Missy!" Jack took off toward the Graveyard, where the loud yell seemed to come from. The quartet watched him go, eyebrows raised.
"Tora hates rats?" Sora asked the taller brunet.
"She's never seen one before." Leon replied dully. He could feel the headache from her questions coming on already...
"JACK, IT TALKS!"
"Haven't you seen a rat before?"
"...that's a rat?"
Screw the impending headache; it was here now.
Hearing:
CLANG CLANG CLANG.
"Hold still, sir!" Doctor Finkelstein huffed and retracted the oil can, shaking his hand with the slight pain that now ran through the nerves there. On the other side of the laboratory sat the Radiant Garden pilot, his right arm, right leg and half of his torso having been turned into an interesting display of robotics when he arrived. Cid clanged his way around the large experiment table – on which sat an assortment of rusty yet sharp looking instruments – and glared at the scientist, his cigarette dangling from his lips.
"Ah ain't havin' that stuff drippin' offa me." he snapped childishly. The creaking door to the laboratory opened and Jack walked inside, followed by a snake-haired Tora who didn't exactly look pleased.
"I can hear you clanging from the Hinterlands," she said sternly, "Stop being childish and get oiled up already."
"Ah said no!" Cid grumped. Jack pressed a bony hand to his face and headed toward the scientist, taking the oil can from him and throwing it to the magician.
"Cid, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way," she said, "The easy way is you get oiled now and you can have the Gummi pieces Doctor Finkelstein said you could have. The hard way is you can wait until we get back to Radiant Garden to treat you as a proper person and you'll have to wait for Sora to get the Gummi pieces Doctor Finkelstein said you could have." The glint in her gold eyes made even the Pumpkin King shudder. The pilot groaned and clanged his way toward her, holding out his robotic side so he could move a little easier.
Really, who sent him to Halloween Town when he'd just been in a Gummi Ship incident which rendered his right arm partially useless for a few days?
"There Cid, all done." Her work finished, Tora wrapped her arms around the robotic torso and hugged the pilot, glad that was over.
"Thanks, Tora." he said gruffly.
SQUEAK SQUEAK.
"Doctor..." Jack sighed, pressing his hand to his face again.
Smelling:
"It smells...different...here than it does in Radiant Garden." Aerith crinkled her nose slightly and stepped over the graves daintily, lifting her long skirt up so it wouldn't drag in the dirt. Tora fought back the urge to sigh and assisted the healer through the Graveyard toward Curly Hill where she could show her something.
"There are different scents in different parts of Halloween Town," she explained, "The Graveyard – as you found out – smells of fresh earth with a hint of blood, Guillotine Square smells like sewer water with a little bit of acid thrown in, the Hinterlands smell like chilly wind, and Doctor Finkelstein's laboratory smells like oil and various other experiments."
"So what about this place?" Aerith drew in a deep breath, the smell of pumpkins and candle wax filling her nose. It was a pleasing smell – more pleasing than the Graveyard – and she couldn't get enough of it. The pumpkins had a slightly spicy smell to them, kind of like the smell of pumpkin pie.
"What do you smell?" Tora asked.
"Candle wax and...pumpkin pie..." the healer-turned-witch replied.
"Really?" The snakes on the magician's head hissed quietly, "I always smell freshly baked pumpkin scones when I come here. The candle wax is the same, though."
"Maybe it's different for everyone."
"Maybe." Green eyes looked over at the Twin of Touch, who was staring up at the creamy moon with a relaxed smile on her face. Turning, the healer-turned-witch began walking back to the Graveyard.
"Let's head back to Radiant Garden and make some pumpkin treats for everyone." she called. Tora immediately snapped back and followed Aerith.
"We just need to ask Jack if we can have a couple of these," she said, "They have the best flavours." Nodding, the brunette allowed herself to be led into the Graveyard and then into Guillotine Square, the various scents Tora described stabbing her sense of smell with little pitchforks.
Maybe she'd come back when she needed another pumpkin...
Tasting:
When Tora offered to take Yuffie to Halloween Town so she could pick up some synthesis items Doctor Finkelstein had collected for her, Leon was all too happy to send her. Yuffie had been complaining all week about how boring Radiant Garden had gotten now that the Restoration Committee had eased into a semi-regular routine of patrolling and repairing.
When the ninja arrived in Halloween Town, she couldn't contain herself.
"Oh wow! This place is AWESOME!"
"Keep yelling, Yuffie. I'm pretty sure there are a few more dead people you haven't woken up yet." Turning to the Medusa-like magician, Yuffie let her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. There were dead things here? Using her ninja-like speed (and the fact she looked like a poltergeist), she quickly caught up to Tora as she headed into Guillotine Square and then up the stairs to the doctor's laboratory.
"Hello girls." Sally sat on a chest beside the large book the chair-bound scientist was reading from, holding a plate of several interesting treats.
"Hi Sally. What have you got there?" The poltergeist-like ninja glided over to the patchwork girl and examined the treats. Sally smiled and held it up to her.
"Would you like to try one?" she asked.
"Did Jack ask you to create new treats for this year, Sally?" Tora pored over a box filled with Mythril Gems, 'oblivious' to Yuffie's pleading eyes and skittish movements.
"I'll try them!" Yuffie cried, waving her translucent hand in the air. The Twin of Touch waved her hand in the air, signalling a 'go ahead'. Picking up the first treat – a small cake topped with a spider – the ninja poltergeist stuck it in her mouth whole and began chewing.
"AH!" Opening her mouth, the spider topper fell out and scurried into a dark corner cursing Yuffie in its spider language.
"I don't think you should use such big spiders, Sally." Tora commented, straightening up with the box of gems in her arms, "Here Yuffie, give me a try of one." Yuffie picked up a ghost-shaped biscuit and put it in the magician's mouth. Tora quickly chomped down on the biscuit and swallowed, licking her lips.
"Not bad." she said, "You need to be quick about tasting, Yuffie; some of the toppers are nasty little buggers."
Yuffie didn't need to be told twice and promptly devoured all the tasters Sally had prepared.
Touching:
"Octo! Here, boy!"
"Who the hell is Octo?" Tifa put her hands on her hips and watched the Twin of Touch search in every dark nook for the thing she called 'Octo'. Cloud crossed his arms over his (bare) chest and frowned, his canine-like tail still behind him. His fluffy pointed ears kept swivelling around, catching every sigh of the wind and every scuttle of the insects on the ground.
Compared to Tifa's succubus-like appearance, he felt fully clothed.
"Here, Octo!" Tora straightened up from looking behind a headstone and turned around, scratching at the snakes on her head, "Hm, maybe he's not here." She began to walk toward the Hinterlands.
"OH DEAR GOD!"
Spinning around, Tora summoned Lethal Cure and got into a battle position in case Tifa was yelling about Heartless. Spying the martial artist on the ground shaking and pale made her rethink that mental set, and she dismissed her weapons. Cloud knelt beside the older woman, the colour drained from his face also. Tora raised an eyebrow at them both.
"What's up with her?" she asked the wolf-like man.
"Th-there...huge, it...right there..." Tifa stuttered.
"She's talking about the spider on your back." the swordsman elaborated. Reaching behind her, the magician felt something soft and fuzzy with eight legs sticking to the centre of her back. Laughing, she picked up the spider and held it out, its ten eyes smiling at them all.
"There you are!" she cried, "Cloud, Tifa, meet Octo."
"It's nice to meet you all." The spider bowed, one of its legs curling underneath its body as it did so. Tifa went whiter and crept away from Octo, mumbling something incoherent.
"Octo doesn't bite. Come on Cloud, show her." Blue eyes widened. Was she serious? Swallowing his fears, Cloud stood up and moved toward the spider in her hands, reaching out and touching him.
"Fuzzy." he said finally.
"I'm also cute." Octo said, grinning again.
=^w^=
DISCLAIMER: The disclaimer applies to the characters and settings of 'Kingdom Hearts II' – SquareEnix, Disney and associates – and Tora – me.