If there was one thing Gabby Skywalker loved, it was playtime. And one of her favorite games of all was Dress Up. To her great delight, there was a holiday that meant everyone got to play Dress Up, as well as get free candy. And that was Halloween.

Last year, it was Boba's very first Halloween with his new family. It was a lot of fun too. After waking up from a nightmare caused by a few too many late-night Stranger Things marathons, he got to experience the real fun part of Halloween that every kid looks forward to all year almost as much as the winter holidays or their birthdays: trick or treating. Boba never even got to try candy until he was adopted into the Skywalker family, so you could probably imagine his excitement when he learned that on Halloween you just dress up in a costume, go up to people's houses, yell "trick or treat!" and then people give you candy.

Going to a Halloween party afterward was a big bonus too. Bobbing for apples, Truth or Scare, Guess the Gross Food, and of course making jack-o-lanterns. And you couldn't go wrong with playing pretend in whatever costume you dressed up in.

Last year, Boba and Gabby did a group costume with their horses, all of them dressed up as circus folk. This year, they were coming up with their own costumes. Not only that, but they had more family members celebrating this year. And one of the youngest members was the Skywalker children's newfound cousin Lamenta Jinn.

"I'm so excited for our first Halloween together!" Gabby exclaimed.

Gabby and Lamenta were currently looking through a bunch of different costumes, trying to figure out what they would dress as for Halloween in a couple of weeks. That was the fun, and probably hardest, part of preparing for Halloween.

"I can't decide whether to dress like Belle or Carmen Sandiego." Gabby said, looking between the two costumes.

"You have it easy. When my daddy is trying to decide which costumes to wear for a concert, his closet is basically like a rainbow threw up in there. I still haven't seen all the outfits he has in there. Stupid endless space spells making it impossible to count outfits."

Both girls laughed for a bit.

"He has more outfits than your mom." Gabby said.

"Well, he did grow up with a fashion designer grandma." Lamenta shrugged. "So, he's gotten a lot of practice and trivia with sewing and fabrics. And probably costume classes when he took that musical theater course in music school." She then had a thought. "Hey, Boba! Have you picked your costume yet?"

"I think so," said Boba from behind a divider where he was changing into his costume. "Tell me what you think."

And so, Boba came out dressed as...a Jedi.

"So...?"

"Where did you get that outfit?" Lamenta asked.

"I found these in an old box in Dad's closet." Boba said, getting out a toy lightsaber. "All I needed was one of Gabby's toys. Speaking of which..."

"You can borrow it for your costume, Big Brother." Gabby nodded. "Just be careful. It might not be a real lightsaber, but you could still hurt someone with it if you aren't careful."

"Oh, come on. How much damage could a toy do?" said Boba, swinging the lightsaber around, until someone yelled "Aah!"

"Aah!" Boba also yelled, seeing who was scared by his swinging. "Oh, Grandpa! I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Boba." Qui-Gon breathed. "Fortunately, that is just a toy."

It had been a couple months since his revival, but not surprisingly, Qui-Gon had a bit of PTSD when it came to having a lightsaber swung near him, even if it was just a toy.

"Maybe I should change costumes," said Boba.

"That isn't necessary, Boba. I have to get over my fear, and besides... Halloween is a time for a good scare."

Lamenta then came out in her costume.

"My costume isn't scary," she said, twirling around in her silver swan dress. "I'm a silver swan ballerina."

"You look beautiful, Lamenta." Qui-Gon smiled at his youngest granddaughter. "What about you, Gabby? Have you decided on your costume?"

"Not yet. Last year, I was an acrobat. This year, I wanted to see if I could try something different. But I can't decide if I wanna dress up like my favorite princess or this really cool girl who travels all around pulling off Robin Hood style heists to stop actual criminals."

Other younglings were looking at costumes too, and similar to Gabby, they were having trouble deciding too. Some even decided to get creative and make costumes using things they already had.

"Halloween is fun, but the hard part is-"

Gabby was interrupted by seeing a clown that made her scream and fall down. The boy wearing the scary mask turned out to be Caleb Dume playing another prank on Gabby.

"Gotcha!" Caleb laughed.

"Caleb! That wasn't funny!" Gabby said, starting to cry and run into her grandfather's arms.

"Hey, Gabby. It was just a joke!"

"You know she's terrified of clowns!" Carousella scolded. "You could've given the poor kid a heart attack!"

"I was just playing a joke. It's Halloween. A time for scares?"

"Yeah, scares. Not scarring for life." Lamenta said.

"Caleb, you need a timeout, apparently. Go to your quarters and think about what you just did." Qui-Gon said, not the least bit happy the way Caleb made his granddaughter cry, even if it was unintentional. "I will discuss this matter with your master later."

Reluctantly, the boy left the room as instructed.

"It's alright, Gabby. It's alright." Qui-Gon soothed, stroking Gabby's hair.

Even though it'd been two years since Caleb first played a scary clown prank on her, Gabby was deathly afraid every time. She hated it when Caleb did them over and over again. And they traumatized her every time, but this was the first time she actually cried right after he'd done so. Every other time, she'd felt like crying, but she usually held back until she was alone so she could cuddle her teddy bear and calm down.

"Why does he torment me like this?!" Gabby cried.

"I wish I knew, Dear." Qui-Gon said. "Has he done this before?"

"Yes! Lots of times. He's the reason I'm terrified of clowns though. I can't even go to the circus now."

"It's true. She freaked out when one of our neighbors had a birthday party and there was a clown." Lamenta said.

"I may have given up bounty hunting," said Boba, cracking his knuckles. "But I'd be happy to do one more job to teach that guy a lesson for picking on my sister."

"Now, Boba. Revenge is not the Jedi way, or this family's way." Qui-Gon said.

"Well, someone's gotta get him to stop pranking Gabby."

Qui-Gon gave Gabby her teddy and hugged her until she was fully calmed down.

"I think we are feeling a lot better now, aren't we?" said Qui-Gon, nuzzling his granddaughter.

Gabby nodded and kept hugging her bear. Qui-Gon then set her down and sent her to go play with the other kids while he tended to other things. But Gabby had a lot on her mind. She started to wonder why Caleb played these jokes to begin with. Did she do something to him that she didn't remember or even know about that made him upset with her? Or was he just plain being one of those jerky guys who picks an easy target to get a reaction? Whatever the reason, she really disliked that Caleb kept messing with her.

Any ordinary day, Gabby would just go to Caleb and confront the problem straight up, tell him how she felt. She would go up to him and say, "Caleb, I really don't like when you prank me with those scary clown jokes because they frighten me and I don't like being frightened, so I would really like you to stop."

But... Halloween was coming up, and she had another idea up her sleeve to fit with the spirit of the holiday.

Gabby decided to start brainstorming, but she also needed to figure out her costume. And when she got in, she spotted her uncle trying on costumes too. The costume he wore now looked rather ordinary for him, considering he dressed in more elaborate outfits for a living.

"What or who are you dressed as, Uncle Carmine?" Gabby asked, walking in.

"Oh! Gabby, I didn't see you there. I was just trying on some costumes from my days in musical theater." Carmine said, feeling the nostalgia hit him. "One of the most entertaining classes at Melody Academy. Although, it seems I've gotten taller since I last wore this." That last bit being proven as a little of Carmine's define abs were showing.

Gabby giggled.

"What musical is that one from?"

Carmine took out an old yearbook he kept from his high school days and showed Gabby a section of musicals he'd done. The costume he was wearing now, was for a character named Seymour who works in a flower shop and discovers a new plant that may help save his job and the business he worked for.

"Except, he didn't know that the plant was actually a blood-thirsty monster. And the more it's fed, the more it grows, and Audrey Jr. gets bigger and bigger. And let's just say, the ending is not like the happily ever after you might be used to hearing. But in a movie version of it, they write in a happier ending."

Gabby looked at the picture and was impressed by the set of the plant.

"Wow. How'd they make it look so real?" Gabby asked her uncle.

"In the theater, it take a lot of people to make it possible." Carmine said. "The thing about theater is that there are many pieces to creating the illusion of all kinds of things. And the thing about this, they don't use any kind of spells or potions to do it. Just cues, direction, and teamwork."

That made Gabby even more curious.

"Hmm. Can this kind of thing be done anywhere?"

"Theater is a very open kind of art. The possibilities are endless. You just gotta know the right equipment and the right people to bring the vision to life."

Suddenly, Gabby had a brand new idea of how to make Halloween more interesting this year.

"Have you or Lamenta ever played a Halloween prank before?"

"That depends. Who's your vic, and what did you have in mind?"

"Well..." Gabby started to whisper in Carmine's ear the idea she had so far.

"That's good for a start," said Carmine. "But I think we'll need a little more help to make this prank work."

Some of you may remember mentions of Gabby playing a prank on Caleb Dume, and here I have finally gotten around to writing a chapter where we see how it went.

I know Halloween isn't for another three months, but I just couldn't wait to get this story arc in. Please review and share this story if you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to part 2.