Starnies Prompties

Pia cowered behind Iuno as Iuno laughed. She didn't understand this form of humor, why was Iuno laughing?! There was a bloody hook hanging on the wall! There was a dismembered arm on the floor! There was blood seeping out from underneath the door! The only thing she knew for certain is that she didn't want to go into any place that had that as the advertisement! "Iuno, I don't know why you're happy, but this really doesn't seem like a good place to be and we should go home please! You may be safe from death but this would still hurt!"

After a few moments to calm down her laughter (and wipe away a tiny tear), Iuno turned to Pia. "Pia, why are you so scared? We're not even inside yet and its already so cheesy!" She grabbed a very reluctant Pia's hand and dragged her towards the door. "Come on, if this is how bad the outside looks I want to see the inside!"

Pia uncharacteristically pulled back on Iuno's hand hard enough to bring her to a pause. Iuno glanced back to say something, to urge her on, but eventually turned around at the look on the Starnie's face. She looked literally terrified - not just ooky-spooky-haunted-house scared, but terrified, and that wasn't the goal of visiting this kind of place.

"Hey...why are you so scared? What's going on...?" She didn't exactly understand what the problem was. Did Pia have anxieties about haunted houses? Did she believe in ghosts? Did she think this was a cover-up? She had been fine with other scary situations - scared, sure, but not practically petrified.

"Iuno, there's blood everywhere and a dismembered arm and a bloody hook hanging from the ceiling and you're asking me why I'm scared!?" Iuno gently placed her hands on Pia's shoulders as she continued. "This isn't normal! This isn't right! Why go in there?! Call a professional, call the police! Please don't do this!"

"Pia- Pia- Pia! It's ok. It's ok, take a deep breath. Come on- breathe with me." Iuno placed herself between Pia and the haunted house to block her view, and tried to get her to calm down, at least to the extent that she wouldn't hyperventilate. She didn't realize Pia didn't know about their traditions. Was this her first rodeo? "There we go, ok, that better? Look. Listen to me. We have a festival coming up soon here that's all about scary things. This is a decoration - and a place - for that event. Ok? None of this is real. That arm is a squeaky toy, it's not a real arm. The hook is obviously plastic, and very blunt, so the 'blood' has to be paint. If you look closely, the blood around doesn't have any particular source - it's just been painted onto the items that are here. There's none on the floor or walls that isn't part of a sticker or a prop. Ok?"

Pia quietly nodded. She seemed to believe Iuno's explanation, at least a little bit, but she still seemed extremely reluctant to even look past Iuno at the house ahead. Iuno couldn't help but take pity - she looked like a sad puppy, how could one ignore that? "Ok. How about this. We won't go inside, but I do at least want you to come look at the things on the porch. Look at them, feel them, see for yourself that they're not real. We're only at the start of the season, so you should probably have at least that to help you sleep..."

Iuno carefully led a trembling Pia to the porch. They tapped the bloody hook, bulky and cheaply made hollow plastic that scraped against the wall as it easily swung. The bloody handprints in the window next to it were obviously stickers once you were close. It did seem to help relax her more - particularly the arm, which made her cover her face with giggles when Iuno pounced on it with both feet and a deafening squeak.

Iuno decided she might try going inside again later in the season, after Pia was a little more comfortable with the idea of the Halloween traditions. It's no fun if only one person is enjoying it...