spooky scary skeletons

Harvest Masquerade, the time for ghosts and ghouls, skeletons and monsters. Giggling children hungry for candy, and ghoulish adults scaring each other around corners.

Adelita has never been one to truly go out for it, but the joy of such a day is infectious. The citizens of Aurum are in full swing for the celebration, something Adelita is slightly overwhelmed with as she steps from the shadows of the mines and into the light. Slowly, her horned head shakes, but a smile teases along her lips as golden eyes cast a glance over a couple of children chasing each other in costumes, laughing and squealing their way down a gilded brick road.

Aurum might be small, but it's a bustling center of trade with many living in her protected grasp. Enough so that even Adelita can't escape their gazes at times, though perhaps being a well known face in a city she helped found was something to do with it. Or maybe it really had to do with the bone peeking above a shimmering gold arm, visible whenever the wind picked up enough on the blustery day to send her sleeves billowing. A hand reaches up, metal digits pulling the sleeve down a little more with a firmer tug before she releases it. Instead of worrying, she smiles, a tug on the corner of her lips that seems slightly out of place for a working woman such as herself, and she brushes the dirt off the front of her clothes. She even flicks a few pieces of stiff mud, before she sets off on her daily walk.

Working hadn't been too strenuous today, which was an incredibly rare occurence for someone that threw themselves into it so diligently. Perhaps the thought of the holiday had distracted her (another extremely rare happening), or maybe she had been pondering too much on the two figures she had met earlier in the month. Whatever it was, Lita felt more full of energy than she used to, taking steps with almost a slight bounce as she wound down gilded bricks to her home, to get ready.

Aurum celebrated many things, including the Harvest Masquerade, with many of her people donning costumes and dancing well into the moonlit night. Usually, Adelita avoided it, but maybe just this once she could brush the dirt off herself and join the people she had grown so close to ever since helping lay the iron foundations for the place. Perhaps even a far away friend has come to the town to celebrate; Aurum was open for all and being a large trade point in Ivras meant there were many from other towns that Lita had seen and met to trade ores and wares.

Coming around a corner, Adelita stops a little short, her body jolting slightly as a few children dart past her, faces painted in vibrant colors and laughter filling the air. "Sorry Miss Lita!!" comes shortly before they disappear around a bend, and she shakes her head with a small laugh. "Be careful, don't let any monsters catch you!" she calls after them, watching the bend before she turns to enter her home after a few more steps.

She's met with the usual sight; a rather humble home instead of something akin to nobility. Basic wooden furniture, maybe a few lavish pillows to rest on when her limbs ache a little much where flesh and gold meets. More than a few lavish pillows, really. A simple kitchen and fine china rimmed in ribbons of gold, while the cooking equipment is the best of the land.

Okay so not entirely humble, but she can enjoy the fine tastes of life without having to be pompous about it. Just living with what she thinks she deserves.

Adelita reaches inward, mental focus finding the familiar hum and tune of every bit of ore and beauty around her, creating a symphony of sensation and sound that strokes her mind and heart. This. This is what she truly loves about home. The beautiful aura of sound that only she can hear in the magic that carefully slips around her metal prosthetics. Her feet reshape slowly, going from something for the mines to something more slender and fit for home, and she makes her way to the bath, where the symphony is strongest. An ivory hued tub, gold painting the upper walls in fine streaks of paper thin flaking. Golden faucets, and black tiles imbued with glimmering gems she had found while mining.

A sighs whisks from her lips as clothing falls into a neat pile that she places in a small basket, before she steps into a shower to clean herself. A simple wash, only applying a few oils to her skin once damp, and one or two more to her hair. By the time she steps out and dries, her skin is soft and no longer looks like she digs in a mine for a living, and she uses one of the softer towels to dry off before opening a mirrored cabinet. She grabs several jars, closing it again before opening the first jar.

A layer of black is placed on one arm and her face, carefully allowed to set and dry before taking a white paste and beginning to shape out bones along her arm, matching the one that had been temporarily rotted by the Fortune masked stranger. On her face, Lita draws out a skull, taking her time and watching the mirror until the look is complete. From there, she begins to curl her long black and gold hair, careful of her golden horns, letting it bounce in place gently once done.

Satisfied, Lita picks a glimmering gold dress and hooded shawl, carefully pulling it on her head and glancing at the mirror. Today, she would finally join all the familiar faces of those she knew at the Harvest Festival, and maybe even find herself in the dancing crowd, laughing and enjoying herself.

What brought this on? Perhaps a brush with two supernatural strangers had given her a new view; to enjoy what she could, while she could. After all, at forty-one, she wasn't exactly that young (or old, definitely not old). She had missed so much in her life, that she owes herself this.

A laugh parts her lips, and she twirls a moment to look over herself, before heading for the door. It was time to finally enjoy life.