Welcome to Gaia! ::

The neighborhood looks much the same as usual, save for the lazy orange-tinged touch of a slow autumn and the Halloween decorations present on most of the houses. Jack-O-Lanters of various sizes and expressions lined broken sections of the sidewalk, and several buildings have been adorned with lumpy cotton "spider webs." Each house, of course, had its own personal taste in being spookily clad: one had the sillhuette of a witch up in the oak tree in the front yard, another had a blood-splattered piece of tarp covering some unidentifiable lump in the driveway. Still more are completely smothered in little plastic spiders.

The Illusionary HQ, of course, was not left out of the holiday crazy. Instead of clumps of cotton fiber, however, it had shimmering veils of a spider-silk-like substance shielding the entire lot; it seemed real enough, yet when one tries to gather a handful, the magical strands always elude capture. Orange and yellow balls of shimmering light danced around the area, occasionaly blinking out or resting upon some calm surface. And there's the Jack-O-Lanters. They lie in haphazard clums over the grass, beneath the trees, and under the bushes; all are carved, but none had faces. Instead, they were decorated with intricate rune-like designs that glowed haf-heartedly, yet they are all bright enough to be seen even in broad daylight. The elements of the decore were simple, but somehow it still managed to be mesmirizing and beautiful.

The inside of the building was clad just as simply (of course, it only consisted of a spacious common room and various back rooms, thus there wasn't that much to work with in the first place). The same shimmering veil fluttered in the air and clung to any surface it could find, though not as thickly as outside. A few of the glowing lights have found their way inside the building and was drifting around casually. The lighting acquired a more sinister tone than usual, leaning toward a dark, flickering orange rather than the usual natural light. Black paper bats rest suspended somewhere overhead; no doubt the residents would have used real bats if they weren't concerned about frightening some of the more easily startled little ones.

The back yard looks much the same as the front, with one delightful detail: slightly to the side, right next to the small pond, was a tree shrouded in strings of brightly wrapped candy. More of the glowing lights seemed to rest in this tree than anywhere else, drawing even more attention to the curiously adorned plant. But surely the little ones would not need such extra notice.

etc

Shen was slightly surprised that anyone had came this early, but was happy for the arrivals nonetheless. Despite her efforts at decorating the building, she wasn't dressed in costume herself - though her white dress could've easily passed off as a princess costume. Zombie princess, more like, but she didn't exactly mind the sharp contrast between the pure white thing, her waist-long dark hair, and lavender eyes.

She quietly stepped out the front door and made her way towards the bunch. They don't seem too occupied with anything in particular at the moment, so she's probably not intruding. "Hello," she greeted the trio, noting the strange - or rather, lack of - aura of the biggest and smallest. "I'm Shen, and I guess you could say I'm in charge of this whole..." she gestured toward the HQ, suddenly at a loss for nouns. "Thing." Shen smiled a bit sheepishly at the blunder. Well, it's not like she'sreally had anyone to talk to lately.

This could turn out to be a long day...

Aurelius was up and clutching onto Shen's dress in mere moments. "Tagi talked about you, you're the Illusionary lady," she said. "Are you the Illusionary lady?" Her voice held a tone of demand. "Wossan'Illusionary anyway, Illusionary lady?" She seemed to be completely ignoring the fact she knew how to speak better than that and that Shen had just introduced herself.

"Now, Aurelius, let's not be rude..." Ku said placatingly before she turned to Lavi. "Hello there, dear. I'm Ku, and this," she held up Tsu, "Is Tsu. The little girl pretending to be Larxene from Kingdom Hearts is," A glare from Aurelius silenced her. "Larxene, of course."

Aurelius tossed her hair. "Okay then miss Shen," she said, though the words went mostly over her head. "S'm different from, like..." She scrutinized the area around her. "...Tsu?" It was the first name she came up with. Immediately she made a disgusted face. "'course I am, Tsu's a computer and I'm a pers- Illusionary person, right?" She'd gotten the part about past lives quite well. "So I wasn't always me?" Unspoken were the words So I wasn't always the BEST? She raised a single blonde eyebrow and pulled on one of her ears with three of her fingers.