[ FLASHBACK Drabbles ] The Time Before [Leo]

[Ephebe]

Creation

The first time the ghoul that would later become Leo became aware of existing was, in fact, on a Moonday. She didn't know this at the time, only blinking dazedly and surveying her surroundings with the detached air of someone who wasn't really seeing what they were looking at.

Maybe there'd been a noise, or a flash, or something to precede her being here, but if there was, the scareling didn't know of it. She knew of nothing before this very moment, actually, and now all she knew was the murky mid-afternoon light of Halloween's pumpkin sun and the scratchiness of the bush she'd found herself manifesting on top of. She blinked, slowly, resting her head against a branch and trying to make sense of what the heck had just happened.

It was weird. It was beyond weird, but it felt right too, although she didn't yet quite know what feeling right was yet. Right now it was just a sense of warmth starting in her stomach and spreading to her her limbs, contributing to her relaxed approach to suddenly getting created.

"W-what...?" Her first word was rusty, and she cleared her throat automatically, tentatively examining the hand she found herself having. It was a hand, she knew that - getting created seemed to come neatly with a whole language at her disposal. A hand, two hands, two arms and two legs, two feet. Very human-like, was the thought came to her mind as she flexed her newfound hand. Humans. She had a vague mental image, but brushed it to the side in favour of getting up from the bush, utilizing her limbs for the first time.

She was clumsy getting up, but the movements seemed instinctual to her. A few testing steps in one direction showed her that yes, she could walk. A smile bloomed on her face that quickly became a grin as she did a fumbling jog around the clearing, waving her arms manically as she went.

Alright, so all her limbs were working fine as far as she could tell. And her sense of balance too. She whooped in joy, immediately clasping her hands over her mouth after letting the loud noise out. Then she started giggling, her giggle growing into a full-belly laugh as she realised that she was alive, she was a person and she had absolutely no clue where she was.

It turned out to be a park. Going beyond the bushes and the trees around the clearing led her to a well-cared for lawn of brown, crunchy grass and little paths with creeple out taking a leisurely afternoon walk. There were flower beds of vicious looking flowers, flowers that looked half-wilted as well as other decorative flora, all put together in a neat fashion. Someone had obviously taken a great deal of care in planning the look of this place, and the ghoul took it in with obvious interest and excitement.

And also a fair few leaves in her hair. They were beginning to itch, and she absentmindedly dusted them off. This place was amazing, absolutely fascinating. She'd never seen anything like it; well, pretty obviously she hadn't.

Her emergence from the foliage hadn't drawn much notice, but her intense scrutiny of her surroundings (and probably the wide grin and absolutely amazed look on her face) soon drew a person to her.

"Can I help you, dear?" The voice was kind, sympathetic, and made the ghoul turn to look at its origin; an elderly lady, grey hair elegantly put up in a bun with the most lovely bone-ornaments in it. Her black satin outfit, decorated with lace and a belt of shrunken heads was really quite fashionable, if the ghoul was any judge.

She probably wasn't - she only had a vague idea of what fashion was. "Yes? I mean..." she smiled, embarrassed, "maybe? I just, er, became in those bushes over there." Gesturing in the direction she'd come from, the ghoul realized that her words seemed a bit odd, "I started, that is. I don't know, I was born?" She shrugged, looking apologetic for her inability to explain properly.

"Ah, I see! No, don't worry about it dear - it happens quite a lot, you know. New creeple getting created all the time!" The old lady laughed daintily before holding out a hand for the scareling to take, "now, I know just where to take you. I've seen a few over my many Octobers, you see. It's only a short walk too - are you ready, my dear?"

The ghoul nodded, looking a bit unsure if indeed she was ready, but nonetheless she took the elderly lady's hand and followed her. It was better than running around blind, at any rate, and she had no clue what else to do here in this new world she found herself in.

(Word count: 804)  

[Ephebe]

The Time In-Between

The kind old lady had brought her to a halfway house; well, that was one of the words they used for it. 'Orphanage' was another one - although they didn't only take in scarelings, as one of the staff explained to her.

Here was where the new citizens of Halloween stayed until they were either sufficiently adept enough to take on the world by themselves or, if scarelings, either got adopted or were old enough to be accepted into school.

Leonora wasn't old enough for school yet; either mentally or physically and so far no-one had come forth wanting to be her scarent.

That was another new thing though; she'd gained a name. It'd been provided to her by the old lady who'd first greeted her in this world, who'd asked her if she had a name and when told that she had not, had run through all the pretty ghoul names she knew for the scareling to pick one. It was easier when you had a name, she'd explained. Some creeple were created and knew their name instantly; some didn't, but either way was quite normal.

She'd liked the sound of Leonora, so Leonora she now was. So far, life for the scareling had been good - the people at her new home were kind and caring, and she enjoyed playing with the other scarelings. The older residents were as new to this world as she was, but they still found time to indulge the little ones and all in all the young Mare was beginning to think that this was what life was all about. Every day was fun and exciting and so what if she had to do some chores? It was well worth it, in her opinion. The adults praised her greatly for her seriousness and dedication to her daily tasks, and with every praise Leonora puffed up with pride, becoming more and more intent on being a Good Scareling.

But like with all scarelings, scuffles were unavoidable - her sense of justice was perhaps sometimes a bit too great, and the Mare often took another scareling stealing a toy from a younger one a bit too seriously, ending in more than one wrestling match.

Which she generally lost, on account of her tiny size and lack of strength. It was hard to be intimidating when you were only 80 cm tall; and being the goodie two-shoes favourite of the caretakers certainly didn't help any, either.

She learned a lot about her new world though, every day being new and exciting.

But still, there were things she wondered about - since she'd arrived, several other scarelings had found scarents, leaving the orphanage to go live in their new homes. Some had written to their friends still left behind, letters filled mostly with heartfelt sentiments, terrible spelling, lopsided writing and happy drawings of their new families. They all seemed very joyous and content, and in her heart of hearts Leonora began to wonder if having scarents was really that great.

Maybe she was missing something by being here and not having a family of her own. It hadn't felt like it, not at first, but then she began to realise just how quickly creeple came and went in this place. A scareling might be here for a week before getting adopted, and for the older creeple it varied how long they were there, but all in all, faces came and went.

Only the caretakers remained permanently, but they often had families of their own at their home, as she learned.

It was not that her stay was remarkable in its length, though - it really was quite normal, she was assured, and plenty other scarelings were there just as long or longer.

As it dawned on her that this was only a temporary place, not a permanent home, Leonora started longing for a home of her own, with scarents that weren't just caretakers, however kind and gentle.

((Wordcount: 655))  

[Ephebe]

Adoption

"What if she doesn't like us," her voice sounded scared, and a clawed hand reached out for her husband's. "What if she doesn't like the boils? They've never had a sister before, you know -"

"I know." Ryder's hand curled around his wife's, short, stubby fingers giving her elegantly clawed ones a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be fine; she'll like us, she'll like the boils, she'll like the house - yes, I'm sure," he added as she opened her mouth to protest.

Huffing, Arlethe leaned against the window and curled her free hand under her chin, "you're just saying that," she mumbled, watching the scenery go by. "She might not, and then what?"

"Then we'll work it out, like any family. Why are you so worried?" He glanced at her, taking in her profile, "you weren't this worried with the boils."

She huffed a laugh, turning to meet his eyes, "I was and you know it; unless age has dulled your memory, that is," her voice had turned teasing and some of the concern was gone from her eyes for a moment, before she sighed again, still holding his eyes. "It's just... it's been so long since we got the boils, they're all grown up now. What if we -" hesitating, she almost didn't continue but managed to gather her courage; "what if we're too old? Not," she waved a hand dismissively, "that we're ancient or anything, yes thank you I know that but Ryder, it's been years since we had a scareling in the house. What if we've forgotten how to raise one properly? What if we're too old to keep up with her and she ends up miserable?"

"She won't," there was a note of fond exasperation in Ryder's voice and he gave her hand another squeeze. "We're nearly there anyway, you'll see for yourself soon enough."

_________________________

Today was a momentous day, Leonora had been told. Today a pair of scarents were coming to meet her, all the way from some small town out in the country-side.

"Me? Really?" And an incredulous smile had been her response, swinging the caretaker's hand, clasped with hers, as they walked towards the Meeting Room. Here was grown-up space, where possible scarents came to meet the scareling that they might adopt - though the adults didn't speak of the room in big letters, the scarelings definitely did.

But then they were there and there was no more time for questions, as the door opened and they stepped into the room where -

- two perfectly ordinary Monsters were waiting. Leonora deflated slightly; she'd thought for sure that when she'd get scarents, they'd be super villains from the skelevision or maybe even royalty of some sort!

But these were just normal creeple. The lady was elegantly dressed but looked very anxious, and her husband was short and plump, and also slightly... she squinted, trying to decipher his expression. He looked kind of pained, like that time Tim had gotten his foot stuck in the door and someone had slammed it - oh, that'd explain it. Her eyes fell to their hands, clasped tightly on the table in front of them. Clasped very tightly.

At Leonora's glance the lady self-consciously eased up her grip on her husband. "Hello sweetheart," the smile was genuine, as far as the scareling could tell. "It's very nice to meet you. You're Leonora, yes?"

Uncertainly, said Leonora nodded.

"Very nice to meet you," the husband echoed. His smile was warm and welcoming, just like his wife's but without the tinge of anxiousness. "Would you like to sit down?"

She glanced at the caretaker, taking in her smile and nod, before shuffling over to the table. There was a specially made small chair for her there, and she awkwardly sat down.

"Hello," it was a belated and visibly awkward reply, but there was a small smile growing on her face and she snuck excited glances at the two scarents before self-consciously looking away again. "Nice to meet you!" Maybe it was okay if they weren't super villains, as long as they were nice and liked her...?

((Wordcount: 67 cool )  

[Ephebe]

Coming Home

Leonora was excited. Leonora was super excited! Today had been THE DAY, the day that her new scarents came to take her home, permanently, to live with them in their house somewhere out in some small village she'd never heard of before.

It sounded awesome, but it didn't sound near as awesome as it actually was on THE DAY - she'd waited, impatiently, for them to arrive all morning; well, technically she was supposed to still have been asleep in the early hours of the morning, but who could sleep when their body was made of fluttering butterflies?! Every time she'd laid down to sleep, her thoughts had circled around her head until she was wide awake; the result of which was a very overtired scareling bouncing around the orphanage at 7 am in the morning. But she couldn't sleep. She refused to sleep; what if she woke up and this had all been a dream? She didn't tell any of the adults about that thought, knowing it was silly yet still quite afraid that it might come to pass.

Then at 9 am they'd arrived, her new scarents - Arlethe and Ryder Rytter, as she'd learned their names was. But they wanted her to call them mum and dad, if she wanted to; Leonora really, really wanted to. She was scared that they might change their mind though, so she hadn't yet done so - once they were at her new home, then she'd start because then she'd know that they really meant it, that they really, really wanted her to be their scareling.

The reunion had been filled with excitement on everyone's part, and a bit of nervousness on Leonora's part. It'd gone well though, they'd hugged and greeted and her new scarents had signed the neccessary papers while she said goodbye to her friends and then once everyone was ready to go, they'd taken one of her hands each and they'd gone to the train station.

The scareling had never ridden a train before, not even once, but even the excitement of this new experience wasn't enough to keep her awake; an hour into the ride she fell asleep, curled up in her seat. Her new mum had woken her for lunch by stroking her hair and calling her name, and it'd been the best wake-up she'd ever had.

Not to mention, her new scarents hadn't disappeared after she'd slept.

She slept some more after lunch, missing the scenery that passed them by and making the trip seem like it was much shorter than it actually was.

Her new scarents didn't mind, though; it'd been obvious to them that Leonora needed the sleep and they let her have peace for her nap.

Shortly before arriving at their village though, they roused the scareling, letting her wake up properly so she could see her new home.

The Mare took it all in with wide eyes, still a bit ruffled after sleep.

Her new home was no mansion, but it was still fairly large, with a spacious back garden and several patios. There was even a sun-room, from what she could see - the design of the house of the house seemed a bit mishmash to her, but then again, a scareling probably wasn't the best judge of architecture.

Her new mum gave her a tour of the home, pointing out all the things she might like to know while her new dad fixed them some sandwiches in the kitchen. The only room she'd not been shown yet had been her own, and Leonora was bursting with anticipation - at last, it was her room to be showed off and the scareling stared in wonder.

It was big, by her reckoning, and she didn't have to share it with anyone! The furniture had all been made to accommodate her size and the bed looked super comfortable. They didn't have too many toys for her at the moment, her scarents said, but they would take her shopping in town in the next couple of days and find some things she liked.

But, they did have one toy for her... a thing of the likes she'd never seen before; her dad called it a 'hobby horse' and said it'd been in the family for some time. You could use it to ride on and have grand adventures with, he said.

It was the most amazing toy Leonora had ever seen, hands down.

((Wordcount: 736 ))  

[Ephebe]

The Rytter Home

"This," Leo declared with an air of importance, "is the living room. It's where we live, most of the time, you see?" She nodded to her hobby horse, making him nod back as she made a neighing noise for him. "Right! Which is why it's called 'living room'! Over there," pointing, "is the skelevision. It's not very new or anything, but at least it's got both colour and sound. One of the ones at the orphanage could only do one of those at a time," she wrinkled her nose at the thought. And it wasn't like you could choose! Sometimes the sound worked but it was all black and white and then sometimes the sound didn't work and the pictures were in colour. "Weird stuff," she muttered to her toy, making him nod again.

Back on track, she surveyed the room with a discerning eye, "this is much cozier than anything at the orphanage, though." Well, maybe she was biased though; everything seemed better now that she had a family of her own. And brothers! Who would have thought. Leo had dreamed of scarents, but she'd never considered siblings - now that she had them though, she was quite glad of them. "Even if they like to tease me a lot," her hobby horse neighed indignantly on her behalf and she sighed, agreeing, "yeah, I know! You'd think teenagers would have better things to do than poking fun at an innocent scareling, right?" She neglected to mention that once she'd fallen into the rhythm, she managed to give as good as she got though. It might be teasing, but she never really felt bullied; they were all soft at heart, she knew. They'd been discreetly wiping tears away when they first met her! Softies.

"Anyway," she kept getting distracted, "this was the living room - now onwards to the kitchen!"

Mounting up, they rode off into the next room, making a circle in the middle of the room before she dismounted again.

"Okay, now; this is where Dad makes the food. These are the appliances, Mom calls them, and you should only use the ones that go hot under strict adult supervision," she hesitated for a moment, then amended; "well, adult and older brother supervision, because one time Danny and I were alone for dinner and he let me help make scrambled eggs. I cracked the eggs!" She preened, proud of her cooking achievement. Her hobby horse made an impressed horse-y noise. She was pretty sure it was a horse-y noise, anyway.

"Okay, well, I've already gotten my after-lunch snack today, so let's move on!" She mounted, struck a heroic pose and then they made off for the hallway.

"I totally forgot to show you the hallway so, well, here it is," she made a gesture encompassing the entire hallway. "It's just a hallway, really. The wallpaper's kind of old-school and I don't think I've ever seen printed flowers that dreadful before. And not the good kind of dreadful," she added. The wallpaper was a cheerful monstrosity in fuchsia and pale, sunny yellow, not at all befitting of a proper Monster home.

Leo sighed, shook her head at whoever had decorated this hallway and then steered her stallion onwards towards the bathroom. "This," she said with flair, "is the family bathroom - as you might notice by the unkempt state of it, regularly used by teenage boils who never puts things back where they should be after using it." There was an intense amount of disapproval in her voice at this notion; it made getting ready in the morning really hard when you couldn't find the hairbrush, and for some reason someone had thrown the hand-towel in a drawer, and the soap had mysteriously disappeared from the premises.

"Oh, we forgot the dining room! That's really boring though, just a big table and a sideboard. Mom says we can't have nice things in there because family dinners always get rowdy," Leo revealed with a sage nod. "She's probably right. We are a bit rowdy, you know. Anyway, that was most of the house - not the boils' rooms or anything, because they say that's a no-scarelings zone," another nose wrinkle, "whatever that means. Next time, I'll show you the backyard, okay?"

Her hobby horse neighed again, enthusiastically.

((Wordcount: 713))  

[Ephebe]

Family Visits

Today Leo and her scarents had gone to visit some more distant relatives (both literally and figuratively); part of Leo's mom's side of the family lived in some remote mountains a day's travel or so from their little village. Usually, the two different sides of the family didn't see much of each other except when someone happened to be in the area; once upon a time, there'd been some family disagreement that no-one could quite recall the details of that had somewhat cooled the waters between them.

Now, Arlethe and several of her family members had set themselves on a reconciliation. Truth be told, it hadn't taken much work at all; a polite phone call and some organizing, and now they were in the middle of a family get-together in said remote mountains.

They'd been doing the rounds and visiting relatives all day, but at the moment the rest of her family had gone off to do some tourist-y shopping, leaving Leonora alone with Great-Uncle Hervard, who was old and doddery and refused to leave his natural form at all these days.

Which happened to be a giant, rather moth-eaten dragon. No-one was quite sure how much of him still remained as he had not spoken for years, but overall he was a kind, drowsy old Monster. Leo had been left under his supervision (or was it the other way around? She wasn't quite sure, to be honest), with a kiss on the forehead from her mother and a nudge to 'tell him about herself'.

Which was what she was currently doing.

"So, you see, I'm really not all that terrible at dancing after all. I only stepped on his toes once or twice! And Dad said that's practically a harvest dance tradition, stepping on toes." She nodded to herself, proud of her reasoning.

Great-Uncle Hervard gave a sleepy snort, re-adjusting his laying down position to be more comfortable. Leo held on to the scaly leg she was sitting on as he moved, but either he was more aware than she realised or she was just very lucky, as he didn't move his front leg at all during the transition.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh right, daily stuff - the town's got a little school set up for us scarelings; or well, school is probably exaggerating a bit. More like a few classes, I guess. They teach us general stuff, like reading and writing and maths and history and all that sort of stuff," Leo wrinkled her nose, not at all fond of those subjects. "It's all very sit-still-and-be-good, you know? I'd prefer it if we had more active classes, interesting stuff to do. I mean, don't get me wrong, I can do sit-still things but they're so boring!" Her voice slid into a high whine and the Mare self-consciously cleared her throat when she noticed, "right, yeah. Mom and Dad teach me things too, about being a Monster, but there's really not a lot to teach me when I don't have a natural form, you know?"

She sighed, wistfully, "I really wish I had a natural form. All the other Monster scarelings in town do! And my brothers too, and my scarents - it's not fair that I don't get one," she pouted, kicking the air in frustration. Great-Uncle Hervard nudged her gently with a cheek, puffing out great plumes of smoke from his nostrils, "I know, I know - it's not like I don't like being a Mare, it's just..." Sighing, she leaned backwards and looked up into the murky sky, "it'd just be cool to be something more cool, you know. But," she brightened considerably, "maybe I'll learn to shapeshift one day! Dad said they looked it up and some Mares can do that, but apparently it takes a lot of practice. They couldn't find what exactly they shapeshifted into, though." Leo cocked her head to the side, considering. "I hope it's something cool, but anything would do, really. I wouldn't mind something awkward!"

Patting the leg beneath her, she turned to look at her Great-Uncle with a beam on her face, "and when I get awesome and powerful and learn shapeshifting, I'll come show you my new form, promise!"

((Wordcount: 700))