Post by spook on Oct 12, 2020 1:02:33 GMT
For the past few years, the animal shelter had held a Halloween-themed charity event each October.
It was, perhaps, Rin's favourite thing about volunteering there: an entire day dedicated to all things spooky, plus the eternal cuteness of everything furred and feathered.
Previously, Rin had been too young to actively help out with the event, although her parents had always taken Shozo and herself to the kids' portion of the gathering. The hours between 12pm to 5pm were solely for the younger generation. The food, decorations and activities during that time slot were best suited to children. The next few hours after that, more rooms would be opened - ones designed to reflect the tastes of the teenaged crowd. By 10 o'clock at night, all the children and teens would have had their fill, and the last few hours of operation were solely designed for adults. Anyone under 20 would be turned away at the door if they tried to join the party at such a late hour. ID checks were considered mandatory, and whilst they'd had the occasional teenager try to overstay their designated time slot, it was usually sorted out pretty quickly.
Being scolded by Mrs. Shina when she caught you -and she ALWAYS caught you!- just wasn't worth the embarrassment.
This year, Rin had been able to help prepare the venue. The Shina Shelter was not big enough to host the expected numbers the party would see, so they tended to rent out a few floors in a nearby office. The first floor held a small kid-friendly entrance maze, with cute ghost cut outs, and carved pumpkins a plenty. The decorations got spookier the further into the party one went, and Rin's favourite was an animatronic fortune teller. She was not fond of the zombies on the upper floor, but that was the adult-only territory, so now that everything was set up, she wouldn't have to interact with them again - until tomorrow, at least, and maybe she could just stick to tidying up the under 20's floors?
Undead were way too creepy for Rin's tastes.
Some last minute tweaking of her costume - white, puffy sleeves beneath a pale blue pinafore, complete with white apron and pointy witches' hat, which she had pinned at jaunty angle - and Rin was ready to take her designated station at the 'apple bobbing' game. A bunch of fake apples were sitting in a faux wood tub, and the kids were given a 'fishing rod' to hook over the stems - she'd stamp their participation cards, or not, dependent upon the number revealed on the apples' bottoms. A filled card, when presented to the check-out counter, would reward the kidlets with a goodie bag. The sense of accomplishment when she'd completed such cards had been a huge part of why Rin came back every year as a kid, and she was looking forward to being on this side of the event for once.
It was, perhaps, Rin's favourite thing about volunteering there: an entire day dedicated to all things spooky, plus the eternal cuteness of everything furred and feathered.
Previously, Rin had been too young to actively help out with the event, although her parents had always taken Shozo and herself to the kids' portion of the gathering. The hours between 12pm to 5pm were solely for the younger generation. The food, decorations and activities during that time slot were best suited to children. The next few hours after that, more rooms would be opened - ones designed to reflect the tastes of the teenaged crowd. By 10 o'clock at night, all the children and teens would have had their fill, and the last few hours of operation were solely designed for adults. Anyone under 20 would be turned away at the door if they tried to join the party at such a late hour. ID checks were considered mandatory, and whilst they'd had the occasional teenager try to overstay their designated time slot, it was usually sorted out pretty quickly.
Being scolded by Mrs. Shina when she caught you -and she ALWAYS caught you!- just wasn't worth the embarrassment.
This year, Rin had been able to help prepare the venue. The Shina Shelter was not big enough to host the expected numbers the party would see, so they tended to rent out a few floors in a nearby office. The first floor held a small kid-friendly entrance maze, with cute ghost cut outs, and carved pumpkins a plenty. The decorations got spookier the further into the party one went, and Rin's favourite was an animatronic fortune teller. She was not fond of the zombies on the upper floor, but that was the adult-only territory, so now that everything was set up, she wouldn't have to interact with them again - until tomorrow, at least, and maybe she could just stick to tidying up the under 20's floors?
Undead were way too creepy for Rin's tastes.
Some last minute tweaking of her costume - white, puffy sleeves beneath a pale blue pinafore, complete with white apron and pointy witches' hat, which she had pinned at jaunty angle - and Rin was ready to take her designated station at the 'apple bobbing' game. A bunch of fake apples were sitting in a faux wood tub, and the kids were given a 'fishing rod' to hook over the stems - she'd stamp their participation cards, or not, dependent upon the number revealed on the apples' bottoms. A filled card, when presented to the check-out counter, would reward the kidlets with a goodie bag. The sense of accomplishment when she'd completed such cards had been a huge part of why Rin came back every year as a kid, and she was looking forward to being on this side of the event for once.
