we wear the mask that grins and lies // open

[Edmund Simons]

it h i d e s our cheeks
and s h a d e s our eyes

Halloween was childish and creepy.

Kids dressing up to reflect fantasies they had, going from door to door for candy, and adults giving it to them. On any other day it'd be called creepy and suspicious, maybe border lining on child endangerment, but no, since America had an entire holiday dedicated to said antics, it was totally acceptable. Serial killers would probably have a field day if they could get away with it.

Edmund remembered not particularly liking it as a child. 1) For some reason, he never liked dressing up 2) The entire neighborhood (minus Felicity) knew him as a trouble maker and therefore, he didn't like seeing them because they'd all look at him funny and 3) He disliked sweets. Hey, even then he had been a kill joy. And that had been when his family was alive and Felicity had been his friend. Felicity had probably been one of the only reasons he had gone Trick or Treating... gods, the things he had let her talk him into when they were children...

Halloween for demigods was ironic and stupid.

They lived in a land of make believe where all they did was wear masks: to others and to the outside world. Nonetheless, Edmund found himself wandering around the outskirts of the Masquerade Bazaar, avoiding the masses and hanging around less populated places like a wallflower. Like the Carnival, he waved his presence off as using this place to kill time and distract himself. He wasn't here for the people: he was here for the free food and mindless entertainment that people were so in to these days. Besides, he couldn't really talk: he preformed mindless entertainment all day. Well, technically he was making stuff, earning a living, and being sort of productive, but still mindless in a way: he felt nothing while doing it. Or at least, he tried not to think about anything while carving.

His brown eyes wandered around the scene, noting people, exists, tables, and entertainers. How ironic.... him wearing a costume and half mask: poising as Erik, more commonly known as The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera. He thought the character rather fitting for him. Although he had never seen the actual play, he had heard a lot about it. Maybe he could steal one the book from a house (if it had it, of course) .... or just go to the library.

All he really had to for this masquerade ball was show up as himself, with his own face, which, in its own right, was a mask itself. A mask for so long that it eventually just became his face.

Wasn't all of theirs?

Out of Character

NOTES: Costume

WORDS: 442

TAG: OPEN

CREDIT: AI