It'll Be Different This Time. I Promise.

Leona Jarnefeldt rolls one Normal Die for the Halloween Punch Sampling Activity.

Wearing her Valkyrie costume this year because she had nothing else and she saw no point in running out to buy a new costume that she was going to wear only once a year, Leona walked into Magnolia Town dressed like one of the figures from Norse legend. She had a hard plastic sword in its scabbard and carried her round green shield in her left hand. She wore a long blonde wig with a single long braid topped by a winged helmet. To complete the outfit she wore her black bike shorts underneath the long skirt so that if the wind picked up she would not suffer embarrassment.

Leona strode among numerous other costumed people and began to look for her longtime friend and fellow Wizard Saint Samira Nassar. The teal-haired mage was one of the few friends Leona had in this world. The blonde had forgotten when exactly they had first met, but she knew that it was years ago, back when Leona was just getting started as a mage and Samira was already an established mage.

Even though it was only a matter of a few years, their first meeting felt like it had happened a lifetime ago.

Regardless of when and how they had met, the two mages somehow found common ground and became friends. Even though Samira was so strong that she was a force of nature and did not really need a partner, the two mages worked surprisingly well together. They had been through a lot of adventures together and as a result were almost inseparable. Leona had a tough time recalling exactly how many adventures the two had went on, but it was undoubtedly a large number.

Getting off of Memory Lane before she got stuck there and missed the party she was here to attend, Leona drifted back to the real world and began looking for the teal-haired mage. Then the blonde realized that there might be a slight problem. She had no idea what kind of costume her friend was wearing!

Then again, Samira had no idea what Leona was wearing either.

Leona frowned for a moment, but then she remembered that she could sense Samira's magic signature. Being careful not to pat herself too hard on the back for arriving at that simple solution, the blonde detected a very strong magic signature not very far from where she had just walked into town. Since it was currently the only one as strong as it was, there was a pretty good chance she had just detected Samira. Walking in the direction of the magic signature, Leona eventually found a Halloween Punch Sampling stand and decided that she would try some punch before she met up with Samira and the two began to look for activities to partake in.

-At the Halloween Punch Sampling stand-

Leona walked up to the punch stand and was expecting to have to wait in line, but she was able to get a cup of punch without any trouble whatsoever. Taking the cup into her right hand, Leona walked a short distance away to in front of a trash can and drank it. The beverage had a flat taste like a half-empty bottle of cherry soda that had been left in the refrigerator a few days instead of being finished, but that was the least of the Wizard Saint's worries. Her scalp began to tingle and she thought that she was feeling movement of some sort on her head.

Shortly after throwing the empty cup away Leona felt the helmet shift in place and eventually fall off onto the ground along with the wig she was wearing. When she bent down to pick them up she felt something like a curtain brush both cheeks and close in front of her face. The momentarily blinded Leona managed to grab the helmet and wig and stood up; the curtain moved back in place behind her and she could see again. It was only then that she realized that the "curtain" she had felt was actually her hair that had grown down to her ankles!

Leona frowned. Long hair was not that bad of a Halloween trick compared to a lot of other tricks she could think of, but it would make things a little difficult because she had never had long hair before. One challenge was having to avoid getting the ends of her hair dirty by either stepping on it or by dragging it along behind her. With no other way to carry it at the moment, she put her helmet on top of her head, put the wig in her right hand, scooped up her suddenly long hair the best she could, and carried it in her arms for the time being until she could find Samira.

That did not take long because Leona spotted a green-haired young woman with an exceptionally strong magic signature standing right next to the punch stand stand. She was wearing a black witch costume and her magic signature matched Samira's. Feeling fairly certain that she had just found her friend, Leona walked in front of the young woman, stopped, and greeted her.

"Hey Samira! How's it going?" Leona asked her friend while holding her hair in her arms.

Leona's Costume:

[Post Word Count: 878]
[Leona's Word Count: 878]

Leona has obtained one Candy Corn Kernel from the Halloween Punch Sampling Activity.

When Leona finally spoke to her friend she was embarrassed to see that the teal-haired mage had been "hiding" in plain sight. She had never known Samira to wear a hat, so that small detail had thrown Leona off. The Wizard Saint of Courage's embarrassment showed on her face as she listened to what Samira had to say to her.

If Leona had slowed down and taken the time to actively look for her friend before drinking the punch Samira could have warned her about the tricky nature of the beverage. Over the years Leona had come to expect that Halloween would always have some kind of magical trickery involved, but she had never expected the trick to come from punch. Next year she would have to regard the punch with suspicion until it was proven to be totally safe to drink. Still, she had gotten off pretty lightly with only significantly lengthened hair for her trouble. Somehow it could have been much worse.

Leona listened to what Samira had said about her new long hair and spoke once Samira was finished speaking.

"Yeah, participating in activities with hair this long is not gonna be much fun. Either I'm gonna step on my own hair or someone else is. Either way it's gonna hurt." Leona commented on how her long hair would make moving about a challenge.

Going from shoulder-length hair to ankle-length hair was not something she was prepared for, but like she always did Samira was going to come to Leona's rescue. Samira waved her staff and summoned a portal of some kind for some reason that was currently unknown to the blonde. Seeing that portal made Leona flash back to that cheesy dimension she had escaped from a couple of years ago. Leona shoved that deeply unpleasant memory aside before it ruined the evening.

Leona watched Samira reach into the portal and eventually pull out a chair. The blonde blinked. She was surprised that the teal-haired mage had a chair stashed back in the unlikely event that she needed it, but today that unlikely event had happened courtesy of Leona. Weird things tended to happen to Leona and this was another weird thing to add to the list.

Once she had grabbed the chair Samira looked for a safe place to put it. After a brief selection process she placed the chair in an area off to the side of the main entrance that was still reasonably close to the punch stand. The teal-haired mage then patted the wooden seat as a gesture to sit in it. She then stated that she was going to take care of the blonde's hair problem for her. Since Leona had no idea of how to do hair aside from brushing it, she would gladly accept Samira's offer of help.

"Sure thing." Leona said, walking over to the chair and sitting down in it. This would be the first time someone besides her mother had ever worked on her hair in any way.

[Post Word Count: 502]
[Leona's Word Count: 1,380]

Once she sat down Leona was told to sit still and relax. That was easier said than done. No one besides her mother had ever styled the blonde's hair and "styled" was a generous description of the Wizard Saint of Courage's hair care routine back home.

The truth was that Sophia did more "basic maintenance" on Leona's hair than "elaborate styling."

Leona's mother did not put much effort into her daughter's hair because there was not much time for such things, not when there was always work to be done. Second, the possibility of bandit or slaver raids occurring at any time also made time-consuming styling impractical. Third, the relentless desert heat made long hair difficult to take care of. Finally, having short hair made it harder for enemies to grab Leona by the hair and either literally drag her off into slavery or hold her in place long enough for someone to kill her.

Thanks to having short hair Leona scored quite a few kills when a bold bandit or slaver tried to grab her by the hair while she was distracted fighting another one of them. They always missed and she spun around and cut their throats with her weapon before they could back away from her. Ever since then Leona kept her hair short out of practical concerns as well as convenience.

Ah, the good old days of life in the desert.

Samira admitted that she was not a professional stylist, but that hardly mattered to the blonde. She was surprised that the Goddess of Humility would even go to this much trouble just to style her hair. Most people would not even bother beyond doing the basics, if they even went that far.

"It doesn't matter that you're not a professional stylist, Samira. I'm just glad that you're willing to help me out on something so... so small." Leona replied to her friend's statement concerning her lack of "official" qualification to work on someone's hair.

"You... you're the first person aside from my mother to... to work on my hair in any way." Leona added. She almost immediately felt stupid for saying such a thing. Samira did not need to know that because that fact was not going to make any difference in what was going on. It was not going to help the teal-haired mage suddenly become a professional stylist nor did she really care about anything that did not help her with the task at hand. Not wanting to dig the hole any deeper, Leona quickly shut her mouth and let Samira start styling her hair.

Leona sat in awkward silence as Samira worked on her suddenly long hair. She heard brushes being used, heard a spraying sound, and felt her hair being twisted to and fro. Leona did not know how long the procedure was going to take, so she kept quiet to avoid breaking Samira's concentration.

Minutes later when everything was done the teal-haired mage handed Leona a mirror. The blonde took the mirror, stood up, and took a moment to see what the end result of Samira's work was. Leona was visibly impressed by the braided hair she was now sporting. It was a lot easier to deal with than it was when it was hanging freely.

"Thanks, Samira. I wasn't expecting you to go to such great lengths for me, but I appreciate it." Leona thanked her friend for all the hard work she had just put in. The blonde then realized she had made an accidental pun and clammed up to avoid digging the hole any deeper. An awkward silence prevailed until Samira asked how Leona was at pumpkin carving.

"Um... I've never carved a pumpkin before, Samira." Leona answered truthfully. The blonde had been around Samira long enough to know that the latter was interested in carving a pumpkin. She hoped that her truthful answer did not ruin Samira's plans.

[Post Word Count: 652]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,032]

Leona was glad that she had sense enough to let Samira help her. Now instead of having to carry around ankle-length hair it was now done up in a convenient braid that was a lot easier to deal with. The blonde was happy with what was done to her hair, but she had never had it really done up before, so she had nothing to compare it to. Still, Samira managed to save the Wizard Saint of Courage from having a difficult time.

"You might not want me to do your hair, Samira. I have no experience with hair whatsoever. But if I have to, I will." Leona said to the teal-haired mage. Leona hoped that Samira asking for her with help with her hair would be an absolute last resort. Then it hit her that her companion was mostly joking about that.

Way to go, Leona.

Quickly moving on from that glaringly stupid moment, Leona seized upon the topic of carving pumpkins to try and save a little bit of face. She learned that Samira had asked about pumpkins because there was a pumpkin carving contest at the festival and the Goddess of Humility wanted to participate in it. To the teal-haired mage it would be a chance to compete against others who carved pumpkins. Leona's facial expression was neutral as she gave her answer... or rather, a statement of fact before she gave her answer.

"I haven't really dealt with pumpkins since that trip to Royal Castle, Samira. And I haven't carved one before either." Leona told her companion. She had not handled a pumpkin since that time and did not know the first thing about carving one, not with any degree of finesse. Leona also remembered what happened at the Cooking Contest a few years ago.

That incident was an absolute fiasco that gave her bad memories of The Recheeserator stomping around and terrorizing people that the dynamic duo had to eventually rescue by going inside the unholy fusion of a grilled cheese sandwich and a refrigerator. That in turn led to memories of that cheesy dimension with the people wearing food costumes and the little grilled cheese sandwiches. As if that was not bad enough, there was one individual who made Leona so angry that the animosity she felt towards him was unable to be described in polite words.

Chef Ramsey.

That man was so obnoxious that Leona would rather watch paint dry than deal with that egotistical jackass again.

Snapping back to the present, Leona glanced at the pumpkin-shaped sign Samira had pointed out. She read over it and saw the times for the Pumpkin Carving contest and other event activities, then looked back at Samira. Leona was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but even she could see where this conversation was going. Her companion had dropped a pretty heavy hint earlier when she claimed that a lack of skill did not matter.

"I'll participate in the Pumpkin Carving contest too, Samira." Leona finally gave her answer. She could not think of anything else she wanted to do at the moment, so she would give it a shot. Besides, she owed Samira for doing such a good job with her hair on such short notice. As long as pumpkins did not come to life and terrorize people, everything would be OK.

[Post Word Count: 558]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,590]

Leona decided to participate in the pumpkin carving contest only because Samira was participating. If the teal-haired mage had not been taking part Leona would have stayed out of it because of the concern that the pumpkin she was trying to carve would come to life and terrorize the contestants and the audience like The Recheeserator had at that ill-fated Cooking Contest. The Wizard Saint of Courage shuddered at that unpleasant memory.

When told that all she had to do to get to the contest area was follow the pumpkins, Leona was puzzled. That state of confusion lasted for a few moments until she looked around and saw numerous pumpkins lining the sides of the path they needed to take. Leona then made eye contact with Samira.

"OK. I'll be right behind you, Samira." Leona said to Samira, who was obviously more excited about the contest than the blonde was. With little time to lose, Leona quickly followed her friend to the Pumpkin Carving Contest area.

-At the Pumpkin Carving Contest-

After completing the sign-up process Leona joined Samira at the table the latter had chosen. Leona glanced at the knife lying on the right side of the table and noticed that it was a good-quality knife that was sharp enough to get the job done. She did not have much time to admire it because the contest could begin any moment now.

When her turn to choose a pumpkin came Leona picked out the closest and best-looking pumpkin she could get and gently set it on the table in front of her. She then listened to the announcers lay out the rules of the contest, which were fairly simple. They were so simple even she could remember them.

Shortly after the rules were laid out for the contestants some guy named "Jay Sillicane" started talking to everyone, but Leona did not pay much attention to him because she was focused on picking the design for her pumpkin. Once the talking stopped contestants received two cues to start. Leona missed the first cue due to being preoccupied with still trying to choose a design but did not miss the distinctive blast of an airhorn that served as the second cue.

Once the contest had started Leona picked up her knife and started cutting a hole in the top of her pumpkin. Thanks to both the sharpness of the knife and accumulated experience from using knives since she was eight years old the Wizard Saint completed the operation without incident. She removed the top of the pumpkin and set both it and the knife close to the top right corner of the table, then began the messy chore of removing the pumpkin's insides.

Once that messy chore was completed the big lumpy orange pile of pumpkin insides she had piled just to the right of the pumpkin was shoved straight into the waiting abyss of the trashcan that was conveniently jutting out from under the right side of the table. Leona grabbed an oddly cute black and orange kitchen towel with a smiling pumpkin on it and wiped her hands on it, then used the towel to quickly and carefully dry out the pumpkin's interior. After that step was complete she set the messy towel near the top center portion of her section of table and visualized the design she had chosen, which was the Silver Wolf emblem. Leona took a quiet breath, then grabbed her knife and began carving the outline of a wolf's head in profile facing right.

Here went nothing.

Leona carved it as neatly as she could despite her inexperience and the pressure of time constraints. Once the outline of the head was finished the Wizard Saint began to work on the eye and the ears. Leona soon finished the eye section and began to work on the ears, doing some careful carving on the inside of the left ear to create an ear cavity and making a small carving near the left ear so that the wolf had two ears facing right. The final major detail was to finish the wolf's muzzle by adding a small nose at the end. Leona had just finished it and was in the process of adding some detail to the fur on the wolf's head and neck when time ran out, so she had no choice but to stop working and carry the pumpkin over to the judging table in its current condition.

She gently placed her pumpkin behind the sign with her name on it and looked at her work. It was a no-frills design that bore a decent resemblance to the Silver Wolf emblem, but she had been unable to add the level of detail she had wanted to put into it due to time constraints. There were several obviously jagged parts around the muzzle and the ears that made the design look somewhat unrefined. The wolf's fur on its head and chest also looked spiky and a bit rough instead of smooth with finer individual strands coming together to form the fur on its head and chest. Unfortunately for her the contest had ended, so there was nothing that could be done about those problems now.

After taking one last look at her creation Leona turned around and began the return trip to her table. She could have done a lot better in carving out the Silver Wolf emblem, but at least her pumpkin did not look like a serial killer had attacked it with a knife. That was a good enough outcome for her.

[Post Word Count: 928]
[Leona's Word Count: 3,518]

Leona has earned one Candy Corn Kernel from the Pumpkin Carving Contest.

When added to the Candy Corn Kernel she has previously earned from Halloween Punch Sampling, Leona now has two out of three Candy Corn Kernels needed for event completion.

Leona stood at her place and waited for the contest to officially end. She already knew that she was not going to win because the work of several of her competitors was of much higher quality than her own, but she was not bothered by that. They had all done a great job on their carvings and Leona had lost in contests before... she had placed last in the Surfing Contest at the Beach Party in Hargeon Town a few months back, so losing this contest would not hurt her ego very much. She was just glad that her carving of the Silver Wolf emblem was not so bad that it made the judges and that "Jay Sillicane" fellow cry when they looked at it.

After the official end of the contest Leona turned left and looked at Samira, who had asked her what activity she wanted to take part in now. The blonde faced the teal-haired mage and thought for a few moments before speaking. She was not really sure what activity she wanted to do next.

"That's a good question, Samira. I haven't really given it much thought." Leona replied to Samira. She had been so focused on making sure that her pumpkin carving for the contest was not an utter disaster that she had forgotten all about the other activities. Leona recalled Samira mentioning a "costume contest" as one of their options a few moments ago. Her initial response was to nix the idea right away, but Leona gave it a little more thought before giving an answer.

The costume contest sounded like fun. She doubted that she would have to do anything more strenuous than show up and do a few action poses to prove her Valkyrie credentials to the audience and the judges. Since Leona was a real-life female warrior with years of actual fighting experience gained from fighting numerous actual human opponents, acting like a mythological female warrior for a contest should be a cakewalk for her.

"Eh, why not? Let's participate in the costume contest!" Leona said to Samira. The Wizard Saint of Courage was willing to give it a shot. Hopefully Samira would be on board with the idea too.

[Post Word Count: 368]
[Leona's Word Count: 3,886]

Leona was not sure what had possessed her to enter the costume contest, but she was going to go through with it. She wanted to do something outside the norm for her because she really needed to start socializing with people outside her tiny circle of friends and acquaintances. She also wanted to participate in a costume contest this year so that if she ever went to future festivals that had one she would know from experience whether she wanted to participate in another or not.

Speaking of contest participation, the blonde briefly worried about her choice of activity. Leona did not know whether Samira was up for another contest or not and did not want to force her into something she did not want to do. All doubts were dispelled the moment Samira made it clear that she was on board with the idea of participating in the costume contest.

"All right, Samira. Let's go." Leona said to her longtime friend. The blonde spotted the path to the costume contest and followed it while reading the signs and learning several valuable pieces of information from them. The most important information was when the contest started... Leona did not want to be late, so she did not dawdle as the pair made their way towards the contest area and carefully worked their way through the crowds milling about the festival. The duo soon reached the contest area with plenty of time to spare.

-At the contest area, backstage-

Leona registered for the contest a short time after Samira did and walked backstage to wait with the other contestants. The blonde looked around her just to see what kinds of costumes the other contestants were wearing. After a brief glance around to satisfy her curiosity Leona turned and faced the path that led to the stage. Soon she would be out there showing the audience her Valkyrie costume.

Eventually her turn came and Leona took a quiet breath before drawing her hard plastic sword, gripping the grip of her green shield in her left hand, and walking onto the stage.

-On the stage-

Leona walked onto the stage with all the confidence of a mythological female warrior. She walked carefully and deliberately like she owned the stage, making action poses when and where she felt it would wow the crowd the most. The first pose she did was to stop and thrust her plastic sword into the sky, which drew a fair bit of applause. The second pose she did was to walk to the end of the stage, then stop and raise her shield in front of her with her left hand while twirling her sword in her right hand to bring it into a ready position before thrusting the weapon towards the audience. She did not need to twirl the sword, but this was a contest, so she would show off a little for the crowd.

The audience gave her another decent around of applause, but the Wizard Saint wanted to go a little further and win more applause. Leona tried to think of another pose she could strike that could wow the crowd. She initially thought about leaping into the air while performing a spinning slash, but it might look like she was using her magic to pull it off, so that idea was a no-go. She then considered doing a spinning slash in place, but again it might look like she was using her magic, so she nixed that idea too. Her time on stage was running out, so she needed to come up with a good idea and fast.

Leona held her shield firmly in her left hand and tossed her sword straight up into the air a short distance, blocking a strike from an imaginary opponent and holding her right hand up to catch the sword by the grip. A second later the grip of the sword landed in her right hand and she slashed diagonally down towards the audience, earning a loud round of applause for the show of dexterity. The moment she pulled off that trick her time ended, so Leona walked off the stage while smiling a little and twirling the sword in her hand just as she walked offstage.

Even if her efforts would not be enough to win her the contest, Leona felt that she had put on a show worthy of a Valkyrie and she had done it all without magic. She had also managed to walk on stage in front of a lot of people without falling down or otherwise making an idiot of herself, feats which were small victories for the blonde. In the end Leona felt that she had done enough to do her costume justice.

[Post Word Count: 790]
[Leona's Word Count: 4,676]

Leona has earned a Candy Corn Kernel for participating in the Costume Contest.

When added to the Candy Corn Kernels she has previously earned from Halloween Punch Sampling and the Pumpkin Carving Contest, Leona now has all three Candy Corn Kernels needed for event completion.