Path of the Vampire forum

Emerson was just putting everything together that she would need for her Halloween night when her phone buzzed to life. She paused, putting down the hot glue gun, and reached for the device with her free hand. With a swipe of her thumb, she unlocked it and read over the message, all while holding down the most recently glued flower. Responding with only one hand was a bit of a challenge, but she pulled through with only needing to go back once due to a small typo.

Be there soon!!

Tossing the phone aside, Emerson went back to work and finish up with her headband. She trimmed at the bunch of fake flowers, gluing each bud in their own place around the clay deer antlers she had molded herself. It was a process rather similar to that of arranging bouquets at her newfound job, and after pulling away some stray strands of glue, she figured it would be work that Elizabeth would probably be proud of. She also hadn't taken as much time as she had when she first arranged flowers with the blonde woman some days ago, so that was somewhat of a victory, too.

She left the headband out to set and decided to wait on her makeup until arriving at Maddison's. She did, however, change out of her lazy day clothes, of nothing more than a baggy sweater and thigh-high socks, and into the dress she would be wearing for the remainder of the night. It was light and flowy, and a bit flowery, which she felt was the best for the look she was going for - young, free, and innocent. Emerson paired the dress with some comfortable brown booties and toyed with her hair for a bit. When she was happy with how her curls fell, she brought the antlers to rest on her head. They were just as cute as she hoped they would be, and she let out a small squeal of excitement to show it.

With being all dressed and ready to go, Emerson swept the makeup and brushes she had been planning to use on herself into her small backpack. The liquid latex (she hoped he wasn't allergic), the fake blood (which did not smell or taste anything like real blood - and embarrassingly, yes, she had tried it), and the Zombie Palette makeup she had picked up (and did cost her a pretty penny, mind you) that she would be using for Robin's look were joined with the rest of her things in her backpack. She also packed a change of clothes, just in case Maddison would allow her to spend the night. She wasn't sure how long they would be out, or if anything out of what was planned was going to come up. Either way, at least she would be prepared. With everything in tow, she zipped the bag shut, slung it over her shoulders, and left for the familiar condo. Well, not before she went back inside to unplug the hot glue gun and retrieve her phone.

Emerson took the familiar route to Maddison’s place with little trouble. As ironic as it was, her memory served her rather well in remembering the course of the trip, leading to only a single mishap in which she turned down the wrong street. Thankfully, she had realized her mistake before getting too lost, and was back on track in no time, ending her journey with a small set of knocks on the familiar front door. It was only seconds later that tall blonde woman was swinging open the door as if she had been waiting for the girl's arrival, letting out a rather loud, excited welcome. It made Emerson giggle. “And a very spooky Halloween to you too. Hi! Y’look cute,” she commented with a quick look over the cheerleader gimmick. At the sight of it, Emerson felt all of a sudden very overdressed for the occasion, comparing her long outfit to Maddison’s barely-there one. Nonetheless, she stepped inside the house, toeing off her boots by the door.

The first thing she noticed as her jade eyes swept over the house were all the decorations, planted around various parts of the room. It added a cute touch and made Emerson's fall-loving heart leap with joy. “I’ll need to set up somewhere,” she mumbled, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. A large table was ideal, as it would give her enough space to lay out all the products that would be needed. With a quick glance around, Emerson crossed out the coffee table as an option. It was too low to the ground, a bit on the smaller side, and she didn’t want to risk spilling something or other on any of the nearby living room furniture. Maddison had already had to buy a new couch, anyways, and Emerson noticed it with a grin. “The new furniture’s lovely,” she teased, motioning to it. “Think I’ll take the kitchen for this job,” she decided. It seemed like a good enough choice.

With her decision in tow, the young brunette set out to do just that. She made her way into the kitchen, plopping her bag down on the tabletop and herself into one of the chairs. She worked on pulling out every tube, every brush, and every product she would need, including the other things that would have seemed a bit out of the ordinary to anyone other than herself - cotton balls, and a small palette knife. She laid them all out neatly in front of her, not even trying to imagine how overwhelmed Robin would probably end up being at the sight of it all.

Emerson perked up when she heard her name, offering a small smile, followed by a bigger one and then a giggle, as Robin toppled his way into the kitchen and onto a stool. It was weird to think that someone was clumsier than her, but Robin sure did fit the role. She pulled one last thing from her bag - her phone - and tapped away at the glowing screen.

“Well, Madds said she wanted y’to be a zombie,” she explained, trying to pull up the picture she would be referencing to from time to time. “And since I love makeup, I decided to help.” She shrugged her shoulder and put her phone to the counter, placing it in such a way that she was pretty sure Robin wouldn’t be able to peek at the picture. She wanted it to be a surprise. Surprises could be fun. Green eyes trailed over the table for a bit before Emerson plucked the bottle she needed, giving it a thorough shake. With her free hand, she reached for a cotton ball. “S’liquid latex,” she said, putting the bottle down. “When I add it to cotton, it forms, like, something I can work with.” She shrugged again, rolling apart the cotton and tearing off a small piece. “Figured I could give you some little scars all over. Nothing too extreme, but realistic enough, y’know?” And she didn’t wait for him to reply, scooting her chair closer and studying his face. Thinking better of it, she stood from her chair, since Robin was taller than her, even when sitting down. She grabbed a small sponge, squirted some of the liquid latex on it, and got to work, dabbing the liquid over a spot on his forehead, placing the cotton on top of it, and putting more of the latex on top of that. She repeated the process all over, smoothing out any rough edges with palette knife so the material seemed to almost effortlessly blend into his skin. She compared her work so far to the picture at hand and smiled at her success.

“Okay,” she said, screwing the cap of the bottle closed and tossing aside a cotton ball she hadn’t ended up needing. The next step was his skin itself. Robin was already pretty pale, granted that he was a vampire, so it wouldn’t require much tinkering with to get the look she was going for. The brunette grabbed another sponge and another tube. this time of white cream paint. “M’just gonna put this all over your skin so you look more dead,” she explained, starting at his cheeks. “Not that you do look dead,” she said quickly, realizing the flaw in her words, and ended with a mumbled apology. She worked at paling him out in silence, careful not to make the color too drastic, as if he were a clown.

After that, an eyeshadow palette was grabbed, along with a small brush. She cracked open the makeup, swiped over a rustic brown, and tapped away at the excess. Bruising, as she had learned, came in many different colors. Browns formed with reds, purples formed with blacks, and sometimes there was even spots of yellow and green. Balance was key, and it was easy for Emerson to reach. She had, after all, practiced the look on herself a handful of times to make sure she had gotten it just right, although working on someone else was a bit of a different process. Was she being gentle enough? Had she just stabbed him in the eye? He didn’t seem to be complaining much as Emerson messily swirled in various other colors to give his eyes a sunken-in, infected kind of look. And then came the veins. The work was tedious, blue and purple paints lightly being dragged across the neck and temples at varying thicknesses and lengths, but it was done rather quickly, with the effortlessness of practice.

The blood came last. Emerson pulled out the tube, giggling at the label. “Halloween store blood,” she read with a shake of her head, “is not true to it’s name.” She swirled a brush around in it, dragging it messily along the corner of Robin’s lip and down his chin. She flicked some over other various parts of his face, stepped back, and smiled. His makeup was complete, and Emerson was proud of it. “All set!” she squealed, clapping her hands. “Not to toot my own horn, or anything, but it looks really good. Now I just have to work on my own…”