The artwork this ficlet originally went with originally used Craiyon-generated assets. As I no longer believe in using Craiyon assets in my artwork, said artwork has been removed.
Original Twitter Upload Date: October 31, 2022. The script below was originally posted to DA on the same day… which just happens to be the same day it’s being posted here. Happy Halloween, everyone!
[Hynde Manor on All Hallows’ Eve night. Margo, Paddy, and Molly, dressed as Ivy Sundew from Amphibia, a zombie, and Darla Dimple from Cats Don’t Dance respectively, look out the window of the foyer]
Margo: “You put out the candy, didn’t you, Paddy?”
Paddy: “Of course I did. And it’s full size, too. Our friends’ll be eating for days. Molly, you prepared the refreshments and games, didn’t you?”
Molly: “Yep. Although are you sure our guests are into Apples to Apples and Uno? Remember, there’ll be teenagers here. They’ll want to play Cards Against Your Sanity and Settlers of Catan.”
Paddy: “If you really want to pull them out, go ahead.”
Molly: “Okay then!” [walks off. Margo looks over Paddy’s outfit]
Margo: “You know, Pad, it’s funny you decided to be a zombie, given our species is supposed to be vegetarian.”
Paddy: “Ah, don’t worry. I’m one of those guacamole-eating zombies. Everyone knows that vegetarian zombies would eat guacamole. Given how messy it is. It just makes sense.”
Margo: “Oh yeah? Then what’s the red stuff?”
Paddy: “Beets and salsa.”
Margo: “Huh. Sounds like you got your costume figured out, then.”
Paddy: “Scarlett’s also gonna be a zombie. Same lore.”
[Harry and Sally come down the stairs, dressed as Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe respectively]
Harry: “Alright, we’re off to your uncle Shaun and aunt Roxanne’s. Should be fun. It better be.”
Sally: “An’ good luck with hostin’ you’ah pahty, too. Remembah, be good hosts. That means let them have fun, but set boundaries so that nobody does anything reckless.”
Paddy: “Don’t worry, we will. Set boundaries.”
Molly: [calling from the other room] “We will!”
Margo: [pause] “Wait, what again?”
Sally: “It was a simple instruction, Mahgo. I’m not repeatin’ it.”
Margo: “I think I heard you say something about being good hosts by not letting the party get reckless. Whatever that means.”
Sally: “It means no broken property oah underage drinkin’ oah fightin’, oah it’ll be outta yoah pocket the damages get paid foah.”
[beat]
Margo: “I promise.” [turns around to see her parents’ costumes] “Oh, hey, Mom, nice Marilyn Monroe costume! And Dad, nice… costume. Of?”
Harry: “Some guy named Arthur Miller. I don’t even know who that is.”
Sally: “Marilyn Monroe’s final husband befoah ‘er untimely death. The playright behind Death of a Salesbuck and The Crucible.”
Harry: “Death of a Salesbuck? I thought that was O’Neill.”
Sally: “Of coahse ya do. You’ah a philistine.”
Harry: “Oh, you’re calling the son of a legendary rock star a philistine, are you? That’s big of you!”
Sally: “Maybe not about music, but ya certainly are about theatuh!”
Molly: “STOP FIGHTIIIIIIIIIING!!!” [silence engulfs the house as the rest of the family stands startled by Molly’s screaming. Finally, the footsteps of Molly as she re-enters the foyer sound, before she talks, much more calmly] “It stresses me out!” [pause] “Oh hey, Mom and Dad, like your costumes. Yours especially, Mom. You look like the real thing.”
Sally: [bows] “Thank you.”
Molly: “You said the theme of Roxanne and Shaun’s party is Old Hollywood, didn’t you?”
Harry: “Yeah. Your aunt and uncle are gonna be Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Haven’t seen the photos yet, but –“
[Sally’s phone sounds with a notification. She pulls it out and sees that Roxanne sent her a photo, showing that she and Shaun are already in their costumes]
Sally: [texting] “Ya… both… look… like… the… real… thing.” [shows photo to Harry]
Harry: [flatly] “Did Shaun seriously just glue down and paint over his mustache instead of shaving it?”
Sally: “Still a valid way of achievin’ the look.”
Harry: “Well then. I can’t wait to see Henry Cavill, in the flesh!”
Sally:[puts phone in her pocket] “Say that again, and I’ll –“ [pause. Molly is glaring at her] “Nevah mind.”
Harry: “Have a good time with your party, kids.”
Molly: “Have a good time with yours.”
[beat]
Sally: “Good luck, ‘membah what I said.” [she and Harry walk out the manor doors for their party. The triplets, aided by their nature-given enhanced hearing, hear Gilda outside, complimenting Harry’s and Sally’s outfits]
Gilda: “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Hynde, nice Miller and Monroe.”
Harry, Sally: “Thank you, Gilda.”
Sally: “Be a good guest foah yoah friend.”
Molly:[pushes Margo towards the door] “You were assigned to be the greeter.”
[Paddy and Molly walk off as Gilda opens the door. She’s dressed as Leni from The Loud House]
Gilda: “Good evening, Margo! You’re looking froggy tonight. Heheh. Because you’re Ivy Sundew.”
Margo: “Also known as the best character on Amphibia. And nice Leni costume, didn’t take you as a Loud House fan.”
Gilda: “Fan? I thought I was a procyonine.” [beat]
Margo: “Haha! You even got her character down! Nice!”
Gilda: “Leni’s the best. She’s a fashion icon.”
Margo: “Leni? That’s not how you say ‘Lana’.”
Gilda: “And that’s not how you say ‘Leni’. Leni’s the best sister. Objective fact!” [quietly and quickly] “Not a fact, just my strong opinion.” [in normal tone] “This party’s gonna be awesome!” [walks off, doing Leni’s iconic raptor arms. Wendy comes in next, dressed as a werewolf]
Wendy: “AWOOOOO!”
Margo: “Welcome to the party, Wendy. You’re a werewolf?”
Wendy: “Werewolf sciurine.”
Margo: “Cool concept. Hey, you’re even wearing contacts.”
Wendy: “Yeah, well, my deep blue eyes aren’t threatening enough. You want eyes that look threatening, you need them in warm hues or icy blue.”
Margo: “Good thinking. Your raggedness also sells it.” [Wendy nods] “Have fun. Don’t do anything that’ll make my mom angry.”
[Wendy walks off. Next are Auggie and Abby, dressed as Joseph from Technicolor Dreamcoat and Gordy from Nope respectively. Auggie enters first]
Auggie: “Be careful, she’s really in character. Minus the killing part.”
[Abby runs in on all fours making chimp noises, stops to howl at Margo, and then runs off to the living room, still making the noises. Margo then realizes what her enbyfriend’s costume is]
Margo: “Joseph!”
Auggie: “Yep!”
Margo: “Great costume! You even got all the colors in there!” 🎵 It was red and yellow and green and brown 🎵
Margo, Auggie: 🎵 And scarlet and black and ochre and peach 🎵
Auggie: “You know the song?”
Margo: “Of course I do. Did you forget my aunt Ivy and uncle Rick are theater ines? They made me memorize all the colors from an early age. And my sister being a seamstress made me know what they look like.” [beat] “Hey, maybe one day you could play Joseph on stage.”
Auggie: “With my stage fright? No thanks. I’m fine just cosplaying as characters.”
Margo: “Oh. Well, with my riches and what’s left of yours, I’m sure you’ll be one of the best of them. Enjoy the party.”
[Auggie walks off to join the party. As they do, April and Jazz, dressed as the Black and White Mages from Final Fantasy, walk in]
Jazz: “White Mage Jazz, I’m here to heal!” [April slowly walks in behind her]
April: “Eh… I keep fahgettin’. Which colah mage am I ‘gin? Red ‘r black?”
Jazz:[facepalm] “The Black Mage, April. The one that learns all the most powerful and damaging spells. Do you even play Final Fantasy?”
April: “Thar arenae aneh mages in VII, ‘at’s the onleh gehme in the franchise ah knoo!”
Jazz: “Well, then. Our next D&D session will be Final Fantasy-themed. Clearly you need catching up.” [Flannery walks in, dressed as the same-named gym leader from the Hoenn Pokemon games] “Oh, hey, Flannery.”
Flannery: “Hey, Jazz. What were you saying again about D&D?”
Jazz: “Oh. I was just telling April she needs to play Final Fantasy. You know Final Fantasy, don’t you?”
Flannery: “No, but I heard it causes seizures.”
Jazz: “Not when playing it as a traditional tabletop RPG. Which clearly there is demand for me to find a way to adapt it into one.” [pauses as she looks over Flannery’s costume] “Oh, I get it! You’re Flannery like the gym leader from the Pokemon games!”
Flannery: “Oh, so someone does get it.” [beat] “It wasn’t my idea to dress like this, by the way, it was my sister’s. She dressed as another gym leader, Whitney.”
Jazz: “Your sister’s name is Whitney?”
Flannery: “Yeah, what of it?”
Jazz: “Nothing.” [quietly, almost mumbling] “I wanted to know if her middle name was Houston.”
Flannery: “It isn’t.”
Jazz: [startled] “GRAH! You weren’t meant to hear that.” [she and the rest turn to Margo] “‘sup, Hynde.”
April: “‘ellae, Mahgo.”
Flannery: “Hey. Where’s the party?”
Margo: “Welcome, guys. Party’s in the living room, I’ll meet up with you in there.”
April, Jazz, Flannery: “Thanks.” [they walk off toward the party]
Jazz: “This’ll be a fun night!”
[Scarlett walks in, acting like a zombie, fitting for her costume]
Scarlett: “Guaaaaacaaaaamoooooleeeee.” [turns to Margo] “Hello, Margo.”
Margo: “Welcome to the party, Scarlett.” [picks up on Paddy’s footsteps] “Paddy’ll be here in a few seconds.”
[sure enough, Paddy walks in to greet his ewefriend, arms spread out for a hug]
Paddy: “Scarlett! Nice to see you!” [hugs Scarlett; she returns the hug tighter, almost squeezing him] “Oof!”
Scarlett: “Nice to see you too, Pad!” [pats his head]
Paddy: “Thanks for remembering to pat this time.”
Scarlett: “Right.”
[Scarlett releases Paddy and kisses him on one of the scratches on his head. Paddy smiles and boops Scarlett on the nose, making her squeak with laughter. Margo puts her hands to her chest and smiles, and watches as the two walk off slowly, hand-in-hand… with their free hands out like zombies]
Paddy, Scarlett: “Guaaaaacaaaaamoooooleeeee! Saaaaalsaaaaa! Beeeeeannnnn diiiiip!”
Paddy: “What other messy vegetarian foods are there?”
Scarlett: “Uh, let’s see, there’s… um… dhiiiiibsssss.”
Paddy: “Dhibs? What’s that?”
Scarlett: “It’s a syrup derived from dates. You know what dates are, right?”
Paddy: “Aren’t they like raisins but cause even worse diarrhea?”
Scarlett: “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.”
Margo: “They’re destined to be together. Now, let’s see, that just leaves Wendy’s sister and her friends.” [picks up on their footsteps] “And here they come.”
[the Shamrock Triad bursts through the door like Hermey wasn’t at elf practice, dressed as the Powerpuff Girls; Murphy is Blossom, Nicole is Bubbles, and Charlotte is Buttercup]
Murphy: 🎵 Blossom! Commander and the leader! 🎵
Nicole: 🎵 Bubbles! She is the joy and the laughter! 🎵
Charlotte: 🎵 Buttercup! And she’s the toughest fighter! 🎵
Entire Triad: 🎵 Powerpuffs save the day! / Fighting crime, trying to save the world / Here they come — 🎵
Margo: “Alright, alright, I get it. You’re the Powerpuff Girls. Great costumes, Nicole and friends. See you decided to go by hair color! Charlotte in particular, you didn’t even need to style yours unlike Nicole and Murphy.”
Charlotte: “Well, you know what they say. Work smart, not hard.”
Margo: [to Murphy and Nicole] “Not that you two don’t look awesome too, of course. Hey, question, Nicole… slash Bubbles. You got Octi with you?”
Nicole: [pulls an Octi plush out of one of her dress pockets] “Right here!” [kisses Octi and smiles]
Margo: “Ah, good, you got that extra attention to detail in there. Kudos to you.”
Nicole: “Dolly made it for me. Ain’t she the best?”
Margo: “Yes, yes she is. I’m guessing she’s her Mawile again this year?”
Nicole: “Yup.”
Margo: “And Murphy… you make a good Blossom. Sorry if I seem like I have the least to say about you, but cut me some slack, I don’t know you very well. Keep that ribbon around, though, you’ll want it for an 80s costume.”
Murphy: “Uh… sure, Margo.”
Margo: “Party’s in the living room. Follow me.” [leads the Triad to the living room] “We’re gonna have fun tonight! We rented a movie, 4K of course because we’re rich, and after that, we got some games!”
Nicole: “You got Apples to Apples?”
Margo: “Yeah, we do.” [beat] “You know, it’s funny. We were thinking you guys’d be more into Cards Against Your Sanity.”
Nicole: “Well, you were thinking wrong.”
Happy All Hallows’ Eve, everyone! I wonder how many of you on Twitter knew that this was what those polls I was running were about. Well, now you do know. And thanks to everyone who voted! Now for some production notes.
During production of this artwork, I found an option deep in the settings of ArtStudio Pro, that lets you see exactly* how long it took to make an artwork. And I put an asterisk next to ‘exactly’, because that doesn’t factor in stuff like obtaining stock images, generating assets via Craiyon, and the occasional crash from ASP. Which thankfully hasn’t been occuring a lot lately. Maybe the folks at Lucky Clan figured out how to better optimize the app.
Anyways, according to the PSD, I spent 14 hours and 35 minutes bringing this artwork to life. Which began… in the original, Gilda art style, before I switched over to drawing in the anime-inspired style you’ve been seeing from me lately. I’ll… maybe show what little I made in the Gilda style on Twitter after this is uploaded. The script above literally says who everyone is dressed as, but for those that scrolled past it and want a list so that they don’t have to dig through it, let me go from left to right…
Abby Lowry: Gordy the chimp from Nope
Jazz Daniels: a White Mage from the Final Fantasy franchise
Auggie Lowry: Joseph from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
April Lowry: a Black Mage from the Final Fantasy franchise
Flannery Swan: Flannery from the Hoenn Pokemon games
Wendy Wyler: a werewolf
Gilda Grime: Leni Loud from The Loud House
Paddy Hynde: a zombie
Margo Hynde: Ivy Sundew from Amphibia
Molly Hynde: Darla Dimple from Cats Don’t Dance
Scarlett Olivier: a zombie
Nicole Wyler: Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls
Murphy Grubenstein: Blossom from The Powerpuff Girls
Charlotte Roth: Buttercup from The Powerpuff Girls
Also, for those that want to know what movie they’re watching… it’s one that only exists in their universe. But without spoiling anything graphic novel-related, the antagonist of the movie is the antagonist of the aborted Grunvale novel. This particular antagonist, I’ve always wanted to still use in some way, so I decided he’d be the villain of an in-universe series of horror films that began in the 1980s. Said antagonist as a result is as recognized in this world as Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers.
That’s all for this artwork. Once again, Happy Halloween, and see you in November. Take care, stay safe, reject crypto, vote blue, the root beer float was great, and have a good one.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StormyAdlerPoG
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoenix_of_grunvale/
DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/phoenixofgrunvale
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCEtCO…
Discord: Contact me by my tag (Stormy Adler, P.o.G.#1752) for an invite to my server.
Grunvale/OTOG is owned by me. You’re free to draw fanart of it, as long as you credit me as the creator of the series.
Nope is owned by NBCUniversal through Universal Pictures.
Final Fantasy is owned by Square Enix.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was written by Tim Rice with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures through The Pokemon Company.
The Loud House is owned by Paramount through Nickelodeon.
Amphibia is owned by Disney through Disney Television Animation.
Cats Don’t Dance is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros.
The Powerpuff Girls is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Cartoon Network.
This artwork was made at a resolution of 6480×2160 (aspect ratio 3:1).
The Gallery of Stormy Adler 