By the time Halloween came about, the costumes had been delivered and ready to go. The punishment was now over and though grounding Sil to stay away from the party might have been equal justice, but it was only his first Halloween and needed to see what it was about.
It had been hard for Brooklyn to get Sil interested in doing activities with him again.
"Sil, we could never hate you. We just needed you to learn a lesson. When you do certain things that you were told to do and disobey, there will be consequences for them. That's why you have to respect what we tell you to do, especially out there away from the castle. We are going to help the humans out there, and we need you to stay where we put you to keep you safe." Brooklyn explained the concept to him.
"I just wanted to put my training to use."
"I know. But just wait until you're a little bigger first. But yeah, if you are faced with bad guys, do the best you can." Brook coaxed him.
"I did. They just knew how to hurt me."
"It was your first time feeling some deep pain on your body. Believe me, getting a good hit in the ribs or stomach is no fun and it hurts. But you have to try not to show weakness in the middle of the fight. After the fight is when you can break down and say something about the pain in order to get it treated." Brooklyn explained.
This was just part of warrior training. Showing pain at the wrong time could let an enemy get the drop on you. But this had just been a first step towards being a warrior in his future. Sil would learn.
Now it was time to get ready for the Halloween party. The party would take place down in the lobby. Humans would start arriving down there around seven.
Elisa drove to the castle in her regular clothes and changed in the castle. She now looked like the equivalent of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. Goliath thought she looked beautiful.
Talon and Maggie showed up too. Claw had stayed back at the Labyrinth to keep an eye on things.
Broadway was the lion and Angela was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Lexington was dressed up as Frankenstein. Hudson had decided to be Friar Tuck from Robin Hood.
Brooklyn was Sherlock Holmes as he said he would be. He helped little Sil get into his costume of the raven. He had black feathers and everything that complimented his bird-like features. His black hair blended right in with it too.
"You look awesome!" Brooklyn exclaimed joyfully to Sil. Then he let him look in the mirror.
"I feel awkward in it. But I do look rather imposing." Sil smiled.
"Well, it might be called a raven, but you could call yourself a vulture too." Brooklyn urged. "Your face has the look of a vulture."
Over the summer, Sil had been shown some shows on the Discovery Channel that he knew what vultures were and watching the Jungle Book too. He knew they were scavenging, predatory birds. Not very friendly looking either.
Brooklyn knew that he didn't want to be scary. His hat went on over his horns. He had his hair pulled out of his coat so it wouldn't rub on his neck. But he had wrapped his wings around his waist again to put his jacket on over them. He was the only gargoyle to have ever done this, but he could still pull them out if he needed them. He also had a toy pipe in his hand. That was part of Sherlock Holmes' look.
Little Sil followed Brooklyn to the elevator when they were ready to go down to the party. Halfway down, they had to switch elevators too. Of course, there was also gliding down to the ground, but the gargoyles didn't want to give away their secret identities.
Of course, the city had come to accept that the gargoyles were part of their society now. But the clan also wanted to keep their arrival a little more civilized without gliding down. They wanted to make use of the building's elevators that they didn't do very much.
Chamberlain was amazed by the elevators, how they could take them up or down to certain areas of the building. When the doors opened, what he saw were a lot of strange creatures before him. But he saw humans too, wearing their costumes.
"These sure are weird looking humans." Sil commented.
Brooklyn chuckled. "The humans like to dress up on Halloween too, Sil. It's just a Halloween party. I also see some others dressed up as gargoyles. It goes to show that there are some folks in this city that truly accept us."
"What do I do at this party?" Sil asked.
"We came down here to interact with other people, the humans. It's to have fun dancing, eating, finding new friends hopefully. You might find some kids your own size to talk to." Brooklyn tried to coax him.
"Where will you be? I'm still uncomfortable being around strange humans." Sil said nervously.
"I'll be around. Since I don't have a female date, you can stay with me until you find someone to talk to." Brooklyn replied. He wanted little Sil to feel like he could interact with the guests here at the party, find some others who had interests in common with him.
The other clan members arrived down at the party too and went off to mingle with the guests and each other. Talon, Maggie, and the clones all came to the party too. The clones even started to mingle with the humans who were wearing gargoyle costumes.
Brooklyn saw Delilah standing alone and wanted to at least ask her for a dance. He started to go towards her with Sil following him. Then, one of the clones, Malibu, came up to her. "You want to dance?" he asked.
"Why yes." Delilah replied and took his hand. They went out to the dance floor and started dancing.
Brooklyn hoped it was just a dance and he could get a chance to dance with her too.
The song lasted for a good three minutes. After, Delilah and Malibu went their separate ways and Brooklyn decided it was time to try to score a dance with Delilah. He wanted to know how she saw him. Little Sil tried to follow him, but he said, "Stay here, Sil. I'm going to see if I can get Delilah to dance with me." Brooklyn declared.
Sil was disappointed. What was it about girls that guys liked so much? He just didn't understand right now. He stayed where he was told while he watched Brooklyn go after the female clone.
Brooklyn came upon Delilah. "Hi, Delilah."
"Hi, Brooklyn." She greeted in response.
"Would you care to join me for a dance?" he asked nervously.
Delilah saw a sincerity in Brooklyn's face that made her give in. "Alright." She replied, making the red male smile in reply. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. They bowed to one another and began dancing. There were plenty of other folks on the dance floor too.
Broadway and Angela, Goliath and Elisa, Fox and David, Talon and Maggie were all out on the floor. Little Sil was watching them all dancing. He still didn't get it.
"Hey there." A new child voice greeted him. It was a girl in a cat outfit.
He yelped out in surprise. "What's wrong? Didn't mean to scare me?" He questioned. "Who are you?"
"I am Mina. Mina McKay. And you are?" Mina asked.
"SkekSil Chamberlain." Sil introduced himself.
"That's a strange name. Is that what you are for this party?" Mina asked.
"That is my real name, but I am a raven for this party." Sil replied.
Mina was a girl around his size, about the age of nine. She had some sandy brown hair and blue eyes.
"So, you want to dance?" Mina asked.
"Never danced before."
"It's easy and fun with the right person." Mina stated. "Come on!" She got a hold of his left hand and began to pull him gently to the dance floor where she tried to get him to dance.
"How do we start?" Sil asked.
"You just start moving your body with the beat of the music." Mina instructed. She began moving her body in conjunction to the music. It wasn't a love song, more like a rock song.
The music was making Sil feel the beat too. Sil began to move his body in ways he never thought he could. He also didn't want to stray far from Brooklyn. He kept the red gargoyle in his sight as he danced with Mina.
When the dance was over, Mina led Sil to the side where she led him to the food and drink area. There were some great smelling foods there. The scents made Sil's mouth water. "I want to eat." Sil said.
"Okay." Mina agreed.
They both picked up some plates and got some food. Some pizza, crackers, small meat sandwiches in which Sil got them all, and some fudge pieces. When it came to drinks, there was punch, water, and soda all available. With kids being at the party, there was no alcohol allowed.
After the dance was over, Brooklyn and Delilah split off too. He wanted to stay with her, but she went off in search of the other clones instead. He was glad that she had at least shared a dance with him. He sighed in defeat. What would it take for a girl to feel comfortable in his presence? He went off to the side to watch other couples dancing.
He searched for Sil and saw him sitting down on some chairs eating alongside a little girl around his size. He smiled. He was happy for the little Skeksis to find a new friend. Now, if he could just do the same thing.
After a while, there was a redheaded woman who asked Brooklyn to dance. He gladly accepted the invitation, but it was nothing more than a dance.
The party lasted well into the night, but there were some couples who had families at home and had work and school the next day. The party ended around midnight. Kids needed to be gotten to bed.
Sil stayed with Mina the rest of the night talking and dancing here and there. He was grateful for the lesson. Then he went to find Brooklyn. They went back up to the castle together.
"So, did you have a good time with your friend?" Brook asked curiously.
"Yeah. She was called Mina. She talks of how she likes birds and even gargoyles. She likes cats too." Sil explained. "She gets good grades in school, whatever they mean."
"That's good. Does the tutor use grades with your schoolwork?" Brook asked.
"No, not that can remember." Sil stated. "Still only starting out."
"Yeah. Someday though, you'll be able to read fully." Brook said.
Later that night, David came by to find little Sil and wanted to talk to him about possibly starting up some foreign language. They might come in handy one day.