The costume contest for Spookyville had two main groupings. The first was the "Adult" contest, which was run at the Meat Market, or the Slaughterhouse as it was referred to for Halloween. There the costumes were often tighter, to hug curves or muscles better and make them appear all the more lovely from certain points of view, and a fair number of those that went to the adult party were able to participate. Some didn't, as Abby and those of Animalia Ambassadoria's original group that had been double dosed during Animalia's first year had to be in attire that would be suitable for all when it came time for the reveal on who won the Mister and Miss Farmhand competition, but that didn't apply to everyone that had come to the party.
Those that did participate in the adult contest would come up the set of stairs that lead up onto the main stage where the Meat Market's dancers would normally go through their routines. The contestant would then pose, flex, and twirl to show their costume to those in the main seating area and wait for applause from those there. That would then be measured by the adult contest's judge, Yuki, who stood on one edge of the stage to gage the results of the applause and make sure that the costume the contestant wore fit the theme for the adult party, in that the costume was "adult" in nature. And so far, there hadn't been any real problems. The only real "issue" that Yuki had had to deal with was a now College Freshman watching the part on a Skype call from his dorm room.
Yuki had set her phone so that it's imaging system could view the entire stage so that Zeke could enjoy the show, even if he couldn't by in Lyre/Animalia for Halloween. He'd promised not to hit record on his end and would essentially kill the feed when he logged off from Skype at the end of the night, making sure that anything the camera caught couldn't be put out on social media or anything that would invite a negative reaction. That was a good thing. Of course, when she then asked those in Meat Market on what they thought about a contestant's costume, she often heard a chant of "Yuki" come from her phone. She then had to turn and shake one finger to Zeke on the screen, as if to remind him that she was the judge, not a contestant. Though, eventually the contest did reach its end.
"I would like to thank all that participated... but I believe we've had all the contestants for the contest come up and display themselves quite brilliantly," Yuki announced, and hearing a whistle from the crowd in response, "I'd think everyone had great costumes... and one even thought I had a good one too."
There were a few chuckles, and Yuki could hear Zeke cheering for her from her phone. In the meantime, she continued on to announce the winner, largely based the applause that had been delivered during their entry onto the stage.
"But I think we all know who the winners of the Adult Costume Contest were," Yuki spoke with a smile, "Rebecca and her bond-mate, Gannondorf! Come on up!"
The two Horse Animalians came up onto the stage again, with their costumes largely based on the video game series that had helped inspire Gannondorf's name. Gannondorf was dressed more like the horse that the character he'd been named for rode with a metal mask that covered the top of head that glinted in the Meat Market's lights, along with light metal plates on his neck, held on by leather straps, along with another set metal plates with fairly crude carvings matched the design for Gannondorf's mount in the game. It was complete with a set of red shorts that had a single white stripe near the bottom of the shorts. The whole look gave him the ability to put himself on par with many of the Horse Animalians with regard to how well they looked.
Rebecca was done up in a light blue and white tunic shirt with gold trim and a deep vee-neck that gave a pretty open view of her white furred cleavage. She had a brown sash that hung tightly to her hips and held her black pants on tightly, and she made good use of swaying her hips as she walked up the steps and onto the stage at Gannondorf's side. She smiled to the crowd, noting a few whistles and turned to Yuki approaching with a rolled up piece of paper.
"Congratulations on the win," Yuki spoke as she approached, "this is a coupon that should be acceptable at any of Lyre or Animalia's restaurants for one free meal, and will be good until New Years... or a crate of the product of your choice from the Brown Farm."
"Our choice?" Gannondorf wondered, "Like their apples?"
"Or... if you were a carnivorous Animalian, eggs," Yuki answered, "though if you go with that option, that will expire before November 10, as you wouldn't want anything to go bad, particularly with regard to the fruit."
"Thank you," Rebecca gave a smile, "though... I think the restaurant might be the best idea." She then paused to whisper into her mate's ear, "we can plan for something romantic."
Gannondorf only answered with a rather happy nicker.
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The costume contest for all ages went on outside at an area near the main stage for where the Mister and Miss Farmhand Contest winner would be announced. Here there were more rules with regard to the costumes than in the adult costume contest. Costumes based on fictional characters would need to match the character's appearance in canon as much as possible. Costumes that weren't based on fictional characters would have a 1 to 10 scoring system for how original they were. All costumes had to be family friendly, which meant anything that could remotely hint at sexuality or extreme violence was an immediate disqualification.
This often meant that most of the contestants in the family friendly version of the costume contest were kids from either Animalia or Lyre. This then added age brackets to how the contest was arranged, and could mean there could be multiple winners and a more formal system as to who was in the contest. This meant that the judging for this contest was a bit more complex and extensive than the adult party and took a small team of judges to compile the scores and keep track of things. Among them was Sora, who was happy to have Francois there as an added judge with the panel.
"I must say, they do look rather cute," Francois commented to Sora as they looked over the various contestants, noting both Human and Animalian participants.
"Cute does always seem to be the theme, particularly for the youngsters," Sora commented and pointed to Thomas and Julia Wesley, who were there with Belle and Bash, dressed up as little jack-o-lanterns.
The two youngest Wesleys weren't in the contest, but they did fit theme that many of the younger participants in the costume contest went for. Some of it was probably that parents were more likely to go for costumes that would make their little ones look cute and the younger ones would be more accepting of it as it wasn't as scary as some of the other possible costume choices. It actually made judging some of the younger contestants to be more difficult, as there were plenty of costumes that were fairly cute, which ranged from movie/tv costumes, sports costumes, jack-o-lanterns, knights, princesses, and princes.
"True," Francois smiled as he and Sora looked over the various score cards that he and Sora had to look over.
"And thanks for coming to help with all of this," Sora than said to him.
"It is no problem," Francois answered, "I actually think I've learned more coming here to help you and your sister... and I think some of your designs were part of contest."
Francois then pointed to their present contestant that was on stage, Regina. The Spinosaurus Dinotopian had managed to put together a fairly impressive astronaut's costume with grey boots and gloves that fit her feet and hands, while a white material covered her completely. That included her sail and tail. Sora even remembered Regina coming in asking some questions on assembling clothing when she bought the materials for her present costume. The real impressive part though, was how she managed to engineer the helmet to fit her head. It was mostly white or clear plastic, and Sora thought she smelled a good deal of rubber cement on it, but it did seem to work.
"At best, all I gave her was advice on where to put the seams," Sora answered, "though I must say... it is original."
"That it is," Francois agreed, "and I think we can name her the winner for the adult age group."
Sora nodded and looked over to the contestants that had already won in other age group categories, including Molly, who was dressed up as a character from Frozen, though Sora didn't know which. The young Human girl was happily hugging Polly and telling her friend about winning in the family friendly costume contest. Which went well for Sora, and she mentally quipped at the success of the contest, "not too spooky."