Halloween isn't quite as big holiday in France. Many people in France felt it was too commercial. There were a few costume parties, but none close enough to Juliet's estate. As such, she was taking the girls, as well as Juan to Animalia to join in their Spookyville celebration. However, there would be some annoyances that she had not expected.
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One small grievance that Juliet had with Americans' Halloween was the lack of class when it came to costumes. When French people dress up for Halloween, they usually dress to scare. Nowadays, it seemed more common for people to dress up as sexualized versions of monsters, movie characters, or some general profession. Well, Juliet was making sure her girls would at least have some style when it comes to masquerading. As such, they were all dressed like they were ball-attenders from the 19th century, obviously before the French Revolution. That included lacy dressed, small masks, and powdered wigs. Of course, the cut of their dresses left a lot of their chests exposed and they were mostly backless. It was said that this may be a preview of what the French colony would wearing.
"Are the wigs necessary?" asked Juan as he scratched the back of his head. He was dressed as a Bohemian gentleman, which included a fancy suit which was making him itch almost as much as the wig.
"They were ze fashion back zen," said Juliet. She did admit that the wig on her head felt a little precarious, even with the hairpins and combs holding it in place.
"Just be glad we're not 'aving sneezing fits now," said Gigi.
"I don't expect we'll be doing a lot of dancing like zis," said Mia, indicating her dress. It wasn't as voluminous as ballgowns could get, but it did hamper her ability to move a little.
"Unless we will be doing waltzing," said Fifi.
"Not likely here," said Juan. Maybe Juliet was being a little restrictive, but at least it will keep the girls from going into wild abandon. If that's the worst this night could throw at them, they could all deal with that.
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While Spookyville wasn't full of hidden dangers or uninhibited debauchery, there was one hazard that Juliet hadn't accounted for: really bad jokes. Their 'travel agent' to Spookyville, Manny Calavera, wasn't about to let them past without some good-natured ribbing. "So, off for a fun evening with your beau, Marie Antoinette?" he asked.
"I am not dressed as Marie Antoinette," said Juliet curtly, "And Juan is not my beau."
"Oh, you don't have to bury your head in the sand here," said Manny, "You do make a cute couple."
"It would not matter because we are incompatible," said Juliet, a little more tersely, "I am an arctic fox, 'e is a golden fox."
"Silver, gold, they make good wedding bells and wedding rings," said Manny.
Juliet took a deep breath to keep her temper, causing a little bit of creaking in her corset. "Look, it's not as simple as zat," she said, "Golden foxes are hybrids between red foxes and arctic foxes. 'E is considered a separate species of fox. And zat is against Animalia's edict on cross-species breeding. You may as well say Olympe should be mates with a mule." She turned to Olympe and quickly added, "No offense intended."
"None taken," said Olympe. She did sort of deserve it for unwittingly perpetuating the false rumor that Juliet and Juan were a couple.
"Well, keep your chin up," said Manny, "I'm sure you'll find a fellow with a good head on his shoulders."
"I told you I am not Marie Antoinette," said Juliet with annoyance.
"You look like you could have that same 'head-and-shoulders-above-everyone' air," said Manny, "But unlike her, you stick your neck out for others."
"Cut it out," said Juan, also getting annoyed.
"Don't you mean 'cut it off'?" asked Manny, "They're just some jokes. Nothing to worry your heads off."
This time, everyone groaned at that. "Please stop," begged Josephine.
"Never," said Manny flatly.