[small encouraging grin.] I could help you find a costume, if you like? There's all sorts. Pirates and vampires and... killer clowns.

For fun. It's how the holiday is celebrated. Used to be villagers would dress up as scary things so their neighbors would give them treats to stay away.

But you can dress up as anything, really. Like a character from a story you enjoy.

... [self-consciously combs at her hair with her fingers, didn't realize it was such a mess.]

It's a neat trick, if you rather do it that way. [not the sort to insist there's a right way to do anything, rather Sparkles feel welcome to participate on its own terms.] But... I wouldn't suggest outright impersonating anyone.

It can be. But last year a bunch of people were possessed by ship ghosts. Including Fio. So if you go around in somebody else's body, you might make people think it's happening again. And instead of fun, it might make people legitimately upset. Which isn't really the vibe of Halloween. It's more... [wiggles her fingers] SpooOoOoOoky~

Wasn't sure how they slipped free in the first place. But I wanted to help them not be trapped anymore. It seems awful, in the Nothing.

But a few passengers smashed the glass containers. After we woke up from your... Labyrinth. So. [frown] I don't really know what becomes of a soul after that. If they're released back into the universe. Or are gone forever.

Oh.

[she supposes that makes sense, most of her theories had been strewn together before she even knew of its existence.] I thought maybe it was the gorilla paw coming back to haunt us.

Why? For fun? Or were you trying to find a way out?

... [quiet staring as that sinks in. she thought it was trapped in the Nothing, feeding upon the other souls, but not... the full (dis)embodiment of it. yet isn't that how it was described. the engine and the fuel.]

So now when people vanish. There's nowhere for them to go, huh. [just... thinking of Clarke and Jade and...]

I know such a change can't be easy. But I hoped this would be better for you.

That's okay, I didn't come here to get answers out of you.

[holds up the pumpkin she's been cradling]

You don't have to be Nothing anymore, though.

You are. It's confusing, figuring yourself out. Because there's so many choices. What you can do and who you can become. Those are your choices now. That's why it's good to try different things. See what feels right, what you like. What you don't...

Do you want to carve this pumpkin with me?

It's another Halloween tradition. You cut open the pumpkin's top, pull out all of its nasty innards. And carve a scary face into it. Then you put it outside your door.

It's fun.

Do you mean giving it x's for eyes? Or the pulling out the innards bit?

So for some reason it's more taboo to mess about with a corpse than all the things you can do to make someone dead in the first place. People [darcy] get real upset about it.

But nobody gets sensitive about pumpkins, can stab at it all you want.

... you won't go on a stabbing spree if I give you a knife, right?

Good enough. But if anyone asks, I didn't give it to you.

[slices the top of the pumpkin clean off.]