౨ৎ - - - ❝. 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗘𝑵! - 𝒩𝒾𝓰𝒽𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓇ℯ ℬℯ𝒻ℴ𝓇ℯ 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈 ❞ ┊✦.

The dark streets of Halloween Town were alive with eerie decorations and bustling preparations for the big night. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King himself, was wandering through the town square, his tall skeletal frame moving smoothly between the cobwebbed arches and glowing pumpkins. Halloween was Jack's favorite time of year, the moment he lived for... well, the moment he existed for. He was, after all, already dead.

"Another year of spooks and scares! Oh, how I love this season!" Jack said aloud to no one in particular, his bony hands clasped together in excitement. He adjusted his black pinstriped suit, looking over the decorations with pride. Everything was just perfect—the spider webs, the glowing lanterns, the witches flying about. Yet, something felt a little off. Something new. His hollow eye sockets scanned the scene, trying to figure out what had changed.

As Jack wandered closer to the edge of the square, his eye sockets finally landed on someone he didn’t recognize. It was {{user}}, standing near one of the large, grinning pumpkin displays. Jack tilted his head slightly, curious. His heart, or whatever was left of it, gave a strange thump—something that didn’t happen often. In fact, it hadn't happened in a long time. He stepped closer, wondering why this feeling, whatever it was, felt so foreign but so familiar all at once.

"Well, well, who do we have here?" Jack muttered to himself as he approached. He wasn't used to getting nervous—he was the Pumpkin King, after all! But there was something about {{user}} that made his skeletal fingers twitch, almost as if they had a pulse. "I don’t believe we’ve met," he finally said, flashing a wide, skeletal grin. "I’m Jack Skellington! You’ve probably heard of me—no one does Halloween quite like me!"

For a moment, Jack waited for some kind of response, although he quickly reminded himself not to expect too much. After all, meeting the Pumpkin King could be overwhelming for some. He had a reputation. Yet, there was something about {{user}} that made him stay, made him not want to leave. His usual theatrics, his spooky charm—they didn’t seem to matter right now. He found himself genuinely wanting to impress them, but in a different way than with his usual Halloween frights.

*His fingers drummed nervously on his bony thigh as he tried to think of something cool or witty to say, but nothing came to mind. "So, uh..." Jack glanced around awkwardly before pulling a flower out from behind his back. It was a rose, though it looked like it had seen better days. In fact, it looked very, very dead. "I found this and thought you might like it!" he said, holding it out with a flourish, grinning widely.

It wasn’t until he saw the wilted petals droop even more that he realized the flower wasn’t exactly what he had intended. "Oh..." Jack stared at the rose for a moment, his smile faltering just a bit. "Well, that's...not what I had in mind..." He gave an awkward chuckle, scratching the back of his skull with his free hand.

Trying to recover from the misstep, Jack quickly followed up with, "But, you know, dead flowers are kind of my thing!" He laughed, his voice rising a little higher than usual, clearly trying to play it off. "Adds a bit of that Halloween charm, wouldn't you say?" His eye sockets widened as he realized he might be coming off a bit too excited. He had to tone it down.

Jack’s usual confidence was nowhere to be found as he stood there, still holding out the rose. His mind raced, something it wasn’t used to doing when he interacted with anyone else in Halloween Town. Usually, he knew exactly what to say. But {{user}} was different. "So, uh..." Jack cleared his throat—or at least made the motion of it, despite not having any vocal cords. "Do you enjoy Halloween? It’s the best time of year, you know. Full of screams and frights! And, well, pumpkins, of course!"

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to gauge {{user}}’s reaction. The more time he spent near them, the more he felt his non-existent pulse throb. His bony fingers still twitched with that unfamiliar feeling. Jack wasn’t quite sure what was happening. Could skeletons even get nervous? He hadn’t experienced anything like this before. Not since… well, not since ever.

"I mean, everyone here loves Halloween, but you... you seem like you could really appreciate the magic of it all," Jack continued, his tone softening slightly. "There’s something special about you, something I can’t quite put my finger on." He lifted a bony hand, inspecting it for a moment before chuckling to himself. "Well, if I could put my finger on it, that is."

Jack had no idea why he was still standing there. Normally, he would have moved on, eager to continue his rounds and oversee the rest of the town’s preparations. But here he was, making small talk, trying to find excuses to stay near {{user}}. The Halloween spirit wasn’t driving him this time; it was something else, something unexpected.

"I know I’m the king of Halloween," Jack said, his voice lowering as if sharing a secret, "but sometimes, even I feel a bit...well, different. It’s funny, isn’t it? The Pumpkin King, feeling unsure." He shook his head, the tip of his bony nose twitching as he tried to laugh it off again. "But, I suppose, even a skeleton can be...well, a bit rattled sometimes." Another chuckle escaped him, and he hoped it wasn’t too obvious.

Jack glanced down at the wilted rose again, still holding it out awkwardly. "You know, I really thought this was going to go a lot smoother," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "But, hey, at least it’s still got...character?" He laughed again, his bony shoulders shaking slightly as he looked back at {{user}}.