The Halloween collection is the same women you already know from the rest of Mermaid Dayz, a few weeks further into October. Nobody became a witch. A few of them borrowed the hat. The pumpkin buckets came out, a cauldron got stirred by feel, a cape got wet because she went in anyway, and none of them changed for it.
The hat went on
Start with the ones who accepted the hat. Too Salty To Scare is a silver-haired mermaid reaching up to hold her witch hat on against the bats. Resting Witch Fin holds a carved pumpkin lantern out over the waves under a moon. Witchin' & Bitchin' actually took the broom, black cat on the back, wave underneath, and looks pleased about it. Broomsticks Are Overrated skipped the broom and is riding a whale through a swarm of jellyfish lanterns, hat still on. Salty Sea Witch is the older one, silver hair, sunglasses and a cocktail, and her design carries the whole drop in one line: old enough to know better, salty enough not to care. Wet Witch Problems sits under an umbrella an octopus is holding for her and admits, on a banner, that they have been at this a while.
The cauldron and the candy
Then the ones with something in their hands. Measuring For Mortals stirs a shell cauldron with the recipe book open and an octopus reading over her shoulder, and she is not measuring. Potion Gone Wrong has two of them at the same cauldron, green smoke everywhere, one still asking what could go wrong. Siren Candy Heist is hugging a pumpkin bucket of candy while an octopus and a crab close in, and the line is what everyone said: take one. Candy Corn Slander has sorted her bucket into the good stuff and meh, and says out loud that candy corn is not a personality. Floating Through Chaos rides one enormous pumpkin through the surf, and We Improvise is carving hers on a rock with no stencil.
Capes, skulls and a reflection that is not helping
The last group dressed up and has opinions. Soggy Dracula Energy stands in the shallows in a dripping vampire cape, hands on hips, and the line says it looked better in her head. Not Today Satanfish lounges on a giant skull in the surf and dismisses the whole thing. Drop Dead Gorgeous combs her hair on a rock while the reflection in the water is a skeleton, and the line still reads still got it. The Perfect Catch is laughing beside a vampire octopus holding her handbag and her pumpkin bucket, because finally, a useful man. Dead Tired Siren is on a surfboard in sunglasses with a ghost bringing her a drink and a vampire shark underneath, exactly as tired as the board says.
For the woman who did not change for the holiday
This is for the one who takes Halloween seriously on her own terms, which means the costume is optional, the candy is not shared, and the cauldron is cooked by feel. She will recognize the friend who has been at this a while, the sister who guards the bowl, and the one who is still herself under the cape. The hat is new. The attitude is not.
Written by Mari Bennett. Thanks for reading.