On Age-Inappropriate Halloween Cinema

[coldsong]

Up and down the Plaza, stores appear to have broken out spooky season decor. Bats, pumpkins, ghosts made from what look suspiciously like upcycled shower curtains, spiders made of pipe-cleaners, etc. Some of the bakeries have cakes topped with fondant witch hats. Some have pumpkin spice everything. Loki is sitting on a bench with black coffee, defying pumpkin spice season in a way he usually does not. Something's on his mind.

"I have four children, and while you wouldn't know it upon conversing with them, they've been through a lot in the past few years. They've seen horrors that adults should never have to face, and for the most part they've recovered awfully well." There are still therapy sessions, and will be until the children age out of them, but aside from that, they're pretty normal.

"I am prefacing this question with that information to give you context. What in the name of all that's holy am I supposed to do with a child that's developed a sudden irrational terror of clowns?"

"My youngest was visiting a friend and somehow caught part of Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I wouldn't have played this movie for them, not because I'd anticipate him having this reaction, but because it looks ridiculous. They kill their victims by turning them into wads of cotton candy, for fuck's sake."

Sigh. "But the mind of a child sees things differently, and now poor Eindrid is so petrified of the damn things it's got the girls jumpy, too. It's going to be a problem if we go Halloween shopping because they're all over the place. I would welcome any suggestions...except for exposure therapy. I'm not doing that to my children."

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[desertdancer]

Oh hey, it's Loki! Khaishan slows his walk to consider what he's saying, which really isn't setting the mood for a light-hearted reunion. But he can't blame the man for that when he hears the trouble, a sympathetic chuckle slipping from him as he moved to perch on the bench alongside him, tail flicking idly to one side.

"I was terrified of clowns when I was younger," Admitted in a wryly amused tone, with a light shrug. "We didn't have them on the Steppes, so my first experience with one was when he popped up in front of me at an All Saint's Wake celebration. He meant well, was just trying to entertain me with some little horn or something, but to say I was startled would be an understatement. A small incident to be sure, but after the year we'd had I think I'd simply hit my limit of how many scary things I could handle."

[coldsong]

"Were you? They've never particularly bothered me. I think...perhaps because I shapeshifted from an early age, the idea that I wasn't looking at a person's real face just didn't scare me." Loki is more than a little pleased to see Khaishan in this context. He's a friend, and he's seen quite a bit of the children.

"I suppose anyone jumping out at you is cause for alarm, though. Is All Saint's Wake like what they call Halloween here and on Midgard? It's sort of a celebration of the close of the harvest season and the thinning of the veil between worlds."

[desertdancer]

"That makes sense- I think I might not have been as alarmed if I'd been raised among other races. We'd see a few Hyur here and there in Reunion, but generally it was all Au Ra, mainly Xaela." He hummed thoughtfully considering the problem.

"It is just like Halloween sounds, it seems. I was older than Eindrid when it happened so it was a bit easier to help me learn to get past the fear... my sisters found a book about jesters, clowns, and the like for me. It made it a bit more bearable knowing academically what they were. That it was just paint and costume and the like. Maybe something similar? A nice story where a clown is included in some more friendly manner. Not the main focus perhaps but a helpful figure."

[coldsong]

"A book is a good idea," he says thoughtfully. "Midgardian pop culture seems to have concluded that clowns are just inherently creepy in film, but older books might be all right. And jesters are slightly different..."

"Fortunately they've never run afoul of anyone painted up who was actually dangerous." He frowns a little, thinking of the Joker.

[desertdancer]

"It makes it a bit 'safer' too, than encountering a clown in person. On a page, there's not the same sort of threat to be worried about after all..."

Khaishan tilted his head, as another idea occurred to him. "You could also make the things they do less scary. Teach him about balloon animals, or get him some of the accessories. You know, the squirting flower, or small magic tricks. Knowing the actuality of what someone does versus what you think they'll do goes miles towards easing fears I've found."