Hazel remembers her first Halloween in the shop as if it were yesterday. She and nana had dressed up like a pair of traditional cartoon witches - black hats (though Hazel's had been decorated with glittery moons and stars), black cloaks, brooms, the whole nine yards. Nana's umbreon had even stood in as their obligatory "black cat". 

All night, trick-or-treaters had come by in droves. Kids, adults, and pokemon alike, looking for sweet treats and free charms. Of course, the charms that they passed out on Halloween didn't do much, they were more for show than anything, though some people did notice that fewer ghosts tried to prank them as they moved about town collecting their sweet bounty. 

As soon as it had been dark enough to turn on their lantern, Hazel had settled herself in the big bay window out front to get a better look at all of the costumes, afraid that some people might be too scared to stop at a psychic's shop on all hallow's eve. They hadn't been. If anything, the shop had proved even more popular than many of the regular residences, save the large house a few streets down being billed as "a proper haunted house". It wasn't really haunted, nana had assured her, but Hazel still wanted to go and see it. "Maybe next year," nana had told her, but she hadn't gotten to go the following year either. There were always far too many people coming and going for that. 

These days, there are still just as many trick-or-treaters and customers on Halloween as ever, and Hazel finds that, with the help of her pokemon, she can have just as much fun as she did back when she tended the store with nana, even if it means she won't get to check out the haunted house this year either. 'Oh well, there's always next year. Maybe I can train Carmen to help customers while I'm gone for a little while.' No, that would probably be a disaster. She isn't exactly sure what kind of disaster, but definitely a disaster.

The abra in question is somewhere in the back room sulking in the fleece snorlax onesie that Hazel had wrestled her into earlier in the evening. 

In the window, Edgar is waiting eagerly for trick-or-treaters, his usual blueish-purple flame turned a bright green for the festivities thanks to a powder that a friend had traded Hazel for a protection charm a few weeks back.

Hazel drags a small two-person table over to the window, covering it with a slightly singed purple cloth embroidered with silver moons and stars. She gives Edgar a look when the litwick hops over to the edge of the window display, eyeing the table. "Don't you dare, it's for the readings." she warns him, mostly trusting him to restrain himself while heads into the back room to get the baskets - one for candy, one for berries, and one for charms. This year's charms have strange hand-drawn sigils scrawled on them that almost look like unknowns, done in a deep red ink. Each of them hangs from a matching red string with a tiny golden bell attached at its base, putting them somewhere between ominous and cute. 

"Finn, come on, those are for trick-or-treaters," Hazel scolds as she shoes her wayward eevee away from the berry basket, the little glutton. He trills back at her and hops off of her desk, earning himself several 'can't even be mad' points by rubbing up against Hazel's legs on his way to the front room. 

Shaking her head, Hazel grabs the first two baskets, her expression brightening considerably when her duskull Ambrose drifts over to help with the third, though she does kinda wonder where he got the little plastic scythe that he's using to carry the basket. It is plastic, right? Ambrose had a nasty habit of nicking things from people who weren't paying enough attention to their things and, while Hazel has been trying to break him of it, she hasn't made nearly as much headway as she'd like. 'I really hope it wasn't expensive.'

A knock has Hazel heading back out to the front to set the baskets on the counter before hurrying over to the door. 'Trick-or-treaters!' She pulls the door open, greeting Isaac and his pokemon with a bright smile.

"Come on in! We've got free tea, charms, and tarot readings tonight!" 

Alright, just a few more…’ Hazel is carrying a stack of books nearly half as tall as she is when she hears the soft chime of bells from the front room. ‘Oh no, a customer!’ She really ought to be out front to greet them! It’s like nana always said, it’s rude to leave people waiting.

Hazel had taken the words to heart, but she couldn’t exactly traipse out with a random stack of non-saleable books in her arms. ”Just a minute!” she calls out, instead, her voice muffled by the stack of books and the brightly colored beaded curtain separating the front room from the back.

Ambrose floats lazily beside her, watching the stack sway as she moves. If it were anyone else, Hazel might ask them to see to the customer for her, but the duskull is far too shy for that. And speaking of pokemon that don’t tend to like customers, was that…

A sudden movement from the corner, over by one of the other stacks of books, catches Hazel’s attention. ‘Carmen?’ It's rare for the abra to take an interest in a customer. Normally, she prefers to avoid them at all costs, though she has always been especially attuned to Hazel’s worries. Maybe she’s just trying to help. Normally, Finn would have shot out to greet whoever had entered. The eevee loved people and was one of the only pokemon in the shop whose enthusiasm for them matched Hazel’s own. But no, a quick scan of the back room finds him curled up on a shelf between a box of crystals and a leather-bound book on ancient charms, fast asleep.

Once she’s set the books on her desk for sorting, Hazel makes her way out to the front to find that Carmen has settled herself on the counter and has taken to staring at their guest. ‘Carmen, don’t stare, it’s rude!’ she thinks just long enough for the abra to catch on, its head swiveling in her direction instead.

”Sorry about the wait! What can I do for you today?”