It was the one day of the year that they could be themselves. Yeah, it was cliche. They had all seen that one episode of Gargoyles where Elisa was Disney's Belle and Goliath was her Beast. And not one of them watched that episode when they were little and not felt the same way. That one little episode resonated with mutants around the world. Hallowe'en was special.
Molly was the most excited, abandoning her cute, themed hats for a leotard and mask. Ms. Marvel was the closet thing to Princess Powerful that she knew. Besides herself, of course. She bounded ecstatically from house to house holding out her bag for sweat treats and candy. She warned old people not to give her any apples or McDonalds coupons.
Karolina stretched her arms high above her head, thankful to not feel the tiny rhythm of her 'medical alert' bracelet trickling down her arm. Tonight, she was free. True, she was not flying, and she turned down the glow of her spectrum-shining body, but still, she was free.
"But why?" Xavin asked.
Nico, in one of her more elaborate and truly witchy outfits, with staff freshly polished, filled in the gaps for the alien. "Hallowe'en was a Celtic harvest festival. They believed the boundary between the realms of the living and the dead was weak on this night, and ghosts could come to our world. So they dressed up to fool the spirits."
Behind the three girls was Chase, atop Old Lace. He was dressed as a jungle man, a recycled costume from last Hallowe'en. Last Hallowe'en he and Gert had gone out as natives of the Savage Land. Gert complained that Chase made her wear the 'demeaning, degrading get-up' and boy, did she not let up! But she looked great, and Chase told her so. Gert had acted indignant to the compliment, but the growing blush on her cheeks told him that she was flattered. Despite that, no matter how hard he tried, Chase could not get Gert to leave the Hostel.
"Betcha by this time next year, you and Old Lace and I will be walking down the streets of California as King and Queen Caveman." Chase boasted.
"Bet you I won't." Retorted Gert.
She turned out to be right.
Old Lace gave a sullen growl and nudge Chase on the leg. She wanted him to cheer up. If anything, to notice the reaction they were receiving.
Children and adults alike stopped in their candy coveting tracks, jaws agape at what looked like a very convincingly real dinosaur! Chase gave a half-grin and patted Old Lace on the head, between her eyes.
"What do you say we give the kids a little meet and great?" He asked. Old Lace bobbed her head in agreement and padded over to a cul-de-sac.
"Where's he going?" Nico asked as Chase waved for kids to come get a closer look.
"Nicooooo!" Molly chided. "Don't you remember being a kid, and thinking dinosaurs were, like, the COOLEST thing ever?"
Nico looked down at Molly, then at Old Lace, Chase, and the cloud of kids clustered around them. She smiled at the scene. "I guess I forgot."