"I love Halloween," Mike concluded as he walked along the sidewalk. "But they need to have it in like... late summer. When the temperature's perfect, y'know? And it isn't snowing."
Ali chuckled, and dug her hands deeper into her pockets. The light snow was sticking to her lashes, and she wondered how the hell he wasn't absolutely freezing in just that jacket and boots. "It snows every year here. Used to really suck when I was a kid..."
"Kinda limits the costume," he agreed.
"I went as a ballerina once," she mused. "Froze my ass off..."
Mike grinned, just slightly, at the image of a young Ali in a ballet costume. "Halloween is awesome," he stated as his eyes followed a group of children running past. "It's the one time of the year when I can be out in plain view, and nobody has a problem with it."
She paused to consider that for a moment, tipping her head to the side. "You know... I never thought about that." She glanced at him, and realized that he really wasn't making any attempt to hide. "I guess it would be pretty cool for you guys..."
Mike nodded. "Oh, yeah. It's awesome." A smile crept across his face. "And everybody loves the costume, too."
She looked to see if he was joking, but quickly realized she wasn't. She shook her head with laughter, and he smirked as he gave her a sideways glance. "Seriously, though..." he continued. "We can go out in the middle of the day on Halloween... walk around... be part of society..." He frowned as he pondered that thought. "Of course, it does make you realize that life isn't always like that."
"Whaddaya mean?"
He shrugged, and his eyes lingered for a long moment on a giant red M&M that tripped and wobbled past him. "Well, like, Raph?" Mike shook his head, kicking a rock that had somehow ended up in the grass back into the street. "He won't ever go out on Halloween. He refuses to."
"Why?"
"'Cause he says it makes him feel like a freak." Mike kept his head down, hands buried in the pockets of his oversized trench coat. "That the only time he can be seen in public is when everyone else is dressed up like monsters and Freddy Kruger."
She frowned at that. "Yeah, I guess I get that..."
"Raph's real cynical about it." Mike squinted into a set of oncoming headlights, and waited for the car to pass, watching as the parents tried to gather their children to the side of the road so that they wouldn't be hit. "I guess I can't say I blame him."
"Me either. It must be real shitty for you..."
Mike shrugged, and let the silence linger as they walked all the way to the end of the road and turned to the right. "You know the most awesome... one of the best memories of all time?"
"Hmm?"
He smiled at the ground passing under his feet, and glanced at his surroundings again. "When I was, like, seventeen I think... I got Donny to go out with me on Halloween." He glanced to her and smiled. "And we took the armored truck we had - we called it the Battleshell, heh - and we went out into... out of New York City. To suburbia, like... 'Cause I mean... you learn your way around the city and you can get around even during the day if you have to. But that? I mean, it was wide open, you know?"
"Uh huh." Her eyes gleamed with mirth at the thought of them out of their realm.
"So anyways... we go out there... and there's all these kids. You know, like now. And we're like... in coats 'cause it's freakin' cold... And just watching the kids, though, was just... so awesome."
She smiled as he paused. She wouldn't have even considered coming out to walk around on Halloween night if he hadn't asked her to. But the more she walked, the more she realized that she was enjoying watching all the children who had dressed up and gone out for a night to have fun and get candy. "Yeah."
"And then there was this one little girl..." Mike continued. "She wasn't like really little, but she was like seven or eight maybe? She comes up and she's just totally... lookin' us up and down like she can't believe... and she goes 'I love your costumes!'"
Ali chuckled. Mike turned to glance at her and smirked. "And you know, Donny and I just kinda exchange grins and give 'er candy, right? 'Cause that's what it's all about. But then she's like... 'Can I touch it?' And... it was weird, you know?" He shrugged. "But I said okay and I actually took off the jacket and she, like..."
He paused for a moment, hesitating for words. "She just reached out and touched my forearm, you know?" He reached toward Ali, and demonstrated. "Just like that. But on my skin. I mean... it was nothing, right? And then she calls her friends and her brother and like... they're all touching my arms and like... amazed by how real it feels and everything."
"I bet..." She looked down as she slowly began to piece together the importance of what he was saying.
"It was just..." He sighed, a faint smile on his face. "I dunno. I dunno how to explain it and I mean... it must sound really weird to you. But like... We've lived most of our lives without touch. I mean... touch is a social thing and like... there's no social aspects to life when you're a turtle, you know? And it's not..." He sighed, frustrated with inability to explain. "It's not... the same, you know?"
"Same as what?"
"I never knew anyone, really, growing up. Not outside of my family." He jumped aside as a fairy ran past him, nearly knocking him over in her rush to get to the next door. "And I mean... my family doesn't do a whole lot of hugging and stuff like that. So when I got older... it was sex. That was like... sensual overload on something I'd been deprived of for so long..."
She considered that for a long moment. That would be sensual overload. It was an awful lot of touch to process when touch was something foreign. "I just didn't know what to do with it," he continued. "It was so good. I mean, good emotionally, you know? It just... it makes you feel real." He frowned. "But it's not just that. In fact, I'm convinced that it's not even in the same... category, you know? Like... touch is good whether it's coming from a lover or a five year old. But..." He chucked. "... sex isn't. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah." That made perfect sense. She walked quietly beside him, feeling his vulnerability.
"And it just... it was so awesome to just feel... real like that. Like... even though they think they're touching a costume? You can feel it on your skin. Little kids' hands. And they're not afraid of you and their parents aren't afraid of you and just... just for a minute... it's like you're normal. Like you're... special, even."
She smirked as she considered that. "Musta been awesome," she grinned.
"Yeah."
"So you gonna take yer coat off this time?"
He laughed. "Nah, I don't wanna freeze my ass off. Thanks though."
She grinned, and jumped out of the way of a werewolf.