A Halloween chapter was suggested by hunter hewett in June but I waited until now to write it so it can coincide with the Halloween season.
October 31, 2041
Los Angeles, California, Earth
It's Halloween night in the Boonchuy-Waybright-Wu household and as usual, everyone was having a fun time.
"You're never gonna get me!" shouted Polly as he fired a few glow in the dark in his sister's direction.
"No you won't!" said Sprig. "My costume is more practical than yours!"
"Hey, don't use those NERF guns inside the house…" said Sasha. The twins looked at their mom apologetically, but their expressions quickly switched to shock when Sasha whipped out a NERF gun of her own. "… unless you think you can beat me. I think my costume is superior."
"It's on, Mom!" exclaimed Sprig.
The aforementioned costumes were Marcy's work, as she had taken up clothing-making in high school as a hobby. She never had any intentions of making it a career, it was mostly so she could have some awesome cosplay for conventions. She originally just made costumes for herself, but over time she also designed outfits for her girlfriends-turned-wives and more recently, kid-sized outfits for the twins.
Sprig wore a costume that was essentially a hybrid of his namesake's trademark outfit and the attire he wore when in disguise on Earth. He wore a matching green hat and jacket with gold buttons, black shorts, goggles, a green striped t-shirt, and teal and white sneakers. It didn't matter to Sprig that hardly anyone outside of the family would know who he's dressed as. The costumes are important to him.
Meanwhile Polly was dressed as Skor, the main character from Vagabondia Chronicles. Skor had essentially been imprinted on her after Marcy introduced the twins to the franchise as toddlers. She wore an adventurer's outfit in two shades of blue, a brown sash and belt with a small pouch attached, an orange scarf, a green headband, and brown boots. Both twins had fake weapons to go with their costumes: a little children's slingshot for Sprig and a faux foam sword for Polly.
Sasha's costume was comparatively simpler: a white tank top, green pants, brown boots and gloves, and a holster. In addition, she had her hair done in a braid.
The three-way NERF gun battle went on for a couple of minutes, but came to a close when Anne and Marcy entered the living room. Marcy wore a Sailor Saturn costume complete with purple laced boots and planet-like earrings. She cut her hair a little shorter than usual and dyed it very dark purple to complete the look. It's the fifth year in a row she dressed as a Sailor Moon character for Halloween and she planned on making it through the whole Sailor Senshi team. Meanwhile Anne dressed as Lady Franklin from Primthistle Manor, with a green dress, light teal gloves, a pearl necklace and earrings, and her hair done up in a bun.
"What are you three doing?" asked Anne.
Sasha and the twins froze. "Uh…"
"You know the rule," said Marcy."
"Only use the NERF guns inside when Mæ̀'s not home," said Polly.
Marcy nodded. "That's right."
Anne stood there confused. "What? That's not—" She got distracted midthought as she noticed the kids' costumes. "Awww… my little polliwogs, you're so adorable. This might be Mar-Mar's best work so far."
"Do I look like Uncle Sprig?" asked her son.
Happy tears came to Anne's eyes. "So much…" A few seconds later Anne looked back at Sasha and her unimpressed look returned. "Sash, you dressed as Helga from Atlantis last year," said Anne.
"Yeah, 'cause we look identical and it's an awesome look!" protested Sasha. "I think that's more than enough justification."
"I tried so hard for her to let me design a new costume for her this year but she kept refusing," added Marcy.
"If it ain't broke…" Sasha shrugged with a smug look. "Anyway, you're the main lady from… what's that show? Primissile Manor?"
"Eh, close enough," said Anne. "You know, it's been more than twenty years since I found out, but I'm still miffed that Lord Frankerton's accent wasn't real."
Sasha chuckled. "Psssh, I knew that from day one. The actor was in that movie with the invisible monkeys."
"Well I never watched that," said Anne.
Sasha looked down. "Yeah, you made the right decision."
"Anyway", emphasized Marcy. "Who's ready to go trick-or-treating?"
"Yeah!" "Let's go!" The twins cheered as they ran out of the room.
"I put your fake weapons on the table by the couch, right next to my staff," Marcy called out to them as they ran.
"Your staff?" asked Sasha.
"Of course," said Marcy. "It goes with the outfit and I can whack someone with it if the situation necessitates it."
"Trick or treat!"
This was the sixth house the Boonchuy-Waybright-Wus had stopped at and already they had made a great score. Getting twice as much candy with each stop was always a plus.
"And who are you kiddos dressed as today?" asked Mr. Johansen, one of the family's elderly neighbors.
"We're dressed as our personal heroes!" said Polly.
"I'm a frog!" said Sprig.
"Of course you are, kids." Mr. Johansen dropped a few pieces of candy into the twins' buckets. "Have a Happy Halloween!"
"Happy Halloween!" said the twins.
"And…" said Anne, stopping the kids from leaving.
"Thank you!" the twins quickly said.
"You're very welcome," said the old man as everyone walked away.
"You'd think they'd remember to say thank you after the first couple of houses, but I guess they don't," said Anne.
"Eh, this is a holiday where adults give children free candy and it's not some sort of trap," said Sasha. "Obviously the kids will be more focused on the candy."
"Ooh… peanut M&Ms…" the moms heard coming from in front of them.
Sasha smiled. "Exactly."
…
"This is Dylan's house!" Polly chuckled. "I bet he's still doing homework."
"I thought you didn't have homework," said Anne.
"We don't, but he does," said Sprig.
"Oh."
It made sense. Dylan Anton had made a name for himself in Sprig and Polly's class by being the resident troublemaker.
"That's what he gets for starting two fights in class today," said Sprig.
Sasha hummed in thought as Polly rang the doorbell. After about fifteen seconds, Dylan's mother opened the door.
"Trick or treat!"
"Ah, Sprig and Polly," said Ms. Anton. "Here you go." She handed the twins some Skittles.
"Thank you!" the twins both said.
Polly looked back at her moms. "We remembered this time."
Anne smiled as Sasha spoke up. "So, Sprig and Polly mentioned Dylan's been starting fights in school."
Ms. Anton sighed. "Yes, he acts up a lot. I'm afraid he won't be trick-or-treating this year as punishment."
"Well, I don't like imposing like this, but I might be able to help. Here's my card." Sasha handed Ms. Anton a card which read "Sasha Waybright, PhD— Licensed Child Psychologist" and had contact info below. "I may be able to help both of you figure out what's been causing him to 'act out', as you put it."
Ms. Anton nervously took the card, not missing the implication that she was part of the problem.
"Mom, we're supposed to be getting more candy," Sprig protested.
Sasha wanted to be upset but she couldn't help but smile a little. "Alright, let's go."
…
"Ally!" exclaimed Sprig as an old family friend opened the door.
"Hey everyone!" said the roboticist. "Jess and I worked on something special for tonight." She pulled over a foot-tall mechanical contraption. "Check it out! It's a candy-making robot!"
The device had a few buttons on top, a chamber in the back for holding ingredients, and a dispensing slot near the center. Ally pressed the center button twice. The device started rumbling, the parts inside clearly moving around, before it dispensed two jawbreaker-like pieces of candy.
The twins' eyes lit up and they each took one. "Wow!" "Thank you!" They put the hard candies in their mouths almost immediately.
"I must own a hundred of these," said Marcy.
Ally chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much everyone has said that. Maybe we'll make more and sell 'em one day but right now Jess and I are just trying to make Halloween more special."
"Where is Jess, anyway?" asked Sasha.
She's out trick-or-treating with Ashley while I stay here for people who come to our door," Ally replied. "I'm a little surprised you three didn't do that. I bet plenty of kids have knocked on your door and got no response."
The Calamity Moms glanced at each other for a few seconds and shrugged. "I guess if people show up really late we can give out candy," said Anne.
"I'm gonna eat all my candy tonight!" said Polly as the family entered their home.
"Don't do that!" shouted Marcy. "It's very painful and I learned the hard way when I was eight. Try to portion it out until November 3rd, at least."
Polly grumbled but knew her Mama was probably right. "Okay."
"I think it's good to make the candy last a while," said Sprig. "Halloween lasts longer that way."
"Exactly," said Marcy.
With that, the twins headed up to their room, eager to dig into their candy supply, leaving their moms in the living room.
"What time is it?" asked Anne.
Sasha glanced at the clock. "7:26. Perfect time to start a late night horror movie marathon, dontcha think?"
"You know it!" said Marcy.
The three of them hopped onto the couch and turned Netflix on.
"Whoever goes the longest without being scared becomes the new sleepover queen," said Sasha.
Her wives looked at her and smiled. "Ooh, this'll be fun," said Anne.
Translation: Mæ̀ (mom)