It was a cool and windy late October afternoon. Trifa had just finished her final combat class of the day and was putting her things in her locker when Ruby popped out from behind her locker door. "Hi, Trifa!" Ruby said in her usual energetic tone. Ruby seemed to be excited about something. Her face had a massive smile across it. "Hey Ruby," Trifa replied. "I got something to tell you!" She exclaimed. "What is it?" Trifa asked. "I'm having a party! And I want you to be there!" Ruby's excitement was like a river flowing out of her. She had a few questions for Ruby. "Can I bring anybody else?" Trifa inquired. "Of course!" Ruby said in excitement. Trifa nodded, "What's it for? Do you need me to bring anything?" With that, she was out of questions. Ruby answered, "It's for my Halloween and my birthday! Just bring some snacks or drinks. Oh! And wear a costume too. I about forgot to mention that." Trifa shut her locker. "Alright. Well, I got to get going. I'll talk to you later.," Trifa said. Ruby nodded and let her on her way. She was at the door when Ruby called out, "Hey Trifa! One more thing." Trifa turned around, "Yeah?" Her face was blush and had a slightly embarrassed expression, "Could you ask Dove to come for me?" Trifa smiled, "Yeah. I will." Ruby smiled, "Thank you." Trifa nodded as she headed out.
Trifa stood as usual outside the cafeteria waiting for Cardin to come from his final class of the day. Mrs. Peach always ended her lectures earlier than when they were supposed to end. She stood and watched as the rest of the people getting out of class came to the cafeteria. She didn't see Cardin though. She waited for the crowd to pass by, and he still wasn't there.
It wasn't too long until he showed up. "Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting. Miss. Wulff wanted to talk to me about something," Cardin said. Trifa leaned up from against the wall, "Oh, that's alright. I had something I wanted to ask you about." "Yeah?" he asked. "Ruby told me earlier today she was having a party Saturday and I wanted to know if you would come with me?" Trifa answered. He smiled, "Of course I'd go with you." "Ruby mentioned something about wearing a costume. Would you have anything in mind?" Trifa wondered. He motioned her with his hand, "Well if it's costumes then we need to hurry. There won't be much to choose from by Saturday." She nodded and followed him to Beacon's parking lot.
The two got in Cardin's white pickup truck and headed down the access road from Beacon to Vale. "So, what is this "Halloween" thing about? I don't really have it around where I'm from." Trifa said from the passenger seat. "It's just a day for spooky and scary stuff. People dress up in costumes and kids go trick or treating for candy and stuff. I don't really know what started it though," Cardin answered.
The two pulled into the parking lot and got out. Trifa looked at the storefront, "So this place has costumes?" Cardin nodded and she followed him inside. He led her through the store. "So, anything you would like to dress up as?" He asked. She shrugged, "I don't know. Never really done this before." "Well, how about I pick out something for you then," he suggested. She took his suggestion and went to wait on him in the back where the dressing rooms were.
Cardin came back fifteen to twenty minutes later. He had a few costumes draped over his arm. He handed her the costumes, "Here you go." She took them and headed to the changing room.
Cardin's scroll buzzed as he stood there waiting. He took it out of his pocket and checked it. Dove had texted him. It read, "Where're you at? I didn't see you at the cafeteria." Cardin texted back, "Down in vale, getting a costume with Trifa. We're going to get something to eat when we're done. Want to come with?" "Sure I'll be on my way down there," Dove replied as Trifa came out of the dressing room. She was in the first costume he picked out. It was a black succubus dress. The skirt of the dress was pretty short and the back was completely open. If it wasn't for the sheer black top underneath the loose corset it wouldn't leave much covered. Even then the top didn't cover much since it was tied at the neck. Trifa's face had a look of embarrassment ingrained on it, "Don't you think this is bit revealing?" She was right and he knew it. Cardin rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah...I just wanted to see you in it though." He awkwardly smiled. Her face was still bright red but she smiled back before heading back into the changing room.
Trifa looked at the other costumes Cardin picked out. The rest weren't like the succubus one. They were all pretty tame in comparison. There were three outfits. One labeled "Nephilim," one labeled "Girl from the Painting," and one labeled "Scientist's Daughter." The "Nephilim" was a white dress with a dark pink glittery skirt with black and white sleeves and stockings. The sleeves and stockings were similarly glittery to the skirt. It had a set of horns and a set of crystalline wings to go with it as well. The "Girl from the Painting" was a long green smock with a blue scarf tied around the collar. Finally, "The Scientist's Daughter" was a blue dress with white cuffs. It had with it a white apron to go over it and a large pink hair bow.
Trifa came out of the dressing room after showing Cardin all of the costumes he had picked out for her. "Which one do you like?" Cardin asked. Trifa thought for a moment. She liked all of them except for the first one. "Hmm. I think I like the Nephilim one the most," Trifa answered. He nodded, "Alright. Let's get going then."
After paying the two headed outside. Cardin looked to her, "Let's go get something to eat." She nodded, "Yeah. I'm starving. I'm fine with wherever though." He smiled, "Alright. I know where exactly I'd like to go." He climbed in the seat of the truck, "Let me just tell Dove and we'll be on our way."
Cardin pulled into the parking lot. Above the windows, the lettering on the side of the building read "Waffle House." Trifa looked over at Cardin, "Waffle House?" "You never been here before?" He asked as they approached the door. She shook her head. "They got some good stuff here," Cardin assured her. They walked inside. "Sit anywhere you like!" The waitress said from behind the bar. Trifa pointed to the booth in the corner, "You want to sit over there?" He nodded and they sat down. The waitress came over to Trifa and Cardin. She sat down the menus, "What drinks can I get you two to start off?" "Coke. Could you bring a Dr Pepper too? We have someone else coming," Cardin answered. The waitress nodded her head, "Of course." "Water's fine," Trifa said softly.
In the booth behind them sat team CDPT. Felix, one of the members of the team asked, "Hey guys did you see what Jaune did yesterday?" Own shook his head, "No I didn't see it." Aid chimed in, "Man you should have seen it! Jaune tried to impress her and fell right on his face. He spilled grape soda all over her!" The leader, Yamcha laughed, "What a fucking idiot."
It wasn't too long until Dove showed up. He sat across from the Trifa and Cardin, "Hey guys. I miss anything?" Cardin shook his head, "Nah, we were just deciding what to get. I got you a Dr Pepper. I hope that's fine." "Yeah, that's fine," Dove took a sip, "So I heard you guys got costumes. What's the occasion?" Trifa spoke up, "Ruby's having a party this Saturday for Halloween and her birthday. She wanted to know if you'd come." He was surprised that Ruby asked for him specifically. Before he gave his answer, the waitress came back, "So what can I get y'all?" Cardin went first, "The all-star breakfast with a waffle and bacon." Dove followed up, "Just give me the same as him." That left Trifa as thew final one, "I'd like a waffle with peanut butter chips." The waitress took their menus, "I'll be back with that." Now that the waitress was gone, Dove could give his answer. "Tell Ruby I'll be there," he smiled.
It wasn't long until the day of the party came. Trifa got dressed up in her costume and Cardin in his. Cardin's costume was a black pinstripe three-piece suit, black leather gloves, and a mask. The mask was split down the middle between a black side on the left and a white side on the right. The mouth was scowling. It and the chin were bright red. The eyes were a dark black where the eyes of the wearer couldn't be seen and had an outline in the same red color as the mouth and chin. The right eye (wearer's left) had a scar running over it. To complete it Cardin had borrowed one of Sky's airsoft rifles. "You ready?" He asked his Nephilim companion. "Just got to grab something and I'll be," She grabbed the snacks she was supposed to bring. A box of sugar cookies and snickerdoodle cookies from her job at the bakery down in Vale. "Now I am," the two headed out to his truck.
Ruby eagerly went to see Trifa when she and Cardin walked in, "I'm so glad you could be here! Oooh, I love your costume!" She was dressed up as a giant chocolate chip cookie. Weiss had followed Ruby to them. She wore a milk carton costume that matched Ruby's. Trifa smiled, "Thanks. I'm glad to be here. So where do you want these?" Trifa held up the box of cookies. Ruby motioned for her to follow her, "Follow me!" The three followed Ruby into where the party was going on. The party venue was a large room with white walls that didn't have many windows. There were several circular tables with dark red tablecloths. Along the backwall were longer tables with the same color tablecloths as the circular ones. One had various food on it and the other had drinks and cups. One part of the room had no tables in it with a music setup not too far away. Presumably it was a dancing area. There were banners hung up on the walls, some were blank and some read "Happy Birthday!" or "Happy Halloween" in bold white text. All of them were dark red in color. Blake, Yang, Velvet, JNPR, and some other people from Beacon were there. Ruby pointed to the table along the backwall, "Set it down over there." Trifa nodded, "You want one first?" Trifa figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. "Sure! What do you got?" Trifa opened the box up, "There's sugar and there's snickerdoodle." Ruby took one of the sugar cookies. She took a bite of it and let out a sound of delight, "Mmm. These are pretty good Trifa." She chuckled, "Can't have too many though. We're going to be having cake later."
Dove finally got back to Beacon. Raven had kept him longer than he would have liked. Dove looked at the clock on the wall of the dorm. He was even later than he realized. He threw his stuff down onto his bed and hurried out of there. There wasn't any time for him to change into the costume he had planned to wear. When Dove got to the landing area, he was glad the Bullheads were running later than usual that night. They were faster than Beacon's shuttle bus down to Vale.
About an hour had passed since Trifa and Cardin arrived. Ruby, Trifa, and Velvet were talking while Cardin was on the dance floor. Music was playing on the speakers, "Let's break the rules! And really put our backs into it Max out, pursue it!" Ruby looked over to Trifa as she was sipping her drink, "Hey Trifa you know where Dove is?" Trifa shook her head, "No. He said he was coming. I don't know why he isn't here yet." Ruby looked disappointed, "Alright…" Ruby pointed over to the drink table, "I even got that crystal soda he like." Trifa looked over to the table, there were two 2L bottles of it that had barely been touched. "I'm sure he's on his way." Trifa reassured her.
Dove left the bullhead like a bat out of hell as soon as it landed. He rushed through the Vale streets to where Ruby's party was being held at. When he got there, he took a moment to fix his hair underneath a streetlight. As he combed it with his pocket comb, he saw two girls leave. One was a blonde and the other had jet-black hair with a bow on top. The blonde was dressed as a hot nurse while the one with the bow was dressed in a tight fitting catsuit that was as dark as her hair. He didn't catch their faces but had an idea of who they were. It must have been wrapping up, Dove thought as he went inside.
It was time for the cake now. Ruby sat down at one of the tables while the partygoers gathered around. She was still disappointed Dove hadn't shown up yet, but she did her best not to show it. Trifa and Weiss brought the large cake over. Ruby's cake was a red velvet cake with black icing. "Happy Birthday, Ruby," was written in red icing. In the same red icing were roses in three out of the four corners along with detailing on the cake border. The top right corner of the cake was left empty for her candles. Weiss got out two candles, one was a large number one and the other a large number seven. Trifa lit the candles with her zippo. As they started to sing 'Happy Birthday' Trifa couldn't keep her eyes away from the cake. She had worked on it earlier that morning at work and was happy with how it turned out.
Dove heard the tail end of the singing as he walked. Trifa saw him and put her finger over her mouth. He understood and kept quiet as he came up from behind. Trifa looked back to Ruby, "Go on! Blow out your candles!"
Ruby bent down to the candles and closed her eyes. She blew out her candles and raised back up. As she raised up, she felt a tap on her left shoulder. She looked behind her to see a familiar white-caped figure. "Dove!" Ruby excitedly jumped up from her seat to hug him. He hugged her back, "Sorry I'm so late. Just got held up longer than expected." Ruby smiled, "it's okay as long as you're here now." Ruby's tone shifted to excitement, "We were just about to get to the cake!" "Cake, you say?" Dove sat down in one of the chairs beside where Ruby was sitting. Trifa started to cut the cake while Weiss got the ice cream out. The rest of a fun party was ahead of them.