Disclaimer: You're still reading disclaimers? This deep in?
:}
Jade loved Halloween. Even as a child, it was one of her favorite days. Not just because people gave you stuff, in this case candy for trick or treating. She also loved it for the costumes, the chance to be something else, often something morbid. Jade loved the simple fact that it was a communal celebration of the things she loved, as well as people coming together over that weirdness and just enjoying themselves. In fact, Beck never quite understood how deep her early childhood love of Halloween was, to the point that she disliked those who made the holiday less safe. Beck seemed to think she'd love to find a razor in her candy, or hear about children being poisoned. It was one of the reasons they finally broke up for good, once she discovered that there were others who could love her.
Today, however, was extra special, because she was finally able to share her love of this day. More then the odd array of costumes she'd dressed her various bunnies, and later dogs, in. Today, her first child was old enough to go out and enjoy the day. 'Not just be dressed up, like last year. No, David is now able to understand what we're doing. Even chose the costume himself. Had Cat make it, cause lets be honest, not a lot of faerie princess costumes for the guys. And god, the look on my Vega's face when he said that's what he wanted to be….'
Technically, he wasn't a faerie princess, just another faerie from Pixie Hollow, but to far to many causal passers by, it didn't mater. His green costume wasn't pink, one of his favorite colors, more because Jade hated pink then because she was afraid of dressing the boy up in a less then masculine fashion. It was the reason she was the one taking the boy out, dressed up herself as Maleficent, instead of letting her wife take the boy. 'This kind of love of anything needs to be protected. The pictures, those we save for blackmail when he's older…'
They'd so far rushed from house to house, and the reactions were split, almost along the lines Jade expected them to be. Most children his age loved the male pixie costume, while most adults just couldn't understand the boy loving anything about that movie, or the on line game it spawned.
There were, or course, exceptions. "Oh, a pixie, right?" Brandon Cutler, their neighbor and a professional wrestler, asked. "Cute. My daughter is going as sludge. Not the faerie, some kind of toxic waste. My own fault, I wasn't thinking when we were watching the remake of the Toxic Avenger."
"She need someone to go around with?" Jade asked, feeling that having another out there costume would help protect her boy. "So many dinosaurs…"
"Yea, the little one's don't always have that many choices," Brandon noted, "And even when they do, loads of parents are reluctant to go out and be too creative. So it's what the store has, and that reflects whats in the theaters lately."
Jade sighed. "I've seen four teens going as me from my last film."
"You were pretty terrifying." The tall man agreed. "A movie about a children's story villain, an evil witch queen, coming to life and hunting teens was original enough, but the way you had her, portraying her more as an avenging spirit of justice then a monster hungering for teen flesh."
"Technically, she was after revenge." Jade corrected the big man. "Just like the father from Pumpkinhead. The original. Just wanting justice, and unleashing something truly evil that isn't likely to stay withing any level of restraint. Yep, my witch queen was fun, but her core motive, to get revenge, even fit her from the pretend story. Had a meta message about the folly of revenge as well as how we define our villains."
David was grinning ear to ear as they went to the next house, Jade standing behind him with a supportive smile, as well as a bag for Angela, their daughter, who wasn't old enough to remember this. "My daughter is with my wife, too sick to go out. Care to give?"
As they walked away, Jade watching her son try, for the fifth time that night, to make his pretend wings work, her neighbor called her to task. "You know that's a lie." He tisked. "Your daughter is with my son, at the neighborhoods mother's Halloween Party. You know, for the one's too small for trick or treating, even if we take them out early." He gestured with his unnecessary flashlight, the sun only just setting, while the streets were lit up by both the streetlights, and an array of glowing holiday decorations that turned night into red tinted daylight. It was tradition, that the littlest ones go out early, because they had the earliest bedtimes.
"Yea, but they don't give candy for those who missed cause of a party." Jade sighed. "So, how was the parade?"
"The school costume parade was what you'd expect." The man said. "I only really wanted to see the little ones, but got suckered into chaperoning the whole thing. Loads of imaginative costumes, and yes, more then a few were dressed up as the witch from your movie."
They continued to talk, even as they walked the distance from one house to the next. In an expensive neighborhood like theirs, the walk from one house to the next sometimes was a bit much. As an attempt to both contain the mischief that came from the season, as well as make things easier for the parents, the neighborhood association had set up booths along the street to augment those who were hosting this part of the evening. Plenty of candy to be had for the little one's who were out, and those who came later would still find the streets well lit, with plenty of safe goodies to enjoy.
"I think we have enough." Jade told her companions, now that they'd managed to gather a crowd. "Plus, this is our place. Gonna go get his one cleaned up, then put him to bed." She looked around one more time at the array of costumes, smiling at the variety. "Tomorrow, if you get the chance, we're having a watch of the security cameras, seeing the best of the costumes. Gonna be a fun way to get rid of the remainder of our candy."
"Wouldn't miss it." Brandon said, watching as Jade stepped past her sister in law, who'd volunteered to hand out the candy, and into the house.
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Thoughts?
