Spooooooooky( Soul Gear Holloween Special)

( Semi-Canon. I'll probably place it in the main sometime, but not atm.^^)

Titus taps hisfoot excitedly against the floor, eager to experience his first...what was it again..Halloween. Adjusting the genuine Mettuar helmet on his head, he examines his costume, nodding.Yep!! All good! He was dressed as the Mettaur Knight, a movie hero based on the small legendary robots.Titus fiddles with the bracer on his arm, frowning slightly. He hoped he didn't look...not good.

Mettaur:

Spoiler:

Naomi glared at herself in the mirror again wondering if it was really neccesary for her to be dressed as a risque circus ring master. True she had picked the costume herself because she had hoped that it would make her feel beautiful but she felt like the monkey rather than the ringleader. Too late to change it, she decided, plucking at the dangerously short hemline of her black skirt. At least she had an impressive top hat and a whip. Not to mention heels this thin and sharp could probably do some serious damage if she wanted to stomp on someones foot. But she would try to be on her sharpest behaviour. This was Titus's first Halloween, the whole reason they were having this celebration in the first place.

So with her shame in her back pocket and a determined expression on her face, Naomi strode out of her room to the sparring room where the equipment had been cleared out in preference of 'spooky' decorations. There she found Titus dressed as an adorable creature with a helmet. The sight made her heart melt. It was good to have adopted a kid brother. She slung an around around his shoulder.

"Excited?" She asked.

Titus looks up as Naomi appears,asking if he was excited. The boy beams, nodding."Yep!!" He was looking forward to this...It was a new experience, and he could have sworn he saw candy earlier. Titus looks around, examining the decorations, and poking curiously at webs hanging down.The boy examines Naomi's costume curiously, not exactly sure what it was.

Naomi watched in amusement as Titus, like a boy with ADD, eagerly surveyed his surroundings, unable to pick what he wanted to examine most. No doubt she would have to explain much of the holiday and its traditions to the boy. When she caught him staring at her costume she started to feel self-conscious. She definitely wasn't confident about how she looked in the thing, even if Naomi had never considered herself very vain. So instead of agonizing over how she thought she looked and Titus thought she looked, Naomi began to explain things.

"The webs-like most of the decorations, are fake of course. But in keeping with the 'creepy', 'scary', or 'spooky' theme of Halloween that I told you about we put up mostly dark decorations or supernatural things. The punch is probably non alcoholic...probably. Candy is given out to younger kids or adults who refuse to grow up and everyone celebrates the day by using it as an excuse to wear embarassing, outrageous, or slutty costumes. You went for adorable though I have no idea what you are. I went for outrageous as a circus master. We should both quiver in fear over what that idiot Dax might choose to be. It'll certainly be scarring."

Last year he had gone as spartacus. All that bulgy muscle and angry veins of skin pale from being in armour was only full display. She had wanted to cry and puke at the same time. Naomi shivered at the memory. He was hairy too.

Titus listens closely, nodding.It really sounded fun. He twitches at the word adorable...The boy had learned to fear it, from all the random hugs and face pinching."I'm the Mettaur Knight! He's a movie character that's a upgraded Met, he fights crime from the roof tops and puts fear into the hearts of villains!"Hearing what she was dressed as the boy tilts his head to the side, thinking through it."Circus...celebration, commotion, performance... Master...Controller, leader....Ah, Leader of the Performance!!"His face clears from the confusion hed been feeling. So, thats what she was going as.Then she says they should fear what Dax would be. Titus blinks."Will it be scary?" The young geared looks up as people begin entering the room.

Naomi proudly looked down at Titus as he ranted. Fierce heart. Good. He would need it, she felt. At least he had figured out what she was then. People began to filter into the room, casting dubious looks her way. She frowned. Oh well. It would take time for them to warm up after her weeklong dissapearance she thought. It wasn't as if she had no fruits to show. Either that or they hated her costume. She cursed. Naomi knew this costume was-

Dax strutted into the room. The top of his head was adorned in a lacy headband that stuck straight up. Heavily coloured blue eyelashes, dramatic mascara, thick eyeliner and blood red lips followed. Then a small thin band of ribbon around the neck, complete with a bell. A slight black dress with a low neckline, fake breasts, a short hem, and a white apron all bordered with white frills awkwardly hugged the burly man's body. All the way down to his fishnetted legs and dangerously tall black heels Naomi felt like crying. This was just wrong.

Titus waves hello to one of the Daemons who'd been nice to him, getting a playful salute back. He smiles, then hugs Naomi, suddenly feeling grateful.Then a rather weird form enters. The boys eyes widen, and he tilts his head."Is....is that big brother?" He sounded completely flabbergasted and confused.

Naomi numbly nodded as Dax lumbered forward, lifting up Titus with two hands and swinging the boy around in circles. I hate Halloween Naomi thought.

"I love Halloween!" Dax cried, hugging Titus to his chest and then setting the boy down with a pat on his head.

There were just...no words.

Titus blinks as the big guy picks up him, swinging him around.The befuddled look on the boys face was rather comical. However, he smiles at the headpat."Hello, brother!" Weird costume or not, it was nice to see him. The boy looks between the two of them as more people stream in." What are we going to do first?" His foot taps against the ground in excitement.

Naomi smiled at Titus's fearlessness. At his age she would have cried. She opened her mouth to answer-

"B-"

"Bobbing for apples!" Dax announced spinning around so that his skirt twirled. Naomi thought maybe this was Dax trying to tell her he was gay. But then again Dax had never shown interested in anything whether it was male or female. Maybe he was asexual. One day he would cut off his pinky and it would grow into another Dax. Maybe her corset was too tight and it was restricting blood flow to her brain and that's why she was thinking such useless things. Either way she led Titus over to the barrel full of apples and water, somehow feeling like she was escorting a prisoner to jail with the way Dax gleefully followed.

Titus tilts his head in curiosity."Bobbing for Apples?" The boy furrows his brow as they lead them over to a barrel, and he waves hello to the Daemon manning the station, looking curiously at  the apples. was it like...trapping, hunting fish...fishing?Titus glances around for one of those pole things he'd seen on the show.

Dax brushed forward of Naomi and clapped Titus on the back.

"We do this the hard way brother. Mano e mano. No hands, no weapons, just your teeth and intuition versus mine."

"He probably doesn't know the game." Naomi seethed at Dax, rubbing her shoulder where the brute had bumped it hard.

"Why explain when you can just show?" Dax replied in a bored tone. Then he was diving face first into the barrel, and reared back an instant later, throwing water all over the room. Makeup dripped from his face in gruesome trailed of black, but a red apple was cinched between his teeth.

"Ghut eht Htituhs?" He mumbled over the apple.

As can be expected, the boy staggers slightly from the clap, but looks up, smiling."OK brother..." He still didn't have a clue what to do, which Naomi pointed out. Dax responds by demonstration, and he eagerly nods, water flicking off from his face. That looked like fun! He takes off his helmet, anddunks, teeth gnashing the water before snagging one. Rearing this head back up, he grins around the fruit in his mouth, eyes gleaming happily.

Dax nodded with approval. Good, at least this would be a fair fight. Naomi just backed away slowly, deciding that the smell of sweating men, alcoholic punch, and Dax in a skirt was too much. She resolved to hang out on the roof for awhile. Maybe reminisce, as dangerous as that was. Meanwhile Dax guided Titus over to the two separate bobbing barrels and briefly summed up the game. Once he was sure the young geared had gotten the jist of it he solemnly nodded up to Alejandro, who blasted off a fake gun and screamed:

"Begin!"

Titus looks up,blinking, as Naomi goes away. He furrows his brow, reaching up slightly, but then Dax guides the boy over to two barrels, explaining the rules to him. Titus nods, smiling and waiting...Then the gun shoots and he's off, doing his best to win.