Aquata Cove Ch. 99

"It's going to be cold tonight, you'll thank me later." Yuri says as she secure a couple of buttons. "Alright, now the thing you need to remember about Halloween is that it's all about fear and surprise."

"Fear and surprise?"

"Yes. For this time of year, humans set up a lot of scary items and displays to frighten all of us, but I'm letting you know right now, that you're not in danger, nothing is going to hurt you, you are going to see some very creepy creatures tonight, but I assure you, everything is either a human or fake."

"You mean, you humans can transform into horrifying things just for a night like this?"

"Aheheh, not quite."

"Alright, I'm already." Adam says as he walks in, wearing a black and red robe with a gold and ruby lion heralding shield patch on the left side of his chest, wearing fake circular glasses and a rub-on tattoo of a lightning bolt on the center of his forehead.

"And what the heck is Merrick going as? A slutty snow owl?" Yuri asked snidely.

"Ha ha." Adam responded as he puts in the AA batteries in his wand flashlight.

"Just from the dusty side of the country." Merrick says as his boots clinks from their silver spurs, wearing cowhide chaps, and shirtless with a denim vest and a red handkerchief around his neck that covers the center of his chest, and a classic cowboy hat with a glittered gold seashell mounted on the center.

"Hah, wow. There's a combo I never would've guessed." Yuri smirked.

"Yall ready to go??" Jamal says as he stands at the doorway, wearing an accurate Deadpool costume -- formfitting and equipped with fake weapons. "Awwww, you lookin cute, lil man!" Jamal says as he reaches down, and ruffled an agitated Arnaav's head.

"Grrrrr!" Arnaav growls adorably as he rushes his hands into his brown hair, "You humans are so bizarre."

"Hey, don't hate." Jamal stuck his tongue out as he gets his keys.

"You have your flashlight, Jamal?" Yuri asked as she attaches a few LED bulbs on her FFX staff.

"Yep! Gott'em right here." Jamal says as he holds up one of the fake guns, and turns on a red laser pointer.

"JAMAL, for God's sake!"

"Hahahaha, relax, girl, damn!" Jamal takes out a regular torch and switched it on and off.

"Ok, lets get going then." Merrick says as he gets his own light with him.

"Hey, babe..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you um... Ok?" Adam asked. It's been a couple of weeks since their conflict with Adam's tattoo. Merrick has been fairly neutral and distant ever since.

"I'm fine, Adam, why?"

"Just... Never mind." Adam says as he goes, sighing as they leave.

~~~

Arnaav peers through the window, his hands glued to the glass as the car drive, observing the many small humans traveling with all sorts of strange and colorful disguises, like a cat watching people moving into the house next door.

"Ok, lets out." Yuri says as she gets up, adjusting Yuna's outfit of her long and wide sleeves, and allowing Arnaav to get out. She then pulls the white hood/mask of woolen fabric over his face, featuring a pair of cat ears on his head, , the semi-transparent black screening for the closed-eyes look, a shiny red gem-like nose in the middle, and a shiny red orb hovering above his head on a wire rod. As usual, he is once again at the Kele-Kolika peir, but besides the residential area before the docks.

"What do I do again?" Arnaav asked as he walks with the adult humans and Merrick.

"Easy. You just go to any door, knock on their door, and say 'Trick or Treat'." Adam explains, "And they give you small delicious foods. Then we go to another house and do it again."

"Huh..." Arnaav ponders as he looks at the round, vertically ribbed, hallow orange container with the weird black shapes on the front. They come to a lawn with a few tombstones and a low, graceful mist billowing over a few bones. He beams as he sees some flickering pumpkins with glowing yellow faces. He gulps as he sees he door being guarded by a huge bat glaring down on him.

The Moogle-dressed kid even starts to shake as he steps onto the porch, and knocks on the door. Moments later, he calms down when he sees a man in normal clothing opening the door and smiling at him.

"H-Hi." Arnaav greeted, "Trick or treat?"

"Hahaha, alright, that's a very cute costume kiddo." He says before he takes a small handful of Starbursts and Reese's Cups, and clunked them into the bucket.

"Oh!"

"Happy Halloween." The man tells him, before Arnaav turns and leaves, fascinated by the shiny and colorful wrapped treats. He irks as a few other kids rush by him and he returns to the others.

"Aight, lets see what chu got." Jamal says, muffled in his Deadpool mask, and looking in there, "Hah, niiiiice!"

"Lets go, lets go!" Arnaav says before he rushes to the house next door.

The kid timidly makes his way around a few obstacles, jumping and squeaking when a head suddenly jumps up and falls down. "It's all fake... It's all fake... It's all fake..." He repeats before a few kids pass him by. He perks as he sees the door open, before he follows them.

"Trick or Treeeaaat!" The kids chorused as they held up their buckets. They leave shortly after getting a handful of candies. Arnaav giggles as he hustles over, and walks by Yuri's side.

On another stop, they go to a porch with no decorations whatsoever. Curious, Arnaav raps his plushed hand onto the door, and waited. A minute passes by before he knocks again. No answer.

"I don't think we're going to get anything out of this one, Arnaav." Merrick says.

"Awwrrr..." They turn and go, but notice a few teenagers in hoodies pick up a few eggs from cartons, and get ready to bombard the place, "Huh? What are they doing?"

"Ugh. Jackasses." Adam comments, "Just ignore them, buddy." He says as they herd the boy away from vandals.

Soon, they come to a garage that is completely arranged and built with blacklights, grotesque decorations, loud noises, and other such displays. "W-Wait!" Arnaav shook, "A-Are we going in there??"

"Yeah! It's called a Haunted Walkway." Yuri tells him, "We go in there, look at the decorations, and we get candy after we leave."

"I-I, I still don't understand." Arnaav says as he turns to look up at them, "Why are all these humans trying to scare each other? It didn't make sense."

"Heh, I know it's weird, kiddo." Adam says as he squats down, "This time of year, humans like to get scared for fun. For the most part, no one gets hurt, and we laugh about it."

"B-But what if I DO get hurt in there??"

"We're all going in, Arnaav." Merrick assures him, "Nothing in there is going to get you."

"O-Ok..." Arnaav clings onto Yuri's staff as they walk in. The loud sound effects surround them, as does the odd-smelling smoke drifting around them as everything is bathed in an eerie purple light.

"BWUAH!" Yells a fake, spring-loaded mummy.

"EEEAAH!" Arnaav screams as he holds harder onto Yuri. This place is like fabricated nightmare. These things don't even look like they belong in this world! There are half decayed creatures all over, horrendous clown faces and grizzly wolves snarling all over.

Arnaav whines as they finally made it out, with an elderly woman giving him a couple of Butterfingers before they move on, with the poor kid shaking from head to toe. "Happy Halloween, everyone." She says.

"Hhhuuuhhhuuuhhhh..." Arnaav chatters and shivers.

"Huh." The boy looks at a huge, glowing pumpkin inflated with an air pump on a lawn, and only a few illuminating skulls strung up on the gutters of another house. "Sort of unimpressive compared to some of the other places.

"Yeah, some guys get too lazy to do that shit." Jamal's muffled voice responds.

"Jamal!" Yuri hits his masked head with the gold flower top of her staff.

"Ow!"

"Language!"

Arnaav travels up the porch steps, and knocks on the door. In seconds, a stout man with a bald cap with a swirling line across the forehead, wearing a yellow shirt with a black jagged line across the middle, and sporting black shorts comes smiling to the kid.

"Trick-or-Treat!"

"Haha, wow, I never seen a Moogle outfit before, nice!" The man then tosses a jagged object into the pumpkin bucket. Estranged, Arnaav takes himself back to the four people.

"What'd you get this time?" Merrick asked with a smile.

Arnaav riffles his doll-like arm into the plastic pumpkin, and picked up the misshapen, solid object. "... I got a rock."

"Oh- PFFFNNHH!" Jamal snickers.

"My God..." Adam sighs as he rubs the bridge of his glasses.

"What? What?" Arnaav asked as even Yuri tries not to laugh, "What does it mean?"

"I don't know, Arnaav, rocks just seem to be weird topic in Halloween." Merrick says, almost as confused as Arnaav.

~~~

"Urrggg... Ennhh..." Arnaav grunts as he carries his heavy bucket, a mound of candy coming from the opening as the five of them arrive at the docks for their festivities.

"Here, I'll hold that for you." Adam says as he takes the loaded pumpkin from the boy.

"Thank you." The Moogle says. He giggles as he looks at the exciting activities and parties going about the pier, adorned with all kinds of spooky merchandise. Arnaav rushes over to the Pelican candy story, seeing that heavy-set woman in a witche's hat and a black dress, stirring a bubbling cauldron full of caramel, "What's it here?" The cute boy asked.

"Happy Halloween, sweetie!" Bertha says, "Who's that under there?" She asks the rounded helmet-like hood. Arnaav fumbles with it before making it move backward, "Oh, I remember you! Merrick's boy, right?"

"Brother." Merrick says as he walks with him.

"What's this?" Arnaav inquired at the gold-coated, almost pawing at them.

"And keep in mind," Merrick says with a smile, "This is Arnaav's very first Halloween."

"Oh really??? Oohoho, these are a classic Halloween treat: caramel apples." She says as she shows the boy a bright red apple impaled with a stick. Arnaav watches while she dips it into the bubbling potion of thick sweetness, and brings it back up. She puts it in line with the others. She takes up a semi-fresh one, and moves it towards the boy, "Here you go, darling~"

"Ooooh, thank you..." Arnaav takes it with caution and sniffs at it, before nibbling and taking a bite of it, "Omnom, mmnnum,"

"Gosh darn it, he is the cutest little thing!" Bertha laughs as Arnaav devours at the treat, "He's got quite an appetite on him."

"Yeah, he's really into crunchy stuff." Adam says leaning on the table, "I'm guessing he's going to be a chef when he grows up."

Within not much time at all, Arnaav picks and nibbles at the core, licking his lips almost ferally as he looks around, "Ooh! What's over there?!" He then dashes away.

"A-Arnaav! Wait!" Yuri says as she starts to run with him.

Arnaav goes over to one of the shops with another decorated display set-up -- a large metal basin with white wisps and fibers blowing around it, with "Ah good evening, little boy." Says a person in a fortune-teller costume.

"What's this, what's this?" He asks as he observes the table next to the machine, holding paper cones attached round, fluffy objects -- some of them yellow with bat candies on them, another orange with a green rice crispy treat on the top, white ones with three round black things on to resemble some sort of face.

"Tis my Ghost Posts." She says with a smile, taking a paper cone, and draws it into the blowing bowl. Arnaav beams with wonder as she draws the cone in circles around the middle, seeing the tangible wind gather and grow around it, a white cotton-like substance gathering around.

"Oooooh!" Arnaav watches eagerly as he soon sees it as the woman produce a white ball of cotton candy before heating and attaching 3 black wafers onto it to resemble a ghost.

"Happy All Hallows Eve, little man." She said with a smile as she gives him the cotton candy.

"Amazing!" Arnaav says with an energetic smile. He giggles as he attempts to nom on the cotton candy, growling a little as the sweet fibers just seem to vanish into sugary traces as soon as he eats them, before absent-mindedly walking away.

"Arnaav, you better take it easy with all this sugary stuff." Yuri warns as they just get a few black cat cookies from another stand.

"Huh?"

"Eating too much sugar will make you sick."

"Not exactly." Merrick says as they walk, "Our bodies aren't the same when it comes to digestion, Yuri. We absorb any kind of food, and it's rearranged to keep us alive. It's a lot more productive and less finicky than human bodies in that aspect."

"Oh, really?"

Moments later, they go to Arnaav's favorite place -- the Fish House. "Wooooooowwww." Arnaav beams with awe as they walk through the very decorated fishery, with all sorts of stands giving away candy and offering games -- Arnaav already has a cauldron bucket to hold more candy he's getting from the local Trick-Or-Treat on the docks.

"Captain really goes all out on this." Yuri says as they go.

"Eh, he has a couple of contacts that send in professionals to make the Fish House a bit of a fun house."

"Oooh! What's this??" Arnaav looks to a large barrel filled with water and apples floating up.

"It's called Bobbing For Apples." Adam answers, you stick your head in there, and grab an apple with your teeth."

"Oh... Like this?" Arnaav says as he puts his plush hands on the rim, and prepares to dive.

"No no! Nononono, not here." Merrick stops him, backing him away, "You don't have a water-guard, you'll, you know..."

"Oh, ok."

"Here, I'll show ya." Merrick says as he gets on his knees and let his cowboy hat slip to his back, "This is the way to do it-"

"Yeah, Merrick. You should be good at this, you have the perfect MOUTH for it." Jamal comments through his mask. Merrick gives him a sour look before diving down. Arnaav giggles as Merrick's head bobs and moves around, trying to catch a fruit in his mouth, before his dripping soaked face resurfaces with a green apple.

Coming to what seems like a potions stand, they see Harold and Belinda working and making different kinds of drinks in round plastic bottles. Belinda pours a cold orange/lemon smoothie into a chilled bottle, wearing royal Egyptian clothing as Cleopatra.

"Oh hey, guys!" Harold greeted, dressed as Ezio from Assassin's Creed in white and blue clothing. Their baby son, Theodore, on the other hand, is dressed as a simple pumpkin.

"Hahaha, Captain's got you doing drinks?" Adam chuckled as he notes several of cauldrons overflowing with calm white dry ice mist.

"Yeah, kind of a penalty for accidentally breaking a Jack Daniels he was saving last week."

"I think it is fascinating!" Belinda says as she goes to decide what beverage to brew, "Something about creating a different sort of drink with different things and foods makes it feel so creative!"

"Bubble bubble, toil and trouble, eh?"

"Egh, you got any booze here?" Jamal asked while leaning on the counter.

"Uh... There are kids here, Jamal." Harold answered.

"... So you have any or not?"

"What's this now??" Arnaav asked while pawing at one of the darker drinks.

"Root Beer, kiddo." He says while picking it up and handing it to him, "Homemade in advance."

"Urgh, is there a place we can sit at least?" Jamal whines, "I need to rearrange a few things."

"Oh my God." Yuri says as she covers her forehead.

"Captains got the carts set up over there." He pointed out. The group turns, and goes to the carts where several of the fishboys are taking kids and adults for little rides from the garage, "What's this about?" Jamal asked.

"It's something recent the Captain decided to do." Adam explains, "Since he practically owns the pier, he's trying this thing where the carts are being used to do little tours or rides around the docks and the beach, kind of hiring or enlisting some people to do a haunted ride, so to speak. For the most part, it's just something to give Trick-Or-Treaters and their parents about half an hour off their feet, unless they want to get off somewhere."

"That can't be cheap." Yuri says snidely with her arms crossed.

"It is not." Adam nodded, "As it stands, if he wants to do this again next year, he's probably going to have to charge admission."

"Can we go on it? Please please please?" Arnaav asks as he looks up at them eagerly.

"Hahaha, don't see why not." Adam says as he takes them around.

"Yay!" Arnaav cheers as he pulls the fabric hood/mask over his head and zips it around the neck.

"My feet are gonna fuckin fall off anyway." Jamal groans as they go, "I'm starting to chaff, too."

"Jamal!" Yuri whacks him again with her staff, "And I told you that Deadpool outfit wasn't a good idea." She nags as Adam gets behind the wheel of one of the decorated carts, Merrick sits next to him, and Arnaav perches himself between Yuri and Jamal, kicking his little legs as the cart drives off to the spooky lane.

~~~

Arnaav sleeps in the back seat of the car with all sorts of goods, including 3 different buckets overflowing with candy, a handful of other neat and creative treats and keepsakes from the docks. His energy has finally got the best of him, and he is rendered completely exhausted.

Yuri huffs as she ducks down, and picks up the boy, while Merrick and Adam unload the loot. "So you and Merrick going to the block party on Wahine Square?"

"Yeah, we'll probably be home at around 1 or 2. Don't wait up for us."

"Ok..." Yuri glances at Merrick, looking a bit... Off, really, "And did Jamal mention where he was going?"

"He's going to catch up with Nick and his family, said he wanted to watch a couple of scary movies when the kids are all done." Adam chuckles, "Though if you ask me, I think it's just an excuse for-"

"Shh!" Yuri nods her head to a drowsy Arnaav in her arms.

"Uh... Extra tricks, yeah."

"Ok. Have fun, guys."

"Later."

~~~

Just the two of them, still in their costumes, Adam and Merrick spend a rather awkward and relatively quiet drive through the night, sighting the occasional cluster of children here and there, with only Adam's iPhone playing themed songs as they go.

Eventually, they reach a more active area, where they entered a fence covered in a tarp, and they had to show their I.D.s to a couple of security guards before driving in. Merrick chuckles as he sees the sexy LGBT partiers mingling about, before Adam goes to park the car.

"Merrick." Adam says, before Merrick undoes his seatbelt.

"Yeah?"

"... Look, Merrick. Are we ok?" He asks. Merrick gives a slight frown as he pauses, "I mean... It's just... We've hardly spoken to each other in a while, and..." Adam huffs in quick hesitance, "Look, if you're still, you know, not happy with me about the tattoo, I told you I can have it removed-"

"Adam. Just, stop it, ok?" Merrick says, "Yes, I'm still not happy about it, but it's done. I'll get used to it, and I'm just thankful it's not EXACTLY like mine. Just stop asking me about it, alright?"

"Merrick..." Adam says, feeling a little hurt.

"I'm fine, Adam. Just drop it."

"Look... Isn't there ANYTHING I can do to make it up to you?"

"Just... Don't think about it, ok?" Merrick says, before leaning in, and giving an obligatory kiss on his cheek. He gets up out of the car, and then adjusts his costume.

He removes the denim pants and chaps, revealing a blue jean-like thong, and some skin-tight fabric chap shorts that exposes the naked part of his butt, while also removing the vest, and keeping on the handkerchief and the hat. He looks to his lover, and nods to him, "You coming?"

"Yeah, I just..." Adam's chest pounds before he looks up, "I just have to text Jamal real quick." He lied.

"Ok... I'll be at the fountain." Merrick then walks off, his boots clinking with their metal bits.

Adam gets out of the car, his face already feeling hot. He looks at Merrick's partially nude bottom as he goes... Putting his hands on the roof of the car, Adam gives a hard, long, rough groan/growl as he ducks his head, before he moves his head back, slapping the car, before giving a huff. "Fuck, ok, ok... Ok..." He blushes as he takes off his Harry Potter robe...