“Mom, it’s Halloween!” exclaimed Mara enthusiastically. She had popped out of my shadow from behind me, shocking me. Even more shocking was what she was wearing. She was dressed up as a bumblebee, the kind of costume a little kid would wear.
“It’s… it’s not Halloween.”
“It’s Halloween,” she replied, in an even more enthusiastic tone.
“It’s not Hallo-” she put her finger on my mouth.
“Shh… it’s Halloween.” She took her finger off my mouth and made a hand motion to say she wanted me to continue speaking.
“It’s… It’s Halloween,” I said in defeat. I guess I’ll play along with her games.
“And you know what Halloween means?” She asked me whilst holding a remote with a singular button.
“N-no?” I have no idea where she is going with this.
“It means costume competition!” She pressed the button, and suddenly the living room was transformed into a Halloween-themed runway stage. At the end of the set was a judge’s table with three seats, one occupied by Mori and another occupied by Chaos. “Take a seat, mom. We need a third judge.”
I sat down on my seat and saw on the table three empty wine bottles. I looked at Chaos and saw she was sipping out of a fourth. “Where do you even get the wine? And why not use a cup?”
“Cups are for losers, and I conjure the wine up myself with Divinity.”
“If you can conjure stuff out of Divinity, why not conjure up your own house?”
She looked at me with a blank face before taking another swig out of her wine bottle. I looked to my other side and saw Mori dressed up as an angel, with a set of tiny wings and a floating halo.
“I look cute, don’t I?”
“Y-yeah, you do.”
Before I could look at Mori some more, Mara had taken the stage with a microphone in hand. “Ladies and more ladies, welcome to the bi-monthly Rose Household Halloween Costume competition! I’m your host and the best girl to have ever bested in this house, Mara! I’m so much best girl, it’s why I’m not competing since I’d win. Not because I’m cute or cool, but because I’d rig the votes.” How honest.
“Let me introduce the judges for this competition!” Suddenly, a spotlight shone over the table. “First is Lady Luck, the Homeless Office Lady, yet another Greek wine addict, Chaos!”
Fake cheer sounds were going off, and Chaos was waving her hand at a non-existent audience. “Thank you, thank you! I’m excited to judge the costume’s of Evelyn’s avatars, but I will say in advance that those in a relationship automatically get one point.”
“Next up, we have the Grim Reaper, the Cooler Parent, the surprisingly human Cosmic Entity, Death herself, who also goes by Mori, but only if you’re her friend.” The fake cheer noises were even louder for Mori than Chaos.
“Thanks for having me on Mara. Just like how Chaos has clearly stated her bias, I will reveal mine too. May will automatically get a ten, regardless of the costume.” I have a feeling Mori dotes on May a bit too much.
“The last judge we have today is the Continental Saviour, the high schooler with too many kids, the person sick of my shit, mom!”
“You’re not going to use my name?!”
“Fine, fine. Evelyn.” For some reason, the cheer sound for me was only the sound of two people clapping: Mori besides me and May, who was peeking out from behind the curtain where I assumed the other avatars were. I guess this is the part where I thank the audience and introduce myself, like Chaos and Mori. “Tha-”
“Now that we’ve introduced the judges, let us go on with the show!” interrupted Mara. I glared at her, and she returned it with a smirk. “Our first contestant is the super maid of the Rose household who also happens to be the second biggest pervert in our house, Elizabeth!”
Elizabeth came out, dressed in an Easter Bunny costume. If it weren’t for Mara announcing it was Elizabeth, I wouldn’t have known. “By the way judges, Elizabeth told me to tell you that she’s bare naked underneath. She originally planned to wear a bear costume for a pun but decided the Easter Bunny would be more seasonal. Now let me hear your scores.”
I groaned at her pun, then to my side I saw Mori stand up. “The bunny costume is quite cute, but I will deduct points for being naked underneath. I give it -3/10.”
Mori sat down, and Chaos stood up. “Nice feet. I give it a Chocolate out of Egg.” What? What kind of score is that?
“Judge Evelyn, are you going to score?”
I sighed, wanting not to do this, but ultimately I stood up. “Fine… fine. I’ll gi-”
“There you have it folks, Elizabeth gets a stunning score of -3 and Chocolate!” She interrupted me again. I feel like she’s trying to piss me off. “Our next contestant is the oh so cute witch of the we- I’m bored now.”
Mara clapped twice, and the stage lights went off, replaced by the normal lights. “Okay girls, let’s pack things up. I think we should actually do this on Halloween.” The avatars started walking out from behind the curtain and started disassembling the stage, still in costume. Most of them had relieved faces, meanwhile May and Amaterasu (Who was in costume too for some reason) had disappointed faces.
“Can you judges clean up your table?” Asked Mara. I looked to my right and saw Chaos had somehow slipped by, leaving her wine bottles behind. I looked to my left and saw Mori had also promptly disappeared, having left a sticky note that only had a winky face on it. I started cleaning, a bit annoyed, when I saw Mara approach me just in the corner of my eye.
“By the way, mom. April Fools!” she said in an annoyingly happy tone. I didn’t have the energy to snap back, so I just threw an empty wine bottle at her and continued cleaning.
