Trick - or - Treat [Robin Little and Emerson]

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

Emerson was busy swirling the color out of her brushes when Robin started to speak, and thus, she hadn’t caught the first part of getting Maddison for help. The brunette started grabbing everything she would need for makeup. To achieve the look of a fawn, she’d stick to earthy, cool colors and feathery strokes. “Oh, ‘course. Welcome,” she said to the male with a smile. Doing his makeup was nothing out of her way, and it was fun, so she obviously didn’t mind. And it meant that Maddison wasn’t going to have to be paying for someone else to do the job. A win-win-win situation. Soon after, she noticed Robin leave the kitchen. She dug around a bit before pulling out a small mirror that was propped up on the table. Her reflection was shown in it as her appearance was seen in the eyes others. A gift, a power, a convenience - whatever someone wanted to call it, Emerson had it, and she was thankful for it. She knew other vampires weren’t as fortunate, as she was herself until she pushed through to finally find herself as she truly was in what stared back at her in the mirror. A fluffy brush was swiped with cool brown toned powder and swept across her cheeks, the sides of her temples and her nose, and just beneath her brows.

The girl was not much of an eavesdropper, but she couldn’t help tuning into the conversation between Robin and Maddison when her name was mentioned. She didn’t catch much and figured that Robin was telling the blonde that Emerson would need her help, although she was in quite the opposite boat, busy with using a brown pencil to draw on a deer nose. She looked up just in time to see Maddison entering the kitchen and offered her friend a smile. “Silly goose, that boy of yours is,” she giggled, turning back to her mirror. The white cream paint she had used on Robin only moments before was applied in small ovals across her cheeks. “Can see me perfectly fine,” she explained. However, if Maddison were to step in the view of the mirror, she herself would’ve seen how the brunette’s reflection should have looked on the reflective surface - a rotting, disgusting corpse. “M’okay. No help. In fact-” After a few touch ups here and there, Emerson was satisfied with the completed makeup. “All set. Looks good?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

Rising from her seat, Emerson tidied up her space as best she could. With her costume completed, she was more than ready to go. Maddison’s excitement made her smile grow, and she followed the pair out the door. She ended up a few steps behind them, however, having to pause at the door to reach down into the bag she had brought. Her fingers found the handle of a slightly smaller white cloth bag, decorated with cute little spiders, witch hats, and ghosts. She’d bought it with the intention of using it to collect candy. With her height, costume, bag, and forever youthful personality, Emerson could easily be mistaken as just another child going out and about on her Halloween.

The air was cold, the brunette had to admit, but it didn’t bother her much. She was too excited and felt too cute to let it. There was no use in complaining because she was the one who had forgotten to bring a jacket, making it her own fault. “Me too.” Emerson agreed with Maddison with the nod of her head. “But it goes by too fast. Winter is coming,” she said, scuffing one of the fallen leaves. She just so happened to be one of the people that obsessed over Halloween for the entire month of October, and by the time November first came around, her mind was in total winter-holiday mode. Shrugging her shoulders, green eyes looked about. The streets weren’t packed, but you could tell what day of the year it was. "Here's good,” she agreed again, picking out a house with its outside light on and door open as candy was given out to the other trick-or-treaters. That would be the first one, she decided. Easily slipping past the couple, Emerson set out for it, a slight skip in her step. “C’mon, c'mon!” she giggled over her shoulder.

[Robin Little]

While the two girls talked, Robin distracted himself. While he made a habit of not looking at himself in the mirror, sometimes he couldn’t help himself. It was like a car crash; when you pass one by the last thing you want to do is see the guts and blood as they spill from the dead body that had been thrown through the windshield. But you look anyway, because you can’t help yourself. Robin was the same with his own reflection. When he passed a mirror, most of the time he walked fast, and he kept his eyes down, cast away. When he was at a loss, he found himself in front of his reflection, peering at it with disgusted curiosity. The make-up looked like it had been caked on top of rotted flesh and bones, the scars useless on top of flesh that was already scarred beyond recognition.

How long did he stand there staring at himself, before he felt himself being tugged out the front door? And no sooner were they out the front door than they were rushing toward the first street, the first house they saw that was handing out treats.

Was he really so frazzled and out of it? Did they really get so far so quick or was he just not paying attention? He glanced between Maddison and Emerson, staring at them, wondering if there was anything he had missed; had he zoned out of any conversation? But neither of them were looking at him expectantly. He caught something about the weather; about this time of year. He nodded.

”I never really liked Winter, no. But I could get used to it, now,” he said with a grin. He never much liked it when human – he’d never felt warm enough. Now that he was a vampire, though, outside temperature didn’t matter.

Emerson rushed ahead and Robin walked alongside Maddison. Maybe they could play Peter Pan, pretend to be Emerson’s parents – but he doubted anyone would be buying that. His vision started to blur and he blinked. Something was funky with the make-up. No, there was nothing wrong with the make-up that Emerson had brought – but he couldn’t help himself. He began to itch, to scratch at the make-up around his eyes. They felt dry, like there was sand in them. Every time he blinked the sand scraped along his eyeball.

But then, he wasn’t a girl, nor was he accustomed to make-up. Maybe this was normal. It had to be normal. So he ignored it, smiling at Maddison as they approached the door – wondering whether said door was going to be slammed in their adult faces. Not realising how his eyes had started to swell like irritable blowfish.

[Maddison (DELETED 8452)]

Maddison laughed at Emerson's excitement. She wondered if they could pass as Emerson's parents. It wasn't anything against Em. She just sometimes acted that way. Maddison adored it. She wouldn't be able to have any children of her own, so why not pretend?

Maddison stepped up to the house and grinned. "All right, let's get us some Candy." She wasn't exactly paying attention to what Robin was doing, so she didn't notice how his eyes were blowing up. She held out her bag and said the normal little jingle that most people said. "Trick or Treat, Smell my feet give me something good to eat!" Maddison laughed and then some chocolate was dispersed into their bags.

Only when she turned to walk off the porch, she noticed Robin's face. It always seemed like something bad happened to Robin. The blood on her couch, the fire that started the first time they were intimate. There was like a bad luck cloud following over the man.

"What the ****!?" She exclaimed and then put her hands over her mouth. There were little kids around and she had just let out some foul language. The blonde pulled Robin aside from the kids and held his face. "What did you do now to your eyes!?" She called over Emerson and gestured. "What do you think is wrong?"

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

Emerson was well aware that from time to time, if not all the time, she acted much younger than what she really was. She’d be turning nineteen in the next couple of months, making her not that far off from actually being a child, but her behavior and personality greatly differed from that of those her age. While many nineteen-year-olds were off in college, either studying hard or attending a late night party, Emerson preferred to be at a park, threading flowers together into a crown and running through the trees, her laughter carried in the wind. A lot of people couldn’t understand that and brushed it off as her having something or another wrong, but wasn’t it oh so very right? To want to be happy and young and free, without a care in the world?

The brunette arrived at the house first, just behind a few younger children that scurried away from her with excited chatter. Her bag was held out expectantly to a tired-looking middle-aged woman, who managed to smile at the sight of her. “Trick or treat!” Emerson said. There was a pause, as if the woman was going to refuse, but then she reached into a large bowl and dropped the handful of chocolates and caramels into Emerson’s bag.

“Cute costume,” the woman said, retracting her hand. “Don’t see many of those anymore.”

“Oh, thank you. Happy Halloween!” Just as she was about to turn away and look for her pair of friends, Maddison’s familiar voice could be heard. Stepping out of the way, the girl watched as the blonde was also given some candies after saying a silly little jingle. She followed behind to get off the porch and start for the next house, but all of a sudden, she heard Maddison swear. The few parents that were out that night looked over with not so happy looks on their faces and hurried their children away. Frowning, Emerson complied to Maddison, who was waving her over, and tried to figure out the problem.

It didn’t take much to figure it out. By peering at Robin’s face for no more than a few seconds, Emerson could see right away that his eyes were swollen, and they were swollen badly. His makeup had been smudged, but that didn’t matter. This was her fault. It had to have been. His eyes were perfectly fine before she had done anything to them. She’d used clean brushes and new makeup that was safe for around the eyes. Where could she have gone wrong?

“I dunno,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “I thought… This didn’t happen to me. When I tried it.” Then again, everyone’s skin type was different. Everyone’s skin could react differently. “I dunno, I dunno,” she repeated, voice quieter. “I left makeup wipes back at the house.” That was the only thing Emerson could think of doing. Get all the makeup off, wash his eyes out with cool water, and wait and hope that everything worked itself out. And not go trick or treating. She didn’t deserve that if she were to ruin it. “M’sorry.”

[Robin Little]

Robin didn’t even have the chance to hold out the bucket that had somehow ended up in his hands. How had that got there? Had one of the girls handed it to him? Had he picked it up on his own? He couldn’t remember. Or, he probably would have remembered if he could think straight, but his eyes had started to water and sting.

He was going to just suck it up and keep going, and say nothing about it. But as soon as Maddison’s tone changed from sweet and excited to sharp and concerned – or was she angry with him? – he realised it must look as bad as it felt. Emerson suggested that they go back to the house, in a roundabout way, and apologised like it was all her fault. Robin shook his head and waved his hands in front of him, rubbing at his eyes before dabbing them on his sleeve.

”I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Promise! We can keep going,” he said. He reached out to squeeze Emerson’s shoulder reassuringly but ended up groping at thin air. If they continued, he’d have to be led like a blind man. But that could be fun! It would be amusing. He could be their entertainment.

”Honestly Em, it’s not you or your make-up. This kind of **** happens all the time,” he said, waving it away. Could vampires even BE allergic to anything? Clearly, even if it didn’t apply to everyone, it applied to Robin. Robin could. Eventually he’d look into it, when he was not so lazy and laid-back. He was always at the library, maybe he could do some research – though he wasn’t sure where he’d find any journal articles on the peculiarities of a vampires luck, or lack thereof.

”We can keep going! I’ll just… hold Maddi’s shoulder and you can tell me when there are steps. We’ll get pity candy…?” he suggested. He really didn’t want to ruin their night. Maddison had been so excited about it for so long, and he would not be the cause of ending it early.

[Maddison (DELETED 8452)]

"Oh, Em it's not your fault! Like Robin said, this kind of **** happens all the time!" The fire, the blood on the couch. Robin was a walking disaster it seemed or someone was messing with him. It didn't matter what they were doing, something bad always happened. This time though, it seemed kind of really bad.

She grabbed at Robin's hands and inspected his face. Could vampires really have an allergic reaction?

"I'm not sure what we should do? I don't want you to not be able to trick or treat, but could this be serious? How does one even fix this?" She wasn't exactly sure. Maddison didn't have experience in allergic reactions.

The blonde stepped back and inspected him. "I mean, I guess we can keep going on for a few houses and see if it stops? But if you lose your eyesight, I'm going to murder you. Like, legit." Maddison took Robin's hand and gave it a squeeze before she was tugging him and then Emerson along.

Robin was really getting into character it seemed.

They made it to the next house and up onto the porch. She knocked on the door and some college boy opened the door. She started to say "Trick or -" But was cut off when the kid made some vulgar remarks towards her. Maddison's smile faded and a look of anger took over her features.

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

“I know,” Emerson sighed. It wasn’t her fault, really, but it felt like it was. “I just feel bad about the whole thing. Like, it didn’t happen until after I put all the makeup on, y’know?” Avoiding her headband, she threaded her fingers through her hair. A habit - and a nervous one, at that. “I dunno what to do,” she repeated, “but if you think you’ll be okay, we can keep going.” She nodded her head at Maddison’s suggestion. Although she was concerned for Robin’s well-being, which was expressed through a quick once over of his swollen face, the excitement that bubbled in her entire being about going from house to house in the tradition of collecting candy was only temporarily extinguished by the minor setback. (And besides - she didn’t know how to exactly handle allergic reactions. The only thing she knew she was allergic to, as a human, at least, were felines, and that was cured quickly with some medication. That’s all that she remembered). Before she knew it, the girl was being dragged alongside Robin by Maddison to the next house.

Smile on her face, Emerson followed up onto the porch beside the tall blonde. She held out her bag expectantly as the door was opened, lips parting to properly ask for her treats, but was cut off before she could even begin. If Maddison was angry, Emerson was furious. Her brows scrunched, and her smile contorted into a tight line. The young girl didn’t hate much in the world, but if she could pick something, people with zero respect for others would be at the top of her list, especially if people were disrespecting those that she cared about. Emerson would take the disgusting comments if that’s where they were thrown, probably able to get over them after allowing herself to be upset for a bit, but since Maddison had to deal with them, the whole thing was unacceptable. Fingers curled tightly around the handle of her candy-collecting bag.

]“Hey,” she interjected, stepping around her friend as if to block her from any further blows. The male was much bigger than her, but she could care less. “Watch your mouth, yeah?”

Wherever that came from was beyond Emerson. She stood her ground as the boy, not much older than her, ducked down to be more in height with her, clearly to mock her, and laughed in her face. “Gonna go cry to your mommy about it?” he jeered, putting the bucket of candy back on the small table in the safety of his home. Once again, Emerson could care less. She didn’t want candy from him. From anyone like him.

[Robin Little]

The girls decided, together or separately, that the bad reaction Robin had to the make-up wasn’t so bad and that they could keep going. Robin had insisted that they do so, and it didn’t concern him – except for the fact that, after the first few steps he knew he definitely needed to be led, and told when there were steps. He was blind, completely, utterly. When he tried to keep his eyes open, tried to force them to let a little light in, pain throbbed from the inflamed areas. He doubted traditional anti-allergy medications would work if this wasn’t a regular reaction.

If normal medications didn’t work, he’d know it wasn’t a regular reaction, and he’d know there was something wrong with him. Something beyond vampiric curses. Just like he’d mentioned to Maddison only the week before – he felt like something was following him around to make this **** happen.

Experiments could wait.

The next doorstep they reached was attained without much difficulty. The girls went to sing their usual chime only to be cut off. The music pounding from inside the house was that of a younger set, punk or rock or metal. The voice that accompanied the music was young, too. Robin could only assume he was a college student, and by the guffaws coming from within, he wasn’t alone. He was probably drunk. He hoped that parents kept an eye on their kids, if these were the kinds of people who opened their doors.

Robin was no fighter, but he did step forward. He probably looked like the victim of a rare and contagious disease. He began to cough. It wasn’t in earnest, but he got into the act. He started to cough harder.

“What the **** is wrong with you, man?” the guy asked, and Robin shook his head. He bit the inside of his lip, the edge of his tongue. Blood filled his mouth and, when next he coughed, he made sure it got some air. It spluttered all over the guy on the doorstep.

Robin’s plan was to make the immature fucktard think he’d been hit with a contagious and mutant form of pox, or something else out of this world. He’d wanted to scare him off. What Robin did not anticipate, of course, was the masculine and self-defensive reaction. The human swung at Robin, a swift uppercut that caught Robin under the chin. His jaw slammed shut, tongue shredded more than it already was. The guy must have played football or hockey, or something similarly physically demanding. Robin, a vampire, was sent backward, neck snapped back as his body headed for the wood of the porch. His head cracked against the wood and his palms received multiple splinters.

He felt like wily coyote, and he’d just been knocked on the head by an anvil set up by the roadrunner. He imagined stars dancing around his temples.

”Well, that did not go as planned,” he mumbled then groaned, rolling sideways to spit more blood from his mouth.

[Maddison (DELETED 8452)]

Maddison looked up when Emerson stepped around her and blocked her view from the guy. Of course this was going to happen. Maddison was an attractive woman, and she had decided to barely wear anything that night. She should have known better. Maddison didn't want to tempt what had happened that night her and Robin went out dancing. She couldn't have another dead body on her list.

Before she even knew what was happening, Robin was hobbling forward and blood was projected. So, so gross. Maddison made a face and stepped out of the way, she didn't need that on her. Next thing she knew, Robin was punched and then laid out on the front porch. She stared at the scene. Something like this always happened where Robin and her were concerned and now poor Emerson had to be privy to it.

"That's enough." She let out in a demanding voice. The blonde pushed the jock back into his house and shut the door. She then turned on Robin. "What the ****!?" It was let out and multiple glares were sent her way as she cussed in front of children. "Okay, that's enough now. We're going home. And you do not spit blood on people! That's gross!"

This time Maddison leaned over and grabbed Robin's arm. She wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with them, but they were going to go home to figure it out and unfortunately Emerson would have to be part of it. "I'm sorry Em, we got to get him home and find out what's wrong. I don't want him to go blind or something. Can you help me direct him home?"

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

If Emerson got any blood on her, it was in the smallest of amounts, barely-noticeable flecks littering the exposed skin of her arms and narrowly missing the white fabric of her dress for the night. That didn’t, however, make it any less disgusting, and she took a step away from the situation, just barely avoiding knocking into Maddison in the process. The girl was in a state of what she could only pinpoint as shock as the scene unfolded before her eyes. She couldn’t quite process what was happening until Robin was being sent to the ground. Emerson’s anger slipped away, along with the short-lived confidence the accompanied it. She heard Maddison yelling, and was more concerned with how angry the blonde’s tone was than her words or who they were directed at. There was no real reason for Emerson to want to curl up into herself, but she did just that, taking another step further away from the situation.

Home. Emerson bit the inside of her cheek lightly to keep from pouting and nodded her head. Going home meant not going trick-or-treating. Emerson had really ruined everything after all, hadn’t she? If she hadn’t done Robin’s makeup, he wouldn’t have had the bad reaction. If she hadn’t tried to stick up for Maddison and instead pulled the blonde and the boyfriend to a different house, Robin wouldn’t currently be lying on the ground, coughing up blood. And Maddison wouldn’t be angry.

Angry. Blood. Emerson wasn’t sure why the whole thing was bothering her so much. She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t bring herself to go over and help Maddison direct Robin home as she had been told and wanted to do. All she could do was continue to tightly clutch her bag and look from the closed door to Maddison to Robin and then back again. It took a few moments and a few shallow breaths before the brunette was able to collect herself enough to move closer and help. “Okay,” she mumbled, practically forcing her fingers to release from their small fists. The bag fell to rest in the crook of her elbow as she reached for the male’s free arm. “Okay,” she repeated, quieter, half in attempt to tell herself that everything really was okay, and half in attempt to agree with what she had to do.