Fluff Halloween Special

Emily didn’t care much for Halloween. As a child it meant being forced to dress up as a princess or whatever else her mom thought was cute, then being pushed to go knock on the doors of strangers.

Sure, there was candy, but her parents could have bought her some candy to eat at home without pushing her anxiety to the limit.

So, basically, she didn’t care overly much for Halloween at the best of times.

Which is why she mostly ignored all of the tinsel and pretty decorations tossed around the campus.

Then she arrived in her room and had to stop to stare.

The first thing to jump to her attention was the massive machine in the centre of the room, taking up a lot of space. It was a large box, with some cloth around it, a sticker-covered sign on the top that read FREEUME MAHINE and about seventeen wires came out the back, all of them stuck into a few power bars, which were in turn plugged into other power bars which finally lead into a wall socket.

Then she noticed all of her sisters looking to her while Sam stood there, a shit-eating grin on.

“Okay,” Emily said. “Explain.”

“Hey Boss,” Teddy said. “We made a magic machine.”

“It’s not magic,” Maple muttered. “And we didn’t make it. I made it.”

Emily raised a hand. Her sisters were all over the room, with two of Trinity sitting on the bed, Athena on her desk (which had been pressed aside to make more room for the machine) and Teddy and Maple at the forefront, where they could present the machine. “What is that?” she asked.

“It’s a freeume machine,” Teddy said.

“It was going to be a costume machine, but Teddy said things that cost stuff is bad,” Maple explained. “Do you want to see how it works?”

“I want to know what it does when it works,” Emily said.

Sam cackled. “It makes costumes. For Halloween.”

“No,” Emily said.

“Yes!” Sam and Trinity cheered at the same time.

Then Emily felt someone patting her hand, Athena, who looked as if she was trying to commiserate with her. “Don’t worry, Big Sister,” the owl-girl said. “Sam agreed to bring us door to door. And I promise I’ll share some of my candy with you after.”

“What! Hey, I’m the communist here, I’m going to share the most!” Teddy said.

Emily looked to Sam, who shrugged. “I like the chaos, and besides, this is the one day they can run around and be little hellions without bothering too many people. Plus they’ll be cute!”

“I’m sure,” Emily said.

“Um,” Maple said. She shifted from side to side, clearly uncertain.

“You can explain your machine, sweetie,” Emily said.

Maple let out a sigh. “Okay. so. You step into here,” she gestured to the front. “And then someone pulls this lever here, and then it puts you into a costume. That's it. Very easy.”

“Here, I’ll show you!” Teddy said. She jumped into the machine, then tugged the curtains closed.

Maple smiled and yanked the lever down before Emily could protest.

The lights flickered, and for a moment she imagined that the breakers were about to pop, but they didn’t, and Teddy jumped out from behind the curtain, arms spread wide with a big “taa-daa!”

The girl was dressed... in a very old fashioned suit, and she had a poofy white wig on her head that had came down around her face and over her upper lip.

“What are you?” Trinity asked.

Teddy glared. “I’m Karl Marx, obviously. He was a big-time super way back when. You wouldn’t know anything about him, you capitalist waste of spa--”

“Okay,” Emily said, cutting off what she suspected was going to be a tirade. She turned towards Maple. “Is the fake Russian accent part of the machine?”

Maple shook her head. “No, that’s all Teddy.”

Teddy puffed her chest out.

“You know that Karl Marx was German, right?” Emily asked.

And that left Teddy utterly confused. “Huh?”

“Okay, who’s next?” Sam asked.

Instantly, all three of Trinity rushed forwards and jammed themselves into the machine. “Uh,” Emily asked.

Maple turned to her with a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. I expected her to do this,” she said before yanking the lever down.

The machine hissed and spat, then Trinity stumbled out of it, along with a wash of smoke. She was dressed in... three slightly different yet similar outfits. All hoodies which were a size too large, loose jeans, and with glasses on their faces and hair very obviously dyed blonde. “How do I look?” Trinity asked.

Sam laughed. “Emily! It’s you!”

“Um,” Emily said. “Very... nice?”

“Yeah!” Trinity cheered. “Sam said we should dress as someone we like!”

“Oh,” Emily replied. That was... genuinely heartwarming. “Thank you, Trinity.”

“Hugs!”

Hugs were, of course, had.

Then it was Athena’s turn, and Emily wasn’t even surprised when she stepped out of the machine in an oversized sweater and with her hair tied back in a lazy ponytail. Emily had gained yet another mini-her clone.

“Can I get hugs too?” Athena asked almost shyly.

“Of course,” Emily said. Though she did have to pry Trinity off of herself.

Maple stepped in after giving Sam some very serious instructions (which amounted to: wait until I’m in, then pull the lever). What stepped out was a maple in a pinstripe suit with a domino mask and fedora. “Um,” she said without meeting Emily’s eyes. Then she raised her arms up for a hug which Emily gladly gave.

“Alright, my turn!” Sam said as she squeezed herself in.

While she was doing that, Emily turned towards Teddy who had her arms crossed and who was pouting. It looked rather silly on someone wearing a Karl Marx costume with little bear ears sticking out the top.

“Did you want a hug too?” Emily asked.

“Yes,” Teddy said petulantly. “I didn’t know going as the Boss was an option,” she said.

Emily laughed. “That’s okay. You can have heroes that aren’t me, you know?”

“Yeah, okay,” Teddy said.

They hugged, then Sam stepped out of the machine and Emily paused to stare. “What?”

Sam was wearing what was clearly a very.... mature version of Glamazon’s outfit, with a lot less cloth used overall and a lot more flesh exposed. “What do you think? I was going to do sexy nurse, but like, come on, this is way better. And I love the irony!”

“Uh-huh,” Emily said. “Just... don’t give the girls ideas.”

“What sort of ideas?” Maple asked.

“Never you mind,” Emily said. “So... yeah, you guys be careful, and no fighting, and listen to Sam, and if Sam says something that sounds too suspicious, you call me, and... and you know what, I’m coming after all.”

There was much cheering to be had at that declaration.

Emily just wanted to bury herself in her covers and have a cry.

***