The sun was setting and in the distance all along the streets lights were turning on one by one. Brady looked over and smiled before putting his hand over on Angela’s shoulder. Seeing the flowing cloth of an almost too thin sheet covering him except for his head he smirked seeing it blow in the small breeze. "Ready to go Angie? The party starts soon and it's on the other end of town, don't want to be late." Groaning mildly she shrugged off his hand and pulled up a smock, stained most recently with green paint up to cover her chest. "If you want to leave soon then mind helping me tie this thing?" Looking up at her back and fumbling through the sheet he managed to tie a halfway decent knot that didn't look like would come off at the first breeze. “Is that it? You know I don’t like to be late to these things.” Tilting her head back Angela looked up at the ceiling of the room before lightly sighing and moving towards the door, “Yeah alright let's go already, sheesh!”
Pushing the door open Angela felt the cool air hit her as she took a few short steps out of the house before turning around. “And now it’s my turn to say hurry, I can see that Judy and CJ are already there, and you know how much they can hog the punch.” Taking a few big steps Brady walked out of the house, firmly closing the door behind him as he walked past her towards the houses on the outskirts of town barely shorter than his waist. “Then let's take a shortcut eh? It’s not like main street isn’t strong enough for the two of us, not like we’re CJ. C’mon, what’s the worry?” Not waiting to see if she was following him he started to move off, making sure to keep his feet totally in the center of the street and focusing on avoiding the streetlights and overhanging trees that seemed to fall over each other to trip him up.
Waiting a long second thinking it over herself Angela started to follow him, at least happy that the street lights were turned on bright to warn where they were. Taking care even more than Brady to keep her steps in the center of the road she smiled at the fact that if nothing else being a bit taller she had an easier time stepping over the many tripping hazards along the way. Looking down with her arms outstretched to either side of her for balance she chuckled and called up to Brady a short distance away. “So can you see the party yet? Did CJ drink all the punch or just most of it?” Looking up for a moment he chuckled as his neck went up and up to try and see the party. “Well I definitely see CJ if nothing else, but no word on if he’s bogarting the drinks.” Getting into a good pace of things the two of them moved faster and faster through the more narrow side streets until they reached the more lit, and much more wide, main street. “Well Angie that was fun but after a few drinks let's take the long route okay? I’d hate for one of us to trip up again.” A grin filled Angela’s face as she spoke back “You mean if *you* trip up again you mean, but I agree so lets finally reach the party huh.” Shrugging ever so slightly Brady coughed and started to walk more quickly. “Yea uh, let’s.”
A few short minutes later they both started to slow down as more and more people were walking in the same direction of the party. Squinting and seeing the way some of the people were walking Brady preempted anything with a good natured “How’s the party so far? Weather looks fine at least.” A few cheers came up as a response as he weaved his way forward, trying to clear a path for Angela as well. Looking up for a moment he waved as he saw a mountain of a man looking down at him before speaking up. “We were about to think that you two decided to stay home, good to see you though.” Used to straining their ears to hear the people below them Angela and Brady had to focus their hands away from covering their ears. Looking down through the corner of her eye Angela saw a wave of folks cringing from the volume the words though, and felt pity even as she smiled at the path that was forming, at least away from CJ.
Making it to the center of a wide park the couple started to shake their limbs happy to be able to stretch without worrying about any fines or fees. Seeing well lit area crowded with people Brady gave Angela a peck on the cheek and started to walk over calling over his shoulder “I’ll get some refreshments, or what's left at any rate.” Smirking at him Angela turned over to look up at CJ and spoke up “So you get here a while ago then? We didn’t miss the costume contest yet did we?” A quick peek down showed her that everyone in this section of the park had already covered their ears, expecting some earth shattering response. “No, we got here just a short while before you and it looks like they’re about to start the contest now. Would you get Judy? She’s socialising on the other side of the lake and I know she’s hate to miss it, I’d do it myself but you know how people can get with me moving all over the place.” Smiling widely Angela looked at the colossal man’s distant face and gave a thumbs up “Sure thing!”
Meeting up with Brady and sipping what they both regretted were non alcoholic drinks in oversized drums they worked their way through smaller groups of people congregating over this attraction or that costume as they quickly saw Judy in the near distance. A full head taller then Angela, even sitting on her knees as she was, Judy didn’t notice either of them until they were practically on top of her. After a dull cough she turned around and beamed at them, “There you two were, I was hoping that was you CJ was talking to earlier. Here to take little old me to the costume party? I love him to death but he really doesn’t get how loud he can be can he can be sometimes.” Both shrugging their shoulders in agreement they took checked steps back as Judy rose to her full height and pulled a witches hat out from behind her to raise it to her crown. “So I’m a witch as you can oh so clearly see, what are you two lovelies this evening?” Raising his hands a short ways from him to accent the sheet covering him Brady answered first “Iiiiiiiiiiiiiim a spooooooky ghooooooost!” before breaking into a fit of giggles and messing with where the hole for his head was cut. Suppressing a smile angela reached into the heavy smock covering her front to pull out a wide brush. “And I’m a house painter. Not as exciting but I already had most of the costume laying around.” Giving them both a warm smile Judy gestured towards the stage on the other side of the park, in front of where CJ was sitting even if there was some considerable distance between them. The three of them started to move through the maze of people getting ready to also head over to the stage, making better time than any of them would have expected.
Making it to the edge of the ever growing crowd the three of them waited for the contest to start, occasionally making a whispered remark down to the far off ground and some comment said by their feet. After a few minutes a short cheer came from the crowd as the mayor of the small town came up dressed in what was either a frankenstein’s monster or a very poorly dressed accountant. “Hello Everyone! It’s That Time of the Year Again and I’m Ecstatic to Share This Fun with All of You!” A smaller cheer went through the crowd as a few hecklers started to comment. Taking the hint the mayor started to speak more quickly “Well how about we get the main even started now so all of you with children can go get them to bed at a reasonable time? Well you all know the ball game, so how about everyone wanting to compete for this years prize, a wonderful treat from Mrs. Dekhar by the way, and then we’ll get down to judging!” Taking a short hop off the stage he made to sit down before jumping up quickly and turning towards the crowd. “ Ah, that is unless those of us who uh, who can’t necessarily climb the stairs to the stage or get on it would like to go first? I’d hate for anyone to think that we were not accommodating.” Looking across the crowd the only ones to especially react were the trio standing in the back, with Brady waving half awkwardly moving his eyebrows up and down. Grabbing a mic from the table the mayor spoke up as several lighting crew took the early hint and started to oriet some of the lights towards the back of the crowd as the mayor spoke up.
“Of course! I would hate if you thought that we forgot about any of you! So how about we start with you as everyone else filters to the stage eh?” Not leaving any room for a response the mayor continued, “ Well first of all is of course Judy Fitzgerald as a witch! A great costume as always Judy. Then we’ve got, oh we’ve got a duo costume from Angela and Brady Hoff, with Angela as the Statue of Liberty and Brady as Mount Rushmore! Great idea you two I love the ingenuity. Moving on….” The mayor turned around and started to announce the variety of people crossing the stage faster than any were really ready for, as Angela and Brady stood dumbfounded for a few moments. “Wha… but…. Huh?” Brady’s face contorted in confusion as he felt Angela’s hand on his shoulder. “Any other day of the year I’d say lets confront that pipsqueak, but at this point I half think we might have a better chance of winning then with what we decided to go as originally.” Shaking his head quickly Brady turned towards her and spoke up “But the idea of it! Just because we're big doesn’t mean that each and every costume we’d do has to be related! If I went as an alien or some such thing I’d not want him to say I’m some movie monster!” Whispering back Angela tried to keep her voice low, “But an alien is almost always a movie monster, so eh. I know that’s not what you want to hear right now, but honestly if you wanted to be seen as something else maybe you shouldn’t have chosen a costume at the last minute, especially when you know I wanted to win this year.” Tensing his shoulders Brady let his arms fall to his side and slowly answered back “Fair enough point, but it’s still not right.” When he heard the mayor speak loudly through the speakers around the crowd, trying to drown out a conversation that Brady realised must have been heard by most of the audience more clearly than the mayors costume comments.
Standing up back on the stage the mayor gave a stink eye to Brady and spoke up wanting to be heard, “And so without further ado the winner is….. Judy! Another win for another great costume!” The entire crowd raised their hands to cover their ears as a roll of thunder tore through the town with CJ applauding. Looking at each other Angela and Brady rolled their eyes as Angela spoke up. “This contest is rigged anyway, let's go home.”