xp_logs | The Halloween Parade

Angel's lost during the parade, until Julio finds her.

There was a slight feeling of panic when Angel realized she couldn't see the group easily any more. The crowd for the parade wasn't rowdy but there were a lot of people jostling to get to the front and small children to watch out for. The basket, though, helped to give her a little more space as she tried to edge forward, craning her neck and standing on tip toe to see if she could spot anyone.

A gloved hand landed on her shoulder. The girl whipped around to see Julio standing behind her and pushing up his mask. Sweaty hair clung to his forehead. "I never thought I would say this, but it is too hot," he panted.

"Oh my God, you scared the daylights out of me," she gasped, nonetheless edging closer when Darth Vader nearly trampled her. Angel grinned up at him, though. "I'm amazed you lasted this long in that thing."

"Who is to say I did not take it off before?" He pulled off the mask and fanned his face with it. He reached out and pulled Angel closer to protect her from being trampled by a guy in a giant wizard mask. He grinned. "This is almost like back home for day of the dead, you know?"

The part of her brain that was registering 'hot guy/closeness' was told to shut up very firmly by the 'Oh my God, trampled!' part. And thankfully it was too dark to see that she was slightly flushed. And if he noticed, then she'd just blame it on the fear of being smushed. "Day of the dead?" she asked, curious. "Now that sounds interesting."

"Yes, it is. It is actually tomorrow and Thursday," With his arm still around Angel, he steered her towards an open pocket of air. "Spirits of the dead come back and the family celebrates. There is parades and fireworks. It is a lot of fun. My father emailed me a picture of the altar for my mother at home." It was over-the-top, as always. Julio shook his head.

"That's actually really neat." Angel moved with him easily, shifting the basket to the other hand (thankfully Kyle had taken his pig back before they left, less chance of losing him in the crush of people), so she could hold onto his belt loop with the other. "It sounds like fun and has meaning behind it. Unlike Halloween, which is just really to see how much loot you can bring home and then eat your way into a sugar coma."

"There is that too." He towed Angel to a wall. "There, now I can breathe." he smiled. "That really was very funny what you did with the pig. Kyle will not say it, but he was going nuts looking for it." And he wasn't sleeping very well. Which Julio noticed because he himself never slept very well. He had given up hope on more than four hours of uninterrupted sleep.

"Woo, fresh air that doesn't smell like body odor or candy." She laughed. "The pig was all his fault," she said mock sternly. "He left it in my stuff when we were cleaning up from the camping trip. I just decided to take full advantage of the situation, you know?" Angel tried to give a look that would live up to her name but failed and then pouted. "I'm so not going to be able to pull off the innocent vibe from now on, am I?"

"You never were able to in the first place." Julio said primly. He waved the mask to see if he could dry the sweat out if it. "I always knew that you were evil."

"But at least I'm cute evil," Angel sniffed and then snatched the mask from his hands. "Let me see if I can do it with something like this…" Concentrating, she focused on pushing her powers towards the mask, gently so not to, you know, set it on fire. Julio was many things—someone who smelled nice for one—but immune to fire he was not. It took a little bit but then she handed it back to him, dry, looking pleased as punch.

Julio took back the now-dry and very warm mask. He blinked. "Now that is very useful. When it becomes too cold I will just stick you in my coat. Or carry you around like a portable heater. Especially when Kyle teaches me how to snowboard."

"Isn't it? I got the trick to work when I was helping Mr. Marko with the window washing." There was a determined effort to not think about Mr. Marko's question to her about Julio. Nope, < i>not thinking about it "I might be a bit too big to fit in a coat but piggy back we could do." At the mention of snow boarding, her eyes lit up. " Oohh, he's teaching you to snow board? Maybe I can get in on that action. That would be awesome."

"Now I can see you at the bottom of the hill, a giant snowball with a little snowboard sticking out of it," he teased and then ruffled Angel's hair. "Speaking of Kyle, perhaps we should go find him? I think I saw him with Jennie and Marius earlier."

Angel stuck her tongue out at him, ignoring her stomach butterflies, and poked him in the ribs. "Yeah, finding Kyle's a good thing. This crowd has got to be mucking around with his senses, even with the earplugs." She slipped her arm through Julio's so she wouldn't get separated. "Let's go feed him! I've got Kyle safe candy in the basket."

"Ow, that was an undeserved poke, you know." Julio said sourly and rubbed his side. He let Angel drag him through the crowd.

Laughing, she grinned at him over her shoulder. "Aww, you know you love me."