It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but holding on to Karyn probably kept him from falling once or twice at least. Parking for the McMillan costume party was at a field not too far from the gate, but walking over the uneven terrain in the dark in strange shoes was a little risky.
It was also distracting that every time he stumbled a little, his hair got in his eyes. He hadn’t been thinking about it at all this evening so far, but now it was like he suddenly remembered that it existed. Honestly, when he looked in the mirror, the effect wasn’t that bad. The long hair went with the dress more than his regular haircut would.
He was a bit torn about the hair. It certainly wasn’t easy to handle. The copy curse had given him something like two years of good hair growth, according to his mother’s estimate. She had been against having it cut, especially for just a Halloween party. It was interesting; she knew that Jon suddenly had long hair out of normal, but it was normal so nothing she needed to worry about or investigate. Reality didn’t change with the copying wish, it was just sort of normalized.
Anyway, his mother hadn’t been willing to cut his hair, and the barber shop he normally went to didn’t have an opening until Tuesday. Sure, he could have used magic to shorten his hair, but there were consequences to that. And shortening hair was a mundane thing that happened all the time. Why use magic for it? Well, other than the fact that it would be done by now.
And some part of Jon didn’t want to get rid of it quite yet. He did like the feel of the swish of a ponytail. And on their date Friday night, which mostly was a council of war about the party but over ice cream so it counted, Karyn had played with it a little, putting it into a braid that he’d slept in. It still felt like it had gotten everywhere throughout the night, but he believed her that it was more manageable like that.
Karyn enjoying his long hair was certainly a point towards keeping it.
Her own hair had stayed long in response to the bracelet’s change. It had been gathered into a loose ponytail, a few wisps looking artfully out of place.
Jon stumbled again. Karyn caught him again. “Do we want to do something about that, Jon?” she asked, concerned.
Jon shook his head. “It’s fine. Once we get to better lit areas, I’ll be okay.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
To say that the McMillans were wealthy was probably accurate, but really undersold the complexity of it all. Alexandar McMillan was one of the first people who had settled in the area, and echoes of his importance could be seen all over. He had a statue in the park, the movie theater was named after his first wife, and now, his family three or four generations later consistently threw one of the best parties around.
To be more specific, they threw three parties. The exact days of them depended on how the calendar shook out each year, but they generally went in the same order. First came the business party. McMillan Industries was a decent sized corporation and the family had diversified their businesses, so they had a lot of clout in various places. Getting invited to rub elbows at their parties, even the Halloween one, was seen as being a Big Deal with the managers of the various corporations. It was a more subdued party, more of a dry run for the more public affairs. Setting up all the decorations was the important part of the first day, although its business import couldn’t be denied.
The third and final day was the adult only party. There was a lot of drinking and it was a rather raucous time. The decorations tended to take a bit of a beating during this party and it was used by the McMillans to unwind after three days of hosting.
The second day, though, was family day with general activities, like hay rides, carnival games, face painting, and a lot of activities making a safe space for parents to bring their young kids. It was exciting, and there was candy and slightly spooky things. And it was open to the public, with no need to be invited.
Over the last two years, Sarah had also made it her party. She had carved out a place for those people who didn’t qualify to be at the alcohol heavy adult party, but were a bit too old for the kiddie activities. To get into the main building where she had set up the party part of the party, a bored bouncer in baggy pants checked a UV stamp on your hand. Which led the pair of them to a booth where a scrawny looking member of Sarah’s staff was checking the guest list. He was dressed in the same outfit as the bouncer, but didn’t fill it out nearly as well.
“Names?” he said, his eyes on the clipboard, and not on them at all. He raised a hand to tug his turban back into position, obviously regretting the headgear that didn’t support looking down as much as he’d like. His open vest exposed a pathetic chest that made Jon feel like his costume was somehow not too terrible.
“Jon Madison and Karyn Black” Jon said. He found their names and grunted, his eyes scanning a note obviously attached to their names. He looked up and eyed their costumes. There was a moment where it looked like he was going to judge their costume choices, then remembered what he was dressed like.
“You’re good to go,” he said, stamping their hands. “Check in with Darrin over there when you want to go in.” He gestured over to the buff guy in a turban that looked like it was staying on a lot better. They turned to go, but the check in attendant had one more thing. “And, hey, small note? If you want to sell the whole costume better, she needs to be the one who looks like she’s in charge. You just need to be more willing to let a woman take the lead. Here, I can help with that.” A glowing thread was tossed to Jon.
Jon stifled a groan and wasn’t going to say anything, but Karyn gave him a nudge with her elbow.
“Thanks for the advice,” he ground out, purposefully ignoring the fact that he could feel Karyn’s grin through her whole body.
“I really hate this.” Jon whispered to Karyn.
“I can imagine.” Karyn whispered back. “But it’s hard for me to be mad at the last one.”
“You say that, but I can feel that while he was talking about you, what he actually copied over will one hundred percent apply to Sarah.”
That wiped the smile off Karyn’s face. They walked in silence up the steps to the entryway.
Darrin was surprisingly charming for a guy who was six foot three and looked like he bench pressed family sedans. A discreet check of their hands and he opened the doors wide.
“Enter and be welcome” he said with an accent that could generously be described as some sort of foreign. “The sultana will be joining soon.”
The large ballroom was filled with faces that were recognizable if Jon focused. Costumes, face paint and masks made that a little hard. There were all sorts of food and drink stations set up, party food, not an extravagant meal. Music was playing and some people were dancing. A person completely obscured by their inflatable T-Rex costume was going absolutely wild. The costumes were top notch, for the most part. To his chagrin, Jon realized that his Pikachu costume would have stood out for being extremely low effort in this group. He wasn’t thankful for Zoe’s interference yet, but he was starting to warm to it.
With so much to look at, Jon’s attention was not on his feet. A small half-step up that would have been simple to traverse if he was in normal shoes caught the lower part of the platform sole and he suddenly pitched forward. He managed to catch himself, in part from Karyn’s support, but it was too late and too obvious. A small ripple of laughter radiated out from the entrance. A voice called out mockingly from the crowd.
“If you’re going to dress like a chick, you need to walk like one” Steve Farber called out, inciting more laughter. Jon winced, afraid of what sort of “walking like a chick” he would be copying from Steve of all people.
But that wasn’t exactly how the curse worked, as much as it was how we’ve seen it work before. From the crowd, Tiffany Sanders, one of Sarah’s BFFs, stepped forward. She was dressed a little like a harem girl, making Jon suspect that there was some sort of theming happening. She stepped quickly to Jon. It was a feminine step, and the tassels around her hips were bouncing in a way that must have been intentional.
“He’s right, Jon. Here, let me help you out.” She touched her hip and drew out a bit of energy that looked like it was swaying back and forth. She touched it to his hip. He felt a change immediately. It was hard to tell if it was actually physical, or if it was just a small mental adjustment to his posture, but he felt himself standing a little differently and when Karyn pointed towards a sign that said “Costume Contest”, his walk at her side had a lot more sway and bounce in it. Another thing to fix, he thought. Monday Jon has his work cut out for him.
