The Saturday morning had been hectic and nerve wracking, but in the end, Karen Yuletide had been greatly pleased that in the end, Jenny was happily married and there was no way she would be drug back to Alabama. A part of her felt a bit sad in that Jenny would be moving out of the dorms full time, as the two of them had different majors and had been unfortunate enough that they didn't have the exact same electives taken when they signed up for classes the previous spring as part of their orientation, be it online or in person. It would mean she wouldn't get see Jenny, except maybe at lunch, which would depend on the day and how busy the college cafeteria was. She hoped that maybe they could spend some time to hang out in the afternoons and so on. Jenny had been a good friend and Karen really liked her... as a friend.
But, that didn't mean that Karen wasn't displeased with the weddings results. She was glad Jenny had successfully gotten married and all that related drama was now pretty much over. After thanking Peter and his family for helping providing security and being their in case things really got out of hand, Karen ultimately returned to the campus, changed out of the dress she'd worn for the wedding and into something more comfortable and then simply collapsed onto the bed. She rested for a little way and then simply settled on some sketches just to pass time. Most of them soon focused on the major things that remained on her mind, Peter, and her own future with him. There were shots of him from the front and from the side. Shots of him in his human and were forms. The last was of him with a fully transformed werelioness with their noses touching in such a way that the small triangles that made up a lion's nose when viewed from the side and pushed together against another almost came to look like a heart.
"I only hope I'd be that pretty," Karen said softly as she looked to the last sketch.
She knew that was in her future, and she did love Peter, especially in that he had learned about her furry fandom and had even accepted it. Most boys when they found out tended to shy away from her, which at times had saddened Karen. But Peter didn't do that, he accepted her, introduced her to his family which had all welcomed her as well. In that sense, she felt very welcome with him. Of course, there were some issues with the fact that werelions lived under very loose terms of what would call an open marriage. It wasn't quite true polygamy in that one man or woman married several women or men, but it did appear that werelions seemed quite comfortable with sharing their partners at times.
Peter had explained things that lead to it and even his mother, Regina Talbot, had admitted being with other pride males when his father Leon was with a different lioness or was asked to transform a woman who wanted to be a werelion. It was something that unnerved Karen at first, and while talking with Peter and Regina had helped confirm that this open marriage was not used in any way to relate to whether or not one partner loved the other. Regina had said to her that regardless of who she was with, Leon Talbot was the one who was first and foremost in her heart. And by now, Karen had gotten the sense that Peter saw her in much the same way as his parents saw each other. She loved Peter and knew that Peter loved her, but she was still a bit "nervous" on that "open marriage" thing, and while she was actually finding herself more and more interested in being a werelion, Peter's werelioness, she did want to make sure she could prepare herself for all the things that would go with it.
She sat on the bed and looked at her sketch book with all the pictures of Peter on it and was about to sigh when there was a loud knock on the door. Karen blinked and got up and made her way to it and was quite surprised to find it was Peter, holding a long black plastic bag with a hanger protruding from it. He was presently in his human form, and had a warm smile.
"Peter... I'd... I'd thought you'd be busy with Pride related affairs this afternoon," Karen said with some surprise.
"Outside of the final reports from what we saw to give to the police there really wasn't that much to do," Peter gave a shrug as Karen let him into her dorm room, "much of the rest was my dad thanking his brothers for coming to help and then going over what their next restoration project would be and what job they'd take on. Nothing really major. That left me to go and get something for us to have a little fun tonight."
"A little fun?" Karen wondered.
With this Peter handed the long black plastic bag to her. She gripped it by the hanger and soon found that it had some weight too it. Not too much, but enough to know that it wasn't a tee-shirt. By its length, Karen figured it was also a dress, though for a moment she didn't quite fully understand what was going on. As she accepted it she began to get a hint when she saw what Peter was wearing. The outfit resembled the sort dress military uniforms of Europe in the 1800s. It was a single breasted cream colored jacket, but and was held in place by a series of hooks on the inside of the jacket's front. With them fastened, Karen could see a straight line that ran down the middle of Peter's chest from his neck down to just below his waist, when the bottom part of the jacket seemed to spread apart slightly. This system held the jacket tightly closed and almost looked like it would be as if the jacket was sewn together and that was simply where the seam was. The collar was gold and as were the two epaulets, with gold rope tassels that hung down over his shoulders. There were also two sets of braided gold rope to the costume. When went from one epaulet to the other and went across Peter's chest while the other wrapped down under his right arm. He wore a gold belt that had a metallic gold buckle that hung on his hips. The outfit was completed with a pair of red trousers with a gold strip on the outside seam of each leg and fit over what looked like a pair of dress shoes.
"With today being Halloween, Moon Lake is having its annual Halloween Dance... granted it's something that's been more connected with the High School than the college, but just about everyone goes," Peter said with a small smile, "I'd thought you'd like to go..."
"And so you show up as Prince Charming?" Karen smirked and lifted up the plastic and listed to it crinkle as what she suspected was revealed. It was a long blue dress, with a sort of soft mesh stop made of lighter blue fabric, but it was in such thick layers that the difference wasn't too great, and that they would actually sit out a bit wider than the shoulders of whoever wore it. The skirt part of the dress was much the same in that it was made up of several layers of a blue mesh. Individually, each layer was a rather sheer fabric, but there were so many layers that it formed a blue that was almost the same exact shade as the upper part of the dress. The big difference in the skirt was that it almost had a sort of glisten to it in the way that light bounced off the fabric.
"And who would Prince Charming be without his Princess, Cinderella," Peter gave a small smile.
"You do realize she is a commoner in the story?" Karen asked.
"She marries the prince in the end," Peter pointed out, "and the story generally paints her as the only that was worthy of the prince... that the others were more interested in his money than anything else... Granted its fairy tales... but..."
"You'd like me to go?" Karen asked.
"Yes," Peter nodded, "it's probably already started by now... but it'd be fun to go in for a good dance party. I had to drive down to Seattle to get the costumes, so it's not something that will fit me when I'm transformed... but then... the party doesn't require weres to be transformed, and this way, we can more easily look into each other's eyes and dance without the risk of me carrying you around the dance floor."
"Okay... sound's fun," Karen accepted, as spending more time with Peter would be nice. She knew that the more time she spent with Peter, the less and less her "concerns about werelions and their open marriages seemed to bother her. Maybe it was the reinforcing knowledge that Peter loved her first and foremost and anything else... was more a pride responsibility.
Karen smiled and moved to put the dress down on the bed while Peter shut the door. She found that the dress would require a few certain changes in her attire, in that the dress didn't actually cover the top of her shoulders, but she'd figured she'd be fine for an evening. She heard Peter shut the door and then moved to get changed, pulling off her shirt and then her bra. She tried to sneak a glance over to Peter while she changed but found that his attention was elsewhere, and was looking down to her sketchbook, which was open.
"These are nice," Peter stated as he looked down at Karen's drawings, "maybe not exact... but better than I've seen others do trying to draw someone's features purely from memory. You did a real good job..."
"Thanks," Karen said sheepishly as she pulled down her pants, but left her underwear on, as next she'd move to pull the dress on. As she wrestled to get it on, "as you have frequently been on my mind."
"In a good way, I hope," Peter answered.
"Of course in a good way, silly," Karen teased as pulled the dress down and soon straightened it. It made her hips look bigger, but not by too much. She figured that was just a result of the design. She looked over to Peter and noted how he looked at the last image with a warm and happy smile on his face.
"I especially this picture you made of the future us," Peter smiled, "the drawing is almost as beautiful as the real thing."
"Almost...?" Karen wondered as Peter came up to her and lifted her in a hug and twirled her around.
"Almost," Peter repeated, "the drawing is two dimensional... an image. You are three dimensional and a real thing. I can hold you... talk to you... and show you just how much I love you. Things I can't do with a drawing."
"Thanks, Peter, shall we go?" Karen asked and looked around the rooms. She ultimately found a pair of light blue semi-formal heels in the closet are that had been set aside for Jenny and figured to go with them to fit the ensemble, as Jenny wouldn't mind and she and Peter would surely be back before Jenny got back from her honeymoon to collect all her belongings. They then made their way out and soon returned to Peter's car and drove across town. Karen smiled at seeing kids going about doing trick or treating and noticed that at some places there were various werefoxes seeming standing on guard and giving directions.
"Likely guiding kids to houses that will have candy and making sure that any pranks that anyone pulls abide by the Skulk's rules," Peter commented as he noticed where Karen was looking.
"The Skulk's rules?" Karen wondered.
"Halloween and April Fool's Day are special for werefoxes, entire holidays that essentially play to their status as tricksters," Peter commented, "but in general, they want things to remain in "good fun." Nothing that does any real harm and so on. So, while they may accept the idea of a prank, they don't want anything that does physical or emotional harm, and they'll make sure that anyone who plays pranks on their own abides by their rules."
"Well... that works, I suppose," Karen replied as they rode along.
They eventually came up to the high school building. There were a lot of cars that filled the parking lot and was beginning to park along the streets with people then walking into the dance at the high school. Peter found a spot out of the way and eventually made his way out and then opened the passenger side door. He offered Karen his hand as she got out, and she smiled as she took it.
"You look beautiful like that," Peter commented, "and based more on the live action movie they made. So you're able to let your hair stay free."
"Thank you," Karen chuckled as they walked along and made their way into the school.
They were quiet as they made their way into the gym, where Karen could see many people dancing talking. She thought she could see some bobbing for apples in one section of the gym and in others simply eating pizzas while seated at folding tables that had been set up to dine at. It was clear that whatever group that had the planning for the this dance had gone all out to put it on. In that, it looked nice.
"And here we are," Peter smiled and then blinked, "what do you think?"
"It looks like fun," Karen smiled and then gave a wink, "it gives a real charming atmosphere."
Peter laughed, "Would you like to dance?"
Karen only smiled.