James felt no embarrassment or shame as he strutted out of the bathroom. He moved with his head held high. His tail swayed slightly behind him.
He walked down the hallway back to the party proper. Brad's parents wouldn't be back until very late that evening, but they trust Brad not to blow up the house. This meant there was little to worry about and they could party well into the night. Which was just fine with James now.
No one except Brad, Kacey, and Rosa had gotten a close look at James' costume before he rushed into the bathroom. Kacey and Rosa were feeling a bit distracted themselves, and Brad brushed it off as not having seen it outside in the evening light.
The lady fur-suiters thought that James looked hot.
"Do you think the suit is skin tight?" Asked one costumed up as a lioness wearing plastic Egyptian style jewelry, eye the contours of James' biceps.
"Those muscles have to be part of the costume." Asked another dressed up as a cow woman.
"Don't crush my fantasies!"
The other guests made way for James as he marched to the punch bowl. James wasn't concerned about anything not showing in spite of him being naked, he was reptilian after all. He was naked, but still in costume. Costume? That was silly. His now perfect draconic body was on full display while he was surrounded by people who could only pretend at what they wished they were.
He reached for the nearest bowel of chips, and grabbed a huge bunch with one claw and reached back and dropped them into his waiting jaws. He crunched and munched, and swallowed in one gulp. The other party guests all clapped in awe the magnificent costume.
Compared to that, James briefly sticking out his forked tongue was just icing on the cake.
"How do you think he did it?" The girl who had come with just the cat ears and painted on whiskered whispered to her friend who had come just wearing a monkey tail and ears and pants and shirt roughly the same 'fur' color.
"Why you asking me?" He replied.
The guests stepped back further as James stretched out his wings like it was second nature, many wondering where he was hiding the motor or the pulleys. James then reared back his neck, and let loose a plume of fire without even thinking about how to do it. It couldn't have felt more natural.
The flames had people going 'Oooh!' 'Ahhh!' Before they applauded even louder than before, not even caring that James had obviously misheard of what kind of creatures you were supposed to visit the party as (that Kacey and Rosa had obviously done the same actually lightened the load there).
Everyone couldn't get enough as they took pictures on their phones of the really really REALLY good costume, even getting some people online saying the 'photo' was obviously CGI. No one thinking 'DRAGON! RUN!' after all, dragons weren't real.
James very much enjoyed the applause. He deserved it. A tiny part of him wondered if he was 'cheating' since if he really was a dragon, then it really wasn't a costume... James crushed that tiny part of himself like a bug. Not because he didn't think he wasn't a dragon, but because if he was enjoying their praise, why not take it for himself?
He saw fursuiters with costumes that were obviously either very expensive commissions or had been projects that had taken months to complete, the level of detail was amazing... but it was still nothing to his draconic perfection.
"You have GOT to tell me where you got that costume!" Asked one fursuiter, his raccoon costume wouldn't have looked that out of place on a fantasy movie set.
"Pretty sure it was a seasonal store, didn't catch the name," James let out with a low growl and slight chuckle.
"NO WAY! That's store bought?!"
"I might have made a few improvements," James said.
"Hey, James," Brad said touching James on the extremely beefy arm, not noticing a slight tingle go through him. "I gotta say your show is super cool! You must have done a LOT to make that outfit this epic! But maybe can you be careful showing off the flames? I don't wanna have to explain to my parents if the house catches on fire."
James gave brushed of Brad and gave him a dark glare. "A dragon does what he pleases, where he pleases, when he pleases." James said a growl.
"Whao, really hyping it up, nice to see you taking that sort of thing seriously sir dragon! Just be careful, you don't wanna turn your adoring public ashes do ya?"
James gave a grunt that Brad too as acknowledgment. He wasn't looking at his shoes as the built in bird claws began to become thiner and longer, and he began to feel the carpet underneath him. 'Dang, these must be wearing out, gotta replace then soon.'
Meanwhile, both Kacey Parker and Rosa Wu were beginning to feel rather strange themselves.
Kacey knew it was awkward to trying to socialize with people on her brother's social coattails, it also limited the chances of her being discovered here by her own social circle. But dang, that costume was amazing! She wished she'd gone to that same shop! (She didn't know she and Rosa HAD!)
While Rosa Wu seeing James' extremely confident display, had to say she was impressed. And even if it was just a costume, that dragon outfit did make him sure look buff! She and James always seemed to find their way back to each other no matter how often they wandered away.