A Few Minutes Earlier...
"We are clearly not drunk enough," remarked Rebecca Charmer, a young woman with a pale complexion and blonde hair tied back behind her head in a ponytail. Deep blue eyes looked at her two friends as they stood outside the local Great Britain gas station not far from their homes. She was leaning against the brick wall embedded in the hill besides the XXXtrea building and More Than Masks up above.
Using a penny to scratch off the gray from one of the many scratch cards she'd just acquired. from the GB gas station on the other side of MTM. She was leaning into the brick wall with her ass pushed a bit out and up as she leaned in to get a good angle on the next card.
"Spending our last twenty bucks ain't gunna solve that," said Jamal Stanford, here the darkest-skinned friend and one of the power forwards of their men's college basketball team. From atop his head flowed a pile of redhaired dreadlocks around his black face. Those green eyes above his somewhat chunky nose turned to look over at her, admiring his friend's ass as he did so.
Giving a sigh, Jay looked back up at the night's sky as he spoke. "I love ya, Bec, but you really should have known the party was costume-required. Even with those new sales, they're way out of our price-range." Jamal kicked a broken glass bottle into the nearby sewer drain. "Ken?"
Kenese Dīng, the tan friend with the slight slant to his eyes looked down at the other two as he returned from the unlocked side door that lead into the station's bathroom. He was standing up at the to of the wall, looking down. His hair was short, black, and spiky while his eyes were so dark of a black they looked like maybe he had no irises. He was wearing a shirt that said 'This Happen for a Reason; and Usually that Reason is Physics'.
Tossing the paper towel he'd been drying his hands with into the nearest bin on his way back down the cement staircase, Ken simply shrugged towards Mal. "You know as well as I do, she's got great luck with those things, defying all logic... and really what other option do we have?" The average height man looked short next to his two six foot one friends. "No one's loaning us three hundo."
"Eureka!" Rebecca called out, thrusting one scratch card into the air as she pulled it away from the wall. She grinned, turning to face Jamal.
Jamal turned his head, his mouth agape. "You're shitting me!" He thrust a fist up in front of him in a moment of perceived victory.
Becky shrugged, then smirked. "Yeah, I am," she said, then blushed and turned back towards the wall to scratch off the next card. Jay's face dropped as he watched her shield her eyes and look away.
The young man of oriental decent laughed, moving over to the bench with anti-homeless spikes across the middle of the seat. Hopping up, he sat on the back of it. "You are so gullible," he remarked to his friend as he produced a single stick of cinnamon flavored gum from a pack and offered it to him.
Rolling his eyes, Jamal took the offered stick and just shook his head. "I'll take gullible over being—"
"—naïve. I know," Dīng interjected, finishing Mal's thought for him.
"Tough call," Rebecca remarked, stepping back over after she finished scraping another card, seemingly her last one. "But I'm gunna pick naïve."
Kenese vigorously nodded his head, the spikes of his hair gelled and unmoving. "Naïve sucks, but yeah... way better than gullible," he concurred.
"How so, Kenny?" Jamal inquired.
The other man smiled. "'Cause naïve means you don't have an experience... don't know shit... but you can learn," he explained. "But being gullible means you're easily persuaded even if you might should know better."
Jamal sighed, looking up at the setting sun still a little ways over the horizon behind the city in the distance. "From dusk till dawn and we're gunna miss it."
Rebecca moved towards the two men with a purpose, hips swaying. She held out a scratch card so that Kenese could see the results. His eyes went wide. Jay saw the reaction and asked: "Free coffee?" It was then that Becca held out to him the last scratch card, a $500 amount. Large, but also the largest the station could pay out itself without having to send it in the mail. Jamal's eyes went wide: "Seriously!? That's not your one from last week!?"
"Nope!" Rebecca grinned from ear to ear as she held the card in front of her, pulling it up in front of her blue eyes. "This should be enough, yeah? We could each go for four—"
"—hours minimum, right?" Dīng asked, finishing her thought. She nodded and lead the way back up to the gas station to get paid. Then, time passed, the the group of three made their way directly from the gas station entrance to the double glass doors of More Than Masks. The sun inched ever closer to the horizon.
"Alright," Rebecca Charmer said with a grin as the three entered the store. "Seconds out!" And she took off towards the mythological wing. "Deliberate haste, hoo!" she laughed as she passed a number of other people. The store was packed, and Stanford and Kenese had issues following her directly. They each ended up over in the same side of the store, however, at different parts of the 'Demons' section.
A few minutes passed and they all reconvened near the Banshee and Behemoth costumes. Rebecca Charmer held a Succubus Queen costume which had a big bust, wicked curved horns, and a whip-like tail. Jamal Stanford had seemingly decided on a overly muscled Minotaur King with a giant codpiece and a mane of thick hair over its shoulders that fell like a mane. Lastly, Kenese Dīng had draped over his shoulders a big hellhound the size and shape of a direwolf with tall pointed ears and horns that curved from over head to under the ears. But, in truth, none of them looked 100% pleased.
"So we're all horny," Dīng remarked, offering some levity. Jamal just smirked and shook his head.
Becky sighed. "Yeah, based on the prices, we can split ourselves to five hours each if we empty our pockets of spare change."
"Not terrible," Kenny offered, "But, again, not—"
"—exactly ideal," Rebecca conceded. Looking down, she squeezed the curved bra-cups of her busty outfit.
Jamal could feel something off and it wasn't the slight magic in the air. That was expected as they were in a magical store surrounded by magical objects. Still, his slight sense of the magical made him blink as he looked over his minotaur outfit. A somewhat dejected smirk made it to his lips as he agreed: "So, out by midnight? Very cinderella."
"Excuse me," came a fourth voice. The three friends all looked back to Vari who appeared to them as a friendly Nekomata. You might be wondering what that is, so let me clarify:
Vari appeared as a shorter, busty woman with orange furred cat ears, a dark purple panther-like tail, and oversized orange-furred hands and feet in the shape of feline paws up to their elbows and knees. She had on a close-cut, torn, dark purple tube-top bra that barely contained their assets. Over her shoulders were the the clear straps of suspenders dotted in tiny black spots which attached to the front and back of their dark purple short-shorts. Her belly was visible, and they had human skin for most of their torso. But over their shoulders, under arms, inner legs, and around her crotch, she had leopard-like spots.
"Can I help you..." Vari trailed off, looking between the three teen as her right eye light up cyan while her magitech told her what the Charibabel spell made her look like to each of them. "Huh."
Jamal stepped back, putting their hands on their chest. He'd felt that. "Did... did you just spell us?" he half-yelped, distressed.
Vari shook her head, looking to Jamal. "No more than you already were," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Let me guess: magic sensitive?"
"Barely, right, Jay?" Rebecca answered for him. He nodded. "I'm lucky," she added putting a hand on her chest. "And he's a limited xenoglolia," she added, motioning a hand towards Kenese. It was an old refrain Becky had done a number of times when something magical senses the light magic waves the each of them made. "Why are we talking supernatural stuff?"
Jay looked between Becca and Vari. "'Cause their spell went a little weird... I sensed it."
Vari blinked. "Smell or taste?"
"Uh... like a smelly color?" Jamal responded.
"Interesting," Vari said, putting her hands together making her breasts bounce. "Might be more than barely, then. A semi-sight is uncommon and more likely a result of lack of training." Jamal blinked. "But! To explain what happened is simple... There's a spell on employees here called Charibabel which makes us appear... let's say more ingratiating to a customer."
Dīng nodded at that, then pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I've heard of that. People have their own biases so while it doesn't change their minds like more overt magic does, it plays off their own personal expectations and biases to make your dialog more convincing simply by what they'd physically trust more to speak to them."
"Ah," Rebecca smirked, looking back to Vari from Ken. "So, you weren't expecting to look like a Nekomata—cat demon—to me, I guess? It is a little strange, but sure, I like it," she smiled, looking Vari up and down. "Little short, but I'm a fan of the big bust." Vari looked to Jamal, then Ken, then back to Rebecca who took the hint that that wasn't the issue. "What?" she asked.
Vari lifted a big hand-paw, and waved a claw between the three of them. "I just find it interesting that the three of you all see me as the same thing," they revealed to Becky and confirmed to her two longtime friends who all looked at each other and nodded before looking back to Vari. "But, that might mean that you're all very close in your current thoughts... an agreement just out of reach that perhaps I can help you with."
Vari glanced at everyone's costumes while Kenese stared speaking: "Well, I don't know about you guys, but..." he sighed, then took a breath. "Look, I know it sounds silly—probably—but we're going and leaving the party together... is there any way to agree on something closer, maybe?"
Jamal nodded. "Yeah, like, a trio thing?" His green eyes shifted to look at Vari. As he turned his head, his dreads waved almost in front of his face. "We did all picked—"
"—demons, yeah," finished Dīng as he pet the dog-head of the hellhound suit over his shoulders.
"And two of us rulers," Rebecca considered, rubbing her chin. She looked to Vari. "Hey—" Vari's cat ears perked up, "—we've got this, like, cloud over our situation."
"Go on," Vari encouraged with a smile.
"We do, like, just about everything together... but this party is supposed too go until dawn and we've got just my five hundo between us," she explained. "Is there any way we can squeeze out more time... or, maybe, take up a tab or something?" Vari shook their head at that. "Maybe something cheeper as a... group discount?"
At that, Vari grinned. Placing one big furry fist into the palm of their other hand, they asked a simple question: "How in-sync would you say you three are?"
Rebecca waved a hand to the side, smiling. "Completely," she said, glancing at her friends. Mal waved a hand horizontally in front of him while Ken did the same motion but raised it in the air as if to say 'a little more than that'. Becky shook her head. "OK, like, eighty percent?" she asked them and the shared a glance and then nodded.
"We're the Seconds," Kenese said simply, motioning to the big '2' on Jamal's jersey.
Vari blinked, then shook her head to indicate they didn't understand. "I'm the second most popular girl my my dorm," Rebecca explained said. Then she motioned to Stanford, "He's the second best scorer on the basketball team. And he—" she motioned to Kenese, "—is the second best actor in drama and second best chess player."
"That's a lot of twos," Vari conceded, not getting the whole picture.
Jay chuckled. "We were all born on a two of the month of the same year... 2002... October second," he said putting a hand on his chest. "November second," he added, motioning to Becca. "And December twenty-second for Ken."
"Worst Birthday," Dīng added.
"But another two twos," Vari remarked. "Let me guess... you all live in the same neighborhood?" they all nodded. "All relatively poor?" They nodded again. "Shared experiences, banding together, school projects, lying to authority, team sports?"
Jamal glanced to his two friends. "Yes to that, but... we're all on different teams."
"But we're in all the same clans and guilds," Ken pointed out.
Vari blinked at that remark. "I must have missed a memo. There are guilds on this world?" Before they could answer, she posited: "Diplomacy Guild?"
Jamal took note of the phrase 'this world' but couldn't ask before Rebecca jumped in: "Video games. Destiny, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy XIV, Forza Horizon..."
It was then that Vari understood. Her face had gone a little flat, but a smile grew slowly. "You all finish each others sentences?" she asked, glancing among the three. "Like the same foods? Same games?"
"I mean..." Rebecca looked to her two friends, then nodded. "More or less. Everyone is different, but we're the Seconds... friends for life," she grinned.
Vari smiled. "I think I can help you with your entire request," she revealed. "You three may be the most perfect group for a rarely purchased costume variety... something that can combine aspects of each costume you're all holding, and also cost a bit less to last you longer into the night."
The trio all exchanged glances, then followed Vari away from the B's of Demons and around the corner into the C's. Vari retrieved from a box a big furry costume that might as well have been a giant floor rug. Hanging from the top of its chest were three canine heads. Lifting back the center-most head from it's neckline, Vari showed off the tag of details to Rebecca who leaned in for it.
"One Size Fits Three?" she asked, then looked to Jamal and Kenese each who were on either side of her. "You're suggesting we each wear this one big costume?"
Ken blinked, looking to Rebecca, then Jay. "How would that even work?"
"Magic," Jamal said simply, turning to face the other man. "It's brilliant! We all step into the costume, and it makes us one! Well... mostly one?"
Vari nodded her head. "Mostly one," she said. "These costumes can be a bit cumbersome because most more than one person suits make it so one person controls an aspect of the form... lower body versus upper, or sometimes front versus back," she explained. "But ninety-five percent of a Cerberus costume is shared... meaning either the handoffs are even more cumbersome—"
"—or the more in-sync you are, the more seamless?" Rebecca asked.
"Now you're finishing my thoughts," Vari giggled.
Kenese rubbed his circle beard, liking the idea. "Like when you get 'in the zone' as a team and you say single words or grunts and everyone else just knows what you mean? Is that what it'll be like?"
Vari glanced around, then leaned in towards Ken but in such a way that Jay and Becca could still hear her: "You know how they say that a great team can work as a single organism... one purpose, one design, and cannot be stopped?" Vari enquired. No, Ken had not heard that before, but understood the sentiment. "This suit, minus your minds, literally makes you as one... so if you're as much a trio as I think you are... you may find how close you become to be on a whole other level."
Rebecca grinned. "Now if only we had the money to do this more than one night," she chuckled, reaching out for the Cerberus outfit and swapping it with her succubus one. "But I think we'll try—" she glanced at the pricing. "Whoa... is this right? Twenty-five bucks an hour? Isn't that only a third of a costume more."
Dīng huffed, leaning back. "A fourth, Bee. Five bucks of twenty is a fourth and..." he glanced over at the price. "Wait... that's the dusk till dawn! One hundred twenty-five for four hours... times three to account for the twelve hours from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M.... that's only three seventy-five for half a day's rental!"
The darker-skinned man looked between his two friends, then to Vari who smiled and nodded. But, also, Vari went in for the up-sell. "And assuming the savings are a good deal, you can splurge on a few Additions, yeah?"
Both Kenese and Becca looked to Vari with an 'I see what you did there' look, but Vari just grinned innocently as Rebecca asked the burning question: "Additions like?"
Vari bowed slightly with a smile and started rattling off a few: "Customized hair, fur-pattern, eye color, height, weight, muscle mass, breasts—"
"—breasts?" Jamal asked.
"Just two, multi-breast rows, how many... or, due to the wideness of the torso, additional middle breast," Vary chuckled.
"I definitely want breasts," Becca confirmed. "My money, but... this is a democracy. We're all in this together," she said, looking to her two male counterparts. "We in this?" she asked holding out the costume.
"We will be," Jamal said, putting a hand on the black fur.
"I'm in, breasts or no," Kenese added, putting his hand on the pile.
Vari smiled, putting her big paws together. "Full list of Additions are behind the main register on the wall with the basic rules," she said. "But, right there are the most relevant ones to this costume," she said as she pointed a big furry paw at the little metal sign that had plaintext and braille on it listing the keywords and tags.
"Vari!" a man called towards the Nekomata. She turned her head towards the voice. "You've got centaur outfits, yeah?"
"Of course!" responded Vari to the man. Looking to the group of three, she asked softly. "Take a few minutes and come up with a gameplan for your suit?" she asked. The three nodded. "Then I'm off!" she giggled. Turning around, her butt jiggled slightly as she was quietly followed by some other customer on her way to help out the man over in 'Taurs'.
"So," Rebecca said, stepping out of the middle of the isle and towards the little sign with Additions. "What kind of Cerberus do we want to be?"
In the end, the three decided on...