Izzy’s eyed stranger after stranger, trying to pick out which cosplayers he could change to attract the most attention possible. Something that couldn’t be ignored or brushed off, or explained away, something to cause a panic needed to get people out of here, and disrupt Coyote’s scheme. Something like…
A dragon.
Walking down the hall in the opposite direction from Izzy was a family of four. A son and daughter, neither of whom could have been older than five, were giddily running in around as far as they could taking in the new sights and sounds all around them, each one restrained only by their parents’ grip on their hand. The two kids’ costumes looked like one-piece pajamas with hoodies, with various extra bits added to look like an animal. The girl wore a bright pink suit with a floppy little tail ending in a fluffy turf on its back, plus a set of triangular ears and a spiraling horn on the hood, while the boy wore a purple suit of a similar kind, with a pair of thin yellow cloth wings flopping on his back, a pair of straight yellow horns and a “mohawk” of spikes on his hood.
The mother, meanwhile, wore a pair of long cloth gloves, covered with clinking, glittering green “scales,” with little “claws” on the fingertips. On her back were a set of small, green, unobtrusive, cloth bat wings, probably held up by wireframe inside, their color perfectly matching her dress. Two black horns appeared to arch backward out of her head, likely attached to a well-hidden headband. Her outfit, despite being made more to evoke the idea of a dragon than to realistically look like one, was clearly not thrown together at the last minute; she either had experience with making costumes, or had the help of someone who did. Whether it was budget constraints, a sense of minimalism, or simply a desire to make a costume that wouldn’t be confused with a fursuit, the result was a unique look among the hundreds of cosplayers around her.
In contrast, the father’s “costume” amounted to a headband with a unicorn horn and horse ears attached, plus a little white cloth “tail” stuffed into the back of his plain white pants, a simple white shirt completing the “ensemble.” Izzy figured either the guy didn’t really want to dress up as a unicorn, but did so at his wife and or kid’s insistence, or it was a last minute decision to match the theme of his daughter’s costume, after his wife matched his son’s.
Izzy didn’t really like the idea of changing any kids, but with Coyote breathing down his neck, he didn’t have much time to be picky.
“Those ones,” Izzy said, pointing to the family.
Oh ho, letting some kids in on the fun now, are we? Coyote’s voice echoed. Great choice! THEY can actually appreciate a good time.”
Izzy wanted to turn around and move on, but like a train wreck, his eyes felt drawn back to the children. Both of their pajamas began to shrink down and wrap tightly around them.
“Mom?” The girl said. “I feel kinda funny.”
“Yeah,” the boy added, “me too.”
The parents gasped as they felt the texture of the children’s outfit’s changing, the fuzz of the girl’s pajamas turnin softer, smoother, and clearer, while the fuzz of the boy’s clothes stiffened into rigid, smooth scales one by one, locking tightly together into natural armor.
Both parents looked over their kids, then at each other, wondering if they were simply imagining things at first.
“Ellen,” the woman said, her face a mixture of confusion and worry, “what is the funny feeling like?”
“It kinda tingles…” The girl said. “Oh! It feels like something’s pushing here.” She gestured first to her back, where the once-lifeless tail became a little thicker, as flesh, blood and bone bagan to fill it, the cloth changing texture to match the rest of what had once merely been an outfit. It began to wiggle on its own, swaying back and forth. “Ah!” the little girl gasped. “It’s real, my tail is real! Look!”
“Ellen, I…” The mother felt over her daughter’s new tail, still seeming half in denial about it, until the winced, and doubled over, the wings on her back digging into her body as they started to grow larger and larger.
“Giana!” Her husband shouted, letting go of his son to run to his wife’s side. Before he could offer any help, though, he stopped and shivered, and his own changes began, the headband he’d been wearing disappearing, while the white spiraling horn and ears that had been on it, attached to his head.
“You okay there?” Asked a passing superhero cosplayer?
“Oh, yeah, we’re fine!” Giana found herself forced to say. “I’m feeling a little tired taking care of the kids. Hank and I are just catching a breather.”
Her husband, Hank, tried to correct her, but couldn’t raise his voice at all.
“Gotcha,” the cosplayer responded, turning to walk away. “Have fun!”
Oh, this is hilarious! Coyote laughed in Izzy’s head.
The little girl, Ellen, felt the hood of her PJs getting tighter around her head. Her world went silent for a brief momet as her ears were covered up, and smoothed over under her new skin. Then her hearing came back as she felt the triangular ears sitting on top of the hood joined to her body, twitching and flickering with life. The spiral horn slid down to her forehead before attaching, and as it became a part of her, it felt like something sparked inside her; suddenly, she KNEW she had magical abilities! All her fears melted away. Even as she felt her hands and feet clenching up and hardening into cloven hooves, her arms and legs getting longer and thinner or her hips and shoulders bending to put her on all fours, she couldn’t stop grinning.
“Mommy, Mommy! I’m turning into a REAL unicorn!” She pranced around giddily, as her face stretched out into the long snout of a horse, her nose and lips swelling up, while her eyes moved to the side of her head, pink fur covering any remain.
“I… I see that, dear,” Giana said, feeling her dress getting tighter around her as it began to look less like thread, and more like scales. She turned to look at her son. “Vincent! Come back! Stay close to mom and dad, okay?”
Her son nodded, staring at what happened to his sister as he came back under his mother’s wing. Whatever he thought about what was happening to his sister and parents, his thoughts were soon occupied by his own changes, he felt the wings on his own PJs sticking into his back, new sensations fluttering into his mind as he experimentally furled and unfurled them.
Vincent’s eyes widened, even as his pupils narrowed. “I’ve got wings? Can I fly?”
He stumbled to the floor as his legs began to shift for walking on all fours, his growing claws clacking against the tile floor beneath him. He felt intense warmth building up inside of him, while a tail ending in a yellow spade wiggled its way out behind him. As scales spread over his stretching snout, he felt his teeth sharpening, and the little horns on his hood becoming real.
Cautiously, he took a deep breath, and blew out as hard as he could. It only produced a couple weak embers, but it was enough to make him go wide-eyed. “This is awesome!”
The two parents were changing in much the same way their children had, Hank was rapidly growing pure white fur that seemed to absorb his clothes, while his prop tail became the real deal. He was forced to all fours as his body barreled out wider and, like his daughter, he grew a horse’s muzzle, and his hands and feet were turned to hooves. He too, felt the spark of magic start to flicker inside of him, but he was too overcome by panic to take it in.
Giana, meanwhile, was not only covered in green scales as she, too, was dropped to four legs, but her neck was growing longer, her face stretching into a reptile’s jaw. Her pupils narrowed, and her ears shrank back, as the once mere prop horns grew out far longer than they had originally. Her body grew to almost match the size of Hank’s new unicorn form. A thick tail grew out behind her, as a fire began to brew in her belly.
As their changes finished, the parents found themselves stunned into silence. The crowd around them, whether too concerned with their own problems, dismissing the changes as special effects, being simply inattentive, or due to some lingering magic of Coyote’s, didn’t seem to notice the changes as they’d happened at all.
A group of people in a single Chinese dragon costume passed by the couple. Izzy’s sensitive ears picked up a little whisper of “great work on the two-person costume, super convincing,” from the Chinese dragon’s head, directed at the dragon Giana had become.
Izzy gritted his teeth. “Oh come ON!” He hissed. “Not only do people not notice, but I just happen to pick the dragon cosplayer whose dragon form isn’t big enough to scare everyone on sight?”
Oh, so that was your angle, huh? Coyote chuckled. I should have figured. In fact, I kind of did. Anything I’m changing people into that would be big enough to make serious trouble will stay at a manageable size until we’ve helped everyone out with their costumes. Giving up a little chaos and panic now is worth it for the utter bedlam that’ll come at the end of the day!
You know, normally, I’d be worried about turning someone into a unicorn in a public area. Most people’d know something’s up when they bump into something they cant’ see. But here, I don’t think it’ll be an issue.
“Why?” Izzy asked. “Are those unicorns supposed to be invisible?”
Coyote suppressed a giggle. Oh, so you can see the unicorns?
“Yes.”
HAH! Virgin!
Izzy frowned, then thought for a minute. “Wait, doesn’t the fact that you can see them too mean…”
I’m beyond the concept of time itself. I predate sex, gender, and just about any permutation of those concepts humans imagine.
“...So you’re saying you can’t get laid, even over millions of years.”
Coyote chuckled. Ooh, what a bite! Kid, there is hope for you yet!
Izzy groaned, not enjoying the source of the compliment. He turned back toward the family. Despite everything, there was something charming about seeing the two kids actually enjoying themselves, scampering around after each other while their parents nervously and clumsily tried to reign them in.
If getting people scared enough to leave was out of the question, maybe he could at least find some more people that would enjoy their changes. He’d feel a little less guilty about his role in this, if nothing else.