Mark glanced down at his watch. He then took his watch off after realizing a satyr probably wouldn't have one. His hour was almost up. At this point it would probably make the most sense just to hoof it back to the frat house, no matter how embarrassing it may be.
Also, wow, that was an awful pun.
He quickly gathered up his clothes, bundling them up under his arm as he wobbled out of the changing room. A few of his friends were in the process of doing the same thing. One of them had decided to go ahead with the werewolf outfit Mark had seen earlier. He'd need to ask who was under the mask later. Behind the wolf, it looked like Jerry had decided to dress up like a ghost, only rather than putting on a sheet, he had a very Ghost of Christmas' Past appearance. His clothes were white and tattered, he had fake chains dragging behind him, and it appeared as if someone had dumped a bag of flour on his head. Still, it was an impressive look. Mark could swear he could see through some parts of his tattered jacket as it fluttered in the air.
Merlin greeted the group as they approached the shop's register. He thankfully didn't make it obvious that Mark was getting a better deal than his two friends. They seemed a bit caught up trying to figure out how to open their wallets with claws and talced hands.
"You all enjoy yourselves tonight." Merlin grinned, "I'll expected these costumes back by closing time tomorrow." He chuckled, "Now I know you're probably going to be off partying tonight, but try not to spill anything on them. I wouldn't advise drinking any alcohol in these outfits either." Ha, that was optimistic of the wizard. He kept going on with various rules of the costume, but Mark got a little distracted trying to figure out how the guy in the werewolf costume was getting the tail to move back and forth like that.
The shopkeeper unfurled three sheets of paper, "Your rental agreements are right here." He handed Mark a pen, then turned to the other two, "Jerry, I think I've got a ghost-pen under my desk somewhere. Luis, you can just leave a paw print at the bottom of the page."
Was this guy serious? Also: Wow, Luis was a pretty small guy, was that seriously supposed to be him under all that fur? Mark quickly scribbled his name at the bottom of the page. "Right. Thanks for the costume Mr. Wizard. I'll see you two back at the house!" He hastily started clopping towards the door.
Merlin blinked, looking up as Mark bolted out the door, "Hey wait, did you read your contract fully!?" He grumbled, still fishing under his desk for the spare pen, "Satyrs, what can you do?" He held out a translucent pen to the pale college student, letting out a bit of a snicker, "Any idea why your friend decided to dress up like a walking incarnation of lust?"
The trip back to the frat house was thankfully uneventful. The few blocks gave Mark a chance to perfect his balance on the hooves, and he made it back with plenty of time to spare. The assembled crowd was mostly full of low-effort Party City outfits or recycled togas from last year's party. A few people had clearly gone to The Second Skin however. The intricate outfits were drawing quite the attention.
Mark stashed his spare clothes and shoes underneath one of the sofa's in the house's common room. There was still some time before the pledge's initiation kicked off, and the party already seemed in full swing. Should he go mingle, or maybe try to show off his outfit a bit?