Ryan took a deep breath. Then he coughed a few times for good measure. O-kay. He was ready to face a frat house full of partying college kids. He cleaned off his pipe, sucking on the end of it as he patted himself down. He didn't smell too strongly, right? Maybe he could find some air freshener inside. Or at least a breath mint.
He poked his head back inside of TFU's kitchen. The furor of setup activity seemed to have passed, and now there were just a few kids mingling out of the way. Oohh, and sausage rolls.
Ryan plucked one of the greasy bread rolls off a tray, heading deeper into the frat house. Clint's latest stash really did a number on him. He felt comfortably zoned out as he tried to find his usual spot. Everyone seemed to be having fun though, and TFU was a pretty responsible frat all things considered. He could sort things out in the morning if they did anything short of burning the frat house down.
Things started to get a bit more crowded as he passed into the dining room. Everyone was eager to get a drink, or was swarming the snacks. Mhmm, he actually could go for a few more of those sausage rolls.
Ryan started making his way to the food table, but stopped when he saw some motion out of the corner of his eye.
He turned, staring back into the room's ornate mirror. Something was... strange about it. He stared at his reflection, walking a bit closer. Instead of a kid in a cheap role play outfit, he saw a college professor staring back at him.
"What the heck..." He reached up, rubbing one of the deep lines on his face. He ran his hand down a bit further, brushing the crumbs out of his full beard. The hair on his head was clearly starting to thin out, and had a few prominent streaks of gray running through it.
"Are you guys... seeing this mirror?" He laughed nervously. He took off his glasses, cleaning the thick lenses on the tail of his shirt. As he did so, the mirror (not to mention the room itself) went incomprehensibly blurry. He put his glasses back on, staring dumbfounded.
Then he let out an earnest chuckle. What he was seeing was impossible. This must be some Halloween prank. Ha! And a good one too!
He ran his hands down his chest, tracing the sizable gut he had developed. Somehow this mirror was making him look, he didn't even know, decades older? He held up his hands, wiggling his fingers as he saw his new wrinkles shift back and forth.
"Haha, this is incredible!" He giggled. The laughter was infectious now. "Guys, check this out!" He spun around to gesture to the people behind him, but must have lost his balance somewhere along the way.
He was caught by a very scruffy wolf man. The beast was covered from head to toe in fur, and was wearing the same shirt that Clint had on earlier.
"Woah, easy there professor!" Wow, he spoke like Clint too. "Why don't we find you some nice place to sit down?"
Sitting sounded good right about now actually. He let the furry beast lead him to his favorite chair in the living room. Another student was already there with a glass of water.
"Thanks, I'm good." Ryan tried to say reassuringly. "I'm gooooood."
The wolf man with Clint's voice looked back at the others, "Let's try to keep an eye on him, okay?"
He reached down, patting Ryan on the shoulder reassuringly, "I told you it was strong stuff. Take it easy Dr. Weed." The wolf blinked, "I mean Dr. Reed."
"Ha!" Ryans giggles threatened to return. "You're a good pup Wolf-Clint. Forget what I said before, you get an A."
The wolf's ears twitched anxiously, "Thank you sir." He huffed a bit. Ha, wolves were always huffing and puffing. "Like I said, I'm not actually in your class though. Look- Just sit there for a while and enjoy view, alright?" He tentatively took a few steps back to join the rest of the group.
Right... View. They had done a nice job with the decorations this year. Very orange and black. But a classy orange and black. Everyone here seemed to be having a good time. Ryan looked over to Clint. Such a modest wolf man. He was definitely getting an A+.
Ryan rubbed his head a bit, trying to focus his eyes. Wolf-Clint was taking to... a skeleton? Not like, someone in black sweats with a skeleton pattern drawn on them. Somehow there was an honest to goodness six foot tall skeleton standing in the middle of the frat house. It looked like something he'd see hanging in the biology wing of the science building, but there it was chatting with Wolf-Clint.
Beside them was a robot. Metal joints, glowing panels, the whole works. It spoke with a synthetic clip, and kept playing the same three canned laugh sound effects every time someone told a joke. Which seemed to be fairly often. The massive centaur beside the robot was apparently really good at one liners.
Ryan's head struggled to process what he was seeing. This was one weird trip. The world got a little fuzzier as he sank back into the armchair. It was easier just not to think too hard about any of this. The wolf was right, he just needed to relax...
At some point, a soft snoring could be heard underneath the music as Dr. Reed fell asleep.