It took a moment for Gabe to get his bearings on his new hooves, but the four eventually made it back to The Second Skin. The last block was particularly nerve wracking. There wasn’t anywhere to hide, and the group of satyrs were subjected to all sorts of curious looks from people going about their day.
Gabe stared up at the The Second Skin’s odd cabin-style building, “Okay, this has cursed magic shop written all over it. How did you guys not see this coming?”
“I was in a hurry to find a costume!” Mark tugged on the door to the shop, “And I wouldn’t go so far as to say cursed. It’s… ominous?”
He clopped into the store’s entryway. The sound of the bell over the door was almost down out by the small herd of hoof clops behind him.
The shopkeeper wizard appeared from behind one of the costume racks. Now that he knew what to watch for, Mark was fairly certain Merlin literally appeared out of thin air.
“Welcome to The Second Skin-“ His eyes lit up with recognition, “Oh hi Mark.” The he quickly made his way over to the group over, “Forget your wallet or something?”
Mark’s goat ears shot up, “Your costume turned me into a satyr!”
Merlin nodded innocently, “And mighty affordably I must say at that.” He reached forward, tugging on one of Mark’s horns, “I really only had to focus on your legs and-“ He looked over Mark’s shoulder at the small gaggle of goatmen.
“I don’t recall renting other satyr outfits tonight.” He tilted his head before giving the other three a bow, “Merlin, at your service.”
Travis waved, “Travis.”
“Gabe,” the soccer player nodded.
“Bah!” Peter bowed in return.
“The pleasure’s all mine.” Merlin grinned, turning back to Mark, “Now Mark, did you meet some new friends tonight… or did you make some new friends?” He chuckled, giving the satyr a playful wink, “I warned you about drinking tonight. You know how satyrs can be.”
“I do now…!” Mark looked incredulous. “Merlin, you have to give people more of a warning when you hand out honest to goodness magic!”
Merlin tilted his head again, “You know about magic.” He tapped the doorframe of the shop’s front door, “You couldn’t have gotten through my shop’s filter spell without at least some knowledge of… of…” Merlin leaned in a bit closer to the doorframe, tapping on it a bit more earnestly, “Well shit.” He stared at it, “I must have forgotten to recharge the spell this month.” He looked out at the group, “Did I rent a ton of magical outfits to a bunch of oblivious college students?”
Travis nodded, “Pretty much. Our frat’s throwing a party tonight, and you were the only place that was open.”
Merlin’s eyes went a little wide, “Well, my evening just got more interesting.” He straightened out his robe, “I take it you want changed back then? Come on, let’s go get you all sorted out first.” He turned, gesturing for them to follow. The group followed after him, with Peter reluctantly taking up the rear.