Kelan quirked a suspicious eyebrow at June. "That's... ominous. What do you mean?"
June blinked her heavy eyelashes and composed herself. Her sudden burst of perkiness was unbecoming of the well-mannered and graceful persona she had adopted. Besides, she wanted Kelan to trust her as much as she trusted him.
"I...," she hesitated, registering how her voice had regressed to its now-normal smooth and quiet tone. "I regret that I haven't been brave enough to tell you the whole truth about me."
Kelan relaxed his posture. It appeared that he realized that June was being very vulnerable to admit this to him and he knew it was important to be gentle. "Tell me, please."
June bit her black lip. If she spoke about what was actually true--that her name was Jennifer, that she wasn't a natural raven-haired goth, that she was nothing like he saw her as--her costume would transform partly or all of the way back to something ordinary Jennifer would wear. But she wanted to tell Kelan, now, before he picked out a costume and got himself into something he wasn't prepared for.
How could she tell him when she couldn't tell him?
It hit her like a glint of moonlight at the witching hour. Lola could tell him! She knew how the costume worked so she must know a way to avoid the adverse effects. "Excuse me, please. You'll hear everything, I promise."
"Where are you going?" Kelan asked incredulously, and with a twinge of worry. He was scared that he upset her.
"To find the manager, Lola. She can explain everything, including what you need to know about some of these costumes." Her mind was in such a tizzy that she didn't even register her body automatically curtsying to Kelan before she turned primly on a heel and shuffled away.
It took surprisingly little time to find Lola. The redheaded shopkeep practically purred as she listened to June's explanation.
"You need my help with a customerrr?" She trilled the "R" as June had noticed before. "I'm here to serve, dear Jennifer."
June eeped suddenly at her real name. "E-excuse me, but I'm going by June while in this costume."
"Oh! I'm sorry, June." She narrowed her keen eyes at the dollish woman, studying her trepidation. "Not to worry, I haven't endangerrred your sense of identity. Your costume can change with your own willpowerrr, or others' observations and expectations, but they ignorrre anything I say. Wouldn't do to have shop staff influencing our customers into purrrrchases they don't want, yyyeees?" She gently slid her long fingernails through one of June's silky pigtails. June was surprised how good it felt.
June nodded in thanks. "Kelan may like having a costume like mine. Do you have anything in men's designs?"
Lola threw her head back, hair flipping wildly, and laughed. "Do I?" She slid behind the goth and nudged her with both palms, like a doting aunt. "Take me to your new frrriend and I'll see to anything he wants."
At the mention of "friend," June's mind flashed to those she'd arranged to meet. "Oh! Have you by chance seen three others come in here?"
"A group of three? No. But a few people did arrrrive after you. No more than two at a time, though."
June grew worried. "Oh. Then, none of them asked for me?"
"No, and I spoke with almost all of them. If anyone does ask for Jennifer--or June--what would you like me to tell them?"
"Tell them to look for the fanciest goth in the store," June said with a grin.
* * *
June could have sworn the return trip to Kelan took longer than it should have, even though he hadn't moved from the gothic aisle. Her costume felt somehow heavier and more restrictive. She wondered if she was getting tired, being on her feet for so long in shoes that hadn't been broken in. But the odd thing was, her feet didn't hurt at all.
"Kelan," June called to him. He turned his attention away from a spiked leather duster to look toward her. "This is Lola. She runs the store."
"Oh, hi... Lola." Kelan blushed. "I'm sorry if this is taking away from something you should be doing."
"This is what I'm suppurrrsed to be doing," Lola smiled reassuringly. June didn't feel super reassured, though, and neither did Kelan, it seemed.
But things were smoothed over in short order. June repeated her request to Lola, in front of Kelan, to explain her real deal. Lola laid it all out for him, in purring tones that felt cozy on the ears despite their ridiculousness. Knowing the bulk of what she was going to say, June unwittingly tuned out and started tidying up her pigtails. Being so long, it was easy for individual strands to stray from the organized masses. Odd, though... when they last grew out, they were hanging below the bottom of her dress. But now they were just a couple inches above it. And the dress looked longer, or maybe wider? She'd need a mirror to tell instead of looking down from above.
"So Je-- uh, June..."
June snapped her head up to Kelan, large eyes open wide. "S-sorry. Yes?"
Having soaked in everything Lola had told him, Kelan was incredulous. "You're okay with being like this?"
"It's what I want to be," June answered truthfully.
Kelan swallowed. He was thinking something. Something he didn't like to think. "If... If I were to declare that you always tell me the truth..." His words came mechanically, as he took great pains not to accidentally state a direct fact that would alter June. "And then asked you that question again, what would be your answer?"
June gave him her most sincere smile. "I chose to put on this costume and I choose to experience the consequences. If I wanted to, I could undo this with a word, or by taking the costume off." It was definitely a more eloquent answer than what she might have given out-of-costume, but the intent was the same.
Kelan's face fell in pity. June shook her head. "None of that, please. I'm enjoying this. And it really is nice to meet you tonight. That part is not an act or magic at all."
June felt for a familiar wave of disorientation to roll through her mind, but nothing came. No thoughts were rewritten. That was a relief... she only just then realized she had been worried it wasn't true after all.
This seemed to satisfy Kelan, too. "Okay. Lola, right?" He turned to the gaudily-dressed shop worker. "This being the case, here's what I would love to try on..."