Nathan || LOL. Fine, will let her know. If you don’t hear from me, she’s in.

  Conner tossed his phone on the bed, and reached for the back of the second closet in his room. The only bedroom was actually a good size, with two full closets in case a couple was living there. For him, that second space became his repository for all things ‘out of the ordinary’ that he didn’t throw on his back every day. Business suits for interviews. Black suits for funerals. Stupidly cheerful sweaters for Christmas and New Year’s. And, of course, the few Halloween costumes he had. Or Comic-Con costumes. Or renaissance fair costumes. You could call them whatever you wanted. What they were was a fun attempt to pretend he was from a different time when stranger stuff existed.

  They were starting a new game, so he didn’t have to worry about matching the standard character he played during their group sessions. But like any Cos-player worth their salt, he wasn’t going to just wear anything and then play something different. Whatever he wore, his character would be matching. So, what did he feel like playing?

  His mind wandered over Tobias and the long coat he had been wearing. He could imagine that wielders of mystical forces trying to blend into this world might go for something like that. It was inspiring him, and he decided that was the way to go. He wasn’t sure what flavor of magic – he wasn’t even disregarding the idea of a cleric or healer or whatever passed for a “Med Kit” style character as video games sometimes dubbed them.

  So, he tugged out some white robes, then found a black sash with scrawling red characters all along it. Deciding it still read a little too much like ‘modern priest’, he found a faux-gold medallion shaped into a central eye surrounded by a pentagram-star. Vague enough it could match a lot of different background if he described it right, Conner was satisfied.

  It was Halloween, but also a little early to be in full costume mode. So, he tossed on a jacket to keep the evening chill off, slung his back, and headed for the door. His legs swished inside the white robes, but he didn’t care too much. Again, it was Halloween. Weirdos were the norm tonight, and fashion sense was going to take a walk on the wild side for most people.

  None of them lived too far apart. Colin’s parents had done well enough, and bought early before housing prices really started to soar. They could afford the new property taxes in the downtown core, so they lived in one of the few streets with houses that weren’t just squished together town-houses around here. That didn’t make their yards huge. No, they were still crammed together when compared to the suburbs. But a little bigger.

  As such, it was a short subway ride and a quick walk that had Conner on Colin’s doorstep. His parents had given him a free ride to stay at home as long as he was still in college, and his friend was taking full advantage of that. Conner couldn’t blame him.

  He knocked on the door, cooling his heels for less than a minute before Colin himself opened the way into the house. He was a bear of a young man, in many ways a younger version of the older Tobias. Jolly and kind, there wasn’t a bad bone anywhere in Colin’s body. That is, until he got around a gaming table and delved into the dark parts of his character. He played the most rambunctious barbarians and war-lusting savages that Conner had ever seen.

  Conner followed him toward the basement stairs, talking as they went, “You have no idea how glad I am you could still host. You would not believe the day I’ve had. I needed the chance to blow off a little steam.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Hey, wait a minute. Why aren’t you in costume? Come on, thought we’d all decided to have fun with it! I was looking forward to see you all in all your ‘killer Viking’ look or something.”

  Colin managed to hide his sheepish expression until they were downstairs in the gaming den. It was still as impressive as always. A huge central gaming table with several side tables for supporting elements. Terrain maps. Miniatures in glass cases. Literally entire walls covered with shelves sporting dozens… nay, hundreds of various games and their many supplements. Games dated back as far as his parents’ habit, spanning generations and version changes and more. A whole clear-plastic chest dominated one table, and inside were thousands of dice from every variety known to the gaming world, from the standard D6/D10/D20 to the bizarre. They’d shown Conner a D77 once, just to show that anything was possible. It was brilliant.

  But Conner was getting a read that something was off. He tossed his bag onto his usual seat as he asked, “What’s going on?”

  Colin looked pained. “No costume and no party for me, dude. The lab called. I’m getting computer time, but only for the next three nights. If I don’t take it, I’m not sure when I’m going to get the numbers crunched for my econ project. They pulled a few strings for me to get this much. I couldn’t say no.”

  Conner groaned. “When’d this happen? You told us we were a ‘go’ less than an hour ago!”

  “Yeah. Got the call about twenty minutes ago.”

  Conner’s shoulders slumped. “Well, crap.” He shook his head, trying to recover from his disappointment. “Guess I can text everyone and shut it down again. I was the one pushing it, so it should be me. Then I can just hang around here till the old guy shows up and send him off.”

  Colin was already shaking his head. “Nah, man. Don’t do that. Stay and hang out. You know my parents won’t mind if you use the basement. You’re practically family.”

  Conner didn’t want to get him in trouble. “You sure? I mean, there’s a stranger coming over. Oh, and Nathan couldn’t make it so he’s tapping that girl Tasha into the ring to see if she works out. If you aren’t here, then it’s only Elaine and me that you parents know.”

  “Nah, it’ll be fine. They probably won’t even find out. They’re already gone to a company party at Dad’s work. Probably will be midnight before they’re back.”

  “Your house is going to be dark for trick-or-treaters? That’ll be weird.”

  “Nah. They bribed my sister into staying home long enough to deal with the kids until sunset. I think she’ll just dump the candy onto the porch with a ‘take one’ sign while she hangs out on the couch. Anyway, if you need anything, you can shout up to her and she can point you in the right direction. It’ll be fine.”

  Conner smirked. “Yeah, probably not. Your sister thinks we’re ridiculous, remember? I mean, how does she even survive in a family full of geeks?”

  Colin grinned, loving to tease his at-times pretentious sibling. “Some girls go goth to rebel against their politician parents. Well, my sister’s gone all preppy to rebel against her geek ones. Guess parents really can’t win no matter what they try.”

  Nudging him in the arm, Conner said, “Hey, they got you converted.” He glanced around the room, then shrugged. “Alright, sure. If you’re offering, I’m not going to turn you down. I’ll look after the place and keep things to a dull roar. Like I said, I needed this. Thanks for helping make it happen.”

  “All good, man. Take it easy. I got to run.” They bumped fists, and Colin ambled up the stairs and vanished.

  Once Colin was gone, Conner slumped a little. He had a little bit of privacy, so didn’t have to hide his disappointment. He was fighting to keep this game alive, and it was like the universe was telling him to just let it go. Not normally a believer in bad omens, but this is getting ridiculous.

  He pulled himself off the edge of despair, and decided to roll with it. The game was still alive, even if they were down to only three players again. They could manage. Three was good.

  He busied himself with pulling out his books, papers and such. Still not sure what system they were going to play, he could at least browse through what he had and get inspired. That would get him back in the groove. He wanted to be in a good mood; assuming Nathan’s replacement showed up, he was determined to make a good impression on Tasha. She seemed like a lot of fun, though that was only from brief encounters at school. He hadn’t seen her since graduation, but imagined she hadn’t changed all that much. She could be an awesome addition to their little team.

  The door at the top of the stairs opened, and he heard Elaine’s familiar voice talking with Colin’s sister. It was a friendly enough back-and-forth. The two didn’t hate each other or anything. They were simply from two different world-views. Elaine believed in the wondrous, and Nadia thought anything that couldn’t be touched wasn’t real. They orbited Colin on two different trajectories and rarely crossed paths.

  The exchange ended, and Elaine descended into the basement.

  It was a good thing the last book he was holding was near the table. Because he dropped it.

  Elaine emerged into the room with the total lack of vanity that comes from never quite knowing how devastating she could be. There was an inner fire that shone when a person was who they wanted to be, and damn the consequences. Elaine owned who she was, and it showed.

  It helped that her costume was sexy in the sort of way meant to make people drool, though.

  She was dress in a skin-tight leotard, like yoga pants except stretched over her whole frame. She was wearing polished boots that extended up to her mid-calf, but made to be sleek instead of clunky. Polished like latex, they had an inch heel and a pointed toe that might do damage if she kicked someone. If the body-hugging attire wasn’t sexy enough, she had a slit along her breast bone, running from an inch below her neck and down almost to her navel. The split spread far enough to give a glimpse of cleavage on the inner edges of her breasts, while the rest was concealed under the thin covering of spandex. The main effort of the costume were the leather wings extended behind her. She had put some effort into giving them structure, while not sucking out too far to make it hard to go through doorways. She had painted the texture on well, and Conner swore they might start flapping any minute. The effect was completed with a pair of mousey ears nestled in her dark hair.

  Conner knew her sense of humor was at work. Comics were becoming popular, and so costumes these days revolved around them. No doubt, here would be a hundred ‘sexy Batwomen’ out on the streets tonight. She had joined their ranks, though not in the normal way, poking fun at the trend while still looking damned hot. It was the sort of thing he’d come to expect from her.

  Despite all his efforts at keeping things cool around each other, he wouldn’t be a living breathing human if he remained unaffected by her overtly sexual choices. He gave a soft, impressed whistle and said, “Holy shit, Elaine. You look amazing.”

  And despite their long-term friendship, Elaine was flustered enough by the compliment to grow a little blush on her pale skin. She turned a quick circle, inviting him to take in the full details on the wings… not to mention the tight swell of her cute butt shaped perfectly in the outfit. Coming back to face front, she grinned at him. “Figured this might get a few eyebrows raised.”

  “You aren’t wrong.” He gestured at the table. “Colin’s sister fill you in?”

  “You mean about Colin not sticking around? Yeah. Sucks. And what’d I hear about Nathan tapping out?”

  Conner sobered a little. “That’s true, too. Death in the family. No fun at all. But at least he sourced a replacement. Remember Tasha?”

  “Umm, I think so. Cute girl, red hair, ‘bout yay high?” She held her palm up to a few inches shorter than her own five-foot, six-inch height.

  “Got it in one.”

  “She gave up gaming, from what I heard.”

  Conner shrugged. “Wants to take another run at it, and she heard our group was stable and fun. Figured we could audition her tonight. Though without Colin here, it’ll just be the two of us seeing what she can do.”

  “The others will trust us. Now, what’s this about getting a mercenary GM in here tonight? What the hell happened?”

  Conner ran her through the bizarre scene, including the strange offer of a GM-style reward. “Figured it was weird enough for a Halloween night that it made sense.”

  Elaine gave him a punch to the arm. “You could have gotten yourself knifed, you moron! Don’t do that anymore! Gah, you were totally born in the wrong century! Take fencing. Vigilante justice in the city streets. You might as well live in a swashbuckling movie!”

  “If only I did!” He winked her way. “Then I could toss you over my shoulder and carry you off when you walk around dressed like that.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him. “Try it and I’ll bite you.”

  “Promise?”

  The doorbell rang upstairs.

  Conner checked the clock and saw it was only a quarter-to-six. The strange old man had seemed like the type to be punctual for some reason. “That’s probably Tasha.”

  “We should bring her down. Save Nadia the trouble. The less she has to complain about, the less she’ll bother us.”

  “I’ll get her so you can finish settling in. I’m pretty much good to go.” He angled around the table, heading for the stairs. He caught himself when Elaine bent over to open her bag, watching how her wonderful behind rounded in his vision, heart-shaped and firm under the spandex. Chasing his eyes away and back to the table, he reminded himself sharply that things were good. Don’t screw it up with hormones!

  He was up the stairs and made it to the door before Nadia, saving her the trouble. Score one for the visiting team. He pulled open the door, totally unprepared for what awaited him.

  Tasha was a familiar sight, and she hadn’t changed all that much. Her smile was spritely, her dimples flashed and her freckles were a fetching accent around her nose. She was only a little over five feet tall, but was so athletically well-proportioned that she gave the impression of being whip-like and fast.

  That was where recognition ended, because he had never seen her looking like this!

  Normally, she was a cheerful spirit who had her own personal style that was semi-trendy but not too flashy about it. Bright, warms colors were her go-to ideal. At least that much was true in her costume. A pair of fox-ears was fixed into her orange-red hair, perfectly suited to her natural coloring. She had a faux-furry shawl bundled around her neck; the orange color brushed through with white tips to give it texture. Below, she was wearing a white halter-top that did very little to contain the inviting bob of her breasts beneath them, giving a strangely accurate impression of the white-tinted fur on a fox’s chest. Her pants were orange, and stretched down to her mid-calf, giving a small splash of skin before her petite black boots finished off the effect. She was also wearing orange strips of cloth wrapped around her forearms like work-out gear, with hands capped off in black gloves to once again simulate a fox’s black-stocking fur around its paws. She had painted orange and white accents along her bare skin, filling in what her clothing didn’t cover.

  The true coup-de-grace was the billowy tail she had fashioned. It floated out behind her, twitching and swaying with every bob of her behind. It didn’t have real life to it, but it was plush and flowing enough to draw the eye, which in turn led right back to her sensual butt presented under those lovely and tight orange pants.

  As effervescent as ever, Tasha spread her arms and invited comment. “Well, do I pass muster? I was told costumes were expected.”

  Conner tried to find the right words, his face screaming his approval no doubt. He never had much of a poker face. “Wow, do you ever! Kitsune? Fox spirit, I mean?” He was never sure if he pronounced the Japanese word right.

  Tasha beamed her smile back at him. “Yes! They’re so much fun! Mischief and ferocity all mixed into one!” She gave a happy little growl, then giggled. She flashed a considering gaze up and down his own white robes and sash. She seemed to be weighing one magic versus another, and decided on, “Cleric. Yup, definitely cleric. Which is great, because no-one ever wants to be the cleric.”

  Glad for her verbal patter as it helped break past the sexual impact she had on him at first sight, Conner seized hold of the new topic. “That’s because everyone always plays them like Catholic Priests for some reason. I mean, all respect to them, but I doubt a Sun-god cleric would be all happy-happy all the time, and would probably lay waste with a few sun beams of pure destruction once in a while.”

  She considered his ‘eye in pentagram’ symbol. “You aren’t going for a sun god follower, though.”

  “Nah. Still working it out, but it’ll come to me. Sort of waiting to see what our GM cooks up for the game world we’ll be in. Might only have a couple choices, so I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

  A pause.

  Tasha eventually flashed him a grin, “So, going to let me in?”

  “Right! The whole ‘not keep you on the porch’ thing.”

  “It’s not your place, so I forgive you.” Her sly smile teased him, clearly knowing exactly why his brain was a little syrupy, but not holding it against him. He stood aside, and she slipped past, carting a small book-bag with her that was the hallmark of any serious gamer. Conner had to be dreaming it, but was she flipping that tail of hers extra flirtatiously just to tease him even more?

  He followed after, and showed up back in the basement just in time to see Elaine and Tasha getting acquainted. Both of them gushed over the other’s choices, chatted about the horrendous time doing make-up in tough to reach places, and soon settled in chatting about characters.

  Conner smiled. This was as good start. None of the group were all that prickly, so if both he and Elaine could get alone with Tasha, he was sure she would make a great addition to their regular games.

  Elaine wondered, “Whoever this guy is, I hope he is a little free with his character acceptance. Some points systems make it awfully hard to customize. Flying characters can destroy some GMs mojo.”

  Tasha gestured at herself. “Oh, I know what you mean. You know how many points it takes in almost any system to create a kitsune?”

  Conner shrugged. “I didn’t get the impression this guy was inflexible. I mean, he’s probably got his own way of doing things, but he was really confident about his story-telling skills.” Gave a small laugh. “Said he’d entertained kings before and had them speechless.

 

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