Body that is Not My Own How I Love Thee

[Zen]

The night had gone so well, aside from the pings of jealousy and want. He and his longtime friends were enjoying themselves at the party, chatting it up and joking around. Of course Clara and Vincent were there, the scoundrel. Mason never thought his friendly rival would ever date one of his family members, yet here they both were, doting on each other like they were engaged. Of course Vendet surely knew how Mason felt, he was his brother after all. Perhaps he thought it was odd too.

And Violet... Well things hadn't progressed in the direction he wanted. Every time he looked at her he felt like the floor was going to swallow him whole. It was a wonder the two of them even became friends since he became so ridiculously tongue tied around her. Who ever thought she would have made it as an actress, out of all their professions. His parents surely didn't approve.

Luckily Sarah was there for him. Oh of course Mason felt terrible for constantly going to her for advice, and at times he wondered if she ever had feelings for him. Although those questions were put to rest after the many failed relationships she had. It seemed like they were both in the same sinking boat.

Riley was really the only one Mason could have fun with. He never wanted to clobber her, like he did his brothers, and he certainly didn't have feelings for her, nor did it feel like his heart was bringing wrenched with guilt. No their relationship was strictly platonic without any emotional baggage, and he was extremely glad for that.

"Hey Riley, who do you think has the best costume? And you'd better not say Vincent. Bastard's won this contest three years in a row."

But Riley never did get to say who won. Everyone's attention was on the hooded figure who suddenly made the lights go out.

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***​

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Everything hurt. His legs, arms, shoulders, back and tail - they all throbbed painfully. Mason opened his eyes and found himself blinking into a blue light. He was on his back, staring up at the ceiling and he took that moment to recount that night's events.

They were at a party. That's right, he could still hear the guests outside talking. His parents had thrown their annual Halloween party and Mason invited all of his friends. They were in this room talking when a man came in and locked them in. Then suddenly...

Suddenly he saw darkness and he heard the man say, "If you wish to be human again I suggest you step through."

Mason gasped and sat up, sweating. Human? What did he mean about human? Of course they were human! Why wouldn't they be?

...Then he made the grave mistake of glancing at his friends.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!" ​

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

Violet was jolted awake by a yell. She opened her eyes and blinked a few painful times. "What is wr-" She stopped at the sight of Mason. "Y-y-you're a lizard person..." She said quietly. She started to stand, but something bumped the wall behind her, and it hurt. She looked behind her and saw the last thing she ever expected. I have wings?!!?!? She was speechless, not comprehending what happened. She looked around at everyone else, each of them different. She sat back down. "Wh-what happened?" She asked, her red eyes flicking between people. Then, she remembered the man. She looked over at the blue light and watched it. "Who was he?"

 

[Harper]

Riley Croft

It had been ages since Riley had a true night out and she was loving every second of it. She had been so busy the past few months with her classes and teaching that most nights she ended up crashed on the couch. The invitation from Mason had been a blessing and she had RSVP'd the second she opened letter. Her costume choice was an obvious one to any who knew her, Pinocchio had been her favorite story as a child and so the decision to dress as the Blue Fairy was only natural.

The night had been beautiful, a perfect setting for the Halloween party. Riley spent the entire evening catching up with her friends and gossiping about their old teachers who she now called colleagues. They had adjourned to Mason's room as the night began to wind down and Riley had a nice little buzz going from the pumpkin beer in her glass. She would have stayed in that room for the rest of her life if she could have, drinking in the warm glow of her companions. When the strange hooded man entered the room she wasn't terribly concerned, assuming just another guest. It wasn't until the world spun into black that she had any idea what sort of danger she was in.

***​

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By the time the world stopped spinning, Riley felt like her bones had melted and her skin had been scrubbed raw. As she slowly regained consciousness, she became aware of fabric not only laying over her mouth but completely surrounding her. She began to thrash around desperately, afraid of suffocating. By the time she worked her way out of the pile of cloth, she was breathless and scared to death. She pressed her hand against her chest and was shocked to find that she was no longer clothed.

Riley glanced down quickly as she moved her hands to cover herself only to discover a shocking truth; she was blue. Not only that but any trace that she was actually a woman was gone, her body was unisex and nothing existed to actually cover up. Her form was much more spindly and emaciated then before and her fingernails were black and talon-like. She glanced around the room quickly and almost had a heart attack. The room was exactly the same as before, only now giant and filled with large monsters! Except...She recognized some of those monsters. There was Sarah in the corner, exactly as she was before only this time Riley could see through her. Was Sarah a ghost? And there was Clara with shockingly realistic cat features. And here Riley was, blue and tiny.


'Am I a fucking fairy?'Riley thought in a panic, as she glanced around desperately for something to check her reflection in. She spotted a large glass cup on the ground not far from the pile of cloth that had been suffocating her. She now recognized that she had been drowning in her own costume. She stumbled over to the glass and stood in the pool of spilled beer as she gazed in horror upon her own reflection. It was far, far worse than she had thought. Her once tame, blonde hair was now wild and an ashen blue color. She had small, black, stubby horns protruding from her skull and four, large, dragonfly wings sticking out of her back. "Is that a tail!? I have a tail!" She cried out, as she reached behind her to grab on to it. It was then that she noticed her ashen locks continued down the path of her spine like a great mane to coat her tail in fine hair, ending in a bushy tuft at the tip. She idly stroked the hairs on her tail, shocked that she could feel the touch. Her entire body was shaking like a leaf and she turned her large, luminous blue eyes on the rest of the group. "What the fuck!?"

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

Vendet was on the floor he went to sit up and his hurt he could here people talking like thoughts but only bits he didnt know why he was finally able to sit up and he looked around he saw what looked like a lizard man and to his left he saw a tiny blue creature like a fairy and jumped he then look at his hands his nails where longer and he had wings he moved to look in a spilled drink and he had seemed to have bin turned into a vampire he wasnt sure though "anybody else still here or can hear me?" He then started to stand up but stopped and looked around some more waiting to hear someone

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

Violet looked over to the now-speaking vampire. "I can hear you." She said simply, shaking a little. This was all like out of a horror movie. Maybe I'm dreaming.. "Does anyone know what happened?" She asked, trying her best not to stutter or stumble over words. This was just weird.

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

Vendet got up and walked over to her "you look like your costume also Violet" he looked around trying to find other people "I remember a strange hooded man and talking to Mason that's it. what about you?"

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

"Everyone does.." She said quietly. She tried to stand up again, but almost lost her balance this time. She made it to her feet and stretched her wings a little, feeling very strange about it. Then, Violet nodded. "Yeah..I remember that, but other than that..I don't know."

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

He nodded to her "we should find the others or at least where we are" he laughed "I'm a vampire your a demon that means where looking for a lizard man and a werewolf and who knows what else" he stretched his arms and moved his wings and stayed to help balance Violent

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

Violet glanced around. "The others are all here in the room..The room, I don't know." She laughed a little as his comment. "Yeah."

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

He glanced back at her "I don't think where in the room from the looks of it" started to walk around looking for his brother and anyone else that was well wherever they where "maybe not that we're turned into are costume everyone has that creatures behavior so we might get eaten" he laughed at his comment

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

((We're all in the same room. So is the weird portal thingy))

Violet thought about this a moment. "I wonder.." She lifted her hand and watched it. After a moment or two it burst into flames. Violet's eyes grew wide, but she felt no pain. "Woooahh.." The flame went out. "That was..scary." She said.

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

He looked at her wide eyed and started hearing her talk but her lips weren't moving he was reading her emotions and thoughts well surface thought "that's weird I think I just read your mind" he glanced at a pile and stuff on the ground and ran over to it quickly and pick it up and was back in front of Violent quicker then he should've bin "well looks like OCD lovely"

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

Violet paused. "That is weird." She watched as he ran over. "OCD? That's nice." She said sarcastically.

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

"I heard that he said as he ran back over " he looked at her "you don't look very different from high school" he was waiting her to say something to figure out what she wanted to do. Then he heard her speak but her mouth didnt move

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

"I have no idea where to go..maybe Mason knows." She said, stepping away from the Vampire and motioning to the lizard man that had been Mason. She was starting to feel very creepy..she didn't know why, but she thought it might have to do with the fact she was a demon now. She turned back to Mason. "Any ideas?" She asked.

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

"Ya any ideas Mason" Vendet looked around and saw the others "maybe we should go find the others" he looked around at everyone trying to make sure everyone was there but he felt odd he knew he was a vampire but still it was an odd feeling like he was thirsty

 

[Falcon]

It was the yell that brought her to. Though it wasn't really a waking up, more a fading in to consciousness. She lay where she was for a moment trying to remember. What had happened?

They'd been talking together in Mason's room. Mason, They'd been friends almost as long as they'd known each other, and she was his confidant. Not that she minded. He was hers too, when she wanted an actual solution to a problem. But if she needed to just talk through an issue, needed someone to just listen, Sarah'd go to Violet.

Now there was a tricky scenario. Mason had a thing for Violet. To Sarah at least it was obvious. Sarah didn't mind, not really. Oh true she'd once had a bit of a thing for Mason herself, and she wasn't entirely sure those feelings were completely gone, but they were at the very least buried very deep down. For the time being Sarah was perfectly content to leave things as they were. There was no point in destroying a friendship over a very tiny "what if?".

The boys had been goofing around, Clara had been joking with them, Riley had been preparing to say whose costume was the best . . . and then he had appeared.

She could hear the others talking, something had happened. She forced herself to open her eyes, and had to suppress her own scream.

She was lying where she had been previously sitting, literally. It was as if her body had fallen through her chair, wood, pillow, everything, to hover just the barest fraction above the floor. She was now directly underneath her seat, with the right rear leg set squarely through her shoulder. The weirdest bit was she couldn't feel a thing. Oh she was panicked alright, but she couldn't physically feel a thing. No pain, no pressure, nothing. Experimentally she sat up wondering if she was dreaming, hoping she was dreaming.

Instead of knocking the chair over as she had expected, her now semitransparent body passed through it. Now she was severely creeped out. This had to be some sort of horrendous nightmare. Forcing herself to remain calm she looked around for answers, and for the first time saw the others.


"Um, Guys," She said her voice trembling with suppressed panic and sounding strange, like an echo of an echo, "I think we have a problem." As if to illustrate her point she reached out and attempted to grab the red cup of now spilled soda, situated right in front of her. Her hand passed straight through. Again she felt nothing. There was only the vaguest hint that she should have felt something pass through what was no longer there. "I . . . I think I'm dead."

 

[Jae- The nonexistant]

Violet turned to face Sarah. "Maybe..I don't know. You're a ghost though..." she said, her red eyes flickering between the can and Sarah. She walked over. "It's okay Sarah." she said quietly. "We've just all..turned into halloween costume nightmares, that's all.." She realized this sounded very stupid in calming someone, but it was the truth. She was shaking on the inside, but appeared very calm.

 

[Dr.Jeckyll]

"I think we all know how you feel Sarah" he said "I mean where turned into are costume" he walked over to her and then realized she was a ghost "oh" he got quiet just looking at her. He sounded like he didnt care but didn't mean it like that he was still figuring out what happened his head still hurt

 

[Ochalla]

To be fair, Clara would have been at the party no matter what, but with Vincent eager to show off his costume she had been excite to go. Not that her boyfriend had given her a hint on what he was going as so she had to choose her own costume without any concept of what he was doing. And here she had been hoping they could do a couples costume theme. She couldn't really blame him though, he had pretty much started working on the costume since right after last Halloween, before they had been officially dating. Now here they were at the rehearsal of the holiday season, where she could have her family interact with Vincent. Except really they all knew him already. It was mostly all in Clara's head, but she knew that.

Getting to chat and interact with her friends and cousins was always a delight, but there was something on Clara's mind. Unfortunately she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Violet alone. She didn't want any of the other's over hearing and jumping to conclusions. After all Clara wasn't really offering a role, but she did have a preference. Violet would understand, she was a professional. The others might not and she didn't want any presumed hard feelings. Worse came to worse she would call her tomorrow, but she had so wanted to have the conversation in person.

All this and a large party too! Clara was glad to go somewhere quieter away from the "adults" party. Funny, after all these years she still felt like a kid in this house.

Then the man came into the room.

Clara yawned big and stretched. She could almost feel every vertebra expand, from her neck, down to the tip of her tail. Tail? Before she could contemplate that she realized everyone around her was in a panic. In fact everyone around her was a monster!

Not really thinking about how idiotic the idea was, Clara's instincts said she wanted to be somewhere high. The book shelf! With a leap she reached the top and she looked around at everyone below. The discussion and the features started to make sense for her. "I hate to say this, but it seems we do not have any choices."

Clara looked at the blue hole in the room, her hackles raised.