“What in God's name are these?” Rebecca asked, picking at parts of her attire. “These look stupid and they’re cutting into my legs.”
“Those are fishnet stockings, sweetie.” Rosie tried her best to sound positive. Easier from her position since she got to wear a princess-like red dress while going in as an opera singer. That would have been more fitting for the girl from the nineteenth century compared to what she had on.
My poor girlfriend was stuck in some kind of women’s magician outfit. She at least had shorts instead of something like a leotard, even if they were a billion times shorter than anything she would have worn in public otherwise. The fishnet stockings she hated the moment she saw them, and there was a bit of a learning period for her to figure out how to walk in high heels. To her credit, she did remarkably well adjusting to the shoes. The praise I gave her didn’t do a lot to wipe the look of disdain off her face.
The top half of her costume was more modest and didn’t get a peep out of her, not when she had so much else to complain about. For her benefit, Lizzy was able to snag a variant of the costume that didn’t rely on prominent cleavage showing on top of everything else Rebecca already hated about it. Suffice to say, she wasn’t a big fan of how women’s clothing had evolved—or devolved, in her words—during her time in stasis.
“Hey, at least we match, right?” I put my arm around her in an attempt to make her feel better about the whole thing.
“Oh no you don’t. You have pants, mister.” She tugged at the thigh of the black pants I had on as if that would somehow transfer them to her.
She did have a point. “I might have pants, but I do have this stupid bowtie and hat.” My outfit was closer to a “proper” magician’s garb and it was less about making an outfit sexy. I wasn’t sold on the blood-red bowtie and the tall top hat that came with it. Lizzy insisted that I had to wear it and complete the set. I kept telling myself I listened to her only because she went out of her way to find a costume for me that wasn’t completely humiliating and came with sleeves to cover my arm scar.
The other costumes were sort of fun, striking a good balance between eye-catching and modest enough for the setting. Alex was our chiseled, shirtless, handsome guy to help get us in since I wasn’t going to be that guy for the team. He had tight bike shorts, elbow pads, and knee pads in an attempt to look like a professional wrestler. Honestly, he kind of had the look for what I imagined one to be. His gruff demeanor helped carry the image in my mind.
Val, maybe a little on the nose, was dressed up as a Valkyrie. I was pretty sure Lizzy only chose that costume just because she wanted to do her hair in a long braid. The costume choice seemed a little too obvious for how Lizzy operated. Val wasn’t happy at all about leaving her actual sword in the hotel room and replacing it with a foam lookalike. It took some time, but we were finally able to tell her that, unfortunately, she wasn’t allowed to bring an actual sword to a boat party. I agreed that a lady should be able to carry her bladed weaponry where she pleased, especially since everyone else got to bring their superpowers with them. It was a shame the party’s rules didn’t care about what I thought. The prize she could take away from it all was that her costume completely kicked ass. Finding such a great one that could fit Val was some kind of magic done by Lizzy.
Braden got a Grim Reaper cloak and a big toy scythe. A little unremarkable and on the nose again, though it fit his quiet demeanor and spooky Anomaly nicely. Julio got a big trench coat, a hat that was either a fedora or resembled one, and some makeup to create some short stubble along his jaw. I couldn’t tell if he was supposed to be a grizzled cop or a private investigator from an old movie, but he seemed to enjoy it and it kept him settled. The past few days of scouting taught me that Julio didn’t exactly shy away from being the center of attention, to put it mildly.
We awkwardly shuffled behind a few trees, trying to stay out of sight of another group walking by. We had to wait on Lizzy and Lori, so we didn’t want to look like we were up to no good. Even worse, we didn’t want people to think we were up to no good and then try to get in on that dastardly behavior. There was no shortage of drugs and alcohol going on and off the yacht. Even if any of us had wanted to partake in some bad decisions, having Julio—an actual child—with us sort of killed any wild partying vibes we had. We had no plans to stir the pot, or rock the boat, to be more thematically accurate.
“We should have been on that thing twenty minutes ago,” Braden grumbled. With his face obscured by the night and his hood, I couldn’t see his expression. It might have been the first time I’d ever heard the guy annoyed.
“Sorry we’re late!” Lizzy yelled, right on cue. She appeared behind all of us, her hands on her knees and short on breath. It wasn’t until she stretched and popped her back that I could see what she was wearing. In the darkness of the night and treeline, I could make out a pinstripe pantsuit of some kind. There was some moonlight reflecting off a fake pair of glasses and I could barely tell that her hair was up in a bun. “It took forever to make something work for Lori.”
“What are you supposed to be?” Alex asked. I rolled my eyes that his first question to Lizzy was about her costume and not about his girlfriend’s whereabouts. That was par for the course for that guy.
“I am a business executive!” It was still hard to see, but I knew that Lizzy confidently put one hand on her hip and adjusted her glasses. I could feel the smug grin on her face in the darkness. “Nothing makes me feel more powerful than some nice business wear.”
“That’s not a costume, is it?” Julio asked, making it sound more like a statement than a question. “You just had that lying around. Do you play dress-up in your spare time?”
“Listen, you little gremlin, I run a business. There are times when I have to go to meetings or look professional. I am every executive, manager, and employee for my work. I have to keep track of expenses, profit, and any logistics on my own.” Lizzy stepped more into the moonlight and puffed out her chest with pride. “That means if I need a damn suit, I’m getting a damn suit, and I’ll throw you in the lake if you make fun of it again.” She lightly punched him on the arm so the rest of us knew it was all in good fun.
“The whole professional thing is a nice look, but did you sell Lori off to pirates or slavers?” I tried to look around her for my friend, but just saw the outlines of some trees.
“Yeah, all the slavers the world has are hiding away at a lake two hours away from Denver.” Lizzy turned around and shrugged. “She was right behind me. Come on out, we need to get this show on the road.”
She reached around a couple of trees before finally dragging out the small frame of my boss. Lori tried to stick her feet in the ground to try and resist Lizzy’s pulling. Yeah, that didn’t work out for her. She kept her head down and her entire face was blocked by a large, floppy witch hat. Even with the hat blocking her face from view, I knew the entire group could feel how upset the girl was.
“She’s more padded push-up bra with crossed straps than an actual girl at this point, but she’s here.” Lizzy wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. “Seriously, that thing is more complicated than quantum mechanics.”
“Thanks, everyone here just really needed to know about the contents of the bra I’m wearing.” Lori lifted her head up and groaned, revealing her frown.
“Actually, the contents of your bra are a completely different and personal matter.”
“Ugh, stop! You’re just the worst.” Lori did manage a laugh and lightly slapped Lizzy’s shoulders with both hands. After a little bit of playing around, she went back to frowning. “This sucks. I already hate this party.”
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“Because your boobs are jammed up to your eyeballs?” Lizzy asked, feigning innocence.
“No, it’s because the stupid pants you picked out for me are giving me a permanent wedgie. And I feel like half my ass is hanging out of this skirt.” Lori fidgeted awkwardly in her costume. She really looked like she would have preferred to be naked instead of in that thing. It was a black and orange witch costume, and like Lori was saying, the outfit had a very small miniskirt. For her sake, at least that was the only revealing part of the costume, and she was able to find something to remedy that. Somewhat, anyway.
“I get it, that skirt is meant for a narrower-hipped and flatter-butted woman than you. Do you know how hard it was to find those pants that fit your leg length and your butt?” To my surprise, Lizzy actually slapped Lori’s backside. Both the impact and Lori’s yelp were loud enough that I thought it’d blow our cover. That was just the price to pay for the girls being girls. “If you weren’t so worried about your ass hanging out, you wouldn’t even need those pants.”
“Okay, you’ve talked about my chest and my backside.” Lori clapped her hands cheerfully before pointing toward the yacht. “Maybe we get this started before you humiliate me more, yeah?”
“What’s with all the, you know, everything with some of the costumes?” I asked. My goal was to not bring up stuff that made Rebecca and Lori uncomfortable, but that ship sailed the moment Lizzy got involved with the project.
Lizzy didn’t respond. She pushed by us and took a harder look at the people who were being let in and the people who were being kicked out. Whatever she was looking for, she wasn’t satisfied. She clicked her tongue and looked back at all of us, a hard look breaking through the usual playfulness. She double-checked what everyone was wearing and adjusted some parts that she found to be subpar. Impressive, given that I could barely see a damn thing out there.
“This might be a top-two-buttons-undone kind of event,” Lizzy grumbled.
“I’m sorry, what?” I wasn’t sure what she saw, but I was starting to get a little anxious.
Lori gently spoke up. “Ethan, at these kinds of parties, the girls usually have to...look a certain way. It depends on security, the hosts, the theme, and a bunch of other things, but the constant is usually how they want the women to look. Remember the nightclub rules I mentioned over the briefing?”
“Look, I don’t really get it.” I wasn’t going to pretend I knew about the etiquette of the yacht party scene.
“Here, look with me,” Lori directed my view to the two bouncers deciding who got to go in and who didn’t. One girl in a large fur coat was turned away, and it was hard to see her face in full. I just assumed she was pretty like most of the other girls who showed up to the party. “They’re much worse about it than the first night, see? It sucks and it isn’t right, but Lizzy and I agreed that we might need a bit of help to get in. That’s why I’m stuck in this miserable outfit, Rebecca has her own small nightmare of a costume, and Alex is shirtless. Lizzy is, well, Lizzy. She could get in wearing a hazmat suit.
“We think that because we have enough girls, we’ll be fine. Based on yesterday, they would frumpier girls if they’re in groups with girls in skimpier costumes, so we need to go in together. Rosie and Lizzy are pretty, so they should be locks to get in. Rebecca is also pretty, then throwing in that redheads and strong women usually have a...certain effect on people, I don’t think she needs much more than her costume provides. Same thing applies for Val. I’d say I’m more cute than I am pretty, so I needed a bit more help, if you know what I mean, to try and get in. No offense to you lovely boys here, but Alex is really the only guy here with a body that’d get in on its own.”
“None taken.” I was in better shape than I had been in Oregon, which might’ve been the world’s lowest bar. There was still a long way to go before I could say I looked the part of someone with superpowers.
Before we made our way down to the docking area, Lizzy handed us some small devices to put in our ears. “Here, these are communication devices. If you notice anything odd, reach out immediately.”
“We’re all a team today,” Lori added, tilting her witch hat to the side. “There’s no lone wolf heroics, not that we should need any. Mingle, get what information you can, maybe make some friends, and have fun.”
All of us made our way down toward the yacht. With all the unfamiliar people around me, I felt my chest tighten up. There was something close to a disorganized mess of a line forming closer to the ramp. Groups loosely hung around each other. Plenty of people were already under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A guy around my age and height stumbled back into me. I was able to catch him so he didn’t hurt himself. With all the people I felt were crowding around me, I almost told Lori that I wouldn’t be able to do it.
“Hey, sorry about that, man!” The guy stumbled, thankfully away from me this time. He was definitely high or drunk. Despite that, his face was friendly and kind. I was still uncomfortable, but I was feeling a bit better. Slowly, he scanned my costume up and down. “Do a trick, bro!”
After we scouted the party and Lizzy told me she had a magician costume for me, I did actually think up a single little “trick” I could do. The line wasn’t moving much, so I figured it was as good a time as any. I put my right hand in my pocket, formed a small orb, and brought it out. The moonlight and the light from the yacht passed through it, casting a funky purple-pink glow over me. The guy cocked his head at the orb and the color, clearly unimpressed by my skills. Perfectly fine, that wasn’t supposed to be the impressive part.
I rolled the smooth orb around in the palm of my hand for a few seconds, just to show that there wasn’t anything attached to it that would reveal it as a fake. When he got a good look at it, I tossed the orb into the air, about a foot above my head. As subtly as I could, I guided it down toward my index finger, where it stopped about half an inch above my fingertip. Once there, I used my other hand to spin the ball. I admit, I mostly stole the idea from watching people spin basketballs on their fingertips. I just wanted to add the hovering aspect to mine as a little personal touch.
When the guy could see that it wasn’t actually touching my finger, he got a bit more into the trick. I lifted the orb in the air and brought it down on my hand’s other fingers, keeping the spinning up. Since I was just guiding the orb down without the need to balance it, the entire thing was a piece of cake. The guy didn’t know that and he didn’t have to. He was getting a kick out of it anyway, cheering like it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen in his life, his loud, drunk laughter drawing a few glares from the folks surrounding us. His buddies joined in with some laughter too, throwing in the occasional question on how I did it.
I ended the trick by tossing the orb up in the air one last time and clapping both my hands against it once it fell. I broke it down, and when I opened up my hands again, the orb was nothing but purple-pink dust. I blew it into the air and it created a beautiful sparkling scene in front of everyone. It had taken me a few tries to be able to consistently break it down into that kind of dust, so the oohs from the group made me just a little bit proud. I hadn’t shown it to Rebecca either, so when her eyes went wide and the sparkling reflected in them, that was my real reward.
When the dust finally floated to the ground, I did a little wave and bow. The applause I had been expecting and the applause I got were not the same. Not even close. I lifted my head and saw that most of the crowd had seen what I’d done. I was so focused on not messing up that I didn’t realize I had made myself the center of attention. My face went red and I gave another wave, this one a little bit more reserved.
“That was so pretty,” Rebecca whispered, giving me a gentle bump with her elbow.
“What can she do?” The guy started pointing toward my girlfriend and I realized the issue with our couple’s costume. I had the power to create and destroy some colorful objects at will. Rebecca did not.
“I’m a vocal illusionist.” She answered quickly, a little too quickly. Good thing the guy was already wasted.
“Yeah?” The guy was either suspicious or had no idea what Rebecca meant. “What’s a vocal illusionist do?”
Rebecca made a quick sweeping motion in front of her throat. “Well, I can do this.” She matched her voice perfectly to the guy’s, even getting the small slurring he had in there. I knew she didn’t have to do any hand motioning to make her vocal powers work. It just helped to complete the whole magician look we were going for.
“Whoa, that’s creepy!” The guy took a step back and nearly fell over in the process. “How do you do that?”
“Oh, a magician never reveals her secrets.” This time, her voice was that of a young girl’s, an appropriate giggle following. She gave her own wave and bow, before switching her voice to Rosie’s. “Thanks for coming out, y’all!”
The crowd applauded again. We struck the right balance between a satisfying magic act and being too over the top. Most of the people around us probably had their own powers, so I doubted they really believed in our “magic”. That wasn’t the point of it. We had fun, and hopefully, left a positive impression on everyone who watched. Looking past the small crowd, I could see that even the security guards were cracking smiles at our little display. I took that as a near-guarantee that we were just about guaranteed to get into the party.