Difference between revisions of "Hannah's Tale"

Revision as of 13:02, 4 February 2011

After talking to Alex, my fiance, I returned to the Darknight booths to take Beth's place at the register while she went on break. Todd's instincts about this year's Kubla Con had been right. The line of people waiting to buy stuff was quite long. I expected to be busy.

I'd only been at it for a few minutes however, when Randal tapped me on the shoulder. "Todd wants to see you. He's with Amy. I think it's time for you to change," he said.

He was trying to supress a grin. Todd has a reputation as a joker, so I got suspicious. "All right, what's he up to this time?"

"I can't say, but it has to do with you hating sushi."

"Oh Lord." I rolled my eyes. I would have grilled Randal further, but I didn't want to keep the customers waiting. Todd had made a fuss some time ago about me not liking sushi, and didn't seem to want to drop it. Well, one doesn't introduce a girl (or anyone else for that matter) to something new by plopping a tentacle down on her plate. If he had started with a Calafornia roll or something like that, I might have tried it, but I don't eat Cthulu, especially not raw.

When I got to Amy's booth, she was working on Todd's new costume. He had been a ringwraith all morning, and at six foot five, the effect had been quite awsome. Now he was being done-up as a Hobbit. Yes, a Hobbit. At least he wasn't afraid of poking fun at himself as well as others. Todd's not a bad guy, in fact he's a pretty good boss, once you get past the practical jokes. He's honest, fair and, sometimes, even considerate. His business instincts are also good. He had built his publishing firm up from nothing. And, after less than four years, it was now one of the top five producers of fantasy and sci-fi books and games in the country.

Being on Darknight's back doorstep, Kubla Con always played an important part in Todd's plans. This year, with all the additional resources plowed into it by Eric Winters, the Con was going to be much grander and Todd was prepared to go all out to match. We rented space for ten tables and brought books and materials to fill them all twice over. Some of that space had been given over to Amy. Todd decided, almost at the last minute, to hire Amy to create costumes and make-up for him and all the Darknight employees in honor of this Con's costume theme. Beth, for example, was Arwen from the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films, Randal was a Star Fleet medical officer from the early Trek, I was made up as a female Vulcan officer from Wrath of Khan, with the red jacket and everything. Amy was a real pro, she had actually worked for Universal before she went free lance. In other words, we looked great.

She was working on Todd's hairy prosthetic feet blending them in to the flesh of his ankles. It was fascinating, I had to pull up a chair and watch. In fact, there was almost as big a crowd watching her as there was buying stuff. A lot of her business cards were being picked up and passed around as well. Todd was just as absobed as everyone else, watching her work, but he finally turned to me and grinned. "Ready for your next role?" There was more than a little mischief in his voice and look.

"Um-huh," I nodded, still watching the feet being done.

Amy pointed to one of the tables with her brush. "It's under there, in the cardboard box."

I reached over and picked it up. On top, written in black sharpie was the word 'mermaid'. Todd giggled like a school girl.

"You're kidding, right?" I pulled it open, fully intending to take the tail and strangle him with it. I was already preparing my defense, justifiable homicide. The costume was pretty though, no, I take that back, it was gorgeous. I couldn't help but, "Oooh" when I pulled it out of the box. The scales were translucent tourquoise and silver in alternating bands. The fin was large, delicate and lacey, with violet and gold veins. "This took a lot of work!" I said.

"Yes, it did," Amy beamed. "It was actually made for someone else, but Todd happened to see it and said it would be perfect for you. I have to agree."

"You don't say."

"Let us know when you're ready," Todd grinned even more evilly. "We'll carry you out and put you on a table. With some ginger and wasabe."

I gave him an "I'll kill you later" look, but said, "OK, I'll wear it." I did look pretty good in a swim suit. If I couldn't take my eyes off it, how would Alex react? I was already imagining him drooling all over his Jedi robes.

I took the box into the curtained off part of the booth and set to work. I removed the dark Vulcan wig and got my hair into some semblance of order, then stripped down to underwear and teeshirt. The tail was a tight fit, evidently made for a slightly smaller person than myself. It just barely reached my hips. I feared it wouldn't zip, but it did. At that moment, there was a 'pop'. It was more something in my head than a sound, but it got my attention. It must have gotten everyone else's attention too, because it got very quiet for a few moments. Then, all Hell broke loose.

There were screams, bellows, shouts, curses, roars and other less definable noises. There were also a few crashes. Something bad was happening and I wanted to face it mobile. I tried to unzip, but there was nothing to unzip. I struggled to roll the edge down, but I couldn't get a grip on it. There were more crashes and I heard Amy scream. Something bumped hard against the curtain just above my head. One way or another, it was time to move. I noticed a small space between two crates of books. I rolled off the chair I was sitting on and crawled/wriggled my way into it.

That was all that I needed for me to realize what had happened to me. No one with legs could move like I just had. I felt a scream comming on, but used both hands to stop it. Revealing where I was just when I couldn't run away seemed like a bad idea. The curtains fell and blocked the light. I heard the crashing of bookselves being knocked over. It all felt and sounded like a mine cave-in. I made myself as small as possible and waited.

I had no idea what had happened to the World outside my little dressing room/hiding place, but judging by what had happened to me, it couldn't be good. I waited until the noise slackened off a little, then, with considerable difficulty, I dragged myself out from under the tangled curtains, books and splintered shelves, and looked around. The first thing I noticed was that my fingers were webbed together at the first knuckle. That did not improve my disposition. I calmed myself down again, then really looked around. There were still a lot of people about, wandering around singly or in small groups. There was a woman in teeshirt and jeans tugging at foot-long antlers that sprouted from her head. An impossibly-large tabby cat zipped by yowling, "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!". A normal-looking woman was wandering about shouting, "Jimmy! Jimmy!". Many people had solidly attached additions that looked suspiciously like the novelty nose and ear coverings that were universally popular this weekend. It didn't take long to figure out that, as with me, people became the costumes they wore when that pop occured.

"Now what?" I thought to myself. No one had yet noticed the mermaid sitting among the ruined book-stalls wearing a faded Orlando Magic teeshirt. Which should give one an idea of just how weird the whole scene was. My natural inclination was to just sit there and wait until Alex found me, but I rejected that. Partly, because it didn't seem safe here, but mostly, I just didn't want Alex to see me like this. I knew him well enough to know that he would be all noble and such, but how would he really feel when he found out that the woman he intended to marry wasn't quite human anymore? If this wasn't permanent, everything would be alright. If it was...? I really didn't want to deal with that just now. Until I knew, I just wanted to put off any encounter with him.

How do I get out of here? I examined my new 'situation'. I found that my range of motion at the hips was about the same as it had been. The tail, my tail was, however, almost disturbingly flexible. Despite the fishy scales, my tailfin was horizontal, like a dolphin or other sea mammal's. I had more side to side motion than I did with legs. My muscles throughout the tail were very firm, considerably stronger than those on my legs had been.