Fashionably Late

     Fashionably Late
      
     By Devin Hallsworth
     

     Authors Comments: Hi, this is my first submission to shifti. This story is set in Bryan Derksen's Xanadu setting and will be posted to the Xanadu story archive as well. before that though I wanted to use it to test posting here and to hopefully get a couple comments on it from people other than the guys on the TSA Mailing list where it was originally submitted. 

Insert non-formatted text here

     Feel free to comment and point out anything you like or dislike.

     The Xanadu setting was created by and is the intellectual property of Bryan Derksen.

     Jacob kicked the flat on his car. Frustrated but not letting it get to 
     him.  He was about another hour from Xanadu, this was going to take a bit 
     of time but once he got the spare...
      
     Jacob mentally kicked himself. He'd taken the spare out of the trunk to 
     make room for his costume and bags. He hadn't even thought anything of it 
     when he did, heck he'd never even had to change a tire in his life until 
     right now.
      
     He reached into his pants pocket for his cellphone. Everything was fine, 
     he told himself. At worst he'd be a few hours late after he found a tow 
     service that could come out. He'd been looking forward to Xanadu, but more 
     as a sightseer than anything else. 
      
     He didn't really have any freinds he was meeting there, it was just an 
     oppourtunity to test the costume he'd made before taking it to an anthro 
     convention and maybe get some ideas from looking at what other people had 
     done.  Xanadu was the BIG one. He really didn't care how his arctic fox 
     costume stacked up against some of the stuff he'd see there, he was just 
     looking for ways to better represent his avatar and what better place to 
     do that than Xanadu.
      
     Feeling better, his only worry now was how much the bill was going to be 
     from the tow company...

     ***
      
     Mack heaved the booth wall over to get at some of his costumes that lay 
     scattered beneath it.  He cursed as he saw some of them were going to need 
     repairs. 
      
     "Well this is just lovely. Not only does someone take off with my cash bag 
     in the chaos but some of these thousand dollar full body costumes are 
     going to need stitching as well and its not like I can just repair them 
     and sell them for full price with a clean conscience." He grumbled. Fiona 
     gave him an out of character leer in response.
      
     "At least you didn't come as a Victorian era Vixen anthro." She said, 
     gingerly helping him pick up some of the costumes that lay scattered. 
     Though she had to take it easy as she was wearing a corset under her dress 
     they had found out she couldn't take off in public, she was just grateful 
     she hadn't come in a bodice.  That made Mack feel a bit guilty although he 
     wondered if it was just something in Fiona's head that wouldn't let her...
      
     "Well... Maybe I would have liked to come as something. I only didn't 
     because I wanted to focus on the business while  I was here." Mack 
     replied, examing a Minbarri head that he'd sculpted by hand just a month 
     before the convention. He'd sold the other one he'd made a couple hours 
     before. It made him wonder where that person was now. "I had that problem 
     at the last Anthrocon I went too remember? I had a lot of fun with that 
     coyote morph costume but I coudn't concentrate on running the booth."
      
     "Hmph, I'm sure you would've just loved coming in that female anthro 
     Girrafe costume you've been working on for the past year." She said 
     bitterly. Mack imagined that if a proper lady was allowed to lose her cool 
     and cuss people out in public Fred.. er... Fiona would be right now.
      
     He considered what to say for a second. Part of him wanted to snap at Fred 
     that no one had made him come to Xanadu dressed as an Victorian styled 
     Vixen but considering he was the one who had designed and built the 
     costume for him...
      
     "Sorry.." He said, feeling a bit innadequate. What business did he have 
     getting angry? He should be trying to be there for Fiona like she was 
     trying to be for him by helping him salvage what was left of his booth.
      
     "No, dont. Dont worry about it." She said with a sigh. "I know I shouldn't 
     be acting this way. I just wish I had someone to help me through this." 
     She said, sitting down on the shattered remnants of his table, careful 
     about not getting her dress caught on anything. "I realize its greedy of 
     me to think so but a part of me actually wishes you had come in costume, 
     then maybe we could have helped each other with this." The sadness in her 
     voice was much more muted than her words seemed to say, but Mack could 
     tell just by looking at her that there were some of the pshychological 
     changes in her head that he'd seen in some of the other convention goers 
     who had been struck.
      
     Mack considered his words and realized that he could only really bring 
     himself to say one thing. Fred had been his freind and by default Fiona 
     was as well. "Fiona Im sorry I didn't come in costume and now for more 
     than just one reason. I want to be there to help you because your my 
     freind and even if it meant being a lady so that I would be able to share 
     this with you I would." He left unsaid that he couldn't. He hadn't come in 
     costume and that seemed to be that. He felt guilty after saying it, sure 
     it was one thing to say it but did it really mean anything when nothing 
     could be done? 
      
     Fiona smiled, still looking a bit woefull but seeming reassured that at 
     least her freind was there for her as much as he could be. "Thank you."
      
     ***

     Jacob stumbled into the room he had reserved numbly. He dropped his bags 
     on the bed and just looked around for a second, not really believing 
     something so out of this world could happen in such a mundane place as a 
     hotel.
      
     Actualy, he thought of that for a second. It was Xanadu it had happened 
     at. 
      
     Easilly the biggest gathering of costumers anywhere and it gets hit with 
     something that changes everyone into what their costume is? The more Jacob 
     thought of it the more deliberate it seemed to him. Not that it helped 
     considering he couldn't even begin to guess who, why or most importantly 
     how.
      
     He walked over to the window when he heard the sound of car horns blaring 
     from outside. His room wasn't that high, fifth floor. From here he had a 
     pretty good view of the barricade about twenty soldiers were setting up on 
     the street, blocking off traffic from the hotel. The army had arrived just 
     a few minutes behind him, he'd been lucky to get in when he had. 
      
     He turned around slowly. His eyes going straight to the bag that held his 
     costume. He walked over timidly, almost as if he expected it to jump out 
     at him. Carefully he unzipped the bag and looked at the arctic fox head 
     that stared back at him.
      
     What am I doing? He asked himself. Something weird had gone down here and 
     he had no Idea what would happen if he put that costume on, so why was he 
     doing it? He slowly slid the head on, closing his eyes and waiting to see 
     what would happen. 
      
     After a few moments of nothing he opened his eyes to see a very limited 
     field of view of his hotel room. He could feel the material of the mask on 
     his face but that was it. Maybe he needed to put the whole costume on, a 
     part of him thought frantically.
      
     A few minutes later he was fully clad in the costume from head to toe. He 
     walked into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror for a while. 
     Watching in case it should start on him any second now...
      
     Half an hour later he bit back a flood of tears as he tore the mask off 
     and slammed it against the bathroom counter. He threw it out of the room 
     without even looking and sat down on the toilet and shuddered.  When he 
     finnaly got control of himself he took the costume off and carefully 
     packed it back into his bags. He was heading home. 
      
     He'd lived his whole life like this after all, nothing was going to stop 
     him from continuing to do so, not even a missed oppournity like this. He 
     looked around, wondering where the head was. He found it on the other side 
     of the bed and couldn't fight back his grief anymore as he looked over the 
     damage he'd done to the muzzle.

     ***

     Mark had set up his sewing machine after attempting to leave and getting 
     rebuffed by the army outside the convention center. Fiona and him had 
     salvaged an intact desk from another stall whose user had likely abandoned 
     the convention.
      
     Luckilly his sewing machine had survived the event intact. Some of the 
     costumes he hand repaired but for the larger gashes and tears the sewing 
     machine came in handy. He knew he wouldn't likely turn a profit selling 
     them but if he just left them that meant losing all the money he had 
     invested in making them as well and Mack wasn't rich.
      
     Fiona seemed to have picked up a bit of sewing skill from her 
     transformation as well. Mack had been a bit hesitant to let her help at 
     first but she was handling a sewing needle more deftly than someone who'd 
     never touched one before had any business being able to.
      
     He wasn't sure how long he was going to be here, but as long as he was 
     stuck he could at least get some work done to try and recoup his losses. 
     Mack snorted as he thought that. Loss in profit, at the biggest costume 
     convention around. His only gain from this convention was that Fiona it 
     seemed couldn't wear anything but period clothing, which meant she was 
     thinking about commisioning Mack for a wardrobe seeing as he'd not only 
     done the vixen part of her costume but the Victorian style dress as well.
      
     Even with that though he was looking at a severe hit to his budget for 
     this year. What he really needed were some more commisions from new 
     costumers but he doubted any of the transformee's at the convention centre 
     were interested...
     He looked up when he saw someone walking across the debris towards the 
     doors. His stall had been fairly close to the entrance to the costumers 
     hall, something he'd thought would help rake in a little extra cash but 
     instead had only gotten his booth trampled.
      
     The kid didn't look that old, maybe mid twentys at latest. He was carrying 
     two bags with him and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He must not have 
     gotten caught in costume when whatever that was happened, Mack thought. He 
     almost started to think 'lucky' until he saw the expression on his face. 
     It was a brave one but he had red eyes that gave away earlier greif.
      
     The kid slowed down as he walked past and watched what Mack and Fiona were 
     doing. Mack wasn't sure what to say, he doubted this was a potential 
     costumer... in fact unless he missed his guess the kid probably already 
     owned a costume. Still he felt like he aught to say something. 
      
     "Hi." Mack said casually.
      
     The kid looked back at him and then looked back at the full helmet he'd 
     been working on. "Hey." 
      
     Mack had decided to take a break from the other costumes for a moment to 
     repair the damage to his anthro Girrafe helmet. The leg stilts had escaped 
     damage thank god but one of the horns on the helmet had ben bent. Mack was 
     almost ready to put the synthetic fur back on the head.
      
     "Your a costumer?" The kid asked. Mack nodded, wondering if maybe he'd 
     been off on his guess. 
      
     "Yeah, hold on a sec." Mack reached into his pocket and fished out a 
     business card. "I'd like to be able to show you some of the stuff I have 
     here but a fair bit of it got damaged by the stampede of people trying to 
     get out. You can check my website for some good examples of what I do." He 
     wondered if he was coming on too strong, but then again the kid had asked.
      
     He looked at Mack's business card. "Mack Corrinth." The kid smiled and 
     raised his hand, which Mack shook. "Jacob Faye. And uh, actually I was 
     just wondering if you did repairs?" He put his bag down and unzipped it, 
     pulling out the head of a costume. 
      
     "Let me see." Mack said as he took it from Jacob's hands. The muzzle was 
     deformed, Mack felt along inside the head. It was a plastic mesh with some 
     foam overtop. some of the stiching where the muzzle met the skull had torn 
     which caused the muzzle to just droop to the side. It just was a matter of 
     some new stitching and checking to make sure the foam wasn't out of place. 
     "This aint nothing. I can do this for you right now."
      
     Jacob smiled when he heard that. "Thank you. How much?"
      
     Mack shook his head and waved the question away. "No charge. Its good 
     make, It deserves good treatment." He fetched his stuff and got to work 
     before Jacob had a chance to say anything.
      
     Jacob looked like he wanted to protest for a second, but then he just 
     smiled and sat down to wait. "Yeah... yeah it is. I shouldn't have..." 
     Jacob started to say then shook his head. "Heh, I'm heading to a couple 
     furry conventions later this year. Thanks for repairing it. Are you sure I 
     cant pay you something? I came with a couple hundred dollars spending 
     money."
      
     Mack just shook his head. 

     ***

     Jacob almost thought that maybe he should try to press the guy into 
     accepting payment. It was obvious as he sat and waited how badly the guys 
     business had been hit by the event. His booth was trash and a lot of the 
     elaborate looking costumes looked in need of repair. 
      
     He smiled back at the vixen anthro that was hand stitching another costume 
     while Mack worked on the muzzle that Jacob had damaged in that fit of 
     anger. Jacob realized he wasn't really that bad off now that he thought of 
     it. When he went home earlier that day he wouldn't have to worry about 
     what his parents would think, who didn't even know that he was a furry. 
     Wouldn't have to worry about his job, going out in public looking like...
      
     "There we are, told you it was no problem." Mack said, suddenly handing 
     Jacobs mask back to him. Jacob blinked in confusion, thinking that it'd 
     only been at most two minutes. He took the mask and turned it over in his 
     hands, it was as good as new again. This guy was good.
      
     "Are you sure I cant pay you anything?" He asked Mack as he looked at what 
     could have been the face he would've seen in the mirror.
      
     "... Actually, yeah. You can do something." Mack said. "You can promise me 
     that you'll enjoy that costume. Something that good deserve's to be 
     enjoyed, even if its not as good as the real thing."
      
     Jacob looked up in a bit of shock. Sure he'd been thinking about maybe 
     trying wearing it to another convention somewhere down the road but after 
     what happened here how could the guy seriously suggest...
      
     His train of thought ground to a halt when he saw the expression on Mack's 
     face. He suddenly realized Mack wasn't in costume either. 
      
     "Yeah. Okay I can do that." He said, smiling and nodding as he reached his 
     hand out to shake Mack's again. Mack smiled widely when he said that and 
     took his hand. 
      
     "Pleasure doing business with you." Mack said.

     ***
      
     Jacob muttered to himself as he dropped his bags on the bathroom floor. 
     Still stuck in Xanadu unless the Sergeant he'd spoken too kept his word 
     and talked to his superior about letting non afflicted people out.
      
     He sighed and wondered who exactly was running the show anyway. He 
     would've thought the military at first glance until he'd seen a Corporal 
     with a machine gun, a guy wearing an FBI vest and someone in full 
     biohazard gear all involved in a very loud arguement over chain of 

command.

     He ran some water and splashed it on his face. It ussually helped calm him 
     down and at this rate he figured he might be here a while. He would try to 
     get out again in about an hour as he had seen some people who had been 
     alowed to leave. He wasn't sure why some people were allowed to go and not 
     others but he figured that might have something to do with the confusion 
     amongst the authoritys.
      
     He could still hear weird noises elsewhere in the building and although a 
     fair number of the attendee's had retreated there were still quite a few 
     roaming the hallways. 
      
     Jacob had no idea what to do. Head back to his room? He hadn't checked 
     out, course there was no hotel staff around for that to matter anyway. Not 
     to mention a number of rooms with door's wide open or even off their 
     hinges.
     He grabbed his bag and had his hand almost on the bathroom doors handle 
     when he heard something roar so loudly that the he felt it in his bones 
     and the lights flickered off for a second.
      
     Slowly backing away from the door, he figured he may as well stay in here 
     for an hour or so. Just to be safe.

     ***

     Ten minutes or so later he found himself growing pretty bored even despite 
     his uneasiness about heading outside. He needed something to do, but he 
     hadn't broughthis cell phone labtop or anything with him on this trip. 
     He'd just brought some clothes, some travelling supplies like towels 
     larger than the ones you found in hotels and...
      
     He glanced sidelong at his bags. Jacob almost didn't want to do it, but 
     he'd made a promise to both himself and Mack. Not to mention that if he 
     couldn't even bring himself to look at his costume he may as well just say 
     the hell with the furry fandom altogether and there was no way he could 
     bring himself to do that.
      
     That thought made him feel a bit better. There were lots of people he knew 
     on IRC and various other internet hangouts that also hadn't come to 
     Xanadu. When he got home and got online doubtless there would be more than 
     a few emails from freinds wondering if he'd got caught up in the magic 
     here. It would be hard to explain he'd gotten a flat and missed out on it 
     but they'd be more than willing to comfort him for his loss as he would 
     theirs. He smilled and unzipped the bag. Knowing you had freinds to help 
     always made the hurt easier to bear. 
     Taking the head out and examining it in the stale bathroom light he 
     wondered when the last time was that he'd really looked at it. It still 
     looked the same as it had when he'd handed it to Mack but the closer he 
     examined it the more he found himself awestruck by it's craftmanship. It 
     was still the same mask, but for some reason he just couldn't help but 
     feel a much deeper appreciation for it now.
      
     He slid it on, getting a kind of euphoric kick out of the way the material 
     graced his face as he did that he'd never felt before while costuming. 
     Jacob just closed his eyes for a bit and really just felt what it was like 
     to wear it, it was like being new to fursuiting again.
      
     He opened his eyes and looked at the face in the mirror. Staring right 
     back at him was the face he'd always wanted. His breath caught in his 
     throat and a smile tugged at his muzzle as he just looked at himself, 
     wondering how he could have brought himself to damage a mask like th...
      
     He winced and glared at the bathroom door as he heard another roar like 
     the one before, this one sounding angrier than the last. Upset that he 
     couldn't even get a few minutes to just appreciate his costume to himself 
     today he snatched his clothes bag off the floor and slung it over his 
     shoulder, grabbing his costume bag and reaching up to take his mask off. 
     He was just going to wait outside until he could get the hell away from 
     here.
      
     Jacob took one last appreciative look at the mask before taking it off. 
     The ash white fur, the deep azure eyes, the ears folded back against his 
     head to show his aggitation at this mother fuckng day. He sighed and 
     pulled it off, holding it in his paws for a second before putting it back 
     in his bag.
      
     ...
      
     Wait, what?
      
     Jacob stared down at his... paws? White furred with black leathery pads on 
     the palm and tipped with claws. As he watched the fur slowly receded down 
     his arms towards his hands, leaving pink flesh in its wake. 
      
     He accidentally laid his other hand on the mask in his bag and the 
     reccesion stopped. He stared at the mask for a few seconds before putting 
     it back on, watching this time as the fur spread down from his neck all 
     over the rest of his body.

     ***
      
     Mack sighed and considered trying to just pack everything the hell up and 
     heading home. He wasn't sure what kind of trouble the authoritys outside 
     would give him but anything would be better than this.
      
     "And then when my dad gets done suing you he's going after your stupid 
     freind here!" The enraged cat girl screamed at him. Mack just figured she 
     was more scared than anything. He'd sold a cat mask to her and each of her 
     giggling teenage freinds just before the change, but obviously she hadn't 
     taken it as well as he freinds.
      
     "Lindsay, lets just go." Her freind begged her. But Lindsay batted the 
     snow leapord morphs arm away.
      
     "How am I going to get sued?" Fiona asked, sounding confused. Although a 
     small bit of pity for the forlorn cat girl leaked through her tightly 
     composed voice.
      
     "Your an accomplice! You, you.." Lindsay sputtered, gesticulating at Fiona 
     and trying to dredge the words out past her own self pity.
      
     Mack tried to figure out what he could do to calm her down. She would 
     probably take offense if he offered her her money back. But other than 
     that Mack just couldn't think of anything to say.
      
     She was just about to begin her tirade again when she and her freind 
     looked up sharply at a spot behind Mack. He almost got turned around to 
     see what it was when it jumped him and knocked him off his chair.
      
     "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!" The white furry thing that was 
     pinning him in a bear hug repeated again and again. Mack just laid there 
     for a second trying to figure out what the hell was gong on.
      
     "Your welcome?" He replied.
      
     "I wasn't sure how it happened because I'd tried the costume on before and 
     it didn't do anything but then I looked at your business card again and it 
     just made sense and I know you wouldnt take cash before but you dont have 
     any choice this time!!" The Arctic wolf morph shouted gleefully. "I owe 
     you so much, your getting all the cash I have left and when I get back 
     home I'm going on IRC and I know  a LOT of people who are going to be 
     wanting their own costume and im reffering each and every one of them to 
     you and." The arctic wolf morph paused to breath and as he did so he 
     seemed to think of something and jumped off of Mack, looking a couple 
     different ways at once. "Where's the nearest payphone?! Or even a computer 
     with internet, I gotta... I just gotta TELL people about this!" 
      
     Fiona pointed in the direction of the check in desk where several payphone 
     kiosks were located and the arctic wolf took off like a shot. Lindsay's 
     muzzle flashed between confusion, disgust and exhaustion all in a few 
     seconds, after which she just walked off. Her snow leopard freind looked 
     apologetic but didn't say anything as she turned around to follow her.
      
     Mack sat up and looks inquiringly at Fiona. "Who?"
      
     Fiona glanced over her shoulder at where the morph had run off too. "If I 
     had to guess I would say Jacob."
      
     He just stared blankly at her for a second as he tried to follow her train 
     of thought. "Jacob? But that kid didn't get changed." He replied. Fiona 
     shrugged and he thought about what the arctic wolf morph had said. He 
     agreed with Fiona, there was a weird resemblance between that morph and 
     the mask he'd repaired for Jacob but how did he get transformed then? 
      
     He pulled out his business card and looked at it, wondering what Jacob had 
     been referring too. "Mack Corrinth. Costumer. Crafting you the body you've 
     always wanted since nineteen ninety five."
      
     A silence lingered between Mack and Fiona as they thought the implications 
     of that over. "He... he thinks I can make costumes that can transform 
     people?!" Mack said in bewilderment. 
      
     "It does make a bit of sense. I talked with some people who were changed 
     and for some it seemed to make a difference in how they thought of 
     themselves when they were changed." Fiona explained.
      
     "So... Thats, no thats crazy. I mean how could I even find out if I could 
     do..." His voice trailed off as Fiona held up the Anthro Giraffe he had 
     been working on when he met Jacob, a mischievous grin on her muzzle. 
     "Oh..."

     The End

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