^^^ Click to see costume entry ^^^
Why this costume & how did you get it on her? Hijinks sulked in the corner of the party room, her bag of odds and bobs sitting next to her as she glared around the room. She had had the
perfect outfit! Firefly was the
coolest villain in the DC comics, and the explosives she'd rigged for the belt were just harmless flashbangs! And the flamethrower was basically just a barbecue lighter... she wasn't
actually going to catch anything on fire. Well, at least not
inside the house. But
apparently it wasn't "polite" to bring live weapons to a costume party. She'd been given the chance to wear something else, but she'd snapped at the offer and ran off angrily.
Alas, now she regretted it a bit. She was the only one without a costume. All she was wearing now were here flotation ankle bracelets. At least they had some cool blue LED's in 'em, so she lit up her sulky corner with an eerie glow.
Time passed slowly when you were alone and angry. She didn't want anyone's pity, but she wanted someone to pay attention to her and commiserate at how unfair the whole thing was. Well, she certainly didn't have to wait long.
Like a moth to a flame, a dark-colored Phony in a rocker-outfit sauntered over to the brooding pile of babben. He looked down and smirked as Hijinks glared up at him and snarled, "You got somethin' smart to say bub? Or you just gonna be a creep and stare?"
Without batting an eye he replied smoothly, "Seems like a young'n as spunky as you shouldn't be without a costume... what gives? Got the wrong invitation?"
At this, Hijinks' frown deepened and she spat back venomously, "No, you big dummy. I was going to be Firefly from the DC comics, but apparently bombs and flamethrowers are frowned upon in this establishment".
At this, the stranger snorted, trying not to laugh or smile. Man, this little girl had some gumption. "Y'know, I came over here cause I was curious about that glow coming from your gravity mods, but now I just feel like I fell into a spiny trap. Kinda reminds me of an anglerfish..."
"A what...?" the combative philly asked with an ever-persistent edge to her voice. What was it with this guy? Why wouldn't he just leave her alone... it's not like she wanted or
needed his help! Then again her pride was such that she'd never admit she was kinda happy someone as cool as him was talking to her... and noticing her plight.
"They're a deep-sea fish that hides in the dark, but have this one long light at the end of a string attached to their head. Unsuspecting fish see it when they swim by and go check it out, only to be snapped up by the anglerfish and it's hundreds of super sharp teeth..." the rocker replied as nonchalantly as ever.
At the mention of a light, Hijinks perked up a bit. She
loved things that lit up! This fish sounded like her kind of company! Looking down, she began to rummage eagerly through the backpack that she always dragged around with her, and pulled out a string of LED's. "You mean like this? I've got lots of 'em. I was going to rig these inside my costume but... well... whatever..." Remembering her lack of costume put the frown right back onto her face. But as she started shoving the lights back into her bag, the strange phony reached out and stopped her gently.
"Hold up kid... I've got an idea. My band went through a bit of a prickly phase a little while back. Never really knew what to do with the extra stuff... it'd be nice to see it get some good use. Got some of it in our tour bus outside. Let's rig something together... you can be the life of the party yet, eh?" he crooned, trying not to sound too doting. She reminded him a lot of his little girl when she was this philly's age.
Hijinks lit up almost as much as her LED's and straightened up excitedly, "Heck ya! Free spikey stuff? I aint gonna say no to that! Let's go!"
So the odd pair slipped out of the party and onto the street. The stranger popped open a door on the side of the tour bus and rummaged for a while, pulling out a mask and some spiny back and shoulder plates. Without much of an invitation, Hijinks launched herself into the compartment and dug around herself until she found some loose spines, a coil of wire, and some stiff fabric. It took about an hour, but together the two of them rigged a pretty frightening anglerfish getup. Hijinks had even found some old black-light body paint, and drew designs on her tail that glowed in the right lighting.
After it was all said and done, the stranger stepped back and looked her over with a satisfied nod. "Now
that is a proper costume. You look as fierce on the outside as you are on the inside," he stated stoically.
Hijinks just couldn't stop staring at herself in the reflective surface of the black bus. The LED's glittered and glowed, the spiny teeth and dark mask were so mysterious, the spiked details were epic... she couldn't believe she'd never heard of an anglerfish or that she'd never thought of dressing up as one before...! Turning, she was about to thank the stranger, when she saw him already walking away, almost back at the door. Indignant and aghast, she yelled, "Hey! Where'd ya think yer going! You aint even gonna let me say thank you or anything? I don't need your charity y'know!"
The stranger paused and looked back over his shoulder with a small smile, "Consider it a loan then. You can pay me back by rigging a light show for one of my gigs some day when you're older". With that, he turned and disappeared back into the crowd, leaving a bewildered and excited Hijinks to stare at the place where he'd just been standing. Was he a
real rockstar?! No way! And he liked her costume work so much he wanted her to pay him back some day by setting up the lights for his show? Hah! Wait till her brothers heard this! They'd be soooooo jealous!
With these thoughts in her head, Hijinks slipped back into the party and immediately began looking for the boys... she definitely had to rub this in their faces as soon as possible.
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