Costume Series #3
Cartoon Continuance
(after previous)


“…”

“You’re here for a costume,” she says without turning around.

“Yes,” you say.

“Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You’re a little early for Valentine’s day. A little late for New Year’s.” You reflect on how fun being a sparkler was. “Ok, you got me. What party?”

Your boss steps forward. “Ma’am, I have been amazed at the creativity you have put into your costumes and I’m in desperate need of your services.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I need you to costume my whole staff.” He stops as if uncertain. “I’ll pay you whatever you want,” he whispers.

“Tell me more.” You both step back and smile. You lean your head on his shoulder as you both watch the show.

“Well, a Japanese sponsor is coming to town and I would like to throw him a party. If he likes what he sees then our business might go global. I’ve done a check on him and he likes Japanese cartoons, several in particular. I’ve checked into ordering costumes from afar, but there are only a few and would take too long to make and then ship.” He pauses and then adds for emphasis, “And besides they don’t look as good as yours.”

“So, I take it you want me to make your staff look like the characters in these cartoons?”

“Yes.”

“What’s my time frame?”

“He’ll be in town on the 13th.”

“The day before Valentines. I’ve got my work cut out for me.” She pauses to think. “Ok, for now, I’ll need as much footage of whatever you want me to re-create as possible. Also, I’ll need parts as fast as possible.”

“Whatever it costs, whatever you need, it’s yours.”

“The first thing I need is what I’m creating.”

“Right. I’m on it.” He leaves in a hurry.

“Thank you,” your beloved says.

“This means a lot to him,” you agree.

“This is going to be the biggest, hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to pull it off.”

“If it’s so hard, why are you doing it?”

“It’s good to be needed. Thank you for bringing him here.”

“Whatever you need, we’ll be here to help you.”

“The least I’ll need from you is encouragement.”

“You got it.” You both head back to work.

That night, you stop back by. The costume machine is in the corner. To the side is a TV displaying videos at a very fast speed. In the center is a machine that is mostly a chair. “How’s it going?”

“Good, you’re here. I need to try this out on someone. This is going to put contacts in your eyes. Both of you try it so I get a balanced opinion.” You sit on the chair. The machine tips you back. “Relax and close your eyes. The machine will open them for you.” Sure enough, your eye gets opened and a pink thing touches your eye. You wish you could have focused more, but your eyes were too wide open. You blink your eyes to wet them as the machine returns you upright. You stand up.

You look around and discover something. “The whole room is pink.” He sits on the chair and disappears into the machine.

“Ok, that makes sense. Look at me.” You turn. “Good. Open your eyes wider.” You try. “Fine. Go check yourself out in the mirror.” You head over there as he exits.

“Wow, everything has a blue tint.”

“Great,” she says. You tune her out as she has him do the same things. In the mirror, you see that you have huge pink irises but no pupils. It doesn’t look right.  “Ok, thank you. You can get them taken off now.”

In moments, your eyes are normal again. As you exit, you see him with his huge blue eyes. He looks pretty eerie. “No pupils,” she explains, “I have time to fix-“

The computer in the corner beeps. You see the video has stopped. A printer nearby starts up. “What’s this?”

“This has watched every video for every character and has gathered all information available for them.”

“So what’s the next step,” he asks walking up.

“We make a measuring machine and get everyone coming to the party measured so we can compare the lists.” She minimizes the screen and starts a search. She quickly checks things and moves on. Finally she slows to a stop. “Ok, now I need to pay for this.” You call the boss

“Ok,” he says over the phone, “you’re in charge of the company credit card, but I want daily reports on what she spends.” He gives you the information over the phone and the order is paid for.

“Get some sleep. They’ll be here tomorrow.” As you head out, “Now for those pupils …”

Late the next day, the boss declares a field trip. You find yourself in line back at your friend’s lab. You exit the line and check on your friend. She’s working on another machine. She looks up, “You want to test the contacts again?”

“Anything for you.” You head over to the seat and see him over by the front of the line. The tall secretary exits the curtained room making the final adjustments on her outfit. He waves his hand and the next in line goes in.

You exit your machine and nothing’s changed. “Look at me.” “Good. Open your eyes.” “Good. Close your eyes to slits.” “Good. Look in the mirror.” You do and see that your pupils are larger than your irises used to be. Your new irises are a large as before, so now your face looks a little more like it belongs in one of those shows.

You get the contacts removed and rejoin him at the front of the line. The short intern from your department who’s now your helper exits. “Ok,” he says to the brown haired lady in line, “Enter behind this curtain. Remove your clothes. And step into the room beyond. Do what it tells you and when you are done, put your clothes back on and exit. Please do everything as quickly as possible so we can get everyone home as quick as possible. She steps in and he leans to you, “That’s my co-worker.”

The day passes slowly and finally the last person in line exits the machine. “Ladies first,” he says with a smile. You wiggle for him as you go in. You enter the machine as previously directed. It turns you around, has you lift your arms, bend at the waist and other movements showing your range of movement. The green light turns on finishing the scan. You exit fully clothed and gesture him in. A few minutes later he rejoins you.

You head over to your friend, “All done. What’s next?”

“We compare.” She heads over to the computer and starts a program. Two lists appear and rapidly sort themselves.

“What exactly are we comparing?”

“Height, hair color, eye color, body dimensions. Basically everything about you.” The computer beeps and numbers flash on the screen.

“What do those mean?”

“Exactly what I was afraid of. A lot more work for me.”

“Anything you need?”

She shrinks the window and pulls up the buying screen again, “The credit card?”

“Right here. “ The screen scrolls furiously as parts are picked and added. It stops with a sizably larger number than before.

The parts are ordered. “More parts means longer assembly and more complexity.”

“If you tell us what to do, we could –“

“No. I’m going to put this together like all the others. Then if it doesn’t work, all the blame falls on me.”

“And all the praise when it works.”

“Yeah, that’s nice when that happens.”

“It’s been happening a lot lately.”

“Thanks. Now go home. There’s nothing else to do tonight.” You report to the boss the next day. It raises one of his eyebrows but he says nothing.

It takes a week, but finally the inventor calls you in. The boss gives you leave. You arrive to a dirty, greasy, messy haired friend. “You want to be the first to try it?”

You smile, “Is it safe?”

“Have I ever killed you,” she jokes back.

“What do you have in mind,” you ask more seriously. She leads you to the computer in the corner through the maze of new machines. She pulls up a picture of a younger girl throwing a red and white ball. “I look nothing like that.”

“That’s the idea. I have to put these machines through their paces. Ready?”

“Ok.”

“First, the DNA sample.” You look at her. “just in case,” she assures you. She leads you to the first of the new machines. “Place your head in this hole and use the hand print. You do as you’re told. Something pricks your finger and gives a you see a green light. She locks the doors. “I haven’t stream lined everything yet, so you will want privacy as you go from one station to the next. This is the first one. Enter and remove your clothes.” She smiles, “Because if all goes well, you won’t be able to wear them anyway.”

You do as you’re told. “Ready? Here comes!” Foam covers you. You wait for it to dissolve. “Come on out. It’s time for the next station. You follow her to the next machine. You feel a breeze on your head. You reach up and find that you have no hair. Now that you think about it there is no hair on your body at all. “This will be the long one. This one changes your shape to be that of the one in the picture. Expect to be shorter when you get out of this.” She has you lay in a human shaped dip in the table. Your weight triggers the machine to draw you in. “Try to relax. Ok?”

Needles inject all over your body. Things get hot. You try to relax, but it is very uncomfortable. You feel your body changing. Finally the hot becomes warm and then normal. The needles exit your body and the machine lets you leave. You meet your friend who is now taller than you. In fact you come to her chest. You look for the mirror but she ushers you into the next machine. “Straddle the seat and adjust it to fit you.” You do and a box surrounds your body from the neck down. “Clothes machine. And next will be the hair machine.” Something drops over your head and you can’t see anymore. What you feel is interesting. Down below something must be moving around quickly because it’s creating a breeze. Above however your head is hot and tingly. The bottom finishes first.

Forever later, the top lifts up and you find clothes at your feet, a pair of red high tops, denim shorts, yellow sleeveless top and red suspenders. You put the clothes on and the shirt gives you a bit of trouble as you try to get it over your ponytail. You meet your friend and she takes you to the all too familiar contacts machine. You submit. She leads you back to the computer that has the mirror next to it. You look at the picture and then the mirror. “Wow, I look just like her.”

“Yes, but you don’t sound like her. Time to order a few more parts.” You hand her the card as you moan the loss of your brunette hair for orange, ragged cut hair with a side ponytail.

“Will I get my real hair back?”

“Only if you go through the machines all over again.” She smiles mischievously, “Or you could wait until you grow old and get gray or white hair.” There’s a knock at the door. She shuffles over and looks out the peek hole. She waves you over and lifts you up to the hole. Panic and pleasure rush over you. “Shall we invite him in,” she whispers.

“Yeah,” you answer with a plan, “and make him run the gauntlet, too.”

“The exact same gauntlet?”

You picture him as a girl. “No, pick something else. I’ll go hide and wait for him to come out.” You run off as she opens the door. You wait and wait. You catch a glimpse of a large yellow rodent scampering around. You want to tell your friend about her pest problem, but you also don’t want to be discovered by him between machines.

“Hey sexy.” You recognize his voice. You turn to find him but see the cute yellow monster with a lightning shaped tail looking up at you. You look around for him. He jumps at you and instinctively you catch him. Not finding him in any other form, you look more carefully at the cute thing in your arms.

“Hey. Sexy?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” He snuggles, “She told me about you already. It’s amazing what she can do.” You nod agreement as you head back to her with him in your arms.

“Ready to go back to normal?” You both nod your heads. “Good, because as he was going through I noticed some more things I hadn’t accounted for. You two go ahead. I’ll get it ready to buy and show it to you before I click the button.”

He goes in first and exits as a hairless rodent. She has you wait. When his light goes green she sends you in. When you leave you head to the next station. In between ordering she keeps you both moving without seeing each other. When you finally exit, you jump into his arms. He carries you over to her and you approve the order. “I hope that’s it,” she exclaims.

“Me too. The party’s only a few days away.”

“I should have it all ready tomorrow. Come back then and I’ll give it a full test. In the meantime, I need to match up the partygoers with costumes.”

You leave and return the next night. The lab looks different.  You can’t see any machines in the room, only walls of curtains. As you enter there is an entry way. She meets you there. “Ok, I’m not going to be able to run this whole thing by myself; there will be too many people. And you two can only help so much. So, I set this up so that each person can figure out what to do and everyone has privacy. Also, each person has their own card. On their card it has everything the machines need to know to make their costume. So, keep the cards with you as you can. Any questions?”

You shake your heads. “Good. Then pick up your cards and go in.” You take the card that has your picture. “One more thing. Because there are more men coming to the party than men characters, I have to make you both female for this test. Are you ok with that?”

He fakes being wounded, “I’ll do anything for a friend.” He takes his card and then looks at you.

“Age before beauty.”

He laughs and says on his way in, “I guess we’ll have to check that one when we get done.”

You head in after him and are faced with a card reader. You swipe it and it gives you a countdown. When the countdown reaches 0, it lets you in. In a flash, your brown hair is gone, again. You swipe the card and can exit. You swipe the card again and are given a timer again. You wait and then proceed.

It continues like this until the end where you face the mirror and find that you are a little girl with pink piggy tails and pink eyes. Your outfit makes you look like a princess. You leave and run into legs. You look up and up to a blond haired girl with a red ribbon with big blue eyes. She bends down and lifts you up. You both smile at each other in acknowledgement.

“I see you’ve found each other. It looks like it worked. Both of you say something.” You do. “Great. Let’s get you back to normal.” You swipe away again and are soon back at the exit. “Thank you for all your help. Now go home and let’s get ready for a party to impress that guy.”

The next day at work, you receive an email from the boss, “Ok, everyone. We will be changing in waves. If it’s your turn, I will send another email with your name on it. Go to the place we went to on our ‘field trip’ and pick your card and go from machine to machine. Afterward make your way to the party room. For those of you waiting for your name, please try to keep working.”

The day passes normally with a continual loss of workers. Finally when you are sure there is no one else here, you receive the email. It has your name and his and a few others. You get to the lab and find the tall secretary, your short helper, his co-worker and two other ladies who were a “staff trees”. But he is no where around. “He must have gone in first,” you reason to yourself.

Your friend greets the group of you, “Welcome! You are the last group. Unfortunately, we are running out of time. You will have to go all at once instead of waiting for each other. Ready?” The six of you nod your heads. “Good. Grab your cards and go in. When you are done, you will look nothing like you did before. Enjoy.” You each grab your card and head in.

When you are done, there is a little excitement. The tall brown haired one says, “I’ve never been this tall before. I’m taller than the rest of you.”

“Who are you,” you ask.

“I’m your helper, the short one.”

“I’ve never been so small,” says the pink mini princess that you were before.

“Let me guess. You were the tall secretary?” She nods. “And you set your card down in the foam room.” They both nod their head. “Then I must have slipped on one of your cards and mixed them up.”

“Actually, it’s kinda nice. No more height comments.”

“Me neither,” the other agrees.

Your friend enters, “I hate to break this up, but if you don’t go now, you’ll be late for the party.” The group starts for the door. “Oh, and you two, you might want to switch your cards back now, or tonight you might end up looking like each other.” The two proceed you and as you go to the door you notice how similar each of you look. All the costumes are the same but with different colors. You look like a team of sorts. Each member of your group is a different height with hair and eye color to match their outfit. Each has a gold tiara with a symbol that is just at the hair line. You have long blond hair with balls of hair on your head with gems sticking out and very long hair.

As you enter the parking lot, you discuss how you are going to get there. Eventually you end up driving the pink girl’s minivan because her feet can’t reach the pedals. The rest hop in with the two of you. In no time you arrive at the party and are amazed with the decorations. You imagine for a moment that your inventor friend could have done this, but you realize it can’t be her because she has been busy the whole time.

An elderly man in a lab coat and brown trousers and a purple haired woman also in a lab coat approach you, “Good to see you here. You like the decorations? My wife did them.” He gestures to the purple haired doctor next to him.

“Honey, I need to see if anyone needs anything.” She hustles off.

“Boss? You look and sound so different.”

“You do too. I swear I don’t recognize anyone in this whole place.”

“I’m the one who introduced you to my friend who makes the costumes.”

His eyes widen, “Oh! It’s you! Thank you. Even if this deal turns bust, this will be worth it. People are mixing and mingling better than at any other party, because no one can figure out who’s who.” A man enters the door, the boss’s head turns his direction and his eyes grow big again. “It’s him! Come with me.” He drags you with him to the oriental man. “Hello, sir,” he greets, “I’m the owner of this business, and I’d just like to welcome you to our party we’ve thrown in your honor.”

The man says nothing at first, but rather looks over the whole crowd. “This is amazing. Where did you find all of these actors?”

“These aren’t actors. This is my staff.”

“Incredible! I feel like I’m inside all of my favorite shows. He turns to you and reaches for your arm, “May I?”

“Certainly.” He takes a half step back in surprise at your voice then proceeds to examine your arm.

“No seams. Fits like a glove.” He turn to the old man boss, “Where did you get these costumes? They are exactly right.”

“We had a costume designer make them for us.”

“I must meet him and congratulate him on his outstanding craftsmanship.”

“She’s not here at the party.”

“Then take me to her.”

The old professor hands you his keys. “Be good to it.”

You lead the man to the car and soon you arrive at the lab. You enter and start going around the edge. “You seem to know this place well.”

“Yes, I visit here often. This is my friend’s lab.” After checking the place and not finding her, you stop at the computer in the corner. “She must be in the house. She’ll be back in a minute.” He picks up a framed picture of the three of you. You point to your black haired friend, “That’s her.”

He points to you next to her, “Is that, you?”

“Yes.”

He steps back and looks at you again. “Amazing!” He reaches for your hair, “May I?”

“Yes, but be gentle. She changed my hair for this costume.” He tugs lightly.

“Outstanding!”

“What’s outstanding,” your friend says entering the conversation.

“You are,” he gushes, “Never before have I seen such creativity and imagination.”

“Meet the man we are throwing the party for,” you introduce.

Her eyes go wide, “Oh! We’ll then let me show you around.” She leads him through the lab. You trail behind. He wants to see every machine and understand what it does. At each stop he murmurs his approval. She finally ends the tour back at the computer, “And this is the brains of the whole thing. It what makes it all happen.”

“I find that hard to believe. I would think that having built all this yourself that you would be the one that makes it all happen.” She giggles. You’ve never heard her do that before. “So why aren’t you at the party?”

“I’m not invited. I don’t work there.”

“Very well, then. I invite you to come and be my guest.”

“Ok, but we have no costumes.”

“I think I may have an idea.” He gestures to the computer, “May I?”

She is unsure. She looks to you. You shrug. “Ok.” He brings up a browser and then turns to her, “Do you trust me?”

“I’m trusting you with my equipment. I guess so.”

He says with a smile and a turning finger gesture, “Then no peeking.” She walks away to the measuring machine. You help him get the file and show him the programs to run. He murmurs another compliment. After the video, the list on the right shows two pictures with numbers by them and the right list only has one.

“You need to get measured now.” You point him over to the machine that she is exiting from. “I’ll take over from here.” You look more closely at the pictures and connect the two female ones.  It spits out a card which you take to your friend. She dutifully enters her own machines. You return and join the two male pictures and hand him his card.

“A little help here,” calls your friend. You see him smile as he looks in the direction of the voice. You take a shortcut through the curtains and find a bald mermaid. She’s not looking as confident as before. You take her card and swipe it for her. You manage to get her vertical for the clothes and hair portion. Then you hold her steady on the chair as it places her contacts in. You carry her out the exit. “I’m not so sure this was such a good idea,” she confides in you as she brushes her long, blond wavy hair away to adjust her shells.

“Think of it as taking one for the team. You’re helping sell this guy.” She gets her nerve up. “Besides, I think he likes you.” Her head whips to look at you, surprised. But then she turns towards him as he exits in his captain sailor costume.

“M’lady, care to join me on our travels?”

“You’ll need to carry me.”

“Of course. I’ll think of it as nothing. For to me, you are as light as a feather.” He lifts her up and she smiles back at you.” You head out and lock up behind them and then drive them to the party. When they arrive they are the talk of the party for a few minutes. The boss wonders who they are until he realizes that they aren’t from any of the videos he brought to the lab. The sailor escort sets her gently on the floor. She tries to sit there and join in the conversation, but she must not be able to find a good position because she keeps moving around.

“Hey sexy,” comes from behind.

You turn to see a dark haired stranger in a black tuxedo, white mask and a black top hat. Having learned your lesson, you ring him in your arms and answer, “Hey sexy, yourself.”

“Come outside with me for a moment.”

“Sure!”

Upon reaching the outside, he removes the glasses like mask and looks directly into your eyes. “You have been my best friend for a long time, and I’ve enjoyed it. But-,” he pauses. You panic for a second that he is breaking up with you. “But I’ve realized through these last several parties that if you should ever go to someone and like them more than me, I’d be crushed.” He drops to one knee and fiddles with something in his pocket. He pulls out a small jewelry case. He extends it to you. “I don’t ever want to be without you. Will you marry me?”

You take the jewelry from his hand and wrap your arms around him knocking him over. “Of course!”

“We’ll have to get the ring sized after our hands get back to normal.”

“I’ve got to go tell her.” You leave him and rush inside. You look everywhere, but don’t find your friend. You don’t even find the guest of honor. You see your boss nearby. “Have you seen the mermaid,” you ask him.

“No, have you seen her friend?” You shake your head.

The little pink princess tugs on your skirt. “She’s in the bath in the bathroom. He’s in there talking to her.” You check several restrooms until you find the two of them deep in conversation. She is in a bathtub half filled with water. She has her elbows on the edge soaking up every word he says.

He sees you and politely stops talking. They both turn to you. “He just proposed!”

“EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee,” you both squeal.

“Let me see. Let me see.” You pull out the ring case and hold it in your gloved hand. “Wow. That’s nice. Good for you.” You both turn to show him, but he is no longer there. You look out the door and see the backside of an aging professor and the captain.

“The boss got him.” She nods.

“Well … Take me out of here. I want to congratulate your fiancé.” You lift her out and with effort get her out to him. “Good catch,” she teases him, “It’s about time you did something right.”

You all laugh. “So, what do you think of him,” you ask her back.

“He is amazing. He’s everything I’ve wanted in a guy but never knew. He’s cute and smart and polite and charming and he knows how to tell a good story and he wants to know about me. I’ve never had that before. And he’s genuinely interested.” She stops. “I’ve got this crazy idea, but I’ll need your help. You in?”

“Sure.”

“Anything for you.”

“Ok, I’ll need a fast get away back to my lab and I’ll need someone back here to lead him back to my lab.” He picks her up.

“I’ll take her. Put your cell on - No wait. You don’t have –“ he turns to her, “How long should she wait?”

She chews her lip for a minute, “I think we can get it done in 10 minutes. Bring him then.” You step back in a check the clock on the wall. You socialize and get closer to him. When the time is up, you apologize to the boss and explain about a previous engagement. Then you and the captain leave the party.

He looks amused, “A previous engagement?”

“You know as much about it as I do. Well, I do know I’m supposed to take you to her lab.”

“Oh.” The rest of the trip is silence.

You arrive and both enter cautiously. Your man comes out, “Welcome. The mermaid has requested your presence. She also sends you this gift.” He hands him a card.

“Hmmm,” the captain says thoughtfully with a smile, “I wonder where I should use this.” He enters the maze with your guy following.

After a moment, you hear, “Quick! Come over here,” He urges you.” You head toward his voice and see him pushing a machine. “Help me push. We need to get this outside before he finishes.” You look back. “She bought extras,” he explains, “It’ll take longer for people to return to normal, but she assured me it would be fine.”

You finish pushing the machine next to the other one by the above ground pool. He leads you up the ramp and you see your friend, the mermaid. You say hi and hear the machine finishing. You slip off and hide in the shadows. The captain now a bare chested merman pulls himself out of the machine and up the ramp.

Her voice lilts down to you, “I thought you might want to share a dip with me.”

“Clever, too. I would like nothing better.” He slides into the water. You both head back into the lab. Apparently, when he left the party the party ended because people start trickling into the lab. The place pretty much runs itself. You both are a little tired from pushing that heavy machine. You slide down the wall and lean against it. He sits next to you. You lean against him and decide to close your eyes for just a moment.

“Should we wake them up?” Your ears perk up.

“I don’t want to, but they only have 30 minutes to get to work.” You check yourself and that you are in each other’s arms. “And they slept through any time they had to change back.” You stir. You don’t want to move. He moves a little.

“Ok, you two. Time to wake up. You have to get to work.”

“Uuugghh,” he groans. “Morning, sunshine.” You lift your head off his shoulder and look bleary eyed into his face. “Ok, we need to move now.”

“I would but you’re on my arm.”

“You’re on my arm, too. I’ll try to slide out first.” You feel him jerk. “I’m stuck. You try.”

You release your grip on your hand and gently try to separate them. You hand barely moves before it hits something and starts dragging your other hand along. You come fully awake. “I’m stuck too.”

You shift and struggle and manage to get into sitting positions. After some attempts, you discover that each of you is linked to yourself, but also your arms are interlocked. He lifts his hands over your head while you pull yours over his. You see that each of you have your hands stuck in a heart shaped box. You hear snickering nearby. You turn to see the two of them trying not to laugh. “You said no tricks,” you accuse.

“True. This is neither a trick nor trap. It is a puzzle for you to figure out. If you solve it, it will free you. But if you’d like we will release you whenever you say. We imagine that you would want to stay like that.” You pull your hands apart, but the heart doesn’t budge. You push your hands up against his chest. Still stuck. You put your heart up against his. No good.

“What are you doing sitting there? We need to get to work. We’re going to be late!”

“I’m trying to get us out of here,” he fires back.

“You aren’t trying very well!”

“Neither are you!”

“At least I’m trying something. All your doing is sitting there.”

You try to retort, but you are so frustrated and angry that you can’t think straight. You give him the silent treatment. You both sit there for a while in silence. You try to stay mad at him, but images of the nice things he’s done for you and the fun you’ve both had march in one after the other.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s not fight.”

“Let’s not fight.”

“I was feeling the pressure of being late and the frustration –“

“I was too.”

“How do you think we could get out of these?”

“Hold on. Lift your arms up a little.” You do. “Slide over a little more by me so I can see into the thing. Just as I thought. Push your hands together.” As you do you hear a click. Your hands come out easily. A moment later, he is free and standing next to you.

“Congratulations for solving the Love Lock.”

“Nice name,” she compliments. “Like we said before, you barely have time to get to work. Luckily for you we changed your clothes while you slept.” You head for the door. She calls out behind you, “And don’t worry about being in costume. I still have some who haven’t come in yet.”

You head to work and arrive just in time for the boss who’s still in costume to call a company meeting. “Good job everyone! We got the deal. He’s on board with us. So get ready to get busy.” He dismisses everyone and calls you two over. “Thank you for introducing me to your friend. This is a great day and it’s all thanks to her. Oh, and if you two ever get married, see me first.” He winks at the two of you. As you walk away, you wonder how he knew.

You arrive at your desk and find that your short helper is still in her tall costume. “So are you going to change back tonight?”

She giggles, “No. My husband likes the new me. We are going to wait a while before I change back.”

You figure that this is no big deal, so you finish chatting and get back to work. The day ends and the two of you travel to her lab. She bounds up to you, “Guess what?”

“What?”

“He promised to buy me any equipment I want!”

“The boss?”

“No, silly, my boyfriend.”

“Oh. He’s your boyfriend now?”

She smiles shyly, “Yeah.” She sees you again. “I guess you’d like to get back to normal now. Go ahead.” She heads back the way she came.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” you call after her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” her fading voice calls back. You take your cards out and start through the machines.

When you exit the machines, you see the two Love Locks. You wrap your arms around him and lock yourself in. “Promise me you’ll never let me go.”

He wraps his arms around you with a click. “Not if I can help it,” he promises.