THE MOMENT
"I know there was a zipper when I put this thing on...," Paul chuckled to himself as his hands fumbled in the general area where the seam and zipper should have been. It was late and he stood, unsteadily, in the middle of his room in the dark. He was supposed to be a tiger; but, he hadn't bothered wearing the head most of the night. It got in the way of the alcohol, and it was extra warm in there anyway. It was a good time, and he got plenty of attention for his half-costume. He misinterpreted it when his friends suggested they all wear costumes to the Carnival festival, and he was one of the few people in a Halloween-style costume while everyone else wore colorful flowing garments. But, it helped him stand out and the celebratory strangers all around were happy to 'give the tiger a drink'.
"Why won't you come off...?" he asked the costume as he tried to pull his arm free of the sleeve. He considered trying to shed the costume by slipping out through the neck; but, the soft furry fabric wasn't separating from him. In fact, he accidentally pinched himself twice while trying to pull it off, and that was too much to deal with, especially with the room spinning around him. "....whatever...," he gave up and let himself plop down on the bed. He was drunk and exhausted and he had nowhere to be the next day. Paul was asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow. Then, he was awoken several hours later with his phone ringing.
" 'lo?" He opened his eyes, and shut them again due to the bright sunlight; but, he fumbled for his phone and managed to answer it with the single syllable.
"Yo, Tiger! How was your night!?" his best friend, Dave, laughed from the other end. "It was crazy out there last night, you survive okay?"
"Why are you yelling?" Paul asked softly. His answer made Dave laugh harder; he knew his friend was fine now.
"I'm not yelling; but, I am excited," Dave replied. "The world changed last night, it's hard not to be thrilled about everything that's happening."
"What happened? Are you talking about something besides the Carnival?"
"Yeah, the last time I saw you was pretty early last night, and you were already past Tipsytown," Dave laughed. "Let me ask you this, did you get your costume off last night?"
"Uhhh...," Paul made a thinking sound and peeked one eye open. His hand was holding the phone with a tiger paw, and he caught a glimpse of orange and white fur on his belly. "...no, doesn't look like I did," he answered.
"Did you try?" Dave asked.
".. I guess not very hard if I'm still wearing it...," Paul answered. "I think I just hit the hay as soon as I got home." Something about his answer triggered a hearty laugh from Dave.
"Well, for the first time ever, too much drink might have actually saved your ass," Dave cackled.
"Dude, what?" It wasn't like Dave to be quite so vague; but, Paul also considered that his mind wasn't working at its best in that particular moment.
"You'll see it whenever you get around to turning on the news," Dave said. "Long story short, the Veil was broken last night. Fairies, magic, vampires, it's all real," he said. "There was a sort of 'practical joke' the Fae played last night to reveal themselves. Everyone's costume became part of them overnight until sunrise. I cut out early, so I didn't get stuck in costume, but a lot of people did and some of them didn't take it well. Kind of a crappy way to 'reveal themselves'," Dave said. "But, yeah. Everything's different now."
"But.. I'm still off today... right?" Paul asked. Not only was Dave one of his best friends, he was also a coworker.
"Yeah, this week's schedule is still the same, but they're already making changes for next week."
"Cool. Hey, my head's pounding, so I'm gonna go back to bed. But, you can tell me all about the fairies later, okay?" he asked. Dave chuckled.
"Sure, man. Get some rest, catch you later."