Mark and Alexis went to mingle with the other guests. The first person they encountered was someone wearing a fairly well-made Batgirl outfit. It took them a second to figure out who it was.
"Hey, Cal", said Mark, "How you doin'?"
Cal was a slim, quiet boy who was the son of the local Baptist pastor, and the star of the school's gymnastics team. Mark didn't know him well, but stopped to chat with him briefly. It was kind of a surprise that his parents let him out of the house like that, they were fairly conservative. It wouldn't have surprised Mark if Cal had change dinto his costume rafter he left home, but it wasn't his business to worry about it.
Hovering near a long table of snacks were what looked like the ghost of Pikachu, an evil black doll, a ghost-woman and a ghost tree. The ghost Pikachu looked up and emitted a horsey laugh.
"Hey, Mark, lookin' good!", it said. Mark recognized the voice of Jimmy Davis, which meant that the other three were almost certainly his inseparable pals, Paul McArdle, Andy Young and Joey Dubois. They were affable fanboys who were experts on the obscure corners of popular culture.
"Hey, Jimmy, who are you guys supposed to be?", asked Alexis.
"We're each our favorite Ghost Type Pokémon", said Jimmy. "Mmikyu" (himself), "Banette" (Paul), "Froslass" (Andy), "and Trevenant". (Joey)
"Good work, you guys", said Mark.
Next they saw what looked like two girls talking to each other. One was wearing a long, tattered gown, a battered-looking ice hockey goalie's mask and a crown of flowers. Her skin was made up to look grey and corpse-like, and she was wearing a straggly blonde wig. The other was wearing a pink gown with various gears and tube attached, all painted a metallic pink. She wore a flowing blonde wig, a small crown and a red eyepiece over her left eye. Her skin was made up to look chalk-white. Mark thought that the overall effect was to make her look like Princess Peach, if she was assimilated by the Borg.
"Helloooo, laaadies", said Alexis, doing her best "Mr. Smooth" voice, and leering comically.
"Oh, hey guys", said the masked girl.
"Annie, is that you?", asked Alexis.
"That's right", the girl said. Mark realized that the masked girl was Anne Ogawa, a friend of Alexis' who was in the Literature Club.
"Who are you supposed to be, Anne?", asked Mark.
"I'm Ophelia Voorhees!", she replied.
"Huh?"
"Ophelia from Hamlet crossed with Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies. Both characters drowned, so I figured that was a nice thematic connection."
"Only you, Annie, only you", replied Mark. "And who's your charming friend?"
"I am Prunuspersica of Borg", the other girl answered. It was then that Mark realized that Anne's friend wasn't a girl at all, but was Bobby Dalton, another member of the Lit Club. Bobby always did drag for costume parties.
"'Prunuspersica'?", asked Mark.
"The Latin name for the peach tree", explained Bobby.
"Ah, of course", said Mark.
Next, they saw four people chatting together. Two were obviously dressed as Link and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda. They took only a minute to recognize "Link" as Jenny Swenson and "Zelda" as Anita Crawford, tow girls who were fast friends. You never saw one without the other, to the point where there was speculation that they were a couple and not just "friends". Neither Mark nor Alexis knew or cared particularly.
Mark and Alexis looked at the other two girls. One was wearing what looked a bit like a black bondage outfit that emphasized her cleavage, a long purple wig and a metal crown. She was carrying a plastic axe and a hardcover book. Mark recognized her as Paula Ortiz, another of the school's star athletes. Mark gaped at her chest. Paul was fairly stodgy - maybe even a little bit stodgy - so she almost never dressed up "sexy". Mark recognized the other "girl" as Paula's brother, Benny, who was also an accomplished athlete. He was wearing a white and red outfit that was as "sexy" as his sister's. His hair was dyed bright red, and he carried a toy spear.
"Wow", said Mark.
"Yeah", said Alexis. "I never thought I'd see you dressed like that, Paula. Who are you supposed to be?"
"We're Princess Camilla and Princess Hinoka from Fire Emblem Fates", said Paula. "Benny dared me to dress as Camilla, but I said I'd only do it if he came as Hinoka. He double-crossed me by agreeing to do it."
The others got a good laugh out of this. They chatted for a while, and then Mark and Alexis mingled some more.
Next they encountered a three-headed golden dragon. Three gold-painted faces poked out from the dragon's chest, and there were holes which six hands poked out of.
"Well, if it isn't the Three D's", said Alexis. The Three D's was the Chang triplets, Deborah, Diana and Danielle.
"Who are you three supposed to be?", asked Alexis.
"We're Ghidorah, from the Godzilla movies", they replied, all speaking at once.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive", said Mark, "But aren't you three kind of stuck with each other in that outfit?"
"Nah", said Danielle, who was in the middle. "If you look between the costume's 'necks', there are clasps that we can undo, if one of us needs to go do something by herself, or if we just get sick of each other."
They had a laugh at this, and moved on.
Next, they saw Bill Hanson and Phoebe Wepner. These two were a couple, and were sneaking a kiss. Bill was dressed as the Thirteenth Doctor from Doctor Who. Phoebe wore a floor-length red skirt studded with golden globes and a black border at the bottom. She wore arm-length golden gloves, and a head-piece designed to look like the top of a Dalek, her eyes covered by mirror sunglasses, She carried two wands, one made up to look like a Dalek gunstick, and the other a Dalek sucker arm.
"Well, I never thought I'd see the Doctor kissing a Dalek", said Mark.
Bill looked up sheepishly and said in his best "Jodie Whittaker" voice, "Well, Chibnall's taking the show in a new direction."
"What are you, Pheebs, the Dalek Princess?", asked Alexis.
"Dalek Empress, please", smiled Phoebe.
"Hey, are Steve and Morgan here?", asked Mark.
"They're over there", said Bill. pointing to where Steve Peters and Morgan Francis, Mark and Alexis' two best friends, were helping themselves to a snack. Mark smiled. Steve and Morgan were dressed as Winged Monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.
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