Unnatural Phenomenons (Saffron/Event)

“BRAAAAIIIINNNSSS!!”

Saffron lurched unsteadily across the ground, one foot dragging behind her like it was limp or broken. She had shed her prosthetic limb for the evening in lieu of using her amputation to suit her costume, the stumped arm cut off just above the elbow and wrapped in dirty looking bandages. Her one remaining whole arm was stretched out before her toward the gaggle of costumed children that had stopped to stare in wonder at her own guise: a ratted pair of pants was shredded completely off one leg, as was the sleeve of her jacket where she was missing her arm. She had painted her flesh a sickly green color, and fixed it up with fake stitches and bolts to make her flesh look sewn and patched together.

She wasn’t actually dressed as a zombie, but young children didn’t exactly know the difference between a zombie and Frankenstein’s monster, so when they started referring to her as the former Saffron had simply shrugged and gone with it. The kids shrieked in delight and false terror, running from her and scattering back into the crowd, leaving the Fairy Tail mage with a big grin as she righted herself upward again. Saffron absolutely loved Halloween. It was her favorite time of year, her favorite holiday. The dressing up, the weather, the festivities and costumes, pranks and games – the whole atmosphere filled her with excitement!

The blonde had never been to Ace of Spades before, and figured this was as good an excuse as any to cross it off her list. Vandrad, Mercury, Hosrius and Grubar were all still wrapped up in their quest to deal with Maker and what remained of the Dread Masters, which left them very little time for socializing. Not to mention the fact that Mercury was still technically supposed to be dead, so the Silver Wolf ace wasn’t exactly going out as much as she used to. She’d thought about calling Scourge to see if he wanted to go to the festival with her. After all, their last outing had been a lot of fun, full of danger and adrenaline… and a lot more sexual tension than either one of them had been prepared for. But she’d dismissed the notion fairly quickly, not interested in making herself look like some thirsty bimbo. That was Mercury’s schtick.

So instead, she’d just gone to the festival alone, which was not unusual for her. Saffron simply liked to be out and about. It was very easy for her to meet people and make new friends, seeing as how she wasn’t daunted by the idea of interacting with complete strangers, and she loved few things more than being part of an active crowd. With the kids gone, Saffron returned to listening to the live band that had been playing. The stage where the band was set was raised a couple feet off the ground, making it viewable to everyone, and the band members were dressed up in ghoulish attire as they performed a series of Halloween themed alternative rock songs. They weren’t a mind blowing ensemble, but they weren’t half bad. Saffron happily tapped her foot along to the beat, though mostly she was eying up the drummer’s kit and comparing it to her own back at home.

As her purple eyes randomly glanced around the crowd, they landed on a young woman about her age nearby. She was dressed in a Midian style kimono that was as white as her hair, with striking red trim and obi. The woman was quite pretty, and Saffron was admittedly staring. When their eyes met, Saffron didn’t even hesitate to speak up, blinking her eyes innocently as though she’d been caught off guard. “I’m sorry, were you talking to me?” she asked, despite the fact that the woman hadn’t said anything. “No? Would you like to?” Her faux confusion melted into a sly, charming grin, Saffron very pleased with herself over what was obviously intended to be a humorous and cringy pick up line.

While Saffron was plenty flirty, most of the time she was just being silly for the sake of being silly and friendly. Sometimes people appreciated it, and sometimes it fell flat. One look at the woman as she stared blankly back at Saffron was all the blonde needed to assume that the pretty young woman would fall into the camp of people that were highly resistant to her charms. Yet, despite the emotionless reception, the woman surprised her by admitting that she was bored enough to go along with the prospect of spending time with Saffron. It was clear by the blonde’s face that she hadn’t expected that response.

“Geeze. You really must be bored out of your mind if that awful pick up line was enough to get your attention.” And Saffron meant it too. There was a genuine grimace on her face, the Fairy Tail mage disliking few things more than boredom and as such sympathizing quite well with the other woman. Her new companion lifted up her skirts briefly to ease her approach toward Saffron, unintentionally flashing the symbol of her guild affiliation on one of her legs. Saffron hadn’t been in Fiore long enough to know all the guilds by sight, but she was fairly certain it was a somewhat newer legal guild called Luminous Rose. “I do love a good haunted house. There’s more than enough children running around that we could frighten a bit if you want.”

Her cheeky grin was back in place, Saffron clearly up for just about anything. The woman explained about her get up and its custom design, complimenting Saffron’s costume in the same breath. “Oh, thanks. Some old clothing and make up goes a long way. And missing a limb adds a nice degree of authenticity.” She chuckled a little as she gave the stump that was her amputated arm a small wave. “In all seriousness though, I do really dig your outfit. It’s very regal looking. I have a few Midian styled garments in my closet, but nothing as nice as that.”

Saffron blinked as the woman stood – where had she been sitting? – the differences in their height increasing as the woman was revealed to be shorter than first impressions suggested. Holy hell, she was short. But her thoughts didn’t linger on that for long as her companion introduced herself. “The pleasure is all mine, Sakura. I’m Saffron.” The blonde offered her only hand to give the woman a friendly handshake. “I caught a glimpse of your guild symbol a moment ago. Luminous Rose, right? My mark is covered by my shoe at the moment, but I’m with Fairy Tail.”

“So! What all have you done at the festival so far? Not really sure what kind of activities interest you, but I’m fairly easy in that regard. Looks like they’ve got some games, some drinks, something like a haunted cornfield maze… I think they’ve got some kind of ride or roller coaster on the other side of the park, too. Anything in particular tickle your fancy?”

“Trust me, I’ve heard some pretty bad lines myself.” Saffron quite enjoyed being a woman, but man a lot of dudes out there could be creepy and downright cringy at times. Saffron herself was known to use a few awful pick up lines from time to time, as their current interaction was evidence, but Saffron pretty much always used them ironically, going more for humor than anything else.

Sakura turned down using their costumes to scare people, which was no sweat off Saffron’s back, then graciously accepted the blonde’s compliment about her attire and returning one of her own. Pointing toward another woman in the crowd with attire that was more black and gothic, Sakura expressed that such garments were what she normally liked to wear. Saffron gave an approving nod. “Hey, I like that though. And I bet it suits you real well.” While Saffron was a bit of a tomboy, she did love clothing and shopping. In fact, she had quite the full wardrobe at home.

The topic of guilds came up and Saffron nodded when Sakura mentioned the mixed things she’d heard about Fairy Tail. “Yeah, that makes sense. Our guild has a bit of a mixed reputation. Originally we had legal status with the Magic Council long, long ago – way before I joined. But the one thing Fairy Tail takes most seriously is the protection of its members. We’re all treated like family. And when it was discovered that there was a dark mage hiding in our ranks, the Council demanded they be handed over to the authorities, and the guild refused. So, we were stripped of our legal status and branded a dark guild. That lasted for a long time, but over the years the guild members worked really hard to drag our name back out of the mud. We’re still not a legal guild, but we’re not recognized as dark anymore either. We’ve got some good eggs and some bad ones, but overall it’s a really great guild with really great members. We just occasionally accept a few jobs that aren’t exactly legal.”

Saffron wasn’t about to get into the deeper details of all that, mostly because the darker side of Fairy Tail wasn’t even common knowledge to everyone in the guild, but there was no harm in admitting to vague illegal activities as a whole.

Her companion admitted she’d mostly been spending the evening people watching thus far, but it seemed she was down for a drink. “Sure! Works for me. I’m always happy to have a drink in my hands.” The pair identified the closest stall that was offering drinks, where there was a woman in a witch costume stirring something inside a cauldron and handing it out to people. There were signs everywhere that warned people they would be subject to a temporary magical effect should they choose to imbibe, but it seemed the effects were pretty harmless. Presuming Sakura wasn’t adverse to the experience, the two would get in line and Saffron would order them each a cup, handing one to Sakura and keeping the other for herself. With a grin, Saffron held her cup up to tap it gently against the other woman’s in a wordless toast. “Bottoms up!”

Tossing the cup back, she took a big hearty drink, the warmth of the liquid trickling pleasantly down her esophagus. “Mm, hey that’s pretty good,” she said after she pulled the cup away. It was only a moment later when her body began to shift and morph under her garments. “Uhhh…” Staring down at herself, she watched as her chest flattened, her shoulders becoming more broad, and the rest of her body experiencing… other changes. “What in the…?” Even her voice was suddenly much deeper. Suddenly, her eyes went wide. “Oh my gods, did this drink turn me into a dude?!”

He looked around for a mirror or reflective surface of some kind, and when he found one Saffron was able to confirm that he had, in fact, been turned temporarily into a man. “Hell yes, that’s hilarious! Oh wait!” Without any further ado, Saffron tore off his shirt, revealing a rather impressive array of muscles. “Aw, man! This is exactly the kind of toning I’ve been trying get for forever! You could grate cheese on these babies,” he said, slapping his six pack. “Man, it is so not fair that I can’t get this as a woman. Ah, well. At least I still have my hair.” With a sigh and one last wistful look, he threw his shirt back on.

Unfortunately for Sakura, Saffron was an exceptionally observant individual. There may not have been any red on her companion’s cheeks, but the look on her face as her eyes glued themselves to Saffron’s abdomen, and the stuttering way in which she spoke, gave the blonde all the clues he needed to know that Sakura had been rather shaken by the sudden transformation.

A slow, knowing grin crept up his lips as he grinned down at her. “What’s the matter? Did you like something you saw?” And then, just to be an extra tease, he lifted the shirt up to reveal the abs once more. “You can touch them if you want. You don’t have to be shy. They’re not gonna be there forever. Soon as the spell washes off, poof! They’ll be gone, and you’ll have lost your chance.” Was Saffron an insufferable little shit? Oh, absolutely. Without a doubt, and s/he was clearly quite proud of it.

But then he made it worse. So much worse. Picking up the sound of the music the nearby band was playing, Saffron locked his crimson eyes on Sakura with a look that altogether said “Yes, I know I’m being silly and stupid but you’re gonna die mad over being attracted to me all the same.” His hips started popping gently to the rhythm of the song, building himself up into the beat and sinking into a nice groove. Then, like a full blow Chippendale, he slowly began to undo his shirt one button at a time, rolling his body from his well toned torso down to his pelvis with little thrusts here and there with frighteningly good emphasis on all the right places for a woman that had been in control of a male body for less than five minutes. Meticulously the shirt came off and he flicked it over his shoulder, holding onto it with two fingers hooked beneath the collar as he teasingly gyrated his way closer to her - though it was worth noting that he didn’t get close enough to outright invade her personal space.

Not unless she wanted him to, anyway.

Making sure to only close the distance with what she seemed comfortable with, so as not to make her feel pressured into being too near to someone who was still a complete stranger, Saffron continued to dance and did his best to coax Sakura into joining him. “Do you believe in love at first sight or should I… walk by again?”

"GOOOOOOD EVENING, SIR! WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?"

Saffron paused in the middle of a dance move, staring at the man that had approached them. He was walking around with a small portable table hanging from around his neck, upon which were three coffin shaped cups. “Dude, read the room. Can't you see I'm trying to work my charms on this enchanting woman over here? You're killin' my game, man." As ever, by the tone of his voice, he was very clearly not actually trying to seriously work any game. At most, he was just being silly for the sake of giving Sakura a laugh.

Still the game master insisted. "One round, that is all I entreat of you! All you must do is find the candy after I--"

“Yeah we all know how shell games work, buddy. Let's go, shuffle 'em up."

With a blink, he quickly shoved a candy under one of the coffins and shuffled them around. Truthfully, Saffron wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, and so she blindly picked one at random. The game master lifted the coffin to reveal that it was empty.

“Oh darn. Just my luck. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right!" Turning back to Sakura with a renewed grin, he went right back to dancing.