No Ordinary Exchange

costumes and pendants and swords oh my!

I hope everyone is staying safe during this pandemic! Remember to practice social distancing and avoid leaving your house unless absolutely necessary; if you do have to leave, wear a mask! This chapter was fun to write and I hope you enjoy. :)

WARNING: There is a very, very brief reference to sexual content near the end of this chapter; it is not explicit but if you are sensitive to such content please be cautious.

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"Rayla, can you let them in?" Claudia's voice was muffled through the closed door of her dorm. "I'm in the middle of foiling my hair."

What an... odd activity to be engaged in. Callum didn't hear anyone answer, but a few seconds later the door swung open.

"Aw, if it isn't my two favorite losers," Rayla teased, a smirk dancing on her lips as she leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. "A prince and his royal guard."

"Excuse you, but I'm not just any prince! I am a mage," Callum protested in mock-offense as Rayla stepped aside to allow himself and Soren to enter.

Rayla rolled her eyes. "No need to shout at me, you big dummy." She closed the door before throwing him a sly wink. "No one likes a loud mage."

Callum decided the most appropriate response to her comment was to remain silent and not respond at all while pretending his face wasn't any more red than usual.

"Alright," Claudia said as she stepped out of the bathroom with silver foil holding a section of her hair that framed her face, somehow taking control of both the room and the conversation in only one word. "Here's the game plan, ladies and Rayla." That earned a snort from her brother. "Callum and Soren, you guys can change in the bedroom, since Rayla and I currently have the bathroom on lockdown."

"No, you have the bathroom on lockdown," Rayla said with an amused grin. "I'm just there in the background, dancing to ABBA."

"No complaining, missy - I left you eight inches of counter space, just like we agreed." Claudia returned her attention to Callum and Soren. "Once we're ready, we'll help you... fine tune your costumes, because Lord knows you probably need the assistance."

Although Claudia was pointing at the both of them, Callum had a gut feeling her comment was directed specifically to him. And this feeling was more justified than not, because he did have an embarrassing track record of basically... tagging along while Ezran, Claudia, and Soren went all out with costumes for Halloween.

Well, embarrassing as it was to admit it, this time really wasn't going to be terribly different. Not that he hadn't put effort in, because he had - which was a first - but both his time and his budget were limited. He would normally have asked Claudia for help beforehand, but since she was insistent they keep their costumes secret from each other until the day of the party, there wasn't much he could do on that front.

But, to give himself some credit, his costume was a little better than usual. He'd genuinely put thought into most of his outfit.

Upon not receiving any questions from them, Claudia and Rayla locked themselves in the bathroom, now blasting something that sounded suspiciously like "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Soren started playing what Callum recognized to be the Skyrim soundtrack in response. Siblings were weird.

(Right. Because he and Ezran definitely weren't weird.)

Callum shut the bedroom door before he started changing. His costume consisted of a pretty fancy sleeveless red top with shiny gold thread, and his trusty red scarf on top. He planned to keep his jacket with him in case he got cold. He was wearing cargo pants only because he'd wanted to stuff his pockets with neat little trinkets, which he'd done. Mostly.