Warning: Fluff
Enter: Crown Clown
October 2008
"Lenalee! Allen! Guess what?!" exclaimed an excited Krory first thing on that Thursday morning.
"What is it Krory? What's got you so excited this morning?" asked Lenalee, very interested in what had gotten her friend so worked up this early in the morning.
"Today is... Today is... Today-" Krory started to say
"Spit it out Krory. We've only got till first period." said Allen, a little impatient at his friend's antics.
"Today is October 29th. And it's a Thursday. Do you know what that means?" Krory asked, still bouncing a little bit with excitement.
"That it's Thursday October the 29th? I'm afraid I don't quite follow your train of thought, Krory." admitted Lenalee
"It means that it's almost Halloween! And since it's almost Halloween, it's almost time for my Halloween party! And since today is a Thursday, it means that two days from now is Saturday! And That means that the 31st is on a Saturday so my party will be on a Saturday which is the best day to have a party because you can all show up whenever you want and we can still sleep in all of the next day if we need to! Or stay up late! Or do anything! It's going to be really great!" said Krory very quickly, his excitement building with every phrase he spoke.
"Slow down a little, Krory. You don't want to bite your own tongue because you were talking too fast." said Allen
"Oh yeah, I forgot the most important part! You two are both invited! And so is your brother, Lenalee. If he wants to, he came come too. And both of your parents if you want." Krory was still unaware that neither of the teenagers had parents around. It didn't feel like it was an important detail, so neither of them had bothered to mention it, "And your new friend too. You said her name was Miranda? It would be a great way to get to know her, at a party. In costumes! If she's shy, she can hide behind a mask or something and it will be totally okay! A party is just how Allen and me became good friends! Maybe it will work out just as well for Miranda too!" said Krory, always optimistic about these sorts of things.
"Sure thing Krory. I'll invite Komui and Miranda. I'll be there for sure. I can do my homework on Friday, so I won't have to worry about it over the weekend. You too Allen!" said Lenalee, very happy at the good news this morning.
"Yeah, I'll be there Krory. I haven't missed a party yet, and I don't plan to." said Allen, smiling politely at his friend.
"This is great! Make sure you two have costumes! It's Halloween after all, and dressing up is part of the fun!" said Krory, "I've already got mine planned out, and it's truly amazing! You two had better do a good job too. Miranda and Komui can be forgiven, maybe you too Lenalee, since it's such short notice, but I won't forgive you Allen, if your costume is anything less than spectacular. You should have seen this coming, and have had a costume prepared for a month already."
"Hey Krory, that's just not fair! Why pick on me? I haven't even decided what to dress up as! I've only had two minutes to even think of a costume! Because two minutes ago is when I found out about this whole costume business! Same as Lenalee." complained Allen
"It's been longer than that. I believe that I had mentioned this a while back. And you should know me better than this by now, Allen. It's your fault if you don't have a fantastic costume." said Krory, dismissing his friends complaints.
"But that's not fair! How am I supposed to come up with something as amazing as you expect in two days! Especially since we're in school for those two days!" Allen continued to complain.
"Like I said, you've had over a month. That's why I expect it to be amazing as I do. And I know what you're capable of doing when you want to. It's not my fault if you procrastinated, so don't blame me." said Krory, completely ignoring the complaints at this point.
"You're impossible! Fine, I'll try, just don't come crying after me then it's not as good as you expected. I warned you in advance, remember." challenged Allen. Then a thought occurred to him. He smirked, "I wouldn't be surprised if my costume after less than two days of work, is still superior to yours. After all, you did say you knew my capabilities. The only reason for costumes is so that we can have a costume contest, meaning that the person with the best costume will win some sort of prize, decided by the host, you. That means you want the prize. If you think that my costume-making abilities will be so great, why are you telling me that I need a fantastic costume. If what you say about my abilities, which you have never seen, by the way, is true, then my costume will be incomparably better. So then why are you telling me all this, exactly?" asked Allen, acting too innocent.
"I-I-I don't know. Don't make your costume better than my super amazing costume! In two days, you will find out that I'm much better! Because I'll win! And you won't! So I'm not going to talk to you until then! I don't want you to find out my ideas and steal them." Krory said, and with that, he walked off to his first class, leaving Allen and Lenalee at the lockers.
"Well, that turned out rather well." commented Allen.
"What are you talking about? You just made him run away from you, and he won't talk to you for a few days! What's so good about that?!" asked Lenalee, a little exasperated with her friend.
"He's in competitive mode. This way, he'll show his true colours and do his best. Males are competitive creatures. Much more so than females, although girls are good for competing with each other as well, just in a different manner. If Krory decides that I am an 'enemy,' at least for the sake of this costume contest, he will work even harder, especially since he's passionate about this in the first place. He won't hate me or anything, it's all friendly stuff. He'll just be able to produce even better work than he thought he could in the first place. I expect that he'll win, and he'll feel even happier about it after all of the extra work that he's put into his costume. Of course, that means I have to produce something good as well, but I'm sure he'll still beat me in the end. Competition, when imposed correctly, can be an excellent means of getting males to show their full potential in any field. It provides motivation, going back as far as evolution and assertion of dominance." said Allen, as a means of explanation.
"Wow Allen, I didn't know you knew how to manipulate like that. When did you get so smart?" asked Lenalee, smiling at her friend, knowing that his intentions were good.
"A long time ago. Understanding how people think, especially at the roots, is very helpful towards any goal in life. In this case, my goal is to make sure that Krory has a good time and a good party. Also, to help boost his confidence. His confidence in himself is severely lacking, though he puts up a good show sometimes. I'm just trying to be a nice guy, for once." said Allen, shrugging as he picked up his books from his locker.
"I didn't know that you analyzed people and situations that much. And you're always a nice guy, don't doubt yourself. Anyways, I agree with you, Krory need a little, or maybe a lot, or self-esteem boosting. This could be a great opportunity, especially if things go well between him and Miranda too. You're a great friend for thinking of this. I don't tell you that nearly enough, that' you're a really great friend, Allen." said Lenalee, smiling brightly at Allen.
"O-Oh. Th-Thanks Lenalee. I never really thought I was doing that well, but if you say so, then I guess it must be true." Allen said, even if he didn't truly believe it. He had to make her think so though, so she wouldn't get suspicious of him again, "Anyways, it's just about time for class, so if you don't mind, I've got to get going. Good luck with the invitations and finding a costume. We don't have too much time, after all." Allen said, smiling
"Don't worry about the costumes, I've already got an idea in mind. And one each for Miranda and my brother too, in case they can't think of anything." said Lenalee, completely confident.
"You do? Want to tell me what it is?" asked Allen, very curious as to what Lenalee could have chosen for her costume.
"Sure thing! Come here, I'll whisper it to you so that no one else can hear it." she said.
Allen moved closer and held his ear forward for her.
"A secret!" Lenalee whispered. Allen turned away and she winked, then started giggling, "Of course I'm not going to tell you yet. That would ruin the surprise, and it wouldn't be fair to anyone else! I'll see you at lunch, Allen." Lenalee said as she turned and walked away.
"I'll see you then, Lenalee." said Allen. He shut his locker and headed in the direction of room 221, his programming class.
"Hello Allen, hello Krory." greeted Lenalee, taking her seat in the stairwell, "How were your classes this morning?"
"They went pretty well, nothing especially different or interesting." replied Allen, "How were your classes?"
"The same. Nothing special or different." said Lenalee.
The trio sat in silence for a few minutes while they ate their food, at least in Lenalee's case. In the case of the two boys, the food just seemed to disappear without a trace.
"Are you still not talking to each other?" asked Lenalee
"I'm talking to Krory, he just doesn't seem to want to talk to me for some reason." said Allen with a mischievous smirk, "It's been quite fun. I got a lot of work done very quickly because there weren't any distractions, and it didn't matter what I said, Krory stayed silent. Once I'd finished my work I was able to tell him whatever I thought, and he wouldn't object." Allen's smirk turned into a dark, evil grin, black horns almost seeming to grow out of the sides of his head, "Oh it was quite fun, telling Krory that my opinions were superior to all of his, that Pokemon is better than Digimon, that cats are better than dogs, that Patrick Rothfuss is a far superior author to Stephanie Meyer." Allen started chuckling darkly as he listed his examples.
"Allen that's terrible!" exclaimed Lenalee, "Why would you be so mean to your friend?"
"Because I'm evil like that, and it's fun." Allen said, still wearing his evil smile.
"You're such a jerk! I'm going to go eat with Miranda today, at least until you two can mature enough to eat lunch together like friends. And yes, I'm referring to you Allen. What you're doing just isn't nice at all!" Lenalee scolded as she stood up to leave, "And you, Krory, should grow up and just talk to him. You aren't a little kid! How long do you plan to hold this stupid grudge or whatever it is anyways?"
Lenalee turned and walked out of the stairwell, going off to find her grade nine friends to eat with. Allen and Krory sat in silence for the rest of lunch, not saying anything, part because of the imagined competition and rivalry, and part because they didn't want to say anything that would end up causing Lenalee to scold them again, when she found out. They both knew that if they did say something, she would find out. She had a habit of making people spill their guts to her, even if it gets them into trouble.
That evening, at home, Allen began to seriously ponder what he would do for a costume. He had to go all out, and it was in only two days. It had to be something he already had, or something that he could make with something he already had... which was basically nothing. None of his childhood costumes would fit anymore, obviously, since he was no longer four years old. When he started to live with Cross, he didn't go out for Halloween anymore, or even dress up, because Cross said it was a waste of time, money, and effort. Typical Cross.
Digging through old stuff, Allen found lots of old white cloth. It was soft to touch and looked like it could make a good lining for a coat in the future, if he needed to make one in the future. He also found some old, colourful balls that he supposed he must have played with as a child, some face paint, some of Cross's old shoes, a silver mask, ancient hair gel, some glittery stuff, old paper and markers, some old books, a can of spray paint, one weird, old glove, a pink umbrella (Why would Cross have, of all colours, a PINK umbrella?), and a deck of cards.
Allen immediately grabbed the cards and started shuffling them and tricking with them, hiding the best in his sleeves, his expression turning dark. He then noticed what he was doing and put the cards back in the box. He didn't need to become his darker self at the moment. He wasn't gambling, he was trying to find materials for a costume.
He stared at the materials and tried to decide what he could do with a large white cloth. That cloth would probably be the main costume, as there wasn't any other material in there that he could wear, except the mask and shoes, but they didn't cut it. What sort of thing could he dress up as that wore all white? And possibly made use of some of the other materials?
An angel maybe? White robe, wings, and a halo. No, he needed stiff wire for the wings and the halo. Otherwise, he probably could have done that. He could have used the paper to make textured wings, and to cover the wire on the halo and give it colour. The glitter would have been useful too.
Possibly a bunny or some sort of animal? A polar bear? But that would be really difficult. Getting the shapes of the ears and tail correct, getting the head size, the length of the arms and legs, and he was too short to use a pattern from the internet. The costume would end up too big. And none of the other supplies would have helped him make it better. A white animal was definitely out.
A clown?
He didn't know why that idea popped into his head. Clowns could wear any colour, in fact, they usually wore very colourful clothing. But a clown could work. He could easily make a body suit out of the material, and some ruffles along the neck, wrists, and ankles. Face pain for his face, and hair gel if he needed it. Glitter was a possibility. Cross's shoes were far too large, and since he probably wouldn't be coming back, Allen could spray the shoes with the spray paint to make them a different colour. And he knew how to juggle. It was one of the things he learned to do when he had learned to use his arm again after he had burnt it in the fire. And to cover his hands, there were the old gloves...
Glove. Just a right glove. Well, it was bright white and kind of shaped a little disproportionately, almost like it was made for humourous purposes, such as being a clown. It contrasted his left hand completely, if he left his left glove off. A gloved, white right hand, and a burnt, shrivelled left hand with black, claw-like nails. It would be quite a surprise, possibly giving him an edge in the competition. The surprise might throw off the judge, whoever that happened to be.
In any case, Allen figured it was time to start sewing, since he didn't have any homework left to do. The night was still young, and he didn't have much time to waste before Saturday, especially if he wanted to sleep the night before the party, tomorrow night. He couldn't have himself falling asleep in the middle of the party after all, that would be rude.
If nothing else, Allen did try to act the gentlemen at such occasions, but when he was with his friends, he often felt that need less than normal. Acting polite and like a gentleman was how Allen was able to get by, passing others by without noticing them, and without them noticing him. No one took note of each other, and no one thought ill of the other. If he was perfectly kind, sometimes people would look past his hair and scar. It usually didn't last long if it was more than a brief moment, where Allen was the gentleman, and not much more than a passing greeting was exchanged between the two participating parties.
Allen forced himself to stop thinking and reflecting and made himself get to work. It was going to take all the rest of his energy just to finish this in time, but he knew that Krory would be pleased by the way his costume turned out. He couldn't let his friend go disappointed now, especially since the worst it would be for him is a little lack of sleep. He figured that any signs of tiredness would be easily concealed by the face paint, and no one would have to know how exhausted he would be that evening.
October 30 2008
Allen walked up to his lock and opened it, doing his best to stifle a huge yawn. He had stayed up until 1:30 that morning sewing the clown costume together. He had decided, while he was making it, that he didn't really like the ruffles, and instead hung a bunch of long pieces of the cloth from the shoulders and back, also that a long cloak would be better than a bodysuit. He thought that it looked better and more unique that way. All that was left to do that night was prepare the shoes, and practice his juggling again so that he wouldn't mess it up at the party. He figured he'd probably be okay, even without practice, but it couldn't hurt him, at any rate.
Krory noticed Allen's attempt to hide a yawn and decided to break his vow of silence against Allen, at least temporarily, "You okay Allen? You look tired."
"Yeah, I'm fine Krory. I was just working really hard on the costume yesterday. I'll be fine after some sleep tonight. And my costume is totally going to beat yours, whatever it is that you have prepared for a costume." Allen grinned
"As if! I've had a large head-start on you, and you can't possibly have a better costume. It's on! I'm sorry I felt a little worried for you. You're my enemy, I shouldn't be sympathizing. Thanks for reminding me, except no thanks will be given because you are my enemy." Krory said as he closed his own locker and strode quickly to class.
"Haha, Krory is really quite funny that way, never being able to decide if one is a friend or enemy..." Allen felt a twinge of guilt at the statement, remembering how he'd been treated in the past, and how he'd accidentally treated Krory at the beginning of last year. Lenalee walked up behind him, "God, I'm such an idiot!" Allen said to himself, hitting his fist against his locker door.
"Now why would you say that?" asked Lenalee, over Allen's shoulder.
"Why would I say what?" Allen asked, not quite sure which part of what he'd said that she was referring to, or which part(s) she'd heard. He didn't notice her arrival when she'd appeared.
"That you're an idiot. You clearly aren't, if you're in this school. And aren't your marks near the top of all those in the grade?" asked Lenalee
"Nah, they couldn't be. The marks I get are maybe average at best." His overall average for the previous year was an 89, "And they aren't at the top of the grade. There are lots of people with averages around 95 or so. But that's not why I said I was an idiot, though it may be a contributing factor to the overall statement. I'm an idiot for what I was thinking just before you'd showed up."
"Oh? And what was that?" Lenalee asked, very curious about the inner workings and thoughts of her white-haired friend.
"Oh, um, nothing really important. In fact, I don't think it's something I should say. It's not really my place." said Allen, a little nervously. He put up his mask smile to try to convince her to drop it. People were prone to dismissing things that one said with a smile on one's face.
"If it wasn't important, then you should have no problem telling me, and clearly it is important, since you're saying that it's not your place to tell. That means it's something big, and probably not pleasant, and has to do with someone else, Krory I'd guess. It's either something between you two, or something that you found out or happened to witness. Either way, I won't pry. Just don't lie to me Allen, saying that things are unimportant when they really are." said Lenalee, a little saddened by her friend, but she could understand his reasons.
Allen winced at what she'd said. She was dead on, and dead right about him. He couldn't help but pick up the implied message in her last sentence. He felt really guilty about that, "In other news, I've picked a costume, and it's almost complete. All I need to do is add the finishing touches." Allen said, once more plastering his mask on his face. He hoped that this new topic would distract her from the old one, and from talking about him.
"That's great Allen! Will you tell me what it is?" Lenalee asked with excitement in her voice.
"Nope! Not unless you'll tell me what your costume is too." Allen said with a playful smirk on his face. He knew she wouldn't tell, and two could play at the I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Know game.
"Fair enough I guess. I have to go to class, and I have a meeting at lunch. I guess I'll see you at the party tomorrow then. Bye!" said Lenalee as she went off to her first class.
"Bye Lenalee, see you then." said Allen, waving after his friend. He double checked that he had his books for his class and made his way there, ready for the day, and ready for the party tomorrow, he just hope that he didn't ave too much homework tonight. He'd have to do it all later so that he could go to the party on the weekend. There was no way it was getting done at Krory's castle. Hopefully the teachers would be understanding and give the students Halloween weekend off from the work.
Life doesn't always work the way that it's expected to. A programming project to finish by Tuesday, Math questions, and a Civics test on Monday, the dates and parties of all of the Canadian Prime Ministers. Allen was more than a little annoyed by the amount of homework he'd received, and would have to finish, all in that night. And don't forget the costume either. It still needed to be completed. In any case, he still had 8 hours until midnight, hopefully he could get everything done by then. Time to get to work.
He did Math and Programming until dinner, at which point he took a break to cook the food and begin studying for Civics. He could glance at a list of names and parties and years while walking around the kitchen and cooking. He felt that multitasking in this way was a very efficient use of his time. After dinner, he tested himself on the names, dates, and parties until he was satisfied that he could get most of them. Then it was back to Programming and Math. By the time he had finished all of that, it was about 8:30. Still three and a half hours until midnight. That was his goal.
He needed, for the costume, to paint the shoes, fit the glove, add some textures and accents, and try it on and look in the mirror, to see if he needed to do anything else. He set himself straight to work on that. It wouldn't do him any good to waste time. He also kept his list of Prime Ministers taped to the wall where he was working, so that he could continue studying. It wouldn't do any good to only know most of the information. He had to know all of it. And multitasking is a very efficient use of the time. It allows one to do multiple things in the time it takes to do one thing. The way Allen saw it, it couldn't be much better than that.
Allen painted the shoes, and then had to wait for them to dry. It was kind of unfortunate that it takes so long for the paint to dry when it only takes a few seconds to spray it all over the shoes. It gave him time to work on the next thing. Glitter was next on his list. He spent some time, while also running over the list of Prime Ministers, thinking about where he could add glitter to his costume. He held it up to himself, walked around in from of the mirror for a little bit, and even consulted Timcampy, but couldn't find a good place to add glitter. In the end, he decided to just be rid of the stuff. He never really liked glitter that much anyways.
Well, it was 9:15 now, and the paint still had another 45 minutes of drying time, so Allen decided he'd just study until 10:00. He didn't have any more ideas for the costume, so he really only had studying left to do. For the next bit, Allen studied. At 10:00, Allen gave a long stretch, feeling the satisfying pops in his shoulders, arms, and back. He gave a yawn and went to check that the shoes were dry. When he found that they were, he donned the costume and shoes and went to the mirror.
He got to the mirror and immediately decided that he hated the shoes. He took them off and looked again. He felt that there was something missing from the costume. He pondered this for a bit, and came up with an idea. He could change his hair! He grabbed the hair gel and started experimenting, eventually settling on spikes that rose off the back of his neck, and stuck a little out to the sides. He didn't know why, but it felt right. But there was still something missing, and he couldn't quite put his finder on it. Face paint wouldn't really work with the costume anymore, due to the lack of colours in the outfit, and the deviations from the original clown idea. He sat down and started thinking, his thoughts eventually dipping back into his Civics homework. He's clearly studied too much if it was homework on his mind instead of a party tomorrow night.
In the middle of listing the Prime Ministers in the 1980s, Allen had an epiphany. A mask! That silver mask would go with the costume. It was silver, so it would accent the white costume and his blackened arm. He thought it was a great idea, and he could even attach it to a hood so that he could pull it back over his head if he needed to without losing it. He felt like a genius. It was 10:30, one and a half hours until midnight. Not a lot of time, but Allen figured he could do it. He looked sleepily at himself in the mirror.
"Allen, you are gonna finish this, you hear? And I ain't takin' 'No' for an answer. Tired is no excuse. Gotta finish what you've started. And gotta make it good for Krory. Failure is not an option. Now get to work, ya filth!" Allen told himself, his words halfway between orders and a pep talk.
With that, Allen started sewing some cloth onto his cloak costume, and made a hood for it. Then he attached the mask, and tried it on a few times, to make adjustments to the position. When he was satisfied that it fit over his eyes properly, he put the costume on and walked to the mirror. He hardly recognized his own reflection.
The mirror showed a masked figure in a white cloak. When Allen moved his arms, the white and black contrast showed effectively, giving the feel of some sort of greater being, though Allen didn't really understand how. He figured that if he wore black clothes under the white cloak tomorrow, it would complete the image. And he still looked sort of like a clown, in a way. Maybe it was just the white arm? Just a little more like royalty, due to the cloak and hood. He had to figure out what he was for tomorrow, when Lenalee and Krory asked him about it.
"I think I'm gonna call you 'Crown Clown.'" decided Allen, pointing at his reflection. It was after midnight now, and Allen was completely exhausted. He pointed at the mirror again, "I'm gonna see you later."
He removed the cloak, and took a shower to remove the hair gel. After this, he climbed into his bed. It felt softer than normal today, probably due to the feelings of satisfaction that Allen held about completing the costume for his friend's party. He had done it, and it looked good. For the first time in a very long time, Allen was truly able to say that he felt good.
"Y'know what Tim? Feeling good feels kinda nice. I think I like it." Allen said groggily, as he drifted into a very deep sleep.