Arrive at the party, late.

Lauren arrived at the party at a later time. Johanna lived at the edge of the forest, near the forest's edge, in an old typical New England house that was recently renovated by Johanna when she moved in. Jack-o-Lanterns decorated the front porch, while the trees were covered in fake spider webbing.

Lauren stood frozen for a good 10 minutes in front of the house, with a note in her hand, working up her courage to go inside. Finally, she rallied her courage as she began to walk the cobblestone path to the house, up to the porch. This wasn't going to be a large and scandalous party, as neither Lauren nor Johanna nor their common friends enjoyed such endeavours. This was going to be a small, private party of maybe 23 people, all of whom knew each other on various degrees of acquaintance.

Finally, Lauren knocked on the door as her heart raced wildly. Johanna, dressed as a steampunk mechanic, greeted Lauren with a smile and a friendly, albeit tipsy hug that put Lauren's mind to ease, if only for the moment, regarding the situation she was in.

"Oh, late as usual, Lauren. Still, I'm so glad you came." said Johanna as she let go of Lauren. "Uuuuhhhh. Awesome costume! I especially like the stitches on your lips. Can I touch them?." she continued as she inspected her friend.

Lauren, unable to mimic any facial expression due to her 'character', handed Johanna the note while holding her hand for a few seconds. Curious and excited, Johanna began to read the note while giving the occasional intrigued look at Lauren.

"Hi. So, this is, I made this dare with a coworker who said that I never 'act the part' whenever I go to a costume party, so unfortunately, as part of the character I'm not allowed to show any emotion or talk at all. Also, if I tried to talk I would ruin the stitches that took _literally _hours to make, so I'm apologizing in advance and I hope I won't be too much of a boor."

"Uuuhhh, that's awesome. I won't tell anyone about it. They are going to be so amazed!" Johanna said with excitement. "Come, come on in, this is going to be awesomeee!" she continued.

Relieved that her friend believed her excuse, Lauren followed Johanna inside. While walking behind her, Lauren noticed that Johanna's steampunk featured an oily scarf hanging from her back pocket, as daring thought began to form in her head. "Such a small and easily lost piece of clothing... especially if you're tipsy." Lauren thought to herself, as excitement began to build up inside her. She reached her friend's pocket and with a slight of hand she took the scarf without Johanna even noticing. Instinctively, she took a pin from the hem of her dress and she pinned her friend's scarf on the inside of her dress, as to make it unnoticed by others.

A strange feeling began to form inside Lauren, as her senses expanded and she felt as she could control Johanna in her entirety.

"I have to go to attend to some guests. Feel free to wonder around." said Johanna to her friend. "And have fun!" she added. Lauren nodded.