Take on your hunters

You decide to take a big chance and get out of Suzy, seal her back up, and have her re-inflate. With luck, she'll just think she was daydreaming with a flashback/blackout from her days using those hallucinogens and not realize how much time has passed. Of course, that leaves you naked and afraid. There's all kinds of reasons that a naked man wandering around a wedding reception will draw attention, but you have no plans to wander around. Quickly you toss her with clothes still on over by the tray of dishes before the skin starts to inflate and sneak back into the darkness.

Figuring someone is bound to be by soon, your plan is to take one of them and go on the offensive from the inside. It's time to use your ability to blend into the scenery, or in this case, hide in the bushes. You recall how stupid the training session seemed as you were stripped naked and put into various suits and taken blindfolded into places where you should stand out. However, you found that you had an amazing natural ability to actually not be noticed. Of course, most of your life, you seemed to not be there. People would talk about you in front of you like you weren't there.

"You know he would look much better in a green shirt."

"I don't know why he continues to wear those ugly brown pants."

"It's like he's just trying to be difficult."

"Mom, Dad, I'm right here"

"That's nice, son. ... Do you think he even cares about his appearance, dear?"

Your thoughts are interrupted by a crunch of gravel and Suzy's voice coming from the darkness to your left.

"Let go of me, you creepy dirt bag. I'm not some floozy you rich bastards can drag into the bushes and ..."

It suddenly stops, and you can imagine why. One of the thugs must have found her and used a pen to shut her up. Your only hope is to use your pen on that person before they realize that you've jumped and tell.

Stealthily you move up the path. Two silhouettes greet you as you get close. To your surprise it is Holden, or actually your mystery competitor in Holden's skin, and he hasn't done anything except clamp his hand over Suzy's mouth. As you watch her struggle, you notice he's got a white cloth pressed to her mouth and nose. Slowly, her struggles cease.

There's little you can do now. Well, you could use the pen on the guy in the suit, but that wouldn't be productive and could make matters worse. Instead you decide to make a radical move. As they say in training, if all the planning and technology become no use, do something so stupid and obvious that it will seem to blend in. So that's what you do.

"Whoa oh whoa oh whoa! Party! Party! Party! Hale to the bride and groom. Everyone celebrate nude."

You run past a shocked Holden and unconscious Suzy then through the bushes into the reception. You continue screaming manically as you weave through the dancers and the standing guests. With it now being dark and the lights limited plus the pulsating music, Kurt's skin you're wearing is not recognizable but you do draw several men to yell, "Right on." "Go for it." "Let's go for it!" as you exit down another path out of sight.

"Security. Security. We have a streaker headed towards Lover's Maze." you hear squawking out of several walkie-talkies. "Make that multiple streakers," comes a few seconds later. Obviously, some of the more inebriated must have shucked their clothes and followed you, just as you hoped.

Quickly you circle and see a pile of clothes along the edge of the bushes and one person hanging back laughing. A little stealth again and the fact that everyone is looking the other way where you and the others disappeared allows you the opportunity that you've been waiting for. You point the pen and shoot the person behind everyone then dash across, scoop up the new body suit and their clothes, then disappear down a path away from the commotion.

As you're running, you pull on the suit without missing a step and barely slowing down. It's a talent that got you special recognition during training and a free night of R&R with the suit of your choice. It didn't actually work out as well as you'd hoped, but the skill now proves itself useful as you reappear in less than a minute with no one the wiser.

Standing in the shadows at the edge of the reception area, you consider your options. The diversion has sent security scattering making it easy for you to get away. The guy you've bagged is just an old friend of Alexandra's who she hadn't seen in years, high school actually. He probably got the invitation along with everyone in her high school who got spammed by Alexandra's parents hoping for the most gifts. He thought it would be fun to get a free meal and party with the rich and famous, something he never was able to do then, or now, being of a much lower class. Too bad because he seems to be a nice guy and even had a crush on Alexandra back then. He's not a loser, just a shy geeky type who plays video games and writes fantasy adventure stories in his spare time. His job is much less exciting but pays quite well.

Alexandra is hopelessly staggering around as if she's still dancing to a very different drummer. You remember how Carma set her up with the drugs and booze, so she's probably completely out of it. However, nobody seems to notice, or care, except one. Carma is watching her closely slowly sipping some fruity-looking drink. Holden has just come back from dealing with Suzy and is purposely walking towards Carma. He probably now knows of Carma's plan, so maybe he thinks she was involved with Suzy. Hopefully, Suzy hasn't become collateral damage.

The situation seems so open up for you now. You can easily just walk by Alexandra and swipe the Bloom with your talented fingers. She would never feel it disappear. Although you could be seen by anyone and most likely Carma who's eyes hover like a vulture. Instead you can just walk by and whisper that there's a surprise for her down one of the paths linking it to Holden or her dad, or remind her of high school and ask for a dance taking her away while nobody pays attention. She'd do just about anything from a suggestion at this point. Off down a path, she'd trip and lose the Bloom. It would be a while as she wanders around before anyone notices it's gone and start a search. You'd be long gone with mission accomplished.

However, you're still concerned about the others trying for it as well as the private security guards loitering around conspicuously still wearing sunglasses. Perhaps they're really night vision glasses. You'd like to uncover all those undercover, but that might mean playing musical skins with everyone still here since this test continues to unravel twisting every which way. Although, it might be good intelligence that the organization could use especially if you could get that green pen.

Straightening your suit, you take a deep breath and ask yourself whether you need extra points out of this test, or should you just finish your mission to grab the Scarlet Bloom at the reception and head back?

(Author: Wordsmitty)