#sistermask

Santa Cruz Boardwalk. 11 AM

As the sun beamed down on the coastline and the tides splashed against the boardwalk, Katelyn and Danny exited his car and walked hand-in-hand towards the boardwalk. Even though the day felt unusually cold, Katelyn was comforted by the warmth that emanated through Danny's hand.

"So what happened when I was knocked out last night?" Danny asked while putting on his shades.

Katelyn thought back, "Well... once we got to the party and got split up I went looking for you since... you know... you did invite me." She paused and then started to blush, "I looked around and then when I checked the basement I saw you down there..."

Danny saw her face redden; he lifted his shades and looked at her and smiled. "As embarrassing as it was, I'm glad you of all people found me."

The two giggled together and walked onto the boardwalk. Most of the attractions were closed due to their seasonal nature of operation. Nonetheless, the two walked around the boardwalk and parts of the beach while continuing to talk about movies, TV and even celebrity crushes.

Danny thought back to when he was dating Maria. Back in middle school, Maria acted very similar to Katelyn now; nice and chill. But as they grew up, Maria started to get aggressive and it strained their relationship to a point where he would commonly feel embarrassed whenever they would be out in public together. It really got worse this past summer after Maria's furry companion passed away. He thought that time would heal all wounds; but it only harden her. And even though she felt cold to him, he would never have imagined how abusive and violent she would be towards Katelyn.

But compared to Maria, Katelyn not only seemed to be more down to earth but she was also more chill. Sure might look like a "plain Jane" but for some reason he felt a mix of emotions when he was with Katelyn; her cosplay the night before certainly didn't help untangle his feelings. But was it a costume? Or was Katelyn the green-headed goddess...

"Nah," he thought to himself. Even though her face was green it didn't mean that she was the only girl in county that was wearing makeup; it was Halloween after all you're suppose to dress up. But still, it wouldn't hurt to ask about it...?

After an afternoon of walking, the two eventually diverted from the shore and headed into an ice cream boutique to take a break. Danny ordered two affogatos, one per person, and took their order outside.

"Fancy~" Katelyn teased as she poked Danny with the other-end of her spoon.

"I always get ice cream... but since it's getting cold why not add some nice hot espresso?" Danny quipped back at her.

She dug into her cup and savored the rich taste of vanilla gelato and the sharp warm coffee mixture.

"So I wanted to talk to you... about your costume last night," Danny said in a more serious tone.

Katelyn froze with a spoon in her mouth. "Oh no... the jig was up," she thought to herself.

"What about it?" She replied with her mouth full.

"I..." He stopped himself. Danny felt that he could burst. He wanted to tell her everything; the bar, the beach late at night, the night at his Uncle's place. But he was worried about seeming like he was crazy; each encounter with the green-headed girl was wild and unbelievable...

"You okay dude...?" Katelyn asked politely after a few minutes of silence.

Danny sighed. "Like... when I saw you in your costume I had a weird feeling like..." Danny said while looking down at his cup of continuously melting ice cream.

"... like I knew we were gonna have a good time. I don't know..." Danny still tongue tied.

Katelyn, now seeing Danny struggling to express himself, tried to redirect the conversation. Maybe this could be her opportunity to open up to Danny and slowly let him in on her little secret.

"So you liked what I wore last night, eh?" Katelyn asked in a feisty tone. Danny nodded shamefully back at her.

"Well, maybe sometime we can cosplay together," she suggested. Danny's head rose up and he smiled back at her.

As Katelyn saw Danny's smile she was startled by a reflection in his sunglasses; her alter-ego was sitting right behind her. She quickly looked around; nothing was there. She looked back at his shades and the mirage was nowhere to be seen.

"What's wrong?" Danny quizzically asked.

"Nothing... hey look people surfing," she said; quickly changing the subject.

Danny turned his attention towards the waves, "you surfed before?"

"Kinda... I mean I guess I had some help," Katelyn said thinking back to her time surfing with her mask.

"Neat. I also tried to learn when I was young; never got the hang of it," Danny paused. "But I'm great at skiing."

"Really? I thought California was too hot for snow," Katelyn asked. In her mind, California was always a warm place; even in the winter.

Danny chuckled, "Not here. But my folks have a place up in Lake Tahoe. We go there every year to just relax and get away from it all. Just think in one month, those slopes will be packed full of snow ready for us to ski."

"Us?" Katelyn asked with the raise of an eyebrow.

"Uh... yeah I mean..." Danny stuttered. "If you wanted to... you know..."

Katelyn rolled her eyes at him. "I mean I guess I can be your plus one... again," she said with a cheeky grin.

But then she suddenly realized, "uh, but I don't know how to ski."

"No worries I'll show you the ropes," Danny said confidently. "I mean... it's the least I can do after you freed me..."

"Deal," Katelyn brought out her hand and the two shook on their new agreement.

"Cool. I'll tell my dad. We usually go when school's out so maybe sometime after New Years?" Danny asked.

Katelyn nodded.

"Awesome, get ready for some high intensity action on the slopes." Danny said confidently and the two continued to talk until sunset.

=====

After a night of rough-housing; let's have something sweet...

An hour after homeroom, the school district canceled the next two days of classes as school staff went about investigating the incidents that occurred that fateful morning.

Meanwhile, Katelyn locked herself in her bedroom as she stewed over the tense exchange with her boyfriend. She resolved to deflect any blame for what happened and felt a growing sense of betrayal fume within her from his accusations.

"That rat bastard. He got everything he wanted from me: daily booty calls, romantic outings, and a fun loving girlfriend. And what did I get back in return...?"

"Nothing, my dear?" Kandy suggested rhetorically as she stroked her subtly cleft yet smooth chin with her delicately polished fingernails. She took pleasure in guiding Katelyn's thoughts towards her more raw and depraved instincts. And thanks to her cunning techniques of persuasion over the past few months, she repelled any efforts of getting disposed and instead had a perch to sit on as an angel on her shoulder... her left shoulder.

"I feel used..." Katelyn sighed to herself as she flipped herself over and stared at her eggshell-white ceiling.

"Ya preaching to the choir, sister~" Kandy snickered as she continued to contemplate her next steps.

The foundational drive of the mask has always been to carefully lead its host towards their deepest and inner-most tendencies. Whether it be Peggy's vanity or even Eve's unrelenting love towards Stanley. Since its inception, it was a genuine breath of fresh air to be passed down from host to host and attach to some of the most consequential humans in history. From its long stint with Queen Cleopatra to its religious-like worship among Scandinavian warlords/Vikings and ancient tribes in Africa. It's wooden facade and signature green complexion had been an aiding mechanism to move humanity away from greater societal progress and towards egocentrism. But over the years, it had also developed another goal; control. With each host that it came into contact with, it found itself eventually being discarded or thrown aside just as it grew comfortable with its surroundings. But with Katelyn, it saw an opportunity to grant its wish of being used less like a novelty prop and more of a dominating part of a person's lifestyle. First, it sought to impress its host with examples of its wonders and feats which enticed its host to explore its mystical abilities in order to satiate their curiosity. And with enough persistence, its host would spiral down a state of self absorption until their originally held ethos and morals became mere suggestions while pleasure and unyielding power became their main drive.

"Maybe that naughty boy needs to be taught a lesson..." Kandy murmured in a British accent as a lightbulb popped above her shiny crown. Katelyn paused for a moment to realize what she was suggesting.

"Maybe he needs to know who's... still in charge," she continued and spun into a twister.

Katelyn furrowed her brow and shifted her body towards her mirror as she saw Kandy step out of her magical twister wearing a revealing business suit with her golden mane that was tied into a bun.

"Hmmm, what do you propose?" Katelyn asked.

"Well..." Kandy started as she pulled out her hair ties which let her hair expand into a long golden whip that let off a crack as it extended and hit the floor. "Maybe we do to Danny... like we did to that bitch who hurt us."

Katelyn slumped her head as she tried to digest what her other was advocating. On one hand, Danny needed to be put in his place and learn to deal with what he gets; beggars can't be choosers especially when she was so god-like with her mask. But on the other hand, she didn't have the heart to directly hurt someone who she still kinda liked. After a minute of deeply thinking about the cons, she shook her head.

"I can do it! You can leave it up to me!" Kandy raised her hand as she volunteered herself. Katelyn shook her head once again.

"W-we can't... we can't hurt him like we did with..." Katelyn sighed as she closed her eyes and slid under her covers. Deep down inside, Kandy also knew that her other wouldn't go along with her plan. But then, she had another lightbulb pop above her skull.

"Hmm, well someone else could teach him a lesson instead..." Kandy said with her voice modulated to sound more like Katelyn. "Who do we know has a long history with him and has the penchant for a little revenge...?"

Katelyn pushed aside her covers and stared into her mirror as she realized what Kandy was hinting towards.

"And since we still have this..." Kandy giggled to herself as she pointed towards the dusty sister mask on her dresser, "...we can still pull the strings on our little narrative."

Katelyn's eyes grew wide as she pondered deeply about Kandy's new proposal. Maybe she just needed to give her boyfriend a little "tug" in the right direction to see the errors in his ways.

Katelyn returned a menacing grin. "I hate you," Katelyn teased in a sarcastic tone as her mind raced to figure out the logistics behind her new scheme.

Kandy smiled and waved as her apparition faded away; leaving Katelyn alone in her musty bedroom.

"Nobody will ever cross me..." Katelyn said menacingly as she picked up her phone and scrolled through her texts. "Ever."

===

Later that day as Katelyn waited at the door steps in front of a nice beachfront house that overlooked the Rio Del Mar coastline, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she had been there before. She could vaguely recall the white columns that arched over the entranceway and the two sets of windows on the second floor that looked out towards the driveway. Nevertheless, she patiently waited with bated breath as she kept her mind focused on the plan.

A moment later, she saw a shadowy figure pass by and soon the door unlocked to reveal a person who she hadn't seen in months.

"Hi Maria."

=====

"A shared enemy makes for an unlikely friend..."

After what felt like hours, Maya leapt off her ex's mattress as she smacked her lips and savored the sweet taste of justice. As she towered over her worn down ex, she let off a satisfying sigh of relief from the chance to have an outlet to let out months of pent up anger and frustrations. But she wanted more. In the back of her mind, Maria had a list of people who had wronged her in the past like the mean-spirited football jocks that would routinely catcall her during cheerleading practice, or the creepy gym teacher at school who would hit on her friends. With limitless powers at her finger tips, she could go down her list and enact revenge on everyone and truly make herself the queen bee of Santa Cruz.

However, she felt herself robotically stroll over and kneel herself down in front of Katelyn as she brought her hands to the back of her lush head. Even though Maya had the power of the gods, the two fused masks made her play by Katelyn's rules; whether she liked it or not.

"Wait!" Maya cried out as she felt a stinging sensation run up her scalp. "Please, may I have some more time?"

Katelyn towered over her latin goddess as she looked into Maya's dark emerald puppy dog eyes. It was almost like looking down into an endless emerald abyss that was filled with a jumbled up mess of Maria's emotions and thoughts. She could see little fragments of Maria's inner self begging Katelyn to set her free from the sister mask's control. As she looked into her eyes, Katelyn flashed back to her first few weeks at school when Maria and her posse would sought out and bully her for being the new kid. Soon after she found the mask, her entire life changed. As a goddess, she used the mask's powers to control the ocean for her own personal enjoyment and even save an entire town from a wildfire. And at this very moment, the bullied was now the bully as the balance of power shifted towards Katelyn by making her frenemy subservient to her.

But in a way, she pitied Maria. From what she told her earlier that day, her persona didn't seem to be one out of malice but rather one out of a cry for attention. Once she opened herself up... she was kinda all right. Katelyn suddenly felt a pang of regret wash over her as she thought back on her revenge plan. Even though her scheme went according to plan, she didn't feel okay with pushing Maria's boundaries beyond what she did to poor Danny; at least for tonight.

Katelyn lowered herself to be at eye level from her hispanic celestial being and shook her head; no. Maya's eyes instantly began to tear up as Katelyn reached over with both hands and stroked her slick shoulders. "Maybe next time, okay?"

"Promise...?" Maya asked between her sniffles. Katelyn hesitated for a split second and then nodded back. Maya dried her tears with her hand and suddenly leaned forward and embraced Katelyn right on her lips. Katelyn's entire body shook as she could feel Maya's soft sweet lips pump a stream of emotions into the blonde's consciousness. Katelyn could literally feel a sense of reassurance and joy channel into her as their faces came together for a solid minute. Her eyes grew wide as she felt the same masked lips embrace her just as she embraced her lovers in the past year.

When Maya felt it was time, she leaned back away from Katelyn and lowered her head towards the floor to give her blonde master unencumbered access to her crown. She then felt Katelyn's hands reach into her hair towards a thin crease at the back of her head and braced herself for what was to come. At first, she felt a tingling sensation run along her scalp. But then she was hit with an unbearable streak of pain as Katelyn tore open and exposed the mask's tendrils as she began to pull the clinging green flesh off of her olive skin. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she opened her jaw and let out an inaudible scream. Soon her smooth exterior began to undulate and sag as Katelyn successfully pulled the mask off Maya's scalp. As Katelyn yanked away the rest from the front of her face, Maya felt the mask's grip slip further and further away; draining her of her powers and her strength. Her once full cheeks and perfectly formed face soon wrinkled and hardened while her lush green facade had dulled and turned back into its musty wooden form.

With only a handful of wooden tendrils left, Katelyn watched as its tacky texture tried in vain to cling onto the top of Maria's eyelids and the edge of her jawline. While the mask grew to enjoy the olive-skinned girl, it couldn't say no to reuniting with its blonde mistress at least once more before the end of the night. With a final thunderous pop, the mask fully released itself off of Maria and back into the hands of its original owner. Katelyn looked down and saw Maria slump onto the floor; now fast asleep. She then heard a distinct ticking sound echo nearby and looked up towards Danny's clock to see the second hand tick onwards to cross over towards 5:35 PM. She got up off the floor and looked around Danny's room to see two slumbering souls in a totally destroyed and torn up bedroom. Katelyn wiped off her brow as she pulled out her phone from her back pocket and took a picture of the room; just to keep a note for herself. After snapping several pictures of the two tired teens and Danny's disheveled room, she felt a tad prideful that her scheme had played exactly to what she imagined.

But her respite was soon short lived. Katelyn suddenly heard a car pull up towards Danny's driveway and turned herself around to look out the window. Danny's parents were home and she didn't have much time to flee and get back home. She needed to get back to Maria's house and drive her mom's car back home before sunset or else her parents would get suspicious. She pulled her controller from her pants pocket and then quickly turned to the pair of masks that laid beside her and, with no time to waste, slammed the two together atop her rightful maw.

The two masks melted together into one big mass and flung itself onto her with no hesitation. Katelyn watched as the mask's tendrils climbed over her cheeks, through her hair and solidified itself onto the edges of her face to enclose as much of her facial features. Once her jawline and crown were fully encased, Katelyn was thrown into a cyclone as a number of lightening bolts shot out of its core. Though previous transformations had drawn out the time to mold its host, a familiarized Katelyn just wanted the mask to get right to the point and save its teasing for later. Even with this wish, the mask had just enough time to give its host a few sprinkles of bliss before twisting out and into the messy room.

With a muted screech, Katelyn had reclaimed her green face and immediately planned her escape back home. With a sharp snap of her fingers, her original clothes magically reassembled themselves atop her body and her controller made itself at home in her back pocket. Using her enchanted hearing, she could hear one of Danny's parents open the entrance and climb the stairs towards their son's room. Before she left, she felt compelled to step towards her ex-boyfriend and stroke his bare belly one last time.

"Hopefully you learned... don't bite the hand that feeds you~" She whispered to him as the masks happily pulsed with approval.

She then turned and lifted Maria onto her back and the two leapt out of Danny's bay windows and into the night just as Danny's mother knocked on her son's door.

===

Katelyn's House. 7 PM.

As Katelyn pulled up onto her driveway, she saw her porch lights instantly turn on and her mother appear on the doorstep. She knew her parents didn't like when she drove at night and she could visibly see her mom's sour expression. Katelyn parked the car and quickly shoved her masks into her back pocket and quickly made her way towards the entrance.

"A bit late for a nighttime stroll... were you visiting your boyfriend?" Her mother asked as Katelyn neared the entrance.

Katelyn paused and dropped her head. "I think... we need some time apart..."

Her mother's face quickly shifted as she grew concerned for her daughter. "Oh... if you want we can talk about it after dinner."

Katelyn didn't respond as she snaked around her mom and began climbing up the stairs to her bedroom. Her mother shook her head before turning around and noticing something in her daughter's back pockets. She stepped closer towards the stairs and caught a glimpse of a pair of wooden face masks that poked through her pockets.

"Hmmm," she muttered to herself as Ashley, Katelyn's mom, closed the front door of their house.

Soon after Katelyn entered her bedroom, a familiar green light poured through her bay window as she enjoyed the mask's powers all for herself for the rest of the night.

=====

"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."

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