Hey hey!! A little heads up, enjoyers!
This CHAPTER does contain some banter, and perhaps some fluffy stuff, but it's nothing bad, they're a family after all folks!

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   Iskall claps their hands together and addresses all the performers. He loves the few hours before a show, because it's when they have the most authority. "Alright! Everyone, new costumes and outfits are done, so tonight will be your first show in them!"

   "And our first time seeing the finished products, you're so secretive!" Grian shouts at him, giggling.

   "Surprises are better, no?" Iskall says in response and grins.

Joel looks the least excited, and, in comparison, Gem looks the most excited, and she's right next to him.

   "Come on, Joel, it won't be horrible," Etho tells the brunette, nudging him.

   "Yours won't be horrible," Joel corrects and huffs.

   "Alright! Everyone, just like normal! Grab your things and get ready! Iskall, False, and I will help if you need!" Scar announces excitedly.

   Immediately the group of performers becomes smaller groups, Gem and Etho, ZITS, and 'Magic' Crew, to name a few. Iskall walks around, handing people their new outfits and instructing them about any specific details to watch out for while they change. Some people's clothes are more complex, and others are more simple, it all depends on their act.

   "We have matching costumes!" Zedaph says happily once ZIT receive their outfits.

   "Yeah, they told us that," Tango laughs.

   "I'm getting dressed first," Impulse says, walking to one of the many stalls set up back stage for changing or any kind of privacy.

Tango and Zedaph wait patiently for Impulse, while Skizz changes right there. His outfit is simple, so he doesn't need the privacy. Skizz just needs to change into a collared shirt and a personally embroidered vest. Plus, Skizz mainly wears accessories he's given anyways.

Once Impulse is out Zedaph rushes in to get changed. Tango grins at Impulse. "Nice 'i'," Tango says, referring to the bright yellow "i" on Impulse's chest.

"I'm sure you have a beautiful 'T'," Impulse says in response, also smiling.

   Impulse fixes his yellow jacket and admires the little stitchings of purple and blue on it. The three of them also got matching belts to help control the stilts if needed, and the pants for the three of them were baggy and striped, and would fit in their shoes nicely.

"Ta-da!" Zedaph says, revealing himself. His 'Z' is sort of flattened and is cut out of his tightly fitting shirt, revealing some of his stomach.

"Looking good Zed!" Tango says before going to get changed as well.

"Imp, I need help, my jacket has weird sleeve cuffs," Zedaph says and holds his arms out to Impulse.

Impulse laughs and fixes Zedaph's brown jacket for him. His cuffs needed to be rolled up to show off a water themed embroidered design on them.

"Ah, wonderful," Zedaph says, rubbing at his wrists.

   "I have a 'T' on my back!" Tango announces, pulling at his fire embroidered sleeves before turning around to show his best friends what he means.

   "Cool!" Skizz smiles. "Iskall added a 'S' to my weird sleeve things."

   "Skizz, those are Joe-Silk arm guards." Zedaph puts his hand on Skizz's shoulder.

   "Oh."

   Impulse laughs. "We should go find False now." He says.

   "Etho! Look! Don't I look great?" Gem grins, doing a little spin.

   "Mhm, fantastic," Etho replies, trying to put on his shirt properly.

"Etho, you didn't even look at me. And you're putting that on wrong! The snowflake goes in the front, not the back!" Gem crosses her arms and sighs.

Gem is wearing a white leotard with loosely frilled sleeves. She has a green miniskirt over that, as well as a soft and flexible brown 'corset' belt. The skirt has little gold snowflakes embroidered on the edge.

Etho's outfit consists of his unordinary black pants, then a tightly fitted white shirt tipped with blue that spreads to a mask on his face tucked into them. A snowflake is carefully cut out the chest part of Etho's shirt, and he also wears a nicely fitting see-through blue jacket over the white shirt.

   Neither of them need shoes, or wear socks. Just wraps on their feet.

   "Do you want help?" Gem asks her twin.

   "Yes, this is a really cool shirt, but it's hard to work out," Etho laughs awkwardly.

Etho removes and flips the shirt around before trying again, once he gets the shirt part on Gem helps him get the turtleneck/mask part up and on. Then she fixes the snowflake to center it.

Gem pats Etho's chest and steps back, picking up a purple cloak. "Look! Iskall made Anna's cloak for me!"

"For you to cover up with," Etho adds.

"Yeah, I know." Gem rolls her eyes and smiles. "Now, let's go get our faces painted!"

"Cleo! Help! Please! I'm choking myself!" Xay whines as he stumbles out of a changing pocket.

Cleo chuckles at him and fixes her shirt before walking to him. "You know, you're not supposed to tie a bow tie around your neck, right? It goes under your collar."

"I know that! It was an accident," Xay huffs and breathes slowly once Cleo undoes their bow tie.

"A funny one," Jevin comments, rejoining his partners.

"Hush." Xay glares at him.

Cleo wears a cropped blue shirt, the sleeves short and torn on purpose. She wears jean short embroidered with exaggerated stitches. The same stitches on some parts of her shirt. She has black and white striped socks on, some holes in them. And then brown loafers go over those socks.

Jevin wears a white sort of tightly fitted shirt, it loosens around his sleeves and is tie died on the ends with blue splotches. He wears black pants with a few scattered holes in them, no shoes and thin socks.

Xay's outfit is a black suit, a dark red bow tie, and a cape with red undertones. The clip for the cape is a little decorative bee. And their under shirt is a light pink colour.

"Cleo, help me put it back on?" Xay asks the older ginger, gesturing to the untied bow tie she still has.

Cleo smiles and Xay lifts his chin a bit so she can lean forward and fix the little bow properly around his neck and under his collar. "Why didn't we just settle for clip ons?" Cleo mutters as she ties.

"'Cause Scar likes authenticity," Jevin responds, messing with the loose part of his sleeves.

"Yeah, he does." Cleo pats Xay's shoulder once she's done and starts to walk away. "Xay stretch with Jevin, I'll be right back.

Jevin stifles his laugh and looks at Xay. Xay glances back at him blankly. "I'm not trying your weird routine again, Jev."

"Bubbles.! Help me! I can't reach the zipper!" Keralis calls out when BDubs pops out of the privacy chamber and xB moves to take his place.

"Oh, yeah, you have a jumpsuit-" BDubs quickly walks over to Keralis' back and zips the zipper up to the top.

"Thanks, sweet face," Keralis smiles and fiddles with his frilly sleeves.

   BDubs' clown-like costume is puffy black pants with colourful flowers spread about on them, the pants are held up by striped suspenders over a collared shirt. He has a large flower shaped bow tie and his sleeves are rolled up.

   Keralis wears a jumpsuit that fades with different shades of blues and ends in a violet colour. Under it he has a white frilly shirt, and he has many pockets. The collar of the jumpsuit is frilly and is embroidered with hearts and bees.

   xB's costume is pretty simple, a white collared shirt and colourful suspenders connected to his black pants. The main part is his jacket, which is dark blue and has colourful clips scattered around on his lower back. Plus some nice heeled boots.

"What are the clips for?" BDubs asks when xB comes out fixing his jacket collar.

"How am I supposed to know? We can ask Iskall when you guys get your makeup done," xB says, admiring the subtle embroidery on his sleeves of balloons.

"Come on, let's go!" Keralis says, pushing his two friends.

"Awe, Ren look, our outfits match!" Pearl says once Ren finishes getting changed and shows her.

Ren grins at her and puts his sunglasses on. "They do!"

Pearl's outfit is a dark purple leotard, with golden spots on her stomach. There's a black hood with a little star charm connected to the leotard, which Pearl likes. Iskall gave her black gloves with embroidered moons and leg huggers with stars.

Ren's outfit is dark red, his shirt well fitted and his shorts looser because of his furry and hoofed legs. His shirt has golden spots as well, and a black hood with a cloud charm. Ren's gloves are the same dark purple as Pearl's leotard and are embroidered with suns, and his leg huggers with clouds.

   "Why do you like those sunglasses so much?" Pearl asks, crossing her arms and laughing lightly.

   "Because they're cool," Ren huffs.

   "Yeah alright goat boy, want me to help you with your hair?" Pearl asks.

   Ren gives Pearl a "really?" look from her unoriginal insult, but replies indignantly. "Yes, I do want your help."

   Pearl makes Ren sit down in the seating area and grabs his curly hair. "Pony tail or braid?"

   "Just not a man bun," Ren replies, picking at the embroidered suns on his gloves.

   "Don't do that," Pearl chastises, "and got it, man bun coming right up."

   "No! My hair isn't right for that!" Ren whines and Pearl laughs.

   Joe messes with his coat and Stress steps out of the privacy zone changed as well. "Do you need help, luv?" Stress asks, looking a bit amused.

"Yes." Joe sighs.

Stress walks over and fixes the collar and cuffs of Joe's coat, while Joe makes sure all of his pockets are properly inverted.

Joe's costume is really only his coat, under it he wears plain jeans and a blue shirt, with black shoes. Iskall embroidered his shirt with a swirl, though, and helped him adjust it for his many arms. Joe's coat is green and has many pockets, which he plans to use for some of his custom glasses or smaller treats.

Stress, on the other hand, wears a light blue sparkly leotard. Fabric pink flowers were stitched together and attached to her waist, and light pink see-through pink frills are on her chest and shoulders. She'll fix a wrap on her feet in a bit so that she can comfortably walk across the tightrope.

"Well thank you, Stress," Joe smiles and stretches his six arms out in his coat.

"No problem," Stress replies. "I'm going to help False, do you want me to grab your glasses?"

"Yup, thank you!" Joe waves as Stress slowly walks away, already stuffing candy in one of his pockets.

Stress has no idea where the sweets came from.

   Doc stares at the vest Iskall had handed to him, it is shiny, and seems like it's made of a sort of flexible metal. Beef exits the privacy area and looks over Doc's shoulder to see it as well, on his tiptoes and messing with his suspenders.

   "Doc, just hurry up and put on the shirt... er, vest? Thing," Beef says, patting Doc's shoulder.

   Doc huffs and studies the metallic vest some more before figuring out how to slip it on. It is a bit difficult, but Doc'll get used to it. The metal is cool and feels nice against Doc's skin, and Iskall added little bits of fabric around the neck and shoulders for comfort.

Doc is wearing the shiny metal vest, and dark jeans. Iskall gave him a slightly bulky belt, with pouches connected to it. Doc has black leather gloves to cover his hands, and his boots are heeled and have little flames painted on.

   Beef's outfit is black pants stitched with music notes in many colours, black suspenders connected to them and over his dark cyan shirt, black music notes embedded into that fabric. Beef has his sleeves folded and rolled up nicely, letting his white gloves stand out more. And white shoes.

"That looks cool, let's go check with Iskall to make sure it's on properly," Beef compliments then grabs Doc's arm and drags him away.

"Thanks," Doc pulls his arm away and speed walks past Beef. "And I can walk there on my own fine."

"Mhm, you can.. race ya!" Beef grins and pats Doc's shoulder, and then runs off.

Doc quickly runs after him, determined to make it to Iskall before Beef does.

"Thanks for the help, X. Feathers are hard to tame sometimes," False says, smiling at Xisuma as he tries to tame her feathered hair piece.

"Careful, that'll go over her face, but the 'beak' is fragile," Iskall says, watching the two carefully from where he's 'painting' False's wings.

False and Xisuma get to be the first to get their extra accessories and Iskall's help, because they get ready in his area. "Got it," Xisuma hums in response to Iskall.

False's costume is pretty flashy. She wears a white slightly sparkly leotard, with brown and white feathers coming from the shoulders to surround her wings, as well as fanning out on her chest. She has feathers attached to her shins from some socks that leave her heels and toes out. Iskall is painting little designs on her wings, as well as attaching a few fake gems to make her wings sparkle. False has glitter on her face for makeup, as well as fabric arm guards with feathers attached to them. The headpiece X is helping with turns into a bird mask, the beak is going to cover False's nose and the feathers attached to the silicone mask fanning out elegantly over False's blonde hair. Stress will help her put it in a nice messy bun probably, and Iskall can put feathers in that.

In comparison, Xisuma's costume is simple. Honestly, X's costume is still one of Iskall's favourites, though. His costume is a well fitting bodysuit, the colours complementing bee colours with yellow and dark brown, a black animated bee on Xisuma's chest. Little bits of 'armour' on Xisuma's shoulders and knees are brown, and Iskall decided to give him a black belt corset to put on, thinking it will look good. X wears black combat boots, bright yellow stripes spray-painted on. False put eyeshadow on him and little gems by his eyes. False will probably have Stress give him little braids and tame his hair.

Xisuma drops the mask over False's face and laughs lightly, because it landed a bit crooked. "You look great like that," he says.

False poses, spreading her wings out a bit. "I know, right?" False grins.

Xisuma laughs and Iskall reaches over to fix the mask, grinning to himself and trying to suppress his own laughter after his friends' antics.

"All the feathers are collected from Grian and False, right?" X asks once he gets his breathing steady again.

"Yup, that's why you can see some blues, reds and yellows on False's costume," Iskall gestures, looking over Xisuma and False to make sure they look great.

"Perfect," Iskall hums proudly, making False grin and Xisuma smile.

"Wels, I will actually stab you." Hels threatens light heartedly, his face slightly red from embarrassment.

"I think it's cute," Hypno points out, fiddling with his sleeves to fix them.

"Hush it."

Wels laughs and turns away when Hels glares at him. He had made a few suggestions to Iskall for Hels' outfit. It isn't horrible, Hels is just overreacting. According to Wels.

Wels' outfit was lightly coloured armour sparsely covering his well fitting black under clothes with gold undertones. The armour is light and has some glitter on it to make it look more friendly. Red silk wraps around his waist, and more forms two little trails from Wels' shoulders. Wels has black gloves and a gold coloured belt, and his boots are gold coloured on the bottom. He has matching helmet, with some of Grian's old larger feathers sticking out of the top, mixed in with some red dyed silk from Joe. There's a puffy heart sticker on his helmet, and Wels assumes Stress or someone had stuck it on.

Hels has matching armour and underclothes in a darker shade, but his shirt has a little outlined flame cut out of its stomach area, which is left uncovered by the armour. Dark red silk from Joe hangs over his shoulder by a pink clip, and it wraps around his lower chest at the bottom of the mini chest plate, hanging a bit off his back. Hels' gloves are dark red, with little pink flames on his knuckles, and his belt matches Wels'. Hels' boots are heeled and lined with pink, red, and gold. Hels' helmet has some Grian feathers, and some more messy darkly dyed Joe silk.

"I hate you. But you're lucky this looks good on me," Hels huffs and crosses his arms.

"Love you too," Wels responds, knocking gently on the helmet Hels already put on.

"How wholesome! Now someone come help me, my wings are starting to hurt and I can't get them through," Hypno says, getting the brothers' attention.

"Oh, sure," Wels says and walks to Hypno to help him.

Hypno's outfit is black pants, and a black shirt. The shirt has a chunk cut out of the chest and slightly frilly sleeves, as well as slits for Hypno's damaged wings. A black and yellow corset helps let a starry train fall down Hypno's legs, the corset is shorter than normal, but not quite a belt, and dips enough for Hypno's wings to be comfortable. His boots are heeled and have stars on them. Hypno has dim yellow gloves that go around his middle fingers, as well as a black headband that lets a starry veil cover him. Whether behind to his hair or his face.

"Thanks," Hypno smiles and flutters his wings a bit.

   "No problem, man," Wels says, patting Hypno's back.

   "See, it isn't so bad!" Grian tells Joel, patting his shoulders.

   Joel grumbles and shrugs Grian's hands off. "Whatever.. it's okay."

Grian's outfit is a tight fitting turtleneck, with no sleeves. A little heart is cut out of the chest, and pink, red, and purple hearts are embroidered into the bottom of it. He has fuzzy red leg huggers over some slightly looser black pants. Iskall gave him pink and blue sparkly gloves, which are incredibly soft and have little dots to help with grip. He also has a red and pink zip up sweater to put on before or after shows when he wants, slits for Grian's wings are in the shirt and sweater.

Joel's costume is a purple jacket to put over his usual white shirt, a bunch of mini animals are embroidered into the sleeves and back of the jacket, and a green flowery 'sash' is over the left side of the jacket. Iskall told Joel to wear black pants, and Joel also put on some platformed black boots. Iskall only gave Joel the jacket earlier. He fully expects for Iskall to go overboard with accessories or something, though.

   "I know you like it," Grian pokes Joel's forehead.

   Scar giggles while he fixes one of Grian's feathers into the green rim of his hat, next to a yellow flower Stress gave him and one of False's feathers.

   "Hey, Scar," a voice says, and Scar jumps.

   "Cub! What's up?" Scar grins at his political friend.

   "I need to talk to you," Cub tells him, and Scar's grin falls to a wary smile.

   "Oh, that's a scary tone. What is it?" Scar asks, standing up and walking a bit closer to Cub.

   Grian watches Cub lead Scar away from him and Joel curiously, but he doesn't follow, just turns to Joel again. "C'mon Joel, let's go to Iskall."

   "Do we have to?" Joel whines.

   "Yes."

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   After a trip to Iskall, Stress, and False from those who needed it, everyone's outfits were complete.

   Team ZITS got their strange stilts, plus some matching jewellery. Courtesy of Stress. Zedaph got a collection of bracelets and a nose ring, Impulse got dangly and non-dangly earrings. Tango got a necklace and earrings across his pointed ears, Skizz got a choker necklace with a 'S' and rings.

   Gem got her hair nicely styled by Stress, and Etho reluctantly got his hair pulled back by her. The twins have snowflakes dotting their faces and blue eyeshadow. Iskall also handed them matching smooth rings, Etho's with a cloud and Gem's with a sun.

Cleo got stitches drawn on her skin, and Stress tamed her hair a bit for her. She also brought Xay a charm bracelet with a bee, a flame, a blue flower, an animated slime, and a feather.

Iskall attached balloons to the clips xB and BDubs were confused about, also handing him a ring with a tiny hidden knife for popping balloons. False gave BDubs and Keralis matching toned down clown make up, BDubs smeared his, but he says it's better that way and refuses to fix it. Keralis got a little red clown nose, and BDubs got a comically small top hat with a larger flower on it.

Pearl and Ren got little fake tattoos on their arms, matching symbols. Sun for Ren, and a moon with stars for Pearl.

Stress got her hair up nicely, as well as some sparkly makeup, and collected Joe's many pairs of goofy glasses for him. He says they make children less afraid of his extra eyes.

Doc was given jewellery, such as rings, and necklaces. As well as Iskall's approval on his vest. Beef got a necklace to match one of Doc's, as well as a snowflake and flower dangly earrings. They both were "forced" to have False give them eyeliner, although they do like it.

Wels and Hels got their armour checked, Iskall approved of the sticker, and received the swords they'd use to duel. Hypno got some rings and a choker necklace with a star on it, as well as some dark eyeshadow and bright yellow eyeliner. And some little designs on his wings from Stress, such as stars and sparkles around the damages in his wings.

Joel was correct, and he got plenty of jewellery and little accessories. He got a necklace and a choker, fake earrings to cling to the side of his ear, and a light purple flower Stress braided into his hair. As well as a ring Iskall very discreetly made to be matching to his own ring. Grian got his wings coloured to make the colours stand out more, plus a plain bracelet with an orange and blue heart.

"Hey guys! Scar can't join the show today, so Joel, you can either sit out or walk through the stands with Joe and entertain children there," Cub announces while everyone is almost done setting up.

   Everyone gets confused, and some worried. Scar's never skipped a show, not unless he was too sick to do so or got injured. Grian glances at Joel, who he is helping loosen the braid Stress did, because he says it's too tight and hurting his head. Xisuma speaks up before everyone else.

"Why can't he join?" Xisuma asks in a shout, so Cub can hear him from across the stage.

"Something came up, so he'll be.. busy for a bit. He should be back when the show ends, hopefully," Cub answers, the last part mainly to himself.

"I'll stick with Joe I guess," Joel says to answer a part of Cub's earlier statement, and Joe grins at him.

"Great! Let's finish setting up then so the show can run smoothly," Cub claps his hands together and walks over to Beef and Doc to help the two of them with the lighting.

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