Chapter 5
I went over to Emily's room first thing the next morning. Though it was Thursday, it was actually the start of a 4-day weekend for fall break, so no need to wait though classes to talk more. She had told me the basics of what happened the previous night on the phone, but there was more to talk about.
Emily had described the whole conversation. Once she was accused, she and Zoe of course denied it and tried to act innocent. But the RA, who was a girl one year older, said that no, it was definitely her since she was still wearing the same shoes and the same hat. Oops. But then laughed and told her that she wasn't in trouble or anything, she just thought it was funny and wanted to know why she was doing it. It turned out she was one of those students at the study session and thought that she recognized Emily as she streaked by.
Emily said that she still wasn't going to admit it, but Zoe ratted her out immediately at that point, saying that it was a dare as initiation into being a nude figure model for the art department. That turned out to be a solid on-the-spot excuse, because the RA bought it. They all joked about it for a couple more minutes and even talked about how Zoe and soon Emily would be models for classes, but Emily said she was just in a state of disbelief that she got caught on her first time out.
The conversation ended though with something that shocked Emily and surprised Zoe. The RA joked that she hoped to see Emily streaking around the building sometime soon for her next dare. They all laughed at first, but it also sparked Zoe's curiosity, so she questioned what the RA meant, trying to be innocent about it.
Apparently, any complaint about a streaker in the building would technically be a behavior complaint, and that would go through the RA for review, not campus security, like a complaint about a streaker out on campus. And it turns out that there's not really any guidance in the RA handbook about that situation, so she could really make whatever decision she wanted. And since she had no problem with it, that meant that no one who was complained about for harmless streaking would get in trouble if she was in charge. Some guy had done it at another building the year before when he was drunk, but aside from complaints and a talking to, nothing came from it. So basically, nudity was completely cool in the building. Of course, the RA did not say it that clearly, but that was how Emily and Zoe understood it, and how they told me. Zoe with a mischievous grin, Emily with a nervous smile.
That was a surprise to hear, and definitely sparked my imagination. That's what I wanted to talk about that morning, but Emily was focused on something else. I got there to find just her, Zoe was working on a project at studio today.
"Ben, we need to talk about how I got recognized so easily last night. I barely passed anyone and even with the hat on, I still got caught. We need something better for next time."
It was good to hear that there would be a next time. She made a good point. I had thought about putting together a disguise for her previously, but figured the hat would be enough for what she was doing. But I guess we could do more.
"Ok Emily, we could make a disguise for you to use in the future. But I definitely don't want to let you fully cover your face, like the mask you used the first time," I told her. "The risk is part of the challenge and I'm not going to let you get out of that."
"No I agree and I have an idea. So I got caught because of the shoes and the hat, so the first step is to get a new pair of shoes and a hat that I use just for being naked. That eliminates some of what makes me recognizable" Emily said.
"Or you could just go without the hat and the shoes?" I suggested, knowing that I would push her to that point soon.
She ignored the comment and responded, "But that gets to the next part. The only other things I am recognizable for are my hair and my face. I mean, no one is going to recognize me for the naked parts of me. So I need to change what they can. So I was thinking about a wig."
"Would that look obviously fake?" I questioned.
"Not if we use a good one. Yeah a cheap one would look off, but a moderately good quality wig would make me look like a completely different person," she told me. "I was also thinking about getting a fake pair of glasses to wear that could hide my face a little. And I could change my makeup a little, contour a bit, just to make my face a bit more unrecognizable. I think it could work."
"Well I'm not opposed to any of that if you think it would help. I was afraid you'd try to cover up even more, so I'm happy with what I hear" I replied. "One more suggestion. How about a fake tattoo? So that you could prove to someone it wasn't you if you are accused."
Emily smiled and said "I've always wanted a tattoo."
So we agreed on her disguise. And since it was a day off from class, we went right then to start to assemble it. First to Walmart for the glasses, shoes, and hat. They sell frames with no prescription there, so we picked out a pair that was a good balance between looking normal and providing a bit of facial cover. For the shoes, she picked out a fairly plain white set of running shoes, looking just like what everyone else wears. And the hat we bought was a plain dark grey baseball hat. We thought that the rest of the disguise would be harder to find, but luckily, it was the fall, so there were popup Halloween stores all around town. The first one we tried had exactly what we needed. For the tattoo, we picked out a couple that looked like something someone would actually get, including a flowery mandala and a pawprint. We would decide what to use and where later.
That left us with just the wig. Emily's real hair is short and brown. It needed to be a wig that really changed her appearance, so we decided to go with the opposite and get a medium length blonde wig. Just trying it on in the store made a difference, so we were confident it would work when she put it on for real.
We purchased our supplies and headed back to her room to test it out. She started stripping as soon as we walked in the door. A welcome sight.
"I'm going to figure out how to put the wig on, you figure out how to do the tattoos, ok?" she told me.
I could do that. It was straightforward and worked just like the temporary tattoos we had as kids, but on a bigger scale. I was getting out some hand towels to use when Emily walked back in, now 'dressed' in the disguise.
It worked. I mean she still looked like Emily, but it wasn't immediately recognizable. She was a blonde girl with glasses that could pass as someone else if all you got was a quick glance. A completely naked blonde girl to be specific.
"This will work," was all she said. She seemed confident in the plan, which I was very happy to hear. There was a moment that I was afraid that this would all be over when she got caught the first time. But no sign of that yet.
"Should I put a tattoo on so we can see the full look?" she asked.
I was about to say yes, but then a plan quickly came together in my head. "No, lets save the tattoo for your first test run. They are one use after all. Next time I have something for you to do, we will try it out."
"And when will that be?" she asked, knowing that I wasn't going to tell her.
