(Before I begin I would like to give props to  missmonster and this mask she designed which inspired this story)

A question I'm asked quite often is how I disguise myself in worlds where there's no race I can blend in with. There's hundreds of ways, but I think telling you about a recent disguise I had will explain all the other ones as well.

It starts with the pelt. It sort of came to me when the wolf attacked. Usually predators leave me be, I think it's my scent. A hunter knows the smell of a fellow hunter, and usually I'm left to my devices. But I think the wolf was feeling particularly territorial or else might have been sick. It trotted right up and lunged at me while I was picking berries. We ended up wrestling for a bit until I got on the beast's back and managed to throttle it.

After skinning it I buried the remains. The wolf's flesh smelled oily and sour, but that's why I try to learn the local herbs as quickly as I can. I spent the next few days softening and purifying it before I dared tried to wear it.

The mask came to be by pure luck. It was probably something worn in religious ceremonies or a rite of passage. I can almost imagine someone wearing it while under the influence of a wild concoction of herbs, perhaps thinking that they're communing with their gods or simply receiving a vision. Even though the mask has the face of a monster etched on it, those jaws traced in silver don't tell me their secrets. A peddler was selling it, probably after buying it from a scavenger. We haggled for what felt like hours until he finally agreed to trade it for my tent and half my herbs.

I fell in love with the mask because it was designed to only be worn over the mouth, it was meant to turn a human face into a half animal one, but it's broad enough that I can wear it easily enough as well. I polished it like mad and then very carefully carved enough holes into it to breathe.

The rest was simple. I had all sorts of mismatched skins and rags to cover myself with, with the wolf's pelt draped on my head and that animal mask on I looked for all the world like some wildman pretending to be a beast.

You see, the secret to hiding is to find a way to do it in plain sight. When a man dresses in costume and pretends to be something he is obviously not, everyone sees it as just that: a man in a costume. If I simply wore concealing wraps and hid my face people would wonder. They would see me as a mystery to be solved and I would have to avoid people as best as I could. But disguising a big mystery in a simple puzzle fixes all that nicely. People see the person dressed up in skins and a mask and think it's a silly wilder pretending to be a beast.

After spending time on the edges of town and letting the townsfolk know I was harmless enough I could even venture in further and further as long as I minded myself. I still had to be careful since there's always some ass who wants to give the stranger a hard time, but for the most part? People just pretended not to see me and moved on.

So remember, if you ever need to hide, do it in plain sight. Don't give people reason to suspect you. Someone won't give a second glance to a lump of dirt even if there's a diamond hidden inside.


(Original is 4x6 inked in sepia and colored in copic marker with a hint of gelpen. Original is for sale for $25 + S/H)