Nearly two weeks before Halloween. In a moment of absent-mindedness Aaron mentioned the Wayne's Masquerade to Mrs. Ma, an elderly woman that helped care of May while he was at work, and before he knew it Mrs. Ma and her friends were busy coming up with an appropriate costume for him to wear. In the end, they decided on the character of Guan Yu - a historic general seen as the epitome of loyalty and righteousness in Chinese culture due to the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms - and quickly went to work. "Of course, we can't have you wearing just a suit," they said. "You must wear the traditional Xuanduan!"
Aaron had little say in the whole thing. Really, all he wanted to do was get a mask from one of the party stores, but he couldn't bring himself to stop the women. They were just so full of enthusiastic energy, it made him glad to see him so upbeat. So that was how he ended up wearing not only a full red and black mask, but the most formal attire of Hanfu. To say he stuck out like a sore thumb was an understatement.
He suffered a moment of embarrassment when it seemed all of the attendants turned to stare at his outlandish costume. It faded away, however, when a few fellow guests approached him and asked about his attire. After, Aaron spoke proudly of the work the elderly women did and explained what he knew of the Guan Yu character he was portraying.