I found an interesting story universe idea posted at The AR Archive, titled Madam Verde’s Mystic Costumes. Within the story’s description is permission by the author, Steven, to use this story idea as long as it retains the story line outlined in the Prologue of Madam Verde’s Mystic Costumes: Daughter's Choice, which he created on October 25th, 2009.

I quote here from his posting on 2009-10-25 "A daughter chooses a costume for her mother that has an effect on her. I give permission to use Madam Verde's in your stories as long as you keep it within the story line of the prolgue."

Prologue by Steven

In a small town in New England, called Lewisville, something strange came to town many years ago and since then the town has never been the same. The strangeness began with a small shop that mysteriously appeared one cool October night. No one knew where it came from or how it suddenly appeared by the next morning. On the banner that was displayed above the door was written, 'Madam Verde’s Mystic Costumes’. The owner appeared to be a gypsy, age unknown, from Europe with olive colored skin and raven dark hair. Why her age is unknown is because every year she seemed to change in appearance, one time she looked as if she was in her fifties, and another time in her early twenties. No one knew what to expect when they walked into the shop that year. What spooked a few people the first time was her strange purple colored eyes and the fact that she knew everyone who came into the shop by name.

Every year the shop would appear two weeks before Halloween and every year it would vanish after twelve 'o clock midnight on Halloween. All of this was strange enough, but it was the costumes themselves that topped the list for weirdness. All of Madam Verde’s costumes held special powers that worked on Halloween. And when the clock strikes twelve on Halloween night all her costumes vanish along with the shop. This special power is what at first scared the people of Lewisville, but who eventually came to love and cherish. For them it made the town special and unique.

Why would the town’s people come to cherish of power of Madam Verde’s costumes you ask? Well for one, with her costumes, every adult or teen could relive their childhoods for one special night of the year. For you see, the power of the costumes, when activated, changed the person holding them to the age the costume was meant for and for those daring enough also their gender. All a person had to do was hold the costume and say the words, “Is est meus sumptus”, and that person would age or regress, or change gender, to the age printed on the tag. But for every power comes a price. To change back to your correct age, or gender, you must remove the costume and say the words, “laxo is veneficus”, and this must be done before midnight on Halloween or else you would be stuck at that age, or gender, until Madam Verde’s shop reappears the next year. Then to change back you would have to pick a costume that matches your real age and gender. It was also discovered that your mind set and emotions changed with your age, but you kept your memories.

This has caused problems for some of the residents of Lewisville, when they failed to say the words and remove the magic of the costumes in time. In an effort to control some of the chaos associated with this magic, the town issued rulings for those who become stuck. Foster parents are picked for those who become twelve years old or younger. They felt that if an adult became a teenager, they could still take care of themselves at home. Even then, you would still have to go to school for that age you became. This was to keep everything as normal as possible. For those adults who became stuck as children, their jobs, and marriages, would be put on hold and their house taken care of by the town until they returned to their correct ages. Also they would have to take the last names of their new foster parents, which included new birth certificates. They did this to hide the town’s secrets from the government or other prying eyes. In some rare cases, those stuck at younger ages, refused to return to their right age and chose to grow up again.

There are many stories in this town that deal with the magic of Madam Verde’s. All you have to do is ask the local’s, but that’s only if you can get them to talked about it.

Madam's Verde's Mystic Costumes: Daughter's Choice by Steven
1 - Prologue
2 - Daughter's Choice
3 - Anticipation
4 - Transformation
5 - Trick or Treating
6 - Consequences