There was always something interesting, unique and exotic to be found when looking around the indie stands. A chaotic mix of artists of vast variety from all walks of life. An array of wood carved masks could neighbour a panel of sci-fi portraits while another offered to draw you in any anime style you wanted. Boardgames were on sale. Art books tempted and of course, there were also a variety of plushies, cushions and pillows - body pillows - on offer.

Daniel and Tania strolled with sparkling eyes through the aisles, backpacks already growing heavy with their purchases. Mostly art books and the occasional drawing. Their plan to just take note of any interesting stands to come by later had failed spectacularly. But at least for now they had seen everything on offer but there were still a few stands that been in the middle of being set up when they had passed by.

Their search of the Blaze Vermillion cosplay hadn’t turned out fruitful but they had seen some amazing cosplays that honestly blew her out of the water. Daniel had recognised the Rost Walker, a bipedal tank adorned with silver-grey furs, as the two guys they had seen at the stairs the day before and during breakfast.

But even more impressive had been the Cancargot, the fantasy hermit crab’s frame was the size of a small car. The claws actually could move surprisingly freely and occasionally the cartoonish face with its stalk eyes poked out of the front. The top of the shell was hinged and a small girl poked out of the opening, grinning wide and dressed as cute dragon.

“Go! Make way for the crab queen!” The girl cheered.

“Caution! Oversized crab landing!” A joking voice called out from within.

“I knew we should’ve made a viewing window.” Came a woman’s resigned echo at the dad joke.

And slowly the family cosplay had wandered onwards to the main stage in preparation for the Cosplay Contest, followed by awed looks, a multitude of cameras and excited chatter.

It was still a while before the contest would actually start and Daniel and Tania had wandered over to one of the few seating areas scattered throughout the con for some rest and relaxation. The RR Tournament had already started and was being broadcast live, allowing Daniel and Tania to watch their new friends compete.

Elise was maining Hana, an elegantly dressed fox girl puppeteer of flowing, black hair, smooth fox tail and shapely, black kimono of crimson petal design. Her face was generally hidden by a sleek fox mask of differing design depending on the flower puppets under her control. (“So that’s why she bough that mask.” Tania smiled. “That’s surprisingly cute for her~” Elise hadn’t really seemed the type to do something like that, Tania softly laughed into her hand. A impish twinkle flitted through her eyes.) An assassin, the slender girl supported her minions via thrown knives and she was able to switch places with them as one of her specials.

As far as Daniel could see, she had the advantage against Sarah’s chosen fighter.

Lazuli was a zoner and spell caster, a reef shark girl who summoned chains and set up water traps around arena. And with Hana’s minions, Elise could deal with those relatively securely without risking taking unnecessary damage.

Slender and of tantalising curves, Lazuli colour palette was of a deep purple with light blue to pink tribal patterns flowing along her powerful tail. Her hair was long and billowing, the tribal pattern shaping a pair of eyes framing her bright face. She was clad in a tight, white open mini jacket that somehow covered her perky, round and bouncy breasts without flashing them with every move and a beige pair of hot pants that was teasingly unbuttoned at the front. Her skin a vibrant caramel tan.

“Well, I think I know why Sarah mains her.” Daniel said, a smile curling his lips amused as he glanced at Tania as she cheered Sarah on with excited sparkling eyes. Her bright attitude fittingly reflected within Lazuli’s own playful but potent fighting style. A trait Tania dove into when she slipped into her role as Gao Mako.

Many had come to seating area to watch the Tournament, the current match was between Sarah and a player of Julian, a rushdown martial arts pilot with a pair of goggles riding the blue bandana wrapped around his head. His tanned, muscular chest was bare and he wore pair of overdesigned dark blue shorts. A beautiful, azure bird always either rested on his shoulder or glided above him. And he was always winking smarmy, grinned cocky or smirked in challenge. He was that kinda character.

“WOOOOH!” Cheers echoed around the rest area as Sarah completely blocked her opponent’s barrage of hits, leaving him vulnerable to her Special. The water traps scattered throughout the arena burst and rushed back to Lazuli, striking her opponent rapidly in the back. His already reduced HP dropped to zero for a second time this game, earning her the victory.

“Yess! Love that play, haha!” Boisterous one particular spectator laughed, his voice and build perfectly fit the cosplay he had made.

Daniel nudged Tania lightly in the side and she startled confused before noting the figure he cocked his head towards.

“Wow, that’s uncanny.” She blinked.

Dressed in tight, dark brown pants and an unbuttoned, beige shirt stood a middle-aged man with a bombastic, slightly dishevelled full beard and short, wild hair. He was tanned and had a grizzled look to him that did nothing to detract from his jolly laughter. He wore two halves of an oversized drill on his two arms like a pair of shields or maybe claws or gauntlets.

He was spitting image of Diggers Man, one of the side characters and bosses of the indie hit game Taiga Crash. In built, chiselled features and even attitude.

“I want a picture with him~!” Tania sparkled at him and Daniel mused how unsurprising it was that she was already sprinting across the area.

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Leisurely he strolled after her, watching amused as the old man blinked startled at a girl actually matching him in height.

“A picture, eh? Well, won’t do to disappoint the missy, bahahaha!” He laughed uproariously and looked her up and down with a wink. “Would’ve said little missy but you’re first one that doesn’t work with, eh?”

He turned towards Daniel and smiled.

“And you’re making the picture, then. Make it a good one worthy of your girlfriend, here! Now, how do we do this…? Hm…” He stroked his chin, the drill gauntlet supported by a harness attached to his shoulders. “Don’t think I could hold on my shoulder, gauntlet’s in the way and you’re also a bit too tall for that…”

“Story of my life…” Tania puffed her cheek cutely annoyed, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“Well, you’re at least not towering over him.” Daniel noted helpfully, earning himself a grumbling pout.

“Being tall ain’t all its cracked up to be, yah.” The Diggers Man chuckled and then struck his palms with his fist, a wide grin coming to his lips. “Ah, that’s a good one! Come on here!”

A moment later the old man had sat down crosslegged on the floor, hands pressed onto his knees with a proud smile gazing into the camera. Tania stood a bit to the side behind him, arms crossed and trying her best to make a cool smile instead grinning like a loon as they posed like in the photo at the end credits, Tania acting as the aloof Black Scarf always helping out the hero in the background.

“Yeah, that’s good pic.” Daniel smiled behind his smartphone.

After this picture, they made a few more of Tania besides Diggers Man, Diggers Man alone and all three of them with the help of a random passerby.

“Thank you!” Tania beamed at him as they finally parted ways.

“Ahaha, no need! I love doing this. Just wish my youngin could’ve come, but school… yeah, don’t wanna hold him back. Which is why I’m gonna show him a ton of photos and get him a truckload of trinkets!” He laughed brightly before seeing himself off.

———

The tournament had gone into a short break and the duo decided it was time to take another look around the convention as the Cosplay Contest was drawing close. If the rest of the contestant were even just half as good as those they had already seen, then this promised to be just unbelievably amazing.

They had just made their way out of the seating area when a familiar face ran into them, a second right behind. Grinning victoriously, Maria skittered to a halt before them carrying a large, plushy bean shaped dragon plushie of cream coloured fluff and emerald detailing over her head.

“Heya~! Look what I won!” Maria grinned smugly and glomped her mischievously grinning plushie. They looked startlingly similar.

Natalie joined them a moment later, smiling as she waved lazily in greeting.

“Hey, looks like we met up a bit early. Hope you two had fun, I know I had running after the gremlin here.” She poked Maria’s cheek amused with her thumb, just so pulling it away again before the girl’s jaw snapped close around empty air. A impish grin was on the gremlin’s lips.

Natalie had been at the mercy of Maria’s whims like a sailboat with the winds on the open sea. They had been all over the con, even the jungle garden, and after a detour through the indie hall had come across a shooting gallery with the main price being the adorable Dragon Bean plushies, all three from Three Beans: Miu, Era and Yun.

“There was this guy dressed like Raymond from Tae to Tae winning them all as soon as they restocked and gave anyone who played one if they wanted to. The guy from the stand looked so exasperate. But the best part was how the guy playing Raymond really embodied the whole I’m-just-done-with-all-that-shit stick.” Natalie grinned.

“I won fair and square… this badge!” Maria cheerfully declared, showing off a small badge hefted to her shirt that showed all three Dragon Beans cutely snoozing in a bed of pillows.

“This con is a gold mine of cosplays.” Daniel shook his in amazement.

“True, did you see that Cancargot one?” Natalie asked, shaking her head in awed disbelief.

“The girl was adorable~!” Tania cooed and urged Daniel to show them the pictures they made. “And we found the perfect Diggers Man cosplay! It was like he jumped right out of the game!”

“He really was amazing.” Daniel chuckled as they started to share all the amazing cosplays they had run into.

Natalie and Maria had actually run into the Blaze Vermillion cosplay, much to Tania’s pouting envy, but that was just the tip. Standing out was a rather sexy dragon girl version of Little Flame, the red dragon of the cult classic video game and comic series of the same name. She looked rather bemused in her picture as she suggestively hugged a cheerfully grinning Maria from behind. Another was Thyvren, an alien assassin in silver plated bodysuit armour and smooth face plate from the anime Seisei, localised as Star World, as he posed against a black cloth near the game hall.

And then there was of course the Raymond cosplayer. The disheveled special agent who had to deal with one insane case after the other in his manga turned anime series, looking absolutely done like in character including bloodshot eyes and three-day old beard stubbles. He wasn’t difficult to cosplay but that guy certainly managed to hit it out of the park.

“We’re making another stroll through the indie aisles, what about you two?” Tania asked as they finished with the pics.

“Sure, I could do with some focused window shopping instead of running all over the place.” Natalie mused, throwing a pointed look at Maria.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’m all imped out for the day. I’ll just cuddled Miu trailing after you.” The smallest girl replied, hugging the plush bean demonstratively against herself. It was nearly as big as she was.

“You heard the tiny girl!” Natalie grinned and waved haphazardly towards Daniel and Tania. “And I’m fine with wherever, so just lead the way.”

“Soo…! I wanted to take another at those wood figurines, what about you?” Tanie turned to Daniel amused.

“That was near the end of the second aisle, right…? Yeah, we can go down the first and…” He mused when a sudden clack from the speakers echoed through the halls, interrupting him.

=Apologies, but the obstacle course at the jungle garden is temporarily closed due to… ah, an… unexpected obstruction… thank you for your understanding… *snrk*=

The sound cut off in the middle of a barely suppressed snicker.

They blinked. As did many other wandering around the con.

“…do you think that’s really Luna?” Tania sweatdropped as she looked over to Natalie and Maria.

“I wish I wasn’t so certain of this…” Natalie groaned, palming her face.

“It’s a bit like asking if water is wet or fire hot.” Maria mused in the back, a shit-eating grin on her face.

“We can ask them when we meet them at the main stage.” Daniel offered, sweatdropping as well.

“Yeah… when…” Natalie sighed, shaking her head even as a bemused smile still tugged at her lips.

That little interruption put aside, the foursome turned their focus on what they had been planning just before it. Namely taking one look around the indie aisles before making their way to the Cosplay Contest.

A new stand had just finished its set up, unassuming nestled between two others, and the owner hummed softly to himself as he adjusted the display one last time. He smiled as the old tome bound in dark purple leather and chained in dark silver grey chains stood proud at the centre for all to see. Yep, he really was glad he had decided to take his grandma’s old book with him.

None could have imagined the far reaching consequences that this idle-made decision would have in the all too near future.