Anna’s alarm went off, the rising tinkling music indicating that I hadn’t overslept, I had been a bit worried about that. My inability to be woken up early was something I hadn’t needed to worry about much so far, my sleep schedule worked out for classes, but this time I had needed to be up early for the train. Mind you it would be a bit yet before I could move, so I guess I wasn’t perfect on my timing.
“Mrming sem.” Anna mumbled from nearby, I heard her clamber out of bed before heading to the washroom. As I heard the shower run I had the thought that I’m probably not even going to be mobile in time to tease her as she came out.
Laaaaame.
As I sat up some time later I got a glimpse of her dashing up the stairs in sweats and a hoodie. “I’ll get your breakfast out!” She called back behind her.
I glanced at my pile of clothes and decided I didn’t want to be bothered to get them all on just to eat breakfast. Then with a widening grin, I realized that there was an opportunity to tease her and save time when I saw she hadn’t bothered to pick up her clothes from yesterday. I pulled my panties on then grabbed the shirt from where it lay on the floor and pulled it on. It was way too big for me and kinda went in my shoulder joints, nor was it quite long enough to cover me but it smelled like her so I could easily overlook those issues.
She had her back turned when I arrived in the kitchen, having been about to sit down with her cereal.
“Good morning Anna!” I called cheerfully trying to draw her attention, she turned smiling then froze upon seeing me.
Success, now to go for the kill. “I like how your clothes smell.” I said honestly while pulling it up to my nose, strategically revealing my panties entirely in the process.
“Sam.” She squeaked while vaguely gesturing with her bowl almost splashing the milk out, Reiko happened to be at the other corner of the table grinning with a thumbs up where Anna couldn’t see.
Hmm, hadn’t intended to give her a show too. Meh fuck it, I’m around the place undressed enough it was going to happen at some point. She didn’t seem to be raising a fuss and I’ve been less covered around Molly too. I did steam up just a bit though, but I decided to push through it.
“Morning Reiko, were you going with us today?” I asked, somewhat reluctantly dropping the shirt back down.
“Probably not, I was going to see you two off though.” She said not missing a beat. “I have a bunch of stuff due Monday otherwise I would have.” She then addressed Anna. “I know you missed day one yesterday but were you going tomorrow too?”
“I-I’ve got a lot of s-stuff I’ve p-p-put off already, so probably not.” She stuttered before recovering as I sat down across from her and started on the mug she had set out for me.
After breakfast, I got another opportunity to tease Anna by reaching into the cupboards to fetch the food for today I had brought over last weekend. The sounds she made when the shirt was pulled up in the process being enough of a distraction from the discomfort of cloth in my joints to make it worth it.
I tried not to tease her intentionally for the rest of getting ready to go as we did have a timeline to keep to. She started by preparing our bags to go while I was cleaning my joints, then it was time to get everything on. It wasn’t as difficult to do this time having done it once before, but I was still too preoccupied to pay attention to the fact Anna was changing near me too. Although judging by the sounds that wasn’t the case for her.
I was correcting my bow in the mirror when the thought of how wild it was that I was actually planning on going out in public with this on crossed my mind. Like sure I had been expecting to intellectually, what with you know making cosplay and all, but now I was faced with the reality of it. I stopped adjusting the ribbon and looked at myself in the mirror, twirling side to side a bit to see more angles.
OK, I know I have thought this before and it’s still a little egotistical, but I like what I look like in this, and I guess it doesn’t matter it’s not something ‘normal’ to go out in. Hell, I like how I smell in this. It wasn’t really needed for the look, but Anna had suggested adding a lavender perfume to my list of prep steps just because she thought it would go with me nicely. It wasn’t a particularly strong-smelling one, but I think it works.
“Hey Anna? I think I’m cute in this,” I mentioned a bit hesitantly, while it’s one to think that in your mind another thing entirely to say. “Is it weird for me to think that?”
“Hell no!” She declared from behind me. “You’re adorable is what you are!” I turned to find her grinning ear to ear, having just finished her make-up which had included gluing little shiny foil strips for Alita’s facial markings.
I smiled back at her, then a thought crossed my mind. “Was it intentional you picked a character that we would match?” I asked while pointing at one of the shiny stripes on my own face, although mine were smaller and more numerous than her two thick ones that started under each eye and went across her cheek.
She blinked then reached up and touch her own face and flushed. “I didn’t even think of that.” She then got a worried expression. “Wait, is it ok that I have them?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked curiously
“There have been controversies in the community with cosplay of characters that are similar to changees.” She explained a little uncomfortable. “I never paid much attention to it before because it wasn’t relevant to any of the characters I did.”
“I’m cool with it at least.” I said with a shrug. “I like them on you if anything.”
She got an uncertain smile and started to turn away. “Your costume turned out great, you know?” I commented, she turned back as her smile settled into a natural one.
“Really? I was worried it might be a bit simple if anything.”
I did a double-take at that. “No way! It’s bang on to the reference images you had, except you made it look real.”
You could argue the basic concept was simple, it was essentially a white jumpsuit with black panels on the torso and groin with a stylized jacket over top. That was before she went to town on it though.
She had changed the design to be a bit less painted on and more apparently durable, with overall heavier fabric that was tailored into a jumpsuit rather than just stretching to be one. Several different fabrics of almost identical color had been carefully chosen so they appeared cohesive but distinct enough to differentiate them. You could tell the elbows were ‘armored’ or the inside of joints could bellows a bit to account for motion, along with little details like subtly hidden loops for hypothetical pouches to be attached to. With the added distress and hints of damage she had done, it looked like something she had actually fought in or spent a month crossing a hostile environment while wearing.
She had the shoulder gun prop too, although at the moment it was currently in her backpack for safe transport. She had apparently managed to get a couple of things she had been hoping for working, it should automatically rotate to face voices when she wasn’t manually controlling it. She wasn’t sure it would work very well in the con though.
“Thanks!” She looked a bit embarrassed at the compliment but returned to getting ready to go. As she finished up, I got my boots on and put the webbing with the magazines in my backpack. I had elected to put those on at the con so it was a little less weird on public transit, but there wouldn’t be any way of hiding the cannon.
“Looking fancy.” Reiko commented to us both at the door, then addressed me specifically. “I’m impressed that’s you’re first going at this stuff; it looks professionally made.”
“That’s because Anna helped me with getting the fit and stuff right, not to mention teaching me everything.” I admitted.
“You’re really good at getting everything where it needs to be though.” Anna countered. “I think it took me years to get that consistent.”
Reiko laughed, then started doing her Shooing motion that she seemed fond of. “You have a bus to catch, don’t miss it because you’re bragging about each other to me.” Then she paused a thought crossing her mind. “Oh yeah Sam, I am giving you a pass on this one but remember what I told you the day we met.”
She made finger guns at me and then walked off into the front room, Anna looked at me confused as I remembered the promise to get Anna out to more than just cons.
“Your bus is in like five mins you know?” Reiko called from the couch, and we dashed out the door.
We managed to get on our bus on time, but it was a bit tight. The guy driving seemed remarkably unbothered by myself, what we were wearing, or the fact I was carrying what appeared to be a cannon larger than I was.
“It’s been that guy for like half the times I’ve gone to cons.” Anna whispered to me while we found a seat. “I think he’s used to me getting on weirdly dressed.”
I nodded and once we were seated pulled out my phone to coordinate with the others.
IndustrialCat (Sam): Just got on the bus, is everyone still coming?
BellingMouse (River): Yep, we are almost to the station, Leah is with us too
supJim (Mike): Wouldn’t miss it!
supJim (Mike): You still haven’t shown us what you’re wearing and I wouldn’t want to be the last to see it
supJim (Mike): Jake doesn’t need cosplay to look like the walking dead at this time
supJim (Mike): So that’s three of you in costume
A conspicuous lack of Jake’s reply implied he is still as bad at mornings as ever, possibly multiplied by our train leaving at 7 AM and thus meaning we all had to be there before then.
As Anna and I approached the little group, I got a little nervous as I was unsure what their reactions to my costume or yesterday’s actions. I wasn’t quite sure if they were aware of the little raid Molly and I had done yesterday either, Anna had only known because Molly had mentioned it to her to look for us. There hadn’t been anything in the chat overnight about it, and I knew they weren’t exactly tight news followers either. As for what I was wearing, it was you know, a maid uniform.
While I was glancing around to distract myself, I noticed there were a few other people in cosplay, presumably also arriving for the train. I recognized a Touhou character, a little trio of people as a spread of popular anime characters, and what I guessed were a couple of superheroes I didn’t know. From how aggressively the two of them were making out, I would assume they were a couple in both senses of the word.
“Holy shit you two went all out!” Mike’s voice drew me back, his wide grin infectious and I smiled back. Jake still looked dead but blinked up at us a bit surprised. Leah was jittering with excitement, the oversized backpack she had bouncing behind her while River had a relaxed smile beside her.
Ok, no one looked actively weirded out. Phew.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Good morning!” I replied while raising my empty hand, the cannon held against my shoulder by my left.
I got a mix of replies back, the most notable being Jake’s ‘How the fuck are you people awake and happy’ which devolved into mumbling. River gave us both hugs though which was nice, it was kinda one-sided for me due to the cannon.
“That thing is completely ridiculous!” Mike commented cheerfully while looking at it. “How much does that thing weigh? It looks like it’s made of steel!”
“Not much-” I started with a shrug then Anna jumped in.
“A shit ton! I couldn’t imagine carrying that thing around for twenty minutes let alone all day, and she can flick that thing around like it’s a pen!” She said beaming.
“Sam you gotta drop by the tournament area!” Leah said the moment Anna finished unable to contain herself. “You look a lot like a palette swap of a character in one of the games on there!”
“Sure.” I said a little startled, but she had already redirected to Anna.
“Are you Ace Wombat Cosplay on insta?” She asked still in the same breath.
“Y-yeah?” Anna answered a little uncertain.
“I love following your stuff! I know you mentioned a surprise at this convention, but it was Sam!” She said before finally taking a breath while gesturing at me. “I thought you were familiar at the games night, but I wasn’t sure until just now!”
“You follow me?” Anna said surprised. I realized hadn’t even thought about Instagram, I never had an account before.
“Oh? Are you E-famous Anna?” I asked grinning and leaning up towards her.
“No, no, I think I only have like two thousand followers, there are people out there with tens or hundreds of thousands or something “ She denied with upheld hands and leaning away from me a little. “I only have my cell phone so the pictures aren’t-“
“Ignore her!” Leah interrupted. “Her insta is fantastic, like look at what you two are wearing and then at what they are.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the anime group a dozen meters away or so.
“Leah, don’t be rude.” River gently chided, as I glanced down and then over at Anna.
My blouse was relatively simple besides the cuffs that matched the black skirt with a bodice held up by straps to my shoulders, it looks way better done than it should be given it’s my first go but it could be something you might see in an extremely eccentric clothing store. Anna had her wonderfully detailed jumpsuit and jacket, which highlights her ass extremely well I noted, its professionally made but worn look making it seem like something with a lifetime of use despite having been finished less than 24 hours ago. Combined with her wig, eye contacts, and makeup it looked like she had stepped out of a movie.
Exactly what I had been looking at for a bit over a month as they came together.
Then I looked over at the trio, the first guy my eye landed on was wearing some Goku costume it was… fine? It was a baggy orange uniform over a blue T-shirt, with shapeless blue boots like in Korean martial arts webtoons. Then some blue wrist bands, a blue strip of cloth for the belt and a spiky wig for the details.
It was simple, to be honest.
Other than the boots, I think I probably could have been done in the first couple of weeks, none of the fitting would be that exact and there was nothing but the minimum sewing to shape it. Not to disparage their work at all, it was a pretty accurate Goku cosplay after all and I expect I was underestimating the work that went in. His two buddies were similar, a good Deku cosplay, and I am pretty sure the other guy was someone from Naruto but I wasn’t sure.
It just wasn’t anywhere close to the level Anna was at though. I guess that makes sense if she does this as basically her entire non-school life and even does commissions, lots of practice to be had there.
I tuned back into the conversation to Anna apparently being fangirl harassed by Leah.
“…Major cosplay was great! I know you wrote some of it wasn’t homemade but what was?” Leah was asking.
“Which Major?” I asked trying to catch up and maybe give Anna an escape.
“From Ghost in the Shell!” Leah responded.
“Like the leotard and jacket get up?” I asked with a raised eyebrow at Anna who blushed and started shaking her head, then stopped hesitantly her upraised hands still between her and Leah.
“Uh well kinda, there were pants too.” She admitted. “It was from a more recent one.”
Leah stuck her phone in my face with a picture of it.
“Oh, wow that’s fantastic,” I commented while looking closely, then grinned up at her. “I like seeing the hint of your hips exposed like that, verrrry nice.”
Her blush deepened and I giggled before wrapping her in a one-armed hug while looking up at her face. “I would love to spend a few hours looking back through everything you have!”
“Y-yeah, sure that could be fun.” She answered smiling, returning the hug.
“Sounds like a plan then.” Then I leaned up starting to go for her cheek for a peck, but she intercepted my lips with her own.
“I would say get a room, but last I checked they don’t have those on that train.” Mikes joking voice declared.
Uh, right we were waiting for a train.
I steamed up a bit as the two of us jerked apart and looked at him, his grin seemed to only widen while he pointed a thumb up the track where a bright set of headlights were approaching.
“While I doubt you would have missed it with all the noise, I just wanted to make sure ya know?” He said cheekily. I took a quick check to make sure everything was zipped up on my backpack while the train rumbled to a stop beside us. The platform wasn’t that busy and we hoped that the train wouldn’t fill up too much, so we ended up placing my cannon across two seats of its own. One end propped up on backpacks, so it didn’t stretch into the aisle. Between us, we filled up a full row, Anna and I with the cannon while the others were across the aisle.
Anna ended up dozing off on my shoulder about five minutes into the ride. I wasn’t exactly sure when she had gone to bed as I had gone early to try and be up in time, but I assumed it probably wasn’t a reasonable time. Fortunately, Anna wasn’t a drooler, so I wasn’t worried about my dress. I paid a bit of attention to the wide-ranging conversation across the aisle but mostly just watched the terrain go by while listening to Anna’s breathing.
Anna woke up again just as the train pulled into the station, this being a skill she had apparently cultivated, we followed her winding path through union station. I focused on staying as close to her as I could, while I expect the others could have found me with my cannon sticking out above the crowd, I sure as fuck wouldn’t have been able to find them if I got separated. I had the conference center’s address on my phone, and it was basically on the same block, so I could have gotten to it without that much trouble but that would have sucked to get separated.
Once we were out of the building it wasn’t quite as packed, but that meant it was more like a busy section of the campus rather than five hairs between you and the next person packed. As we approached the building, I occasionally heard one of the others pointing out someone in cosplay they thought looked neat.
“Huh, I think that’s someone from Destiny.” Jake commented at one point, I tried looking in the direction he indicated but I couldn’t see shit even when jumping up a little.
I sighed, the little cloud of steam dispersing into the crowd around us. “Hey Anna?” She looked down at me. “It’s going to be busy in the con right?”
“Probably yeah, why?”
“Uh well, I think you might have to guide me to interesting vendors or cosplayers because I won’t be able to spot anything unless there’s like a view from above somewhere.”
She blinked, then realized how much lower my perspective was while laughing. “I’m more than happy to do that!”
----------------------------------------
“Have you seen any of your friends yet?” I asked Anna as we waited in the line to enter the conference center, the two of us were getting curious glances from passersby and other people in the line but I can’t say it was actually that much different than normal for me.
“Not yet, they are probably already in there.” She answered with a shrug. “I know a few of them are staying together in a nearby hotel and they probably got in before the lines.”
I winced. “Sorry I can’t wake up any earlier.”
“Sam, I don’t think I could have ether.” She laughed it off.
“I’m pretty sure Jake would have murdered me if I woke him up an hour earlier.” Mike commented in front of us, looking up from his phone with a grin over his shoulder. “Speaking of, you saw this guy is here right, Jake?” He said offering the phone to him.
“Woah, no I didn’t. Ok well, I gotta get something signed by him then.” I wasn’t really sure how much the others had planned this trip beyond seeing the cosplay shows this evening and the tournament Leah is in, but from the chatter I had heard from them they seemed to have an eclectic mix of destinations. We had made plans on meeting for lunch, apparently Jake had scheduled for his brother to meet us then but he might be late.
The people checking tickets gave me and my prop a hell of a stare, but when Anna said I was with her they let me through. I think the main guy knew her to some degree judging off the smile and nod he had given her in response.
River and Leah broke from us pretty much the moment we got past the doors, Leah’s first game wouldn’t be that long from now and she needed to get over and set up. Mike and Jake stuck with us for a bit then broke from us as we approached the section of the hall that looked to have been demo booths for games, judging off the stuff I could see sticking out above the crowd to the right of us.
“There’s a room that we are meeting the others in,” Anna said raising her voice to be heard over the background hum. “Probably only a few more minutes of this crowd.
Eventually, she tugged my hand a bit while tilting her head over at a door suddenly visible in a part of the crowd to our left. As we made our way over to it I noticed there was a sign on the door but I didn’t get a chance to read what it said besides the name of the con before Anna opened it.
We entered into a largish meeting room that looked to have been intended for a workshop or something judging off the tables with seats at them and cutting mats at each spot. At the moment the room instead had a handful of eclectically garbed individuals in the midst of some conversation in a cluster around a couple of tables with their backs to us or obscured by someone wearing a ludicrously oversize set of armor covered in furs that I think might have been from a Monster Hunter game, short curly black hair just visible above the shoulders. Props, helmets, and anything else normally worn or carried are scattered around them. The nearest person was in a rather elaborate Captain America costume and turned towards the sound of the con coming through the temporarily open doors.
“Hey! I made it!” Anna said, a slightly awkward smile on her face as the guy was jerking his head between Anna and me, pausing to look at our held hands.
“Fucking A, you weren’t fucking with us!” He said after a delay, then turned back into the group. “Hey guys, Anna’s American Girlfriend is real!”
“The fuck are you talking about Stuart?” A high-pitched voice said then an Asian woman in a Ruby Rose costume leaned over around the armored individual, she blinked at me. “Holy shit.”
“Hi.” I said a bit nonplussed, I guess Anna wasn’t kidding when she said they didn’t believe I was real.
The big guy in armor twisted around to look at us, letting me see past him to the other people. A redhead girl wearing an NCR Ranger get-up complete with an antimaterial rifle across her knees, and a brown-haired woman maybe a bit older than the others in a (the?) Mandalorian costume.
“Anna has a girlfriend, and she’s a robot.” The Ranger cosplayer said with a hand over her mouth, then directed a question at me. “She didn’t kidnap you or something right? Oh, wait that would need Anna to leave the house, where did she find you then?”
“Emily!” Anna protested.
“We are in the same class,” I answered a bit annoyed at how she was bad-mouthing Anna. “And no, she didn’t kidnap me.” Other people had, but that was neither here nor there.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just surprised.” The big guy said offering a hand a broad smile bright against his dark skin. “Luke, nice to meet you.
“Sam.” I said while taking his gauntleted hand after stepping forward.
“Nice gun.” He said as I released it.
“Thanks! Anna did all the design and planning work, I just did what she told me.” I admitted.
“Ah, but you worked on your costume yourself?” He asked with raised eyebrows, clearly starting to reassess me.
“Yeah, she basically did everything!” Anna said placing her hands on my shoulders from behind me, and I looked up at her wide grin. “Pretty good for a first-timer, eh? She has steady hands like you wouldn’t believe!”
“Huh, yeah.” The captain America cosplayer (Stuart?) said, and I realized he had approached and was examining my costume closely. “Is the dress from scratch too?”
I nodded as he circled around me still carefully examining my costume, it felt a bit weird to be under his scrutiny but he was clearly focused on what I was wearing and holding so I guess it was ok. “Mind if I take a look?” He asked gesturing at the gun after his circuit.
“Sure.” I offered it so he could grab it by a handle, which he initially took one-handed like I was before scrabbling to take the weight with another as I released it.
“Jesus Christ, what is it made from?” He said while hafting it experimentally. “Are you expecting to carry this around all day? Cause that’s gonna suck.”
“Wood mostly, Anna would know better what type.” I answered while offering to take it back, after a few moments of looking at it he passed it back staring at me taking it one-handed. “I don’t think carrying it will be an issue, I don’t have muscles to get tired and I won’t overheat from just that much.”
“Sure,” He said with a bit of confusion before offering a hand. “Stuart. The rude one is Emily, Zoey is rocking the Ruby get-up-“ Ah, that’s who Anna was making the scythe for! “And then Faith is repping for star wars.”
“Nice to meet you.” I won’t point out that his initial greeting wasn’t exactly the politest either.
Zoey walked up to me curiosity etched across her face, now I was surrounded on four sides by people all taller than me, despite the fact I could literally throw them it’s kinda weird how intimidating that is when you only know one of them. The fact that I am pretty sure I would have thought of Zoey as short before makes it worse.
“Is that your real hair?” She asked while closely looking at me as I looked up at her and leaned back into Anna a bit. “Woah, I can see into your face.”
“Uh, yeah honestly, I am just going as is besides the costume. No makeup or anything.” I confirmed. “I don’t really know how dye would interact with my hair and I am a little reluctant to find out.”
“Wait so you are full anime one hundred percent of the time?” She asked, getting a nod in answer.
“I think I got fewer people looking at me on the way over here than I do on a normal day.” I admitted with a snort of steam in my torso.
“You two ready for a wander around?” Luke asked, preventing further questions from Zoey. “We can chat more on the go. If you want to leave your bags here, I’m going to be locking the door behind me. I will be running a workshop in the afternoon, but I can still look after them.”
“I can carry your phone and wallet.” Anna offered patting a pocket on her jacket, then looked up from me. “Oh, do you mind if we eat lunch here Luke? Sam needs stuff for her bag for that.”
“Sure, that was our plan anyway.” He said over Emily questioning me about eating from just beyond the others. There were a couple of minutes of them pulling on helmets or correcting the fit of something during which Anna got the gun snake out and onto her arm then we returned to the bustle outside.