by Lissa Kasey
I heard a lot of frantic running of sewing machines and was glad we were done. Nicole was fussing with my hair. “Get your wig,” I told her.
She scrambled for it, and seemed to find hers easier to handle than mine. But hers was also a lot shorter and finer. I handed her the other necklace I’d been working on; it was made to look like the broken jewel she and Inuyasha had been searching for, pieces chipped off. The jewel itself I’d crafted from melting a bit of soap in the microwave, cooling it in the freezer, and cutting it to form the gem-like edges.
This time she gaped at me. “This is amazing.”
“Legit, right?” I asked. “Authentic. And useful when we’re done since you can shower with it. I do soap making for the shop when I get tired of working with fabric.”
She grinned. “We are going to rock this.”
“We are,” I agreed.
“Sewing machines off,” Freya called. “Ten minutes for last prep.” And that was okay, as Nicole and I fiddled to perfect our costumes. Maybe we wouldn’t win first, and that was okay. I felt amazing. Creative juices flowing, happy instead of anxious, and excited to see what everyone else had created. It was almost like time had reversed and all the bad had vanished. And for those few hours it was an incredible feeling.
Chapter 22
Time was called and everyone stopped. I looked around into the sea of the room and saw characters, incredible, believable characters. Everyone was smiling and laughing. That was the magic of cosplay, becoming someone else for a little while and leaving all the troubles of life behind.
“Head to the main hall. We’ll use the entry for pictures and judging,” Freya announced. We filed our way out of the craft room to find Grace waiting for us with a camera.
“You all look amazing!” She said.
“We’ll do one group at a time,” Freya instructed. “Strike your pose in the taped box and we’ll get pictures. The rest of us, there are clipboards with the criteria sheets. Put the name of the characters at the top and check the boxes to place your votes. MaryAnn and I will go first.”
The two made their way to the box marked in tape on the floor at the end of the hall. There were lights set up with a plain background, making it look like a photobooth.
Freya and MaryAnn posed as Grace began snapping pictures.
“I hope we get copies,” I heard Alex say. “Left my phone in my other pants.”
There was a murmured laugh and consensus. Freya and MaryAnn had gone the sexy cosplay route which was often their trademark. Gender-bending Mario and Luigi from Mario Bros., their super short, cutoff shorts showed off a lot of skin, and their revealing tops with sort of push-up corset-type shirts, outlined boobs for miles. Their hair was pulled up and styled into sexy ringlets in ponytails and baseball caps, and they looked more like supermodels than game characters. However, this was the sort of cosplay they were both famous for. They rolled through a few poses, old pin-up style, none particularly specific to the game.
Nicole nudged me, holding out a clipboard.
“Sorry!” I said. Embarrassed to have been staring when I was supposed to be voting. I went through the sheet, giving high marks in some areas, and mid-range in others. I’d seen them both do this particular costume before, and much more accurately. A few hours didn’t give time to craft the shirt and screen print it too. Some pieces looked more taped together than sewn, a little disappointing from two such skilled seamstresses.
Next up was Chad and Julie. And those two were… wow. Chad had to lumber to the spot and crouch a little to fit in the lighting area. Hagrid and Hermione from Harry Potter had been their choice. Julie’s ratted out hair, a fluffy mess, resembling the movie character, and she’d done good work getting her Gryffindor robe accurate, right down to the patch. She held a handful of old books, and a golden-looking hourglass necklace which looked put together from EVA foam, and probably spray painted.
Chad’s costume was a leather-like robe. The bulk beneath it meant he’d used pillows or something as it didn’t lay quite smooth, but still gave breadth to his size. The mess of hair on his head and face had to have come from Freya’s wig trunk and was close to the real thing. He had no other props, and the overcoat was pretty plain. In general, their costumes were good. And people would stop, ask for their photos and pose with them if they were at a convention. However, when it came to overall skill, detail, and accuracy, it was lacking a little. With more time they could have added some things to Hagrid’s design to make it stand out. I wondered if the leather-like material had made them lose time, or just sheer size had caused them trouble.
In general, they had gone with simple, only two overcoat type items and some accessories, but other than a few bits of Julie’s outfit, hadn’t taken the time for small details. They also didn’t have a good set pose and stood a little awkward together. I gave them high marks for inspiration and creativity, but mastery and accuracy were low.
Next up were Jonah and Alex. As they stepped into the square it was the first time I really looked at them. Couldn’t miss the bright orange of Jonah’s outfit, or the pea green of Alex’s top.
Jonah had done a gender bender as well, taking on the role of Velma in her fitted orange sweater and short skirt with knee-high socks. He’d found Mary Janes somewhere and fake glasses. He didn’t bother with a wig, instead using his shaved short hair as a sort of backdrop of what Velma’s hair had been. He looked like a smart, sassy, and with some sort of bra underneath, sexy African-American Velma. Lots of hip and a good show of leg, an illusion of fabric creating that very feminine look. They’d constructed a magnifying glass thing out of EVA foam. It was huge, and sort of comical, but a fun detail.
Then there was Alex. I had to smile. If anyone made a better Shaggy than Alex, I had yet to meet them. His wild hair and full beard added to the full stoner effect. The pea green V-neck shirt, white undershirt with long sleeves, and brown pants fit well, hugging his lean frame and making him look like the tall and lanky detective from cartoons of old. He’d let his hair down and obviously run his fingers through it a little to make it look like the messy stoner, and at some point, he’d retrieved the one pair of dress shoes he’d brought with to add to the outfit.
He hugged a pillow, big and brown, and stitched in black thread to the outline of a very particular dog. It even had the words “Ru-Roh” stitched above the dog’s head in a thought bubble. While his Scooby wasn’t anywhere near as large as the real Scooby had been, since I was pretty sure the dog had been a Great Dane and the size of a horse, he was a good two feet tall. The pillow cut to look like a sitting Dane, with the stitching perfect enough I wondered if Alex had done it with his quilting skills. The two of them did a few sneaking poses hunched over the magnifying glass, looking shocked, or searching, and even a fake kiss as a Shaggy and Velma thing was a cannon side story.
“I really hope we get copies of the pictures,” I said to no one in particular while scoring the list for them. They got high marks for originality, creativity and even execution as all of the pieces looked like real clothes with authenticity to the series. Even Alex using his own hair. They rolled through a few silly poses, like Velma slapping Shaggy’s ass, and we all laughed. They were a pair that would have crowds lined up.
When they left the box, I grinned at him. “You’re amazing!” I said to Alex.
His cheeks turned pink. “You guys are amazing. Go… do your thing.” He waved at the box. Nicole and I headed over to get ready. Thankfully the box was large enough for the ‘Sit, Boy!’ pose. She held out the jewel necklace just inches from me and said, “Sit, boy!”
I did my whole fall to the ground and pull the dizzy string thing. An uproar of laughter echoed across the room and I worked to hold the silly pose while I heard the click of the camera and murmured voices. Nicole and I did two other poses, one of which showed off the clay fake ‘nails’ I’d created to make me look like the half-demon, lunging at her, and her looking serene. And the last one was a fake almost kiss, like we were reach
ing out for each other.
When we left the box, Alex greeted me with a kiss. “I love Inuyasha!” he said. “You make a great half-demon.”
“I’m wicked that way,” I promised him with a wink.
“Brat,” he whispered fiercely to me. “These pants hide nothing, behave.”
I glanced down to find him giving me a little half lift and smiled.
Freya collected all the sheets and Grace began helping her tally points.
“Did you stitch Scooby?” I asked Alex.
“Yeah. A fabric sandwich design and Jonah helped me turn it into the pillow. He said he could probably make a plush but there wasn’t enough time.”
“You guys did great,” I said.
“It was all Jonah. Never seen anyone cut pieces so fast that fit perfectly once sewn together.”
“And that man of yours,” Jonah said, “damn he can sew. I was like sew this to this and he whipped right through it. Not even a problem with the knits once I changed the needle.”
“Except the skirt. He had to do that. Pleats?” Alex looked down at the skirt Jonah was wearing. “Pleats are evil things.”
“Right?” I agreed. “Nicole slammed through hers like it was nothing. I think I need more practice.”
“Sewing clothes fast is part of fashion design,” Jonah said. “Skirts are easy. Too bad Velma didn’t rock an A-line. Would have finished it in half the time and better to show off this fine ass.” He patted his own butt.
“Who created the magnifying glass?” It looked a bit like one of those giant foam cheese head things I’d seen on TV. Or even the big foam bat they had at some sports events.
“That was me,” Alex said. “Foam is pretty easy to work with. Since we had sheets of it available and a couple of good craft blades, I did that while Jonah was finishing up the hems.”
I grinned at Alex who was too creative for words sometimes. “You’re amazing.”
“And goofy,” he said.
“You make a sexy Shaggy,” I said touching his face. I really liked his face.
He leaned to kiss me, which was more complicated with all the hair I had, but he managed it.
“Aw,” Jonah said. “A Shaggy and Inuyasha crossover love story. Not sure the cannon universes will ever be the same.”
We laughed.
“Alright everyone. Numbers are tallied. Everyone ready?” Freya asked.
“Yes,” came the unanimous shout from the group. We all huddled together, excited, still teeming with the adrenaline from the contest, and everyone grinning, feeling good.
“There are no losers here,” Freya continued. “Everyone has done amazing work. And everyone gets a prize. We’ll go in order, first to last, based on points. Everyone will get their scoresheets when we’re done so you can see the feedback provided by your peers. Once each group is called, they can step up to the table and choose their prizes.” She held up the paper like it was one of those Grammy envelopes. “First place wins for originality, authenticity, and use of physical form to fit the characters as well as execution. Amazing that this is our newbie with one of our old pros, Jonah and Alex as Velma and Shaggy. The Scooby pillow got lots of comments,” Freya said as she announced.
Alex’s mouth dropped open. “What? No way.” He glanced at Jonah who was dancing and strutting about in his sexy Velma costume. “How? I mean…”
“Boy,” Jonah said, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. We worked our asses off and look fannn-TASTIC.” He headed to the table. “Plus, you had my fine direction. There is a reason I’m a rising star.”
Alex followed Jonah to the table his expression still reading as shocked. I wasn’t surprised, more thrilled that he’d had such a positive time. He appeared to be glowing with happiness and excitement. The two of them looked over the table. I expected Jonah to take the sewing machine and Alex to take the books and pattern set he’d expressed interest in. Instead Jonah choose an iPad bundle, and Alex picked the computer and software set. I gaped at him as he returned to me.
He winked, holding the computer to his chest, his smile so large it brightened his face. “This is what winning feels like?” He said. “It’s amazing. No wonder you guys do this sort of madness.”
“Next set of winners,” Freya began when both Jonah and Alex were back with the group. “Gets high marks for props, poses, and structure of their pieces, everyone loved the ‘Sit, boy!’ pose. Nicole and Micah.”
“Oh, that’s us!” I said jumping a little as I had been more focused on Alex instead of myself. Nicole tugged me to the table. I contemplated getting the pattern and book bundle Alex wanted, but felt bad, since I could buy any of that for him that he might want. In fact, there was nothing on the table I couldn’t buy if I really wanted it. I was blessed that way, having a successful shop.
“What are you thinking of picking?” Nicole murmured to me.
“If I take something to donate do you think anyone would get mad?” I whispered back.
“Donate to who?” She asked.
“Chad’s non-profit.”
Her mouth formed an O and her eyes got big. “Good idea.”
“That would give them still a choice for themselves,” I whispered back. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I don’t need any of this but like the idea of those kids he’s helping. I honestly had more fun just doing this event than winning any of this stuff.”
We were on the same page. “What if I pick the machine to donate?”
“Okay, then I’ll do the pattern book set,” Nicole said.
I was a little sad for a moment, not getting to give those things to Alex. But again, reminded myself I could give him whatever he wanted. Hell, he could probably pick stuff for himself and buy it if he wanted. He was not helpless even if his finances weren’t as solid as mine. “Okay.”
So I picked the sewing machine and she grabbed the bundle. Some of the items left were a couple convention ticket bundles, with fully funded tickets to several conventions across the USA, a Cricut cutting machine and a batch of supplies for it, and bulk fabric supplies from several apparel lines. They really had gone all out in their prizes for our little group. We returned to the others and I searched for any disappointment on Alex’s face that I hadn’t picked the book bundle, but there was none. He smiled at me and kissed the tip of my nose after I set the machine at our feet. We would do our giveaways after everyone picked prizes.
“Third place winners, goes to Chad and Julie for Hagrid and Hermoine,” Freya announced. I found that a little odd since Freya and MaryAnn’s outfits had a bit more polish than Chad and Julie, but maybe that had just been my opinion.
Chad and Julie made their way to the table. Chad picked one of the fabric supply sets, and Julie took the Cricut bundle. “I’m giving the fabrics to the non-profit,” Chad announced without ceremony. “It will help keep the kids in projects for a while.”
“That leaves Freya and I last,” MaryAnn said. She made her way to the table, picking up one of the last apparel sets.
“Did you guys do that on purpose?” Julie asked suspiciously. “Make yourselves last?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Freya said serenely. “Why would we do that?”
“’Cause you were the ones to get all the prizes for us,” Jonah said. “I wondered why your costumes were a bit less polished than usual.”
“We worked hard on these,” MaryAnn defended, putting her hands on her hips.
“The L on your hat is made from paper and colored with a crayon. Girl, that is not normal for you,” Jonah remarked pointing to her green hat.
Freya waved her hand like it wasn’t important. “What’s important is that everyone had fun. It was great to see such imagination and determination from all of you. I can’t wait to have you all on my channel for an interview.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“I thought we were just doing the booth thing tomorrow,” Julie said.
“And I’ll be having a little show with everyo
ne featured on my YouTube channel,” Freya said.
“Can you use the pictures of us and not do an interview?” I asked. The last thing I wanted right now was to be back on the YouTube influencer stage.
“Don’t you want to show off your costume? I thought it would be a great introduction to your new influencer page. And you can do a tutorial with the fancy new sewing machine you have.” Freya said, seeming confused.
“Oh, about that.” I picked up the sewing machine and offered it to Chad. “I picked this so I could donate it to your non-profit. I wanted to make sure you still had a choice too, or else I’d have left it for you.”
Chad gaped at me, shock looking very real and funnily Hagrid on his face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t need any of this stuff. But your non-profit sounds amazing. I would have loved having something like that when I was a kid.”
“And this stuff is for your non-profit too,” Nicole added, handing over the bundle she’d picked. “Lots of patterns and books for them to try. I can buy any of this myself. Would rather give all this to you guys.”
“Really, you guys?” Chad seemed lost for words and his eyes suddenly became glassy with tears. I grinned and threw myself in a hug at the giant man with a soft heart. I wasn’t normally a touchy guy, but the night had filled me with emotion. He hugged me back and then accepted a hug from Nicole too. “You’re all amazing, and jerks too, but amazing. You have no idea how much this will help.”
“The clothing line I’m picking is going there too,” MaryAnn said, “but Chad and I already discussed that.”
“I look forward to talking with you all about the non-profit on my channel. We can even open up a fundraiser,” Freya added.
“Do we have to go on YouTube?” I asked.
“I thought you were going to return to doing influencer stuff?” Freya asked.
“Yeah, about that,” I said slowly. “I’m pretty happy with my shop, the tours, and the tiny bit of cosplay I do. Influencing is a lot of stress and judgment I don’t really want or need. It also takes a lot of time video editing, photo editing, responding to comments, a lot of which are just rude. Those are things I don’t want to spend time on.” I looked at Alex wondering what he thought. We hadn’t really discussed it either way. He supported whatever I did, no matter what I did, and I loved that about him. “I’m happy with what I have. I don’t need to be in the spotlight for any of it. In fact, I prefer not to be.”