Page 75 of Marked By Shadows

“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 reaching 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.”