Page 32 of Possessed By Shadows

“Darlin’, I’m no princess, I’m a queen,” I told her, putting my hands on my hips and posing. I was wearing a Frozen cape I’d insisted on keeping when Micah had thought to bring it to the shop, a thick velvet thing in ice blue with snowflakes embroidered on it. I also wore lace, fingerless, gloves. The jeans were ordinary 501s, and the long-sleeved T-shirt a shop pick that read, Real Men Wear Capes, and had an outline of Superman, though the outline seemed to have only him in a cape, and maybe some tighty-whities as it was black and white.

It was absolutely silly. I had no reason to cosplay Elsa on a Sunday afternoon in January, but I really felt bolstered by the things that were me. I also had my messenger bag, made for me by Micah, and my new wallet tucked inside. Reminders of who I was, even if sometimes that was just silly, and a little weird.

It was the half-quirked smile on Micah’s face that told me the levity was doing its thing. Our life was filled with bullshit we couldn’t control. So I took the reins of the few things I could, like our attitude towards it all.

“Admit it,” I said, sweeping the cape back in a fake billow, “I’m fabulous.”

Sky giggled and nodded, clapping her hands. “We should all dress up.” She headed toward the giant closet that hid away some projects Micah worked on when he was troubled. A lot of the stuff got sold in the shop, unless we laid claim to it and added it to our section of the closet. We all had one. Mine was filled with random things from catsuits to capes. Sky’s had a lot of elaborate dresses. Micah’s was a bit more subtle, leaning toward game characters like Link fromLegend of Zeldaor even Geralt fromWitcher.

Not many would look at Micah and think the hunk fromWitcher. But he wore tight leather pants like no other. No one could compete with his fine ass. And with the right makeup, wig, and fitted top? Yeah, I could cosplay that game with him all day.

I met Micah’s gaze, happy to see some of the tension had vanished from his shoulders. “You in?” I prompted him.

He sighed. “It’s not really that cold, you know.” He pointed to the cape.

“We all make sacrifices for beauty,” I told him somberly, my hand on my chest.

Sky returned wearing a draping sort of mermaid gown in white, and a delicate crown that seemed like something the elves from Lord of the Rings would wear. When had Micah made that? I raised a brow in his direction.

“When you were in the hospital. The dress took no time. The crown took almost all week,” he said. He uncrossed his arms and headed into the closet too, reappearing a few minutes later wearing a sort of half-kimono thing, his hair let loose, with a small braid on one side. It was his genderbend play of Yuna fromFinal Fantasy X. The outfit for the original character had been bare shoulders, and long skirt. For him it was royal blue harem-like pants, that looked almost like a skirt, with hand-stitched stars and moons, and a white top wrapped around him with billowing sleeves inlaid with a sort of ombre purple inner fabric. He’d changed those sleeves a dozen times until he’d finally been happy with them. It was one of his favorite outfits.

“Now that we’re allfabulous,” Micah teased, “let’s go learn some shielding.”

I retrieved my little bracelet kit from a drawer and stuffed it in my messenger bag, hoping we’d have time for Dion to show me how to set it up. And we headed out, strutting through the Quarter looking like a couple of lost cosplayers in search of their convention. It didn’t matter that we didn’t match, or even come from the same genre. Micah held my hand, and Sky bowed and posed for people who asked for a picture. For a few minutes, the world was much lighter.

We arrived at the shop and I almost expected it to be closed up again, but a door beside the main one was open and Dion stood there greeting people. She won points with me by smiling at us and not even blinking twice at our cosplay gear. Maybe she regularly had students dress up for her classes.

Inside, the space was a lot like our classroom space, and an open area, tables stacked away on one side, and a section of yoga mats in a cube storage unit on one wall. The room smelled heavily of sage and a handful of essential oils I recognized. Not overpowering, but still intense.

“Everyone, grab a mat and find a spot. We have floor time today,” Dion instructed. It sounded like the beginning to a normal yoga class, but I enjoyed those, the stretch often making me sleepy, and breath work relaxing. I took a mat and found a place near the far wall, away from the group, though Micah and Sky set up near me. Sky carefully laid down on the mat, hands beneath her head and letting out a long sigh.

“Is it nap time?” I asked her.

“Almost,” she agreed. “Get comfy. The first part is relaxing. To find your third eye mindset.”

“Third eye…” I had to work to not snicker like a schoolboy at that.

Micah grinned as he laid down on his mat, like he knew what I was thinking, and probably did.

“Is this that new trend of sunning your butthole?” I asked. “Third eye mindset.”

“Sunning your butthole?” Sky repeated slowly as if trying to make sense of the words.

“Long story,” Micah said. He did not lay on his back. Instead, he found a spot on his stomach, arms cradled beneath him, face turned in my direction. It was his comfort pose.

“You’ve done this before?” I asked.

“Sun my butthole? Yes, actually.” That gave me lots of delicious thoughts about the beauty of Micah’s butthole. “Stop thinking about my butt.”

“I am a big fan of your butthole. Could worship it forever.”

He snorted a tiny laugh. “You’re so weird.”

“But you love me anyway,” I said happily.

“I do,” he agreed.

I grinned at him. Feeling lighter. Even if this whole training thing didn’t work, I wasn’t alone. My most comfortable position was with Micah in my arms, but since I couldn’t have that and still focus, I laid on my stomach as well, putting my hands up to use as a pillow under my head. I got comfortable, staring more at him, studying the tiny ways tension eased from his shoulders. Sky was the closest to the center of the room, and people moved around us, setting up until the space was filled with probably close to twenty people. It should have felt overwhelming. Too many people crammed in a small space. But I was okay in our little bubble off to the side.