Kubla-con…
The greatest gathering of geeks, nerds and cosplayers the world had ever seen.
The event featured a great deal of current pop-culture, celebrating various genres of heroes and villains from comics, stories and cinema. There was going to be a contest for the ‘best’ costume and so there were many eager participants of all ages in fancy dress.
Almost everyone was cosplaying as their favourite characters (with some more detailed than others.) There were many stormtroopers, gleaming in the most realistic space-blasters and fantasy armor possible with many people taking pictures among the crowds of display cases and stalls.
Naturally there was an ‘adult’ section, with more erotic ideas… withits own unofficial judges… and while there wasn’t going to be an ‘official winner’ for that area most accepted… they were all winners for participating within those curtains.
In the main section, spanning an entire floor, there were typical fancy dresses mimicking comics and anime characters with Goku and Superman taking the spotlight along with various mock fights between the two. It was all in good fun of course. Besides the ‘Best Costume’ award there was also ‘Most Obscure’ as well as ‘most unique’ among other more difficult to quantify categories such as ‘most fun’.
Magical girls, demons, angels, mythical creatures, various animal themed characters, robots or even more quirky characters such as Doraemon could be seen. Characters spread as far as the original 1960’s star trek to the more modern shows. There was even someone dressed up as a sphinx with an Egyptian theme and a lamia snake girl costume, with people trying to win ‘Oldest Legend’.
People had spent all year making their costumes, eager to show them off. However, not everyone had the resources time or even the attention span to make a ‘grand’ costume... nor would they know what this would mean in terms of a ‘life changing’ single moment event that was to come.
Steven was quite excited for his first Kubla-con event.
He had hoped to go for a long time… ever since he had heard of the annual event but lacked the money to do so as a college student. He had got a small job recently to get the tickets and had looked forward to being here, as a big fan of anime.
He was… a rather ordinary looking teenager. Quite a handsome, with short black hair and piercing brown eyes. He an intelligent look with his dark rimmed glasses. Usually he was just one with the crowd but in this instance, he stuck out a lot though, by being one of the few ‘without’ a costume. Dressed casually in jeans and shirt with a jacket, keeping his hands in his pockets as he browsed the wares curiously, he found it to be a dazzling display of colour. He gave an awkward smile most of the time, poking around and touching various swords or wands on display, even a witch hat.
Some may think he could have pulled off a good Harry Potter cosplay, but there were so many would be wizards, and he wanted to do something a little different… unique- and yet… he was just too scared to ‘actually’ do anything too crazy and in the end chickened out from doing anything at all. He regrated his decision now.
“I should have done something…” He sighed wistfully. Seeing all the costumes he was getting the feeling he was missing out. Kublacon was an invitation to do something a little weird. It wasn’t like anyone knew him here anyway, right? He could have done anything he wanted. Who would know? Who would even care or be bothered by it? Just do something!
… Well, that ship has sailed, so it was best to just enjoy the day.
Browsing the various stalls, he really wanted to see some of the indi-comics that were coming out. Steven awed the drawings and talent of those artists. He had a good feeling some of them would be worth money in the future should they be discovered. He felt he had a good eye for such things and was a bit of a collector.
Given that ‘everything’ was now on the internet, it made sense to look at things that were… less noteworthy. Forgotten, or uncatalogued and likely unknown to the general public. Steven was extremely knowledgeable on obscure franchises… characters that never saw the light of day in print or television. perhaps one day it might get him a spot on a pop-quiz… well the quiz that was going on in Kubla-con would do for obscure costume would be perfect. Sure, there might be some original characters, but everything was inspired by something right? Originality was rare… but certainly inspiring when it was seen. It was also fun to know something that wasn’t on the internet. Was this what it was like, before it was around?
As far as his social life was concerned… it was practically non-existent.
He didn’t know what it was, but Steven always felt ‘disconnected’ in the world. People rarely acknowledged him and as a result he didn’t interact much with others. He wasn’t unfriendly, he was just… different? Something in his aura, spirit, or… well… something. He didn’t know what it was, just that people didn’t notice him. It was the same when he was in a crowd as now, in a classroom… or just walking the street.
Steven admired a stall, selling Sailormoon keyrings. “Cute…” he thought with a small smile. He had a particular fondness… and fascination for shows that would normally be aimed at girls. “Why are they so interesting to me…” Stories aimed at girl… there was something so exciting about them. He didn’t really know ‘what’ it was though and maybe he could never understand it.
It was of course, best for nobody to know. He made a mental note of the existence of these keyrings and made his escape before anyone would see him looking at them ‘too closely’. He let himself get lost again in the crowd, carefully stepping over the tail of a... dragon-maid? Quite an impressive costume, he thought.
Girls were always considered mysterious to him. The shows didn’t really give any light to that mystery.
A parade of girls suddenly walked past him. “Bakuretsu-bakuretsu-bakuretsu-la-la-la,” The Megumin themed costumed girls chanted hand in hand while skipping, Steven guessed it was about… ten of them? “Well… that was cute.” He smiled to himself, as did a few other people. Watching them he couldn’t help feeling a bit envious at the attention they garnered. People even took photos of them. “… yeah, girls sure are lucky.”
He turned a corner… suddenly finding himself near the adult section. A corridor, draped with a curtain, he couldn’t really see much… but curiosity got the better of him. As the curtain briefly flickered with an adult going through, he saw briefly inside. Some kind of stage with someone dancing… she was wearing a cat-woman costume, but something was odd-
oh wait- wasn’t that the three-breasted cat lady from star trek V, The Final Frontier? “Heh… too easy.” He chuckled to himself. Probably the best decade for weirdness. “Man, what else is in there?”
“Move along kid,” a guard said to him a little sternly. “Unless you have ID.”
“But- she’s from a PG rated movie! It’s not that bad.”
The man folded his arms. “… move along.”
Steven sighed. “Yeah… um- okay.” He didn’t want to get into trouble and quickly moved on to his next place of interest, blushing a bit. He had to admit he was curious to see the adult costumes… but that would have to wait another few years. Still, he couldn’t help but imagine them. He had seen a lot of ‘weird’ sci-fi in his attempts to catalogue them.
A little quickly, Steven found a stall selling costumes. Mostly just ears and tails of various animals, as well as a few other accessories. “I think that’s from Sonic… yeah…” Some though he didn’t know where it was from. Original costumes?
The young kids seemed to enjoy them the most, one happily wearing a fox tail. He couldn’t blame them. If he could, he would have too. He smiled as he saw a young eight-year-old girl wearing makeup with a painted cat mask and ears…. There was a boy wearing boots in the shape of talons for a bird, another with the paws of a lion… Interesting, very simple, basic additions that were not full costumes.
“Hey! Want a costume?” The seller asked seeing Steven looking. “It’s only ten dollars for three pieces.”
“Oh.. eh… I Dunno…” He looked very hesitant, not to mention someone actually paying attention to him was… odd.
“Come on! I can see you would enjoy it.” She smiled with a wink. “Anything in particular you would like?” The girl gave a rather insistent look that was hard to deny. She was a short girl wearing a green dress and some elf-ears. She could almost look like a Christmas elf.
Steven approached a little closer with her welcoming smile. “Hm… I don’t think so- they are all a bit too small” It was.. too… childish… like something from a bad birthday party.
“Oh perhaps.. hm… how about this?”
The largest tail she had. It was a squirrel tail hanging on a hook clipped by a belt. It was still intended for kids but was quite large and bushy and might not look too out of place on him. “I guess… I’ll buy that one… for someone I know.”
“Sure. Anything else?” The elf costumed girl gave a little giggle.
“Um…” He looked around curiously at the stall. “I’ll buy that cape as well…”
“A good choice. It comes with this robe, here have a look.” The girl placed it on the stall.
Steven gently held the fabric. There was… something about it... he could almost feel it ‘calling’ to him, to match the tail that he had bought. It looked more like the hooded cowl of some kind of traveller. Shades of red and browns… He liked it a lot. Why did he like it? He couldn’t help but try it on straight away. Fortunately, it was also his size and easy to put on over his normal clothes. Wrapping the dark red fabric around himself, he started to feel like he was fitting in.
“It suits you,” the girl nodded. “One more item for the ten dollars?”
Steven scratched his head. “I guess- I’ll buy those ears too?” The girl passed the brown ears and band over the counter with a smile. “Thanks…” Steven paid her then quickly left to a corner of the convention.
“Hm… should I?”
Why not?
Steven examined the ears and put the band over his head… it was a little tight but endurable. This was followed by the hood going over, covering them. He felt the little twin peak above his head, granting a more exotic look as they poked from under the hood. One might wonder what the point of was covering up an entire part of the costume but… that was the point. It made perfect sense!
A little cautiously and discreetly he started to wrap the squirrel tail belt around his hips, underneath the robe. It was well hidden with the cloak with just the end poking out behind. “A costume inside a costume…” He could enjoy being a bit weird while looking fairly normal… the tail was just a little uncomfortable, pushing against the robe.
…he still didn’t stand out. He was still just a normal person, looking around…. “Backstory… I’m a strange animal person, pretending to be a human? On a secret mission…” It was certainly a poetic thought and yes. It mirrored the truth of his existence in his own mind to a tea. It needed just a little something…
Looking down…
…the robe could almost be a dress…
“Heh.” Imagine that? There was nothing feminine about it of course. It was just a simple dark brown robe to hide his normal clothes. Yet the thought persisted making him a little giddy at that thought. He would never even dare to wear a dress… and nobody would really think what he was wearing one right now of course but… he did feel a little… weird… the idea was persistent though-
“Hey nice costume,” A blond haired guy grinned looking him over. “You from that trading card game maybe?”
“Uh- well… no um-” Steven was pulled out of his thoughts by a tall rather skinny guy with blonde hair. He had quite a dynamic loo about him. Very athletic with a T-shirt. “Uh- thanks!” He said more as an automatic response to the unexpected.
“For what?” The man asked confused.
“Well- for saying it’s good.” Steven quickly responded. Social interaction was always difficult to him… what should he say next? Silence was awkward… why was he even talking to him? How much time to wait before responding? “Uh-“
“So, what are you? A rogue of some kind?” The teenager asked curious.
“Oh- Um- well-“ Steven blinked unused to questions about himself. Attention of any kind was inexplicable. Why would he notice him? Was the costume that interesting compared to others around? “I’m not exactly sure yet…” Steven admitted. “It was just something I put together from the stall.”
“It’s pretty cool. I’m in a costume too. Can you guess what I am?”
Steven stared at the very average looking guy in a shirt and jeans. Physically he seemed quite fit. He looked carefully, examining the normal sneakers, denim jeans, and jacket. There were no necklace or other accessories that he could discern… However, there were a few clues, mainly to the fact that the guy had not combed his hair when he could tell he normally did, given how well he trimmed what facial hair he had. His hair was a little long… the teenager was about two years older… so he knew the kind of shows he probably watched. Given he looked perfectly normal… “You’re a werewolf.” Steven decided.
“Whoa!” The older teen was shocked. “How did you know? What gave it away? You some kind of psychic? Sherlock Holmes? I thought I was being totally original!”
Steven gave an awkward smile. “I- well- I’m just good at guessing that stuff. I know almost all the costumes here… I’ve seen it all.”
“Heh, nobody has seen ‘everything’. Oh, my name’s Greg. Werewolf the Dusk-Watchers! At your service…” He bowed gently.
Steven quietly went through the database inside his head but came up with no hits. “Is that some kind of game?”
“Yeah! Something I’m doing in Dungeons and Dragons. I’m a good werewolf though!”
That was when something ‘very’ strange happened. “What’s going on there?”
It was... a weird feeling. Yes. Steven 'felt' it before he actually saw anything. An odd vibration that felt like a small earthquake, and yet it wasn't the ground shaking. It was reality itself. There was this strange blast of white light… was this a movie? A show? Steven felt like he saw the world ‘flicker’ …
Greg blinked looking ‘down’ at Steven. “What the…”
Something was wrong. Very wrong. Panic was sweeping across the entire convention. Raised voices and more screams as the full strangeness of this new reality hit everyone.
“My hair is on fire!” A girl ran past as her hair was literally ‘on fire’… Wait- was that Flame Princess from Adventure time? A rather… realistic depiction. Everything around him had… stretched out and grown larger! Not by a small amount either.
‘Fortunately’ His robe had somehow also shrunk around him.
“Crap I’m outta here!” Greg shouted as he ran away.
“Wait- uh-“ Then Steven saw a crowd of legs running towards him. “Oh no!” To get away from the stampede, Steven quickly ran under a table, somehow not even needing to crawl to do so. He felt his hands on his face… his nose was protruding out like- like a small muzzle? His teeth on his front felt large… there was fur all over his body. “What’s happened- what’s going- on!” He reached down lower feeling an odd weight….
.. a tail.. the tail of his costume? He tried to pull at it- “Ow!” It was… real? It was part of his body! Everyone in the convention… their costumes had become real?! “Oh no… no no-”- He knew every show… the implications hit him like a ton of bricks. He quickly thought of all the costumes and the quickly put a ‘danger list’ of the ones he saw.
"There is only one true Megumin!” A voice rang out.
Two of the Megumims seemed to be in some kind of fight. “Well there is only one way to decide who is the real one among us!” The two started to do identical strange ‘poses’ getting closer and closer in what can only be described as a bizarre dance, with an aura of fire surrounding them.
“Most dangerous transformation confirmed… getting out of here…” Steven decided, before a Megumin-apocalypse took hold. It looked like the fight was quickly stopped though, by ‘He-Man’ of all people… causing the two girls to drool seeing his muscular body.
“By Greyskull! This is a strange event…” The He-man said with a cheesy echoey voice. “Perhaps you two ladies, will accompany me to get some answers? It’s got to be better than having a magical duel.”
“Anything for you!” The two girls giggled in unison.
He-Man then glanced towards Steven. “Are you okay too, little one? You were almost trampled there.”
“Uh...” For some reason Steven found himself blushing… odd feelings stirring- “I-I think so-” he suddenly realised something… something he probably should have noticed a while ago. He was so pre-occupied with the tail that he just didn’t put it all together.
“….I- I’m- a girl?!”
