The day progresses, and the convention hall gets busier and busier. Whenever we're approached, the three of us are collectively showered with praise for our costume and our - but truthfully mostly Mia and Tessa's - act. They're completely in character, with me as their tagalong. Thankfully, most of our time is spent checking out the many different stalls that are set up in the enormous open hall. We continue to stick together and play our part when people come to ask for our pictures, but we can still spend our time collectively geeking out over new collectibles from our favourite shows, nice souvenirs to bring home with us, that sort of thing.
I'm actually a small distance away from my cousins , studying a booth catered towards the Pokémon franchise, when the intercom crackles in different places around the convention centre. Three words are uttered. "No More Fakes!" Is the announcement.
A flicker of light briefly filled my vision, barely there. There is a small tremor, and suddenly I see the booth's owner, a stocky millennial nearing his forties wearing a Pokémon cap, de-age in front of my eyes. The dolls that are neatly stacked behind him, begin expanding and shrinking down respectively, taking on a much more animated, life-like appearance.
I grow a bit dizzy, and then the first screams resound throughout the hall. I du- -ck down, fingers hooked into claws as my claw tips poke out through the gloves I'm wearing. To wake up from my slumber only to watch chaos erupt around all six of my eyes-
I stumble, planting a knee on the ground, trying to process what I'm seeing- -while memories of a convention center, a plane flight enter my mind. The place is familiar, yet nothing I've seen in all my years guarding the gates of the afterlife. Did I finally escape that god-forsaken place? Time to celeb- -reak out, as I stare at my clawed nails. I wonder why they look so familiar and...
"What the hell?!" I exclaim as I stare at the orbs on my chest / I tug at the waistband of my suitpants / examine the tail behind my back. And I'm relieved, because it doesn't seem that my body had transformed or changed in anyway. Yet despite the fact that a pair of boobs have suddenly sprouted on my chest, and I have memories of girl parts between my legs and a moving tail attached to my back, a sudden wave of relief washes over me. Emotions not entirely my own, but deeply familiar regardless. It's like I'm seeing things from three different perspectives. I lift my head up to see my cous- -and my heads instantly snap towards my- -instant, I know where they are. Part of their cosplay looks like it's fused with them. The dog ears on their heads twitch in tandem at the same time I feel movement on top of my own head. The organs move wherever they hear the most noise coming from.
Despite my confusion, I come to realise that, whatever happened, it has made the convention center an incredibly unsafe place to be. Adrenaline surges from within me as a fierce grin manifests on both Mia and Tessa's faces. We had to look for a place to hi- -who crosses my path should get ready for a fight!
