Bracelets for the soul

    Cyrus's expression couldn't be described as anything other than 'flabbergasted' as he peered into the cosplay shop. The smell of resin, plastic, and fabrics filled his nostrils, and his eyes were assaulted by the absolute mass array of different characters, most of which he didn't recognize. Goddamn, people really get into this stuff, don't they.


    "Ah, yeah," he replied, starting to walk through the store, holding Alti's arm lightly as the two of them were eyed by a couple geeky teenage girls trying on cat ears. "So uh... I don't really know too much about this stuff," Cyrus chuckled. "I've played some video games and watched some movies but, I'm not really..." he glanced at the array of overpriced plastic gun models and recognizable sci fi weapons lined up on the wall, "sure about any of this. Comicon is apparently a big event where nerds dress up as their favorite characters. I've never been too interested," he chuckled, nose wrinkling a bit at some of the cheesy looking costumes they passed.

    Cyrus raised an eyebrow as they stopped in front of what appeared to be school uniforms of some kind. "I feel like I've seen these in some sort of porno," he snickered, pulling out one of the sailor uniforms with a particularly short skirt, holding it in front of his chest with a goofy grin before gripping the skirt between his fingers and flaring it out as though he were curtsying. "Not sure if it suits me as well as it did those girls though. Much cuter on them," he laughed and put it back, pulling out one of the more masculine looking uniforms instead. This one looked much more akin to a military outfit, the scientist sliding one of the black gakuran out from the rack and holding it out for inspection. The jacket at least looked like something he'd wear on a normal occasion, if the material weren't so thin.

    "What the hell are these even from? There's so many colors of these things and they all look the same to me," he mumbled, his bewilderment starting to show through once again as the sheer number of uniform variations confounded him. He noticed a particularly scant looking sailor uniform, pulling it out just to gawk at it for a moment before looking around the shop curiously, spying a row of changing rooms off in one of the corners. "Hey Alti, how about we we try on some of the more ridiculous costumes? Just for kicks of course," he chuckled, showing off the camgirl-worthy outfit. Neither of them had the knowledge or interest to particularly 'geek out' and enjoy the store as intended, but finding something entertaining to do despite the confusion would make the date that much better.

    
    Alti stopped his observation of the plain-looking uniforms to turn to the much skimpier one in his partner's hands, letting the costume slip through his fingers and back into place before pulling gently on the short skirt the other man was displaying and chuckling at how silly it looked. "Ohh, now don't say that! I'm sure you could pull it off~" he joked, placing a hand on his hip while his soulmate pulled out another costume. He pursed his lips at how simple the design of the jacket was, automatically deeming it as being beneath his soulmate's tastes despite it being the scientist that picked it out in the first place. Weird. Usually, he'd only do that to himself. Without giving it much thought, Alti took the uniform from Cyrus' hand and put it back on the rack, saying absolutely nothing. There was no way they were leaving this place with that lame excuse of a "costume".

    "You're asking me?" he mumbled in response, even though it was obvious he wasn't being asked anything. He started rifling through more costumes, the dated look in their designs failing to strike any form of nostalgia within him. They made him cringe more than anything. "I never had the time to watch any of this shit. Didn't really have a lot of television growing up....." he gave a low chuckle at this before his thoughts were suddenly halted by his partner pulling out another outfit, this time one a bit more "interesting" to look at in comparison to the others. "OH, what even is this?" he blurted, laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the cosplay. He took a second to ponder Cyrus' suggestion before flaring the skirt out some more in response. "Goddammit, not even some of my past clients wore skirts this short, but...." Alti then turned over to the rack where the skimpy uniforms hung and grabbed a red one of around his size, "Let's do it." With yet another devious grin stretching across his face, he ran over to the nearest changing room and entered one just as another customer left it empty. "S'cuse me~~~" he chimed as he passed her, closing the curtain right behind him. A few minutes later, the curtain was swung right open, the metal rings screeching against the rail as Alti emerged in his new outfit. "OK, done~!" he said, posing a bit as he leaned against the wall, absolutely pleased with how well he was playing the game already. Sure, it looked pretty dumb, but no one could really argue how great he looked.

Nace sneered. "Pretending to like supers never got me very far. I prefer to let people know what I think of them than to save face." He rolled his eyes at the advice her partner gave, but decided to end the conversation there. On a day like today, he couldn't be too careful.
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Nace rubbed his chin as they entered the store, a frown on his face as his eyes moved over some of the more horrendous costumes. He shivered, hoping Amil would go for something more classy instead of the revenge route. He felt like he jinxed the day just thinking that.

"Hm?" He turned over to Amil, raising a single eyebrow. "Geek out?" He seemed to think about this for a long moment before his eyes suddenly brightened up with a newfound enthusiasm. He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet, riffling through it before pulling out a picture and presenting it like a proud child shows a parent their report card. "This guy! Fucking great! I love him!" He was being genuine for once. 

---

Vale looked around the store, hands on his hips as he cracked his neck as though he were sizing up the place. "Super hero comics were always a favorite of mine!" He admitted, a bit sheepishly. "My father used to take me to the comic store on the weekends. I think he was glad I was interested in something he liked too." He laughed a bit awkwardly. "What about you? I know you're into musicals and those Shadow Slayer novels. Anything else strike your interest?"

"Underground..?" The fighter pondered, the word itself bringing a slight tension to their mood. "Well, I'm sure they have something for what you like! I mean, look at this place!" Aberdeen spread their arms out and gestured to the array of costumes lining every inch of the wall. "I mean, if you can't find something here, I couldn't imagine you finding it anywhere!" They chuckled lightly as they continued walking through the store.

The fighter already had a certain character in mind that they had been told by a friend that they'd be perfect at cosplaying, albeit in a joking manner. That didn't stop the fighter from scanning the area for any sign of a particular leather jumpsuit and yellow helmet. The thought of picking this without giving context to Maicy made them blush slightly, as the implications of such a costume could be misconstrued.

"So, uh.." They scratched the back of their head. "Ever, uh...heard of an anime called Durarara?"

---

Initially, Amil thought his partner was joking as he pulled the photograph out of the Wrestler-Become-Meme, almost letting out a chuckle before he realized Nace was being sincere. In fact, this was the first time he could recall Nace being genuinely excited about something. A warm grin spread across Amil's face, the man giggling happily. I guess it makes sense. His ex certainly looks like a wrestler.. 

"John Cena, huh?" He asked, resisting the insistent urge to shout the name in an announcer-like voice. "Well, given the enormous selection we have here, I'm sure we could find some sort of outfit, yeah?" He beamed as he kissed Nace on the cheek before escorting him throughout the store a bit more. "My father tried to get me into wrestling when I was a child, but it became very apparent to me that I liked it for very different reasons than my father~" He snickered as he gripped at some polyester fabric.

"As for me, I don't really have anything I've ever been 'obsessed' over. The closest thing I could think of is...hmm..." He stroked his chin for a moment as he tried to recall the game he and his younger sister had played in their youth. "Oh! Have you heard of the franchise 'Legend of Zelda?' I suppose that's something I used to be quite interested in! My younger sister and I would play through all the games together. She'd play and I'd help her along with the more difficult puzzles. I guess that was our form of bonding, hehe. Even when we weren't playing the video games, we'd pretend to be the characters, make up our own stories, etc. Hell, I remember one year for Halloween she dressed as Link and..."

Amil cut himself off, realizing he'd been rambling on about something Nace likely didn't care about. His face flushed a slight pink at his outburst, a wry smirk spreading across his face. "Uh... heheh... I'll probably find a Legend of Zelda cosplay...heh.." He scratched the back of his head, thoroughly embarrassed.

    Alti turned to face the next changing room over, completely ready to poke fun at the griping scientist as the man shuffled around uncomfortably in his outfit when a few curious once-overs stopped him dead in his tracks. His smirk suddenly fizzled, the man staggering backwards a bit as he stared at his soulmate unabashedly, the blood rushing to his cheeks. 



    Alti blinked out of his trance, quieting his internal squeals at the scientist's adorably exposed flesh to drum up a response to what he now felt was a rather unfounded compliment. At least, sort of. "Heh. Ohhh, I don't know about that," he cooed, sauntering towards his partner and tugging at the more shameful man's skirt with a wicked grin, "I'd say you fit it quite nicely~" He chuckled the nerves away, yet the red on his face still remained, even after Cyrus began searching for a new costume. So, he leaned back against one the changing rooms' many dividers closest to the sexy sailor and enjoyed the view from there for a while, giggling to himself the entire time.


    "Aww, changing already?" he whined, grabbing onto Cyrus from behind and wrapping his arms around the other's naked midriff. He eyed the catsuit, smirking over his partner's shoulder for wanting to get into some of the less revealing cosplays so early in their little game already. He supposed he could give the stretchy, black costume a pass, though. With an outfit so skintight, certain areas of the body were bound to be highlighted better than the others. He'd know that better than anyone else in the experiment, that's for sure. "Mmm, OK..." he agreed, giving his partner's body a few more feels in the sailor suit before reaching over to the rack to grab a suit of his size and then quickly disappearing into the changing room again. Eyeing the costume for a few seconds, Alti appeared to be a bit appreciative at the lack of gloves on this one, but soon quit his lackluster attempt at praise once he scoffed at the material again. He quickly slid out of the skimpy uniform and donned it on, not really feeling much difference between having it on or wearing his usual outlandish attire once he zipped it up. Meh, he thought with a shrug. With a swoosh of the curtain, he skipped out again. "Done!"

Alraada donned a childish smile and smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear almost dramatically.
"Well, I am the best WoW player I know." she claimed.
It was very obvious that she was confident in her skills at the game.
"I'd recommend you try the game out! It's a bit grindy, but reaaaally fun!"
Galystris turned around to notice that the testing was ended early.
She decided to put away her meanness for the time being.
She looked over at her soulmate, who she noticed was not under their usual disguise.
She felt relieved that Cheri was learning to be more open.
Galystris waved to the other politely, and greeted them with a small "Hello." before gesturing them to come closer.