Finding the Cosplay Wardrobe wasn’t too hard. There were more and more people cosplaying game, anime and Tv show characters the closer you got to it. A group of people dressed as characters from Demon Slaughter, one in pink robes and even a smaller Oni had painted her skin white while wearing a pissed look. To my left was a harpy that colored their wings white almost sliver, she had a headband that looked like silver elf ears and wore a weird scaled corset that looked like it was holding her small chest. The male harpy next to her had golden wings and wore a golden knight’s chest piece that had several blue belts.

Down the path was a row of birdhouse sized mansions. One was like a traditional japanese mansion, maybe a temple with its layered roofs with lanterns. Another was more of a large wild west saloon, complete with a spot you’d tie a horse to, only it was small yellow chick sized birds tied to them. I could even see a fairy riding one around a path with a wagon tied to it. 

The Cosplay Wardrobe itself was a huge pink and purple tent that sat above many of the stalls. On its walls were posters for zombies, heroes in capes and even ones for weird looking villains. But the closer we got, I failed to notice anything related to that crescent blade. And there wasn’t anyone cosplaying the four armed character. Most of the lamia I’ve seen were in knight’s armor or dressed as scarred warriors wielding huge swords, there wasn’t any that looked remotely like the banner.

Deciding to put my search on hold, We made our way to the Cosplay Wardrobe, passing several beetle people and a large stall called Armor repair. At the front of the Cosplay Wardrobe was a small line of people that quickly gave us passage. None of them wanted to move up and one even ran away, forcing us to just cut them. God Damn it. As we made our way to the entrance there was a guy dressed like a red and black jester that was looking at the changed line in confusion.

“Welcome! Please come in com-cummmm?!” The guy tried to greet us as we got closer but ended up stuttering in shock as his smile flipped into a frown. The belled jester hat he was wearing even drooped as we came closer. He wildly waved his hands in a cross and motioned to us to go away. He even lifted his legs and mimed walking away in pace

Oh? This lowly being wishes to deny me access? My eyes narrowed watching his wild movements. He’s over acting if anything. But he isn't running away, most people would hide or crowd a wall but this guy just wouldn’t run. Which was kinda….really is refreshing. Sure this someone that might be freaking out sure but he was standing his ground and I really liked that. Dumb instincts or not, I kinda wanted to show some gratitude so I gave him a smile which made all color drain from his face. His legs wobbled and he swayed side to side, eyes slowly rolling up into his head. Then he leaned forward until he went face first into a nearby table with a loud thud.

Did he just…

Right… sharp teeth… I closed my mouth into a pressed frown. Steph was stuck staring at his crumpled form with wide eyes.

“Why didn’t he mov-” She began only to stop at the sound of something making a rapid slapping sound nearing the Wardrob’s entrance. 

Instantly large pink octopus tentacles spilled its way out from inside the large pink and purple tent the cosplay wardrobe was using as a shop. I almost thought it was some monstrosity until the form of a giant woman crouched under the already tall entrance. The tentacles were attached at her waist like some sort of undulating dress, combined she had to be around ten feet to maybe eleven!  She was definitely larger than Sam was, her head was big enough to casually take a bite of my arm like it was only a huge turkey leg. But unlike Sam, her breasts weren’t as huge? But then again, a giant lady would still be pretty large….even if her bust was only just above a washboard. Her tentacles glittered with the studded and sparkly gemstones, a few beautifully cut jewels. All were pressed into her tentacles like piercings, the more detailed gems lining her waistline. She mostly wore arching ribbons that covered her belly and wrapped around the middle of her breasts, giving me an eye full of side boob and cleavage.  

“Maxie! Wake up you moron! You got a job to do and our guests need your trademarked jolly face!” She shouted while lifting the short guy with a huge hand. It looked like she would’ve shaken the guy if not for her skin and tentacles changing from a bright pink to a dark grass green. Slowly she looked over at me, her eyes were shaking before she swallowed and gave a weak smile.

“A grand dragoness?! W-what do I owe the j-joy of being graced by your magnificent form?!” She asked with a shaky voice before her eyes instantly widened. “W-would perhaps your grace like to purchase an outfit or two.” she asked while dropping the guy into her tentacle and using it to sit him on the ground. He flopped over like a ragdoll a second later.

“Yeah, I have a voucher a smith gave us for two outfits….Is he alright?” I asked while looking at the guy laying face down in the dirt.

“Maxie? Uh, he’s, er, ok?” She used another tentacle to pick him up and quickly hid him inside the tent. “Just the effects of the cosplay he chose to wear. Heh.” She forced a laugh only to sound like a nervous croak.  This only got her a suspicious leer from me. “Nothing illegal here! Promise! SOME cosplay just gives people the ability to act like their chosen character! And he chose to wear the obedient jester from the enchanted ring series.” she quickly explained while her tentacles coiled around her body.

“Act like the character? So he couldn't leave because you told him to stay there?” I asked as I watched the nervous woman hugged herself with her tentacles.

She lowered her head. “Yes…he’s been working on some personal things and thought this might help him gain more uh, experience. Our cosplays, though magically compelling, won't force the wearer against their will unless certain safety measures are removed.” She explained.

“Measures Maxie had removed?” Steph asked with a raised eyebrow. She sounded doubtful of the woman’s statement.

“Y-yes. He signed a consent form too.” She quickly dug into a sky blue pouch tied to her thigh(?), it was wrapped around her tentacle and looked big enough to be two camping backpacks combined. She then pulled out a red packet of papers with a large WARNING at the top as it read;

The documents had more written like something called persona fusion, mana redundancy and decreased mana use. It had several of his and other people’s signatures and multiple emergency phone numbers and one page even said it’s a legal necessity to show copies of this form to questioning parties. What surprised me most was that there was a medical clause that allowed the limiters to be removed for therapeutic uses. 

“This can help with depression and anxiety? But you're just a business owner, not a doctor.” I pointed out, unsure if Maxie actually chose this for himself and just wasn't cornered into it. Plus the way she squirmed and tried to please me made me feel like she was up to something.

“No, I'm not b-but he had his doctor sign off on this.” Without waiting or asking, she immediately pulled another document with five different signatures. Each one was labeled on their profession. Two were psychologists, one was a doctor of some inventive therapy and the last two were doctors of physical health and all of them had phone numbers. 

I mentally sighed, it wasn’t my place to say what people used to heal or become stable but I could use my new race. “Alright, I believe you.” Hearing that the octopus woman’s body color changed to a light purple color. “But don’t use his suggestive state to force things onto him he couldn’t freely choose.” I said in a low growling voice as my scales lit up like flickering fire, creating a small heat wave.

She instantly shrunk as her tentacles condensed like a rapidly drying sponge while her head was sucked into her torso with a watery plop. She squeezed herself so much that she looked more like an oversized bean bag than a monster. Just how much of her was actually solid?

“U-u-under sood!” She quickly answered from within her condensed form. “W-w-would you like to see our s-s-selection?!” She quickly asked, clearly trying to change topics.

I eyed her for a few seconds longer before something poked my arm. Looking to my side, Steph was looking at me with big eyes as if I had something super important.

Without missing a beat my scales cooled down until the flames within them puffed out of existence. “Lets.”

The inside of the tent was interesting. The floor was wooden but clacked like metal with every step I made and was polished to an almost mirror shine. I could see myself and anyone else's reflection on the floor, giving me a floor view of my body. It reminded me of how tall I got with the point of view, looking down on myself I felt like a giant. 

There were large wooden boxes or individual rooms with large metal tubes, pink wires and glowing light bulbs attached to the sides. Some of it was golden like the stuff in Mark's workshop, just like a weird fusion of machine and magic. Each wooden room had a tablet with images of different characters, their personalities and physical quirks. On the side of the box was a TV screen that showed a padded room with several glass liquid canisters, filled with a strange black bubbling liquid. Folded on either side of the canisters were robotic arms, the left ones had a tube connecting to the canisters and the ones on the right had several rolls of tape that all led to the three fingered hand. Each finger looked like a clamp that probably cut the tape, once it finished doing whatever it was it did.

I could see people stepping out of some, dressed in armor. One girl was even in a tight red and blue superhero outfit that I thought they just painted her body with how easily it moved with her body. Regrettably, I even noticed an arachne with her arms locked around her body in a pinky shiny bondage gear, her eyes and nose were wrapped in a red rubbery mask and her hair was tied in a tight braid. The freakiest part was the pair of franged mouths that came out of her suit’s breasts, they were somehow smacking and moving like real mouths.

Aside from…… THAT, was large and long banners that hung from the thick wooden beams that made up the shape of the huge tent. The only thing was, the pictures on the banners moved. It showed a large box with a door and a human walking in. Then it zoomed into the box, there the image turned a light green and the human appeared. Then arms like the ones in the tv screens extended and sprayed them until everything below their neck was black like they were painted. Finally the other tape arms extended and ribbons of tape surrounded the human in a cone shape before the black paint stretched and contorted into a dress.

They used magic to make clothes?! Not only that but they took that weird concept of spray on clothes to do it! How did this work!? If the voucher said it was cheaper here then maybe they used inexpensive material? That or this production method removed the need for a seamstress so less money used.

“So……the auto-wardrobe will um…it'll create any modifications to the cosplay based on your race…………” the octo lady said while keeping her distance by four feet. “Oh! J-just choose your character at the slab and w-walk in!” She used a tentacle to point at two larger wardrobes that could probably fit two and a half minotaurs.

“Come on let’s find something fun to wear!” Steph said as she pulled me over to the wardrobes. It looked like I wouldn’t get to find out how these crazy clothes worked though info but the fact I know the magic in them is limited and restricted made this not as stressful. Not as much as a couple of books and keyworded underwear would.

“So what do you want to be? Deluxe-man maybe?” Steph asked as I eyed the tablet in front of me. Images of both animated and live action characters scrolled from right to left, people with spiky blond hair and swords bigger than they were, even retro styles like a certain pyramid boobed explorer showed games were on the table too. Although being one of my heroes was a good idea, I wanted something a little more different.

Way more different actually.

Luckily the tablet had a search function. Quickly typing in my chosen cosplay, the image of a certain capable individual in a dark cloak that looked to be cut from the night sky appeared.

“Who’s that?” Steph asked as she looked at the character’s pulled back hair and gray leather corset.

“This? Well….. They’re someone that helped me out….” I tried saying only for it to come out like a nervous sputter. What’s going on? I shouldn’t be this nervous about one of my favorite gaming characters! They’re cool and took on several creatures like it was just a Tuesday!

“She looks amazing! Almost like she’ll kick anyone’s ass without trying!” Steph said as she leaned closer almost to the point of pressing her face on the screen.

“I-is uh…everything alright?” I asked as she looked at the bane of all monster-demon chimeras, Ryane Brightshore. Or better known as the lord of gore.

“Am I alright? Uh…” she looked away from Ryane and grabbed her shoulder. “Yeah. she looks like someone I-well, she looks confident.” She said with a small smile as if she was going to melt in the next moment. “Anyway, I’ll go choose my own cosplay! But no peeking!” She said with a loud voice and took off.

She turned and began to rush off, I tried to stop her, worried something might be happening. But my hand trembled as I tried to reach out to her. Making me freeze and allowing her to slither away in my confusion.

Whatever the hell was going on I wasn’t too sure but part of me hated it and the other………it was slightly cooking in its juices at my choice. But no point in chickening out.