#and one of those recently added cosplays requires short black hair

[raspberrylix]

if I had a nickel for each time I got so intensly interested in a sports shōnen character that all I could think about is cosplaying as them, I'd had two nickels

which isn't a lot, and that wouldn’t cover the cost of outfits and other stuff for said characters' cosplays

[thehusbandmen]

Stations of Passion, I.5

The Husbandmen, Stations of Passion. Book One, Chapter 5 [Go to Previous] [Go to First] [Go to Next]

Dinah, I’m sorry in advance.

With Cadence watching, Dinah collect herself in preparation, both mental and physical. As the hybrids’ caretaker during their time in Heritage, Cadence arranged for accommodations of all kinds for each of them, some expected and some seemingly trivial on the surface. Regarding Dinah, she’d guaranteed the following: food and board until Dinah’s discharge, clothing tailored specifically both for the Vaporeon’s physique and skills, a week’s preserved rations, a field bag to carry her belongings, a small sleeping bag roll that could affix to the strap of the field bag, a bit of spending money, and an artifact Cadence believed would benefit Dinah over her Squirtle.

The Vaporeon continued to inspect this artifact, what Trainers commonly called a ‘Held Item’: a trinket small enough to affix to a Pokémon in some way which had an effect on their abilities. The possibility of even doing so had only recently come into understanding, largely thanks to the Heritage Institute’s studies, and as Cadence bore a great enthusiasm to fostering the hybrids’ Pokémon halves, she’d decided to gift each of them something unique. Dinah slipped the single large long tooth of obscure origin, a RazorFang strung on twine, under her neck-frill and tied it around her neck. The Institute figure had described the obscure Held Item as being something that would help Dinah’s attacks buy her time in a fight, in the event she needed to defend herself. The Vaporeon appreciated the trinket, if even just for reassurance’s sake.

Despite the offer, Dinah had decided not to remain at Heritage. Over her leotard and fingerless gloves, she put on the lavender frock-coat she’d been given, hooded with a standing collar. By skipping the backmost belt loop, a PokéBall belt secured the ashen denim capris which dipped below her tail. Cadence had even provided her strapped gladiator sandals which could reasonably fit on her digitigrade feet. Presentable. Decent. No longer completely uncanny at a glance. She could work with this.

Nervous but excited as she and the scientist walked the corridors out to the main entrance, Dinah let out a breath she’d been holding onto. She smiled sheepishly when Cadence looked to her expectantly.

“It’s just. You’re like our Pokémon Professor, Cadence. I never got the chance to leave Ecruteak and collect badges in Johto. And I get to collect Kanto badges now. Provided Gym Leaders will give me the time of day, I mean.”

“Just... be careful, Dinah.” With a pause of permission, Cadence initiated a firm hug. “And don’t let the locals get to you. There’s more good ones than you think. Know all of you are welcome back here at any time. There’s plenty of room for all fifteen of you, if it ever came to it.”

"Thanks, Prof.”

Cadence smiled, warm and bittersweet, then winked at Dinah.

“Break a leg.”

Heritage, as it turned out, lay in the westernmost outskirts of Pewter City, tucked in a small chasm of the Silver Mountains. As Dinah walked off into town down the sparsely forested evergreen expanse, she couldn’t shake what Cadence had said. The idea of people being mad or disrespectful to her didn’t upset her. It was the likelihood most negative reactions to her would be fear. Her hand subconsciously went to Shelley’s PokéBall at her waist, but she quickly put both hands in her jacket pockets instead, and drew up her hood, and passed the entrance to Viridian Forest to the South heading North into town.

Her first order of business was a legitimate stock-up. Potions and PokéBalls. If she was serious about this task, she’d have to be ready. She swallowed hard and made herself enter the first PokéMart she could find. Fortunately, there weren’t too many people shopping, so she didn’t have to squeeze through a crowd, and she grabbed a hand basket and started collecting her purchase off the shelves of the small establishment. With no line, she only had to shove down her anxiety and step up to the clerk’s desk.

“PokéBalls, huh?” The young man with short black hair looked over the fistfuls of bottles and balls. “I’m going to need to see Trainer Registration for those.”

“T-- Trainer ID. I understand.” Stiffly, she produced her PokéGear from her pocket and flipped it open to present it with her eyes on the Gear rather than the clerk. Unsure how it would have gone to produce a human ID photo, she thanked abandon that the Prof had helped her update the ID Card and ID Number for her before she’d headed out. “Here you go.”

After what felt like a month, the clerk moved from skimming the screen information with one hand to skimming the basket to count items. He rang her up and snorted with a sarcastic smile.

“A Cosplay Trainer. I should have known. You must have a Water Type. Anyway. That’s gonna be P2700.”

Dinah put up her Gear a little too quickly in favor of her wallet, and she handed over exact change in the hopes of abbreviating the encounter as much as she could. When she handed it over, he zeroed in on her paws and put his other hand atop to hold hers in both in befuddled awe. She jerked it away in displeasure and he laughed, adding the items to a paper sack as he eyed her.

“That costume is super realistic. If you made that, you should be proud.”

Finding an out to the tension, she flew onto the falsehood and grinned, and gave him a thumbs up as she grabbed the bag from the counter before he could hand it to her himself.

“I sure am! Better believe it! Spent ten months on it! Thanks! --Bye!”

Upon stepping foot outside again, she immediately recognized that she’d forgotten her receipt, and that she should have asked the clerk for directions. She didn’t even look back to consider doing anything about it, and instead walked until she could find a decent botanical thoroughfare to take her mind off how badly it had felt like her first social encounter since The Enhancement had gone. As she walked, she stored her acquisitions and folded up the empty sack to put in her bag as well. The evergreen fenestration to her left reminded her of home, and she spaced out with an oblivious frown for some time.

Before she knew it, she’d wandered to the center of town, where a large amphitheater-like building with an arched copper roof imposed over the surrounding buildings. Suddenly, she understood that she’d gotten lucky as the path she’d taken was a straight shot to the Pewter City Gym. At the heart of the large weathered stone-hewn structure she could find the first person on her path to freedom: its Leader.

On bated breath, she entered the automatic sliding door and approached the lobby desk to a small appointment kiosk had been installed. Following its screen’s prompts to input the various numbers from her Trainer ID Card with the keyboard provided, she supposed not many people ran this sizable Gym. After hitting confirm on her application, it spat back an error message with her team highlighted in red outline: “Sanctioned Gym Battles require at least a two-on-two style battle. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.”

One Pokémon. Her ears burned. It was First-Year League Rulebook fact. She felt like a child, and gnashed her jaw as she turned heel to walk away.

“Hey, stop! Wait.”

Dinah stopped and looked over her shoulder to see a dark-haired, well-tanned Trainer in an orange puffer vest, green polo, and khaki cargo pants walk out from the administrative hallway, and approach as he rubbed at his neck with a white towel. He couldn’t be older than her. From the start, she noticed a full set of six PokéBalls on his belt.

“I know. I’m leaving.”

The error hadn’t timed out off the screen quite yet, and he glanced over at it, then back to her.

“You misread me. How could I turn away such an exotic beauty? My name’s Brock. I’m the Leader here. I don’t have any more appointments this afternoon, and I would love it if you would occupy that time with a Gym Battle.”

She nudged her hood back and gave him a bewildered look.

“But I only have one--”

He threw up his hands imploringly.

“--And that’s just fine! Please say yes. I’ll count it as sanctioned, provided you fulfill other criteria as a substitute for the two-on-two rule.”

“Leaders are allowed to instate their own unique rules under their own Gym roof,” the mumbled, thoughtfully paraphrasing the League Rulebook. She squinted a moment and shook her head, then gave him an anxious but optimistic smile. “Yeah, I’ll bite. What did you have in mind?”

“I, wow. Wow.” He grinned a little to excitedly in awe, too smitten to really be sizing her up as he looked her over. “I know it’s a strange request, but could you not wear the jacket while we battle? Your... your everything has me stunned. If you beat me, you get a certified Pewter Badge.”

“And if you beat me?”

“Maybe I could steal a kiss?”

Dinah could only stare at him for a good bit, and the anticipation of her answer got him sweating. She bit at her lower lip and unzipped her frock-coat as a show of good faith, then extended a paw to shake on it, which he took with both his. Unlike with the clerk, she did not withdraw it in haste, and hesitantly let him appreciate the physical connection.

“The Gym floor entrance is down just this way.” He clasped her paw enthusiastically before letting go to lead the way. “You won’t regret it. But know, I won’t go easy on you, just because you have the one partner. Or because you’re so beautiful.”

She plastered a grimace into the best smile she could.

“...Bring it.”

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