Can You Girls Cosplay Elsewhere?

Natsumi didn’t need Catherine to tell her it was bad. It was bad. Was it the worst though? Natsumi thought about it for a second, but the creature lurched forward and broke her thoughts. She twirled her staff and prepared herself.

“You go right and I’ll go left,” Catherine said taking a step away from Natsumi.

“Tie her down and I’ll zappy ray her,” Natsumi replied as she circled away from Catherine.

“You really need to work on that ability’s—“

“OK!” Natsumi said cutting her off. “Let’s do this!”

She stepped forward and pointed the tip of her staff at the ghoul. She wasn’t entirely sure that the monster was made out of matter, but it seemed opaque enough that a good stab with the business-end of her staff might send it reeling backwards.

As she lunged forward, out of nowhere Hiroshi appeared.

Natsumi slid on the toeboxes of her heels and braced herself from falling backwards. What was the park maintenance guy doing here?

“Excuse me!” Hiroshi said with a raised hand and gentle wave. He cleared his throat and continued. “I don’t mean to interrupt ladies, but you’ll have to take your cosplay game elsewhere. This part of the park is closed for maintenance!”

Even the ghoul foaming green sludge behind him tipped her head to one side and turned towards Natsumi with an “are you kidding me” look.

Natsumi shrugged.

The ghoul also happened to notice something else. Surrounding Hiroshi were all the undead stray cats, dogs, raccoons, birds (mostly stray cats though) and the apparition of a girl with a robust explosion of hair wafting menacingly over Hiroshi’s left shoulder.

Natsumi fired Catherine a quick glance.

The leather-dressed domme stepped forward to grab Hiroshi, but before she could the monster behind him made her move. Her mouth elongated into a gaping hole. A green light shone bright from deep inside of her gut and she began to hoover every stray cat, dog, and bird into her gullet. The apparition of the girl too. Try as the ghostly granddaughter could, her non-corporal fingers slipped through Hiroshi’s body and she disappeared into the seething glob of green glop without a final word. Her look of horror never to be with her beloved grandparent was frozen on her face until she disappeared into the monster’s mouth.

Upside-down head grew in leaps and bounds. The legs and arms more elongated. The belly more swollen after the feast of forsaken souls. Her head flicked to the left and right as it enlarged and grew. The intensity of the green light from deep within her body pulsated through the thin veneer of her leathery and cracked skin. It radiated from the empty eyesockets and nose hole. She foamed and breathed it as she grew in size and stature.

“What the heck…” Hiroshi said blinking his eyes. He raised his hands and studied them instead of looking behind himself. “I feel so…” He paused a moment at a loss for words. “Empty and weird as if something…”

Natsumi really didn’t have time for this. She clicked her tongue. “Hey old guy!”

Catherine, standing just out of her field of view, but still visible, tilted her head and gave Natsumi a disappointed look. Simply because Natsumi managed to recall her name (it wasn’t Karen after all) didn’t mean she knew the old guy’s name. Yoshi, maybe? But she called to the old guy again, using the derivative descriptor.

“Get out of there!” Catherine said hurrying forward.

“…And have your revelation somewhere else!” Natsumi added as she lunging forward with her staff in hand.

“Natsumi!” Catherine chided. She reached the park maintenance guy and threw herself at him.

Natsumi swung her arms behind her and coiled them ready to unload the full might of her swing upon him.

Hiroshi, didn’t seem to get the urgency of it. Of course, he probably couldn’t see the hulking monstrosity behind him. He never even registered all of the strays that followed around him or that his dead granddaughter shadowed his every move. And now, if he didn’t didn’t move the monster might remove the remainder of his dull wit by biting his head off.