Cosplay Christmas
(A Little Christmas Story)
by Bobbie Cabot

1: Musical Madness

Cosplay - it's afficionados usually come from the fringe of the regular mainstream. And it is often laughed off by, quote, regular people. But as a marketing gimmick, ad people have recognized cosplay as a ready-made marketing event, with a ready-made grassroots community built in, ready to become the shocktroops for any new marketing program for say, a new scifi TV series, a new movie, a new line of perfume, perhaps, or most anything.

And that's how we got hooked into this little gig.

First off, let me talk about who "we" are - we are a little fledgeling pop band. Little more than a garage band, really. I suppose what sets us apart from all the other wannabe bands is that we are an all-girl band, though some may dispute that. That's because I am transgendered. Yep - one of those people.

It hasn't been smooth sailing, and it was tough growing up being who and what I am. Ridicule, beatings, ostracized, all of that. So cliche' nowadays, I suppose, so I won't go into it. The only thing that kept me going is the support of my folks and my sister.

I started HRT with full consent of my physician, therapist-advocate and parents at age fourteen. Any later and puberty might have made it difficult for me to pass later in life. As it was, I had started HRT in the nick of time, amd avoided all the masculine things that I did not want. Well on the way to a more feminine me, I asked to move to another school in the middle of my junior year, so, with no one in the know, and with the help of the hormones, I was abie to live as a girl. I think I did passably well as a girl, although no boyfriends. That's okay, though. For now, at least.

But, even if my love life was non-existent, I was at least able to have a social life, all thanks to my guitar.

I am a fan of the TV show, Glee, and I identified a lot with the character played by Lea Michele, although I don't sing even half as well as she does. I did have one thing which I thought I had over her - I play the guitar.

My modest talents, and my channeling Rachel Berry heehee, got me into the glee club of my new high school, and that's where I met my three best friends: the twins Scarlett and Vivien, and my room mate-to-be, Anime fan extrordinaire Mackenzie.

From that time on, the four of us were inseperable, and we shared everything, although I never did share with them my biggest secret.

Still wonder of wonders, I was accepted as just another girl (although, I was the... homeliest of the four of us, and the one with the worst fashion sense ever) and I got to do everything with them, except the things that would have outed me, like gym, swimming or wearing skimpy stuff or dating...

Anyway, that was four years ago, and I am currently on my second year in university studying music theory.

I was glad I was able to convince my three friends to go with me, although the twins decided to study to become physical therapists, and Mac decided on a double-major in Japanese Literature and Greco-Roman art. What a weird combination. Also, I didn't see that helping her in any sort of career, but then again her family's filthy rich so I guess she could afford it.

Speaking of which, I couldn't really afford to go to college, but with the help of some student loans, and help from my folks, I was able to. Barely. As it is, I had to hold down a part-time job to make ends meet. And when Mac offered to put me up in her on-campus apartment, it really helped take the pressure off. And, although I offered to pay for my share of the rent, Mac said I didn't need to. And, besides, she got a great rate for the apartment because of some twisty rent control thing. Still, I insisted on paying my share, which amounted to two hundred a month (which I thought was ridiculously low), and an extra fifty for the utilities. And being room mates with super-cute Mackenzie is alway a plus lol.

On my eighteenth birthday (which was in June), I finally got my SRS (in the States, that was when it was legally okay for me to do so, and to insulate my folks from any kind of legal action the bible-thumpers might leverage on them if they ever found out).

For me, that was the final step in my physical journey-of-self, and everything else was up to me now. I thought of some other operations, like lipo or breast and ass lifts, and, more importantly, FFS operations, but my big sis convinced me not to do them anymore. Sure, my boobies were barely B's, my shoulders were a tad wide, and sure, my hips were modest by regular girl standards, but everything else was okay - hardly any adam's apple, minimal brow ridges, et cetera. And, in fact, sis said that my mini-boobs, slim hips and wide shoulders made me look like a supermodel.

My sis knew just how to manipulate me. The word "supermodel" did the trick, and I decided to just stick with the SRS and my hormones. Which mom and dad were happy about, since they got to save a bundle.

And, besides, I think I had started to bloom at that point (or at least I thought I did heehee). And maybe I can start considering dating now, free of any fear of being outed. Definitely, it was time to revamp the wardrobe, and maybe take up swimming and other things.

So, after a month "working on the books for my uncle's business," I went back to school no one the wiser (including Mac, Scarlett and Viv). I started my sophomore year in the fall as a "complete woman."

2: Part-Time Gig

As soon as I had started college, the first thing I did was to look for some part time work, but the only kind of unskilled labor that I could get was working as a waitress in the latest hangout in campus. So, for over a year, I had a 6PM-10PM shift Monday to Friday, and the Sunday "graveyard shift" (for the Juke Joint, that was the 8AM-lunchtime shift on Sundays).

The Juke Joint was a friendly sort of place - but not the most popular place. It was on Partridge Road, only a five-minute walk from campus. Most of the patrons walked to the restaurant, actually. It was mostly frequented by the more... nerdy freshmen and sophomores who wanted a quiet place to eat and socialize (most folks preferred the racier places and bars farther from campus) so I and the other part-timer waitresses had an easy time of it. I guess another reason it's not so popular was because of the frequent visits by campus police, and where all new patrons were carded.

Just as well.

It also had a regular singer featured on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, from eight to eleven - just a girl (she was actually cute despite the glasses and poet's shirt she preferred to wear) with a guitar, singing by-request songs.

Thing was, after being the "featured artist" at the Juke Joint for a couple of years, the girl eventually finished her degree, quit and moved away, and she wasn't replaced by anyone. The number of patrons went down to a level where the owner started being afraid that he might actually have to close down.

That was the time I had started getting more confident in my demeanor and outward appearance. The most obvious thing was that I had started wearing sexier outfits - nothing major, really: just tighter outfits, shorter skirts, higher heels, et cetera.

When I heard the owner complain about lower sales for the umpteenth time, I had a brainstorm. I went to where Scarlett, Viv and Mac were sitting (without dates for a change), brought their drinks and told them my brainstorm.

"Hey, kids," I said, and plopped down their drinks in front of them. "I just heard old Pete complaining about the turnout again. If sales doesn't pick up soon, I might be out of a job. So I wanna help."

Mac took a sip of her Mountain Dew (we all pretended it was beer, and since I served it in a frosted mug, it really did look like beer) and turned to me.

"It's the economy, babe," she said. "Nothing we can do about it."

"Easy for you to say," I responded. "You guys are set. I need this job. Otherwise I'm dead."

This was greeted with silence. After a bit, I saw a customer signal so I went over to get his order.

Ten minutes later, I was back.

"Hey, Jenna?" Viv said (at least I thought it was her). "We were talking."

"Yeah," Scarlett (I think) continued. "The problem is really because you guys lost your singer, right?"

"So, we think we got the answer," Viv jumped in.

"It's a pretty simple answer really," Scarlett then said.

"We're surprised you didn't think about it right away," Viv said.

"Yeah..." Scarlett said.

All this back-and-forth can be really irritating. Twins! Grrr...

After a few beats, I said, "Well? Aren't you gonna tell me? Of all the..."

Mac made a patting-down signal.

"Here's our idea," Mac said. "Just get a new act!"

"It's not as if Pete hasn't been looking for another singer! Jesus..."

"Simmer down, babe. I'm not through yet."

"Oh. Sorry..."

"'Sall right. What we were thinking was, how about you being the new singer?"

My jaw dropped. As in literally.

"You're pulling my leg, right?"

"What do you mean? We've seen you in glee club! We know you sing pretty well, you can play the guitar, and you're pretty enough."

"Hells, yeah!" Scarlett agreed, and Viv was nodding her head emphatically.

Were they playing an elaborate joke on me?

They pulled me down to the table and after an hour or so of talking (with frequent breaks so I could take orders and serve drinks), they finally convinced me ,and I went to Pete (with all three of them tagging along, "for moral support" as Viv said) and made the suggestion.

Two days later, there I was by the restaurant's picture window all dressed up in a tight, one-shoulder minidress, the strap of my acoustic guitar over my shoulder.

For once, the place was packed. I coudn't understand it. But, little by little, since most of the new customers were mostly classmates of mine, or Mac's and the twins, I figured it was my friends' doing.

So I sat on the high stool (making sure I wasn't flashing anybody lols), adjusted the mike and started to sing.

My first couple of songs were a bit tentative, but after that, I found my groove and went through the rest of my repertoire without problems. And, if I do say so myself, I think I did pretty good!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, the Juke Joint was packed, but that was the whole point, right?

I even got the other three hooked into the thing - occassionally, I'd convince them and all four of us would be up on stage singing. It was like the Glee Club all over again, and those were super-fun days. (Pete didn't pay the others, though, but Viv, Scarlett and Mac didn't mind.)

And that's how I went from part-time waitress to part-time lounge singer-slash-folksinger.

Still, that didn't get me excused from the Sunday graveyard shift.

3: Recruits

It was Christmas break, but because of the prevailing weather back home, all four of us couldn't get flights, so all four of us were stuck in campus. So, for lack of anything to do, I continued waitressing and singing, and for lack of anyplace to go, my friends would end up hanging around in the juke joint.

Word spread that the Juke Joint was the only place that was halfway decent, so all the kids that were trapped in campus like us made the Juke Joint their regular place.

As it happens, there was a guy in the corner, an out-of-towner, ordering his sixth double bourbon. I was about to go to him and offer him a coffee or something but Pete signaled me that it was time.

I gave the drunk guy a big smile, pointedly left the pot of coffee and a mug on his table and went to the back and changed into my outfit - tight, black leather leggings, patent-leather knee-high stiletto boots, an oversized button-down white shirt and a gold-and-silver belt.

My friends came in and the people turned. Everyone broke out in spontaneous applause and Mac curtseyed. I looked to Pete, and he grinned and nodded. Pretty soon, we had the place rocking to a mix of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Shakira songs. We even got Bourbon Guy smiling.

For the last song of the night, everyone left the stage and I sang one of my dad's favorites, a great pop classic from the sixties, "Fly Me to the Moon." Pete had the minus-one ready and I sang the song.

As I sang, Bourbon Guy stood up and looked at me with a strange look in his eye. I tried to ignore him and sang my way to the end. And after I finished, eveyone applauded but none more enthusiastically than Bourbon Guy.

After my set, I decided not to change anymore, and just grabbed my coat to go home with the girls, but Bourbon Guy stopped us at the door.

"Good evening, ladies," the guys said. "I have a business proposition for you."

4: Cosplay

So here we are, in skin-tight costumes that Mac says are called "plugsuits."

Who cares what they're called. All I know is I'm lookin' pretty sexy in the red suit heehee. So are the others, actually.

It was an hour before our gig, so we decided to walk around the mall. Everyone's costumes were great, especially this pair of girls that Mac said were wearing costumes from an anime cartoon called Witchblade. Woah!

- - - - -

Apparently, Bourbon Guy was a producer for MTV, and they were starting a promotional run for MTV81, an internet channel that was showcasing Japanese music and culture to the English-speaking market.

Just few months ago, the third movie of the reinvented Neon Genesis Evangelion series came out in Japan, and it was a blockbuster hit. As always, the rest of the world was slow in picking up on it.

So the theme for the promotion campaign for MTV81 was designed around anime cosplay and the Evangelion TV show and movies.

Hence, here we are, on stage, in a mall, in Evangelion plugsuits about to sing the theme to the TV show, in Japanese, no less, with barely enough time to prepare

As soon as Viv, Scarlett and Mac started singing background, I took a microphone of from its stand, and sang the lyrics Mac taught me.

"Zankoku na tenshi no youni... Shonen yo shinwa ni nare!"

- - - - -

It was a fun evening, and I got off on people thinking I was sexy and all that. Maybe it'd be fun to do this again. Who knows? The organizers said there were other east cost malls they were targetting, and they asked if we'd be interested.

After signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans and mall-goers, I was finally beat.

Thing was, seems the storm in the midwest has migrated over our part of the country, and it had just dumped more snow on our little campus town. We looked out the picture window at the parking area, and the piles and piles of snow had us snowed in. Oh no! And our street clothes were in Mac's car outside!

But then again, it gave me an excuse to stay in costume for a while, maybe for the rest of the night.

"So," I said to the girls, "you guys game for some last-minute Christmas shopping?" I giggled.

   
   

To see Bobbie's blogposts, click this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog/bobbie-c
To see Bobbie's stories in BCTS, click this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14775/roberta-j-cabot
To see Bobbie's Family Girl Blogs, click this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/28818/family-girl-blogs
To see Bobbie's old Working Girl Blogs, click this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/19261/working-girl-blogs