Style Quest: Cosplay Time

“What ‘cha making,” Kaytlyn asked as she walked into the room. Varick looked up from his project to smile at his sister. 

 

“It’s Pirates vs. Ninjas night at this bar called Boston in Augustana next week, and I got drafted to the ninja team,” the horse explained as he pulled a thread tight. “So I’m making myself a costume from the legend of the Scorpion Ninja.” He stood up and showed Kaytlyn the yellow and black costume he had been sewing. The small fennec’s eyes lit up upon seeing the ninja gear.

 

“Can I come too,” Katylyn excitedly inquired. “I can be a real good ninja!” To demonstrate her ninja prowess, the sandy-furred fennec showed off her martial arts “skills” by nearly knocking over a lamp with a misaimed kick. 

 

“Sorry, but I can’t take you to a bar,” Varick laughed as he steadied the lamp, “but I will make you a ninja suit when I get a chance.” Kaytlyn pouted a bit but then relented in the end. She ran off to design her ninja costume. 

 

Four days later, Varick stood in the yard behind his parents’ shop showing off his costume to Kaytlyn. The outfit’s material components the blonde Clydesdale had sewn himself in his free time. The metal for the pauldrons, arm guards, and shin plating was incredibly lightweight. Varick had traded a kobold friend a dress, a dozen socks, and a blouse for the custom-made metal pieces. On the horse’s right hip hung two katana that were plastic replicas he bought from a Guild shop on a different planet. Varick had run spell threads along the edge of the plastic blades so that on command, they would ignite without fear of melting the sword. On his right hip hung a plastic chain with an actual steel kunai on the end of it. A spell thread ran down the chain and wrapped around the kunai. A simple command would ignite the chain weapon similar to the katana.

 

“So cool,” Kaytlyn gasped in awe at all the details sewn into the costume. The tan fennec circled Varick several times to take in all parts of the Scorpion costume.

 

“Oh, you ain’t seen anything yet,” Varick told his sister as he took a few steps away. “Stand back a bit. Bridgette’s mom showed me how to do this, but I’m not great at it yet.” Once Kaytlyn was a safe distance back, he pulled up the black hood and slid on the carved yellow mask the tailor had traded a full spool of enchanted spell thread for it. Varick pulled the chain off the hook that held it in place and began to spin it in a few basic patterns. As he did, the weapon ignited with the fury of hell fire. A fellow fire magic user was friendly enough to lead his flame power to the enchantment so it would be fire color instead of Varick’s usually blue and purple flames. “GET OVER HERE,” the costumed Clydesdale shouted as he threw the kunai at a tree. A voice modulation spell in the mask deepened his voice making it more intimidating. 

 

“You missed,” Kaytlyn teased as the thrown weapon went wide. She was still super impressed by the costume, though. Varick reeled in the chain weapon before rehooking it to his costume belt. Facing a safe direction, he took a deep breath in before forcefully exhaling it. As he did so, glamor threads in the hood and mask made the horse’s face appear like a flaming skull. Varick’s exhaled breath turned into a stream of hellfire that nearly ignited the grass. This trick left Kaytlyn awestruck.

 

“Before you ask, no, I’m not building that trick into your ninja costume,” Varick told his sister as the fennec giddily bounced up and down. 

 

“That’s fine. I was going to ask for a costume from the legend of the Sub Zero ninja,” Kaytlyn informed her brother as he removed his hood and mask.

 

“So a rival has appeared,” the horse narrowed his eyes before laughing it off.