Chapter Text
Humanity
One of the many unusual things about humans is they didn't have eyemasks. But some of them did have black on their eyelids. Marie leans close to her mirror, brushing the foundation—carefully matched to her skin—over her mask, again and again. It fades slowly, but she likes the look of it when it's done. Black eyelids, pale face; it looks nice. Human.
Her tentacles, though, are another matter. She had to go through three specialty stores, then do a commission, which came with sizing instructions. Marie's tentacles are too long to comfortably pin beneath a wig, but she slips a special 'hairy' cover over each one, securing it as she goes with many colorful soft elastics called hair-ties. They present the illusion that each tentacle is an over-complicated braid, which she then furthers by twisting them in a style that looks good with her own tentacles at award shows. Paired with the wig of human 'hair' on her head, it's downright elegant.
Her phone dings. She grabs it and flicks it open to the convention seacord.
RealHuman:
Ugh, I can't believe this!
RealHuman:
A week til the convention, my wig's finally here
RealHuman:
and the idiots matched it to my ink color.
RealHuman:
everyone knows humans didn't have red hair!
Marie starts typing a response, but someone else is faster.
HumanLove:
wut r u tlkn?
HumanLove:
humans hd red har
HumanLove:
remember the pics?
HumanLove:
jest neded specal care
HumanLove:
cuz ituz like
HumanLove:
sup rare r sumtin
RealHuman:
I don't
wanna
be a special human.
RealHuman:
I wanna be normal!
RealHuman:
in a uniform and shit.
Marie chuckles. She loves her fellow human fans. Maybe she can distract RH?
HairLuvr:
We still on to chat in an hour?
HairLuvr:
I've been putting on my cosplay
HairLuvr:
and I need to see yours.
HairLuvr:
we can practice our human together.
RealHuman:
yeah yeah just
RealHuman:
don't expect much.
Marie tosses her phone on her bed and turns back to the mirror. She's been talking to the Human Cosplay Group for over a year now, and they don't know who she is. Maybe she'll tell them. Maybe, if her cosplay is good enough, she won't have to. They're doing facecams for this.
She spins to her cosplay bag and starts digging for her fake contacts. “Konnichiwa amie, tell me que tu nombre,” she sings. Oh, there they are. Humans had the most fantastic dirt-colored eyes, so shiny. “I wish wissen tuo nome, agus sin mar saurons somos tomodachi.” It may be a song meant for children, but she likes it. It's such an easy way of learning basic human pronunciation.
There's a noise behind her. Marie turns to see Callie standing in her partly open door, hand raised to knock. “Did you need something?” Marie asks.
Callie opens her mouth and closes it again. “Are you...” she shakes her head.
Marie rolls her eyes. “I told you I'd be practicing,” Marie says. “The convention's in a week! We wanna be authentic.”
“Authentic,” Callie says. “Yeah.” She coughs into her arm. “You're, uh. Real authentic, Mar. Love the outfit, by the way.”
“You should,” Marie says. “It's custom-made. Can you leave me alone now?”
“Just... just letting you know I'm gonna be out with, uh, errands for a bit,” Callie says. “You do you.”
Marie nods her head. Her hair—so strange!—her hair brushes against her back. She likes the way it feels. “Don't worry,” she says. “I will.”