Comic Fiesta 2014

Murali invited me to be his cosplay partner for Comic Fiesta 2014 and I, as a person who likes to try something new and different every now and then agreed.

He then told me that he planned to cosplay Wolverine and wished for me to cosplay Yukio, the female ninja who acted as Wolverine's bodyguard, which I did not quite agreed to initially because I don't like Yukio's appearance. I don't like the red and white long sleeved top she wore, it looked clownish. I don't like her fringe, it looked comical.

But Murali was a very nice and sporting cosplayer, and I'm not just saying it because he loaned me his katana and his student's boots, even though I must admit that had contributed to my gratitude. I told him about my concerns and he said he was okay if I do not want to trim my wig because for him, cosplay is supposed to be fun, and if I think trimming the wig kills the fun, then what's the point of cosplaying?

Which I agreed wholeheartedly to. Of course it later saddened me because no one recognised who I was cosplaying - some thought I was Black Widow, which is not a bad thing actually since that was initially what Murali and I planned - and I wished I had trimmed my wig no matter how much I hate that hairstyle but when I look at the picture I was glad that I didn't.

I like what I see in the picture. A little improvisation (well, maybe not that little) in the name of fun.

And now that I have a red wig, maybe I should consider cosplaying all the redheaded characters that I like : Sally from Nightmare before Christmas, Ranma Saotome (female version) from Ranma 1/2, Ariel from The Little Mermaid (maybe not in mermaid form even though the idea is tempting) and Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Photo

"Oh Dom, how can I ever repay you-"

"Tony Roma's," Dom said dully without lifting his head. Oh well, that's Dom, a huge fans of magic and good food. He often wave a long stick at us while shouting nonsensical phrases like "Accio" and "Wingardium Leviosa." If I could I would send him to mental hospital but he scored straight A in both SPM and STPM so technically, there's nothing wrong with his brain, and most importantly, he is a fantastic mechanic and my second-hand Myvi breaks down most of the time, so having him around really helped me save lots of money.

He also repairs my toilet, smartphone, laptop and now, he's going to repair my relationship. Hopefully.

You see, I recently started dating this poor Malay boy called Arif and my Chinese Christian parents were obviously not too happy about it.

"No pork? That's terrible!" Mother wailed as she ate bak kut teh. "And I don't raise you to starve thirty days every year!"

"Dieting from time to time seems like a good idea," I said as I squeezed my belly fat. "Detox, you know."

"And he's only earning RM 1200 per month?" Father looked at me as if I just told him that our country had been recognised as the safest country in the world. "Can he afford to buy a house in KL? No - wait - can he even afford to buy a motorcycle?"

"I like to walk. Good exercise."

"And you have to wear hijab for your wedding, right? Hijab clashes with any elegant wedding gown that I can think of!" Sister looked like BayMax had died for second time with his microchip gone.

"You know how I hate it when my hair gets stuck on my face because of the stupid wind? Hijab solves that problem."

"And you're going to convert and in case if you forgot Muslim can have four wives and if I am not mistaken you get jealous easily don't you?"

"I don't think he can afford to have more than one wife. I'm a shopaholic, remember?"

I knew my persuasions failed when I noticed my family members exchanging a "she's nuts" look.
I had to try harder.

"He's really nice, and soft spoken, and he's a gentleman, and very humorous, and he's romantic, you don's see many romantic guys these days, we waltz in the rain and that was the most romantic moment in my lif-"

"HE HAS THE HEART TO GET MY PRECIOUS LITTLE PRINCESS DRENCHED IN THE RAIN?" My mother screamed and she looked like Christmas had been cancelled.

"I can't accept this poor, inconsiderate Malay boy as my son-in-law. You break up with him the first thing tomorrow morning and that's an order."

*

The first thing I did the next day was to see Arif, as per my family's order; to figure out how to persuade my family to accept him, not as per my family's order.

I was thinking about elope or playing Romeo and Juliet as I drove when I realised that I had a flat tyre.

"Hi Galaxy. Call Dom, mobile," I spoke to my smartphone after pressing Home button twice and hung up immediately when Dom picked up my call. It means I'm in trouble and I forgot to reload my phone's credit and he should call me back immediately.

"Jalan Loke Yew, near Viva," I said when he called back.

*

"You don't have to start researching on poisons, you know," Dom said as he changed my car's tyre. "All you need is Polyjuice Potion."

"Polly has a cracker?"

"Polyjuice Potion, dummy. Hermione used it in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. It allows you to take the appearance of another person. All you have to do is to ask you boyfriend to drink it and he can look like a Chinese guy."

"You're asking me to believe in magic and you're calling me dummy?"

"Look, I have been researching and studying about Polyjuice Potion and while it is impossible to get ingredients like Boomslang skin in Muggle world, I managed to find other substitute ingredients. Don't give me that disgusted look - they are all edible. You just get me photos of the guy you want your boyfriend to turn into and I'll do the rest."

I was not sure if I should believe a potential mental patient who won a scholarship to study chemistry in UK.

*

The next evening Arif and I drove to Dom's place to "add the photo to Polyjuice Potion and make Arif drink it."

"I hope it tastes like strawberry milkshake," Arif said excitedly.

Mother's right. I should ditch this guy. Here I was worrying about him getting poisoned and all he could think about was how would the weird concoction taste like?

Dom opened the door when we pressed the doorbell. He was shiny-faced and sweaty and looking like a panda.

"Up all night stirring the potion. You have the photo with you?"

I nodded.

"Drop it in, then. Drink quickly. I really need some sleep."

Hand trembling, I dropped the photo into the pot. The potion hissed loudly and frothed and turned yellow.

"Oh, mango milkshake," Arif said as I ladled the potion into a glass and handed it to him.

I looked at Arif anxiously as he gulped down the potion. What if this weird stuff actually works and Arif really transforms into the man of my dreams? Oh boy, I'm going to hug him and kiss him and caress him at every opportunity I get and holy macaroons, our kids would look so charmin-

Arif's screams and Dom's thunderous laughter pulled me back to reality.

"Of all the men in the world, you have to turn your boyfriend into Justin Bieber?"