Sometimes Shay worked up the courage to actually go out and do things. Sometimes. That was, doing things beyond ordering fast food or going to con. Cosplay wasn't really a normal social activity. Or normal for normal people, Shay was comfortable doing it. People were always saying that they should partake in social activity.

Shay's version of this, was hanging out at nerdy places and doing things like reading. Because of course it was. As this as an uncomfortable situation, Shay had gone with one of her comfortable forms and was wandering around a cute little corner comic store she'd run into earlier that day, looking through various selections of comics.

There were the typical super hero sections, pulpy stylised comics, indie stuff, the dark and edgy and then there was the manga. Shay had never really understood why people got uppity about manga being it's own thing.

Sure it tended to have a distinct style, but then again so did a lot of different ages of comics, right? Maybe it was just her inexperience talking. Comics were a relatively new thing. Well Shay had been reading them for years, but now they had the time to actually devote to being into them, and it was a social topic that could be tackled without melting into a puddle of anxiety.

Moving was a little stressful, which Zaid was starting to discover. While finding the place had gone smoothly, transferring the lease in order, other problems like packing had loomed on the horizon.

Zaid had a lot of, stuff. Not that he was a packrat. In fact, for many standards he was a very neat person. But he had his mugs, and notably, his manga collection. Trying to decide if it was okay to keep most of those books was a bit more awkward to consider.

In the end, he had boxed it up and decided he would deal with that problem down the road. More immediately? Packing also revealed he was missing a few volumes of Total Ore Warlock. Which brought him to this little comic store to complete his set.

The place boasted a small section devoted to manga which he started for. While he wouldn't be able to complete his Japanese sets, thankfully Total Ore Warlock was one of his few English reads. To his surprise, there was someone already near the section, and he politely coughed, wondering if he should interrupt or not.

"Sorry, I think what I'm looking for is right around here. I didn't want to bother you though," Zaid looked a little awkward as he rubbed his neck with one hand. He wasn't wearing his beanie today, so his ears stood out in his grey hair. He looked like an otaku more than anything, which was why he didn't try to hide his appearance this time.

Shay was glancing around the aisles, catching occasionally on various comic issues. Man, some of the darker comics had really in interesting comics, but Shay was finding that she was progressively more and more drawn to the manga. The art style was very interesting.

Something about the larger than life eyes, and the over exaggerated art was just so appealing. Shay loved anime, and loved cosplaying as some of the characters from some of those anime.

Shay hadn't remotely realised they were in the way of anybody, and blushed profusely. "I'm sorry, I was just browsing, I-I didn't mean to get in the way." Shay had never seen somebody with a power like this one, bunny ears were so cute! Shay couldn't do anything like that with their mutation, only human features.

"I um- I- I like your ears. I hope that's not rude. They're cool." She admitted, being very intrigued with physical powers.

Had this been earlier in the year, Zaid may have felt uncomfortable at the compliment. He had a love/hate relationship with his ears, after all. There was a point he disliked seeming cute and woodland-like, and then one person after another reminded him to be happy with who he was, ears and all. There was Beau and Megan, who also had visible mutations but learned to accept them. Now, Zaid felt like he was growing better at doing the same.

"You're fine. I mean, it's not rude. I don't always feel like they are cool but I'm kind of getting there? I guess?" he blushed, feeling awkward. His hand pushed through his hair and he gave a sheepish grin. "It was probably asking for attention though not wearing a hat and looking for manga, though. I just realized I was missing a few things and thought maybe they were in stock. You don't have to move if you aren't done yet! I'm not in a rush."

Zaid felt like the girl was nervous as well. That wasn't completely unusual in a comic store. It was sort of a place that the social awkward gathered, all trying not to be seen in the same place. "Or, if you're looking for something I might be able to point it out?" was he being helpful? Nosy? Heck if he knew.

Shay grinned sheepishly. There was always a moment of absolute, foreboding Terror whenever she spoke to someone for the first time, that they were about to immediately hate Shay for absolutely no reason. Or all the reasons. It didn't make any sense, it was just scary.

This one seemed okay though. And the ears were cute. "Sorry, I know that unwanted a-attention can be awkward. I just couldn't help it. They're cool." Shay sometimes wished they could do things like that, it would also make cosplay much better and easier. "I'm a mutant too. I have a power that changes how I look, so I think about it a lot." She admitted.

"O-oh. Don't worry, I'm not after something specific. Just exploring." Shay admitted with a light shrug. "I'm trying to get into more comics, and manga. I've watched a bunch of anime, but not actually read much manga." Anime was useful for Cosplay, and pretty and wonderful on many levels. Manga was obviously in the same sphere, with lots of overlap, but it was also a little different.

Zaid wondered if he should try to look less intimidating somehow. But really, how dangerous could he look with bunny ears? He let his ears sort of lay down more, wondering if that was less frightening. Heck, maybe moving them was worse... Then they perked up as she admitted being a mutant. Well, that was short lived.

"Does it change different ways? Sorry, now I'm curious. I've always had the ears, and my mutation has never really changed. Heck, I think the biggest change I ever tried was dying my hair, but it's also really hard to dye your hair when you have bunny ears. I ended up with like, this awful red color until my friend fixed it. Haven't tried since." he laughed.

Zaid smiled warmly when she mentioned wanting to look into manga. "Hey, if you want some recommendations, I grew up in Japan. Not that I would call myself an expert but I do feel like I have a bit of experience. I'm picking up more Total Ore Warelock today. If you watched Anime that was probably one you saw?" He ventured.

Shay giggled at the mention of dyeing hair. Dye was a pointless expense for her, and also the mental image of brightly coloured bunny ears was just. So adorable. "Yes, I-ur. I have control over it, I don't always look like this. Have you ever played any video games, like RPG's?" She asked.

"If you've ever seen a character creation screen, it sort of works like that." It didn't sort of work like that, it exactly worked like that. But Shay wasn't the most talented with words.

Shay leaned over one of the stands and looked around at some of the covers. So many of them had very scantily clad girls. Lots and lots of school kids. There were definitely some heavy troupes here, but Shay knew that already.

"I don't think I've heard of it? I'm looking for manga with school outfit and character designs." Cosplay on the mind, always.

Had he ever played video games? Zaid nodded enthusiastically. "I probably spent more hours gaming than I should ever admit. My parents regulated it a bit more until I lived on my own. I was always an advocate for the proof that video games increased brain plasticity. Uh, that's basically this study where they were proving that repeat exercise of your mind was good for it and helped you with critical thinking."

He realized he might be babbling and flushed a little. "And now I realize I am completely off topic. Sorry! But yeah, I know the character creation screen. That's super cool! Although, that would honestly terrify me a little bit. I can barely figure out what clothing I want to wear in the morning, let alone try to decide what I want my own face to look like..." He didn't like that level of decision making. He was certain it would go poorly if he had been born with powers that changed so much.

"Oh, well it's a good one! Fantasy based, lots of action. Uh, character designs though, that one would be harder..." Zaid looked across the manga titles, frowning a little. "The problem with a lot of manga is it'll be in black and White. There aren't a lot of full color ones other that, oh Straw Hat." he brought that one over, showing a colored edition. The characters were full of personality, and because it was based on pirates, there weren't a ton of school outfits. "There are lots of just random characters in this one. New bizarre villain every chapter. Um...as for school outfits, any of the magic girl series seem to have them. Mew Mew, your Sailor Planets..." he pointed these out, considering.

"Do you think the black and white ones will work too?" he held up a novel with cartoon superheroes in their magical girl outfits. One had cat ears and a dress that seemed to be fluffier than gravity would allow.

Shay grinned a little more readily. Great, another nerd kind of made everything a little better. "Oh! That's very interesting! I took part in some studies a few years ago about reaction time." Shay was of course not a typical case study for that sort of thing anyway, being a pro gamer meant that they had much higher than average reaction times to begin with.

Shay was definitely down to nerd out about her power with someone. Always. "It's not really! I mean, I guess I sort of like grew up with it? Kinda! Well, I grew up with it as long as I can remember, and I shape shifted as a baby. I don't know if the UI was the same though! Some people have said it probably looks like this, because that's how my brain works?"

Shay glanced around at the magical girl volumes visible, and then caught onto the one that Zaid was talking about. She squinted at the design of the main character. She totally had seen pictures of this one online! "Oooh! I love the coat. I could probably swing that. He looks like a relatively normal human shape too." She chirped excitedly.

Zaid perked up as they spoke and felt himself smile. Thank goodness, he wasn't just making a fool of himself. They actually were a little geeky too! "They did this thing with one of the psychology courses where they had you play a game and take a test before and after each round. To sort of test if your problem solving skills increased over time. I helped out because my boss was taking classes there. I didn't go to college myself..."

He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled a little. "Mutations are weird sometimes, like, how they work, and just sort of adapt to you? Or you adapt to them? Like, being a rabbit has the obvious changes, but also the consequence of hearing more than I should and landing myself in a tree if someone scares me too badly. Jumped in the air becomes a bit more...literal." The image was funny enough for even him to laugh at now.

Zaid grinned, holding up the book with excitement. "You could really do that? That's amazing! I love the coat. I cosplay a lot but it gets really expensive when you have to buy things, and sew them... I keep trying to think of something to be for next comicon. I was Hopps last time, you know, police bunny. But that seems lame to do more than once..."

Shay leaned forwards and raised her eyebrows slightly. Psychology and video games going together was a very interesting topic of conversation, Shay herself wasn't really any good or all that knowledgeable about Psychology, she'd not gone to college either, hadn't even gone to high school really. "Me either." The study Shay'd taken part in was all organised through the team.

Shay tried to suppress the immediate smile that came to mind on the comments of rabbits jumping into the air and obviously failed, this person seemed really nice though. And he really was very cute.

"You do?!" Shay's awkwardness was melting away a little now. "I do it all the time, semi-professionally" She admitted with a little blush. "I know right?! I sew a lot of my own stuff, build a lot of the chunkier components too! As a matter of act I'm working on two right now." And had about a million more in their apartment closet. Because of course Shay did.

Zaid was starting to forget his quest for manga, the conversation proving far more engaging. ”I actually am really jealous now! Professional cosplay just seems like a lot of fun! I always feel less nervous in costume, honestly. Easier to deal with people when I’m not facing them as me, I guess.”

He was trying not to gush, really, but it had been a while since he talked to someone about costuming. ”Really? What are you working on, if you don’t mind me asking? I just moved so I have resisted overrunning the house with supplies for the time being. I’ll probably have to save up and buy a few pieces or see if I can commission the outfit....” his sewing skills had improved a little, bit he still tried on Javier’s hep to tailor pants. Tails were complicated.

Remembering his reason for interrupting them, he quickly collected the manga he had been hinting for, but didn’t leave. Now that he could at least say he completed one task, he was free to be distracted.

Shay smiled. It was interesting chatting with this person, the awkwardness that had initially been fairly mutual was starting to slowly melt away. Okay, awkwardness was usually more an Shay's part than the other interested party, but whatever. "It is so much fun! Lots of people say that to me when they're getting into it, especially girls that are interested in getting into it, they're like afraid to put themselves out there, you know?" Female cosplay tended to track a little more on the risque side of things.

"I've never found it that bad. People aren't talking to you that much, it's mostly just throwaway compliments, pictures and stuff." Shay did competitions, which was always fun. Not so much of the talking stuff going on. Shay absolutely didn't mind being oogled by people either, they spent a lot of time crafting attractive looks after all.

"Uhm. Well. Some of it is from this old anime, Mariner Sky? And I'm slowly building a few video game related ones, I do most of the work on them myself. But if you're interested in getting into it, I know a few people that take reasonably priced commissions, that's how I started before I got into making my own." Shay had done that for a bit, then realised it was more economical to just get good at crafting. Turned out to be fun and soothing too.

Zaid held the manga to his chest, trying not to literally wiggle with excitement. He chalked it up to his inner rabbit. Wiggling just seemed to happen when you did not plan for it. Usually it was his nose, but he had to keep stopping his tail from wagging. Stars, if he squeed for real he was going to have to hide from mortification. "I wish I had more photos of my old costumes. I am sure there are some lingering on the internet somewhere. I was the only Hopps with real ears. Not that there weren't some cute ones! I mean, it's dumb when people criticize someone's attempt at a costume, so I definitely don't mean it like that."

He found himself acting quickly to clarify to his new friend his position on costumes. That was always a point best made up front. "Like, not everyone has the cash to get the best materials and all that, it's just, the effort and the excitement of being that character. Not that I don't love the compliments when you do something really well, but I think that's why I love the con circuit so much? You get so happy just to see characters you love come to life, even if they are different stages of quality and progress. I'm sorry. I'm nerding out. I don't get to talk about this stuff often."

He blushed, and the color went almost to his ears. Disadvantage of having light fur. With a cough, he got himself back on track. "If I left you my number would you mind sending me some of the people you talked about? I would really like the help before the next show. I just don't see myself having the time right now to sew something from scratch."