Magical Girl Policy- Chapter 34

Robynne took a paper towel from the bathroom dispenser and ran it under the faucet. Vivian popped out of the stall she had been changing in. “Whoa! What are you doing? Don’t tell me you’re about to remove your makeup!”

Robynne groaned and looked in the mirror to give Vivian an eye roll. Her eyes stopped rolling as she saw Vivian standing there with only her bra to cover her chest. “I… uh…”

Vivian’s shoulders slumped. “Seriously? Blushing? You’re not seeing anything you don’t see every day when you shower. In fact, if we compare one another, you’re seeing a lot less than…”

Robynne shut her eyes and sighed. “Look I… I’m not comfortable with girls being comfortable in their underwear around me yet. Could you just… you know.”

“Most boys would be leaping at the chance to see more girls in underwear,” Vivian pointed out. Thankfully though Robynne heard the stall door click shut again. Robynne gave a sigh of relief and opened her eyes. Vivian was right that she needed to get more comfortable with that, but she didn’t need to make that adjustment immediately. “But you still shouldn’t wash off your makeup.”

“Why not?”

“After all that work Stacy went to? She’d be crushed if you came out of here without it on.”

Robynne bit her lip. She hadn’t considered that. “Yeah, but I also don’t want to go out there looking like I dolled myself up to the nines for a nerd social. Enough people saw us in our cheer uniforms that I am pretty sure they already are making up a fake gamer girl profile for me in their heads. I don’t want them to make any more assumptions.”

Robynne could hear the bemused facial expression in Vivian’s voice. “I’m just going to assume ‘fake gamer girl’ is some form of insult?”

“Yeah, like, it’s a girl who says she likes to play video games to get attention but has no clue what they’re doing or only plays super easy games.”

Robynne could hear the annoyance in Vivian’s voice. “Is this some epidemic sweeping the internet? Because that doesn’t make any sense to me. What type of girl would fake being into games to get attention? If a girl like that existed, wouldn’t they just go to a bar or a club where there are lots of guys ready to give them attention? Nerds tend to be more shy and reclusive. If a girl wants attention it’s counterintuitive for them to seek the attention of those who are less likely to give it.”

“I… well, I mean… no, it makes no sense. I don’t think it’s a real thing, but it is a stereotype that girls have to deal with.”

“You do realize that the fact that nerds are worried about ‘fake gamer girls’ is a sign of insanity, right?”

Robynne sighed and removed her cheer top. “I mean, yeah, but… look, it’s a thing. It’s stupid but if I show up out there in full makeup after having arrived in a cheer outfit, people are going to assume it.” But Robynne really didn’t want to hurt Stacy’s feelings. “What about the lipstick? Do you think she’d be too hurt if I remove the lipstick?”

Vivian came out of her stall with a raised eyebrow and a pink shirt that with white text that read “Spoiled Bunch” with the S and B spelled with movie film. “What difference would your…” Vivian smirked. “Robynne! No top on? Did you just want to show off for me?”

Robynne let out a pained sigh and pulled her shirt over her head. It was a simple red tshirt emblazoned with the sigil of Aspect Realm’s Deviling race: a black hoof surrounded by flames. “You distracted me. And I don’t get your shirt.”

Vivian’s shoulders sagged. “Really? You don’t know the Spoiled Bunch? They’re only one of the biggest CellCasts out there. All about films and the films industry? Ring any bells?”

“Sorry,” Robynne apologized as she fished her ponytail out of the back of her shirt’s neck. Gummi donut but all this hair pissed her off sometimes. She couldn’t even put on a shirt without it causing problems. “I don’t really listen to too many CellCasts.”

Vivian sighed. “Philistines everywhere.” Vivian then poked the emblem on Robynne’s shirt. “To be fair I bet more people know who the Spoiled Bunch are than whatever that is.”

“I wouldn’t take that bet if I were you,” Robynne snorted. “It’s from Aspect Realms. That game had over ten-million people playing at it’s peak. How many people listen to that podcast?”

“I… don’t know really.”

“There is no way it’s more than that. Plus, like, video gaming is a way bigger industry than Hollywood.”

Vivian sat upright. “There’s no way.”

Robynne shook her head. “Look it up. Video games sales are, I think last time I read, about double movie ticket sales. The video game industry passed Hollywood quite a while ago. Look it up. You’ll see.”

Vivian gave Robynne a skeptical look. She clearly wasn’t sold. “I think I will. Though, back to the original question, why would removing your lipstick matter?”

“Huh, oh, because that’s what boys notice the most on makeup.”

Vivian gave Robynne another skeptical look. “You sure about that?”

Robynne shrugged. “It’s what I noticed the most.”

Vivian gave Robynne’s face a quick appraising eye. “I don’t know, Rosy. I mean, yeah, I’ve never been a guy but, well, let me just say that this is a topic a lot of fashion articles have tackled and when they interview guys, it seems like eyeshadow comes more on top.”

“Seriously?”

Vivian nodded. “Dead serious.”

Robynne shook her head. “I don’t know. That’s just not my experience.”

“To be fair,” Vivian countered, “You don’t exactly like making eye contact. Especially when you were a guy. The only time you’d make eye contact was to let someone know how serious you were and brood.”

Robynne’s shoulders sagged. “I made eye contact for more reasons than to brood.”

“Oh please,” Vivian chuckled, “You were all broody and dramatic the very first time I met you. Standing against the wall with your arms crossed. Hammy pronunciations about what you do for your friends. Then at the Stones, all the posturing! You’d gave us nothing but theatrical poses and stare downs every time you had some spectacular point to make. Face it, you’re a lot more chill as a chick.” Robynne glared at Vivian. That only made her grin wider. “Yeah, you glared like that a lot.”

Robynne groaned and looked away. Had she really been so dramatic with the girls at first? As she played the memories in her head, she supposed she had paused a lot to give her words weight. She didn’t like to admit it, but maybe Vivian was onto something there. “So you’re suggesting I remove the eye shadow then?”

Vivian shook her head and started washing her hands. “I’m suggesting you don’t remove anything. But if you’re insistent on removing something to avoid some arbitrary fake gamer chick title or whatever, remove the lipstick.”

“But I thought you said boys would notice the eye shadow more.”

“Yeah, but if you’re wanting to avoid disappointing Stacy, she put a lot more work into your eyes than your lips. Plus, well, I imagine these boys are more like you than the guys interviewed in fashion magazines. Maybe they’d notice lipstick more too.” Vivian dried her hands off on a paper towel then handed it to Robynne. “There you go, already wet. Be sure to wipe away from your skin so you don’t smear it.”

Robynne held up the wet paper towel she had been holding for while. “Already taken care of.”

Vivian nodded approvingly and tossed her paper towel in the garbage. “Prepared as ever.” She walked past Robynne and bumped her hips against Robynne’s playfully. “Though I wouldn’t worry too much about your makeup. It’s a social right? I’m sure the other gamer girls, fake or not, dolled themselves up a little. You’ll blend in fine, I’m sure.”

Robynne ignored Vivian’s hip bumping and got to removing the lipstick, wiping away from her skin as Vivian instructed. She had long since learned that unwanted physical contact was just the price you paid to hang around Vivian. She had no sense of personal space to speak of. Still, her logic about removing the lipstick made sense. Besides that, it no doubt would take a lot more effort to remove eye makeup. And if the boys of SFEERS were going to fantasize about her, she’d much rather it be about her eyes than lips.

After a couple of seconds the Robynne’s lips were back to their natural pink hue. She chuckled to herself as she finished the job by biting down on the paper towel to remove what little lipstick was left at the base of her lips. She wasn’t sure why it amused her, but removing the last traces of lipstick… it was just another one of those things she could never have guessed she’d be doing a few weeks ago. Robynne tossed the now wine-stained paper towel into the garbage and gave herself one last check to make sure she didn’t have any stray strands of hair stubbornly staying in her shirt. Satisfied, she stuffed her cheer uniform back into her backpack and hustled out the door with Vivian.

She had to hurry. Who knew how much damage Cory could do to Stacy’s image of Robynne if left unsupervised?

Robynne was pleased to find that Cory was too busy playing a round of Invokers to scare Stacy too much. Eli and Kara watched from behind Cory. As she approached, Robynne could hear Eli fruitlessly trying to explain the rules. “…and that’s why that one lived but the other one died.”

Stacy squinted at the cards splayed out on the table like an old woman without her glasses trying to read the newspaper. “I… see?”

Kara laughed. “Don’t worry. I don’t get it at all either.”

Eli deflated a little. “It’s not that complicated. It’s just like Poker… if each card in poker had limits on when you could play it and…”

Robynne stepped up next to Stacy. “Thanks for watching Stacy for us while we were changing, Kara.”

Kara smiled. “It was no trouble at all. She was very well behaved. She ate all her chicken nuggets and apple slices.”

Stacy giggled and playfully shoved Kara. “Kara’s boyfriend here was just showing me his… um… like, card game? It’s way more crazy than anything I’ve played.”

Eli lit up a shade of red that rivaled Robynne’s hair. “I uh… well… it’s… not quite–”

Kara rolled her eyes. “I have to say, you three made quite the entrance.”

Vivian nodded. “I don’t think it’s often that three cheerleaders come strolling in uniform.”

Stacy held up a finger. “I wasn’t, like, in uniform, Vivz.”

Vivian waved her of. “Stacy, you’re like the quintessential cheerleader. If if you aren’t in uniform, you are.”

Stacy looked up at the ceiling. “Huh, I’m not sure how to, like, take that.”

Cory sighed and shook the hand of the guy he had been playing and stood up. After getting a little clearance he cleared his throat. “Actually, I don’t think you’re the first cheerleaders to walk in here.”

Robynne stiffened. “Wait? What do you mean? There are other cheerleaders here?”

Cory shook his head. “Sorry, that wasn’t very clear. What i mean is I heard that, apparently, last year there were two other cheerleaders who came to the opening social last year. Apparently, they made quite the entrance too. Only they didn’t quite fit in or something and left after an hour or so.”

Robynne bit her thumbnail. So Cammy had tried this before. Knowing her, she likely had assumed the nerds of SFEERS would have been eating out of the palms of their hands. Only they didn’t. The guys no doubt clammed up around girls who they clearly had nothing in common with. The girls were likely annoyed at some pretty faces coming around and showing off when they didn’t belong. That would lead to the cheerleaders getting isolated and very quickly awkwardness would ensue. It didn’t matter if cheerleaders were more socially well-adjusted than everything else in the room. They’d stick out. They wouldn’t belong. And nothing is more socially awkward than what doesn’t belong.

And Robynne had just shown up in a cheer uniform like those girls had last year. Great.

Stacy looked at the grounds with a concerned look on her face. “Why would there be two random cheerleaders showing up here if, like, they didn’t like this stuff?”

Robynne shrugged. “Maybe Cammy wanted them to make an appearance?”

Stacy blinked. “Why would Cammy, like, want that?”

Robynne simply shrugged again. She just needed to keep leaving Stacy breadcrumbs and let her make her own conclusions. Cory opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a voice that sounded… squee-ey. “Waveform! You’re here!” Robynne nearly tumbled over as GalleyGirl tackle-hugged her from behind. “What is up with you showing up with a Deviling shirt? You’re not a Deviling anymore. You’re on the Accord side with us! You’re a Seraphim now!”

Robynne struggled to extricate herself from the taller, stronger GalleyGirl’s grip. “I’m still Pact at heart, Galley. Besides, I’m not made of money. I can’t just buy new shirts when I switch factions.” It was a lie. Obviously the shirt, as with every piece of clothing Robynne owned, was new. When she had gone shopping with Kara, Vivian, and Noriko they had found some Aspect Realms shirts at, interestingly enough, Current Subject. But she wasn’t going to bother getting a Seraphim shirt. She didn’t want to advertise to the world she was part of the Accord now. That just felt traitorous.

Stacy pointed. “Did you just call you Waveform? And why is she dressed like a pirate?”

GalleyGirl laughed and, thankfully, let Robynne go. Before GalleyGirl could answer Robynne jumped in. “Waveform is my gaming handle. A lot of people in the club go by their gaming handle. As for the pirate, well, her name is GalleyGirl and…” Robynne turned around and was shocked to see that, GalleyGirl was, indeed, dressed like a pirate without a hat. She really had no idea what to say to that.

GalleyGirl bowed and showed off a little cleavage. Her bodice wasn’t that low cut but… why was GalleyGirl dressed like a pirate? “GalleyGirl at your service. As for why I’m dressed like a pirate, this is my Outrigger cosplay I’m getting ready for the Con in a few months. You know Outrigger? From the anime Gallion Galleon? Anyway, it’s nearly done. I don’t have any of the finer details on the jacket done and I haven’t even started working on the hat, but I’m liking how it’s coming together.”

Cory nodded his head. “I get that, and excellent work by the way, but, um, why are you dressed up for a not-Halloween social.” Vivian ribbed Cory in the side. “Ow. What? I’m trying to figure out the social norms in my new club! I need to know what is quote-unquote normal so I don’t break any social mores that would be considered normal. If we don’t ask these questions we could end up dressed wrong at the next social, saying words that are considered swear words in this neck of the world, or eating with the wrong spoons!”

Vivian rolled her eyes and giggled. Robynne smiled. GalleyGirl laughed. “Wow. You’re a riot. What’s your handle?”

Cory bowed up proudly. “CannedBurrito.”

GalleyGirl clapped her hands and pointed at Cory animatedly. Her voice boomed like a canon, “So you’re the genius freshman! I’ve been wanting to meet you!”

Robynne could practically see Cory’s head getting bigger. “Well, I mean, I don’t like to brag.”

Eli slumped over like an old man. “There will be no living with him after this.”

Kara patted Eli on the back. “It’s okay. This is why we keep Vivian around. She’s great at deflating egos.”

Vivian nodded. “Yes. This is but one of the many services I provide the world at large with.”

GalleyGirl laughed again. “You all are a riot. I love you already.” She turned to Robynne conspiratorially. “Though not more than you Waveform. I could never love them more than our resident Bloodhawk.”

“Lucky me.”

Stacy leaned in and examined GalleyGirl’s outfit curiously. “You said you, like, made this yourself?”

GalleyGirl spun and pointed to her bodice. “Oh yeah. I do all my own cosplays. I’m especially proud of the bodice. I had to do a lot of embroidery to get it accurate to the character.”

Stacy nodded. “I’m not familiar with the show at all but your stitching is great! You have real talent.”

“Do you do cosplaying at all?”

Stacy shook her head. “No, but Vivz was telling me about it, like, an hour ago. I guess it’s something a lot of people in this club do?”

GalleyGirl stiffened. “Wait, you never heard of it before today?”

Robynne stepped forward. “Stacy’s a friend of mine. She wanted to see what the club was about.”

“Ohhhh,” GalleyGirl said with a nod of her head. “Well, then how did you two meet.”

“We’re both in Cheerleading together,” Stacy said as she examined GalleyGirl’s jacket more closely.

“Cheerleading? Oh yeah.” GalleyGirl turned to Robynne again. “You never said you were a Cheerleader.”

Robynne shrugged. “Didn’t really think it mattered.”

“Oh, it doesn’t,” GalleyGirl said with some hesitation. “You just didn’t seem like the… Cheer type, y’know?”

“Believe me, I’m aware.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Stacy teased. “You seen your legs? You were born for cheerleading.”

GalleyGirl smirked. “I think she’s more born for cosplaying. Now that I have someone who appreciates the finer arts of making clothes, you have to help me out with this, Stacy. She turned me down on going as Meokashi Sakura, but maybe you could help me convince her to try going as Citrus Sugar! She’s from the same anime as me and…”

Robynne waved her arms in front of her like she was flagging down a taxi and about to miss a flight. “Woah woah woah! There is no way I’d ever cosplay any character named Citrus Sugar!”

GalleyGirl didn’t relent. “Come on. Hear me out. Her hair and your hair are the exact same length. Sure, it’s pink but it’d be super easy to lighten your hair. And she’s totally cute, just like you. I don’t think it’s…”

Robynne continued to wave her hands. “Nuh uh! No way! I do not cosplay and there is, again, not a snowball’s chance in… there is no way I’d dress up as any character named Citrus Sugar. I don’t care if she wears a parka, I’m not dressing up as her.”

“I don’t know,” Stacy giggled. “Dressing up for Halloween is, like, a blast! Of all these nerd things Robynne, I’d say this sounds the most fun! You should totes try it!”

Robynne gave Stacy a flat look. “Don’t you start too.”

Cory waffled his head from side to side. “I don’t think any male members of the club would mind seeing Robynne get into cosplay.” Vivian punched him in the side. “Ow! Hey! I’m just sayin’!”

Robynne gave Cory a death glare. “You especially don’t start too!”

GalleyGirl opened her mouth to chime in but was cut off when someone called her name, “Hey! GalleyGirl! Zemiron’s looking for the Prize Cauldron! Do you know where that is?”

Vivian cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, did I hear him say, ‘Prize Cauldron’? I didn’t make that up?”

Kara nodded. “No, I heard it too.”

GalleyGirl laughed. “Someone a few years ago brought an oversized plastic cauldron for our Halloween social and never picked it up. So every social we have various knickknacks we put into the cauldron for a random prize drawing.” Then her shoulders sagged. “And I, like a nincompoop, left it in my car.” She pointed to Robynne with a menacing grin. “But don’t think you’ve escaped from this cosplay conversation.” She then gave a hardy, evil laugh and darted through the crowd.

“So,” Eli said, “that happened.”

Robynne rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Yeah.”

Vivian pointed in the direction GalleyGirl ran off in. “Did she say ‘knickknacks’ and ‘nincompoop’?”

“I like her.” Stacy proclaimed. “She seems fun.”

Robynne shrugged. “She is nice. She’s just a bit… much for me at times. And she doesn’t get the hint at all that I’m not doing cosplay.”

Stacy laughed. “Why you so against it? You’re into those video game and, like, comic book characters, right? And dressing up in costumes on Halloween is fun, right? I don’t see why it couldn’t, like, be fun to do it when it’s not Halloween.”

Robynne chuckled. “You’re more than welcome to try it. But dressing up isn’t my thing.”

Stacy shook her head and bumped her hips into Robynne the same way Vivian did. Was this some cheerleader thing? “You’re such a party pooper.”

“Speaking of being a party pooper,” Kara said, “We’re at the middle of this social and we’re doing none of the activities. I saw they had Hop Dance Mania, Eli. And someone brought hard pads!”

Eli straightened up. “Hard pads? Is someone more hardcore than I?”

Stacy brighted. “Hop Dance Mania? Isn’t that, like, that dancing game they have at the bowling alley?”

Eli shrugged. “And lots of other locations.”

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to try that,” Stacy proclaimed.

Kara laughed. “You’ve never tried? Oh, we just have to fix that! Come on! Eli and I will show you how it’s done.”

Stacy gave Robynne a quick glance, as if she needed permission to leave her side. Did Robynne have to give permission? Was this because Stacy was technically her guest? She suddenly realized she had never been the one to bring a guest to a social gathering. Normally she came alone or was the person being brought along. What was the accepted protocol for this? “No better people to learn how to stomp on those pads than Eli and Kara. Most people don’t get such good tutors for HDM. You should totally take them up on this.”

Stacy giggled and followed after Kara and Eli. “Robynne, you’re such a pistol!”

Cory laughed as they left, “Well, Rob, you managed to recruit a purebred cheerleader into Nerd Club. Got to be proud of that.”

Vivian puffed her chest out. “Hey, I did most of the recruiting.”

“It’s true,” Robynne nodded. She squinted at Stacy as she walked off. “Though I want to find out more about these cheerleaders from last year. I want to see if anyone has more information on what Cammy was up to back then. Plus there’s my other mission for the night…”

Cory raised an eyebrow. “Other mission?”

Vivian kept her voice down. “The other aura… that the President dude has.”

“I need more data points before I can feel confident about Cammy.” Or Dale. She hadn’t mentioned to Cory and Eli just yet that their roommate had a textured aura. She wanted to hold off on that nugget until she felt she knew what she was dealing with.

Vivian rolled her eyes. “You do know you’re supposed to relax tonight? Decompress some?”

“I will,” Robynne insisted. “After I get a better feel for this.”

“You know,” Vivian chided, “sometimes you remind me a lot of Angela.”

Robynne grumbled at that. “I don’t have access to the guy often. I can’t just–“

Vivian held her hands out. “I’m just teasing.”

Cory cleared his throat, apparently eager to get the topic moving. “He’s running the Tour de Rock setup right now. Could be a good excuse to get closer maybe?”

Robynne started walking towards the TV in the corner where nerds of all shapes and sizes faked being rock stars on their plastic instruments. “Good thinking Cory. I’ll be right back.”