In my fandom hermit-dom and general cosplay ignorance, I hadn’t even heard of Yuuzai and C and Ari before I came to Canada, and I’ll admit it; when I first heard that there were cosplayers for Subaru and Seishirou, I was dubious. If there’s one thing that I can’t stand, it’s when my favourite characters aren’t done justice, whether it be in art, cosplay, or, of course, writing. The thought of people actually dressing up and playing my beloved S&S, exciting as it was, was not without apprehension, and it was in that frame of mind that I took the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria for the first time. Then I actually met Ari and C in person … and now not only am I completely enlightened as to cosplay, but I have the pleasure of calling the best Subaru and Seishirou cosplayers in the western world my friends.
The S&S photoshoot on Yuuzai was taken on my third trip to Victoria. The first time I went there I only got to see the costumes, and Ari and C can tell you just how amazed I was seeing those just on the hanger. The second time I went to Victoria was for C’s birthday, where I was introduced to another piece of costume, Ari with the blind contact lens. I’ve never just realised how disconcerting Seishirou’s gaze must be until I saw it in person. The third time was my last, and that was simply for the pleasure of seeing Ari and C again, and finally, the private photoshoot we had been planning ever since I first talked to them. I picked the street clothes costume; we were going out in public, after all, and I still have learn the ‘cosplayer’s lack of shame’ as Ari put it. To say that I was on cloud nine is a serious understatement; I was past cloud nine, over the moon and bouncing off the stars.
First location: a swanky hotel right on Victoria’s inner harbour, not far from the Parliament Buildings. It caught my eye because a) there weren’t too many people around, and b) the architecture. Grey cold stone all around and a flight of stairs. We parked and walked the rest of the way there, then I tried to figure out things to do. There were a couple of times I was a little worried; once when I got Ari to bend C backwards over the balcony, again when we were trying to climb onto the ledge you can see Ari kneeling on here. My favourite picture of this lot is this one , because I love the angle and the positioning of the characters.
Next stop, the other end of the hotel. There’s this great staircase there with two fantastic archways in the wall beside it. Only problem was that the arches were some way above the ground on the side where I was taking photos, and I’m not exactly tall, but as it turned out, that was actually a good thing. Rainbow Bridge inspired, the sky makes a perfect backdrop. I think this was the point where I was getting really enthusiastic, because I didn’t even realise there were people behind me staring at the crazy girl with two cameras. I think Ari scared them away *lol* she does look rather intimidating in the sunglasses and coat.
The Park. At this time of the year, there were pink flowers out everywhere on the trees in Victoria, and Ari had sighted a park where the ground was literally covered in them. Unfortunately the park itself was a little too bright for good photos, but I did manage to talk them into a very sweet park bench picture, which is an image I had had for quite a while. It doesn’t make a particularly good fanfic, but it makes a wonderful image. Across the road from the park, however, was a very interesting little spot which was so covered in pink flowers that you couldn’t see the pavement beneath it. And there was a tree. Carpet of pink flowers and a tree. S&S. Apparently one of Ari’s favourite fics of mine is the scary-fic aka ‘Crucify My Love’. Unfortunately we couldn’t get Subaru’s clothes off in public, but it still makes a gorgeous picture (Can you tell it’s right beside a road? I was standing practically on that road and all the cars passing were slowing to look at us and avoid hitting me). This is also the place I finally managed to get one picture I had been itching to get – S&S and the red scarf from the final scene of ‘In My Line of Work’. That’s my personal red scarf in the picture; I brought it all the way from Vancouver with me especially for that shot!
Moving on … alleyways. When I went to Victoria for C’s party and wandered around with Yuuzai and Viko, we went through some very cool alleyways I remembered and wanted to use. Unfortunately the one I really wanted was locked up, but we found another good one. The lines made it great for pose shots, resulting in one of my favourite Seishirou pictures of the day. Ari looks good and knows it. The second alleyway Ari found, and that resulted in one of the longer photo sessions because it had a small fence made of black iron. The way I wanted to use the fence, but, involved me climbing over it. I may like climbing (Goldstream waterfall, anyone? *pokes Ari*) but climbing over a black fence in high heeled black knee high boots isn’t fun. But it was worth it: I got a very sexy Seishirou shot and I love this one for the angle and lines. (That’s C’s dagger, by the way; I saw it sitting on her bedside table just before we left and brought it along hoping I could get something from ‘White Hands’.) Once it was all done, however, I had to get back over the fence. I remember almost slipping that time, thankfully Ari caught me. Wouldn’t be a good thing if the photographer/writer broke her ankle, would it. I got a lovely picture I got once back over; Seishirou pinning Subaru to the fence and leaning in to kiss his neck.
Dinner time by now. None of us had eaten much the whole day (blame late wake up times on all parties), and we had to walk around because the fussy writer girl decided she wanted pasta. Eventually found a nice Greek restaurant and found a table. Kudos to the waiter for not blinking when he saw my companions or saying anything when getting the order from the one-eyed assassin. Seriously, that eye is freaky, and I had to sit opposite it for the whole time.
Ari wanted to try and do some pictures at the breakwater after dinner. Poor Subaru-kun however didn’t want to go – way too cold and windy out there on the water. Plus the breakwater is about a kilometre long. I wanted to see it, but, being the tourist, so the only pictures we took there were of me. Instead, we went to another park as the sun was setting for more S&S pictures. Found another tree where the grass around it was covered in pink flowers, and once the couple that had taken the place before us had left, we took over. It looks like it might in the maboroshi; the pose is yet another one of those random possibly-fic-potential ideas I had. As for the kissing pic, that’s a spoiler pic for something ^^
We were supposed to drive straight back to C’s place afterwards (I wanted bedroom pictures) but interesting buildings and other things are distracting. There’s a very amusing picture I took on the spur of the moment when we were passing the optometrist with Sei-chan *LOL* but the most interesting ones were on a staircase and balcony C spotted as we drove past. As it turned out, the place reminded me of what I wanted in my fic ‘White Hands’, so out came the knife again. Poor C; the pose for that scene in the fic requires Seishirou to pin down Subaru’s hands by kneeling on one of them, and that’s what I got Ari to do. C’s hand was literally squashed *sweatdrop* oh dear.
Finally back at C’s house. Rather late by then, and we were all tired. Which might explain some of the pictures – they got progressively more ah, questionable as the night went on. The ones on the couch are okay (save for one which will not be mentioned other than it was all Ari’s idea and her Seishirou looks way too pleased with himself in that one) but then we moved to the bedroom and those are far more interesting. Subaru looks so pretty in my kimono (that’s Seishirou’s tie Subaru is tied up with), and I’m such a romantic at heart. (Hmm, before and after pics?) There’s a whole lot of other pictures of Subaru sleeping *koffshirtlesskoff* with Seishirou next to him … Just to show how good these cosplayers are; even when they’re tired they make good pictures. (No, I did not take Ari and C to Tokyo, that’s just me trying to be clever with Photoshop).
And that’s it. Except for the detour on the way back to Ari’s house at the playground. The photos there were images I’ve been carrying around for a while for ‘Nukume Dori’, and to finish off with I got one more from ‘In My Line of Work’.
As for my favourite photo? One that isn’t on the site; myself, the very happy and satisfied fic-author sitting on a chair with Subaru one on side, and Seishirou on the other. Much love goes to C for letting me stay at her house the whole time and putting up with being abused, and to Ari for hunting me down in the first place and introducing herself; you can stalk me anytime. Not only are you guys fantastic cosplayers of my beloved characters, you’re also wonderful people who gave me some of the best memories I will take away from Canada. Love you both, and don’t be surprised when I knock on your door again sometime in the next few years!
-Leareth