Rein Con: Kayden (Patreon)

And we close out the summer event with Kayden! I hope you guys enjoyed this whole thing, I had a lot of fun working with your suggestions and shaking up my Monday routine for awhile. Speaking of shaking things up, this is the first time a male character has ever been the focus of a Monday update. I'm aware that won't be for everyone, and I can tell you that this reward tier is still all about the ladies moving forward, I just thought it would be fun to throw a guy into the mix for the sake of variety on this one. 

One more thing real quick: Kayden is absolutely intended to be eighteen years old, he's just short. Sorry, I'd never been concerned with him looking too young before, but a full-body shot of him next to the towering Elianna made me feel like I should add a little disclaimer. 

Costumes: Duke Nukem, Raiden (Metal Gear Solid 2) Classic Robin, Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy 7.) 

The stage was set, but Kayden's plan wasn't unfolding without its obstacles.

Derek even attending the convention was a success in and of itself, as subtly arranging for he and Elianna to be at the same place and time outside of school had proven difficult, but this was Kayden's big chance.

The problems arose when Derek expressed zero interest in going to see the costume contest. Kayden knew that if Derek saw Elianna looking so gorgeous in those costumes, he'd fall in love on the spot. Anyone would. Derek proved stubbornly resilient to surreptitious hint-dropping, however, and eventually....well, Kayden ran out of patience.

“You know what, Derek?” said Kayden with a huff. “Just go watch the show, because we both know that if you get too far away from Elianna, bad shit starts to happen to you.”

Derek was momentarily taken aback by Kayden's uncharacteristic candor, but he recovered with an emphatic eye-roll and a loud, pronounced scoff as he turned away.

Derek turned away right into someone cosplaying as Pie Lord, Seventh Sage of All Pies, and then fell backwards into a bunch of garbage bags.

Kayden winced. He had been too forceful, and now Derek was just defying him out of spite. For the rest of the convention, the big dope seemed to be doing his very best to avoid Elianna. Every now and then Kayden would hear the telltale signs of that defiance in the distance, that familiar grunt of pain, a muffled boom, or the sound of sprinkler systems kicking in. Kayden had thought it was as silly as everyone else when he first heard the rumor that Elianna cancels out Derek's bad luck by being near him, but now that he was looking for it, he saw it action every single day. The consistency with which Derek was safer around Ellie was downright spooky. Kayden sighed, dejected. How was he struggling this hard to set up two people who were clearly made for each other?

No, it wouldn't do to feel sorry for himself. He would try again after the convention was over, assuming Derek was still alive then.

Stay tuned for a bonus pic this weekend to announce who won the costume contest! :)