AN: Beta-read by
Carbohydratos,
Did I?,
Gaia,
Linedoffice,
Zephyrosis, and
Mizu.
Chapter 104: Un-convention-al
OtakCon arrived in late July.
The kids had decided that they were going to do their cosplay on the fourth and final day of the convention, so Homura and I committed to attending that day as well. I hadn't expected the convention to affect daily life in Strawfield much, but it did; even before the event opened, parking within fifteen minutes' walk of the community center became all but impossible, and Home Sweet Home had a new customer demographic.
"I'm starting to think we should have set up a booth," I told Homura as she brought out yet
another tray of taiyaki. The moment the convention-goers had hit the town, we'd gone from selling one or two a week to a whole batch roughly every ten minutes.
"Maybe." She didn't even bother sliding the tray into the display case; it would be gone by the time she brought out the next one. "It might not be too late, if someone who
has a booth wants to sell them."
"I know who to call."
Homura sent a pointed look at the people who were already lining up for their turn. "Later."
"Later it is."
———X==X==X———
"Welcome to OtakCon! Can I see your tickets?"
"Right here," Homura said as she showed the greeter our guest passes.
"Thank you. Nice costumes, by the way." The woman reached into a bucket and pulled out a pair of blue and white lanyards attached to laminated holders for an ID card, then opened a box and passed us each a purple card. "These are good for the whole day. Don't lose them, because we can't replace them. Sign here"—she tapped a line on the cards—"then show them at any door, and the barcode will get you in."
She slipped the now-signed cards into the laminated holders, then pulled two large print-outs off a stack and handed them over with the lanyards. "These are maps of the convention floor—er, floors. And these are yours." She picked up two tote bags with 'OTAKCON' and the year printed on them, then put a shrink-wrapped bundle in each before handing them to us. "Have a great time!"
"Thank you," we said as we slipped the lanyards over our heads. Homura reseated her red-and-brown witch's hat as I pushed open the door and let us into the main room.
It was Monday: the fourth and final day of the convention, and the day Chloe and company had settled on for their 'coordinated cosplay thing'. Home Sweet Home's Saturday shift had graciously agreed to hold the fort, so here we were.
I knew roughly where to start looking for the girls, which was good, because OtakCon had been spread out over three separate buildings and a courtyard—that was why the woman who'd handed us our passes had mentioned convention
floors. It was kind of a mess, to be honest. Looking at the map made it clear they'd
tried to group together similar pieces—merchandise stalls, panels, creator meet-ups, events, and screenings—before reality got in the way by forcing certain things to be in certain rooms. The result was more 'homogeneous' than 'sorted'.
"Do you know where the girls are?" Homura asked me as we weaved through the crowd, collecting compliments on our costumes as we went.
"Chloe said they'd be hanging out by the photography booth, which is in the courtyard."
"Shall we head there, then?"
I shrugged. "There's no rush."
"We'll head courtyard-
ward, then." And so we did, stopping every couple of booths to satisfy our curiosity about the things on display. The answer was tat. Endless, endless convention tat. Pins, sew-on patches, posters, tote bags, tee shirts, figurines… the variety was impressive, if nothing else. There was even actual anime on sale.
"Oh, this was good," Homura said, picking up a copy of
Lyrical Nanoha from the pile on the booth in question.
"Didn't think you'd care for that kind of show," I said.
"I appreciate optimism." She glanced at the hopeful-looking salesperson, then put the DVD back on the pile. "Don't need another copy, though."
I nodded, and we moved on.
The doors between the main room and the courtyard had been propped open with a pair of folding tables in blatant violation of the 'KEEP DOOR CLOSED' signs sticker'd onto them. It was an unseasonably cold, overcast day for mid-July, practically a freak occurrence—which meant the yard they'd roped off to add to the convention floorspace was cooler and more pleasant than the poorly air-conditioned building we'd just left, and a lot of convention-goers were out and enjoying the fresh air with a blatant disregard for stereotypes.
"Darn," I mumbled. "I thought they might be easy to spot, but it's more crowded out here than it was inside."
"Do you know who they're dressed as?"
I shook my head. "She wouldn't tell me."
"Do they know who
we're dressed as?"
"I said I wasn't going to tell her unless she told me."
Homura was not impressed. "You appear to have sabotaged our rendezvous quite effectively."
"Oh, stop complaining and help me look, would you?"
She did as I asked, joining me on tip-toes to look over the crowd as best we could. Unfortunately, only one of the people we were looking for was taller than average, and pink hair wasn't as distinguishing a feature here as it would be anywhere else.
They spotted us first.
"Cassandra!" I heard Chloe yell. "Over here!"
The call came from behind Homura, so I got a perfect view of her eyepatch popping upwards of its own accord as the girl bounced into view, powder-blue hair and cape bobbing with every step. "Nice costumes!" she cheered. "You really look the part!"
I smiled at Chloe just long enough to serve as a greeting, then pulled Homura into a conspiratorial hug.
"You okay?" I whispered.
"I am fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. It was a surprise, but this isn't the first time I've had to deal with this." She ended the discussion by pulling away and turning back towards Chloe.
"You said you were doing a coordinated cosplay project, correct?" Homura asked, flipping the cross-patterned eyepatch back down over her eye. "I think I can guess who the others dressed as."
"It's a nice costume," I added. "You put that together yourself?"
"It was a group effort!" Chloe said. "We planned it all out, then met up at my house and put them together yesterday. But nevermind us, your costumes are awesome! Suuuper high effort! Is that real metal?" Chloe reached out and rapped a knuckle on my breastplate, which was a rather forward action to take when one considered just how literally it took the term 'breastplate'.
"Printed plastic held together with tape," I said, swatting her hand away. "The metallic-ness is all in the paint. Isn't there a rule against touching cosplayers or something?"
"Eep!" She cringed. "Crap, I'm so sorry! Please please please don't tell anyone—I could totally lose my job for that! It just looks so cool… I'm really sorry! Anyway, those are
really cool costumes. Great details—I love the staff, Miss Akemi. Where did you get it?"
"I carved it myself," Homura answered.
"No
way! That's amazing!"
"Way. Why is she 'Cassandra', but I'm still 'Miss Akemi'?"
"Oh, sorry, M—uh, Akemi. It's just… I talk to Cassandra a lot more than I talk to you, so I wasn't sure we were on a first name basis. Well, a no-honorific basis?" Chloe laughed awkwardly, one hand on the back of her neck. "Hold on… ah, there they—girls!" she yelled into the crowd. "I found her! Over here!" A moment later, Megan (as Mami), Ashley (as Madoka), and Kaitlyn (as Kyoko) emerged from the crowd to join Chloe's Sayaka cosplay. Megan and Ashley each had an OTAKCON tote bag, while Kaitlyn had two—her own and Chloe's, presumably.
"Natalie couldn't make it," Chloe grumbled. "Her mom wouldn't let her dodge the barbecue after all. I told her she should just sneak out, but she didn't go for it."
"Oh," I said. "That sucks."
"Yeah. Her mom was all, 'This is your last summer here!' and such, like Nat wasn't coming home ever again. Not that I'd blame her for that!" Chloe followed her little rant with an angry harrumph, then went right back to hyperactive. "Anyway, check out our costumes!" She hurried around and situated herself at the center of the line-up—between Kaitlyn and Ashley—with a cry of, "Ta-da!"
"They're very nice," Homura said, somehow keeping a straight face. "Is that a wig, Kaitlyn?"
"You can't tell?" Kaitlyn absentmindedly prodded the
massive mane of red hair on her head. "No way I was gonna grow my hair out this long, even if I had enough time."
"This is a wig, too," Megan said, tugging at one of her ringlets. "Then Ashley over here didn't even need hair dye."
Homura turned to Chloe. "You forced Ashley to be Madoka because of her hair, didn't you?"
"No," Chloe said.
"Yes," Ashley said.
"Did not!"
"She
suggested it," Kaitlyn said. "It's not like we couldn't have found another five-girl band to dress as if Ash said 'no'."
"Like what?" I asked.
"I dunno. She'd have thought of something. Right?" Kaitlyn grinned at Chloe impishly, then leaned over and pecked her on the cheek.
Chloe turned bright red and hissed like a teakettle. "Katiiieee! We agreed
not in public!"
All three of her friends giggled at her blush. "Relax. We're just getting into character, right?" Kaitlyn winked at us. "What about you two? Having fun 'in character'?"
I chuckled. "Yeah…
no. Not exactly my style."
"'Getting in character' would mean blowing up the convention center," Homura deadpanned.
Chloe threw her hands up over her head and yelled, "Explosion!", which attracted fewer odd looks than it would have at any other time and place.
"Yeah," Kaitlyn said, "let's not do that."
"How did you decide who was who, anyway?" I asked them. "Besides Ashley and her hair?"
"It's all hair," Ashley said.
"Mostly hair," Chloe admitted. "Mine is the right length for Sayaka."
"Short hair is easy to hide with a wig," Kaitlyn said.
Ashley gave her a sharp poke on the back of the head. "That's not the reason you chose Kyoko and we all know it—oh for god's sake, Chloe, relax, everyone here knows. You two are
not subtle."
"Everyone?!" Chloe yelped.
"All of
us, bird brain."
"Relax," Kaitlyn insisted. "We could start making out right now and no one here would give a fuck. Pardon my language."
Chloe began to calm down before Ashley decided to add, "Well, some of them would start cheering… ow!" Megan and Kaitlyn had bopped her on the head almost simultaneously.
"That's too far, Ash," Kaitlyn said, her non-bopping arm around Chloe's shoulders.
For once, Ashley seemed contrite. "Sorry."
"Chloe wanted me to go as Homura," Megan said, "but Natalie didn't have a preference, so I got to choose."
"Yeah…" Chloe let out a long, expressive sigh. "She wasn't really excited about it to begin with."
"Aw, it's not like that—"
"No, I mean—" Chloe stopped, then shrugged. "Okay, yeah, it's not like she was
looking for an excuse not to come or anything, but I think I'm pro'ly more upset about not having the full line-up than she is about not getting to come, which is kinda selfish."
"Hey now," Ashley said, "none of that! Natalie would want you to have a good time whether or not she got to come, so relax and have fun, okay?"
"
Now you're getting in character?" Kaitlyn snarked.
"I was already kind-hearted and caring!"
"Liar!"
"You know, I honestly thought you'd just borrowed Darkness's armor," Homura whispered as the girls became distracted by a bit of light-hearted teasing.
"I did," I admitted, "but only for reference. Half the fun of cosplaying is making the costume. Besides, it would be weird if people noticed I had a custom-fit steel breastplate."
"True. It's easier for stuff like this." She rubbed the brim of her witch's hat between two fingers.
"You mean making 'real' clothing?"
"No, I mean just borrowing stuff."
"What, you just had one of Megumin's hats lying around?"
"She gave one to Darkness as a parting gift, and she let me borrow it."
"Oh. Neat."
"Helped me color-match the rest of the outfit, as well."
A loud cough from Chloe got our attention and quieted the group down. "Anyway," she said, "we should head over to the backdrops so we can get a group photo. You two should come, maybe get your picture taken, too!"
"Backdrops?" I asked.
"Yeah, they've got a bunch of really nice, anime-art backdrops set up for cosplayers to take pictures in front of. It's really cool. Sometimes people will invite you to take a picture if you've got matching costumes—or just if your costume is unusually good."
I looked at Homura, who shrugged in indifference.
"We'll hang out while you wait your turn, at least," I said.
"Great!" Chloe cheered. "Oh, and keep an eye out for anyone cosplaying Homura!"
I snuck a glance at Homura herself, who appeared as unruffled as ever.
"I wanna find someone to be our fifth even though Natalie's not here," Chloe continued, ignorant of my thoughts. "This way!" She linked arms with Kaitlyn and led us off across the courtyard.
———X==X==X———
The photo booths were
the place for cosplayers to congregate, likely because—as Chloe had said—even once you'd taken a photo with your group, there was a chance someone else would want a picture with you if your costume was good enough. Homura and I were invited in twice while the girls dithered over which backdrop they wanted—once with a couple Chloe identified for me as 'Kirito' and 'Asuna', and then by a pair who were dressed as Megumin and Kazuma.
"Aw maaan, your costume is really nice," the Megumin cosplayer whined at Homura as we reviewed the pictures. "I look
so lame next to you."
"
I'm dressed as Kazuma," the guy countered.
"And you look fine!
I look like I'm wearing a Halloween costume next to the actual actress—" The rest of her complaints were lost as the crowd closed behind them.
"Ahhh," Chloe sighed. "Cosplay envy. You hate to see it."
"You know, this is a lot nicer than I was expecting," Kaitlyn said. "I kinda figured it would be nothing but sweaty, overweight guys with no hygiene."
"A lot of normal people like anime."
"Yeah, I know, I'm judgmental."
"This is all right," Ashley allowed. "I had more fun making the costume, though."
"Think we can get tickets to next year's?" Kaitlyn asked Chloe.
"No." Chloe sighed. "I mean, we could probably get
tickets, but my parents would never let me go all the way to Apoapolis without a chaperon."
"Even with a college student?"
"Even
as a college student. Mom's kinda 'fiercely protective' after the… thing."
I didn't know what she was talking about and wasn't sure I should ask.
Kaitlyn looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "We might be able to find a chaperon…."
"I'm not actually related to her," I said, flicking my eyes at Chloe. "You know that, right?"
"So?"
Chloe nudged her girlfriend. "So as far as my parents are concerned, she's just some random stranger who runs a pastry shop."
"Your mom knows her better than that," Kaitlyn said. "Remember?"
"Oh, right."
"And the bakery's been selling those fish-shaped things, right? She could get a booth—"
"That's ki-i-ind of a big favor to ask," Megan interrupted, staring hard at the pair with her hands on her hips. "
If Cassandra was going anyway, then maybe—
maybe—it might be all right to feel her out about
maybe asking if she'd take you, but you can't just recruit someone to babysit you for a weekend in
another city entirely."
The pair looked down at their feet, suitably chastised, and I gave Megan a brief smile for her intervention.
"Hey, look," Ashley said, "it's the other Darkness cosplayer we saw earlier!"
I followed her pointing finger, half-expecting to see Darkness cosplaying herself, and was relieved to see it was just another normal cosplayer… who was currently talking to Darkness. And
Darkness was wearing…
Oh, for the love of god. Of all the ways she could have shown up, Darkness had decided to cosplay as
me—or more accurately, the character I'd seen on the DVD case Max had handed me lifetimes ago.
Joy.
"I guess this is a 'what comes around, goes around' thing, isn't it?" I murmured to Homura.
"Fair is fair," she murmured back. "That must be Maeve with her."
"That's what I assumed, given how little she's wearing." Probably-Maeve was—as was her wont—wearing a sheer gown over lacy lingerie, gloves that ran up nearly to her shoulder, and
nothing else. I couldn't see through the crowd too well, but I'd bet she was barefoot.
"Where?" Chloe asked Ashley, not quite able to get her eyes above the press of people. A shift in the crowd let her follow Ashley's pointing, but not to Darkness (or her cosplayer).
"
Oh my word!" she squealed, clapping a hand over her face in a failed attempt to hide her blush.
"What?" Kaitlyn asked, looking in the slightly wrong direction to see what the others were talking about.
"Someone is
rocking a Redcurrant outfit and I do not understand how they let her in here dressed like that oh my god." Chloe's voice went slightly squeaky at the end of her rambling.
"Where—oh, wow. That is some serious confidence right there."
"That isn't decent," Ashley agreed.
"It's less revealing than some beachwear," Kaitlyn said.
"Beachwear and underwear are very different things!"
"Why is that?—No, hold on, Ash, I
agree. I just don't know why."
"Because it is!"
"Because it's not just about how much skin something shows," I explained, "it's also about whether or not you're 'supposed' to see the clothes, and how likely it seems you might see
more. That's why a woman in a bath towel is more titillating than a woman in a bikini."
The four girls looked at me like I'd grown a second head.
"Huh," Megan said. "I never thought about it like that. Why are we having this conversation?"
"Her," I replied, nodding my head towards Maeve and her 'costume'. It was just my luck that Darkness caught my eye as I did; she quickly extricated herself from that conversation and began pushing through the crowd, Maeve gliding along in her wake. "Oh, she's coming this way."
Chloe mumbled something that sounded like 'oh, no,' which matched my thoughts exactly.
"Say hi for me," I told Homura. "I'm going to be anywhere else."
"You're not getting away that easily."
"I'm just going to step away for… Homura, let go of me."
"No."
"Let
go!"
"Hello!" Darkness yelled, having made her way through the throng of people. "Hey, 'Darkness'!"
"Hello, 'Cassandra'," I replied.
"Nice costume!"
"Uh, you too?" I wasn't fond of the choice, but it was well done. "That's not really an 'anime' cosplay, though, is it?"
Darkness sent a pointed look at where three Ruby Rose cosplayers were comparing scythes.
"Point taken."
"Besides, fair is fair." She smiled and threw an arm around my shoulders. "Did you have fun making the armor?"
I smiled. "Yeah, it was a fun project." The sound of a camera shutter brought my attention back to Homura, who'd taken the opportunity to grab a candid photo. "Hey."
"Hey," she deadpanned.
"Nice," Darkness said as she pulled away. "Send me a copy of that, would you?"
"Of course."
"Did you plan that?" I asked Homura.
"No."
I gave her a skeptical look.
"It may have been her intent to set up an opportunity, but it was not 'planned'. I did not know she would be attending."
"Fair enough."
Meanwhile, Darkness had begun mingling with kids. "You got the beauty spot wrong," Megan was saying. "You put it under your left eye. Doctor Rolins has it under her
right eye."
Darkness's eyes flicked to my face for a moment as she confirmed her mistake. "Oh, darn! I went and mirrored it."
"Easy mistake to make."
"Since when do
you watch anime, lit queen?" Ashley asked.
"It's made in America," Megan protested. "And it's my sister who likes the show."
"Sure. Your 'sister'."
"Shut up!"
Kaitlyn sidled over to me and asked, "You two know each other?" with a nod in Darkness's direction.
"Yeah," I admitted, then found a way to change the topic. "Uh, I think you might need to reset your girlfriend."
"Hmm?" She glanced at Chloe—who had been staring at Maeve's chest this entire time, hands still clapped over her mouth—and let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, dear. Chloe, for god's sake, stop staring. You're embarrassing yourself."
"We should be going, regardless," Maeve said. "I hope you enjoy the weather." She linked arms with Darkness and steered her away from our group.
"What the heck character was that, anyway?" Ashley asked. She didn't get an answer because Chloe.exe was still not responding.
"Hey!" Kaitlyn waved her hand in front of Chloe's face, then poked her on the forehead. "Snap out of it, you useless pervert!"
"R-right," Chloe stuttered. "We should, uh, pick a pose, I guess. Cassandra, would you mind—"
"Not a problem," I said, reaching out to accept her tote bag. I soon had
five of the things in my arms as the girls lined up at the edge of their chosen photo stage to wait their turn.
"Say," I asked Homura, "did you see any Homura cosplayers in the crowd?"
"No," she said, her voice making it clear that was
good news.
My smile turned mischievous.
"Cass,
no," Homura said.
"Cass,
yes," I said.
She hesitated, looking at where the group were waiting their turn.
"You don't have to if you don't want to." I shuffled the tote bags around enough that I could give her a pat on the arm. "Don't sweat it."
"It really would make their day, wouldn't it?" Homura asked.
"You know, if you're okay with it, I could use that disguise spell—"
"No."
"Yeah, I figured."
"No, I mean, you don't have to." Her smile was as subtle as ever, but there was real mirth behind it. "I'll do it."
She added her tote to the pile and ducked behind one of the stages, emerging again fully transformed as her teenage self. "Excuse me," she said to Chloe. "Could I join your group?"
Chloe's yell of "Yes!" was loud enough that people stopped and glanced at her before returning to their business. "Oh my god, that is the best costume I have
ever seen. Uh, we were just going to take a selfie…" She trailed off and glanced at me, as though considering whether to ask me to take the picture despite my armful of totes.
"Not a problem." Homura pulled a full-size photographer's tripod out of her shield and attached her phone. "Ten second delay between five photos?"
The others nodded eagerly, so she started the timer and hurried back to join the group. The phone made a loud shutter sound, then again ten seconds later, and again and again until it had taken all five photos. I almost burst out laughing when Kaitlyn talked Chloe into a kiss for the final shot—or maybe it had been Chloe's idea in the first place, who could say? Either way, they managed to restrain themselves from turning it into a full make-out session… barely.
Yes, several people in the crowd cheered.
Homura retrieved her phone, texted the pictures to the group, and stuffed the tripod back into her shield before deliberately losing herself in the crowd and returning to her 'local' form. Ashley, Kaitlyn, and Chloe were too busy admiring the pictures to notice something was wrong, but I could see the exact moment Megan realized that Homura had stored the entire tripod
in her shield.
It was probably some perk or another that had her notice something was odd only after Homura was out of view.
"You enjoyed that," I told Homura as she retrieved her tote.
"You're clearly a bad influence on me."
"I am an
excellent influence." I paused as Megan began jumping up and down to see over the crowd, for what little good it would do. "The trick with the shield might have been a little mean."
"You did say she wanted something magical to happen."
"…yeah, I guess she did."
———X==X==X———
None of the others appeared to have noticed anything odd about their temporary 'guest star', or had dismissed it as clearly impossible.
"Megan?" Ashley asked as the girls sorted out whose tote was whose. "Are you okay?"
Megan's head remained on a swivel, searching desperately for the mysterious cosplayer who had graced their group. "Yeah, I just… did you notice anything weird about her?"
"Who?"
"Homura—I mean, the cosplayer."
"Nope." Ashley looked at Chloe, who shrugged, then Kaitlyn, who did the same.
"Weird how?" Homura asked.
"Like… nevermind." Megan didn't pay any attention at all as Kaitlyn passed her her tote. "Did anyone see where she went? Cassandra, were you watching?"
"I was watching you guys," I half-lied.
"Oh." She took a deep, cleansing breath. "It was probably nothing."
"Screenings?" Kaitlyn prompted.
"Ah, right—" Chloe scrambled to pull her phone out of the tote. "Good, we've got about fifteen minutes before the next set starts. Want to come?"
Homura and I exchanged a glance.
"I think I'd rather explore the convention a little more," I said.
"Oh, that's cool too. Have fun!"
"Have fun!" Homura and I called back. We waved for the ten seconds or so it took for the group to be lost to view in the crowd surrounding the photo area, and then it was our turn to find something to do. A quick search of my tote retrieved the map of the convention floors.
"Anything in particular you want to do?" I asked.
"This whole thing was your idea," Homura said.
"And since you've been very accommodating, I'm giving you a chance to lead."
"Very kind of you. Well, if you
insist, I think you should take a few more pictures." She pointed to a woman standing in front of the 'City' background, and I immediately saw why.
"Sure," I said. "It's only fair."
"'Only fair'?" Homura repeated, a mischievous glint in her eye. "No, 'only fair' would require a makeover."
"I'm not going to run home… oh, of
course, I have the clothes-morph spell."
"So do I."
"You want to do the honors, then?"
My reaction surprised her. "Are you sure?"
"Fair is fair."
We stepped around the corner of one building, out of view of the crowd. Seconds later, I was wearing an entirely different costume.
"Where did the glasses come from?" I asked, pushing the empty frames up my nose by the bridge in a gesture I hadn't realized I'd missed making.
"Your makeup."
"You can
do that?"
"You didn't know that?" Homura asked. "It's your spell."
"Last I checked, it can only turn clothes and accessories into other clothes and accessories."
"You 'wear' makeup. Now go on." She took my tote and gave me a light shove out towards my target.
I immediately felt ridiculous. Why did this feel weirder than dressing up as Darkness? Oh, right, because I was still doing my best to ignore absolutely everything about my hypothetical future.
Fuck it, this wasn't even close to the most ridiculous thing I'd ever worn. I pushed my discomfort aside and called, "Doctor Rolins, right?"
"Yup!" the woman said as she turned to face me. She was younger than I was, probably still in college, but the hair, glasses, lab coat, and sports bra were almost exactly the same as what Homura had hexed
my costume into—and this one had gotten the beauty mark right. "Oh, hello, Doctor Rolins!"
"Picture?"
"Sure—wait, hold on. Doctor Rolins!"
Ah, Darkness was still around, too.
Homura did the actual photography, and my doppelgangers and I parted ways after a quick distribution of pictures to phones. I ducked behind the city backdrop, dismissed the magic, and reemerged from the other side in my
original costume.
"To be honest, I didn't think you'd go for it," Homura told me as she handed my tote bag back.
"Fair is fair," I repeated. "You did your thing, I did mine. It wasn't that bad."
"It isn't," she agreed. "All set?"
"Did all my makeup go back to the right place?"
"Everything looks right."
"Cool. What's next?"
Homura was already looking at the schedule on the back of her map. "I think I'd like to check out the panels."
"Okay." I flipped my own map over and looked down the list. "Damn, looks like all the interesting ones were yesterday."
"Not
all of them. There's a panel about translating Japanese idioms, puns, and cultural references for western audiences that starts in just under an hour. Does that sound interesting?"
It did. "Sounds awesome. Explore until then?"
"Let's."
———X==X==X———
