VIII-The Legend Of Nireva: Redux [Inaki]

[Nireva Hale]

Drop it!
______________________________Sporty-O - "Let Me Hit It (AudioStalkers Original Mix)"

[[ 07:15AM ]]

"C'mon, Jen!"

Jenna didn't want the voice to be permeating her ears. It was the same every morning and, as the pillow landed rather harshly against the side of her head, a groan was all Nireva got in response as her girlfriend rolled herself over to one side. One of the reasons she had chosen to work at the Plan B club in the first place had been the convenience of her working hours. With almost all of her shifts beginning in the late afternoon at the earliest, there was rarely any point in setting her alarm for anything before noon. It was this practice which often led to Nireva constantly nudging her until she finally relented. Today, their alarms had been set for seven AM and, within the space of half an hour - from when Nireva had got dressed and left to her eventual return to impatiently wake her up - the alarm clock was lying upturned on the floor, the radio still playing.

"It's too damn early...", she moaned, her face buried into the pillow. Although she knew why Nireva was trying to wake her up so early in the morning, Jenna was also aware that she wasn't exactly forced to enjoy the act of being dragged out of bed at such an ungodly hour. Why did conventions necessitate such an early start to the day, anyway? Nevertheless, from what Nireva had told her of the previous year's events, the International Comic-Con in San Diego had been quite the sight to behold. Maybe, once she was actually awake and in her costume, she would be more appreciative of the early start. "You're like a kid on Christmas morning. Go watch TV."

"Kinda rich, coming from you." If anyone was the resident fan of the holiday season, then it was most certainly Jenna. She had been the one donning a Santa hat and hauling a bag filled with presents into the Rahal's Cazenovia estate last year and, while it hadn't even been her family, she had taken it upon herself to drag Nireva around the high street in search of gifts. Which, in retrospect, had been something of a waste, given the fact most of their gifts had been bought online, but the aims had been sound. Grabbing one of the fleece-covered cushions from the chair in the corner of the room - a seat which served very little purpose aside from decoration - Nireva tossed another fluffy projectile her girlfriend's way. Although San Diego was around a hundred miles or so away from where they lived, Nireva was well aware that there was a lot more which needed to be done than simply hopping in the car and making the trip.

Although a lot of the packing had already been done the day before, Nireva would never have forgiven herself if she hadn't at least double-checked everything before they set off. With it being Jenna's first time at a convention, she had taken a duty to ensure that her girlfriend - and her step-father, it turned out - enjoyed themselves. Upon hearing the news that she was planning to go to San Diego for the second consecutive year, Inaki had expressed his desire to see what all the fuss was about. With Inaki paying her way through medical school, Nireva felt almost duty-bound to alter her plans to accommodate him. Then again, having attended Comic-Con last year with her grandmother to no adverse effect, she saw no harm in bringing her mother's husband along for the ride.

Which led to the problem of Jenna's car. While it was more than capable of making the return trip from Los Angeles to San Diego, the main issue came in the form of the available space or, to be more precise, the lack thereof. As well as having to ferry the couple's belongings from place to place - both their cosplays and their other, more casual essentials - they also had to collect Inaki and his belongings from the airport along the way. It was certainly a dilemma the trio would have to solve when the time came. But, for now, the designated driver for the weekend had to be brought out of her slumber. And, as hurling pillows and other furniture accessories hadn't had the desired effect, Nireva was forced to change tactics.

"Jen..." Adopting a more sultry tone of voice, she strode across the room and, after sitting herself down on the edge of the bed, began to gently run a hand through her girlfriend's long black hair. Although she was legally capable of driving Jenna's Pontiac G3 herself, her lack of confidence behind the wheel meant that she was somewhat averse to making the lengthy trip to San Diego. As well as wanting to get there on time, she didn't want to find herself involved in a horrendous accident on the freeway. Her ability would have allowed her to survive the ordeal, but she doubted her conscience would have permitted her to handle the injury her ineptitude would have caused on the other parties involved. "Time for my sexy Asari to get out of bed..."

She had already seen her girlfriend completely decked out in the Mass Effect costume but, with it being Jenna's first convention, she had persuaded her to bring it along in addition to the other costumes they were set to wear that weekend. Telling Jenna what she could reliably expect from attending a convention wearing a cosplay had almost felt like a military briefing; informing her of the basics of etiquette when faced with such a situation and that having a photograph taken was as much her choice as that of the photographer. They were more than happy to wait those extra few moments for a cosplayer to get their costumes in order or to strike a pose which would have looked good before pressing the button. Although misunderstood by many on the outside, cosplayers were quite a considerate and friendly bunch.

Having taken part in a Mass Effect shoot last year, Nireva had a wealth of personal experience with which to teach her uninitiated girlfriend and, in the weeks running up to the convention, they had each managed to put their names down for a variety of activities. If all went well, having people take photographs of them would only be the start of the fun they'd be having that weekend. "I'm not blue yet," Jenna groaned, finally peering up at Nireva. Even after hurling pillows, she had the innocent, loving smile on her face; the one which suggested that she could never be at fault. Sometimes, it was the little things which were the most persuasive. "Though we could... get our costumes on when we go and pick up Inaki..?"

"Maybe." With their Mass Effect costumes already packed up and ready to be put in the car, it would have been rather a lot of hassle to unpack all of the components and put them on. "Though that would mean a lot of unpacking. And I sure as hell don't want to get Tali's suit out of the case after spending all of that time. I don't want to risk breaking it." Filled with numerous electronic components that needed to be treated with care, the helmet of her Tali'zorah cosplay was the stunning centrepiece of the whole ensemble. The last thing she wanted to do in the middle of a convention weekend was find she needed to resolder the connections between the LEDs and the sound-sensitive circuits because she'd wanted to give her stepfather an experience to remember.

Having worn two costumes at last year's Comic-Con, Nireva had decided to one-up herself and bring a trio of outfits to San Diego with her; one for each day of the convention weekend. Although she would have loved to dress up as Korra again, the Californian summer so far - and Jenna - had convinced her to think more along the lines of ideas which were more suited to warm weather. Thankfully, she had enough faith in her formerly unknown uncle - Caleb Alhanin, one of the people in charge of the convention centre - to keep the air conditioning in some semblance of effective order. "Don't you dare go back to sleep," she warned, patting the side of Jenna's head as she got up to leave.

[[ 08:45AM ]]

Fiery, crimson hair. A pair of black shorts, coupled with a bikini top which suggested little more than a day out at the beach. A striped scarf and, to cap off the entire ensemble, a pair of white, calf-length zip-up boots, complete with a pair of pale pink stockings to stop them chafing her heels. It had taken an almost Herculean effort to force all of her hair underneath the cap which hid it from view but, as the hatchback made its way through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, Jenna couldn't help but grin at the looks she got whenever she ground to a halt at a set of traffic lights. Being something of an exhibitionist even outside of work, she had jumped at the chance to cosplay the scantily-clad sniper rifle enthusiast Yoko Littner from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and, even before she'd made it to San Diego and paraded around with her sniper rifle - which lay in easily attachable pieces in the back of the car - she was loving the experience.

"You're not even slightly worried about being arrested wearing that, are you?" While at a convention or other trade show, such skimpy outfits were understandable, Nireva was slightly dubious about her girlfriend's wearing of her cosplay in public. Were the white belt around her waist not present, she doubted that the shorts would have remained around her pelvis for very long. But, having taken many of her habits when forming a cosplay outfit from Nireva, she had allowed nothing - or as few things as humanly possible - to come between her and a fastidious attention to detail. If Yoko's shorts were barely able to be closed without the aid of the belt, then so would hers.

"Nope." Jenna's response was cheery and to the point. Now that she was finally being exposed to the kind of attention Nireva had been a victim of over the same weekend last year, she was finally able to see what all the fuss was about; the reasons why cosplayers had so much fun dressing up at conventions to show their love for their favourite anime series or video game. While a journey straight to San Diego would have had them rumbling through the outskirts of the city by now, their progress was delayed by the need to collect their next passenger. Already, the trunk of the car was bordering on excessively full and one of the rear seats had been folded down to safely accomodate the sheer length of Jenna's rifle prop but, without them, Inaki would have had no way of getting from one city to the other. It was going to take some work, but she was certain they'd find a way to fit everything - and everyone into the car.

It was a little before nine in the morning when they arrived at the airport's car park. If all had gone to plan, the cross-country flight which Inaki would have taken in order to get to them from New York would have been touching down within the next few minutes. Regardless of whether he had taken a commercial flight or managed to finagle the use of one of his mother-in-law's business jets, he would still have been subject to the average cruising speed of aircraft that size. With no way to expedite his progress through the check-in desks, Jenna and Nireva resorted to waiting near the departure lounge. Normally, when people awaited their loved ones at airports, they did all manner of things to get their attention; holding up signs, or shouting and waving until they spotted them.

Thanks to Jenna, the couple didn't need to do either of them. After all, a woman with bright red hair wearing a bikini top and boots which both sported a trail of crimson flames was almost impossible to miss.

[Helena Rahal]

I write sins not tragedies.

Inaki was getting more than mildly annoyed with Felicia for dropping everything she doing at a drop of at and flying all over the world. What was she doing on those goddamn trips anyway, she didn't even give an explanation except that it was work for Ma. There was a time when that sort of shrug off reasoning would have worked on Inaki, sufficed his curiosity. Somehow though over the past few years Inaki had developed something of a spine, at least according to those Johessman women. Inaki was simply just tired of getting the run around by anyone and everyone, so he was doing something about it.

It was his turn to drop everything he was doing and just go cross country, leaving Felicia alone with the children to take care of. Oh there was probably going to be hell to pay whenever he returned from the weekend, but turnabout was fair play after all. If Felicia could go anywhere and everywhere without so much as a word to Inaki, then so to was he entitled to do so. And given the unique opportunity that presented itself in the upcoming weekend, he decided to jump on that chance before it left him behind.

It just so happened that his daughter-in-law, who Inaki honestly saw more as a sister, lived in southern California. Inaki had been aching to go to the biggest of the comic cons that there was in San Diego, especially considering that he had wanted to go last year but Ma forgot to invite him. This time he was prepared though and went straight to the source, asking Niri if she and Jenna would like to go to the convention. Getting an enthusiastic approval from Niri, Inaki spent the next few weeks gathering the supplies and making the pair of costumes that he was going to use over the convention weekend.

Commandeering one of his aunt's company jets from La Guarda, Inaki had grabbed a late night Thursday flight from New York City to the beautiful seaside city of Los Angeles. LAX was going to be a busy ass intersection of passengers, personnel, and people awaiting the arrivals, so Inaki thought it better to use the private jet for a smaller terminal away from the masses. Besides, the Vital Energy private jets offered far more luxury than even the first class seats of the commercial airliners could provide, especially considering Inaki was technically a board member and partial owner.

Sleeping the better part of the seven hour voyage, Inaki knew he would need the energy given that the convention itself was set to start early in the morning. He awoke just in time to fasten up for the descent into LA, which left him a bit perturbed. Inaki had wanted to eat some breakfast and possibly shower and change for the convention. The less time he had to spend getting ready for the event the more time that the merry trio could enjoy all the attractions that the event would afford them. Alas, his need for sleep had gotten the upper hand and left him with those requirements having to be met at what he guessed would be their hotel room for the weekend.

Coming through the terminal, Inaki stretched out and yawned, before getting his bearing and looking around for the pair of women. Inaki assumed that they would be holding up a sign of some sort to distinguish themselves from the rest of the gigantic mass of people. Alas, he saw no one resembling Niri nor Jenna holding up one of the customary greeting signs at all. However, his eyes had fallen upon the girls all the same, with Jenna certainly standing apart from the crowd, Inaki half surprised she hadn't been arrested for public indecency. LAX was not the convention after all.

"I suppose the whole sign thing was a bit too mainstream for you huh Jenna?" Inaki said with a bit of a dry humor to his voice before hugging the crazy outfitted woman and then Niri. "All the same, it is good to see you and you're looking great. Now, let's go get my bags from the claim and get the hell out of this place before it gets even more congested."

[Nireva Hale]

Got shackles on, my words are tied!
Fear can make you compromise!
Fasten up, it's time to hide!
Sometimes, I wanna disappear...
______________________________Foster The People - "Houdini"

...the 9:14 flight from Miami is now arriving at Gate 204...

With each announcement that came over the airport's PA system, Jenna let out an impatient sigh. Without knowing the time of Inaki's flight - or anything else about it - the couple were forced to wait where they were, keeping an eye on the stream of people as they filed through the check-in desks in search of the slightly slicked back head of jet black hair that denoted Nireva's latest stepfather. "Damn it, where is he?" Meeting people at airports was something Jenna and Nireva seldom did and, with no real surprise, they were discovering that there was simply no way of accurately planning such an encounter without the aid of some degree of communication.

The convention was set to begin in a little over an hour and a quarter and, while punctuality wasn't in the least bit important, neither of them wanted to find themselves missing any of the attractions and appointments which had caught their collective eye. Nireva, for one, still had to get changed into her cosplay. "Airports don't usually announce private flights, Jen," she explained calmly, smirking as she watched the white skull-shaped hairclip in Jenna's hair shift from side to side as she fervently surveyed the terminal. "And I'm not sure Inaki's allowed to use his phone on the plane. We're just gonna have to wait it out." It was becoming more of a chore to keep her hands away from her girlfriend, which could only mean that the photographers at the convention centre would be jumping at the chance to get the perfect shot of the most attractive-looking Yoko in the area.

Of course, Nireva was nothing if not completely biased in her opinion. Her hand dove into her pocket and, a moment later, was producing her phone and flicking through the menus until she found the device's camera function. With nothing better to do, she decided to give her girlfriend a little practice in life with cameras pointed her way. "Hey, Yoko," she called with a grin, aiming the rear of her phone at Jenna while she lined up the perfect shot. While photographers at the convention would happily wait the few seconds it took for her to pick out one of her memorised poses, Nireva simply wanted to see if Jenna had remembered what she'd taught her. "Think fast!"

Upon seeing the camera, it wasn't long before Jenna put her expertise to use. Being in a line of work where posing for aesthetic effect was pretty much the required norm, preparing herself for a cosplay photo wasn't an entirely alien prospect to her. Angling herself to one side, she allowed her left arm to hang by her side and, after comfortably spacing her right leg forward so as not to appear like a statue, Jenna brought her right arm up at the elbow and rested the tip of her index finger against her forehead, giving a casual salute as she smilled at the attractive camera operator just a few feet away.

"Awesome...", Nireva mused to herself, taking a couple of pictures of her girlfriend while resisting the urge to dwell overly much on persuading her to pose naked in their hotel room for their mutual - and very private - benefit. As the phone showed her the latest image, she flipped the phone around for Jenna to see how she'd looked. "See? You're a natural at this. People're gonna love you once we get there." With Jenna likely being California's biggest afficionado of skimpy shorts and bikinis, it hadn't been too difficult for her to find candidates she could work to turn into the main components of her character's outfit. Only the scarf and the studded bracelets had to be made from scratch but, as she'd quickly found out, living with a woman who literally had centuries of experience with crafting had its perks. Compared to Nireva's Tali'zorah costume, the scarf had been child's play; a project which had had the unique benefit of allowing her to see her girlfriend - dreadlocks and all - work magic with a sewing machine.

"That's what happens when I have a great teacher," she remarked, planting a gentle kiss on Nireva's cheek. While, in normal circumstances, her outfit - especially in an airport - would have been cause for concern, the presence of her wig of bright red hair - and how quickly word-of-mouth in California informed people of the San Diego Comic-Con - allowed her to escape undue attention from the police. Of course, the two of them were certainly anticipating at least one person in authority taking issue with Jenna's prop; a sniper rifle which was longer than she was tall, but it was nothing some calm explanations wouldn't cure. "You never told me what else you were gonna wear besides that Tali suit, again." Although she'd seen Nireva making her other cosplays, she knew nothing about who it was or where they were from. All of her girlfriend's reference pictures had been well-hidden when she wasn't working on some component of the outfit. "I bet you've made something outrageous to try and top that giant dog your gra--... oh, wait! I think I see him! Inaki!!"

Having managed to sneak his way into the terminal amid a sea of people, Inaki - slightly sleepy and jetlagged from his trip - was taking a moment to stretch out his arms and yawn before going about his business. It was only when the stream of people died down between one commercial flight and the next that he caught sight of them or, more precisely, the outfit Jenna was wearing. Then again, what better way to alert a man to his companions for a weekend of cosplay than by wearing her own? "Hey! Over here!" Striding his way over, Inaki smirked at the spectacle which greeted him and, as befitting any other family meeting, moved in to hug his guides for the weekend; starting with the scantily-clad Jenna. "I suppose the whole sign thing was a bit too mainstream for you, huh, Jenna?"

"You know what Jenna's like, Inaki." Nireva's remark was punctuated by a sudden playful punch against her shoulder. "The moment she sees anything resembling a mould, she's gotta try breaking the thing into a million pieces."

"This coming from the woman with dreadlocks who always dresses like she's in a rock band."

Okay, so her victory in the argument wasn't as pronounced as she thought it'd be. Deciding to chalk up their mutual hypocrisy as a draw, the two women turned their attention to Inaki once more. "All the same, it's good to see you and you're looking great! Now, let's go get my bags from the claim and get the hell out of this place before it gets even more congested." Deciding to follow Inaki's lead, Nireva and Jenna waited until he started walking before following along behind him, assisting him with his belongings and ferrying them out to where Jenna's car awaited them. As they'd expected, the sight of Inaki's belongings when brought into focus against the size of the Pontiac G3 was a cause for concern.

"Don't worry. I'll deal with this." Ever the helpful soul, Nireva shooed the two away and, after opening the trunk of the car, set about playing Tetris with the various bags. As well as ensuring everything fit in such a way that the back of the car could be closed off again, she was also taking the utmost care to avoid breaking anything; including Yoko's sniper rifle, the helmet of her Tali'zorah suit and any other fragile props and accessories which might have been lying inside the cases. After taking everything out of the car, Nireva pulled the parcel shelf off from its mounting and, once it was lying in the bottom of the car, she began to load everything up again. Finding some excess slack in the strap of one of Inaki's smaller bags, she gently threaded the two halves of the prop rifle under it and, after tightening it up to help keep them in place, she set the smaller bag on top of everything else. By doing this, she was able to unfold the back seat and allow Inaki ample space in the back of the car.

"Got it. Let's go!" Sitting herself back in the passenger seat, she waited for Jenna to start the car and, once everything was in place, the trio set their sights on San Diego.

[Helena Rahal]

What if I wanted to fight? Beg for the rest of my life?

Inaki had to have a chuckle as to how the two women interacted with one another, it was cute and amusing. Truthfully when they messed around like that, it really showed Inaki how much a strong couple they really were. It was a good thing in his opinion, both of them were kind, if not a bit crazy, souls that deserved happiness. While not everyone ever got what they deserved in life, it was a beautiful thing when the good people of the world got theirs. It gave Inaki a little bit of faith in the cosmic karma sometimes indeed coming to fruition.

"Well I don't know Niri. I seem to remember that the both of you are pranksters of the top order and are all to quick to step out of the norm." Jenna chimed in with the comment about Niri's usual hairstyle and clothing choice. It was not something that bothered Inaki so much, as odd fashion sense was the lease of the weird things a Rahal could have. Amazing what living with Felicia had done to his standards to which he held others to. Honestly, he was not sure if it was a good or bad thing or if they were higher or lowered.

The two women though were quick to agree to his suggestion that they find their way out of the airport as soon as possible. Leading the way and following the numerous posted signs, Inaki got them to the baggage claim. While anyone flying commercial would have simply had to wait for their bags to come on the conveyer belts, having come on a private plane, one of the staffers from the plane had his trio of bags already there, waiting for him.

"Thank you kind sir. Enjoy the weekend and make sure the entire staff is ready for departure Sunday at eight pm." Inaki told the staffer. He and the rest of the plane's small staff were free to spend their weekend relaxing on the west coast, as they were his travel back to New York whenever the weekend's festivities were over. Besides, he was their boss, or one of them, so they were his to order about as he so deemed.

Towing the two large bags, which contained both his normal clothes and cosplay costume, while also the props. The third was shoulder bag that he slipped on, which contained one of his laptops, should he have need of the internet on the trip. However he suspected he would not have need of it, as the activities of each day likely going to wear him out to where he would just want to sleep at the end of it. Better to be prepared though!

Niri, ever the helpful sort, took it upon herself to try and rearrange the contents of the vehicle to situate the new additions. Inaki watched with a bit of nerves and guilt as his step daughter unpacked and repacked the vehicle. Inaki had offered to purchase or rent a vehicle for the weekend but the pair had flat out refused for reasons that he was not made privy to. Maybe Niri still felt guilty over Inaki helping paying her way through medical school but it still didn't make sense to Inaki. They were family, family helped family, or at least they were supposed to.

As everything was situated, Niri let out a bit of a relieved statement and Inaki gave a nod. "Don't have to tell me twice, I still need to eat, shower, and change! Let's get this show on the road ladies."

[Nireva Hale]

When I feel kinda bad and I don't want to stress...
...pass it off on a better day!
Well, you got what you want, what you never knew!
A perfect gift from me to you.
______________________________Foster The People - "Houdini"

Despite the size of Jenna's car and how cramped it must have felt for Inaki sitting in the back of it, there wasn't a single utterance of complaint from the trio as they steadily made their way south along the coast. Being a two-hundred mile trip along the interstate, Jenna elected to make things easier on her passengers by allowing them breaks whenever they had need of one. In order to helped make up for the downgrade in transportation arrangements, Nireva insisted on switching places with Inaki whenever the car - or its driver - needed to refuel. With it being her stepfather's first convention experience, she wanted to at least try to make it as smooth and enjoyable as possible. The journey itself was very much the same for the first hundred miles but, as the number on the road signs denoting the remaining distance to their destination began to dwindle, this soon changed.

It seemed that, no matter what Jenna tried in order to evade the traffic streaming its way towards San Diego, she was forever doomed to find herself at the rear of a jam which served to delay them more than any of them particularly wanted. While missing the opening of the Comic Con was guaranteed, simply due to the distance and time at which they'd embarked on their journey, the slight bending of a few speed limits here and there as well as some creative detours meant that, by eleven in the morning, the trio were in the downtown area, searching for the hotel. "Left or right, Niri?" Having left the booking of the rooms to her girlfriend, Jenna had no other option than to ask for directions.

The Marriot Marquis and Marina Hotel, located on the same street as the convention centre, had been the place at which she and Khalidah had wanted to stay the previous year but, with Nireva having come up with the idea somewhat late, the whole place had been booked out by her fellow convention attendees, leaving them with the need for an alternative. This year, however, she had started preparations early and had managed to score one of the double rooms. Rather than simply have a pair of beds and leaving it at that, the suite had two fully-fledged bedrooms, with a locking door and a thick wall dividing them from its twin. The rest of the suite's facilities; such as the small kitchen, storage space and the safe sequestered inside the wardrobe, were divided between the two rooms while the bathroom sat behind a third door at the end of the entrance hall.

It might not have been as convenient as Inaki had been hoping, given that he had effectively arrived in California on a private jet, but Nireva hoped it would suffice. Inaki would have one of the rooms to himself, while she and Jenna shared the other one. Even with Inaki fielding his own costs - those of his cosplay and his weekend pass for the convention itself - the damage to the couple's disposable income had been substantial. Regardless, it had been a sacrifice she was more than willing to make. "Left," came the response from the passenger seat. Having saved a cached copy of Google Maps onto her phone with their planned route already keyed in, Nireva was taking on the role of navigator, checking the street signs against the aerial map and informing her girlfriend where she needed to go.

By turning onto Park Boulevard, the map told her that they would, albeit indirectly, work their way to their destination if they followed the road towards the bay. Normally, people heading to the convention centre would have left the interstate and made their way onto Front Street in order to get to the harbour but, in order to try and dodge the flow of traffic, Jenna had waited until the next offramp along and elected to approach the hotel from the southeast. Annoyingly, however, she wasn't the only one to have come up with the brainwave and, while the congestion was somewhat lighter, it still wasn't as clear as she'd hoped. On the bright side, however, the constant stop-start traffic allowed them to catch glimpses of cosplayers making their way down to the convention centre on foot in full costume. Some of them even stopped to wave as they crossed the street, momentarily elated to find Yoko Littner driving a car and, purely by instinct, she found herself waving back.

"Who are those two, Niri?" Unlike her girlfriend, her knowledge of anime was rudimentary at best, limited only to what Nireva had told her about the DVD's she'd happened to catch her watching. Glancing up from her phone, Nireva watched as two figures passed by in front of the car. The taller of the two was dressed from head to toe in an elaborate, if slightly archaic, formal suit. The tails of his coat fell past the backs of his knees and, even outside the convention centre, he was carrying himself with an almost noble grace, something which his short black hair and strangely amber eyes only served to accentuate. His companion, however, was vastly different. Although he was also dressed in a suit, the blue fabric possessed no tails at all and ended in a pair of knee-length shorts, while his feet were covered by some long, black socks and a pair of polished, black-and-white shoes. His dark, silvery-blue hair concealed the eyepatch over his right eyes and it was this which caused Nireva to smile.

"Those would be Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler." Although not a series she'd got around to watching, she was at least considerate enough to refer to the anime by its translated English title. Somehow, she doubted that Jenna would be able to reliably pronounce the word "Kuroshitsuji" while sober. Hell, even she struggled from time to time. "Sebastian's a, uh... demon, I think, in service to Ciel. Hey, someone might have the manga on a stall somewhere. You never know."

"The butler must be hating the weather right about now, huh?" Taking one last glance at the cosplaying pair before they vanished - as well as they could - into the crowd, Jenna drove on, slowly making her own way down to the hotel. The remainder of the journey was interspersed with an impromptu Name That Cosplay challenge for Nireva as Jenna pointed out one convention goer after another and awaiting the response. While she managed to identify Chii and Allen Walker, it only took until the fourth challenge for her to be stumped. The uniform had been somewhat familiar but, having never seen a full episode of Bleach, let alone one in which he'd actually appeared, she had no idea that the colossal shock of dark red hair and black facial tattoos belonged to Renji Abarai.

Once Nireva had conceded defeat for the time being, the game was put on hold and Jenna was able to concentrate fully on driving the car into the hotel's car park. It was less than half a mile away from the convention centre and as soon as the trio set foot into the lobby, they knew they'd reached the right place. Groups of friends sat together on clusters of chairs, talking amongst themselves. Many of them were fully decked out in their cosplays, with their props resting by their sides while others, who were likely waiting for their friends to arrive before heading up to their suite to get changed, were wearing wigs of outrageously coloured hair to allow them to stand out in a crowd.

After checking in at the reception desk in the lobby, the trio were issued a set of keycards for their rooms and allowed to head up to examine their dwelling for the next few days. Though, with six arms between them, the task of hauling eight cases and bags - a necessity given the size, shape and delicacy of some of their cosplay components - was about to prove a chore. Until, that was, a familiar voice rang out behind them.

"Niri! I didn't know you were staying here this year!"

The voice was more than enough to link a name to the face and, even though the twenty-something man and his girlfriend hadn't got changed yet, Nireva found herself stepping forward with a smile on her face. "Hey, Matt!", she said, abandoning the cluster of bags for the moment. "And Tanya, too." Matt and Tanya had been the first people Nireva had befriended at last year's Comic Con. Having mistaken Nireva in her Korra cosplay for his girlfriend - who just so happened to have an identical plan that year - Matt had committed a minor social misstep but, with it being an informal and friendly atmosphere, it had been something which had got them talking and, by the end of the weekend, they were exchanging contact details and talking with one another.

"Niiiriii," Jenna called out, chuckling at her own singsong voice. "You're not flirting with people already, are you?"

Resisting the urge to plant her palm against her forehead, she settled for a small sigh as she watched her cosplaying girlfriend loop an arm around her shoulders. "No, dear. I've only got eyes for you. You know that." For a fleeting moment, Nireva saw the realisation in the two pairs of eyes which looked her way. Matt and Tanya had their conclusions and, rather than leave her companions out, she decided to do what she thought best. "Oh, uh... this is my girlfriend, Jenna," she announced, the crimson-haired woman giving an accompanying wave. "And the guy behind us is Inaki." She felt that Matt didn't need to be exposed to the confusion of how a man only "six years her senior" could be her stepfather and deftly omitted it. "Jenna, Inaki? This is Matt and Tanya. I met them both last year." Gesturing over her shoulder, she looked slightly apologetic as she regarded their belongings. "I don't suppose you could give us a hand with our things, could you?"

"Sure, why not? We're already unpacked; we're just waiting for a couple of Tanya's friends to get through the traffic before we all go and get our cosplay on." By dividing the bags between five pairs of hands, the process of ferrying everything up to the suite was remarkably easier than anticipated and, once everything was sitting in the hall, Matt and Tanya parted company with the trio. Though, as often seemed to be the case at conventions, Nireva doubted it would be very long before she ran into them again.

Which left only the question that had been burning a hole in the back of Nireva's head for the whole trip. Until now, she had shied away from it out of politeness. Now, however, it was time for them all to get changed. So what better time was there to ask...

"So, Inaki..? What are you gonna cosplay first?"

[Helena Rahal]

It's all about the freaks and geeks, the freaks and geeks! Taking over the world, oh, so come on!

Inaki still was mesmerized by how youthful both Niri and Felicia acted despite their age. They would always have the looks of being perpetually in their earlier twenties thanks to their abilities manifestation, but the way they acted was something else entirely. There were differences for sure, while Felicia acted on her entirely youthful lustful drives, Niri was far more... looking for fun in any fashion that it came. It was an admirable trait and suited Niri nicely, or so Inaki believed.

The trip itself was as comfortable as it could be, with Niri insisting on switching positions with him whenever they took a break for gas and food. Inaki had taken the opportunity to grab a bag of chips as well as a bottle of tea. It was not the most healthy of breakfast, but it would due to subdue his hunger for the time being. Besides, you don't get a five star quality breakfast from a gas station regardless of how high quality they might pretend to be. A gas station was always going to be a gas station and their wares were more for snackage than a meal of even a meager state.

Inaki felt even more guilty about the situation whenever Niri mentioned the high class hotel that they were going to be staying at. Inaki knew that such a place was well beyond the budget of a medical student and exotic dancer. How many months of income had they saved up to be able to pay for this event and the accommodations? Inaki made a mental note to have Maurelle send the pair an "anonymous" donation into Niri's bank account. With Maurelle's underground contacts, Inaki was sure she could pull off a transfer that would make the girls not be able to track it back to him.

Inaki then had a laugh as Jenna and Niri played a game of who was who while they drove down the streets, seeing cosplayers to and fro. Niri had a good collection of who everyone was, until a challenge appeared that left her stumped. Inaki knew who the character was, having taken to watching Bleach every Saturday night on Toonami. Inaki just whistled innocently though as it seemed Niri gave up on trying to discern the character, there was more important things to do than upstage his stepdaughter.

Once parked and picking up the keys to their rooms, they were left with the task of trying to facilitate their multiple bags from the lobby to their rooms. Inaki was stroking his chin, trying to figure out a plan of attack when a pair of people who seemed to know Niri appeared. After a quick set of introductions, which Inaki managed to give a small wave of acknowledgement, Niri quickly got their assistance in moving the bags to their rooms. With more than enough hands on deck, the task was made simple and they were up to the double room suite in no time.

"Thanks a lot for the help! Maybe see you down in the convention itself." Inaki managed to say before the two parted their company. Inaki then set about the task of putting his bags in what was his room, surmising that the the girlfriends could keep the room they had entered first. As Inaki was placing his bags on the bed in his own room, he heard the footsteps of Niri come up behind him well before she spoke. Inaki had to have a chuckle before answering her though, since he wondered how long her curiosity was going to take her to ask that question.

Opening up the larger of the two travel bags, Inaki was intent on answering her question with a demonstration. The first item he pulled out was a large red coat that had golden trim buttons lining the front of it. Next was a similar stylized pair of gloves, followed by a shirt, and red pants. The next was a pair of rugged combat boots that were best fitted for someone going out hunting or an infatryman deployed to a sandy or forest like conditions. Last but not least were a pair of aviators in a blue case and a prop pistol, completing the Vash outfit from Trigun

"Today's outfit is Vash, he's from an older anime but it was most excellent. Might be a fun game to see which of our fellow convention goers recognize him." Trigun was a bit of a rustic anime indeed and with the attention span of the current generation, Inaki somehow doubted that too many young people would recgonize the amazing character. Still, part of him hoped he was wrong, but first he needed to get dressed so they could get down there and quit missing any more of the convention than they already had.

"Now, unless you want to see your stepfather naked, I'd suggest you go change yourself and close the door behind you."

[Nireva Hale]

When I come back from a mighty quest, I have no need for sleep or rest!
I head to a tavern for a drink; to get so drunk I cannot think!
A wench by my side, a jug of mead; these are the things that I most need!
So I sit back and sing this song and drink and party all night long!
______________________________Alestorm - "Wenches And Mead"

Even the laughter Inaki couldn't help but give in response as he continued to unpack spoke volumes. He knew that Nireva had been itching to ask about her companions' cosplay plans ever since getting up that morning. Although she already knew that her girlfriend had planned to spend the day strutting around the convention centre in Yoko Littner's black bikini ensemble, she couldn't help but wonder what the rest of the days had in store for both Jenna and Inaki. For both of them, it was their first time at a convention and, just like her, they had decided - or, more precisely, been persuaded - into the world of cosplay; making and wearing an outfit which depicted a certain character.

In its infancy over in Japan, cosplay had been mostly restricted to anime and manga characters - with it being one of the leading entertainment art forms of the land - though, once the trend had made it to the West, the new breed of proponents had injected their own spin on the phenomenon, widening its scope to include videogames, cult television shows and films and, in response to the popularity, it wasn't long before businesses began to spring up across the world, offering everything from ready-made costumes for those without the expertise (or those who were just starting out) to high-quality wigs which could be easily styled with the right products.

In hindsight, Nireva felt she should have been able to guess Inaki's cosplay choice from the bright crimson trenchcoat he produced from his bag first. It had long baggy sleeves and a noticeably high collar and stretched all the way down to the back of Inaki's shins. But, to her slight annoyance, Trigun was yet another anime which had passed her by and, as such, she remained silent until the last of her stepfather's outfit had been revealed. He'd even managed to buy himself a blond wig and style it into the character's trademark shock of short spikes. That must have been why he'd called her the week before and asked about hair gel, she thought. "Today's outfit is Vash," he proudly announced, holding up the trenchcoat as he checked it for errant creases. "He's from an older anime, but it was most excellent. Might be a fun game to see which of our fellow convention goers recognise him."

"Oh, Vash..!", Nireva said, with a spadeful of fake wonder as she fought to hide her cluelessness. "I'm sure someone's bound to recognise you once you're strutting your stuff." Being the nearest thing in the group to a convention veteran, Nireva was on hand with additional advice; things she had learned from walking around San Diego in the middle of summer, wearing a costume. "You're going to be sweating a lot more than usual, just so you know. You might think it was fine to wear when you tried it on at home but trust me. The halls are crowded as hell and there won't be as much opportunity for you to stop and sit around as you'd like and, to make matters worse, your wig is going to boil your head. So don't be afraid to find a bathroom so you can wash your face and cool off before putting your wig back on if you need to, okay?"

"Unless you want to see your stepfather naked, I'd suggest you go change yourself and close the door behind you."

Would that have been so weird? Aside from Inaki's marriage to her mother, there was nothing unusual about the man. She was four hundred and ten years his senior and, as far as activities relating to nudity were concerned, she had seen far more than he could ever show her. The Rahals were a strange bunch; not so burdened by the conventions of mortals as people would have initially believed. All someone had to do to learn this was have Khalidah speak candidly about the things she had included in the average party over the years. With the family matriarch measuring her amassed lifespan in tens of millennia, the family tree was now so wide that the act of sleeping with someone who wasn't a (very distant) blood relation was bordering on the impossible.

Even in the cross-section of the Rahal line headed by just Nireva, things were apparently getting pretty lengthy. While she herself had lost track of the number of children she'd had over the years, Khalidah's fastidious archiving had placed her current total at twenty-two; of which only seven were known to have inherited her immortality. Almost two dozen families had begun because of her and, from those alone, the number of people she could call relations through blood or marriage was mindboggling. "Have fun," she said, excusing herself and doing as instructed. Being a rather tall and slender man, Inaki would have made quite a good Vash and, with him left to his own devices, she made her way back into her own bedroom to find Jenna hunched over her bags, her hand holding onto the zip of the largest one. "Find anything?", she asked, grinning as her girlfriend straightened up and stared at her like a meerkat.

"I was, uh... looking for my phone!" was the deflective response. Backing away from Nireva's cases, Jenna strode around and sat herself down on the nearby couch. Knowing that there was no hiding her intentions from a woman so worldly wise, she gradually began to come clean. "That and I was a little curious. You never actually told me any of your plans for this weekend."

"I wasn't aware I had to."

With a sly smirk, Nireva sat herself down beside Jenna, barely managing to rest her heels on the edge of the bed. She had a few things in store but, aside from the presence of her Tali'zorah cosplay in the largest of her bags, she had tried her best to keep everything else a secret. Given that she shared an apartment - and not an overly big one - with Jenna, it had been easier said than done. "Are you gonna have another Mass Effect shoot with the cute guy who cosplayed Shepard last year? Aaaaare you? Hmmmm?"

Nireva chuckled. She'd almost forgot that Jenna had seen all of the photos from the Mass Effect meet-up at last year's Comic-Con. Having got all of the Legend of Korra out of her system on the first day, she'd switched to her Quarian envirosuit and adopted the best sultry, sort-of-Eastern European accent she could. She'd done a decent job at acting like Korra - especially with the Thundercats kids - and, from the responses of the people who stopped her for pictures, her Tali act had gone down well too. Predictably, Jenna had taken the biggest liking to the photographs which displayed her girlfriend, including the ones where she'd been told to be tastefully intimate with Carl, their main Shepard cosplayer and a college football player, complete with the physique to match. Having not thought to account for the possibility she would be seen without her helmet on, they'd needed to borrow a spare tin of purple body paint from someone portraying a Draenei from World of Warcraft so Nireva could colour her face. "I wasn't aware you were into footballers, Jen," she teased.

In truth, she had no idea whether Carl and his friends were attending this year. She'd only learned of Matt and Tanya's presence purely by chance in the hotel's lobby and had been too busy organising her own convention plans to keep track of anyone else. "Oh, come on, Niri," she sighed, lazily cuddling up to the woman beside her. "You and I both know I was staring at you on those pictures way more. I didn't think you'd pull off the whole purple look. Anyway!" Planting a small kiss on Nireva's cheek, Jenna hauled herself out of the couch and collected the two halves of her prop sniper rifle, electing to keep them separate until she was inside the building and away from the overzealous eyes of the security posted at the entrance, and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go get my pass. You getting changed?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, fishing her phone from her pocket. Although she generally despised Facebook, she had stooped to using it for the purposes of keeping up to date with the convention's activities. Having signed up for a few activities, some of which required her to show up in certain places at certain times, she appreciated the easy access to their various timetables. "I've just gotta check a couple of things first. I'll see you both inside!"

Not wanting to interfere with her girlfriend's meticulous planning, Jenna headed out into the hallway just in time to see Inaki emerge from his bedroom, fully dressed in his cosplay rendition of Vash the Stampede. "Well hi, there," she said, greeting him with a smile as she surveyed his outfit, her left hand clutching the two halves of her sniper rifle. She'd never tried "cosplay acting" before and, with not as much Gurren Lagann knowledge under her belt as she would have liked, she wasn't entirely sure on a few of her character's mannerisms. Nevertheless, she felt like having a bit of fun while Nireva was indisposed. "My name's Yoko." Holding out her right hand, she gently goaded him into playing along. "I take it you're my bodyguard today? We should get going before the Beastly Dreadlocked Horror..."

"I HEARD that!!"

"...decides to emerge from her lair and attack us." Gesturing towards the door, she invited Inaki along before making her way out of the hotel with him. "Niri's working out a couple plans before she gets changed, I think. She said she'll meet us inside eventually." Within moments of stepping out into the sunlight and beginning their walk along the street, the number of cosplayers they saw doing the same thing quickly multiplied. What had once been a smattering of strange outfits here and there had become a near immeasurable torrent of brightly coloured hair and well-made prop weapons and, before long, they soon learned that the queue for entry was quite literally stretching out of the convention's main hall.

The popularity was a double-edged sword for any convention of this scale. While it meant there was a lengthy wait to get in - even for Nireva, Inaki and Jenna, who had arrived late - it also offered ample opportunity for the attendees to socialise with one another in order to bypass the boredom involved. While many of the photographers with the professional equipment mostly refrained from doing so, many of the people who took pictures with their phones were getting the attention of the cosplayers who surrounded them, asking if they could take pictures to commemorate the occasion. Friends talked amongst themselves and, as the queue coiled around in hairpins, the people ahead in line were offering high-fives to those they passed as a sort of friendly reassurance.

It wasn't long before such attention was directed their way. "Hey, could I take a picture of you two?" A twenty-something man - one of the few, it seemed, who wasn't cosplaying - had wanted to get his own convention experience off to a flying start from minute one and, armed with a digital camera, was set on taking as many photos as his collection of SD cards could hold. Rather than force the issue, he was quite courteous and polite about the whole thing; something which Nireva had quickly learned about such people at large conventions. The cosplayers had taken the time to do what they were doing and it was only good manners for the photographers to politely request a couple of seconds out of their schedules for mutual benefit.

"Sure!" While space in the queue was at something of a premium, Jenna decided to act quickly so as not to waste anyone's time. Plugging the two halves of her sniper rifle together, she held the mass of carved and sanded styrofoam and plastic tubes up in one arm. The rifle's stock planted itself nearly against the crook of her arm, while her hand nestled against the handgrip and the trigger. It was a somewhat unrealistic pose but, given that there was more than one image on the internet of Yoko Littner holding her sniper rifle one-handed, she felt it was the best she could manage in such a tight space. The full extent of her poses would have to wait until she had more room to move but, for now, things were perfectly fine.

Once satisfied that his subjects were fully prepared and ready for their close-up, despite him needing to widen the angle considerably to fit Yoko's rifle into the frame, he lined them both up and took a couple of pictures. By taking two, he could account for changes in the environment and edit whichever one he felt would look the best overall. After he announced that he was done, he turned the camera around in his hands and allowed Jenna and Inaki to see his handiwork. "There ya go. What d'ya think?"

"It's great! Thanks!"

"Not a problem. I like your rifle, by the way. I've taken pictures of quite a few Yokos and, well, your rifle's the first one I've seen that looks like it actually works." He then turned to look at Inaki, eyeing his costume a second time. "This, though? I love Trigun! There just aren't enough Vash cosplayers around these days. So... you made my day already."

The conversation was brief and, once it was over, they were each allowed to go about the business of gaining entry to the convention. The flood of people behind them made it almost impossible to wait for Nireva by the entrance to the halls in which the convention itself had been housed and, after a short while, they were forced to move along with them in order to avoid getting trampled or crushed. Unable to keep an eye out for her girlfriend, Jenna instead settled for sending a text message, in the convention now. Looking 4 meeting place!

Nireva didn't bother responding to Jenna's message when it reached her phone. Aside from having to produce her ticket and get her convention pass - which they gave to her in badge form as opposed to a wristband due to how cumbersome it was for her to expose her wrist - she was also having to work hard to discern what was actually on the screen of her phone with her whole world being tinted purple. Not wanting to give away the nature of the other outfits she was set to wear that weekend, she had decided to put on her Tali'zorah suit. Just like last year, it got a lot of attention and, before she even got to where the convention halls actually began, four people had taken her picture. Despite the somewhat sour note on which the trilogy had ended, Mass Effect was still a much-beloved franchise, especially its non-human characters.

But, rather than take in the sights of the multitude of stands and showcases like her girlfriend and stepfather were no doubt doing, Nireva made her way in a different direction. While many of the "rooms" reserved for stages were already open and making a start on the day's proceedings, one of them was closed off, due to what the sign deemed "rehearsals". Seeing her approach, one of the staff in charge of overseeing whatever was going on inside strode out to meet her. Dressed up as Luka Megurine, one of the Vocaloids, she was obviously one of the cosplay-oriented staff at the convention. "Hey there. Can I help you?"

Pulling off her helmet, Nireva showed her smiling face, tinted purple from the body paint she'd pre-emptively used. "Yeah. Is this where the rehearsals are for the Cosplay Chess match?"

"They sure are," was the cheery response. Realising that she may have been standing face-to-face with one of the thirty-two competitors, she began to study the list in her hand. On it, was a diagram listing the names and cosplays of each of the "pieces" who would be on the board, as well as the piece they would represent. With nearly three dozen people to keep track of, remembering everyone was something of a chore. Thankfully, cosplayers were often a friendly bunch. "Could you, uh... tell me your name, please? I've gotta check this list to see where you are."

"Sure. It's Niri Hale." In order to eliminate the confusion her name would have created, she'd given its short form when the time came. It was a hell of a lot more preferable than spelling "Nireva" five hundred times over the course of a weekend and correcting people's pronounciation almost as often. "I, uh... I think I ended up being placed as the white Knight? Either that or the Bishop. One of those two."

With Nireva's memory, it didn't take long for the staff member to find her. Sure enough, she was right where she said she'd be. "Ah, there you are. Niri Hale; number three, white Bishop. And you're wearing your cosplay, too. Awesome!" Beckoning her forth, she began to lead Nireva into the stage room, where eight of the other competitors were waiting. "We're gonna wait for everyone else to show up before we split you off into teams of sixteen and run through how the game's gonna play out. Is this the first time you've taken part?"

"Uh, no. I did it last year. Though I was cosplaying Korra back then."

Korra! Having been part of the Cosplay Chess staff the previous year, there had been a vague familiarity about the name she'd been given. "Oh! Weren't you one of the last few pieces to be eliminated?"

Nodding slowly, Nireva's purple lips spread into a reminiscent smile. "Yeah. I tried airbending Sephiroth and got his sword through my gut for the trouble." Cosplay Chess was as much an actual chess match as it was a theatrical performance. The stage was taken up by thirty-two cosplayers, each of whom being given a specific chess piece to portray while two of the convention's cosplay staff played a chess match against each other. By calling out each of the moves they made, the cosplayers were given directions on where to move and how to act. In the event of one piece capturing another, the cosplayers involved quite literally took centre stage and acted out the result of the move, often resulting in an amusing "fight" between the two characters. Having been part of a last-ditch effort to force the other player into checkmate, Nireva - as one of the bishops - had been sent across the board to try and block one of the avenues of escape for the opposing king. However, with the other player still having their queen on the board, she was easily captured.

With no way to create fire, water or earth, she had simply swung her arms in an elegant fashion in a mimed attempt to hurl the white-haired Jenova-cell experiment off his feet with a blast of wind. Sure enough, as the opening bars of One-Winged Angel augured her doom, she shifted her left arm a short distance away from her torso, allowing the cosplayer portraying Sephiroth to "impale" her on the end of his colossal katana. She'd slumped down to the floor, he'd looked suitably badass and triumphant and the rest of the match had played out without her. All four moves of it. Without any of the powerful pieces, the King she'd been protecting - Lelouch from Code Geass - had been left with no option but to be corralled into the corner and be captured by the opposing rook: Dokuro-chan, the "Bludgeoning Angel".

"Well, we'll see how things go this time around, okay?", the staffer said with a smile. Before leaving Nireva to interact with the rest of the assembled cosplayers - including both her teammates and opponents - she quickly got one last thing out of the way before she forgot. "My name's Jennifer, by the way. Though you can call me Jen."

Well, wasn't that nice? Deciding to inform the "real" Jen of her delay, she began to type out a message on her phone: "Going to be late. Doing rehearsals. Have fun with Inaki!"

[Helena Rahal]

Hit the block, shake your socks, tick tick, let's roll around the clock.

Inaki found it amusing that Niri decided to vacate his room at his request, having become far too accustomed to the oddities of living with the Rahals. Lida and Felicia had both proven on occasion after occasion that things such as modesty were just foolish notions for mortals, as seen by them. In truth, Inaki was not entirely sure where Niri stood on those sort of things. She was an exotic dancer on the side of her medical training, but she was always polite and such when around Inaki, apart from that night that the two were introduced. That was a situation though that could hardly be avoided and besides... Niri was quite an attractive woman in her own right.

With her disappearing through the hallway between their two rooms, Inaki slid the door shut before removing his own clothing. Next was the less the delicate process of putting on the ensemble that was Vash's outfit. Niri had the right idea about sweating and such, but she failed to take into the account Inaki's ability. He could easily turn it into a light mist or have it not even appear. Yay stoichokinesis and transmutation he chuckled to himself in his thoughts.

Last was the wig which was probably the hardest part of crafting the entire costume, even the aviators and prop guns were easier to find. Inaki had to resort to buying a large blonde wig that he was entirely sure was meant for women and cut it into the right style before applying the right amount of gel to get that unique look that Vash held. Why did so many anime guys have such pointy hair anyway, there was almost no way to achieve that naturally and made cosplaying soo much more difficult!

Wig, glasses, and outfit on, prop pistols in their holsters, Inaki was completely dressed for the day. Popping out into the hallway, he was immediately encountering a wild Jenna who made him laugh more with her praise of his outfit. "Good afternoon Yoko. My name is Vash and I am on a quest... for donuts!" Inaki said, staying to true to the character. Vash might have been a wanted man and increadably skilled but he was also a total goofball. That was part of his charm, that he was so apparently harmless to anyone who came across him or knew of his true identity.

Thanks to Jen's taunts of Niri though, they had to make a quick escape from their rooms and towards the main convention hall. Much to Inaki's dismay, the queue to get into it was soo long that he was sure it was going to be hours before they even entered. This though wad apparently expected as their fellow convention goers were socializing with one another and Inaki decided to look around to spot any people in costumes that he recognized.

He had seen a Saren from the first Mass Effect game and Samus from the Metroid series before he and Jenna were propositioned for a photo. Jenna was quick to oblige the polite twenty something man even if Inaki was a bit hesitant. However, Inaki knew he was here to have a bit of a fun besides hanging out with Niri and Jenna, so he decided to get into pose. Sliding his aviators off the bridge of his nose, he then pulled out the prop pistol from his holster and leveled it with his arm cocked upside down. It was an iconic pose that many a poster had of the legendary anime character and Inaki hoped he had pulled it off alright.

He must have done something right or just been really luck cause the guy liked his cosplay. Inaki gave him a bit of smile, happy to at least see one person who had an affinity for the classics. "Happy to be of service and glad someone else likes the iconic figures. Have a good day!" Well, that was a good start to the trip then, though it would have been better if Niri was with them as well. What sort of plans did she have Inaki wondered, since Jen seemed to think that she her girlfriend was up to something.

Somehow the pair were soon through to main hall with their passes in hand. Jen sent a message to Niri but there was not a quick response, which just set further intruige into his mind. "What is that crazy dreadlocked monster up to you think?" Inaki said with a bit of a laugh and curiosity about him. She was the veteran of these things and knew what events were going to be where.

"Umm, what the heck does she mean by rehearsals?" Inaki asked as Niri finally did respond to Jen's text. Well, this certainly put a twister on the entire day's events, since it left him with Jen, who he did not know half as well as Niri. Even with Niri he still felt a bit like a stranger at times, despite having such an affinity for the girl. "Hrmm, well.. now what shall we do with ourselves?"

[Nireva Hale]

"...what the heck does she mean by rehearsals?"

Having shown Inaki the message her girlfriend had sent her, Jenna was at something of a loss with regards to how to respond. Having heard almost nothing about Nireva's plans for the weekend, she had nothing to go on. "I'm not sure,", she sighed. For a moment, she was tempted to fire a message back to her, asking for additional information but, knowing how Nireva often was with such matters, she decided against it. "Sometimes, she keeps her cards close to her chest about stuff like this. I'm sure she'll tell us what's going on when she's ready. Either that or when whatever it is she's doing is ready for an audience."

Knowing that Nireva was going to be away from her and Inaki for a couple of hours at the very least, Jenna decided to take the initiative and began to lead Inaki around the convention hall. Even after Nireva had told her the stories of how large the San Diego Comic-Con was, she found herself decidedly ill-prepared for the sight which continued to greet her as she picked her way through the slow-moving crowds. Divided into a series of sections, the halls were able to offer a colossal variety of attractions with which the convention could entice its attendees. As well as the scheduled panels, performances and shows, there was a section dedicated to the sale of various pop-culture related items. Even Jenna, who was something of a novice when it came to both video games and anime, kept stopping every so often when something caught her eye.

When it wasn't a plush doll depicting a cute version of an unfamiliar character causing her to stop and stare for a moment, it was an elaborately dressed cosplayer walking in the opposite direction. Regardless of whether it was a man or a woman who got her attention, Jenna had her reasons for looking. Sometimes, she found herself imagining how Nireva would look wearing the clothes while, in other instances, she was tempted to stop them and ask if she could have a picture taken with them. Whatever the case, she wasn't regretting her decision to come to San Diego with her girlfriend and Inaki and, even if Nireva was indisposed for the next couple of hours with some mysterious rehearsals for some as yet unknown purpose, she was going to make the most of it.

For the most part, the thoroughfares along which they walked were more than wide enough to accommodate all but the most elaborate of cosplaying attendees but, like traditional markets in Los Angeles' downtown area, the gaps between many of the stalls were woefully narrow. Even on the first day of the convention, getting from one end of the aisle to the other was far from a smooth process. Luckily, their props were small enough - albeit only in its separated form, in Jenna's case - to be carried around without much issue. "Well," Inaki began, capturing Jenna's attention once more. "Now what shall we do with ourselves?"

To a point, she understood the reasons behind his slight concern. With the only person who had been to a convention before now absent, the two first-timers were left to their own devices; to explore the halls with very little on which to base their next move. Usually, the only announcements for the various events taking place throughout the day were visual in nature and kept right beside the venue for the event. While it kept things more freeform for the people in attendance, allowing them to wander around without being pestered by a disembodied voice in the sky, it was also somewhat unforgiving if they were unfortunate enough to miss the event in question. "Well, we could buy a few things?" Along with her prop rifle, Jenna had brought a relatively small backpack with her at Nireva's insistence. It was easy for her to wear and wasn't in the least bit cumbersome, allowing her to quickly take it off for those sudden photo opportunities and put it back on with equal haste.

While, for her, the only person for whom she could have bought gifts was Nireva and maybe a couple of the other dancers at Plan B, Inaki had a wife, two children and a mother-in-law to deal with. Nevertheless, the duo were far from short on excuses to stop and peruse the wares on offer. "Hey!" Giving a cheery greeting to one of the stall holders, she approached a stall selling a wide variety of anime-related plush dolls. "Do you have any Yoko and Vash dolls?"

"Sure do!" For the occasion, the young woman manning the stall had decided to cosplay as Miku Hatsune, complete with a turquoise wig sporting colossal pigtails which almost fell down to her ankles. Within moments of studying the shelves and a couple of the storage boxes, she produced the pair of dolls Jenna had asked for. They were small and cutely deformed versions of both her and Inaki's cosplays; something at which Nireva's scantily-clad girlfriend couldn't help but smile and, once twenty dollars had changed hands, they were all hers. "Hey, Inaki! Look!" Holding out the still wrapped Vash doll for him, she flashed him a grin. "Something to commemorate your first convention?"

---

It had been a while since Nireva had arrived but, finally, all thirty-two participants in the Cosplay Chess match had assembled for their rehearsals. As well as getting to know one another, the participants were run through the game's various rules and anything else of importance the staffers felt they needed to know. It was a lecture Nireva had heard the previous year, bu the whole thing progressed without complaint. With the match itself taking place tomorrow afternoon and its outcome being decided on-the-fly, in front of the audience, the rehearsals were little more than behind-the-scenes preparation and practice.

Before the match would begin, each of the participants would be announced by the staff; being referred to only by the character they had chosen to cosplay and informing the audience which piece they would be portraying for the duration of the game. As their names were announced, the players would then make their way out onto the stage before assuming their position on the board. This latter half, Nireva learned, was somewhat like the Masquerade contest, in which the cosplayers took centre stage in a manner akin to a fashion show; striking poses, doing dances and generally looking as awesome as they possibly could. As well as practicing their entrances, Jennifer and the other staffers ran them through a series of random choreography drills.

By calling out two cosplayers at random - as well as stating who had captured whom - the thirty-two men and women on stage were taught to quickly, yet safely, spring into action. While thirty of the cosplayers were tasked with clearing the board and retreating to the sides of the stage, the two who remained instead strode forward to the middle, where they would act out an improvised "battle"; a sequence in which they would visually represent the capture of each piece for the audience. Many characters simply "killed" their opponents with whatever props they had to hand while others - namely those who weren't known for fighting - resorted to more comedic means. One of the young women who, in an almost Inception-esque move, had taken her cosplay from the episode of Lucky Star in which the show's main character, Izumi Konata, had been working at a cosplay café dressed as Haruhi Suzumiya - a visual easter egg given that both characters were voiced by the same person - had forced their opponents into an impromptu dance competition so often that the staffers had decided to find an MP3 of the song in question so that they could play it through the auditorium's speaker system.

All in all, the experience had been nothing short of hilarious as the near three dozen cosplayers thought of method after method by which they could entertain the audience as they played out their roles. Having only an Omniblade among her props, Nireva had relied on her opponents to inspire her as to how best to act. Of course, there were occasions in which she had been the one destined to meet defeat and, more often than not, the savvier individuals took advantage of her character's Quarian physiology by (carefully) removing the helmet of her enviro-suit. Having been evicted from their homeworld for three hundred years by a sentient AI collective they had created, the Quarians had essentially bred a weakened immune system due to being mostly confined to the Migrant Fleet - a vast armada of spacefaring vessels which comprised their new home - and were, as a result, confined to their all-covering suits for their own personal safety. Thankfully, Nireva had thought it prudent to paint various parts of her body the correct colour this year.

"Okay, that's the last one!" While Jennifer and the rest of the cosplay staff hadn't run through all four hundred and ninety-six combinations of cosplayers, they had nevertheless decided that the various rules and procedures of the upcoming match had been drummed into their new batch of participants long enough for them to retain it. "I'd just like to say thank you for taking part and remember to be here at noon tomorrow so we can get you all backstage in time for when we let the audience in!" Noon tomorrow. While the queue to get back into the convention hall tomorrow would have been an issue, the time at which they usually started to allow people in was more than early enough to avoid being late.

"Niri?"

With the wig of purple hair and icy blue contact lenses obscuring much of what she truly looked like, it took a few seconds for Nireva to deduce just who had started speaking to her. Although she recognised the green-and-white Japanese school uniform as being from Highschool Of The Dead, the purple hair and katana marking the cosplay as being of Kendo practitioner Saeko Busujima were unfamiliar to her. "Tanya..?" She felt a little bad for not recognising Matt's girlfriend immediately but, as Tanya gave her a smile, it was a feeling which soon passed.

Having not been called up to "fight" one another during the rehearsal and with most of the socialising taking place among members of the same team, it had only been assumption which had clued Tanya in to the identity of the woman underneath the Quarian enviro-suit. Now that Nireva had taken the helmet off and revealed her painted face, her suspicions had been confirmed. "Hey. I thought it was you under there." With Matt nowhere to be seen, Tanya was happier now that there was someone taking part in the match that she'd known for longer than a couple of hours. "Shame we're on opposite teams though, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess," Nireva sighed with a smile. Just like last year, the rehearsals had been exhausting and, having spent the whole thing in a skin-tight suit, the one thing she needed right now was a break from the bustle of the convention hall. "Where's Matt? Did he not get a spot with you?"

Following the lead of everyone else, Tanya and Nireva began to slowly wander their way out of the auditorium. "He's outside. He tried to sign up with me but, by the time he found out about the chess match, all of the places had been filled. Though he promised me he'd sit in the audience and cheer me on." Having finally seen Nireva's girlfriend face-to-face earlier that morning, Tanya had a new subject into which she could delve with one of her convention friends. "What about your girlfriend? Is she gonna watch?"

"I haven't actually told her about this, yet." She'd kept a lot of things about her weekend a secret from both her girlfriend and stepfather and, while it was a little dishonest of her to do so, she felt that the one thing her companions needed to spice up their first visit to a convention was some surprises to make it that little bit more memorable. "I'm lining up a couple of surprises for her and Inaki. That way, they'll easily remember their first time here."

"Like your friend did with the animatronic dog?"

"Exactly." For months following last year's Comic-Con, both Khalidah's portrayal of Amon and Ragnarok's portrayal of Naga - Korra's faithful steed and companion - had been the talk of the internet. The site she had started to use to chronicle her cosplaying exploits had been ablaze with comments, congratulating her on such a well-made and faithful recreation of both the Avatar and Naga. Even though her costume had been a commissioned piece, it really seemed like the people who admired her cosplaying didn't seem to care about that little point. With her Tali'zorah suit, she'd more than proved that she was capable of crafting her own outfits to wear.

"So... we never asked you before: are you cosplaying anything new this year?"

Nireva nodded, letting out an affirmative noise as a grin began to spread over her face. She had invested in a set of combination padlocks for her cases just to keep the rest of her cosplays for the weekend away from Jenna and Inaki. Even her account on her favourite cosplaying website had revealed nothing on the subject. Having packed a laptop with her, she was planning to reveal each of her new cosplays on the day using the hotel's internet connection. "I had to literally keep them under lock and key to stop Jenna finding out what they were. Buuut..." She peered around as though the information was part of a conspiracy. "Seeing as it's you, I'll tell you. Tomorrow, I'm gonna be cosplaying..."

Not even Matt heard what Nireva whispered to Tanya as they left the auditorium.

[Helena Rahal]

This is my chance, this is my chance,
I'll take it now because I can.
This is my chance, I want it now.

Jenna was obviously as taken aback as much as Inaki was with the developments of Niri leaving them to their own devices for the time being. Inaki wondered what his step daughter was up to that even her girlfriend was left out in the cold about the plans. Jenna saying that Niri may spring whatever it was she up to upon them instead of any warning was also suspicious. Did the two play games like this, keeping each other out of the loop of some trick or something? What an interesting dynamic the two girls would have if they did.

"Well I suppose you may be right about that. You two did get me really good that one Christmas with all those outfits that you had brought. I guess we will just have to play it by ear then." Inaki resigned himself to that. Although surprises were nice, now and then, at a place where they could easily get lost seemed maybe the worst spot to spring one. Or perhaps the very best spot if you were the one springing the surprise on your companions. Inaki and Jenna would simply have to wait for Niri one way or another though.

Jenna took an interesting turn though when Inaki asked what they should do now. Instead of answering him right away, she lead him through the convention halls itself. It was a splendor to behold, all the amazing cosplays and the different booths here and there. People had really put their heart and souls, and obviously their wallets, into making such an amazing experience for themselves and their fellow convention goers. It gave Inaki a warm feeling and made him just wonder why people could not be this amazing and friendly in general instead of just occasions like this.

Jenna seemed really excited though as they came upon one specific vendor that had a really cute cosplay. Inaki was at a lost to who she was supposed to be though, yet the turquoise hair and outfit certainly was stunning and beautiful. She seemed to be selling little dolls that were cute in their own right but unlike anything Inaki expected to see outside Asia. However with as much as anime seemed to be having an influence at conventions, it probably should not have surprised him to see the dolls.

Yet that the vendor had replicas of both his and Jenna's cosplays certainly did! Wow, what were the odds of her having them, it brought a big smile to his eyes and Jenna was all grins as well. It seemed that they were more than capable of having a good time without their guide after all! Though they probably could have navigate the halls more efficiently if they did have Niri still with them.

"I don't mind if I do at all!" Inaki said with his soft smile as Jenna offered the Vash doll to commemorate his trip. It certainly had a nice likeness but the sentiment was what Inaki was going to remember the most. Especially if the pair or even trio of them were able to get up to some hijinks before the weekend was completely through.

"Want to go cheek out the Rooster Teeth booth? They have an anime there that I think you might take quite an interest in. Or maybe we could look for more vendors and get a bunch of little trip trophies!"

Lyrics: Savior - 30 Seconds To Mars
Outift: Vash!
Mood: Making teh CLICKEH?! Havoc feelings though...

[Nireva Hale]

Can't help myself but count the flaws. Claw my way out through these walls.
One temporary escape, feel it start to permeate.
We lie beneath the stars at night, our hands gripping each other tight.
You keep my secrets, hope to die. Promises, swear them to the sky.
______________________________The Naked And Famous - "Young Blood"

"I don't mind if I do at all!" Jenna's grin returned with a vengeance as Inaki swept the plush doll from her grasp. Although she was just as inexperienced with the world of conventions as he was, Jenna wasn't going to let something as mundane as unfamiliarity interfere with her fun. She had helped Nireva to fund the trip and prepare for most eventualities as well as making a concerted effort on the cosplay front. Originally, making the top half of Yoko's bikini had been nothing more than a spot of girlfriend bonding; sharing in Nireva's interest in order to get some insight as to why last year's Comic-Con had been so fun. Painting a series of flames onto one of her bikini bras was hardly the most arduous challenge known to mankind but, once she'd seen the fruits of her labour, there had been no stopping her.

Suddenly, the internet turned into a treasure trove of reference photos and tutorials, instructing Jenna on all manner of techniques and how to make almost any prop she desired. It had only been Nireva's insistence which had stopped her from trying to replace her whole wardrobe - or necessitate the buying of a new one - with cosplay outfits. In the end, she'd settled on a total of two outfits for her first outing to San Diego's convention centre; the latter of which was being saved for tomorrow. For now, however, she was getting quite the kick out of being asked to pose in public while scantily-clad and carrying a large sniper rifle without being arrested.

With her own plush doll safely in her backpack, the pair slowly continued onward. Reaching the end of the aisle, Jenna was the first to see what she could only describe as a trade booth dominating one of the clearings which helped to space out the otherwise chaotic mess the aisles often became during the day. "Want to go check out the Rooster Teeth booth?" The sight of the booth was enough to prompt Inaki to strike up another conversation. Having followed Nireva's advice - one pearl of many - and read up on just who and what were going to be present at the convention, Inaki had some semblance of an itinerary. Things had caught his eye, just as they had done to the still absent Nireva.

"Rooster... what?" Ever the novice, Jenna was completely unaware of the internet-based geek comedy group. Having started out with the series Red vs. Blue, which had been filmed inside the Halo video game series, they had expanded to become one of the dominant entertainment forces on the internet. Their collective works had been viewed over a billion times and they were using Comic-Con to show off their latest offering. "They have an anime there that I think you might take quite an interest in." Even after Inaki's clarification, she was no less confused. Until she had the chance to buy and watch anime and manga herself, Jenna felt that news on the release of a new series was more Nireva's field than her own. Thankfully, her girlfriend's stepfather offered her an alternative. "Or maybe we could look for more vendors and get a bunch of little trip trophies?"

"Yyy.. yeah, trip trophies sound good." Finding a way out of her own ignorance, Jenna was quick to seize it and drive the conversation elsewhere. She was sure that the new anime series was very interesting but, with Nireva absent, it was difficult to commit on such things. They were, after all, going to have to meet her once she was finished rehearsing. "We still need to get something for Niri, anyway. It's a shame I didn't see a Tali doll on that stall back there. Anyway..." Drawing closer to the booth, she could see that the counter was all but carpeted by manga books, arranged both face and spine-up in order to show the prospective buyers what they had on offer. Rather than offer the opportunity to buy earlier editions like some of the other stalls, the more official looking booth was offering the latest issues of the various offerings from their stable; taking in almost every genre she could imagine.

"I wanna look here for a minute," she announced, her torso arching over slightly as she studied the books more closely. Having been an exotic dancer for the better part of five years - shit, was it really that long..? - Jenna had long since grown immune to the embarrassment she surmised would have arisen in others in her situation. Although she was certainly conscious of her body, she was sufficiently at ease with it to avoid feeling strange at showing it off in public. Dressing up as Yoko was a walk in the park, though woe betide anyone who thought her revealed flesh was any sort of invitation. "I just hope I can remember what Niri likes."

"Wow, seriously?!" Matt couldn't help but glance Nireva's way as she uttered yet another one of her plans. He had heard of the fate which, for the whole weekend, had befallen one of the larger booth areas near the entrance and, until now, had yet to find anyone he knew who had volunteered to be there. With what was required of those who did, he had expected - and quietly hoped - that his girlfriend would have been one of the volunteers but, alas, it wasn't to be. Apparently, spots were extremely limited and incredibly sought after by interested parties and, if anything, he was more surprised that someone he knew had actually managed to score one rather than their willingness to do what it entailed. "When're you gonna be there, Niri?"

Between Matt and Tanya's collective reaction, Nireva felt a sudden heat in her cheeks. She was almost four hundred and fifty years old - not that anyone outside her family and those select few others knew it - and this revelation was actually making her blush. Compared to some of the things she'd been through, this was nothing. But to assume such a role for the purposes of fun as opposed to duty was certainly a new twist on what she already knew. "Well, I've got the evening shift today and tomorrow - that's six 'til nine. And, on Sunday, I'll be there from two." There were some drawbacks to having nine hours of her convention weekend taken up by a single activity, but she had always maintained in the back of her mind that seeing the look on Jenna's face when she walked in and saw her would have been nothing short of amazing. Thankfully, she had already managed to fit everything else - including her Cosplay Chess match - around her time at the "booth" and, barring any sudden changes to her plans, everything was set to go smoothly.

Although the convention officially ended each day - except Sunday - at seven, concessions had already been made to facilitate the booth's extended operation, allowing people to arrive a few minutes before seven o'clock and keeping one of the many doors open in order to allow everyone to return to their accomodation at nine. "Well, that's that, then," Matt sighed with a smirk. "The only way Tanya'd find it more impossible to resist swinging by to have a look is if I was there in your place. Then again, I doubt they'd let guys d--..."

"Oh, there's guys there, too." Like many things at Comic-Con over the years, the booth had expanded from its female-only debut last year to allow men to take on an equivalent role in its running. They even sold alcohol, albeit with strict limitations on how much a single person could have on any given day and with the proviso that only a Comic-Con staff member could conduct the sale. Licensing was a bitch at the best of times, but they'd found some way to compromise and make it work, even if only for a trial run. "Though they're not dressing alike, which is just no fun whatsoever." Why was that thought so amusing? Maybe because of those holiday pranks with Inaki, she thought.

Speaking of which, she had a girlfriend and stepfather to find. "Anyway, I'm gonna go find my wayward girlfriend." Giving a brief wave to the younger couple, she put her helmet back on, the mouthpiece immediately beginning to flicker at the sound of her voice. "I'll either see you later on tonight, or tomorrow at the chess match! See ya!" Amidst the colossal crowd, finding two cosplayers, even ones who were technically family, was proving to be a nightmare; something that wasn't made easier by the Mass Effect fans who spotted her. However, with time - and a cellphone - truly on her side, the interruptions weren't even close to being annoying. She adored the attention, just as people adored her costume. A couple of them, due to her costume not changing over the past twelve months, had even asked if she was the same Tali'Zorah who had been a part of Carl's Mass Effect photoshoot, to which the answer had been a proud yes. One had complimented her on how well she pulled off the character's aesthetic, while the other - also on their first cosplay outing - was happy to have found a way to alleviate their nerves before attending their first group meet-up.

The motherly instinct wasn't something which crossed Nireva's mind much these days, but she couldn't help but take the Tifa Lockhart lookalike under her wing for a couple of minutes. She'd certainly been appreciative of the advice when she left. Every so often, her phone would buzz in one of her hidden pockets with a text message from Jenna. Jenna being Jenna, her directions had been teasingly vague, saying that she and Inaki were both by the manga booth. Given that manga and anime were sold in large quantities all over the hall, the location wasn't entirely helpful. It was only when Jenna stopped to pose for a photographer that Nireva managed to find her; or, more accurately, the barrel of her five foot sniper rifle being held aloft in a one-handed shouldering pose.

Knowing the protocol for such interactions, she stayed well away from the photographer's sight line until she was done. Being a cosplayer herself - portraying Suiseiseki complete with heterochromic contact lenses - Jenna decided to seize the opportunity to turn the tables and, while it was only on a cellphone, the camera was still good enough to produce a high-quality image. "Looks like you're having fun, Jen!", she remarked, announcing her arrival.

"Niri!" The embrace the two women shared was somewhat awkward, between Jenna's assembled rifle and the helmet covering Nireva's face, but that wasn't going to stop either of them. "There you are. How was your disappearing act?"

"It was fine," she said, smiling. She still wasn't going to give anything away. "And it wasn't a disappearing act. It was quite an important rehearsal for a performance tomorrow."

It wasn't anything concrete, but it was better than nothing. "Oh, so you're performing! I didn't think they allowed pole dancing here." The decidedly unsubtle jab earned Jenna a playful punch to her shoulder for the trouble and, once again, the couple were interacting as though Nireva had never wandered off. It was one of the reasons why Nireva wanted to be with Jenna forever, despite all assurances telling her it would be impossible. Jenna was about as faithful as a lover could get; a rarity in someone so young. Why wasn't she looking for a guy with whom she could start a family? Sure, they could have looked into surrogacy or adoption if it ever took their fancy, but it wouldn't really have been the same. "What is it, then? Are you gonna tell us?"

"And ruin the surprise? Hell, no." It was fun to watch Jenna fret about in suspense. She wanted to know about her girlfriend's upcoming Cosplay Chess match, but Nireva wasn't going to reveal a damn thing. She'd been alive far too long to break under something as simple as nagging. "But you can both find out at Auditorium C at 12:30. And that's all you're getting out of me."

[Helena Rahal]

It took a moment before I lost myself
The moment it could not be found

Inaki was a bit disappointed that Jenna did not want check out the Rooster Teeth booth. Of the many things on the internet that tickled his fancy, it was this upcoming anime that had captivated him. Despite have only seen the trailers for the anime, he had already found himself engrossed in the story and lore. What with each of the characters loosely based on fairy tales and the fact that their names each had special meaning as well. It was really just a well crafted touch and the first episode had yet to even be released!

Inaki managed to hide it well though, finding a few more vendors to get some trinkets or other merchandise wasn't too bad. If all else failed, he could pull off a vanishing act like Niri did at some point and do some exploring on his own. Maybe he would do that early in the morning tomorrow, it would be a good way as well to hide his secret cosplay from the girls. That was a surprise that he wanted to spring on them at the right moment, though only concern was pulling it off right!

Speaking of Niri, it seemed like Jenna wanted to find something for her girlfriend while the pair waited for her to make a reappearance. Leading the way, they were going through the crowd in a bit of an odd manner, as Jenna's eyes darted to and fro. Luckily she found a manga booth and seemed to decide that was the gift to get Niri. Holding on to his Vash doll, Inaki stood by her side as Jenna started looking them over.

"I am sure whatever you pick, Niri will like. It is a gift after all, it is the thought that counts. Though getting something awesome or something that Niri likes would make it even more wonderful." Inaki gave Jenna a sly smile before bringing up his Vash doll in front of his face and gently nudging the back of it to make the doll give an approving nod.

Inaki had a good time playing "spot that cosplay!" while Jenna was looking around, as well as doing a few poses for passerby's. Much to his own amusement and cheer, a few people even asked for pictures of him, and thought that his doll was cute as well. Luckily all the embarrassing moments that his wife had done or put him in had made him learn to blush quite less in these situations. Though he still did feel a flush to his cheeks now and then, especially when a young woman cosplaying as Kerrigan asked for a photo. Not too many could pull off the human version of the Queen of Blades well, but she certainly did, and the way she was flirty certainly made Inaki feel a bit awkward.

Luckily just as she putting the camera down, he spotted Niri making her way over to Jenna and politely excused himself from Kerrigan's company. With that aside, Inaki walked within earshot just to hear Jenna ask about what Niri was up to while she was done. The quip about pole dancing from Jenna did bring a laugh from Inaki, though that Niri was doing some sort of performance tomorrow came as a shock. Despite looking over the itenery, he could not recall at the moment what was supposed to be taking place then and there.

Holding up the cute replica of his cosplay, he made it wave to Niri from in front of his face. "Hullo Tali'Zorah. I am Vash and I am on important quest. You've not seen a big pink box of donuts anywhere have you?"

[Nireva Hale]

And our freedom's consuming itself!
And what we've become is contrary to what we want!
______________________________Muse - "Take A Bow"

"I am sure, whatever you pick, Niri will like." If this was how Inaki was to his stepdaughter's girlfriend, then it was little wonder that he was such a good father to Felicia's newborn twins. A smile crept across Jenna's face as she continued to peruse the wares on dispay at the manga stall. Although Nireva's collection of manga wasn't that large, she knew that she only kept hold of the ones she liked. "It is a gift, after all; it's the thought that counts." The choice on offer, especially to someone like her, was nothing short of mindboggling and, even with the manga arranged into their myriad genres and then once more into an alphabetical order, trawling through them was taking her some time.

"Yeah," Jenna sighed, turning around to glance at Inaki. A couple of times, her search had been interrupted by the buzzing of the vibration motor in her cellphone; a short message from Nireva giving her updates on her mysterious progress. It was only when her girlfriend had asked her a question that she'd decided to stop and send a response. Inaki and I are at a manga booth!, she'd typed. It was far from helpful but, with Inaki dressed in a red trenchcoat that could probably be seen from space and her own cosplay coming with a sniper rifle that was only prevented from being as tall as she was by convention rules, she knew it wouldn't have been that long for them all to reunite. "But I wanna make it special, y'know?"

"...getting something awesome or something that Niri likes would make it even more wonderful."

"Exactly!" He understood where she was coming from! That made her feel better about her floundering. "Besides, we--..." Her appreciative smile broke into a brief giggle as she watched Inaki manipulate his Vash doll with his hand, causing its deformed head to tilt forward in a nod of approval. She was tempted to do something with her Yoko doll in response but, with it sitting in her backpack, she would have needed to unshoulder the bag, get the doll out, open its packaging... suffice to say, it was a lot of work for a few seconds of fun. Instead, she playfully nodded back at the doll and turned back towards the stall. "I was thinking of getting her a bunch of these. That way, she'd have something to read when we're back at the hotel."

From the fact she enjoyed Mass Effect enough to cosplay a character from it, Jenna shifted her attention towards the Action/Adventure section and, taking the utmost care, slid out a trio of volumes of Sword Art Online. Despite the stall specialising in the latest released, she'd still managed to find the first three parts of the manga series and, hoping her girlfriend didn't already have them, she showed them to the man behind the counter. Although he wasn't cosplaying like the girl who had sold her the plush dolls, he was still wearing a branded shirt which matched the booth at which he'd been stationed. Jenna managed to sequester them into her backpack just as a young woman a few years younger than her approached.

"Hey, nice cosplay!", she began, throwing in a compliment amidst the greeting. Jenna smiled, despite thinking that the other woman's cosplay was better than her own. Suiseiseki, from Rozen Maiden, stood out from the crowd because of two main features. The first, which this person had in abundance, was the dark emerald-green dress that gave the impression she was either the maid of a noble family from centuries past or some sort of noblewoman's daughter, dressed up to show her off to their peers. The second of which was the character's heterochromia; the condition which caused a person's irises to be different colours. In this case, they were red and green; a fact proven by the presence of contact lenses in the cosplayer's eyes.

Stifling the involuntary shudder, Jenna finally spoke. "Thanks! Yours is awesome, too!" One thing she had never tried wearing was contact lenses. The thought of having convex films of flexible plastic resting directly on her eyeballs was enough to prompt mild disgust whenever she dwelled on the matter. "Those are some spooky contact lenses you've got in."

"You're not a fan of 'em?" Like many anime characters, Yoko herself had oddly-coloured eyes - a soft shade of dull amber - but, upon realising this, Jenna had adamantly struck them off the list. "Oh, don't worry about it. I understand. They were disgusting when I first started wearing them for cosplays. Anyway, could I get a picture of you?"

"Sure," Jenna said, holding up her cellphone. Although it wasn't a dedicated camera, the lens on the back of her phone was of sufficient quality to match and even surpass some of the more well-renowned cameras at the lower end of the price spectrum. Jenna had originally bought the phone to ensure she could get some good photos of the interior of the club while she worked; a place in which contrasting light was commonplace. Its image quality and resolution was a bonus. "But only if I can take one of you!"

"Deal! You wanna go first?" Setting her backpack down on the floor, Jenna stuffed her phone into the pocket of her shorts and set about assembling her sniper rifle once again. Following Nireva's advice, she had ensured that the process was as simple as possible and, once she had slotted the three parts together, the weapon was complete. Deciding on a different pose, she set the stock of the rifle against her right shoulder and gripped it in a loose, yet militaristic stance, hovering one eye near the back of the scope to give the impression she was lining up a shot. Once satisfied that she was looking suitably awesome, she froze herself in place and waited until the woman before her spoke. "Oh, nice. There we go!"

"Thanks! Now it's time for your close-up, ma'am." Resting the rifle against the stall for the moment, Jenna retrieved her camera and, after keeping it as steady as possible, prepared herself to press the button. "I'm gonna take a couple of shots of you, if that's okay?" Suiseiseki, now fixed in her chosen pose, simply smiled and nodded. "That waaay..." Pressing the button, she took her first picture and took a small step around to the right, finding the perfect half-profile angle before hitting the button a second time. "...it won't be a waste of your time if I mess things up." The third shot was taken much closer, taking in the woman's head and shoulders and little else. "Okay!" With Jenna knowing the ins and outs of her phone back-to-front, she was already back into the preview menu, able to show her fellow cosplayer what she'd done. "I'll probably make an account on DeviantArt or something similar if this keeps up. I've got a feeling I'm gonna take a lot of pictures this weekend."

"Wow, these are really good..." They may have been taken with a cellphone, but the images were crisp and crystal clear. "Are you a photographer or something..?"

"Nope, not really. Though I'm often the one who takes pictures at family parties. They all seem to like them."

"Looks like you're having fun, Jen!" Nireva's arrival was the opening the cosplayer needed to say her goodbyes and set off on her way, leaving Jenna behind to hug her no longer absent girlfriend. Within moments, she started to prod and poke Nireva's defences, trying to get her to give up some information about what she'd been doing for the past couple of hours. All she got was a location and a time; a date she was damn well going to meet. She wanted to see just what her girlfriend was up to. But not before Inaki returned and greeted his stepdaughter in a rather unique way. "Hullo, Tali'Zorah!" Adopting a more dramatic version of his normal voice, he held up the plush version of "himself" in front of his face and started to talk, subtly animating the doll to give the impression it was holding a conversation. "I'm Vash and I am on an important quest! You've not seen a big pink box of donuts anywhere, have you?"

Nireva chuckled inside her suit; partly from her stepfather's performance and partly due to the fact he'd managed to find a cute plush version of Vash. "Donuts.... doooonuts..." Sounding thoughtful, she decided to play along, putting on her Tali'Zorah voice. Again, Jenna felt a small shiver through her body, though for different reasons. "Hm. No. I'm sorry. I haven't seen any." Then again, she knew of a place where Inaki would likely be able to find some. And, as an added bonus, she would have almost unparalleled access to them. While she wasn't going to be stealing any for Inaki, she'd be more than happy to hand some over in a more legal sense. "Then again... I might know a place where you could buy some. Unfortunately, they won't be open for a few hours?"

She wanted to reveal her personal itinerary for that evening. She wanted to spoil her own surprise and make Jenna giddy with the excitement. But, she held firm in her convictions. By lying about when the booth would be open; it was, after all, open all day, she gave herself enough time to make another of what her girlfriend had dubbed a disappearing act and prepare herself for what was to come. For the time being, however, she was going to stay with her girlfriend and stepfather and, as she'd promised, guide them around the convention floor. "Anyway, where do you two wanna go next?"

"Well, uh... Inaki said something about roosters?"

"Oh, Rooster Teeth?" Nireva knew about the comedy group's foray into producing anime and, like Inaki, had been following the trailers with a watchful eye. All four of the characters that made up the anime's title had been revealed and, if the rumours were to be believed, they were now doing the rounds at conventions, premiering the first episode of the series. "Somehow, I thought Inaki would want to see this RWBY show." Honestly, she had been expecting him to produce a scythe gun from his bag and cosplay the red character. She'd forgotten the names, but they were all associated with the colour of their clothing. Then again, given how tall he was, maybe the one wearing white would have been more his style. "Well, we can head over to their booth and see when the next showing is. It should be further up this way."

[Helena Rahal]

Now you're here,
Now you're away.
I don't want this,
I'll remember that.

Inaki had a chuckle as Niri decided to play along with his little act with the plush doll. Even more so as she produced the vastly eastern European accent that Tali had, nearly perfecting her already amazing cosplay of the character. Inaki surmised that with the enthusiasm and skill Niri and Jenna seemingly had for it, there was going to be quite a few more conventions and cosplays in the future for the both of them. Perhaps even as a theme or as partners, which would be totally cute and adorable, though he decided to keep that to himself.

"Ah that is a shame! It seems I will have to do without." Inaki continued on playing the act with the doll and made the doll rests its head in one of its palms. "I bet it was my dastardly brother that stole them. He looks just like me and everyone gets us confused! He is a bad sort, best be wary of him! But have no fear, Vash is here to protect you two beautiful and innocent ladies."

Inaki wondered what Niri meant though about a place that would have donuts but wouldn't be open for a few hours. That was just madness, what good would donuts be in the afternoon slash early evening? They were undoubtedly a breakfast food or early morning snack! This was some sort of trickery that he obviously knew nothing about... unless it was some sort of convention tradition or custom that he had not been made aware of!

Jenna beat him to responded to Niri asking where they wanted to go next, though Inaki had to chuckle as Jenna only got it partially right. At least Niri knew internet fandoms and creations well enough to guess the identity of the booth and the show that Inaki had wanted to get a scope on. And it just so happened that Niri knew where there booth was, making Inaki nearly squeal in delight, nearly.

"Oh that would be amazing Niri. Perhaps we can run into the official staff that is cosplaying as the four main characters." Inaki could not hide his grin, this was going to be a real treat. There was a rumor that the first two episodes of the anime were being shown here, after just the second one had been shown at their own convention in Austin, known as RTX. If it was true, that would make the small navigational challenge all worth the while.

"So lead on our fearless leader. To glory and beyond!"

[Nireva Hale]

"Ah, that is a shame! It seems I will have to do without!"

Although she was still wondering where Inaki had bought his plush doll, Nireva was nevertheless pleased to see that he was enjoying himself and generally getting into the convention spirit. As well as amusing Jenna with his portrayal of the doll, Inaki seemed to have quite the knack for manipulating the doll's movements with a single hand; using his thumb to move its left arm while his fingers lowered its head to meet it, causing the fabric version of Vash to bury his forehead in the palm of his hand. "I bet it was my dastardly brother that stole them!", he explained. Somehow, the doll looked angrier than its static features suggested by this point.

"Then we'll have to keep an eye out for him, little Vash," Nireva replied, beginning to lead her companions through the crowd. From what she remembered of the map of the convention floor, it was quite the walk from where they'd been standing to the Rooster Teeth booth but, with the premiere presentation being repeated across the weekend, there was no shortage of opportunities for Inaki to see what he'd had his eye on for weeks. In recent years, Rooster Teeth had been using their flagship series "Red vs. Blue" to experiment with freeform animation instead of solely filming everything inside Halo's game engine. By transferring the 3D models to some standalone software, they were able to make the SPARTANs move more fluidly and perform feats that they simply couldn't do inside the game.

To some extent, RWBY was an extension of what they'd learned complete with an entirely new aesthetic to widen their prospective audience. It wasn't every day that a group of people specialising in video game content decided to try their hand at anime and, from what little she'd seen thus far, the team had created something rather impressive. "He looks just like me and everyone gets us confused!", the doll "explained" as they walked. Occasionally, Nireva glanced aside at the plush being in Inaki's hand with a smile beneath her opaque visor. "He is a bad sort! Best be wary of him. But, have no fear, Vash is here to protect you two beautiful and innocent ladies."

"Beautiful and innocent?" Jenna finally chimed in with a snarky tone of voice. Given what the two of them did for a living, the latter descriptor seemed almost foreign to them and, if a woman couldn't poke some playful fun at her girlfriend, then how was she ever going to keep herself adequately entertained? "Whoever could you mean by that, Vash? To say that Nir--... uh, Tali here is innocent is like saying that she isn't sexy wearing that suit..."

"Perhaps you should go back to our quarters and have a nice cool shower, Miss Littner..." Leaning over, she gradually made her voice huskier as the mouthpiece flickered at the sound of her voice. It was hard to appear sultry and flirtatious when nobody could see her face but, knowing how much Jenna loved to hear her impersonation of Tali, all Nireva really had to do was speak. "Even wearing as little as you are, it's quite a hot day today, hm?"

"Yes, ma'am." Stealing a brief kiss on the side of Nireva's visor, Jenna took the hint and focused back on walking. She wondered just how many accents Nireva had been through in her long life. Having been around for four hundred years; only the last fifty-odd of which had been in the United States, the number of cultures and eras to which she must have been exposed would have caused historians to go weak at the knees. Although specials like her and Inaki were far from truly accepted members of society, immortals were still a goldmine of historical information; offering first-hand accounts of places and times long since passed. Books about the Renaissance could only tell people so much; far less than a woman who had actually been born there.

With that in mind, Jenna couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if Nireva was ever to attend a Renaissance fair. They cropped up in numerous places across the country and had been done in rural California more than once. Then again, there was every chance her girlfriend would get insufferably nitpicky, pointing out each and every single anachronism she could find. Having informed Inaki that she had a far idea of where the Rooster Teeth booth was located, he'd mentioned the possibility of meeting a quartet of cosplay models who had been drafted in by the group for the purposes of promotion. While, in recent years, the phenomenon of "booth babes" had been tapering out, there was still the occasional moment when having an attractive - or suitably built - model wearing a professionally crafted cosplay outfit was a great way to stir up interest in something. Volition had done it with the new Saints Row game, after all.

Rooster Teeth had found four women who had agreed to cosplay the four main characters of RWBY at their Comic-Con booth and, sure enough, by the time they rounded the corner to see it, the women in question were surrounded by a crowd of convention goers, all taking pictures of them as they posed together in an area specifically cleared to accomodate it. Even between showings of the first two episodes of the series, they had their work cut out for them. Around the main body of the booth, there was a series of notice boards, detailing the times at which they were going to be showcasing the new series. "Damn. Looks like we just missed one," Nireva sighed apologetically as she skimmed through the list of times. Sure enough, one of Friday's showings had ended twenty minutes ago and wasn't due to start again until four o'clock; a little under fifty minutes away.

"What're we gonna do while we wait, then?"

There were a few things Nireva had in mind for Jenna and Inaki to do. A couple of which were part of her own plans, such as getting them into the audience for her Cosplay Chess match and, somewhat closer to the present, to persuade them to swing by a certain booth once she started her shift there. She knew that Jenna would love it - and would likely have to be made to promise to keep a lid on her affection until they both got back to the hotel room - but Inaki... well, Nireva wasn't so sure about him. The environment might have been something he would like; especially as he would be able to indulge in some donuts with brightly coloured icing befitting the booth's decor and Vash's culinary preferences. But as for how he'd react to seeing her, given that her Quarian environmental suit and purple body paint would be nowhere in sight? Well, she would have to wait and see. For now, she'd keep things a secret. "Well, we're right next to a big videogame area, I think. We could have a bit of fun there for a little while."

"Y'know, Niri...?" Jenna said, smiling. Whenever competition was involved, she found herself tempted to drive her girlfriend into a wager she would be able to win. "I bet you couldn't beat me on the--.."

"No!" Nireva laughed loudly, clamping a hand over Jenna's mouth. She knew what she was getting at. With the area in question having a large variety of games, many of which were popular in Japan, it wasn't difficult to predict what would have been in attendance. "I am not going to play you on a DDR machine!" Aside from her cosplay making intentionally dancing far more exhausting than normal, especially in the midst of a crowded convention hall, Nireva was aware of Jenna's superior prowess when it came to memorising dance steps. She wasn't about to lose another bet to her manipulative, mischievous girlfriend. "And I'm already dressed up in a sexy outfit you like, so there!"

"Come on, Inaki," she said, beckoning him along. "We'll wander around for half an hour, then we'll come back here and get in line."

[Helena Rahal]

Slip away,
To clear your mind

Inaki nearly choked on his own tongue as Niri and Jenna playfully quipped at one another about his "innocent" comment. While Inaki knew that the two girls were hardly what *normal* people would call innocent, considering their professions, Vash didn't. There was also a part of Inaki that would say that both of the women were "innocent" in a sense, in that they were just two good people. Perhaps he was biased, being the stepfather of one and seemingly developing a friendship with another, but he would say both of them were definitely good people. The sort of people that Inaki would want around if ever in need.

"You two are so silly and adorable." Inaki said with a smile, finally dropping his little doll act. It was cute and fun to do, but at a certain point Inaki had to be himself again. Besides the sight, even if in the distance, of the Rooster Teeth booth had Inaki filling up with joy. To think that one of the main attractions for his trip to the convention was right there and he was going to see it on just the first day of the thing. Well this entire trip was turning into something of an excellent idea and he was really happy that Niri and Jenna had let him join them in the trip.

Unfortunately as they approached the booth, it seemed like they had just missed the showing of the first two episodes, with the credits rolling and people filing out of the area. Inaki did his best not to hear what people were saying, not wanting any of the scenes spoiled for him. That simply would not do with him this close to getting such a precious sneak preview of the heralded anime. To think that the self made company based solely on internet humor that started as four people making a parody of Halo had turned into this, it was simply amazing. They were truly living the so called American Dream.

Luckily it seemed that the shows were being done on the hour, but that still left a significant amount of time before the next showing. Jenna quite rightly asked what Inaki was thinking, what to do with the time in between. Niri, having an intimate knowledge of the layout of the halls, booths, and other sources of entertainment, noted they were not that far from the video gaming section. What proceeded after left Inaki in stitches as the Niri had to interrupt what seemed like a challenge coming from her delightful date.

"What's so bad about facing off with Jenna? I bet I could take her on!" Inaki teased, but it seemed it was lost on his host. Was this some sort of game between the lovers that Inaki was also not clued in on? If it was, it was highly amusing to him. Though with Niri saying she was already dressed up in a sexy outfit, Inaki got the impression that it surely was. Niri decided they would wander around for a bit before coming back for the show, but Inaki still had his curiosity piqued.

As they walked together, Inaki leaned in to whisper to Niri, speaking a little louder than his normal whispering due to the background noise and the presence of the helmet. Hopefully Jenna couldn't hear him. "So what was that about, what sort of stakes are your challenges with Jenna?" Though Inaki had a fair idea what they were, he wanted confirmation. Besides, he had no qualms if he lost and had to endure some outfit Jenna had up her sleeve but he was fairly confident he could defeat Jenna in a gaming challenge and turn the tables on her! That would be a sight to see he thought.

[Nireva Hale]

"You two are so silly and adorable." A little embarrassed by the sudden compliment, Nireva and Jenna both couldn't help but laugh. It had been far from a regretful decision to bring Inaki along and what would have simply been a weekend away with her girlfriend had become something far more. Nireva had enjoyed leading Jenna and her stepfather along the path towards enjoying the hectic chaos of a large convention, while Jenna had someone with whom she could share her inexperience. Both of them had something to gain from inviting Inaki along and they knew that he would jump at the chance to indulge in some geek culture while having the weeked off from his wife and children.

"So was your little doll performance!", Jenna remarked with a grin. In basic terms, it may have simply been a grown man playing with a doll but, in the world of conventions, social rules were relaxed in certain places. Between them, they had already seen three crossplayers pass them by in the aisles; members of the cosplay community who preferred the challenge of portraying a character of the opposite gender and at least one of the people dressed in a spandex Deadpool suit had seen fit to add an anime-inspired maid's outfit, just in case being a character who frequently left the fourth wall in pieces hadn't been quite enough. Although cosplayers weren't in the majority at Comic-Con, they were still very much a regular sight, sometimes making up one-fifth of the people who went through the door over the course of the weekend.

In order to spare them all from overhearing a spoiler-ridden discussion, Nireva led them away from the Rooster Teeth booth as quickly as the crowds would allow her and set out in search of the video gaming area she'd mentioned. Before heading up to San Diego, she had made a promise to herself that she would do everything in her power to ensure that both Jenna and Inaki had the best "first convention" experience possible. By doing so, she hoped she would have more people with whom she could travel to more niche gatherings, such as ones dedicated solely to anime. "What's so bad about facing off with Jenna..?" The inquiry from Inaki was something of a curve ball. She'd assumed that he already knew the reason why. Nevertheless, she heard him out. "I bet I could take her on."

"Well, she sometimes has a habit of playfully hustling me," Nireva explained. Despite the number of times her girlfriend had employed the same - or a similar - tactic, she'd somehow always found herself falling for it. Whether it was due to being drunk or madly in love with the woman, the reasons why were meaningless. Jenna, for all her good-natured friendliness, had quite the talent at being the manipulative bitch when she wanted something. "She likes to pose contests she knows she's capable of winning and then tries to talk you into some sort of wager." Raising her voice enough so that Jenna could obviously hear her, Nireva carried on. "She's quite a slippery customer when she wants to be!"

"Hey, come on!" Feigning offence, Jenna stuck her hands on her hips and tried her best to shoot an annoyed glare at the armoured woman beside her. The grin which pulled her lips apart certainly wasn't helping. "I am not a slippery customer! I just like the idea of friendly competition, that's all!" With Nireva busy talking with Inaki, it was Jenna who was the first to spot the light filled boxes which sat atop some of the larger arcade cabinets the organisers had provided for the gaming area. "Hey, I see it!", she announced, pointing her finger towards the end of the aisle. It's over there! I'm gonna go see if I can get some practice. See you over there!"

Speeding up her pace, Jenna eagerly rushed off to secure a spot on one of the machines, vanishing into the crowd in a flurry of crimson hair and bronzed skin. "So what was that about?" With Jenna well out of earshot, Inaki was able to speak more freely. "What sort of stakes are your challenges with Jenna?" There was quite the tale behind Jenna's love of friendly wagers; one which Nireva could quite easily go into.

"Well, we don't play for money, if that's what you mean." Given that both of them had a paying job, competing for monetary wagers just wasn't necessary for either of them. Instead, Jenna's wagers were more of an intimate variety. "Most of them, she uses them to get me naked for a day or to persuade me to dress up in something." In hindsight, she was able to look back on the aftermath of the wagers - including the ones she'd lost - and see them as a fond memory. Regardless of her feelings at the time, they had all been in fun. "One of the first ones she did when Jeopardy was on the TV. She suggested that we play along to the show and whichever one of us lost would do all of the chores around the house for the following weekend. Seeing as I wasn't really in the mood to do them, I agreed. Of course, this was before I realised that she's great at general knowledge quiz shows. I think she ended up beating me by around thirty thousand dollars. So, me being a woman of my word, I assured her that I'd go along with the forfeit."

Beneath her helmet, a smile spread across her face. "It turns out that, at around three the next morning, Jenna managed to sneak out of bed and take all of my clothes out of the wardrobe. Because I'm a pretty heavy sleeper and I..." She managed to stop herself from disclosing the fact that she always slept naked and backtracked a few words to hide the omission. "Well, anyway, I didn't hear a damn thing. So, when I went to get dressed the next morning, my wardrobe was completely empty, except for a skimpy French maid's outfit. She'd hidden all of my clothes somewhere and told me to wear the costume if I wanted them back!"

The wagers had followed a similar vein whenever Jenna had suggested them and, more often than not, Nireva found herself losing and being effectively honour-bound to adhere to the stipulations of the contest. The latest of these had been a month and a half ago, where for an entire week, Nireva was ordered to strip completely naked whenever she was home. Mercifully, Jenna allowed her to wear clothes whenever she went to class or did some volunteer work at the Jung Facility but, whenever Jenna heard her girlfriend arrive, she rushed into the hallway to ensure she obeyed the terms of her forfeit. With California being in the midst of a heat wave at the time, it hadn't been such a big deal. "Trust me. I'd be very surprised if she didn't try to talk you into some sort of bet. My advice? Look really hard through this section and find a game you're really good at before you agree to take her on."

"So, Niri!", Jenna called out as she saw the "Quarian" approach, gesturing towards one of the vacant DDR machines. "Care to step onto the dancefloor with your girlfriend?"

Nireva wasn't to be persuaded so easily, however and, to avoid another defeat, she played one of her excuses. "Wearing this?!" Her hand gestured to her tight-fitting suit. "You've gotta be kidding. I'd boil myself alive in here! Though I'm sure Inaki could be convinced... isn't that right, Mr. Stampede?"

[Helena Rahal]

I'm gonna fight 'em off
A seven nation army couldn't hold me back
They're gonna rip it off
Taking their time right behind my back

With Jenna out of earshot, scouring around for machines to get her practice in, Niri was more than happy to answer Inaki's inquiry. The explanation was quite the one that he had expected, all the same, it was hilarious to hear it confirmed. Why didn't he and Felicia play these same sort of games? ... Oh right, because a lot of the time Felicia was too busy looking elsewhere to get her rocks off. Grrr, they missed out on such cute and fun things like this because of that damn libido of hers! At least Niri and Jenna seemed to have a really healthy and happy relationship with all the fun perks.

"Sounds like you could sleep right through the end of the world if you slept through that Niri. No wonder Jenna was able to get you into that Nurse Joy ensemble that one time I encouraged her to." Inaki teased at his stepdaughter. The event in question had been the result of some fun conversations on an internet chat room. Inaki, being a bit in a silly mood, had sent the suggestion over to Jenna, not really expecting her to follow through on it. Instead, Inaki still had the picture of the pink haired, dressed in appropriate attire of Niri being the popular character from the Pokemon games and anime.

Inaki could faintly see through the visor the outlines of a smile on Niri's face. Although all of her features were not visible, her eyes as well as the outline of her nose and mouth were visible through the mask, much like the character itself. Niri had done an absolutely wonderful job on bringing the popular sci fi character to life, it was a real amazing talent. Yet it was that smile that was telling, Inaki knew she had fond memories of the wagers that her and Jenna had and was reliving them.

"I would not be surprised if she does not have some sort of challenge for me at some point already set up then. That's why this is the perfect chance, to nab her when she is least expecting it. It's almost perfect!" While DDR was certainly not a game that Inaki was a master at, there was an array of other games available to play that he was. And if Jenna insisted on DDR, well he would try his luck anyhow. It was all in good fun and they would have a laugh and a memory, regardless of what the wager was and who lost!

At this point, the pair had found their way over to where Jenna was waiting for them already, with a grin of expectation. It seemed as if the exotic dancer really wanted to egg her girlfriend into another go at the machine. Niri expertly deflected but then volunteered Inaki up for the challenge instead. It seemed that she agreed with Inaki that this was a good time to spring a surprise on Jenna. With a smile, Inaki gave a nod. Folding his arms together, he gave the very popular meme response. "Challenge accepted."

There was no way that Inaki was about to compete at DDR the way he was dressed through. He calmly removed his jacket and folded it before handing it over to Niri, along with his plush doll and prop pistols. With the unnecessary burdens removed, he gave his attention to Jenna. "Let's do this!"

[Nireva Hale]

Day of reflection, life of rejection!
Sometimes I need to want you. Say that you'll help me!
Please don't you let me! Sometimes I need to.
Are you so far gone? Every time it starts, you try to slip away!
______________________________Dry Cell - "Slip Away"

"Sounds like you could sleep through the end of the world if you slept through that, Niri." For as long as she could remember, Nireva had always been a heavy sleeper. She'd often chalked it up to having lived in noisy environment over the years, having little other way to adequately explain the trait but, as Jenna had discovered, it was a trait which could be twisted into a detriment for her. By being so hard to wake, it wasn't too difficult to sneak around her and prepare all sorts of pranks, such as stealing a wardrobe full of clothes. "No wonder Jenna was able to get you into that Nurse Joy ensemble that one time I encouraged her to."

How many times was that particular episode going to come back and haunt her? "Oh, please don't," she moaned, hanging her head for a moment. Although she couldn't precisely remember what had brought on the sudden challenge - for some reason, she'd linked it to a conversation about a costume party - Nireva knew full well that Jenna had taken pictures of her accomplishment and sent copies to Inaki. As much as waking up to discover she suddenly looked like the cute and friendly physician from Pokémon had been embarrassing, she found it difficult not to commend her girlfriend for being able to get her into the outfit while she'd been asleep in the first place. Having been stripped out of her regular clothing, Jenna had then somehow managed to slip her into the formal, yet tight-fitting nurse's outfit - complete with a pair of stockings and shoes - before placing the bright pink wig onto her head and setting the cute headpiece into the garish locks as a coup de grace.

With fingers that light and precise, Jenna must have been a renowned art thief in a previous life. There was no other explanation. "It's embarrassing enough when we're not at risk of reminding her. Just..." Trailing off for the moment, Nireva couldn't help but glance around to see if a certain red-haired sniper hadn't snuck back into earshot. As embarrassed as she was about the whole situation, she stll found herself smiling beneath the purple tinted visor. They'd only been together for a couple of years and, already, she was certain that Jenna was the perfect fit for her as a lover. Jenna was so young-at-heart and carefree and always coming up with ways to make their time together interesting. She hadn't had this much fun in decades!

Despite her earlier warnings, Inaki was still intent on trying to beat Jenna at her own game. With Nireva very much on a losing streak where embarrassing wagers were concerned, she was definitely averse to facing off against her girlfriend in case she had some sort of sly trickery in mind. Her stepfather, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind. Maybe, deep down, he was too thick-skinned to particularly care if he lost. After all, he was married to her mother and there weren't many people in the world capable of intentionally spending time with Felicia Rahal. "I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't have some sort of challenge for me at some point already set up, then." Honestly, Nireva was surprised that Jenna hadn't tried something along those lines already. "That's why this is the perfect chance; to nab her when she is least expecting it! It's almost perfect!"

Jenna was slightly disappointed when Nireva elected not to take the bait but, when she delegated the honour to Inaki, the spark quickly returned to her eyes. "Well, Vash?", she asked, regarding him with a grin. "Care to show my girlfriend how things are done? I'll go easy on you, promise!" The first of Jenna's usual pre-hustling lies. Without fail, she explained how she would ease her opponents into the challenge or how she wasn't as adept at the activity as she truly was. Maybe she would go easy on Inaki. For a minute or two. Nevertheless, the red-coated man was undeterred. Folding his arms, he narrowed his eyes in a defiantly thoughtful expression and responded with a simple, challenge accepted.

"See?" Jenna gestured towards Inaki as she watched him hand over his trenchcoat, plush doll and prop pistols to Nireva for safe-keeping. "Inaki isn't a total spoilsport!" Rubbing her hands, she made her way over to the nearest DDR machine. For the purposes of the convention, the cabinets had all been set to free play mode, meaning that they no longer required the usual coin payments to allow people to start playing. Although she did play on such machines from time to time and was definitely better at them than her girlfriend, Jenna was holding something of a secret close to her chest. The last time she'd been on a machine had been six months ago, when she and the other girls from the Plan B club had celebrated a colleague's birthday. Her tactic had hinged on being able to rope Nireva into being her opponent - someone she knew she could consistently beat - but, with Inaki stepping up in her place, things were on the verge of backfiring.

"Let's do this!" Were she to back out now and choose a different game, her companions would have known something was amiss; that her plan was subject to circumstances which hadn't occurred. Instead, she pressed on, hoping that Inaki wasn't a closet DDR champion and that she would be able to scrape her way to a victory. "You got it!" In addition to her cosplays for the weekend, Jenna had made enough space in her cases to pack a couple of outfits specifically for any forfeits she managed to weasel her companions into. Originally, she had settled on costumes which were in her size; a size which, coincidentally, she shared with Nireva. But, once she'd learned that Inaki was coming along, she'd switched them out for outfits which could stretch to accomodate a range of sizes.

After ensuring that they were both ready to play, Jenna began to scroll through the list of songs. She wanted something that wasn't insanely difficult, but would prove enough of a mutual challenge to keep things interesting. And to keep Inaki's hope for victory alive for as long as possible. "What do you say..? Loser has to order and prepare dinner dressed as a ballerina?" The mischievous grin was impossible to hide as she selected one of the songs from the list and glanced across at Inaki, hoping for his agreement.

[Helena Rahal]

I'm not crazy
I'm just a little unwell

Inaki was disappointed that the challenge was going to be at DDR. It was a game for those with a good amount of coordination, something that he was not strong in, at least so he thought. His hand-eye coordination and hand-feet was probably fine, but when they got mixed together, the results were not always great. DDR was quite unfortunately something that required them to be worked in unison and it put him at a disadvantage already.

There was a crutch for Inaki though, those dancing lessons that his mother taught and then the semester of formal dancing he had taken as an elective. While ballroom dancing was certainly a far cry from the sort of movements that the game machine was going to require of him, it had gotten him more used to moving in these sort of situation. There was also the combat training that he had undergone for the Company, which had sharpened his coordination that much as well. Jenna was truly in for a challenge and Inaki was going to go all out on trying to flip the script on her!

The wager itself was a fairly amusing one, serving dinner as ballerina. There were more embarrassing or crazy things that Jenna could have come up with, perhaps she was truly going easy on Inaki. Well, that was certainly nice if she was, that did not mean however that Inaki was about to tone down his efforts. There was Niri's revenge to take into account as well as the weird satisfaction he was getting at the thought of hustling the hustler.

"I accept the wager." Inaki said calmly, not letting Jenna in on how pumped up he was for this. Yet just to add a little clue to the situation that the exotic dancer had found herself in, Inaki had a display for her. He began to stretch out his legs and calves, reaching down trying to touch his toes for a few seconds before then pulling one leg up behind him then another. He also rotated his torse a bit, getting all loosened up, before cracking his knuckles and his neck. It was over dramatic he knew, for just a little bit of sport with the game. However it was fun and he had been waiting for a chance to do it!

Inaki then waited for Jenna to select the song from the vast selection the machine had been loaded up for the convention. It allowed all the various genres to be represented so that their audience could have a good time regardless of their musical tastes. Jenna's choice was not an insanely difficult one, though it definitely was going to prove challenging for Inaki, especially as he was wearing trousers. Never the less, he still was feeling like this could turn out well for him.

"Drop it!" He exclaimed right as the music began and thus the competition for the ballerina dinner!

[Nireva Hale]

Her opponent may not have been who she'd envisioned, but the sudden change in plans wasn't about to dissuade her from seeing her own challenge though to the end. Unlike her girlfriend, Jenna was already at ease with what she would have to do were she to meet her own defeat. She wasn't going to protest and, as per the unwritten code of humiliating, yet friendly wagers, she would quite happily put on the bubblegum pink ballerina dress, strap her feet into the cute pumps and do what needed to be done. Of course, that wasn't to say she wanted to lose. At the end of the day, her time on the DDR machine with Inaki was a contest; one she intended to win.

"Come ooon, Inaki...!", she taunted, mistaking his silence for indecision. He had every right to back out, of course but, now that the two of them were actually on the podium, it was a course of action that must have seemed a little hard to take. While she waited, her fingers jabbed at the selection buttons, shifting the menu back and forth in order to avoid the game's in-built inactivity sensor. Although the machine had been set to allow a limitless amount of time in order for a player to select the song they wished to play, it was quite a lot harder to force it to forego its usual trip to the main title screen after three minutes. "Think how Niri would feel if you beat me. You'd be her knight in shining armour, saving her from yet another costume change at my hand!"

It felt strangely fitting to paint herself as the villain of the piece, given that it was her wagers that had put Nireva through so much "grief". All that was missing from her short-lived charade was an evil cackling laugh. Instead, she settled for a sly grin as Inaki turned to look her in the eyes. "I accept the wager." Even knowing what she had managed to dress him up in one Christmas, his acceptance was still a little unnerving, though nowhere near as much as the stretching exercises he started performing in preparation for their upcoming duel. Cracking his knuckles, twisting his torso, pulling his heels up to the back of his knees one by one? He was even bending down to touch his toes.

Unwilling to delay things any longer, Jenna took a look at the screen and, once she was sure that she'd chosen the right song, she hit the large electric-blue button in the centre of the console. With the machine hooked up to an external sound system, the game's sounds played loudly for everyone to hear and, as soon as the opening beat to the popular remix of Sporty-O's "Let Me Hit It" began to play, heads quickly began to turn. And when they saw that one of the dancers was cosplaying as Yoko Littner, the crowd quickly began to gather. With the popular internet video pairing the Gurren Lagann character to the piece of dance music being seen by millions of people, it was a scene most people in the convention hall recognised.

The music got her to make her body move...!
It got me feelin' like I wanna take her home!
But I've been drinkin' like I might not make it home!
She got that body language when she struts her stuff!
She a bad girl and I can't get enough..."

In time to the beat, a trail of single arrows began to make their way upward across the screen. It was simply a way to get the beat of the song into the player's heads before the rest of the instruments joined in. Shifting her foot outward, Jenna began to hit the correct pad with her heel, keeping her movements to a minimum so as not to waste any much-needed energy. There might have been some players who only played DDR for the quest to obtain the highest perfect score they could, but Jenna had no interest in reaching the top of the leaderboards. She only played games like this for fun and rarely strayed toward the songs featuring the near-incomprehensible flurries of arrows.

As the vocals died away and the drums started to increase in pace, the cheering at her back began to grow louder. It may not have been a performance at the cosplay masquerade contest, but it was certainly going to be a highlight of the day for some. The sporadic white flashes of cameras chronicling the sight of Yoko engaged in a dancing competition against Vash the Stampede accompanied the voices of the crowd as they began to get behind their favourite anime character of the two. And, as the final kick of the bass drum made the song fall into a short-lived silence, the whole crowd joined Inaki in shouting the two words each and every one of them knew was coming next:

" DROP IT!! "

For once, it didn't matter that the two cosplayers dancing weren't masters of the game they were playing. The fact that Yoko Littner was dancing to her unofficial theme song was enough to whip the crowd into a frenzy, cheering both her and Inaki on as they lost themselves in their contest. Jenna's face momentarily darkened at each mistake she made; a misplaced foot or a faulty spot of muscle memory causing her to hit the wrong panel and cause her streak of consecutive arrows to crash down to zero. Although the song itself was relatively simplistic, the dance steps in places were anything but, sometimes trying to throw her off by expecting her to stomp her foot for (almost) every beat of a drumroll one minute, then simply hold her feet in place on a pair of panels the next. And, to make matters all the more disconcerting, Inaki - for all of his semi-fearful looks he'd given both her and the machine earlier - was actually managing to keep up.

Although the exact score they'd both amassed was a blurred mystery, the first couple of digits which headed the screen on either side barely left the lockstep in which they'd been since the start. Whenever Jenna tried to pull ahead, Inaki stepped up his game and clawed back the deficit. The one thing she had tried to prevent was a closely-fought battle and yet, here one was, from an opponent she hadn't expected. The song, slightly abridged in order to prevent people from dancing to the same song for minutes on end, drew to a close after two and a half minutes and, as they both slammed their feet down on the panels to hit the last set of arrows, the scoreboard for the both of them exploded into a shower of pixellated shards. A few seconds later, the results screen faded into view. The screen charted the various statistics of both players; how well timed their responses to the arrows had been, the fluctuations of the energy bars which governed success and failure and, more importantly, their grade and score.

With her hands on her hips as she caught her breath, Jenna leaned forward...


...and her brow instantly furrowed.

While she had managed to keep near-perfect time through just under ninety-four percent of the song, enough to earn her a very respectable A grade, Inaki had somehow managed to do so for a grand total of 95.01% of the song's whole duration. He had managed to land himself an S-Grade by the absolute narrowest of margins.

She'd actually lost.

"Well, shit," she muttered.

[Helena Rahal]

I want to hold you high

If Inaki had merely been a spectator rather than a participant of the event, this might have been a highlight of his day. With two cosplayed characters going at it with all their might in a competition of skill. It was something out of a geek's bucket list, especially for some of the Generation X who had grown up with old school anime and DDR. The amount of flashes Inaki saw while performing his moves told him that this indeed was a spectacle that fans were taking in.

And by the look of things, Jenna definitely had the upper hand in her selected game for the competition. Pulling off the moves as they came scrolling down with the ease of a professional, while it was taking Inaki all the coordination in him to even stay within touching distance of Jenna's growing score. Keep in touch he did though and Jenna was never allowed to pull too far out in front of Inaki as he began to get into the flow of it.

Inaki knew the song well enough to know that it was coming to an end quick and Jenna still had the lead on him. It was shrinking with every second but there was no way Inaki was going to be able to overcome it with as little time as there was left. The spectators rooting on Jenna even began to chant about Vash in a tutu and she had quite the crowd behind her. The smaller but equally as vocal crowd behind Inaki kept shouting him on even if they were unaware of the dilemma for their chosen champion.

There was only way Inaki was going to pull this off and it was either going to save his tail or make a fool of himself. Instead of merely using his feet to hit the required squares as the combos came in thick and fast, Inaki employed using his hand. It was convoluted and a move of a desperate man but if it helped him win. Inaki had to wonder what it looked to those around him, especially Niri. Go big or go home was the saying wasn't it, so Inaki was going big!

Slapping his hand down on the square as the last direction arrow passed, Inaki looked up in a glimmer of hope as the scores were tabulated. It was close, Inaki knew, but did he manage to pull off the comeback? Jenna had a very solid score and Inaki was afraid that dinner was going to be a bit ... frillier, then his own score came up! By the slimmest of margins, Inaki had managed to beat Jenna at her own game! "Huzzah!!!" Inaki let out with a shout and jumped up in the air in celebration.

Inaki bounced over to Niri nearly and was still jumping up with excitement when Jenna finally dragged her furorred browed face over. It was a look of annoyance and disappoint he knew, but she looked adorable still. "Aww chin up Jenna, you gave a great effort. I am sure your just going to look great as a ballerina though." Now that was a bit of a tease, but she was a beautiful woman. There was hardly an outfit that he could imagine that she could not pull off.

"That's all for later though, look at the time! We need to hurry up or else we will miss another showing!" Inaki said as he caught the time on one of the digital clocks. There was just ten minutes before the next showing of RWBY! Grabbing each of the girls with a hand, Inaki began to backtrack as fast as he could to the booth, not even bothering to get his cosplay completed again. There was no way he was about to miss another showing!

[Nireva Hale]

Noticing that Nireva had been holding parts of Inaki's cosplay, members of the crowd had asked her about the details surrounding the contest, assuming she knew the answer to their inquiries. She did and, seeing no harm in informing them about the bet Jenna had put forth, she'd revealed it to anyone curious enough. Within moments, chants of "Vash in a tutu!!" began to ring out around the DDR machine, quickly countered by the people in Inaki's corner shouting "Ballerina Yoko!!" in a weird call-and-response which would have been nothing but strange without the context of the cosplays worn by Nireva's girlfriend and stepfather. If Nireva wasn't going to take part in the dancing, then she would at least do her bit and get the crowd stirred up. Inaki and Jenna may not have realised it at the time but, regardless of the outcome, she would come out ahead. Either she got to witness Jenna orchestrate another prank where Inaki would be dressed in a princess-like garb or she would finally see her girlfriend wearing a cute costume as one of her wagers backfired.

As Inaki threw up his arms in victory, Nireva couldn't help but join in the cheers which rose from her stepfather's side of the impromptu audience. She wanted Jenna to lose and now, thanks to Inaki, she finally got to see her girlfriend's comeuppance. While Inaki was almost bouncing his way over towards her, Jenna trudged slowly off the DDR machine's neon-lit podium and navigated her way around the audience with a defeated look on her face. This defeat now meant that she was mandated by her own wager to serve dinner to both Jenna and Inaki while dressed up in a complete ballerina's costume; one she hadn't been intending to wear.

"Aww... chin up, Jenna." It sounded slightly odd to hear Inaki taunting a defeated opponent but, as he smiled at his costumed companions, neither one of them commanded him to stop what he was doing. Even Jenna, who knew the fate which awaited her, was aware that Inaki had earned the right for a little bit of gloating. "You gave a great effort. I'm sure you're just going to look great as a ballerina, though!" Managing a half-hearted smile, Jenna let out a small sigh as she collected her sniper rifle prop; its components bound together by a bunch of elasticated sweatbands. They were the only things she could find which kept them in a secure bundle without risking damage and allowing her to easily take them out and put them together. "On the bright side, at least I'm actually gonna be graceful in defeat."

Having studied performing arts in college, while her mind had been consumed by a desire to star in professional theatre, she had taken a few ballet lessons as part of her physical training. Some of the dances in the productions she'd studied required her to be able to have flexible legs and, out of everything she could think of, ballet was the best way to train her leg muscles. Although her skills had certainly waned over the years as her focus had shifted, she felt she still had enough of a grasp of the basics to turn her hand to just about any dance someone put in front of her. It was why she'd enjoyed DDR so much all those years ago. It was the ideal warm-up. "I'm looking forward to tonight, now," Nireva commented, sliding an arm across Jenna's shoulders. "This'll be the first time I'll have seen you in a tutu. I can't wait."

"Oh, I bet you can't," Jenna said, smirking as she began to cheer up. The defeat was already mostly forgotten and, while she was a little annoyed that her plan had backfired, it was still going to be a memory at which the three of them would laugh in the future; an anecdote Nireva would no doubt quote the next time her family gathered. "Who knows? I might be persuaded to give you a little lesson..."

Their moment of intimacy was brought to a crashing halt by, strangely enough, Inaki. Unlike Jenna, he hadn't forgotten their original reason for visiting the convention's colossal gaming area and, having seen the time on a nearby clock, his objective for the day was brought into sharp focus. "That's all for later, though. Look at the time!" Wow, he'd really had his heart set on catching the RWBY premiere, hadn't he? Unable to stop such a powerful desire, Nireva and Jenna were suddenly grabbed by the hand and ushered through the crowd. "We need to hurry up or else we'll miss another showing!"

As Nireva had expected, the queue had already started to form by the time they arrived at the Rooster Teeth booth and likely had been since their crowd-drawing contest. This time, however, the trio were early enough to secure themselves a decent spot in line. "Inaki, here." Now finally no longer moving, Nireva was able to return the bundle of prop guns and crimson trenchcoat to their rightful owner. "I nearly dropped these." If there was one thing she hated, it was to see a cosplay ruined, be it someone else's or her own. The helmet she was wearing was ruining her peripheral vision and covering the rest of the world in a dark purple tint. Although she could still see the world in a sufficient enough clarity to navigate the hall, it was far more tricky than she made it look. She had to take far more care in her steps. "Give me a warning, next time?"

With the line slowly starting to advance, the trio were gradually brought in range of a quartet of women, each of them striking a pose which complimented the one next to them. Both their outfits, hair styles and weapons matched the characters they portrayed and, combined, they were an almost picture-perfect cosplay of the main four characters of the anime they'd come to see; Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang. "Damn, that must be awesome fun to do," Jenna commented as she followed the lead of everyone else, taking out her cellphone and taking pictures of the cosplay group.

"What, being a cosplay model?" Such people were often viewed with ambivalence. More often than not, they were simply mainstream models working a job at the convention, being paid to advertise a product while dressed up in a flattering outfit. There had even been stories of models being used as ringers for cosplay competitions, which had led to many of them tightening up the rules governing the bond between designer and wearer, often resulting in them mandating they be the same person. "I cosplay more for the social benefits, Jen. Buuut..." She smirked and eyed her girlfriend's figure. "I'd love to see you in that black outfit."

"Y'know, I think they don't allow rampant flirting in the auditorium." Jenna's voice instinctively hushed as the group were allowed into the booth to find their seats. The temptation to tear Nireva's helmet from her head and shove her against the wall was hard enough to resist when she was just being her normal, sociable self. When she slipped into girlfriend mode, however, she might as well have worn a bikini on the rocks and started singing. As the audience began to swell around them, the three of them settled in for the presentation Inaki had wanted to see all day.

"So that's who Rooster Teeth are, huh?" Thirty-five minutes later, Jenna was walking out of the opposite exit to the booth, flanked by Inaki and Nireva with a smile on her face. She wasn't really the type to intentionally seek out new anime shows on her own but, with Nireva's guidance, she had once again been shown something enjoyable. "Looks like I'm gonna have something to watch on my laptop. Though, I think I'm gonna hold off on it 'til Inaki stops bouncing off the walls." Flashing a smirk over her shoulder, she patted Inaki's coat-covered shoulder. He'd been quietly giddy with excitement for the whole performance and, like Jenna, had a desire to watch the rest of the series.

"Sounds like a plan, Jen." As they left the Rooster Teeth booth, Nireva was able to see one of the hall's many clocks, showing her the correct time. It was now under ninety minutes until she was needed elsewhere and, with the preparations she still needed to get done before then, she realised that the time to act was now. "But, I think you're gonna have to manage without me again."

"Oh, what..?!" Even though she was announcing her departure this time, the habit was a little disconcerting. She was meant to be their guide! Then again, Jenna had always held onto the belief that she was hiding something. "Where are you disappearing to now?"

"Well, the hotel room, first." With their hotel being right next to the convention centre, relatively speaking, the journey wouldn't have taken her too long to complete but, with orientation and preparation somewhat paramount for what she was going to do next, it was better to arrive at her next destination with as much time to spare as possible. "I need to get outta my cosplay... clean this body paint off me... fix my hair. And, after that? Well, it's a secret but, don't worry! I'll text you with everything you'll need to know soon, okay."

With a little pout as she realised she was going to be unable to change Nireva's mind, Jenna shifted the focus of her parting conversation. "Don't I at least get a kiss, first?"

"Sure." Taking off her helmet, Nireva revealed her purple-painted face and, with a brief wink, she leaned over and planted a loving kiss on her girlfriend's lips. "Trust me, Jen. You're gonna love what I've got in store for you. Have fun, you two!" And, with that, she put her helmet back on and vanished into the crowd. Once again, Jenna decided to take the lead in her lover's absence and, with a smile, she turned to face Inaki. "So! Got anything else you wanna go see today?"

Although she'd tried her best to dodge as many photographers as possible, there had been no way that someone dressed in a meticulously-crafted Quarian environmental suit was ever going to get from point A to point B without having at least one photograph taken and, while she'd made an effort to pull off her best pose for each one, the delays had only made her hurry down the street even more. Thankfully, her armour could more than handle the punishment, leaving her sweaty by the time she opened the door to her hotel room, but her armour completely unscathed. As soon as she was in range of something on which she could sit down, she set about getting out of her cosplay; pulling off the modified motorcycle boots - which had been a gift from Jenna - before unzipping the main body of the suit which had started out life as a diver's wetsuit. Due to San Diego being so warm when Comic-Con rolled around, Nireva had simply worn a set of navy blue underwear under her suit and, having taken her cues from last year, only her hands, forearms, shoulders and head were encased in a layer of purple bodypaint.

Nevertheless, she showered her whole body and, after washing, she began to straighten out and brush her hair. To her chagrin, dreadlocks were far from fitting for what she was set to do and instead, her ebon locks were left long, straight and formal. Knowing that everything else was going to be provided for her when she arrived - having given her measurements months before the convention had started - she dressed herself in some simple clothes and made her way back to the convention centre. Now no longer in a cosplay, she was virtually undetectable and unrecognisable as the Tali'Zorah who had passed through the entrance fifteen minutes ago. The only thing that marked her out as Nireva Hale, at least to the officials, was her convention pass, kept in a lanyard around her neck and, after flashing it to the guys at the doorway leading into the hall, she was allowed to pass.

Having a copy of the convention map on her phone, navigating her way around was much easier and, by giving the Rooster Teeth booth a wide berth in case her girlfriend and stepfather were still there, she made her way up through the aisles until the enlarged booth came into view. While officially referred to as a booth in the convention book for convenience, Nireva's destination was, in fact, a small prefabricated building which had been erected Ikea-style in a large open space near the section of the convention dedicated to Japanese culture. As well as stores selling various fashion items and imported goods such as CDs from popular bands of the region, there was a place where attendees could try their hand at taiko drumming, among many other things which many in the west associated with Japan, as well as a few things they necessarily didn't.

The front of the building was open to the customers who, understandably, given the place's purpose, were coming and going in an almost constant stream. But it was the side entrance which Nireva was interested in. From the outside, it simply looked like the entrance to a restaurant's kitchen and while, to a certain extent, it was, the majority of the unseen space also served as a backstage area. A staff member was posted at the door in order to ensure that no unauthorised personnel were allowed into the back of the building and, understandably, Nireva found herself momentarily stopped. No matter, she thought. "Uh, my name's Niri Hale?" Immediately, the staffer's eyes darted downward, first to the badge around Nireva's neck and then to the list on the clipboard in her hand. "I've got the evening shift today and I was told to get here early."

"Ah, here you are," the staff member replied brightly. Her list had the names of the volunteers, plus the days and times they were set to work. The rota had been finalised before the convention and now, all that remained was for people to show up on time. "All three days, huh? It's a good thing you're punctual." Holding the door open, she tilted her head in a gesture for Nireva to go inside. "Head on in. Your uniform is on the rack to the right. Just look for the bag with your name on it!"

"Thanks." With the woman's instructions firmly in mind, it wasn't long before she found the correct clothing bag and was zipping it open. The bags were to ensure that everyone working at the booth got the right sized uniform and, as Nireva took the bundle of elegant and mostly dark fabric out of the bag, she couldn't help but hold the topmost part of the outfit against the top of her torso and grin in delight. Jenna was going to love this...

[Helena Rahal]

It's hard to imagine
But one day you will end up like me

The queue was forming as Inaki brought Jenna, Niri, and himself to the booth once more. Luckily there was not a long line and it seemed they would get in before the showing began. Inaki was relieved and let out a heavy sigh of relief for it. The reprieve from his clutches let Niri remind him that he had failed to put back on his trench coat as well as holster up the prop pistols. "Oh, thanks for holding on to them. You're a life saver Niri!"

Inaki would not have forgiven himself if he had lost or damaged any part of his cosplay because of his enthusiasm to see the show. Luckily Niri must have had a vice like grip on the objects and had kept hold of them on the trek. He gave her an apologetic and thankful smile as he took the items back from her, slipping the coat back on and the pistols into the holsters on his belt. It felt good, if not warm, to once again have his cosplay complete. "I will try, though hopefully the next time wont need to be such a rush!"

Though what the next thing might be, Inaki was not quite sure. Besides seeing the RWBY premier and whatever it was that Niri had procured tickets for Jenna and himself, the rest of the weekends itinerary was blank. That was why Niri was so crucial to their little group, she knew what was going on where and at what time. Without her, Inaki and Jenna were just two fish in a big ocean and no sense of where to go!

As the line filed slowly into seats, the trio got a sight of the quartet of models that had been hired on to promote the anime at the convention. Inaki nearly blushed though when Jenna said that might be fun to do, as he was agreeing. Of the four, Inaki pictured Jenna to be quite like Yang, while Niri was most similair to Blake, though that was just his opinion. Inaki couldn't help but chuckle though as Niri said Jenna would be good as Blake which made Jenna tease back at her girlfriend.

"Well maybe not rampant flirting but a little pda is surely tolerated." Inaki teased at his companions. However it was just then that they were ushered into their seats and Inaki hushed his voice. That however did not stop him from squirming and nearly squealing in anticipation. This was the moment he had been waiting on for weeks since he had found out he was coming and half a year when the anime was announced. This was going to be radical.

The two episodes combined had been about twenty minutes in length and Inaki had fawned over the entirety of it all. It had lived up to his expectations and then some. There was definitely a series of oh my gods coming from him during and after the show. He was like a kid in the candy store that had just had their birthday as well. It was simply amazing and he was bouncing off the walls.

"Can you believe how good it was? Oh my god, it was wonderful and amazing. Grr, I want to see more of it now, argh!" Inaki said as Jenna conversed with Niri about how good it was. Inaki was trying to chime in but was just too lost in his own enthusiasm. He nearly missed that Niri was once again leaving the two of them alone again! "No! You can't! You're our leader, you know everything!" Inaki's pleas though were not enough and Niri was off once more.

"Well drats, now we're lost again." Inaki said with a bit of a pout. Niri was definitely up to something very peculair and being left in the dark was eating at him. However it seemed like she was completely content on keeping it a surprise for both Jenna and himself, so he was not about to press her about it. Not knowing what she was up to though or what was in store was just going to have to bother him until the surprise was sprung.

"Well I heard there might be a few games having demos going on here. You want to go check them out? Inaki answered as Jenna wondered if he wanted to check anything else out. With no idea how long until Niri was doing whatever she was up to, it seemed like the most fun way to pass the time. "Maybe we can play with instead of against each other this time."

[Nireva Hale]

I'm... trying to hold it together!
Head is lighter than a feather!
Looks like I'm not getting better! Not getting better!
______________________________Korn - "Coming Undone"

"No! You can't!" With how enthusiastic he'd been to finally get into the Rooster Teeth booth and see the RWBY premiere, it was almost commendable that Inaki had even noticed that Nireva was once again intent on parting ways with him. Of course, after witnessing something he'd had his heart set on for months, it took him a moment or two to finally control himself once more. "You're our leader! You know everythi--..." It was no use. With Nireva's girlfriend already having given up trying to delay her departure, Inaki eventually followed suit. His whole face slumped into a dismayed pout, his attention locking on his one remaining companion. "Well, drats. Now we're lost again," he remarked.

"I'm not so sure. Hold on." Hoisting her backpack from her shoulder, Jenna bent down and zipped it open. Already, there was quite the collection of items hiding within, such as her Yoko doll and some bottled water Nireva had suggested she take along, but she quickly rummaged through them in search of something else entirely. Upon her entry to the convention hall, one of the staffers manning the doorways had handed her what amounted to a branded shopping bag filled with a selection of convention-related items. Originally, she had decided to stuff it into her bag so that, hours later, when the trio returned to the hotel room, she could pore through it at her leisure.

But, for some reason, Nireva's departure had reminded her of one of the many conversations they'd had in the hundred-and-odd mile car journey from Los Angeles. Her girlfriend had mentioned something she'd called a conbook and, as she stuffed her hand into the shopping bag, Jenna quickly managed to find it. The conbook was a small, single-issue magazine which, apparently, almost every convention printed for its attendees. On the one hand, they were seen by some as collector's items; an indelible chronicle of an event which would only move further into the past as time went on. The vast majority of the books, however, weren't stored for any real length of time but, regardless, they contained a wealth of information; articles pertaining to some of the highlights of the weekend and, to Jenna's delight, a centrefold which clearly depicted a bird's eye map of the entire hall, showing where each and every attraction was located. By cross-referencing it with the timetables located elsewhere, it was enough to create their own itinerary.

"I knew it!" With her backpack zipped closed once more and thrown onto her shoulder, Jenna flipped the book over and held it open for Inaki to see the map of the convention hall. "Inaki, look. Niri mentioned these in the ride over." She felt a little stupid for not assuming the bag to hold more importance sooner but, with Nireva gone once again, her realisation couldn't have been better timed. With many of the booths on the map shown by the logos of the groups which manned them, it didn't take Jenna long to find the Rooster Teeth area and orient herself to her own position. "Y'know, there's a hell of a lot more things in this hall than I thought," she mused, noting that just about every vague box-like shape represented either a booth or a stall.

"Well, I heard that there might be a few games having demos going on here. You want to go check them out?" While it had been fun to play Saints Row 4 with Inaki months before the game released, playing videogames wasn't really her thing. More often than not, she was a spectator, watching Nireva play through her favourite games and cheering her on as she lounged beside her on the couch. "Maybe we can play with instead of against each other this time."

"Maybe later," Just like Inaki, she wanted to see as much of the convention as she could in the weekend she had before the three of them all had to return to their normal lives. Her defeat on the DDR machine however, regardless of how well she was taking it on the whole, had temporarily soured her mood towards playing videogames. She'd let herself be talked into it some other time but, for now, she wanted to leave them well alone. "Besides, most of those preview machines are gonna have queues just to play on them. We're better off doing something else for the time being; maybe tracking Niri down at some point?" Just how many times was her girlfriend going to vanish into the crowd and leave her on her own before this convention drew to a close?

There were far better things she - and therefore Inaki - could be doing than waiting for word on Nireva's whereabouts. She might have looked pretty good when she remained still and struck a pose, but a lifesized statue of Yoko Littner she definitely wasn't, regardless of how much Nireva might have wanted one as a birthday present. "Come on, Inaki," she commanded, consulting her new guide. The book may not have featured her girlfriend on any of the pages, but it was still an insight on what she could do and where she had to go in order to do them. "Let's go check out this Artist's Alley." As its name suggested, the Artist's Alley was a colloquial name given to the block of smaller, usually one-person stalls situated near the main vendor area. Just as many other conventions habitually did, Comic-Con was more than happy to provide independent amateur artists and pop-culture purveyors a space where they could have their works celebrated and meet their fans; both existing and prospective.

While some of the people simply sold things they had already created for the occasion, such as character posters, compilation books and t-shirts, there were others who had decided to do on-the-spot commissions for a small fee; turning the talents which had until now been used on their own visions over to the whims of the convention goers. If someone wanted something a little more special and personal than the mostly mass-produced items found in the main shopping area, then this was where they went to get it. An idea for which Jenna was no exception. One of the corner stalls had been claimed by an amateur manga artist and, according to the convention book, had done bespoke art for various fansites as well as limited edition covers for compilation books. At Comic-Con, he was trying his hand at crafting cosplay memories with a difference.

Instead of treading on the toes of both the amateur and professional photographers who came to conventions to expand their portfolio and allow the cosplayers something tangible to look back on, he had armed himself with a laptop, a digital camera and a full arsenal of drawing materials. While he did take photographs, they were used for little more than reference material, but were something he allowed the cosplayers to keep if they asked for it. With the photograph on his laptop, he was then able to see and draw the pose onto a thick piece of high-quality paper, which was then laminated in order to preserve the artwork and allow the customer to do as they wished.

Even for someone who hadn't been to a convention before, Jenna knew that such a feat was something which took time. "Hey there," she said, getting the man's attention. Seeming to be quite a popular attraction once people found him, he had just shown a trio of cosplayers the artwork he'd done of them and, from the looks on their faces, they were both impressed and happy by what they'd bought. "Are you busy right now?"

"Not at all," the artist said with an impressed smile as he took in the sight of both Jenna and Inaki's cosplays. Being a manga artist, research was part of his entire profession and, by that distinction, could probably name more cosplays than even Nireva. "Yoko and Vash, huh? Nice choice. You want me to do a picture of you both?" Being on a corner stall, he had managed to get lucky and have more than enough space for the reference photographs.

"Sure. How's it work?"

"Oh, it's easy. What happens is you two think up a cool pose you want me to draw and strike it over here." He gestured to the empty space by his stall. "I then take a couple photos of you and draw a manga version of it, which gets made into a poster you can take home. And, if you want the photo for something like your Facebook page or even on your phone to show to your friends, I can email a copy of it over to the both of you where you can do whatever you want. Of course, if you don't wanna give me your email address, then all the photos are going up on my DeviantArt page in the exact same quality, so you can just download them from there. It's no big deal. They usually take around thirty minutes to an hour, based on how complex it is so, as long as you come back before the convention ends, you'll be able to collect it whenever you want."

"Sounds good." It was definitely something she'd want to show off to Nireva; a special hand-drawn picture of her and Inaki her girlfriend had missed out on being in because of her disappearing acts. After handing over the rather reasonable amount of money, she set about putting her rifle together. "Hey, Inaki! Come here!" She already had a pose in mind. With both Yoko and Vash being known for the guns they wielded, what better thing to represent than a gun fight? Although he'd taken to striking poses for photographers rather well, she decided to help him out regardless. "Okay, take your guns out and aim them at me."

By slowly moving through the improvised scene, Jenna found it easier to explain where he wanted him to freeze. "Then I do this..." She slowly pushed Inaki's left arm aside by pushing against his forearm as though countering a punch. "...and, while you're still reeling, I try and get you like this!" Bringing up the butt of her colossal rifle, she angled it towards the top of Inaki's forehead and froze in place, hoping he'd follow her lead and do the same. The scene was set. Yoko, engaged in a fight against Vash the Stampede and trying to bludgeon him unconscious with her rifle so she could collect his maddeningly large bounty.

"Oh, I love that one..." There weren't many people who had approached him and asked him to recreate a fight scene. He'd always loved to draw the action scenes in manga and, to his delight, a pair of cosplayers were requesting he do another. "Okay, thanks, you two!" After taking a photograph with his expensive camera, he sat himself down and allowed them to relax and drop their pose. Taking a note on a small piece of paper, he looked up at Jenna. "You can both swing by to pick this up, or just one of you. So it's Naki aaand..?"

"Inaki," she quickly corrected, emphasising the first letter of his name. "And I'm Jenna."

"Sorry about that. It's a little loud in here most of the time. Okay, Inaki and Jenna. Right. Like I said before, it shouldn't be more than an hour, but feel free to check back with me whenever. I'm gonna be here all weekend. Have fun!"

With the backstage area somewhat limited by the need for cooking and other food preparation appliances, it was almost a quarter of an hour before she finally had access to one of the five secluded alcoves they had repurposed into dressing rooms. They weren't anything like what could be found on Broadway, but they still offered enough space for the occupants to get out of one set of clothes and into another. Because of this, the marked clothing bags had a dual purpose; able to ensure that a volunteer's street clothes weren't mixed in with those of anyone else in addition to containing their uniforms for when they arrived.

"Before you all begin, there are just a few more things we're gonna go through, just in case any of you weren't volunteering last year." At the previous Comic Con, the organisers had decided to try and raise some money for various charities based in California. One of the most popular ways in which they had accomplised this was through the running of a maid café. Originating in Japan - both in anime and reality - the cafés were staffed entirely by young women who wore distinctive uniforms befitting the character they portrayed. Most of the maids' uniforms were the usual black-and-white, but there were rare exceptions to the rule in some places. As well as taking on the formal and polite mannerisms and forms of address often seen in old-fashioned domestic servants, they were also expected to be sociable with the customers in a way that simply wasn't done in the west. Conversation, playing board games and even having their photographs taken weren't activities which were unheard of.

Given the immense popularity of anime and manga in the United States, Comic-Con had decided to follow the lead of more focused gatherings like AnimeExpo - which had been held in the same building just a fortnight earlier - and try running one themselves for charity. Like the more established event, which had celebrated its twenty-second year, the café at Comic-Con had also allowed men to sign up and audition as the male equivalent; the almost model-like and impeccably dressed hosts. While they wouldn't be serving food like the maids, they were encouraged to do the rest of the sociable activities for those who requested their company. By doing this, they hoped to expand their potential audience and increase the total they would be donating at the end of the weekend by running it in tandem with the charity auction on Sunday.

"Firstly, remember to keep to the names you chose while you're working your shift." In a team-bonding exercise, the staff members had thrown a selection of Japanese names into a box - a separate one for the men and women - and had them choose one at random. By doing so, it helped to break the ice between the people who, otherwise, would have been strangers and also giving them a way to refer to one another while maintaining their anonymity. If they wanted to disclose their real names after they finished their shift, they were more than welcome to do so but, while they were at the café, one of the main rules was to stay in their assumed character. "Though you don't have to remember each and every single one. This is meant to be an enjoyable fundraising event for charity; for both the customers and you. So, if you weren't good with memory puzzles in high school, don't sweat it!"

Nireva had been tempted to use her stage name and be done with it but, wanting to go along with the same façade as everyone else, she'd thrown herself into the team-bonding exercise and ended up drawing the name Hinako. So Hinako she'd be. "Secondly, for those of you who noted their dancing skills on the audition form, the staff will let you know when a performance is about to come up. Other than that, just make sure you can remember all the steps." Not wanting to draw attention to her career as an exotic dancer, Nireva had lied - much to Jenna's dismay - on her audition form by neglecting to list it among her strengths. While she could dance to some reasonable degree - usually with the aid of a fifteen-foot pole fixed to a podium - she was more adept at the improvised and freeform routines she did at the club as opposed to learning things like the Hare Hare Yukai; a dance featured during the outro to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and popular among the more inclined people at conventions.

In addition to asking for each performer's strengths and weaknesses, the audition form had also asked for a record of their measurements. With these, the organisers were able to supply each of them with a complete uniform which fit correctly. The male hosts wore a fashionable and slightly anime-inspired suit and shirt ensemble and some simple black shoes, while the maids had been given a dress - the style of which they had been allowed to choose to some degree - a pair of black stockings and some footwear. Although it had been the more expensive choice, each of the maids' bags had contained two pairs of shoes, leaving the choice up to them. While many of the maids, especially the ones intending to dance on stage, had gone for the pair of black ballerina pumps, Nireva had elected to wear the strap-fastened heels along with her long maid's dress and the headdress which, with a satin ribbon, tied snugly under her chin.

"Other than that, there's nothing else to say other than remember the drills we went through and, above all else, have as much fun as possible!" The drills in question had essentially been roleplay exercises, done behind closed doors between the previous shift and their own in order to make sure that the new batch of employees knew how their characters were meant to act. With the go-ahead given, the latest group of costumed employees manning the SDCC Maid Café were allowed to file out into the main body of the building, for all who passed by to see. Before doing the same herself, however, Nireva sent a brief message to Jenna; Come to Booth 334A. It's between the anime and Japan Culture sections. You can't miss it! before setting her cellphone to silent and dropping it into the pouch-like pocket of her apron.

"Oh, shit. I think I see her!"

"Huh? Where?!" Despite being a prefabricated building, the maid café had been fitted with perspex sheets which served as windows and, from a distance, Matt and Tanya had watched the maids and hosts stream out from the back of the glorified booth. In order to stop her long hair getting in the way, Nireva had put it up into a bun backstage and, as she strode out in her uniform, looked rather a lot different than her convention companions remembered seeing her. Right now, the only think marking her out from everyone else was her clothing. The skirt of her uniform stretched down to her ankles while those of the other maids were lucky to make it beyond the knees. "There!," Matt reiterated, pointing politely towards the window so that only Tanya could see. "She's wearing the ankle-length skirt, I'm sure of it. You seen Jenna or her other friend, yet?"