“… We really should’ve just waited for the next tram from the start.” Tania sweatdropped as she and Daniel found the next one more buzzing with amicable background activity than stuffed more tightly than a box of sardines. They had even managed to catch a pair of seats!
Backpack slung into her lap, she absentmindedly played with the small Gao Mako tag that inconspicuously hung from one of the zippers.
Gazing out of the window, the town of Cap Flortia stretched out with a wonderful view across the central bay. The scenery shifting from a view of the more industrial part of the town towards one focused on the cozy residential area as they drove further westwards.
It was from here that the rock formation at the very centre of the bay stood out against the azure waves. A gate of two pillars holding up the arch above, the opening within it describing a nearly perfect half circle from this distance.
“Huh, cool… that gate’s named after you…” Daniel suddenly spoke up, startling Tania out of her admiration of nature’s beauty. He had been looking around the net when he discovered that Cap Flortia had its own Town Website. It was only available over the town’s own private network, which was why he hadn’t found it previously.
“Wait, really…?” Tania turned to him with sparkling eyes and he nodded with a grin.
“Yeah, it’s called…. Ah, no. My bad, read it wrong. It’s Tiana Gate, not Tania Gate, sorry about that.” Daniel apologised sheepishly, rubbing his neck.
“Muh, and here I was getting all excited.” Tania pouted as she crossed her arms. A teasing grin flitted to her lips. “Not like you, you avid reader, misreading something like this~”
Gracefully he accepted his defeat and between enjoying the view, decided to actually look up Sarah’s Paperglass account. He hadn’t gotten to that yet despite writing the link out for Natalie. A few seconds later her front page opened up and he flitted over to her personal forum. And wide grin came to his face and his eyes shone with impish delight at what absolutely dominated her favourite topics. Fate had apparently decided that there was no rest for the wicked, or the cute as it may be. Checking over on her EGO, the facts were just further validated and he to hold back an evil snicker.
“What you grinning about?” Tania narrowed her eyes at him, she could feel him shake with amusement!
“Ah, just read some dumb comments…” He replied with a grin, having quickly switched to Sarah’s video of their little altercation the day before.
“Ugh, this is going to haunt me forever…” Tania groaned.
“Well, it hasn’t turned into a viral meme, yet.” Daniel mused in banter and she shuddered in horror.
———
Cap Flortia was roughly split into three segments: The middle that was an exotic mix of homes and unique shops, the residential area to the east and the industrial and shopping area to the west. The Event Hall, and with it the Anime Convention, was located at the border of the middle and western area, near the coast, with the town’s lush green park just a shot hop across the street away. The building itself was a massive box of modern aesthetic, dominated by grey blues, silver and many windows, and had been finished only a few years ago.
A massive crowd had gathered before the entrance that was alight with deafening chatter. As Tania and Daniel hopped out of the tram they didn’t need to search long to find their friends waiting for them. They had gathered at the less overcrowd gate slightly offset from the main entrance, it was for those who had already bought their tickets ahead of time, and by the looks of it Natalie had managed to get her hooks into Sarah. The blonde cheerfully chatted with them and was joined by another girl looking a bit awkward and out of place but smiled anyways.
The late duo jogged over and Daniel’s suspicions regarding Sarah’s presence were all but confirmed when Natalie wagged her eyebrows knowingly at him. Grinning wide as she saw him flash an inconspicuous thumbs up.
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“And there are the stragglers, you took your sweet time!” Maria waved animatedly, giddy whipping on her feet.
“How was the sardine box?” Daniel replied. “Because we had some wonderful nice seats.”
Maria froze and then narrowed her eyes with devilish intent.
“My revenge will be swift and deadly, mark my words! Also, absolutely horrible, I can still smell the sweat and stench…” She shuddered in disgust before turning to Tania with a solemn nod, smiling evilly. “Which is why I’m not even going to bother to warn you~”
“Warn me about what?” Tania blinked confused.
Daniel had already blocked out Maria’s response with long practiced skill and had turned towards Sarah and the new girl in the meanwhile.
“And we meet again, Sarah. I’m Daniel, whose the new girl?” He grinned, glancing at the girl with rust red hair who gave a small smile.
“Name’s Elise, I’m basically this girl’s common sense. Otherwise I think she would’ve already drowned our place in plushies and merch and I would have to deal with a girl so deep in the red that she could’ve financed a mansion with all the money.” Elise answered, poking her thumb at Sarah who let out an embarrassed squawk of denial that made her grin.
Elise was small, about Maria’s height, and was dressed in a dark, emerald blouse with a black jacket thrown over. A pair of stylish, black short shorts hugged her hips. And she was stacked, voluptuous curves filling out her chest and backsides of the shortstack.
“Ah, the same weakness as Luna, then.” Daniel nodded wisely and then looked back and forth between those, Natalie and Jake. Luna had cutely hidden herself behind her boyfriend, the getting-stuck-endangered girl surprisingly shy around strangers.
“So, what important talks did I interrupt just now?” Daniel asked.
Their group of now eight began to slowly make their way towards the ticket scan as there wasn’t a need to wait any longer. Sarah had quickly answered his question before Elise could get the word, they had wondering about the incredible amount of people visiting the con.
“Yeah, I did notice… a bit more than you would expected from a new one…” Daniel agreed, sweatdropping lightly at the massive crowd still waiting outside.
“Apparently it went kinda viral and then the town decided to sponsor the event to support the crowds.” Jake stated and looked up at the hall with a chuckle. “And I think they wanted to finally get a good use out of this place.”
“I’m surprised how many amazing cosplayers are here…” Luna added shyly, slowly inching out of her hiding place behind Jake as they came to short halt at the still long but not overcrowded queue to the ticket scanners.
“Anyways!” Natalie chimed in with a wide grin. “We’ve also been talking about EGO Vids and WhiteDoves.”
“Sarah’s completely obsessed with that one shark girl whatshername, Gao Mako.” Elise didn’t even hesitate to jump in with a grin, startling Tania out of her confusion as she had only listened with half an ear.
“I’m not obsessed! … I just really like watching her.” Sarah defended herself with a pout, visibly holding herself back from babbling about everything and all Gao Mako related. “She’s on break, though…”
“Hey, maybe she’s here for the con, too!” Elise teased her before shrugging. “But eh, I found her just okay. But then I’m not really into watching people play and talk. Just isn’t my thing.”
“That’s fine. I still like her.” Sarah stated clearly with a smile, making Elise snort.
“I would’ve said you liked her for the both of us but that would be an insult to the entire school of people you have become the proxy of.” The smaller girl teased.
To the side Tania had started dying of embarrassment as Sarah started talking all about why she loved watching her other persona. She had no idea how her face hadn’t turned into a second sun already. It was one thing to get complimented through social media and other online comments, a totally different feeling to actually hearing people talk about her like this.
And of course Maria had cheerfully jumped at this opportunity and fished for more with her questions, even Luna joined with an amused twinkle in her eyes. Though she kept it more casual, throwing Tania a sheepish smile.
“What’re your thoughts on her, Tania? I noticed you have one of the first tags she sold.” Sarah suddenly asked her with a curious smile.
“I, ah….” Tania stumbled over her words, feeling ver pot on the spot. Sweating hard, it was all she could do to not start fidgeting wide eyed in search of any answer. What was she supposed to say?! Was it conceited to say she liked Gao Mako? AAAAAH!!! She screamed internally.
“Ah, your tickets please…?”
Luckily before she could completely freak out, or Daniel felt bad enough for her to jump in as rescue, the guy behind the ticket scanner called out to them.
“Oh, sorry.” Sarah apologised sheepishly as she went first, oblivious to thinly veiled sigh of pure relief that Tania exhaled.
Slowly the group showed their tickets and stepped into the vast hall, gazing awed at the myriad of booths and stands and attractions and more that stretched out before them. Large banners fluttered softly above, directing to official booths, exhibitors, indie creators and so much more. Most prominently displayed was the way to the main stage where the cosplay contest took place among other shows.