Volume 13 - ComicMon, Chapter 97 - A Lesson On the Classics
As a con director, Mara's duties kept her busy the majority of the time, but she also made sure to break away sometimes to experience the convention herself. There was one panel she especially wanted to catch that heavily tied into her gaming interests. It was about Dungeons & Dragons, or more specifically, the original Monster Manual book.
Mara wasn't big on tabletop RPGs, since it had been nearly impossible to find other players back on Maratus, but she'd played hundreds of video games that had been built on D&D's genre-defining legacy. This panel planned to delve into that legacy and how D&D's monsters reflected real-world liminal races.
Mara waved her Director badge to skip the line and picked a seat right at the front. She flipped it around to accommodate her spider-abdomen better, then settled in. She felt a little bad about taking the best seat in the panel room, but thanks to her short height, at least she wouldn't block anyone else's view of the presentation.
She'd invited the other girls to join her, but they all had other panels they wanted to see at the same time. She thought, Oh well, those non-gamers probably wouldn't appreciate the nuances anyway.
The panelist table was empty even though the room started to fill up with attendees. But then there was a tall, pale man sitting in the center seat, right in front of Mara. She blinked in confusion, all six eyes fluttering. Wait… When did he get there? I didn't see him come in at all.
Once the entire line of attendees had entered and found seats, the man stood up and cleared his throat quietly. Every whisper and rustle in the room stopped dead. The man had an undeniable presence that seemed to demand respect, even though he was just standing there casually. He had long straight black hair and pale white skin and he wore a classy black button-up shirt. Despite his grim colors, he had on a warm smile.
"Hello and welcome to my panel titled 'The Monster Manual: Reality in the Fantasy'." He pressed a hand to his chest and said, "My name is Andrei, and I apologize if my verbiage is a little off. Japanese isn't my first language after all." He chuckled slightly at that, as if it was a private joke.
Andrei sat down and pushed the panelist table's microphone off to the side. With his clear voice and the surprisingly silent audience, he didn't need it. He looked out at the audience of 40 or so con-goers and said, "I'll start with a quick explanation of the Monster Manual for those of you that may not have encountered it."
He explained that the Monster Manual was one of the first additions to the fast-growing Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game franchise, and it was dedicated to depicting hundreds of monsters and their in-game stats. It was originally published in 1977 and had been reprinted numerous times, including updates to accompany each new edition of the core D&D game. The original Monster Manual had been incredibly popular thanks to its high production values and it being the first hardcover D&D product, and it soon held a place in tabletop enthusiasts' bookshelves all over the world.
Andrei leaned forward imposingly. "But that book holds many secrets that remain unknown to the general public to this day. What kind of secrets, you ask?" No one in the audience had asked, but they were certainly thinking it.
He smiled a closed-lipped smile. "Well, for starters… Some of the monsters in that book were purely fictional, created out of whole cloth for the D&D game, while others were based on existing myths or folklore." He paused for dramatic effect, then said, "But some of those bestiary entries were history's first descriptions of some real liminal races, otherwise undiscovered by humanity."
A single surprised gasp broke the audience's silence. Emboldened, a man called out, "Like what?"
Andrei leaned back and scratched his chin, pretending to ponder the question. Then he said, "Buried between mundane creatures like bears and famous liminals like succubi, there were a few sneaky gems. The mind-flayer is one of those, though they prefer the name 'illithid', at least if my friend Oradthnis is to be believed. Driders, now known as arachne, were another race revealed a few years later in a newer version of the book."
With a cryptic gleam in his eye, Andrei said, "You are probably wondering how those early authors of D&D knew about these liminals, and why they chose to write about them?"
Most of the audience nodded. They were hanging on his every word, totally enthralled. Even Mara had stopped bouncing in her chair. She was watching and listening with even more focus than she could manage during her guild's progression raid nights.
"I believe that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson had actually encountered some of these liminals and learned their secrets. But they didn't want to expose them to the prejudices of humanity. After all, even well-known 'mythical' creatures like Centaurs could have been met with outright hostility if discovered by humanity at large."
"Arneson and Gygax knew that humanity needed time and exposure to grow comfortable with the idea of sharing the world with so-called monsters, so they used their position as writers in the booming RPG industry to seed the collective consciousness." Andrei paused to take a breath, then continued, "Getting humanity used to the idea of 'monster-people' would pave the way for them to someday reveal themselves safely."
Mara knew at a gut level that his words were true. If humanity hadn't had decades to get used to the concept of driders and other forms of spider-people, there was no way they would have let arachne into their society. After all, even with all that prep time, there were still people that hated arachne.
A woman's voice called out then. It wavered slightly as if she was surprised by her own audacity to talk in Andrei's imposing presence. "Um, how could you possibly know the intents of authors over 40 years ago, especially since they've passed away?"
With a knowing gleam in his eye, like he'd been expecting that question, he answered flatly, "Because I was there."
After a second of stunned audience silence, he added, "I am much older than I look, because I am a vampire. Until very recently, my life depended on keeping that a secret. I owe a large portion of my current freedom to those authors, who I am proud to have called my friends."
His heartfelt statement pressed down on the audience like an unseen force. He sensed their tenseness and said, "But let's not get too down about this. Let me share some happy stories about my wonderful friends."
Andrei spent a few minutes sharing some personal history, like how he met Gygax and Arneson through playing Dungeons and Dragons. Then he opened the floor to a more casual question and answer session.
The first question came from a petite kobold woman with short auburn hair around her fuzzy brown ears. As she stood up, a shiny ring hanging on her necklace gleamed brightly.
In a clear, confident voice, she said, "As a kobold, I've always been puzzled by the way that D&D started to depict kobolds as lizardmen. They had it pretty much right originally, so do you know why they switched?"
"Oh ho, nice catch," Andrei said. As he looked at the kobold woman, he noticed the tall man seated next to her. The man was very muscular and carried himself with intense poise, as if he was always on guard for trouble, but what captured Andrei's gaze was the man's eyes. They were glowing with a silvery light.
The vampire's voice caught in his throat and his composure faltered. He shook himself slightly and resumed, "Ahem, as I was saying, you certainly know your D&D to have noticed that."
Andrei looked out to the rest of the audience and explained, "The first Monster Manual described kobolds as tribal creatures that lived deep underground, and it depicted them with doglike faces. That was all spot-on. But it also said they had horns, scales, and no fur, which you can clearly see was wrong." He gestured toward the kobold woman to illustrate.
He continued, "Over time, the D&D books described kobolds as more and more lizard-like. The reason for this is actually quite interesting. As you all may know, kobolds were one of the first liminal races to come forth and work openly with humanity, in the years before the Cultural Exchange Act. What you likely didn't know is that thanks to their incredible wealth of natural resources, kobolds have been working with human governments in secret for decades."
A few murmurs ran through the crowd before Andrei resumed, "The kobolds already had a system that worked for them, so they didn't need or even want D&D's slow-exposure help. After the first Monster Manual was published, a kobold diplomat contacted Gygax. The diplomat corrected his flawed information, but asked him to change the game's depiction to something further from the truth so that kobold-kind could remain secret. The D&D writers complied with the request and built upon the book's existing inaccuracies to create a brand new creature instead."
The kobold woman bowed slightly, quite happy with that explanation, then sat down in her chair. The man next to her passed her a bright yellow object and quietly said, "Here you go, Callie." The object seemed to be a hooded hat based on the character Pikachu.
Callie took the hat and whispered , "Thanks, James." Then she leaned over and gave James a lively kiss. Such a kiss would have be been in violation of the Interspecies Protection Act if not for two things: the rings the couple wore on necklaces suggested they were already married, and the man's glowing silver eyes suggested he wasn't as human as he first appeared.
Andrei continued answering questions about arachne and illithids and being a vampire gamer for the rest of the panel's scheduled time, then he bowed and thanked the audience for attending. As the audience clapped and murmured their own thanks, Andrei was suddenly gone, nowhere to be seen.
Mara hopped off her chair and turned it back around. As she started toward the door, she muttered to herself, "What a handy skill, just disappearing like that. Vampires are badass." As soon as she said it, she could have sworn she heard a slight chuckle come from somewhere near the table.
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Out on the convention floor, con-goers were constantly interrupting the flow of foot-traffic to pose and snap photos of each other's cosplays. However, even non-cosplaying liminals were often asked to pose for photos. For fans of liminals and monstergirl culture, seeing a rare liminal species in person was an occasion worth commemorating with a selfie.
The most famous races may have had more fans but rarer species had a few dedicated fans too, like the jormungand fangirl that Iormu had met. Liminals with classic horror movie counterparts were among the most popular, so vampires, werewolves, and zombies enjoyed temporary celebrity status.
One such zombie could barely make it three feet between each eager fanboy photo-op. She had bright red hair and wore a yellow and black jumpsuit, zipped down enough to show some cleavage and a few lines of stitches. Given her cosplay-like outfit and the huge bag of doujinshi she was carting around, she looked like a regular attendee, at least until she lifted a hand to her ear and spoke into the headset there.
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"I've got visuals on the razorback. Almost didn't recognize him, since he's wearing a cosplay of some sort. The target's got pulled-back white hair and armor with spikes." Her tone of voice was far less serious than her military-esque vocabulary.
A meek voice responded over the secure channel, "Uh, I see him too. That's a Geralt cosplay, by the way… from The Witcher…"
A third woman, her voice stern and exuding leadership said, "The cosplay doesn't matter. Zombina, break away from your fanboys and pull him aside."
Before Zombina could reply, a fourth voice cut in, "No, I've got it. I've always wanted to be Triss."
"Doppel? What does that mean?" Zombina asked as she tried to wedge her way through a crowd of attendees and photographers. She was making slow progress, and she was afraid to push too hard and potentially harm a fragile human.
The quiet, feminine voice from before returned. "Triss is another character from The Witcher. I think Doppel's gonna transform into a cosplayer and recruit the target."
The stern woman sighed and said, "Thanks for the explanation, Manako. Doppel, don't get carried away. We're keeping a low profile today for a reason."
"Always the party pooper, Smith," Doppel responded, then the line went silent.
The topic of their conversation, a tall white-haired liminal with metallic spikes protruding from his body, was standing behind a booth in the artist area. Using the metal blade attached to his wrist, he continued carving a large block of wood until a voice called out to him.
"Hello there, stranger." The voice was almost palpably erotic, dripping sexuality like honey.
The man looked up and saw what appeared to be a beautiful red-headed woman wearing a tan leather tunic with blue-green sleeves. He smiled and said, "Hello. I love your Triss cosplay." Then he offered his hand that didn't have a blade currently sticking from it and said, "The name's Raz. What can I do for you?"
Doppel was surprised by the fierce-looking man's friendliness, so it took her a second to shake his hand. When she let go, there was a business card on his palm. She smiled up at him and said only, "M.O.N. could use a man like you. Give us a call."
Then her entire body shimmered and wavered and transformed. Suddenly a woman with long raven black hair stood before him. She wore an ornate black dress with dark cerulean feathers around her bare shoulders.
Raz could only blink in confusion as the woman now dressed as the character Yennifer waved teasingly and turned away.
With a grin, Doppel whispered, "Mission complete," into her headset and disappeared into the crowd.
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The convention had events scheduled until as late as 8PM on Sunday, but closing ceremonies started at 5. Mara and Chione were on their way to the main amphitheatre when they saw a blonde ponytail and pink horns peeking out over the crowd.
More specifically, only Chione saw them, as Mara was too low to the ground to see much of anything in the sea of people. Chione grabbed Mara's hand and said, "Come this way. I think I see Lethe!"
She wove her way through the crowd until it opened up a bit. Sure enough, Lethe stood before them wearing one of her trademark casual-yet-sexy outfits. She turned and saw Chione and Mara and her face lit up with a wide smile.
[https://i.imgur.com/A9Y9qL9.png]
"Girls! It's, like, so great to see you," she cheered in her valley-girl accent. "Sorry for disappearing after the con started, but this vicious court case came up and it's, like, eating all my free time." She shrugged her shoulders and added, "I finally just handed my work off to one of my cute junior attorneys. That's what those guys are for, I guess."
Chione grabbed Lethe's soft hands with both of her stony ones. "Don't be sorry. You've done so much for the con, even though you were busy. Thank you again. Thank you so much." Her cobalt eyes were glistening and enthusiastic as she profusely thanked the succubus.
Mara hopped up next to Lethe and stood on her tiptoes to get her eyes above the bottom of Lethe's distractingly short skirt. She said, "Seriously, Lethe. Thanks a ton. This con wouldn't have gone half as well without you here in Tokyo handling all that stuff. It's crazy how much you did for us."
Lethe blushed a little, but she seemed used to receiving praise. "Aw, it's not that big a deal. I was all psyched up by your super enthusiasm, and I wanted the con to succeed for my own reasons, too." She twirled a pigtail around one finger, then added, "I've already handed out dozens of business cards."
Chione tilted her head questioningly. "For your law firm? Do you do liminal rights cases or something?" she asked.
Lethe smiled mischievously. "Actually, I specialize in the adult film industry, and you wouldn't believe how popular the liminal-on-liminal side of that is getting. It's a bit Wild West right now without clear laws yet, so I'm helping some aspiring stars keep out of trouble."
Chione turned beet red. "Oh, that's cool," she said, clearly uncomfortable with the lewd topic.
"Hell yeah it is," Mara said enthusiastically. She grinned up at Lethe and asked, "If any of your clients do lesbian films, think you can send me a copy?"
"Of course, Mara," Lethe said with a nod.
"Ahem," Chione cleared her throat. "It was great seeing you again, Lethe, but we've gotta get to closing ceremonies."
Lethe smiled, unbothered by Chione's prudishness. She was happy to let people handle sexual matters at their own pace. "Gotcha. Seeya around, girls!"
They quickly exchanged hugs, then Mara and Chione jogged off. They made quick time to the 7th floor, then wound their way through the staff-only hallways to the backstage area.
Mara looked up at Chione and said, "I'm not dressing up all fancy today, so I don't need any help here. Do you wanna go get a seat in the audience?"
Chione shook her head, sending her cerulean hair flapping around her horns. "No. I'm gonna…" She trailed off, then took a deep breath and tried again, "I'm gonna go up on stage with you."
Mara's six eyes went wide. "Are you sure? I know you're not good with crowds, and I'm fine going up alone."
Chione shook her head again. "I'm going to do it. I need… to get better… with crowds that is."
Mara grinned. "Alright! I've got a schedule already, so you don't need to do much. And I promise I won't draw too much attention to you."
Chione nodded and fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. "Thanks, Mara." She already wanted to run away and hide, but she wasn't going to let herself back down from this.
Meanwhile in the audience, Yuisu, Haru, Tsuen, Iormu, Quess, and Pwess had claimed some seats and they were waiting for the closing ceremonies to begin. Since that was still several minutes away, they spent the time chatting amongst themselves.
Haru and Yuisu were shoulder to shoulder, speaking animatedly about a new liminal-centric manga series Yuisu had purchased. Iormu and Quess were smiling down at the tuckered-out slimelet in Iormu's arms and talking about how much good social experience their daughter had gained over the busy weekend.
Tsuen was alone on the end of the group, but that was fine by her, since she was lost in thought. A bunch of the convention staff were going out to dinner together after closing ceremonies, but Tsuen was on the fence about attending. The aroused mood she'd found herself in during her volunteer shift had never fully faded, and now she was debating whether to ask Mara back to the hotel room instead of to the staff dinner.
"Wow! You've got a great physique, miss!" came a voice from the seat to Tsuen's right. It wasn't one she recognized.
Tsuen turned to look as she slowly rose from her thoughts. What she saw was a liminal girl with long and wild black hair and perky round ears like a hyena. Tsuen had seen ears like that before at Sports Club Kobold and after a second of thought, she realized the girl was a gnoll. She was wearing running shorts and a tank top, and looked just as athletic as Tsuen.
"Oh, uh, thanks. I'm a fitness trainer, so it comes with the territory," Tsuen replied, feeling a little self conscious about the way she was wearing her volunteer shirt. She had tied it off on the front when it got warm out at the accessibility booth, but she just realized how much it broadcasted her abs.
"Oh, very nice!" the gnoll girl replied. "I'm Noelle, by the way."
"I'm Tsu—" Suddenly Tsuen shrank back in fear when several red tentacles with eyes on the ends peeked around from behind Noelle.
Noelle panicked, not understanding what had spooked her new centaur acquaintance.
"Oh, I am terribly sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," said a very prim and proper voice. The owner of both the voice and the tentacles leaned forward so that Tsuen could see her properly. She was a pale one-eyed woman with many more eyes on the ends of tentacles.
Once Tsuen caught her breath and calmed down, Noelle introduced her to Beatrice the beholder, their host Dora, and another homestay named Basillia. Despite being an Exchange Program host, Dora didn't look quite human, with her pointy ears and long white hair. Basillia looked similar to a harpy with white feathers and hair, but Noelle clarified that she was actually a basilisk and her gaze could turn people to stone.
Before Tsuen could learn more about the interesting and slightly terrifying group of liminals, the lights dimmed and a spotlight appeared on the stage.
"It's starting!" Yuisu loudly whispered.
Just as Yuisu's crew had expected, Mara skittered out into the limelight, wearing her blue Director t-shirt. "I'm Mara, and I want to thank you all for coming to the first annual ComicMon convention!" she cheered.
What they hadn't been expecting was how Chione walked out too, in a matching shirt with a microphone of her own. Nervously, she spoke into it, "I'm Chione, the other founder of ComicMon. Th-thank you all for attending."
The crowd d'awwwed at Chione's cute nervousness, but then Mara resumed.
"Now that that's out of the way, I can kick off these ceremonies properly." With that, Mara bounced over to the side of the stage and pointed across to the opposite side. Chione grabbed the hem of her skirt and ran to get out of the way before Mara continued, "We had many wonderful guests this year, but one of them in particular wanted to speak to you directly.
A calico-furred werecat stepped out onto the stage, smiling and waving. She accepted a microphone from Chione, who then ducked back out of the spotlight.
[https://i.imgur.com/ruCZN7h.png]
She lifted the mic in her paw and said, "I may be an author, but I don't have the words to properly express how thankful I am for your warm welcome. Before this weekend, Katrina-chan was just a pseudonym that I used to hide my liminal nature from the world, but now it is a title that I will wear with pride. Every single ComicMon attendee I met welcomed me with open arms and invited me into this wonderful fandom that is precious to them."
She bowed deeply, then said again, "Thank you so much. I feel like I belong like never before." As she lifted her head, there were happy tears at the corners of her eyes and running down her face. She walked slowly to where Chione was standing and handed the microphone back, then wiped at her tears with the backs of her paws.
Mara bounded out to the center of the stage and cheerfully proclaimed, "And thank you, Katrina-chan, for helping make ComicMon a wonderful experience for all your fans." She looked out at the audience and asked, "Who here was happy to meet Katrina-chan?"
The crowd cheered and thanked Katrina-chan and she started to blush brightly. She hid her face behind her paws and gestured for Mara to move on with the ceremony. It seemed Chione wasn't the only shy girl on stage.
Mara continued with her speech, touching on all sorts of topics. She thanked all the other volunteers, human and liminal both, for their tireless work. She also thanked the panel presenters and corporate sponsors that provided the content for the convention.
Then she pulled out a paper printout and waved it over her head. "Our volunteers checked in with all the sponsors and the ticket sales booth and gathered all the info they could, and they gave me some exciting statistics to share!" She grinned and added, "And since this was our first year, all of them are record-setting!"
Mara shared concrete data like con attendance numbers and the amount of money raised for a liminal-relocation charity, then she switched subjects. "You may have seen a lot of cosplayers around this weekend. We estimate that over 400 of you cosplayed, including humans dressed as liminals, liminals dressed as humans, and everything in between. We want to continue to support that creativity, so I'm happy to announce next year's ComicMon Cosplay Contest!"
Mara grinned wide and cheered, "The C-C-C will have a minimum 100,000 yen prize pool, along with all sorts of fun goodies for everyone that participates. All skill levels are welcome, and we'll even be hosting cosplay workshops leading up to the con. Follow our new website for more details!"
After a couple more announcements, Mara ran over to Chione and Katrina-chan and pulled them forward to the front of the stage. "I was hoping Katrina-chan would announce this herself, but I guess I'll do it for her," she said with a teasing smile. "Katrina-chan will be joining us again next year, not just as a featured guest, but as a panelist. Look forward to her panels on manga theory and storytelling!"
Mara’s smile changed to an exaggerated frown and she said, “And with that, I bid you all farewell until next year. There are a couple more panels before the con closes up and the outreach area will stay open ‘til eight, but whenever you do head home, please travel safe!”
She bowed and pulled down on Katrina-chan and Chione's hands, forcing them to do the same. Then as the audience clapped and cheered, the three women made their way off stage.
Once backstage, Chione let out a huge sigh. "Oh wow, I'm glad that's over."
"Aww, I thought you liked ComicMon!" Mara teased.
"I mean being on stage in front of all those people…"
"I know, I know. Just giving you a hard time," Mara said, patting Chione's arm. Then she turned to Katrina-chan and said, "A bunch of the staff are going out to eat right now. You're next-year's staff now, so wanna join us?"
The werecat thought for a second, then shook her head. "I'm pretty worn out, actually. Dealing with so many people on just twelve hours of sleep is exhausting. I even missed my midday catnap today."
Mara immediately frowned. She was terrible at hiding her feelings. "Aww…" she whined.
Katrina-chan quickly added, "But I'll be sure to check out that hot spring inn you told me about. I could use a relaxing break."
That got Mara smiling again. "Awesome! Yuisu's gonna flip when you show up!"