The Dance, page 19
– Naw, nothing can happen with an object from our era –
– Holy crap!
– What is it now? An arrowhead?
– Projectile point is the more accurate term.
– How could that happen?
– Well, if physical laws are changing…
– Oh great.
– Who knows, maybe even magnetism or electricity might stop wor—
DIVERGENT SPECKS
Stephen B. Pearl
IN A VASTNESS OF INFINITE it holds myriad infinities, a consciousness that is the vastness meditates upon, and is, universes un-countable in a quest to know itself. Call the void Min, Braham, Ain or whatever other labels humans might use to know what is too great to be known to such infinitesimal fragments of its totality. It is, and it is all that is. All that is serves in its quest for self-understanding. Chance, the cumulative momentum of all the choices that have led to an event, sets the stage; choice bends chance to the little wills of the components.
In an insignificant universe, no greater or lesser than its parents/sisters, in an insignificant galaxy, on an insignificant planet orbiting an insignificant star, a drama plays out at a certain time. Though time is a false construct of the vastness, a filing convention, no more than placing things in alphabetical order, for the specks that seek to know themselves, and thus feed the vastness’s understanding of itself, it is a needed crutch. So, in an insignificant place and time, acts that are significant to the specks play out.
Of minor significance is the fact that there are slivers in the vastness. Born of the will of its components. Fed by them as specks of its own creative might. Consciousnesses within the greater consciousness that reflect the wills of still lesser beings. Creating a dance of choice and chance, exploring all possibilities towards the end of understanding. And in that dance, there is room for love to play a role.
World A – Severity
Natasha gazed into the mirror of her press-board dressing table and sighed. She looked ridiculous to herself. Even with the under padding, she barely filled out the brown sports-bra-style top Renee had worn on Xena: Warrior Princess. The brown miniskirt that matched it fit well.
The ancient Greeks never dressed like this. Why can’t Caroline understand that showing this much skin isn’t me? I mean, who’d want to see it anyways? Natasha raised her gaze to her bottle blond hair, cut into a bob to match the character. The actress pulled off the look. Natasha’s mother had laughed at her. Of course, her parents were always brutally honest, cruel, about her looks. Her father had thought it hilarious when she came home crying because the kids at school dubbed her a carpenter’s dream in grade eight. She felt that chance had been cruel to her. She wasn’t like her mother, tall and willowy, with cleavage you could ski down; she was never good enough. At least her lack of looks had rescued her from the Little Miss beauty pageants her mother had to give up forcing her to do.
A knock sounded at Natasha’s bedroom door, breaking her train of thought.
Glancing at the clock by her twin bed, she shifted nervously before moving to admit her guest.
An athletic, dark-haired woman dressed in a metallic bra, mock shoulder armour, and brown short shorts with mock mettle strips that might imply armour attached pushed into the room, then looked at Natasha appraisingly.
“You look great, sweetie. You could be Gabrielle. We’ll take the cosplay competition for sure.” The woman dressed as Xena pulled Natasha into her arms, kissing her.
“Caroline, my parents are downstairs.” Natasha broke the embrace and rushed to close her door.
“So what? They like me. Your dad really likes me.” Caroline quirked an eyebrow, then pulled Natasha back into her arms.
“I. They like you, but they don’t know about, well, us, me.” With the door closed, Natasha gave up resisting the larger woman.
“You’ll have to tell them sometime.” Caroline groped Natasha’s butt through her skirt.
“But we haven’t even, well, you know.” Natasha blushed and fidgeted.
“That’s what’s great about the con. We’ll have a room to ourselves with no one to bother us, and after we win the cosplay competition, you can attend those silly writing panels. A win will look good on my entry application to the theatre school. You do want to help me, don’t you?” Caroline regarded Natasha with wide eyes.
“I just don’t feel right dressed like this. It’s so not me. I mean, in high school, you were the only person who even took a second look, and… I just don’t know… and…”
“Shh. You’ll do great. Are you ready to go?”
Natasha glanced at herself in her mirror as her girlfriend embraced her from behind. Before Caroline, she never thought of herself as gay. Never thought of herself as much of anything but an ugly geek girl. She decided she had no choice.
Tom flexed his broad-shouldered, lean swimmer’s body and tried to keep his temper in check as he glowered at Bill’s tall, slender form on the entry porch of his parents’ house. They both wore jeans and t-shirts and had short brown hair. That’s where the resemblance ended.
“What do you want me to do? My dad won’t let me have the car and is making me work off the ticket in the shop.” Bill looked pleadingly into Tom’s angry features.
“Because you just had to join in a street race. What am I supposed to do? The room is pre-paid. This was going to be my chance to make contacts with real voice actors. You’ve screwed me.” Tom stepped back from the entry door to his parent’s house and walked into a well-appointed middle-class living room.
Bill followed him.
Selina checked her appearance in her up-scale apartment’s hallway mirror. Her form-fitting, short, red dress hugged a body suitable for Playboy at its finest, while her peaches and cream complexion was set off by her long, honey-blond hair. She opened the door and admitted a pudgy middle-aged man with blotchy skin and thinning brown hair.
“Hello, John. Cutting it a little close for our flight.” She moved to kiss her guest.
“God, you are a beautiful woman—” began John.
Deep in space, a star collapsed, compressing so tightly that the electrons of the matter that made it were drawn in from their atomic orbits. The star became a darkness sucking all into itself and spewing the echoes of the universe from which it came into the inter-universal expanse. Those echoes shaped the primal energy to themselves, making a copy of the universe from which they were drawn. An imperfect copy driven by a repulsive force to differ from its sister/parent.
The pattern in and of the inter-universal void experienced the event with satisfaction. A step forward in its effort to understand itself. The consciousness returned to watching the myriad universes that made up its being.
At a lower level, still well above man but well below the ultimate, a pattern of energy stirred. It could not prevent the divergence, but it could empower lesser elements of the collective being to explore the nature of love. It selected its battlefield and troops in the universe it found itself in. By their will would new chances be forged. The fragment then turned to other matters, for, though less than the totality, it was still vast, with many worlds to influence.
World A – Severity
Bill let chance rule him and followed Tom. “Look, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
World B – Equilibrium
Bill made a choice and followed Tom. “I can loan you my half of the room. I trust you for it. My cousin Debby is going to the con. I can ask her to give you a lift. It will cost me a favour, but what do you say? Are we good?”
Tom sucked his cheek in thought. “We’re good. I really need to touch base with the voice talent. A few recommendations to go with the arts and media program when I graduate will help lock in work. Are you sure your cousin will be good with this?”
“Only one way to find out.” Bill pulled his phone out of its belt holster.
World A – Severity
“God, you are a beautiful woman. I came to tell you Kate suspects. This will be our last date for a while. I have no choice. It’s just too risky. So, let’s make the best of the weekend.” John picked up Selina’s bag and carried it to the waiting cab.
World B – Equilibrium
“God you are a beautiful woman. I came to tell you Kate suspects. I can’t risk taking you to the ADA Conference.” John gazed at Selina with regret.
Selina shrugged. “You’ll forfeit your deposit.”
“Can’t we work something out?” John’s eyes were pleading.
“You bill patients who cancel at the last minute. Same thing.” Selina’s flirtatious manner became business-like.
John sighed. “Can I at least have a quicky before I leave?”
“You’ll miss your check-in.” Selina smiled. Chance was giving her an opportunity, and she chose to take it. “Let me grab something from my closet, and you can have the cab drop me at a hotel by the airport. We can play on the way. I won’t even charge extra. Call it ‘customer relations.’ Besides, I have a dental exam coming up. I want you happy when you put things in my mouth.” Selina vanished into her apartment, emerging a minute later with a pre-packed bag. “Let’s go.”
World A – Severity and World B – Equilibrium
Natasha and Caroline walked into the con suite hand in hand and settled on the couch. Natasha shifted uncomfortably as Caroline put her arm around her shoulders, leaving little doubt that they were a couple. Glancing around the crowded hotel room, she noticed some people watching them. She focused on the Star Rangers episode being played on the room’s TV with the sound off. Snacks occupied the coffee table, and the end of the room was set up as a bar. A man in a Batman costume was serving wine and beer.
“Great cosplay,” commented a middle-aged man dressed in a Starfleet uniform who stopped to admire them.
“Thanks,” replied Caroline.
Natasha’s stomach did flip-flops. She felt like everyone was staring. She wanted to escape to their room and change into real clothes, but what Caroline had planned for back in their room was almost as frightening as being on display in the con suite. On one hand, she wanted it, wanted to move forward with that aspect of her life. Wanted to feel… loved. On the other, she wasn’t sure if she was ready, or if being with a woman was because only a woman had approached her or if it was really who she was. Chance seemed to rule everything, and she had no choice except to be driven by events.
World A – Severity
Caroline touched base with people who walked by, then a man with dyed black hair and a gut dressed in a dark blue trench coat and fedora with a skin tone mask over his face stopped in front of them. “Wow, great Xena and Gabrielle. There is no question of that.”
“Thank you. And you are?” asked Caroline.
“That is the Question. And for two such beautiful women, the answer would be yes.”
Caroline laughed and leaned forward, making the best of the exposure her costume gave her chest.
“You are the image of Gabrielle.” The Question regarded Natasha in a way that made the girl uncomfortable.
“Caroline made the costume.” Natasha almost tried to hide behind her girlfriend.
“You two are going to be the team to beat. I can see that.” The Question’s voice held innuendo. “I’m going to the bar. Can I get you anything?”
Before Natasha could say no, Caroline leapt up. “I’ll come with you. Hold our places on the couch, sweetie. We’ll be right back.”
Natasha watched her girlfriend walk away with the Question.
“That is you under all that, isn’t it, Richard?” Caroline touched the Question’s arm flirtatiously.
The Question answered in a whisper. “Yes. Your friend looks like the actress, but she seems a little stiff.”
Caroline shrugged, putting on a show for Richard. “A bit of blond hair die and a padded top. Honestly, she’s a boor. But if her looks can win the competition, I’ll tough it out for a couple more days.”
“So, she isn’t playing for the girls’ team?” Richard’s voice was hopeful.
“Not yet, but tonight. Even geeks can be fun. Though I’m not expecting much.”
“I’d take her off your hands.” Richard indicated to the volunteer dressed as Batman at the bar and waited as three red wines were poured.
“You could keep her company. If something happens, it happens. There’s a party with some real action tonight. She’d freak, and I can’t leave her alone until after the contest, but I’d love the chance to attend.”
“How successful I’ll be is the Question.”
Caroline chuckled. “Good luck. If it wins your vote, I’ll leave you to it. Personally, the idea of a man repulses me, but she doesn’t know better.”
“Deal.” Richard fell back and set the glasses he carried on a table. Shielding his actions from view with his body, he pulled a bubble pack out of his trench coat’s pocket and popped out a pill, which he dropped into one of the glasses. A moment later, he passed Natasha the doctored drink.
Minutes later, Caroline left Natasha with the Question to see some “old friends.”
Tom sat cross-legged on his bed and stared at the Thorn Rune in the middle of his reading cloth spread before him. “Victory delayed but perhaps not lost forever.” Sighing, he put the Runes away and turned on the TV on his dresser, tuning in a Star Trek rerun.
World B – Equilibrium
“Caroline,” asked a gorgeous, large-busted, blond woman dressed in a black one-piece swimsuit, fishnet stockings and a black shoulder jacket.
“Selina.” Caroline let her eyes range over the newcomer.
“Great cosplay,” they blurted in unison.
“Who’s your friend?” Selina eyed Natasha in a way that made the younger woman uncomfortable.
“This is Natasha.” Caroline kept eyeing Selina.
A man dressed as The Question entered the con suite, spotted Selina and left.
“Your cosplay is fantastic. I’d have thought you were the character.” Selina held out her hand to Natasha.
Natasha shook the hand. “Thanks. Caroline did all the work. I’m just a clothes rack.”
“A very attractive clothes rack,” observed Selina with a smile.
Natasha blushed.
“I didn’t think you could make it to the con this year,” said Caroline.
Selina settled herself on Caroline’s open side. “I had a work cancellation. What’s it been? Six months.”
“Grade twelve kicked my ass. I wouldn’t have graduated except for Nat helping me with my homework.”
“We met in a peer tutoring program,” Natasha’s voice was small.
“That’s sweet. Better than girls’ volleyball.” Selina grinned.
“I don’t know. The girls’ showers had some nice views,” Caroline chuckled.
Time passed as Selina and Caroline got re-acquainted. Natasha found herself ostracised. Alone and sad in a room full of people chatting and bonding over a mutual love of various entertainments. Surrounded by comradery and good spirits, she was alone and abandoned. She moved to the wine-tasting table and got a drink.
Tom entered the con suite. His eyes were drawn to a pair of gorgeous women sitting on the couch. They leaned towards each other. As he watched, the Black Canary cosplayer laid her hand on the thigh of the Xena cosplayer.
“So much for that.” Tom let his eyes wander. A pretty girl dressed as Gabrielle sat in a lounger, looking flushed. There was a glass of wine by her hand, but her eyes were fixed on the Xena and Black Canary on the couch.
Tom paused close to the couch and listened.
“If I didn’t want to win the cosplay competition, I wouldn’t bother with her. She’s a complete dweeb and a virgin. I mean, full-on, both sides of the field. Until I realised she could put me over the top for the competition, I don’t think she’d ever been kissed.” The Xena shrugged and tickled the Canary’s thigh.
“Kinda cold using people like that, don’t you think?” asked the Canary.
“This contest can open doors for me. You gotta look out for number one. Let’s go to your room and relive some old times. Nat will keep ’til tomorrow. Just let me make an excuse. She’s dumb enough to believe anything.” The Xena stood.
“I’m going to the powder room. I’ll meet you in the hall.” The Canary stood and moved towards the bathroom.
Tom shifted to listen to the Xena and the girl named Nat. He normally respected others’ privacy, but this was just nasty enough that he chose to go against his own inclinations. He felt for the blond girl, but didn’t know what to do. Frankly, there was nothing he could do without seeming like the creepy vulture guy that hunted for vulnerable women. Chance seemed to be conspiring against Nat.
“Honey, Selina needs to talk. She just had a bad breakup. We’re going to her room. You stay here and enjoy the con,” The Xena spoke slowly.
“But Caroline, I don’t know anybody here. I don’t want to be left alone.” Nat made to stand.
“It will be good for you to make new friends, and Selina needs an old friend. You shouldn’t be selfish. You’d find it boring anyways.” Caroline kissed Nat and then walked away. The eyes of most of the men in the room and some of the women tracked her.
Selina entered the con suite’s bathroom, pulled a cell phone from her jacket pocket and hit speed dial.
“Debby, you at the con?”
….
“Good. His wife was getting wise, and he couldn’t risk it. I kept the deposit, but that’s not important. Caroline is here, and she’s up to her old tricks.”
….
“I know, she is smoking and, for a selfish bitch, pretty good in the sack, but this girl. Deb, she’s young, you know, between the ears. Caroline is going to ruin her. Can you come by the con suite and keep an eye on her? She’s dressed as Gabrielle from Xena.”
– Holy crap!
– What is it now? An arrowhead?
– Projectile point is the more accurate term.
– How could that happen?
– Well, if physical laws are changing…
– Oh great.
– Who knows, maybe even magnetism or electricity might stop wor—
DIVERGENT SPECKS
Stephen B. Pearl
IN A VASTNESS OF INFINITE it holds myriad infinities, a consciousness that is the vastness meditates upon, and is, universes un-countable in a quest to know itself. Call the void Min, Braham, Ain or whatever other labels humans might use to know what is too great to be known to such infinitesimal fragments of its totality. It is, and it is all that is. All that is serves in its quest for self-understanding. Chance, the cumulative momentum of all the choices that have led to an event, sets the stage; choice bends chance to the little wills of the components.
In an insignificant universe, no greater or lesser than its parents/sisters, in an insignificant galaxy, on an insignificant planet orbiting an insignificant star, a drama plays out at a certain time. Though time is a false construct of the vastness, a filing convention, no more than placing things in alphabetical order, for the specks that seek to know themselves, and thus feed the vastness’s understanding of itself, it is a needed crutch. So, in an insignificant place and time, acts that are significant to the specks play out.
Of minor significance is the fact that there are slivers in the vastness. Born of the will of its components. Fed by them as specks of its own creative might. Consciousnesses within the greater consciousness that reflect the wills of still lesser beings. Creating a dance of choice and chance, exploring all possibilities towards the end of understanding. And in that dance, there is room for love to play a role.
World A – Severity
Natasha gazed into the mirror of her press-board dressing table and sighed. She looked ridiculous to herself. Even with the under padding, she barely filled out the brown sports-bra-style top Renee had worn on Xena: Warrior Princess. The brown miniskirt that matched it fit well.
The ancient Greeks never dressed like this. Why can’t Caroline understand that showing this much skin isn’t me? I mean, who’d want to see it anyways? Natasha raised her gaze to her bottle blond hair, cut into a bob to match the character. The actress pulled off the look. Natasha’s mother had laughed at her. Of course, her parents were always brutally honest, cruel, about her looks. Her father had thought it hilarious when she came home crying because the kids at school dubbed her a carpenter’s dream in grade eight. She felt that chance had been cruel to her. She wasn’t like her mother, tall and willowy, with cleavage you could ski down; she was never good enough. At least her lack of looks had rescued her from the Little Miss beauty pageants her mother had to give up forcing her to do.
A knock sounded at Natasha’s bedroom door, breaking her train of thought.
Glancing at the clock by her twin bed, she shifted nervously before moving to admit her guest.
An athletic, dark-haired woman dressed in a metallic bra, mock shoulder armour, and brown short shorts with mock mettle strips that might imply armour attached pushed into the room, then looked at Natasha appraisingly.
“You look great, sweetie. You could be Gabrielle. We’ll take the cosplay competition for sure.” The woman dressed as Xena pulled Natasha into her arms, kissing her.
“Caroline, my parents are downstairs.” Natasha broke the embrace and rushed to close her door.
“So what? They like me. Your dad really likes me.” Caroline quirked an eyebrow, then pulled Natasha back into her arms.
“I. They like you, but they don’t know about, well, us, me.” With the door closed, Natasha gave up resisting the larger woman.
“You’ll have to tell them sometime.” Caroline groped Natasha’s butt through her skirt.
“But we haven’t even, well, you know.” Natasha blushed and fidgeted.
“That’s what’s great about the con. We’ll have a room to ourselves with no one to bother us, and after we win the cosplay competition, you can attend those silly writing panels. A win will look good on my entry application to the theatre school. You do want to help me, don’t you?” Caroline regarded Natasha with wide eyes.
“I just don’t feel right dressed like this. It’s so not me. I mean, in high school, you were the only person who even took a second look, and… I just don’t know… and…”
“Shh. You’ll do great. Are you ready to go?”
Natasha glanced at herself in her mirror as her girlfriend embraced her from behind. Before Caroline, she never thought of herself as gay. Never thought of herself as much of anything but an ugly geek girl. She decided she had no choice.
Tom flexed his broad-shouldered, lean swimmer’s body and tried to keep his temper in check as he glowered at Bill’s tall, slender form on the entry porch of his parents’ house. They both wore jeans and t-shirts and had short brown hair. That’s where the resemblance ended.
“What do you want me to do? My dad won’t let me have the car and is making me work off the ticket in the shop.” Bill looked pleadingly into Tom’s angry features.
“Because you just had to join in a street race. What am I supposed to do? The room is pre-paid. This was going to be my chance to make contacts with real voice actors. You’ve screwed me.” Tom stepped back from the entry door to his parent’s house and walked into a well-appointed middle-class living room.
Bill followed him.
Selina checked her appearance in her up-scale apartment’s hallway mirror. Her form-fitting, short, red dress hugged a body suitable for Playboy at its finest, while her peaches and cream complexion was set off by her long, honey-blond hair. She opened the door and admitted a pudgy middle-aged man with blotchy skin and thinning brown hair.
“Hello, John. Cutting it a little close for our flight.” She moved to kiss her guest.
“God, you are a beautiful woman—” began John.
Deep in space, a star collapsed, compressing so tightly that the electrons of the matter that made it were drawn in from their atomic orbits. The star became a darkness sucking all into itself and spewing the echoes of the universe from which it came into the inter-universal expanse. Those echoes shaped the primal energy to themselves, making a copy of the universe from which they were drawn. An imperfect copy driven by a repulsive force to differ from its sister/parent.
The pattern in and of the inter-universal void experienced the event with satisfaction. A step forward in its effort to understand itself. The consciousness returned to watching the myriad universes that made up its being.
At a lower level, still well above man but well below the ultimate, a pattern of energy stirred. It could not prevent the divergence, but it could empower lesser elements of the collective being to explore the nature of love. It selected its battlefield and troops in the universe it found itself in. By their will would new chances be forged. The fragment then turned to other matters, for, though less than the totality, it was still vast, with many worlds to influence.
World A – Severity
Bill let chance rule him and followed Tom. “Look, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
World B – Equilibrium
Bill made a choice and followed Tom. “I can loan you my half of the room. I trust you for it. My cousin Debby is going to the con. I can ask her to give you a lift. It will cost me a favour, but what do you say? Are we good?”
Tom sucked his cheek in thought. “We’re good. I really need to touch base with the voice talent. A few recommendations to go with the arts and media program when I graduate will help lock in work. Are you sure your cousin will be good with this?”
“Only one way to find out.” Bill pulled his phone out of its belt holster.
World A – Severity
“God, you are a beautiful woman. I came to tell you Kate suspects. This will be our last date for a while. I have no choice. It’s just too risky. So, let’s make the best of the weekend.” John picked up Selina’s bag and carried it to the waiting cab.
World B – Equilibrium
“God you are a beautiful woman. I came to tell you Kate suspects. I can’t risk taking you to the ADA Conference.” John gazed at Selina with regret.
Selina shrugged. “You’ll forfeit your deposit.”
“Can’t we work something out?” John’s eyes were pleading.
“You bill patients who cancel at the last minute. Same thing.” Selina’s flirtatious manner became business-like.
John sighed. “Can I at least have a quicky before I leave?”
“You’ll miss your check-in.” Selina smiled. Chance was giving her an opportunity, and she chose to take it. “Let me grab something from my closet, and you can have the cab drop me at a hotel by the airport. We can play on the way. I won’t even charge extra. Call it ‘customer relations.’ Besides, I have a dental exam coming up. I want you happy when you put things in my mouth.” Selina vanished into her apartment, emerging a minute later with a pre-packed bag. “Let’s go.”
World A – Severity and World B – Equilibrium
Natasha and Caroline walked into the con suite hand in hand and settled on the couch. Natasha shifted uncomfortably as Caroline put her arm around her shoulders, leaving little doubt that they were a couple. Glancing around the crowded hotel room, she noticed some people watching them. She focused on the Star Rangers episode being played on the room’s TV with the sound off. Snacks occupied the coffee table, and the end of the room was set up as a bar. A man in a Batman costume was serving wine and beer.
“Great cosplay,” commented a middle-aged man dressed in a Starfleet uniform who stopped to admire them.
“Thanks,” replied Caroline.
Natasha’s stomach did flip-flops. She felt like everyone was staring. She wanted to escape to their room and change into real clothes, but what Caroline had planned for back in their room was almost as frightening as being on display in the con suite. On one hand, she wanted it, wanted to move forward with that aspect of her life. Wanted to feel… loved. On the other, she wasn’t sure if she was ready, or if being with a woman was because only a woman had approached her or if it was really who she was. Chance seemed to rule everything, and she had no choice except to be driven by events.
World A – Severity
Caroline touched base with people who walked by, then a man with dyed black hair and a gut dressed in a dark blue trench coat and fedora with a skin tone mask over his face stopped in front of them. “Wow, great Xena and Gabrielle. There is no question of that.”
“Thank you. And you are?” asked Caroline.
“That is the Question. And for two such beautiful women, the answer would be yes.”
Caroline laughed and leaned forward, making the best of the exposure her costume gave her chest.
“You are the image of Gabrielle.” The Question regarded Natasha in a way that made the girl uncomfortable.
“Caroline made the costume.” Natasha almost tried to hide behind her girlfriend.
“You two are going to be the team to beat. I can see that.” The Question’s voice held innuendo. “I’m going to the bar. Can I get you anything?”
Before Natasha could say no, Caroline leapt up. “I’ll come with you. Hold our places on the couch, sweetie. We’ll be right back.”
Natasha watched her girlfriend walk away with the Question.
“That is you under all that, isn’t it, Richard?” Caroline touched the Question’s arm flirtatiously.
The Question answered in a whisper. “Yes. Your friend looks like the actress, but she seems a little stiff.”
Caroline shrugged, putting on a show for Richard. “A bit of blond hair die and a padded top. Honestly, she’s a boor. But if her looks can win the competition, I’ll tough it out for a couple more days.”
“So, she isn’t playing for the girls’ team?” Richard’s voice was hopeful.
“Not yet, but tonight. Even geeks can be fun. Though I’m not expecting much.”
“I’d take her off your hands.” Richard indicated to the volunteer dressed as Batman at the bar and waited as three red wines were poured.
“You could keep her company. If something happens, it happens. There’s a party with some real action tonight. She’d freak, and I can’t leave her alone until after the contest, but I’d love the chance to attend.”
“How successful I’ll be is the Question.”
Caroline chuckled. “Good luck. If it wins your vote, I’ll leave you to it. Personally, the idea of a man repulses me, but she doesn’t know better.”
“Deal.” Richard fell back and set the glasses he carried on a table. Shielding his actions from view with his body, he pulled a bubble pack out of his trench coat’s pocket and popped out a pill, which he dropped into one of the glasses. A moment later, he passed Natasha the doctored drink.
Minutes later, Caroline left Natasha with the Question to see some “old friends.”
Tom sat cross-legged on his bed and stared at the Thorn Rune in the middle of his reading cloth spread before him. “Victory delayed but perhaps not lost forever.” Sighing, he put the Runes away and turned on the TV on his dresser, tuning in a Star Trek rerun.
World B – Equilibrium
“Caroline,” asked a gorgeous, large-busted, blond woman dressed in a black one-piece swimsuit, fishnet stockings and a black shoulder jacket.
“Selina.” Caroline let her eyes range over the newcomer.
“Great cosplay,” they blurted in unison.
“Who’s your friend?” Selina eyed Natasha in a way that made the younger woman uncomfortable.
“This is Natasha.” Caroline kept eyeing Selina.
A man dressed as The Question entered the con suite, spotted Selina and left.
“Your cosplay is fantastic. I’d have thought you were the character.” Selina held out her hand to Natasha.
Natasha shook the hand. “Thanks. Caroline did all the work. I’m just a clothes rack.”
“A very attractive clothes rack,” observed Selina with a smile.
Natasha blushed.
“I didn’t think you could make it to the con this year,” said Caroline.
Selina settled herself on Caroline’s open side. “I had a work cancellation. What’s it been? Six months.”
“Grade twelve kicked my ass. I wouldn’t have graduated except for Nat helping me with my homework.”
“We met in a peer tutoring program,” Natasha’s voice was small.
“That’s sweet. Better than girls’ volleyball.” Selina grinned.
“I don’t know. The girls’ showers had some nice views,” Caroline chuckled.
Time passed as Selina and Caroline got re-acquainted. Natasha found herself ostracised. Alone and sad in a room full of people chatting and bonding over a mutual love of various entertainments. Surrounded by comradery and good spirits, she was alone and abandoned. She moved to the wine-tasting table and got a drink.
Tom entered the con suite. His eyes were drawn to a pair of gorgeous women sitting on the couch. They leaned towards each other. As he watched, the Black Canary cosplayer laid her hand on the thigh of the Xena cosplayer.
“So much for that.” Tom let his eyes wander. A pretty girl dressed as Gabrielle sat in a lounger, looking flushed. There was a glass of wine by her hand, but her eyes were fixed on the Xena and Black Canary on the couch.
Tom paused close to the couch and listened.
“If I didn’t want to win the cosplay competition, I wouldn’t bother with her. She’s a complete dweeb and a virgin. I mean, full-on, both sides of the field. Until I realised she could put me over the top for the competition, I don’t think she’d ever been kissed.” The Xena shrugged and tickled the Canary’s thigh.
“Kinda cold using people like that, don’t you think?” asked the Canary.
“This contest can open doors for me. You gotta look out for number one. Let’s go to your room and relive some old times. Nat will keep ’til tomorrow. Just let me make an excuse. She’s dumb enough to believe anything.” The Xena stood.
“I’m going to the powder room. I’ll meet you in the hall.” The Canary stood and moved towards the bathroom.
Tom shifted to listen to the Xena and the girl named Nat. He normally respected others’ privacy, but this was just nasty enough that he chose to go against his own inclinations. He felt for the blond girl, but didn’t know what to do. Frankly, there was nothing he could do without seeming like the creepy vulture guy that hunted for vulnerable women. Chance seemed to be conspiring against Nat.
“Honey, Selina needs to talk. She just had a bad breakup. We’re going to her room. You stay here and enjoy the con,” The Xena spoke slowly.
“But Caroline, I don’t know anybody here. I don’t want to be left alone.” Nat made to stand.
“It will be good for you to make new friends, and Selina needs an old friend. You shouldn’t be selfish. You’d find it boring anyways.” Caroline kissed Nat and then walked away. The eyes of most of the men in the room and some of the women tracked her.
Selina entered the con suite’s bathroom, pulled a cell phone from her jacket pocket and hit speed dial.
“Debby, you at the con?”
….
“Good. His wife was getting wise, and he couldn’t risk it. I kept the deposit, but that’s not important. Caroline is here, and she’s up to her old tricks.”
….
“I know, she is smoking and, for a selfish bitch, pretty good in the sack, but this girl. Deb, she’s young, you know, between the ears. Caroline is going to ruin her. Can you come by the con suite and keep an eye on her? She’s dressed as Gabrielle from Xena.”
