Page 42 of Cosplay & Consequences

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said, pursing my lips. I glanced at the stage and then our seats. Something about this situation stunk. And I knew who to blame.

“I got a ticket from Brayonna,” he explained. “She went through my agent.”

“Mmm-hmm,” I said with a nod, and I could feel my lips pressing together. “I got mine earlier today. Hand delivered.”

He tilted his head and blinked at me. “Is there something wrong with that? I wouldn’t think sitting next to me is a problem.”

“I don’t mind sitting next to you,” I replied, drawing out my words and raising my eyebrows. “It’s the way I ended up sitting next to you.”

It took him a moment before his eyes widened. “This is a set-up.”

“Totally a set-up,” I agreed.

He gave me a small smile and a shrug. “I don’t mind it if you don’t.”

“I suppose it would be rude to leave after she got us the tickets,” I said in a one hundred percent completely reasonable tone.

“Of course,” he said with a slow nod as he sat down with me. “And I wouldn’t want to insult someone with such a wide fan-base.”

“Ah,” I teased. “A career decision. Very wise. Clearly you had input from your boss.”

His smile faltered a second, and he chuckled before looking away.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Nah, Faye was giving me crap about falling behind on my reading. She’s a taskmaster,” he explained, some of his energy returning. “I’m looking forward to this. I’ve seen the Diva show that had my costar in it and the one Bennet ran online. I’d like to see how they do in front of a live audience.”

“I’m surprised you’ve watched this kind of thing,” I said, settling into the seat next to him.

“My niece and I got hooked on watching them together. She grew out of it after a couple of years, so I haven’t kept up. Still, what they do is pretty impressive. It's very much an improv exercise with random dice and monsters thrown in. I don’t know much about the game, but the performances from these players are incredible. Do you play?”

I nodded, enjoying this side of him. He didn’t know a lot about geek culture, but the passion he showed for it made me smile. “Oh, yeah. I’ve done several one-shots and mini campaigns with Bray and Bennet on their Glitch channels. I don’t get to play much in person, but it’s always been fun.”

Our conversation was cut short as the house lights dimmed. The crowd began to cheer as the Critical Chaos theme began to play. One by one the players came out on stage. It was Bray’s usual crew: Bennet, who played Crayden the barbarian; Louis, who played Grover the monk; Emma, who played Pippin the warlock; and Alex, who played Cricket, the gnome cleric. As the crowd cheered, Brayonna made her grand entrance as the DM. She had outdone herself with her costume: deep purple and green robes and a tiara that appeared to be made of iron spikes. It was as if someone made a fey version of the Statue of Liberty minus the torch and tablet.

As the players took their places, Bray took her spot in the middle. “Good evening! Everybody say: greetings, intrepid adventurers!”

“Greetings, intrepid adventurers!” The crowd yelled back in unison.

“Welcome to a special live edition of Critical Chaos, here at the Mission Verde Fantasy Con!” Bray shouted.

The entire audience cheered and stomped their feet. Brayonna took her place behind the game master screen and waited for the crowd to calm down.

“All right, all right!” She called out. “Let’s get this game started, shall we? When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had quested into the Bog of Deneb searching for the lost orb of Mekalia. After some false starts and Cricket losing their boot forever to a sucking maw of mud–”

“I am still angry about that!” Cricket snarled.

“Bitch, you rolled three nat one’s in a row. Don’t interrupt,” Bray snarked back to the amusement of the crowd. “Where was I?”

“Sucking maw of mud,” Bennet provided, as he continued to take notes.

“Thank you! As the night begins to close in around you, the sounds of the bog come alive. Tell me, my friends, what do you do?”

Louis/Grover chuckled. “Well, we’re live in front of an audience, so I say we take a long rest and then go shopping.”

“Can we go back and find my boot?” Cricket asked.

“That’s not going to happen,” Bray said, shaking her head. “Again. Three nat ones.”