3. Jess
Jess
Itook a gamble and drove my car to the Mission Verde Convention Center.
Did it take me five times to get the car started?
Yes. Did the ever-present engine light that has been on for months turn off?
No. Nevertheless, I arrived at the hotel connected to the convention center without my car catching fire.
This was a total win in my mind. As far as I was concerned, the engine light was Future Jess’s problem.
With thirty minutes to spare before the convention officially began, I frantically put the finishing touches on my cosplay.
One of the wonderful things the MaxFlick series paid attention to was the detail of all the costumes that went into the novel for Fiona’s outfits.
During the first season, I snagged an interview with Sophia Barrera who made all the costumes.
Through her, I learned Isla had insisted the outfits be accurate to the books.
Sophia should have won an Emmy for her work…
if it hadn’t been for the Tyrst’an outfits, which resembled your standard fantasy male character costume.
Apparently, Brandon Quill had a lot to say about his costume, and it had nothing to do with practicality, the character description in the books or even the video games.
One of many reasons why I despised him being the main male lead of the show.
A lot of important story elements were dropped due to his interference.
Some characters were merged together, and key plotlines were outright ignored.
It infuriated me how one man’s ego impacted future stories from the books and the games.
The other actors on the show did their best to ensure that the main story remained intact.
Isla read all the books before she auditioned for the role and made sure Fiona’s story was true to the books.
Miles Mueller, who played Oderan the Red Tyrant, owned personally autographed copies of all the books from the author. That fact alone endeared him to me.
I guess not all actors are horrible.
The night before, I finished the main brocade in blue with the brown pleather strapping, which was a complete nightmare to sew.
The white faux fur collar made it through the trip unscathed and easily snapped on.
I already slipped into the matching blue panel skirt with thigh-high slits, the only work I had left on the brocade was the gold trim.
Which, unfortunately, needed the dreaded hot glue gun.
Hopefully, I could at least make it through the first day without my costume falling apart.
I made some decent progress when the ring of my phone startled me. I squeezed the trigger on the glue gun as I spun towards the noise leaving a long trail of glue across the brocade. I let out a loud groan of frustration before scrambling to get to whoever was calling me.
“Hi! This is Jessica,” I said, forcing some cheerfulness into my voice. Maybe once the glue dried a little bit, I could peel it off without ruining the jacket.
“Hello, Jessica. Britta Klein, here. I represent Daniel Finnegan.”
“Who?” I wandered back over to my outfit, noticing the string of glue had dried. I was so relieved when I scraped it off the trim. I did not want to walk the floor with glue stains all over my cosplay.
A snort of derision came over the phone. “Daniel Finnegan. The actor you roasted on your livestream the day before yesterday.”
“Ohhhh. You mean Marlin Sinbad,” I replied, repositioning the trim and starting again.
“That’s his character on As The Minutes Tick By,” the lady replied with a tone that sounded polite but also was holding back a whole lot of cranky.
“Anyhow, we noticed you were having a live show at the Mission Verde Fantasy Con tomorrow. We thought you could make room to talk to Daniel about the role of Tyrst’an. ”
I stood straight up, shooting hot glue out of the gun directly onto my hand. “Owwww! Wait. What? I’m sorry. Did you say you want me to interview him?”
That guy? The one I rated ‘meh’? Oh man. I wiped the hot glue off of my hand using the comforter on the bed. I could see the red mark on my skin appear as the pain slightly subsided. Then I realized I was probably going to get billed for the glue on the comforter.
Britta, or whatever her name was, kept talking. “Yes! We know your opinion, but I’m sure you wouldn’t mind giving the guy a chance. He’s a total sweetheart, and a wonderful actor.”
“Oh. Well, I mean, I would, but I have a guest booked—”
“You mean Peony Lizzenbaum?” she cooed. “Oh, didn’t you hear? Poor girl is sick with a case of the con-flu she caught at Kraken Con last week.”
That didn’t sound right. Not at all. Usually when someone is sick, I heard it from them first. I checked my messages on my phone. There wasn’t a text or email from Peony.
This was not the first time the studio tried to mess with me and my followers. Deep down I knew this was another one of their underhanded tactics. It’s good the old lady on the phone couldn’t see my side eye. It was spectacular. “I’m sorry. How did you get this number?”
“Oh, the MaxFlick studio producers passed it along. They know exactly who you are.”
I sighed. Her words were a veiled hint about my connection to the books. Great. Yet another reason to detest MaxFlick. I rolled my eyes in exasperation, which was also spectacular. Totally wasted on me. “Yeah. I bet they do,” I deadpanned.
“What do you say, sweetie? Why don’t you give Daniel a chance? At the very least you’ll have an exclusive interview with a leading cast member.”
My muscles tensed. First, they took away my guest. Now they were forcing a confrontation with a guy I didn’t even know other than a quick google search.
On the other hand, if she was calling me for the interview, chances were he wasn’t going to be a cast member for long.
If talk shows and Entertainment This Evening had passed on an interview, it was a pretty far drop to an independent influencer to take up the charge.
Did I feel a slight pang of guilt for someone I hadn’t met?
Yes. Because that’s how ridiculous I was.
“Sounds great,” I said. I gave her the time and the location I had obtained for the live show. “And just so you know, I’m not going to pull any punches.”
“I’d be disappointed if you did,” the old lady practically purred.
I hung up and tossed the phone back on the bed.
The whole conversation irritated me. I did not like being manipulated, especially after all the crap the network pulled during the first season.
I was going to have to call it an early night because now I had to do more research on the Marlin-Daniel guy.
Shrugging it off, I got back to work, carefully peeling the stray glue from the brocade.
Despite the odds, I managed to attach the trim without ruining my cosplay, burning myself, or accidentally setting the hotel room on fire.
A few minutes later I was in my outfit. I finished the look by placing my carefully styled wig of long black braided tresses over my wig cap.
This was followed by Fiona’s trademark ram’s horn headdress.
I posed in front of the mirror admiring my work.
I’d been doing cosplay for years, and Fiona was always my favorite.
This year’s outfit was based on The Chaos Trail.
My best cosplay work to date. The panel skirt was cut a little too high for my taste, but the tights and high boots under it kept it from being too risqué.
However, I’m sure there were other cosplayers wearing the same outfit today who had no such qualms. I did one last check to make sure none of my red hair was peeking out through the wig before heading to the floor of the con.
Mission Verde wasn’t the biggest fan convention, but it was one of the oldest and a favorite for fantasy fans.
A week-long festival for nerds, crossing together all the elements of a Renaissance fair with the fan events you’d expect from a traditional comic convention.
There was always some bleeding over from other genres, as there were always a few sci-fi outfits with laser swords that showed up.
Or in some cases, steampunk or fantasy versions of superheroes and sci-fi characters.
They didn’t exactly fit the theme, but most people at the MVFC were mostly accepting of others.
You were always going to have gatekeepers when it came to various fantasy properties, but MVFC was usually considered a more accepting place for fans.
No one raised an eyebrow if a character was gender-swapped, or if you were a different heritage of the actor or character.
When I walked into the convention, the first thing that hit my senses were the sounds.
Everyone was in a good mood and cheerful.
I loved hearing the general laughter and excitement around me.
The real fun of it all was that this year they had hired a band to play current rock tunes on medieval instruments.
You haven’t lived unless you’ve heard Sabrina Plumber’s Cappuccino played on a lute, lyre, and a shawm.
The food court was a mix of themed drinks and foods with the ever-present smell of deep-fried turkey legs in the air.
Mead and old-style ale were on tap, with mulled wine and grog readily available for the twenty-one-and-above crowd.
There was an entire section for tabletop role playing games.
Most of the players were huddled around the tables, dressed as their characters, and rolling dice.