After AnimeCon 2: Teary-Eyed Goodbyes

/// A direct continuation from where we left off in After AnimeCon, and will be appending these sections to end of the After AnimeCon page for now.

    “What if, and, hear me out, here…” Emily cleared her throat and then allowed for a dramatic pause. “What if the real harem turned out to be the friends we made along the way?” 
    Everyone groaned, and several wadded up napkins were immediately thrown Emily’s way.

    “What?!” Emily giggled, holding up her hands to ward off a late crumpled napkin from Stephanie. “What?! What did I say?!”

    “You’re such a dork,” Kelly let out a long, aggrieved sigh. “Bri, can we just shove her in the trunk for the trip back?”

    “We can definitely gag her,” Brian said.

    “OooOooh—ooh!” Emily tittered. “Gon’ have me gaggin’ on it, huh? Gaggin’ on that big ol’ co—”

    “Emily!” Rebecca leaned across the table to swat her friend’s shoulder.  “Table!”

    “Alright, alright!” Emily snorted. “Sheesh...”

    She couldn’t help but let out a small sigh as she saw that Christine had already risen from her seat and was picking up their mess—the crumpled up napkins everyone had just tossed. It was strange seeing the familiar girl acting so unfamiliar, and for a moment Emily couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the girl’s features, half-expecting to see that same old absolutely seething face, one twisted in irritation. Instead, Christine’s countenance was calm and placid. Even that was still a little unnerving, because unlike before, where she could venture a guess or two as to what Chloe might have been thinking, now she had no idea whatsoever what thoughts were going on beneath that cool facade.

    “Hey—I can get them…” Emily said.

    “For the renfaire, we also need to consider… weapons!” Rebecca proposed with glee. “Since, we also run a huge LARP. Have any of you really fought before?! Aside from Emily.”

    “Weapons?” Stephanie asked in a timid voice. “How much of it is actual fighting?”

    “Here…” Emily offered Christine. “Lemme help.

    Emily plucked at the basket-liner for the BBQ-flavored wings since almost all of those ones were gone, and managed to use that grease and sauce-stained paper to transfer BBQ over into the Hot basket. Then, Emily used the empty basket to quickly start collecting everyone’s trash from around the table. Several empty cans of soda joined the basket and  then some especially soiled-with-sauce napkins from everyone’s wings, after which Emily held the basket out for Christine to drop in the stuff she’d grabbed from the floor.

    This was her best opportunity to get a better read on Christine’s expression, and to her surprise, what she saw there was nervousness. Their silvery-haired new friend wasn’t annoyed to have to go around and pick up everyone’s mess, she instead appeared a little relieved. As if she was simply glad for something to do, some chance to escape the awkward and anxious silence she had been stewing in while observing the rest of their group.

    “Thank you,” Christine said in a small voice.

    “There’s quite a bit of combat!” Rebecca said. “Well, sort of, kinda, maybe. It all depends on how long you can stay alive! If you uh, if you die right off the bat, then yeah you won’t have all that much fighting.”

    “Is this just fighting uhh, NPCs, or are there factions, or is it like a big free-for-all?” Brian asked.

    “It’s a little bit of everything!” Rebecca beamed. “There are factions, and each faction also has a quota of NPCs, and usually it’s considered polite to make time to volunteer for a shift as an NPC at some point during the event. You can think of it as joining a labor pool! There will be an organizer who sizes up who all is currently available and the current needs of the narrative, and then assigns people to positions. There are also signups for specific roles, buuut that’s complicated and will pull you into awful drama and politics and you’ll all be first-timers, so don’t worry about those and forget I even brought them up!

    “Honestly though, in general there is no such thing as too many NPCs. It’s always better to have a pair of guards at a gate, rather than just one! Or, to have a patrol of six soldiers rather than a patrol of just three. And, and, being put into a non-player role is a great way to learn the general mechanics, find what you enjoy doing, and kinda earn points and ease into how LARPs go. In fact, don’t even worry about points or that system just yet. I shouldn’t have said that. Forget I said points! So. I always encourage everyone to give shifts as an NPC a go!”

    “...Okay,” Kelly blinked. “So, you said weapons?”

    “Oh right, weapons!” Rebecca continued. “I have loads and loads of LARP weapons, and you guys can borrow whatever you need if you want, but—”

    “But, it’s best if we make our own?” Emily finished for her with a smirk, sliding the rest of the way back in her seat and putting one knee up. “Rebecca was all just borrow these Emily, it’ll be fine! Hah. It was not fine, Rebecca’s swords she uses are stupid heavy for things made outta foam and tape, and—”

    “Heavier weapons are better, but we did make Emily her little ultra-lights that were just perfectly suited for her!” Rebecca laughed. “We even made it so that she has curved blades, and her knuckles are covered with a little basket-hilt because she just wouldn’t stop punch-blocking!”

    “Yeah, and mine are uhh, whadya call em? One sided? Single-‘edged’? Do you still call them that if they’re made out of foam and don't have real edges?” Emily said.

    “Single sided, yes,” Rebecca nodded. “Her little cutlasses only have legal striking surfaces on the outsides—on the insides, we have them marked with white tape to show that they’re non-striking there.”

    “Rebecca did most of the work,” Emily admitted. “Like, she started to go on about everything we’d have to do design-wise to make them safety checked or whatever at the tips for stabbing? Stab legal, or thrusting legal or whatever? Whew, man. I was like uhhh and just started to pass ‘em over to Rebecca.”

    “I only helped a little bit!” Rebecca beamed with pride. “Emily did great work. Her blades turned out so pretty!”

    “I think I’ve only done the LARP sword fight thing that once, with you there at AnimeCon,” Brian admitted. “I do think I’d want to do short-sword and shield though, if I can. Are shields expensive?”

    “Oooh, sword and board!” Rebecca swayed in her seat with excitement. “That’s always great! And, no, not expensive. I have all the materials we would ever need for constructing that kind of stuff. We need to all have a build session together, sometime!”

    “Bow and arrow allowed?” Kelly took a sip from her coffee. “Or, no? I… honestly don’t know that I want to get smacked around by a bunch of dweebs, so…”

    “Archery is legal in our LARP!” Rebecca assured her. “Although… yeah that is one of the things that can get a little expensive? I do have a few bows, but I um, I don’t lend out my nice arrows to anyone, anymore. They take a lot of work to make, and so many people mishandle them, and then I have to take them apart and remake them! Ugh! So annoying when I get one of mine back, and the head is suddenly twisting one way and throwing your aim off every time you try to shoot!”

    “They’re cool, but with the big padded tips they’re super hard to hit anything with,” Emily mentioned. “Like, they don’t go anywhere near as far as you’d expect. So, yeah while they are cool, they’re also kind of bleh and lame.”

    “They are not! You just need to practice with them!” Rebecca gasped, thumping the table. “You take that back!”

    “What do you think, Steph?” Brian asked. “You have a weapon of choice?”

    “Ummm?” Stephanie giggled. “I really have no idea?! I might do bow and arrow with Kelly, if she’s doing that? That way, we can stick together.”

    “Yesss~!” Kelly raised her coffee cup in approval. “Steph in a cupid get-up, shooting hearts.”

    “Nah, nah,” Emily scoffed. “Steph’ll be our priestess or cleric or whatever, she needs like, a mace or a hammer. So that she can be all bop, off you go. Go to horny jail.”

    “Those are fun, too!” Rebecca approved. “I think we’ll need to all get together so that everyone can try things out and see what you like!”

    “Christine?” Kelly asked.

    “I—I’m not sure,” Christine said. “I’ll have to see.”

    “Making the foam bits of the swords and axes and shit is super easy,” Emily admitted. “You can slap a bunch of those together in like, thirty minutes. Now, sewing the covers on the other hand…”

    “I have a sewing machine!” Rebecca said. “Those are easy, too. Once you know how. I have lots of cover cloth. You just wrap cloth around, and then pin it, and then sew it there. Turn that inside out, pull it over your blade, and voila!”

    “Orrrr, you can be a cheapskate and use gray pantyhose!” Emily added. “Stretches to fit, don’t gotta sew nothin’, and if you put like four layers on, you can’t see the foam underneath anymore.”

    “Ugh, that’s what newbs do!” Rebecca groaned. “We have time. We can sew up super fancy pretty covers!”

    “I have a sewing machine!” Stephanie spoke up. “I can help.”

    “I hand-stitch,” Brian shrugged. “Just got a little sewing kit for cosplay.”

    “See? See?! You guys’re already almost ready for a LARP weekend!” Rebecca said. “You guys already have most of the skills and everything you need!”

    Skills, huh… Emily found herself sinking deep into her thoughts. I think… no, I’m pretty sure I know what my charm power is, now.

    Discovering her unique ability had her distracted and almost manic with glee, because it was perfect for her and she could already envision so many ways to bring out its potential. There were so many pranks she could pull, games she could play, and things she wanted to try out with it. Especially if she could find some time to practice some things on the sly before Brian wised up to what she could do with things.

    I should… yeah, maybe if Christine’s gonna be staying there at the apartment with them, I should maybe stay with my mom, Emily couldn’t help but purse her lips in dismay at the thought. Since, I do still have my room there, and it IS gonna be getting super crowded there at Brian’s… UGH. I really don’t want to go back home, but also at the same time, I DO want some secret project space to try some stuff out before I uhh, REVEAL what I think I can do…

    * * *

    Their meal wound down without them finishing all of the wings, and Christine rose from the table to ask Donna for a to-go box. Brian checked his wallet and rediscovered the fact that he had given all of the money he had prepared for AnimeCon was gone—he had given all of his cash to one of the T-shirt vendors in exchange for letting him and Kelly fool around back behind the booth there. Remembering how bold they had been once again made the anime convention feel like a fever dream.

    “I’ve got it!” Stephanie insisted, pulling out her own wallet. “You, you stop that. You stop that right now.”

    “I was just gonna leave a tip,” Brian gave the girls a weak chuckle. “But… I guess I forgot to withdraw more cash after the convention.”

    “I said I’ve got it!” Stephanie let out a cute huff. “I’m paying, and I’m tipping!”

    “Just the tip,” Emily tried to joke, but her heart wasn’t really in it.

    The flighty fun mood everyone had shared had wicked away, and even their spontaneous easy conversation felt like it kept grinding to an awkward halt.

    “Thanks again, babe,” Kelly leaned over and kissed her cheek.

    After Christine returned with a styrofoam carton for them, everyone rose from their seats and got ready to leave. Rebecca tipped the baskets that still had wings in them into their to-go box, even giving each basket a healthy shake so that the leftover sauce would drizzle across them as well. Emily ferried the last of the group’s trash over to a waste can by the door, Stephanie slipped a ten dollar bill out and put it on the table, while Brian tucked the chairs back in under the table.

    A middle-aged man in hunting camouflage came in and gave their group a nod and a howdy as they began to trail out of the bar, and as Donna started to take his order she gave them a wave and wished them a you all have a nice rest of your day!

    “Ugghh~!” Stephanie let out a cute groan as soon as the door swung closed behind them and they’d left Rudy’s behind. “All of you, stop! Let’s just… not!”

    “Nobody said anything!” Emily protested with a laugh.

    “Exactly!” Stephanie growled. “Everyone’s gotten all quiet, and-and-and somber, because, because no one wants us to separate, even though… even it’s time to say goodbye. For now. And, and the sadness pangs started, and I can handle being sad by myself! My own sad. But I cannot deal with feeling any of you being sad! At all! So—stop it!”

    “Steph, just—blow off school, for a bit,” Kelly griped. “Come stay with us.”

    “Kelly,” Brian warned. “Don’t ask her that.”

    “Don’t think I’m not tempted!” Stephanie huffed, pulling Kelly into a big hug. “I do really really want to. I love you, Kelly. But. Brian’s right. I can’t. I can’t just drop everything. And… I’m not ready, yet. To, um. To ride the roller coaster of everyone’s feelings all the time, yet. But, I will be. You all will be. Christine getting back into her power will help!”

    “I’ll… try to figure it out,” Christine promised.

    “Yeah, we’ll sauce her up,” Emily said. “She’ll be all doused in magic. Have it all over her face, inside her mouth, on her clothes, just a big mess everywhere. Then, she’ll be able to whip out her powers like wah-chow~! Wah-chaaa~!!”

    “Emily,” Rebecca shushed her.

    “It really will help if, if you can have your mirror ready,” Stephanie finally released Kelly and stepped over to give Christine a small hug. “I—I’m sorry for all the things you’re feeling. I hope things will get better, no, no they will get better. You’ll see. Just… stay strong. Okay? Christine?”

    “I will,” Christine gave her a serious nod.

    “Emily,” Stephanie turned from Christine and then opened her arms. “Hug.”

    “I’ll miss you!” Emily said, hurrying over into Stephanie’s embrace. “You’re our jelly bean. Things really just aren’t even the same without you. You’re our sweet and sticky cinnamon bun. Like, finger-licking—”

    “Emily,” Stephanie put on an adorable stern voice. “Be good. Best behavior!”

    “Bruh,” Emily laughed, slapping Stephanie’s shoulder. “Why am I the one gettin’ the third degree, here?! If—”

     “Be nice to Christine,” Stephanie gave Emily a big squeeze that pushed the rest of her words out of her. “Be… just extra nice. Keep an eye on Brian. Play nice with Kelly. I love you.”

    “—Love you,” Emily gasped for breath.

    Taking a deep breath through her nose as if steeling herself, Stephanie released Emily and then stepped up to Brian while trying—and failing—to put on a brave face. He enveloped her in his arms, and she latched onto him and immediately started bawling against his chest—Brian had tried to still the sudden melancholy at parting with her, but he knew she sensed it all the same. It was hard to then not feel guilty, because Stephanie was forced to shoulder all of their sadness, and there was just nothing they could do about that yet.

    “Hey, hey,” Brian whispered into her hair, patting her back. “I love you. Love you. Love you.”

    “I—I know,” Stephanie sniffled, trying to hide her face against him. “I-I know! I’m sorry. I-it’s okay. It’s mostly Kelly’s fault. Kelly.”

    “It is not,” Kelly muttered, crossing her arms and turning away so they couldn’t see her wet eyes. “I’m not even crying. Hell, I’m mad. If you all weren’t being so stupid and stubborn, you could just come stay with us and—”

    “Kelly,” Stephanie insisted, squirming one arm out of Brian’s embrace and gesturing for Kelly to join them. “Kelly you are so sad. Kelly you are so sad that it hurts.”

    “Am not,” Kelly scowled, wiping her face and stomping over to throw her arms around them both and try to strangle them with her hug. “Shut up, Steph…”

    “So,” Stephanie cried. “Y-you both have to take good care of each other! Okay?!”

    “I will,” Brian promised.

    “Emily, too,” Stephanie sniffled again. “And Christine. Take care of everyone.”

    “We’ll see,” Kelly let out a bitter laugh. “Love you.”

    “I love you,” Stephanie gave them both a crushing squeeze. “I love you both. I… truly, deeply. Honestly. Love you. So much. I love you.”

    “Okay,” Kelly snarled. “Okay fine. Now I’m crying.”

    “I’m—I’m going to miss you all!” Stephanie wailed. “So much.”

    “Then…” Brian kissed the top of her head. “Let’s not do this again. Let’s have this be the last time we have to do this—so that. So that next time we’re together, we’ll just stay together. Forever, always.”

    “Yes,” Stephanie sobbed. “Please. M-maybe. Actually, no. I-I have a few months though to, to finish school, the semester So. Maybe. Because… because, you can visit! See my dorm. Sometime. W-we can do this again, it’s, it’s not even that bad! Saying goodbyes. It, it’s worth it. Worth it, if I can see you again sooner. I just, I love you guys so much. So, so… it’s a little hard.”

    “Whatever you want,” Brian promised her. “Just… hate putting you through this.”

    “I know,” Stephanie let out a sniffling sigh. “I know!”

    “Fuck, now I’m crying,” Emily swore. “Steph must be… using her powers on us.”

    They walked back down the street towards the cars together in despondent silence, Stephanie with her head hanging low and her eyes upon her feet as she held hands with Brian on one side and Kelly on the other. When they arrived at Rebecca’s hatchback more tears were shed, and another fierce hug that saw Stephanie trying to squish herself in against Brian and Kelly—and then Stephanie fled without looking back, running over to get in the vehicle and stifle her flood of tears.

    “Fucking… damnit,” Kelly cussed, hiding her face.

    “I’ll make sure she’s alright!” Rebecca promised, giving Kelly a small shoulder hug and then kissing Brian on the cheek. “Drive safe, you guys. See you all in… a couple days?”

    “Yeah,” Brian said. “Drive safe. You’ll be back in Seneca by, what, late tonight?”

    “Sometime this evening, probably,” Rebecca hummed. “I was going to give you guys some space?”

    “You’d better not!” Emily swatted her friend. “Come see us right away. Right away.”

    “I do still need to also stop in and check on Prince Charming!” Rebecca let out a small laugh. “And my grandparents! Let them know that yes, despite my best efforts I am still alive. My grandpa’s gonna be so upset, I’ve been gone all this time, and so yeah, he’s had to deal with Prince Charming’s litterbox and everything. He was always against us getting cats, so well you just know he was the one to always wind up falling in love with him. I’m babbling, aren’t I? Shoot. Well, you guys…”

    “We’ll text you,” Brian offered. “Soon as the towers are back in range and we have cell service, I’m thinking we’ll ask Michael and Tanya if tonight’s a good night for a bonfire, or a get-together, or something. Help keep us from gettin’ all down and depressed, here.”

    “I’m not crying,” Kelly pouted, scuffing her shoe against the pavement. “I wasn’t even really crying in the first place. Had a fuckin’ eyelash in my eye.”

    “Me too,” Emily said. “Same. Was the same eyelash, even.”

    “Shut up.”

    “Make me.”

    “Girls…” Brian sighed. “Go get in the car.”

    “Shotgun!” Emily blurted out.

    “No, you had it last time,” Kelly scoffed. “Let Christine set up front with Brian, doofus. Give them some together time for the ride back, alright?”

    “Booo…”

    “I’m fine with sitting wherever…” Christine said in a soft voice.

    “Soooo, uhhh?” Rebecca gave Brian an awkward smile as the rest of the girls made their way over to Brian’s car. “I’ll see you guys at some point soon! I guess? You guys’ll be alright?”

    “Yeah,” Brian confirmed. “Uhh. You kinda just gave me a quick peck on the cheek there, is it cool if…?”

    “Uh-huh!” Rebecca grinned, turning and tapping her cheek. “Yeah, of course! Right here!”

    In the end it was a trick, however, because the moment he leaned in to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek—Rebecca turned her head back, and their lips met. Neither of them pressed for more than that or opened their mouths for a deeper kiss, and before Brian could give her a searching look Rebecca had already disengaged, darting away and rushing off around her hatchback for the driver’s side with a laugh.

    “Drive safe! Bye, guys! Drive safe!”

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