ilaughatmyself
Devil with a Heart of Iron
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2014
As many bumps that the public bus bounced over on its route to the convention center, there was little hiding just how excited one particular passenger on the bus was. Dressed in blue jeans, a t-shirt with the logo of his favorite video game series proudly emblazoned on it, and a pair of white sneakers, Caleb Turner's right foot bounced on the floor of the bus. In his hands was a plastic card, the logo of this years Tristate Pop Culture Convention emblazoned upon it, and the bold letters of 'VIP' being read again and again by golden irises, imprisoned in the red frames of his eyeglasses as they constantly bounced from the top letter, to the bottom, and back up again. Getting one of these VIP passes was a set of trials and tribulations. First, there was the monetary cost, the funds needed to afford one of these far higher than the usual, single day attendance passes. Secondly, there was the planning that went into acquiring it; you practically had to reserve these VIP passes at the end of the previous year's convention, before they were snatched up by scalpers and people already at the show.
Yet, here one was, in Caleb's hands, purple lanyard dangling from the top of the card, the attendance pass itself encapsulated in a clear plastic protector.
The monotone voice of the bus driver announced the next stop: the convention center. Caleb was quick to reach up behind him and pull a yellow cord to signal that he wished to stop here. Based off of the other arms that did the same, he wasn't the only one that was going to the convention. About another minute of driving passed before the bus slowed to a stop, the creak of its well worn brake sounding out into the bus, while the hiss of its air brake signaled the complete stop. The doors on the right side of the bus opened automatically, and like those other passengers on the humble public transport, Caleb retrieved his bag from between his legs, hung the lanyard from his neck, and stepped off the bus.
Before him was the convention center, a massive building that was as much an architect's art piece as it was a functional place to hold large scale events like TPCC. Large metal beams criss-crossed up glass windows that made up the exterior wall of the structure, and already, the cacophony of the crowd could be heard. The doors for general attendance hadn't been opened yet, but VIPs were able to begin entering the same time that partnered merchants and official cosplayers did. The latter of which was what Caleb was mainly interested in here: one of the many items in his backpack was his phone, camera functionality included, and he planned to take many pictures of cosplayers for reference in his art. His art was what had paid for the cost of this VIP pass, after all; it was only fair, in his mind, to try and turn the weekend vacation into something that improved his main means of income.
Hopefully, this convention would draw more people to his art, on top of the new inspiration. Caleb had applied as an artist to the convention, but only on one of the lower tiers of partners. That meant he would have a small little gallery in a corner of the Art Alley, but it didn't guarantee the early entry that his fancy VIP pass did. Naturally, he only had his safe for work offerings on display, since the convention explicitly forbade NSFW items be for sale. It meant that, on top of the new reference images for his art thanks to the cosplayers, convention goers could potentially find his display, and since his lanyard had the same artist handle that his gallery did, they could approach him for commission work in person, or find him online and go through the usual commission process. The best part was, he didn't need to sit there like he was a special guest; Caleb was still able to take advantage of his VIP pass while he raked in whatever money he could from people buying his art...after the convention took a small cut, of course.
He walked to the far shorter VIP line, and had his pass scanned after mere moments of waiting in the queue. Seconds later, he was inside the air conditioned convention center, and felt his heart race in his chest from excitement. Here he was, the area's biggest convention for all things pop culture. Sure, that meant that some things weren't going to interest him, but plenty would, and he even pulled out a bit of money from savings for the sake of purchasing a few souvenirs and keepsakes from the event. He wondered if his sister was going to be at this convention. Sera was something of a cosplayer herself, and was interested in far more popular media than Caleb was. She did good work, too; more than a few of his art pieces were the results of seeds planted by Sera's cosplays. He was proud of his sister, but there was a part of him that wished she would pick less revealing cosplays sometimes; not because he was a prude, but for the exact opposite reason. Like any guy, Caleb had fantasies that weren't exactly vanilla, and when Sera dressed up in some of the more provocative cosplays, it was a bit harder to separate fantasy from reality...
Shaking his head of those kinds of thoughts, Caleb made his way through the convention hall. With the videos he had seen online, it was a bit weird to see an in-between time period where the majority of the fans hadn't entered, but the booths and displays were all set up and ready to go, waiting for those same fans to arrive. That was good for Caleb, though; he could use this time to peruse the booths before the cosplayers he wanted to photograph arrived.
Time to enjoy his weekend.
Yet, here one was, in Caleb's hands, purple lanyard dangling from the top of the card, the attendance pass itself encapsulated in a clear plastic protector.
The monotone voice of the bus driver announced the next stop: the convention center. Caleb was quick to reach up behind him and pull a yellow cord to signal that he wished to stop here. Based off of the other arms that did the same, he wasn't the only one that was going to the convention. About another minute of driving passed before the bus slowed to a stop, the creak of its well worn brake sounding out into the bus, while the hiss of its air brake signaled the complete stop. The doors on the right side of the bus opened automatically, and like those other passengers on the humble public transport, Caleb retrieved his bag from between his legs, hung the lanyard from his neck, and stepped off the bus.
Before him was the convention center, a massive building that was as much an architect's art piece as it was a functional place to hold large scale events like TPCC. Large metal beams criss-crossed up glass windows that made up the exterior wall of the structure, and already, the cacophony of the crowd could be heard. The doors for general attendance hadn't been opened yet, but VIPs were able to begin entering the same time that partnered merchants and official cosplayers did. The latter of which was what Caleb was mainly interested in here: one of the many items in his backpack was his phone, camera functionality included, and he planned to take many pictures of cosplayers for reference in his art. His art was what had paid for the cost of this VIP pass, after all; it was only fair, in his mind, to try and turn the weekend vacation into something that improved his main means of income.
Hopefully, this convention would draw more people to his art, on top of the new inspiration. Caleb had applied as an artist to the convention, but only on one of the lower tiers of partners. That meant he would have a small little gallery in a corner of the Art Alley, but it didn't guarantee the early entry that his fancy VIP pass did. Naturally, he only had his safe for work offerings on display, since the convention explicitly forbade NSFW items be for sale. It meant that, on top of the new reference images for his art thanks to the cosplayers, convention goers could potentially find his display, and since his lanyard had the same artist handle that his gallery did, they could approach him for commission work in person, or find him online and go through the usual commission process. The best part was, he didn't need to sit there like he was a special guest; Caleb was still able to take advantage of his VIP pass while he raked in whatever money he could from people buying his art...after the convention took a small cut, of course.
He walked to the far shorter VIP line, and had his pass scanned after mere moments of waiting in the queue. Seconds later, he was inside the air conditioned convention center, and felt his heart race in his chest from excitement. Here he was, the area's biggest convention for all things pop culture. Sure, that meant that some things weren't going to interest him, but plenty would, and he even pulled out a bit of money from savings for the sake of purchasing a few souvenirs and keepsakes from the event. He wondered if his sister was going to be at this convention. Sera was something of a cosplayer herself, and was interested in far more popular media than Caleb was. She did good work, too; more than a few of his art pieces were the results of seeds planted by Sera's cosplays. He was proud of his sister, but there was a part of him that wished she would pick less revealing cosplays sometimes; not because he was a prude, but for the exact opposite reason. Like any guy, Caleb had fantasies that weren't exactly vanilla, and when Sera dressed up in some of the more provocative cosplays, it was a bit harder to separate fantasy from reality...
Shaking his head of those kinds of thoughts, Caleb made his way through the convention hall. With the videos he had seen online, it was a bit weird to see an in-between time period where the majority of the fans hadn't entered, but the booths and displays were all set up and ready to go, waiting for those same fans to arrive. That was good for Caleb, though; he could use this time to peruse the booths before the cosplayers he wanted to photograph arrived.
Time to enjoy his weekend.