Elise Hartmann as YoRHa No.2 Type B (Nier Automata)

Elise took a deep breath and prepared her mental checklist. Without her eyes, it was all she had to go on.

Shoulders square. Back straight. Feet shoulder width apart.

Elise's cosplay was stunningly beautiful. Her dress was made of black satin stitched from whole cloth, which let it flutter ever so slightly as she moved, just like the real 2B. The embroidery around Elise's skirt had been hand-stiched with silver thread. Raven's feathers adorned her sleeves, curling outwards in a dark plume.

2B's costume was as tantalizing as it was elegant. Her dress's décolletage plunged low, showcasing Elise's milky white cleavage. A fine strip of sheer satin stretched over her collarbones and gave onlookers the chance to stare at her breasts with the excuse of "admiring her lacework." Not that Elise would know; her cosplay's blindfold meant she had no idea who was looking where.

Flatten palm. Knuckles directly above sternum. Tighten elbow. Tuck arm in.

Elise raised her arm and gave the YoRHa salute with military precision. 2B was a combat android, and she had no excuse for bad posture. Elise held her pose without a flicker of motion, as if she were a mannequin.

Soften voice. Remove emotion. Speak with patience, but let the words trail slightly with bone-deep tiredness.

"Glory to mankind."

Around Elise were the trappings of high fashion and high lifestyle. Long plastic bags, filled with dresses and coats, burst from her closet. Beauty cases as big as toolboxes cluttered around her vanity mirror. Right now, the only thing that mattered was her shining gold laptop and accompanying hi-def webcam, its ready-light pulsing a crimson red.

"Good work, Ellie," said the laptop in a high-pitched girl's voice. "I think we can use that one."

Ellie let her shoulders slack in relief. Finally, she could take a break. She smoothed her skirts beneath her and lay back on the bed. Her work was done for now; it was time for the girl on the other end of the call to do her job. Her name was Yasmin, and together she and Elise had made the internet their bitch.

"I'll throw it up on the usual sites. Tumblr, twitter, reddit, Facebook, Weibo, et cetera," Yasmin said, accompanied by a loud smacking of lips. By the sounds of it, she'd just started a fresh stick of gum. "Got a message for your fans, or you want me to handle the teaser?"

"Hang on. I've got this one." Elise racked her brain for the right words. She'd locked herself in a room with a copy of Automata a few days ago and only come out once she was sure she'd beaten every last bit of it. What stuck out? What would make people smile?

"Tell them that 'this cannot continue.' "

"Of course!" Yasmin giggled. She snapped her gum and flew into a fresh storm of clicking. "Should be trending in a minute or two, at least after I get the lighting right in this clip. God, what would we do without filters?"

"Look like zombies, probably. Graaaah!" Elise laughed and picked at 2B's combat visor. "At least I don't have to worry about red-eye with this blindfold. Are you sure the client says I have to be totally blind?"

"Yeah, that was a little weird," Yasmin said. "I asked about that, and you're not gonna believe what the guy from Electric Sheep told me. He said it's your job to test out their new sensory systems."

"Testing their sensory systems?" Elise had a bad feeling about the way that sounded. She sat up on her bed and "stared" at the laptop. "I'm an advertising professional, not a beta tester."

"They said it'd be clearer once you got your props."

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Elise tossed her blindfold aside and went to answer it.