Karina At Pop-Con

“Yeah I'm just now pulling into the parking lot of the Red Fox right now. I'll get the room and meet you guys up there. Bye Cammy!” Karina excitedly hung up the phone as she saw the massive crowds of people heading to the hotel she was going to be at for the next three days. The twenty-eight year old Japanese woman had been waiting all year for the annual Oakvale Pop-Con. A general convention geared toward comics, anime, movies, and pretty much anything nerd adjacent. She even had several cosplays and her friends were even doing a group themed one tomorrow.

Her long raven hair was tied up in a ponytail while she was currently outfitted in an all white tank top with the word “OwO" written across the chest, and a pair of jet black baggy sweatpants as well as some worn out sneakers. Having come from her workout, the young lass figured she'd be able to change once she got into the hotel room. Grabbing her Lickitung backpack with a quick change of casual clothes, she left her suitcase in the car wanting to hopefully not be in line too long for check-in.

While the beginnings of the convention only had a few hundred attendees, the following years it grew in size, with this year having had at least 75,000 people in presales alone. The town had been known for decades with unfortunate events within it and that garnered more of the supernatural nerds to attend.

As Karina began going along the crosswalks, outta the corner of her eye she noticed a rose garden spelling out “RED FOX” only for an actual fox to peek its head out of the flowers. She caught the animal's gaze as it seemed to smirk before darting off to the point Karina couldn't even see where it had gone. Looking at the entrance of the hotel, it seemed a line wrapped around the building bringing some nervousness to Karina. Quickly that feeling was washed with relief when she realized it was the line for those who hadn't bought passes yet. Since she had prepaid her event ticket with the room, hers would be guaranteed the second she got the hotel key.

Upon entering she admired the many detailed cosplays, and even caught herself smiling at poorly made ones that clearly had passionate effort. A plethora of characters from all walks of entertainment. The venue was massive and seemed to stretch on forever. This particular 12 storied hotel had plenty of conference rooms, a dealer's hall, and a small section known as Artist Alley, Karina felt at home in this environment. Looking over toward the front desk she saw a decent sized line but it clearly wouldn't take long as she quickly went to the end of it.

As the young Asian got closer to the front, a skinny pimple-faced boy with long, grease slicked brown hair beneath a fedora, as well as a clearly knock off leather trenchcoat raised his eyebrow. Nudging excitedly at his somewhat average looking male friend.

“Comrade! Behold the fair maiden before our path!”

“Yeah that's specifically helpful here…”

“Over yonder! The lady who hails from the East!”

“Bro I swear I'm going to hit you, speak coherent English.”

“She's got the Lickitung bag on her dude!”

“Oh yeah, she's cute I guess.”

“Cute?! Adjust your vision posthaste! Her majestic radiant exuberance has brought my spirits out from the darkness. I must procure an engagement of sorts, clearly she is a fan of nerdlike culture and I will make her my betrothed!"

“Louis, I have never seen you personally swoon any person at any of these events. Much less actually say more than m'lady to an attractive girl.”

“Richard, how many times must I inform and correct you to my proper moniker of Dramok The Inevitable! Make sure your eyes witness my endeavor!” he exclaimed running off to the side of the line to get to his target as his friend only sighed and pulled out his phone to record his friend's inevitable failure.