Page 5 of The Fangirl Project
He grabs each of us by the arm, propelling us toward the mass of people near the curtained-off section. The previous panel is over, and people are flocking out while we join the entrance line.
Jake hops on his toes, grinning from ear to ear, and it’s so adorable that my heart gives a longing little squeeze. His excitement is so infectious that even though I have zero attachment to this show, I’m suddenly looking forward to hearing people talk about it.
Max ends up standing behind me, which is ideal because it means I might be able to not-really-but-actually cut him out of conversation to have a little one-on-one hang time with Jake, as planned.
I’m trying to think up the best topic of conversation—not school, and not how practice with his new soccer team is going, but maybe something about the gang from our old school, something only the two of us can talk about—when Max clears his throat, suddenly standing just a little too close.
“You know, if you really want to get involved in the fandom, Cerys, there’s a Discord channel that’s great. They’re pretty welcoming to newcomers.”
Maybe you could take a page out of their book, I think, glancing over my shoulder at him.
“I’ll get Jake to send you a link,” he tells me.
“Sure,” I say warily, not even sure what Discord is, and not willing to admit that and face yet more judgment. But Max must hear it plain as day in my voice, because he rolls his eyes.
“It’s a chat room forum thing. There’s an app. You can be anonymous, if you want, though most of us have shared first names andstuff.”
“Anonymous?”
Max gives me an odd look. “Well, yeah. You just pick a screen name. Most of the ones in this Discord areOWAR-related. Like…puns of character names, or about the Rascals. But since you’re not familiar with it all, you could just throw together a couple of words like magic, mythic, legend…or elves, goblins, witches. Stuff like that. Anyway, this one’s all local people. Lots of Cardiff Uni students too. They’ve organized meetups before, but I’ve always missed them.”
“And they just…talk aboutOWAR? Online?”
“Yeah. Fan theories, character analyses, swapping fanfic links, sharing cosplay pics, that kind of thing.” He shrugs, so nonchalant he can’t even meet my eyes, like this is so basic and my question is so stupid. It sets my hackles up, but I can’t tell if that’s because of the odd dedication that it must require from the chat room members, or Max’s cold attitude.
But I guess it might help me understand more about this series Jake loves so much, so I say, “Cool. Count me in.”
Max grunts, a noise that might be annoyance or might be a bored “okay.” Either way, it’s perfectly clearhedoesn’t want to waste any more of his time with a newbie like me, so I turn back around and plunge into gossiping withmybest friend about our mutual friends and some school drama, doing my best to salvage this day out with Jake.
The convention isn’t so bad, I guess. I don’t get most of what the panels are talking about, but sometimes there’s a good joke or something interesting about the creative process that piques my attention. And apart from Max, nobody seems to be giving me judgy looks anymore. It makes me wonder if they ever really were, or if that was all in my head.
Plus, at the end of the afternoon Jake buys me a Roach T-shirt like the one he’s wearing and presents it to me proudly. “To officiallyinduct you into the cult!” he jokes, and I put it on immediately.
(I do take it off as soon as I’m on the bus home, but he doesn’t need to know that.)
And then, that evening, among a string of texts as the two of us chat utter nonsense about anything and everything and it feels like I’ve got my best friend back, he drops me a link to the Discord channel and says,Maybe see you in the chat sometime!
This isit.
I’m going to be the biggestOWARfangirl he’s ever seen.
OWAR Discord #324
#general
@mythicwitch
Hi everybody! Newbie to the OWAR fandom here! I’m Cerys. Any takes on whether to start with the books or the show?
@wizeguy
sup Cerys! Welcome to the Discord! And, books.
@fauningforhim
Don’t listen to him, Mythic. The TV show is best if you’re just starting! Take it from me—I only just got into OWAR last year, now a die-hard fan!
@silversmithhh
