Page 15 of My Cosplay Escape
I stumble in my heels and bump into a Tournament of Crowns, no, a Robotman Tournament of Crowns cosplayer. He scowls at me until he sees Gwen.
I imagine the sound effectsgrindandgratehanging descriptively near Nightbat Tony’s clenched jaw as Gwen and I flank this impressive cosplayer who’s utilized both carbon fiber armor and genuine fur in his costume. “Feel free to bump into me at any time, ladies,” he says.
We wander through the tables of artists. We pose for more pictures. I nerd out at the AJ Comics exhibition. They have Jane Lee originals, fromNumb, no less. I ogle. I lose my Shirley Temples.
“If you’re into Jane Lee, she’s supposedly going to be on a panel later,” Tony says.
I whimper. “Are you serious?” All my Comic-Con dreams are coming true. Cosplay is awesome. Trying on a sexy, confident, badass character and escaping for those fleeting moments is awesome. Jane Lee’s panel is awesome. Even the contest, being up onstage and knowing that it doesn’t matter for a second that I live with my mom, is awesome.
* * *
We don’t win. Two girls dressed as Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham do. Ironically, they made out onstage.
Gwen and Tony are stuck in a huge line at coat check as I stare at my phone and hail a Lyft. Comic-Con is over and so is my turn at being the sexy, badass villain.
Tall stripes of white and blue flood my peripheral vision. “Congratulations.”
It’s Adam. He’s pulled a blue button-down over his white T-shirt. Maybe his eyes are gray. “We didn’t win,” I say. We didn’t even place. I’m not a sore loser. I’m just sore from the heels and the corset that compressed my rib cage all day. My mood has nothing to do with this being the end of Comic-Con and the end of my cosplaying.
“You were a crowd favorite.” He pulls out his phone and shows me his IG feed. “#Catstrike. That’s you. That’s you again. You and Poison Hemlock. Oh, and you again. Let’s search #Comic-Con. You’re the third hit. How about #cosplay?” He holds out his phone, and my face is studded all over his feed.
“What do you want, Adam?”
The hall is deafening, and he leans in closer. “I have a proposition.”
You’ve gotta be kidding. I guess Adam isn’t a gentleman after all. I fold my arms across my chest, my claws sticking out menacingly. They’ve snagged on all my stuff today, but right now, I’m glad I’m still wearing them.
“Have you been to an escape room?” Adam asks.
Gwen props an arm on my shoulder. “She hasn’t, but she’s a poor example. Keep pitching. This is fun.” I think Gwen found a drink somewhere before the contest. She’s been even more outgoing than I thought possible.
“Name two things Millennials and Gen Z have in common,” he says. “They’re bored, and they love superheroes. I provide them entertainment via my superhero-themed escape rooms.”
“Adult entertainment?”
“No. No!” Adam tugs on the collar of his shirt. “Hear me out. Every single Millennial in this room has a superhero fantasy.”
“Ew.”
“Let me finish.”
“Yeah, Saire—Sabine. Let the man finish.” Gwen sways a little.
“They have a superhero fantasy. And Gen Z is the same. They want to be Nightbat for a night. Ralph Winston with the Magnificent Man suit ready to go. Robotman. Catstrike. Huh? They want this.” He gestures to the throng of conventiongoers all around us. “They want access to this. That’s it. No one is being a jackass in here. No one is asking to sleep with you—”
Gwen snorts. “We did get some shouted proposals.”
Nightbat Tony, no longer wearing the mask and still carrying Gwen’s hoard of shopping, manages to sweep Gwen up and off her feet. “Marry me, Hemlock!”
“Exactly!’ Gwen giggles. They disappear in a crush of sugary-sweet PDA. Just me and Adam now. Well, and a few hundred strangers.
“Cosplay is growing. You’re very good at it.” His cheeks color as he stares down at my boots. “You haven’t broken character once all day.”
“And you’ve been watching? Like, all day?” I’m done. I can’t flirt in cosplay. I can’t flirt out of cosplay. That’s the way it should be. Has to be. I’m walking toward the exit, leaving my fantasies behind at the convention center, where they can be corralled in lost and found for all eternity.
Adam jogs a step to catch up. “You’ve been to Disneyland? You took a picture with a princess, right? It’s the same idea. I bring the superheroes and supervillains to a fun, interactive, immersive escape room experience. My patrons get a piece of their fantasy, some bragging rights to the fastest times and pictures to post to their IG feed.”
“What’s your superhero fantasy?”
