I decided to take Melody's advice and entered the room that was marked 'Cosplayer in Peril' about an hour after I left the other room. It was now well into the afternoon and the convention was about to reach the supreme madness that always follows an afternoon of fans being fans. The room was controlled chaos. A good dozen people were rushing around, all of them wearing jeans and bright neon orange shirts that had the words “Stage Hand” followed by the word “Volunteer” emblazoned upon the back.

Hannah was waiting for me the moment I walked out of work, and she followed me in her car as I drove home, insisting on being the one who took me shopping. Once we got to the shop, the idea was that she would pick things out that would be suitable for a young teenager to wear to a party, so there I was shopping for the other me, and trying to visualise how I would look in things. Hannah settled on a blue dress which I thought looked very short and very tight, but she insisted it would look perfect as she had been doing some research.

A new start - Part 1 of 5

I've finished this, but haven't decided yet if I will post it once a week or in consecutive days, and part five is technically a prequel but still very connected to the whole story. I hope you enjoy.
————————-

A Grumpy Old Man’s Tale 39 Iroko, Ermine and Critters

“You’re seriously telling us that you’re doing all that learning just to cook chicken chow mien, Jeremy‽ Just get a book written in English, Lad. My missus would lend you one if you’re strapped for the cash.” Pat’s words caused gales of laughter. All knew that was not the issue, but they were up for the laugh anyway.

General Ajani didn't look quite so tense as he had the first time Keir had met him. The tall man looked like he hadn't had a good nights sleep in ages, but he didn't look like a man facing execution anymore. He did look rather curious about the four Lleial soldiers and the two ghostly soldiers who were standing ramrod straight beside the door, yet he didn't say anything.

From the fact that this isn’t their first time, I’m guessing they’re both realizing — or at least suspecting — they’re not as purely cis as they thought.”

It was only for pure alphabetical chance that I met Albert. We shared a college dorm room since Idlewild and Ien were next to each other on the list.

I shook my head, barely moving, not looking directly at her. “It’ll be fun,” she said.

I knew I was in deep trouble when mom mentioned she wanted to have a 'private discussion' with me. I knew that was mom talking for me going across her lap while she applied the hairbrush to my bare bottom. I breathed a silent prayer under my breath as I was marched from the kitchen to my bedroom. Mom followed behind me, her arms folded across her chest and a crossed look graced her face as she walked a few steps behind me. A few minutes later we reached my room.

METHOD OR MADNESS
By Joannebarbarella

I reached into my purse and flipped him my drivers’ license. “That’s me,” I said. “Or was, up until a month ago. I have sixty years of memories to go with the photo. If I was scammed, the scammers are the functional equivalent of an advanced species. And there’s no way that I could ‘delude’ myself into a working knowledge of Old English, Norman French, Greek, Classical Latin, Church Latin and Hochdeutch, with a smattering of other languages besides.”

The Saga of Girly Lee Brown A novelette by Theresa Black

Chapter 3

After the superhero Curador and his more experienced partner are captured by the evil Dr. Quasi, the demented genius subjects them to bizarre and horrifying experiments to satisfy his thirst for knowledge—as well as his own lascivious desires. Helpless to defend themselves from his depravity, the humiliated heroes soon discover that there are some fates far more outlandish than the merely life-and-limb dangers to which they had become accustomed. (A tale of Faraday City.)