The voices

The room was large and crowded, various stalls displayed their goods as passersby walked around the vendor hall of the noisy convention center. It had beige walls and a red carpet, there are families here among the crowd with their kids, they all gathered near the plushie stall to shop for their favorite toys. Colt, on the other hand, had more interest in the magic the gathering table that he had shopped at previously, he bought a few much needed cards for his deck. After spending what money he had on collectables and memorabilia he left the vendor hall and began to wander the other convention halls.

“What a con, I think I’ll hit the dance panel next, those always look like fun, maybe if I get there early I can get in the front row!” Colt said excitedly, as he ran to the panel with four bags full of con swag. He originally was going to cosplay but there was a tournament he just had to participate in and you can’t exactly fight in a complicated costume with multiple parts, so he just opted for a Guy Fawkes mask for the fun of it.

As he entered the panel room he noticed it was actually more akin to a small concert hall with a stage, curtains and lights included. It was rather impressive for the hotel he was staying at, it wasn’t great, but at least they took care of the facilities and panel rooms.

“Hmm, so this is the ‘You think you can dance’ Anime panel, should be interesting, I hope they do Lucky Star,” he said to himself as he walked the halls, being 6’2” he could see over most of the crowd, thankfully most didn’t have on large costumes, well, other than the RWBY cosplayer with the scythe, something Colt found very well made. “Wait, back on topic man, keep it together, don’t nerd out too much, it’s only a- Ooh shiny!” He shouts as he sees a  chrome gundam in a display case, “Dear god what have I become… Wait...I-Is that... Q?!”

As Colt attempted to return his attention to the line of people on the stage getting ready to make fools of themselves for some laughs, he sees by far the most impressive Q cosplay he had ever seen. He was exactly the right height. It was as if John De Lancie had walked right off the set and had decided to spend his time at the convention. But the likelihood of that was incredibly low, John had stopped playing Q when The Next Generation ended and besides that, John no longer had the brown hair, it had become gray and peppered in his age. This couldn’t be John, but perhaps a relative.

As he bids goodbye to a child he’d signed an autograph for, Colt could swear that the man even spoke in the same exact quirky, dramatic and playful tone.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” Colt had to get an autograph- no, he needed a picture! “Excuse me, sir? I love  your Q cosplay, may I get an autograph and a picture?”

The cosplayer simply smiled and gave Colt a toothy grin. “Of course my boy, who wouldn’t want something to remember me by?” His voice copying was impeccable, the kind that could only be related to either a high-end voice modulator or a long time of practice. He slapped Colt on the back and snapped his fingers, producing a pen and a camera from his own con bag.

The man then pulled Colt into a big, one-armed squeeze, camera in the other hand aimed at the two of them. After a large flash, the older, polaroid-style camera spits out a photo of the two of them. Q leans over to Colt. “You like being a trickster too, eh?”

“Hehe, yeah, I’m a bit of a clown, I even juggle, wanna see?”

“Perhaps another time, now then, hold still.” Taking the pen, the cosplaying man wrote on the Guy Fawkes mask Colt was wearing and handed him the photo.

“Sweet! Did you make your costume? If so can you email me the patterns?! This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Sorry my boy, all my costumes are one-of-a-kind!” The cosplayer chuckled. “And please, this can’t be the ‘coolest’ thing ever. Perhaps close but you really can’t imagine anything more amazing?”

“No, I don’t have a good imagination.”

“Well, that will need to be fixed!” The incredibly charismatic voice of the cosplayer snickered. “Perhaps... no, not yet. When you no longer need to be here maybe... Yes, when your business is done here, I will happily show you a much more amazing experience!”

“Sounds cool man! Anyways thanks so much for this, means a lot.”

“Think nothing of it.” the cosplayer gives a deep bow and walks around a corner, sauntering to a tune only he could hear. Colt attempted to follow, realizing he never got to see the man’s convention pass, something to divulge his true identity, but the man was gone.

Regaining his focus, Colt walked down the hall and found the panel room. There he saw a large Pikachu cosplayer on stage, the Pikachu costume very plush, with extra foam. It looked adorable and huggable, just like Pikachu should be.

“I gotta see this.” He said as he walked in, but as he did so he overheard a conversation between two convention staff, something about the stage lights.

The show started without a hitch, they did the Kurutto Mawatte Ikkaiten from Keroro Gunso, Hare Hare Yukai from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Caramelldansen which isn’t even from an anime but he danced along for the hell of it. Although dancing in his trench coat and holding bags made it a little awkward, especially with all the foam rubber knives he carried with him. They were fairly realistic with small, silverish ‘blades’ and palm-sized black handles, but whenever he was LARPing, they became deadly instruments meant for impaling his victims. And juggling.

As the music played with the video projector showing the anime the dance is from on the screen behind the dancers which comprised of a zombie, Ruby, Master Chef (Master Chief in a apron, a chef’s hat and oven mitts with a spatula) and the bulky costumed pikachu from before. ‘The costume was well made to be quite honest, looked plush, but hard to move in.’ he thought to himself.

As the panel continued, there were creaking noises emanating above the stage, as he looked up he noticed one of the light was beginning to come loose right above the dancers.

“Please tell me that isn’t going to fall….” Colt said to himself, full of worry.

Sure enough, with one final creak the light begin to come loose. With the music blaring, no one was aware of the impending danger as they danced to the music. Looking at the dancers for a split second he determined the Pikachu in the center of the stage was in the most danger, so he climbed on stage to save the pokemon.

He hurriedly got on stage and pushed the pikachu out of the way making them fall to the ground on their back. Just as he pushed the dancer out of the way the supports for the light above gave way as creaks could be heard right before it plummeted down onto him. Screams could be heard from the crowd as the light fell, it initially hit him in the head, but as he fell the light settled in his back, the heat from the bulb singeing his coat and skin as one of the light panels from the fixture was now lodged into his back. The crowd was in a panic and the staff quickly took control of the situation the best they could, they quickly got the members in the room on stage to try to dislodge the light from Colt, but to no avail. He tried to speak but could only gurgle as blood filled his mouth and pooled by his head. With restricted head movement his eyes darted around the room in a panic, was he going to die here? Before he could continue his train of thought the darkness enveloped him.

“Whoopsies.” Came a charismatic voice. “I didn’t think it would happen that soon, but... a promise is a promise.” Through the thick fog of near unconsciousness, out stepped the Q cosplayer, whose face metamorphosed into one with a long brown snout, a snaggletooth, and burning yellow eyes which were full of apologetic worry for all of two moments. He snapped his fingers and gave a hearty laugh. “Go~od lu~uck!”