by Mia Archer
The subject line was an Elassa Con all-in-one VIP package. I clicked to open it. I gave it a once over, and then I gave it a second over. I double checked the email headers to make sure it wasn’t spoofed or anything, but everything look official and it wasn’t coming from some strange server in Nigeria or anything. Still, there was absolutely no way this could possibly be real.
“Megan! Emergency meeting!”
Megan let out a frustrated sigh, but once more she typed something and pulled her headphones down. It sounded like she’d been talking to somebody, but she dropped it as soon as I said the magic words.
“Most everybody logged off anyways,” she muttered. “What’s up?”
“Look at this email. Does that say what I think it says?”
Megan looked and as she did her eyes grew wider and wider. Apparently she was having just as difficult a time believing what had appeared in my inbox as I was.
“No way,” Megan said.
“Way.”
“That says all expenses paid VIP trip to Elassa Con courtesy of Elassa Corp,” Megan said. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get those? Forget expensive, this is invitation only shit right here! You don’t get this unless you have one hell of an in. Like I'm talking an in with someone who works for the company. Not just winning a contest or some bullshit like that.”
“It has to be a mistake.”
“Well there’s a phone number down at the bottom. Call’em and find out what’s going on.”
So I called the number, but not before looking at the Elassa Corporation website just to double check that the number was actually an Elassa Corp phone number. They definitely matched up. Either this was somebody who was going through an elaborate con, or it was somebody who didn’t expect me to actually call the number. So I dialed. After a few minutes on hold, after a few minutes talking with a very nice representative, I’d confirmed that yes, everything was absolutely one hundred percent true. I was now the recipient of an all-expenses-paid trip for two, VIP package, to the convention.
I put my phone down and I must’ve looked shell shocked.
“It’s real?” Megan asked.
I nodded. “They confirmed everything. It’s all real. We just have to fill out our information and Elassa Corp gets everything squared away with the airlines and hotel.”
“Damn,” Megan said. “Who is this girl? And how did you get so lucky?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I’m really looking forward to finding out more about this mystery girl.”
“Me too. Think she has a friend?”
I cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't think you swung that way?"
Megan shrugged. "She could have a guy friend. Besides, for those tickets I'd take a walk on the wild side!"
I rolled my eyes and pushed Megan back towards her side of the room and her computer. "Go raid or something and get out of my hair."
12: Surprises
The Indianapolis Airport was a hell of a lot busier than I’d expected, though I guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise considering there was a major convention in town that was supposed to easily draw in a hundred thousand people if not more. There were a lot of Elassa fans throughout the country, all over the world, and they were all converging on this town in the relative middle of nowhere that happened to have a big convention center because of some sports game a few years back.
Though I guess it wasn’t entirely fair to call the place the middle of nowhere. The place was definitely a lot bigger than my hometown up in Wisconsin. It was even a hell of a lot bigger than the university town where I went to school. And from the looks of things at the airport pretty much everybody streaming through were people planning on going to the convention. There were a few people who were watching the people who were going to the convention with disbelief, but there weren’t many normals.
I was sure the TSA was having a field day with this particular crowd. Some people were walking around with obvious prosthetic elf ears on. Others had their convention badges out already even though we weren’t anywhere close to the convention center.
“Were not in Wisconsin anymore,” Megan said.
I shrugged. “We’ve replaced a state covered in cheese for one covered in cornfields,” I said. “Not much difference as far as I’m concerned.”
Megan smacked my shoulder. “Come on Amber! We’re two girls in the big city!”
“The big city?” I asked, looking around. Outside the windows there seemed to be a whole lot of nothing except for planes and runways. No tall buildings or anything in evidence.
“Well big enough,” Megan said with a shrug. “Definitely bigger than anything we have in Wisconsin, that’s for sure!”
“I suppose you have a point there,” I said.
Megan looked around. “So I know we’ve been busy trying to figure out how we’re going to get to the airport back home and everything, but it did you ever stop to think about how we were going to actually get to the hotel from the airport?”
I stopped and blinked. “No, actually I hadn’t thought about that at all.”
“So you mean I’m going to be getting a cab for us?” Megan asked.
I turned and smiled. “I’d be ever so grateful if you did, because I definitely don’t have that kind of cash.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Well it’s not like I’m paying for it either if it’s my dad’s credit card. I don’t suppose he can be too mad anyways. His little girl being stranded at the airport sort of qualifies as an emergency, right?”
“Something like that,” I said.
We made our way out of the baggage claim and luckily nobody lost our bags on the flight down. That would have been a real pain in the ass, especially considering I’d stuffed my old con costume in there. Kaira had specifically mentioned wanting to see me in the thing and I don’t know what I would’ve done if they lost that bag. Not that I’d ever actually been in a situation where an airline lost bags. There were times that I wondered if that was just a contrivance from Hollywood writers that painted the airline industry in a bad light.
When we got to the airport entrance there was one thing straight out of Hollywood. A line of people holding up signs just like in the movies. Only apparently one thing had changed since the days when I watched movies about rich people getting picked up at the airport or not-so-rich people being picked up at the airport as an indicator of how fabulously wealthy the person they were getting with was. All the "signs" were actually tablets with names printed on the screen. Interesting. Wasteful, but interesting.
Oh well. It must be nice for the drivers to be able to play games in between jobs.
“Look at those high rollers!” I said. “Wouldn’t it be nice to get to the hotel in a limo?”
“Easy there girl,” Megan said. “I’ve got money for a cab, but dad’s definitely going to be pissed off if I spring for a limo!”
I sighed. “I know. It’s just nice to dream.”
I glanced past the row of drivers holding up tablets and sighed. There was a glimpse into a world I was probably never going to experience. Sure there were super rich writers in the world. Stephen King. JK Rowling. Kaitlyn Morgan. Writers who pulled the kind of money that got them the royal treatment wherever they went. Only I had no illusions about my own prospects of getting a book deal that’d ever be able to pay for the whole “limo waiting for me at the entrance” treatment.
Megan slapped my shoulder. I kept walking. She slapped me again. I turned and fixed her with an irritated glare. “What?”
“That limo person over there is holding up a sign with your in-game name!” Megan said.
I followed her finger to where she was pointing. I squinted at the sign. I blinked. Sure enough, she was right. The guy was standing there with a tablet held up with my name on it. Well, with my character’s name on it. There it was, Maia, plain as day. Okay, so it was a rare name but that couldn’t possibly be for me.
“What the hell?” I asked.
“Maybe it’s
part of the VIP package?” Megan asked.
It was a very nice package. It included airfare, a stay at the hotel for the entire time we were at the convention, admission to the convention and all of the after parties, and VIP access to everything. We checked on the Elassa Con website and the total cost would’ve run in the thousands of dollars if someone tried to buy it all, but it couldn’t be bought in one package. Some of the stuff in our package wasn't even for sale. As far as we could tell our package wasn’t for sale. It made me wonder exactly who Kaira was that she could swing that package.
But it didn’t include transportation from the airport which is why I didn’t think to bring money money for a cab. Why bring money if everything was paid for?
“I don’t think so. That has to be for someone else. I don’t remember reading anything about a limo in that package,” I said.
Only that didn’t stop Megan from walking over to the driver. I rolled my eyes and followed, and to my surprise his face lit up when he saw me. “Maia?”
“Yeah? How did you know?”
“Let’s just say my employer provided me with a picture,” he said. He leaned in and whispered. “It was actually quite funny to see a lady of the Bendai Sisterhood sticking her tongue out and grinning like that.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. Someone had been into my Elassa profile. And I had no idea of knowing if that somebody was Kaira or somebody from Elassa Corporation. Obviously they had to know something about my profile if they set me up with the VIP package. So I guess it stood to reason that somebody would pass on my information. And yet I still didn’t remember anything about a limo when I read over the package, and I’d read over it quite a bit in the past week.
“Are you taking us to the hotel?” I asked.
“Sure thing!” The guy said.
“Is it a long drive?” Megan asked.
“Not really,” the driver said as he took our bags and led us out to the arrival area where a limo was waiting. “That’s the nice thing about Indianapolis. No matter where you’re going it usually only takes thirty minutes. Unless you’re driving in rush-hour. Then it takes forty-five minutes.”
And so I found myself being loaded into a limo and driving down the interstate in style. The driver was friendly enough and pointed things out to us as we approached downtown. The buildings were appropriately tall enough, though nothing compared to when I visited Chicago. Basically it seemed like your average Midwestern city, though maybe a little bigger than normal.
“I can’t believe this!” Megan said drumming her feet against the bottom of the limo. She looked over and saw that there was alcohol set out. She turned towards the driver. “Is this stuff free?”
“Not free ma’am,” he said.
“Oh,” Megan said.
“But it is included in the cost, and I’m sure my employer wouldn’t mind if you enjoyed yourself. Especially since you’re not paying for it,” he said.
Megan squealed and poured herself a drink. I smiled and figured what the hell. I might as well enjoy myself if it was paid for. Besides, everything was working out strangely well, and so I figured I should probably get some alcohol for when the other shoe inevitably dropped.
We had another surprise in store once we got to the hotel. The place was a huge blue glass monstrosity, but apparently it had a connection to the convention center and was one of the nicest places in the city. The lobby was definitely pretty intense.
The place was full of people who were obviously here for the convention. There was a wide variety of ages, gender, and body types on display. I even saw a couple of people wearing ridiculously elaborate costumes which made me blush as I thought of my own costume packed away in my luggage. I’d spent more time than I cared to think about putting the thing together for a smaller regional con, and I was damn proud of it. If the airline lost the thing I might’ve killed somebody.
The only problem was I got ridiculously embarrassed every time I thought of actually putting the thing on. It was, how to put it, just a little skimpy. An armored bikini, definitely not the kind of thing that you’d wear out to dinner and drinks with friends, but as I had a look at the convention people in the lobby I felt better. I had a feeling I was going to fit right in.
Most everybody already had their convention badges out and I wondered if there was some sort of early registration that I wasn’t aware of. I’d have to look into that, maybe mosey over to the convention center and see what was going on.
Megan was staring wide-eyed at the hotel.
“Damn,” Megan said. “We’ve made it!”
I felt my phone buzz as she said that and I stopped and reached down to fish it out. Our driver stopped with us and waited for a moment. I pulled out my phone and glanced at it. It was a message over Elassa chat. I pulled up the app and had a look. I smiled. Kaira.
“Enjoy your surprise at the airport?”
“It was nice,” I said. “But you’re being too nice.”
“Just wait.”
“What do you mean?”
Only it appeared the messages from Kaira were done for the moment. I glanced around the hotel and wondered what fresh surprise could possibly be waiting for us, but there was nobody holding up a sign with my name on it here. Whatever. Time to check in anyways. I had a feeling the rooms at this place were going to be pretty swank.
I moved up to the desk and gave the receptionist my name. The girl was nice enough with the same checked out vacant smile on hospitality workers around the world. Only her eyes grew wide when she typed in my name and she looked up with a genuine smile. I blinked. I wondered if this was the next surprise Kaira had been referring to.
“Welcome to the hotel ma’am!” she said. “It looks like you’ve been upgraded to our rooftop suite!”
I blinked. “Is there an extra cost associated with that?”
“It’s all been paid for and taken care of ma’am,” she said. She pulled out our key cards and handed them over. Megan looked down at the thing as though she couldn’t believe it.
“To use that you’ll have to use a special elevator. Take the express elevators up to the top floor, and then go down the hall to the dedicated elevator for the suite," the girl said. “That elevator is keyed to only open with your cards, so you’ll be the only ones who can get up there.”
“We’re the only ones staying in the suite?”
“The only ones ma’am,” she said.
I was just a little irritated by the ma’am thing. After all, I didn’t think I was much older than her. In fact as I looked her up and down it was entirely possible we were the same age, or I might even be a little younger. But apparently finding out that I was staying in the suite was enough to upgrade me to ma’am, and I wasn’t in the mood to get in an argument with someone on hotel staff over something that stupid. Especially when she was apparently giving me an upgrade to the nicest room in the whole place!
Of course I also smelled a rat.
“You’re absolutely certain nobody else is booked up there?”
“Only one booking, and that’s for you,” she said.
Megan elbowed me in the ribs and I let out a yelp of surprise. “The nice girl said we were upgraded to the rooftop suite,” Megan muttered under her breath. “Why don’t you just let her go ahead and upgrade us and not look a gift horse in the mouth!”
I sighed but decided to go along with it. A limo driver meeting us at the airport was bad enough, but I was starting to think that somebody had really gone above and beyond! My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out.
“Surprised?”
“When do we get to meet? I have a few questions for you,” I said.
“All in good time,” she said. “I’m a little occupied right now, but I should be available for lunch in about an hour or so. Sound good?”
“That’s fine with me,” I tapped into my phone. “Where?”
“I’ll tell you,” she said. “Just keep an eye on your phone.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes
. I was really starting to get tired of all this cloak and dagger stuff, but if she wanted to play mysterious then I guess I'd go along with it for a little longer. Especially considering the ridiculous VIP treatment we’d been getting so far. Not for the first time since we started this trip I found myself wondering exactly how much this was costing Kaira, and exactly what it was she did for a living that she could afford all of this!
I was starting to wonder if I hadn’t inadvertently run into a multimillionaire while I was playing that videogame. I knew stranger love stories had happened, but I still couldn’t believe it would happen to me. Not that I particularly cared if somebody had a lot of money anyways. I was so used to living the life of a poor college student, and before that my parents hadn’t exactly been rich, that the idea of spending all this money almost felt wasteful to me. Megan seemed more than happy to enjoy all the cash being thrown around though.
She threw herself down onto the massive bed in her room once we got up to the suite. The place really was impressive. It had a view of the entire downtown Indianapolis skyline, and as I looked down I thought I could make out the convention center which wasn’t very far away at all. I could even see some of the skywalks leading from our hotel to the center.
“This place is incredible!” Megan said.
I turned and smiled at her. “Yeah, it’s something all right.”
It really was impressive. There was a massive living area that was bigger than our entire apartment. At least it felt bigger than our entire apartment. There were two rooms off to either side, and as I walked into my own I realized that I’d been wrong about the main area. My bedroom was bigger than our apartment! Hell, the bathroom alone felt like it was as big as my room. Megan came in behind me, a whirlwind of excitement and smiles.
“When we meet this girl you’ll have to make sure to give her an extra special thanks,” she said.
“I’m definitely going to do something with her,” I said, looking around and still not quite believing it.
Apparently Megan took that the wrong way because she squealed and started laughing. I smiled, but I wasn’t so sure of myself. Sure there'd been that session in the pirate cove online, but that was online. I was still nervous about trying that sort of thing in the real world. That would be crossing another line. That would be admitting something to myself, admitting that I really was attracted to a woman. Assuming I met her and the attraction worked in person. There were so many things going on here and it was all happening so fast that it was dizzying.
