Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I claim nothing, which is what YOU'LL get if you sue me; nothing. Consider yourself disclaimed.
Dedication: To the many awesome writers whose work I'm shamelessly rip- ...I mean paying homage to.
Summary: A Voice Actor has an interesting encounter with a fan, ...or more accurately the fan's neglected and spiteful girlfriend
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*Brent*
Okay if I'm honest, I fucked up. I brought Tina fully intending to hang out with her and junk, but the card tournament was so tempting. Deep down, I thought that Tina wasn't really a fan. Like a real fan. Sure, she did sexy cosplay and posted hot pics on Instagram but her taste in shows was totally mid. I figured she'd be happy with walking the floor and letting guys ogle her. Of course, honesty requires a lot of self-reflection and it feels better to imagine that the bitch cheated on me for no good reason, that some random, wannabe, alpha sweet-talked his way into her apparently easily-removed hot-pants.
*Max*
The Demon Lord's generals threatened a beautiful young witch. She made arcane gestures in the air, unleashing blue fire which scorched several of her attackers. Still, they closed in on her -- when a figure in black armor crashed through a stained glass window sending shards whirling around the room in a chaotic storm. He landed with a resulting thud to stand between her and certain doom while displaying a ridiculously long thin sword. The creatures backed away, the terror filling their eyes only matched by the total shock across the face of the young woman suddenly being protected.
"Locke, I thought you were dead!" She whispered.
"I was," the demon-possessed warrior growled. "I got better."
Fire filled the screen which gave way to stylized lettering.
"BLACK GRIMOIRE SEASON 2 COMING SOON."
The scene switched to Locke and another ornately dressed effeminate looking man with white wings and a ridiculously long rapier. The two men glared defiantly at each other while the woman from earlier looked back and forth between them.
"Locke!"
"Raphael"
"So, back from the dead?"
"Couldn't let you have all the fun."
The woman screamed in frustration, "Are you two idiots really having a staring contest?"
"HE STARTED IT!" they chorused.
The screen faded to black before the room lights came on causing bleary-eyed nerds to blink and shake their heads.
The crowd exploded with applause and a young casually dressed man gripping a microphone hopped on stage with a customer service smile.
"Hey guys I'll reintroduce myself -- I'm Gary, '' he said brightly, "What did you think of the first episode of season two, awesome huh?"
There was enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
"That's just a taste of what's in store for you guys," Gary continued, "They've been hard at work on season two, and I think I can speak for the production team when I say they absolutely hope you'll love it as much as they loved making it for you."
"When are we gonna see the cast?" someone shouted.
"Tomorrow is the big reveal!" Gary replied loudly.
He caught sight of a tall black man who'd slipped quietly into the room during the presentation or more accurately, during the darkness of the room allowing him to pass largely unnoticed through the crowd of excited fanboys and fangirls.
"Which at this point isn't that big a reveal for anyone with social media," he said dryly, "...or a BBC fetish," he finished under his breath while smiling awkwardly at the crowd.
The crowd was restless and several people started heading for the door. Barely anyone paid attention to the tall guy lounging at the front of the room off to the side.
The microphone guy came to sit next to him.
"Enjoy your anonymity while it lasts; you're about to become the most famous voice actor in the business."
The tall man made a show of patting himself all over before looking closely at the guest badge displayed on his broad chest.
"No, no, I don't think I've suddenly been reborn as Troy Baker or Nolan North." he finally replied.
"Laugh if you want to," Gary chuckled, "by this time next year Baker and North will be joking about being mistaken for you,"
"Please don't make this a big deal, I'm nervous enough about it already," he replied.
"Black Grimoire IS a big deal and your casting is a VERY big deal," microphone guy retorted.
Max Turner sighed and shook the microphone guy's hand finishing with a fist bump before quietly slipping out of the room past the one or two people still lingering in the hallway.
He walked through the convention center, his head down and trying to avoid being recognized even as a small part of him wanted to tell the world the absolutely awesome thing about to happen to him.
He'd been acting professionally for several years when he'd been invited by an old school friend to record a few lines for background characters in a cartoon. That became a series of background talking parts in anime, cartoons and even a triple-A video game title, eventually he nailed the part of a bad guy who gets a lot of screen time with the main character. Game sales had been kind of tapid but almost everyone had praised the voice acting including his part. Indeed so popular was his character, the game's producers rewrote a significant part of the sequel DLC, set before the events of the main game, so he could come back and voice his character again. All the attention got him another audition request. He thought he was auditioning for another baddie of the week. Instead he was informed that he had been trying out for the role of Locke, Black Grimoire's tortured protagonist.
Locke was a mercenary -- a former child soldier who was saved from death on a random battlefield via being possessed by an outcast demon. Instead of fighting each other for control over the body they joined forces to fight against other greater threats, everything from insane deities and angels to power-hungry witches and nefarious demons and devils.
Max loved the manga and anime so like everyone else was saddened when the English voice actor, a seasoned veteran of the profession, suddenly and tragically passed away a year ago. Max was shocked to find he'd been chosen to replace someone he deeply admired. He was even more shocked when he found out the manga author was a big fan who loved both his video game bad guy role and some of his OTHER professional credits a lot so much in fact he went home and wrote an entire season's worth of storyline of his previously abandoned work based on what he claimed was an aborted idea for a fanfiction.
Max's casting had been a fortunate coincidence but urban myth was already changing the story.
Between a streaming deal and a Netflix movie (tomorrow's show included a reveal of cast for the live action movie) Max was supposed to be living his best life. He was nervous however, the artist had been an outspoken critic of the first season and some people already saw his embrace of changes made for season two, including Max's hiring, as "going woke".
Several people came to Max's defense online embracing his casting and wishing him well. Max however was aware that the real reason for the studio delaying the announcement was because as progressive as some people could be, his other side hustle was potentially problematic.
Max walked through the crowds watching the cosplay and fans lining up for convention merchandise or autographs with B and C-list stars and artists.
He saw the table that was already set aside for his own autograph session tomorrow.
He decided to avoid the crowds as his hiring had already been leaked out but pictures of him where he was posed professionally were few and far between so the studio was taking advantage of his relatively anonymous nature to build excitement for tomorrow's big reveal.
As he walked across the floor he saw an attractive woman surrounded by convention attendees pressuring her for hugs and photographs. As if trying to ram home the cliche nature of their annoying behavior, a poster right behind them proclaimed, "Cosplay is not Consent."
She was dressed in a belly shirt and hip-hugging denim shorts cut unbelievably high didn't exactly reveal her ass but certainly gave a pretty sincere promise about what it looked like. Tribal tattoos worked their way up one arm while twin ponytails hung roughly down her back. The replica paintball guns strapped to her sides were a dead giveaway which anime waifu she was cosplaying. Ironically one of Max's personal favorite anime.
"Oh my God I love your Revy." He shouted.
The girl broke from the crowd of handsy nerds and rushed over to him.
"You watch Black Lagoon?"
"Watched it, streamed it, had my blu-ray copies autographed, own the manga and even read the hentai that the author claims is bootlegged but has a suspiciously consistent art style."
"Hey you can't just jump in front of us." One of her handsy admirers whined.
"Trust me, I've done you a favor," Max replied in his best imitation of Dutch the world weary boat captain from the anime.
The boys were annoyed but accepted they'd been outplayed by a fellow geek.
"Your Dutch is pretty good." The girl commented.
"Thanks I'm hoping to get a picture signed by one of the cast, apparently they're going to be here today."
"I know" she grumbled, "I'd love to meet them but my dumbass boyfriend sold our event passes for Magic The Gathering cards."
"Yeah I think there's a big tournament or something
It's all he's interested in. He promised we'd see everything but he's been holed up all day playing cards.
"Ouch, well I don't mind getting you in."
"Sorry, you need a special pass."
Max tapped his ornately decorated guest badge on his chest, "Or you can ask them to let you in because you're a special convention guest who literally knows one of the cast members because she helped you get into the business." Max paused, "well the voice acting stuff anyway."
"Shit, you're serious?"
Instead of answering he theatrically offered his arm and escorted her to the meeting hall.
"Incidentally, my name's Max," he offered.
"Tina!" The girl replied
Gary the microphone guy was sitting outside when he saw them.
"Listen, can you let me and my new friend here in? She's a huge fan."
"Alright but only because shits going to be insane tomorrow." Gary replied.
"So you've mentioned."
Gary opened the door and they slipped in.
"I can wait at the back," Tina whispered.
"That's certainly one's way to go," Max replied before whistling loudly and waving.
The voice actress, who had been answering a fan's question, paused to acknowledge him.
"Gotta fangirl back here," Max yelled, "she even found paintball replicas of the actual guns."
Max started to gently pull her towards the front of the room.
