Welcome to Vegas Quadrant Culture-Con!

[airlockedmods]

[After a hopefully restful night in the luxurious quarters of their suite, the hotel is abuzz with activity once again bright and early.

The Doctor and his group (Thomasin, Yurika, and Togami) found a lead that InterGal7 has a booth in the Dealer's hall, while Xander and his group (Jamie, Jane, and Natsuhi) have a lead to follow about a panel.

In scanning through the schedules and the TV advertisements, it becomes clear that while there are two separate "paths" to the scavenger hunt, in order to maximize the chances of winning both must be completed. The deadline is in the evening. It'll make the group as a whole a lot less conspicuous to split up, plus to maximize the chances of getting both paths completed.

With great Temerity, onward!]

Comments

Dealer's Hall Group

[airlockedmods]

[Doctor, Thomasin, Yurika, Togami]

[curdle]

[ The Dealer's hall is wild and frenetic, more boisterous than any marketplace she's ever seen, and her immediate instinct is to follow the other three around as closely as possible lest she lose them in the crush of goop, cardboard swords, and extra appendages. The only thing she can really compare this to, crowd-wise, is the hold of the ship she spent months in on her way to the new world, or maybe the city streets when they were travelling to said ship. All of those memories put her in the mindframe of a much younger Thomasin, a child who would love nothing more than to cling to her mother's apron and her father's hands. But she's not a child*, and she can't let them be discovered because of her own weakness, so she hangs back and goes at a more leisurely pace, keeping a watchful eye on Yurika's hair and cat ears so as not to lose her way.

Anyway, the point is she shows up at the booth maybe a few minutes later than the rest of them, and has plenty of time to gawk at, idk, Xander's oppai mousepads and other various articles of fan merch in horror on the way there! Why are these people spelling Puritan wrong? Don't aliens know how to close a capital P? She's been reading for two months, by the most generous definition of "reading", and even she knows that. However, she's trying not to talk unless she absolutely has to, so she doesn't try to correct anyone and that particular portal to hell remains unopened. Alternatively, she's lead astray by an unwitting Yurika cosplayer and ends up, somehow, showing up first in case this comment comes in before any others. Who cares, time is an illusion, what's going on at this booth?? ]


*wrong

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika, dressed as Catgirl Lightning with modesty alterations because she's a little too embarrassed to be wearing the real thing, shows up behind her and gapes at the merch.]

I knew it was popular, but it's still amazing seeing so much!

[airlockedmods]

[The InterGal 7 booth is pretty busy, so it might take some effort to get close enough to actually look anyway. Plenty of time for everyone to catch up.

Airlocked! isn't the only thing happening here - this is an entire television network, after all, and they do have other shows. But those have been mostly pushed to the side to make way for the new flagship program; there's only a few odd pamphlets advertising things like Terrace Station and Yl'lb Ein the Science Mind.

The promotional materials for Airlocked! are up front in the biggest display. Right now, there's a special edition holo-set of Season 1, Lovelocked!, and Season 2 is being sold. It's called the LatteArt Special. Don't tell Jamie. They're also pushing the online Bonus Content pretty hard, but there's no discounts on that being offered here; just ads plastered over a holographic image of what looks like a flooded boardwalk mid-storm.

One of the staff members hurries over to the group, holding a stack of booklets in one of their paws.]

Hi! Welcome to the InterGal 7 booth - would you like one of our Airlocked! Season 3 booklets?

[stitch_in_time]

Okay.

[The Doctor adjusts his totally sweet fake glasses and looks over the con schedule and map again.]

We're headed for the booth InterGal7's got set up selling merchandise. We don't know what exactly to expect, but keep an eye out for anything about that 'bonus content' stuff or this new season they're plotting. We'll probably run into some fans, but remember they don't know everything was real, see if they've heard anything that might be useful.

And remember, hurricane, eight, maroon, sail, keep an eye out for anything that might relate to that.

...And stick together and try not to be too shocked if you see any more fanart of yourself, there'll more than likely be people selling that kind of stuff here.

Anyone got anything else?

[curdle]

I'll just be...

[ NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE. Thomasin grimaces and stops herself before another a-verbing participle can escape her lips. ]

I'll follow after you. If... [ there be ] there's any trouble, shouldn't we have some manner of sign? Some warning we will know by sight. I've never heard such a din.

[stitch_in_time]

That's a good idea. ...Something easy to remember, that the fans wouldn't know about...

[He thinks for a second.]

...Bad Wolf?

[Might as fuckin' well.]

[ratherdoweddings]

We should probably not tell Xander-san about that mousepad with his butt!

[thanks yurika]

But seriously, there will probably be fans swapping theories about the hunt. We might be able to glean something from them.

[stitch_in_time]

Or we get one and put it in the computer room and see how long it takes for him to find.

[But no, Xander has suffered enough scandalous fanart. If it were Togami, maybe...]

And good point, yeah. Don't underestimate a fan's ability to pour over content to find stuff and piece things together.

[stitch_in_time]

Right, booth forty-three, remember.

[Presumably they've made it to Artists' Alley without too much excitement.]

These should be numbered, so...

[airlockedmods]

[They definitely get stopped for a few pictures. ...Don't let Togami break too many Jane cosplayers' hearts by being a asshole, more than a few of them definitely have the Baby's First Con vibe to their excitement.

But booth 43 stands up higher than the others, because it is completely bedecked with prints from all kinds of fandoms (not just Airlocked!), but there is one print near the top that will probably catch their attention.

Fourteen silhouettes (and a mask) sitting on a beach at sunset, looking up at eight faces hidden in the clouds.

Prints are 15 credits each or 3 for 30.]

[ratherdoweddings]

So "eight" did mean "eight survivors..."

[stitch_in_time]

[So, making their way to the pool. At the Hotel's... crotch.]

We're looking for a green-tinted window, or some kind of glass. Anyone see it?

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika looks up at the windows around the hotel.]

Well, the ground-level ones have green stripes on the awnings, but let's just check out the individual windows.

[curdle]

[ Thomasin is doing the same, but she also can't keep herself from looking around the ground area to see if other scavenger hunters are starting to catch up to them. ]

Should we each take count in different directions?

Panel Group

[airlockedmods]

[Xander, Jamie, Jane, Natsuhi]

[refusedtoleave]

So, we're going to go and listen to them talk, probably about us... And hopefully find this guest.Which one is first?

[Glasses on, hair still down and still thoroughly confused, but ready to go.

[airlockedmods]

[It seems the first panel of the morning is With Great Temerity: Where are the Eight Champions of Airlocked! Now?. There's probably going to be a decent line; you might want to get over there if you're going to attend.]

[refusedtoleave]

[This sounds like it's either useful or a trap.

She's going to nab a place in the queue. ]

[kingshaming]

[Now that they have a clue about finding a Captain, Xander decides to go out among the cosplayers and try and find who might be their next clue. The obvious answer is a pirate costume but he's keeping his eyes open for anything else]

[airlockedmods]

[If he's listening to the conversations among the cosplayers, he might hear some others outside the panel room discussing that second clue.

"Do you think it's like, the kiddie lagoon?"

"Why would it be there? It'd be in the con, right?"

"Well, maybe it's the restaurant or something- hold on, look."]

[kingshaming]

[Ohoho. He moves a little closer then starts fiddling with his badge, giving him cover while he listens in]

[kingshaming]

[Onwards to the cosplay contest! Xander just prays they don't have to win to get the clue- because while they aren't ACTUALLY wearing hardlight cosplays, if they admit that they might be outed as the real thing.]

Be on the look out for a collaborator with flair. That may mean a con worker or a costumer.

[airlockedmods]

[Well, the cosplay meetup happens a little before the contest proper, just to give everybody a chance to get the pictures they want. That means there's more than a few hard-light projection cosplayers around, people who look exactly like dead and living characters alike.

This isn't to say they're all trying to be precisely the same. The Jamie, Bolton, and Max in magical girl outfits, for example. Just in case you were wondering how Bolton looked in heels. It's better than some, though, who seem to be pairing off into victim and culprit pairs (or trios) to take some truly unfortunately-posed pictures.

If anyone's taking charge around here, it may be the pirate Xander near the front of the room. He's got an organized line for photo ops. With a flashy coat like that, topped off with a pair of cat ears, who wouldn't want one?]

1/2

[kingshaming]

[ Dusk Dragon be a fence around me]