PAX East was in full swing and the place was rife with cosplayers, fans, celebrities and just about anyone with a passing interest in journalism. All day I'd been pressed up against all manner of colourful individuals. It was tight in there, to say the least, but I revelled in it, soaked in everything. Any guy in his early 20's, like me, would have.
I spent my time running from booth to stage to stall with a small group of friends I'd brought along. We didn't waste a minute, but by the afternoon I was flagging. Energy levels in the group were down and the conversation turned to finding a stage to sit at and watch the panels for a few hours.
We made the trek to the right stage and stumbled across the biggest line of people I'd yet to see in the convention. There was no end in sight, just an unending procession of teens and, well...mostly dudes like us.
'Fuck it, I'm done walking around. Let's just line up and take a break here,' Ed declared.
The other guys agreed but I wasn't convinced.
'You guys go ahead, I need to find somewhere to lay down,' I said.
'Sure?'
'Yeah, I'll find you all later.'
They all nodded and I broke off, heading in no direction in-particular. My legs were beginning to ache as I looked for somewhere that people wouldn't be overrun by people. But it was to no avail. Every inch was taken up by crowds or lines or whatever other type of cluster, organised or otherwise, there could possibly be.
Soon I was walking down the aisles of tech booths; my hope being that I would find the quietest booth to sit down at and do as little as possible for a while. At last I struck gold.
A little booth titled 'Immersion Therapy' appeared. I almost missed it, walking between two more popular booths, and did a double-take. The two attendants, a man and a woman, were already talking to someone about their product, which appeared to be a large box about the size of a regular van. I wasn't thrilled to have to share the booth with another convention-goer, but one was much preferable to several dozen, like the adjacent booths.
As I stepped into the booth area I took in the odd-looking black box they were promoting. Beside me the other con-goer shuffled around in what appeared to be a Jawa costume from Star Wars. It covered them from head-to-toe and when they spoke I could barely make out what he or she was saying. I ignored them and turned to the woman behind the desk.
'Can I try this out?'
'You mean go inside?'
'Yeah, that's what it's for isn't it?'
'Well, no,' she replied, 'this is a demo model. So every hour we have demonstrators come in to show everyone how it works, and we watch from out here.' She indicated a bank of screens behind the desk.
'Well, can't i just sit in it and get a feel for what it'd be like to be in there?'
At that, the Jawa turned and gave me a sidelong glance.
'Actually,' the lady said, 'this one's been asking the same thing. We just can't do it without professionals. I'm sorry.'
'Look,' the Jawa gave a muffled shout, 'here.' It held out a couple of $50's and slapped them on the desk. 'I just need to sit in there quietly for, like, an hour!'
From the way it was speaking it sounded like a girl. She stormed past me and threw open the door to the black box. The people behind the booth looked at the money and shrugged, so I rushed past them and caught the door just as it was closing.
'Hey, I really need this too. I'm about to go nuts with all these people around and I just want to lay down. You can ignore me, whatever, but please.'
The Jawa-girl shrugged and moved aside.
I stepped through, but thanks to the cramped conditions I had to squeeze past her. And I mean squeeze. On the way through I felt a set of tits push back against me that nearly made me pause just to enjoy the feeling.
She shut the door behind me and suddenly I was sharply aware of how confined this space was, and all I could think about was what might be under that Jawa costume.
I didn't have to wait long. Two gloved hands reached around the big brown cloak and pulled at a seam that caused the whole thing to split and fall away, as if in slow-motion.
Piece-by-piece the hottest cosplayer I had ever seen was revealed to me. Her hourglass figure was wrapped in a smooth red gown, strategically cut away to tease her figure. It looked like a sexy estimation of what Milla Jovovich had worn in Resident Evil. Of their own accord, my eyes ascended a pair of smooth legs and trim midriff that gave way to a slit in the fabric which spread up and under her breasts to show me the underside of each perfect globe.
She saw me watching and nodded matter-of-factly.
'Lucky day for you, huh?' she said.
My words were gone. Had to collect myself.
'Listen, buddy. I've just finished my...four-hundredth interview for youtube, so do what you want but no talking,' she said.
I nodded and made a fuss of finding an empty space in the odd-looking room. It wasn't easy. The thing was circular, so you couldn't just lie flat anywhere, and in the centre was a kind of open-ended seat-looking thing that had a ring coming up from the base, almost like a cat-scan machine.
I took up a spot on the ground and lay down on my back with my legs pulled up to my butt. It was a long way from comfortable but I really didn't want to screw around too long and end up getting kicked out of my new favourite booth.
'Oh nice,' she said. I looked up to see her, hands on-hips, looking down at me. 'Take the best spot why don't you.'
'Sorry. Kind of doing my best here,' I shrugged.
'No kidding.'
She stepped over me and I got the briefest glimpse of her spectacular ass, framed by a tiny red thong. The cosplayer sat down on the awkward bench in the middle, thought for a second, and then bent down and slid into the circular contraption till she was on her belly, her legs and arms dangling on the ground. I heard her snort with laughter and pull out her phone.
'Hey can you move, I'm doing a snapchat,' she said over her shoulder.
'Oh, uh sure.'
I stood up and looked awkwardly around. I was standing directly behind her perfectly sculpted backside and there wasn't really anywhere else to go.
'Moooove!'
Squeezing into the corner, to the side of the bench, I made myself scarce so she could do whatever she was doing. She made a face at the camera and flapped her legs as she snapped a shot. When I thought she was done I reached out to the console to pull myself up and smacked a button with my elbow. Like that, the circle around her tightened, clamping softly but firmly around her midriff.
'What the fuck? Hey fanboy, get me out of here!'
'I uhh...' I looked over at the console but none of the buttons were clear enough in the darkness of the room. I guess they hadn't gotten around to illuminating the keypad yet. I punched what I thought was the same button I'd hit before and then all the light in the room was gone. The power went out and she groaned loudly.
'Smooth, player,' she muttered in the pitch-black.
'Sorry.'
From outside I heard banging on the door and one of the booth attendants began shouting.
'Hey, are you alright in there?'
'Yeah,' the girl yelled back, 'fuckboy here just got me stuck in your weird-ass machine.'
'Okay. Just stay there, we're going to get some help.'
