Madison grins. “Maddie!”
“Miss Maddie,” the woman says. “I’m so honored you could join us. My name is…”
Blah. Blah. Blah.
She launches into the spiel. It’s expected. Always happens. I vaguely listen as she babbles on about the company’s history, their record-breaking turnouts, laying the groundwork for me signing onto something in the future. Madison grows impatient and starts fidgeting, so I hurry the woman along, getting our wristbands for admission like everyone else so we can blend into the crowd.
“Security will be posted all around,” she says. “They’ll be keeping a lookout, of course, but should you need any help, don’t be afraid to ask.”
The woman leaves, and security takes us up a private elevator, straight to the main floor, letting us out inside the hall. The crowd is streaming through, rushing to get wherever they’re going.
Panels. Trivia. Shopping. Autographs. The room is filled with booths, with comics, with artists, with writers and actors and cosplayers... the whole shebang. This isn’t my first convention, you know, but usually I’m the one people line up for.
“So, whatcha wanna do?” I ask Madison. “It’s up to you.”
She clings to my hand, staring at it all with wide eyes. “Everything.”
Everything. I laugh. “We can do that.”
We start small, just walking around, taking in what we can see. Maddie’s in awe, gawking at everyone in costume, and I think she might be intimidated by the crowd, but it doesn’t take her long to warm up to things. I steer her away from autographs, since a lot of those people actually know me. She drags me from booth to booth, from table to table, excitedly announcing everything she sees, not lingering any one place long enough for me to buy anything.
“Whoa,” she says, coming to a halt in front of one of those standees, a cardboard cutout of yours truly. “Look, Daddy! It’s you!”
Daddy. Crazy shit goes down in my chest when she calls me that. It’s the first time I’ve heard her say it. I blink at her, so astounded, so enamored, that it isn’t until she repeats herself and people look her direction that I realize what she’s saying.
“Daddy, it’s you!”
Shit. I pull her away from it and kneel down in front of her when she looks at me in confusion, like she doesn’t understand.
“That’s not me today,” I say. “I’m Knightmare, remember?”
Her brow furrows. “But it’s still you for real?”
“Of course, but today we have costumes so we can play make-believe,” I say. “So technically, that’s you today.”
Her expression lights up as she spins around, looking at the booth. “Can I have me?”
“Can you have... you?”
She nods, pointing at the standee.
“Oh, you actually want one of those.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s kind of big to be lugging around.”
“I can carry it!”
I smile at the mental image of her dragging one of those damn things around all afternoon. “It’s like three times your size.”
“I can do it.”
“I don’t doubt it,” I tell her. “How about we wait until the end of the day, after we do everything else, and if there’s still one here, we’ll take it with us.”
“ ’Kay.”
That was a heck of a lot easier than I expected it to be. I take her hand again as I glare at the standee. Please let them sell out of those fucking things.
Madison drags me around again, from place to place, before we make our way to the other side of the building where panels are happening. Madison acquires a schedule and picks where we’re going. Comics in the Movies. The Art of Fan Art. Metaphors and Themes. I’m not sure she knows what half the stuff is. Hell, I’m not sure she can even read the words as she picks the panels, but she sits eagerly through them, eventually dragging me to a room with a sign that says ‘Fandom Feud’.
“I’m not sure about this one,” I tell her. “I think they’ll expect participation.”
“Oh! Does that mean I can play?”
“Sure does!” a voice chimes in, a woman walking into the room behind us, dressed like Maryanne. “We’re playing Breezeo trivia.”
“That’s me today!” Madison exclaims, grabbing at her costume to show it off.
The woman laughs. “I bet that means you’re going to know all the answers, huh?”
Madison nods. “Yep.”
The woman’s eyes flicker to me, but I avert my gaze and say nothing. We find seats toward the back of the room. They play a few rounds of trivia, picking players to face off, before opening it up to everyone and calling on people in the audience.
“In the comics, Maryanne is a nurse,” the moderator says. “What does she do in the movies?”
“Oh, oh, oh, me, me!” Madison yells, waving her hands wildly, trying to be seen, but the guy in front of her is too tall, so she climbs right up on the chair, standing on it. “Me! Me! I know!”
Muffled laughter flows around us when people notice her.
“The little Breezeo girl in the back,” the moderator says, calling on her. “What does Maryanne do in the movies?”
Madison beams, shouting, “Nothing!”
More laughter.
“I’ll accept that,” the moderator says. “She’s still in school. Come pick your prize, little Breezeo.”
Madison jumps down, walking proudly to the front. People ohh and ahh over her, and she plays it right up. A lollipop, it turns out, is what she wins. Returning, she shoves it at me.
I open it for her and try to hand it back, but she makes a face at me, like I’ve fucked up. “What’s wrong?”
“You gotta taste it first,” she says.
“Seriously?”
“That’s what Mommy does,” she says, “in case it’s poison, ‘cuz it came from a stranger.”
“Oh.” I lick it before handing it to her. “Like that?”
She nods, popping it right in her mouth.
I blink a few times, watching her. That’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever done in my life, taste-testing potentially poisonous candy.
Trivia is over after a few minutes. I lead Madison through the crowd, out of the room, fielding a few compliments from people about how adorable she is.
I probably look like an asshole, just nodding in agreement.
“Are you hungry?” I ask her once we’re away from the crowd. “I’m sure there’s something around here that you’ll eat.”
“Hot dogs!”
Hot dogs. I find them easy enough, but the line is crazy long. We wait damn near twenty minutes to buy some hot dogs and chips, and goddamn it she wants soda so I buy it, but there’s nowhere to sit inside, so we make our way outside to a small amphitheater.
A crowd is gathered in Knightmare cosplay. They’re putting on a show, having some sort of sword competition.
“What are those guys doing?” Madison asks before taking a bite of her hot dog.
“Looks like LARPing,” I mumble.
She looks at me like I’m crazy. “Like what?”
“LARPing,” I say. “Live-action role play.”
“Oh, I wanna play! Can I?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”