Volume 9 - Animate Objects, Chapter 64 - Fangoyles

"Oh. My. God. I am so, so sorry, Yuisu!" the blonde Devil apologized, bowing her head. "I really did just want to thank you, for letting me stay here when no one else would."

Yuisu was still wearing her work uniform and she was exhausted from working after that crazy night of restless dream-filled sleep. She put a hand on Lethe's shoulder and said, "It's alright, Lethe. Your heart was in the right place, and the dreams didn't cause any harm." Yuisu shrugged and added, "Just a lot of awkwardness…"

Lethe's black and purple eyes lit up. "I know how to make it up to you! I can do it again tonight! I'll totally get the pairs right this time."

Yuisu waved her hands quickly. "No, no. That won't be necessary." When Lethe looked hurt, Yuisu added, "It isn't that I don't trust you to get it right, we just really need a regular night's sleep, okay?"

Lethe nodded, her blonde pigtails swaying. "Ah, that makes sense…"

The next morning, after a night of blissfully dream-free sleep, Yuisu drove Lethe down to town and waited with her her at the train station.

Yuisu wore a bashful smile and said, "Sorry I never asked before, but I was just so busy… why are you in town, Lethe?"

Lethe waved her hands, palms out. "Oh, don't be sorry. I totally should have told you, but I forgot to." Her pointy tail flicked through the air excitedly as she continued. "I'm actually traveling to Tokyo for an, uh, adult convention, as a special guest. The convention staff tried to book my travel and hotels, but you already heard how that worked out."

Yuisu's mind wandered for a moment as she tried to imagine that convention and Lethe's role there. Maybe she's a booth babe, or an 'actress'… Finally, Yuisu decided she'd rather not know, and changed the subject. "It's interesting that you're traveling alone. Do you have a host family, or what?"

"Oh, I was never in the homestay program. I got grandfathered in, since I've been living in Japan for a long time. I used to disguise myself as a human, but the interspecies laws frown on that now." Lethe shook her head dismissively and added, "As a lawyer, I guess I really should follow even the dumb laws."

Yuisu's jaw dropped and she stared at the ditzy blonde succubus in shock. "L-Lawyer? You?"

"Well, yeah! I've been specializing in laws related to the adult entertainment industry for, like, twenty years now. That's why the convention invited me, silly!"

Yuisu forced her jaw closed and scolded herself for assuming that Lethe was stupid. And that she was young. And that her role at the convention was as an entertainer. Well, that'll teach me not to judge a book by its cover, Yuisu thought.

Lethe's train pulled up, so Yuisu pulled Lethe into a light hug then stepped back and said, "If you're ever in town again, just call me and you can stay at our place again for as long as you need. The way those hotels turned you away was awful, and now I'm even more certain that I want to open an inn of my own someday."

Lethe beamed and said, "Thank you, Yuisu. I'd love to visit again." She climbed on the train and turned back. Just before the doors closed, she waved and yelled out, "Maybe an orgy dream next time?"

As the train pulled away, several people at the station gave Yuisu strange, disapproving looks. She turned bright red and hid her face with her hands. Damnit, Lethe, don't just yell out things like that… Though that does sound sexy as hell… she thought, then shook herself down to earth and darted back to her truck.

"Hey, hey, Chione!" Mara skittered up to where Chione was lounging on the couch, watching a drama on late-night TV. They were the only ones still awake in the house, since even Haru had gone to bed an hour before.

"Oh, hi, Mara," Chione replied as she muted the TV and turned to the little pajama-clad arachne. She hadn't interacted with Mara very much, but she seemed nice so far.

"Are you anything like these gargoyles?" Mara asked as she held out a DVD box with both hands.

Chione looked at the offered DVD. It was a cartoon simply titled "Gargoyles". She looked back at Mara and said, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Mara bounced up and down, clearly excited. "I mean, like, do you turn to stone in the day? Are you from Scotland? Are you a thousand years old?"

Chione raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous questions. "What? No. What even is this show?"

Mara's eyes opened wide and she smiled even wider. "Oh, it is AMAZING! You need to watch it! Even though it's in English, the vocabulary isn't very hard." She stuffed the DVD into Chione's hands. "Here. Just take this and watch it. You won't regret it."

Before Chione could even say anything, Mara zipped off down the hall, skating on her eight sock-covered feet.

"Well, that was a thing," Chione mumbled to herself. She looked down at the DVD again, which had a very muscular male gargoyle on the cover. The packaging said that it contained the complete first season, thirteen episodes. I guess I can watch some of this instead of those cheesy dramas on TV.

About seven hours later, long after the sun had risen, there was a knock on Mara and Tsuen's door. Still half-asleep and operating on muscle memory, Mara rolled out of bed and crawled to the door. She assumed it was Tsuen, there to invite her on a morning run. Not that Tsuen would knock, now that they shared a room, but Mara's sleepy mind hadn't thought that far.

She opened the door and saw Chione instead.

"You aren't Tsuen," Mara grumbled, then she blinked in thought for a second. "Chione? Why are you awake right now? Don't you sleep during the day?"

Chione stared down at Mara, her eyes tired and bloodshot. With unusual seriousness, she said, "Is there more?"

"Huh?" Mara scratched at her scalp with one hand and a couple of her legs mimicked the motion, scratching at the empty air.

Chione stuck out her hands, clenching the Gargoyles DVD box. "Is there more of this? Please say there's more! Please!"

Mara nodded slowly, a little alarmed at Chione's frazzled state. She must have marathoned all thirteen episodes… "Yes, there's more, but you don't look so good. I'll give you the next season later, after you've actually slept."

Chione frowned, but a yawn overtook her. When it ended, she nodded and admitted defeat. "Alright, fine. G'night, Mara." She shuffled off toward her bedroom, squinting her eyes against the bright sunlight that streamed in through the windows and sliding glass door.

Once in her dark bedroom, she flopped onto her bed. "Stone by day. Warriors by night…" she mumbled as she fell asleep.

"You finally watched all the episodes, huh?" Mara asked, bouncing up and down on the cushioned chair in the living room.

"Yeah! It took all week though. 78 episodes is a bit out of marathon range," Chione replied with a smile.

"So who's your favorite character? Favorite episode? What are your thoughts on season 3?" Mara shot off questions like a machine gun.

Chione held out a hand. "Whoa, slow down, Mara. I guess I like Angela, and I can't decide on a single favorite episode." For the last question, she quirked her head in thought, then said, "I guess I liked season 3. Why?"

Mara gave Chione a look like she was stupid. "Because it was made by a different team, and the quality is lower. It's pretty contentious among the fan community, and hard to get, since there was no official DVD release."

Chione nodded, impressed by how much depth there was to the cartoon and its fandom. "So that's why your DVDs for that season were strange?"

Mara's eyes flitted side to side and she said, "Yeahhhh. Those are bootlegs… I try to support the stuff I like, but when there's no legit way…" Mara closed her three left eyes and curled one hand into a hook and waved it around, singing, "Yar har, it's a pirate's life for me!"

Chione broke into giggles at Mara's silliness, then Mara dropped the pirate act and joined in laughing.

After a bit, Chione said, "So is there really no more after season 3?"

Mara shrugged and said, "Kinda. There aren't any more episodes, but there are some comic books, not to mention thousands of fanfics. The fandom got pretty big, and there was even a yearly Gathering of the Gargoyles convention for a while, but it's been dwindling away for years."

Mara saw Chione's mood plummeting and she quickly added, "Some American comic conventions still have Gargoyles-related guests and panels, so there is still a fandom!"

Chione lit back up, her smile brightening the entire room. "Really?! We could even meet the voice actors?"

Mara flopped down and settled into her chair as her mental gears started to turn. "Yeah, I guess we could… First we'll have to find out which actors are doing conventions this year, and see if any of those are doing Gargoyles panels."

Suddenly Mara grabbed Chione's hand, hard carapace clanging against stone, and started pulling to Mara's room. "Come on. We can find all that on the internet, though the sites will be in English, which I'm not great at."

Chione followed along saying, "I'm decent at written English, and we can ask Mimi for help if we need. She's fluent."

After a few hours of research and trip planning, the two fangirls started to hit roadblocks.

"How are we going to pay for this, Mara? I don't have much money," Chione said as she stretched her wings and arms, which were tense from hunching around Mara's computer.

"Me either." Mara frowned in thought. "Maybe we can get them to invite you as a special guest. You certainly would draw a lot of attention at a comic-con, since you're a real-life gargoyle!"

Chione's face drained of color, becoming the same stone grey as her hands. She whispered, "I hadn't thought of that… I don't like being the center of attention…"

Mara smiled, "Then forget about that plan. I'll be sure to draw allll the attention myself!"

Chione smiled at that, but then the smile fell away and she said, "In any case, I checked the Exchange Act policies, and it sounds like even Coordinator approval wouldn't be enough for an international trip without our host."

"Then we'll bring Yuisu!" Mara proclaimed.

Chione shook her head. "She can't just leave all the other homestays here. And before you suggest it, there's no way we can bring the entire household."

Mara couldn't argue with that, but she refused to be defeated. She grabbed a hamster plushie from a shelf and hugged it while she pondered. After a moment, she jumped straight up and nearly landed on Chione. "I've got it!"

Chione was startled and fell backwards into a pile of plushies. Once she climbed her way back out, Mara continued.

"This plan will be a lot harder, but there's nothing preventing it from succeeding, if we're willing to put in the effort."

Chione looked wary. "Okay, what is this plan?"

Mara grinned, baring her sharp-pointed teeth. "We're going to organize our own convention, here in Japan!"

Chione raised an eyebrow. "Just for the Gargoyles fandom?" she asked incredulously. "That would be way too narrow."

Mara nodded slowly. "Yeah… we'd need something extra, something related…"

Chione thought for a bit, then put out her hands, fingers splayed. "Picture this: a convention focusing on how liminals have been depicted in pop-culture, both before and after they officially revealed themselves to humanity."

She gestured grandly with her hands as she continued, "There will be educational panels, industry-sponsored video rooms, extra-species ambassadors, and if the Exchange Program wants to have an official presence for recruiting and education, we might even be able to get government grants!"

Mara's six eyes went wide with excitement. "Yes! And we'll call it… ComicMon!"