The Cost To Play (Slivers of Love)

by Gaines, Oliva

  “I am not about to knock myself out with those,” she said as she gave them back. “My flexibility comes from years of gymnastics training. I can come up with something cleverer than that.” She leaned back into a back bend and started walking backwards.

  “Where are your gauntlets?” He asked her. Jayne quickly ran into the room to retrieve them from the office and slipped them onto her forearms. The gauntlets she was very proud of the craftsmanship. They were made out of a lightweight steel, that was easily malleable with heat. She had worked closely with a local fabricator to etch in the designs. She returned with them clasped to her wrist.

  “Great! When he starts the count in the song, each time click the gauntlets together,” he told her. “Restart it from the top again, please.”

  He began to move. As the count began she clapped the gauntlets together. “Great that’s it Jayne! Go in slow motion like the Matrix, but make the moves bigger!”

  “The backdrop should be a visual of the inner city with shadows of The Others and the bad guys we are fighting,” she told him as she rolled across the floor and came up in a high side kick, with fist pumps, clicking the gauntlets together.

  “Sounds good,” he said as he went through a series of flicking kicks. “What we really need to know is can we do these moves in those costumes?”

  They both stopped in the middle of the floor, staring at each other. Her boots were heavy and the bodice was tight. “Right!” As they took off into the room to try on the costumes.

  The music was cued up and they pretended to enter the stage. Toshi began to move about in the leather jacket. Jayne started stomping in the boots, moving slowly behind him in a mock Matrix slow motion backbend, coming up to clap the gauntlets together. “I’ll take the second set of counts with my sword.” Jayne moved up to center stage, mixing martial arts and gymnastic moves in slow motion.

  “On the third set of counts, we need to do something together,” she told him. He stopped with a huge smirk covering his face.

  “What?”

  “Last night in bed. That move you did. The reverse lift with your legs wrapped around my back.”

  A gigantic grin covered her face. “Let’s do it Baby!”

  The next day, they needed more space, so they headed to Toshi’s parent’s house. In the Yamaguchi’s backyard, they practiced first without costumes. Eri sat and watched with interest. Twenty minutes later, she was up, giving Jayne pointers, showing her more effeminate martial arts moves.

  “Wait, I know what’s missing,” Eri told them as she darted back into the house. She returned minutes later with small fans that slid perfectly inside of Jayne’s gauntlets. “Try using these in the middle portion of the routine.”

  Hirishito arrived home to hear the loud rock music playing and went to the backyard. Toshi and Jayne were in costume, while Kunio was pretending to be a bad guy sparring with them. And his wife, he wasn’t sure what she was doing exactly. Everyone stopped when he was spotted.

  “Start again from the top,” he told them as he sat in the large recliner on the patio. Jayne nodded and Kunio started the music again. At the end of the routine, he stood up with his hands at his sides. “I would like to make a suggestion, if I may.” Each listened intently as Hirishito made corrections to some the sword movements Toshi used. He suggested a different approach for Kunio to enter the action and choreographed Jayne’s ending scene with a bit more panache.

  “Okay, again from the top,” he said as he stood back and watched. At the end he said nothing but went back inside the house to retrieve his phone.

  “Husband?” Eri asked. “What are you doing?”

  “I am buying some tickets to go to L.A. Kunio, are you coming too?”

  “Yes, Chichi!”

  On the first of July, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pearl drove Jayne to the airport. She introduced them to Toshi’s parents, who would be flying out in a few days to join them in Los Angeles. It was sheer luck that Jayne had forgotten to cancel her room reservation, which would serve ideally for the Yamaguchi’s, who were now part of the team and set to work in The Vigilantes booth. Jayne wasn’t worried about the success of the con, since Grandma Pearl had spent the better part of yesterday in the closet praying.

  She embraced Toshi in a bosom mushing, nearly suffocating hold. “Take care of our baby, Toshi.” After a shake of Grandpa Joe’s hand and Jayne’s hugging of Eri, they boarded the flight. The costumes had been sent ahead in a separate box from the comics. It was all up to fate from this point forward.

  Emotions were running rampant through Jayne as she took her seat by the window of the plane. The warmth of Toshi radiated next to her. Who would have thought ten months ago that this arrogant man would be the perfect guy for her? So much had changed for them both over the past year. The personal growth of sharing a life and a vision for a future together was about to overwhelm her. As she turned to face him, he was staring at her as well.

  “I am so in love with you Toshi Yamaguchi. I love you with all my heart.” She looked around the cabin to see if the plane had started to crack apart, but nothing was happening.

  His fingers intertwined with hers as he reclined his seat. “Good, because I love you too.” And with that said, he slept all the way to Los Angeles.

  Chapter 32

  The flight was ideal as Jayne went over the final pieces of the video show for the Cosplay presentation. Everything was moving along smoothly as they picked up the rental car and drove to the Marriott on West Olympic Boulevard. Although the con did not start for two days, both Jayne and Toshi wanted to check out the lay of the land, pick up supplies, boxes, double check costumes, and prepare for whatever could go wrong.

  Toshi had planned for everything to go right. He booked an executive king room with a Jacuzzi tub. He had phoned ahead. Once they checked into the hotel, he suggested they have a light dinner at the Ion Rooftop Patio. It was a clear evening with breathtaking views of the Los Angeles skyline. “Jayne, we are here to have fun.”

  “There is a cost for everything Toshi. A cost to live, a cost to love, and of course the cost to play with the big boys. We are playing with the big boys here and I am nervous.”

  “Don’t be,” he told her as he thanked the waitress for his tea.

  “I don’t see how you can be so calm about everything,” she said with a deep exhalation of air.

  “It’s easy. We created and produced 3 comic books in less than six months. You launched a website and created an online buzz with a web comic. We have over 1,000 Facebook fans, over 4,000 Twitter followers, and a secret weapon.”

  Jayne squinted her eyes. “And what is that?”

  Toshi leaned forward and took her hand in his. “We have you.”

  She only wished she felt the same confidence in her ability as he did. “Tonight, is about me and you Jayne. The rest, we deal with each day. One day at a time. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  They finished dinner, toured the hotel to see the features they knew they would not get to enjoy, and headed up to the room. Both understanding, to be at their best, they had to stay in their own time zone and remain hydrated. It may have only been 7 pm in LA, but in Georgia it was 10 o’ clock and moving toward bedtime.

  Toshi opened the door to the hotel room and a trail of rose petals led to the bed and bathroom. Jayne’s mouth dropped open as she saw the lit candles and the champagne cooling alongside the chocolate dipped strawberries. Barefoot, they tiptoed across the petals to find the Jacuzzi tub filled with warm water.

  “Smooth,” she told him as she unbutton her pants and removed her top.

  “I am full of all kinds of surprises,” he told her as he took her into his arms.

  The day before the convention was spent ensuring that tablets were programmed to accept credit cards and that enough change was available for cash sales. Also an extra box arrived.

  “What’s in that container Jayne?”

  She opened the carton to reveal tee shirts and promo items that read, The Vigil
antes. “This is my surprise for you.” Toshi donned the tee and stood in the mirror. The cartoon image of himself was on his back, while the front read Katsuo. Jayne pulled out her tee that held an image of her character on the back, with Gauntlet on the front.

  “Let’s head over to the convention center and check out our space, Katsuo,” she said to him.

  “Right behind you Gauntlet!”

  The morning of the con, Jayne checked into the Masquerade at the Cosplay office. Initial judging was taking place this afternoon and she and Toshi had work to do. There were so many exhibitors that her heart sank. There was no way that an unknown comic book with original characters was going to make a splash in the gigantic ocean of products. But they had to try. If they had nothing else going for them, they were loaded with a pocketful of dumb ass hope and three helpings of blind luck. It was all the coins they had left to pay the ferry man. It had to be enough.

  In the afternoon, Jayne and Toshi donned their costumes and headed to judging. The marketing professional in Jayne was ready to go as she loaded up her satchel. In the judging room, she and Toshi explained the original designs, patterns, and concept to the judges, whom also received a free copy of the comic along with a complimentary tee and flashlight keychain, which read, be forever vigilant. On the way out of the door, she yelled at Toshi, “Katsuo!”

  He turned as she clanked her gauntlets together, ran toward him, stepping her right foot into his interlaced hands. Toshi hefted her into the air and she did a back flip to land on the floor in a crouching fighting position.

  “Gauntlet!” he yelled. She clanked the cuffs together while he maneuvered through Ninja moves along the floor, coming up behind her, ending in a staged pose in unison, yelling, “Be forever vigilant!”

  Everyone in the room begin to clap. Maybe they had a chance after all.

  Chapter 33

  The Yamaguchi’s arrived the morning of the second day of the con. Jayne issued tee shirts to the team, showed them the booth space, and urged them to sell as many as they could. She and Toshi ran to the room to change and took to the show room floor. He as the Silver Samurai and she as Misty Knight.

  They returned to the booth in costume to see his parent’s eyes grow wide. Kunio loved Jayne’s plastic gun and high heeled red boots. “You look so bad ass, Jayne!”

  She rolled her neck and gave her a sister girl mouth pout while pulling out her toy gun. “And you know this, Suckas!”

  Hirishito broke into laughter. He eyed Toshi’s costume details. “Toshi, did you make this?”

  “Yes, Chichi,” he said with his head lowered.

  “This is really good work.” Hirishito beamed at the details.

  “We are heading up to change for the competition which starts in an hour. The booth will need to shut down while you guys go and get ready.”

  Sales had been sluggish, but Jayne was confident the on stage performance was going to make the difference. An hour later, the five of them stood in the wings. All were nervous. Toshi gathered the team in a small huddle for a pep talk.

  “Today, we make history. Today an unknown comic is going to outsell everything in this building. Today, we stand united as a team and as a family. But more importantly, let’s have some fun.”

  All the hands went into the pile, with Jayne doing the count off for the circled up team. Hirishito looked really nervous, but Jayne patted his arm and winked at him. He visibly calmed down. The announcers could be heard over the loud speaker. “Coming to the stage, an original Cosplay design and new to the comic book arena, The Vigilantes!”

  The music started as Toshi took to the stage with dazzling martial arts moves, plastic nunchucks, and a plastic Samurai sword. The crowd went wild. He was followed on stage by Eri with a fan dance, then Jayne who entered on the count, walking backwards in a backbend. The slide show on the wall behind them displayed aliens landing and bestowing powers upon Gauntlet and Katsuo. The count began in the song as Jayne clinked her gauntlets, moving in slow motion towards Eri, who was followed on stage by Kunio. Toshi’s sister was dressed as one of the female assassins from Mortal Combat, which, when she uncovered, his father gave a disapproving look at the scanty outfit.

  Jayne moved across the stage to engage with Eri, who began to move with precision with the fans, swinging at Jayne’s face. Jayne leaned back into a backbend with slow movements. The second set of counts began as Toshi pulled the Samurai sword and began to move in super slow motion. A ninja suit wearing Hirishito bounded onto the stage moving in tandem with Toshi. As the music segued into the last 30 seconds of their two minute performance, Jayne did a round off, into a backflip on the stage, landing at Toshi’s feet. He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his hips, Her body faced the audience as she extracted the fans from her gauntlets and began to mock fight, Hirishito, Kunio, and Eri, who all fell dead to the floor, pretending their throats had been slashed with the fans. Jayne released her legs, rolling into a forward summersault and ending in a crouching position with Toshi standing behind her in a frozen high kick pose. The music stopped and they both yelled into the massive crowd of on lookers. “Be forever vigilant!”

  The crowd was on their feet in applause. Toshi helped his parents up from the floor and Jayne locked her arm onto Kunio’s as the group took a bow. The primary judged walked over with mic in hand. “That was some performance, right audience?”

  The crowd cheered louder. “Tell us about these costumes and The Vigilantes,” the announcer asked.

  Jayne took the mic. “The Vigilantes are original comic book characters and these costumes were made and designed by Dr. Yamaguchi and myself. The comic book is on sale in the lobby at booth J18 from JayTos Comics.”

  The announcer was amused and sent them off stage to wait for the remaining judging. Several others went after them, but as far as they could see, none of the performances had equaled anything they had presented. Finally, the winners were being announced.

  Toshi and Jayne won for best group presentation. Jayne won the award for best intermediate craftsman for the metal gauntlets, which also earned her a new sewing machine. It wasn’t the big sewing machine that the master craftsman won, but she was happy. The third place winner went to a woman with big foam formed snakes coming from her insides.

  “Second place goes to these new comers, who came in and tried to steal the show!”

  Jayne and Toshi waited back staged with baited breath. “The Vigilantes! Dr. Toshi Yamaguchi and Jayne Wright!”

  Excitement filled her soul as they took to the stage. The announcer asked a few questions. Jayne was so full, she could barely answer. Toshi took the mic. “I just want to say thank you to all of you, my parents and sister who did an awesome job as the assassins. I especially want to say thank you to my right hand, my partner, and the love of my life Jayne Wright.”

  Shock wasn’t the right word she needed to express what she was hearing, but it paled in comparison as Toshi took to a knee. “I think now is the perfect time to ask you, in front of all of these anime fans. Jayne LaQueeda Wright. Will you be my partner in crime fighting and be ever vigilant in the care of my heart and consent to be my wife?”

  Tears filled her eyes as he opened the velvet box to remove the daintiest engagement ring that fit her small hand perfectly. “Yes! Yes I will, Toshi!” The crowd roared as they left the stage with check in hand to be congratulated by his parents and sister. Hirishito looked at the check. “That’s it? That’s a lot of work for $2,000! It cost me more to fly us out here!” Eri pinched him and several of the male characters back stage were flanking Kunio. Toshi stepped in between her and the men, wielding his sword at several who had lust in their eyes. “She is my sister, back off!” Jayne was smiling at him as she linked her arm into Kunio’s bringing her closer to the parents. Toshi answered his father.

  “Chichi, it is the honor and recognition which is important.” Toshi told his father, as he pulled his sister away from some suspicious looking men.

  His parents and sister he
aded toward the booth to reopen sales as the two made their way to the photo stands for press ops. They were stopped by many new fans who had tons of questions, but were directed to their booth.

  One large framed gentleman stopped them and handed Toshi a business card. “We want to talk to you about possibly making The Vigilantes, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Call us next week. Let’s open a line of communication.” Jayne looked at the card and it said Marvel Comics. This evening could not get any better.

  With the photo sessions over, the two headed back to their booth to find a line around the corner. Hirishito and Kunio were running both tablets for credit card sales and Eri was working the middle with cash sales. Jayne and Toshi rounded the corner and were bombarded with people who wanted them to autograph the comic books.

  Toshi looked at her, nodding his head. “Secret weapon.”

  Jayne clicked together her gauntlets. “Let’s do it!”

  At the end of a very long and weary day, Jayne, freshly showered, in stocking feet climbed upon the king sized bed and sat in the center with her iPad. It was difficult to wrap her mind around so much that had occurred in one day. If the calculations were correct, and another 5,000 copies were sold, then the comic would be seriously in the black as well as have a nice down payment on the house.

  Toshi came back to the room to be met with a very serious faced Jayne. “What is that look about?”

  “Just doing some math, running prelim numbers, seeing where we need to make some adjustments. If we sell at least 5 to 7,000 more copies in the next two days, we will be set.”

  He responded by grabbing her by the foot and pulling her toward him. Her bottom teetering on the edge of the mattress. “Jayne, we introduced a new comic book and performed on stage in front of thousands of people, with my parents no less.” He continued to talk as he removed her socks. “We won second place for best in show.”