The Greencoat Convention

[ Have 1 Nerd Hangout | None | 10c ]

BAILEY: Addison! Do you have a minute to talk? I could kind of use some help…

ADDISON: Sure! What’s going on?

BAILEY: Okay, well, you know all about Lightning Bug, right?

ADDISON: Like… the insect?

BAILEY: Like, the greatest sci-fi TV show of all time! Space western about a roguish captain and his wise-cracking crew? Their second season just aired a month ago, and every sci-fi fan in the world can’t wait for it to come back?

ADDISON: It’s ringing a bell…

BAILEY: Yeah, well, good news! As the President of the local Lightning Bug Fan Club, The Greencoats, I’ve arranged for our school to host a convention!

ADDISON: That sounds fun…

BAILEY: Oh, it’ll be awesome. I’ve already had 50 fans respond to the event on Facebook! There’s just one little thing… I have no idea how to throw a convention! Where will people sit? What will they do? What kind of snacks will I have? Should there be snacks at all? Do I want a snack right now?

ADDISON: Slow down, Bailey. Take a deep breath. Let’s take this one step at a time.

BAILEY: Okay… I’m guessing we’ll need a place to hold the convention. I’m thinking a big outdoor area for reenactments, and a nice indoor area for the panels…

[ Add a plot of land, Spend 100 coins | None | 5b ]

ADDISON: How’s that?

BAILEY: It’s perfect! There’s enough room for us to recreate episode 4’s classic space dance AND hold a panel on which two characters should hook up!

ADDISON: What’s the next step?

BAILEY: Well, we’ll need to decorate, of course. We’ll need streamers… and some glitter… a hot glue gun… balloons? People decorate with balloons, right?

ADDISON: Hmm… I think you’ll need someone with a little more expertise to help you out…

[ Bailey, A Level 2+ Prep (Dale) | 10m | 20c ]

BAILEY: You’ll help me decorate? Really?

DALE: Sure, I’ll try, but… I gotta say, I don’t really know much about all this nerd stuff…

BAILEY: Well, maybe we should go watch an episode of Lightning Bug while we set up… just to get you caught up to speed…

DALE: Well, okay… just one…

BAILEY: This is going great! We’ve got some decorations up… and we watched the entire first season of Lightning Bug!

DALE: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… that was actually pretty good! I’m always a sucker for some good romantic tension…

BAILEY: These decorations look amazing!

ADDISON: This is all really coming together, isn’t it?

BAILEY: It’s perfect! There’s just one last thing I kind of wanted… one last dream of mine…

ADDISON: Hit me.

BAILEY: I’d love it if some people could help me film a remake of the climactic scene from last season’s finale, so we could screen it at the convention! We’ll need someone to be the roguish mercenary, Axle… someone else to be the beautiful seductress, Milana… and of course, someone to be the captain!

ADDISON: Leave it to me!

[ A Guy Classmate except Bailey, A Girl Classmate except Bailey, A Classmate except Bailey (Finley, Emery, Dale) | 20m | 30c ]

BAILEY: Everyone ready? Here are your scripts!

EMERY: Should I do, like, an accent? I’m pretty good at accents…

DALE: Is there going to be any kissing involved? Because I don’t know how comfortable I am with that…

BAILEY: No kissing and no accents! Let’s roll! And Addison, don’t forget your catchphrase… ‘Space dreams never die!’

ADDISON: ‘Space dreams never die.’ Got it! Now let’s get practicing!

You hunker down behind the model of the spaceship as everyone starts acting.

DALE: Ahem! ‘We’ve won the battle, my friends, but not the war. The Conglomerate is still strong. And they’ll keep hunting us down.’

EMERY: ‘We got the truth out there, Captain. And that’s what matters.’

FINLEY: ‘I just wanna get paid! Grumble grumble!’

DALE: ‘Ha! Ha! Classic Axle!’

EMERY: ‘BTW, I love you, Captain.’

DALE: ‘And I you, Milana. And I you.’

ADDISON: ‘As this journey ends, we must always remember...’ It… uh… dreams in space… they’re sure something, huh?

BAILEY: Did you forget the line, Addison?

ADDISON: I didn’t NOT forget the line…

BAILEY: Well, it’s okay. The rest of the video came out great! The fans are gonna love it! Hold one sec… I just got a text… Oh… oh no… no, it can’t be…

ADDISON: What’s wrong? Did someone get hurt?

BAILEY: No… it’s so much worse than that! Lightning Bug has been cancelled!

Bailey runs off, devastated!

ADDISON: (Yikes… Someone should go make sure Bailey is okay…)

[ A Level 3+ Classmate except Bailey (Dale) | 40m | 40c ]

DALE: Hey, Bailey. You all right?

BAILEY: N… no… not really. I just can’t believe it! How could those executives cancel Lightning Bug? They’re greedy, money-grubbing monsters!

DALE: Do you want to talk for a little while?

BAILEY: ...that’d be nice, yeah. I just… I know Lightning Bug never got the best ratings. I know most people probably prefer to watch High School Dance Heroes or Bachelorette Foxhole… But it’s SUCH a good show, and it’s just so unfair that more people didn’t get to find out about it!

DALE: Look… it sucks that the show got cancelled. And it sucks that more people didn’t know about it. But you can’t let that get you down. I mean, isn’t that part of what being a nerd is about? Being into things that are challenging or offbeat or obscure? It’s not easy being outside of the mainstream… but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.

BAILEY: ...yeah. You’re right. I loved the first two seasons of Lightning Bug… and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.

DALE: Besides… the show might be off the air, but you’ll always have your memories of it, not to mention all the friends you made in the fandom.

BAILEY: Do you think people will still show up to the convention?

DALE: Only one way to find out. Follow me.

[ Have 6 Classmates | None | 5r ]

BAILEY: What… what’s everyone doing here?

ADDISON: We’re here for the convention, of course! And this is just the beginning! There’s more and more people coming every minute!

BAILEY: Really? Even though the show got cancelled?

ADDISON: ESPECIALLY because the show got cancelled. Us fans have to stick together! Now come on! Let’s have a good time!

And so, a while later…

BAILEY: Addison… that was amazing! That was the best convention ever! I got to cosplay and do panels and shout random lines and everything! People even loved our video!

ADDISON: So you’re not too sad about that?

BAILEY: Oh, I’m still a little sad. But it’s okay. It was worth it to have such a good time. Besides! The fans have been talking, and we’re all going to try to petition the studio to make a spinoff movie! Do you think it could happen?

ADDISON: It sounds like a bit of a longshot… but as a very wise man I know once said… Space dreams never die!