Alcor appeared at the site of his latest summons to find himself in… a hotel room? Yes, between the bare and impersonal furnishings and the suitcases strewn across the walls, that much was perfectly clear. The room's single occupant, a young woman with blonde hair that stopped in a straight line just below her chin, looked him in the eye and spoke up before he could get out a single word of his usual greeting.
"Alcor? You are Alcor, right? I didn't mess up the circle, did I?"
Alcor considered lying to the woman just to see what would happen, but decided against it. "You got it. What do you want from me?"
"Oh, thank goodness. Last time I made a summoning circle it just… never mind. Hey, by the way, do you recognize me, by any chance?"
Alcor, who had been bobbing up and down in the air nonchalantly, ceased moving and looked at the woman more closely, but any familiarity that her face should have held eluded his memory. "Why do you want to know?"
"Guess that's a no, huh?" The woman gave the demon a sheepish grin. "It's just that you helped me before- three years ago, you found my cat Mitzy? Gray fur, white patch on her tail?"
Alcor shrugged. If he stopped to think about every lost cat he'd helped find over the years… well, it would take longer than his summoner was probably willing to wait.
"I just thought- oh, it's not important. Mitzy's doing fine, by the way, all thanks to you. I've got something else I need help with right now." The woman made a sweeping gesture pointing to the room's lone bed, which held an assortment of clothing items and accessories, lined up in the form of a single outfit. It took Alcor a moment to recognize the pattern behind the seemingly disparate items, but once he had, he felt bad for not noticing it immediately.
"See, I had everything all set up, but now my wig's torn in half-" She held up two halves of a long brown wig- "-and there's this one loose string on the sweater that just won't go away and I'm worried it's going to unravel in the middle of the con and look even worse than it already does-" She held up a lime green sweater with a long strand sticking out of the bottom- "And I was going to do some last-minute work with a friend but she bailed and the con opens in seven hours and nothing's open and-" The woman paused and took a deep breath, her last few words slower and clearer. "Can you please help me finish my Mizar cosplay?"
Alcor stared for a moment, distracted by the memories that the outfit had dredged up, before speaking up, his words directed as much to himself as to his summoner. "How did you make it all look so much like… like her?"
The woman's cheeks flushed pink, and she smiled at the demon's off-hand remark. "You like it? Mostly I based it off that one photo of her at the first Democon- you know, the one like a year after the Transcendence, nobody knew who Mizar was but this one guy managed to get a good shot of her anyway- I've got it right here-" She dug around in her purse for a few seconds before retrieving a crumpled piece of paper which held the visage of a young Mizar- no, Mabel. "But I used a few other references, too, from a few years after that…" Her words trailed off as she noticed that the demon was not looking at her, the outfit, the photo, or indeed anywhere in her general direction, instead staring at just a blank patch of the hotel room wall.
After a few seconds, Alcor spun around to face the woman once more and cleared his throat. "You know that any number of lesser demons would have done this for you." It was a statement, not a question.
"But you're Alcor. You and Mizar are…"
"Are w̅͗̀̈́̀̓͒h͎̳̼̤̙̹̱ͩ̑̽ͯ̏a̠̝̱̩͌̄͒ͥ͢t́͏̻̠̬͔̰?̖̼͖͍̥͈̑̅̍̾" The demon's glare, complete with glowing yellow eyes, created a brief pause in the conversation before the woman continued.
"Well, you're connected. So I figured if anybody would really make sure that I got a quality Mizar costume out of the deal, it'd be you."
"And my payment?"
"I had an idea about that, actually. See, the con's having their costume contest tomorrow… I was hoping to win last year with my Wendy Corduroy costume- you know her, right?" Did he know Wendy? She had no idea. The demon nodded, trying to make his affirmative response look as nonchalant as possible. "Of course you do, legendary demon hunter and legendary demon, you probably bumped into one another quite a bit back in the day- I can show you pictures if you want?" Alcor shook his head and motioned for her to keep going. "Anyway, I didn't even place, but I got a ton of compliments on my outfit, and a bunch of people took photos with me, and so I was thinking I really could win this year…"
Alcor sighed and drummed his fingers on his leg. "Are you offering me the prize money?"
The woman turned red. "No, actually I was thinking- see, they've got group cosplays too- and I was thinking you… could… join me?" Her voice got shakier and squeakier with every word until what was supposed to be a simple statement came out as a question.
Alcor blinked. "Join you. At the convention. That's what you're offering?"
"Yeah, I…" The demon drew nearer, and though the woman stood her ground, a slight shaking in her hands still betrayed her terror. "You could be corporeal for the whole day, and… you wouldn't have to follow me around the whole time, unless you wanted to, I mean, and then you could just… see the con, see what people think of you, learn whatever while you blend in? I don't know… If you have a better idea…" Her face slowly drained of color as he continued staring at her with those dark, demonic eyes.
After a minute, Alcor stepped back, standing in place several inches away from both the woman and the ground, and extended his hand, which covered itself with bright blue flames. "I think we have ourselves a deal."