"Cosima Niehaus?"
"That's me." A dreadlocked girl with brown eyes and black eyeliner that extended out just past the corners of her eyes on both sides stepped forward, making her presence known among the crowd of anxious college students surrounding her.
"Well, it looks like you'll be on… Main Street. Right next to the Mickey and Walt statue. You'll be taking pictures of people with any characters they see, pictures of people in front of the statue, and the parade. You snap their picture, and out prints a wristband that you give them. If they want to buy pictures, they give in the wristband at the end of the day at a picture counter. That simple. Any questions?"
"Nope."
"Good, then get going." The worker, of whom Cosima hadn't even caught the name, handed her a bulky and old-fashioned looking camera with a strap. She slung it around her neck and made her way through the maze of dehydrated children and parents clearly done attempting to control them. She sighed. What had she done to herself? She had made the conscious decision to spend the next semester outside the comfortable confines of her lab and in the "happiest place on Earth". As part of Disney's college program, she was somehow getting credit for Berkeley from this. Though, how Mickey Mouse benefited her education in evolutionary development, she wasn't entirely sure.
After a half hour of aimlessly wandering, another half hour of convincing herself she could find it without a map, and finally looking at a map, she found Main Street. The sun beating down on her in the California heat, she shielded her eyes from the rays and walked towards the statue. When she finally made it, she took a second to take it all in. Disneyland. Where dreams come true. Where happiness happens. Where-
"Hi, can me and my daughter get a picture with that statue there?"
Cosima smiled. Time to get to work.
Cosima wasn't one to whine, but boy, did she want to whine. The face characters got all the love, the joy, the affection, the smiles. She got angry moms that screamed when they found out the pictures weren't free. Why couldn't she have passed the magical princess casting test? But alas, days passed. Pictures were taken. Lunches were overpriced. A true dream come true. Her favorite part of the day, though, was always the parade. She loved the floats, the characters, the smiles, the waves, the performances even. As the parade passed by on her fifth day working there, though, he whole thing was starting to get a bit old. The sun was getting to her, making her cranky, and she was starting to miss her dear friend back at Berkeley (the lab), and she wanted water, and-
What was that?
Belle blew her a kiss.
Okay, now the sun was definitely getting to her.
I mean, Belle blew kisses at everyone during the parade, that was normal.
But when she blew a kiss at Cosima, there was something special in her eyes. A gleam. A sparkle. An eyebrow raise, even. That little lip-lick she did certainly didn't help…
Cosima shook the thoughts out of her head. This wasn't anything. This was heatstroke talking. This was her imagination talking. This was her leftover high from the joint she'd snuck in with another college employee over lunch talking. Still…
Ah, dammit. Cosima pulled out her map. Where could she find Belle?