Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or concepts from Questionable Content, they all belong to Jeph Jacques. I am just borrowing the characters temporarily, with no harm meant and hopefully none caused. This fanfic also contains femslash concepts, so if that is not your thing, I'd suggest skipping it.

Questionable Content: One time at the NRRD convention.

Marigold felt a degree of amusement as the brown haired young woman in the Totoro cap, 'Yaoi Zone' t-shirt and NERV bag lead Hannelore through the crowds. "The NRRD-con isn't quite like a real anime con," she told her conversationally, "there's too much non-anime stuff going on. But I think this'll help get your feet wet."

Hannelore made a face, "I don't want to get my feet wet." As Marigold gave her a look Hannelore smiled, "Joking."

Marigold laughed quietly, the two stopping at the side of the hall a moment to consult the guide book. "We've got a few hours till the 'Magical Love Gentleman' panel and trivia contest. What would you like to do?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Hannelore admitted.

"There's a showing of the Haruhi series," Marigold gestured to her coat, "the dealer's room will be opening soon, there's a AMV room and Yuricon has a room too."

"Yuricon?" Hannelore looked blank.

"How about we hit the dealer's room first," Marigold suggested, "the best buys will go pretty quickly. Not to mention any of the 'Magical Love Gentleman' dojins."

"What's a dojin?" Hannelore asked, copying her pronunciation.

"Japan has different copyright laws than North America does," Marigold told her as they made their way down the hall and over to the line up for the Dealer's Room, "because of that, the anime companies there allow fans to produce their own comics of the series."

Hannelore's eyes widened in excitement, then narrowed as she asked, "So anyone can make a 'Magical Love Gentleman' dojin? Anyone at all?"

"You see the problem," Marigold congradulated her. "Behind some very pretty covers is some very unpleasant stuff." She calmly ignored a fanboy looking to cut into line as she continued, "You need to learn the names of artists or groups of artists that make stuff you like."

"You'll have to help me," Hannelore admitted. With that she began to tick off the things that she did not want to read about, including but not limited to poop, pee, the eating of same, blood, cutting and several other topics.

"I can think of a few books I won't show you," Marigold agreed.

As the line shuffled forward they watched a young women wearing cat ears making her way up the line, handing out fliers. As she reached then she handed one to Hannelore then smiled wryly at Marigold, "Long time no see."

"Hi, Tai," Marigold waved unenthusiastically.

"Still upset I tried to hit on you?" Tai asked her cheerfully as she moved forward with them in the line.

"You what?!" Hannelore gasped.

"It wasn't that bad!" Marigold reassured her friend before tossing Tai a glare. "She put her hand up my thigh at a anime convention we went to," she explained.

"And a nice thigh it was, too," Tai sighed. "Alas, it was not to be," she said dramatically.

Hannelore looked at Tai a moment then had to smile as she conceded, "I like her."

"Most people do," Marigold had to admit as she cracked a smile too.

"Here," Tai passed a flier to Marigold, "I kinda got roped into running the Yuricon room. Come on by, we actually have some decent shows this time."

"Well, Heroic Girl Usagi was good," Marigold admitted, "and Emily isn't bad...."

"Emma?" Hannelore asked.

Tai shook her head, "No, Emily. It's a animated version of the life of Emily Dickinson."

"Ah," Hannelore blinked. "But she was a gay shut in?"

"She has a lot of guests in this series," Tai said with a devilish smirk.

"Oy," Marigold shook her head as they neared the door to the dealer's room. "If I promise to go will you stop teasing me?" she asked.

"I dunno...," Tai looked indecisive then laughed. "Okay, I'll see you later," she said, cat walking away to hand out more fliers.

Hannelore looked at Marigold curiously as they finally reached the doors of the dealer's room. "So where you," she hesitated, looking for the right words, "tempted?"

"I can't believe you asked that!" Marigold exclaimed. She gave Hannelore a odd look, "I thought this stuff squicked you out?"

Hannelore looked embarrassed, "You know I'm compulsive about research."

"Eh?" Marigold looked blank.

"Well, when you factor in safe sex like gloves, dental dams and the saran wrap, it's actually pretty hygenic," Hannelore explained.

There was a long beat of dead silence as several members of the con staff, the people in line and Marigold all digested that. "Can we go in now?" Marigold asked the staff, deciding it was safer than continuing this train of thought.

"Go ahead," the woman waved them in, the expression on her face a interesting mix of amused and thoughtful.

"I think you broke her mind," Marigold sighed.

Hannelore smiled sweetly as she called back, "Sorry!"

The two women razed the dealer's room like twin vikings.... well, no, not quite. More accurately Marigold lead the charge, homing in on the best 'Magical Love Gentleman' books and splitting them with Hannelore. Then they drifted over to the t-shirts and other items, accumulating several items.

"I like the tsundere shirt," Marigold snickered as they left the room, "who's it for?"

"Faye," Hannelore smiled back. "Do you think she'll get it?"

"If not, she'll be sure to search wikipedia," Marigold predicted wisely.

Hannelore giggled softly at that. "How long until the 'Magical Love Gentleman' panel?" she asked as they walked past the line of people still waiting a turn in the dealer's room.

"Still a few hours," Marigold said as she checked her watch and the schedule. "There's a showing for 'Clannable' and 'Encription Geass' on, and Tai's Yuricon room will be running too."

"You did proimise Tai we'd stop in," Hannelore shrugged. "Which anime is playing now?"

Marigold checked the guide, "Chrome Angel Kurumi is just ending. If we hurry we can catch 'Heroic Girl Usagi's' first episode."

"All right," Hannelore shrugged slightly, "let's go see 'Heroic Girl Usagi' then."

To be continued....

Notes: Did 'mangled' versions of several anime series, since Jeph doesn't have 'name brand' anime in the QC universe. Haruhi = Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Heroic Girl Usagi = Revolutionary Girl Utena and Emily is kinda a spoof on Emma.

Yuricon is in fact a real organization, that started out holding a virtual convention online, then moved into real world activities. Including having volunteers run Yuricon events at various conventions. Since Tai seems out at work, it didn't seem out of character for her to do something like that....