-8:53-
…
-9:22-
…
-9:49-
A sigh.
"… Whatever." Phoenix grumbled, dragging himself upright in his bed. It was Saturday morning; he could get away with sleeping for longer, but justifying it was getting harder by the minute.
He pulled on a shirt to match the pants he'd slept in and exited the room. The short hall outside was already lit, as expected. Maya's bedroom door at the end of the hall was eased open, too. Phoenix yawned heavily. There was no way that Maya would've still been sleeping now, unless she was sick. That girl could survive on barely two hours of sleep.
While Maya's absence from her bedroom was hardly impressive news, Phoenix was surprised to find the rest of the apartment empty as well. Was Maya downstairs, then?
He headed for the stairs. Halfway down, he heard a familiar voice saying something indistinct. The moment he pushed open the door at the base of the stairwell, Maya's voice became clear.
"Of course he will. I'm positive."
Phoenix wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. Maya was seated across the room, on one of the office's couches, facing away from him. Naturally, the morning person that she was, Maya was already dressed and showered for the morning. Pearl was there, as well, though only visible by her distinctive hair loops poking out over the back of the couch.
"Morning." he said, addressing the pair.
"Oh-! Good morning, Mr. Nick!" Pearl responded, jumping a little at the sound of his voice.
"Heya, Nick!" Maya added.
"What're you two up to down here?" Phoenix asked. Maya - and Pearl, if she was staying in the city at the time - usually stuck to the upstairs apartment on Saturday mornings, rather than coming down to the office on the ground floor.
"Oh, just a new project…" Maya said secretively, not getting up from the couch. Phoenix deduced that she expected him to come over. He played along, and when he rounded the couch he found Maya holding a strange assortment of what looked like clothing pieces. "What d'you think, Nick?" she asked him, a wide grin on her face.
Phoenix spent another few seconds looking over the eccentric-looking outfit. "Uhh…"
"Niiick," Maya droned impatiently, "Don't tell me you don't recognize it…"
Phoenix scratched at the back of his head. There was something at least a little familiar about the outfit in Maya's lap now that he had a proper look, but…
"Ugh, c'mon, Nick!" Maya demanded. "It's the Lunar Samurai's costume!"
"Oh-… Right, right." Phoenix felt a bit stupid at missing the distinctive insignia on the chest piece of the costume now. Indeed, it was clearly that of the one-time TV hero. "So, what's that doing here?" he asked.
"This," Maya said proudly, standing up to display the full costume to him, "Is one of the actual stunt costumes worn for the filming of the Lunar Samurai pilot! You remember when I left the office for a while yesterday? Well, now you know why!"
"Tell me you didn't steal it." Phoenix said, wondering what would make Maya look so smug about her possession of the costume.
"Hey-! What kind of girl d'you think I am, Nick? I didn't steal it… I just went over to the Global Studios lot, and they gave it to me."
"And why did they do that?"
"Because I asked them to, Nick. Duh."
"… Right. Is that just something they do? I haven't heard that the studio's doing too badly these days..."
Maya sighed. "Nick, use your head! They didn't just give it away for no reason. It was a present specially for me!"
Phoenix was gaining more questions by the minute. "OK," he said, "I'm waiting for the explanation…"
"Man, you're slow this morning, Nick." Maya said. "OK, you remember the last time we talked about Lunar Samurai? Well, that inspired me to write some mail to the studio. I've still got a few favours over there since you defended one of their biggest stars."
The way Maya explained this made it sound like it should've all been obvious. Phoenix didn't find it to be so.
"So, bottom line," Maya went on, "I've got big news, plus these two costumes!"
Phoenix opened his mouth to ask his next presented question, but realized that he had more than one to come now. "Uhh…" he began, "I'll go with the 'big news' first."
Maya looked fit to burst with excitement. "They're gonna bring back the Lunar Samurai!" she squealed, her voice exuberant now. Pearl seemed excited as well.
"Oh-! Th-that's great! ... How'd that happen?" Phoenix asked.
"Well," Maya began, still grinning widely, "Thanks to some very well-placed mail by yours truly, I got in touch with the director of the pilot episode, and he made a call to the studio himself. He's still hoping that the series gets off the ground too. They needed a little convincing from the fans, but they agreed to order a few more episodes to test the waters."
Phoenix smiled back. "That's great to hear. And… the costumes? You said you had two, right?"
"Yep!" Maya said with a nod. "Pearly?"
Phoenix performed a double-take. Where had Pearl been hiding that?
"It's the costume that Rachel appeared in at the end of the pilot!" Maya said, though Phoenix had already recognized the costume this time. The patchwork outfit emblazoned with a hand-painted Lunar Samurai insignia was too distinctive to miss. "I just hope they don't ask for it back once they start filming…" Maya said.
"Well, if it is yours for good," Phoenix inquired, "What're you gonna do with it?"
"I'm gonna be best cosplayer in town!" Maya declared cheerfully. "I'm gonna go out in-costume and spread the word that the show's coming back. You're gonna help, of course."
"… Excuse me?"
"Oh, no, you're not dodging this one, Nick." Maya said, holding out the Samurai's costume to him. "This one's for you."
She forced the outfit into Phoenix's hands. "Uh… can I at least go get some breakfast first?" he asked. The looks he saw in Maya and Pearl's eyes told him that he wasn't likely to avoid this demand.
Maya smiled her familiarly coy smile. "I guess, but hop to it! We've got a lot of ground to cover today."
Day 3, but I have no special comment.
