The Right Price

The following story is for the 2019 Literotica Geek Pride Story Event. Just short bit of fun at a convention with a bit of a bidding war. Hope you all enjoy!

***

Anthony made his living as a freelance writer. This was both a blessing and a curse for him. He got to talk about all his favorite stuff, but the pay was not always the best. His primary focus was on all things geek culture. Mainstream news outlets came to him when they needed someone to talk about the next comic book movie, explain the newest gaming trends, or go to a convention. He occasionally wrote for the more geekier hardcore websites but the competition there was harsh.

The assignment at this time was covering a local convention that did a little bit of everything from Anime, Video Games and even Comics. All three things were personal specialties for Anthony. The outlet that gave him this job was a local newspaper outlet, they arranged for him to moderate a panel with voice actors, an interview with a local developer showing off a new game, and a pass to an after party. The convention was all weekend so being a local himself was excellent. It meant no need for him to book a room at a hotel. He could just catch a late bus or train home. These types of gigs usually meant sleeping in dingy hotel rooms or sharing a room with other people.

"So where to first?" Asked Mike, the photographer for the paper. He was a tall guy in his late fifties and stood way out among the crowd of twenty and thirty-year-olds.

"Well my panel is not until later this afternoon," Anthony told him. "And my interview is tomorrow. I was going to go check out the floor and see what new stuff is here this year. Last year I wasn't here as press, so no one really gave me any scoops."

"Cool, man," Mike said adjusting his gear. "I will follow your lead."

"Ok but I do have a recommendation for you first," Anthony said and pointed to the crowd of people waiting for the public doors to open. "We can meet up in like an hour, but you're going to want to stand at that door over there for a while."

"Why is that?" Mike asked scratching his head.

"That is the door of the cosplayers," Anthony explained. "This show is having a huge cosplayer contest later today. You stand over there, and you will get plenty of people lining up for photos. I know the paper would love photos of that for the online edition."

"Cool, Anthony, but I am not going to know what half these people are dressed as anymore. People dressed as Spiderman and Wonder Woman, sure. Some of the more new stuff, I got no idea."

"I hear you man," Anthony replied patting the older man on the shoulder. "Even I don't know all the new characters and games. I will go over your photos with you tonight at dinner to identify those you don't know."

"Phil said you were a pro," Mike said grinning. "Phil wasn't lying."

"Eh," Anthony said shrugging. "Us freelancers gotta stick together. You go get lined up, text me when you're done."

Mike gave him a thumbs up and ran off to the door Anthony had pointed out. Thank God, Anthony thought to himself. Mike seemed like a nice guy, but Anthony had a plan for the show floor this morning. Screw looking at new games, comics, and whatnot. He needs to find the vendors booth before the show began.

Anthony bolted as soon as Mike stopped looking at him. He flashed his press pass to security and dashed as fast as he could to the far end of the convention center. The only way down to show floor was an escalator, which seemed to be crawling. Anthony looked for the particular vendor he wanted to shop with today. No sign of them could be seen as he rode down.

The convention center began to get noisy as he heard the doors open at a far off distance. That would keep Mike busy while Anthony looked for a specific item.

It took him way longer than he expected, but the vendor he was searching for was placed way out of the way near some bathrooms.

"I am looking for "James,"" Anthony asked the tall, overweight thick-bearded guy behind the counter.

"You got him," he replied in a deep thick voice.

"I am Anthony," Anthony said offering the man his hand. "We spoke via email."

"Oh, you are the dude I beat out for that cel," James said looking Anthony up and down. Anthony wasn't a bad looking guy, slightly above average. At this time he was wearing a nice pair of jeans, a dress shirt with a tie, and a casual dress coat, the kind with elbow patches. Among the usual attendees, he looked very different.

"Yeah," Anthony told him. "You beat me fair and square on eBay, but you told me you were selling the animation cel here at the convention."

"I am," James said and dug through the box in front of him. "Fan of Dragon's Lair?"

"Not a good game," Anthony said smiling. "But I have a lot of fond memories of it. The local 7/11 had a cabinet for most of my childhood. I even bought it from them when they were getting rid of it."

"Very cool," James said placing the animation cel in question on the counter. "I was worried that you would be one of those pervy weirdos considering the art of this cel."

"Ha," Anthony said as he looked over the cel.

Dragon's Lair was an older arcade game from 1983. Instead of moving a sprite around on the screen, the game was all animated like a cartoon. You played Dirk a knight trying to rescue Princess Daphne from a castle run by an evil dragon. The game would light up objects, doors and bad guys and you the player would push the corresponding buttons to make Dirk fight his way through to save the princess. It was really just a giant game of memory with a cartoon backdrop. The whole game was animated by Don Bluth, who did several Disney animated films and moved on to his own stuff like All Dogs Go to Heaven and An American Tail.

This particular animation cell was of a deleted clip of Princess Daphne. She is draped over a pile of gold in her slightly risque lingerie outfit that barely hides anything to the viewer. The pose was very sexual and left little to the imagination in spite of the clothing. It had been removed from the game in fear of parents reaction to the scene.

"Is five hundred still your asking price?" Anthony asked.

"Yup," he replied. "I got to make a little bit of money on this sale."

Anthony pulled out his wallet and placed the cash on the counter. James looked approvingly and passed him the cel.

"Do you need a receipt?" James asked putting the money in the register.

"Nah," Anthony said and put the cell in a folder and slipped it into his laptop bag. "Pleasure doing business with you." Then he walked away to go find Mike.

Seconds after Anthony walked away from the vendor, a pretty blonde in skin tight light blue leotard speed past him towards James. She carried a white plastic gun in one hand and had big glowing pink LEDs sewn into the back of the leotard. Anthony took a second to watch her run by and identify the costume as Samus the space bounty Hunter out of her suit from the Nintendo game Metroid. She went above and beyond with the LEDs Anthony thought, and she was definitely curvy enough to pull off the leotard. He had seen a few girls that were not, and it wasn't pretty.

Anthony sent Mike a message and told him he was on his way back. He figured he and Mike could catch back up and go see the other part of the show floor together.

Moments after he hit send, the blonde in the Samus costume sped past him again. She looped around and stopped in front of him. With no place to go Anthony stood there as she panted to catch her breath. Her hand was up she waved her finger at Anthony indicating, give me a second.

When her breathing normalized, she spoke. "That dick head says he sold you a Daphne animation cell."

"Yeah he did," he replied.

The blonde looked about to be in her early to mid-twenties, and her hair looked like it wasn't a wig. She was adorable and slightly taller than Anthony. That would have made her five seven or five eight. He was kinda surprised she even knew what Dragon's Lair was, to be honest. The game came out the year he was born, so most people were surprised he knew much about it himself.

"I got four hundred bucks right here," she said rifling through her bag on her hip.

"Not interested," Anthony told her straight out. "I paid more than that anyways."

"Really?" She asked, and her face started turning red. "Then you paid too much."

"It wasn't about the money," he explained. "I love the game, and the cell is a piece of history."

"What if I could get you seven hundred by tonight?" She asked.

"You can't offer me enough money to give it up," he said honestly.

As Samus began to respond a dozen convention attendees passed and started hollering at her. "Can we get a picture? Your costume is awesome!"

Torn between her conversation with Anthony and the new found fans she looked away for on a second. That was all the time Anthony to scurry away. He literally double-timed his speed in hopes of getting to Mike so they could disappear on the show floor. He feared that this chick would be after him again.

Mike seemed surprised when Anthony showed up so quickly. He was still photographing cosplayers as they entered the convention center. The number cosplayers coming through the door was beginning to wain.

"Almost done here?" Anthony asked while still watching for Samus.

"Sure man," Mike said. "You look kinda startled?"

Anthony explained how he went to buy the animation cell and how that girl in the Samus costume seemed to not be taking the hint he didn't want to sell it.

"Hahahaha," Mike laughed. "Let me get this straight, so you have a cute girl stalking you for something you bought, and that's a bad thing?"

"I didn't say she was cute?" Anthony said.

"Well, I only saw one Samus costume come through the door this morning. She was pretty hot in those blue tights."

"How do you know who Samus is?" Anthony asked surprised.

"I have kids man," he explained grinning. "I have played Smash Bros."

"Can we get out of here?" Anthony finally remarked.

"Your the boss," Mike commented, and the left for the show floor.

For the next few hours, the two of them saw tons of stuff, talked to various people and crammed as much as they could before Anthony's panel. Mike was pretty happy to have Anthony with him. Anthony introduced him to several prominent people in several different areas of the show.

The panel went well too. Or at least it did until the questions portion. Anthony guided a chat among four voice actors who did video games, anime, and kids cartoons. He had met them all before and done this sort of thing a few times. With about five to ten minutes left in the panel, a mic went around to have fans as the actors' questions.

Anthony's eye went wide at the first person to ask their question. It was the Samus chick, and she was sitting right in the front row.

"Hello," Anthony said trying to be as professional as possible. "Why don't you give us your name and ask your question."

She took a second to clear her throat and then spoke.

"Hi, my name is Matilda, and I have a question for all of you. That includes you, moderator. What is your most prized possession? Does it ever motivate you in what you do in your job?"

Each of the panelists gave an answer. One said his kids, others said some book or piece of art. They were all canned and predictable answers. Anthony didn't answer at first, but Matilda spoke up again.

"And you?" she asked pointing at Anthony.

Anthony thought for a second then said fuck it.

"My prized possession is a Dragon's Lair arcade cabinet. While not my favorite game, this one has sentimental value. It came from the local 7/11, and I played it a ton as a kid. When they were ready to junk it, I convinced my parents to buy it. I repaired the buttons and stick and fully refurbished it. It along with my collection of other Dragon's Lair memorabilia has a showplace in my apartment.

And for your second question, this game is what motivated me to do what I do. I owe everything, and without it, I would need to turn my geek card or so to speak. Next question!"

Quickly someone else asked a question, and Anthony lost track of his stalker. When everything was over, he bowed out and slipped through a back hallway that was just for press and guests. He met back up with Mike who was off on his own adventure.

The two men made a few more passes through the show floor and also attended another panel. Thankfully the rest of the day went without incident, and his stalker seemed to vanish.

After dinner, Anthony and Mike were both guests by animation publisher that was throwing a party in the hotel attached to the convention center. Having been stuck with Mike all day Anthony looked for a friendly face so he could lose the man for a little while. He excused himself from Mike to go get a drink.

The bar was packed, and while waiting for his beer, he did find someone friendly. Pauline Walton had been a managing editor for one of the internet's most popular gaming sites. She knew Anthony pretty well, and they had not spoken since she took a new job doing PR for a gaming publisher. When Pauline was a manager, she threw Anthony a lot of work when he was starting out. She was a middle-aged woman from the Midwest somewhere. Her hair was a mix of brown and gray. She was one of those women who didn't give a damn about her appearance. Anthony loved that about her. She was gruff on the outside but a big old softy on the inside.

"So look what the cat dragged in," she said to him as they made eye contact.

"Pauline," he said waving his freshly handed beer at her. "I miss you. You always gave me the best jobs. How's the PR biz?"

"Meh," she scoffed. "Pays is better than in the press, but that's about it. What outlet are you here with?

"Local press," Anthony said and sipped his beer.

"I got an interview we want to be done in a few weeks. See if you can pitch it to a gaming site and I will make sure you get it," Pauline said sipping her own drink.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed. "You always gave me the best work."

"You know it sweet cakes," she joked and winked at him. Pauline didn't fancy him or anything but the first time they met in person he accidentally thought she was hitting on him. Since then she did it on purpose to tease him. "Who's your plus one tonight?"

"I brought the photographer the paper assigned me," he told her. "Nice guy, names Mike."

"That sucks," she quipped. "I was hoping to make your date feel awkward."

Anthony laughed and squeezed her shoulder. Pauline always knew how to make him laugh.

"You know Pauline," he said. "You always know how to make me laugh."

"If I only knew how to make you do other things," she said grinning ear to ear.

Anthony didn't think he was a particularly handsome guy. Brown hair, blue eyes and on the shorter side, he felt he tended to blend into a crowd. Most people thought he had a tendency to take thing a bit too serious. Pauline knew how to loosen him up. She was very happily married, and Anthony knew her husband pretty well also. He ran a non-profit that threw him work once and a while too.

"So where is Mark?" he asked. When Pauline usually traveled or attended conventions he often tagged along. They actually met at Comic-con over a debate about DC and Marvel comics.

"Home," she said with a frown. "He had a work thing and couldn't travel out of town."

"That sucks," Anthony told her. "I know how much he loves these things."

"He made me promise to bring him home something cool," Pauline explained. "I didn't have time to check out the vendors today. I was going to go look tomorrow."

"He is into old console RPGs isn't he?" Anthony asked trying to think back about all the times he and Mark had chatted.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I am trying to think of any Mark is looking for at the moment."

"There is a guy out on the floor selling a bunch of rare games. I saw a pile of RPGs. Go look tomorrow."

"You always know the best places to find games," she remarked.

"It's a gift!" he laughed.

Pauline's face took a twist to seriousness. She was staring over Anthony's shoulder into the party.

"Some girl in a Harley Quinn costume is marching in this direction, Anthony," she told him. "She is looking at you like she wants you dead."

"Fuck!" Anthony exclaimed. "I bet this is about the fuck animation cell again."

"What?" Pauline asked amused.

"I bought a rare animation cell for Dragon's Lair with a vendor and some cosplayer has been chasing me all day trying to buy it from me. I thought I had ditched her."

Before Pauline could respond, he heard Matilda's voice again. "I got another offer for you!"

"Not for sale," he said as he turned to face her.

She was out of the Samus costume and was dressed in a Harley Quinn outfit. Her blonde hair was pulled into pigtails, and the tips were one red and one black. The suit was not a version of Harley that Anthony was familiar with from any comic, game or movie. The top of the outfit was a mix of a red and black corset with a diamond and spade on corresponding opposite cups for her breasts. A ruffled mini skirt with a red and black pattern just barely covered her crotch and ass. A long garter came out from the miniskirt holding thigh high fishnet stockings. On her feet, she wore one red five-inch heel on one foot, and the other had a matching black heel.

"You're not going to even listen to my offer?" She asked with a tone that sounded like she was annoyed.

"No," Anthony stated and put his hands on his hips. "I don't want to sell it."

"Fine!" Matilda shouted. "I was going to offer you double what you paid, but you can eat shit now."

"Children!" Pauline interrupted looking at both of them like a scolding teacher. "Cool your horses."

Both Anthony and Matilda looked at her slack-jawed. So did half the bar too but they quickly went back to their own business.

Pauline continued, now that she had their attention. "So let me understand correctly. Anthony here has something you want Miss, and he doesn't want to give it up."

"Yeah!" Matilda exclaimed frowning.

Anthony went to explain, but Pauline hit him so he would shut up.

"Not a word from you Mister!" Pauline stated giving him a death stare and then focusing back on Matilda. Her eyes went up and down the half-naked cosplayer. "Let me have a word with my dumb male friend here. Give us just a second."

Matilda nodded, and Pauline pulled Anthony out of her earshot. She leaned in so she could whisper to him.

"Ok numbnuts, listen up," she told him seriously. "You might not want to give up this thing she wants, but you need to set the price so high she walks away. I have a plan, and it will either get her to give up or get you laid. Do I have your permission to try?"

"Nothing I have tried has worked so far," Anthony told Pauline nodding. "It can't hurt, but you are making me nervous."

"Ok girly!" Pauline said grinning and turning around. "We have a price, but you probably won't want to pay it."

"Name it!" The Harley Quinn dress Matilda demanded.

"If you want to get what he has then you need to give him a blowjob plus pay the same amount he did for it."

Matilda paused for a few seconds with squinted pale blue eyes. She eyed Pauline up and down and then focused on Anthony. He kinda felt like he was in a meat market being sized up for the slaughter. Her face scrunched up like she was deep in thought. Eventually, she gave both Pauline and Anthony the finger and just walked away pissed off.

"I told you I would fix this for you, sweetie," Pauline beamed at him. "I figured I would either get her to leave you alone or the hottest blow job of your life."

"How do you know if I would go for a blow job?" Anthony asked laughing.

"You're a man aren't you?" She said slapping him on the shoulder. "I saw the way every man in this place was gawking at her and the way you were drooling too. Figured it would piss her off."