“It’s pronounced X”
“I thought it was Y?”
“No, that’s exactly the sort of mistake I’d expect from someone like you. I’m a /real/ fan, I’ve been an expert on this since before you were born.”
“Actually, it is Y, the kid was right, and you’ve no call to go around acting like that to people.”
“And who are you?”
“I’m the author.”
“It’s pronounced, ‘Rail’,” said the alleged gentleman in the trilby and Brony shirt.
“He hates 'Rail’,” said the smaller girl in a roomy JOAT coat. “It’s closer to 'Ra-el’? but you sort of run the vowel sounds together?”
“Yeah, that’s the sort of mistake I’d expect from a fake geek girl like you. You’re only here in cosplay because you get attention for showing off your tits.”
“Um. I’m clothed neck-to-toe?”
“Yeah and I noticed how much of it is form fitting. You’re welcome, you whore. Don’t interrupt, sweetie, a man is talking.”
One of the many robots wandering the halls of Genracon stopped what ze was doing to pay audience to the scene. Even though ze was wearing a skirt, you never could tell with robots.
“See, the whole 'Ra-el’ thing was canned because of a lawsuit from DC because it sounded too much like Ka-el, which you would know is the secret real name of Superman from the DC comics. If you were a real geek. I have the entire set. So of course, to avoid litigation, they swapped over to 'Rail’ which is how anybody sane pronounces a word spelled R-A-E-L… If you know how to listen, you can hear all the actors saying it in the TV series.”
“That’s because they’re all dipshits,” said the robot. “It actually is pronounced 'Ra-el’ and I went through weeks trying to teach them. It’s still in the scripts. I have a macro to go through all the non-caps mentions of his name and add the pronunciation.”
The dudebro sneered down his pimpled nose at the robot. “Who the fuck are you and why should I even care?”
“I wrote all the books, which the lady is clearly referencing. Including the short story R.T.F.M., named for the geek acronym for Read The Flakking Manual.” The robot offered hir hand to the girl. “Hi. I’m C. M. Weller.”
“Omigod, you cosplay?”
“I’ve been cosplaying since the '80’s. But back then we called it 'costuming’. Want to ditch this fake geek guy and nerd out over a hot beverage?”
“WOULD I!”
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