Sorcaron

I’ve visited The Last Bookstore only once before. I agree with Marissa; it’s definitely the most hipster bookstore I’ve been to. I didn’t like it all that much the first time because the lighting was dim, which made things hard to read. Also, they didn’t stock the TLC coloring book! And today (book signing day!!) Cosette wanted to buy HEARTLESS but they didn't have it in stock. Sad. :<

My biggest regrets of the night are that 1. I didn’t bring my copy of Wires & Nerve Vol. 1 to get signed (since I was afraid they were actually doing bag checks there; the bookstore asked that only books purchased there be signed), and 2. I didn’t have any artwork to give Marissa. Sigh. It’s been super busy, so I decided that it wasn’t worth it to spend time on a drawing but ASDGHSKDFJA;DLKFJADA I ALWAYS GIVE HER SOMETHING. WHAT IS THIIIIISSS.
Opening her talk, Marissa said she was tired of coming up with Deep and Meaningful Speeches^TM for her book tours, so she was just going to answer some FAQs (of which, some were obviously not lol).

FAQ: What's your favorite book/character/OTP?
MM: [It's like asking a mother to choose a favorite child! I can't do that!] I’ve become completely invested in every one of them....which I know is not the case with the fandom! You guys have no problem choosing favorites.
MM: I know we did a vote; we’ll get an official tally later, but let’s get a feel for the audience. Who are my Cinder/Kai fans?
Me: WOO.
Rest of the audience: WOOOOOO
(Me: Real slow on the uptake, guys. Obviously she’s gonna start with Cinder/Kai, so you shoulda been PREPARED.)
MM: There’s so many of you, awesome! How about my Scarlet/Wolf fans?
Audience: WOOOO
MM: Cress and Thorne?
Audience: WOOOOO
MM: I feel like it’s really evenly split tonight. Any Jacin/Winter fans?
Audience: WOOOO
MM: Aw, thank you, I’m so happy. They don’t get enough love in the fandom.
MM: How about Iko/Kinney?
*beat*
Me: YEAH.
MM: *turns in my direction* Yeah! One! Thank you!
MM: Cath/Jest?
*crowd goes wild* (or maybe that's bc we were standing next to a super diehard HEARTLESS fan...)
MM: Ha! Some of you are like ‘hey, I didn’t know were going beyond the Lunar Chronicles. That’s not fair.’ Well that was a fun experiment. *skips Renegades and moves on to the next question*


Last FAQ:
MM: Hey Marissa! I'm getting married soon and my wedding is Lunar Chronicles themed. Would you come officiate?
MM: Okay so I've never actually been asked that, but just throwing it out there
Cosette and I stood toward the back of stage left, so we didn’t get to see Marissa’s face too often, but we had an unobstructed view of her from about 12 feet away. :> That also meant that while Marissa sat down at the end of the talk and before the book signing, she came and sat at the couches nearest us (like 2 feet away). So I said hi to her before the signing line started haha. You know, one of those awkward “hi do you remember me”s that you give to authors and famous people lol.

When the signing line started, they had those sitting closest go first so we stole their seats. Ergo, we chillin’ close to MM in precisely the location that would be in practically everyone’s photos with Marissa! Ha.

Since I didn’t have any new official drawings this time around, I was thinking of giving out free sketches, depending on how waiting for the signing went. Alas, I was too lazy to walk around, so I just had my “FREE SKETCHES” sign sitting out casually while I tried to draw a scene from HEARTLESS that Cosette asked me to do (she was also exclaiming how much she loves my cheap Android phone lol), but no one asked me. Probably a good thing, since my character drawing skills are feeling low rn. I think the only person who made a comment about my drawing was one of the staff members when we got to the head of the signing line.

Me: *eventually starts doodling Kinney*
Me: *scrambles to do as much of Kiko drawing as I can*
Me: oh crap, is that the end of the signing line??

When Cosette and I met Marissa (we were the last ones in the signing line lol...), I introduced Cosette as a college friend and explained that I had gotten our friends to read RENEGADES for our book club. Cosette then read HEARTLESS afterwards and was hooked.

MM: What are you up to nowadays?
Me: Umm... taking art classes.
MM: Still arting. That’s good!

Me: I don't have anything new for you since I've been too busy.
MM: [For shame! What could be more important?]
Me: So have this Kiko drawing that I whipped up just now.
MM: (to staff) "Whipped up just now." Like, "nbd."
MM: *exclaims about the cuteness of the drawing in her usual exuberant positiveness*
MM: Joy’s done a looot of TLC fanart.
MM: Do you ship Kiko?
Me: Well, I'm more of a Kiko proponent than some of my friends, so yeah sure why not.