The con weekend started on Thursday for me, coming in with Sike. I hung out with Velocity for most of the night, mainly waiting for Ember and her group to come in so I could put my luggage in their room and do a cute Hungary x Ukraine thing with her. As it turns out, their van broke down somewhere in Iowa and couldn't make it that night. Azume also lacked a place to stay and Velocity, after asking her hotel group, kindly let us stay with her. Around midnight, we all were very hungry and not sleepy, so we walked around in the rain for nearly an hour before settling on Friday's because it was the only place open. This would end up being the weekend I would decide to do a pre con dinner every Detour. Had a blast, even though the kitchen was closed, so we could only have appetizers. After food, we went back to the hotel and tried to go to sleep. Velocity and I, however, weren't tired and kept talking, eventually waking up Asuma and asked to leave the room until we were done. So she and I chilled on the 5th floor balcony for 3 or 4 hours before going to bed out of necessity.
Woke up and I got into Raimei. Velocity and I, with a couple friends, waited in line for our badges. We went our separate ways for a little bit as I made rounds with my fans and got to Chess for setup and sign in. Not sure what all happened between then and changing into Kurama (aside from getting into my room with Songstress and others). But I had a panic attack, so I called Meika to keep the photoshoot running until I could get there. It was a decent turnout with a Yusuke, a couple Kuwabaras, Keiko, a couple Youkos and Kuramas, Genkai, Karasu and Touya. After it all ended, I passed out roses to those that had that showed up. Then it was time for the Formal Ball, which sucked. I went with Kitty and found Ember later, so kinda ditched. We discussed the panel for later that night, had to drive to her hotel, then come back. By this time, I was not going to be able to get my things I left in a friend's room on the 10th floor, get back down, get to my hotel, change cosplays, come back to the con and get in for my panel. A terrifying panic attack settled itself upon me, Luxy and CJ trying their best to help me and calm me down. Luxy bolted up the stairs to get my things, CJ offered to help on the panel if my panelists were late, Luxy returned with my things, drove me to my hotel, waited patiently for me to change cosplays and then drove me back. I got to the panel room to see a huge crowd of people waiting to get in. Velocity greeted me and said the previous panel hadn't let out yet. I poked my head in because we needed to set up, asked them politely to finish up and was returned with a very rude attitude. Running 15 minutes late, we had a packed house for such an, I assumed, unpopular genre (I'm the Mpreg Quenn, folks!). Velocity and I ran it by ourselves until Ember and Kirk finally showed up with the snacks for us and to share with the audience. After having the panel crashed by someone drunk, we ran by well over an hour, since no one stopped us as we were the last panel in that room. We did a short photoshoot and hung out for a while. When Ember and Kirk left, Velocity and I wandered the con for a while, avoiding the room parties due to being weary of the person that crashed the panel. We found Nexus after a while and they stuck with us for a bit. We found a nice little spot to crash out on, Nexus falling asleep on me after a while. After a stretch of silence between us, Velocity rested her head on my shoulder. Out of instinct, I laid mine on hers and thought it was a bad move, only to realize she'd fallen asleep too. I was stuck because I didn't want to wake either of them up. Mizu came by later and we woke both of them up by accident when we tried to hug anyway. We walked Nexus to their room, then Velocity and I sat and chatted in the lobby until 6am. By the time I needed to go back to my hotel, I was too tired to walk straight. She helped me to her room and had me sleep there for the night. I got a whopping total of 3 hours of sleep before I had to get back to my own room to change cosplays. Velocity was concerned about my well being and suggested I just ditch my photoshoot for the sake of sleep. I told her it would be bad on my rep if I did that. So she wished me well and I got to my hotel to change out of England and into Olette. Songstress and the rest of the group were worried about me even with the text I sent saying I wouldn't be back that night. I showered and that helped wake me up a bit. Once again, I was late to my shoot (had Prismatic look after things) and we moved it outside for better pics. Sadly, it was really cold, so we only ran about 30 minutes instead of the full hour. When it ended, I saw a text from Nexus on my phone that seemed urgent. Upon finding them in the Garden Court in their Prussia cosplay, they immediately started crying and clung to me. As Nexus's con mom, this hit me hard. Apparently, some fellow Hetalia cosplayers physically abused them and was too scared and hurt to report it to security. So they could have a safe place, I had Nexus come with me to my hotel room. They bought themself a little snack at the cafe and ate in silence while I let them destress while I changed BACK into England. Once it started getting a little hard for me to keep my eyes open due to being tired, I kept them busy by helping me with my cosplay. I ended up being ready to go by the time the shoot started, but I didn't want to leave until she felt okay to go back, which left us with 30 minutes of shoot to spare. We had a lot of fun, then perused the con for a while. Then I went up to Sylus' room while she changed into Reno and Nexus shared their DR swag. Sy then waited in my room for me to change into Elena and we went out for our Turk dinner. It was a great time and we stayed out for a while. I came back to spend time with Velocity again and to get Michael Tatum's autograph. After that was more perusing the con. I pulled out the bracelets I was going to wear with Ember on Thursday and showed one of the set to her. I was digging in my bag while telling her the story and turned around to see her putting it on. I shrugged and decided to let her wear it (I figured I'd ask for it later). After munching around the consuite, we both thought it would be a good time to go to bed. She walked me to my hotel and I crashed immediately after getting in my jammies. Sunday flew by. I was in China the whole day, Velocity in Canada. And while we don't ship the non-existent couple at all, we just decided to get some couple-y type pics. This was when I noticed she was wearing the bracelet. When I mentioned it, she said she hadn't taken it off since putting it on. Knowing this made me a bit emotional. I knew I could never bring myself to ask her for it back after hearing that. After getting some pics with Nexus in their Prussia cosplay, I had to go home.
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Trip started on Thursday with Phantom and Commander picking me up. After a couple of trips, we came back to 'headquarters' for dinner and fleshing out final cosplay work. We only took what we needed out of the car so we could leave sooner.
Leaving before the sun came up, I started my day in Sango. After stops for fuel and food, we made it to Coralville around 9am and waited in line. Phantom had pre-regged, but Commander and I were stuck in the at the door line that wrapped around the inside of the building. We began talking to Sailor Anime and Suzaku, who were in Hetalia cosplay. They began making friends with Commander and, after a while, invited her to stay in line with them. After telling them that I was how she was able to make it, they brought me over too. Got my badge around 11am, wandered around con, got some pictures taken, then went to my InuYasha photoshoot. Made some new friends there before I had to check into my room and change into Raimei as soon as I could. Ended up being late to my own Nabari shoot. Had a great time with the group and then Sylus and I walked to each others hotels to change, her into Reno and me into England. Upon walking back to the con, we found out the Square Enix shoot was botched and we missed it. So we turned around and grabbed dinner with Kitty. Went around the con for a bit, changed into raver!England and went to the bar with my partner at the time, Ammy. People were already there to celebrate my birthday with me. After some drinks, I split off with some people and had a blast. Ended up being so tired that I fell asleep in my full cosplay. Waking up freaking out that I had left my contacts in and that I'd slept in late, I quick changed into casual wear. What was supposed to be a breakfast date with Ammy turned into just walking around the con with her. After about an hour, we had to part ways. I ran back to my hotel to change into Kurama. I participated in a YYH themed game show panel run by Silver and a photoshoot later. After that I went and crashed the Hetalia shoot and gave my last flower to a Russia cosplayer. Went back to my room, showered and TOOK A NAP! Let me clarify that my schedule is usually too busy for me to have this kind of free time. After waking up on my own a couple hours later, I changed into Olette and took some pics with Songstress as Namine. Then we poked around the con, I sat down and talked with fans, hit up a couple shoots and panels. then waited for the competition to let out. I had plans with Ammy that ended up getting cancelled because the competition let out so late, on top of her being in a bad mood. Since the night ended on a downer I just decided to go back to my room. I was gonna go back to bed and call it a night, but Luxy and I had a drink to celebrate my birthday and he talked me into going to the rave. He and I helped each other into our cosplays (Axel and Kurama) and we made our way to the con, stopping to talk to Friskies on the way. Once we got there, some drama happened that I won't go too deeply into. Let's just say I had to play middle man and ended up not doing the rave, so my night was wasted. Waking up and getting into a loose fitting England, we threw all my junk into Phantom's car and I began my search for Ember and her friends. I sadly didn't find any of them until I came across Kirk by accident after hanging out with Sylus for several hours. We went out for lunch to get to know each other better, then came back to do our cracky, mpreg photoshoot. After many laughs and a LOT of prodding, we had to leave for home. This would be the first time I came to a con the day before it started. Told myself I would continue to do it because, not only was it easier to get started on Friday morning, but people I otherwise wouldn't be spending time with during the con I was able to hang out with. I came in with Aizen and Momo, and ended up rooming with them for the night. During the time I was on the con floor, I was hanging out with Velocity, just talking and getting to know her better, since we seemed like good friends but only saw each other at Detour. After a while, Hojo hung out with us too. My partner at the time, Yuki, came in around midnight and I took that as my cue to go to bed.
I got NO sleep, since Momo was suffering from a major amount of stress, so I stayed up to listen to her. From there I changed into Sango, got in line and got my badge. Met up with Phantom (Kirara) and went around the con before later meeting up with Velocity (Kohaku). Lots of people wanted pictures and we even sniped a Kagome from the crowd. After some time, we went our separate ways and I changed into Shizuru. The cosplay had been commissioned and the person that made it did such a terrible job on it. Nearly killed myself wearing it. There was supposed to be a meeting with my YYH group, but only one person hung around. So, after dinner, we went back to the con and hung out. After a while, we went back to my room and I changed into an original design I did for England. Went around and had a blast, then went back to my room for sleep. Saturday started off poorly, as I stained my Aerith cosplay with makeup as I was rushing to get ready. Due to running behind, I was unable to do what I wanted and had practiced on for my hair. Lots of people asked for pictures as I made my way to Cosplay Chess. It was a fun game and it was a good way to get rid of some of my flowers. Went around with Sylus for a while, later meeting up with Songstress and Luxy so the four of us could do shoots together. Later I changed into Kurama, went around the con for a bit, then hopped in the pool. Quick changed back into Kurama in time for my YYH panel. The panel was a massive success, Lanipator in attendance for a short period of time. Went back to my room with Meika and we changed into raver outfits of Botan and Kurama. Went around the con together and had a blast. Went back to my room for sleep. Sunday was spent all day in Raimei and spending time with my Nabari group. It was a fun time, though I felt bad keeping people waiting so we could leave the con. Due to issues that happened at the con, I ended up breaking up with Yuki and it wasn't fun for either of us. This would be my first time going to an out of state con. I was insanely excited for it, so much that I felt sick the night before XP I spent the night with Phantom and Lanna, finding that it was very difficult for me to sleep at all, keeping Lanna up in the process by chatting with her. I had my brand new cosplay with me, which was a birthday present from Jughead.
Running on between 2 - 4 hours of sleep, I woke up early to shower and get my hair styled for Aerith. Then we got on the road before the sun was barely up. We made it to the con around 10 and got in line. After perusing the con, hanging with some friends and constantly getting stopped for pics, my roommate for the hotel, Marin, contacted me and we brought my things over to the room and I met the others in the group. Went back to the con, attended the Square Enix shoot, hung out with Lanna, Sylus, Luxy and Songstress. Made some new friends and fans as I went to panels, shoots and video rooms. Had dinner with a large group from the Square shoot, then started hanging with Kitty. As I was waiting for him to change outfits, I noticed my camera was gone. I returned to the con and went to the Bridge, hoping they would have it. No such luck, so I tried not to think about it, telling myself it was still early, that it would be found before I went home. After telling some friends about it, someone had gathered a team of no less than 10 people to look for my camera. Once meeting up with my roommates and informing them of the situation, they also combed the area for it. So me and my team of 5 went to EVERY hotel that was housing con goers, asking the front desk if any cameras had been turned in. This happened at 4 in the morning, ending once we hit the last hotel in the area: mine. Discussed things with my roommates once getting in my PJs and then went to bed. Once again, sleep didn't come easily, so I was very tired when I got into Kurama. Roommates loved the cosplay, so they took some pictures before I left for the con. Sore from all the walking the day before, in a bad mood from the lost/stolen camera and still not awake, I got my first glomp as soon as I walked through the doors. Trying to quell my growing temper, I merely lectured her about glomping/touching without asking. She calmed down her excitement and began talking to me and following me around. She then saw Sylus walk up to me, in full Hiei cosplay, and got excited all over again. While she went back to her room to get into a makeshift Yukina cosplay so she could get pics with us, we went to our photoshoot, where 3 Botans were waiting for us. We got some pics, then went around the DR with our new Yukina. After a while, I went back with Sylus for a quick shoot and so she could change into Reno. In the early evening, I began having breathing problems because my binding had moved into a bad position. Kitty knew the look on my face and ran me to his room. He had me strip out of everything but my underwear, eat and drink, and rest in the empty bed while he kept an eye on me in case I needed anything else. I ended up passing out for several hours until the rave started, where I danced around in full cosplay with a group of con family and friends. Went to bed early for the night after seeing how people were retaliating to having only one rave and didn't want to get caught in the middle of it. Sleep was a lot easier to obtain, so getting into Sango and packing up my things was not an issue. My roommates were even really nice to keep my things in their car so I didn't have to look all over con right away for Phantom. Things were pretty slow as I hung out with Sylus most of the time and we were both beat. Mostly just going through the DR and fawning over merch before we had to go home. |
KB's Ramblings
Just writing here about my adventures in the cosplay scene. Archives
December 2016
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