If you’re the type that enjoys cleavage on display, well, there has certainly been a lot of it here at DragonCon….and yesterday Ivymoon and I decided that we should add to the mix. We headed out to the Starbucks we’d found the day before (it was real coffee and the food didn’t involve a buffet – a definite change from the way I’d been eating this past week with all these trips) – and got lots of stares as we sauntered into the coffee shop wearing full Renaissance garb. Of course, the businesses around the hotel are probably a bit jaded by now, since they’ve been dealing with people dressed in all manner of costume the past three days already. But the tourists just don’t know what to make of all us weird sci-fi/fantasy types.
High Reaches Weyr (from PernMUSH) had a lunch gather. The very patient and understanding waiter who helped us also took a pile of seven cameras and snapped group pictures as we posed. It was a good group – we had the weyrleader and the weyrwoman, the head steward, a few wing leaders and wing seconds, and the token resident (that would be me). We then returned to the Con just in time to bomb at Weyrfeud (a version of Family Feud based on the Pern books by Anne McCafferey). It might have helped if those of us pulled in at the last minute (I would be one of those) had been more prepared – it’s been at least 2 years since I’ve read any of the books! We all separated for a few more sessions, and then gathered again in the hallway to accumulate a small crowd and head off to dinner…and do a bit of recruiting on the way. A very nice woman just happened to be sitting there, and despite the fact that she’s involved in fan-fic and not online Pern gaming, we invited her to join us at dinner, where this motley assortment of Pern nerds were loud, boisterous, and silly, swapping stories of Pern-related RP, and egging on the two of us who happen to play green riders and who were sporting ‘proddy greenrider’ nametags at the dinner table.
It’s odd to meet people I’ve only known online. I’ve done it a number of times, but it always feels strange. This little group of strangers who’ve only spoken in text all of a sudden hanging out as if we’ve known each other for years. I know that there are those who think that the internet is a bad, bad thing, but I can only look at how it makes the world a smaller, friendlier place – despite the fact that those of us who lurk online might be a bit odd (okay, ‘little’ might be an understatement).
Today was a bit slower paced – probably more to do with the fact that by this point sleep deprivation had started to hit than anything else. There weren’t as many panel discussions I wanted to see, so a quartet of us headed off to the art show and then back to the dealers. There’d been this gargoyle I was sooooo tempted by, see, and well…he just had to come home with me for Richard. He turned out to be a heavy gargoyle. He wasn’t quite so heavy at first, but considering we’d checked out bright and early and then I was carting around my backpack the rest of the day – which was already heavy due to the presence of my laptop – the addition of a carved stone figurine didn’t help matters much.
At lunch everyone sat around and stared blearily at their food. I don’t think any amount of caffeine would have revived us. This convention has been non-stop all hours of day and night. Even after the sessions were done, there were drum circles by the pool and a dance that didn’t even start until midnight. Not that I attended either – drum circles just aren’t my thing, and usually by midnight there was a small crowd in Ivy’s and my hotel room, taking turns logging into email on my laptop, and staying up til the wee hours chatting. But by the time Ivy and I got to the airport, we were just about falling asleep on our feet.
I need a vacation to recover from this vacation. I have a sneaky feeling it’s going to take me a few days to catch up on all the sleep I missed during the past week and a half on the road. But despite that, I definitely want to go next year! I figure Richard and I will wake up in the mornings, wave goodbye as we head to our respective nerdiness, and then meet back up for dinner along with Ivy and whomever she decides to bring with her. And next time Ivy and I have decided we need to figure out how to ship swords back. The dagger fit nicely in my suitcase, but I’m not so sure I’d be able to get a sword in there. Hmm…