Oh my god its fucking 2 am I was at the con for neay 16 hours today and it was somehow even better than yesterday!!!! I'm exhausted and I wanna pass out instead of write this, but we're currently in a huge line at McDonald's, sooooo I have time to work on this while we wait.

First of all: 10 am Trigun photoshoot, so that was hell to get to. We left Baltimore at around 8:30 and I made it on time (while Liz and Pat parked the car). The room it was in didn't even open until 10, so I ended up waiting around for a little bit just watching people go by. And then we fiiiiinally got let in :D Everyone looked so good again today and it was really exciting to see how many people made it to the shoot despite it being early on fucking Saturday.

INCLUDING A TRIMAX KNIVES!!!! I was too nervous to talk to them at first, but I ended up complimenting their costume and watching their bag for a bit, since I was too sore to take pics today. Eventually my emotional support wife showed up and I was able to properly strike up conversation. And we ended up chatting with them and one of the Legato cosplayers from yesterday for awhile, as well as some of the other people at the shoot. IT WAS SO NICE SOBS EVERYONE IS SO KIND AND LOVELY TO TALK TO!!! People have continued to be amazed by the fanfic booklets I made ;w; I'm blown away by people's reactions tbh, it's made my weekend so nice.

We ended up chatting for AWHILE, during which time we saw a Midvalley cosplayer with an actual fucking saxophone, which was awesome. After the many hours of standing and talking, I had to go sit and recover, because.....apparently I went too hard yesterday ;w; I did run around a ton, but I'm still sad I was so wiped today. Eventually I realized that I really couldn't keep walking, so Liz went and got me a wheelchair so I could actually keep doing stuff.

And then the return to artist alley so I could get a Knives button I'd seen yesterday :D I needed him for my lanyard~~~ I was gonna look around more, but we wanted to check in at the featured events room to see when we could line up for the Studio Orange panel. They ended up letting us go in at around 2 (despite the panel being at 4) because we needed accessibility accommodations.

This ended up working out really well, because we got a little section of wall to hang out at while we waited. And then, various people we'd met yesterday and today recognized us and came to chill with us. AND THEN DURING THIS CONVO WE REALIZED THAT THE LEGATO COSPLAYER WE HUNG OUT WITH THIS MORNING ALSO LIVES IN Baltimore!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was just a ton of good conversation in general with people, including the trimax Knives that I am apparently eternally enamored with *w* They also had told an artist about the fics I gave them and wanted to introduce me to said artist... but after the panel, obviously.

THE PANEL!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got to sit in the very front row, thanks to cripple powers accessibility, and I just sorta charisma'd our entire group with me uwu Liz recorded the entire thing and I took a bunch of pictures, but there's so fucking much that I think it needs its own post tbh. Just know that they were playing my song in the room (MILLIONS KNIVES -Vocal Ver-) and I was so happy for it. Also, Studio Orange was just so nice and excited so see how many people love Trigun here in America ;w;

ANYWAY!!! We then went off to the artist alley with our Knives friend and met up with the artist....who I'd gotten some charms from yesterday!!! They were super fucking impressed with our fics and very grateful, and it's just been so fun to see everyone's reactions ;w; I GOTTA BRING MORE TO THE NEXT CON BUT THE PRINTER BROKE SO I'M FUCKING DYING OVER IT.

uhhhhh

There was a lot of wandering around artist alley before finally being like fuck we should eat because it's after 6 and we still haven't eaten, like, all day. Dinner of champions: Lunchables and pudding/jello cups! :D

Okay, so after eating, we went on a wandering adventure through the con center, looking for something to do. We tried to see the Ota Museum, but it was already closed. And then we hiked back across the con center to try to go to the manga librar...which had closed early. fucking. We ALSO found out that we had to return the wheelchair by 9, because I guess disabled people don't exist after sunset????? Whatever.

OH RIGHT OKAY we'd been preaching the good word of Knives/Legato all weekend, and even gotten some people to join our discord server :D Which worked out because one of them ended up mentioning that they were just chilling outside of artist alley and since we didn't have any other plans, we went to hang with our new friend the Livio cosplayer~ For like, hours, just chatting with them and a Wolfwood cosplayer they'd met. It was very much like the best kind of con energy tbh!!!!

Once it was around 11? 11:15? We were all like fuck shit it's getting late - the Livio had to pack up for check out tomorrow and we had an hour drive home - so we parted ways. We went up the escalators towards the exit and...ran into the Knives and Legato cosplayers we hung out with a ton earlier XD So it's Saturday after dark and we're literally about to leave to go home, but I'm just like JUST KIDDING, TIME TO HANG OUT WITH FRIENDS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! We ended up wandering with them and their friends for a bit before finally going to see the AMVs after dark...because nothing says the beginning of a beautiful friendship like watching hentai together ;D

And those went until 1:30 am, which is when the con closed for the day. They were basically like "okay you saw your Frosty the Snowman hentai, now get the fuck out of here" and we did!! The end- for now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

god I'm so fucking tired. This was written over the course of our drive home and finished up from the comfort of my own couch. I'm gonna go pass out so I can experience more con tomorrow~~~~~