In spite of my poor impulse control the night before, I managed to get a good enough night's sleep (even with my legs in odd positions on pillows) in order to wake up bright and early Saturday morning so I could attend the Sailor Moon group shoot on the third floor balconies. If anything, I was early; I had plenty of time to treat myself to the breakfast buffet in the lobby, get dressed, and then totter down to the convention center.

Moving on, by the time I got to the convention center, it was surprisingly empty! I don't have access to Otakon's official numbers, but to my untrained eyes it looks a little less crowded and crazed than it did in the first few years I went. Not that I'm complaining; I do enjoy meeting and mingling with other fans, but having to bump shoulders just to get through aisles stopped being fun after my first week in high school. Especially when you're wearing elaborate costumes. Especially when you're wearing elaborate costumes and high heels. Especially when you're wearing high heels with a gimp leg.

This is probably pretty obvious given the way I write my con reports (and even the fact that I write them at all), but I'm ridiculously sentimental. And while I loved every costume I wore this year for different reasons, I had good reason to feel nostalgic about my Saturday morning costume: at my very first Otakon in 2004, the second costume I wore was Eternal Sailor Mars. And it here was, my very last Otakon in Baltimore, and I was sporting a brand new Eternal Sailor Mars costume, made to match the rest of our group. Things can change so much in twelve years, but my love for Sailor Moon, my enjoyment in portraying Sailor Mars, and my affinity for super fluffy skirts never will.

However, MOTHER MARY OF GOD WAS IT HOT THIS YEAR. Normally, I'm never hot. This is due to the fact that I apparently have ice in my veins, and also to way most feminine costumes are designed in anime; they're not exactly something you'd pack for a trip to Antartica. I always felt bad for the guys who had to swelter under denim dusters and turtleneck and vest combinations and floor length robes, while I ran around in what basically amounts to a miniskirt and a tank top. There was no help for me this time, however; standing perfectly still, in the shade, at ten in the morning, I could feel beads of sweat form on my face. Jesus Christ Bananas. I don't know if it was officially the hottest year on record, but it certainly seemed like it to me.

The large group shoot was sliiightly less enthusastic than usual, mainly because cosplayers were trying to keep from passing out from heat stroke, but it was still a lot of fun. I staggered around giving out my SMA card to a lot of cosplayers, including a Kaitou Ace cosplayer! I've NEVER seen anyone cosplay Kaitou Ace! I hope I get him on SMA. There were a sprinkling of villains represented, too, which made me happy, and an assortment of people who put their own personal twists on costumes but still kept them recognizable, which I'm always impressed by. Chris had decided to rewear his Jedite costume, which I was grateful for, because inmost of the pictures we got together last year I'm wearing that godawful red wig which does me no favors; I was happy to get better photos with him.

One by one as the rest of OPIB and our friends got dressed, they joined me by the balconies--everyone was staying in the air conditoining as much as possible! Using Zan's Eternal fuku pattern had really helped our costumes look consistent; I'm not a elitist by any means (how can I be, when I don't sew?) but all of us being SO very "matchy-match" did please my nerdy little heart. The Eternal fuku really is my favorite of all the fuku in the series.

Stevie, who had joined us as Princess Venus last year, returned as our Eternal Sailor Moon this year, and looked just as lovely. Lady Terentia, Aki Reiini, and I were Mercury, Venus, and Mars respectively as usual, and Avian Firefly finally got a chance to cosplay Saturn again after having to be Jupiter so many times. Instead, Kristen, who had been our Luna last year , filled in for Jupiter, and really looked incredible--and is such a trooper, we ended up having to do a costume repair while she was *in* it, and she didn't bat an eyelash!

Alyce and Lady Somairot rejoined us as Neptune and Uranus, and Dave ended up doing a private photoshoot of just the two of them later, which turned out to be a dream of theirs, so I'm extra happy we did this costume set. And Scarlet Rhapsody was our Eternal Pluto as well, further proving that she can be absolutely any senshi she wants to be and look equally amazing. We didn't have a Tux this year, which was all right because he's actually not in most of the depictions of the Eternal senshi, and while we didn't technically have a Chibimoon, one spotted us posing against the windows from the convention center and ran to join us! She was just the sweetest thing and jumped into the mix as if we'd been doing this together all our lives! I love conventions, I really, really do.

In the middle of the shoot, I got a text from my friend and fellow Last Chance Muse alum, Ashley! I couldn't leave to meet her, both because I was in the middle of a shoot and because I wasn't very mobile, so she came to find me! Ordinarily I try not to get *too* distracted in the middle of photoshoots (a little is unavoidable, I have the attention span of a goldfish fed a diet exclusively of lead paint, but I do try to respect the photographer's time) but there was no way I was missing my chance to see Ashley--I hadn't gotten to hang out with her since Anime Weekend Atlanta, four years ago. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together, unfortunately, but I'm grateful I got to spend time with her at all.

Just as we were finishing up, a fan with a camera ran up to me and Reinii. "I know this may sound a little weird, but can I get a picture of the two of you? Rei and Minako are my OTP." Reinii and I just looked at each other, and simultaneously wrapped our arms around each other's waists. "Oh honey," I said, "ours too." I've never actually seen anyone swoon before. It was pretty amazing. But now that the photoshoot was over, I decided it was time for a lunch break. I usually try to be fairly regular with my meals during conventions anyway(so many people aren't, and so many end up paying the price for it), but one of my medications for my leg had to be taken with food anyway, so it really wasn't optional this year. Chris agreed to make sure I made it to food safely, and I got a text from Mario Rob asking what I was up to, so I had my two swains by my side again. One of the reasons I'm nervous about the move to Washington D.C. is that I'll have to learn all new food places. Logically I *know* there are probably just as many near the D.C. convention center as there are near the Baltimore one, but I KNOW where all the Baltimore ones are already! Ah, well--leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow.

After ingesting both nutrients and antibiotics under the watchful eyes of both Dr. Mario Rob and Nurse Chris (sorry Chris, you get nurse only because Dr. Mario Rob just "goes" better as a name), I wanted to visit the Dealer's Room again for actual shopping this time, both for myself, and to buy little souveneirs for my girlyfriends (and the boys, too, but the girls are easier to shop for.) So taking it slow, I shuffled through the convention center until we got into the Dealer's Room.

On the plus side, I'm glad I decided to visit the Dealer's Room, not only because I got to see a little bit more of the con than I would have otherwise, including more fantastic cosplayers, but also because I ran into Lauren! She hadn't been able to make it Friday but moved Heaven and earth to make sure she'd be able to swing by (being local) for at least a few hours on Saturday to see us all. I'm sorry we didn't get to bask in the glory of her magneficent Maleficent pinup, but it was great getting to hang out for at least a little while!

On the down side, for whatever reason, this was more than my outraged knees were able to take: after only two aisles of shopping, my knees swelled and stiffened to the point where I couldn't bend them any more. I was barely halfway through Saturday and I was already incapacitated. Still, though, what was there to be done? I had to listen to my body, especially since I had another day and a half to get through (and one more costume.) Once again proving that they are angels masquerading as cosplayers, Chris and Mario Rob voluntarily gave up time at the convention center to make sure I made it back to my hotel room safely.

They even insisted on checking out my knee--Chris has a solid science background as well as lots of experience with this kind of thing, and Mario Rob works in a pharmacy so he's getting a sort of pre-med education now. Neither of them could diagnose what was wrong with me (which isn't their fault; neither the urgent care I went to before the con, nor the general practioner I ended up going to see after it, could either), but agreed that ice is generally pretty good at bringing down swelling, so they propped me up on the pillows again, ran to the floor's ice machine (thank God those are standard in hotels, I've never known why but they sure came in handy), and made me a neat little ice pack out of a washcloth and told me to rest.

After a full hour's rest, I was able to bend my knee again, so I decided to get changed into my evening costume, my Art Nouveau Sailor Mars. I wanted to give myself plenty of time and move as slowly as I needed to. This was actually the most "forgiving" of my costumes for my current ailment; if you look closely at my Snow White pictures you can see the cut on my shin, and if you look at Eternal Sailor Mars you can see the rash (or whatever it was) on my knee, but the Art Nouveau costume has opaque tights up to my thighs, huzzah! You can *kind* of see the outline of the wrapping I used on the cut (which I had forgone for Snow White, using only a bandaid, because I'm vain and stupid--the two usually go together), but it was a concession I was willing to make. The rest of the costume is so ridiculously gorgeous I can't imagine anyone was staring at my shins anyway.

This was the shoot most of the girls were most excited for; everyone (to a small extent, even me!) had been working on these costumes as a group project all year. The bulk of the work fell to Lady Somairot, who made her own costume and Reinii's, and Alyce, who made my costume and her own, but since they're all more or less local to each other, Reinii and Teren had met up with them a few times to help bead and link chains and do all sorts of little things like that. These costumes are just staggeringly ornate--I don't know if all the details even come through in photos, but every single inch of them has SOMETHING on it, be it a hand-sewn crystal, or a hand-painted design, or the ittiest bittiest stitches you ever saw.

I'm a little sad we only wore them in the Hilton lobby (once again, ENTIRELY across the convention center from my hotel room--it's only in writing this report that I'm beginning to realize just how much walking I actually did and just why my legs complained so much) because so few people saw them, but the backdrop we had for our photoshoot more than made up for it. The pictures Dave took came out are the perfect culmination of a year of work and worry and love.

Plus, it gave me a little more hangout time, not only with my girls, but with Andy, Reinii's boyfriend, and their friend Austin, who I've gotten to hang out with at the big group dinners before. They had made amazing Pokémon battle armor that lit up and everything! I'm so amazed by anyone who can make...well, anything, really, given how little I can do, but especially really complicated costumes like those!

I also got to meet Lady Somairot's husband, and even though it had been nine months since their wedding, it was my first time seeing them since, so I insisted on invoking my privilege of dancing with the new groom. Yes, I had an impaired knee, and yes, there was no music, and yes, I was in a hotel lobby in a ridiculous (though really gorgeous) costume, but I don't pay much attention to strangers's assessments of my sanity, so we danced, and I got to tell him how happy he makes Somairot, and how happy that makes all the rest of us, and how happy I hope they'll always be. What can I say, I'm a sucker for romance. And they deserve a lifetime of it.

Now, I am 100% certain that it's not the dancing that did it and it probably wasn't the photoshoot itself, either, but I was starting to be in pain again. This was a problem, because Dave arranged a big group dinner every Saturday at Otakon for all of us, and this was to be our Farewell to Baltimore party. I really wanted to go. I told him I would try to go. I even started to walk to where I had to go--it was early yet, as the dinner didn't start until after the masquerade is over, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get there. Chris and Mario Rob, who had come by purely to check on me, once again made it their mission to make sure I made it there safely.

Nothing doing. Once again, since the Hilton lobby is at one end of the convention center, both my hotel and the restaurant we had booked for dinner were in the other direction. I just about made it to the end of the con when my legs gave out. There was no way I was going to be able to walk the rest of the way to the restaurant. There wasn't even any way I was going to be able to walk back to my (much closer) hotel again. Plus, the fever had once again reared its ugly head, and it wasn't long before I was babbling away a mile a minute--another symptom I've had since childhood. (I talk a lot when I'm well. But when I have a fever, I tend to talk fast. About everything. Nonstop. I'm told its quite tiresome.)

Even getting through the convention center had been a bit of a challenge: Saturday night was a LOT more crowded than either Friday night or Saturday morning. I really, really missed being in good enough shape to go on my photohunts; I stopped a few times (more than I should have, I'm sure) to take pictures of people who really caught my eye, but it wasn't long before I didn't even feel well enough for that. I realize this is probably coming across as incredibly whiny--after all, I only had a bad knee, not an actual physical disability, but speaking as someone who has enjoyed near perfect health for about four decades now, I was so very ill-equipped to deal with any physical challenges.

Naturally, my hotel was up a hill (that wasn't poor planning on my part; the harbor is, by virtue of how sea level works, the lowest elevation in the area); I think I made it about three steps before Chris decided that was enough heroics out of me, and swung me up into a fireman's carry--once again, I can only imagine how this must have looked to the random bystanders. (Then again, Baltimore had--finally!--gotten used to being invaded by cosplayers every summer; I'm sure this wasn't the strangest thing they saw that weekend, day, or even hour.) However, I'm way denser than I look (both physically and intellectually), and after nobly struggling up one block, Mario Rob insisted that he do his fair share, and between the three of us we kind of linked arms like Dorothy going off to see the Wizard, and between the two of them they supported my weight all the way back to my hotel.

I couldn't bear to ruin *everyone's* night, so once I was safely in my room I sent Chris off to join the others at the restaurant for dinner. Mario Rob, as luck or providence would have it, hadn't made dinner plans, so counting my lucky stars I offered to buy us both dinner, if he'd be a dear and bring it up to my room for us--the hotel inexplicably not offering room service other than at breakfast. I'm totally fine with sandwiches from the local convenience store, however, so we propped my knees back up on their tower of pillows, laid the ice on them, and ate as we watched Michael Phelps won his nine millionth gold medal or something. (Funnily enough, I was in Baltimore for Otakon during the last summer Olympics as well.) Our friend Gio had texted us around that time too--he was rooming with Mario Rob's group, but hadn't gotten a chance to see me yet, so I said if he could stand the sight of me in a bathrobe, he was welcome to join us. Turned out he could.

About half of the dinner group felt bad about me missing the dinner, and decided to drop by to see me before we all called it a night. (The other half felt bad, too, but didn't want to stress me out by having too many people in my room--after all, I was in no position to host a room party!) Eric, Chris, and Avi stopped by on their way back to their own hotels to make sure I was all right, and just generally give us a chance to hang out and be silly, which is really the best part of any con.

However, at the stroke of midnight I promptly turned into a pumpkin, and rather than risk me ending up as a smashed one, everyone decided to leave my room and let me get some healing sleep. All kidding aside, that really was rather late for me--I'm usually asleep by ten! It had been a long day, and I still had one more to go.

Queen Serenity

Sailor Mercury

Sailor Mars

Mamoru's Angels?

Sailor Saturn

Kaitou Ace from Sailor V

Sailor Venus and Kaitou Ace

Super Sailor Moon, Eternal Sailor Moon, Sailor Star Fighter, and Sailor Pluto

A really pretty fan version of Queen Serenity

Tiger's Eye

Akane Karasuma

Eternal Sailor Mars, Sailor Star Fighter, and Eternal Sailor Moon

All from Sailor Stars

Retro Sailor Mercury, Moon, and Mars

I met a Haruka. She winked at me. I giggled like a schoolgirl.

Bucky from Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I look terrible in this shot, but I'm with Ashley so I don't care.

Senshi pile!

I can't leave people who are being completely adorbable alone. It's a physical impossibility.

A closeup of Reinii's new contacts

Rob and the Outer Senshi

A better lit shot

Me with Jareth

Me with Baltimore Lauren

"I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you"

"Won't let nobody hurt you, I'll stand by you."

"Baby, even to your darkest hour, and I'll never desert you"

"I'll stand by you"

I really just wanted to pose with Austin

At least we got to watch Michael Phelps make Olympic history.

Yay thank you for coming to see the cripple!

Another shot of Ashley and me

"I'm sorry, Sailor Moon isn't here right now--she's in her hotel room getting a hairbow for Sailor Venus." <-- ACTUAL CONVERSATION

I love me some Jareth

It's so nice when the lighting is dramatic to start with.

And it's so nice to be able to pose SITTING DOWN.

I'm trying hard not to be jealous that Austin is so much prettier than I am.

Dave with two of his regular groups

Avi's selfie stick comes in handy!