I had two things to do before I could check out of the hotel room Sunday morning: one, get back the complimentary loaner umbrella that I had loaned to Linwood the day before, and two, pickup my costume from Arlette, who had made it for me. So I took my time going down to the hotel restaurant and having breakfast again (much less this morning, I had vastly overestimated my appetite the day before, but everything looked so good!), and packing up all of my stuff.

Seeing as how I wasn't even dressed yet, waiting would have to happen, so I thanked her and Serge and headed back to my hotel room to change. My makeup didn't turn out as perfectly as I hoped, but it wasn't too bad, and while I knew I'd need somebody to tighten the corset, I was able to get dressed without assistance. I tucked the flower comb Arlette had made into my hair, secured it with about a million bobby pins, and began my world famous balancing act, trying to get my suitcase, my makeup trunk, my bookbag, Crabby, and his politician's hat downstairs in one go.

The hotel was nice enough to check all of my bags until I was ready to go, and even provided special accomodations for Crabby. That done, I crossed the street to the Marriott (now that I understood it was directly connected to the convention center itself), to start the third day of Otakon.

Even with what I had needed to accomplish in the morning, I was *still* at the convention center well before my friends were (in fact, possibly before some of them had even woken up), so for the first time all weekend I was more or less on my own. I felt like I hadn't taken very many pictures (I always feel that way--until I have to write these con reports), so I figured I would do that old standby, and go on a photohunt, take pictures of people from my fandoms, see if I could figure out what this year's "It" cosplay was (I actually couldn't tell, but I *will* tell you that I noticed a LOT more shirtless, toned men running around this year. I've checked with two other people separately and my opinion has been correlated.) You know, basically your usual con stuff.

After three days, the initial reaction of "It's new and therefore scary!" had *mostly* worn off, and I was able to take better notice of my surroundings. One of the neat things Otakon was able to implement here was a big increase in signage: there were banners, paper signs, and even electronic messages being displayed on multiple screens around the convention center. There were also a large number of information desks scattered throughout. Basically, even if you're prone to getting lost, you probably won't stay lost for very long. I still don't think the new location has the same easy "flow" as the old one, but I was largely alone in this: both Josh and Lady Terentia said they thought the layout of this convention center was a *lot* more intuitive.

In fact, as I was wandering around gamely trying to teach myself the new layout, I came across Josh and told them what I was doing. Josh has a really great grasp of concepts, and more importantly, is *super* good at conveying them in a way that makes sense to me (which is not as easy as it sounds. I flatter myself that I'm a smart person, but it's kind of like "I don't get it, I don't get it, I don't get it" ::switch is thrown:: "AH YES EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE TO ME!") Honestly I'll take any excuse to go anywhere with Josh, because not only does Josh know *the* most interesting things, but also has this way of listening to a person that makes you feel like they hear you with their whole heart. I can't swear that I now know the Walter E. Washington center like the back of my hand, but at least the maps finally make sense to me. I'm sure in time it'll be just as familiar and dear to me as the Baltimore Convention Center was.

Josh had a panel they wanted to go to, so we soon said goodbye, but not long after Doc texted me to find out where I was. Now, even though we had met...god, fourteen years ago? when he stopped me to take my picture as Tifa in the hallways of Big Apple Anime Fest, and though we've done some private shoots in New York, it's been a while since he's conducted a photoshoot at a convention, primarily because he's always on staff. This year, however, I was determined. I had only done this ridiculous costume because he had begged me to, and then Serge had seen his begging and added his own directed at Arlette--well, if he wanted us to run around as Sailor Disney Princesses, he was darn well going to capture photographic evidence of same. It needn't take long; I've known photographers (notably Dave) take an almost ful digital equivalent of a roll in about ten minutes. But he needed to take responsibility for his actions.

I knew it would be a bit of time before everyone else was ready, so first we headed to the Shinto shrine, which had been erected by Kuniko Kanawa, the same woman I (and many others) had taken a kimono lesson from the year before. I felt a little self-conscious going into the shrine in costume, but I was sure I wouldn't be the only one, and I figured as long as I was respectful it would be all right. Kanawa-sensei wasn't there, unfortunately, but at least Doc and I got to pay our respects.

That done, we decided to visit the Artist's Alley, make sure everything had dried out properly (plus, I still hadn't seen it yet, other than from afar.) It was *just* as massive as the Dealer's Room, which is really impressive. Doc and I decided to start at the nearest end of the hall, because we knew we wouldn't have time to see the whole thing before our shoot at 11:30, and it turned out to be a good thing we did, because it took us right by YuffieBunny's booth! I hadn't seen her since Kitty's wedding in April, so I stopped by so we could gossip a bit and catch up. I never like to take up too much of a person's time when they're working, though, so after we had taken a picture together (and after I had been stopped by a super-cute Honey cosplayer wanting a picture of me, which was intensely flattering!), we traveled on.

Doc was looking for a friend of his who also had a booth in the Artists' Alley, and we found her not too far away. He introduced me (and I forgot her name, partially because of the calcium deficiency but mostly because I'm terrible with names. Faces, too. I can remember events, and that's about it) and then started comparing stories about their time in Japan, since they've both traveled there extensively, and I listened in awe and with my soul shriveling inside my body from jealousy. I've never been. I keep telling myself someday I'll go--maybe for my 40th birthday--but my wallet says otherwise. Maybe if I cut out cosplay and conventions...but miss getting to be total dorks with my friends? Is life even worth living without that?

The first of the ladies were just getting to the con around this time, so we said goodbye and started heading towards the Marriott to meet them. Along the way we passed Jim, and he and Doc compared notes to make sure nothing was on fire (or, in the case of this con, underwater), so we were free to continue to hijack Doc's time. With a clear conscience, we went to the Marriott lobby.

My girls looked so cute! I'd seen Lady Terentia as Belle before, of course, since that's her favorite character she's done some of her costumes before, including our "casual Princess" photoshoot at Otakon 2010. But Alyce and Annalee really broke my brain. You see, Annalee was dressed up as the sailor version Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and Alyce had made the sailor version of Anna from Disney's Frozen. (Lady Somairot had initially volunteered to be our Sailor Elsa, but a super pregnant Elsa in a super short sailor fuku...I mean, I'm not one to judge, but probably best to put that off for another time.) So...Annalee was Alice...and Alyce was Anna. And it was more than my tiny little brain could handle. I swear I could feel brain cells dying in my brain as those neurons tried to cross. Whatever, they all looked adorable.

I, however... "Didn't Arlette make Mulan's hair comb for you?" Lady Terentia asked me.

My poor friends couldn't help laughing at my facial expression as my mouth dropped open in horror and my hands flew to my wig. Yup, no flowered hair comb. And, unlike on Friday when I had lost my shoe decoration in only fifteen minutes of walking (and STILL couldn't find it, mind you), I had no idea how long it had been gone or where I had lost it. Doc said I wasn't wearing it when he met up with me, so I must've lost it immediately--maybe even in my hotel, who knew. I was really upset with myself--and after Arlette had gone to all that hard work!--but there was nothing I could do about it now.

Doc really wanted to utilize the Otakon Photosuite, so we started moving in that direction. But, even though the Photosuite was scheduled to stay open until noon on Sunday, and here it was not even 11:30 yet, they had stopped letting people in, and were starting to break down the equipment! Doc made some inquiries and found out that it was the convention center's staff that had issued these orders, not the Otakon staff, so there was nothing we could do about it. There are always some rough patches in any partnership, especially during the initial, "getting to know you" phase, so I'm sure these kinks will be worked out in the future. So we had to find another place to take photos.

The attached Marriott had a lot of really pretty corners and hallways--similar to how the attached Hyatt in Baltimore did, come to think of it--so the next spot we tried were by these giant, sunlit windows on an upper level of the Marriott. Doc had just about gotten us lined up and snapped the first photos, when a Marriott worker came and told him we weren't allowed to take pictures there. Why not? No reason, you're just not. I saw Doc's lips start to thin. Doc is about the gentlest man I've ever met, and the most patient, and he's got a looong fuse...but he doesn't like people trying to push him around, especially arbitrarily. Nevertheless, we *really* didn't want to sour Otakon's relationship with either the convention center *or* the Marriott, especially this early in their professional relationship, so it wasn't worth fighting over.

Well, now what? We knew Arlette would be ready at any moment, so at the very least we had to find a good meeting spot so we could be together. He suggested meeting by "The Compass", and realized none of us knew what he meant. There's a beautiful dangling star sculpture very near where the underground Marriott tunnel joins the convention center, and lets in a lot of natural light, so we gathered there. (Once again, I'm sure that in time, terms like "The Compass" or "The Rainbow Tube" will be as immediately recognizable to us as saying "The Indoor Fountains" was.) Having now four Disney princesses (people may not have realized we were also senshi, but they sure recognized the princesses!) meant that we caused a little bit of a traffic snarl, but one of our absolute favorite things in the world is seeing little kids' faces light up when they recognize their favorite princess. Anna and Belle especially were big hits.

We were running out of ideas, so Doc suggested we head back to the lobby, and just shoot on the right hand staircase that had housed the Sailor Moon photoshoot (among others) the day before. At least it was a *lot* less crowded than it had been the day before, so we weren't in anyone's way, and the stairs helped for some interesting staging. (And made Annalee's matching Alice pose doable instead of impossible.) We had just taken the first pictures when Arlette realized she had left her arm bands in her hotel room but Serge, being the hero and the gentleman that he is, volunteered to run back and get them, so in the later pictures she has all the parts of her costume. I just have to say again, everyone looked *so* good, I admire my talented friends so much.

In between shots, Arlette was playing on her phone, and then called Lady Terentia and I over to show us something. She had taken a picture of our Magic Knight Rayearth costume from the first time we had cosplayed together, and matched it with one of the photos we had just taken. "It's our ten year anniversary," she said, and smiled.

I...what? Ten years? It couldn't be. Could it? But yes, of course, she was right--we had done our epic Magic Knight Rayearth group in 2007, and here it was 2017. Of course this brought up the fact that both Arlette and Terentia both have *massive* lists of MKR costumes they want to do, and shoot, I just want to play with my friends, I'll do anything. I think we had settled on the school uniforms from the OVA before we were called up for our next turn in front of the camera. I love cosplay plotting with my friends, so much. And I love that we've all been doing this together for so long.

After the shoot, we really just wanted to wind down for a little, and I needed Arlette to sign my Cosplay Decadebook, so we headed back over to the Marriott lobby and commandeered some tables and chairs. Soon Alyce's husband joined us, and then Avi and Reinii in their adorable matching Lolita outfits, and then one of Reinii's friends, and then Josh. We had quite the little group going.

As we were sitting there, a group of girls came up to us, and said, "Excuse me, but did you go to the Disney/Sailor Moon mashup that was mentioned on the Otakon schedule? We just wanted to know what it was about."

Whaaa...?

Apparently Doc, in his efforts to secure us a photoshoot location, had *booked* the staircase on the official Otakon schedule! The man is a force to be reckoned with. So if you saw that on the schedule and wondering what it it was, no, it was not an insightful panel on the influence Walt Disney's art style had on the animation houses of 1950s Japan, nor on how Sailor Moon is the anti-Disney princess (although to be honest I could talk at length about either.) It was just five friends looking for a spot to be silly in. The girls loved our costumes, at any rate.

We had one more thing to do before we could officially call Otakon a close, and that was meet Hime-chan for lunch. Saturday afternoon lunches at Otakon used to be our "thing" before Hime-chan started cosplaying with us, but we hadn't had a chance to get together at the con since she had her boys. In fact, though I had seen her since, I hadn't even *met* her boys yet. They were old enough to travel a little ways now, and still within driving distance (more or less), so it was time to rectify that. We were looking for cheap and kid-friendly again, so we found a Panera in more or less walking distance, and texted that location to Hime-chan and agreed to meet there.

Our group was once again too large for any normal restaurant to handle, so we had to split up into two tables again. WE took turns placing our orders (I was definitely eating this time, I didn't expect to get a chance to have dinner until I got back to New York that night), and soon after Hime-chan, her husband, and the two most precious boys in the entire world arrived. I had watched Nugget and Potato grow up through a computer screen, of course: I knew exactly how Nugget's smile went a little sideways, just like Hime-chan's, and I knew how Potato managed to look *exactly* like his brother AND *exactly* like his father at the same time, I knew every fine little baby hair that stuck up in their cowlicks...but seeing photographs, and seeing living, breathing children are not even a little bit the same thing. I was enthralled. I tried not to be too overwhelming--after all, though I "knew" and definitely loved them, I was still a stranger to them--but I just couldn't help focusing on them almost the entire afternoon.

Let me tell you something, too: little kids are FAST. Faster than I anticipated. Faster than I remembered, certainly. And oh, boy, did they want to run. You would just about get one situated in his chair, when the other would realize he'd just about die if he didn't have a straw RIGHT NOW, and BOOM! Off he'd go. Out of sight. And as soon as one parent would get up to corral that kid, the other one would realize his brother was missing, and this was an emergency, and he must go save him right now! And there goes the other one. Between the...eleven or so of us adults, I think at least one of us managed to have one kid in view at all times, but I don't know if any of us ever had track of both of them at once. Well, whatever. Both kids were happy and accounted for, and that's all that matters. It takes a village.

Much of what went on at lunch wouldn't be of interest to most of my readers (not that any of you are going to be ordering the limited edition hardcover verion of the rest of this, either) but was exactly what I needed. I caught up with my soul-sister, and got to know her husband better. I got to bond with my friends. I gave Nugget my camera and watched him take some truly amazing photographs--the kid's a prodigy (although with his parentage, I would have been more surprised if he hadn't been.) I got to see Chris off and squee over the fact that we'd see the eclipse together in ONE WEEK.

After Chris left we all more or less started making our own departure plans--Hime-chan and her husband had to get their munchkins bundled off, as it had been a pretty long day for them. Avi's dad was coming to pick their crew up, and since I (semi-jokingly) call him my NotUncle (due to everyone else calling him Uncle at her wedding years ago, and me feeling left out), I thought I'd accompany them back to their hotel so I could visit with him, too.

Finally, after everyone else was off, it was my turn. I went to the garage, rescued my car (it was so lonely, from being filled to capacity on Friday the lot was darn near empty now!), and brought it around (once again managing to obey traffic regulations) so I could load my trunk. It was time to head home.

Now, clearly I'm not too bright, because even though I realized I would need to leave earlier than I ever had before, in order to make it down to D.C. in time, it did not occur to me to depart D.C. any earlier. Compound this with the fact that my GPS doesn't know how to direct me to the *nearest* gas station, and I think I ended up in the outskirts of Towson running on fumes, and I got home super late on Sunday night (and still went to work on Monday, because I am a sadomasochist.) None of this detracted from my good time, but I'm mentioning it so I will (hopefully!) remember it next year.

So, all in all, how would I rank Otakon at the new convention center? Well, it's still new, and therefore scary. I think it took me a good two years to feel au fait with Baltimore, so...ask me again in 2019. And I didn't have any many complaints about the Baltimore convention center as other people seem to. That being said, I don't know if it was luck or a better layout, but I found it a lot easier to find people, even by accident, than I had in years. There were a *lot* more places to sit down, something I didn't need this year (at least until NYCC) but many other people would appreciate. The Otakon staff was en pointe as usual, and I may be biased, but I think the few bobbles that did happen can be chalked up either to bad luck, or at most some miscommunications between Otakon and the convention center staff. These things will get better with time.

As we were leaving, I kind of wished we had taken more time off, and made a week of it--in looking at the map of the convention center, I found out that my hotel was literally a ten minute walk awy from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Washington D.C. is a great city for tourists; most things are in walking distance, and it's not quite as expensive as New York City is. I doubt we'll be able to turn this into a week long vacation, but it's worth thinking about.

A great picture of Terentia!

Not...quite as great a picture of me.

This one's cute, though!

And this one is just *adorable*.

I don't actually think Nugget took this one, but it was his idea

He took this one, though.

This one too!

And this one is just HOLY COW PERFECT.

Getting ready to leave

"Wait for me, Daddy!"

Reinii in her bear dress

"Huh. I love books, but the phone *is* a lot lighter to carry."

See you next year!

Utena

Eternal Sailor Uranus

Anthy

Utena

Jim was tired

Our Disney group!

There are two references to these photos.

One, is this was our first ever Magic Knight Rayearth group back in 2007.

Two, all of our real names are really, really similar.

The twin disgraces

Reinii look at me!

REINII!

Hime-chan's precious, precious family

O-P-I-B!

The making of a cover photo

The actual selfie

Proof our group was on the schedule!

Aww, why such a low rating?

Arlette and I are clearly OTP

Thank you, Doc. <3

This is the coolest I will ever look.

Is mah Reinii.