Day two! I woke up, went down to the lobby and had breakfast, and then headed back to my room to wait. I didn't want to get fully dressed in my yukata, because I had told anyone who needed help that they'd be welcome to stop by and I'd assist them, and that would be a lot easier to do if I weren't encumbered. Kimono are beautiful but they are not meant for free movement. Hime-chan took me up on my offer, so she stopped by my hotel, and honestly it was great having some one-on-one time with my soul-sister so we could catch up on everything that was going on in her life and in mine. I kept her company while she did her makeup (I'm impressed; I'm too intimidated to try contouring, but she did it so skillfully you couldn't tell exactly what she had done, you just knew she looked different) and we got her wig on, and then we both tried to struggle into our yukata.

We had once again begged Ranma to conduct our photoshot for us, and we scheduled it for 1 PM so we could all make it to the official Sailor Moon shoot at 3. In ones and twos the rest of our group started arriving--David and Chris, who would not technically be participating (although Chris wore his kimono in a show of solidarity) but would be hanging out with us, Annalee and Eric (Annalee was making her Sailor Moon debut as our Naru! Our first ever Naru), Lady Somairot, looking beautiful in blue to be our Uranus again, her husband, and their baby! After Somairot being *heavily* pregnant at our Sailor Moon shoot the year before, we were finally getting to meet our ChibiChibi, and Reinii, Hime-chan, and I jockeyed for chances to hold her. What a little angel.

Stevie was our Jupiter again, and picked the perfect color combination for her yukata and obi, and Laurel joined us for the first time our Cosmos, also with really pastel colors that I felt matched the character perfectly. Alyce's wig went *so* well with her yukata we were all marveling at it. Reiini had just come back from a few weeks in Japan (lucky!) so her yukata and obi were direct from the source, and Avi, despite owning two furisode in purple because it's her favorite color, went out and got a yukata in purple just so we could all be matchy match, and I am one to talk because I own two kimono in red myself and felt the need to buy a new one. This is why we're friends. Terentia had researched blue yukata and compared them to the multiple reference sources we were using, and ended up finding a really beautiful blue yukata. Lastly Viluy had agreed to join us at almost the last minute as our Pluto after our previous one was unable to make it, and found a perfect yukata to match, and lo and behold we had a full group again! (Cosmos counts as Sailor Moon. Read the last chapter again.)

We had so much fun. We did individual shots first, and Ranma found a *really* great background for us to pose against--it looks even better in the finished photos. We took turns keeping our ChibiChibi entertained and happy (obviously, Lady Somairot waited until the last second to put the wig on her head.) Finally, we dragged chairs up against the wall to create a sort of riser-system for us so we could get all of us into one portrait shot...boom. I think people who don't cosplay can't understand just what goes on behind the scenes to try to make a photoshoot work, but honestly? For me, figuring out stuff like that is half of the fun.

Once we were done with the photoshoot, Ranma headed back to his room to change into his Artemis costume, and we made our way (slowly, geta are not great for walking either!) to where the Sailor Moon shoot would be, especially since we didn't know where we were going as it wasn't in the same place as the year prior. We found the place as a previous photoshoot was ending, and waited while mingling with some of the other Sailor Moon cosplayers. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it makes my nerdy little heart happy how many people still love Sailor Moon. We had a really good time, although I am so far behind on (one of) my other website, Sailor Moon Avatars, that I didn't even bother handing out business cards. I dream of the day I am entirely caught up, especially since so many people are cosplaying obscure characters or rare versions. Everybody is really nice, too--there was actually a Small Lady and a Helios there, who were dating, and when we went gaga over them (seriously, who cosplays Helios? Except for Dokudel when we beg her?), the Helios agreed to take "couple-y" poses with Hime-chan even though he had just met her, and his girlfriend was 100% cool with it. God bless non-possessive cosplayers.

After the official Sailor Moon shoot was over, Avi and I went back to our respective hotel rooms to change into our nighttime costumes, Hachi and Nana! I had put my "ren" tattoo on home on Thursday night, and it had held up pretty well through Friday, but for some reason the yukata I was wearing got a *whole* bunch of red fuzz on the tattoo, even the clear square around the tattoo. Grr. I scrubbed it off and put on a new one--thank goodness I had thought to bring more with me! I also struggled with putting on fake eyelashes; I had only put them on myself successfully once before, and while they came out looking all right time, this time they looked just...slightly...off. I had to wait for Avi to finish getting ready, because she was bringing me the top she had made for me, and once she did I was done and we sallied forth to find Doc.

And ran into our next wardrobe malfunction. I don't know if it's something about wigs, or something about my face, but almost all of the non-banged wigs I have, cover fully half of my face on both sides. I remember cutting my Tim Burton's Alice wig the morning of Comic Con for the same reason. And I had trimmed my Nana wig while wearing it at home, I don't know why I didn't run into this there, but if I tilted my head down even a *little*, I couldn't see. I didn't want to risk the wig, so Avi and I agreed I should just walk with my nose in the air to keep the sides out of my eyes--and besides, strutting along like that would be perfectly in character for Nana, anyway. We got about a block away from my hotel before Avi pouted. "I can't get used to you like this. It's so...not Crissy!"

Yeah, it felt pretty weird.

Doc hadn't been able to bring his rig along due to a number of issues, so he conducted our photoshoot using Avi's phone and my digital camera...whose battery...died. Mid shoot. No problem! I had bought a new digital camera to replace my original one not too long ago, and it had come with a new battery, so now I had two! Great! Which I...had left behind...in my hotel room. Not so great. So that was the last picture I took that day. (Except for one I took of a Crossdressing Cloud on my POS phone, because that costume always amuses me.) He got some great shots of us regardless, although I really, really want to wear that costume again once I've fixed up the wig.

When we were done with the photoshoot, it was time for Doc's and my annual dinner date at Otakon. He had chosen a nearby Irish pub, because I didn't want to go to a really fancy restaurant dressed in motorcycle boots and thigh highs, and we had our usual nice time catching up. We took a quick walk through the Marriott on our way back, and were talking about all of the old school cosplayers, some of whom were there, some of whom we miss. We were both feeling pleasantly nostalgic...

...UNTIL...

in the middle of a sentence we heard people on the escalator passing us chanting, "CHAIR! CHAIR! CHAIR! CHAIR!"

Doc turned white and I grabbed on to him for support. No. There is no way. WHO BROUGHT THIS MEME BACK FROM THE DEAD? (If you don't know...ugh. Just...ugh.)

We met up with some of our friends in the Marriott's lobby (including Ranma and Gio, and Allen who I haven't seen in a dog's age!) before Doc walked me back to my hotel...where my car...was still out front. I mean, I know I was dressed as a rockstar, but this was taking the whole cosplaying thing to the extreme. (Then again, the lead singer of BLAST probably wouldn't be chauffered around in a '99 Ford Taurus.) We said good night--it had been an interesting...and *confusing*...day.

Small Lady and Helios

Would have loved to have gotten another season of Sailor Moon featuring them in the future

What a gentleman!

The Helios's girlfriend was also dressed as Small Lady. She was so nice!

Small Lady and Sailor Saturn

I am overstimulated so I hide on Lady Terentia

Quality baby time!

I love that there are just tables hanging around, free to use.

Terentia is Vice President in charge of Crissy's Life

Hug break!

Onii-san

Artemis and the Sailor Senshi!

My handsome boys

Group shot!

"'Cause I'm a rock-star, bay-beeee..."