I knew Sunday was going to be a pretty chill day; Sundays are, generally, and at a slightly-lower-attendance con it was even more likely to be. And, *most* importantly (to me), it was going to be a comfy costume day! I did the usual, got up, headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and went back to my room to get dressed and get packed. The Henley Park Hotel is great about letting you check your bags, so you can check-out in time, but still not feel rushed to leave. That being done, I headed back to the con. My first order of business was to find the Embassy of Japan booth, where there was an authentic Olympic torch that was used in the 2020 games! You couldn't touch the torch, of course, but the kind people working the booth were more than happy to take your picture with it. This might be the first and last "sports" costume I ever wear, but what a time to wear it!

Soon after Reinii (who had had such a good time on Saturday she decided to come back on Sunday) and Lauren and Stevie joined us, and they had so much fun comparing their ITA bags that I finally, after all this time, finally caved and bought an ITA bag of my own. My theme? Otakon pins! I'm going to have an ITA bag dedicated entirely to Otakon pins, so if you know of or have any you want to sell, I'm your girl. I already have Nurse Hiroko-chan and Doctor Hiroshi-kun, as well as what might be a fanart one of Hiroshi-kun? I know I used to have a Crabby pin that was part of that set too, that used to be on my daily bookbag, but was sadly lost during one of my commutes. One of these days I might even spring for the Hard Rock Otakon pins!

The great thing about Sunday is that it really is such a chill day. I wanted to meet up with Doc (who I have to remind you, was not at Otakon), and we were able to just...find some comfy chairs and sit, and talk, and wait. Sitting in a comfortable chair! At a con! Let me tell you, twenty years ago, that would have blown the average con-goers mind. Maybe I'm just getting old, but there's something to be said for the value of a really comfy chair.

We knew we didn't have much time before we'd have to leave, so we decided to just go to the food court to have some lunch before saying our goodbyes. That, too, ended up being way more hilarious than it had any right to be, between sharing silly stories, Doc being utterly bemuesd by Lauren's Evangelion Tamagotchi (and you thought my Pikachu was weird--if you knew me back then), to the random pigeon that was just..inside, and giving absolutely no quarter to the humans eating around him. (Doc joked about calling con ops on the radio and letting them know there was a rogue pigeon at large...but we decided to let him be.)

All too soon it was time to say goodbye and head home. Doc was most definitely not at Otakon so luckily he didn't need a ride home, so I didn't get to spend a pleasureable five-ish hours talking about anything and everything while listening to my iPod Nano on shuffle, which made the trip seem MUCH faster--or would have, if, you know, that had happened. And Doc's place in Manhattan is really not more than five minutes out of my way home anyway, so it wouldn't have been much of a detour.

I realize my con reports have been late before, and while it's always kind of bothered me (for someone generally so easy-going, I have a German drill instructor that lives in my head that has very firm opinions about how *I* should do things, and when), it's really a shame I didn't get this done in time this year, because I feel like people who were wondering about what it was like to return to conventions after a year of shutdown might have benefited from this. Otakon 2021 was billed as "The Con At The End Of The Rainbow" and in my opinion, it really lived up to it. Everyone who attended, be they vendor, staff, or attendee, seemed to do their damnedest to be considerate and kind, to keep everyone safe both physically and mentally. We may be living in "the new normal", but bits of the old have managed to adapt and survive.