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A Small Town Comic Con: Dcat's Story


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I'll just go straight to the story here with minimal introduction. Introducing the cast:

Dcat: Yours truly.

Quill: Friend of mine who I've known my whole life, but those evil adulting obligations have caused a drift apart.

Talus: Quill's little brother, a coworker of mine.

Deku: Quill's coworker who I have not met prior to this.

Frizzle: A surprise, unlikely new friend I met along the way.

Orbee: A bright eyed young cat girl.

Wonder Woman: An old acquaintance in a new place.

Wizard: A giver of information that I didn't seek, but definitely needed.

Broncho: The server at the "tavern".

Mighty Mom: Deku's mom.

Dinosaur: A "seasoned" cosplayer.

In case it's not obvious, real names omitted for titles.

 

Once Upon A Time In A Faraway Land

Advertisments for an event called Cozmiccon began to appear on local social media about a month ago.

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This poster is cut off but I couldn't find a full one. Now around these parts, any event that isn't about farming, ranching, coal mining, or anything typical of a small midwest town is a big deal. Quill has gotten to go to Denver Comic Cons before and cosplay, which makes me insanely jealous. Denver, however, is FOUR HOURS AWAY. Just to set the scene here.

Now at first, I was still not sold. I dislike crowds, I dislike going out to many events. But as the Cozmiccon drew closer, I began to change my mind.

 

Welcome to McDerps What Can I Make For You

Around the same time the Cozmiccon was announced, I began a job at McDonalds. Just something to help pay the bills (I am also on SSI for disability) while I aim for computer classes in an online trade school to get a career in computer tech repair. They have me in the back rolling breakfast burritos for three hours in the morning, three days a week.

This is where Talus comes in. I had known he worked there before. I'd tell him how I missed hanging with Quill and how it really needed to happen again. Now if you're wondering why he's called Talus...take a seat. 

On my third day at work, Talus was running the drive thru within clear earshot of my burrito station. He would occasionally chant a little tune. After a few times, you could say the recognization hit me like a ton of rocks.

I wait for him to be free, and go "Omg is that the Stone Talus theme?!" He confirms it, and says usually he finds himself singing the Molduga theme instead. A duet of sorts follows for the rest of my shift. We are the only two in that staff room/kitchen who know these songs but who cares.

I mention the Cozmiccon and ask if he will be there, he says maybe depending on if he's working or not. One day he asks me if I'm excited for the new Animal Crossing. I tell him I haven't played Animal Crossing in ages and it's not something I want to play nowadays since you have to play it every day and who has time for that with adult obligations. Talus smiles and shrugs. "Well you don't have to play it EVERY day..." My response is "Yeah you don't, but you get punished ingame otherwise" which produces an understanding chuckle.

Unrelated but funny so it's getting mentioned. Another coworker is running the shake machine and it refuses to shut off so she's there with an overflowing cup frantically asking for a manager. A manager gets it to stop. I joke about endless shakes. Talus mops up the mess.

 

Gotta Catch Em All

I have a route I use for Pokemon Go, it takes me past four gyms and plenty of pokestops. On the winding walking path between one of the pokestops and two gyms right next to each other, an elderly couple is walking a small dog and also not directly on the path itself because morning sprinklers. It gets too hot in the afternoon so to avoid the risk of my phone overheating I either go mornings or evenings.

The man notices I am following with my phone out, and might have heard the Pokemon Go music. He turns to me and asks if I am "catching em all". I nearly flip out. Nobody has ever passed me while I play this also playing it! His wife is the one who plays, and she is even on the same team, Instinct. I friend her. She compliments me on the glaceon she saw of mine in a gym and asks if I am going to Cozmiccon, she is going. I tell her I think a friend of mine (Quill) is doing something there or hosting something.

I send Go gifts back and forth to "MzFrizzleAZ" for the week leading to the Cozmiccon and will continue to do so. I hope I meet up with her for a raid battle sometime.

 

48 Hours Remain

I have Quill's phone number stored. Last night I shot her a text to ask when she will be at Cozmiccon and what she'll be doing. She is running a presentation on cosplay with her coworker. She is going as BotW Link. Now I have a set time to show up. 

Now it is the last day before the con...

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

(I am disappointed in you people for not saying anything, but I figure you were waiting for the rest of the story? Well, stay tuned, it's going in the next post)

Edited by Dragoncat
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The Adventure Begins

The event was held in one building on Main Street. It's a small events center of sorts that also houses a few shops, including the cafe Quill and Deku work at.

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A Wonder Woman cosplayer approaches and addresses me by name. I do not recognize her. After a brief exchange, I find that she is the secretary at the Vocational Rehab office that I attend for job seeking/employment services. I had no idea she had any interest in things like this.

My attention turns to a table that looks like this:

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No that is not my drink...maybe I should have asked the lady to move it but meh. Sitting at the table is a guy clearly cosplaying, but in a very simple and minimalist fashion. He is carrying a wooden staff and has a ragged cloak draped over his shoulders. I ask him if this DnD stuff is being sold. He says it's being raffled off, and to enter, I simply write down my name, email address, and "a monster I'd like to fight", which will be made into a stats/reference card if I win.

A small face with painted whiskers and attached cat ears pops up beside Wizard. "Orbeez monster!" The little girl must be some relation. She rambles on about her monster idea in typical energetic kid fashion. I have heard of orbeez before, I believe I saw them advertised on TV, they are these things:

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Little bead things you put in water, make stuff out of them. I guess.

I enter the raffle (my chosen monster is a lightning dragon), and Wizard asks if I ever played DnD before. I say I'd love to but can never find anyone to play it with, is there a local group? There is in Scottsbluff, which has the nearest Walmart and is 30 minutes away, but a frequent destination for most people in Ye Olde Torrington including me. My grandparents live in Mitchell, one of the towns on the way there. Unfortunately Wizard does not have the contact info for this DnD group. Suggests I check facebook and I will.

 

Grub and Pub

I arrived an hour and a half before Quill and Deku's presentation, so I decide to eat. The nearest restaurant is a Mexican place. I go in, see the menu, but nothing on there looks good. I'm not much for Mexican food and the burgers at these places are never very good.

The Broncho Bar and Grill is also on this street and I have eaten there before, so I go there instead. I order this meal:

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The burger was a tad greasy and not overly great but it worked and I got free refills on my diet pepsi, and a side of mayo for dipping when I asked for it. Broncho was very prompt about refills when I needed them, I filled it up three times. There was so much ice in that cup...that there wasn't much room for the pop, you see. The only others in the restaurant were a couple with two babies, one in a car seat carrier and one being held. At one point Broncho almost gave me a cup of ice tea intended for the family's table but realized his mistake right away.

A slightly interesting thing:

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When asked about it (because I guess I'm nosy sometimes), Broncho explained that the kitchen had no air conditioning and metal walls and was small, so pizza baking made it feel like an oven in there. Yikes. Don't blame them one bit.

 

(This is as far as I'll write right now because I'm starting to lose steam, I'll edit the rest in soon!)

 

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A Link To A Hobby

After meandering around a bit, it is finally time for the cosplay presentation! It is held downstairs in that events building. Quill greets me right away. She is cosplaying as BotW Link in the champion's outfit. Deku, her coworker, is waiting for her mom to show up. No she is not a deku scrub, she is Deku from My Hero Academia.

Mighty Mom shows up, and the presentation begins! They talk about what wigs are best quality but feel free to practice on cheaper ones if you have to style them. Arda is the wig brand they recommend. They discuss that "casual" cosplay is a thing and perfectly acceptable, and don't listen to the naysayers. An example given by Deku: she once did Naruto in a hoodie, just chilling. Never listen to the naysayers, as a matter of fact. If someone tells you "you can't do that you don't have the right body type" or similar, ignore them. Full costumes can be bought, but sometimes they come with pieces that aren't good so you have to alter them or make them yourself. Quill's BotW Link came with "horrendous" gauntlets, so she made her own. She also added the wig that she styled herself. They talk about going to cons, and how you should always ask before taking pictures of cosplayers because they might not want pictures or they might not have all of their costume ready yet. Quill had this experience, where she was a complicated character, a tiefling, and people would not leave her alone wanting pictures and she still had to put contacts in and other bits and pieces of her costume.

I introduce myself to Deku, probably quite awkwardly because that's just me, but she takes it well. I tell her she's lucky to have a mom who's so supportive of this hobby because my mom is more like "Get out of your apartment, stop being a hermit, work, better yourself, don't spend your money on that". It is what it is, but I will never stop envying people with parents into nerd culture like Mighty Mom.

A question and answer segment follows. When asked how characters are picked, Deku says she picks characters she relates to the most. She loves this character she's doing now because he's hyper, energetic, and adorable and he brings out that side of her. When asked how they got into cosplay, Quill says she has always been an artist (it's true, her drawings make mine look like a drunk kindergartner made them) and it is an art form at its core. Deku says she enjoyed costumes as a kid and all of a sudden growing up and it's no longer acceptable is well, unacceptable, so cosplay is a way to continue.

Cosplay is for all ages, as shown by Dinosaur. Dinosaur goes to cons as Dr. Harding from Jurassic Park frequently and sometimes he sees young kids as the same character and it always makes him happy. Good for him! I mention seeing a photo of an older lady cosplaying as the grandma from the Tweety Bird cartoons and both Quill and Deku seem to remember seeing it too.

I get home and Quill calls me asking where I went. I forgot to tell her I was leaving, oops...but she's coming over today in the afternoon! And this is where my story ends...for now. In the not so distant future...stay tuned...

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DId you buy anything or spend any money? I love shopping, so I have hard time keeping my wallet shut whenever I go to conventions because they have lots of cool stuff.

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42 minutes ago, XRay said:

DId you buy anything or spend any money? I love shopping, so I have hard time keeping my wallet shut whenever I go to conventions because they have lots of cool stuff.

Hey thanks! I was afraid nobody really cared enough to comment much.

Unfortunately nothing was for sale at the con itself. I bought the burger and some candy at a shop across the street.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/15/2019 at 2:29 PM, Dragoncat said:

Unfortunately nothing was for sale at the con itself. 

Y THO

Seriously, no one was shilling anything?

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OH YEAH update that's well overdue.

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"Wizard" has three last names? Apparently. As you can see I did not win the raffle. Scottsbluff is the as before mentioned location of the nearest Walmart. We'll see if I go there or not, depends on stuff.

@XRay @Karimlan Tagging you two for being the only two who posted and showed interest. And aren't Discord contacts with me. Ana got showed there.

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Ooh, nice! Limited Edition D&D 5e Essentials Kit? I cannot even get my hands on a regular edition Essentials Kit. Well, I technically can, but it is way overpriced on Amazon.

I got curious about D&D a couple of weeks ago and I bought the Starter Kit at Barnes and Noble (I should have just bought it on Amazon instead for cheaper) when I saw it on the shelf. I want to try out the Essentials Kit too before I commit to making the big purchase of the core rulebooks. I am also still debating whether I should get the physical books or get the digital versions on D&D Beyond.

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5 hours ago, XRay said:

Ooh, nice! Limited Edition D&D 5e Essentials Kit? I cannot even get my hands on a regular edition Essentials Kit. Well, I technically can, but it is way overpriced on Amazon.

I got curious about D&D a couple of weeks ago and I bought the Starter Kit at Barnes and Noble (I should have just bought it on Amazon instead for cheaper) when I saw it on the shelf. I want to try out the Essentials Kit too before I commit to making the big purchase of the core rulebooks. I am also still debating whether I should get the physical books or get the digital versions on D&D Beyond.

Yeah, would be nice if I won it. But it is what it is.

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