Sunday, the last day of the con (mostly). I told myself I'd do a lap of the Dealer's Den, see if there was anything worth spending my dwindling money on. For me it's kind of a tiered system, ranging from stuff I have to buy down to indulgences and stuff that is nice but I didn't think I'd really use. As always happens, my plans derailed by running into someone I knew, this time in her Tobi fursuit. I told her I promised I'd visit his boyfriend's table and we went off to find it. I found a table that looked right, asked if he knew NightEyes and of course he asked which one (as there are a few with that name). I said Coffee and ding, he confirmed I had the right one. I looked over his jewelry while Spangler's attention was drawn to LED lanyards, particularly a green one the same as Tobi's hair/bandana. I picked out one for myself, in red of course, and a lovely pendant featuring the therian symbol with a wolf over it. Spangler wanted to get out of Tobi and get him dried but, of course, got distracted. This time by who bought a set of 's mood badges. Spangler saw them and immediately wanted some. I thought this odd as I'd been wearing a set myself all weekend! Harumph. We found the table and Spangler mulled over which species, and what extra badges to get. I put up with this for two reasons. Spangler is my friend and a cool person to hang with. And second, she said she'd let me borrow Tobi to suit around in. Squee. We got to her hotel room where she gave Tobi a quick sanitize, and lent me the head, tail, bandana and four paws. The torso she deemed too sweaty to wear. I'd gotten to try on a fursuit head once or twice before but never had the chance to go suiting as it were.

It was a little cumbersome. The paws were very large so I had to learn to walk with a wide gait. The paws had four fingers and I had some trouble figuring which of my fingers went with which of his. The head fit okay, but I was never certain I had it on correctly. I found myself often lifting up the muzzle to get fresh air to my mouth. The eyes were very hard to see out of (I knew this already, in fact, I got to wear Tobi's head for a few minutes at a bowling meet). When walking I'd move my head from side to side to increase my peripheral vision to look for obstacles like people, feet, service dogs, stairs. I wouldn't have minded a handler but none of my friends were free. I made my way around the Westin lobby, then over to the DLCC. I got several pictures taken with friends, a few people asking to pose with them for selfies and interacted with others. I was my usual goofball self, but now I had the excuse of "being a fursuiter!" Actually, the first thing I did, at Spangler's suggestion, was get a Fursuiter badge. 14 years since I first attended Anthrocon and I finally have a fursuit badge I didn't have to loot from a corpse. Whee!

Wearing Tobi I poked my head back in the Dealer's Den and came across Negger, in his Franko suit, hanging out at the SofaWolf table. Of course I had to get my picture taken with him. I took a small breather (literally) and looked over his comic. Some of the style reminded me of Franco-Belgian comics I'd seen and we chatted about his inspiration. So of course I had to buy a copy, and he signed it with a lovely illustration on the inside cover. After the Closing Ceremonies I was done suiting and went to return Tobi. Spangler said I could just leave it with ConOps, but they were hesitant to take it for various reasons. I left word with a mutual friend and went to my hotel room to store him until I could contact Spangler, or barring that, prepare to take him back to Maine. I borrowed Tobi in good faith and I damn well was going to get him back to her in the same condition. Fortunately, she did contact me and I was able to return him safe and sound. And now with more of a desire to have a suit of my own. Someday. When I can afford one.

Monday.
Got up rather early, by my standards, along with my roommates. We got ourselves showered and dressed. Moses went down to greet Shost and snag a u-boat for us. We load up, say goodbye to and head off....to tour Pittsburgh. Moses had spent some time here in college and wanted to show us some of the neighborhoods he knew, including one that almost had me choking on my soda when he said it, "Little Caucasia." We headed east and arrived at JFK with plenty of time for to catch his flight, despite Moses' GPS sending us on a tour of Chinatown. The ride back to New England was for the most part uneventful and we parted ways at my parents. I enjoyed some cold pizza and an episode of Preacher before pushing on to return home. Another summer, another Anthrocon done.

I had a great time and I'm very glad I went. I got to say hi and hug people I see so very rarely and meet some new people I had only known online or were brand new to me. I got to bounce around in a fursuit and got to help out some friends. I think next year I'll see about volunteering. It's about time I did so. As always it was a learning experience and I made notes of what I'd do differently the next con.