A look back at my first Katsucon.
Tuesday/Wednesday
Wednesday was supposed to be different. It was the last workday before a long-planned vacation. But Wednesday was the day we received news that our good friend Logan passed away as a result of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident the night before. We left work early and tried to process our sudden grief.
Logan was only five years younger than I and while we weren’t necessarily extremely close we were good friends and always got together for coffee and a chat when he was back in town. Between those coffee visits we stayed in touch online and he often commented on our cosplays, with he himself involved in his local pirate group.
It felt weird that we should still be planning to go visit friends and dress up and have fun when it also seemed unfair that the world in general failed to acknowledge the sad suddenness of Logan’s passing. And even though we had a good time, in the back of my mind was the constant reminder that Logan would never see our pictures, that we would never share coffee again, that we’d never share a joke . . .
Thursday we made the trip to Katsucon in National Harbor, Maryland. After checking in to our hotel we took the shuttle to the convention center and met up with our friends Ciarán and Jax, who you might remember are part of our D&D group.
Krystal and I chose easier costumes after having ridden in the car for several hours, so we went as Waldo and Carmen San Diego. We had lots of fun as Jax took various photos. Since many are still on his camera, we’ll just have to see how they turned out later.
Supper Thursday night was at Grace’s Manadarin, where I had an eel avocado sushi roll and wild mushroom hot and sour soup.
There was a rather funny incident with the check as we waited for them to bring it for almost 45 minutes. When it finally came it was one check, which was fine, but as soon as it was taken away another of the waitstaff arrived with the check split four ways. It all worked out in the end, and after making plans for the next day we took the shuttle back to our hotel.
Friday morning I got up early to shave and eat a pop tart (RIP William Bill Post) and after we had prepped our first outfits we packed the others in small bags and rode the shuttle to the convention center. I almost forgot my rabbit ears, and when I went back for them I almost lost our room key down the elevator shaft. But we eventually made it to the con without major incident.
Jax ordered Dunkin for us, and the way my order is labeled has me thinking there’s a joke there, but despite having a week to think of one I’m still at a loss. It’s funny in my head.
Our first cosplays of the day were our D&D characters: Garrett, Ahri, and Aodhán. I know we got lots of looks, and Ciarán told me he heard one person in particular say “Tiefling, Tiefling . . . Harengon – it’s a Harengon!” in such a sweet quiet voice – the kind that comes with shocked awe at seeing something unexpected. I wish folks that were that excited to see the costumes would have said something directly to us, but it was still nice to be appreciated.
We didn’t stay in those costumes long and Ciarán’s jacket was heavy and his back was hurting them and my shoes were really bunny slippers so we went back to the room and changed into our next outfits.
Ciarán and Jax were and Rose Winters and Karl Heisenberg from Resident Evil, while Krystal and I were Charlie Morningstar and Alistor Altruist from Hazbin Hotel. They were a huge hit and we got stopped many times for pictures and were even given small ducks. More than one person said “Alastor, I love you!” and “Our favorite Ace in the hole!”. Alastor’s look was also affirming to me.
Ciarán and Jax changed into more comfortable cosplays (Astarion and Gale from Baldur’s Gate 3) and then we made a round through Artist’s Alley, where I picked up a hand-molded and poured brass acorn with the “home” rune on the back.
We started in on the dealer’s room when Krystal’s feet decided that five hours in Charlie’s heels were enough, so we went back and she got into more comfortable shoes and then we went to supper at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, where we met a few of Ciarán’s other cosplay and mermaid friends. I had the pulled pork platter with baked beans and Pepsi. Krystal and I also split an order of chili mac and cheese, and we were so hungry we didn’t even take pictures. But it was good.
Now in a near food coma, we made our way back to our hotel and slept.
Saturday had a slow start that eventually began with more Dunkin’ coffee and then we hit Artist Alley and the Dealer’s Room as Greg and Wirt to complete our first round of shopping. Krystal picked up a few things, and we got more cryptid art for our walls. We were also given bracelets by someone cosplaying as Schmendrick from The Last Unicorn.
We went back to the hotel to change for the ball, attending as Adorabella Dearheart and Moist von Lipwig from Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal. But after getting into the convention center we decided there were simply too many people to enjoy any of the events, and decided to just chill with our friends the rest of the night. Somewhere along the way someone ordered subs from Potbelly. I had a veggie melt and it was superb.
The shuttle ride itself was also fun, as somehow we got on the subject of favorite breakfast foods. The other folks in the shuttle seemed a bit tipsy, but the fun kind of tipsy, and we all got out of the shuttle with a hankering for Waffle House or IHOP.
Sunday was checkout day at our hotel and everyone had the same idea of a late start. With no luggage carts available and elevators packed, I braved the stairs to carry our luggage down in stages. Thankfully we were only on the second floor. We easily found a parking space almost directly across the road from our friend’s hotel room.
Sunday was our Cyberpunk day, and we made generous use of the body glitter we’d purchased the day before. We made our final walkthrough of the convention as The Runaways, and were pleasantly surprised when I was mistaken for a casual-cosplay of Heartsteel Kayn from League of Legends and our Johnny Silverhand was mistaken for Jack Black’s character in Brütal Legends. Krystal found some dice and I went back to look for some tree art but found some cat/moon art underneath the tree I hadn’t seen previously.
Fatigue cut the afternoon just a bit shorter than we anticipated, but after sitting and resting and recovering by one of the walls in one of the halls we were ready to go get something to eat. We ended up at the Cadillac Ranch, were we had Dutch Pretzels and I ordered a Philly cheesesteak and a Blood Orange Old Fashioned. The cheesesteak was maybe the second best I’ve had outside of PA, and we raised our glasses to Logan. Come to find out, at about the same time in Savannah, some of his friends had moved from the memorial service to his favorite bar and were raising their glasses as well.
Jax and Ciarán had rented a suite with the intention of having folks stay with them. For various reasons that had petered out and we hadn’t been able to cancel our own hotel room (for other various reasons) but we spent Sunday night together watching The Last Unicorn (which neither Krystal or I had seen before) and Constantine (which Krystal hadn’t seen).
Monday morning came much too early and we were still in the process of getting our things out of the room when the hotel cut the access card off and Jax had to get the front desk to grant us another 15 minutes for one final haul down the elevators. I wrangled the tails, fulfilling just a few of my Merwrangler duties.
There were hugs and smiles and a few tears as we said goodbye.
Jax and Ciarán had a little longer drive and headed right out; we had a somewhat shorter drive and grabbed lunch at the nearby Silver Diner, where I had a breakfast scramble.
The ride home was relatively uneventful. We stopped for gas at a Wawa where I got coffee and combos and Krystal found Mountain Dew Livewire and when we got back in town we got milkshakes for supper at Cookout. It took me about ten minutes to get the luggage out of the car, and shortly after finishing my sweet treat I was wrapped in my blankets and fast asleep, already dreaming about next year.
Running In My Head 