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YaoiCon is a yearly event held in San Francisco. It's a weekend for yaoi, anime and manga fans to celebrate and mingle and spend as much money as possible. This year YaoiCon had a hero for me and that was Terri, aka SexyStarr. Terri writes Calyx Starr in the JF role-playing community. I asked Terri to help coordinate rooms for JF subscribers so that single attendees had someone to hang out with and we could all get together for events. Terri did a fabulous job and I think everyone will agree that the weekend was a great success in large part because of her. Here is my report, told mostly through pictures because that's all that matters, anyway. Enjoy!
This was my third time attending YaoiCon, and it promised to be the best. It didn't disappoint. My mom and I made the eight and a half hour drive up from Las Vegas and it was a pretty good drive. We were in a good mood and were very excited about the weekend. At the Westin Airport Hotel, we barged into our room and woke up Mascha (Aeneus), who was taking a nap after something like a 15 hour day flying in from Scotland via London. Poor girl was wiped, but she was extremely friendly and my mom instantly took a liking to her. I was relieved that my mom and I would be sharing a room with Mascha. Lydia (Seneschal) showed up after getting off of work and then Terri showed up. Everyone was so nice. I could tell I'd have a great weekend with these ladies. We went to dinner at Pete's Diner where Mascha had her first ever taste of root beer and a root beer float! Yay, she loved it! Terri had packed her car full of beverages (along with half the snack aisle of the supermarket), so she gave Mascha a 12-pack of root beers to keep in our room since she was now a root beer convert, lol. Terri and Lydia had to go home since they didn't live in San Francisco and their rooms were booked for Friday night. So we went our separate ways and after checking up on emails and trying in vain to finish up the weekly story, I went to sleep, excited about the coming weekend.
Friday brought many new arrivals. While I was finishing writing the weekly story, Terri jetted off to pick up the new ladies. Here is Angela's account of that afternoon. Angela is Watcher 457 and the Black RPer. Angela's Pov: "I arrived at the San Jose International Airport at 10:30 am. I knew that I had an hour to wait until Terri could come and pick me up. Originally, I was going to meet Shay and wait with her, but Terri told me that Shay had missed her flight. She also told me that she would call when she was on her way to pick me up. So, I got my bags and waited at baggage claim. And waited. I actually napped for a little while. I was supposed to be picked up at 11:30, but when 12:30 rolled around, I started to get worried. At 1:00, I got a call from Terri, saying she was there. Figures she forgot to call. Inside the van with her was Mascha, Mez (Mooshglomp), and Dustin (Bloodstaindnght and the Haney RPer). We all got started talking, a bit about this and that, I think Anita Blake was one of the subjects. We were razzing Dustin over the fact that she doesn’t like Edward, my favorite character. Anyway, we tried to decide where it was that we were going to eat, since apparently everyone was hungry. We decided on chipotle, not one of my favorite restaurants, but the food is good enough. Dustin got gum on her pants and on Terri’s seat, but where she got the gum, she doesn’t know. But, before we went to eat, Mez needed money, so we stopped by a CitiBank. When she got back,s he was laughing at the machine. Apparently, when it asks for you card, it asks that you “dip your card in the slot.” Well, hello! I’m sure you can guess where all of our pervy minds went. Anyways, we get to Chipotle and Dustin is still upset about the gum, so she goes into the bathroom to clean it up. I’m sure you’re not interested in what I actually ate, but the conversation was fun. We were talking about various different fandoms and which ones we started with. Mine was Harry Potter, in case you were curious. We also talked a lot about how schoolgirl outfits were a fetish item in Japan, or that’s what Mez said, and Terri felt funny about being so old and going to Con, which made us all roll our eyes. I told her there would probably be a fifty year old woman around drooling over the bishies, exclaiming, “Look at that ass!” Apparently, people were listening in to our conversation and I didn’t know it, but I’m sort of hopeless at noticing things like that. We swung by Terri’s house to pick up sleeping bags and such, then went to con and I went up to the second floor and registered. I waited FOREVER, or so it seemed, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Regardless, I finally got my badge and saw this awesome Draco that everyone talked about all bloody weekend." Back to Tricia's pov: So with everyone registered except Shay who hadn't arrived yet, the group went to dinner at a local restaurant called The Elephant Bar which is a safari-themed restaurant.
Left to right: Terri, Angela, Mez, and Dustin at dinner at the Elephant Bar. When we returned to the hotel (it was still too soon to pick up Shay), Dustin discovered she had lost her ID sometime after registration. She was completely stressed out and searched high and low with the generous help of Angela. They eventually found Dustin's ID, thank god. While the poor girls were searching, Mascha, Mez, Terri, Lydia and I attended Opening Ceremonies which was as horribly planned as I remember it being. I don't understand why it's never planned out better. It's simply awful. After Opening Ceremonies, my mom, Lydia, Terri and Ally (Astentatioux, the Bee RPer) went to the Dealer's Room to begin set-up. Let me just tell you that I'd had a wonderful booth intended this year. The only problem was that I ran out of time and wasn't able to pre-plan the set-up or buy displays, so I ended up with the most godawful booth imaginable. I was so embarrassed. Fortunately the ladies were there to help me set up and give advice on how to make it look less like a train wreck. I'm grateful for their help. Now it was time to pick up Shay (prettykitty_Aya), who'd had her own drama when her brother failed to drive her to the airport on time. She missed her flight, but was fortunately able to catch another one, though after a lengthy wait. After picking her up at the Caltrain station, we headed to the supermarket to load up on booze. Yay! Angela's pov: "Terri, Shay, Ally, you (Tricia), and I went back up to our room to drink, and if there was drinking by Dustin I wasn’t aware of it. Nope, not at all. And, of course, Shay and myself got drunk. I wasn’t terribly drunk, or at least I didn’t feel terribly drunk, but I was very talkative. One thing that I did notice was how good you were at asking us questions and avoiding answering ours. Sneaky. Anyways, Ally gave me a lovely slave’s collar, which I love and adore now, and Shay, Dustin, and myself went downstairs to drool over cute bishie boys. I’m… not going into detail over this evening. I played cards with one bishie (Dante, who sold for $1000 at the bishie auction), got friendly with another, and sang faire songs with a couple of the ladies down there. Then I went to bed."
The group chilling in the room before picking up Shay. Left to right: Ally(Astentatioux), Terri, Angela, Dustin and me. Back to Tricia's pov: In the meantime, the other half of our group -- Mez, Lydia, her friends Ashkie and Becca (Dionychaeus)-- were preparing for Tokyo Dark Castle, the gothic event being held in San Francisco that night. I had originally planned to go, but I found myself really eager to chill in the room and get to know the girls, so I opted to stay in. I also decided it was safer that I didn't go because if I got drunk, I was probably going to become overly familiar with Mez, and I wasn't sure if she'd appreciate it, lol. Or worse, not stop me!
Mascha(Aeneus11) and I before she headed off for Dark Castle. What a sexy babe she is, huh? Look at those stockings! She had some great outfits with her. My mom made my dress.
With the hottie, Mez. She's all dolled up for the Tokyo Dark Castle event.
Becca, white goth girl.
The colorful crowd at Tokyo Dark Castle.
She's having fun. Bliss perhaps?
More cool outfits.
Rob, the lead singer of Secret Secret, one of the bands that played at the event.. Rob is such a sweetheart. You'd never believe it by looking at him, but he's very soft spoken. He'll hopefully be doing much of the music for "Pursuit of Darkness".
Cute violin boy from Secret Secret.
Guitarist from Secret Secret.
The singer from Spanking Machine. The girls were actually pretty disappointed with Tokyo Dark Castle, complaining about the small size of the room and the darkness, which prevented them from seeing the cool clothes being sold by the vendors. The girls ended up returning to the hotel early.
Saturday was the first big day for me and JuxtaposeFantasy since it was the opening day of the Dealer's Room. I was pretty excited, not because I hoped to sell a lot, but because I wanted to spread the word about the site and show off the trailer for "Pursuit of Darkness". I lucked out in that my booth was next to Kinyouki Bookstore (or however it's spelled, sorry!) and they'd paid the stupid $100 fee to have working power for their cash register. They nicely allowed me to plug my laptop into their outlet, so I was able to keep the PoD trailer running continously. Five minutes before the opening of the DR, I realized I'd forgotten the key to the cashbox (where all the moolah is) upstairs in my room. Clever me, I tried to pry open the cheap lock with a housekey while my mom ran back to the room to fetch the keys. But while she was gone, I ended up denting the lock so that even if she retrieved the key, it wouldn't fit in the damn lock. So I had to set the cashbox on the floor and stomp on it frantically with my boot heel. Got it open just as they were opening the doors. It's now mangled, but at least I got the money out :)
My mom and I in the booth. I ran out of time and ended up with a booth that looked like a yardsale. But check it out, 2 tables and they're both crammed full. I've got a lot of stuff! My mom is determined that next year we'll have racks and displays and all the bells and whistles. It turned out to be a wonderful day for JF. Lots of exposure and lots of traffic. I got to meet so many subscribers and artists!! It was wonderful! I met Gnome, Saya, Sahari, Margaret, Suze, April, Jean, Kiriko Moth, Wen, Foxfur (who's doing "Follow the Leader"), Bakubreath, Junkeemunkee, Novea, May, K'Kathy from BASCon, Watercolor Dragon, Massive Destruction, Heartfelt!, Cat, Yolanda, Mim (who came all the way from Sweden), and several other sneaky people including Vejiita4eva (who's doing "Necessary Risks") who took my picture but didn't introduce herself. I suspect there were a lot of subscribers who did hit-and-runs without introducing themselves (anyone who bought "Strange Bedfellows" was suspect). And if I missed mentioning anyone who *did* introduce themselves, I apologize! I wore a crazy dress my mom had made for her loligoth business, Raggedy Princess, so that earned me some photographs that I hope managed to get JF propaganda somewhere in there. Yes, I'll whore myself for JF. That's not a problem at all :)
Lydia as a pirate. She had on the best costume. And most people thought she was a guy, which she took great enjoyment from. Too bad she had to tape down her boobies.
Ashkie with Lydia.
Ally! Or is it Bee?
Angela, enjoying being led around by a leash.
Angela and Terri had Black and Calyx's attitudes down to a science. Hilarious :)
The gang totally cracked me up. Look at their shirts!. Dustin is wearing a Haney shirt, Ally has on a Bee shirt, Angela's got the JC pic with 'Darkness' on the back, and Terri's cosplaying it up as Calyx. Of course Black is on a leash, right? And here's our first shot of Shay.
My reaction to seeing the gang dressed up.
The backs of their T-shirts. The guest of honor, Ayano Yamane, was very, very pretty and nice. I recognized her from Opening Ceremonies, so when she checked out the JF booth, I held out a copy of "Here Be Monsters" and asked her to sign it for Tanko. Apparently, she's not supposed to sign things outside of the autograph session or something, because she hesitated, then she came around behind my table and got down on her hands and knees to sign the book! I couldn't believe it. She kept peeking over the top of the table to make sure no one saw her. I thought it was very cool of her. She shook my hand. I felt very happy to have gotten it for Tanko, especially when I later learned that Tanko is a fan of hers. Angela's pov: "Running two days on three hours of sleep each day sucks butt, just let me tell you that. I could not sleep. I was too uncomfortable on that damn bed. So, we got up, had some breakfast, and cleaned up for the day. We waited FOREVER for everyone to get ready, mostly Terri. She’s such a girl. Then, in our lovely t-shirts, me on a collar and leash and Terri in belts and wig, and went down to say hi to you. Your face was priceless. I wish I had a camera. So, you got a picture of all of us and we converged on your booth like sharks scenting blood. We all bought stuff from you, then shopped around a bit. It turned into a mad game of “How Many Times Can We Run In and Out of the Dealers’ Room.” I swear I made that circuit sixteen thousand times. Anyway, I can’t even begin to tell you the order of things I did, but I wandered around half of the Dealers’ Room, then wandered through the Fan Alley, or whatever that was called. I saw a picture of Harry Potter as a bunny that I have on my computer and got all squeally and fangirly (yes, those are technical terms). I found out the artist was Foxfur and that she is doing a comic and got even more fangirly and had to buy stuff from her. A couple of people took Terri and my picture, cause we were dressed in JF t-shirts. We commissioned a couple of artists to do the same piece of art (Terri and myself being the “we”) to do with a story we’re working on that I’m not at liberty to discuss. In the middle of the day, Dustin and myself went upstairs for a serious two-hour nap, then Dustin dragged me downstairs to the Dealers’ Room to buy something at the last moment."
Back to Tricia's pov: Lydia, our resident artist, was fortunate enough to attend the Life Drawing session with a couple of the bishies.
Here's Shiki, looking as though *someone* wore him out last night!
I kinda wish his wrists were tied to that thing, don't you?
This cracks me up. Is that woman actually drawing Harley? How is that possible when he's crawling around on the floor like that? My brain would be fried.
This is why I'm not an artist. I'd just stare.
You wouldn't want to see my doodles after being faced with a pose like this.
Mmm...
I think it's safe to say that along with the Dealer's Room, the Bishie Auction is a highlight of YaoiCon. Pretty boys are paraded in front of a crowd of screaming women and bid on to help raise money for next year's con. If you win a bishie, he's yours for the next four hours to do whatever you'd like to him as long as he isn't made 'uncomfortable'. Judging by the array of surprisingly slutty bishies, I'd say that term stretched pretty far. The only bummer to this event was that the guest of honor and her friends pretty much hogged up all the bishies. I think they purchased six boys and price appeared to be no object, which makes sense if the mangakas live in Japan. Poor, broke Westerners didn't stand a chance unless the room pooled their money to help some women buy the bishie of their choice, which happened a few times.
Ashkie doing some pre-auction inspection of a bishie.
Rob (Secret Secret) and I standing in line for the bishie auction. He's got the best outfits ever. And I think he makes most of them. We look like a goth couple going to prom, lol.
All of us waiting in the gigantic line for the auction. It was supposed to start at 9pm. We showed up at 9:05. Perfect timing since the event didn't actually get under way until after what --10:30 or something ridiculous like that? There were 22 bishies in this auction, and I have to say there were quite a few cuties. In fact, it's a very good thing that my mom had taken the cash box up to the room because if I had my hands on that day's profits, I would have had a bishie in my lap. As it was, I jumped up in down in frustration and bugged the hell out of Terri with my whining.
The beginning of the Shiki glompage and bishi orgy. Those are all guys. Shiki wore a schoolgirl outfit with stockings. All the bishies had a 'talent' and Shiki's was lapdancing on another bishie. H-hot!
Terri and Shay nicknamed this bishie 'Bite Boy' because he bit Terri's neck while she was in an elevator (by invitation, I understand, lol). And he bit Lydia in her pirate costume, thinking she was a he. He also bit his 'prop', the bishie kneeling before him. He bit more guys, too. That's his thing.
Harley, bishie extraordinaire, here with a fan, who was another bish up for auction. The kneeling bishie, Shingo, was so adorable. He reminded me of a cross between Calyx and Finn. He danced for his talent and he was so cute - he was smiling the entire time. Just adorable. He visited the JF table the next day and pointed at the Juxtan poster and pronounced it Joox-tahn, like it was French. It sounded pretty sexy.
Because I'm shameless, I ran up on stage with Harley and gave him $20. Then I kissed him on the mouth, hugged him (with gropage of the ass!) and kissed the side of his neck. Hee!
What a nice guy. Soft lips, firm ass. Nice.
Do I need to explain this picture? I think not.
Look at the cash on the floor. This guy made out like a bandit.
Harley with the girl who eventually won him. She told the audience she'd been saving up all year to buy him so everyone let her win him. Isn't that nice? My only complaint was that she was too tentative with the riding crop. If you're going to whip someone, do it like you mean it, lol.
The guest of honor brought along a bishie from Japan and I think the guy on the right was someone Y-con found locally. Two hot Asian boys.
Here they are in an advanced state of bishiness. Check out their cash, lol.
For all the hot bishies, there was one that left me with this reaction. I can't even begin to explain the Bondage Fairy, but I think my expression says it all. He went for $20 and I think it was a pity bid.
I can't remember this cutie's name, but if I would have had my booth money with me at the auction, I would have spent it on him. Omg, he was so cute. I would have bought him and had someone take photos of him. As soon as the auction was over I *ran* outside to find him so I could take a photo with him. Can anyone say obsessed?
I call this bishie 'Porn Boy'. His talent was acting like a slutty uke on stage. The emcee/dominatrix of the auction dragged him around the stage by his hair. I've seen some naked photos of him on other LJs. A bit too slutty for my tastes, but definitely beautiful.
Mez and her date for the dance. What a pair of cuties. After the auction, we crashed in the room and just sort of lay around in a daze of wonderful bishie memories. I think it's safe to say that every one of us had had a fantastic time and entertained dreams of owning a bishie of our very own, lol. Maybe next year we'll pool our funds and buy a JF bishie to molest and pose. If Tanko comes along, she can draw pictures of him for us!
I'm not exaggerating when I claim that by Sunday, everyone was pretty much stunned from lack of sleep. I think we'd all been operating on less than four hours of sleep a night, sometimes less than that. But when you're at an event like this, you really don't want to spend your time sleeping (even if you really *do* want to!). You'll kick yourself later. One thing the other JF girls did mention was that they really didn't get a chance or have much interest in hitting panels. I think they had a lot of fun just hanging out with each other and people-watching. Yet again, I missed the Anime Music Video presentation and that's the only thing that causes me minor pain. I love those vids. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll miss them again next year. D'oh!
Posing with Calyx-as-a-vampire, aka Terri. Yum!
I love this pic of Dustin. She's so cute.
Check out how cool Heartfelt was dressed! Her costume was gorgeous.
Jettila(Fiouri) made a surprise visit. Yay! She's beautiful. She's also very shy and I took great pleasure in hunting her down to get her to autograph copies of her comic, "Tightrope" for people.
A lovely lass who could have been Syellen, lol. Here's Angela.
Had to get a picture with Shiki, super sexy bishie. What a babe. He's prettier than I am.
Industrious Becca, making Ashkie's crown.
Ashkie with her costume.
Talk about great costumes! Left to right: Lydia (Seneschal), Becca and Ashkie. Crazy Ashkie had a pumpkin full of candy and jewelry which she was handing out. What a good witch!
Ashkie and friend.
Lunch break for Angela and the Wicked Witch of the West, aka Lydia. The Dealer's Room is always slower on Sunday, which was kind of a relief for my mom and I. Brisk business is wonderful, but after Saturday's mob, my mom and I were looking forward to chilling and people watching. I had more opportunity to speak with subscribers this day and receive some in-depth feedback on the stories, which was very helpful. The recurring theme: where the hell is "Tied Up in Lies" and when are you going to finish "One Night Interlude"? So I heard and I am suitably chastised. I won't forget about them! I also received some good suggestions about some pre-burning Rhiad comics -- where Caled and Hadrian are in love. I like that idea, too. After the girls popped in and out of the DR several more times over the course of the afternoon, it was time to pack up the booth. I am immensely grateful to Dustin, Angela, Shay and Terri for helping me break down. And fortunately, I had less to pack since lots had sold, so that made it easier, too. I forgot to mention that at lunch, Ally had to catch her flight, so we all bid her farewell. Right after dinner, we had to say goodbye to Dustin as well. A newcomer to our group was Terri's friend, Anna. Also, Jettila and her brother Jason asked if they could stay in our rooms since they were homeless in SF. So we rearranged poor Mascha to make it happen. At this time, Lydia, Ashkie and Becca also went home to my disappointment.
Anna, Angela and Terri waiting for the action to begin.
The group filling up on food and booze before hitting the town. Left to right: Jason (Jettila's brother), Jettila, Anna (Terri's friend), Angela, Shay, Terri and Dustin.
I'll admit I was completely, utterly exhausted by Sunday night. The high I'd been riding had crashed. Waking up at 7 am every morning for the DR had killed me. I was pretty much a zombie, but I couldn't bring myself to stay in the rooms while the others went to the Halloween celebration being held on Castro Street. So even though I was a dud at that point, I hopped in Terri's van with the others for the trip into San Fran. And boy, was it worth it! Not only Castro Street, but several intersecting streets were blocked off to traffic and they were *packed* with people. We ended up forming a sort of conga line with me somehow at the head of the thing. It was a lot of fun going up and down the streets, threading our way past crazy costumes and crazy people and entertained by two stages with bands.
A lovely street fairy. Yes, he's a man.
More lovely male fairies.
A store selling some pornographic goodness. That's a skeleton in a sling with a giant plastic fist up his, you know. We had a lot of fun looking in here. I told Jettila I wanted to see some of this stuff in her next comic.
I had to take a picture of this guy's butt in a mini-skirt. Check out those globes!
Cool dancer.
Not so cool dancer.
A dancing penis, complete with balls.
Jettila with her new man. He was letting it all hang out.
In case you're in need and on a budget.
A big guy in big shoes.
These lovely men were nice enough to pose with me. They had great costumes.
Look at this cutie! lol. He was actually really sweet.
A small, not so clear glimpse of the crowd. It was jam packed. And that was it. We ended up leaving pretty early -- around eleven -- because we were all pooped out. We returned to the hotel and maybe the others stayed up and chatted; I don't know, I had to stumble to my room and pass out. The next morning I said goodbye to my friends. If it's at all possible, I want to bring them all to Las Vegas. We would have such a fun time here. I'll have to work on it. And of course, anyone else who wants to show up will be more than welcome to. The drive back was a relief, and it was also sad. I sort of wish YaoiCon lasted forever, but if it did, I think it would kill me, quite frankly. I think it's better in small doses. I'm sure I missed a lot of good moments at the convention, but in my mind, it went as well as I'd hoped. I highly encourage you to attend the convention next year if you're able. You can come hang with us!
At least somebody got lucky at con. Heartfelt's Calyx and Black plushies getting it on.
Fiouri's goodbye gift, which sums up the weekend pretty well, I think. --Tricia, November 6, 2004
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