sinick

In my tradition of con reports that are late enough to miss their own funeral, here's some photos, an RP transcript, and assorted witterings.

Oh god I had INSANE UNBELIEVABLE AMOUNTS OF FUN at Lumos! This was the first con I'd officially presented a panel at (I've pinch-hit at Yaoi-Con before, but I don't think that really counts), and that was an interesting experience, but with Lumos, as with all the other cons I've ever been to, it's the people who are the drawcard for me. The rare chance to put faces to names, to squee at wonderful writers in person is just so precious. The sense that, yes, all these other people UNDERSTAND AND APPROVE of my own peculiar brand of insfanity, is so heady and liberating. A breath of freedom and friendship to tide me over until next year, next con, next chance to squee and flail and guh.

No prizes for guessing that the absolute highlight of the con, for me, was finally getting the chance to meet in person my longtime partner in crime fic'n'art, ac1d6urn, who is (amazingly) even more sweet and funny and all round joyous to hang out with in person than she is online. I'm pretty quiet and reserved in person, but she put me back in touch with my playful side. Believe me, it takes a miracle to get me up off my blunt end and playing catch with a squashy wee Golden Snitch, but Acid made it appealing.

So anyway, enough of my post-con squeeage, and on to the pics! ac1d6urn's comments are in italic. Mine are in plain text.

	Whocrux? I'm feeling very Harry-like that morning. We're having breakfast in a room with all the (slash) blue sticker people. I wonder if the organisers ever found out why they had such an overabundancy of red stickers remaining after that blue sticker campain that spread like a wildfire over my friends list. The white thing sticking to Acid's forehead is a lightning bolt cut out of thin foam sheet. There were silhouettes of Snitches, Hogwarts shields etc. decorating the tables: quite a few of them were Much Improved by Acid's impromptu sketches. I look quite bizarre in this photo (which means it's True To Life). The shaven-headed bloke in the background is me Better 'Arf, aka D, aka He Who WILL Be Voldemort At Sectus or One Of These Fine Cons. The poor sod was dubbed "Mr. Sinick" at some point during Lumos and he didn't even pout!
	ac1d6urn & sinick in the Common Room Gryffindor and Slytherin banners in the common room. Ignore those strange people, posing for the camera. Pictorial proof that I'm Horny. Or possibly Fingery.
	myashke, ac1d6urn, raventbear, sinick Alax, me, Andi aka the very patient spouse, and Sinick. Sinick and I were in the middle of a Quidditch match using that snitch I have in my hand. Andi was in the middle of deviously organising a Star Wars convention of her own on one of the couches. It consisted of three people. I'm sure it'll surprise NOBODY to know that Acid's MUCH better at Quidditch than me!
	Snape!sinick & Slytherin!ac1d6urn Black is in season. "Hunting season or mating season?" asks Snape. ...Seriously, though, ;^> this is one of the best photos I've ever taken. So very proud of the Voldie!eyes.
	Lucius!vampireanneke, Death Eater!sinick & Snape!sungmanitu The cool kids. Er. Death Eaters. Actually, I'm trying to cut back on the amount of Death I Eat. I've even switched to Diet Death, and I Can't Believe It's Not Death.
	Rosie & myashke Butterbeer and Avada Colada on the table in front of them. Alax invented one of the desserts for the feasts and a couple of drinks, In Her Copious Free Time between organising meetups. What a perpetual motion machine!
	ac1d6urn, sinick & myashke Alax tired me out just watching her: I know she organised at least two, maybe more, fantastic meetups (the Snarry one and the H/D one), complete with gift bags full of amazing goodies, and organised drop dead gorgeous door prizes from some wonderful fanartists. When I manage to put a stopper in whatever it is that makes her tick, I'll be a Filthy Rich Sinick (as opposed to just the Filthy one I am right now).
	sinick, ac1d6urn & titti I first met Titti in person back at Convention Alley, and it was fantastic to catch up with her again. She does a truly incredible job modding darktwistngpath: if the game had all been left up to me alone, I fear it might possibly have folded by now. She's such a live wire to meet: I wish I had half her energy and lust for life!
	ac1d6urn, valis2 & sinick Valis2 and the Squid! I think I read a fic about that! ...Seriously, Valis was such a hoot. And talk about brave: she actually risked her squid to my pervy little paws. (YAY TENTACLEWANKAGE!!1) EDIT: Now, I KNOW I just read a fic about that!!! *squees at valis2 like a fangirl Speaker To Squid!*
	Harry!mijan, Draco and Handcuffs! I think I borrowed this one from myashke's collection. That's the pair responsible for converting the_con_cept to H/D. I adore the fact that Harry's desperately trying not to crack up.
	Duel: sinick & ac1d6urn Wand fight!!! :D I poke you with pokey pokeitude!!! (...Oi, does this mean I play Poke-'er? Hey, it IS Vegas!)
	Identify That Potion at Snarry Meetup Sinick examines the Potions bottles handed to her by myashke: "Well, I don't know... I've dealt with Dragon Blood on numerous occasions, of course, and that doesn't look like anything I've worked with in the past. Are you certain it's a good batch?" That top-middle shot totally makes me look like Curly from the Three Stooges in a bad wig (still True To Life).
	Snarry meetup - ac1d6urn's gift art
	Snarry Meetup - ac1d6urn's gift art
	Artists' Corner In the foreground there's a gorgeous oil painting of Harry and Draco by sherant and Ginny as Botticelli's Venus by leelastarsky. In the background there's the table where all the artistic types hung out and doodled. The scans from the Artist's Corner are posted online here. See if you can find one of mine in that collection. I enjoyed tbranch's take on Bellatrix, and there were two versions of the Avada Kedavra scene by different artists: both of them were wonderful, and both quite different.
	Artists corner: House Elf Heads Guess a Dobby? That's some primo crack. Made me realise all over again that Sirius probably didn't need to go to Azkaban to have a hippogriff loose in his attic: all he had to do was grow up at Grimmauld Place.
	Gryffin(dor) Lube, er, Butter
	Howler Care and Feeding of Howlers. (Great Hall, during the Main Feast.) We started passing notes down the end of the table which became dirtier as the dinner progressed. I remember something about Harry's cherry... and "Gryffindors do it where they please" (to which Sinick added "and Slytherins please where they do it", passing it right back). The note passing was tremendous fun. It all started when someone passed down a note that read "Sirius is shagging/McGonagall", which I edited to read "Sirius is shagging/Kreacher while Hooch comeforts/McGonagall". With that, the rampant editing/passing/craziness was on. The funniest part was following the ripple of laughter that accompanied the notes as they made their way down the table.
	sinick: Snape, Teacher of the Year Panel Sinick speaking for Snape at the Teacher of the Year panel at a GRYFFINDOR podium with GRYFFINDOR colors and ... er, did I mention GRYFFINDOR yet? :D She refused to give up the microphone. And generally looked evil and Snapey by giving dirty looks to other speakers and threatening them with her wand. She hexed a Muggle. True, the Muggle in question asked about everyone's experiences with teaching and then (after Sinick's 'not anymore') asked whether it was because she treated her students the same way Snape treats his. Er. In short, Sinick is my new hero. I'd blush, but that clashes horribly with sallow (which my skin, unfortunately is. True To Life.)
	Panel: ac1d6urn drawing, sinick watching Actually Sinick is Death Eating. And Acid is distracting her from the panel... er, not quite sure which one it was. I doodled through most of it. Phff. What she calls 'doodles', untalented gits like me call 'OMGTHATISSOGORGEOUS!!!'. I, too, have no idea what panel that was: I was far too busy art-ho-ing.
	Panel Sketch - Front The speaker for that panel bored me, so we found something else to do. This was OODLES MORE FUN for me than the damn panel, you better believe it! How can anyone make EVIL dull?
	Panel Sketch - Back Of course I didn't even attempt to sketch anything, but the writing was fun as hell, as always. I had to put my head down on the table several times, to muffle my mad cackles o'GLEE. Even in quick sketches, Acid's Harry is so expressive, the imp!
	Snarry RP - Page 1 of 2 There was a place in the Common Room to add announcements and notes that had quite a collection by the time we saw it. We had to add ours to it as well so we sat down for a few minutes and wrote a Snape and Harry exchange back and forth. That was the best fun I've ever had writing something out longhand. :D I adore the hell out of all the blots Acid drew and the scratchings-out and ickle heartses made me flail and squee. Luckily, Lumos was chock-full of flailage and squeeitude, so I didn't make too much of a sillybugger of myself.
	Snarry RP - Page 2 of 2 I'm really not trying to be sadistic: that's my natural handwriting. It's weird. (Therefore, True To Life.)
	ac1d6urn "Grand Canyon? What Grand Canyon?" That snitch was the best toy I ever found at Lumos! :D Watching Acid play with it was the best toy I ever found at Lumos! It's made "SHINY!" something of a catchphrase for me (which is Not At All True To Life). ;^>
	Snape Lookalike at the Grand Canyon We found a Snape in disguise. And it wasn't even at the con. I suppose that by snapping these shots of a complete stranger, I just proved (as if there were ever any doubt) that I'm Weird and Obsessed. (Yep, you know what's coming by now: True To Life!)
	Snape Lookalike at the Grand Canyon I think I just racked up even more Weird Points by wanting to type 'snapeing these shots' in the previous comment. (T.T.L.!)
	sinick & ac1d6urn at the House of Chan no comment. :D Sure puts the Yum into Yum Cha! ;^>
	Voldie!ac1d6urn & Basilisk (Vegas airport) Vegas! Shiny! Another fantastic Voldie!eyes shot. The Rar! expression makes me grin every time I see it.
	ac1d6urn - After The Con ;) It's been a long and exciting week. I'm on my way home. Awww. The way she sleeps with her glasses on is just pure distilled Harry, innit?

Here's a transcript of the Snarry RP we wrote out longhand on some of Acid's art paper and posted on the board in the Common Room: First page, Second page:

...and that's why love Potions are wrong to use and the Ministry restricts them, since 19 188- Though I'm sure that's only the ones they can catch, cause how can you tell you're in love from a potion or just in love.

Evidently, it is "hard for you to tell" many things - how to BREATHE, for example. Though I am sorely tempted to give this paper a T and you a detention (with FILCH), since the Headmaster's new policy, I am forced to critique your ideas instead of giving them the mocking they so RICHLY DESERVE.
Therefore, I shall inform you that you have failed to consider at least one key ethical point in your miserable excuse for an "essay" - love coerced is not love at all. Think how you would feel, if you were forced to feel love for someone you hated - such as myself. S.S.

I've been breathing just fine, Professor. And perhaps if you didn't ask for another sodding essay on the same boring subject, even though you're probably not planning to change my marks anyway, I'd've hardly noticed the difference. It's possible to want to curse you someone to little pieces, potions or not, so I think I'll be just fine, even forced.
Harry.

Potter,
Having received special Ministry dispensation for the use of restricted potions for teaching purposes, it will be my distinct pleasure to give you an in-depth, personal demonstration of how very overinflated your opinion is of your ability to withstand the effects of a dose of Amortentia. My rooms, 6 PM. Do not even think of being late.

 S.S. 

 ♥& 
 H.P.♥  You're a git, you know that
Your potions won't work, and you know it perfectly well. Cause it already did - yesterday. How did you? Why did you? Now I know why my pumpkin juice tasted like... ARGH!!!
I'll be there. But only cause I want that antidote!!! You better have it ready.

Oh, I'll "have it ready", Potter, but will you be ready to take it? - S.S.

Is that supposed to scare me or test the potion? Either way, it didn't work Mr. Harry Sna Severu Greasy bastard!! 6 PM, Snape, and you better be there! Harry.