The Costume Mercenary Returns (and Her Adventures at the Gathering)

Sorry for the lengthy several-month hiatus on the blog. Events have been chaotic (but when are then not?) and things on the design and production front have slowed to make way for the various events.

Since I last wrote, we've done costumes for half the cast of Opera Novella's Rigoletto; supplied Maelstrom with several hundred new coins; been to Nerd East, Nemacon and the Gathering; ordered a thousand business cards. Half a dozen projects have come to fruition and just as many (if not more) have been stalled. Half the year's Profound Decisions events have come and gone, including my first (and second) Odyssey event.

This is also my only photo of the Gathering. I'd managed to bring my camera but not the all important memory card. The phone managed this single snapshot of the stall before it croaked. Suffice to say, the Proprietor and myself were both there, in his leaky tent, peddling our goods. Thank you for buying things, as well as dropping by and saying Hi.

The weather was distinctly suboptimal for the most part and I am still very grateful to those purple-clad angels who descended to rescue us from our moisture apocalypse. All I recall is a flurry of activity, numbing cold and far too much rain in my eyes and the wind began to tear apart the tent. As the Proprietor shouted instructions at me, these amazing people showed up and helped us peg down the tent, braving the torrential downpour. I've no idea who you are, but thank you!

The Proprietor has been at the LT for years, but it was my first time and it was very interesting. Given how the market stalls were an out-of-character area, I can't say much for the plot or even the roleplay of the event, but here is a list of a few moments that I really enjoyed:

• Seeing a father drag a pink-clad little girl into our stall. He presented her with a number of elegant "elven" weapons, but she kept shaking her head, finally saying quite resolutely, "But Daddy, I want an axe!"
• Due to the aforementioned moisture apocalypse, I had to knit the Proprietor a pair of emergency socks from whatever wool and needles I had on me. I can't say I'm not rather proud of being able to make up a sock pattern on the fly.
• Running into a fight, going down and being separated from the Proprietor's character. In character, I was utterly lost and had no idea what I was doing. The plan had been to create a character so that I could sit at the back of the Prince Bishop's campfire and sing songs for the evening. Being waylaid by demons was not part of plan.
• Seeing small children bicker about the rules and telling each other to pull their blows. It was all needlessly adorable.
• The sheer number of people who played with the giant monster claws. Because the urge to rend is hilarious.