FCN Convention Report (disclaimer: if I spelled your name wrong, put in your name and you did not want it here, left your name out, or did any other dumb stuff, please tell me so I can fix it!)

Arrival, Wednesday
Flight was mostly uneventful from Houston to Detroit, with the exception of some turbulence near the ground. The pilot told us ahead of time that it might be rough. It was not a bounce out of your seat type of rough, but definitely pitched the aircraft around a bit. The wing extension was at full, which made for an interesting view *through* the wing itself

My luggage took a while to come up on the belt, but it was among the first bags out, which was nice. I bundled my massive load in excess of 180 pounds to something I could move by myself with no cart, and then found the raptor, who had arrived just a short while earlier. He was in stealth mode, as most raptors are, wearing a cap and sunglasses, lurking in the periphery of the baggage claim. He lumbered over with his fursuit tub, as it has no wheels of its own. A formidable carry, I commented, but he said it was nothing special, given his work.

We both noted the complete lack of adequate signage, directing us to the rental car shuttles. DTW does most things right, but on signs for ground transportation, one still must consult with staff to find anything. The dollar shuttle was the second to the last one, naturally, as we both had a great burden to lug.

Once on the shuttle van, the driver tried his best to figure out why my car was not sensibly waiting for me. I was told I would have to go inside and work it out, the third time since joining the dollar express program that there would not be the *get in and go* treatment. DOH! But alas, by the time we pulled up, they figured it out, and said that I would have a free class upgrade. I had reserved an economy (caliber), but none were to be had. The driver pointed to a red 300 (I hate red cars, must be the same issue that guy had in the Kurt Russel film "used cars" from the early '80s). But a 300 as a free upgrade was ok, I guess ;)

After we loaded it up and got the gps suctioned to the windscreen, ready to go, the gate guard told me I was in the wrong car. Thanks, shuttle van driver. Double DOH! All was not lost, though. The gate guard pulled up the correct vehicle next to ours, and we moved all the stuff from one to the other. The new ride was a silverish white Dodge Charger. A bit the worse for wear, at 33k miles on the odometer, and no power seats as the 300 had, it was decent. I rolled my seat back, telescoped the steering wheel all the way out, and got ready to cruise. I wouldn't say it is a car I would choose to own, but it was quite capable of hauling our scaly butts to the hotel where a weekend of fun and frolic (and other things beginning with an "f" sound) awaited.

Check in at the Novi Sheraton was interesting, a rookie clerk at the desk could not locate my reservation. His associate, a far more seasoned individual, located it with just a bit more effort. Turns out my change of Wednesday check in had not been registered properly. I was told it was no problem to add a day to the stay, at the convention rate. I got my two room keys and woke up the sleepy raptor who stayed to guard the car. Parking was a bit annoyingly far from the elevator, but it was only a problem because heavy luggage on wheels over carpet has more resistance. We got all our stuff inside with just one trip, since it was the same load as we had in the airport.

I was quite glad I had requested a low floor. The room had a strange location right next to the ice/vending area, and was located in a crooked nook of the central hallway. It was very close to the stairs, which was good. There were only 2 elevators for a 7 floor building, and as experience dictated, there would be long waits for a lift. Stairs up one or two flights are never a problem, even in suit. Our view out the window was of the air-conditioning units for the event space, and the rock covered roof above them. Not particularly scenic, however, the window was tinted with silver film and very low light transmission. This made all day blinds open quite nice. It also had a northern exposure, so no direct sun warming the room too much.

As much as I wanted a nap, I knew it would be better to eat a proper meal and get some shopping out of the way, so Thursday would be less hectic. Both of us were pretty hungry. Raptor dozed while I researched. I used my mobile internet to locate something resembling chinese food, the closest place was *Noodles Inc*, a very odd restaurant. As we drove over there, I passed every single shop I needed: office supply, Home Depot, Target, Costco, Meijer. Some of these shops I would abuse a tiny bit for *rentals*, others for groceries and supplies that I would keep to consume or dispose. After Noodles, we went to Target and Costco. I got a cooler and all the groceries we'd need for the entire stay. Target also provided some very nice display items, like green baskets and lamps for the table. Their grocery section is pretty decent, and had about 80% of what I needed to buy.

Back at the hotel, we got all the purchases in with just one trip. I sorted some stuff, and raptor found good hiding places for all the boxed food/beverages. It was nearly 10pm, so I knew I needed to get my customer service taken care of for yiffing.net - internet was a bit odd. Our room happened to be just above the bar area, where free wifi is provided to lobby guests for one hour. A room stay includes no internet access, and I really wanted to avoid paying $10 per day for it. Turns out we had plenty of signal to hit the lobby wifi, so I used that for the rest of the stay. At times it could be frustrating, having the connection just drop, but it worked ok, so long as I kept the hour limit in mind. And signing up for another free hour was about a 2 minute task. I chatted with hyper and a few other folk while I finished up my computer tasks. After finishing my luggage sorting, I was pretty tired. I took a shower and slinked off to bed. I was not alone, it was nice. I had never before used my own cum as a lubricant for another penis to be inserted inside me. You should try it some time ;)

Thursday morning, the day began somewhat sticky, so a shower was in order. Then some breakfast cereal with soy milk. The hotel had kindly provided a couple of large bowls and two nicely wrapped silverware sets from their restaurant service. Raptor enjoyed his captain razorblades, while I noshed on cinnamon life. I made my lists complete, found the tools I needed, and set out with my helper to shop. First stop was Office Depot for biz card holder, rack to hold lamination film, and a couple other items.

Next, Home Depot. There, we assembled all the odd items I would need... a hand held work light for video illumination, extension cords for the table, and painter's tape for the wall display. I spent less time than last time choosing my PVC and fittings, having done it before. I mapped out my joints and lengths on a piece of cardboard cut from a pipe fitting box. I had brought my own PVC pipe cutter, which proved again to be quite useful. After checking out, the clerk was puzzled and amused as she watched me cut each piece to precision. Raptor helped with the borrowed tape measure as I ratchet cut each segment. That clerk was pretty cute, and she was definitely taking note of sexy Raptor. If I had more time, and she had no christian boyfriend, I think I could have made a video with her. Boy's build and haircut, cute face...

Anyway, turns out a dodge charger has no seat pass through for skis or lumber or whatever is too long for the boot. BUT, longest segment at 6 feet, the pvc went below raptor's seat and stuck just to the corner rear post. tight fit initially, but no problem. Next stop was a liquor store, for the much needed 1.75 liter Sauza Tequila. Finally, Meijer, for the rest of the groceries and some upholstery thread.

At the hotel again, parking ever further away each time we left (more people showing up), we unloaded everything and dumped it all on the bed. I sorted some more, got all the stuff that needed to go to the dealer's room in the two big rolling cases, and then took a break for lunch. I love soy dogs, even with buns at room temperature, and cold dogs. They just work, when properly motivated by honey mustard and claussen pickle wedges. After all that was done, we went to the lobby to see what was what. Folk were slowly assembling, and we had conversations to kill time before registration was open. I located the dealer room and Basil, the very friendly dealer room manager. Turns out they needed NO help running power cables, and the union hotel workers were doing all the tables and table draping. Hey, I offered to help :)

I was pre-registered, so I got my badge and packet at 7pm, but raptor had to wait because he was not already in the system. The registration price was held at $30, which surprised me. I was expecting them to enforce the price increase to $40. After the tables were ready in the dealer room, I brought in all the PVC segments and started setting up the Lagarto's Lamination banner. That took about 90 minutes in all, because of all the tying of string and centering and fitting joints. I decided to wait on setup of the rest until the next day, because I did not want to leave a bunch of valuables in a mostly empty room. At around 10pm, I was in fursuit prowling the con space. The dance floor was set up, and the dj's were tuning... no lighting yet, just dim room light, but I started a trend when I shook my tail. About 8 others joined in the gentle gyrations, and it was about this time that I met Shale.

Shale I had seen earlier in the lobby, and I noted then how I thought he would be perfect for a video. When I saw him in costume, I did not know for sure it was the same person. He was in his lycra suit with egyptian elements, a cool wooden staff, and a blond wig covering most of his panther facial prosthetic. Quite an interesting getup. We danced in a naughty way for about half an hour, and then retired to a little sofa in the hallway. I sat first, and then he right in front of me. We petted each other and received interesting responses from all passers by. By midnight, I asked him to retire with me to the room. I will spare both you, gentle reader, and Shale, any lubricated details of what precisely transpired. Suffice to say, he spent the night, and we woke up earlier then we got out of bed.

Friday: Shower and roll luggage, I was somewhat under the gun to get it all neatly displayed. Raptor was quite helpful in sorting glowsticks, pin clips, and neatly setting it all out on the table. I fussed over lamination sheets, Heathen City books, and lanyards at the other end of the table.

Dealer room open at 1pm was a good thing, as it turned out. I needed all the time I could get to prevent another MFF style disaster. At that earlier convention, I was constantly behind in organizing or displaying anything correctly for the first day. not a problem here, just a few things out of place or not as pretty as they should be. I did have a tiny problem with pricing signage not being ready, but most people are patient and ask about prices if they don't see one posted. By 2pm, the table was in quite good shape. Sales were slow but interest was high for this friday opening. Raptor covered the table for me while I had my lunch in the room. We did not miss out on much, just some pins and glowsticks sold in my absence. Lamination was very slow on this first day, I hoped that trend would not continue. By the close of day 1 dealer room, the take was under $200. A bad start, but I had hope, that just as with FWA, once the locals showed up Saturday, it would be much better.

When I got back to the room, I re-iced the cooler, sorted some stuff, and made plans to video with Shale and Raptor. There were some delays and miscommunications, but everything moved along ok. It was first time video for Shale, so he was understandably nervous. The shoot was a bit choppy, and as it turned out, I fucked up when recording one sequence, pausing when I thought I was rolling, and recording when I thought I was pausing. Pity, it was some nice action that was lost. At about midnight, we all went down to what was left of the dance. I had a fun prowl. I came back to a shower and an empty bed. I was a bit unfulfilled, but would make up for that later in the weekend. Raptor stayed out all night, but a buddy of his, Mix, was using the bed.

Saturday:
I showered again to wash my hair, did my customer service checkup, and headed down to the dealer's room. My mate Hyper had a mini-meltdown trying to figure out why I was late getting to the table, and it set a bad tone for our communication for the rest of the weekend. I arrived about an hour after the room opened, but my table was covered with sheets, so no problem there. From the moment I arrived, I was flooded with lamination requests and pin sales. I also sold one of the lion toys, and a few copies of Heathen City. I closed the table for the fursuit parade, which took about an hour. I ate lunch and came back down to finish the day. The table did pretty good business, about $750. This exceeded my expectations very nicely.

After the close, I told Shale and Raptor to be ready to video asap. We needed a completion shot and also a pickup of the lost video of doggy style. It was a bit like herding cats for a while there, but 4 or 5 sms later, all were present and doing what they needed to do. At about 8pm, I wanted dinner, but could not find everyone, so I went just with Raptor to Noodles again. On the way back, a quick stop at Target for another cord and some MONSTER drink. Raptors gotta stay awake somehow, it seems! As soon as I returned to the hotel, I put on my swim suit and joined Rhari and her little group of invitees to the pool. That was great fun for about an hour, after which I went back to my room and showered. The chlorine was so very high in that pool. I put on my spandex, then gator, and went prowling again. The dance was ok, but the music was too experimental. I stayed for about an hour with my laser and played in the fog. I found Raptor equally bored of the dance, and we set out to find a room party. In one room, I met Croco in person, for the first time. I had seen him walk by in the dealer's room with his plush croc hat, but never talked with him. Well, in this room party, he was I suppose a bit sloshed, or just plain slutty, because he started something I finished. I put my claw down his pants and was quite amused to find him commando. Also, I noticed quickly that his pants were hiding some massive equipment. I beckoned to raptor to put a claw down there too, and he was happy to comply. I think he was even happier with what he found down there, the response was something like "murrrrrs".

More groping ensued, and raptor slinked off I don't know where, but as he was leaving it crossed my mind that he'd be hard pressed to find more fun than I was about to have. I stayed with my croco until the party was officially broken to bits. The hosts wanted some sleep, and 10 drunk visitors were impeding that progress. It was pretty late by now, maybe 3am. Croco invited me back to his room, and his two roommates followed also. There was a king bed waiting, they amused themselves on the right side while croco laid down on the left. Standing there beside him and his massive tool, I removed my gator suit. I found just how much extra width limits depth of the tonsils area, but enjoyed it just the same. When I had as much gag as I could take, I put back on the gator head and assumed the position. What happened next I can only describe as "intense"; so much so, I was only able to cope, not so much participate. A while later, when I had recovered my ability to process oxygen and reduce my heart rate, I climbed on for a final wild ride.

It was now about 4am, and everyone was just dead tired. I gathered up my garments and said goodnight to a mostly sleeping croco. When I took the elevator down to my room, I noticed that I had neglected to collect my hat (keeps perspiration under control under a gator head). Not wanting to forget this useful and difficult to replace piece of suit, I attempted to regain access to the executive level from my recent deaprture. Sadly, security was passive and difficult to penetrate. I found the stairwell door to 7 locked tight, and the elevator required authentication beyond the capabilities of an abused gator. Next stop: lobby. I found Shale amongst a group of other overnight talkers in the lounge. I regaled them with my tales of tail, and put it to the group - "how do I get back to the 7th floor?". One of them just happened to be a holder of a 7th floor key card, and he happily accessed the appropriate button for me in the elevator, while not joining me on my journey. It was like a small magical spell cast to speed me along one way only.

I had to knock twice, fortunately I had the correct door. A very groggy roommate permitted me to enter, and I found my missing hat just under the edge of the bedspread, under the bed. I gave a final goodnight kiss on the cheek of the croco, and let him again slumber mostly unaware of my departure. In my room, a shower, and a bed were kindly ready for me to use. Raptor was back this night, once again spending it with Mix in the other bed.

Sunday:
I'd made the executive decision to awake whenever my body was ready, not succumbing to the electronic whims of any devices. Approximately 6 hours of uninterrupted slumber elapsed, and I found myself in a state I would not call rested, but indeed, better. A giant bowl of life cereal helped start my day, and I was glad to have it. Beginning this late in the dealer's room, just around noon, I would not be able to take a lunch break. All of my morning tasks were complete and I was off to operate again the hot laminator.

Business was steady, some folk who had contemplated on the earlier days came with the awareness that this was their last chance to take home something nifty, sexy, or both. Lamination was quite steady too, as the artists were finishing up their tiny treasures for waiting clients. The pace was brisk, money quite decent, and I was not once bored or wanting for anything to do. When it was time to break down, the raptor clawed his way free of friends and attention to assist me in packaging everything neatly. We were out of there about an hour after closing time, and were able to take it all in one single trip to the room.

Sorting out the luggage from the merchandise... the stuff I needed tonight from the used and forgotten items, I busied myself for another hour at least. And then I got the phone call I was hoping to receive: Croco wanted to do a video :)

I made arrangements for him to come by later, after I was all finished with sorting and packing. Raptor was also brought in on the plan, and times were set. I finished the last of the odd food that was about, since I had no time to drive anywhere. It was just as well, soy dogs are amazingly inert food stuffs - they are filling, easy to digest, and not too lacking in flavour. The hummus was also polished off, another item that would not keep once the cooler was gone.

At about 11pm, I had tamed the wicked pile of crap, and was ready to roll. Or rather, Croco was ready to roll. I gave the crash course in suit wearing for this purpose to our new star, and we did a few run-throughs. What transpired over the next two hours was breathtaking. Not exactly a real time encounter, but when you see the finished product, you'd never know. It all distilled down to just under 20 minutes of some serious stuffing.

When all was done, we wrapped up the shoot and made the most of what was left of the night. The dance was all but dead, the room was closing just as I arrived there. No problem, I found a straggler who was also seeking something to do, so we went in search of the elusive dead dog parties that were not closed yet. Second floor, no room party, but a staff party that I could not enter. No problem, up to the 5th. There I also found raptor had hunted and captured the last of the night life. This room party had a fog machine, bubble maker, red laser emitter, and about 10 other cool illuminated devices to make a party in a small room. My green laser with kaleidoscope was a whole lot of fun to use too, the fog and bubbles especially caught its beams in interesting ways. About 90 minutes into this stay, I was sitting on the bed and next to a random happy furry person. He was laying down and enjoying scritches on his leg. I noticed he became somewhat stiff. Not stiff in the neck or posture, but in another way. Manipulating my green claws with clever dexterity, I whispered in his ear: "are you a tail raising pillow biter?" He said that he was, to which I replied "then I have a specific use for you. Come with me."

There was an excursion to my room, and he did indeed raise his tail. Well, since it was already up, I followed suit (out of suit now) and made the most of the situation. Intertwined afterward in his belly and chest hair was an incomplete genetic puzzle of completed actions. A shower was definitely in order, fortunately there were plenty of extra towels, my closet stash was holding out nicely. Nice and clean again, I donned my shiny green slut suit and set out for the remainder of the dead dog party. OOPS! again, closing time, sleep for the hosts, guests be gone. No problem, my room was empty, so all of the ones leaving there came back to my room. It started with 8 of us and slowly they dwindled away, leaving me, Rhari, Raptor, and Mix. Rhari and I talked about all that was keeping her from the ultimate heterosexual happiness, and I imparted some of my wisdom to her. She was welcome to stay the night with me in a completely platonic way (though, a shiny bisexual green gator in a slut suit is tempting for anyone, to be sure). As the hour grew even later, she decided she wanted to be close to her boo, the object of her affection. She left with a fond good night, and sleep was soon after for all.

Monday:
Awake again, at the early hour of 9, I realized I still had some tequila slowing my mind. I had let that thief in through my mouth last night to steal my brain, and he was not giving it back (thank you Mr. Mamet for that bit of poetry). It is a pity, after all, to let perfectly good tequila go to waste. Though I do recall dumping the last bit out of my cup when I knew I was not enjoying it any more. I stumbled about, organized the final pieces of the luggage puzzle, and loaded the car. Raptor was quite sleepy still, he'd not gotten out of bed. Mix had left early, so it was just the two of us. I looked about and saw there was little urgent to do, and I was somewhat ahead of schedule. There was just enough time for me to abuse the raptor before we had to check out. Croco's impression had a lingering effect, something I truly enjoy... a nice stretched and flexible furry/scaly.

Now pressing more for time, I scrambled the last of the returns to the car and handled all of those on my own. I told raptor to meet me back in the lobby at around 12:45. My final run of luggage to the car was problematic, one of two elevators had failed, and the other one was in heavy use with full car each time. I did not want to carry down 70lbs of baggage, so I let my pelican case do the hard part... slide... bam! Good thing no one came running into the stair well. I feel bad for that door, but nothing lasting was impressed upon it. Go pelican ;)

Round up after the returns was tricky, as Rhari and Malaki were coming along. We stuffed ourselves and all our massive amounts of baggage into the Dodge Charger. Final hugs, goodbyes, and pickes were distributed. Room in the rear was limited, luggage took the place of one normal person. The boot was completely filled. Carry on bags were on laps. I did not think to get my gps attached again for the airport return, so I was carelessly using my iPhone nav to plot a course to the avaition station. Sadly, I turned too early, and found myself going around the detroit highway loop the wrong way. Six miles into this folly, I re-routed, and back-tracked. It cost about 10 minutes, but not so much fuel as fate would have it. The fuel filler neck on the Dodge was dodgy, it would not accept petrol in the normal way. Click. Flow. Click. Flow. Click. Repeat about 100 more times. It just did not want to fill. Ok, no problem, $4 in total from two different pumps. What could I do? I knew the car was not THAT efficient. Anyway, it was not a worry, the guage was reading "full enough".

I checked in at Continental, leaving the other three with the car. I got my monster bags away, and realized I still had the car key. Good thing the Detroit PD was not on the case this afternoon. No hassling, fortunately. Raptor decided to disembark when I got back, since Northwest was just next to Continental. We said our goodbyes, time was too short for me to see him again at either of our gates. I drove the other two with me to the rental car counter, where we disposed of the Dodge, and headed back to my departure terminal. Turns out they had hours before they needed to fly, and their terminal was 2.8 miles from mine (or something silly like that). So I left them in the van to find their own way, free of charge. I do like a rental car shuttle, they are so nice to abuse from time to time. Hugs and 1.5 bagels later, I was on my own, flying back to Denver. The saga of what happened when I landed is food for another meal.