The Convention
by Scotty

My life is not the same anymore. Four days ago things were different. Just four short days ago my co workers didn’t whisper behind my back. At that time I did not have the head of my entire department sharing personal things about himself and I was not a part of his circle of friends. This might help my career, but it definitely is making life with my coworkers hell. Some of my friends have deserted me, and some of my family wants nothing to do with me. Why did this happen to me? It all started with a costume, an anime convention, and a couple girls who are really into costuming.

A group of friends and I had been planning to go to Anime Central, which is the largest anime convention in the Midwest. We reserved a room 8 months in advance, prepaid for our badges and had them mailed to us, and finally the big weekend was here. I had the time off, 100 dollars for food and swag from the dealer room. Sara, Michelle, and I were planning on a fun filled weekend of anime, cosplay, pictures, and pure otaku geekiness. We were finally on our way!

We had been going to anime conventions off and on together for a few years now, and I knew the girls had some awesome costumes in store. I had a new Sony DSLR camera, so I was ready to take a few hundred pictures. Between the girls stuff and my bag with enough changes of clothes to last the weekend my car was packed full. I think the girls were trying to set a record for the amount of stuff brought to an anime convention, and guess who was volunteered to get most of it to the room. Yep, it was me.

So, we arrived at the Hyatt late Thursday, got the room, and after 3 trips finally got everything up there to it. The girls spent the next hour and a half getting all of their costumes put up while I kicked back and read a bit. I noticed they did a lot of giggling and looking at me while they were getting it all put up, but I thought nothing of it. I figured it would be the whole “lets paint his toenails and give him a makeover while he’s asleep” thing they had tried to pull on me before. This time I was ready for them. They did not see me smuggle in a few cans of silly string. Still, all in all the preparations for the big day weekend were going well, and since we had our badges mailed to us we did not have to wait in line. They finally finished up and we went out for dinner, came back, and went to bed at about 11:00 so we would have plenty of sleep and be ready for the start of the convention the next day.

The next morning we got up at about 7:00, went to breakfast, and came back. I hopped in the shower since I would get done the fastest. When the girls got into getting ready they took a while, but when done their costumes and makeup were very professional looking. Anyways I hopped in the shower so I could clear out in time for them to do themselves up. While in the shower I heard the bathroom door open and close. I figured one of them must have needed something. They grabbed something all right. My clothes. The door then opened back up again and a hand holding a few razors was thrust into the shower, and Sara said I should shave my arms, legs, chest, and face really well. I asked what for, so she said they were sick of me not having a costume and missing out on the fun, so they brought something along for me for each day, but I needed to be hair free for it. I figured I’d go along, besides, you don’t see too many guys in anime that are hairy, not that I was very hairy in the first place, but the girls were real sticklers for perfection in costuming.

I shaved up, cleaned up, and stepped out. The first thing I noticed is what was not there. My clothes. The only thing there was a girls one piece bathing suit that had a set of bra cups made into it and a pair of nylons. I asked the girls what was going on. Michelle said that was the foundation of my costume, and if I agreed to let them fix me up in costumes all weekend they would get me the a figurine from the dealers room. I reluctantly agreed. I asked what I should put on first. Michelle said I needed to put the hose on, then the bathing suit on. I did that then came out.

The girls looked me over and had me put on something called a panty girdle that had some pads sewn onto the butt and hips over what I was wearing. I did so, then they stuck some foam pads into the bra cups on the bathing suit. Sara said the bathing suit made like that was the perfect thing to get the fake boobs positioned perfectly on my body. They then put a corset around me and tightened it up a bit to give me a really girlish shape. It wasn’t hard to breathe in or anything like that, but I could definitely tell it was there. Next was a really poofy petticoat, a white ruffled and frilly long sleeve blouse, and a fairly frilly black sleeveless dress with inch and a half wide straps. They called it a jumperskirt. It went on over the blouse.

They then sat me down and did my makeup. It took them 45 minutes and what looked like 10 different things, but when they were done my face looked like it was made of porcelain! It was like a life size doll was staring back at me in the mirror. A life size doll with my face! They then sat me down, told me to hold my breath, and sprayed something called a setting spray to seal it where I would not need to be touched up throughout the day. Next was a pair of white over the knee socks with lace trim around the top and some weird black shoes with long straps and what looked to me like chunks of wood on the bottoms of them. The girls called them rocking horse shoes. They wrapped the straps over the socks and then took something called sock glue to hold the straps in place. They also put that inside the top of the socks. Michelle said it would keep them from slipping down until I was ready to take them off that night.

Finally the wig was placed on my head. It framed my face somewhat in a shortish bob, and had 2 gathered bunches with long curls in them that went from the sides, but up high and hung down about 2 feet. It was a dark brown, almost black, or the same shade my natural hair was. They took small hooks and drew some of my own hair through the netting in it, and then pinned it all in place. When they were done you could not tell this was not my real hair. Last was a white head piece with a bow on it. They called that piece an Alice bow. When I saw myself in the mirror I was shocked. It was me, but not as I had ever seen myself before! To say I was astonished would be an understatement, but as I knew, the girls never did a costume only half way; they went all out on it. Now it was time for them to get ready, and an hour later they were in identical outfits to me from the top of the head to the soles of their feet. They handed me a black tote that matched my outfit so I could carry my keys, wallet, and camera. By this time it was around noon, so we headed on down to the convention.

Sara said I was a good sport, and then she asked me out, so of course I accepted. She then started making plans for costumes for me for all of the upcoming conventions. She also confessed that she had wanted to ask me out for over a year, but was scared that I would say no. She also told me she had thrown every hint she could at me, but should have realized that like any good otaku I was clueless. She and Michelle came up with the costume idea to see if I would be a good sport, and that was what made her ask me out. We then went and cruised the dealer room for a while.

A few hours later we heard the fire alarm. We figured it was some idiot that decided to have “fun” by getting the convention evacuated by pulling the fire alarm. It happens every year. Some kid gets bored, pulls it, and everyone wants to kill them for interrupting the fun. We walked out with the rest of the people and went over to one of the parking lots thinking they would find the pulled alarm and let us all back in. We were wrong. I heard some yell “Look, the tower is on fire!’ Ohh my god! The tower on this side really was on fire, and it was the tower on this side that our room was in! In fact it looked like it was right around where our room was! I hoped and prayed that was not the case, but unfortunately it was our floor on fire.

The fire trucks made it there, but by that time the fire was out, thanks to the sprinkler system. When they finally let us back in we tried to go check on our room. They would not let us in that area. The hotel staff did check to see what section was burned. Our room near the wall on one side had caught on fire, and it burned everything there, including all my stuff except for my keys, wallet, camera, and a book I had shoved in the tote bag the girls had given me. Someone in the next room over had left candles burning on the table in their room. They had pushed the table next to the wall, and had all of their manga, props, and various other flammable items in that area too. The candles had melted down and caught the rest of the stuff on fire, and some of that stuff was so flammable it went up like gasoline. It quickly burned through the wall, but then the sprinkler system put it out, unfortunately not before it destroyed a good portion of their room and just a small part of ours. It was just my luck that the part of our room that got destroyed had all of my clothes in it.

The hotel did give us the presidential suite for free because of our troubles. They also said they would file a claim against the people who caused the mess and get some money back to me to replace my stuff. That was going to take weeks though. Meanwhile, we had the rest of the con, and all that was available to fit me was what I was wearing and the other costumes the girls brought for me, which as you guessed it, were more feminine costumes! Ohh boy, was I screwed.

I suppose it would have been fine if I would have been able to lay low, but fate wasn’t about to let me off that easily. Rosemont, IL is not that big of a town, but it is a suburb of Chicago, and it is close to O’Hare International airport. There also happened to be a news station covering the convention, and when the fire broke out they were in place to catch it. Of course they wanted to interview the ones who were caught up in the mess, so Sara, Michelle and I were put on the spot. The girls loved it, I was mortified. It didn’t end there though. If the story would have stayed in the Chicago area I still would have most likely been okay, but nope, again fate decided it was going to have some more fun.

When a news affiliate gets a strange story it’s going to get out. What could be stranger than a fire burning up all of one persons belongings, while that person is in a strange, (though very professional looking), costume. I’ll tell you what, when that person is a boy in a very female looking costume with two girls in the exact same costumes, and when you add in that those girls love attention, and especially love attention given to something that gets their costuming noticed, it’s a recipe for disaster. We were put on a short segment that went national. It also was posted on the internet with the video included. Two and a half minutes of fame, ohh boy. I did not expect millions to see me in a gothic Lolita outfit, but they did. I still may have gotten by, but again, fate decided to have just a bit more fun with me.

I may not have mentioned it earlier, but I work at the headquarters of an insurance company where we sift through files looking at claims. Normally, fire claims. Would you care to guess who the hotel was insured through? Yep, the place I worked. If only I would have known.

The rest of the weekend went by, and I finally got back into having fun. I was at the convention, so I didn’t watch any TV. The battery charger for my phone had burnt up, so I kept the phone off after telling my family and friends there had been a small fire at the hotel which burnt up my charger, so I was going to keep the phone off to conserve the battery, but that I was okay. I thought nothing of it, but that evening on the news they all saw it. Since some of my coworkers are also my friends. They passed the news on to other coworkers. It spread from there. To make matters worse when I got back to work Monday morning the pictures, news clip, and statements were already in the office. They were being reviewed by the office gossip. They were being sent around to everyone. That’s when the whispers started.

My boss’s boss then called me in to his office and shut the door. I knew I was going to get a good talking to about my activities over the weekend. I figured I was probably going to lose my job due to being too much of a distraction to work with. That’s not what happened. He told me he was also someone who “dressed” on occasion, then invited me to a meet with “like minded people” over at his place over the weekend. Well, he did say he was going to look out for me and make sure nothing bad would happen because people like us had to stick together and watch each others backs. I could not get a word in edgewise to let him know I have never done this sort of thing before. After he told me about what he crossdressed as his hobby and went on vacation to Atlanta GA every year for a convention so he could be a girl there and that he went to San Francisco on business trips and would always spend an extra day or two as Jill I felt it best to keep my mouth shut.

When I got home I had all kinds of messages from family. Some saying they support me in what I am doing, and no matter what, they still love me. Others told me I needed to get my life right, and that I was sick and needed help after they saw what was on the news. I had about the same reaction from friends. I also had a message from my boss saying he was going to send someone around to pick me up Saturday morning so I could spend the day with him, his wife, and the CEO of our company who was also into, as he put it, “dressing.” He said to bring an outfit, and if I had a girlfriend to bring her along too so we could all have a good time and talk about where I planned on going in life. I know Sara will love fixing me up again. I still find it hard to believe my life has been turned upside down like this in four short days.