Tales of Anime: The Novel!
April 6-8, 2007

...Day 2.5: The Masquerade
For now I had to worry about the Masquerade show. I missed most of the AMV contest because participants of the Masquerade had to check in an hour early to practice, but I can safely say my favorite video there was “Awakening” by PharCry:

It feels great to sit in a room entirely full of people decked in the best costumes at Tales of Anime, but it also makes you feel sub-par. After all, we had no real music, no skit, and were barely able to track down the rest of our team – and we were the opening act!! *shudder* We had two Vergils (including myself), two Dantes, one Nero, and one Trish. I figured we’d just walk on, strike some poses, and walk off, but Trish had other ideas. She proposed she come on stage, and we all come running after her crying “Mommy!” and group hug her.

I felt this was not only physically impractical (5 people on 1?), but also irrational (where did the Dante/Vergil doubles come from?) and aesthetically unappealing to me (not a big fan of Dante x Trish). Since Vasher had the sword Force Edge, I briefly entertained the possibility of positioning it in the center and both of us rolling onstage to grab for it ala DMC3 Mission 20. But who am I kidding? I could barely move in this costume! So instead, I suggested Trish indeed come on first, and the other Vergil and Dante indeed fight over her, but Vasher and I come on later. We would take one look at the spectacle, shake our heads and say, “We don’t need her!” Then we would drop our respective weapons, I would exclaim, “Dante!” and Vasher echo, “Vergil!” and we would hug! >^.^<

We all decided Nero should come on last. Trish would look him up and down and ask, “Where’s your black leather?!” And, unlike the rest of us, he had none, so Trish would tell him he’s adopted, and he would sulk. Huzzah! Not bad for ten minutes of planning. I got to borrow Vasher’s Force Edge for the skit and she kept her gun.

When the time came, we were all herded backstage and quietly awaited our cue. We couldn’t see the introductions from our position, but we could see that Dan and Reuben were sitting in the front row. Yay! I get to embarrass myself in front of Dan and Reuben! How exciting!! Trish came on first, and the rest of us soon followed. There were stairs leading up to the stage o.o;;... don’t trip on the coat... don’t trip on the coat... don’t trip on the coat...

And lets watch it from another angle!!

(both clips used with permission from Devil's Lair)

If you discount the fact that I kept backing into Vasher, everything went pretty well. ^_^ We hopped offstage and sat down to enjoy the rest of the show, and when it was all over, we got back onstage to pose. Vasher and I held hands and had swapped weapons, if you know what I mean... *wink, wink* *nudge, nudge* I think Dan and Reuben took pictures of us, too.

Group pose

After the Masquerade, CaT, Davidicus, Zipp Dementia, his girlfriend, and I were hungry enough to brave the overpriced hotel restaurant. Lo and behold, Dan and Reuben were sitting at the bar... surrounded by the Con staff. We quickly darted past them and hid at a table across the room. And we glared. The potted plant that framed our line of sight gave the whole experience a lovely stalker-ish feel. Jo, of course, was sitting hip-to-hip with Dan and Reuben, chatting away. I guess the rules don’t really apply to her, huh. GRR. And honestly, I don’t think somebody who’s famous for writing yaoi fanfics about Dante and Vergil should be put in a position to get them drunk!

I scoured the Menu backwards and forwards until I found the only vegan thing on it. I asked the waiter several times if it had meat, milk, eggs, or any other animal products. He said “no.” Yet they still managed to put parmesan cheese on it. AAAARGH!! I spent most of my meal picking off shreds of parmesan.

 

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