Thread by @EvilJackCarver

Chicago dreamin', on such a winter's day...

📸 Canon EOS Rebel T6

(Reuploaded to fix a typo in the camera model)

This was taken at 18:16, shortly before I decided to pack it in for the final night of MFF. Post-convention depression was hitting me hard, and the convention was barely over.

I ran it through Photoshop to capture how cold it felt at that time... the light rain was fitting.

I was having post-con depression, and the con had only just ended. I wasn't sure how to feel. I went back to my stateroom in the light rain, set my gear up, and got down to my skivvies so I could shower and sleep.

While I was setting my pyjamas on the rack in the shower, something snapped in me. For some reason, part of a poem (which I attribute to reading in Halo: The Fall of Reach) came to mind.

"...Not with a bang, but with a whimper."

I tried to make sense of it.

After a few minutes of just standing in the stateroom's shower, with my hand on the tap, trying to make sense of it, I remembered a promise I made to my mother.

"Even if you can't fursuit... go to a dance. Dance like nobody's watching."

So I went out to the Dead Dog Dance. I knew @Inkblitzer and @Firestoem would be there, but didn't know what time. I knew I had a flight to catch in the morning. I didn't want to stay up too late.

But I got there and I danced. I danced like nobody was watching.

I stayed relatively near the door, so I could keep an eye out for Tempo and Nimbus, occasionally going outside to smoke (and one time after a three-minute sustained bass tone made me slightly nauseaous), but... I didn't see them. And I was starting to get hungry after 90 minutes.

Went to get some food... was hoping for a wrap, since that's an efficient food, but I settled with a bag of Gardettos since that would keep me full for a while.

And while I was finding a spot to sit down and eat... I saw 'em.

And after handling for 'em for an hour or so...

...After the fun of the con, after putting in some number of hours volunteering, after handling/photographing them at their meetup, after walking back into the Hyatt for the first time in two years...

...I can safely say, I left that year's FurFest with a bang, not a whimper.

It's a fond memory, really, and after all's said and done, I have four words for them, four words for FurFest, four words for Chicago:

„Wir sehen nächster Jähr.”

„See you next year.”

📷 Canon EOS Rebel T6