Storyteller - Vulkon Tampa

Guests

Robin Atkins Down: Machida - "Reptile Boy" (BtVS)

Iyari Limon: Slayer in training - Kennedy (BtVS)

James C. Leary: Clem the loose skinned demon (BtVS)

Mercedes McNab: Harmony Kendall (BtVS/AtS)

Andy Hallett: Lorne - the Host (AtS)

James Marsters: Spike (BtVS)

Woo hoo! I'm in Tampa and damn it's hot. It's been a LONG day. I had to spend 5 hours in Washington doing chuff all. Started reading Cerulean Sins (Book 11 in the Anita Blake series) and nearly had it finished by the time I landed in Tampa. It was a complete waste of time though. These books have pretty much turned into PWPs. Not that I mind reading smut - it's just I liked the books so much better when there was a storyline.

Alas by the time I had arrived at the hotel a lot of the people had been and gone. They'll be back tomorrow and I can at least meet them when I'm fully awake.

Spent the evening drinking with Daks, Py, Kris and Jill (Miss Binks). It was fun but I can't wait for tomorrow when I'll be all fresh.

Oh my god this thing is such a blast! We spent the morning lounging by the pool.

Rella and Jade came over after a while and eventually a big group of us went to Ihop for breakfast (although it was more like lunch by the time we got there). We selected Ihop mainly so I coule sample the joy of American pancakes. Everyone was horrified when I said you can't buy pancakes for breakfast here unless you go to McDonalds. I met a whole bunch of online people, some of whom I knew and others I didn't. As far as I can recall the list was me, Daks, Py, Kris, Jade, Tis, midnightangel70, Raven, Jill and Scarlet.

In the afternoon I met wajoma, Lisa, Robin, Luv, Toga, Aimes, and John. As the day progressed more booze was consumed and Luv grew herself a penis. She then proceeded to attempt to violate wajoma. John was our male slut for the evening and as well as wearing less and less clothes as the night progressed he also ended up being whipped, (he was actually properly whipped by a few people but I didn't get any pics of it.), covered in cream, and ridden like a pony. In return he licked and groped pretty much everyone in the room at one stage or another.

We had security called because we were apparently too noisy and the next day people who were checking in had already heard about the party on our floor. We were infamous before the con had even started. LOL

Once the party had died down Me, Py, Kris and John headed out to the hot tub. We sat around and talked about books, theology, culture, all sorts. That's right, John is more than just a pretty face ;)

At one point we were joined by another hotel guest and all of a sudden John starts talking about being gay and starts pretty much hitting on this guy. Now I barely knew John so despite what had happened at the party I just assumed he really was gay. Unfortunatley the guy wasn't deterred and stayed around for about an hour. Once he was gone wajoma came out and joined us and we chatted a bit more before heading to bed. Con starts tomorrow. WHEE!!!

Another day of fun. After the late night before I slept in until just before it was time to register for the con. Got that done, bought photos to be autographed, picked up tickets for my photo session with James Marsters and Andy Hallet and then headed upstairs with wajoma and Py to order Pizza for lunch. We sat around, chatted and ate before heading down for a panel on fanfic.

sassangel and dragolyn we hosting it and it was great. We all introduced ourselved and it really freaked me out how many people knew my site and read my fics. I always considered myself fairly near the bottom of the fic ladder.

We went back to our rooms agaon after that adn we were soon joined by Diurnal, Deli and Tracy (Jericho_tgf). They are such darlings and I wanted to take them home with me. I spent a lot of the cocktail party with them and they were just adorable.

The cocktail party was SUCH fun and I didn't even get to meet James. In face the only time I really even saw him was when he walked past me as he was leaving. There was a crowd about six deep all around him and I didn't see the point of even trying. I had my moment with him at the GotR gig and it was perfect. I don't think anything will top that.

Instead I spent the evening getting drunk with Tracy, Deli and Di and singing at the piano with Robin Atkin Downes (who I adore now). It was brilliant fun. We went to the dance for a few minutes and then hit the liquer store.

In my frenzied rush to meet the girls in the lobby I kind of shoved my way past two people yelling "excuse me" as I did. It was only when I looked back that I realised that the two people were James Leary and Robin Atkin Downes. Oops.

Still, at least they saw me in my cute cocktail dress which is more than James Marsters did. Possible my one regret of the evening was that he didn't get to see me on the rare occasion that I actually thought I looked good.

When we were in the shuttle going to the liquer store we met a guy called Mark and Tracy invited him to party with us. When I say us I mean we took him up to the party on our floor and left him there so we could go swimming. LOL. Deli says he was a gift for the host of the party in leui of a bottle of wine *snicker*

Official meeting of James tomorrow. Not overly bothered like I said. Might chnge my mind when I get there though.

Today has been cool even though I woke up with a stinking hangover. We managed to get right at the front for our photos with James which was cool. We had to stand around for ages but eventually we got in. James was sat on a stool and when I got on stage he suddenly decided he didn't want the stool anymore so I had to stand around while they rearranged everything. James then put his arm around my waist, I did the same to him and the photo was taken. Have to wait to get the official ones through the mail so it'll be ages before I get mine

After the photo session I went and got changed into my I Mate And Then Kill top. We went down for the charity auction but they didn't really have anything I wanted. Kris and I were going to see if we could combine money to get the tickets for James' table but they sold for $4000 which is less than the ones at the Cleavland con which went for $6000. Crazy.

It was then time for the panels. Robin Atkin Downes (Machida - aka the giant snake from Reptile Boy) was first and he was hilarious. I don't know if he's ever done stand up before but he really did make me laugh. He's so adorable.

James Leary (Clem) came on next and I was able to view the wonder that was Stuntcocks. I really am going to have to buy a copy of this (http://www.stuntcocks-themovie.com) it was so funny and I have a feeling it's the sort of thing Tom and Dave would laugh at too.

Mercedes McNab was next and she was also very small and very cute. She was saying how she's brought her little dog with her. I don't know why but I just got an image of Elle from Legally Blonde. LOL.

Finally came James. He was great. Less with the humour but clearly very passionate about what he does. I felt at the Q and A that I was getting a glimpse of the real man. Like I said, very passionate, gets very het up about a lot of issues and is interested in politics which I wouldn't have guessed. I think it would be really interesting to have a one on one talk with him. I could see some very heated debates happening. Unfortunatley he's so big now that the opportunity would never occur.

Autograph time after that and Mercedes was first. She was sweet like I said and we chatted a bit about make-up and she was laughing at James saying that once you get him talking about something you can't shut him up. Got my autograph and moved on to the next table.

He then looked at my shirt and said "That's the scariest shirt I have ever seen."

It was then timeto get into my dress for the banquet. It didn't take me too long to get ready and once I was done I went to find people. The next thing I knew Daks, Py and Raven had latched onto me saying that they'd entered the masquerade as the anti-Spice Girls and they needed a fourth. Before I realised what was happening I'd been entered with them and we won a prize for most humourous entry.

It was such a surprise! There was also a guy dressed as Spike and he looked amazing! He won the prize for best vampire. I bumped into him a little later and had my picture taken with him.

The banquet was hilarious. James (Marsters) arrived late and nearly trampled me in a rush to get food. The poor guy must have been starving. We all got our food anway and it was good

After we were done Robin's table suddenly got up and sang a song. James Leary's table followed, then Mercedes, then James Marsters and then Iyari. It then turned into a song war between Mercedes, Robin and Leary. Leary was getting all the tables around him to join him so Robin joined Mercedes and we joined them since our table was right next to hers.

It was SO funny. It started off with theme songs and then slowly turned into taunts. Eventually Leary conceded and spent the rest of the night complaining how everone else ganged up on him. LOL

After the banquet I came up with the intention of having a quick nap before the kareoke but I'm so tired I'm just going to go to sleep. Have to be up in the morning for my photo with Any Hallett

Yet again we managed to get to the front of the photo queue and the time went past really quickly. When we got there Andy said hi to me and Kris and then joked that it was a little early for a threesome. We posed and then headed off.

I went to the dealer room and bought The Storm Front audio book. I'd been eyeing it at Toronto but didn't really want to spend that much. But since I'd been living cheaply in the US I had plenty of money left and there was much rejoicing.

Kris and I went to get some food at the con suite and fake Spike was there. He was really nice and chatted to me for ages. He spent a while trying to explain to me what root beer was and encouraged me to try it. It was ok, but not really the sort of thing I would drink regularly. We sat down and talked some more about American foods and a couple of other people joined in. One of them turned out to be harmonyfb which was cool.

Panels were next and instead of 3 seperate ones Robin, Iyari and Leary did one together. Again they were really funny and Robin and Leary were just bouncing off each other all the time. Poor Iyari was sat there looking like she'd been sat between two crazy people. Leary and Robin acted out this hilarious mock Kirk/Spock scene. It was priceless

Andy Hallett was hilarious. Such a diva! He got talking about slash and how someone sent him the link to an Angel/Lorne fic which involved a shower, a bar of soap and three fingers. And we never did find out if he used to be a drag queen or not

James was next and his session was pretty much the same as yesterday. In fact some of his answeres were word for word the same which gave the impression he's just memorised a bunch of answers. He was asked to sing on both days and said no both times :(

Got my autograph from Andy but didn't really get the chance to talk to him. Everything was pretty rushed.

Didn't get the chance to talk to James this time either as he was busy talking to someone else. Not that I mind, like I said I've had my moment with him.

Next I went in to get an autograph from Robin. Did I mention I love him? Whilst I was talking to him he picked up on my accent and asked where I was from. When I said England he got up, walked around the table and gave me a hug. A total sweetie. I asked if he would mind having a picture taken with me and he said that was fine. Took the photo and I told him how brilliant he'd been. He was very humble and thanked me before giving me my autograph. REALLY wanted to take him home with me.

Moment of panic when I realised I'd put my James and Andy photos down somewhere and couldn't remember where. Robin helped me look for them. Such a darling.