Just to prove that it really existed

Getting down to Saturday, though: the first important thing once we had our badges was the fursuit parade although, come to think of it, I didn't need my badge to watch the parade. It went through all open-to-the-public areas. I was heading toward my usual spot in the front lobby where the parade turns around when I saw an actual map of the parade route, and used that to secure a spot near a lot more windows, to the benefit of taking a movie and pictures that would be visible. There's never enough light, especially for how many fursuits go in for dark colors despite this being the decade of neon-colored furries.

Afterward I went looking for bunny_hugger and found Twitchers instead. Not an unhappy substitute, but I was mystified that I couldn't find her. Not wandering around near the rabbits, not in the outdoor area where people went. Not up by the video game room, the spot where I had said we would meet up if we were separated. (She hadn't been able to find her phone when I let her off. I found it, when I returned to our hotel room because I couldn't find parking, but that did us no good getting back together before we got back together.) And not in the main ballroom, where the parade had started and ended, and where they were gathering groups of people for various themed pictures, like ''cats'' or ''blue furries''. Here I was able to see Pakrat and tell him in time to get in on the ''brown furries'' group picture, so that felt like I accomplished something.

With no idea where to find bunny_hugger, though, I figured to hang around near the Pipsqueakery area as the spot most likely to attract her. We would eventually find each other, after she had given up on finding me and taken her suit off, spoiling my chance to get pictures. I urged her to get back in costume so I could get some pictures, and she finally acceeded to that. We also got pictures of her near the rabbits of the Pipsqueakery's area, although not of her going inside. Wonderful as it would be to challenge the bunnies' concept of how big a rabbit could be, she has a fair worry that she'd step on some rabbit by accident.

In suit we got a bunch of nice pictures and you're going to see every one of them, don't worry. Also got to see Twitchers and Pakrat briefly, bunny_hugger much more briefly and with much foggier eyes than me. (Her KN95 mask turns eyes already prone to clouding over into a cloud box.) And she got to show off a new bit of swag she's gotten, a Stern pinball jacket emblazoned 'Pinball' in a wonderfully goofy brash style. Again, you'll see, and you'll love it when you do.

Walking around some we got to see other suits, including some who hadn't been in the parade, such as a pair of ... I guess foxes, in suits that inflate so they're extremely cylindrical and soft. We also found that the people who've been hiding plastic Easter eggs at conventions were at it again, and snagged a couple. bunny_hugger would find several of these over the weekend, with a candy in each of them. ... Except one, that I had pointed out, and that she didn't think to open until sometime when she wanted a little snack. That one had a slip of paper, ``This'll sizzle old Slugworth'', along with a charm bracelet-style toy of the Everlasting Gobstopper. Figures the one she didn't feel I needed to see had the special rare item inside.

Please, enjoy a couple more pictures of that day at Motor City.

The bunnies; how many can you count here? Are you overlooking the ones hidden behind the bins?

Rotationally symmetric food-dish bunnies.

A bunny who looks a bit like a small version of Sunshine melts into her dewlap.

White bunny here looking over the turtle and thinking, 'What is this, some kind of joke?' (I'm sorry the picture is blurry; I couldn't tell from the camera's LCD screen.)

White bunny getting angrier the more they think about it while their companion tries to reassure them it's not worth it, just let it pass.

And guinea pigs! The orange one is almost a twin for the first guinea pig I ever kept, back in 1984. Again, sorry about the focus problem but the camera's been getting crankier and less well-behaved, out of a proper rage at everything going on.

Trivia: Marie and Pierre Curie's honeymoon was a cycling tour of France. Source: Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World, Nick Lane.

Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine Sundays Supplement Volume 6: 1944, Tom Sims, Bela Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.

PS: What's Going On In Alley Oop? What was that fungus woman's dark secret? January - April 2023 A recap of some pretty linear, generally nice stories.