#and then literally WillSmith.jpged at us to Liz

[eclecticmuses]

Here’s my breakdown of what happened at C2E2!

I spent Friday attending professional panels for the comics industry, which probably deserves a post of its own, but I don't think anyone is interested in me talking shop. But Saturday was devoted to Agents of SHIELD stuff with Iain and Liz. I had an amazing time and so many awesome things happened. Truly it was the best con experience I’ve ever had and, as @bigfunnywords (HEY Tumblr finally let me tag you!) said, I lived my best life. I'll try to do the tl;dr version but this will probably get long.

Putting the rest behind a cut for your scrolling convenience.

So first thing in the morning I met up with some cosplay friends of mine and also the lovely @whatlighttasteslike and @nanorii, and we went straight to Iain's autograph line. We were pretty near the front. I think we were all highkey nervous but trying to stay chill. I forget which one of us went first up to his table--I think it was my friend Karen--but Iain saw that she was dressed as Jemma, then saw me and my other friend right behind her also dressed as Jemma, and he got REALLY excited and was like "omg, look at all of you, you’re great, come here! I want to take a picture for Liz."

So yeah, that's how we ended up on Iain's phone. Friendly reminder to myself that that actually happened.

I've kinda blanked on some of what we talked about when it was my turn to go through, because I was so nervous, but I thanked him for how they depicted Fitz's recovery from his brain injury in season 2. I have a chronic stutter, and while that is nowhere near a TBI, there's some similarities when it comes to difficulty communicating, and I appreciated how they showed that. Ironically, I don't think I stuttered at all while I was talking to him (small mercies), but whatever. Then he signed my artwork, which he loved (I'm still laughing at his "I concur!" and arrow on the painting Liz signed last year). Then he shook my hand and I went off to the side to wait for the rest of the Tumblr gang.

While we were waiting, Liz came out to her table, and @nanorii told me to turn around--Iain was pointing and waving for me and my friends to come back over so he could show us off to Liz (and he was excited AGAIN). So that happened too. Good times.

We got in line for Liz after that but staff said we probably wouldn't make it through before their panel, so we all went and got in line for that. It got delayed a bit because during the panel before theirs (Stan Lee), the projector started smoking and they had to evacuate the room. Yikes. As a result, Iain and Liz's panel had to run short, but it was excellent. I know it’s online and you’ve all seen it now, but they're both so funny and it was really nice to see how well they get along with each other. So many good one-liners. So many good giffable (?) moments.

After that, we went back to Liz's line. The first words out of her mouth when she saw me was "that is a REALLY expensive jacket!" (Bahaha she knows.) Me: “Wanna know how much I paid for it?” Liz: “Yes and no!” She boggled when I told her how much I got it for (waaaaay below retail price), we commiserated over the Murder Heels and she complimented the flats I got to replace them, and she told me I looked awesome (yay!). She really liked the Science March art I had her sign (both she and Iain screamed a little when I gave them their copies to keep). OH--and I told her that I was the artist whose work she tweeted back in January without knowing who'd done it, and she yelled a bit. I love her, she's so nice and genuinely excited about everything.

I also got to see @whatlighttasteslike give Iain and Liz their fandom message scrapbooks, which was so sweet. That’s her story to tell, but they both looked genuinely touched to receive them, and I was so happy. We did good! And wasn’t Liz’s video message lovely?

Photo op time! Iain was like "Simmons!" when I came in and I asked if he was cool with hugs, but I still can't believe I actually did that. I think it turned out okay.

I should mention at this point in time that in the morning we'd learned that one of the booths on the con floor had a live capuchin monkey, and we were like SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL IAIN. So when I went back for my duo photo op, I was just outside the booth curtain when THE MONKEY ARRIVED. So, I got to see Iain take photos with the monkey, which I know we’ve all seen by now too. It was sitting on his shoulder and kinda beating him on the head with an empty plastic bottle, but even though he was kinda like “uh help” he looked SO thrilled. When the handler came to take the monkey back, both Iain and Liz gave it scratches and they were all smiles. Best reason for a photo op holdup ever. Honestly I feel blessed to have witnessed it.

After the photo ops, we all started to go our separate ways. After awhile of walking the floor (looking for the booth with the monkey, actually), me and one of my cosplay friends ended up near the autograph tables again, saw that hardly anyone was in Iain's line, so we decided to go and say hi again.

It was really nice; we got to chat for about five minutes or so. He was drinking a beer when we came up (LMAO) so the conversation between us, Iain, and his handler went like beer > beer at cons > party cons with more alcohol > no Iain this is not a party con > DRAGONCON. I think me and his handler actually warmed Iain up to considering DC (he asked if there were more costumes at DragonCon, and said it sounded interesting), though when I told him that Brett had attended last year, he was like “mmm nope sorry I don’t think I can do it.” (What a troll.) Then we talked about the monkey some--Iain said he had actually met it before the photo op and fed it cheese popcorn, and honestly I don't think I've ever heard anyone sound so delighted about something. I told him the show is stressing me the hell out but he’s so good at playing evil, and he just laughed and said it’s been fun to do. After that he watched his handler tease me about where I live and where I'm originally from in Alabama (he's from Birmingham as well) (”do you live in Montgomery on purpose?” “No.”) (Iain was like lol whaaaaaat). Then some other people came up so we said our goodbyes, he gave us each a high five, wished us a safe trip home, and that was that.

So that was basically my experience. I am SO glad I was able to attend, and that I got to see and hang out with so many awesome people--my cosplay friends, the new friends I made through them, the Tumblr gang, and also @jsimmonss and @msdevindanielle who I got to say hi to! Also @bigfunnywords and @pobmmm deserve a special shoutout for being the best enablers and cheerleaders ever. YOU ARE ALL LOVELY. Truly, this was the best weekend, and I still can’t believe it all happened.

(And if you actually made it this far in reading, I salute you.)