Longest Night Costume

[rm]

So, it seems there is going to be a Longest Night ball at Lunacon this year, thanks to Jacqueline Carey being the GoH.

Which means I _have_ to costume. Which surprises me a little, as there's a certain car crash feeling I also have about the Kushiel books and possibly their fans. But, there's also a real beauty in them, and a ferocity, that I find meaningful and fun.

My current ideas are:

- Mara. Not Phedre as Mara. Just Mara. I love the story. And it speaks to my inner Snape. And it would be easy to do. (and yes, I'll have a marque as Patty and I are going to play with a lot of henna -- again, not Phedre's). Downside? People will make assumptions about me that I'm not going to enjoy fielding.

- Someone from House Shahrizai. The black and gold brocade would be fun (more work for me) and people won't fuck with me.

- A Cassaline. Easy. But not showy. People won't fuck with me at least, but it seems lame to assemble all that weaponry to then peace tie it all and have to be dour all night besides.

I am, if you didn't know, very sensitive about people touching me without my leave. I'm also very sensitive about submission being grounds to condescend to people. I'm also very sensitive to the "you have sex, so why won't you fuck me" anger, and it's all stuff I see in the geek community, and worry strongly will be out in force at this year's Lunacon.

Thoughts?

Comments

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

The Cassaline would allow you to not be touched, make you forbidden fruit, and let you be a companion to whatever house Patty choses?

One person's dour is another person's snark.

And I bet you MOVE the way they should move. Fuck costuming. You can't go out and buy that kind of fabric at Britex.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

"You have sex, so why won't you fuck me"

Ha ha ha ha ha! Yes. Combined with 'hot bi babe' and the underlying vibe of 'you're fat and should be happy that *I* like you' (disguised as 'Did you know how hot you are????? Coz YOU SHOULD!!'), plus that weird 'big girls are all submissive and that means I will treat you a certain way' thing and yes, the touching, are all why the overlap b/w the 'sex positive' community and the poly/geek communities can really get to me.

Sometimes putting on some kind of mental armor helps.

[weirdquark]

Combined with 'hot bi babe'

I started a profile on OKCupid in a fit of... I don't know, boredom and curiosity, did not upload a picture or input any information about me other than the minimum required to create a profile, so all people know about me is that I'm female, in my late twenties, and willing to sleep with men or women, and I still get people trying to talk to me who don't care about my interests or what I look like because clearly being a bisexual female means I'm hot and have no standards.

The kinky community should know better though -- if you're rude about consent issues, no one will want to play with you.

[weirdquark]

If I was going to dress as Mara and people made assumptions I'd probably thank them for their interest and "regretfully" inform them that my services were already engaged for the evening.

Are people in the geek community really that rude about sex? I've never encountered that problem, although I have heard that some cons are excuses for hook-ups, etc., and I've never stayed in a hotel for a con, so I may just have missed those late night parties.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's not that a lot of people are that rude. It's that there are always five at every con. And they always talk to me, and every other female they determine is or should be sexually available to them. And it's annoying as fuck.

[weirdquark]

Yeah, if I got that from people I'd be annoyed too. But somehow that sort of thing never happens to me. I used to think that women assumed I was straight and men assumed I was gay, but possibly everyone assumes I'm asexual, and none of these is the case. End result being no one hits on me because I don't look interested. Which is generally true, but that's because I'm extremely picky.

And looking at your comment below about it being a sense of defiance more than submission - that could be an interesting line to walk -- something like "When I choose to submit, I submit completely. But I choose when I submit, and I do not choose to submit to you."

[ithinkitisayit.livejournal.com]

"End result being no one hits on me because I don't look interested."
I wish I had your look then. I tend to get asked out by mentally handicapped males for some reason.

I'm like "Uh..I'm 21, you're 7 mentally. Pedophilia like, woah, yo :| Not gonna happen." Of course, what I really say is a rather firm "No."

I'm not interested in dating anyone currently. I don't pick my fights well, I come off as harpy-ish when I'm tired/drained of being around people, and I don't drive or have a job (yet). Not to mention, one of my first requirements is we have to be friends. Since most of my male friends are either taken, or just friends, and a lot of them aren't into computers, having a significant other is a long ways off. Not to mention, I don't have any close female friends (I'd prefer a guy, but if I fall in love with a girl, hey, it happens).

Yeah, you totally can't tell I'm home alone all day [[rolls eyes]]

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Shahrizai!!!! That would be awesome.

I should read the rest of those books.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I finally forced myself to read the second book. I have a really visceral reaction to the fucked upness of Joscelin and Phedre's relationship, so I didn't want to look at it for a long time, but now that I'm into it, it's cool.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It really is interesting to me how people react to this query. You say Shahrizai, this makes sense. People who know me mainly from my fencing posts say Cassaline. And no one has yet said Mara really, but no one who has answered has really known me long enough to remember that part of me. Funny.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Well, the Mara choice is just too obvious to make I suppose. There's a certain amount of grace. But I don't think it would fit so well with you now. You're a lot more likely to stick a knife in someone's ribs for being inappropriate.

[rm.livejournal.com]

But see, I'm planning to base my marque on swords. For Mara that has a certain... flair, ne?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Haha, well that would be pretty nifty. It does have a certain degree of flair.

I say you should dress however you're going to be most comfortable.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I am also remembering, the WHOLE WEEKEND, and since I'm doing it henna, I can have a few outfits.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

So there is always room for a costume change. Whee.
(BTW I posted my amazon review but it just hasn't been added to the site yet.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah it has. I saw it about 15 minutes ago. Thank you!

[abbismom.livejournal.com]

I get the feeling you really want to go as Mara; you'll have the most fun with it.

People will make assumptions anyway, you can't costume over your charisma, so may the annoying ones be damned with one sweeping supercilious Snape look.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I sort of do. And I sort of don't know why. It's no sense of submission. But defiance. Maybe after so much time it's come to this. *shrug*

[abbismom.livejournal.com]

It'll be your own interpretation of Mara anyway.

[mneme]

It's kinda ironic that you have to worry about this kind of crap, specifically when talking about the Kushiel books -- which are all about, in effect, "submissive defiance".

That said...yeah. Go as Mara. You've got a great concept; it would be a shame to let fear of assholes talk you out of it.

Now me? I have no clue. But then, I rarely costume for anything.

forgive typos, hands broken today

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to Lunacon and can't gauge the atmosphere properly.

All three have their good points; my mood swings to the Shahrizai for the ball, partly because there will be many other maras present on that night, and because Mara is more likely to be drunkbait if it's going to be That Kind of event.

Sword marque = awesome. Would be tempted to use Sharpies myself; cleaner lines, colors, more like a 'true' needle tattoo, and if you avoid oil they last for a day or two (and come off pretty quickly with oil - have used Sharpie for faux tribal tattoos at old firedancing performances).

Re: forgive typos, hands broken today

[rm.livejournal.com]

Lunacon is a weird con. In that it is both very cool and very lame at the same time. Last year it was really nice, but it's still a con where those who view these things as a meat market consider the pickings slim and desperate, and yet people are always picking rather furiously. It can stay above it easily, but I've had to glare at a hand on my shoulder really viciously more than once, and I think with Carey as a GoH people will be on their worst behavior, instead of their best (*insert my lamentations for the species here*).

[melebeth]

I think your concerns are justified and probably accurate. That having been said, if I can find someone to draw on me I will probably be dressing as a generic Servant of Naamah in some sort of back revealing masquerade clothing complete with mask. I love making masks.

[hey-its-dave.livejournal.com]

Other than being appreciative of quality costuming, I don't particularly grok most of that, but, It'll be nice to see you at Lunacon, hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up :)

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I feel I must vote for House Shahrizai.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Side note: do I want to go to Lunacon? It's cheap and it's on my spring break. But maybe it's mostly an NYC locals thing?

[rm.livejournal.com]

It has about 3,000 attendees. Peopel do travel to it. And as much as there are problems I've had with that con, it was very good last year, and I know all th e cool parties (odddly, hosted by the Science HIgh School Alumni).