allegra means happy—and is also my name

Allegra’s Cos-Friends - Aicosu: Sheila and Sylar

Do I need to tell you about Aicosu? Probably not; there probably isn’t much that I can tell you that you don’t already know! I’m sure you already know how talented they are (fact), and I’m sure you also know how much they love each other (also fact). Really, all I can share is a story.

(Aside: it was surprisingly difficult to pick pictures for them since there are so many options! I had a hard time finalizing the set ;__;)

The first time I met Sheila and Sylar was in front of the BioWare Base at SDCC 2011, probably about 4 hours before the actual competition. I was introduced to them through our Varric, Melissa, who had previously met them at PCC. Neither of the three of them had SDCC badges—they had only come to do the contest (and invited me to join about a month before the con), since the BW Base was outside of the actual con center. Apparently Sylar saw me walking towards them and said to Sheila and Mel: “God, I wish that were our Isabela,” to which Melissa responded: “That is our Isabela!” I think that’s still my favorite story XDD

With the three of them (and Mel’s boyfriend Terry, who was our bag carrier and photographer), I had what was most certainly at the time (and probably still is) one of the greatest weekends of my life. Between the contest, meeting all sorts of amazing people at said contest (many of whom will be featured here over time!), going to IHOP at like 1 AM, derping around Balboa Park in costume, getting to really chat with Dave (Gaider) for what was probably about an hour, but in Sheila time was maybe 6 or 7 hours at this point…. But beyond that, we had maybe … what, 36 hours together? In that time, I really got to know and love them as people, so that by 1 AM when my friend picked me up to head back to where we were staying (I had a 5 AM flight the next day), I felt like I was leaving old friends behind. I don’t think I had ever hugged someone I had known for such a short of amount of time quite as hard as I did when I hugged them goodbye.

Now if you had told me that I’d have to wait over a year to see them both again, I would have thrown a fit. I’ve at least had Sheila with me in person (sewing last-minute details onto the Smuggler at 5 AM while singing showtunes, fa la la la REMEMBER, at NYCC; taking adorable pictures, even if it was sometimes with the wrong pirate at PAX East), and gotten to virtually hang out with Sylar as well (playing a lot of AC:B multiplayer, spoiler alert Sylar is a poison spammer the little CHEATER; the odd, impromptu phone call, including one the other night while I was waiting for my takeout to show up)…. But it’s not the same. Somehow, hanging out with both of them, bantering, giggling, and lots and lots of derping—that’s a gift, honestly.

I think that concept—how much my cosplayer friends mean to me, both artistically and personally—should be the theme to all of these little featurettes. Or, at least, that’s the hope. I wouldn’t be telling you about them otherwise :)