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lupestripeThe crushing mundanity of this week is in sharp contrast to the exhilaration of last week. This was our first Eurofurence in four years, with us deciding to attend simply because we could commute to the con from our home in Berlin. This ultimately saved us around €600 each at a time when money is becoming tighter and it also meant we didn't have to get up at 7am on a Monday morning in January to scrabble for a place in the Estrel. Commuting into the con daily was not without its drawbacks though - not having a room meant I couldn't find a private space for sexual and kink activities, while we had to carry bags around for much of the day as their locker service shut very early on most days. Furthermore, we had to ensure we had packed everything we would need, which was difficult due to the myriad room parties I wanted to attend. Also, not having a room meant there was no easy way to escape from the con, to decompress if it all becomes too much.
We ended up having four furs stay over during the last 10 days from four separate countries, such is the fantastic global nature of the fandom. Gao eventually turned up at 11pm on the Sunday before the con, which was incredibly late as the initial intention had been to come for the whole weekend. However, he had to complete a job application and then tried to traverese across Germany with the €9 ticket, which ended up being a 15 hour journey. My mental health was in the toilet that day for a variety of reasons, but seeing our friend definitely perked me up. Going into the week, I feared I didn't have the energy to be able to cope with the con but after chatting with Gao on the Sunday evening then going to share a mashed potato lunch with him on the Monday, my mood had lifted somewhat. This continued into the Monday evening, when Slovenian fur Firefur stopped over. Both Gao and he had booked rooms in the Estrel but needed a place to crash the night before they transferred there. We were more than happy to oblige, even though both furs were later than they advertised they were going to be. Firefur had decided to go to the Estrel as soon as he had arrived in Berlin as he wanted to register, meaning he arrived nearly 11pm rather than 9pm. Still, he had a security shift early the next morning so this was understandable while he did bring some tasty homemade chocolate for us. I had ordered this in advance, opting for the two options with the least cocoa content. The white chocolate was particularly divine.
Tuesday evening was the only day when no-one was staying, so we decided to head over to the Estrel as it was early arrival day. We reasoned we could register and get that done early, with fewer queues, not least because we had to run our Beer Tasting event on the Wednesday evening, with that still being a workday for us. I was feeling a little apprehensive due to my impoverished mental health, but fortunately as soon as we hit the outside bar after registering, we bumped into Swift and Pudge. They are always great craic and they were particularly excited about a plastic Kinder egg they had bought called Larry. He was quite a fruity character and he was to come up quite a lot over the course of the con - on one evening people were even giving blowjobs to his tiny plastic hands. The duo were certainly the best people to bump into early on, as they are always great fun, while they attracted a number of furs over to us too. One of these was Pazuzu, who ended up looking after our conbooks for most of the con, as we had failed to bring a bag with us that evening (the snake drawing on the back of them I could do without). This was one annoyance of commuting to the con, and we ended up not getting the books back until the Sunday evening. Anyway, it was so much fun that we ended up drinking six beers and getting a taxi back, making for a rather difficult workday the next day. We ploughed through it though and got ready for Procyon's arrival, who was going to stay with us for the bulk of the con.
We were to meet him after the Beer Tasting session, the only panel we were running this year. His flight was due to get in late, so we recommended we meet him at the Estrel, which was wise as so few people helped us clear up, it took us two hours just to get everything sorted. I had deliberately chosen the Wednesday evening for the tasting as I thought it would be a good icebreaker, and so it was, as numerous furs thanked me for such an easy free-flowing event. For some of these furs, it was their first ever con, so I am heartened that it made them more relaxed. We arrived about twenty minutes earlier to be greeted by around 25 expectant furs who were already there. As it got closer to our 9pm start, even more turned up, and we probably had a similar turnout to the time we did it four years ago. Nattrium was on board too, a Danish furry brewer who we had met the evening before, while Fiasco brought some of his homebrew which he sold on behalf of the charity. While we ran out of plastic cups, ultimately, everyone had a great time and we must have had over 60 beers to share. Alas, although I remembered bin bags and cups, I did forget tissues, which proved to be a huge mistake as there were a few spillages going on. One guy was even sick, on his friend's shoes. I think said friend wasn't then happy when a beer bottle splattered beer all over his face after some careless opening. Aside from this hiccup though, things went well, although it was disappointing that we were left with a large number of unopened beers. Indeed we needed the staff to get a tureen to decant it away, with us filling it three times.
As is often the case these days, we didn't do many of the planned events. I had wanted to do the Ponyplay one, which was a rare foray into fetish for EF, but this clashed with the Beer Tasting panel. I had also wanted to do the Rubberfurs panel but this clashed with a room party, as did the Transgender and Non-Binary event which I wanted to attend as it would have been first since accepting my gender fluidity. Speaking of this, I did spend a lot of the time wearing a skirt and tail, even having the courage to wear them on the train home both on the Friday and Saturday evening. I was too drunk and tired to care about other people's reactions, but no-one really said anything, with only the guy in the Spati looking at me somewhat askance. It was all quite liberating though and it was great to see so many cute guys wearing dresses and skirts over the duration of the con.
I did a few room parties, although not Spotti's rubber on as I was all fetished out by that time. Thursday in particular was a heavy fetish day, while Wolfie and I attended Qualgesit on both the Thursday and Friday evening. Surprisingly, it was the introduction night on the Thursday that was more popular, while on the Friday we only really went because our new American friend Raw Dog wanted to come. I had shown him most of the fetish stories on the Friday, both in Nollendorfplatz and Blackstyle up in Prenzlauer Berg, with the assistant in the latter taking a real shine to him as he was trying on his first ever pieces of rubber. In some respects, I felt a little like a third wheel, but things definitely picked up in the club. It was great to be back there after so long - over five months - and to be playing again was incredible. The same was true of meeting our fellow kinksters although I have subsequently lost my membership card which is annoying. It was around the same time that I found a €100 note in the parking lot outside the club and I returned it to the front desk in case someone wanted to claim it. On the Thursday, there were quite a few furs wearing full rubber suits which weren't really appropriate for such a club as it's very much more a doing than showy event, and some of the pups I couldn't recognise, as evidenced by their subsequent disappointment that I didn't speak to them in the bar. The scenes Wolfie and I did were increasingly intense and although I had a few panicked moments, things got more natural. I'm hoping to get back there after Folsom.
There were a number of sexual opportunities too and I could have even had anal, had I had the confidence. This is something I am going to work on, but it is confidence-boosting to know that I am attractive to some people. Certainly, when Raw Dog said it all seemed rather natural to me, that was quite affirming, particularly when it came to kink. As ever though, cons are never long enough and although I had some kink and sexual experiences with some people, there was so much going on I never thought it was enough. I even got more confidence on some of the Telegram groups too, seeing people making requests and getting what they wanted. This made me less scared to make requests of my own.
We didn't eat too much as Procyon, Wolfie and I spent a lot of time doing different things, although we did have breakfast/lunch at home each day. On one day, this included the crumpets that Procyon kindly brought (he also brought tasty crisps too, while Dalrish gave us some Cadbury's chocolate on the Sunday, which was a nice taste of home). This meant we had to snack where we can, although we did take advantage of the food trucks in the courtyard between the main stage and the hotel bar area. The sandwich place was particularly good, while the man serving behind the burrito concession I thought was a little rude as he said "I don't have eyes in the back of my head" when furs were just trying to be courteous as he looked busy. The bars closing at 3am was annoying though, with only one remaining open until that time. Alas, at 2am, when the others closed, it was often a case of finding which remaining bar was open and this changed every night. Most of the time, we could be outside but the heavy rain on Friday (which we got caught in while out fetish shopping) meant that much of the con that day was confined to the interior of the Estrel.
Taneli wanted to get a magnet from Leo, a Ukrainian vendor in the Dealers' Den who had travelled from L'viv. By the time I could get into there though, having braved all the queues, he had sold out. I did manage to pick up a stamp for him though while it was great catching up with Leo once more. We had met at WUFF and he told me how the Ukrainian furs are doing, who are currently in varying degrees of peril. We reminisced a lot about Kyiv and our trips there, hoping that this war will be over soon and we can all go back there. Everything he was selling was aimed at getting hard currency into the country and supporting the war effort, with considerable donations being made. While in the Dealers' Den I also bought a few furry books, having really doubled my efforts at reading this year. I did check prices and availability on Amazon though, choosing ones that I couldn't get on there as there was such a wide selection of literature. Indeed, I didn't realise it was quite that wide.
Eurofurence was more relaxed than ConFuzzled, partly because I knew fewer people there and partly because of its bigger size. This didn't stop me bumping into loads of furs though, including Blue Otter, who I hadn't spoken to in ages. Takeru and Johnny Colt were there, the latter playing his guitar in the corridors in an impromptu fashion. A lot of the time, it seemed to be Nirvana's Something In The Way, but on Sunday I enquired as to how to do this as I'd like to play guitar in such an environment too. I had Placebo's Every You, Every Me stuck in my head for most of the con and would have loved to have performed that. Speaking of musicians, Fox Amoore was guest of honour this year but alas I didn't get opportunity to see him.
With Gao's bus to Rotterdam not until the early hours of Tuesday morning, I had perhaps foolishly said we could meet up on the Monday evening. He bought a local fur and a Japanese fur with him, with the four of us heading to Salami Social Club near Samariterstraße. Wolfie wasn't with us as he was feeling a little feverish, although tests suggested that neither he nor I had COVID. This was a shame as we had wanted to try it, and I saw this as a good opportunity to do so. In the end though I did try it. Only the outside seating was open, I guess because it was a Monday, and we could order the pizza through a little hatch. We then waited with a beer on the benches outside as it was cooked. I opted for a Black Pudding pizza which at €14.50 was quite expensive, but it was definitely a high quality thing (although I do wish they had dips). Everyone else agreed, while we even had a little dog friend come over and say hello. I didn't give her any pizza though.
After this, we headed back to the Estrel. The initial plan had been to go to Brewdog at Frankfurter Tor first but I guided people the wrong way to Frankfurter Allee. This meant, at least, that Gao got to buy some German sausages for the road and I managed to pick up some bread we desperately needed. With Gao's bags at the hotel and us only three stops away, we decided just to have a final drink there, as it also meant my Israeli friend Skie could also join us. This he did, and the five of us sat in the desolate beer garden underneath the statue of Zeus, over from the weird Jolly Rancher sculpture they recently erected, having a final beer. There were about 15 other furs in the lobby but the hotel was quite soleless and desolate, conventional and eerie. It was all rather dispiriting but at least we prolonged the con as much as we could.
I left shortly before midnight to the news that our friend Hunter needed to stay over. This we obliged him with, as we did last night too, and it was great having the company. Despite this, we are both really exhausted though. The con was really busy and travelling back each day, whether it was by taxi or by train, was a bit of a slog. Ultimately though it was worth it and I think Procyon enjoyed a more late night experience - his usual options tend to go to bed early. I was worried he would feel a little left out as we went off and did other things, but ultimately it all worked out. We even headed out on Sunday evening for his birthday celebrations, having delicious pan-Asian cuisine before ending in Braugier for a beer. Here we met a drunk man from the Isle of Man, whose friend was very interested in furry. She ended up staying at our table for around twenty minutes wanting to find out more, before we headed back to the hotel for the Dead Dog Dance. This, like every other dance at EF (maybe barring the Eurovision one which I missed) was the usual mix of trance/EDM and electro and thus not appealing. Certainly, there was none of the cheery feelgood cheese of a CFz dead dog. Still, Wolfie enjoyed it and as he danced, I spent an hour with Volskar and his partner, just chatting. It was one of many friends with whom we became reacquainted. Being the Estrel again did feel like a second home, even though it was four years ago since our last convention, which is why I think we'll be back. If we can save money by staying here too, all the better.
We ended up having four furs stay over during the last 10 days from four separate countries, such is the fantastic global nature of the fandom. Gao eventually turned up at 11pm on the Sunday before the con, which was incredibly late as the initial intention had been to come for the whole weekend. However, he had to complete a job application and then tried to traverese across Germany with the €9 ticket, which ended up being a 15 hour journey. My mental health was in the toilet that day for a variety of reasons, but seeing our friend definitely perked me up. Going into the week, I feared I didn't have the energy to be able to cope with the con but after chatting with Gao on the Sunday evening then going to share a mashed potato lunch with him on the Monday, my mood had lifted somewhat. This continued into the Monday evening, when Slovenian fur Firefur stopped over. Both Gao and he had booked rooms in the Estrel but needed a place to crash the night before they transferred there. We were more than happy to oblige, even though both furs were later than they advertised they were going to be. Firefur had decided to go to the Estrel as soon as he had arrived in Berlin as he wanted to register, meaning he arrived nearly 11pm rather than 9pm. Still, he had a security shift early the next morning so this was understandable while he did bring some tasty homemade chocolate for us. I had ordered this in advance, opting for the two options with the least cocoa content. The white chocolate was particularly divine.
Tuesday evening was the only day when no-one was staying, so we decided to head over to the Estrel as it was early arrival day. We reasoned we could register and get that done early, with fewer queues, not least because we had to run our Beer Tasting event on the Wednesday evening, with that still being a workday for us. I was feeling a little apprehensive due to my impoverished mental health, but fortunately as soon as we hit the outside bar after registering, we bumped into Swift and Pudge. They are always great craic and they were particularly excited about a plastic Kinder egg they had bought called Larry. He was quite a fruity character and he was to come up quite a lot over the course of the con - on one evening people were even giving blowjobs to his tiny plastic hands. The duo were certainly the best people to bump into early on, as they are always great fun, while they attracted a number of furs over to us too. One of these was Pazuzu, who ended up looking after our conbooks for most of the con, as we had failed to bring a bag with us that evening (the snake drawing on the back of them I could do without). This was one annoyance of commuting to the con, and we ended up not getting the books back until the Sunday evening. Anyway, it was so much fun that we ended up drinking six beers and getting a taxi back, making for a rather difficult workday the next day. We ploughed through it though and got ready for Procyon's arrival, who was going to stay with us for the bulk of the con.
We were to meet him after the Beer Tasting session, the only panel we were running this year. His flight was due to get in late, so we recommended we meet him at the Estrel, which was wise as so few people helped us clear up, it took us two hours just to get everything sorted. I had deliberately chosen the Wednesday evening for the tasting as I thought it would be a good icebreaker, and so it was, as numerous furs thanked me for such an easy free-flowing event. For some of these furs, it was their first ever con, so I am heartened that it made them more relaxed. We arrived about twenty minutes earlier to be greeted by around 25 expectant furs who were already there. As it got closer to our 9pm start, even more turned up, and we probably had a similar turnout to the time we did it four years ago. Nattrium was on board too, a Danish furry brewer who we had met the evening before, while Fiasco brought some of his homebrew which he sold on behalf of the charity. While we ran out of plastic cups, ultimately, everyone had a great time and we must have had over 60 beers to share. Alas, although I remembered bin bags and cups, I did forget tissues, which proved to be a huge mistake as there were a few spillages going on. One guy was even sick, on his friend's shoes. I think said friend wasn't then happy when a beer bottle splattered beer all over his face after some careless opening. Aside from this hiccup though, things went well, although it was disappointing that we were left with a large number of unopened beers. Indeed we needed the staff to get a tureen to decant it away, with us filling it three times.
As is often the case these days, we didn't do many of the planned events. I had wanted to do the Ponyplay one, which was a rare foray into fetish for EF, but this clashed with the Beer Tasting panel. I had also wanted to do the Rubberfurs panel but this clashed with a room party, as did the Transgender and Non-Binary event which I wanted to attend as it would have been first since accepting my gender fluidity. Speaking of this, I did spend a lot of the time wearing a skirt and tail, even having the courage to wear them on the train home both on the Friday and Saturday evening. I was too drunk and tired to care about other people's reactions, but no-one really said anything, with only the guy in the Spati looking at me somewhat askance. It was all quite liberating though and it was great to see so many cute guys wearing dresses and skirts over the duration of the con.
I did a few room parties, although not Spotti's rubber on as I was all fetished out by that time. Thursday in particular was a heavy fetish day, while Wolfie and I attended Qualgesit on both the Thursday and Friday evening. Surprisingly, it was the introduction night on the Thursday that was more popular, while on the Friday we only really went because our new American friend Raw Dog wanted to come. I had shown him most of the fetish stories on the Friday, both in Nollendorfplatz and Blackstyle up in Prenzlauer Berg, with the assistant in the latter taking a real shine to him as he was trying on his first ever pieces of rubber. In some respects, I felt a little like a third wheel, but things definitely picked up in the club. It was great to be back there after so long - over five months - and to be playing again was incredible. The same was true of meeting our fellow kinksters although I have subsequently lost my membership card which is annoying. It was around the same time that I found a €100 note in the parking lot outside the club and I returned it to the front desk in case someone wanted to claim it. On the Thursday, there were quite a few furs wearing full rubber suits which weren't really appropriate for such a club as it's very much more a doing than showy event, and some of the pups I couldn't recognise, as evidenced by their subsequent disappointment that I didn't speak to them in the bar. The scenes Wolfie and I did were increasingly intense and although I had a few panicked moments, things got more natural. I'm hoping to get back there after Folsom.
There were a number of sexual opportunities too and I could have even had anal, had I had the confidence. This is something I am going to work on, but it is confidence-boosting to know that I am attractive to some people. Certainly, when Raw Dog said it all seemed rather natural to me, that was quite affirming, particularly when it came to kink. As ever though, cons are never long enough and although I had some kink and sexual experiences with some people, there was so much going on I never thought it was enough. I even got more confidence on some of the Telegram groups too, seeing people making requests and getting what they wanted. This made me less scared to make requests of my own.
We didn't eat too much as Procyon, Wolfie and I spent a lot of time doing different things, although we did have breakfast/lunch at home each day. On one day, this included the crumpets that Procyon kindly brought (he also brought tasty crisps too, while Dalrish gave us some Cadbury's chocolate on the Sunday, which was a nice taste of home). This meant we had to snack where we can, although we did take advantage of the food trucks in the courtyard between the main stage and the hotel bar area. The sandwich place was particularly good, while the man serving behind the burrito concession I thought was a little rude as he said "I don't have eyes in the back of my head" when furs were just trying to be courteous as he looked busy. The bars closing at 3am was annoying though, with only one remaining open until that time. Alas, at 2am, when the others closed, it was often a case of finding which remaining bar was open and this changed every night. Most of the time, we could be outside but the heavy rain on Friday (which we got caught in while out fetish shopping) meant that much of the con that day was confined to the interior of the Estrel.
Taneli wanted to get a magnet from Leo, a Ukrainian vendor in the Dealers' Den who had travelled from L'viv. By the time I could get into there though, having braved all the queues, he had sold out. I did manage to pick up a stamp for him though while it was great catching up with Leo once more. We had met at WUFF and he told me how the Ukrainian furs are doing, who are currently in varying degrees of peril. We reminisced a lot about Kyiv and our trips there, hoping that this war will be over soon and we can all go back there. Everything he was selling was aimed at getting hard currency into the country and supporting the war effort, with considerable donations being made. While in the Dealers' Den I also bought a few furry books, having really doubled my efforts at reading this year. I did check prices and availability on Amazon though, choosing ones that I couldn't get on there as there was such a wide selection of literature. Indeed, I didn't realise it was quite that wide.
Eurofurence was more relaxed than ConFuzzled, partly because I knew fewer people there and partly because of its bigger size. This didn't stop me bumping into loads of furs though, including Blue Otter, who I hadn't spoken to in ages. Takeru and Johnny Colt were there, the latter playing his guitar in the corridors in an impromptu fashion. A lot of the time, it seemed to be Nirvana's Something In The Way, but on Sunday I enquired as to how to do this as I'd like to play guitar in such an environment too. I had Placebo's Every You, Every Me stuck in my head for most of the con and would have loved to have performed that. Speaking of musicians, Fox Amoore was guest of honour this year but alas I didn't get opportunity to see him.
With Gao's bus to Rotterdam not until the early hours of Tuesday morning, I had perhaps foolishly said we could meet up on the Monday evening. He bought a local fur and a Japanese fur with him, with the four of us heading to Salami Social Club near Samariterstraße. Wolfie wasn't with us as he was feeling a little feverish, although tests suggested that neither he nor I had COVID. This was a shame as we had wanted to try it, and I saw this as a good opportunity to do so. In the end though I did try it. Only the outside seating was open, I guess because it was a Monday, and we could order the pizza through a little hatch. We then waited with a beer on the benches outside as it was cooked. I opted for a Black Pudding pizza which at €14.50 was quite expensive, but it was definitely a high quality thing (although I do wish they had dips). Everyone else agreed, while we even had a little dog friend come over and say hello. I didn't give her any pizza though.
After this, we headed back to the Estrel. The initial plan had been to go to Brewdog at Frankfurter Tor first but I guided people the wrong way to Frankfurter Allee. This meant, at least, that Gao got to buy some German sausages for the road and I managed to pick up some bread we desperately needed. With Gao's bags at the hotel and us only three stops away, we decided just to have a final drink there, as it also meant my Israeli friend Skie could also join us. This he did, and the five of us sat in the desolate beer garden underneath the statue of Zeus, over from the weird Jolly Rancher sculpture they recently erected, having a final beer. There were about 15 other furs in the lobby but the hotel was quite soleless and desolate, conventional and eerie. It was all rather dispiriting but at least we prolonged the con as much as we could.
I left shortly before midnight to the news that our friend Hunter needed to stay over. This we obliged him with, as we did last night too, and it was great having the company. Despite this, we are both really exhausted though. The con was really busy and travelling back each day, whether it was by taxi or by train, was a bit of a slog. Ultimately though it was worth it and I think Procyon enjoyed a more late night experience - his usual options tend to go to bed early. I was worried he would feel a little left out as we went off and did other things, but ultimately it all worked out. We even headed out on Sunday evening for his birthday celebrations, having delicious pan-Asian cuisine before ending in Braugier for a beer. Here we met a drunk man from the Isle of Man, whose friend was very interested in furry. She ended up staying at our table for around twenty minutes wanting to find out more, before we headed back to the hotel for the Dead Dog Dance. This, like every other dance at EF (maybe barring the Eurovision one which I missed) was the usual mix of trance/EDM and electro and thus not appealing. Certainly, there was none of the cheery feelgood cheese of a CFz dead dog. Still, Wolfie enjoyed it and as he danced, I spent an hour with Volskar and his partner, just chatting. It was one of many friends with whom we became reacquainted. Being the Estrel again did feel like a second home, even though it was four years ago since our last convention, which is why I think we'll be back. If we can save money by staying here too, all the better.
