St. Louis was an intresting time. I had the deer suit for only about 2 weeks by then, and I was still somewhat unsure of using it a lot. I mean, I didn't want to tear it, and I didn't want to trash it. But the concept was to play in it and see what happened, so I was open to ideas.
When we got to the pro-shop I was "Happy to be here." (Blue Angles jargon...) Actually, I was happy to see some people I knew and I don't see a lot of. Fred Schultz, Tim Schloss, Tom Kaye, Wayne, Paintball Dave & Toni Rudig, all them. They're good people. And I like talking to them.
As usual, I overpacked for the game. But I also brought Comet, figuring that I won't wear it unless I got requested to. Three requests, and I'd do it. Like I said, I was kinda timid about using it, in the same way people are hesitant to batter their new cammies or abuse the new gun in the beginning.
I had pictures from Sam's two weeks before of "Comet" and the first games. Tim got a good belly laugh out of it and said really loud (as he does sometimes) "Who's THIS freak?" To which I could only reply "Umm... me?"
"Did you bring this with you?" he said. I said yeah, and I'd wear it if I got three requests. Tim turned right, then left, and grabbed two other guys. "You got you're three!" I was comitted. There are worse fates, true.
I think it was a karma trip, really. Bud Orr handed me an Autococker that weekend with the instructions "KEEP IT STOCK". Which I have! But that should give you an idea of the tone of the weekend. I also sat in on the infamous "BBQ" of industry giants. It was enlightening, to say the least. It was also really nice to hear what I've been saying, and it was really generous for them to invite me and Ikari.
The weather was hot. Really hot. Easily over 100 with heat index. Ikari, who came along, couldn't play. It was just too hot. (Her quote : "Hey, I'm old.")
I was on the blue team all day. The sides seemed even, none of the games were walks by any means. And, once again, every player has a free 'reincarnation' once a game. This let people get a little bonkers.
Blue had the long haul first game. They implemented a 'trench' that eliminated players could get to from the field and get off the field easily. It also made the long walk to the far flag easier. 45 minutes long, capture and return. Not a problem, except for the heat. I don't know the exact details, but it felt like the heat index was easily over 100 F.
The first game was very interesting. I did something I thought I'd never be able to do in a modern game of paintball, let alone in a deer suit. I belly crawled 30 feet in about 3-5 minutes in the center of the field, unseen by the opponents! I nailed a guy at range, who screamed "I'm DEAD! THAT DAMNED DEER SHOT ME!" And at that point I started thinking in small, thin thoughts hoping that I could become a Zen paintball master... Didn't work. They put in something like a half a case of paint on me before one finally got in.
But the gold team ended up winning the game. They had more people on the field than the blue team, and no flags were pulled. (For the trophy run, they had implemented a point system. 25 for the flag pull, 75 for a hang. Both teams cold get 'pull' points, but only one the hang points.) So they took an early, but small lead of 19 to 12 (or something like that...)
Game two, switch sides. Just after the game began, Ikari looked at me and said "I don't feel good." She was dehydrating fast, and not looking good. A asked a referee to make sure she got off the field ok (The impression I got from the referees was that if I exited the field, I would be eliminated. In retrospect, I wouldn't have, but it wasn't a good situation at all. But, She's ok, and none the worse for wear.) The referees were right on it, and everything was cool.
The game rocked, BTW. The blue team slammed the top of the field, and held the bottom end. We merely looped around to the flag. I ran out of gas half-way into the game, and was somewhat ineffective. I got hammered once, enough to dive out of bounds to try and get these people to stop shooting at me! (They didn't... I got around 15 hits on me, AFTER I was already eliminated...)
Blue eventually rallied together and made a final push. I was directing people into the shooters I could see. One guy did tag me in the chest, but I picked up the paintball. I called for a paintcheck, and showed it to the ref. He said I was still in the game. (After the game, I saw the paint on me, and probably would have taken myself out had I been able to see it... It was a hit on the same exact spot I had taken an earlier hit, so it was hard to detect.) Blue victory, 100 to Nil.
Now, I was really just rockin' & rollin' with the stock autococker, constantly checking it for velocity jumps. But, man... that thing just totally ROCKS!
After the second game I had to remove the suit. It was too hot to be playing in it, and I went to my standard cammies. But two games in the deer costume built up the confidence, and it also taught me something valuable. I now know why deer hunters don't come back with a lot of kills! They can't see 'em coming sometimes! (I'm JOKING!!!!)
The suit needed a really desperate washing after that, it had sand in it and all sorts of other stuff. Oh, and I pulled a tick from my body that night. I think it confused me for a real deer.
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