Kyle, 23, Seattle

Tell me about your costume.
I'm an AT-ST driver, and I'm with a Star Wars costuming group. We're here at ComiCon trying raise some money for a charity.

How much in-group incest is there?
There are the occasional times after cons when we go out, get totally wasted and, uh... yeah. We do have quite a few women in the group and our garrison and people will hook up and have some fun. Sometimes more than two at a time.

Really? Have you?
I have not been so lucky. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of armor. That's kind of a drawback.

Wait, wait. Do they incorporate the armor? Is that a thing?
Well, all I can say is that I'm not that high on the totem pole there. I have mostly soft costumes, but the harder the armor you have, the better off in the standings you are.

So, the guy dressed up as Darth Vader, is he the leader and therefore the one having the most sex?
Well, he's married, but he likes to pretend he's God. And as far as we're concerned, yeah, we bow down to him.

 

Mark, 31, New York

Do you have any favorite hook-up stories?
I actually do. This was in Florida. She was a Magic Dancer.

Oh, the cheerleaders?
Yes. We're at a party. We're going at it on the couch, but we're so fucking drunk that we both pass out.

In the middle of the party?
No, the party's way over. The sun's coming up. She's getting up, and that wakes me up. And I'm like, "All right, round two!" But it's not looking too good. She goes over to the stereo, turns around, unbuckles her belt, pulls her pants down, and starts peeing on it. I'm laughing and trying to figure out what to do, and she's looking for the handle, trying to flush the stereo.

 

Angie, 22, Chicago

Do you have any crazy exes?
Most of them. When I first moved back to Chicago I met this really attractive Englishman who was sort of homeless. He moved into my house, we had amazing sex for seven months, then he sold all my things for crack money and transgendered prostitutes.

Uhh…
He wasn't, like, homeless homeless — he had a buskers license, so he was a professional public performer. But then his license ran out, and he didn't bother getting another one, and suddenly needed money for crack. And transgendered prostitutes.

You are making this up.
No! I'm not! I mean, I kind of knew about the crack habit, but it didn't really bother me because what you do to your body is your business, so long as you're not hurting anyone else. But then, well, you know. He sold all my shit in one big go, and then tried to take my cat. I mean, really? You're going to be homeless, on crack, and I'm supposed to let you take my cat, too?

Is the sex better or worse with homeless guys?
They're definitely more grateful, if for nothing else than to be indoors. It is a lot harder to tell them to go home, though.

 

Jake, 27, Los Angeles

What do you do?
I am a research and development scientist.

Does that help you pick up girls?
No, I usually come up with something awesomer-sounding like "tiger tamer" or something like that.

Do you have any good hookup stories?
Well, I'm sort of ordinary and monogamous, so my hookup stories are sort of bland. They're something like "I dated her for a while, and then we had sex. At home." That's pretty much my experience. There's one that's sort of interesting and funny, but it's sort of embarassing. There was a girl who wrote a post on Craigslist, and she said that she was going to Biosphere, and she only had room for one person to be there on her conjugal visits. The Biosphere is a terrarium out in the middle of the desert whose atmosphere is supposed to recreate Earth's. Scientists live there for about six months, doing experiments on sustainablity.

Did you meet her?
Yeah. She'd written, "Write what you'll do in our conjugal visit, and I will pick the best." I thought that this sounded hilarious and awesome, and I'm not really thinking anything at all about this girl. I'm thinking to myself, "I have a chance to go to Biosphere!" I'm a huge nerd, so this seems really sweet and I'm excited by science. So, I write this kind of jokey, funny, half-bodice-ripper-novel-half-dorky-environmental thing. She writes back to me and says "You win! You're really funny!" I think to myself "Yes! I'm going to Biosphere!" So, I meet her for a drink — and I won't say anything about her, but she seemed nice enough — and we're chatting and things are going well. I'm eventually like "So, Biosphere..." and she says, "Yeah, I can't believe the amount of people who actually believe that!" I was suddenly completely depressed and couldn't believe that I'd fallen for this huge, elaborate lie.

You were disappointed that you didn't get to go to Biosphere?
Yeah! I didn't even get to meet someone who was going to Biosphere.

 

Jessica, 25, Philadelphia

What do you do?
I'm like Penny from Almost Famous.

That is not a job.
Yes, it is.

You have a cupcake tattoo on your ass.
Yeah, I didn't eat meat for three years and got a cupcake on my ass for each year that I didn't eat meat. I ask people to pick the best one, and I can totally filter people out like that.

I like the one with the skull.
Wrong one! It's the pink one.

Interviews and photography by Jamie Calder, Chris Givens, Sean McGurn, Meghan Pleticha, Alex Rudinski, and Joe Streckert.