Gary Harper
August 08, 2020 5:08 PM
Lonely GM - LFG by Gary Harper
Aleena was having a blast at the party. There were lots of people and they all seemed to be having a good time as well. Crystal and Charity Balls had a heck of a performance to kick things off. Then the dancing had begun and Aleena was very glad that she hadn't had a minorly traumatic dancing experience in potions class semi-recently. That may have put her off of this sort of thing. She gyrated around awkwardly a bit, her performance skill was not very high and it showed. It wasn't long before she noticed that her escorts were missing.That was a bit rude. Ziggy and the Goblin King had brought her out here to have some fun and show her off and then they vanished? She planted her hands on her hips and gazed about the gyrating masses. Charity was easy enough to spot, but Aleena didn't see Ziggy in that area, not that she really expected to. So, she did the next logical thing, she began to patrol the area. Maybe they had just gone to get some refreshments. That would probably be a good place to start. Strolling in the direction of the drinks, she spotted Evelyn and Heinrich. Poor Heinrich, he looked uncomfortable, she smiled and waved at them before continuing her search.
Aleena had completed her circuit and picked up a drink in the process. Either her Ziggy and GK's stealth checks were far beyond her own perception checks, or they weren't here. Since she had a difficult time believing that Ziggy's stealth modifiers weren't negative at the moment, that only left one conclusion. They must have gone outside. No problem, it was a bit stuffy in here and fresh, cool air might feel good with all this armor. So she made her way to the door.
Thanks be to the Raven Queen, seasonal goddess of winter, it felt good out here. Aleena stood just outside the door a moment letting the cold air wrap around her while she looked about for her lost companions. It didn't take long to spot them just a short distance away. They may have been out here a bit too long, it looked like they were huddling together for warmth. She smiled and took a step in their direction to urge them back inside before they froze to death out here.
Perception check: 1d20 => 20 Critical success! Wait... are they..?
Insight check (dis): low(2d20) => 20, 20 Critical success! But... she... and Ness....
Will save: 1d20 => 3 Failure.
Gary forgot all else as he took in the situation. His drink fell to the ground unheeded. Lyssa hadn't come for him. Why would she have? Why would anyone? He sighed and trudged back inside. He supposed they would be plenty warm enough without him.
Back inside he gritted his teeth against the music and lights. Now for some reason, it was to0 loud and too flashy. The swirling masses of people writhing to the deafening beat of the music were just too much, too close. He wanted quiet, darkness, and solitude. But where? He looked around the room filled with throngs of glitz and glitter, but saw no place that offered such sanctuary. He looked back at the door outside. No, definitely not back out there. Could he apparate back to the McLeods? A quick honest self-appraisal revealed that was a bad idea, he couldn't focus enough right now. As bad as things felt now, he didn't think splinching would help. He needed space, he needed quiet to think to process. He made his way around the edge of the room and spotted the offshoot hall that contained the bathrooms. It was a little quieter, he could catch his breath here at least.
He flopped his back against the wall at the end of the hall and slid down to the floor. The foam sword squealed a bit and twisted uncomfortably as he hit the ground. Pulling it loose, he dropped it on the floor next to him. What was wrong with him? Why did nobody want him? Jasmine was looking for better, Tatiana was way out of his league, Ness and Lyssa apparently prefer each other's company... where did that leave him? Alone, on the floor of a bathroom hallway... with a set of fake bosoms strapped to his chest.
He looked around and an absurd thought struck him. Without being able to control it, he began to chuckle mirthlessly. Which bathroom do you use at a drag party? The ridiculousness of the entire situation seemed to cascade down upon him. He should be glad for Ness and Lyssa, he was... he was just... It didn't matter. They were happy, Evelyn and Heinrich were happy, Kir and Zev were happy, Parker and Cleo were happy. Everyone was happy. Everyone but... He sighed and drug himself back to his feet. Everyone but him. Oh well, such was life, it didn't matter. He was happy that they were happy. Yay for them. He summoned the sword into his hand, swung it around Cloud Strife victory style and planted it back into its place on his back.
Maybe he'd go find Parker to hang out with. He should probably try to summon Aleena again though before going back out there. She handled the crowds and such much better than he did. He closed his eyes and tried to find the warrior woman in his brain again, but was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. He opened his eyes to look at the newcomer, and couldn't help but grin.
2
Gary Harper
Lonely GM - LFG
1404
1
5
Korraline
August 08, 2020 5:20 PM
Other planets, wanna check some out? by Korraline
This was only the second time Korraline had done drag. It was fun, and she’d come as moral support for her best friend, Tina (Thomas in real life). She didn’t have a drag name yet. Names were hard; she was still working on one. Her ‘persona’ was still in flux, too, but she was starting to figure out what she liked and didn’t. Ties, for example, were bad. Well, the real ones guys wore to business meetings were. Clip-on bow-ties were cool. So were fezes. She’d also gone with a tweed jacket.She might have taken a lot of her inspiration for tonight’s outfit from Eleven.
It was a wizard’s drag event, though, so most people probably thought she was just being original and out-there with her headwear, and traditional muggle male business with the rest of her clothes.
She was giving bonus points to everyone who called her Doctor, and was generally using that as her moniker for the night in lieu of a better drag name.
Right now though, she needed to answer a call of nature, so she told Tina to have fun without her and she’d be back in a little while. Tina . . . might have heard her. Her friend was dancing with another queen and hadn’t been paying much attention to Korraline for a while now.
When she was done with that, she spot-checked her fez in the mirror while she washed her hands and it seemed to be holding up all right. There was no visible sign that it was reverting back to the witch’s hat it had started the night as.
Satisfied that her transfiguration wandwork was up to snuff, and the hair charm that had trimmed back her locks to the Doctor’s style was holding as well (the color was naturally almost the same, so she hadn’t had to worry about that), the seventeen year old left the bathroom and almost ran over a woman-warrior.
“Pardon,” Korraline apologized in her best approximation of a British accent. “Are you off to defeat evil? I have a screwdriver.” And she pulled a prop sonic screwdriver out of one of her pockets to demonstrate.
1
Korraline
Other planets, wanna check some out?
0
Korraline
0
5
Gary Harper
August 08, 2020 5:56 PM
Sounds exciting, I'm game if you need a Companion by Gary Harper
"The fault was mine, Doctor." Gary replied with a smile and an apologetic bow. The person before him looked simply amazing. To be perfectly fair and honest, he preferred Ten slightly over Eleven, but in this case it was largely a moot point. The girl, he was going on that assumption for the time being as the sound of the door had been from the closer Ladies Room door and that this was a drag event and she was dressed like a man, looked amazing. However, if Ness had taught him anything, it was to not assume such things, at least outwardly until some sort of preferential indication was given. Not that he'd ever gotten one from Ness, but to be fair, he'd really never asked either.First impressions flashed through his mind to be properly cataloged later, however a few of the main bits stuck out in his current mindset. This was a Wizard event and she was dressed as a very Muggle character. Not only a Muggle character, but one associated with general nerd culture as well. She was most likely a Muggleborn witch. Which in his book was fantastic! However, best not to jump to conclusions, about anything. She did however ask if he was off to defeat evil, and offered her screwdriver in assistance.
"Evil potentially lurks about every corner," He his smile turned into a playful grin. How deep did her potential geekery go? "It's dangerous to go alone." This was the point at which he felt it would be good and proper to introduce himself. He had no idea how to do that though under these conditions. At this event was he Gary Harper, Sonoran Aladren? Or was he Aleena the Awesome, slayer of evil?
His smiled faltered a bit and the pause drew just a touch longer than it should, "Sorry." he apologized, "I'm pretty new to this. Should I introduce myself with my real name or my alter ego's name?" Then he added pointing at her prop, "Also, that is an awesome sonic screwdriver."
2
Gary Harper
Sounds exciting, I'm game if you need a Companion
1404
0
5
Korraline
August 08, 2020 6:18 PM
I'm open to accepting a new Companion by Korraline
The warrior called her Doctor. The other person was a winner. She grinned at them - that was totally in character; Eleven grinned at a lot of things. Then she laughed as they quoted Legend of Zelda at her. "I don't want your sword. I'm dangerous enough without it," she promised. "But I don't mind a Companion." Her eyes roved up and down the person she'd hadn't quite run into. "Though you do look a bit more Xena than Inara." She tilted her head in curious interest to see if they caught either of those references. Though if they knew Zelda, surely they knew Xena and Firefly, right?"Oh, either way," she promised when they got caught up in confusion on whether or not breaking character was allowed. "Whichever you're most comfortable with. This is only my second time, but my friend, who's done this a lot more, said you do what's right for you. I'm the Doctor Korraline tonight, Korraline normally, and my pronouns are 'she and her'." Under the circumstances, those were important to note.
"You don't go to Ilvermorny," she stated with certainty because her school was not so large that she could have missed this person in her classes for seven whole years, even if they didn't normally look like this.
1
Korraline
I'm open to accepting a new Companion
0
Korraline
0
5
Gary Harper
August 08, 2020 7:15 PM
Well then, please accept my application *hands over character sheet* by Gary Harper
"Oh, you don't need to tell me twice," He smiled at her, she'd picked up on the Zelda reference! Awesome. "Anyone who can stare down an alien armada coalition is someone to be reckoned with." Gary cocked his head to the side just a bit, "You know, I'm still not sure if that was an Intimidation or a Diplomacy check." She had to know about skill checks... please dear Sune, let her know about skill checks.She wouldn't mind a companion. Don't read that much into it. She's being friendly, right? The Doctor's eyes swept over Aleena's form and Gary wondered if this is what it felt like to be 'checked-out'. He restrained the urge to puff out his fake bosom as it seemed a bit ridiculous considering the situation as a whole. A tingle shot down his spine as she compared him to Xena and Inara though. She was testing him as well! What did that mean?!
"True," he replied. He hadn't had a full blown geek-off for ages. It was a delicate thing, you had to match the incoming reference with one just a subtle, or more-so if you could. She'd done well with his Zelda test, indicating knowledge of the rest of the saying without overtly stating the source. Now he had two that he need to deal with in response and she'd very cleverly twisted her own Doctor Who reference into one from Firefly, she was good at this. "Unfortunately I seemed to have left my chakram at home." Dangit... why was his brain only spitting out 'Captain Tightpants' references? He was pretty sure that wasn't the route he wanted to go. Gah.. he was getting nothing else that even came close to working and he was running out of time. No... don't do it! Then his mouth started moving against his wishes, "That could be arranged sometime if you'd prefer, but I may need a Captain Tightpants to accompany me." Oh he did not just say that! Stupid brain!
"Well then, you are twice as experienced as me at this." Gary held out his hand to her. The pronoun cemented in his head and he admittedly gave an inward sigh of relief. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Doctor Korraline, I'm Gary Harper, a.k.a. tonight at least, Aleena the Awesome. I use 'he and him'." That sounded really weird to say. He just hadn't before, they were default. He was a he... simple, but not so much around here... or maybe anywhere really. His alter ego name sounded really cheesy as well, which maybe it was supposed to, but for some reason he felt the need to explain it. "Aleena is what my parents were going to name me if I had been a girl, so I thought it fitting. 'the Awesome' was added by my friend who got me into this... and sounds maybe a bit like your friend." He paused just a moment, "Does your friend have a thing for alliteration? Mine apparently does."
Gary shook his head at her observation, "Nope, I'll be graduating from Sonora this year, then off to MENTAL after that." He looked at Korraline apprasingly, "I take it you do go to Ilvermorny? I remember looking at their information a long time ago when Dad and I were trying to figure out where I should go. We had... interesting ideas about the wizard world at the time and we picked up on the fact that the wizard that came to talk to us had graduated from Sonora, so..." he gestured a little helpless hand wave "We decided not raise the nice wizard's ire and picked Sonora."
2
Gary Harper
Well then, please accept my application *hands over character sheet*
1404
0
5
Korraline
August 08, 2020 7:52 PM
Hmm. CHA is not your STR, is it? by Korraline
The warrior confirmed their solid grasp of Whovian lore with a shake at RPGs. Korraline laughed. "Well, whichever it was, it definitely wasn't a bluff or deception check," she parried back. She wasn't quite sure what a chakram was - her mind went to chakra from Avatar, but that wasn't right, and she guessed it was probably a counter to Xena's name being mentioned. It was always a risk to name drop a series you never actually saw, but she could recognize some of the characters anyway.Fortunately, she wouldn't have to riposte on that point because the returning reference for Firefly had her breaking out into unfeigned giggles. "Oh, but sword mistress, I barely know you." They were definitely flirting with her, so she fluttered her eyelashes back, even though that was a much less likely behavior for Eleven to engage in. But then, he was proposing a second drag date, and she wouldn't put eyelash fluttering past Malcolm Reynolds. She was pretty sure that was canon.
Gary was a he. She'd thought he probably was, but hadn't wanted to assume.
When he explained his naming choice, she couldn't help laughing a little. "No, I don't think Tina has a thing for alliteration. I have no idea what my parents would have named me if I was boy. They got the blood test back with a definitive sex before they'd settled on one. But it would probably be some mash-up of 'Aang' and one of Neil Gaiman's characters if my current name is any indication - it's spelled with a K and two Rs," she added to explain a reference he probably couldn't hear. She considered the possibilities and her brain got caught on 'Saangman' and couldn't move past it, so she shuddered a little, and said, "I think I'm glad I'm a girl."
Then he mentioned his current and future schools, and she exclaimed, "No way! You're going to MENTAL, too? That's awesome! I'm going there next year as well! And yeah, I'm a seventh year Thunderbird over at Ilvermorny now. My parents met there, so they didn't really consider anywhere else. They're both muggleborns," she added, to explain how someone who knew as much about TV shows as she did could have two magical parents.
1
Korraline
Hmm. CHA is not your STR, is it?
0
Korraline
0
5
Gary Harper
August 08, 2020 8:59 PM
Don't ask for a performace check unless you want evidence of that by Gary Harper
Praise be to all the deities above and below! She knew at least something of RPGs! He wanted to hug her! He didn't though, that would probably be a poor choice right at this juncture. Gary wasn't entirely sure what was going on here, but he had really high hopes. Hopes that he desperately did not want to dash against the cold, hard, unfeeling reality of the universe. Was it possible to not mess this up? Could this... become something? Then she was laughing at him, and for a moment his heart dropped into the abyss.Wait... she was doing that eyelash thing? And still smiling at him. She was laughing at his Tightpants statement, not him? Was she... flirting? Was he...? Oh no... how was this supposed to work? His heart buoyed back up to his chest and disturbed a nest of some fluttering insects in his stomach as it went past. He smiled at her, that was something he should do. Smiling was good. Casual, casual was good to. Fly casual, right. Yes.
Fortunately she was talking again and he was paying rapt attention. He nodded at her history, Aang was not a name that rang any bells for him but he wracked his brain to find it in there somewhere. It related to her name, Coraline... no. She corrected. Korraline? Gaiman he knew, he'd written Coraline so the mash up name would be Korr? Korra? That was from the same thing as Aang? Nothing... search results (0) returned his brain. Crap. "I'm certainly glad that you're a girl."
What the heck was that? He could feel his face turning red. How had that slipped out!? Stupid mouth doing things while his brain was distracted! "I mean.... " his brain raced trying to figure out a good way to end any of that. This was not casual. Curse his low charisma modifier! Should he just stop and apologize? He really wasn't sure if he could just roll with it... what would Heinrich do? No, that was a terrible idea. Yet he'd still gotten Evelyn's attention. Heh, what would Evelyn do? Well, that was easy, YOLO.
Gary smiled at Korraline, "I mean... otherwise I might feel just a bit awkward asking if you wanted to go dance a bit." This was a bad idea. Very bad. Please don't let this be a repeat of potions class, please.... "People may start to talk if we hang out alone in the bathroom hallway to long." Where were these words coming from?
He offered her his hand as he turned towards the main room, the stopped, stunned. "Really? That is awesome! I'm looking into their architectural program." He grinned at her, "I'm going to design up some real dungeons and wizard towers someday. Whether or not there will be any dragons in them is yet to be seen. How about you?"
"A Thunderbird huh?" Gary eyed her up again, "I have no idea how Ilvermorny defines their houses, so you'll have to tell me what that means. I'm an Aladren over at Sonora. We're the 'Problem solvers, who are logical and strong willed. We love learning and independence.'" He quoted. "I'm also a pure muggleborn myself, hopefully you won't hold any of that against me though." Gary gave her a grin and a wink.
2
Gary Harper
Don't ask for a performace check unless you want evidence of that
1404
0
5