So, I've got a question for you [Korraline] on Alumni

Gary Harper

March 28, 2022 6:26 PM

So, I've got a question for you [Korraline] by Gary Harper

"Alright, and you all somehow manage to sled down the mountain ahead of the avalanche." Gary shook his head with a slight grin at his players, their schemes and their dice which actually let them pull it all off. "The mayor is overjoyed at your success of the defeat of such an abominable creature and your harrowing escape. The Yuletide festivities can now happen with the return of the snowflake crystal and you are the guests of honor. There is much merriment for all, excellent job folks." The session had been a fun holiday themed one-shot near the end of midterm after the 'traditional holiday' things had been done, and he thought it had gone well.

His players packed things up and drifted out with farewells, all save one. Now Gary's time was up, his stomach felt like it was eating away at itself in nervous anxiety. His plans had been working so far, all was going smoothly, but... what if...? No, he had to. He wanted to, He'd been planning this for months, trying to keep a secret, hopefully succeeding. The game had mostly been something to distract him until the time came, but it had also been a little bit of setup. He started collecting up the little baubles and trinkets and treasure chests he'd gotten used to using to hand out loot to his players.

"I guess this didn't come up," Gary paused as nervousness dug into him again. He held up the one little chest that had been at Korraline's spot at the table to his fantastic, wonderful and beautiful girlfriend. He had worked hard to make sure that her character found and kept that particular treasure without making it look like he desperately wanted that to happen. When asked about it, he simply responded that it was obviously magical, and that if a situation came up during the evening where it would matter, he would let her know. None had in the game, but the evening wasn't over yet. "Perhaps it's time has come at last."

He gave Korraline the best smile he could, "That ring has the power to bind two souls together, if you want it to." As he spoke the words, the somewhat cheesy, fake-looking ring slowly changed into a simple gold band set with a small diamond. Far smaller than she deserved, but a little bigger than his bank account could handle comfortably. He slid to one knee in front of her doing his utmost to conceal the nervousness now coursing through his body. "The choice is yours, will you marry me?"

2 Gary Harper So, I've got a question for you [Korraline] 1404 1 5

Korraline

April 03, 2022 5:43 PM

And I've got an answer for you by Korraline

"Whoo!" Korraline cheered, both as a player for successfully completing the scenario, and as a character who was having a bit of fun while not dying in an avalanche. Not dying was always a good result, but doing it with style was exhilarating, especially for her swashbuckler. She kind of wanted to make a bit of role play out of the end scene, to show how completely unbearable she'd become with their success, and maybe to use some of the treasure that hadn't been functionally necessary in the adventure but might still look cool enough to wear to the celebration, but Gary was already packing up and the others were putting away their dice, so she did the same.

The others left in groups and pairs and she called out good byes and holiday well wishes as they did.

Then it was just her and Gary. She cleaned up some of the fallen crumbs under and around the table with a charm that sent them right into the garbage bin as he collected the treasures that were scattered around the player spots. He drew attention to one particular treasure that her character had collected but never got to use. It had seemed kind of important that specifically the swashbuckler had it on their person, and she'd been curious to find out what it was for, but whatever it was hadn't triggered.

Usually he told her about some of the secret GM things going on behind the scenes after the adventure was over, and when he suggested that its time had come, she figured she was about to find out after all. "Head canon is that I wore it to the party," she informed him, "whatever it, as long as it looks cool. And if that made me invisible or something, I will roll with that."

But it wasn't invisibility. It was a binding ring. Not really something she thought might be important to her character but . . . "Oh!" she exclaimed, the clues dropping together as it revealed its true form as a diamond ring.

Gary dropped to one knee and held up the ring toward her, and asked the question that often accompanied soul binding diamond rings.

She had not expected this. Well, she kind of had, truthfully, but not tonight. They'd talked, a little, about After School, about The Future, and about The Rest of Their Lives, and nothing had been dauntingly incompatible. She'd figured he would ask her to marry him, but not until the spring, when they were closer to graduation, when The Future gleamed bright and immediate, rather than with a whole drudging final semester left to go before they were free to pursue Life Beyond Academia.

"Hang on," she teased him a little, pulling one of her twenty-siders out of the bag. "Secret charm check."

She rolled it, and it came up a 3, but that was why it was secret: so there could be GM fudging in the right direction. "With bonuses, that's a 21 against a DC check of 15, so, yes. Yes, I will marry you," she took the ring, kissed her fiancé, and put the ring on her finger.

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