Freshman Tenth Week and Winter/Spring Intersession

Altclair is Naomi's campaign, set at the college of Altclair, which is somewhere in Minnesota. Think Pamela Dean's Tam Lin or GURPS Illuminati IOU. Other source material (that Naomi's not familiar with) might include Elizabeth Hand's Waking the Moon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and most of Charles de Lint. Players are me (Justin Thorne), Josh (Michael Conaway), and Manny (Jim Gaffney).

From the Desk of Justin Thorne:

Tenth Week or, It's Amazing What a Real Disaster Can Do for One's Sense of Perspective

Dramatis Personae

• Michael Conaway - chivalrous idiot
• Delilah Morgan - Michael's girlfriend
• Helen Abernathy - my girlfriend
• Rashid Ali - my roommate
• Dicey Tillerman - maker, mentoring me this quarter
• Jason Guillard - theater major, playing Mr. Roat in Wait Until Dark
• Justin Thorne - lunatic director

Michael was shot, but is doing reasonably well.

It seems that as the gallant White Knight was travelling to Canada, he espied a vile blackguard assaulting a damosel. His chivalrous nature compelled him to hurry to her rescue. He remonstrated with the blackguard, who told him to be on his way, and emphasized this message with his fists. In what he admits was a grave tactical error, Michael pulled his sword. The man, who, it turns out, was both a drug dealer and a pimp, pulled a gun.

When the dust had cleared, Michael had two bullets in him, and the drug dealer was bleeding to death from a severed artery in his wrist, despite the White Knight's sincere attempt to save him. Michael spent a couple of days in the hospital and the rest of the week recuperating at his parents' house. After managing to get on both Delilah's and Helen's nerves, I finally did something productive and explained the situation to Michael's professors. Fortunately, even Professor Hillary was willing to cut him some slack, under the circumstances. (1)

Michael wants me to make him a bulletproof shirt. I'll see what I can do, but I sincerely hope that he has the good sense never to test it! Some idiots want to know how he took down a guy with a gun so they can practice. It is truly frightening to realize that, stupid as we are, there are people on this campus who are even stupider.

Michael doesn't feel good about what he did. I suppose this is best. I mean, neither do I, but frankly, better the other guy than him, though better still, neither. I pointed out that he at least had better taste than I did. This turned into an I'm-stupider-than-you-are contest, but when I pointed out how long that would take, we agreed to just read our doors. I suggested he let me interview him for the Advantage (2) to try to curb idiots who want to duplicate his feat. He said he wanted to wait until after his court date, and then said he'd use that as an answer for the idiots who think that killing is cool.

Michael's had some trouble with nightmares. Matt doesn't want to trade the cap for the dreamcatcher, since, as Daniel said, if it ain't broke, etc. I caught something in the catcher, though I'm not sure what, and at Dicey's advice, burned it. So, I offered the dreamcatcher to Michael, who said to give it to Delilah, which would help both of them. (3) I left it outside her door, with a note. She sent me a thank you a couple of days later. As I told Rashid, we seem to have found a way of communicating without animosity, at last.

The play is coming together. Blocking is much better, and Jason's still scaring the crap out of me. I wonder how much of this is because I'm more relaxed since Michael got shot. It just made everything else seem so much less earthshaking.

Intersession

Dramatis Personae

• Ash Wednesday - Michael's teacher, mage
• Jennifer Corbet - mage, sensitive
• Dicey Tillerman - maker, mentoring me this quarter
• Jessica London - my Suzy in Wait Until Dark
• Daniel Case - my AD (4)
• Sarah Lacy - mysterious diva of the Theater Department who claims that she talks to the stars and they answer her
• Rashid Ali - my roommate who may want to kill me the first week of Spring Quarter
• Justin Thorne - drunken lunatic who will have to find out just how much trouble he's in once Spring Quarter starts

It's been a quiet week, very different from last intersession. I needed this break very much.

The play went very well, with one slight problem: I struck the entire audience (including myself) blind. This was not intentional. (5)

Fortunately, Ash was in the audience for the first performance, and he managed to undo the effect after a few seconds. But it was a terrifying few seconds, not knowing what had happened or why, or what to do about it when I couldn't see a thing. It didn't affect the cast, which makes sense - they were part of the effect.

Ash said that if I couldn't undo the effect, I should plant a mage in the audience to restore sight in conjunction with the lights going on. Jennifer agreed to do this, so I owe her at least one dinner. (6) I talked with Dicey about undoing the effect, but the only thing she could think of was to have Jessica act less well, and she'd have to kill me if I asked her to do that.

The next time I direct, there are a few things I'll need to do:

-- Photographs/sketches, the latter being less obtrusive

-- Consider the effect on the audience on the magical level

-- Get someone like Jennifer or Matt to sit in on later rehearsals

-- Perhaps create something to amplify and reflect any magical effects on me, combined with item three so that whatever I do can be undone. I want no surprises like this one, even if the effect would almost certainly not have been permanent.

Dicey's back in Maryland. She says to keep in touch. I'd like to see her working on the boats, but I doubt I'll have time this quarter. I still need to make her a thank-you present. Ash too, as he put us in contact with each other.

Note for future reference: I am a very unsafe happy drunk. I got thoroughly smashed at the cast party, said some amazingly stupid things, doodled obscenely on a pair of perfectly good jeans, and woke up three inches above the ground (in addition to waking up sick and hungover two hours before Macon's final). It seems I had the brilliant idea of creating a flying carpet, and I managed to succeed, even if it is the world's lowest flying carpet. This actually wouldn't have been so bad except that it's Rashid's prayer mat. Mom explained what I did, and I think I can un-do it, if he wants. I sort of hope he'll let me buy it from him, though. (7)

New twist(er) on the Sarah front. She and Mom walked around each other like a pair of lionesses getting ready for a turf war. Daniel said he had no clue why, but he didn't like it. So, I asked Mom.

She says that Sarah reacted to her with dislike/distrust/apprehension and that Sarah had no reason to do so based on what she could have known of Mom. Therefore, it seems likely - or, at least, possible - that Sarah is geting information from elsewhere. I suggested the stars, and Mom suggested that "the stars" might be code for wherever Sarah -really- gets her information from. I also confirmed that she did not tell Daniel - or Sarah - to keep an eye out for or on me (which was possible) or that I am a maker (which was not, since neither she nor I knew that until after I got to Altclair, and Mom didn't yet know it when Sarah mentioned it to me). So, Sarah lied, or at any rate, was not entirely accurate about the source of her information.

The question is, how does she learn what she learns? What price does she pay for the information? I need to see if Jennifer learned anything yet.

Mother, while not a mage, is, as she put it, a "fair to middling" witch. She said she'll do what she can in that field to keep me safe(r) as I poke my nose into Sarah's business. And the gargoyles. And, possibly, God help me, the Econ building.

Footnotes

(1) Professor Hillary teaches History, Michael's major. Michael was annoyed at the B+ she gave him last semester, when he missed a lot of classes. She said that she'd change it retroactively to an A if Michael did not miss more than two classes per quarter for the next two quarters when he completed the History sequence. It got amusing as, first, everyone left messages for Professor Hillary explaining why Michael was missing class, and then, everyone, including her, left messages for Michael assuring him that she understood.

Beth Gillespie, one of Michael's friends, was there when Justin talked to Professor Hillary. So, she told Michael, who'd left a message on the professor's machine, that one of someone had already talked to her.

Michael: Who?

Beth: Your weird friend with the camera.

Michael: That - describes him adequately.

Meanwhile, Justin went to GALA, the Gay and Lesbian Association, to ask his friend Ken Maravitch to give him some work to keep him out of trouble.

Justin: My girlfriend's mad at me and my best friend got shot, so -

Ken: Your best friend got shot?

Justin (running the past few seconds over in his mind to make sure that this is, in fact, what he said): Uh, yeah. Got any scut work?

(2) The school newspaper. Naomi figured it would be something dreadful like The Altclair Advantage.

As for the doors, Delilah painted them. Justin's says, "I wasn't thinking. --Justin" Michael's says, "I wasn't thinking either."

(3) Giving Delilah the dreamcatcher helped because of the link between her and Michael. This way, Delilah didn't get nightmares about Michael getting shot, and Michael didn't get Delilah's nightmares on top of his own.

(4) Assistant Director

(5) Reactions to this varied.

Jim (to his sister): Oh, Justin blinded everyone in the audience, but they got better.

Cat: Are you serious?

Jim: I don't -need- to exaggerate about -my- college!

Justin: The entire audience went blind.

Dicey: What did you do, make them play with themselves?

Jim didn't notice everyone going blind since he was in the cast. He was very surprised when Justin filled him in.

Jim: But Daniel said everything was fine.

Justin: Daniel lied through his teeth. What did you expect?

(6) Justin (to Jennifer, on phone): Hi, it's Thorne - I mean Justin - I mean - it's me.

This is perfectly in character, as Justin is Thorne to the Theater Department and quite likely to get a bit confused under stress, but the amusing thing is that it just came out of my mouth naturally. That is, I wasn't deliberately playing Justin flustered; I was being flustered.

(7) Justin's leaving out a lot here.

While he was drunk, he commented that Sarah was very pretty, for a barracuda. Sarah, naturally, was in earshot at the time. Fortunately, she considered this a compliment.

Naomi: God looks after fools, lunatics, and children, and Justin's at least two out of three.

Matt kissed Justin on the forehead, thanking him for the cap which kept him from having nightmares. Justin proceeded to annoy Daniel by announcing very loudly that Matt's cap had Snoopy on it.

Justin got the idea for the flying carpet when Daniel carried him out of the cast party. Daniel had been getting very mixed messages from Justin, and decided that Justin might be drunk enough to accept a pass. Actually, Daniel would probably have had more luck if Justin had been less drunk.

As it was, Justin wanted to impress Daniel by making something, and being off the ground anyway, he thought of a flying carpet. This was something Naomi and I had been planning for a while.

When there's a gadgeteer character, the GM needs to be careful about what she allows him to create, so I'd been keeping Naomi up to date about what Justin had been doing. First, he'd tried to do a cap of invisibility, something Naomi and I both agreed should not be allowed. Naomi decided that everything covered by the cap was invisible, which is to say, everything from the ears up.

Justin: Just shows what everyone knew all along - my head's empty.

Helen: For next Halloween, can you make me gloves like that? I want to be Venus de Milo.

Naomi assured me that the gloves would be allowed.

Then we got on the subject of flying carpets, something I expected her to disallow. Naomi said that she would allow Justin to create the world's lowest flying carpet, one that flew only 3 inches above the ground.

Josh: What happens if you turn the carpet upside down?

Naomi: Oh, it floats 3 inches below the floor.

I saw one problem, however: Justin knew better than to risk trying to make a flying carpet. But Naomi wanted him to make one, and I liked the idea myself. Then I realized that Justin had promised Jim that he'd get properly smashed at his cast party. A thoroughly drunk Justin might well decide to make a flying carpet especially if he wanted to impress someone, like, say, Daniel.

Originally, Naomi and I thought Daniel and Justin might become lovers, but it turned out to be more of a case of ships that completely miss each other in the night. Daniel carried Justin back to Justin's room, whereupon Justin grabbed one of Rashid's prayer mats, a needle, and lots of purple thread. Daniel started kissing Justin on the neck, but by that time, Justin was in Full Creative Mode, in addition to being completely drunk and then some. Also, while he'd decided back when Michael got shot that being gay was not necessarily the end of the world, he wasn't entirely with it either, and had planned on ignoring the question of his sexuality until Spring Quarter.

Justin (annoyed, drunk, and at least partly in denial): Helen, stop that! I'm working on the carpet.

Daniel (taking this as a reprimand, getting up): Look, you'll be all right if I leave?

Justin (clueless and focused on the carpet): What's the worst thing that's likely to happen to me? I'll jab myself in the finger with the needle. And I'm drunk enough that I won't even feel that.

The following morning, Justin woke up with a massive hangover. He'd expected this and, before the cast party, he had laid out all the things he'd learned helped one get over hangovers. He got off the carpet, picked up the toast, looked back at the carpet, did a double take, and dropped the toast.

Between the shock of seeing the carpet and the realization that he had two hours to pull himself together for his philosophy final, most of his memories of the cast party fled. After his final, he remembered enough to know that Daniel had brought him to his room, but little else. He knocked on Daniel's door.

Justin: Daniel, how well do you remember last night?

Daniel (warily): Fairly well.

Justin: Thank goodness! What did I do to Rashid's carpet?

Daniel: You wanted to make it fly.

Justin: Obviously. But what did I -do- to it?

Daniel: I don't know! You said something about purple thread.

Justin: Purple thread. Right. Thanks.

He headed back to his room, meeting Helen en route.

Helen: Hi. I heard Daniel carried you back to your room. Should I be jealous?

Justin (honestly, but not accurately): Huh? No, although Rashid may want to kill me.

He showed her and Dicey the carpet. He left a note for Rashid, who was already gone for the intersession. It was written in reasonably fluent if somewhat wavery Arabic:

Rashid --

Sorry about the carpet. I think I can undo it. If not, I can buy it from you. Or you can just kill me.

-Justin

A couple of days later, Justin's memories drifted back. By then, his mother was waiting with the car to drive him home. She'd come up for the final performance of Wait Until Dark, allowing Justin to "introduce" her to Daniel, although all three of them knew that Daniel's about 150, and he'd first met Miranda Thorne when she was a student at Altclair herself.

Justin decided not to ruin Helen's vacation with news she couldn't do anything about. He knocked on Ken's door, asking Ken to make sure that if he didn't get to a meeting of GALA in the first two weeks of Spring Quarter, to make sure that he got to the meeting the third week. Then, he left a note under Daniel's door:

Thanks for putting up with me.

-Justin

Justin (and me, a few minutes later - I honestly could not remember): Did I sign that note "Thorne" or "Justin"?

Naomi: "Justin".

Justin (amused): Wonder if he knows who "Justin" is?

Justin had enough sense to know that just because Daniel made a pass when both of them were drunk did not mean that Daniel was at all interested in Justin in the cold light of day. Justin spent his intersession sounding his mother out about Sarah and about how she'd feel if he turned out to be gay. This was a lot of fun, as Justin talked a lot, and got much faster as he went, and asked what he wanted to ask -- but never used the words "gay" or "homosexual". Fortunately, Miranda was able to translate and to reassure Justin that his sexual preferences were his own business. Justin then went to his stepfather's grave to deal with the crisis he'd originally scheduled for intersession.

This was to find out what had been going on in his subconscious when he'd accidentally killed his stepfather with his newly forged sword. He used his own carpet to find this out. This carpet does not fly. Designed sort of like a ouija board, a person stands on it and holds a wand that spells out a truthful answer to questions.

Justin's subconscious informed him that Justin had felt threatened by his stepfather, with whom he'd been having the usual adolescent father-son problems. Nothing worse than that, however, as Richard Thorne had not been a bad man. And the carpet assured Justin that if Justin had been consciously aware that his stepfather was behind him, he would not have killed him. His subconscious went on to assure him that, whatever his stepfather might have thought, Justin was not a "wrong person". Justin figured that this was about the best he was likely to get, and he was a bit surprised to know that his subconscious liked him. He also felt more than a bit guilty, since it occurred to him that if he hadn't killed his stepfather, his realization that he was gay probably would have made his life much more complicated than it was now, since his stepfather would not have been anywhere near as understanding as Miranda was.

Meanwhile, Naomi decided that while Daniel found Justin attractive, he didn't like dealing with all of the baggage that came along. In other words, he could deal with Justin dumping Theater Department problems on his head or he could deal with Justin dumping Major Weirdness problems on his head, but both at once were a bit much. (Also, Daniel and Matt Denkla have been in love for over a century, but that's another story.)

Looking at the existing patterns, Naomi realized that Ken was falling in love with Justin. Justin, of course, was utterly oblivious, since he thinks of Ken as the person he goes to when he needs more scut work to keep him out of trouble. Ken was determined not to let Justin find out, since he didn't want to confuse Justin or pressure him. What did Justin want? Easy: To convince the Theater Department to let him direct again in Spring Quarter.

-- -- --

Jim's overall comment on Altclair: Brigham Young! Brigham Young!