Sophomore, Third-Seventh Week, Winter Quarter

Altclair is Naomi's campaign, set at the college off Altclair, which is somewhere in Minnesota, although modeled on the University of Chicago between the years 1987 and 1993. Think Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, GURPS Illuminati IOU, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Other source material (that Naomi's not familiar with) might include Elizabeth Hand's Waking the Moon and most of Charles de Lint. Players are me (Justin Thorne) and Josh (Michael Conoway). Manny (Jim Gaffney) dropped out, and Beth (Diometra) lives in Chicago, and is only an occasional player.

Naomi moved to Chicago, but I'm a year behind in my write ups, and she hopes to run a few more adventures via phone, email, and visits before I have exhausted my supply of material.

Names I continually misspell, for some reason:

Beth's old Ars Magica PC became St. Coratha. Michael's last name is Conoway. Sarah's last name is Lacey.

Some stuff that never made Justin's journal

Late fall quarter saw the county covered in 15 feet of snow. This meant Arcadia had to be performed indoors, not in the amphitheater, as Daniel had planned. It also meant that Justin almost got stranded at Michael's farm for a couple of days. Since there's a magical gate between Michael's house and Ash's, Michael and Justin went to get Ash to help Michael send Justin back to campus by homing in on the glowing Z that's still in Justin's room.

Also, at some point during late Fall or early Winter, Ken raised the subject of his graduation, applying to graduate programs, and what that might mean to his relationship with Justin.

Justin: I figured we'd think about that after Halloween. (realizing) Oh. It's after Halloween, isn't it?

From the Desk of Justin Thorne:

4th/5th Week, Winter Quarter, Sophomore Year

Michael told me the story as promised. Not only did he bring Sarah back, he also brought back Sligo and one fabulous sword. And he owes a couple of puppies to Castor and Pollux.

Sarah says that it was indeed Michael's child that killed her, and that she knew from the start it would. (1)

I'm continuing to shed butterflies and birds as well. It turns out that this has to do with a family legacy. It seems that I'm descended from tinkers on my mother's side, so Jessica's shanachie shillelagh (2) stories about the butterfly-shedding tinker apply to me.

I received an answer to my letter: He did not come himself, but his wife happened to be in the country. This is plausible; if he had arrived, I would have panicked. Of course, he may have taken this into account, but judging from the international headlines, I suspect his wife told only the truth when she said he was busy. (3)

She knocked on my door at about three in the morning. On the one hand, this meant that I woke up extremely wary. On the other, it means that I'm less worried in retrospect because I was allowed to be wary. That is, I was given advance warning and allowed to maneuver on my home territory in ways that would ease my concerns and make me feel more at ease.

She listened to what I had to say and told me that I hadn't given any information that they didn't already have and that it was still good that I had told them. She also said that her husband regrets what happened to Jim. (4)

I asked what my status was. She said that while I was someone who had helped in the past, no one was going to presume that a gentile could be trusted the next time. Also, I was assured that if I were asked for help in the future, the possibility that I might refuse would be taken into account. Of course, this could cover a lot of ground.

Our business concluded, she left. I brought Ken, Michael, and Delilah up to date the next day.

I want to talk to Mary. If I can afford a trip to Oxford and Notre Dame, I'll see if I can look her up. (5)

6th/7th Week, Winter Quarter, Sophomore Year

Michael is no longer an alternative--he's on the US Olympic team. This means that he's got to make a definite commitment, which he will, despite all complications. I probably would too. I mean, how often does one get to fence in the Olympics? (6)

Marcel Tobriani is going to be visiting Ash. Both of us are looking forward to meeting Marcel, of course. I still remember seeing him perform in Ohio. But it seems he's not only a stage magician; he's also one of Ash's students. I mentioned this to Matt, who was interested, but also concerned. He asked after Ash's health, reminding me that Marcel said he wouldn't return to North America after his wife died. As far as Michael knows, Ash is fine. (7)

The butterflies and birds continue to proliferate. Steve says it won't be a problem if a couple fly out onto the stage during the play. He's right--they'll fit in just fine.

I don't understand how he can be so calm. (8)

Footnotes

(1) I'm not sure how much Sarah knew, how much she guessed, and how much she had no intention of admitting that she didn't know, but the basic story is this:

As a siren, Sarah is one of Poseidon's granddaughters. Poseidon wants to rule all of the world. Sarah doesn't want him to do this, but one has to be careful when working against one's divine grandfather. Sarah does this by trying to appear simultaneously eager to help Poseidon achieve his goals and totally inept at doing so. Thus, she became a powerful force at Altclair, a college far inland. At whatever point she realized bearing Michael's child would kill her, she thought she had the solution to her problems. Straightforward suicide would anger Poseidon, but dying in childbirth would merely annoy him: His foolish granddaughter had screwed up again. She was utterly incompetent, but not disloyal.

Michael learned the above much earlier than Justin did. Sarah figured it was safe to tell Michael because as land king, he has a certain amount of power. At this point, Justin is only beginning to wonder why Sarah's people bothered to seal his lips on the subject of what she is, given how many other people know. Michael spread the information to Delilah, Jennifer, and Ken, while filling in some spots Justin hadn't previously known, and it gradually became clear that Pantheus, Miranda, and Matt knew as well.

(2) Jessica is one of Justin's fellow theater majors. She's of Irish ancestry, and explained that Irish storytellers, called shanachies, would tell shillelagh stories. These are stories where people generally get drunk and fight. The tinkers are sort of the Irish equivalent of the gypsies, and often the victims of prejudice from the Irish.

(3) Justin is deliberately leaving out names here. He wrote to Israel Bar-Lev to tell him what he'd learned about a phone call he'd received from a man who was probably a member of the IRA, but requested a face to face meeting to tell the rest, which involved his friend Jim's connection with these terrorists and the fact that Jim may be involved with them, given that he has reason to bear Israel a grudge. Justin requested the meeting at first because he couldn't quite bring himself to write it all down, but later because he wanted to find out how Israel was viewing him, since Ken suggested that Justin might be seen as a foreign agent, and Israel (the country) is not known for its kindness to such agents. Israel didn't come himself, as he was probably behind certain events like explosions destroying ground-to-air missiles in countries hostile to his own (Israel is a fire mage), but he sent his wife Marissa. I think she's a gypsy, and Justin knows that she spent time in the concentration camps.

(4) Israel used mind magic, which is not his specialty, to find out what Jim was trying to keep him from learning. Jim tried to keep Israel out. The result was neurological damage. Israel's regrets reminded Justin of Michael's aunt Mary, who regrets having done similar things while trying to assist Ash in privately punishing soldiers who committed war crimes in Vietnam.

(5) Justin is considering working for the first part of the summer, then spending a month travelling. He wants to see Notre Dame to say hello to the gargoyles.

(6) Michael's plan is complicated by the fact that he is once again land king of Burnham County, having gone into Hades to bring Sarah back. Sarah is somewhat annoyed that he is going to be leaving her to manage without him over the summer, but also too proud to tell him to stay. Michael did offer to stay, but she was either too proud to accept or disappointed in the idea of his giving up the Olympics or both -- I'm not clear on the dynamics here.

Justin's mother, Miranda, is working with Michael to make it possible for him to stay away from Burnham County for long periods of time. She's been a land queen before to Matt Denkla's land king in West Virginia. This was before Justin was born. When Justin learned this, he was very weirded out. Matt and Ken were sleeping together for a while, before Justin met Ken. This he doesn't have a problem with, but adding his mother to the mix -- well, he knows theater people are incestuous (literally, in his and Sarah's case), but this is ridiculous. I don't think Justin learned this until Fall of his junior year, but I think Michael knows it at this point.

(7) Marcel's wife died during a performance. This was after Justin saw his show, and after Michael saw it. Matt and Ash have been meeting for the occasional lunch since they got acquainted, which was while Justin and his friends were in Israel. When Justin learned about this, he breathed a huge mental sigh of relief, as he'd thought there was a small, but existent, chance of some kind of mage war between Ash and Matt at one point. This would have complicated his life, given his friendship with Michael and his loyalty to Daniel, Matt's lover. He is very glad Matt and Ash are on good terms.

(8) Steve's directing something odd and surrealistic, and the running joke is some variant on "Steve's play? Well, if you can call it a play." When Justin didn't get a part in Miracle Worker, he decided he needed to stay far away from it to keep from annoying Matt, so he asked Steve if Steve needed a stage manager. Steve gladly accepted, although he didn't exactly need one. He's training Justin in being a stage manager, just as Kristie, the best stage manager in the department, trained the student who was officially listed as her stage manger for Godspell.

Natter

Comment to Myself

Actually, Sarah has her own apartment now.

Comment to Dayraven (aka Paul)

I actually would assume that there'd be a great effect from the birth and death of Dayraven's child. In Altclair, both Justin and Michael have found their lives shaped by children. Michael in particular has become an odd sort of family patriarch, with two wives, five biological children by three different women, and one adopted child who can turn into a dragon, and one oak tree he considers his son. All this while remaining a devout Christian.

Interesting religious angles. Again, this is a factor in Altclair, where Michael, a devout, if imperfect Christian, and Justin, who worships Apollo and Hephaestus, tread carefully around each other when religious questions come up. Justin gets very confused as Michael's position on Paganism seems to change at random intervals. At the point where my write ups have reached, Michael explained that now that he is being a better Christian, he isn't going to be upset if he sees Justin performing Pagan acts of worship. It was only that being something too close to a Pagan god himself while being a land king that made Michael uneasy the previous summer; this time, he's trying to be a Christian land king, like King Arthur.

Justin's still more than a little confused, though as of the most recent session, he's beginning to see the method in Michael's madness. I'm amused that it's religion, not sex, that is the touchy issue here, and that where Michael has most disapproved of Justin's sex life, it's been on those rare occasions that Justin was sleeping with a woman.

Comment to Jenny Hein

Player and PC desires most certainly don't always dovetail. When this happens, the player wins. For example, Naomi and I will discuss ways to get Justin involved in dangerous situations even though he is developing enough sense to avoid them. For the sessions that will be appearing in the next few months, Naomi was working to accommodate a request I made that Justin be given some kind of quest to go on.