Long time. So much to tell, I guess. SciFi Channel is distracting me. Every program I've caught today has mentioned virtually the same line: "You think you know people, but you never really do." Interesting...
The local con. Went okay. Squirt was bored out of his mind for the short time he was there. Told him he should've asked around the LAN room -- we only found out afterward that they had StarCraft multiplayer in there, and he's loved the singleplayer when I lent him my laptop. Hehe. He didn't want to give it back. At all. Ever. Heh.
I had a breakdown of sorts. Not a complete mental collapse, just a crying jag. I still have crowd issues and the con was big enough to set them off. Plus I wore my little red dress for the live action Vampire game, and I was acutely aware that I was hobbling myself by wearing it. Couldn't even sit normal, which was irritating. Also got eyed by every single damn player there, male and female. Too many hungry eyes on me... I guess I really do look good with my hair fixed and my legs shaven, eh? But it was weird. Even Ruby eyed me, which was mildly disconcerting.
As for the LARP itself, I got permission to be Ruby's ghoul. I basically did my best to tail her all night. Didn't do very well -- she has this way of sidling off quickly when called for, and I have the attention span of a gnat. Bah. I hope it didn't reflect badly on me, because I'd like to play again.
Ruby's character got new status in the game, and that means -- hm, how to explain to the non-gamers around. *mulls it over* Okay. Vampire is pretty much politics, which I don't always care for, but that's the game. Bah. Not at all like Buffy. I prefer my bloodsuckers mindless and brutal, but that's because I like my slayers, so I prefer the prey more simply slain. Heh. Anyway, Ruby's character became Harpy. She'd been shooting for this and she got it, so go Ruby and go Ruby-char too. Woot. Now that Ruby-char is Harpy, she's allowed to bring her ghouled secretary (me!) into meetings of Justicars and the like. It's been too long since I read the core rulebook, so the precise labels and their meanings escape me. Basically, the Justicars are the high-level Really Important People, and yes I know that makes for a neato acronym. That is the point. So if I continue playing Vampire, as a non-vampire (heh), I'll get to learn lots more plot and things than most newcomers would. That'd be cool.
After the game finally wrapped up (three hours or more after it was slated.... ack), I was going back to Ruby's hotel to hang out for awhile. Well, her car wouldn't start. She called some friends, who couldn't get it jumped, either. The friends were two guys, older than college (though I won't guess ages because I suck at it) in a pickup. No extended cab. So we were going to try to cram two plump guys, and Ruby, who is no toothpick herself, and me, into one cab.
One guy (Ruby's current SO, I believe) said something close to "Just get in the cab and sit on my lap" and my brain went *!SNAP!*
"Nononononono." It was cold but my shaking was much more to do with my increasing stress than the fact that I was wearing a short skirt, bare knees, in temperatures well below freezing.
Ruby chased after me. Wanted to make sure I was okay, which I obviously wasn't just then. So I poured my heart out on her shoulder.
See, my mom thinks I need inpatient treatment. I was really hoping to get through the weekend without, oh, breaking into a puddle of tears. Hoped that would prove my mettle and give me a trump card in bargaining with my shrink. Sigh. Oh yes, I have the utmost ideas. Bleh! Whichever muse gave me THAT particular idea needs to be fired.
Anyway. I recovered. Her friends drove back and we took my car to the hotel. I stayed up all night reading someone's Hunter: The Reckoning book in its entirety. Want my own copy now. Some great ideas for my own vampire hunters in there -- nothing specific really, just a great bundle of atmosphere that I sometimes have trouble conjuring when I need to work on my chars. I think I could sorta slip them into White Wolf rules, but that's irrelevant just now.
The remainder of the con was spent playing a 12-hour session of Mage: The Ascension. First time I ever played. I'd thought I'd loathe playing a magic-using character. Wrong-O, buckwheat! It was great! I've never played anything so cooperative. See, you can combine magics with other players. I only had Life 2, but I could mix that with someone else's Life 1 to get Life 3 -- better than either of us had separately. Woohoo! (Those might not be the official rules, but that's the way Arak ran it.) I wish I'd played under Scooch, though. Playing has made me realize how much I missed out on earlier.
I am kind of waiting for Scooch. He said he'd give me his roleplaying books because he doesn't want to game anymore. I'd like the books, because I am simultaneously poor and cheap, and I can't swing the books myself. I'd rather hear from him and learn he's changed his mind, wants to keep the books, and would I have a Mage character ready by next Saturday because he's running at a game day. Sigh. The not knowing either way is moderately bothersome, though. Mostly I'd just like to hear from Scooch again. He seemed to like the way I looked in my little red dress when I tried it on for him too. Whee. I like giving people cause to compliment me. Who doesn't, really?
I've pretty much decided that I could like LARPing. Lots of dull downtime, it seems -- kind of a good op to play Tetris, if you ask me -- but an excellent excuse to get dressed up. That, I like. It's good to have a reason to look very nice, without involving alcohol and guys looking at my ass or breasts like they're a pair of rolled turkeys. Peh.
Sin sued Ruby for unpaid rent. I've yet to hear how that came out. He left a message on my cell, sounding triumphant. Heaven forbid he imagine himself losing in anything; the case wasn't officially decided last I knew.
Mm. I have a saved convo where I told Peanut about Sin and Ruby, and my thoughts on them, separately and together. I'll slice it up and paste relevant bit in here (possibly edited where I feel it's needed, for privacy). Ah, here we go. The story of why the two don't get along anymore, condensed (like milk! Okay, recap now).
Ruby went on a trip to Las Vegas to visit a friend. She'd been getting a lot of shit from some of her other friends about Sin. Sin is a person who has a very thick shell. He's incredibly picky when it comes to friendship so he sets up barriers, figuring that only people who can see thru the falsehoods are worthy of being his friends. Ruby's friends, almost without fail, can't see the real Sin and figure he's just a self-righteous fuckwad. (Some days I wonder.) She called Sin and said she might be moving out, despite having signed a year long lease not two months ago.
She spent the rest of the trip thinking and came to the conclusion (so she says; I don't know....) that she would stay. When she got home, Sin has changed the locks. She couldn't get in. He refused to give her a key. Ruby consulted a lawyer, who said she should not pay rent since she was being denied access to the premises, or some legal crap lingo like that. She moved in with her mom, and got Sin to allow her back in the house for one day to collect her things. A lot got left behind -- a wall art of Frank Sinatra, various knicknacks around the house, all her kitchen supplies, dishes, etc.
Without Ruby paying rent, Sin had to put up with the landlord calling and wanting the full monthly rent. So Sin decided that he would sue Ruby for the back rent, including late fees. I'm surprised he took legal action. To hear him talk, the only reason he didn't call in every possible favour to get her mom fired and the car stolen was because Ruby's bro had specifically asked Sin not to. Sin can be a real.....ooooh, I don't even know what.
What got me is that this weekend, Ruby was very quiet. Sin's more of a drama queen than she is these days -- oh, she's still theatrical, for certain! But Sin's all hard glares and "that bitch WILL pay", and Ruby's willing to admit -- to me if no one else -- that she was wrong to move out.
The way she puts it, she thought about leaving, and mentioned it to Sin to see how he'd reaction. It's important to understand that they were inseparable then. Ruby kept track of Sin's classes, called him to wake him on time, made sure he ate on time because his system gets fucked up if he doesn't. I think Sin was scared witless of losing the person who was essentially the other half of himself and decided to retaliate. "You don't wanna be around me? Well who says I wanna be around YOU, bitch?!" That kind of mood.
This is about the part where Peanut hit me with something totally unexpcted. She told me that "[I] have the coolest bunch of friends, you know that?" (My response? "I do? *reels*..... I don't always think do; they're pains in the ass! But I'm glad they're around me, even the ones who hate each other.")
Hm. I think that's about all I can safely say. Sin's one of those rare but intriguing people with a lurid past and secrets that must be kept. And some things just aren't for the general public to know. Sorry. I've been known to spill my own secrets in my diary, but I will not tell someone else's tale when I've been told to keep it under wraps.
And I missed gaming last night. My car's battery turned to rot from the severe cold. I mean, I know I live in South Dakota, but this is cold even by OUR standards. For those of you who don't know, South Dakota experiences a fairly broad range of temperatures over the course of a year. However, our December was nice and mild, and now January is -- hellishly cold. (Read Dante sometime. Hell is cold, icy in the lowest depths. Try looking for the textfile at Project Gutenburg.) I think it was below zero last night -- zero Fahrenheit, which is about the same as -17.8 Celsius.
So I fell asleep after spending half an hour in my car, trying to get the damn thing to turn over. Read a chapter of Jude the Obscure, turn the key, hear the click, sigh, release key. Rinse and repeat. Crashed on the couch and fell asleep. My face was still numb from getting dental work and that seems to make me sleepy.
I woke up at midnight. I'd had my phone at my hip the whole time, and I'd slept through it ringing. Sin left me a message, asking if I was coming. SHIT. I'm going to have to apologize later. Shit. And the vast freezer that is my home state isn't supposed to let up much until Monday. MONDAY! Shit.
Just to make me feel better, most of my webcomics are down (because a lot of them use the same host, which is having some problem). And I finally figured out the problem with some JavaScript I'd been working on -- the command I was using only works in 1.0, not 1.1 or 1.2. But the book I need to help fix it is back at my house, and I'm at my mom's.
I think once I finally can get my car started, I should go back to my house and not come visit mom until June.