I role perception to check for signs of discontent [Tag Zevalyn] on Alumni

Gary Harper

September 06, 2022 5:14 PM

You're at a formal event, in a tavern [Former or present gaming club] by Gary Harper

Gary couldn't believe it. It was complete. The pact had been sealed… he… he was married. He had somehow managed to find the most incredible woman out there, and somehow convinced her to spend the rest of her life with him. It just seemed unbelievable and downright ludicrous. Korraline was smart and funny and creative, not to mention gorgeous beyond all belief… and she picked him? He just couldn't quite wrap his head around it. It didn't make any sense. He was going to have to be the best husband ever so that she never regretted the decision.

Before the ceremony he'd been a nervous wreck, convinced she'd come to her senses and go off to easily find someone better. Then she came gliding down the aisle, an angelic figure of grace and beauty, wrapped in white lace and flowing sleeves. His brain fogged over in that moment and he ran on auto-pilot for most of the rest of the ceremony. They said their vows, no one (surprisingly, in his mind at least) jumped up to say this shouldn’t happen, and then suddenly it was over. They were married. He had a wife. He was a husband. These were very bizarre and new concepts that his mind was having trouble processing. He could kiss her though, that he knew how to do and was supposed to. He was pretty sure he was grinning like a perfect idiot as they walked back down the aisle together arm-in-arm.

Then there were pictures, lots of pictures. They took place while the guests were ushered from the chapel to the banquet hall. They had found an incredible venue for the whole event, it was an old run-down castle. Parts of it were even in ruins! It was great. That’s also probably why they got a good deal on the whole thing. The Muggle owners had them sign off on some extra liability waivers, but it was nothing to worry about with a bit of magic to shore up the structure for the day. Frankly, it’d be an awesome place to live in and fix up, but even in its dilapidated state it was well out of their price range. Someday maybe, once they had some savings built up.

They made their grand entrance to the banquet hall, took their places at the head table, and the official festivities began! It was a fully magical wedding feast with a definite fantasy tavern feel to it. Round tables were set up around the room, the barkeep behind the rough bar to the side of the room served drinks, there was an area open for dancing in the middle as some charmed instruments played music. The wait staff floated the plates of food around to everyone.

There were some speeches, thankfully not by him, and the feast began. It reminded him a bit of the old opening feasts at Sonora. The main exception was that the speeches here were longer than the ones his old Headmaster would give. They were probably longer than all of the man's speeches strung together.

There was cake afterwards, and then the social time began. Gary leaned towards his bride (He had a wife!) and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “You’re beautiful and amazing.” He put on a joking grin, “And now you’re unfortunately stuck with me forever and ever.” Then with a wink he added, “Should we go mingle?”

OOC: Wedding attire looks something like this.

Subthreads:

I role perception to check for signs of discontent [Tag Zevalyn] by Kir McLeod with Zevalyn Ives

Formal party! Yay! by Valentine Duell with Ness McLeod

In the blink of an eye [Heinrich]. by Evelyn Stones

2 Gary Harper You're at a formal event, in a tavern [Former or present gaming club] 1404 1 5

Kir McLeod

September 07, 2022 3:56 AM

I role perception to check for signs of discontent [Tag Zevalyn] by Kir McLeod

Kir was pretty sure adult life went something like 1. University. 2. More university. 3. Grad school/just school forever because yay school. 4. Get married. Admittedly, that was a paradox, if the grad school step turned into ‘yay school forever’ because you had to find some point in the forever to do the getting married but the point was there were a lot of years of studying first. He was pretty sure that was the page Zevalyn was on too. It wasn’t like they’d never talked about the future. It was something they both wanted eventually, and they hadn’t got to ‘eventually’ yet because of all the books.

Gary, who was two years younger than him and an Aladren, apparently had.

Which was fine, and great, and life wasn’t a competition but Kir still couldn’t help but feel that either he was doing life too slowly or Gary was doing it too fast, and now he was worrying that Zevalyn thought it was the former, and whilst screw the patriarchy and gender roles and all that, Kir did still see it as his responsibility to propose and he wondered if she wondered why he hadn’t. He had been thinking about how it might be a good time to start thinking about doing it maybe soon when Gary had proposed to Koraline. And Kir didn’t want to look like he was only doing it because Gary had. So, he’d figured he would wait for the hubbub from that to die down a bit, and then maybe he’d do it, because Gary and Koraline would probably be engaged for forever (because who had the money to get married at their age?) and then boom—wedding. And now it would look like he was doing it just because Gary had got married, and he honestly wasn’t sure he wouldn’t actually slightly be doing that.

“Wow, this is cool,” he said, as they walked into the banquet hall. He couldn’t deny that, which was a shame because whilst he really didn’t begrudge Gary his happiness, he would have been very content to see him happy with slightly less style. “So long as it doesn’t kill anyone,” he added, not to throw shade but because there was a suspicious amount of rubble and because it was a DM’s wedding. He kept a cautious side eye on Zevalyn, looking for minute tells that she was suddenly finding him to be an inferior boyfriend.

13 Kir McLeod I role perception to check for signs of discontent [Tag Zevalyn] 366 0 5

Zevalyn Ives

September 07, 2022 7:18 AM

You see no discontent, but you can spot some interest in moving forward by Zevalyn Ives

Zevalyn had spent quite a bit too much time gaping at this wedding. It was completely different from every wedding she'd been to before (not that there were a lot, but she remembered a few from when she was a child and more recently Amber had gotten married and she'd been a bridesmaid for that). Those had all been muggle weddings in regular churches with fancy reception halls, and they had been nice but they hadn't been interesting.

For this one, Gary had said Renaissance Faire formal wear would be appropriate, and she'd gone that route with her dress (or rather, it was inspired by that style rather than being historically accurate) but she somehow hadn't expected the whole wedding party and the grounds chosen for the event to all be in character, too.

There was an actual castle. And the plates flew across the room like this was Beauty and the Beast. And if there was muggle electrical lighting, it had been transfigured to look like candles and torches, while still being bright enough to see clearly. The instruments played themselves, and it was the first time a wedding actually felt magical to her, and it wasn't wholly because there was actual magic in evidence (though that certainly helped).

"Yeah," Zevalyn agreed emphatically when Kir deemed the venue 'cool'. "We should to ask Gary for the contact info for the people who rent this place," she told Kir as they walked from the chapel to the main hall. "It's amazing. I think I want to get married here, or someplace like it." They had a fair amount of friends who overlapped with Gary’s social circle, so it was easy to imagine, especially since the maid of honor was just casually a man in (Renaissance) drag so it had something of a McLeod event feel to it. She gave Kir's hand a light squeeze, and smiled at her mental imaginings of their own future wedding.

A little while later, when Korraline threw her bouquet, Zevalynn cheated a little with a mumbled Accio and caught the flowers as they came right to her. She grinned and held them aloft and quirked a grin and an eyebrow at Kir. She was working on a doctorate, and Kir was still in school, too, so it wasn't quite time yet for them, but when it was . . . she definitely wanted to model it more like this than Amber's.

And she wouldn't mind starting to plan for it sooner rather than later. She was getting free tuition and a stipend from being a graduate teaching assistant, and her loans wouldn't come due until she had her final degree, so that should be enough to live on until she could get a proper job. They were in no position to start having any children yet, but they could certainly handle moving in the direction of joining their lives together more formally.

They'd always talked about 'after school' as their expected timeline, but somehow Gary getting married made her feel like she was missing out on something in a way that Amber getting married hadn't. Maybe because it was because it was a couple years further down the line, or maybe it was just that this reception was so much more in her taste, but when the flowers got tossed, she realized she wanted to be next.

So she'd summoned them to her (she'd had a minor duel with another witch trying to do the same thing but she was the victor) and hoped that showing a positive interest in the possibility of getting married 'next' - whenever that might be, and it was a ridiculous superstition anyway - might encourage Kir to pop the question properly sometime soon-ish. She wasn't against asking him if he failed to do so in a timely manner, but she'd give him the opportunity to ask first, and there really was no rush. She had at least two more years before she earned her PhD.

1 Zevalyn Ives You see no discontent, but you can spot some interest in moving forward 380 0 5

Kir McLeod

September 07, 2022 4:06 PM

Yeah, I think I got those subtle hints by Kir McLeod

As far as hints went, 'I love and want this castle' was not a subtle one. Kir was sure that would actually have been just a dialogue based interaction, not a role. In theory, he was better at those. He was a natural performer, and they all seemed to have an ongoing dice curse.

"Yeah, we should ask," he agreed, to show he was totally on team get-married-in-a-castle, even though he didn't want to just recycle Gary's venue. That didn't seem like the done thing, even if all through the wedding, he had been imagining him and Zev in the bride and groom spots. She looked amazing (and he didn't scrub up too badly either).

He was pretty sure he saw a flash of a wand during the bouquet toss. He had heard of Victorian flower language, where certain flowers symbolised things like 'I secretly desire you' or 'Hey, I'm a lesbian.' It was a subtle code, full of muted signals. This was not that. This was an entire bouquet, flying through the air, and its message was an absolute screaming 'HURRY THE HECK UP.' Right.

"Well, I wouldn't dare anger whatever gods watch over these sorts of things," he said, nodding to the bouquet as Zevalyn returned. "Good...catch?" he said, giving the word a slightly knowing eyebrow quirk.

"Would you care to dance?" he offered, hoping he could win back some exceptional boyfriend points with his cool moves, and because dancing was fun, and it meant he got to put his arms around his future wife.

13 Kir McLeod Yeah, I think I got those subtle hints 366 0 5

Valentine Duell

September 08, 2022 7:17 PM

Formal party! Yay! by Valentine Duell

Valentine was excited and then a bit forlorn. She'd gotten an invitation to Gary's wedding and she may have more told Mama and Papa that she was going rather than asking if she could. She was practically seventeen by now, just a few weeks from official adulthood. It was going to be great and fantastic seeing everyone again! At least she assumed that if she'd gotten an invitation, so did all of the other gamers of the past.

However…. her invitation said 'Valentine Duell plus one'. Plus one? She was going to have to choose between Bonabelle and Wally? Because she sure wasn't going to take her father along like Papa had suggested when the invitation had first arrived. In the end, her agonizing over this point was ultimately for nothing. Neither of them could make it anyway. That left her the option of taking one of her parents (not happening) or going alone. Or.... would it be a social mistake to bring a teacher along with her? Aunt Giselle certainly didn't have a full social calendar, and a formal outing may just do Aunt Giselle some good.

So Valentine arrive at the event with her Aunt reluctantly in tow. "Come on, it'll be fine," she reassured the woman as they entered the castle. The invitation had stated that 'Renaissance Faire type attire was acceptable and encouraged.' She'd had some fun getting together a fancy dress for the occasion with Mama's help. Aunt Giselle had just decided to go with something nice from her ordinary wardrobe selection. Valentine saw a few people she recognized as they were ushered through the amazing castle to their seats for the ceremony. It was a lovely ceremony, she hadn't seen him for a while, but thought that Gary cleaned up rather nice. His bride was stunning as well.

The whole thing made her naturally think about her own future and what it might look like. She only had a year and a half of school yet, and if all went well she'd start her apprenticeship. But where did that leave her relationship-wise? She wanted family, spouses and kids and everything; and she had no doubt that Bonabelle would be there through it all. Wally... her heart faltered just a bit as it usually did when these thoughts started circulating about her mind. She just wasn't sure, he seemed happy enough when she was around, and he was kind and nice, but... her eyes glanced around at the other people here and in a heart wrenching, breathtaking moment she knew. He wasn't a paladin. He was maybe more of a cleric, she thought as she dragged her eyes away from where Heinrich sat. She could still remember the way it had felt when he'd bravely saved her from certain doom. Just like Bonabelle had... did she just have a thing for people that rescued her from flying incidents? That couldn't be right, could it? Shoving all of the thoughts aside, she tried to just enjoy the rest of the ceremony.

Once the ceremony was over, she found her way with everyone else to the banquet hall. It was wonderful as well. Really she had expected no less from Gary or the woman he decided to marry. She lead her aunt through the crowds; smiling, waving, chatting and hugging along the way. The food was good and Aunt Giselle insisted that she go gather with the other unwed ladies gathering to catch the bride's bouquet. Val countered that she wouldn't go unless Aunt Giselle came along as well. So they both watched from afar, which was fine because Val was pretty sure she didn't want to catch it just yet.

"Why don't you go socialize?" Aunt Giselle commented. Val began a protest, but the older woman stopped her, "I'll be fine here. Go. Have fun, don't worry about me."

"Okay, I'll be back soon though." Val responded with every intention of it being the truth. Then she was out roaming the floor to see who she could find, particularly keeping an eye out for Ness.

OOC: Marissa's assistance approved by her author, Heinrich's presence confirmed by his author.

2 Valentine Duell Formal party! Yay! 1490 0 5

Ness McLeod

September 10, 2022 1:10 AM

Punch party (the non tank kind) by Ness McLeod

Given how vastly heterosexual this was it was a) surprisingly queer and b) surprisingly fun. Ness had got to bring Lyssa and dress up, and they were in a castle, with all the old gaming crew back together. There was also a super cool Person of Honour in the wedding party who was definitely on Ness’ ‘talk to’ list. Ness was enjoying the gender chaos of ren faire garb. Stockings and pouffity shorts were ‘for men’ even though Ness couldn’t imagine anything much less masculine by modern standards. They were pretty fun to wear, and Ness had topped off the ensemble with a really epic hat, with very jaunty feathers. The hat was definitely a highlight, and Ness had vowed to get more into wearing them on a regular basis.

It was weird imagining Gary getting married. Lyssa had described it as ‘funny but sweet’ which was pretty accurate. On the one hand, Gary was their Wise Elder™ but he was also… Gary. He was goofy, and his main hobby was playing make believe. In some senses, it was an inspiring idea—you could both grow up and continue to pretend to be a wizard or a paladin or whatever to your heart’s content. On the other hand, it was just sort of bizarre. Still, there was food and a castle and dancing, and Ness was enjoying the party, and was super happy for Gary being happy, however weird it was.

Ness was just picking up some punch when Valentine came into view.

“Hey!” Ness beamed, excited to see her. Ness kept in touch by letter, but they hadn’t really seen each other since Ness graduated. Ness wasn’t sure if that was because Val was still at school, which made the holidays precious family time, or whether there was an age divide, with Ness being the last of the ‘first wave’ and Val the start of the second. “How’s it going?”

OOC: Inspiration for Ness' outfit.

13 Ness McLeod Punch party (the non tank kind) 1419 0 5

Valentine Duell

September 10, 2022 8:38 AM

Any type of party is good! by Valentine Duell

"Ness!" Valentine squealed out in delight when her older friend found her. She also promptly wrapped Ness in a hug before pulling back suddenly. "Sorry!" The younger girl apologised, "Are hugs still okay?" It had been a while, she really should have checked again first.

"Things are going fine," she answered Ness' question in an easy enough tone. However, some of her thoughts from the ceremony drifted back to her. She dismissed them again quickly. This was hardly the time to dwell upon such matters. It was a time to party, and see people!

"You look great!" Val commented from her stepped-away position. "That outfit is great! I love the hat!" The feathers were fantastic. Val had skipped trying to find some appropriate headgear, and was now regretting it a bit. Some wide brimmed hat with some fancy ribbons maybe? And feathers.

"What have you been up to lately?" There had been some information transfer through the letters, but that wasn't nearly as good as talking in person. This was best. "I still have a year and a half to go at Sonora, then I start my apprenticeship."

Something else struck her then. Gary was here, Ness was here and she was here. "Other than school things though, I've also got that amount of time to find the next Gaming Club president. " She had taken over in her fourth year, and Ness had been a sixth year. Her eldest player after her was a third year now, which meant he'd be a fifth once she had graduated. Legend said that Gary had started the club in his second year.

2 Valentine Duell Any type of party is good! 1490 0 5

Evelyn Stones

September 25, 2022 5:14 AM

In the blink of an eye [Heinrich]. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn was attending the wedding of one of her closest friends from Sonora. They'd all managed to keep up over the years, especially herself and Ness and, of course, Heinrich, but it wasn't the same as attending school together in a small mansion. Of course, there was no blue decor to keep Evelyn from sitting with her most loved people now, and no headmaster to bore her out of the appetite she always had.

It was a bit surreal attending a wedding on the arm of her boyfriend - although it was a very dashing arm - because she had to assume she wasn't the only un-married but committed person in the room whose mind turned naturally to marriage herself. When Zevalyn made a surprisingly good catch of the bouquet and Evelyn noticed a surprised expression on the face of another witch who quickly pocketed something she'd slipped into her hand, Evelyn was even more sure of it. The look Zevalyn gave Kir made it even clearer. Evelyn's own magic had improved dramatically but she was bringing Quidditch rules to a duel and catching the bouquet was just not going to happen for her. That didn't mean, of course, that catching a spouse wasn't, and as she returned to her seat beside Heinrich, she was reminded that she already knew who she wanted that to be.

The topic had been broached before but Evelyn understood that they were both more cautious in matters of relationships than others might be and taking it slow was also a topic that had been broached. Heck, they'd attended the same college after Sonora and still only ended up living together by virtue of casually staying over together - in separate sleep spaces - enough times that the first of them to have an apartment lease expire sort of just... stayed. Lots of 'are you sure this is okays' and 'please don't let me pressure yous' followed and they retained separate sleep spaces for a fairly long while. If they sometimes took cuddling naps and if those cuddling naps... well, Evelyn felt pretty happy to get married whenever Heinrich felt like he also wanted that.

"Hi, gorgeous," she grinned mischievously as she sat. Her own dress for the evening was a play on the red dress Buttercup wore in Princess Bride but it was Heinrich who looked like proper royalty to her today. "Tell me you saw those cheaters out there trying to get the bouquet. Seekers do better on brooms. I'm too short for ground competition," she smirked. "Do they do that in Germany? Try to catch the bouquet?"

22 Evelyn Stones In the blink of an eye [Heinrich]. 1422 0 5