Our drive out was eventless. From Santa Monica (west LA), California to Phoenix, AZ (about four hundred miles)in about six hours. We started our journey at approximately 2:00 PM and arrived around 8:00. That’s because our driver owns a BMW and isn’t afraid to let the whole damn world know it. We hit a ton of traffic. If we hadn’t, we would have been there at 6:00.

Friday
I brought along Yojiro’s coat (thanks Betty!). It made a good impression. Mr. Black was his usual lecherous self. He attended the Circle of the Crone meetings, met many beautiful women, got almost everyone’s e-mail/phone number, and even earned some Willpower for the evening. The highlight:

CRONEY: “Why are YOU here?”
BLACK: “For the WOMEN, of course!”

Which is true… just not in the way they think.

Anyway…

The evening went by quickly. I met a lot of people and made many of them laugh. That’s me. I’m the comedy relief.

I also had a wonderful time with my buddy Baron. He’s playing an alchemist so I was his walking-talking crib sheet. trekhead was wonderful as usual. I saw very little of theglare and almost none of learsfool (both of which were regrettable).

Black’s conversation with fallentyrant‘s character was brief but fun. It also caused a great deal of consternation the following night.

Speaking of which…

Saturday
Never eat Wendy’s for breakfast. That is all.

Saturday was shopping in the mall. I picked up two decks of cards for a trick Mr. Black could pull off but I forgot all about it when it came time to game.

My main focus of the entire game was fixing a mistake I made the previous night. Not what I said, but how it was said and who it was said to, and who was in listening distance. Big tip of the hat to learsfool and thehalveric for a short and equally intense scene. I really thought I was gonna need that Architect application a lot sooner than I suspected.

Then, the Ten O’Clock Monster hit.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but apparently, a few really good draws killed the entire story. Or something like that. I didn’t really care, but I wished I could have helped my Covenant out more. My code of “I’ve only recently awakened from a long torpor” was clearly understood by the heftier Circle players who smiled, patted me on the back, and went to fight the Big Bad. One in particular said, “Just be sure you’re here next year.”

The rest of the night was my usual crew sitting at the bar drinking cranberry juice and being bored. After an hour, we retired to the local Denny’s and returned back to the hotel, falling asleep quickly and quietly.

Sunday
I woke up around 7:00, showered, went down to the lobby with Barrett’s The Magus, read and took notes. My only concern for the weekend was that someone would have taken… hm… how to put it?

I’m playing in the Cam for three reasons. My only concern for the weekend was that I lost one of those reasons. A quick hug in the lobby let me know my concerns were unfounded. I’m glad. Almost all of ICC would have been a waste without that brief moment. Thank you.

Our drive home was fine. Got home a lot quicker than we got to Phoenix. Lots of talk on the way home, lots of evaluation, lots of thinking. I’ve got two paths to take with Mr. Black. I have to make a decision.

Until then…

for one of my favorite characters played by one of my favorite players. Nobody else could play DeVeers (sp?) with the same subtlety and humor you do.

for fucking over my character without fucking me over. Not everybody can catch me off guard when my guard is up. You deserve that boon.

for scaring the hell out of Mr. Black. He may not have looked it, but he was scared right down to his socks.

for asking all the right questions.

because it takes some damn fine roleplaying to turn a damn good man into a goddamn sonofabitch.

All of my Covenant members who accepted me with open arms… and… other parts.

And a special thank you to the pretty red-head in the elevator:
“No, but I’d be willing to learn.”