LARP: 13

"Yeah!" Fook said. "Damn, Seb--fuck, I mean Eimi--you rocked that shit!"

I blushed. It was weird seeing Patty like this; she always was a little crass, but she--or he, I guess--had really started to play into it now. I was even more surprised to see Fook looming over me, a big goofy smile on his face, as he gently cuffed me on the shoulder in encouragement.

"Not really what I was expecting," Kalim said, thoughtfully stroking her chin, but not bad.

"Eh, not really my taste," Moon muttered. "But, glad to know the bard can play music. I'm sure that's good enough--as far as Zoe is concerned."

"I mean, this is weird," I said, still blushing a bit and trying not to look directly up at Fook, still towering over me. "But maybe it won't be so bad. It might be nice to see what it feels like to really be around magic. Although I suppose none of us rolled a wizard exactly, huh?"

"Ooh, that's a good point," Kalim says. "I should try at least one of my buffs before we're in combat properly. . . although, assuming this is the same day we're going to do some fighting, I suppose I shouldn't waste a spell slot quite yet. . ."

"It felt like my song came very naturally to me," I said. "Although, yeah, you might want to get used to what it feels like to be enchanted by magic, if you really can cast it."

"Oh I can," Kalim said. "I'd probably want to test it, if I didn't feel like it would work."

"But it's gotta be cool to know that you have magic?" I asked.

There was a brief pause while Kalim seemed in thought. I wasn't sure why he didn't seem more enthusiastic. For a moment, we just stood there in silence, with the sound of the waves, the coolness of the wind--the world more and more, with each passing moment, feeling more real.

"Sun's coming up," Fook said, looking out over the ocean.

I turned and looked with him.

 My eyes went wide as I saw the size of the waves. It had felt calm, but now that I actually looked out at the ocean, I realized that my body had its sea legs, but the waves we were crashing through were actually fairly strong. Now that I had the time to concentrate on the environment, I realized I could smell sea foam in the air, and as we came through a particularly large wave, I actually felt the slight spray of the water on my hand. Still, the ship seemed to be handling the waves well enough.

"Do you hear that?" Kalim asked.

I did hear something. Like a chorus. "That's not me," I said. "I'm not playing any song."

Fook looked at me confused. "If that's not you, where is it coming from?"

I could hear trumpets come in--the song sounded a bit like it was inspired by Lord of the Rings, although I knew that soundtrack well enough to know that it wasn't on there. Maybe a bit of Lord of the Rings meets just a hint of Pirates of the Caribbean?

"It's Zoe," Moon said, stepping beside us and looking out at the sunrise over the waves with us. "It's beginning. The game has begun."

I wanted to make some riff about Lord of the Rings, but for the moment, I just listened to the music as the sun came up.

It's beginning. We weren't just these characters. We had adventure to complete.