The Melbourne Trip - Part 2

EASTER SATURDAY

After a few hours sleep we went out to a few of Stephen's old haunts as he started collecting and arranging stuff he would be taking back to Perth with him.  He also showed me a few of his favourite shops over the other side of town including the most delicious coffee tea and chocolate shop !!  I bought some Raspberry and Lime tea, some Rose Grey tea, some Strawberry and Pepper dark chocolate and some Mango Chili dark chocolate.

We also went out to lunch at his favourite food place there :)

From thence we went around his other local shopping haunts and bought bread crackers, cheese fruits etc (including finding some gorgeous blood plums !!! I can *never* find blood plums these days !!!!!!!

After lunch and getting sick of the insane crowds in the shopping centres and the roads, we headed back tot he Con.  Spent the afternoon snacking on fruits and cheese and crackers and just chatting with people.  Really had a great chance to talk in depth with some of Stephen's friends and made a few of my own :) :)

We were getting on towards 7pm when a couple of GMs came up and started hassling the group to join in their free form.  What sort is it?  Steam punk cyber punk film noir ......  Steam Punk ??  My new favourite thing ????  Turns out this was a new gaming style no-one had done before ..... I looked at Stephen and he laughed at howe eager I looked so we signed up !!! 

I later found out he had been specifically approached and told then that it was up to me - as he was in Melbourne to be with me and the Con was secondary. He was a complete gentleman and if I'd have said no he would never have mentioned playing that free form again ...

I think I was typecast - my character was a transit officer called Nikita who travels the trains looking for fare evaders and shoots first asking questions later.  a guy called Adam was playing Ilya my husband and we hammed it up all evening long with really really bad accents !!!  Mind you I got some kudos for using my bad accent to mangle information that I was passing along to other players :)  It was fun.  I didn't solve the murder, and I was not the best player, but I wasn't the worst either nor did I destroy anyone else's fun so I think that's OK for my first free form in 12 years !!!!!

Again got back to the apartment full of energy and chatted and talked and discussed the game for hours !!!!  Again Stephen disappeared and came back with two tubs of ice cream and an Easter egg for me that was larger than an Ostrich Egg !!!!  Happy Easter  !!!!!!

EASTER SUNDAY

Arose late, had a snack of fruit and crackers etc and then drove the two hours to Ballarat.  Well Stephen drove and sang bad country music and I threatened him with dire consequences until he changed the music !!!  We drove past a sign that said "Pure Indulgence Tour".  Sounded like my weekend so far :) :) :)

We met up with friends of mine Kim & Ian.  Again we met through the SCA but these are true friends of mine in so many ways and I hadn't seen them in person for four or five years now.  Lunch was again superb !!!!!  And again the chatting and catching up and bad puns and quoting of The Goon Show went well into the afternoon !!!!

We drove back, wandered around Lygon Street, had a light supper and headed back to the hotel.  We were snuggled in watching the beginning of Miyazaki's Spirited Away when my phone rang.  It was Paul and he sounded strange and very stilted.  He was obviously embarrassed and wanted to say something but could not tell me what it was.  I struggled to find out what he rang me to talk about but eventually let it go and hung up and went back to the conversation with Stephen over Miyazaki's styling and how Studio Ghibli has changed over the years ..... Stephen noted my mood had turned pensive and suggested we turn in for the evening as we had an early start in the morning.  He didn't asked what was troubling me but he cuddled me until I fell asleep.