Bird's Nest

About Vee

Vee is a stubbornly independent woman that runs around on mountains, scolds plants for poking her, and drives regular cars off pavement with glee. She grew up in Ohio, went to THE Ohio State University (but never to a football game, much to her father's chagrin), and then discovered... Field Work. Field Work started in Tennessee, and involved tracking down bobwhite quail, riding horses and OHV's, and sneaking through the forest at night. Then she moved WEST to California, to track down songbird nests on a mountain top. She fell in love with the Sierras and discovered she was a mountain forest girl. Somehow she ended up in Southern California though, and she wanders about in the coastal sage scrub. She is not a geek. Nope. Cannot quote Monty Python or the Princess Bride, and does not know any Elvish. Not a word. She never plays World of Warcraft or D&D. Ever. You can't prove it.

About Marc

Marc always dislikes writing things about himself for fear that he will reveal his secret identity of being a superhero spy for the space system Yjnkoifgyxceratypoqwenhnsadfkyitk, or in the human language system Bob. He grew up in Southern California, to move to Northern California, only to move back down to Southern California for school at Biola University. It was here he found a greater understanding of God and ironically he discovered Dungeons & Dragons. Through his love of television and movies, he found himself working at a cable provider which eventually led him down to San Diego. Marc is a geek and has an encyclopedic knowledge of D&D 2.0 - 4.0. He doesn't know any elvish, but he hopes his lessons in Japanese helps to compesate for that short coming.

How they met!

It wasn't even snowing. Typical Ohio winter, biting cold but without the joy of snow to make it worthwhile. It was 2003, and Vee was on Interstate 70 headed west to Columbus, but really headed to California. KenCon was underway, a meeting of minds (and bodies) for a group of friends that lived scattered across the country, so named because Kenny was hosting it, along with his wife Celia. Vee knew them very well, though they had only met in person once. On that fateful visit, Celia and Vee both flicked their salt packets from Inn-N-Out in synchronicity, and all knew world domination was possible. Kenny shook in fear (or maybe it was laughter).

But that was the first time she was in California, a year ago, and so much had happened since then! Vee was excited to return and spend the weekend with other Geeks, people that laughed at Monty Python jokes and quoted "The Princess Bride" at awkward moments. But her lower lip was pushed out in consternation, and her eyebrows furrowed in displeasure.

Traffic!

What's traffic doing on I-70W on a Friday morning! What's traffic doing in OHIO for that matter! But there it was, the butt-ends of cars as far as the eye could see, clipping along at 50 miles per hour or so. Here and there red lights flashed as someone tapped their brakes to keep a safe distance of... one car length. Because that's safe. Vee sighed, and tapped her brakes to follow suite.

And the world slowed down. The car skidded around in a circle, revolving in the middle of the road like an ice skater with a really bad outfit. Spin, spin, spinning in the far left lane.

You see, there's this phenomenon called "black ice". It's not really black, it is invisible, and it is evil. It sneaks onto the roads when no one is watching, waiting to snag the tires of innocent drivers; such as our young Vee. The world stopped spinning, and her Dodge Intrepid came to a rest on the edge of the highway, facing east, back the way she had come.

Just in time for the front end of a semi-truck to deliver an oh-so-gentle-kiss on the front end of Vee's car.

The world sped up again. Something exploded, gravity reversed (or went sideways), and before Vee had realized it her car was nose deep in the median of Interstate 70, buried in snow.

She picked up her phone, hand shaking, airbag deflated.

"Kenny?"

"... mmmlo?" It was 8:30 am in Ohio, and that meant 5:30 am in California.

"I'm going to be late, I just got hit by a semi."

"WHAT!?"

"... I just got hit by a semi, so I'll miss my flight."

"Vee, did you call me FIRST?"

"... yeah. I'm going to be late."

Assorted muffled noises. "... call the POLICE!"

"I need to call the airport and see if I can get on a later flight. I'll be there! Just... late!"

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Marc got up that morning just like any other morning. He ate breakfast, watched some television, ate lunch and drove off to Kenny and Celia's place. Today was the day he was going to meet all of K & C's 'weird' online friends who liked to freeform roleplay online. Freeform, how he understood it, is where each person writes a story and allows each other to take control of that story. Sort of like starting a boardgame and then letting someone else make all the rolls and decisions for you. He preferred a nice d20 any day. He was lounging on the couch with K & C's schnauzer analyzing roleplaying strategies in his head, when the door opened. Another guest had arrived, and she looked remarkably similar to a movie actress of the time!

Erika Christensen
Vee

Score!

Marc wasn't put off by the fact that actress she resembled played a psychotic stalker chick in SwimFan. And so they met, wrestled across the floor (Vee says she won, and Marc says he won, so it was probably a draw), only to part ways again for another two years.

And THEN they met again, in the cold underbelly of a castle in Cyre. A place where the future of the world called Eberron was being shaped in the training of children to be assassins. The Blackstone.

DESTINY!

 

Cyre and Eberron are property of Wizards of the Coast, and if you don't know what they are, you're probably not a geek. Congrats!