Good News, Everyone!

As Professor Farnsworth would say.

There was a gamer meetup last weekend.  This is a pretty large meetup group, and there's a waitlist often forms soon after the meet is announced.  This kind of makes sense: if you're a serious Axis and Allies player, you probably would have trouble finding people who share your passion for that particular game.  So when there's a group that wants to get together for a non-mainstream game, or non-mainstream type of game, the people are going to jump at the chance to play.

It's not unlike me and opportunities to dress.

A couple of women came in late.  The first one through the door let out a loud "hiiii" and both were greeted by the host.  The host mentioned that there was room for a one more player at the table nearest the door.  There were four men and one woman at the table at that point.

The woman in front suggested the other woman join the five.  She agreed and sat down to play "Betrayal at House on the Hill."  Only one person (the guy on her right) had played before so he explained the game to everyone else, answered questions, etc.

Everyone was treated as if they were old friends playing a new game ~ even me, the sixth player.  Charity went on to another table to play a different game, and, because my game ran On and On, she played a Battlestar Galactica game afterwards.

The other woman at the table was, in my opinion, dressier than me.  She wore a long full skirt, a blouse I'd characterise as "peasant," glittery nail polish, jewelry I coveted, as well as makeup.  At one point, I asked her where she had picked up something to drink and she said "I'll show you."  She got up and led the way into the kitchen and showed me what's where.

That's the way it was the whole night.  I made small talk with some of the other players, made jokes, and kept referring to myself as a "little girl."

For the record, the game had tokens to identify each player and a card that gave the characters "characteristics" ~ sanity, strength, speed, knowledge.  The card had two sides and the only one left was a little girl.  On both sides.  I was 8 or 9, depending on which side I used.

I even felt comfortable enough to make a "clothes joke:" when five of us were being chased by a zombie (which hve a "speed" of two), I said "can I give him my boots?  That'll slow him down to a one."

It felt like outreach.  I hope the next time the group meets with a trans person they'll feel even more comfortable.  I'll be back as Meg; I won't be attending a lot of their events because I don't really want to spend three hours getting ready/unready too often.

Yes, I was read.  Yes, I expected to be read.  No-one said anything or asked any questions (I'm bracing myself for when we get to know each other better ~ questions will probably come).  But one woman at Charity's table wrote her after the event and said that her partner was T and maybe we could get together for a little game event.  Small world, isn't it?

By the way, we had a bit of a tight schedule that night.  Charity worked late and she barely had time to come to the apartment, change and GO.  Even then, we were a bit late.  On the other hand, I got to practice my makeup.  I think I did a credible job, but I will confess: I enjoy having Charity do it.  Both for the pleasant time and wonderful results.  Because she had to rush in and rush out, we stopped at a diner after the games.  As we pulled up I said "uh-oh" because there were two police cars in the parking lot and not many other cars.  I was joking.  I expected nothing that would warrant a real uh-oh and in fact figured if, on the off chance anyone got nasty....

In the diner, the waitress seated us, and the cops were at the table behind and to my rigt.  Across from us, a couple with young teen girls sat down, and in front and to my right a party of about ten or twelve sat down.  If anyone noticed us, they did a superb job of hiding it.  I think I look at people more than people look at me.  At the checkout, we talked to the waitresses about delivery and joked a bit before leaving.  It was about 11:30 at that time and had we left the apartment around 7.

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