Chatting with Angels

Chapter Nine ~ The Artisan

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Would Kathryn be prepared for the news that Monty would bring from the Dark Weekend?

---

Monty returned to Kathy's trailer from a fall trip out to the group camp A.H.
Stephens near Crawfordville, GA. It had been three months since Kathy had met Della and the other shoe had not dropped yet. Kathy had decided to enjoy being with Monty while she could. It was nice to have Monty around. Monty was as devoted as any of her girlfriends yet had the strength and ability of a strong man.

Upon hearing a delicate knock at the door, Kathy suspected that it was Monty. Kathy wondered how can Monty's knock be so delicate? He's strong enough to knock the door down! Kathy opened the door to her trailer to reveal of course, Monty, with a very mischievous look that Kathy knew so well. She invited Monty in the door, wondering what was in store for her computer this time and what mischief that Monty had gotten himself into.

Kathy and Monty had gone through many computer repair adventures together. Fortunately, today's fix worked the first time. Her hard drive had failed, and Monty arrived fresh from his trip playing a LARP toting a small box of hard drive parts.

Fortunately for the 2 of them, it was only her hard drive cable that had failed. Monty's skill was sufficient to correct the problem and left the pair of them plenty of time to chat. Kathy knew enough about Monty by now to know that she had not yet heard what had brought that mischievous look to his face.

Monty began to describe the exploits of the LARP that he had been participating in all weekend long. The LARP weekend that he described sounded very similar to the goings on at SCA events that Kathy had attended with her former boyfriend "Toad".

"Toad" had managed to defraud her of all of the profits from the merchant business that he had convinced her to join. When she managed to kick "Toad' out of her life, she also put an end to her participation in the SCA.

Monty had told Kathy about the plot which was very much like "Lord of the Rings", where Monty had been placed in game as one of the races called Goblins.

"Monty, you've left out the most important part. What did your character, Staskas, do in the game?"

Beyond the mischievous look, Monty's face showed a joy that was more intense than any that she had seen him express before.

"I'll make a long story short. I managed to do something in the game that turned my character female after I was resurrected on Saturday. The end game played out and everyone enjoyed it as they usually do. The game designers told me that if I chose to return next spring as Sasha, the Goblin Princess, then I had better come prepared to play the part or else I would find myself with a potluck character of their choosing."

Relief swept across Monty's face as he began to relax.

"Monty!" Kathy smiled widely and giggled. "What are you going to do?"

Kathy mused that of course, Monti would want to be the princess!

"I want to stay Princess Sasha and become prepared to play the part correctly. I have no idea where to begin! Will you help me, please, Kathy?"

Monty was hopeful that Kathy, who seemed very amused, might play along.

Kathy smiled her mischievous smile. She thought that she would let Monti pretend ignorance for now but she would help her.

She was having entirely too much fun anticipating what turning Monty into Princess Sasha of the Goblin Race for Monty's performance in six months would involve.

"We have a lot to do to turn you into a passable princess. Do you have a costume picked out to wear?"

Kathy planned to help Monti by sewing some garb to be the costume.

"I was hoping that you could help me with that too, please.", Monty pleaded.

While Monty might not have had a chance to learn to sew, Kathy imagined that before this was over she would get proficient at it.

"I'll help you with your costume. We'll have to decide what kind of gown will look good on you made up as a goblin."

"Thank you so much, Kathy! I really am glad that you have decided to help me with this."

Monty was glad that it appeared that this would be fun for both of them.

"Monty, I'm going to help you become a very realistic Princess Sasha! I'd like for you to gather some things that we can use for you, before we can start. Also I am going to have to do some research to select a dress pattern for me to use to make your gown. I'll email you a list of the things that you will need to get before we get together to start your princess practice, your Highness."

Monty reasoned that she would have to see if she could find her SCA references to search for appropriate garb for Princess Monti.

"Kathy, thanks for everything that you are going to do to help me. I've enjoyed my visit with you, and I'll be looking forward to your email with the things that I'll need."

Monty realized it was time to go! He recognized that Kathy had a wild look in her eyes that he'd never seen before.

"Monty, I've enjoyed your visit too. I'll be in touch soon."

Kathy planned that when Monti leaves, she'd call Bernie and try to sort this out.

"Thanks Kathy, Bye!"

Monty picked up his box of hard drive parts and left through the door and Kathy closed it behind him.

Kathy realized that helping Monti would be a big job because it would be the first time for her feminine expression in public.

Kathy wondered, "Heaven help me! I wonder how this fits in with the prophecy! Time will tell!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kathy went right to her favorite chair and sat down and donned her telephone headset. She dialed Bernadette's number and waited for Bernie to pick up.

"Hi Kathy, How are you?" Bernie had recognized Kathy's number from the caller ID.

"Hi Bernie, I've got news for you and I would like for you to help me sort things out." Kathy hoped that Bernie could help her.

"Is it about Monty?" Bernie mused that if its about Monti already, that would be interesting.

"Yes but before I tell you, I realized that there was part of the prophecy that I hadn't shared with you yet that is relevant."

"What else did the prophecy say?" Bernie wondered if there were a loophole where Monty won't become Monti.

"It said that Monty would ask me if we could date and within a year after that Monty would go through the crisis and reveal everything to me and that she was ready to begin her real life test. I was also encouraged to keep things platonic between us. I plan to tell him that if he still felt that he wanted to date me after a year had passed then I would let him then."

Kathy reasoned that she could handle Monty asking her to start dating the easiest since she knew exactly what she's supposed to do.

"Wow! so you were given a sign to let you know when the crisis would happen in Monty's life. Has the clock started? Did Monty ask you to start dating?"

Bernie thought perhaps Monti might come out without first asking Kathy about dating in fulfillment of the prophecy.

"No, he didn't ask me yet. Monty manipulated things to get the LARP to make his character female and he asked me to help him prepare for being female at the next LARP in six months."

Kathy thought that this can't be the real crisis time since the sign hasn't been fulfilled.

"Well, it's obviously important to handle right even if it doesn't look like the prophecy is coming true right now."

Bernie wondered why the prophecy didn't contain this contingency.

"At the very least I can show Monty that I'm accepting and help give Monti some skills that she will need later."

Kathy mused that she could have lots of fun in the process. She was entitled since Monti will be having her fun too.

"Well if Monty comes out to the rest of us about playing a female character in the LARP, I'll be supportive too."

Bernie planed to find out how much help Monti accepts as part of her preparations.

"I know that you will be, Bernie, Thanks. While I've got a chance I'm going to enjoy the experience, shades of things to come." Kathy was curious to see what effect it will be on her well being having Andi around for a while.

"So is Monty pretending that this is the first time he's ever done something like this?" Bernie thought that If he doesn't come clean then that would be one more indication that this isn't the time that was in the prophecy.

"Of course! It will give me a chance to see how much she knows and give us a head start for later. And if I misinterpreted things she could be starting her new life now. Only time will tell!" Kathy hoped that she would have more time with Andy but in the end what is best is for her to be Monti.

"What part will Monti be playing?" Bernie wondered how deep is Monti in this and if she got a high profile part?

"Monti will be playing Princess Sasha, Matriarch of the Goblins." Kathy hoped that she enjoys being the center of attention but she asked for it.

"I never expected Monty to be a princess. You've got a lot of work ahead of you to help her."

Bernie thought as well that she would have a lot of fun knowing Kathy.

"I'm glad that we've got six months to prepare. While she is in character, I'm going to treat her as a woman, pronouns and everything and that is going to take some getting used to for me."

Kathy realized she would count it her dress rehearsal for when her friend was Monti permanently.

"Well, it looks like you have things sorted for now. Please let me know if there are any other developments."

Bernie decided this didn't look like the fulfillment of the prophecy, but you never know till things play out.

"Bye for now! I'll talk to you later, Bernie."

Kathy was glad she called Bernie. She felt much better about this.

"Bye Kathy!"

Bernie left the phone to tend to her 'baby'.

Kathy hung up the phone and removed the headset. She got up and went into her bedroom to prepare for bed.

Chapter Nine ~ The Artisan