[IC] Phi Mu Lambda: Friendly Wizarding Fraternity

[Dyelli Beybi]

Phi Mu Lambda: Friendly Wizarding Fraternity

Chapter One: Party Time

With some theme music, naturally

Getting kegs into a pocket dimension was complicated, to say the least. Most of the students were too young to be able to legally buy them to begin with, but wheeling them around campus was a bit obvious as well. And a person wheeling a keg disappearing into what appeared to be grotty old water fountain was definitely a bit suspicious.

It was, however, effectively essential for the pride of Phi Mu Lanbda. Nobody wanted the first party of the year to be dry!

Thankfully, Harper Thane was exactly the girl for the job. A missing driver's license for a balding middle aged man called 'Martin McQueen' might have looked a bit suspicious in the hands of a 20 year old sorority girl, but not only could Harper make herself like like a balding middle aged man, but she could make herself sound like a jaded on-the-road salesman. In short, unless the store owner decided to invade her personal space, there was no way of knowing she was anything other than what she claimed to be.

Yes, wheeling the crates across campus might have drawn some attention, but when they appeared to be crates of single ply hand-towels for paper hand-towel dispensers, nobody batted an eyelid, or followed them down behind the old science labs to see them apparently vanish into thin air.

Her job done, Harper let all illusions drop, adopting her much more pleasing, natural appearance, before disappearing up to the dorm rooms to freshen up, taking a quick shower before deciding what to wear. Swimwear underneath, she decided, because someone was going to fire up that hot tub and she didn't want to have to come back up here and get changed. She just hoped that Derek hadn't left it dialed up and left it sitting there like an unexploded landmine, set to take some unsuspecting freshman to some weird place in the past or future. That was a bit of a buzz kill. Always check the dial.

Jeans, wand shoved into the back pocket, because she didn't need to hide it amongst Phi Mu Lanbda, but she also didn't trust the others not to cast something at her by accident (or as a joke). And a black tee. That would do...

... meanwhile, a few doors away, Steve Hammersmith was, reluctantly, removing his wand from the neck of his bass. It looked pretty feeble on its own, but he didn't want anyone touching his bass at the party (if he knew one thing about wizards, it was that they were good at breaking things... he definitely was). So no bass, but he'd probably still need to pull a prank at some point this evening and it was important to have the tools to do it.

He opened his door, sauntering down the golden brick corridor and to the stairs leading down to the common room where Harper had left the kegs sitting out, ready for someone to tap them. He paused for a moment by the stairwell to tack up a poster of his band's next gig - never hurt to do a bit of advertising - before continuing on his way...

[Tesserach]

Abasi

There was no mistaking that Abasi was already setup in the common room. It was plainly evident from the cloud of smoke that was emerging from the other side of the couch. There was also the fact that Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove was playing, albeit at a fairly sedate volume over the sound system.

Here's a chance to dance our way
Out of our constrictions
Gonna be freakin'
Up and down
Hang-up alley way
With the groove our only guide
We shall all be moved
Ready or not here we come
Gettin' down on

So there was no need to see Abasi to know he was there, even before the tell tale gurgling noise rolled through the hall and he peaked his head up over the couch. Abasi gave a little waive to Harper, sounding as he usually did, half-asleep when he spoke. "Need a hand with any of that?" Noticing Steve by the stairs he listed to Steve's side of the couch. "Hey Steve."

[Demencia]

Ava Sterling

Ava emerged from her room carrying a small black case, and immediately headed right to the GameCube she'd set up in the center of the common room when she moved to Phi Mu Lambda. She sat down in front of it and unzipped the case, revealing a bright blue GameCube controller with custom buttons and pads. She plugged the cable into the front of the console and turned on both it and the tv. She navigated to the screen she wanted and leaned back on the couch.

"Melee moneymatch, anyone?" she asked to the room. "Don't be a coward, start small, 20 bucks!" she took a pair of tens out of her pocket and held them up.

[Half Pint]

Fiona Zhou

Nice N Sleazy - Bar and Gig venue
Last night around 09:00PM

---

Fiona sat back on the mangy old couch with her boot resting on the edge of the table. She had one hand holding a half-drunk beer bottle and the other in the pocket of her zip-up hoodie. The room was small and stank of spilled alcohol and cigarette smoke, but it was far from the worst green room she'd ever been in. That was either a toss-up between the gig she played in Slough or the one in Blackpool; she still had nightmares about the stink in those rooms.

She was backing up a rap duo, 'Vandal Verse.' She had met them not long after arriving in Arizona at a local concert, and after showing them her SoundCloud, they asked her to produce a few tracks for them and do instrumentals at their gigs when she had the time. Fiona didn't mind the two knuckleheads, and the extra cash wasn't so bad either. It was nice having friends outside of university, too. She still felt so new to the place, let alone the country, and relating to everyone was proving harder than she expected. She'd met a few people for sure, but she worried at times the only thing she had in common with them was their magical heritage. She knew it was a pessimistic attitude for sure, but she had always been an outsider. She could only hope people here would be a bit more accepting of her than those in her past.

The club owner opened the door just as one half of the duo, Dave, began attempting to balance his beer bottle on his nose like a seal. Unfortunately for both of them, the door startled him, and he let the bottle fall and spill all over the floor. The club owner sighed, informing Dave that the accident would be taken out of their pay.

They made their way to the side of the stage as the opener began to finish his set. Fiona breathed in deeply. She'd been on stage a million times, but each time she couldn't shake the nerves. Mike, the other half of the duo, turned to her with an unusually empathetic eye.

"Hey, Fi, you nervous?"

"Me? Never." She spoke, puffing her chest and putting on a brave face. Mike just grinned back at her, sticking his thumb up as the two swaggered their way onto the stage, being met by the roar of the crowd. Fiona followed, rolling up her hoodie sleeves as she approached her decks.

---

Fiona's room
The next day

---

Fiona begrudgingly woke up to the sound of her phone's alarm. She'd done her best to fight the conscious world, but she had been 'smart' enough last night to set about 11 consecutive alarms to prevent her from sleeping in and missing class again. She rubbed her face with a scowl, rolled out of bed, and checked her phone notifications. It was the usual stuff: Instagram, Twitter, texts from her parents. She kept scrolling until she found her group chat with Vandal Verse.

Yo, Fi great gig last night man.

Mike

Ye dude ty for backing us up it wz sick

Dave

I'll venmo you what we're due you later today bro, c u soon

Mike

Fiona grinned. You could call the two a lot of things, but reliable and loyal definitely needed to be included. She sent a quick text back thanking them and tossed her phone onto her desk before heading for a quick shower and changing into something more appropriate than her pajamas. She looked around her small room. She'd tried to make it as personal as possible, but it still felt like a dorm room to her. Various band posters plastered the walls, and she'd put some LED lighting around the top of the ceiling. Her laptop rested on the desk next to various music equipment, and her guitar sat in the corner of the room.

She finished putting in the last of her jewelry, her nose ring, and plugged in her earbuds as she left the room. Tapping a few buttons on her cracked iPhone screen, she landed on the encore song she and the rap duo had put together for last night's gig. It began to drown out any external noise as she made her way through the dorm.

Groggily making her way down the stairs, her eye was caught by an all-black poster for a metal band on the wall. She stopped, reading it before realizing she recognized one of the faces in the stylized black-and-white photo underneath their band logo. It was that metalhead, Steve, she'd met a few times. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and it didn't hurt to have more musically inclined friends. She noted the time and date of the gig in her phone and continued on to the common room.

As she entered, she was hit in the face with the smell of weed. It could only be one person, Abasi. She took out her earphones. If he had managed to wake up before her, she'd missed her chance to get control of the ever-valuable sound system. It could be worse, though; she didn't mind the usual funk and soul playlist he had on. It was much better than some of the other stuff that got played in there, that was for sure.

She glanced at the figures in the room, raising her hand in a small wave as she made her way to the couches.
"Hey guys, what's up?" she asked, slumping down on the couch adjacent to the one Abasi and Steve were sitting on. Her eyes drifted over to Ava as she called out for the money match. "I'll play, but I'm for sure not putting up money against someone with that controller, I suck as it is let alone against that hardware."

[The Man Emperor]

Seth Montes

As reality shifted and warped around him, Seth blinked at the bright, strobing lights. New sights, new smells, strange new habits to lay witness to and gaze upon! That is what joining the fraternity (and sorority, for there were also girls here) entailed. He had, truth be told, never seen a disco ball before. He had only danced (freestyle) to disco music, for it was, as some others might say, 'a vibe.' Either way, as he strode into the pocket dimension, he would be in the tail end (hah, tail) of a heated argument with the crow sitting on his shoulder. It had only been answering in caws, as a crow should, but Seth appeared to be holding an actual conversation with it. In his native tongue, no less, so unless there were other telepaths here that locked into his surface thoughts at the time, no one could understand him well as he basically cursed out the animal with a word that was sourced from Spanish. Maybe the crow had been insulting him or his family?

It took him all of one second to change his mood from supremely furious and melodramatic to that of pleasantness. He had brought with him a small karaoke set, the kind that you could bring in a backpack. Before he would start setting it up for the impending wave of silliness that would take over the party as soon as the drinks began filtering into the magical bloodstreams of the magical people here, he would nearly bump unto a cart filled with beers pushed by no other than the girl named Harper. Seth knew her from the class list and the Facebook Messenger group for one of the subjects they were classmates in, but they otherwise had no contact. "Ah, sorry," Seth said as he narrowly stepped away, "Harper, was it? Of course you'd be here. You're also... magic."

He looked over to the crow, who had just cawed, and hissed. "Shut the hell up!"

[Eviledd1984]

@Dyelli Beybi @Tesserach @Half Pint

Helmut Peter Spielzeugmann

He woke up to the sound of his alarm on his phone going off. Helmut stumbled, sitting up in his bed. He had a deep desire to go back to sleep but couldn’t go back to sleep. Checking his phone, not being surprised that he had no new emails. He checked the various dating sites and grimaced when he saw no new matches or messages. Putting his phone away before getting ready and doing his morning routine. While preparing, he listened to his favourite song. He didn’t know what he was doing today; he could start work on one of his many art projects. But perhaps he could do that later in the evening. For now, he wanted to go to the standard room to work on some sketching. He was overthinking many things, which made him quite anxious. Grabbing his, which had his pencils and sketchbook, heading out of his room. Sitting down on one of the many crusty chairs, not caring that he could be sitting on unsavoury stains.

He took out his sketchbook and one of the pencils and sketched the common area, including the students living there. He sketched some students putting up posters, not noticing that one of his toys was inside his backpack. The toy itself was a Raggedy Andy doll. He had this doll since he was three years old, and it would be surprising because of how well-kept it was. Stopping for a moment to get something to drink. He closed his sketchbook and placed it into his backpack, surprised to see the Raggedy Andy doll in his backpack. He was walking over to the vending machines beside the people putting up the poster. Picking an energy drink before going back to the couch. Having not noticed, he was now sitting near a group of people. Drinking his energy drink while people watching.

[Demencia]

Ava Sterling

Ava raised her hands defensively at the slander thrown towards her controller. "Please, I don't need a phob for this party." she said, reaching forward and unplugging it. "You could hand me the shittiest third party Mad Catz ass controller and I'd still beat anyone here." She wrapped the cord of her controller back around it and tucked it away in the case.

She leaned forward and grabbed a generic GameCube controller. "Now where's the copium?" she asked, holding up a non-professional controller and putting twenty dollars on the table. She moved the cursor onscreen and selected the only character she's ever played in years.

[Tesserach]

Abisu

Ava raised her hands defensively at the slander thrown towards her controller. "Please, I don't need a phob for this party." she said, reaching forward and unplugging it. "You could hand me the shittiest third party Mad Catz ass controller and I'd still beat anyone here." She wrapped the cord of her controller back around it and tucked it away in the case.

She leaned forward and grabbed a generic GameCube controller. "Now where's the copium?"

@Demencia

Abisu's attention was drawn away from the kegs by the new arrivals. "You know..." Abisu slid back down from the back of the couch and spun to the coffee table, covered as it were with lighters, plastic baggies, a large paper bag and a large, lit bong. He began rummaging through the paper bag, while clearing a space for a controller or console on the table. "I think I have those."

Eventually he produced a small plastic ziplock bag containing a set of small blue pills. "Copium."

Lying back he turned towards the tv and console then to Sterling. "You know, I'll play but I don't really have 'money.' You take weed?"

[Dyelli Beybi]

Seth Montes

...

It took him all of one second to change his mood from supremely furious and melodramatic to that of pleasantness. He had brought with him a small karaoke set, the kind that you could bring in a backpack. Before he would start setting it up for the impending wave of silliness that would take over the party as soon as the drinks began filtering into the magical bloodstreams of the magical people here, he would nearly bump unto a cart filled with beers pushed by no other than the girl named Harper. Seth knew her from the class list and the Facebook Messenger group for one of the subjects they were classmates in, but they otherwise had no contact. "Ah, sorry," Seth said as he narrowly stepped away, "Harper, was it? Of course you'd be here. You're also... magic."

He looked over to the crow, who had just cawed, and hissed. "Shut the hell up!"

@The Man Emperor

Harper Thane

"Actually, I just got lost, what the hell is this place?" Harper asked in her (natural) rather posh sounding Home Counties accent. She gave a well acted look of alarmed confusion, before abruptly grinning, and pulling her wand out of her back pocket, in part so Seth could see it, but also so she could flop down on the couch, next to Helmut, without damaging it. Wands were expensive, "So, want to show us your party tricks?" she asked the pair with a roguish grin, "It seems fair since you've seen mine - getting alcohol."

"Best one gets to join me for a friendly match of beer pong."

Steve Hammersmith

Abisu

<Snipped quote by Demencia>

...

Lying back he turned towards the tv and console then to Sterling. "You know, I'll play but I don't really have 'money.' You take weed?"

@Tesserach

Steve perked up at the mention of weed, "If she isn't keen I'll buy a half-ounce off you and you can use the proceeds to bankroll your losing streak at whatever that game is."

[Tesserach]

Abisu

Steve Hammersmith

Steve perked up at the mention of weed, "If she isn't keen I'll buy a half-ounce off you and you can use the proceeds to bankroll your losing streak at whatever that game is."

@Dyelli Beybi

Abisu set the bag of blue 'copium' on the coffee table and reached into the paper bag to pull a couple small pre-weighed bags of weed. Abisu coughed, smoke coming from his lips despite him not having had a hit from the bong in some time. "I think we have ourselves a deal." Abisu said in his half-lidded dream-like drawl, looking uncertaintly from Hammersmith then to the bags he held until eventually he closed his eyes and settled on one. "You'll find this, has just the right... blend." Abisu smile and gave a long relaxed rolling chuckle, his eyes still mostly closed. "You ah, strike me as a THC man after my own heart." He dropped the bag into Hammersmith's hand and then opened his eyes and then leaned forward. "Now where's that controller? You guys can do whatever with the music, I's just groovin'."

[Pragia12]

Derek was having a pretty great day, whatever days were anymore for the time-strained teen. Wearing his authentic bomber jacket, navy blue with a brown fur collar over a white tee to match his blue jeans and converses. He had a glass bottle of… something in his hand, the brown glass lacking any label or markings. Seeing the boys crowding around the TV with the blue relic of times he might not even be able to reach got him to crack a smile.

“Yo, got room for me to get in on this?” he says in a chipper tone, reaching into his pocket and slamming a 20 dollar bill with Grover Cleveland on it before taking it back and putting down a different one with Harriet Tubman. He’d take up the controller in one hand, slamming back a deep drink from it, a smell reminiscent of diesel coming off of the bottle. He was always eager enough to get a game in, throwing himself back into the couch and kicking his feet up onto the low table in front of it, next to the baggies Abisu had provided.

[Demencia]

Ava Sterling

More suckers, more money. Ava thought. "Sure, you can get in on it." Ava replied. At that point, it all became muscle memory. Select Zelda. Select Battlefield. Hold A during the loading screen. Wavedash. Boostgrab. The stock controller wasn't nearly as responsive, but also she was playing down to the level of the people with her. She wasn't pulling every trick out against amateurs, that was a poor way to get them to come back later.

After depleting all three stocks from everyone, she triumphantly sat down her controller. "That's sixty dollars, thank you very much." Ava said, collecting the money off of the table. "Unless anyone wants to try double or nothing?" she offered with a raised eyebrow.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Steve Hammersmith

"Should have just stuck to the weed," Steve remarked from where he had been watching everything on the couch. He exhaled a cloud of strong smelling smoke before taking another drag from the joint he'd rolled whole watching Ava and the others do... something on the ancient console. It was probably as old as he was.

"Personally," he said, staring at the embers at the end of his joint, "I'd rather send my money up in smoke than gamble... it needs to be the right kind of smoke of course... Thats not a metaphor... or is it? I'm not saying burn your money!"

[The Man Emperor]

<Snipped quote by The Man Emperor>

Harper Thane

"Actually, I just got lost, what the hell is this place?" Harper asked in her (natural) rather posh sounding Home Counties accent. She gave a well acted look of alarmed confusion,

@Dyelli Beybi

Seth Montes

When Seth heard that Harper was just lost (or so she said), he immediately tensed up, trying to remember one of those more obscure spells. Was there even a spell for... forgetting? His specialty was telepathy, so mind-related spells would come easier for him, would it not? Ah, this was a conundrum! Could someone actually wander into the pocket dimension? He was pretty new here, so he wasn't sure. His hand reached for his wand, preparing to cast something, just something-

before abruptly grinning, and pulling her wand out of her back pocket, in part so Seth could see it, but also so she could flop down on the couch, next to Helmut, without damaging it. Wands were expensive, "So, want to show us your party tricks?" she asked the pair with a roguish grin, "It seems fair since you've seen mine - getting alcohol."

"Best one gets to join me for a friendly match of beer pong."

"Ayyyyy, yawa, Seth grumbled as he saw Harper pull out her own wand. "Don't joke like that! I thought about erasing your memory for a second there! Though I don't actually know a spell like that... yet... I think..."

Munnin cawed. Seth immediately rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I can talk to animals," he added, since Harper asked what his 'tricks' were. Telepathy is my specialty. Though it is quite... uh, how do I put it... distressing to use it here, in this college. There are many things I don't want to know that I do know now."

Seth took one of the beers and popped it open. "To be clear... I told Munnin here to peck me if I took more than one."

[Dyelli Beybi]

"Dude, relax! Drink six or seven and give one to the bird!" Harper encouraged, "Don't waste your college years not getting wasted!"

"And, my very tense friend, if a normie does wander in, just give them some shrooms," she said confidently, and as if magic mushrooms were something everyone had a stash of, "They'll think it was a bad trip... Or call the Inspectorate. They can handle that! They don't teach us those kinds of spell for a reason."

[Eviledd1984]

@Dyelli Beybi

Helmut Peter Spielzeugmann

Not noticing that he was being spoken to, he turned his head towards Harper, taking a moment to process what was happening before speaking to her. “Are you talking to me? I guess could show you what I can do.” He did see an example of her magical abilities. It was pretty impressive, and he wondered what other spells the others specialized in. The young man put his energy drink on the table before him. He opened his backpack and shoved his hand in, trying to fish something out of it. A few moments later, he held the Raggedy Andy doll. He sat on the table and grabbed his wand from his jacket pocket. He closed his eyes and concentrated while speaking about the ancient incantations of his family.

Soon enough, the Raggedy Andy doll stood on the table, bowing toward the women in the room. It then started to dance on the table effortlessly, avoiding the things on it. It jumped from the table and onto Helmut’s lap. Jumping and dancing on the laps of those who were seated. Moved back onto Helmut, lifelessly crumpling onto Helmut’s lap. “I have a spell that can control various toys, and it is very useful for guerrilla warfare and stealth.” He put the Raggedy Andy doll away with a smile.

[Dyelli Beybi]

"Interesting," Harper mused, though there was a slight smirk forming on her face, "Well, considering I haven't seen any evidence that Doctor Dolittle hasn't actually shown my anything, I think Chucky here takes the gold."

"Though I'm going to have to assume," she added, still with the smirk, "That when you say 'guerrilla warfare', that you're talking about breaking into the girls' locker room since you look too young to have been involved in the Battle of Fallujah. I suppose I'll have to keep an eye out for any suspiciously placed toys around the place," she said, though she seemed to find the whole thing funny rather than worrying and was quite possibly seeing if she could make Helmut blush... or at least get a little flustered.

"So, beer pong?" she suggested, "I think Ace Ventura needs to get a few beers in him!"

[Eviledd1984]

@Dyelli Beybi

Helmut Peter Spielzeugmann

Helmut again raised a brow at Harper, calling her Chucky. He didn’t get the reference, but he guessed he didn’t introduce himself, so nicknames seemed applicable. “My name is Helmut Spielzeugmann. It’s a pleasure to meet you. And I assure you I would not waste my time peeping on female students.” He didn’t blush, but he did look at her with a grimace. He was not as lascivious or ghoulish as she assumed.

“What are the rules of beer pong?” He had not heard of or played the game before. So, he would need some clarification of the rules. “I guess I could join your game; it could be fun.” He shrugged his shoulders, assuming that beer pong was something fun his peers would do.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Harper gave a cheeky grin, twisting in her seat to face Helmut fully, "Well that's no fun! Don't tell Derek and Steve that, they'll be deeply disappointed... I'm Harper. Harper Thane, it's a pleasure to meet someone else from the East side of the pond."

"So new to beer pong huh?" she seemed delighted to be the one introducing the game... "I won't include any funny house rules... you put ten beer cups in a triangle at the end of a ping-pong table and try to throw a ball into the other side's cups. If you succeed they drink and take that cup off the table. Last person with an undrunk cup of beer wins! Though the goal is a really to get drunk so there are no losers!"

"It's a fiercely competitive game in here," she added confidentially, "The magically gifted tend to have good hand-eye coordination... at the start of a game at least."

She paused, thinking. Internally Harper was considering whether she could get Ace Ventura to be her designated drinker. She liked to stay in control enough to be able to clean up any magical mishaps, but it didn't seem fair on Helmut, who she was encouraging to drink more than (she suspected) he did usually... oh well. The fraternity could look after itself for one night. Hopefully?

"Shall we?" she nodded in the direction of the common room's table tennis table which was currently being ignored in favour of retro gaming...

[Demencia]

Ava Sterling

After collecting her winnings, Ava's ears perked on upon hearing a certain phrase. "Woah who's breaking into the girl's locker room?" she asked, leaping over the couch and inserting herself in the other conversation. "And how do I get involved?" She saw the conversation was between two of the foreign students, which was probably a setup for a joke but Ava didn't feel like risking her potential in on this racket. "It's about time this party livened up anyway."