Pagan Half Naked

I met Laurie when I was thirteen: we attended the same junior high school together. She was a punker, always messing with her hair colour and length, and more of a friend of a friend, but as we got to know each other, we relaised we shared a love of fantasy, of medieval history, and a certain craziness found mostly in adolescent girls who don't quite fit in. I got her to dress like Shadowspawn from Theives World and call me wench for my debut at the Talent Show (we came in second place).

I dragged her into the SCA, which she found a ripe hunting ground for attractive young men, and overall a lot of fun for someone who lived life very fast and on the edge. When we were sixteen we went to different schools, and fell out of contact, although she remained good friends with my elder sister, even sharing an apartment with her for a few years. In fact it is her memorial to Laurie that really should go here. (I'll talk to her about that).

Laurie was a gifted artist. She made me a favour of my favourite flower painted on ivory silk, and I still recall with awe her effortless ink paintings of samurai and kabuki actors.

Laurie died of a overdose in 1995. The name she ended up with in the SCA was irreverant and documentable, and an indicator of her fiery intelligence and wicked wit. I do miss her, even now.

• Briana*

• This gentle's name has been entered on the Scroll of Honor - An Tir Remembers.