Chapter 1
Mari was standing on the Quigley's front porch, wondering if she had actually agreed to this or if it was some sort of sick, twisted fever dream. It's not like she had any other plans, but this was sooo not how she wanted to spend a Friday night. She was about ready to just forget it and go home, when the door opened and a short, slightly pudgy woman with a mess of blonde curls appeared before her.
"Hello!" she singsonged. "Come in, come in!" she continued, as she ushered Mari into the living room. "It's so nice to have you, I'm Mrs. Quigley, but you can call me Janet, if you'd like." she smiled wider than she had been before, if that was possible. "Help yourself to any of the snacks on the kitchen table, but I'm just going to ask that you take your shoes off and put them on the rack over there."
Mari shuffled over the the teal shoe rack in the corner and placed her sneakers neatly on the top row. Mrs. Quigley- Janet, didn't give her much direction on where to go before she disappeared around the into another part of the house, so Mari just followed the sound of girls laughing. She emerged into a well-lit, homey dining room. Van was sitting at the head of the table, with Crystal and Melissa on one side and Misty on the other.
Misty was the first one to notice her, and her face lit up. "Hi, Mari!" she exclaimed, and all the girls turned to look at her, waving or saying hello.
Mari felt slightly uncomfortable with the sudden attention, but she also kind of liked it. Craved it even. But did it have to be Misty's attention?
She sat herself down in the seat next to Misty, who turned and looked at her, practically buzzing with joy. She turned to Mari and said, "I'm really excited. I've read the D&D basic manuel cover to cover like three times, so I know essentially everything about it, but I've never found enough people to play with!"
"Um, yeah," Mari replied, feeling uncomfortably out of her element. Then again, what really was her element? "I mean, I don't really know much about it other than that there are like, elves and goblins and stuff."
Apparently she didn't need to be embarrassed about her lack of nerd knowledge, because this seemed to excite Misty more. "Really?" The blonde exclaimed. "It's a little complicated at first, but don't worry, I know you'll get the hang of it. And I'll be here to help you until you do!"
Misty was beaming, and Mari tried to muster up a smile back. She was pretty sure it looked more like a grimace.
By some miracle, Akilah showed up right at that moment, so Mari didn't have to think of a response.
The girls all said their hellos and Akilah sat down next to Mari, at the head of the table across from Van. Akilah studied Mari's misery-stricken face and quirked an eyebrow, smiling a bit. She had listened to Mari complain about coming to this for the past week and a half, each time reminding her that she really didn't need to go if she didn't want to. But, as previously mentioned, Mari had nothing better to do. That was the one and only reason she was there.
Van clapped her hands together and they all looked up. "Alright my little adventurers. Are you ready?" she asked, an almost evil looking grin gracing her face.
Misty and Crystal starting whooping and cheering, and Melissa whistled.
"Okay, so first you guys have to create your characters. I already put out a character sheet, a pencil, and some dice for each of you, so you should be all set." Van directed.
Crystal, Melissa, and Akilah all started rolling dice and flipping through one of the four D&D starter books in the middle of the table, already chatting excitedly about different race and class types, whatever the hell that meant. Mari was starting to feel fairly nervous, itchy even. She had no clue what was going on, and that was one of her least favorite feelings on the planet.
She was just staring at the paper blankly, trying to figure out what the hell she was supposed to write and where, when Misty leaned over towards her a bit. "I can help you, if you want."
She wasn't being condescending, but it still made her skin prickle. She didn't need help from Misty Quigley.
Unfortunately, though, she actually really did.
Mari sighed. "Where do I start?"
Misty's face lit up, clearly not expecting her assistance to be welcomed.
"Okay, so first you're gonna want to pick a race." she said, grabbing one of the books from the middle. She flipped to the section she was looking for and started explaining all of the different races and some of the special attributes that come along with each one. It was actually a lot cooler than Mari thought it would be, but she wouldn't have admitted that with a gun to her head.
"I think that maybe a high elf could be cool." Mari said, tentatively. If she was going to play pretend with a bunch of dorks (plus Van and Akilah), she may as well play as a creature that's beautiful and graceful. Basically the opposite of what Mari actually is.
Misty frowned a little, but quickly fixed it. "Yeah, if that's what you want."
Mari could feel herself getting defensive. "Why, what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing's wrong with it, per se, it's just, I don't know, elves are a little... basic." She explained, pushing her glasses up. "I just feel like I see you as something cooler, more unique. Something really powerful."
Mari flushed, defensiveness being replaced by sheepishness. No one had ever said something like that to her before. Plus, Misty was right. If she really thought about it, being some hoity-toity high elf felt a little ridiculous. She picked up the book and started flipping through again, trying to ignore Misty's eyes burning a hole in her side.
Burning. Huh.
She turned the book back towards Misty. "I like this one."
"A fire genasi." Misty noted, grinning. "Very nice."
Mari started to smile but then caught herself. Why was she so excited to have Misty Quigley's approval?
Before she had time to ponder that, Misty was moving on to the next step. "Alright, now you're going to want to pick your class."
Mari was starting to get really into this, and they hadn't even started playing, which she found quite alarming. This wasn't supposed to be fun.
After looking through the section of the book describing the different classes, Mari decided she wanted to be a warlock. She thought having magic would be pretty cool, but something about being a wizard just didn't sit right with her. Even in a game she needed someone to follow.
She showed Misty, whose face really must be hurting from smiling so much, and Misty showed her how to fill out the rest of her sheet.
Once they were all done it was time to share, much to Mari's chagrin. Something about her choices felt pretty personal.
Misty spoke up first, naturally. "So my character is a rock gnome rogue named Lorilla. She's very sneaky and also has pretty high charisma."
Melissa went next. "I'm a centaur barbarian named Bonecrusher and I'm cool as fuck." Nice to see that at least someone is just messing around. Maybe this doesn't have to seem so serious. It's supposed to be a game, right?
"I'm a wood elf bard named Ivy!" Crystal happily exclaimed. Mari couldn't help but snicker, of course Crystal would pick some basic boring elf. She felt even more validated when Misty told Crystal it was a good choice, essentially insinuating that while average makes sense for Crystal, Mari is far above that.
Shes something cooler, more unique.
More powerful.
"I decided to be a fairy druid named Citrine." Akilah said, somewhat shyly. She was far more optimistic about the chances of this being fun, but she was definitely a newbie at this like Mari. Despite that, she didn't let embarrassment keep her down. Mari wondered what it would be like to not care like that.
She was shaken out of her thoughts, somewhat literally, by a hand lightly touching her shoulder.
"What?" Mari snapped, pulling away from Misty. The blonde frowned and Mari immediately felt bad. "Sorry," she murmered, "Just spaced out."
Luckily Van broke the moment of awkward silence. "Okayyy, well, it's your turn. What's your character like?"
"Well," Mari started, cautiously. "I'm a fire genasi warlock named Radia, I guess." She glanced around the room, searching for judgment. She didn't think she could see any, but she's never been the best with social cues.
Van clapped her hands together again. She seemed to enjoy that. "Alright, we ready to rock and roll? Anyone wanna go to the bathroom, grab snacks, etcetera?"
"I'm gonna go wazz." Melissa announced, standing up.
Misty rubbed her hands together and swung her feet, letting out a little squeal. "I'm sooooo excited." She exclaimed.
"So you've mentioned." Murmered Mari.
Misty frowned at her and looked down, focusing on her book. Akilah shot Mari a look, and she shrugged.
Melissa came back from the bathroom (and the kitchen evidently, judging by the bag of chips she now possessed.) It was actually time to play the game.
This was going to be a long night.
-
Mari had played dungeons and dragons at Misty Quigley's house for over two hours, and honestly... it flew by. Some sick, twisted part of her actually wished they could keep playing. This game must have some dark voodoo magic attached to it that she should rrally stay far, far away from.
Everyone else had gone home, but Mari was stuck waiting for her Mom to pick her up. Embarrassing. She sat awkwardly on the couch alone for a good five minutes while Misty and Mrs. Quigley (or Janet or whatever) tidied up the dining room. Mari offered to help but was told not to worry about it. She didn't really want to clean, but she wished she had something to do with her hands.
Misty waltzed back into the room, looking peppier than Mari had ever seen her, and that was saying something. That's a whole lot of energy for 8:45 at night, but Mari honestly can't blame her. It was fun. And she didn't know what to do with that. She couldn't remember the last time she hung out with people and she actually felt like she could be herself. Maybe it helped that she was acting, pretending to be some fantastical character. What a weird contradiction.
After a moment of awkward silence, Misty spoke up. "I had a really good time tonight. I'm glad you came."
Mari smiled, and to her own surprise it was genuine. Maybe she was just tired, but she suddenly didn't have the energy to be bitchy. "I had a good time too."
Misty's eyebrows raised and her eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah," Mari laughed. "You know how to throw a party, Quigley."
Misty looked very pleased by that. "You know, I always thought I would, I had just never been given the chance to test that particular skill. Until tonight." she proclaimed proudly.
"Well, you're a natural." Mari replied. She was sort of messing with her, but not really. She just thought it was funny how amped up Misty could get, but she wasnt lying. The girl threw a fun get-together.
Mari's phone buzzed and she looked down. Her mom was outside. She looked up at a beaming Misty and suddenly wished her she had gotten stuck at work even longer.
"That's my ride." Mari said, awkwardly. Well, maybe it wasn't awkward, but she couldnt never tell. It certainly felt awkward.
"Oh, okay." Misty said, looking slightly disappointed.
Mari walked over to the door and put her shoes on. "Well, uh, thanks for having me."
"Of course! Bonding activities such as tabletop games are a great way to solidify friendships." Misty stated matter-of-factly.
"Riiiight." Mari replied. Just when she was starting to think Misty may have a shred of normalcy in her. She opened the door to leave but paused when Misty spoke up.
"Mari?"
"Yes, Misty?" she asked, somewhat exasperated. Her mom was gonna be annoyed at making her wait.
"Are you gonna come back next week?"
Mari paused for a long moment, and then sighed. "Yeah, why not?"
She could think of a million reasons not to, but strangely the joy on Misty's face upon her saying that was reason enough to come back. What a disaster.