A Simple Life: Chapter 86 (Patreon)

After a good laugh our spirits are high.  As we eat our lunch, Briar and I sitting with Winona up and moving around as she ate, the subject turns inexorably to FoF.  As the gals start to dig into every little nook and cranny of our first session and the game in general I mostly just sit and listen to them.  I found it fascinating how deeply they each knew the lore, history, and rules of the various editions and the unbridled enthusiasm with which they spoke about it.  I never truly appreciated before the passion a game of what was essentially structured make believe play could inspire.

More than half the stuff they talked about I hadn’t a clue about.  From poorly implemented rules in previous edition to obscure characters from the lore even to the ups and downs of the company that created the game they talk and talk about their shared love of the game.  With each inside joke and abstruse reference I could see another brick being laid down in their budding new friendship.

For someone interested in the ins and outs of FoF this would be like sitting at the feet of two great masters.  An education second to none.  But for me it was the two amazing people behind the words that were being revealed.  Beyond the mechanics and minutiae I hear about a pair of girls with very different backgrounds who had needed an escape from the mundane.  They’d found it inside the covers of a book and sat around tables with fellow dreamers.  For the Winona of the past the game meant imagination, freedom, creativity, and heroism.  For the girl that was Briar the game gave her a world of structure, where logic and order underpinned what only seemed like a chaotic universe, and a realm where good and evil played by the same rules.  Around a table of like minded players Winona found a place to express her shining inner spark and Briar found a sanctuary of acceptance, even if it was to be found behind the mask of a character.  Two women, two different paths, individual inspirations, but one and the same passion.  Fascinating!  This was all so much more profound than the fun hobby I assumed FoF to be at first.

As they continue to chat I gather the dishes and move them to the sink.  There I start the water, add the soap, and begin to wash.  The next thing I knew Winona was at my shoulder rinsing and drying.  A moment after that Briar was there putting the clean plates away.  A warm feeling washes over me as I listen to them talk and laugh and do their part.  This wasn’t what it was like back home.  I remembered well the shouting and arguments the simple chore of dishes would kick off every single night.  Technically it was Paige’s responsibility but as the eldest she always tried to pass it down to one of us boys, when she was home at all that is.  This would invariable start a big fight as none of us wanted to do her work.  And in the days before our father left us, with the inevitability of one domino knocking over the next, this would lead to a whoopin all around leaving three sniffling boys standing in a line just like this.  There was no laughter then like there was now.

A kiss presses into the side of my head.  “What are you smiling at Sprout?”

“N-Nothin.”  I whisper.  “I’m just happy.”

“Probably tired of hearing us prattle on about FoF!”  Briar says.  “I’m terrible.  I can talk for HOURS about it.”

“Me too!”  Chuckles Winona.  Hours?  I actually believed them.  She nudges me with her shoulder.  “We can talk about something else if you want.”

“No.”  I say.  “I love it.  Hey, um, you guys were using a w-word a b-bit ago.  Phaco?  I n-never heard that word.  What’s a Phaco?”

“Ha!”  Winona slaps my shoulder.  “Back in the early editions they had this wild way of determining hits.”

“It was before my time but I heard some old-school players had to keep a calculator at the table!”  Briar snorts.  “And if someone wanted to wrestle, eesh!”

“Ha ha ha!  My old FM showed us this whole series of charts and graphs he’d made and…”

And off they go again down their nerdy rabbit hole just as I hoped they’d do.  I really enjoyed listening to them.

The dishes are done and the counter cleaned.  The women move to the love seat and I roll the computer chair over to join them.  They carry on talking, the topic turning to our inaugural game.  Eventually Winona turns to Scourge, gently trying to convince Briar to tamp down the Ogre-Troll’s power with some roleplay limitations so that she was a bit more balanced with the rest of us.

“I did get kind of carried away with her.”  Briar giggles.  “I just never had a FM give me such free range before!”

“I love her, but Scourge is gonna be a bitch to challenge without out making the others feel useless.”  Winona levels with her.  “I don’t want to rain on your fun and nerf her…but I don’t want to have to hit you with mind magic every game either.  That shit sucks after awhile.”

Briar raises her hands.  “I totally get it.  I can tweak her down notch.”

“Mmm, I kinda like her as is.  This raw destruction just ready to be unleashed.  Very cool.  I had another idea to reign her in.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Your Paladin oath.  I’d like to work with that to give you some voluntary limitations.”

“Ooo!  Yes!  I like the idea.  Go on.”

As they get into the weeds about Scourge’s oath I hear Amos’ vehicle return.  I whisper that I was going to go see if he needed any help or anything and excuse myself.

I slip into my shoes and stroll back through the garage.  Along the way I glance about and wonder where Brutus had disappeared to.  Back with his family?  The answer comes a few seconds later by a loud “AHHH CHOO!”.

That was a woman’s sneeze.  I stop in my tracks and cock my ear toward the open bay door.

“Amos Crow.  I swear if you ever bring that fluff ball home with you again I’m making kitty-cat wasna.”  That voice!  It was both new yet weirdly familiar.  It sounded like Winona, a LOT like Winona, but with twenty or more years of sultry fry at the edges.

“He gets lonely without me.”  One car door slams followed by another.  “Look at him Cher.  He needs me.”

“YOU’RE gonna be lonely on the sofa if I see him at home again!”

Amos’ deep chortle follows.  “Don’t you listen to her Brutus.  She’s all bark and no bi…OW!  You bit me!”

“You’re lucky that’s all I did.”  Winona’s mom says in her insanely sexy voice.

Amos laughs again, clearly enjoying the back and forth with his spirited wife.  “Did you see the sign?  You shoulda seen her face when she figured it out.  She…”

“Nevermind the damn sign for a second.”  Cheryl snaps.  “I can’t believe you left her out here alone with him.”

“Errr, why wouldn’t I?”

“Gee, I wonder.”  She quips.  “Boy and girl all alone in the back of a country shop?  What could possibly happen?”

“Lunch?”  Thud!  “OW!”

“That’s how we got Winona ya darned fool!  Come on!”  The crunch of footsteps rapidly approaching echos through the bay.  “Just show me this little womanizing white boy and stand back.”

Stand back!?  I didn’t like the sounds of that!  “Glp!”

Chapter 87