The BBQ

[scribblerrigby]

“Hey, Cut – is your brother home? I think I heard him come in?” Marlee said in a quiet aside to Cut.

Well...this barbecue definitely took a turn for the stranger, Marlee observed. In the past ten minutes, both Myra and Cut had spilled some pretty dark stuff about themselves. And despite that, she was still pretty confident and completely trusted both of them. Heck, she found that she’d do ANYTHING for this Myra.

“Okay, you guys –now that we’re all settled and stuff – let’s get to some snacking and PARTYING! And SNACKING!”

[lunar]

Myra turned to the little bird girl and smiled. She was so joyous and bouncy, it was hard not to get caught up in it.

"Well I have a bag of chips to share and if any of you are fond of pen and paper tabletop games like D&D I have some books and dice and stuff with me," she said reaching into her bag.

It was looking like it could turn out to be a fun night.

[KB]

Chloe blanched, realizing what she'd thought was a subtle reaction had actually been noticed. "Oh, uh.. It's... What?" She did a weird combination of nervous laughter and throat-clearing before smiling nervously at Cut, "No, I wasn't uncomfortable; it's fine. No, er, no worries."

Her cheeks darkened to a slight teal color as she looked at the other speaking, then to her hands. Real smooth, she mentally chided. After a moment, however, the conversation around her had the gremlin looking back up at as a real smile made a show around her fangs.

"Pen and paper... Tabletop games?" Those sounded good, she was relatively certain no harm would come from those. "I haven't tried them, what do you do?"

[lunar]

"Well a tabletop game is where you make a character and go on adventures. Sometimes sci-fi, steam punk, fantasy, horror, that kind of thing and act like your character would. Interacting with a fictitious world or fighting monsters and enemies." Myra paused for a moment and thought to herself. 'Note to self: Don't use harpies as monsters anymore.'

"It's actually a lot of fun with friends and the like, you spend an afternoon snacking, joking, and rolling dice around a table." She pulled some of her Dungeons and Dragons, World of Darkness, and BESM books to show as well as some dice and offered them to anyone who was interested to look.

[StantonBros]

"I think your right Marlee, I think Cut 'is' here, let me go out front and check" Cut said as he walked towards the front door, "he probably forgot his keys again."

"What are you doing?" Paste whispered angrily.

"I don't like playing D&D" Cut admitted, "that, and Marlee is a little suspicious."

"But that is no excuse for throwing me into one of your 'social situations' like you always do" Paste argued as Cut walked out the door, quickly checked for any prying eyes and took form as his shorter white haired brother.

"Besides, what do I say if they start asking?" Paste asked aggressively.

"Just give them the usual BS" Cut assured him before mentally nudging him back into the house.

Paste looked around at the guests and quickly introduced himself, "hi, I'm Paste, Cut's brother."

[KB]

Chloe only vaguely paid attention to Cut leaving, more enthralled with Myra's description of her game. She gingerly picked up a book, flipping through it as her ears perked and her face lit up with interest. "This is great," she said enthusiastically, poking a page in the D&D book as she spoke. "What a good idea, I'd have never thought about stuff like this."

When Paste made his entrance and introduction the gremlin looked up from her eager intake of roleplaying information to acknowledge the man's existence. She smiled instinctively, then faltered, looked embarrassed, and the smile turned a bit bashful before she muttered a hello and went back to the book.

[scribblerrigby]

Marlee grabbed one of the books and eagerly paged through it with her claws. “I’ve seen these on TV, and Laurie has a ton of these! But I’ve never played one…” She flipped a page, her brain on overdrive. It seemed like a good way to pretend adventures like the ones on TV.

“Go let him in! He’s missing out!” she added to Cut, as he headed towards the door. Moments later, Paste (Cut’s less fun brother) appeared, introducing himself to everyone. Marlee noted Chloe’s bashful reaction to Paste…and suddenly missed Cut already. She was also tempted to ask what had happened when they were younger that had shaken Cut earlier, but decided to save that for later, instead settling for a “Hey, Paste! What’s shaking?”

And giggled, hoped she’d never find herself using that saying again.

[M]

(Eep! Sorry for the late reply!)

The manticore said nothing, only listened to the exchanges of their pasts with her eyes closed, dozing but fully awake. M wasn’t about to let tell her own past, considering most of it she didn’t even know, but even the recent past she did remember since coming to Bridgeport probably wouldn’t go down well with them, especially before she met them.

Her broken wings twitched at a disturbing memory she pushed back down, her eyes opened to the change of topic, especially the snacking and partying and snacking part, she got up and walked up to the girls.

“A fictional character fighting monsters and rolling dice? I don’t think I understand this table top game.” She looked at the cover of the books, even more confused. They were thick books with a lot of pieces. “This game doesn’t look too friendly towards thumbless people.” She lifted a paw and wiggled her ‘fingers’ with a smile. “It looks intriguing though.”

“He could’ve tried the back door, that’s always open.” M called after Cut as he left to let in his brother realising this was the first time she’d meet him. I’m sure Cut told him all about us, or else he’s going to be in for a huge surprise.

Paste seemed prepared with greeting his monstrous guests and was completely different to how M imagined him to be, ok so maybe in her limited imagination she just thought he would be a slightly different version of Cut, at least he was real though.

“Hi paste, I’m Em.” She purred in greeting. “I’m sure Cut told you all about me, uh I mean, us.” She gave a sideways glance to the little gremlin, was she blushing? She seemed more shy then normal suddenly.

“Come and sit down with us,” She said. “There’s space next to Chloe, I’m sure.” The manticore suppressed a giggle, but smiled innocently.

((Immunity to wall of text damage))

[KB]

(Sola, daaaaaaahling, we missed you!)

Chloe had looked over M's paws (did anyone notice the amount of gals with M starting their names?) and was considering either offering her help with whatever she couldn't quite accomplish or just suggesting someone take care of the parts requiring the dexterity of thumbs when she trailed off into other subjects. When the manticore had suggested Paste take a seat near her the gremlin's mouth dropped open slightly and she shot an accusatory glance M's way before smiling awkwardly at the man and clearing her throat again. Apparently she had quite the amphibian stuck in it.

"Oh, that's.. Er, that's fine; he can have my seat if her, uh, wants." She looked around to find a clock or other object with the time. "I think it's about time for me to go any.. Anyways, while I'm still on a winning streak." Chloe got up, fully intending to head out the back while she still could.

[StantonBros]

"Well, I've gotten some paperwork done at the office and yada yada yada" Paste answered Marlee, "nothing that I think any of you will enjoy or understand. Most of it being government stuff."

Paste looked at 'M's reaction and said "yes he has, and apparently he didn't tell me enough about you." Cats and Paste never seemed to work together, especially when he was younger and in a neighborhood filled with cats. Though 'M' was different... at least he hoped so, because 'M' had bigger claws.

Though what surprised him was Chloe's reaction, well, it didn't really 'surprise' him, knowing Chloe. Though he didn't want her to leave, she needed the interaction.

"Don't worry Chloe, I think there's enough room for me on the sofa" Paste said as he headed towards the sofa, conveniently blocking Chloe's path when she tried to leave, "what do you mean winning streak? If your talking about your unfortunate luck there is no proof that any of it is your fault, so why don't you sit down and have a good time, you like writing and stuff."

Paste then then motioned to Myra adding "I'm more of a Warhammer man myself, but occasionally I was forced into D&D by a few guys in lawschool."

[lunar]

Myra looked up and waved at Paste as he entered the room. "I'm Myra, and nice to hear you have some experience with the game. If you can help explain some of the rules to the others it would run pretty smoothly." She turned to M, "and we can roll the dice for you if you want, you play verbally for the most part."

She whipped a folder out of her bag and rifled through the papers inside until she found the ones she wanted and pulled them out.

"Ok, here are some blank character sheets to get us started." She handed one to each person in the room and started explaining the different classes from Bard to Sorcerer excitedly. "Oh and Marlee," she paused remembering, "if your friend Laurie, wants to join in later she's more than welcome to, more gamers are always great."

(Hehe, explaining a roleplay in a roleplay.)

[M]

The manticore listened to the explanation and choose what class she wanted to be, it was a curious game, but she understood it now. It was like when M had to pretend to be human, instead, not only does she have to pretend to be a human while currently in her true form, but also pretend she's in a different world and fighting monsters, all read out from words on a page. It was an unique experiance to be certain.

After getting someone to write down her character sheet and all the paper work was sorted, (she didn't realise how long it took to actually start to play the game), the Dungeon Master (as Myra insisted they call her) set up the little board and pieces, explaining the rules as they set up their characters.

When the first die was cast, the outside world melted away, all worries and fears of past and present disappeared, laughter and banter started as people got into their 'characters' and even played out scenes.

What better thing to do with new and old friends in a warm room, with good snacks and drinks then to play Dungeons and Dragons? M couldn't think of anything else, but she hoped she would one day experiance something that could rival it.

For tonight though, all her thoughts were on being a Ranger in a dungeon crawl with her friends.

[StantonBros]

(Alright, everyone can make a last comment to wrap up the BBQ thread, I'm going to find a way so that we can RP the D&D RP while having our characters in other threads too)

Paste sat at the table remembering the usual crowd in law school that hung around the D&D table, and then looked at the others smiling. The character sheet was easy to fill compared to the usual paperwork he faced, plus, it was more fun.

"Ah, welcome back Human Sorcerer" Paste said to himself as he got his piece ready, smiling at all the gratification that those many hours playing these role playing games in college was going to come into use.

[scribblerrigby]

“Oh, I’ll tell Laurie about this later! She’d LOVE to play something like this one of these days!”

Marlee then sat quietly, head slightly tilted to one side, and listened to Myra explain the rules. Bard would be easiest, she decided -she could hang back and watch and learn a few things about the game, then. And Myra had agreed to let her sing, too!

She hopped up onto one leg, and rolled her stats with the other, then plopped down, laughing, as the rest of their group started playing, messing around, and getting into character. Marlee couldn’t help but sigh happily as she grabbed a claw full of chips. For one of the first times in her life, she had many friends. Friends, snacks, and playing a fantasy game!

She couldn’t think of any other way to spend the day.

[lunar]

Myra laughed. Earlier today she would never have imagined something like this.
Now she suddenly had a lot more friends, a D&D game, and the knowledge that she wasn't the only abnormal around Bridgeport. Things were finally beginning to look up and she felt that calling Bridgeport her home wouldn't be so bad after all.

She looked around at everyone and grinned wickedly, "Time to roll for initiative!"