If you don't like rock 'n' roll

[satanicpanics]

Who: Eddie, Tim, you
What: Open Dungeons and Dragons time (no knowledge of D&D necessary)
When: April, before Easter
Where: Marche du Lac (if Tim got the permission)



{ Note: This post can be used as a free for all event type situation and tags can be made amongst yourselves, not just for Tim and Eddie! }

Before D&D

[ Maybe you received a letter slipped under your door. Maybe your invitation was by word of mouth, or maybe you spotted a flyer on the community message board, so big and bold that it’s practically screaming at you.

Either way, the message is loud and clear: Dungeons and Dragons is happening at Marché du Lac, and regardless of whether you’ve met Eddie or Tim, you’ve been invited. After all, too many players is a better problem to have than too few.

The whole thing is kind of slimmer pickings than Eddie is used to. There’s no goblets full of sugary beverages or an assortment of chips, but with the Aurora blazing overhead, there is popcorn courtesy of Tim. Maybe you were nice and brought something to share. It would be appreciated—but food is not the focus of this meeting.

Eddie is practically guarding the door, but it isn’t to keep others out. Tim is a flight risk, and he’s not taking any chances on losing his only opportunity to actually play the game. As people enter, he bows deeply and shoves a character sheet into the hands of newbies. Those who have played in Eddie’s previous campaigns are greeted with a bright grin and also provided sheets should they wish to begin anew. ]

Welcome, weary travelers. Yes, I’m back. Yes, I remember…most of you.

[ Listen, some of you are just new faces to him. It can’t be helped. ]

Now, the wind has changed direction since our last meeting, and, uh…I will not be the leader of your adventure this evening. That honor goes to young Timothy over there. But if you need help with character sheets and math, I’m here to provide. House rules apply, so if you’ve ever picked up a handbook in your life, forget you ever did. And if you’d be so kind, you can do me a favor and make sure Tim doesn’t try to slip out, ‘kay? ‘Kay.


D&D

[ It’s very difficult to thread out an actual campaign—believe me, I’ve tried, but please consider this a wildcard prompt for any in-campaign shenanigans that might have occurred. Snapshots sof the game, questions, arguments, accidentally hitting your DM in the face with the dice, unprecedented bathroom breaks that draw the game to a stop, you name it. Spectators are also welcome! The prompt is you oyster, and there are no rules here. ]


Mingling

[ All in all, the campaign goes well enough. Perhaps there were a few stumbles, but Tim did not run off andEddie did not backseat DM (but god, he wanted to), and if you stick around, there’s plenty of time for mingling in the aftermath. Talk amongst yourselves

If you want Eddie, he is decidedly not mingling. Not really, at least. He seems almost renewed by the fact that he actually got to play a game and wasn’t stuck DMing, and he’s already back at the table with a handful of popcorn, scribbling ideas for his next campaign in a notebook. ]

Comments

before.

[afterdrop]

[Look. He knows what D&D is, theoretically. He's a product of the 1980s. But the longer he listens to this bloke go on, the less he feels like he understands. He'd sort of imagined it as, like, if Monopoly was Lord of the Rings.]

There's math? [Ew.] What kind of game has math in it? Thought games were to get away from the boring shit.

[satanicpanics]

[ Okay but like...Eddie is a product of the 80s too and this is his bread and butter. you just haven't been paying attention to the good parts of the 80s, my dude. He whirls around to Charles, eyes narrowed. ]

It's elementary school level math. Do you also need me to do it for you, or...?

[afterdrop]

Didn't say I couldn't do it! I just- might have to use my fingers.

[A self-deprecating joke, punctuated by a waggle of his hand.]

You play this back home a lot?

[satanicpanics]

[ He's already agreed to do the math for Steve. He's just going to prepare himself to add one more in, if only to speed the process up. Finger counting is slow... ]

Just, uh, at least twice a week. Sometimes more. Normally I'd be running the show, but I don't actually get to play if that's the case.

[afterdrop]

I think there were some blokes at my school who played. Long time ago. [Whatever it was they played, hunched over tables in the library, Charles' friends certainly made fun of them for it.] Back before it was cool to. Now it's everywhere.

[satanicpanics]

When is now? Because--hate to say it, but it's kind of the game for the outsiders and losers where I'm from.

[ He grins and dips into a slight bow. That's him. He's the outsider and the loser. ]

[afterdrop]

2023. [It always feels cool to say it like that, like he's from the future.] But I've been around awhile. I remember it both ways.

[twilighthowlonghaveyoubeen17.jpg]

And hey, I'd rather be an outsider. Most of the cool kids are the proper losers.

[satanicpanics]

Of course it is.

[ He rolls his eyes, tone deadpan. ]

Next you're going tot ell me Metallica is wildly popular too.

[ Well, you see... ]

[afterdrop]

[Charles laughs, a joyful burst followed by a little snort.]

Oh, mate. They're legendary. Like, one of the most famous bands of all time.

[satanicpanics]

[ See, he knows that Metallica aren’t underground or unknown in 1986. They haven’t had the huge burst of fame that the 90s will bring them, but they’re known. It’s just that he’s surrounded by a small town mindset that largely views the music as loud and obnoxious and Satanic.

But he can’t say that he’s surprised. So he doesn’t argue, but he looks thoughtful for a moment, mulling over the implications of one of the most famous bands of all time. ]

…Sell outs?

i forgor i stopped getting notifs... 😭😭😭😭

[afterdrop]

[He sees exactly what's happening here, and his grin warms.]

Nah, not at all. [Well. As long as he and Eddie don't have different definitions of that.] Some of their best stuff came out after I died, and they were already huge then. Snuck into a show in London in '92, it was wicked. And they're still touring now, even though they're all geezers.

Lot of my favorite bands though, from back then? Don't exist anymore. Couldn't even listen to 'em without my old cassettes. [Which he did try to steal from his parents' house after the funeral, but ghost hands have a learning curve.] So rich and famous ain't all bad.

omg did u rly think u just had no tags all this time

[satanicpanics]

Hell yeah. I planned to see them with Ozzy in '86 but, uh--

[ He gestures around the room. He is very much not anywhere close to a major city anymore. He's not even sure the rest of the world knows this tiny frozen town even exists.

Got a bit sidetracked.

[ Chances are, it wouldn't have happened anyway. He doesn't know what really happened when fate intervened and bought him here. He could still be bleeding out in an alternate dimension, or he could be alive and well on his way to a prison cell. He doesn't love either outcome, but at least he can live with the knowledge that Metallica are legends and not sell outs. The Napster thing tho...

He doesn't fail to catch before I died, though. He eyes Charles with uncertainty. Is it rude to ask? He's going to ask anyway. ]

When did you die?

i'm a fool 😔🤡

[afterdrop]

[Charles is aware of the Napster thing, but only in the way that you're somewhat abstractly aware of what your dad does at work. No one ask him to explain what an mp3 actually is, or how you get one.]

1989. December. [Right between his birthday and Christmas, because he's a lucky son of a- not a bitch. He'd never say that about his mother.] Been haunting London ever since.

[This is punctuated by a spooky little waggle of his fingers, and then a reach for the popcorn bowl.]

'Til I popped in here last September, at least. [Around a mouthful of popcorn, now.] First time in Canada.

foole....

[satanicpanics]

[ Eddie wouldn’t understand it anyway. Not only is digital music a wildly foreign concept (CDs are only just beginning to poke their way onto the market), but tech just isn’t his thing. That’s best left to Dustin and the other Hellfire freshmen. Eddie’s knowledge begins and ends with guitars, cars, and amplifiers.

Though if he’d been a 90s kid, he definitely would have used Napster. ]

That sucks, man. Good place to haunt?

[ If he’d run into Charles sooner, he might have more questions, but his best friend her is a literal zombie. This is an old hat. ]

London, I mean. Canada…

[ He snorts and gives the area a vague gesture. This is the only piece of Canada he’s been exposed to, okay. It could all be like this for all he knows. ]



Well, I wanna say you could have gotten much worse, but, uh…

[afterdrop]

[Oh they both would have used the fuck out of Napster.]

Yeah, London's pretty sweet. Haven't even started to run out of shit to do. [Even with far more time and access than most people, given that he doesn't sleep and doesn't need to use money.] Me and my best mate run a detective agency, so it's always something different.

[Talking about it in present tense is starting to feel off, in an awful way that tugs at his stomach, but he can't imagine switching to past, even after eight months with no hope of escape.]

[satanicpanics]

[ He snorts. He knows a kid who would get a kick out of the concept of a ghost (or whatever Charles is; he doesn’t have the same look as Kieren so it’s unlikely he’s a zombie) running a detective agency. ]

Ghost detective agency. Can’t lie, kind of genius. Are you Holmes or Watson?

[ Insert a photo of a phone charger here. ]

can't not

[ployboy]

[Well if it isn't the ballroom dancer emerging from hibernation.

From the table where he sits, Tim debates throwing popcorn. He doesn't. There are other ways to get someone's attention.

He's got thin gloves on inside, and the white paper he holds up overhead is stark against the black. Eyes on Charles, with a bark that's sharp and booming and loud,]

Come get your character sheet!

[It's not a request, nerd. Tim is the authority of this land. (And he can't leave his seat; he's in time-out; it's all very tragic.)]

[afterdrop]

[Look. Listen. He was dealing with player's accidental mega-hiatus cold-related trauma. Cut him some slack.]

Who said I want a character sheet?

[Said in an "I'm obligated to tease you out of friendship" way, more than any actual truth. Charles reaches to swipe the paper from Tim's hand - actually managing to on the second attempt - and it only comes back a little wrinkled. A quick scan inspires a gently scrunched nose.]

Is this even English? Don't tell me you lot speak that Elf language from Lord of the Rings.

[A light jab. Charles is familiar enough with his Tolkien to recognize Elvish, even if he mostly likes the movies for the battles.]

[ployboy]

[Of course Charles manages to swipe the page- accounting for height and range, the other's got Tim beat. Still, having successfully coaxed him to sully his hands by touching Geek print, Tim is helpless to look as smarmy as he does.

Elvish.

Do they speak Elvish?

Tim slings the Sindarin to Eddie in another faux holler:] Pedig edhellen?

[And he doesn't miss a beat in pointing to Charles, to an empty chair, and to the character sheet in his hands.] Tolo anin naur. [There is no God.] Thanks for volunteering. We didn't have an Elf in the party until now. Freedom of self expression, grace, magic. It'll suit you well.

driveby

[satanicpanics]

[ Somewhere across the room, Eddie is helping another player with a character sheet. When he hears a familiar phrase, his head snaps up, and he cups his hand to his mouth and shouts back: ]

Na vedui! Mae g'ovannen!

[ Charles' point is being proven in real time. ]

[afterdrop]

[This face.]

[afterdrop]

[Okay, so he doesn't recognize it when it's spoken. Only when it's in that fancy swirly font. What comes out of Tim's mouth is more reminiscent of the dead languages Edwin speaks when he does magic. Then Eddie answers the call, his words equally indecipherable, and Charles thinks, Oh. This isn't just one of these friendships born out of being caged in the same frostbitten town. They have something in common from home, too. Something fun and youthful and a little bit silly. He wants that, quite suddenly.]

Grace and magic? Should I feel flattered? [Not words he'd ever find suited to him. He drops into the empty chair, but not before spinning it around first, sitting backwards like the stereotype he is.] Think I've managed a couple spells in my life, at best.

[Said like it's something perfectly common.]

[ployboy]

[Perfectly common when there's magic in the world- and not just the foul kind that runs deep in the Northern Territories. Tim rolls his eyes and reaches for a pencil before setting it down in a clack in front of Charles, and then he procures the popcorn dish and offers that too.] Well I've personally witnessed the effortless grace and artistry, so why not?

[Magic. It would fit, given what he knows of the other.

But, yes, casting spells is perfectly common- when the character level coincides with the difficulty of the spell attempted.

(He hates bringing work into this, Tim discovers. Maybe it's why he wanted to avoid this so badly.)]

You play any tabletop game before?

I FORGOT I WASN'T GETTING NOTIFS

[afterdrop]

[Charles makes quick and eager work of the popcorn offering. A few pieces slip through his fingers as he crams it in his mouth, clearly demonstrating even more effortless grace.]

If that was graceful, you should see me dance when I'm not half-plastered.

[His mouth is full of popcorn. Please excuse him, he hasn't tasted it since 1989.]

And, uh. No? Just board games. Played a shit ton of Cluedo.

not allowed

[ployboy]

You were only half-plastered?

[Grace is angling the popcorn bowl just out of immediate reach from Charles, so that the other will have to brush a wrist against that pencil on his next dive for buttered corn- the treats are for the players.

And though Tim will now suspect Charles would like to quip that he is a 'player', that would be only by a very loose, silly definition of--

on the subject of silly:] Clue, huh. A staple of the Sherlock Holmes Society, of which I'm a card-carrying member.

That's my cue to not go easy on you with what needs investigating in this campaign.