Nerds and Tabletops
Rating: SFW
Characters: Lucyle, Mina, Calsira, Axema Guest Starring: Natalia
Summary: What happens when a bunch of nerds play a tabletop game?
The mansion is in a state that it honestly has not been in since the introduction of its new tenants, a state of silence. People are resting, many heads rest against their pillows and finally catch their 40 winks of sleep. It can almost be peaceful and relaxing for once, especially so with how quiet activity has been as of lately. At least until the silence is broken by a calm, narrative voice.
“You four have been invited to the underground palace of the dwarven king, despite little to no experience with the surface dwellers, the architecture is ornate and detailed. Symbols are carved into the pillars of unknown origin, most claim it was a remnant of the first dwarven king’s reign, and a beautifully constructed fountain drawing from their underground reservoir to add to the royal presentation of this palace.” The light-blue skinned woman began to set the scene for the rest of the beings at the table, “You are escorted by an entourage of guards towards the stout king, his beard messy with food previously eaten. His eyes fixed into a glare, and his dwarven jowls quiver as he speaks.”
Before her, a group of four listen intently as she paints the scene they find themselves in. A look of awe upon the face of a purple-hued and horned tiefling as each and every word sinks into her head, a wide grin of glee adorned on the smaller, red-headed halfling that sat next to her, the mass hulking figure of the former ifrit guardsmen that sat between them and the last red-headed, musclebound woman who both leaned in closely to listen to every single word. The blue-skinned machinesmith continued, this time doing her best to impersonate dwarven royalty.
“Do ye all know why aye summoned ya here?” Her voice acting clearly could use some work.
“My character quickly steps forth, ‘Oh Underking, ruler of this beautiful underground city, we have heard the rumors of a halt in the advances of your kingdom underground!’” The response was quick from the Tiefling, “She then gestures to herself, making this as grandiose as possible! ‘I will gladly take it upon myself to seek what advances we could acquire and help to benefit us in our humble mining kingdom!’”
“Wow, good job Lucyle, you’re uhh, pretty good!” The muscular woman commends her tiefling friend.
“Mina, no, shhh, we’re supposed to be in character!” Lucyle responds in a scolding manner.
“Alright, alright… I’m speaking out of character here! Lucyle you did a good job!” Mina responds again with praise.
Lucyle quickly buries her face into her hand, already growing tired of the innocent praise.
“Natalia, c'mon, tell her she’s gotta stay in character!” Asking like a child to their mother when their sibling so much as touches their stuff.
Natalia couldn’t help but smile, it was nice enough that Lucyle had stepped down as Game Master for her to take over and let her tell her own story and see how her new friends would handle it. Nicer when she realized how deeply invested they had already gotten into the story, especially whenever she began to narrate a coming addition to the story.
“Lucyle, I don’t mind Mina offering commendations occasionally. She’s not interrupting the story.” She chuckled lightly, shaking her head from side to side at Lucyle’s antics.
“Mah guy saunters on over, bowin’ before the elven king and says, ‘Howdy, royalty, I’mma let y’all know that the same goes here for me. I wanna help y’all deal with yer water issues. It ain’t like I got much else to do ‘round here anyhow.’” She could use a bit of work on her in-character details, it was always hard for her to let go of the way she spoke.
“Calsira! Are you even TRYING?!” Lucyle would practically tug on her horns.
“Hey! I ain’t flirtin’ with him this time, ain’t I?” Calsira crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve been gettin’ better ‘bout roleplayin’ my guy.”
Lucyle manages to mutter out an “I guess” before she relents and lets her continue with the roleplay. A huff before a massive pout covers her face.
Mina, finding this amusing, nudges the Ifrit next to her.
“Hey, check it out.” She quips, barely managing to stifle her chuckle. “She’s all pouty now, Axema.”
Axema tries not to laugh himself but, she just looks so ridiculous with how hard this power pout is. The ifrit ends up laughing himself as he covers his mouth with one of his massive hands. Natalia, who sat across the table from him, couldn’t help but smile. Axema’s smiles were always contagious with her.
“Man, I wish we could get Moriko or Joey in this at least. I’m sure they’d have REALLY good characters.” Another remark from Mina.
“Maybe next time we can hog tie them into this game too!” Calsira then winks in Mina’s direction, “I’ll make sure to get the rope if y’all know what I mean.”
A heavy, hard player’s manual is thrown right at her with no effort needed whatsoever. Calsira almost crumpling under the weight of the book after letting out a loud, and short grunt.
“HEY!” She flails around on the ground, trying to push the book off of her with what little breath she still has.
“I’m not letting you be that flirtatious without consequences.” Mina crosses her arms, slightly annoyed, “Moriko is a pure maiden… who happens to have vermin as her besties. Maybe that’s why she still associates with you.”
Axema can’t help but laugh again, even if that joke was a little mean, Calsira has been egging her on too much.
“Axema!” Natalia responds in a serious tone, the anchor to his outbursts such as these.
“Erm, sorry.” Axema quickly tries to compose himself, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment as he rubs the back of his head.
Natalia only nods to his statement, as Mina now shifts her joking to her best friend.
“Ooooh, got yourself in the dog house now, buddy.” Mina snickers, she enjoys it too much when others get in trouble.
Lucyle’s mood lightens slightly as she sees the chemistry between Natalia and Axema, a child-like smile spreading. She couldn’t lie about not shipping them super hard, even if it was weird that she shipped her friends. At the very least, they were super cute.
“Can we get back to our game now? I really want to hear the rest of the story Natalia’s got for us.” No longer upset, she hopes they can at the very least continue.
“Of course, is everyone ready?” Natalia asks the group before her.
“Yes!” They all say in unison, clearly excited for the story she has set for them.
With a smile, she slowly shuts her eyes and nods. She enjoyed the company of the people she had come to work with, it wasn’t every life she got to experience such interesting chemistry as she did in this. A group that future lives will come to know about… and hopefully, come to respect.
