The Magpie Emporium; Friday, 07/01.

[pun_king]

After having spent some time pouring through as many of the TTRPG books as he could, supplemented by some of the things he'd picked up last weekend for Free RPG Day, Graham's little nugget of an idea had grown into a full-fledged determination that he really did want to try something like this. He was still a little uncertain about the details and how it really worked, though, so, today, in his downtime at the shop, he was going to try and run a practice game, with Triumph and Little Bot and Saffron.

To anyone else, the whole thing could categorically be called a disaster, but Graham seemed to be thinking it was going surprisingly well. A little slow going, sure, on account of the fact that one player kept drifting off to clean things, another player was far more invested in sunspots (they just had to keep moving the set-up to correspond with the light coming into the store), and the other kept having to be reminded that dice were for rolling, not eating.

But Graham was determined, and Graham was patient. Far more patient than Triumph, however, who kept squeaking out protests as they waited to see what their rogue would do during her turn against the goblin encounter they'd managed to wander into.

"Now, now," said Graham, holding out a hand to placate Triumph, "give her time. I'm sure she'll know exactly what to do after she finishes with her nap."

Spoiler alert: she would not.

The Magpie Emporium is open!

Comments

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo had promised to make empanadas for Graham to try and had spent the morning making a whole range of them and so around lunchtime,, he headed down to the Magpie Emporium with a container of empanadas.

He was a bit awkward since maybe Graham wouldn’t like empanadas and then he would feel bad about hyping them up so much.

“Um…hey,” he said, wishing he didn’t sound so awkward, “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

[pun_king]

"Guillermo!" Graham looked up from where the game had currently been taking place on floor, where he could only assume Triumph was trying to look up the details and rules on something he wanted to do, with the way he was chuffing at the pages of a players' handbook. "No, not at all! We're just having a practice run for a D&D game! You could join in, if you want? Or..."

He gave Triumph a thoughtful glance as the faithful steed nudged one page over to the next with his snout. "Maybe," he proposed, "this might be a good time to take a break, yeah, guys?"

Literally none of them were paying him any attention.

"Perfect! Let's take twenty, and when we get back, we'll get back to kicking some goblin butt!"

He gave his fist an enthusiastic pump before pushing himself up to his feet, brushing off his leggings a little, and then turned his attention back to Guillermo.

"They're really doing great!" he reported confidently. "There does seem to be a bit of a learning curve, though."

[guillermothegreat]

"They seem to be quite interested in learning though," Guillermo said with a smile, "I'm sure they'll be pros in no time,"

There was a pause and then, "um ... er I made these for you," he offered shyly as he held out the container of fresh empanadas, "I made them this morning, there's chicken and also beef and cheese,"

[pun_king]

"Ohhhh!" Graham's face lit up with an expression of awed realization. "Are those the empanadas? Amazing!"

A very persistent and incredibly drawn out rumble from his stomach seemed to agree, and Graham, feeling a rush of heat rising up to his face, chuckled sheepishly as his hand went to his stomach as if to quiet it down, although it was clearly much too late.

"Heh," he said, eloquently, ducking his head a little with embarrassment. "Good timing, I guess. I should know better than to go adventuring on an empty stomach."

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo took the lid off to show him the promised empanadas, “they are indeed,” he nodded enthusiastically, his glasses sliding off his nose and pushing them back up.

“Well, you’re in luck I made plenty so you’ll be able to fill up your stomach in no time,” Guillermo assured him with a shy smile.

[pun_king]

"Zooooounds!" Graham gushed, with his stomach rising up to harmonize with that sentiment with another elaborate rumble of agreement. "Those smell amazing! And," he laughed a little, "I wouldn't be too sure about that! My mom says my stomach can probably hold more things in it than even my cloak!"

And he could fit whole people in his cloak if he wanted to!

As Graham peered into the container, his fingers danced in the air a little with a little bit of uncertainty, not knowing if he should just snag one and start munching or if there should be a little more formality to it, and then there was the matter of just which one to take, as his eyes went to Guillermo for a moment, back to the empanadas, then back again to Guillermo. "Which one should I start with?"

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo couldn’t help but let out a laugh at that, “well, next time I’ll make several containers,” he promised, “you can never have too many empanadas,”

He paused as he considered Graham's question, “Well I am quite partial to the chicken empanadas,” he told him, as he pointed out which ones they were, “I feel like those are a good choice to start with,”

[pun_king]

"Then chicken it is!" Graham decided, and, now confident in his choice, he reached out to snag one of the ones Guillermo had pointed out.

And then, a second later, seemed to think better of it, and snagged at least two more, and, hands now full of empanadas, he quirked his head toward the tables in the gaming area.

"Did you want to sit down for a bit?" he offered. "I'm sure Miss Steph won't mind, so long as if anyone else comes in, I make sure to help them."

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo smiled at that, “I would like that, if you’re sure you don’t mind me being here, I mean, you are working and all,” he added shyly, suddenly feeling a bit nervous all of a sudden.

[pun_king]

Graham waved an empanada dismissively at that concern, already making it to a chair that he could hook his foot around to pull out enough for him to sit down in. "It's usually pretty quiet around here during my shifts," he admitted. "Most of the time, it's me just getting to know more about the different games and reading through the comics, anyway. And you said you had a lot of stuff from here yourself, too, right? I think that counts! If you're one of our best customers!"

[guillermothegreat]

“Well it is a pretty awesome store, I'm definitely happy to lend my support,” Guillermo grinned as he went to sit down, “it must be great to work in a place like this,” he added, “getting to work with all this cool stuff,”

[pun_king]

"Oh," said Graham, his words now muffled around having finally taken a bite of one of his empanadas, "I love it! It's great, there's just so many cool and--zooounds!"

Graham interrupted himself to look at the empanada in his hand with a newfound sense of appreciation and awe. "You really weren't kidding about these things, Guillermo! This is amazing!"

So amazing that it was not going to be long at all for him to start in on the second one, pleased and satisfied with more proof that putting anything in some kind of crust would always make it better!

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo felt his cheeks redden at the praise and he rubbed the back of his neck, “I’m … I’m glad glad you like them” he managed to stammer, “I would have felt bad if I talked about how great they were and then you didn’t like them but empanadas are amazing, I haven’t cooked any in ages so I was worried my cooking skills weren’t up to scratch,” he admitted.

[pun_king]

"Well, if this is your cooking when you're out of practice," Graham remarked, eagerly noshing into that second one after unceremoniously taking care of a few stray crumbs clinging to his finger tips, "I can't wait to see what you're like when you're in full fighting form!"

Granted, Graham was generally not picky and he was very hungry and he also had an inherent weakness for anything even slightly pie-related, but that container of empanadas was not going to stand a chance at this rate!

"And now," he added with a note of decision, "I'll definitely have to make you choco-chips pancakes one of these days. They're not as exciting as empanadas, but I've got it down to an art. I know just the right ratio of choco to chips to cakes, you'll see!"

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo was definitely bright red now and he ducked his head a little to try and hide some of his embarrassment but not really succeeding very well, “well I do enjoy cooking and baking, I could make you a whole meal if you’d like to try,” he added, “I mean … I tend to make Mexican dishes but I’m always looking to expand on what I can cook if you want to try something other than Mexican,” he said, “but Choco-chip pancakes sounds amazing, I would love to try them one day,” Guillermo told him with a grin.

[pun_king]

Graham's head was bobbing along in agreement, clinging on to every one of Guillermo's words between bites.

"Well," he admitted, almost eagerly, once he was done, "I don't even know what Mexican is, so I'm definitely going to have to try that! Especially if these are anything to go off of!"

[guillermothegreat]

“Well Empanadas are Mexican, well technically they’re Spanish but I make them a lot,” Guillermo smiled, “my family’s Mexican and my mama and I spent a lot of time at home making dishes, since I tended to spend a lot of time at home before I came to school here and all but I do love being able to cook Mexican in particular so there’s a whole range of different dishes," he started to babble excitedly, especially since he was able to talk about food and cooking, "I think you would like them," he added shyly.

[pun_king]

"Oh, I'm sure I will!" Graham assured him, with confidence, especially now that he had the empanadas to really back that up, although, really, again, when it came to food, he was not at all that difficult to please, as long as people avoided ingredients like chunder blossom and, sometimes, on occasion, starshrooms. Starshrooms could be a bit tricky. "I'm really looking forward to trying some! I should probably be eating more, anyway, if I want to start bulking up," he patted his stomach a little and squared his shoulders as if to make it look like he didn't have quite as far to go on that front as he did, "for the Tournament of Knights!"

Meeting Scott yesterday and telling him about the tournament had really put it to the forefront of his mind how much he needed to work on his strength soon....until, of course, the game with Triumph and the others had taken over, but now it was swinging right back to the front again and he wondered if he should hit the gym on his way back to the dorms tonight as he nibbled on his next empanada.

Because, you know, surely a stomach full of too many empanadas wouldn't make that idea a terrible one!

[guillermothegreat]

“Then I’ll definitely be happy to make some dishes for you,” Guillermo told him excitedly, pleased to be able to cook more regularly and make them for his new friend, “especially since I can cook them in the common room, it’s pretty easy to be able to cook in there and I can get what ingredients they don’t have from the store in town,” he added

He paused, “what’s the tournament of knights?” he asked with a head tilt, “is that a game?”

[pun_king]

"Oh, no," said Graham, eyes lighting up for yet another chance to explain all about the Tournament of Knights. "It's a real tournament. The ultimate tournament! They hold it every few years, and it's when knight hopefuls from all around the realms come together to compete for a coveted spot in the one, the only," it should be mentioned that barely any of these words were coming out without some sort of excited, accompanying gesture, "~Daventry Guard~! They only accept one winner, with a few exceptions via Amendment 634a, Clause 528c. It is a very big deal, and, as soon as I'm old enough to qualify, I'm gonna sign up! I've always wanted to be a knight, just like my father was! And to be a Knight of Daventry? That's pretty much the best of the best! The cream of the crop! The height of heroism!! The PINNACLE of PANACHE!!!"

As the excitement grew, so did the swing of Graham's arms, to the point where he threw them back so much, the chair underneath him started to tilt back and he pinwheeled them a little with a tiny "whoa!" until the chair settled back on four legs, thankfully with him still in it, and he chuckled a little, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry," he said. "I...tend to get a little carried away."

Just a biiiit.

[guillermothegreat]

“A real knight?” Guillermo’s eyes were wide as he tried to imagine, “oh wow, that’s fantastic! I bet you’ll be an incredible knight and have so many adventures!” Guillermo gushed excitedly.

[pun_king]

These last few days had been great for Graham's confidence. Grinning from ear to ear, he pulled himself up that little bit further, bolstered by Guillermo's apparent faith in him, even going so far as to settle his fists on his hips in a facsimile of a heroic pose....or as heroic as he could be sitting down in a chair.

"That's the idea!" he proclaimed proudly. "And I'm going to have some pretty big boots to fill, too, if I'm going to follow in my father's footsteps! But with perseverance, and dedication, and my trusty steed at my side," said trusty steed's ears perked up from over by where the game had been set up and let out a cheerful chirping of agreement, "I just might pull it off!"

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo smiled at that, happy that Graham seemed to like that comment and his blush started to deepen, “I know you’ll do great,” he decided, “if …uh …if there’s anything I can do to help, I’d …I mean …if you’d like help that is …um …I can…help I mean,” he finished awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.

[pun_king]

"I mean," Graham grinned over at Guillermo for a moment before he leaned in to turn his attention back over the container of empanadas, hands lifted and fingers dancing in the air a little over them as if he was trying to figure out which one was going to be the best one to next pluck out and start enjoying; he choice finally made, he snatched one up and held it aloft like he'd just revealed some sort of marvelous treasure and looked on it with admiration, "you're already helping! With these! A good knight can't run on an empty stomach!"

[guillermothegreat]

Guillermo returned that grin, definitely feeling happy that he decided to return to cooking that day, “that I can definitely do,” he decided, “I can keep making food, I mean I wouldn’t want you to go on adventures on an empty stomach,” he added with a warm smile.

[pun_king]

Graham was definitely going to find out the hard way later that a good knight really shouldn't run on an entirely too full stomach.

But for now, he was just a very happy lad with little delicious meat pies, because it really was the simple things in life, and he was feeling very grateful to have a friend who was kind enough to provide them.

"These really are really great, Guillermo," he said, just in case he'd somehow missed that sentiment so far. "Thanks for bringing them over for me!"

[guillermothegreat]

“You’re welcome,” Guillermo ducked his head a little, still unused to the praise, “I’m glad you enjoy them,” he said with a smile, “I’ve definitely missed cooking and baking, I need to get back into a cooking routine, especially so I can bring more food round for my friend,” he told him with a pleased smile.