fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (8/25)

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (8/25)

"Really, guys?" Steph asked, laughing, when she came in and found Little Bot ferrying the plushie displacer beast kittens from one side of the store to the other while Saffron watched from atop the jigsaw puzzle shelves. "Though, upside, I guess that means they can't actually teleport themselves?"

Saffron blinked twice, unimpressed, then with an elaborate, drawn-out yawn turned around and curled up with her back to Steph.

Unless maybe the displacer plushies were trying to lull her into complacency. Hmm. She couldn't really rule that out, could she?

Figuring Little Bot would at least keep an eye out for her even if Saffron wouldn't, she put up a new tabletop Kickstarter project on the spotlight board and settled down with her laptop at the counter, browsing for more.

Way better than trying to keep up with whatever the hell current discourse was about the One D&D playtest materials.

[OOC: Open!]

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Llewellyn Watts was something of a creature of habit, and so, despite the fact that he'd had lunch with Steven at the museum on Tuesday, around lunchtime he started to walk in that direction anyway. He'd managed to get half a block before he realised what he was doing, stopped, whirled around, and headed to the Perk instead to pick up a couple of caffeinated beverages.

That accomplished, he then resumed walking in his original direction... more or less. The point was, here he was at the Magpie Emporium rather than the museum, and with iced beverages rather than lunch.

"Afternoon, Miss Gingrich," he greeted, his hat deposited once more on one of the eye-stalks of that cardboard standee near the door.

"Hey, Watts," Steph said, wondering if she should put a sign on the beholder standee, with some joke about adventurers being welcome to put a hat over the death ray eye. Hmm. She'd have to workshop that one. "What's up?"

Did he reflexively glance upwards at her comment?

Absolutely.

And then he turned a puzzled look back on her. “What’s up?” he echoed.

Steph obligingly looked up toward the second floor gaming area. "Right now? Probably the game gremlins, and hopefully they're not making a mess," she said, then smiled easily. "I mean, how are you doing? What's going on?"

“Oh,” he realised. “Not much. I thought I would- come by and thank you. For the assistance with the headphones.”

And there was an iced coffee suddenly being held out in her direction.

"Seriously?" Steph blinked for a split second, but recovered quickly enough and took the coffee. "Dude. You didn't have to, but thank you so much. Are they working out for you?"

Listen, he was attempting to make a concerted effort here to socialize with more people, and Steph had consistently been friendly and helpful, so.

“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “They’ve been… revolutionary, really.”

Oh look. A d20 had somehow found its way into the hand not holding a coffee any longer, and he was rolling it between his fingers as he spoke.

Steph took a second to respond, because she was busy taking a long sip of coffee. Mmm, cold caffeine. The essential gamer fuel.

"They can definitely be a game changer," she agreed, thinking of Alex and the way she used to use hers to shut out the world when it and everyone's emotions got to be too much. "Anyway, I am totally on board with helping people maximize their music enjoyment, so I'm just glad I could help."

Her gaze drifted to the d20 in his hand, and she grinned.

"I used to roll one of those around in my hand all the time. Didn't feel right when I didn't have it," she said. "I still keep one or two around in my pocket for whenever I get the urge."

"Wh- oh," Watts glanced down at his hand. "I hadn't even realised," he admitted. "What- ah, what is it?" he asked. "Well, no, I understand it is a die of some sort. But what for?"

Yes, there were archaeological records of ancient d20s. But that wasn't something Watts was aware of, and their modern resurgence happened well after his time.

"We use them for playing tabletop games," Steph explained, grabbing for one of the fancy gemstone sets, this one a gorgeous lapis lazuli, from the counter just because it was within easy reach. "There's... probably other purposes, but games are what we do here."

She pulled the d20, the d8, the d6, and the d4 out of the box and rolled them on the counter in demonstration.

"Different games will use them different ways --" no point in confusing him with a quick rundown of, say, Pathfinder vs. Kids on Bikes systems -- "but like any game with dice, it's a chance thing."

Well, the d8 and d6 he recognized, at least!

“Ah, yes, games of chance,” Watts said, shaking his head, slightly misinterpreting what she meant by ‘tabletop games’. “Not for me. I’m not a betting man. Well,” he amended. “I was, once upon a time. It didn’t end well.”

"Not those kinds of games of chance," Steph amended quickly. "It's not a gambling thing, just for fun. People hang out, make up a cool story together, sometimes pretend to fight things. And usually there's snacks."

Look, the snacks were important.

"... I do like snacks."

Steph grinned and pulled out a tray of metal d20s.

"Snacks rule, that is true," she agreed. "I also used to use one of these to sort of... people would call in to the radio station in Haven Springs and ask me to predict their futures. I did this whole psychic act, it's kind of a weird story, but anyway, I used to roll to see what kind of 'fortune' they'd get."

"Clever," Watts acknowledged, peering closer at the dice on the tray. "Why so many variations, with the colours?" he asked, the hand still holding on to the d20 he'd originally picked up gravitating practically of it's own accord towards one of the green ones.

It hadn't been so much clever as it had been last-second improvisation, if you asked Steph.

"I mean... because they look pretty?" she asked, shrugging. "People like to collect them, as much as actually use them for play. Maybe even more, depending on who you ask. Sometimes they like to pick colors that suit the characters they're playing. Different reasons, but it's nice to have options, right?"

"I suppose, yes," Watts acknowledged, picking up the die he'd been eyeing and rolling it together with the one already in his palm. The noise they made as he did so was- well, it was just satisfying. "Never been much for collecting, myself. Well. Beyond books, anyway."

"I hear that," Steph agreed. "I spent a while constantly on the move and, well, I didn't exactly have a whole lot of money either, so I wouldn't have had anywhere to keep anything I could afford to collect anyway."

She picked one out of the tray, gold-toned with a red and black finish on each of the faces, and made a face when she only rolled a 3.

"What kind of books are you into?"

"Oh, all sorts," Watts said. "Though if we're speaking non-fiction I'm partial to works on philosophy. When it comes to fiction... I like a good adventure. Jules Verne, Jack London, and the like."

"That is... remarkably balanced, actually," a duly impressed Steph had to admit. "Have you had much of a chance to check out any newer stuff? I know there's probably an intimidating lot of it."

"Been working my way up to that," Watts admitted. "Starting with the familiar-but-new. Like Verne, as it happens. I first read his works in French, but the English translations available in my time were absolute trash. There are better ones available now, at least."

"People get hardcore about those translations, too," Steph said with a laugh. "I've seen full blown fights on the internet over how different people translated one phrase, and whether that totally destroyed the rest of the chapter. I'm guessing that's not actually a new phenomenon, though."

She rolled the die again and got a 15 this time. Acceptable.

"That has to be a lot to catch up on. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"It is, a lot," Watts acknowledged. "Steven's been- Steven's been helping with some aspects. Music. And moving pictures. However I suspect our literary tastes may be a little too divergent. Besides which," he grimaced, "I can't expect him to guide me through every little bit of modern culture, now can I?"

"Especially if you're not into the same types of things," Steph agreed, nodding. "I have a hard enough time recommending movies to my dad, and we are into the same types of things."

She'd been so sure he'd like the movie with the undead nuns. No, she wasn't over that disappointment yet.

She grinned. "Probably better off that way, honestly. I have seen people get into relationship ending arguments over different tastes in things. I wouldn't be much help for the philosophy stuff --" she suspected Duckie would happily talk Watts's ear off about the subject, but Duckie being Duckie it was questionable as to whether the conversation would end up being helpful -- "but I might be able to come up with some fantasy suggestions?"

She was going to guess, given the Jules Verne, that sci-fi recommendations were going to be fair game.

Please don't mind the way his eyes widened in absolute fear at relationship ending arguments there, Steph.

"I'd like that," he said, in response to her offer. "If it's not too much trouble."

"I mean, don't worry, I think you're safe on that front," Steph hastily reassured him. "Seems to be more of a risk when people's tastes are too similar, and then all of a sudden one person says they think Rumours is an overrated album and yikes."

This had never happened to her. Not with that specific album anyway.

"But I can totally put together a list for you, and I promise I won't get mad if not all of it turns out to be your thing."

Listen, this was only his second time in a relationship (well, there had been... whatever he and Milo had been, but he wasn't sure if that counted, exactly), and the first- well. The less said about that had ended (both times) the better.

"That would be very kind of you. If there's something I can do for you in return..."

Yeah, the less said about any of Steph's exes, the better, honestly. ~~At least until that book came out and there were details.~~

"Actually, there is," Steph said, getting that I have an awesome idea glint in her eye. "When I run games, I like to use music to help set the atmosphere. If I gave you a list of... let's say moods and scenarios, like 'getting ready for a major battle' or 'serious conversation by the campfire,' could you suggest tracks -- I mean pieces -- I could use?"

You could only use the ~~meta~~ Skyrim soundtrack so many times before your players could predict what you were about to throw at them by the track that came up next.

"I," Watts looked a little taken aback, in a pleased way, at the request. "Yes. Absolutely."

"That would be amazing," Steph said, genuinely. "I've had some go-to playlists that I've used for a while, but I need to mix things up a bit."

Partly because it would mess with her players' heads, but no need to mention that!

"Mm, don't want to be too repetitive," Watts said by way of agreement.

"Right?" Steph took another drink of her iced coffee. "I have basically no knowledge of that musical era, but you strike me as someone who knows his shit in that regard."

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The Magpie Emporium, Thursday (8/25)

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