Trey gave him an appraising look before answering. “Not only for her. I like MnM well enough, but it’s more fun for me when it’s rare. If I played every week, I’d run out of stamina and creativity pretty quick.” He paused and tilted his head toward Felix. “Now, do you want to tell me what you’re really getting at?”
“Am I that transparent?” Felix asked with a self-deprecating shrug.
“I’m that perceptive,” he responded. “I’m also a great listener.”
Felix sighed and let his concerns tumble out. “I was barely even aware MnM existed until a few weeks ago. I started down this path because my job required it, and now it’s all jumbled up with Jo and how I feel about her. I love how much she loves MnM, I really do. It clearly makes her happy, and I like seeing her happy. But… does she expect me to become as enmeshed in this world as she is?”
Trey shook his head gently. “I’m not sure I can answer that for you.”
“I know; I don’t expect you to. I guess I’m thinking out loud.” Felix paused, uncertain if he should even ask his next question. It sat there, on the tip of his tongue, as they walked. They’d almost made it to the gaming hall when it finally slipped out. “Did Jo’s ex play MnM?”
Trey looked uneasy. “No. But I’m not answering any more questions about him. Jo should tell you all that herself.”
“I know,” he said again as guilt crept in. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to put you in the middle of this.”
“Felix.” Trey came to a stop in front of the wall of sign-up sheets. The racket in the hall nearly drowned him out. He rested a hand on Felix’s shoulder and leaned in to be heard. “You and Jo have been together for, what, twelve hours? Give it time. You’ll figure it out.”
Felix combed his fingers through his hair. “I never expected this, Trey. To care about someone so deeply, so fast. I want to give Jo what she needs” —he gestured toward the hall— “even if it’s something that seems frivolous on the surface. Fuck, I’m sorry, man. You barely know me, and here I am, dumping all of my shit on you.”
Trey shrugged and smiled. “I told you I’m a good listener.”
“You are, and I appreciate it.”
“For what it’s worth, Felix, I think Jo is lucky to have you. She deserves to be with someone considerate of her needs.”
Something in Trey’s tone made Felix pause. As if Jo hadn’t had that kind of consideration before. The more he gleaned about this ex of hers, the less he liked the guy.
“I’ll do my best,” he said. A promise to himself—and to Jo.
Trey gave his shoulder a firm pat as there was a collective outcry from the hall. He pointed his thumb toward the doorway. “Shall we go see what that was all about?”
The hall was more crowded than it had been all day. Hundreds of people were crammed around dozens of tables—shouting, laughing, rolling dice, and having the time of their lives. Trey gave Felix a nod and went off in search of Aida. Felix listened in at a table near the door, catching the end of a combat encounter.
“And with that final blow, the chimera is defeated,” the GM cried. She called for someone to make a d20 roll for a nature-based skill check. A kid who couldn’t have been older than ten raised his hand and made the roll. He counted the total on his fingers.
“Seventeen!” he said proudly.
“Excellent,” the GM said. “Working quickly, Ivan is able to extract a tooth from each of the chimera’s three heads. Your allies will be able to use the teeth to create the potion they need to complete their objectives.” She handed the boy a slip of paper. “Please take that over to table twenty-three.”
The boy hopped up and took off running, beaming and giggling. Felix couldn’t help but laugh too. The GM caught his eye, and they shared a quick smile before she continued with the game. He moved around the room, catching bits and pieces of the story as he went. The energy in the room was palpable, but instead of being overwhelmed, Felix just felt… excited.
Finally, he found Jo at her table. She was so invested in her game she didn’t notice him at first.
“The sphinx rises on all fours above you, looming twelve feet tall at the shoulder,” she was saying. “She stretches her wings, and their fluttering sends wind cascading over you, billowing your cloaks around your ankles. She leers at you and lazily says, ‘What in the world could you small things possibly wish of me? Come to destroy me, perhaps? Or do you seek a riddle? An attempt to prove your worth to me and beg of me a favor?’”
“That last one,” a young man at her table replied. “But we will kill you if we have to.”
The player sitting next to him shook his head. “No, we won’t. We need her help.”
“Well, you should decide soon,” Jo said in character. The languid, sensuous voice of the sphinx stirred a strange, startling desire within Felix.
Shit, was he into roleplay now?
“‘I’m about to become bored,’” she continued, “‘and you all look very much like playthings to me.’ Then the sphinx lifts one of her massive paws and bats Nox on the shoulder like a cat with a spider. You aren’t injured, but the paw covers you from shoulder to knee.”
“Wow.” The player that Felix assumed was playing Nox switched to his character voice and continued, “No, yeah, let’s definitely get that riddle. No killing here, nice big cat lady.”
Jo glanced down at her notes and finally spotted Felix when she looked up. She grinned, and he gave her a small wave.
“What is it that breaks once its name is spoken?” Jo-the-sphinx asked.
Felix crossed his arms and watched the players debate the answer. He stole a glance at Jo, who was staring at his biceps. He waited until her gaze shifted up to his face and winked at her. She went bright pink and returned her attention to her players.
“Time’s up,” she purred. “Do you have an answer for me? Or will you turn tail and run like rats? I do so love a chase.”
“We’re going to say quiet.”
“No, silence.”
“Right, silence. You break the silence when you say the word out loud.”
“‘My, my,’” Jo replied with a feline tilt to her head. “‘What unexpected cleverness.’ The sphinx folds her paws under her and curls up into a cat-like loaf, still nearly ten feet tall. ‘Now, what sort of favor would you ask of me?’”
Felix blew Jo a kiss and continued his stroll through the tables. He waved to Jo’s friends when he saw them. Kim and Young were at a table together, and Max was at another, once again acting out the casting of his bard’s spells with a dramatic flourish. David was GMing at the table where Aida was playing, giving his players the same sphinx riddle that Jo had. Heather’s rogue was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was there somewhere, out of costume. Felix doubted he would recognize her outside of her all-pink getup.
As the Legendary neared its end, an event administrator at the front of the room—a lanky white man with neat gray hair and a name tag that read “Matthew”—started giving a countdown in five-minute increments. Each announcement was returned with cries of anguish from all around as the players raced to complete their objectives. People were getting up from their tables and running to the front to report their successes to the admins. At that point, Felix decided he should keep the pathways between the tables clear. He watched the last ten minutes of the game from the side of the room, mesmerized.
It was pandemonium. Dice flying. Players jumping up and down at their tables. Slips of paper being passed from hand to hand. Full-on sprints to the admins. Three white boards tallying successes in different categories. GMs hurrying their players along. The countdown increasing to one-minute markers. More anguished screams. Glances at the white boards from tables that finished early. People on their tiptoes trying to count tally marks from across the room.
