I like where this is going.
Jo
And it has like 10 different settings
Felix
I bet you know exactly how to make yourself come with it, don’t you, my Jo?
Jo
Oh, I have my favorites.
But I would let you try them all on me, Felix.
And learn which ones I like best by the way I moan for you.
Felix
Fuck
Teach me
Jo
Have patience, hot librarian
It’s not date night yet
Felix
I can’t wait
Jo
Until then, go take a shower and imagine it
Felix
I might not make it to the shower. Might start imagining it now, from my bed.
Jo
Send me a picture, Felix
Send me as many as you like
Felix
As you wish, my Jo
Will you send me some in return?
Jo
Deal
20
The prospect of GMing Monsters and Mythology was more nerve-racking than Felix expected. He found a short SWOP adventure online and read it over three times on his lunch break on Friday. It had seemed simple enough over his PB&J, but by the time six o’clock rolled around, he was a bundle of nerves. Walking into the reading room behind Jo and Leni, Felix didn’t just have butterflies in his stomach. He had a damn colony of wasps in there with nothing better to do than sting his insides.
Jo gave his elbow a reassuring squeeze. “You’ll do great,” she whispered.
Felix smiled to himself. Her faith in him didn’t completely banish his anxiety, but it helped. It really fucking helped.
Over the next hour, he did his best to guide Spanky and Veena through the adventure. Jo offered suggestions with a kind, easy manner. Enough of her comments were directed toward Leni that Felix didn’t feel singled out. Somehow, he didn’t think that was an accident. He might be the one running the adventure, but Jo set the tone for the game. She made it fun, simply by being herself, by bringing her thoughtfulness and zeal for MnM to the table. There were no words, in English or in Spanish, for how grateful Felix was that she was here.
When the first combat encounter came up, his nerves ratcheted up a notch. As a player, he only had to keep track of his own character during combat. But as a GM, there were multiple monsters, each with their own abilities and health points to track. There were strategic decisions to make, too, to keep the players challenged while not killing their characters outright. Every dice roll had the potential to change the fight and force him to switch tactics. To keep it all straight, Felix had to be focused, meticulous, and exact. And… those were all things he was good at.
Had he really gotten so wound up about GMing that he’d forgotten his own strengths?
Once he settled into the flow of it, he found combat far more interesting than the storytelling side of the game. Felix didn’t have any illusions about his skills, though. Thinking through all his options made the combat slow, rather than fast-paced and exciting. And his improvisation definitely needed work. His brain seemed to lock up whenever one of them (usually Leni) proposed an idea or asked a question that the adventure didn’t provide guidance for. Jo helped where she could, but sometimes Felix had to say no and move on. Luckily, Leni didn’t seem to mind; for her, simply coming up with the ideas seemed to be the fun part.
And at the end of the hour, Felix wrapped up the story and gave out rewards, and Leni burst into applause. “This was so much fun, Felix. I can’t wait to play again.”
“You did a great job,” Jo added. “Both of you.” She looked back and forth between them, her gaze lingering on Felix a beat longer.
