Building A (Strange) Family

A Dangerous Game

"No."

It was the first time she could ever remember David telling her flat out no to something.

"Are- aren't we going to talk about it?"

David shrugged.
"You can talk if you want, but it doesn't change my mind."

She gaped at him, unsure how to proceed.
"I just put a lot of thought into this, a lot of work and I though-"

"Did I ask you to?"

She bit her lip.
It was a fair point. She never even asked him how he felt about the whole thing.
She didn't have anything else she could think of, could say.

Mark saw her distress and patted Lilly's arm.
"We can always do it without him. It's not that hard."

She nodded, looking around the table at all the other guys smiling at her, encouraging.

"I know... I just. I thought it was something we could do together and since it was a big deal to me, he might want to be part of it. But you're right. We can still do it and-"

David Threw his head back for a minute, just looking up at the ceiling, before looking at Lilly with head cocked.
"You are a manipulator. And for the record, I don't think this is fair."

"Well, I don't want you to do it unless you want to!" She insisted.

The others could see the argument turning south real quick and braced for the worst.

"Just give me the damn character sheet. What freaking dice do I need?"

Joel handed him a set of seven.
David threw his head back again.

Joel grinned.
"It's fine. I'll tell you when and which to use. You're our barbarian, so you don't have to work with prepping spells and stuff. Just fighting, blood and guts."

"Something good..." David grumbled, looking over the character sheet Lilly had painstakingly made.
"hu... 'Dark and brooding, moody'..."

He looked up from the sheet to Lilly.
She shrugged.
"You're certainly moody tonight."

Before David could retort, Robert clapped his hands, rubbing them together.
"None of you have met, though you have heard of each other. Each of you have an impressive reputation: some famous, some infamous..."

Robert was a good DM. He was good with stories. He had run a DnD campaign in his college days and was itching to start up again.

"The king has sought you all out, contracting you all. Your mission is a mystery... until you meet this night, outside the village..."

Four hours later, David was yelling at Lilly again.

"I don't care what spells Isengaurd the Sage has, when I tell you to duck out of the fight, you duck!
I have one heath pack left and you have none!
You do something stupid like take a fireball to that little halfling head of yours again, who's going to bail you out?!"

It was so difficult not to laugh.
Lilly put her hand to her mouth to literally bit her finger to stop herself from laughing, nodding and desperately trying to passing it off as 'concern'.

Still, David caught the feel of the room, the amusement surrounding him, all of them refusing to meet his eye.

"I... guess it's an okay game. But I'm not playing more then once a week..."