Role Play - Alison Hendricks Page 0,55

of social progress thanks to the Friday games. Does your sister know how much? I've never seen her there."

"She knows what I've told her. She just thinks his interest in D&D is him fixating. I think she tunes him out after a certain point."

A spark of anger flared in me, but I buried it quickly. This wasn't my fight. I wasn't in the ring. I needed to just help from the sidelines.

"What if you invite her to the session you'll be DMing? That way she can see firsthand how much he's improved, how much this helps him. And she'll see just how much work you put in to share his interest with him."

He considered that for a long moment, then looked up at me. A bit of moisture clung to his lashes and I brushed it away.

"I guess it can't hurt. Maybe if I talk to her afterward..." He frowned, sitting back up. "We'll need to do a lot more work between now and then. It needs to be perfect. Or as close as I can get it."

"Would it help you to get started tonight?"

He swallowed, looking back at me. The single nod was all I needed, but he said, "Yeah."

I gave him a reassuring smile and reached for his hand, squeezing it. "I'll go get my stuff."

23

Reuben

Over the next few weeks, I put in the time and effort to get myself ready for David's birthday. When I first started, I'd just wanted to do something nice for my nephew. Now it felt like everything was riding on it. It was such a long shot -- some days I didn't know how this of all things was going to convince Ruth -- but it was all I had. I sure as shit wasn't going to open up a legal case against my own sister. Especially when I was sure they'd rule in her favor.

So I just had to hope Dungeons & Dragons would save me, which was a wild fucking thing to think.

Elliot was there every step of the way. He looked over what I wrote, critiqued the encounters I came up with, and even playtested for me.

"You've got all the mechanical stuff down," he said one night, once we'd just finished up testing a combat encounter, "but your presentation could use a little work."

"Yeah, I know the maps suck."

"The maps are fine," he said, "but the way you're describing things is a little dry. You want your players to feel immersed in every scene. Even if you're going through the most routine combat ever, you can describe it in a way that feels like they're right there, forced to think on their feet like their character would."

A few nights later, he showed me what he meant. I'd expected him to just put a little more performance into his DMing at Horizon. What I found when I brought David was a whole new level of dedication.

For about a month now, David's group had been skirting around this band of renowned pirates led by Captain Felblade. They'd reneged on a deal with him, and knew they were going to have to face the consequences eventually. Apparently this Friday was the day for it, because Elliot greeted us dressed in full pirate garb. Not just the puffy shirt and tight leather pants. Not even just the hat and boots. He was wearing a captain's coat, too, and fake facial hair that had been meticulously oiled and shaped into a pointy goatee. Fake earrings, an eyepatch, and a painted-on scar over that same eye accentuated the look. He even had a curved sword in a scabbard strapped to his hip.

"Welcome," he told us, in a deep, scratchy voice, his brows drawn close to his eyes, lip curled. "Why don't ye have a seat so we can begin the negotiations?"

The accent was terrible. Some kind of off-brand Scottish, I guessed, but the gravely tone and the amount of confidence and gravitas he exuded was sexy as hell, and I found my thoughts turning filthy in a hurry.

As he conducted the session, completely in character the whole time, I found myself fantasizing about being Captain Felblade's prisoner. Bound on his ship, tied to the mast. Stripped naked to be humiliated in front of his men. Only the more I saw the captain, the more I'd respond to him, until I couldn't stop myself from getting hard. Then he'd...

Fuck. What was wrong with me? I'd fantasized before, but never like that. Always about... normal shit. The