Role Play - Alison Hendricks Page 0,65

characters beforehand, and start with those characters already on the adventure. He'd gladly taken the suggestion, so they launched right into it.

I knew the path of the adventure he'd written well. It was pretty linear, which I told him was perfectly fine for his first game. Having lots of sprawling, branching paths would just make it unmanageable for him, and this particular group of kids was more interested in encounters anyway. The first one here involved a night-time ambush from a group of highwaymen. David's character, a halfling ranger with a boar companion, managed to spot the highwaymen while he was taking watch, so they were able to prepare.

That was when the kids started challenging Reuben's rulings and correcting his numbers, just like I knew they would. None of them were trying to be difficult, it was just how they enjoyed the game. I watched Reuben throughout, and though he was a little flustered at first, he recovered. He listened and searched the guidebook to double check rulings, conceding to his players when it was appropriate to do so, but putting his foot down and holding firm when his decision was more for the flavor of the game.

He was patient, especially with the new players, and he even gently corrected the behavior of one of the more impatient players who tried to rush those with less experience.

As the first hour passed, Reuben grew more and more comfortable. He started to use different voices and accents for the characters, made monster sounds, described combat in a way that was exciting for the players and even those of us just watching. He DM'd with confidence, and I couldn't have been prouder.

But I didn't know if any of this was getting through to Ruth. I turned my gaze to her constantly, pleased to find her attention on Reuben, David, and the game. Occasionally she checked her phone, seeming to grow more and more annoyed each time she did until she just shoved it into her purse and left it there.

Seeing that, I excused myself from my friends and headed over, stopping off at the refreshment table that had been set up to grab a bottle of water.

"Thirsty?" I asked, holding it out to her.

"Oh God, thank you." She took it and immediately opened it, taking a generous swig. "It's so hot in this room, but I didn't know if the drinks were just for the kids."

"Nah, they're for everyone," I said with a smile. "As for the thermostat... tell me about it. The owner keeps it locked to seventy-two year-round. Usually it's not so bad, but your brother drew a big crowd today."

A soft smile touched her lips and she looked at Reuben before her gaze returned to me. "You must be Elliot."

I could only assume she knew my name because of my work with David, so I said, "Yep. Your nephew is a great kid. He's been teaching one of the newer players in his group how to play, and he's gotten a lot more flexible since. I'm really proud of him."

A touch of sadness settled into her expression and she set her water on the windowsill behind her, wrapping her arms about herself.

"You must think I'm a terrible person. Trying to take David across the country. Uprooting everything he knows."

"I think you're a person who's trying to do right by the people she loves," I said softly. "That's not an easy position to be in."

"My husband wants to get him seen by a specialist. He wants David to work with someone to improve his sociability and get him ready for college."

I tried not to bristle at that. David was handling things just fine at his own pace. He didn't need to see someone who was going to push him to be closer to a more societally acceptable "normal."

"What do you want?"

She was silent for a long time. We both watched as Reuben pretended to be a very feisty kobold leading the party to the final encounter: a dragon.

"I want David to be happy. If college is a part of that, great, but I don't want to be the one to define that for him."

Her phone rang. Even muffled by her purse, it was persistent and obnoxious. Ruth reached in and turned it off.

"My husband," was all she said.

Looking at her expression, at how late she was, at the annoyance she'd felt every time she interacted with her phone, I began to piece together what was happening.

"You don't want to move away."

"Marcus