[b]3V:[/b]

Gavin smiles sheepishly. What he is about to say either makes him very cool, or very uncool. “I’m one of the few people you’ll meet who actually knows the rules to chaturanga. I used to love playing a Janissary in Age of Atlantis, but it’s been… too long, ha. Just hard to find a group out here, and distance play isn’t nearly as much fun for me.” 

Age of Atlantis is a popular tabletop line, what D&D was to Vance and Tolkein and what Call of Cthulu was to Lovecraft, Age of Atlantis is to the works of Jules Verne. It’s a mashup pastiche of badly misremembered pop-pulp 19th century aesthetics. A typical party could mash up a samurai, a vaquero, a Napoleonic grenadier and an Ottoman janissary without batting an eye. 

Janissaries have beautiful swords and ornate long-range rifles, and make excellent support nukers. It’s the class you pick when you want your friends to drag you along for the ride, but you don’t want to feel like dead weight - Sniping allows them to cover the frontline adventurers while guarding the rear, where their sword allows them to defend the more fragile characters like the Diplomat and the Occultist. 

It’s the class you pick when, deep down, your favourite thing to do is protecting the real heroes, letting them take bigger risks. God, you bet he keysmashes when he’s flustered in textchat. 

You’ve played AoA, of course. It’s impossible to be in the Gamer[b]™ [/b]space without at least trying it. Even if you found it wasn’t for you, the game’s popular enough that character preferences still bleed through cultural osmosis in the same way, in 2020, most people have an idea of an archetypal Rogue or Bard or Paladin. 

How deep did you fall down that rabbit hole, though? Or did you bounce off it?

Lorraine Ferris is down the stairs again, towel around her waist, wet hair tight to her neck. Is that pity in Gavin’s eyes? It disappears the second Ferris finds him. 

“No, please, stay,” Ferris says. Hot-and-cold, a friendly threat, a warning and an invitation. “It’s always so [i]nice[/i] to have you visit, Gav. I know how hard the trip is for you.” 

Gavin’s ten years past his prime, and Ferris must have another thirty past that. Still, there is no doubt in your mind she could kick his ass, if she wanted to. [i]She[/i] should be visiting [i]him[/i], she clearly thinks. 

“Ah. Well.” Gavin looks at you awkwardly. “I hope you don’t mind?”

It’s unclear whether he means if it’s okay for him to stay, or okay for you to leave. Probably deliberately. 


[b]Persephone and November:[/b]

The hooded figure closes the door behind them and waits. 

Well. No. More than that. They’re sweating. They go for tap water, then decide against it. Instead they fill the kettle, boil it, fill one of Elodie's sports bottles with the boiling water, and then put that in the freezer. After that, they go sit on the couch, press their hands together, and wait.

After ten minutes, they go and get their water bottle out of the freezer, test it, put it back in, and wait. Another ten minutes, they pull it out again for real this time, and chug the whole thing. Boiling water again, then back into the freezer. 

When they’re not hydrating, they just sit on the couch and wait. They didn’t bring a book, they don’t appear to be listening to music, no portable games consoles, no mobile phone. No electronics that Black’s equipment can detect. 

They are still waiting for you.