Chapter Text
“Hey,” Marcus said awkwardly, shuffling on his feet. “It’s nice to meet you all. I, uh...I brought cookies.”
He held up a tin tray with a shy smile. Even covered in plastic wrap, the enticing scent of fresh chocolate chip cookies wafted through the air.
“See?” Francine said with a grin. “I told you he was cool!”
She took the tray, tore off the plastic wrap, and set it on the large table in her parents’ dining room, next to where the game had already been set up. Betty, Virgil and Francine descended on the tin tray with the sort of hunger only teenagers possessed. Freshly made cookies were the highest delicacy to them.
“Thank you, that was very nice of you,” Virgil said politely. They took one bit and their eyes lit up instantly. “Oh, these are quite good! Did you make them yourself?”
“Yeah, actually,” Marcus smiled, a bit of relief flooding his face. “I like baking. It’s relaxing, I guess.”
“Mmm, these are awesome.” Francine’s face was already covered in crumbs. “Kid, you should try relaxing more often.”
“I’m only two months younger than you.”
“She calls everyone kid,” Betty explained. “Don’t take it personally.”
Marcus nodded, still a little bemused. Francine waved him over and Marcus seated himself next to her. Everyone was sat around the dinner table by now, munching on cookies as they chatted about school.
Tara and Sam were still quiet at the head of the table. The two of them were going over their notes from their last session, trying to figure out a way to incorporate Marcus into their current ongoing campaign.
“What do you think of the new guy?” Sam whispered.
“Hmm?” Tara hardly glanced up from her notes. “Oh, he seems nice. The cookies are good, at least.”
He hadn’t noticed, but at some point, Tara had grabbed a single cookie. Sam hadn’t seen her get up, or even move. The cookie tray was at the other end of the table. Yet there it was; a single chocolate chip cookie, in her hand.
“When did you get that?”
“Just now,” She said calmly. “You don’t like the new guy?”
“I didn’t say that. I just...I don’t know anything about him. What if he’s not even good at this?”
“Be nice, Sam.”
Sam huffed but didn’t respond. He wasn’t exactly fond of change; he and his friends had already gotten a solid campaign going. Now, They’d probably have to stop every few minutes to explain everything.
“Betty didn’t know how to play at first either,” Tara said, as if reading his thoughts. Since Tara had been his best friend since they were five, she knew how Sam’s mind worked better than anyone. “We taught her too, and now your party is better for it.”
“I know, “Sam grumbled. “But she still named her character after herself.”
He looked up at his friends down the table. Marcus and Francine were talking about their math homework; apparently they were in the same class. Sam had no idea why Francine was trying so hard to be nice to the new kid; his little sister wasn’t the altruistic type. She had to have some sort of ulterior motive.
Sam eyed the new guy, trying to figure him out. He was soft-spoken, a little hunched in on himself. But he was smiling and gesturing with his hands as he explained some kind of math formula. His smile was still small, but genuine. Without meaning to, Sam noticed the light dusting of freckles all over Marcus’ face.
At that exact moment, Marcus looked his way. He had big brown eyes and a hesitant expression.
"D-Do you want one?" He asked, gesturing to the tray. His stutter had been barely noticeable, but it caught Sam off guard all the same.
Before Sam could say anything, Tara nudged him in the ribs. Right. He had to 'play nice.
"Yes. Yes, I'd like one. Please. Could you pass me-?"
Marcus quickly stacked a few cookies on a napkin and passed it over. Sam set it down in front of him and took a bite. He told himself it was only to be polite, but he had one taste of those soft, warm, oven-fresh cookies, and he knew he was hooked.
"What do you t-think?" Marcus asked. Again, that faint stutter. He looked at Sam expectantly. Right, he was waiting for an answer.
"These are...these are good."
Marcus smiled, that small, genuine smile, and turned back to Francine to answer another math question she had.
When they were ready to start their game, Marcus surprised them all by pulling out a character sheet.
“I, uh, I already have a character ready, if that’s okay?”
“Of course it is. Can I see it really quickly so I can take some notes?” Tara asked with a smile. She always appreciated when her players came prepared. “Tell us about him.”
“His name is Meltyre,” He said as he handed Tara his character sheet. “He’s a wizard and he dropped out of his order. So now he’s going adventuring to try and raise as much money as he can.”
“Ooh, is he looking for fabulous riches?” Francine asked.
“No, he, uh….he has a good reason for needing money.”
“A horrible debt? A love of gambling? A paramour to woo?”
“It’s part of his backstory.”
“I knew you’d be fun.” Francine bounced in her seat a little. She loved a good story. “Is it tragic? Tell me the magic man has a tragic backstory!”
“We’ll find out in due time,” Virgil cut in. “Tara, are you ready to start?”
“Nearly,” Tara said as she scribbled in her notebook. “Marcus, have you played before?”
“Not a lot,” Marcus replied, “But yeah. I know the general idea, I think.”
“Wonderful,” She said, nodding in approval as she passed back his character sheet. “So we’ll get started, but you can stop us if you have any questions, alright?”
Tara shot Sam a warning look, reminding him to play nice. Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Everyone moved their chairs closed to the head of the table, setting their notebooks, pens and dice in front of them. Sam noticed Marcus had a pretty set of blue-green dice that were battered, but well-kept. Maybe he wouldn’t slow the group down after all. At least not as much as Sam feared, at any rate. He set his own set of grey dice on the table and turned to Tara. Everyone looked to her as she sat up straight and cleared her throat.
“Now,” Tara said, slipping into her innkeeper voice. “Let’s go to the inn.”