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"No," Juni said, resolutely, shaking her head to really hammer in the point.
Yesol continued to act as if she did not speak any language in which no meant a negative. "Juni, come on. Please."
"Why the hell are you asking me to do this?" Juni asked, sighing, letting her phone thunk down onto her lap. Yesol was giving her puppy-dog eyes, which meant that Juni was looking up at the ceiling instead. One of them needed to preserve Yesol's dignity.
"You like games," Yesol said, like that was a valid explanation in any goddamn world.
"I like shooter games," Juni countered, waving her phone around for emphasis. She was frankly considering hitting Yesol over the head with her phone. She might have had she not been worried that Yesol's head would crack the screen. "Specifically, single-player shooters."
"How different can it be?" Yesol reasoned unreasonably, and Juni just made out the vague echoes of a shrug in the corner of her vision. "You get to fight things. Besides, you play shooters with me sometimes."
Juni held up one finger. "First off, that's different." She didn't let Yesol interrupt, although she could hear the start of a protest or an interrogation flaring up. She held up another finger. "Secondly, it's very different. What the hell, Yesol. You're not that stupid. There's a huge difference between shooting shit on a screen by yourself, and a tabletop RPG."
"You get to fight things," Yesol repeated. Juni took a deep breath before she did something slightly unwise like hit her over the head with her phone. The screen, think of the screen.
"Well, not really," Juni argued, losing the battle with herself by turning to face Yesol, "since it's on a fucking table. No graphics! No sound effects! Nothing!"
She watched Yesol roll her eyes at her. She breathed in, willing herself to think of her poor phone screen. She would never financially recover from that loss. Yesol reached out, and Juni, damn her, felt her skin heat up at the mere thought of Yesol's hands on her. She needed to die.
Yesol simply tapped her on the forehead. "You've got a brain in here," Yesol said seriously. Unlike you, Juni almost added, and only didn't because Yesol bulldozed right past her. "Use it. Imagination. Besides, there's minis."
Juni frowned. "What?"
"Y'know, like—" Yesol mimed putting something on an invisible board in front of her, like a chess piece— "to represent characters and stuff. Miniatures. They're cute."
Juni sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm not playing fucking Dungeons and Dragons with you and your baby sister, Yesol."
"And her friends," Yesol added, as though that helped anything at all.
Juni sighed again, trying to make it sound extra heavy and tired. It wasn't particularly hard. "Why do you even want me?" Juni froze as the question left her tongue. She had not meant for that to sound like— whatever. She cleared her throat. "I mean, you've got a bunch of people, don't you?"
Yesol settled back into the couch more comfortably, and Juni didn't like the look in her eyes. She looked as though she had won. "It was Ryujin's idea, actually. She's worried I'll feel awkward on my own." Yesol chuckled to herself. "It's sweet."
Juni scoffed. "You wouldn't know awkward if it bit you in the ass."
Yesol didn't deny it, shrugging one shoulder. "Cute of her to worry, though, don't you think?" When Juni rolled her eyes, Yesol nudged her with her knee. "Come on, Juni. For her?"
Juni looked over. Yesol hadn't moved her knee from where it pressed against Juni's thigh after the nudge. Her skin felt strange. Yesol's eyes were doing the fucking puppy-dog thing. Juni grit her teeth. "Fine," she ground out, wrenching her gaze away, staring straight ahead, arms crossed. "For her."
Juni frowned. "Okay. What? Walk me through that again."
Sayeon Lee didn't sigh, but Juni had the distinct feeling that she had internally. Fucking brat.
"Mhm," said Iseul brightly. He seemed to do everything brightly. He tapped at the top of the character sheet— so many fucking words, so much more complicated than Juni had expected, though Juni wasn't sure what she had expected. "Let's start with the race."
"Right," said Juni, as though she had any clue what that meant.
Yesol shoved a book— an honest to fucking God thick-ass book— onto the table beside Juni's sheet. "Here," she said, hand on a page. Chapter 2, it declared. Races. Was Juni supposed to have read this thing? This was why she stuck to her shooters. She'd never had to read a thick-ass introductory book for a shooter.
"Oh," said Juni. "Uh. There's a lot. What are you guys?"
Iseul laughed good-naturedly. "I'm a halfling," he said, flipping to the page with the race in question. It was a joyful little thing. "Ryujin's a dwarf." Less joyful-looking, more ready to kick ass. "Min's a high elf." Haughty. Juni eyed Min. He stared blankly back. It fit well enough, she supposed. "Yesol's a half-orc." Muscles, Juni thought, and that was about all she really registered. She silently agreed.
Juni stared down at the sprawling pages. She frowned. "What's Sayeon?"
"The DM," Sayeon replied, smiling. Something about it just seemed off. "I don't play as such. I'm the storyteller."
Ryujin rolled her eyes. "It's a control thing."
Sayeon's perfectly tepid smile melted into a scowl. "No, it's just the DM's job—"
"Control thing," Ryujin asserted, waving a hand. Juni left them to their squabbling, frowning down at the book again.
"I could choose one for you," Yesol suggested. "If you're unsure."
Juni sighed. "Mm. Go for it."
Yesol shifted the book back to herself again, humming as she flipped through. Eventually, she said, "How about this?"
Tiefling, read the page. The picture looked demonic. Juni let out a laugh, and pretended not to notice the corner of Yesol's lips twitching up in response. "That thing looks like hellspawn."
"Fitting," Yesol commented lightly, her smile canted to a side. "Don't you think?"
Juni rolled her eyes. "What the hell, sure. Yes. I'll be a tiefling."
Iseul clapped. "Classes next, then!"
There was some chatter, some more squabbling, as they picked out classes.
"A bard dwarf?" Sayeon echoed, sounding slightly incredulous, one eyebrow raised at Ryujin.
"I can do whatever I like," Ryujin declared.
"She can," Iseul confirmed. "It's not against the rules. Speaking of, I'm gonna be a druid."
Juni sighed down at the book. Chapter 3, it now read. Classes. She nudged Yesol under the table, her knee against Yesol's thigh. She kept it pressed there. "What are you choosing?"
Yesol turned the pages until she found what she was looking for. Paladin.
"Hm," said Juni, turning the pages back and forth. She read. She read some more. She turned some more pages. There was just so much, so many to choose from. "Sorcerer," she decided.
Yesol blinked. "Really?"
Juni shot her a glare, feeling strangely defensive considering she'd walked into this thing telling herself she didn't give a fuck. "What's wrong with sorcerers?"
"Nothing," Yesol said, taking back control of the book. "I just thought you'd choose, like, a fighter or a ranger."
Juni shrugged. "And I'd have thought you'd choose barbarian, but here we are."
Yesol laughed. "I did consider it," she admitted. "I might still choose it as another class."
"You can have more than one?"
"You can do whatever you want, basically," Iseul said, who was apparently listening in on them.
"As long as the DM agrees," Sayeon called out from across the table. A nosy bunch of brats.
"Like I said," Ryujin muttered, rolling her eyes. "Control thing."