celiabreslin

A party wipe was what happened when the entire party died. It happened more commonly in video games than in tabletop role playing games, but that made sense. In a video game, no human controlled the interactions between the party and the monsters. It was all numbers and data and click speeds.

In tabletop role-playing games, a lot depended on the person running the game. Juliana snuck another peek at Cav, considering the man who ran their game—or had before it became their reality. A scrape marred his carved cheekbone, snaking down to his neck. Something about the guy really did it for her…

Focusing on the problem at hand, Juliana wondered if a party wipe would even be possible in this world. Would they die in reality if they died in the game? Since none of them knew the rules, it was all guesses, all chaos. It should utterly freak her out.

Instead, Juliana felt invigorated? She tried to figure out why, and came up empty.
Juliana had a lot of thoughts as they trekked through the forest at night with nothing to direct them other than her somewhat sketchy memory of the game map. Most of those thoughts were about her life choices that led to this point.

“So, come here often?” Cav asked from her left. She glanced up at him and he gave her a gentle shoulder check. She didn’t mention she was relieved at the interruption of her thoughts, since they were just going in circles anyway, but she offered him a smile.

“I’m surprised everyone has stayed so calm,” he admitted in a softer voice, clearly meant only for her ears.

“Asking a someone do you come here often is a pickup line,” she replied, giving his shoulder a companionable bump in return. She didn’t want to try to puzzle out the world anymore, her brain exhausted from trying to puzzle it out. Instead, she’d focus on his opener. “You shouldn’t just go tossing flirtations around like that.”

“I saved that one just for you,” he replied. His smile charmed her, making her heart skip a little beat. “So are you freaked out and hiding it, or are you okay with all of…” He gestured around at the trees overhanging the path they walked. “This?”

“I was just thinking about that,” she admitted. “I lived in Seattle until recently.”
“You mentioned that,” he agreed.

“I have really been struggling with small town life on the east coast. It’s a different vibe, and it’s more than just going somewhere new. Although, it is really hard to make friends as an adult, have you noticed that? Since I moved here, er, to Assjacket, I’ve mostly seen my parents and worked,” she shrugged. “I got this job working for the Taradiddle family, and I love the work, but how do you get out and meet people as an adult, you know?”

“I get it,” he agreed. “I’m originally from Cali.”

“Really? What brought you to Assjacket?”

“Broom,” he said.

When he didn’t add more, she let it go. Probably the conversation was getting too personal anyway. She sucked at reading social cues to figure that kind of thing out. “You still haven’t addressed the fact that you totally just hit on me.”

“We’ll get to that,” he said, tossing her a charming smile that sent a spark of awareness dancing over her skin. “Before we discuss that, I’ve got more questions…”