JLU plays W&W
“You can’t be serious.”
“Sure I can,” Clark grinned. “Come on, we’ve all been meaning to spend time with each other off the clock, so why not schedule a game night? At least once a month.”
“That part I understand,” Bruce rumbled, perched in the monitor station’s chair and not bothering to look over his shoulder. “But a roleplaying game?”
“I thought you of all people might enjoy that.”
“Hn.”
“At least look over the game itself before you come to a decision, alright? Most of the pre-made campaigns feature mysteries for players to investigate, and the rules are pretty quick to pick up. I had to explain tabletop RPGs to J’onn and Diana, but they’re both interested, and Wally said yes even before I finished speaking...”
His grin grew wider as Bruce let out a small, almost unnoticeable sigh. “What’s it called.”
“Wolfen and Warlocks,” Clark told him, and blinked when his friend’s fingers paused on the keyboard. “It’s based on this book series called Stories From Sarant - I picked the box up off the shelf because I remembered reading the first one when I was in middle school-”
“Wolfen’s Rage,” Bruce said softly, and then it became Clark’s turn to pause. “I’m familiar.”
Despite giving him a moment, the other man didn’t add anything else. Feeling a little more cautious, Clark went on, “Well, I still need to check with John and Shayera, but so far I’m thinking next Thursday? We can use our usual meeting room here, or get one of the smaller rec halls, or I could host at my apartment in Metropolis.”
His friend grunted, hands once more tapping across the station controls. “Watchtower would be better in case there’s an emergency. And then you wouldn’t have to cater.”
“True.” Clark let his head tip to one side, half wishing (not for the first time) that his x-ray vision would let him see the thoughts inside people’s heads, and not just their physical brain tissue. “Well, in that case, I’ll get you the introductory player’s guide to look over beforehand. I figured we could all roll up some characters together, maybe play a sample encounter to get a feel for things before we schedule a full campaign run.”
Another grunt. Slightly lighter, though, which he took to mean yes, fine, now go away and let me work.
“Alright, then. See you later, Bruce.”
---
Thursday rolled around, and Clark fully expected to need to engage in more careful cajoling to bring all six of his oldest teammates into the recreation room he’d reserved for the afternoon. Instead, he got to feel pleasantly surprised, walking through the door with J’onn to find Bruce, Diana, John and Shayera all present, Wally zipping in on his heels with an armful of snacks.
“What?” The speedster asked, when a few eyebrows were raised in his direction. “You can’t have a game session without junk food!”
Clark started setting things up with a small smile, listening as the others teased and bickered with one another. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time all seven of them settled in the same space that wasn’t their private meeting room to discuss League matters - if the game worked out and became a regular thing, he’d have to thank his Pa again for the idea.
“Alright,” he eventually called, sliding paper and freshly sharpened pencils around the table. “You all looked over at least the intro booklet, right? Who wants to start with what they’ve got in mind for a character?”
“Goblin,” Wally immediately said. “I’m gonna call him Bert, but with a ‘y’!”
Clark dutifully wrote down Goblin, Byrt
“I think I’d like to try a minotaur,” Diana went next. “With a background in hand to hand combat.”
Minotaur went a line below Wally’s goblin, even as Clark said, “Remember this is a chance to experiment with being someone other than ourselves, guys.”
“Whoops,” Shayera said in a dry tone. When Clark raised his eyebrows, she shrugged. “I want to play a harpy.”
Wally promptly choked on his mouthful of potato chips, and John snorted. “Let me guess, with a mace and some of those Close Combat moves?”
“The level one inventory options don’t have a mace,” the Thanagarian huffed. “I picked the heavy walking staff, instead.”
“That’s still impact damage-”
“And what did you want to play, Stewart?”
For a brief moment, John looked embarrassed, before doubling down into a stubborn scowl. “Human. With elemental magic.”
Shayera immediately leaned forward, elbow braced on the table and hand tucked below her chin, smirking. “Light magic?”
“Look, the Break of Dawn and Gleaming Prison spells-”
“I have decided to create an anonian character,” J’onn cut in, thankfully before the pair of exes could really get rolling. “One of the Forest type, with an innate paralytic touch ability.”
“And also green scales, if I remember right,” Clark couldn’t help but say, even as he added to the list with a renewed grin: Harpy, Human, Anonian (Dragon-folk)
“I think I’d like to know what you’ve chosen for yourself before you throw any further stones, Clark.” Diana folded her arms with an expectant expression.
“Orc,” he promptly shot back.
“Which kind,” Bruce rumbled from his seat.
Ah. Well. “...meckle orc.”
His friend smirked. “So a farmer, then.”
“What’s your choice,” Clark asked instead of answering, ignoring how some of the others snickered. Bruce’s smirk stayed in place as he produced a short stack of index cards from his utility belt, each covered with scribbled notes. He plucked off the top one and held it out, letting Clark see- “A fairy?”
“Based off the moth species melanodes anthracitaria,” Bruce somehow said with utter sincerity, even as John coughed to hide his amusement and Wally let out an almost inhuman wheeze. A small square photograph came out of the stack of notes, paperclipped to a card with a simple sketch of a humanoid figure with wings the same shape as the real moth. Black, of course, with silver-grey markings. “His name is Thomarwyn. I’ve done some research on the novels and put together a basic background and family history in line with what the author’s written about her various cultures.”
“Size category, Tiny,” Shayera read from her copy of the intro player’s guide, lips slowly curling up into a wicked smile. “Not going to be able to punch very many bad guys when you’re only two feet tall.”
“No, but I’ll be able to get in and out of places the rest of you won’t.”
And that was when it clicked for Clark. “You’ve made him a detective, haven’t you?”
“Hn.”
On the other side of the table, Wally got enough breath back to say, “Bat-Moth!” And promptly start wheezing with laughter again.
---
(I've been giggling non-stop since coming up with this idea yesterday; first five pages are written and will probably get posted to my AO3 account sometime this week while I work on more. And yes, Wolfen & Warlocks is a real game in beta-testing mode created by yours truly - when I don't have very many people to help me try it out, I figure the next best thing is to toss it to some fictional characters to see what shenanigans they can come up with!)
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slow dance on broken glass (1/?)
summary:
This was the second non-apocalypse jump she had allowed herself, which felt refreshing, for a change. There was no volcano outside, no tornado, no army waiting to sweep in and kill everyone in sight. The Earth was not gearing up to crack open and swallow this town whole, either.
Perhaps, that was the issue, Sylvie thought as she drew in another shaky breath. It was too peaceful, too quiet. She was not used to being able to sleep through the night, and maybe that was exactly why she rarely did.
He Who Remains is dead. Sylvie can go and live her life now, the way she's always wanted. Or can she? And is the story actually over?
Or - what if Loki cared more about Sylvie after the events of Season 1 and not the TVA? (Just an idea!)
author's note: i had an idea and things happened. post-S1, canon divergence. as far as I'm concerned, season 2 doesn't exist. have fun!
---
Italy, 1600s
There was a boy standing at the edge of the cliff.
He was slight and dark-haired, the loose clothes on his thin frame fluttering in the wind, and the sight of him made something inside Silvie’s chest squeeze achingly and uncomfortably. The sky above them was low and dark-purple, resembling a painful bruise, and the water down below crashed against the rocks with a thunderous roar.
The wind picked up, flattening the tall grass against the ground. Sylvie made a sound in the back of her throat, and the boy turned, blue eyes locking on her.
As he turned, a billow of purple smoke began to rise over the top of the cliff, two red glowing eyes set in its midst.
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