A Roll of the Dice

8

Felix waited nervously in his car for Rykker to come out. Now out in the world in his costume, Felix felt very exposed; but going outside the car would be even worse.

He leaned forward, and looked in the rearview mirror. He poked at his fairy wings. They were still attached nicely.

The passenger door cracked open.

"Hi Fern," Rykker smiled.

Felix slowly turned his head to face him. He had some sort of fake beard, and held two painted cardboard constructs - a helmet and a hammer - in his arms.

Felix took a deep breath, and stared ahead for a moment.

"Um," Rykker said.

Felix remained silent.

"Your costume looks very good Felix," Rykker said.

"Thanks," Felix answered weakly. He finally got around to starting the car.

He focused on only driving for a moment. He needed to turn onto a busy street anyway.

But the moment he was safely driving down the main road, Rykker spoke up.

"I know you feel embarrassed about your costume Felix," Rykker said, "but I think that you pull it off really well. And I don't think you're weird. I think it's cool."

"Okay," Felix said. It was a meaningless answer.

"You're my friend," Rykker said, "and I care about you. If anyone dares so much as smirk at you, I'll hit em' with the hammer."

A smile briefly came to Felix's face.

"Don't worry about your costume," Rykker said. "Just worry about having fun."

Felix made an internal sigh. That was part of the problem. The way he wanted to have fun was what embarrassed him.

Following Google maps, they arrived at the comic book store. Felix found himself breathing heavy as they pulled into a parking spot.

"It's okay," Rykker said, placing a reassuring hand on Felix's shoulder. I'm your companion Tadon, and I'll be with you through thick and thin."

Felix formed a smile onto his face, and ordered it to remain. He got out of the car, grabbed his bow, and walked with Tadon through the door of the comic shop.

A bell rang as they entered, and - regardless of the gender of his costume, Felix felt embarrassed as the few costumers in the store turned to look at them.

Felix felt himself, in his embarrassment, shrinking inward.

"Cool costume!"

Felix glanced to his left, seeing a guy a bit older than him manning the store counter.

"Thank you good man," Rykker said in Tadon's voice.

"Oh, well, your costume's good too," the guy laughed.

"I know," Rykker smiled.

"You look like you put a good amount of work into it," the employee said.

"Yeah," Felix said sheepishly.

"Well let me show you where we have our D&D groups set up."

They followed him through a door into another part of the building. In this new room, there were several round tables set up, two of them already occupied. At the third one was Derek, in just casual normal clothes.

Pat however, was dressed in the same general fantasy attire that Felix and Rykker were in. He was also wearing a round cloth cap, and strumming a ukulele, apparently meant to represent a lute.