Page 23 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume Two

“Who’s the DM?”

“Me.” Ravi reached for a plate to fill up for himself. “I’m the one who can best keep the campaign moving. Gunter tried it at first, but…yeah, he kept getting bogged down in the details. The thing with DnD is, you never know which direction the game will go. A roll of the dice can change the outcome. Do you play?”

“I do, with some of my cousins and friends. It’s great fun. Which edition do you play?”

“5e. We started with 3, which…” Ravi shuddered, only partially put on.

Sora looked at him blankly, but the expression was purely an act. “What’s edition 3?”

“I knew I liked you for a reason.” Ravi grinned at him, delighted.

Sora was definitely relaxing some around him; the joking was a sign of that. If he could get Sora to drop his guard a bit more, he’d be wicked fun. Ravi’s instincts said so.

Sora winked, then went for the coffee carafe at the end of the table. “And what do you do? I heard you’re one of the king’s retainers.”

“I most certainly am. My main responsibility is keeping everyone from being too serious.”

“You’d be very good at that.” Sora did not sound like he was kidding.

“I’m excellent at it. Seriously, though, part of the reason I’m a retainer is because I’m fast. My reflexes are such that I react to danger before the rest of them can.”

Ravi was proud of himself for it, too. That speed. He knew not everyone understood his appointment when they first met him. They mistook him as someone frivolous. And he didn’t want Sora to have that impression of him.

Sora glanced at him as he stirred in creamer and sugar. “I imagine that’s part of the reason you were chosen was your sense of humor. Having only serious types in a workplace makes for a very long day. Just one coworker to keep things lively helps the work go by faster.”

Oh. Ravi paused, looking at him with a sort of startled wonder. No one had ever said that to him before. He hadn’t even thought of it from that perspective. Ravi knew Alric depended on him to jostle him out of bad moods and to keep him on task without being naggy about it. But no one had ever said that. It was something Ravi instinctively felt was true.

For Sora to look at him and see the heart of the matter so keenly…was kinda awesome.

Maybe Ravi needed to up the flirting. Sora might be really fun to date. At the very least, he’d be interesting to get to know.

“I could use more of that personality trait myself,” Sora continued with a wry expression, his nose wrinkling. “Mage Lisette was very adamant about me teaching people today, but…in truth, I have no experience teaching anyone.”

Ravi indicated an empty spot at a table nearby and led the way even as he asked, “Really? Not at all?”

“I’m the youngest in my family,” Sora explained as he set his cup and plate down on the table. “I’ve never had the opportunity.”

“Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I’m one of the youngest in the clan, so I feel that.”

“Are you? I can’t quite put an age to you.”

Ravi’s head came up, proud as a peacock. “I’m eternally young.”

Sora snorted a laugh.

“You. Stop snickering.” Ravi stuck his tongue out at him, pleased that he already had Sora laughing. Best way to start the day, laughter. “But, yeah, I was a baby at the end of the War. And we didn’t have many births afterwards. I want to say, like, five. But I have ended up teaching people stuff. Well, I’ve tried. It never really goes well. I mean, I’ve been trying to teach Baldewin how to mix a drink for decades, and he manages to botch it every single time. So, while I’d like to give you advice on good teaching methods, I can’t, sorry. Unless you choose to use me as a bad example. Which would be totally fair.”

Sora calmly sipped at his coffee, watching him with those keen dark eyes. “I just noticed that you didn’t get coffee.”

“You do not want me on caffeine, trust me.”

“I’d actually pay good money to see that. You’d probably bounce off the walls for hours.”

A memory floated to mind, and Ravi grinned at the nostalgia. “You’re not far off. I stole half of Alric’s coffee once, when I was still young and green. I was spinning around like mad for hours. Dieter took me flying. Then Baldewin. Sasha played tag with me for about two hours. And I still couldn’t sleep. It was the best high ever, until I crashed the next day. Slept all day, woke up rested. I thought the clan was going to kill me because while I was sleeping, they still had to work.”

Sora shook his head in amusement. “I can so easily see that scene play out. You must have been fun to raise.”

“I was a fucking delight, thank you very much.”