ArchivedLogs:Rares

Rares
Dramatis Personae Doug, Joe
In Absentia	2014-01-11 Joe offers magic lessons
Location <NYC> Pandemonium Games - Lower East Side
Two floors of geekery, Pandemonium Games in the Lower East Side is, at first blush, a bookstore rather than a gaming store, small and cozy with aisles dedicated to sci-fi and fantasy books. The glass counter opposite the bookshelves, admittedly, does hold a wealth of cards from various collectible card games, though binders of Magic cards predominate. Bins of dice in a wide variety of colours stand at one end of the counter. It is the lower level of the store that is usually the busy one, though. The stairs leading down to the basement head first into shelves and shelves of games; board games, RPG sourcebooks, Warhammer figurines, battle mats. Beyond the shelves of goods, a much larger room is mostly bare save its many wide tables, filled at all hours with people playing tabletop games of all kinds. It's Saturday Night Magic at Pandemonium, and the geeks are about! It's a 'Sealed Event' which means everyone is given a few fresh packs of cards, and then they have to make the best decks they can with those random cards. Oddly though, it's a smallish crowd tonight, only a couple dozen people of most ages - early teens to middle age, but mostly men, not surprisingly. People are milling about with their sealed packs, waiting for table and seat assignments like some kind of Vegas poker room. Joe is here, already staking out a seat at a table he seems to like. His own sealed packs are sitting nearby, but he's also flipping through the trades binder he brought with him, having just finished a trade negotiation and now looking for the perfect slot for his new card. The chubby kid leaving his table seems equally pleased, but only keeps his stuff in a plastic card box. After Joe slots the new card, he sets his binder out on the table like a proprietor. "Open for trades," he announces in an even tone. He's not the only one doing it, but he's the only one without an active trade at the moment. "Trade binder here. Anything goes, for the right price." Doug isn't at the shop tonight for the tournament, clearly deck-less and browsing through the bookshelves. Dressed in jeans and a blue hoodie under his grey mechanic-style jacket, the blonde doesn't seem particularly /focused/ as he wanders through the shelves, eventually coming out where Joe has taken up shop. He pauses to watch the older man hawk his goods, and furrows his brow. "I never understood the whole trading of cards thing," he says, leaning forward slightly to study the art on one card. "I mean, doesn't the person with the more valuable card get kind of screwed in the bargain?" Joe looks up at Joe and stands when he's addressed. There's the briefest of pauses and then it's like Joe reminds himself to smile. It doesn't make him any less ugly. "Heh, sometimes. But then, value is pretty relative. I mean, sure," Joe waves his hand over the cards, and picks up a worthless placeholder card to flash through his fingers, disappearing and reappearing with a magician's flourish. "We can look up the dollar values, but then, if you have one I really want, and it's worth a little less than something I've got, but I don't have to actually /buy/ it. I can just trade? It can be a win for both parties, see?" Joe makes a mildly confused face, pretending to have lost the card he was playing with, but it looks like it might be poking out the top of his suit jacket pocket. He shrugs. "You play? Doug wrinkles his nose at the explanation, his eyes tracking the card as it rolls through Joe's fingers. "Yeah, I think I get what you're saying," he says, lifting his shoulders and offering a sheepish sort of grin. "But I also kind of don't. Guess I'm not much of a collecting sort of mind. Unless it's tech. But there's not much trading that goes on, there." He shakes his head at the question, dropping his gaze back to the binder to study a mana card. "Oh, no. I never got the hang of it. I'm better at RPG-style games." He looks back up, offering a lopsided grin. "The art on the cards is pretty awesome, though. How long have you played?" "Some of the art is /incredible/, actually," Joe says, much more genuinely enthusiastic now. Before, he was just talking, but now he's interested in the conversation. He flips through a couple of his favorite examples: a glowing winged angel with a sword, a fire-breathing dragon, and a fairly amusing yet well-done red-skinned goblin hefting a spear. "But I've been playing since the dark ages young man, when the game was first released. It appealed to me right away. Then again, I also have a first edition D&D folio set tucked away somewhere." Doug's eyebrows hike up appreciatively at the cards and their art, and he leans in a bit closer to examine the goblin with a bit of a smile. "Those really are incredible," he agrees. "I can see why people would want to collect them." He straightens, then, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jacket. The revelation gets a low whistle, and there's another hike of eyebrows. "Really? That long?" he says, unable to keep the incredulousness out of his voice. Then his eyes crinkle at the mention of the first edition. "That's kind of amazing. Is it carved in stone and everything?" Joe frowns slightly at the crack about his D&D set being etched in stone, and finally laughs ruefully. "No, actually, I had to take pictures of the pages - they were cave paintings, see?" Joe shakes his head. "Do you really not know about the Blue Box folios? They're... /Every/ RPG gamer should at least know what they are." He looks at the young man, assessing him for a long moment, before finally admitting, "I mean, the rules are practically /unplayable/. They actually do seem stone-aged. But it's all we had back in the old days." He even puts on a funny 'old man' voice for the final comment. Doug lifts a shoulder apologetically. "Are those the things that came with the dice and everything?" he asks, wrinkling his nose as he considers the actual item. "I had a friend who had one that was the Keep on the Borderlands, or something. It was kind of hilarious. Bugbears and junk." He grins, and closes one eye in a slow wink. "It really was the Dark Ages, huh? No Skyrim or World of Warcraft for Generation X?" "Ack, fuckin' heart," Joe says in an obviously manufactured ailment. He slumps down in his chair and looks like he's about to say something else when he's cut off by a boy with long dark hair working behind the counter, "/Can it/, Zerah. That's your second warning. Watch you language." Sure, people cuss at Pandemonium all the time, but most are well-heeled enough to do it quiet enough to not raise the ire of Staff. Joe sighs and waves an apologetic hand in the boy's direction. "Sure thing, my bad," Joe says with a sigh. "Apologies to you too, kid, but you caught me off guard. You said you liked 'RPG's and I thought you meant mostly pen-and-paper shit," he's speaking quietly enough now that he can get away with it. "We all wanted the video games to be great when I was your age, but they /still/ can't compare to the real table-top experience, man." Joe shakes his head, looking dejected. Doug seems amused by the dramatic response, although there's a twitch of concern in his eyebrows when the counterperson calls out his warning. He rolls his shoulders at Joe's explanation, and tips his head to one side. "No skin off my nose. I play my fair share of tabletop. I've got a regular group and everything. I'm just a fan of well-rendered computer graphics and gripping cinematic storytelling." He spreads his hands (still in his pockets), and presses his mouth into a sympathetic line. "We can just agree that each has their merits," he offers with a game sort of look. "They only /really/ fail when they try to team up." Joe rubs at the back of his neck not really looking convinced about Doug's video games. "It's cool that you play table-top and all. I just don't-" Joe is cut off again, but this time it's not directed at him. The general announcement goes out for everyone to come and get their table and seat assignments, randomly generated on the computer at the counter. "Take care, kid. Looks like it's time to go to work." He offers his hand before going up to get his number. "I'm Joe, by the way. Nice to chat with you. Let me know if you ever wanna learn some... magic." For some reason, Joe also chuckles at the last word. "Doug," the teenager responds, clasping Joe's hand and shaking it warmly. The offer gets a sort of concerned cant of the blonde's eyebrows, and his smile seems a bit cautious as he nods. "I'll keep that in mind," he says slowly, giving Joe another long look before he raises his gaze again. "But like I said, I don't think it's really my game. Good luck in the tournament, though. Don't trounce the kinder too badly." He offers a wave, then, and melts into the bookshelves, looking deeply troubled and absently wiping his hand on his leg. Probably got some hardcore nerd on him or something.