Emily strolled down to the lake at the UEA. She had
been told it was particularly quiet and a nice place to reflect. She'd hopped
on a bus and had decided to take it easy, wandering around the huge concrete
buildings in both awe and slight...disdain? She had to admit, it was truly
beautiful over at the lake, the leaves moving in the breeze. She had always
loved the evenings...ever since she was a child...and coming to a place like
this just reminded her of the beauty she saw back home in Kent.
Her musings were quickly interrupted though.
A rather harrassed young woman, barely older than herself (she guessed), was almost striding along the path, and Emily figured she'd eventually walk into her.
The woman had obviously dyed her hair...the brown roots had begun to show above the reddish auburn. She carried a huge rucksack on her back, and she seemed to be muttering...rather loudly...under her breath.
"Bloody boys...when will they learn that the idea of a game is to NOT break it?! All that bloody hard work...and then..."
Emily looked across at the woman, her mouth twisted into a half frown. She saw the woman flump down on to the bench barely feet behind her. She removed her rucksack, and pulled out a bright pink folder. Emily shook her head in disbelief...what on Earth was she doing?
"If they'd have gone there, I could have set the Drow on them...but nooooooo, they had to choose to go to the bloody dungeons..."
"Um...excuse me..." Emily began, hesitantly, trying to sneak a quick look at whatever was in the folder. "Yes?" Replied the woman, with a cold hint. "...Well...I..." Emily was far more uncertain than she had intended to be. "...You seem to be a little..." "Stressed?" "...I was going to say...on edge. Are you okay?"
The woman stared at Emily, and then ran a hand over her face. She sighed. "I'm fine. Just needed to take a breather, that's all." Emily sat on the bench looking over at her. "I...heard you saying things...as you were walking. Games...and...dungeons?" The woman looked at her, and laughed gently. "It's not as bad as it sounds, I promise!" She shut her folder and looked at Emily. "I help run a gaming group in the city. We play D&D - that's "Dungeons and Dragons". Yes, it's geeky...but..." "Dungeons and Dragons?" Emily asked, confused. "Well...yeah. You have a group of people playing characters of different races and classes who form a team and go fight villains...in a kinda medieval setting..."
Emily giggled involuntarily. The woman looked slightly affronted. "When do you play this...game?" She asked, her brow furrowed. "Once a week...generally for three hours or so." "Three HOURS? Don't you get bored?"
It was the woman's turn to laugh. "I run it...so I don't get much of a chance to be bored, I'm afraid." She replied, gently. "Wait..." said Emily, her brow still furrowed. "So...you organise this game...yes? And then you get a bunch of people together to spend three hours pretending to be other people?" The woman looked at her, with a mix of humor and indignation on her face. "In a sense, yes. But it's all good fun...well, generally." Emily shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe there are people who spend so much time trying to be other people...it's...odd." The woman laughed. "It's no different to acting, except you create the character and you make up the script. Improvisation, see?"
"But other people come to see improv. You sound like you do it behind closed doors!!" The woman sighed, and put her folder back in her bag. "So I guess I won't be tempting you to come and join our group then?" She asked with a smile. Emily shook her head emphatically. The woman put the bag back on her back, and stood up. "Oh well. It would have been nice to have had some new blood in the group." She went to walk away, and then turned around again. "I never got to ask your name. Josée's mine - keep it in mind; just in case you have a change of heart." Emily smiled. "I will...but I don't think it's my kind of thing." She said, as the woman began to walk away.
She turned back to look at the water when from the woman's retreating back she suddenly heard - in the quietest of voices:
“Thank God I didn’t meet her
on a Requiem night!”
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