Cascadia's Fault

Strategies and Dice Rolls

Johnny was still stunned from being so thoroughly beaten by a girl half his size. After the first demonstration where Caz had gone through the instructions and positions in slow motion, easing him into it much the way Grant had taken them through the submission hold, once she moved through it at full speed, he'd been shocked to find himself lying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. She had even given him the option of resisting the second time and he was still making friends with the mats. The third time, she'd told him to put his heart into it, and he watched the black around her irises turn red as she out-maneuvered him again, and he was back to gaping at the light fixtures.

He figured it wasn't worth mentioning that last little tidbit. He wasn't ready to find out how else she could knock the wind out of him.

They were in the kitchen after a full afternoon of classes, finishing up dinner dishes. He was loading one of the dishwashers while she stood at the industrial sink scrubbing pots. There were another dozen people in the kitchen, and she wasn't paying attention to any of them, including him. When he'd seen her laughing easily with that other guy from their sparring class, he had wanted to sit between them, and that was just weird. Not like him at all. But she hadn't been giving him the stink eye or avoiding that guy the way she seemed to be doing with him.

Maybe he should take the hint.

Noa was certainly making it abundantly obvious that she would loooovvve to spend more time with him.

Johnny dumped another tray into the rack.

Nope.

Couldn't see it.

Couldn't see Caz, either.

And wouldn't Jem fall on the floor laughing if she knew I was thinking this.

It might be time to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Caz presented an interesting puzzle, one that she didn't seem to know how to solve, either. And didn't that just create another layer for him to twist and turn and muddle over?

He glanced back again. Yup, her back was still to him. No tells that she'd ever taken a peek. If he didn't have a healthy ego, he'd develop a complex.

Maybe I was developing a complex.

The gloomy weather wasn't improving his mood any, either. Before dinner, those who had been in the advanced hand-to-hand had been asked to gather again with only a few bumped down to either intermediate sparring or weapons training. Apparently, you could be one without another. He and Jem had made it through. So had Caz and CJ.

Big surprise.

Anyone who had been in the intermediate class camp before went through. It was almost anti-climactic after the day they'd had.

Johnny was definitely feeling tired and grouchy after spending his lunch break being tossed around like a bag of flour.

I should have at least been able to stop her that third time.

Yeesh.

A hand clamped down on his arm. Without thinking, Johnny gripped it the way Caz showed him, then heard the chuckle.

"You're dreaming if you think I'd show you everything I know about flipping someone over their shoulder."

Johnny not only stopped but loosened his hold to simply keep her hand in his as he turned. He caught the bemused look before she cleared her face to look up at him, which made him grin, "No? I guess you'll have to give me more lessons then."

He followed her gaze back down to their clasped hands. "Maybe," she replied.

The tension he hadn't recognized he'd been holding in his shoulders released.

Caz shook her head, pulling her hand away. Johnny wished he knew what she was thinking, but then she said, "We've been excused, so it's time to fight for our lives. CJ will do his level best to kill us all off before curfew."

The main recreation hall was packed with adults and teens – some watching television, others playing video games, board games, cards, while still others had graphic novels, books, or goofed around on their cellphones. They found their little group in front near the hearth, already warm with a banked fire.

CJ had a book, dice, and notebook in front of him. His Earthdawn book provided a barrier so no one could see what he wrote down, or what he would write down. He handed out a piece of paper and pencil stub to everyone else. His smile was more than a little evil when he said, "Let the games begin."

And he had seemed like such a nice kid.

In truth, it was an education watching the two of them poke at each other. Caz would say something obviously designed to nudge him into taking more control of the group and game, then back off and grumble at him that he just liked killing her off. Johnny realized that he and Jem had their own dynamic, but as twins they had never had the 'mentoring' he could see Caz in her snarky was working on CJ. He could see CJ feeling more confident as they began – game was definitely his jam – but this was a new group of all older kids. Jem loved video games, but he couldn't remember her even playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Johnny liked video games as much as the next teenage boy, but he wasn't a maniac about it the way some were. In the end, he created a mutant dwarf – nothing like playing to his weaknesses – who liked to drink too much, fight for no reason and was bad at it.

It was awesome.

For the next two hours, he, Caz, Jem, and Tal laughed and bickered their way through CJ's quest while Noa occasionally interjected some advice or heckling to egg them on. CJ managed to kill both Johnny and Jem off, which left Tal and Caz going head-to-head in a world gone mad to try and save their tiny piece of it.

Johnny hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, and it was an education watching Caz and CJ's dynamics. Caz probably would never admit it to anyone, but she was enjoying herself, enjoyed avoiding letting her brother kill off her character since she knew he didn't want it to be too easy. It was a lot like watching them spar, almost evenly matched, where as soon as one got the upper hand, the other wiggled out and worked to regain it. Tal was manipulative. He kept slipping out the traps CJ laid in the game, out-thinking or out-rolling the choices.

Johnny knew he probably could have left once his character met his tragic and b****y end, but CJ had become his responsibility since the parking lot scare yesterday. He didn't know how that happened, but CJ looked up to his sister, so when Johnny had taken care of her, he thought CJ believed he was safe, which made Jem safe by association. So, he stayed and listened to Caz and Tal outwit CJ's last stand and save the scrap of the post-apocalyptic world of Earthdown.

He had to admit, he was impressed that Caz didn't just let him win, but he thought he understood enough about them to know that

CJ wouldn't have appreciated the win if he thought Caz had held back. He laughed again when she poked CJ in the chest.

"Ha! Not today, Runt, not today."