Lucy gets into tabletop games

it was a friday night, and one lincoln loud had to work. Now sixteen years old. and well into highschool he had been working part time in a game shop that had opened in town about two years ago. and this was a job he adored. given he had access to about two thirds of his nerdy hobbies. recently he had been getting into a game of strategy called battlemace fantasy bouts. and has thusfar fielded orcs and goblins.

before he went onto an internal rant about how much he loved the army his mother popped her head through the door. "hey sweetie? can i ask you a favor?"
 Lincoln sat up, putting his tablet to the side "yeah, sure thing." he said with a small smile.
 Rita sighed "i know this probably isn't convenient for you... but with everyone busy with one thing or another. Lucy wouod be here all alone... after what happened when lynn moved away, i really dont feel comfortable with that..."
ahhh, crap. she just had to bring that up.
lincoln shivered a thirteen year old shouldn't be covered in so much blood. "i mean... what'll my boss say?" he wasn't telling her no in the slightest, just raising a valid concern.
Rita's face fell for a moment into a thoughtful grimace "You could teach her that little game you play these days!" she suggested. " i'll pay for a couple boxes of the little models, how much are they again? "
lincoln paused... "w-welll..." he pulled up a listing on his tablet and showed her as she instantly grew two new wrinkles on the sides of her mouth , never the less she handed over the money
 "when your father and i get back from our dinner we are going to have a serious chat about your spending habits!"
 " i get a forty percent discount.plus i have an idea as to what kind of army would like already, and theyre no where near as bad as my orcs. " he said showing Rita another box at a significantly less hair raising price.

this was all Spanish to Rita she just cared that her daughter was safe and sound, somewhere her brother could keep an eye on her.
she let Lincoln shower up and get ready, preparing a.small meal for before he and Lucy left , the goth was less than pleased about going. but an order from mom was an order from mom.and

lucy had showered for the first time since her incident. at Lincoln's insistence, citing the store's strict rules on hygiene, leadint their m other to send lucy to the tub. rita had waited right outside the door for safety reasons.

Lucy came out with a sigh, wearing a towel, and got dressed in some clean clothes

after all was said and done.Rita took the two to the game store. Lincoln greeted his boss "yo mel! i hope you don't mind. but i brought my sister in today."

Now his boss was nice enough of a guy, but he was a business man too "depends pal, what's the occasion?" he asked, wanting to make sure it wasn't just her taking up tablespace.

Lucy took the initiative in speaking up "i... i am imterested in that game lincoln plays." she lied through gritted teeth " the one with all the figurines"

"ah, battlemace... "mel said, before turning to lincoln and winking "well... assuming you have a few bucks to spend on our lessons i can let him teach ya to play." he said, as lucy looked down

"I-i don't...."
" I gotcha Luce" lincoln said slipping ten bucks into his boss' hand.
the place had a service where you could pay to learn any game. ad Lincoln was their resident battlemace expert"that should cover it! " Lincoln said, hey, ten bucks was worth it to spend an evening getting paid to play a game with his family.

it was too perfect! "alright...., so what army were you interested inlearning? " asked melvin to lucy who just stammered. as lincoln came to the rescue again
"she's been wanting to check out vampires... you got the loner army for em right?"
" sure do! "

meanwhile lucy was a bit shocked.

THIS GAME HAD VAMPIRES?

ah, yeah i shoulda guessed." Melvin laughed it off. "oh, by the way, Clyde called in, said he wants in the next tournament. mind giving him a break for once?"

lincoln glared "no one is spared from the green tide, not even my best friend." there was an awkward pause before both began laughing

" yeah, alright tiger... if your sis does well in your practice matches maybe i'll put her in the brackets free of charge! " he was kidding of course. but hey, Lincoln was a bit of a darkhorse his first few tournies. there was no reason his sister couldnt be!


and so, lincoln grabbed a couple of clear plastic bins, full to the brim woth figurines, the two went fo the table room, sitting at one with a grassy planes environment.

"alright. first things first..." he said, starting to unload the armies. " the point system. " he laid down a few books and handed her one "since this is a starter game , we'll be playing a one thousand point game. look through that book and pick out the figurin es you want to use to fight, i'll help you with suggestions, but it's your army, so i cant chose for ya." he said, going from ' casual older brother' to 'serious mentor' mode in five seconds flat.

"um, alright." lucy said. looking through the book, she didn't understand a thing. but lincoln gave her some pointers , telling her what various key words meant. and as she went she found it was easier and easier. , thusly she had completed her small list of f one thousand points.

but oddly, lucy noticed. lincoln wasn't sporting his 'green tide. ' but rather plain men in plate armor

"who are those? they arent your green men."

lincoln smiled "these are imperials, theyre the easiest army to learn, but that also makes them the easiest to beat. i'll walk you through your first turn, then its all you okay?"

lecy nodded reluctantly.

winds of magic, shooting, charges, and combat... it was so complex, but as he spoke it made more and more sense

eventually, lucy lost track of herself. from the first time she rolled the dice, she had become Luciana Von Orsen. duchess of necrovania

her second hand, and consort. rockfield approached his lover and general "Madame, their gun lines are unbreachable, what course of action should we take to win the day?!"

The vampire duchess hummed, thinking, they were too far behind in the bout for anything to be a safe bet other than retreat, and that simply wasn't an option"Send i the entirety of ou r skeletal hordes. and send our dread knights to attack from the rear, with any hope we can pull off a stalemate at the very least! "

"understood!" rockfield said going to rally up the bony soldiers of their army.

in spite of the massive losses that had occurred the firing line was indeed disrupted by the charge, giving the skeletons enough time to smash into them and engage in a melee. the gunmen lost quite badly, and so began to route. all the while luciana had been leaching the life from the fleeing soldiers to revive her skeletons and zombies

with his troops fleeing, and only his bodyguards left, the imperial general had waved a white flag, signifying unconditional surrender., which Luciana Von Orsen took him up on. stringing him up for his crimes against her people.


At least, that was whatlucy imagined the story to be, as her actions played out on the battlefield
"Wow. that was some really awesome luck! good on ya lucy! and that charge? oh my god, how in.the world didn't i see it coming?"

lucy smiled... "that was... really fun... i don't suppose you'd be allowed a second match...? i don't want to keep you from your work..."
lincoln shook his head
"well, it's time for me to clock out. the game took about four hours."

lucy gasped "i'm so sorry lincoln, i didn't"
"it's fine, you're learning. let's get this picked up, kay?" he asked, as he started putting up the figurines. lucy nodded and followed suitx watching her brother put things away "alright... so, we got another hour or two til we get picked up... and mom did give me some cash for you to get a couple of boxes."

lucy paused again, shocked "really?" she asked as lincoln produced a hundred dollars from. his wallet, with hqlf the girls out of the house the budget was much freer

lucy looked at the money as if it were a gift from god. nabbed it and ran to grab the boxes with the soldiers that she felt helped her best, taking her budget into account of course. she got Luciana von orsen, Rockfield, and the skeletal knightrs. handing it to lincoln. " alrighty , melvin, me and luce got a purchase! "

the nerdy man turned his attention to the two from his magic and wizards cards. "alright... luciana,...rockfield... skull knights... with your discount that comes out to about 65.56 after tax" lucy nodded , handing the bill to Melvin "and i'll be buying her to new resin models for the skeletons with hand weapons."


 "you mean the ones that were just released yesterday. and aren't even on our shelves yet?"
 " yeah! they are legal for tournament play the day theyre released in stores. even online. "he

" i know i know... that's fifty bucks altogether, so that brings ya down by.... thirty" Lincoln handed to cash over
 "alright... we got some time to burn now..." Lincoln said to lucy.

 " i mean , you can spend this time to build the models. " melvin suggested. "our work bench room is fully operational."

 lucy tilted her head "build?"
 lincoln looked at her "well, you have to put them together yourself., with glue, and the. you paint them"

that sounded... less fun, to Lucy.... well the building part didn't sound fun, Lucy was always fond of art, in all it's forms

 "don't worry, i can walk you through it. " he said making Lucy bite her tongue to keep from.complaining.

and so lincoln spent the next two hours helping her assemble her soldiers, wtarting with her commqnders. qnd then working on the skeletal knights, they were just about finished when Rita came in

 "Kids , it's time to head home!" Lincoln and Lucy shot up, man , they really lost track of time. hurriedly, they put their things up and left with rita.

 on the way home rita decided to break the silence "so Lucy.... how were things with Lincoln?"

 lucy took a moment to think "i enjoyed it, a lot. i look forward to playing the game with him again.... i also loom forward to finishing up with making the models."

 Rita knew what she said. and stopped the van "Lincoln, you spend hundreds of dollars on toys that /aren't even build?/"
 Lincoln gulped down some nervousness and retorted "dad spends hundreds of dollars on stamps doesn't he? at least mt thing lets me keep my.hands busy!."

 it was an excuse, Rita knew that. but he wasn't wrong. "fair enough... lord knows your father needs to keep his hands busy." Rita joked making Lucy and Lincoln gag. " Hey! you're the result of his need for a hobby! hush up! " she laughed at the faces they made at that as she kept driving