"My Owlbear claws your Rust Monster's guts out," Dustin shouts, practically spraying the board with his spit.
"Says you!" Lucas says back. "I play Gelatinous cube to consume your owlbear, nothing's going to be left of it."
"It's your deciding move Will," Mike says. He sits with his Dungeon Master set in front of him, Eleven watches with curiosity and confusion. She doesn't stray far from Mike's side the entire time. He gives her pointers on what monsters to play and explains what the best strategy was. She didn't really care about the game at all, just being with Mike and being treated like one of their Party was enough... She thinks she's being called a Mage.
"I summon my Spectre to cast the spell..." Will says eagerly.
Mike rolls the dice.
"It takes effect!"
"What? No, come on!" Dustin groans.
"What will El the Mage do?" Mike asks encouragingly.
El is staring intently at the board, waiting for her turn.
"I play... the Tarrasque," El says with a smirk. She uses her powers to move it over and knock all the other figurines off the board.
"WHAT?!" Dustin shouts.
"NO FAIR!" Lucas screeches.
"I think our Mage just won," Mike says.
"No fair dude, you were helping her the whole time!" Dustin whines.
"Beginners luck," Will shrugs, taking his pieces back. Personally, he was just relieved that everyone was playing D&D again, after a rather difficult summer of girl drama and Russian conspiracies.
"And she won... Do you really want to protest Dust?" Mike says.
El smirks and wipes a dribble of blood from her nose. Dustin leans back in defeat, knowing not to push the matter any further with their superhero of a friend.
"Does this mean it's over?" Max groans pulling out her Walkman headphones having lost interest in the game long ago. She had been reading a random magazine that was lying around the house. Both she and Eleven had been invited to Mike's basement for some "fun" times, instead of a boring board game. The only thing she found remotely interesting was how Will could fit ten Cheetos in his mouth and Lucas could suck root beer out of three straws at the same time.
"It is, and here's your prize," Mike says, wrapping El in a big hug. "You did great El... sorry, Jane."
None of the four boys were used to calling Eleven by her adopted name, even after so long. She was always El to them, but in order to protect her and give her a sense of normality, they had to call her Jane.
Eleven accepts the hug gleefully, managing to laugh a little bit.
"You know Max, you could've saved us if you stayed in the game," Dustin says.
"What can I say, I'm a zoomer, I don't like staying in one place for very long."
"You know a zoomer is not..." Dustin begins, but Lucas stomps on his foot.
"Ow! What the hell Luc!"
"She's a zoomer and that's what she is," he smiles at Max and she blushes slightly under her freckles. Despite how many times she'd "dumped" him, he still had a way of making her smile, the loveable goof-ball.
"Now can we please do something else, something more interesting?" Max asks.
Just then Mrs. Wheeler sticks her head down into the basement.
YOU ARE READING
Strange as IT Seems
FanfictionWhen Derry is evacuated after an emergency, the Losers Club travels to the quiet town of Hawkins, Indiana, where they should be safe. Joined by his cousin Mia, who carries her own personal demons, Bill and his friends begin to adapt to this new smal...
