Sac Comic Con

[Kray]

He had seen it advertised at one of the game nights he attend, when asking about the event had been of mixed appeal. Sacramento's comic con had seemed like a bust populated event and rather anathema to his preferences. But when he heard about gaming tables well, he did enjoy games and the chance to play against new people was worth it. Turns out some of the stalls sold games as well, bonus.

And so the ogre is squeezed into a table spot to small for him, even with the wide beneath other players give the menacing giant as a game of seven wonders comes to end, it being one he actually new the basics of how to play. His mask remains unhardened here, with so many costumed persons around if anyone did see through it, there odds were decent he could play it off.

[Sonnie Wu]

Sonnie... was not a big reader. Most Beasts were not scholarly, though there were exceptions. Sonnie was no owl.

Comic books were an exception, though! Why? Because colorful pictures and lots of action!

Here she was, skipping along through the show floor, dressed for the event in Wonder Woman shorts, a Captain Marvel t-shirt and Batgirl sneakers! Her Mask was hardened, so that her weird feet would fit into those cool shoes. Still, she was not unrecognizable to her fellow freeholders, despite the lack of prominent monkey features.

A selection of comics in her hands, the Spring Queen danced along the aisles until she spotted a familiar figure over at the gaming tables. "Oooo!" She spun over towards Kray's table to lurk and lean over players' shoulders to peer at the game.

[Kray]

Even sitting the giants shoulder might be a rather difficult one to peer over, that being said several other players provided ample opportunity for snooping in the closing moments of the game. A handful of ignored or helpful resources cards seem to more or less what remain anything of value to strategy having long since been drafted. The ogre himself not terribly observant, can't help but notice the playful, mischievous and energetic figure joining the proximity of the table as he is past his last card, groaning as he sees it. A dud. And the nail in the coffin to ensure he like all but one of the players had lost. "Ah. Bugger." Although he doesn't seem annoyed.

Casting his cards and coins over to the box, trusting someone else would pack it away or shuffle up. Goodness knows no one at this table would contest him. Instead he addressed the lurking spring queen. "Huh. Well fancy running into someone I know." That was a long list so even if he was wrong blagging was an option. "Uh. You want in on a round? Or just wandering about seeing what's what?" A long leg pushs a chair out for the beast to take if she so wishes.

[Sonnie Wu]

Her eyes, now normal with white sclera and dark brown irises, looked over the game being played with zero recognition. Not a game she knew, but she could easily pick up on the hints that Kray was not winning. Well, the hints weren't that subtle, either.

"Hellooooo!" Hugging her comics to her chest, she stepped over towards the Ogre, though not too close. "Afraid I don't know this game. I'm just here to find some comics and maybe an autograph or two. I got Gail Simone to sign my X-Men!" She nodded proudly. "Are you just here for the tabletop sessions?"

No names thrown around. If the Autumn King used a mortal alias, she either didn't know it or didn't remember it.

[Kray]

While the game was getting set up again the giant focuses his attention on the vernal queen. "Ha. Not knowing hasn't stopped people beating me before." And that doesn't seem to up set him any. "Huh. Never managed to get into comics much myself." Kind odd that he's here then? No. The mischievous monkey had worked him out fast. "Uh. Yeah mostly. I play most Fridays at a store and they were talking about this so I came to find some new folks to play with. See if I can mange to actually win anything." Casting a heavy look at the boxes of games nearby. "Uh. So far that is not working out for me." He wasn't bad at games, just aggressively average and prone to miss important details during play. The sheer length of focus worked against him. "So. Why comics?" He'd place more weight on a fellow lost's views on the matter then most mortals. "Uh. And I take it this Gail is someone important?" It seemed important to her, so he indulged with the question, a chance to talk about it.

[Sonnie Wu]

Like a curious monkey, Sonnie was poking and prodding at the game pieces. There was a certain childlike wonder to her investigation. "I seeeeee. I just thought a con like this, the gamers would be all serious and not very forgiving of people who don't know the rules. But it's cool that you can suck and still play!"

Why comics? She looked down at the small stack held in her arm. "Dunno. I just enjoy them? They're fun stories, and great art!" Just another form of distraction for the Spring Queen, perhaps. "Oh, yeah, she's a really great writer. Excellent dialogue!"

[Kray]

Seven wonders is a wonderfully simply game to learn and by virtue doesn't have a ton of pieces mostly the coins that represent points, the cards and the civilisation boards along with a select few others. But to those of curious mind and lack of knowledge of the game plenty their to fascinate. As for the ogre he squints bulbous yellow eyes at the Monkey queen, had she just said he sucked at games? He didn't care much for the winning but he would not say he sucked. "Uh. Well if you fancy trying to even the score card after our last game by all means grab a seat." A gentle jab of his own to remind her that he was one up on that front.

He had heard comics called modern stories before, mostly by the people in the shop. "Ah. You see I struggle with that. They aren't like the stories I heard growing up, the lessons, when there is one is you know, good guys always win, justice prevails and all that. Which is not true." No those older stories taught real lessons, lessons that kept you safe ... as long as you remembered them. "Uh. Is that so? I always thought comic dialogue was things like Boom, and Crash and the like." Fortunately he spares those around a longer list of onomatopoeia.

[Sonnie Wu]

Impulsively, Sonnie plopped into a seat at the table. "Oh, right. We played checkers, didn't we? That was fun!" Her swiss cheese memory had retained something about that encounter. If losing bothered her, it didn't seem to show.

The Beast's small stack of comics was set down on the table next to her. "True? No, but they should be true. We should all aspire to be good guys and uphold justice. Bring hope to the world." She patted the comics affectionately. "Those kind of noises are just sound effects, and sometimes get used to parody comics. The dialogue can get very deep, actually. Depends on the story, though. And the writer."

She blinked in surprise, then, and looked curiously at Kray. These weren't the kind of stories he grew up with? "What century did you grow up in?" It took a moment for her to remember a Lost who had skipped a huge amount of time thanks to Arcadia. She missed Titania. "Nevermind, I can guess."

[Kray]

Nodding, that was the one. He also recalled it, and positively to boot. "Ha. Yeah we did, a close game if I remember right." It had been as much luck as judgement he had seen the path to winning at the very end of the game. "Uh. For this game you pick a civilisation board. Then get some cards, choose one to keep and pass the rest on to the next player." That was the crux of the gameplay loop.

Bulbous yellow eyes linger on the comics, not with any extra malicious intent more a mild curiosity. "Bah. Now that's a fools game if there ever was one. What did being a good person ever get anyone?" As a cannibal such questions of morality were rather hard to judge. "Ah. And justice? It changes on who you ask, where you are. It is not real." If justice did exist then why had they been taken? What cosmic force held the gentry to account? held even the ogre himself to account. "Hm. No the world is brutal and dangerous and most of the time terrible things happen with no warning or consequences for those that do them." A harsh truth but something the ogre seems to resonate with. "Ah. And painting things up as a colourful power of friendship driven fever dream only puts more people in danger." It stopped them fearing in a healthy way.

Now as for the writing he is ready to conceded on that, not having read many if any himself. "Hm. I can see that. How it would be different with whoever writes it." And some surely had to be better then others. "Uh. Wants an example of deep comic book writing then?" That he was willing to indulge, or give the writing a chance displays a willingness to proven wrong given how dismissive he is of the medium as a whole.

His great grey head turns, a look of unsure incredulity smattered across his face. "Uh. Twentieth, same as a lot of people." Nothing inherently unusual about that more people alive today were raised in the prior century ten the current one. "Ah. But my family was dirt poor so luxuries like comic books were not a thing." Shame maybe he would have turned out differently if it was otherwise. "Hm. So I was raised on the classis you know, Robin hood, goldilocks, the stuff like that for bed time stories." Why pay for the fancy new stories when the old ones could be told for free.

[Sonnie Wu]

Sonnie blinked her eyes, trying to follow Kray's description of how the game worked. "Civilization board... um, okay. Are they, like, different countries? Is there a China? Oh, is this like Risk?!" Even her board game references were dated. A Gen Xer in a Millennial's young body, she was.

The Ogre's attitude on things like justice she found... disappointing. It didn't get her down, however. The Beast was a wellspring of good vibes. She had to be, for the was the Queen of Spring. The Queen of Renewel. The Queen of Passion. How could she not be optimistic and future-facing? Her Mantle wasn't that strong for no reason. "Okay, Oscar the Grouch. Somebody needs an ice cream cone." She smiled. "That somebody is probably me, but for now let's play this funny game!" She was already fussing around with the cards. "Oh, pretty!"

As for suggestions of comic books with deep stories? "Hmmmm... well, lotta people will point at Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns, but I would say Born Again, which is the greatest Daredevil story of all time. Oh, and Kraven's Last Hunt, for Spider-Man!" She nodded nodded nodded, mind spinning with superhero stories. "All-Star Superman is wonderful!"

"Oh, I see! Sorry about that! For a second I was reminded of a friend of mine. She was... unique." Sonnie remembered she was suppose to be choosing a board or something and set the cards aside.