#ferocious maniacs in general tbh

[totallyuseless-ugh]

Quick Fics

How CJ and Darnell met

It has barely been a month since CJ had moved to Hennistal. Just recently had they graduated from college and got hired for a job in the new town as a pharmacy assistant. Together with their bandmates had CJ then traded in their previous cramped college dorms for a slightly less cramped apartment, this time with a fully functioning bathroom sink. Although this all was a new living situation for the 21-year-old was everything going surprisingly well. Their room had just enough space for them and Radoth, CJ’s much loved boa constrictor which they had gotten in their first semester from their first dormmate before he had decided to drop out.

Working at the pharmacy was also way more laid back than first expected. Manfred Zimmermann, the head pharmacist made sure to let CJ take their time with understanding the organizational system. In his eyes, it was better to have them fully understand everything after two months than to be rushed through the process in a week and forget half of it again by the end of it. The remaining staff was also very kind, or at least knew how to act like they were. That made it much easier for CJ to settle into their new life. Though, the only thing that had truly changed, was that instead of scheduled classes they’d have to attend, there would be a work schedule which assigned them to random shifts along with at least one other colleague.

Regardless, it was still fairly easy to get used to the new living situation and workplace. There weren’t many customers coming in during the early hours, which left a lot of time for CJ to get to know their coworkers, or handle the paperwork and stock logistics.

On a slow day like these, CJ was just learning from their coworker Mia about some great places in Hennistal. That was, until the phone started ringing. Reluctantly took CJ the phone and put on the best customer service voice they could at the moment, “Hennistal Pharmacy, you are speaking to CJ Ashton. How may I help you?”

From the other end of the line came an equally tired, feminine voice. “Yeah, hi.. this is Ebby from the retirement home. Uh.. so, apparently, some ‘M. Zimmermann’ didn’t like, give us the right amount of medication we need for this month, so we’re already starting to run low and need a restock ASAP."

The fact alone that their boss had messed up an important order like this made CJ crack up. But they had to keep quiet so that they could hear what exactly Ebby would need delivered. They hastily scribbled down all the dozens of pills, creams and other medications on the back of an old piece of paper before the call ended with Ebby adding, “Good, that better be here soon, ‘k? K, bye.”

Sure, CJ knew of the delivery service which the pharmacy offered, they had already tagged along on one of those drives before. But they hadn’t been to the retirement home on that particular day. CJ didn’t even know where it was supposed to be, considering that Hennistal wasn’t a small town. Of course, it was nothing compared to a proper city, but still enough to get lost in easily. And while Mia was kind enough to give CJ the directions, they were still left with just a bit of worry over possibly taking a wrong turn, ending up in a completely different part of town and being too embarrassed to ask anyone for help.

“You really can’t miss it, just head down the main street until you’re out of the housing area and just turn right twice. There’s more than enough signs telling you where to go anyway,” Mia tried to reassure CJ one final time as they both loaded the last boxes into the trunk of the car.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll try not to become illiterate when these signs pop up.” CJ grinned at their coworker before getting into the driver seat and heading off in the direction given. Never before had CJ been this focused while driving. All they thought about were the instructions on where to go, and Mia was right. There were an awful lot of signs pointing out where the retirement home was. It briefly made CJ wonder what the reason was for these many signs. Probably just too many past visitors complaining how they couldn’t find their way, in a time before GPS on phones had become a normal thing.

And yet, after successfully parking the car was CJ left clueless as to where to go. Not that it was hard to find the entrance, it was just as prominent as the building had been signed out itself. But should they really just head in through the main entrance? There surely had to be one just for deliveries, or at least that’s what CJ thought. After wandering aimlessly around the parking lot for a few minutes, CJ gave up and resigned to taking the only entrance they could find at that moment.

The automatic sliding doors opened as CJ walked in, and they were instantly met with many eyes staring at them. They should have seen this coming actually. For one, this was a retirement home, these seniors were probably expecting (or at least hoping) for their family to come and visit them. But even then, CJ was already standing out like a rainbow sheep in a petting zoo; the bright purple hair, several face and ear piercings, and a few of their many tattoos that still partially peeked out from under the long-sleeved uniform. The combination of uncomfortably long staring and not knowing where to go made them more and more nervous. After all, they couldn’t just throw the boxes with medication into the foyer room and leave. But CJ didn’t know what to do. Luckily, before they would give up and approach one of the seniors were two sets of footsteps approaching from one of the halls along with a gentle voice talking.

The first person that CJ’s eyes fell on was a caucasian woman with bleached blonde hair, probably in her late thirties. She was in the middle of talking when she had also caught sight of the stranger. Her eyes scanned CJ top to bottom, the uniform quickly reminding her of something.

“Ah, hey. I suppose you’re here for the medication delivery?” The woman’s voice was far kinder and less bored than the one CJ had heard over the phone, which calmed their nerves a little already. They nodded in response but didn’t get to say a word as she already turned away and patted on her colleague’s shoulder before walking down a different hallway, “alright, that’s gonna be your job then.”

It took both of them a few seconds to process the idea of being left all alone now before CJ finally met eyes with the other caretaker that had come to the entrance of the building. And the first sight alone already left them feeling astonished. A handsome Afro-American man, who seemed to be just as old as CJ themself, with a gorgeously curled black afro was standing in front of them. What stood out the most to CJ though were the bright cyan eyes that the stranger was looking at them with.

The two felt incredibly awkward, being left like this to figure out what to do next. They stood at the entrance for about a minute before the young caretaker spoke up a bit hesitantly, “I.. suppose I should show you where to bring that stuff..?” He didn’t seem very sure on what to do either, but it was still better than nothing. CJ only nodded in agreement and quietly followed him around. They both didn’t talk a lot, only making brief comments about how hard work was when starting a new job.

After all the boxes had been dropped off waved CJ goodbye to the kind person and headed back to the car. But they didn’t drive back right away. Despite this brief, and very awkward interaction, CJ already felt like they were head over heels for the guy they had just met. There was just something about him that made their heart jump, be it his looks or the lovely first impression that they got of him despite the lack of conversation. Either way, from that day on had the pharmacist assistant started to always look forward to delivery drives, hoping they would get to stop by the retirement home again.

Although the two didn’t get to see each other regularly, they still started getting comfortable around each other more and more over time. The conversations became less awkward, and the two young adults got to know their ‘new colleagues’ better. What both forgot every time though was to ask for their names. Neither of them even remembered to simply look for a name plates on the uniforms. So whenever CJ would gush over the ‘cute caretaker’ to their bandmates, they would always refer to him by just that nickname.

Their names weren’t the only thing that the two didn’t know about each other though. They were also completely unaware that both were regulars at the same music club in Hennistal, “The Rockin’ Punk”. While the young caretaker was mostly just a visitor to the place came CJ often as one of the performing acts with the rest of their band “Ferocious Maniacs”. And yet, despite how much they stood out on stage as the lead singer and guitarist, they hadn’t been recognized for the whole time by the other. CJ’s appearance was simply way too different outside of work; their hair was wild, fluffed up and rarely tied back, instead of glasses were they using contact lenses, the tattoos on their arms were on full display, and generally did their personal outfits show off their actual body shape instead of hiding it under a baggy and long, layered uniform.

The singer was also unaware of the other’s presence at the club. Even though they often stood at the very front of the stage did their eyes rarely focus on the crowd, and thus never had the chance of recognizing the bright blue eyes in the crowd. The lights probably played a role in this all too, as they made everyone in the room get to literally shine in different colors every few seconds, so that cyan shining eyes were less of a feature that would stand out in a mass of people.

This blindness to each other was the main reason why CJ hadn’t already gotten to know the man properly yet. It took over half a year and a very lucky coincidence for that to finally change.

*

Yet another long day was nearing its end for CJ. Their band had played the last set of songs for the night and were just done clearing the stage for the next performers to take over. In the backstage lounged Sydney and Egeith, the band’s keyboardist and drummer, unwinding after packing up their equipment and instruments. As great as the atmosphere always was after a good show, this night CJ wouldn’t be able to stay for too long. The next day, they would have a morning shift with delivery drive, so they’d need to be up on time and well rested. The bassist Rika had just packed away her instrument as she turned to CJ with a sly grin already spread across her lips. “Yo Jay, you know-,” she began, but was promptly cut off by the singer, rolling their eyes. “Yeah I know, my turn to pay for the drinks. No need to remind me of the bet.” They groaned slightly after securing their guitar in its case. CJ couldn’t leave without somewhat getting back at their friend for the teasing though, flicking her forehead on their way out of the backstage area.

By the time that they had gotten to the bar was the new band on stage already done with sound checks and playing their first songs. It was a real shame for CJ that they’d be leaving again soon since they really liked the other band’s music. This wouldn’t be the group's last performance at this club though for sure, they thought and tried to quickly order the drinks for their friends.

While CJ had to wait to even get a chance at talking to the bartender, they sat down on one of the empty stools and let their eyes wander around the place. To their left sat a girl group of goths that were making one of their friends drink her first alcoholic drink in one go, and the rest of the bar was a mix of new and familiar faces alike, most dressed in some sort of scene fashion. Then, a sudden loud laughter to CJ’s right side caught their attention.

Three guys were sitting together and downing one shot after another. While two of them seemed to be tipsy at most was the guy directly next to CJ fully drunk already.

Before the singer had a chance to try and recognize the person was it already their turn to order for drinks. From there on, it didn’t take much longer until CJ was back with their friends to drink together. But despite the good mood, they couldn’t help but feel like they shouldn’t stay around here much longer and leave soon. And since they almost entirely trusted their gut feeling got CJ up again after just a few minutes. “I, uhm.. I’m gonna head home already. Y’know, wanna get enough sleep ‘n all,” they muttered as a sort of apology to the rest of their band before heading back to the bar. They didn't worry about their guitar, knowing it would be safe with their friends. CJ just wanted to return their glass and then be on their way, but they didn’t get that far this time.

Most of the people from earlier had stayed at the bar, including the goths that CJ had seen there earlier. But from the other friend group they had noticed was only one guy left, the absolutely drunk one who now laid with his upper body sprawled out across the bar. Just as the man had glanced over at CJ hit them some sort of realization. For an odd reason, this was why they wanted to leave early. There was something about the guy that made CJ want to stay near the bar just a little longer. “Hey.. you alright there?” they asked with the gentlest voice they could while loud music was playing around them.

The man lifted his head, looking back somewhat properly at CJ with barely open eyes and a drunken smile. “Yup! Havin’ a great time,” he told the other as he slurred his words. As happy as he seemed to behave, CJ didn’t like the fact he was sitting here all by himself when he was this drunk. They slung an arm around him to have a good grasp in case he would topple over when they lifted him off the barstool. “You’re going home. It’s time to sober up, man.”

The man laughed drunkenly. He tried his best to walk for himself, but the crowded place didn’t make it easy. At least CJ managed to get them both outside again quickly. “Alright, where do I have to drop you off?” They asked with a little chuckle. It was honestly a relief to be out of the noisy area, the sounds were starting to make their skin feel crawly. All CJ got in response though was more laughter as he tried to point in a direction. Well, it was better than nothing.

Together, the two walked in the direction given. The streets were lit just enough to navigate through town with the stranger. His laughter had died down over time, though he still remained far from being sober. “Heyyy.. what’cha name?..” the guy tried to ask with slurred speech. CJ shook their head with a small grin. “Doesn’t matter. I’m just bringing you home, no need to make new friends.”

“Aww c’mon! I wanna know who you are!..” he insisted in a whiny one. CJ shook their head again, tightening their grip on the shirt they held up the other man with in case he’d trip over his own feet. “Alright, I’ll go first then. ‘m Darnell! Now’s your turn.” Darnell poked at CJ repeatedly. It could’ve been annoying, but their silliness somehow got to them. “CJ.”

Darnell’s eyes grew wide. “Daaamn.. tha’ your whole name? Like that’it??”

“Yep. Not a nickname, no abbreviation or anything like that. Just CJ,” they explained to him in a soft voice. Darnell was silent for a moment, his face all scrunched up as if he were thinking about something very hard. “That must suck..” he muttered eventually. CJ gave him a curious look, upon which he elaborated, “Just bein’ called CJ? No last name or som’? That gotta be shit..” CJ had to focus very hard and bite their lip as to not burst out laughing over this hilarious statement.

The two continued their walk until they eventually stopped by an apartment complex not all too far from CJ’s own home. They stayed by the drunk man’s side until he was safely dropped off in his bed to rest. CJ had never done something like this before for a stranger, and only a handful of times for any of their friends. But the two would never see each other again, so that guy sure wouldn’t remember any of this and just be glad to have gotten home safely. That was all CJ cared about in that moment.

They made sure that Darnell had everything he’d need for a good recovery from the very likely hangover that would get to him in the morning. CJ was about to leave after bringing a bottle of water for Darnell, seeing him lay seemingly knocked on in the sheets. But before they could sneak out through the front door sounded quiet groaning form the bedroom, “Thanks CJ..” They left with a smile on their face, heading home themself to finally get their well deserved rest as well.

*

Manfred put a clip board on the counter just as he came out from the back and passed CJ. “The boxes are near the backdoor, you just gotta get them in the car,” he told them. They briefly glanced on the board to see how long the list for the deliveries would be this time around. Many different medications were listed in large amounts, all for the same address. Today’s drive was entirely for the retirement home. CJ excitedly waved to their boss as they jogged off to load up the car with the boxes and then made their way over to the given address.

Since this had become a regular drop off left CJ their glasses in the car and walked up to the entrance of the building. A few of the seniors had already begun to recognize them, some giving them a soft smile and greeting them happily, while others weren’t exactly a fan of CJ simply for their looks, especially the ‘weird body artwork’ that remained visible much to the senior’s annoyance.

But before CJ would be subjected to someone’s comments on their appearance came a certain caretaker into the entrance hall. Looking not really motivated, if not even tired or sick, CJ’s ‘favorite colleague’ showed up, leaning slightly against the wall. Both looked at each other, and it seemed to take a moment before they realized something.

Dark curly hair, slouched posture, barely open eyes. It reminded CJ of the guy they had walked home last night. Although they hadn’t been able to exactly notice bright blue eyes in the dark lighting back then, they could recognize the exhausted look Darnell had before they went separate ways. Darnell’s eyes shot all around CJ, matching them to the guy he had met at the bar, while CJ did the same until their eyes landed on the name plate. ‘Darnell J. Hodge’ was written on it, confirming that this really was the same person.

An awkward silence lingered between them briefly before it quickly turned into chuckles. “You’re- how couldn’t I recognize you this whole time?” Darnell shook his head, covering his face with his hand out of embarrassment. “God, I was so blind!”

“Just ask me! I feel insanely stupid that I couldn’t recognize that hair of yours,” CJ admitted, but Darnell dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Oh shut it, afros aren’t that rare.”

The two spent the entire time transporting boxes with laughter over the embarrassing moment. But they both felt incredibly glad that they actually got to know each other after all, despite how silly it was. The car was emptied far too quick. CJ closed the trunk and leaned against it while Darnell stood close by as if he had nothing else left to do now. “I’d ask if we’ll see each other again, but I know we will eventually, so..” he chuckled, kicking the ground as he lowered his head a little. He only looked up again when CJ walked over to the driver’s side of the car without a word.

He thought at first that they would just leave. Instead, they took a scrap piece of paper from the dashboard and the pen from their shirt pocket to scribble something down, folding it up and handing it over to Darnell. “I gotta head back soon. But if you’re not too hungover, we could meet up after work and get to know each other properly this time?”

Darnell opened the paper, seeing the phone number written so messily that it was would take a bit of time for him to decipher the digits. He smiled at CJ regardless and nodded. “Sure. Let’s say my place, since you already know the directions for it.”

#CJ #Darnell #quick fics #Rika #Egeith #Sydney #Sunghee #ferocious maniacs in general tbh

[totallyuseless-ugh]

It’s not hard to understand Dungeons (and Dragons)

Darnell never understood the hype around roleplaying games, even less so the tabletop kind. Growing up, nobody he knew around school played anything like it. Him and Pico briefly dabbled in Magic the Gathering at most. But other than that, neither Darnell, nor his friends had anything to do with these games. Most of his time was invested in studying for school, especially chemistry, and starting in high school, he also got into freestyle rapping.

He never knew there were any dice other than the classic six-sided ones, which resistance a copper Dragonborn had, or how often a level five cleric could cast cure wounds, let alone what any of this meant.

That was, until CJ came into his life.

When the two first got to know each other properly by name, they had agreed to meet up the very same day after work. Darnell was still a little hungover, but it wasn’t as bad anymore by the end of his shift as it was in the early morning.

CJ was nice enough to pick him up and drive to his apartment where they spent the whole day. Both shared their hobbies, and they talked for hours despite having vastly different interests. What did however get Darnell confused was the mention of Dungeons and Dragons coming from CJ. He just gave them a confused look and they immediately began a huge ramble about the game, though it didn’t help him understand anything even in the slightest.

“How about this,” CJ eventually gave up explaining the game system. “I got a session scheduled soon with my friends. You could tag along, watch us play and see for yourself if it’s your kinda thing.”

It took them another minute to first explain what exactly a session meant in the context of the game, but Darnell eventually agreed. He would witness his first session of DnD.

The coming weekend, Darnell came along with CJ to the apartment of one of their band mates. Sunghee’s dining table was set up to have a lot of room, which was mostly occupied with bowls of various snacks for the time being. Sydney was already sitting at the table, chatting with Sunghee. She took the chair at the end of the table, half hidden behind a wide cardboard screen with a laptop, several books and a lot more things Darnell, or anyone else could not see from their perspective.

CJ themself sat down and took a collection of things out from their bag. A notepad full with scribbled words and messy sketches, a collection of weirdly organised paper full of tables with numbers, which Darnell later learned was a character sheet, and the probably most interesting item of them all, a dice bag.

Shortly after Rika also joined the table began the game. Sunghee told her friends what scenarios they found themselves in, then they’d tell her what their characters did, and occasionally, they’d have to roll a die to determine if they’d succeeded.

It certainly looked interesting, but just from watching, Darnell couldn’t really figure out a lot. At least Sunghee was kind enough to show pictures of the creatures she talked about so he’d have somewhat of an idea what situation the group was in at that moment.

Listening in on the session sure was fun, so Darnell joined in whenever he had time since then. He only watched though, never feeling the need for playing himself. However, he did eventually create a character of his own.

Around the holidays, CJ’s sister Marie was planning a oneshot and wanted as many players for it as possible. After a bit of convincing, Darnell gave in and met up with CJ to make his first ever character. He decided on a Half-Orc Ranger, simply because it sounded like fun. Since Darnell didn’t fully grasp the game rules yet, they went over the basics together.

While CJ explained what rolling for a skill meant though dropped Darnell the 20-sided die by accident. It took them both almost half an hour to find it again. He apologised for the chaos over and over, mostly because he noticed CJ’s twitching eye whenever he held the die in his hand since, despite how often they said it was alright.

When the oneshot came around, he was given a dice set of his own. CJ said it was an early Christmas present, as a welcoming gift to the game. Though Darnell figured it was more so that he would never have to touch their dice ever again.

But despite the introduction to Dungeons and Dragons, Darnell never got as much into it as his partner did. He certainly understood the basics when CJ spoke about the sessions they were a player in, but he lost track as soon as they began a campaign of their own.

Any mention of world building, lore and game rules became like a static noise to Darnell whenever they’d go on a tangent about their latest plans. He’d try his best to listen, but CJ could tell that he didn’t understand a single word. And yet, Darnell insisted on them telling him about it, simply because he liked to see them talk about the things they enjoyed. Something about it made him happy himself.

The campaign progressed, occasionally taking place at the shared apartment as well. But only when Darnell didn’t have a late shift so the group wouldn’t accidentally wake him up once he went to bed. He’d often sit down with CJ to watch and see what it was like behind the Dungeon Master screen.

The amount of notes and information they had to keep track of was insane. But Darnell wasn’t really sure if that was normal, or just his partner being obsessed with details and organisation.

It still bothered him though that he didn’t understand as much of the material. He didn’t just want to sit around and nod along to whatever campaign plans CJ would talk about. So one day, Darnell decided it was time to change that.

After another session was over, Darnell helped cleaning the table with Sunghee while CJ, Sydney and Rika were putting away all the snacks and preparing a proper dinner in the kitchen before everybody would head home.

“Hey, Sunghee?” He asked hesitantly, keeping his voice low so that CJ wouldn’t accidentally hear him. “Can you help me with something?”

“Sure thing, what is it?” She walked over, at first thinking he needed help with what they were doing.

“Can you.. teach me to understand DnD?”

Sunghee looked at him for a moment. Before she could say anything though, Darnell continued, feeling the need to explain his request. “I just want to understand what CJ is talking about all the time, that’s it.”

She began to grin at his words. “You don’t need my help for that,” she told him with a quiet giggle. “They got all of the books. You can just read those.”

Right, the books. CJ always had a stack of big, colourful books on the table when they were having a session. They’d occasionally use it to check the rules for something their players were planning or see the stats of certain creatures.

Since that day, Darnell spent nearly all his free time reading. Whenever he was home alone and had nothing planned, he’d always sneak one of the rule books from CJ’s shelf and read it thoroughly. When going out, he’d often listen to a podcast of other campaigns. All the time he didn’t spend with CJ, Darnell was diving into the lore and workings of the game system.

He didn’t tell them anything about it. For one, because Darnell was afraid of saying something wrong, but mostly because he wanted to keep it a surprise. So when he began to understand what CJ was telling him, he was pretending to be clueless as before.

Even a while after he had finished reading all the books, Darnell didn’t say anything. He never mentioned anything to Sunghee, didn’t jump in with his knowledge when CJ had to check the spell list in their Player’s Handbook, kept quiet in every session about anything that wasn’t basic player knowledge.

Darnell was waiting for the right moment, the perfect opportunity. And it took a while to present itself.

*

The couple had a day off together. But instead of getting to enjoy it in any romantic way, they had to tend to their usual adult responsibilities. At least they could go grocery shopping together, that made the task just a bit less mundane.

Back home, they were putting away the groceries as CJ began to talk about their latest campaign ideas. “I was thinking of swapping out the silver dragon from the original book story with a white dragon. I just think it would fit more into the setting of the icy mountain peak, y’know?”

“And they’re supposed to get information from that dragon, right?”

“Exactly. I feel like an ancient white dragon is more likely to have knowledge about an artefact called the “never-ending snowflake” than a silver dragon.”

“That wouldn’t work with the lore, though.” Darnell said it in his most casual voice as he put the milk cartons in the fridge. CJ just stared at him in disbelief. “I’m sorry, what?”

“First off, white dragons have their lairs in cold mountain *caves*. But more importantly, they’re too dumb and animalistic to speak with your players. Especially since they can’t speak common.”

Keeping their surprised expression, CJ stood in the kitchen unmoving. They needed a second to process what their boyfriend had just dropped on them before they’d get their phone to check this information.

“Fuck, you’re right.. wait wait- why do you know all of that?”

Darnell just shrugged, “Read the books, did some research.” He closed the fridge door and before he knew it, CJ had him pinned against the counter, kissing him all over. He surely got the surprise as wanted, but this reaction was certainly unexpected, not unpleasant though.

It certainly paid out that he enjoyed doing deep dives into any interesting type of topic.

#cj #darnell #short story #sorta beta-ed #I’m sorry #thanks to steddie Twitter for giving me this idea lol #Sunghee #ferocious maniacs in general tbh #just no Egeith #sorry dojo