I stepped into the shop, bag in hand, hoping that this one would be the one. It was the third gaming store I'd been to that day, and I was running out of options for ones with reasonable vibes. "Bob's House of Games", read the legend on the front door, and as I came in I was greeted with a smaller setup than I'd been expecting. A few rows of tables, a half-dozen lazy Saturday gamers, what sounded like a lively game going on in the back room, and a modest selection of paints, miniatures, and dice.
"Hey there, how can I help you, ma'am?"
Well, gendered correctly right off the bat was a good start. Maybe the she/her pin on my crop top wasn't completely useless. I'd even coordinated my whole outfit today to match the flag, too, white capris, pink shirt, blue converse. Not that I had expected anybody to notice in the sludge that had been the other stores.
"Just browsing. I just moved here, and I'm trying to find a place to feed my addiction," I joked. "You must be Bob?" Bob was a tall man in his late... 40's, maybe? He was going slightly bald, had dark hair, and an actual handlebar mustache. He looked like he was supposed to be a wild west sheriff and not a game store owner.
"I reckon I must be. And who might you be?"
The country western accent was throwing me. I kept expecting a slur. Maybe that was on me? "Name's Tessa. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Tessa. What army do ya play?"
"Oh, I'm a big Yellow Devils fan."
"Oh, really? How'd you like the latest updates to the squad?"
We spent some time idly chatting, until the door chimed behind me and I had to do a double-take at the girl who'd just come in.
She wore an elaborate black-and-purple dress with lace and petticoats, a small black glass pendant, shiny black diamond earrings, black-and-purple striped socks, and a pair of delicate high heels. Her black hair was done up in an elaborate crown braid, and her face was fully made up with a very pretty shade of matching purple eyeshadow and lipstick. This was the outfit of a woman who had absolute certainty of who she was and what she was doing - but she clutched the shoulder strap of her purse as if it were her last lifeline to shore in a hurricane. Oops - their purse, I corrected myself, as I noticed their pronoun pin.
They were beautiful.
I must have been staring, because they began blushing as they walked by me and began to set up their army at one of the empty tables. I tore my eyes away and looked back at Bob, who was smiling. "Quite the outfit, huh? They're a regular, been coming here for most of a year now, Saturdays and tournament days. S'funny, though, I don't think I've ever seen them win a game-"
I cut him off, a little hurriedly. "Talk to you later, Bob, I'm gonna go say hi."
I quickly crossed to their table and sat down opposite them. "Hi! I'm Tessa, she/her. What's your name?"
Their blush deepened. In a quiet, husky voice, they said "I'm, uh, Belle. They/them." They twisted their purse strap in their hands.
I looked down at the army they were pulling out. "CybeRevenants, huh? I had a friend back home who played them. Is this your primary army?"
They'd gotten even quieter. I had to lean in closer to hear them. "It's, actually, it's, my only army..."
"I always thought they were neat. I don't mean to block the table if you were waiting for someone...?" I backed off a little bit, trying to give them some room. I was also desperately hoping that they were not, in fact, waiting for someone.
"Oh, no, I, just like to come here on, Saturday afternoons and play, with, whoever is around..." they spoke like they were worried their words were going to escape if they said too many at a time.
"Well, I'm new around here, and I was hoping to find someone to play with today. If you want to, we could play a round?" If they were a regular, then this place had to be a reasonable place to hang out. At a lot of other stores they would have been absolutely drowning in dirtbags trying to hit on them.
Not that I was doing that. Definitely not. Friendly game, idle chatter, that's all. They looked up at me and nodded. Damn, they were pretty.
It ended up being two games, back to back, both close, but I won both times. I felt a little bad about that after what Bob had said earlier, but it wasn't a total blowout for them, so that's something. My stomach grumbled. "Hey, are you hungry? There's a pizza place right next door, we could go share a pie if you wanted."
They shrank backwards from the idea. "Oh, uh, that's, nice of you, but, I, brought my own dinner... sorry..." They pulled out a small lunchbox and a thermos.
"Ah." I tried to hide my disappointment. "Well, okay, I'll be back soon. I'd love to play again if you haven't found another partner."
I wandered back through the store towards the entrance. Bob was still at the teller, but on my way out he caught my eye.
"So, you been talking with Belle, huh?"
"Yeah, it's been nice."
He leaned forward, palms on the glass countertop. "Now, listen, maybe I don't gotta tell you this, you look like the kind of person who already knows, but anybody I think might be coming back, I give them a talk. This is a harassment-free store, so we don't tolerate any kind of repeated trash-talking or flirting during games."
"Wh- I wasn't-!"
"Not saying you were, but I want you to know. 'Specially when it comes to Belle, they ain't great at saying no to folks. And a lack of a 'no' ain't the same thing as a 'yes'. I've had to throw a few folks out to make my point clear. I don't know what their story is, that ain't my business, but makin' sure this here store stays a place where anyone can come and play is." He pushed back off the counter. "And hell, after having to re-do all the plumbing to make the bathrooms work for everyone, I sure as hell ain't letting anybody chase them out."
I stared at him. "Bob," I said, slightly dazed, "I think I may have found my new favorite store."
