Page 44 of The Leaving Kind
“Sure. Fine. The balance will be ruined, but let’s try it.”
Nick was probably right. When it came to numbers and statistics, he was always right. But gaming with friends wasn’t always about who won. It was about what happened along the way. And Orcs & Swords was supposed to be a cooperative effort—until it wasn’t.
On his turn, Cam selected a specialty card and shuffled it into his hand, readying it for deployment after his smoke quest, assuming he had enough points. Nick did have something there. They’d all have to reconsider their strategy—whether to go big now or save it for later.
Sorting his cards into a vague plan, Cam asked after Gray and Aaron’s new collaborative project. Gray had suffered a (thankfully) mild heart attack last year and had ended up selling his café so he could bake full-time and design board games with his boyfriend.
It felt like a weird career choice. Cam couldn’t imagine being in such a conceptual field. He much preferred to work with his hands. But he did enjoy playtesting the games.
“Okay,” Aaron started, his pale, freckled skin already flushing with excitement. “Our new idea is kinda weird. We’re thinking subterranean spy thriller. We’ll build the board or play area similarly to the last game, with players picking up and setting down terrain tiles. But instead of vying for and using resources to build a society, they’ll be gathering clues, information, and influence. Something to do with politics in this, like, underground setting.”
“Weird,” Cam said.
Gray laughed. “Yeah, it is, but we’ve got a lot of cool story notes for it. I think we can make it work.”
“It sounds fascinating,” Nick said. “And using the tile system again gives you a brand.”
“Just what I was thinking,” Oliver put in. He turned to Aaron. “Are you going to illustrate the faction cards again?”
“Some? Maybe not all. I dunno. It took me years to do the last set. I’m not sure we want to sit on this for that long. We might see if we can outsource the bulk of the art.”
“What sort of terrain are you thinking?” Cam asked, thoughts zipping to the one and only artist he knew.
“Think Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Lost World,” Gray answered before taking his turn.
Play resumed for a round, with each of them revealing their strategy for the rest of the game. Predictably, Gray had put down his specialty card. Interestingly, so had Nick.
“I’d love to see what another artist might do with the concept,” Aaron said. “That’s also a part of why I don’t want to do all the art myself.”
“I might know someone.” Cam had, at this point, investigated Victor Ness using his brother’s favorite collaborator: Google.
Victor’s style of art hadn’t at all surprised him. His paintings were bright, colorful, and tantalizingly abstract. Mostly landscapes but from varying distances. The closer in he painted, the more detail he included, but not in a way that necessarily made sense. Cam had spent nearly ten minutes scrutinizing an enlarged corner of a small painting, trying to determine how Victor had known where to place each streak of color and every fine line.
Some of the larger paintings had the appearance of being behind water-beaded glass. Others had a verticality of movement Cam still hadn’t worked out. He also hadn’t decided whether he exactly liked the paintings. He thought he did.
“Who’s that?” Aaron asked.
Cam pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Victor Ness? He’s a, ah, landscaping client.”
“Landscaping?” Oliver asked at the same time as Nick said, “I know Victor.”
Cam blinked at his brother. “You do?”
“He teaches painting and drawing at the LGBTQ Center in Milford. Where I used to teach. His program is called Hearts & Crafts.”
Like on the T-shirt Victor had been wearing the day Cam had thought he was dead. “Yeah, that’s him.”
“Do you have his details?” Aaron asked.
Cam passed his phone over. “Here’s his stuff. Check it out and if you think he might work, I can ask him if he’s interested and then put you in touch?”
Aaron took the phone and showed it to Gray. The pair leaned together, their faces almost touching, and Cam hid his smile. He’d never have pictured Gray and Aaron as a couple. They were so different, and not only because of the color of their skin. Aaron was devoted to fitness and Gray hadn’t met a carb he didn’t love.
Aaron swiped the screen, and they murmured over several of the pieces before looking up with scarily similar smiles.
“Definitely ask him,” Aaron said. “His style is wild. Like, totally different to what I had in mind, but I’d love to chat with him about the project.”
“Sure.”