Despite his growing fear of being out of the house, he’d eaten at most of the restaurants nearby. He’d been to every cute little boutique in town. He’d walked the river. He’d made a study of the local history. He’d driven over to Vidalia in Louisiana and seen that there was nothing much to do there as well. He'd spent time at a couple of sites on the Natchez Trace. He’d tried getting out into the social scene but there was this whole weird hierarchy he couldn’t begin to understand. Families and cliques and garden clubs. The most exciting thing that had happened was that giant kudzu monster showing up and some knight or other fighting it. Everyone had assured him that sort of thing didn’t happen normally. Dan was starting to wish it did.
He had made precious few friends so far. There was a guy, Rob, at the office that was a gaming buddy and the closest thing he had to a best friend. He was friendly with his co-workers. He’d just not been up for their brand of socializing. Live music wasn’t his thing these days. His tastes in music were broad and he’d gone to a couple of punk shows in Hattiesburg, but he’d seen an elf there and it left him so shaken he’d left early.
He’d finally let his lingering fear from his old life decide him. Going out and doing something was a risk. SHE might be there. The fear was something he’d been trying to fight. He didn’t care that his old life was almost three hundred and thirty miles away. In the end, the fear had won out and he’d spent the last few weeks either at work or home. It was killing him. This was not the life he was built for.
That’s how he found himself sitting on his couch in his lovely apartment, staring at a TV with nothing on it when his phone rang. He looked. Rob. Thank Christ. Maybe he was getting on WoW or something. He answered.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Please tell me you’re not in the middle of something.” Rob said. He sounded excited. Dan suddenly felt a feeble hope rising that it was game time.
“I want you to consider who the fuck you just called.” Dan said.
“Fantastic. We’re going out. You, me, three or four folks from work. That poor girl you won’t look twice at.”
Dan’s hopes sank as quickly as they’d risen.
“Dude. You know me. I don’t have a thing in common with the poor woman. I have no intentions of getting her hopes up. She keeps talking about Morgan Wallen. I don’t even know what a Morgan Wallen is.”
“Stop it. We’re going out. I don’t care if you talk to her or not. It’s Saturday night and you never hang out. That new place down by the river is having its grand opening tonight.” Rob said. He sounded like he wasn’t taking no for an answer this time.
“Who else is coming?” Dan asked.
“Shelly, and that should be enough to get you out.”
Shelly was his only other real friend. Dan thought about that. He had only two friends in the world right now. He couldn’t keep living like this. He DID need to make the effort, and GOD did he miss people.
“Is this the place Larry Short runs?” The man was an amazing cook. Everyone had been shocked when he left his job and started this restaurant.
“Yeah, the one with all the goblins that used to work in the tavern.”
“You guys keep going on about that place. You make me feel like I missed something.” Dan said.
“And that’s why you’re going out. Same vibe. Same cooking. No old drunk white woman on karaoke at 9. Well, unless Danielle actually shows up.”
Dan smiled. What the hell, right?
“All right. Fine. Ya got me. I’ll get ready. What time should I meet you?”
“We’ll be outside your place in an hour. Business casual would probably be a safe bet. Gonna be a lot of folks down there. You know how it is when a place just opens around here.”
“Fine. I’ll see you then. Thanks, Rob. I, uh, I know I’m not the easiest to deal with.”
“Not the hardest either, buddy. I’ll see ya soon!” Rob said and hung up.
Dan put his phone back in his pocket. He knew he was going stir-crazy. He decided to throw caution to the wind and go ahead and try to have a good time. What was the worst that could happen?
Dan checked himself in the mirror. He felt that everything about him screamed “average”. His hair color had been described once as “normal”. It was actually a light brown. His face was “serviceable” according to his sisters. His build was unremarkable. His clothes hid the worst things about it. Dressed in a polo and khakis he thought he would be the perfect spy. No one would notice him in a crowd. If there was a mold for “average, boring guy” in the spirit world, then they had used Dan to cast it. He felt he was a study in bland perfection.
He grabbed his phone, his keys, and a roll of breath mints to be on the safe side and sat down to wait. He was hungry and had to keep slapping a banana out of his own hand, reminding himself he was about to go eat. At a goblin restaurant.
Goblins.
He’d seen some goblins a few times back home. They’d caught a possum in his back yard under his window as a kid. He felt a thousand yard stare come upon him and reconsidered eating the banana again. What the hell did goblins cook, anyway?
His phone buzzed. Rob. They were down in the street waiting. He hopped up, and left the apartment locking the door behind him.
Down in the street, Dan was greeted by Rob. Rob was a couple of years older than him and African American. He’d been working at the magazine for a few years now and had taken Dan under his wing. He had rapidly become Dan’s lifeline as he tried to fight off his growing hermit nature. He was a gamer in every sense of the word. Mobile, Xbox, Mazes and Monsters, board games. Whatever it was, Rob was into it. There was a running joke that if you gave him the Lament Configuration, he’d happily solve it, summon Pinhead, and challenge him to a game of Trivial Pursuit. Rob was in editorial.
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With him was Henry. Henry was in his late fifties, chubby, and looked like the aged uncle from a sitcom that had learned a valuable lesson about respecting other races and cultures. It didn’t help that it had actually happened, and with Rob. Great guy though. He and Rob had become close since then and constantly had each other’s back in social situations. Henry had a husband at home and as accepting as Natchez could be, it was still the Deep South.
Standing a little behind them was Danielle. Danielle was of an age with Henry and continued to dye her short hair a dark, unnatural red. It seemed they weren’t safe from karaoke after all. She was super friendly with everyone she met, but you give her two margaritas and a microphone and you were pretty much doomed. He’d heard she kept a tarot deck in her desk along with several crystals. She had opinions on angel numbers. Really nice though.
There was Shelly as well. Dan’s only other friend. Shelly and Danielle were both writers for the magazine and of similar ages. Where Danielle was thick, Shelly was thin with extremely long, dark hair. She could also tear you down with just a few words. Absolutely perfect company in a crowded restaurant. She went straight into roast mode in a crowd. She was an absolute hoot. She’d ripped into him on his first day and when he’d simply replied with “BITCH!” she’d nearly died laughing. She’d treated him as an equal and a friend ever since.
Then there was Candy.
Candy was closer in age to Dan and did pretty much anything around the office that needed doing. Dan had no idea what her official title was. She was, as near as Dan could tell, a complete and total disaster of a human being. She could complicate a nap. Her anxiety had anxiety about her depression. She had become smitten with Dan, which meant he was polite but distant to her. Everyone at work had at some point made her a project and she’d rejected every form of, and offer of, help. He felt bad for her, but the last he’d talked to her, her social beliefs had come out and it was so close to his mother's that he kept their interactions to polite nods. It brought up his past.
“All right,” Dan said holding his arms out, “you got me out of the house in the summer heat. I still don’t see how you people live in this town at this time of year.”
“You’re from Memphis. I don’t see how you can not be used to it here.” Henry said.
“Yeah,” Dan said, “Memphis. We get cold weather sometimes. Snow. I know that’s mythical here but it DOES exist.”
“Well can we get going before we all sweat to death out here?” Rob said.
“Yes, please.” Shelly said, sticking her vape back in her purse. “I don’t need young Daniel’s social anxiety to give me heat stroke.”
Dan smirked.
“First off, I don’t have social anxiety. Your town is boring to someone of my cultural refinement. Second, Dan isn’t short for Daniel. I’ve told you that, you sniping shrew.” She gave him a grin.
They began the walk down to Natchez-Under-The-Hill. Dan smiled as they went. Every now and again, someone would throw a guess out about what “Dan” happened to be short for. Danforth, Dante, Danston, none of them came close. Danielle threw “Danibals” out there and that got everyone laughing. Even Candy. God, he’d missed this.
As smaller conversations sprung up during the walk, Dan sped up to match speed with Rob.
“Hey. Can you do me a favor, man?” He asked Rob.
“Maybe. How much am I going to regret it?”
“You probably won’t.” Dan said. “Just, drag me out more. Like, this sort of thing? This I can do. I can get behind this. If it’s this group, you might even convince me to listen to the blues or something.”
He looked at Candy. Henry was trying to engage her in conversation and she kept glancing at Dan. Dan continued quietly.
“Most of this group.”
Rob noticed and raised an eyebrow.
“Is she that bad?” He whispered.
“I’ll say this. I’m surprised she came out with you in the party.”
Rob’s eyebrows lowered.
“Ten-four. I’ll bear that in mind. She keeps it quiet around me at least. She told you?” Rob asked.
“Sort of. She was over in ads and started rambling about “social issues” and shit and it sounded like Old Natchez if you catch my meaning. Like, Tableaux stuff. Don’t be surprised if it comes up tonight. I don't hate her, I just don't want to be around her.”
He glanced back at her again, then back to Rob.
“I honestly don’t know how that stuff still goes on. I thought everyone had started hating goblins or dwarves or something.”
Rob gave him a disbelieving look.
“You think there aren’t still people that will check the “All of the Above” box on the hate form?” Rob said, still keeping his voice low. “Thanks for the heads up though. You’re a good friend, man. When I can get you out, anyway. Expect your rogue to go up a level next session on Roll20.”
“Ooooow. It’s bribery now? I’m keeping that in mind when the drinks menu rolls around tonight.”
“Whatever, man. You’re still not getting those spells. You will NOT be playing a “kleptomancer”. Where the hell did you even get that idea, anyway?”
“I’ll tell ya later.” Dan said, smiling. It wasn’t a pleasant memory, but at least he could get some use out of it.
As the party came around the corner, the restaurant was already packed. It was a large, wooden building that Larry and his partner, Runt, had converted to look like a tavern. If that wasn’t a middle finger to the old bat that had mistreated Runt’s folks then Dan didn’t know what was. There was a festive neon sign that said “Runt’s” and had a drawing of the titular monarch of goblins picked out, also in neon. Apparently Larry’s daughter had designed it and it really worked. Even with the tavern theme.
Rob had gone in and gotten a coaster that would flash and let them know they had a table. While they waited, Dan watched the sun set over the Mississippi River. He’d grown up near this river in Memphis. By the time it reached Natchez, though, it had taken on a whole other life. The Mississippi wore whatever mask the towns along it needed it to. Natchez needed nothing more than a companion and the river was happy to oblige. The two were old friends.
Candy sat next to Dan and tried to get him talking. He kept his responses simple and never stopped watching the sky as the stars came out. She’d said something he’d mostly missed that pulled him out of his simple happiness though.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” He asked her.
“Oh.” Candy said, her hand nervously playing with her mousy brown hair. “I was just asking why you hung out with Rob so much. He’s, uh, different than you. You know?”
Dan looked at her with something approaching frustration on his face.
“He’s almost exactly the same as me. And I hang out with him because while most people at work, or in all these little social groups, were trying to size me up before approaching me, Rob just approached me. He didn’t give a shit. I needed a friend and he wanted to be that friend.”
And fuck you, he didn’t add.
“Oh, sure. I mean, he’s a nice guy and all. . .”
Dan stared at her so long without blinking that she seemed to decide that shutting up was a fantastic idea. Dan continued to stare until she became uncomfortable.
“DANWELL!”
He turned to stare at Henry, who had a finger raised and a smug look on his face like he’d solved the world’s greatest mystery. Dan grinned, happy for the distraction.
“That’s not even a name, dude!” he said laughing.
“Well, how many Dan names are there? I swear, I think we ran out on the way here!” Henry said, lowering his finger in defeat.
“You may as well give up.” Shelly said, giving Dan a flat stare. “Our little artist isn’t going to tell us any time soon. It’s probably just “Dan”, anyway.”
Dan gave her a secretive smile.
“Oh, there’s a name there. Payroll knows.” Dan said with a twinkle in his eye.
Danielle’s posture straightened and she smiled. She had several friends in payroll.
“And before you go thinking you can weasel it out of them,” he said, interrupting her joy, “I have been bribing them with cake. If they tell anyone my name, they’re cut off.”
“You devious bastard.” Danielle said with a grin. “You cut me off at the knees before I even had a chance!”
Dan smiled. Why had he been avoiding these people?
“Wait! That’s it!” Rob shouted. “It’s Danielle! Your real name is Danielle! THAT’S why you go by Dan!”
Everyone laughed. Even Dan.
“That’s ok.” Henry said. “We can call you Danielle 2: The Sequel.”
“Yep. That’s it exactly.” Dan said with a grin.
Forty minutes later, the coaster buzzed and they were all having such a good time, they almost missed it. Except for Candy.