Sweet Potato Casserole

Ethan, Penny, and Alice were the last to arrive at their post raid debrief. Walking in, they saw Mei and Grace already in their seats with Strategist Lee already going over the raid with them.

“Nice of you to join us.” Lee addressed them, giving the group a flat stare.

The three of them sat down, feeling chastised at Lee’s sarcastic welcome.

Lee continued, clearing his throat. “As I was saying, had you taken the time to scout the encampment you would have had a chance to see the opening in the hut. Next time, I expect you to make the time to reconnoiter properly. Is that understood, Mr. Anderson?” “Lee directed the question to Ethan.

“Yes sir. I understand,” Ethan affirmed. “While I was able to respond to the goblin coming through the opening, I should have been better aware of the possibility. That we responded to the threat doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a mistake.”

Lee nodded at the satisfactory response, moving on to the next point. “You indicated in your after action reports that on two different occasions your ambushes draw in attention from other nearby enemies. Explain.”

“My shadow Minion’s intelligence was a hindrance, here,” Penny spoke up first. “We had to weigh the options between having Alice or my minion drawing the goblins into an ambush and we judged that it was best to choose less advantageous ambush sites in order to allow my minion to be the bait.”

“Break down your reasoning.” Lee instructed next.

“Two factors,” Penny continued. “First, the goblin archers would put Alice at risk. Twice we were **** to re-summon my minion due to arrows destroying it. Secondly, we wanted to conserve resources. Alice was already expending mana during the ambushes. If we had also required her to Surge while she was drawing them in, we would have required an additional rest period, extending our stay in the dungeon. The raid occurred late in our shift, adding an additional burden of fatigue.”

“Acceptable.” Lee moved on with the questioning, forcing them to break down each and every decision they had made during the raid.

“Mr. Anderson, explain the opening moments of the dungeon from your perspective.” As team lead, Ethan bore the brunt of the questioning. From how they chose their route and ambush locations to their plan to attack the boss, Lee let not a single decision rest unexamined.

Straightening, Ethan responded. “The interior of the dungeon was in an apparent day cycle. The dungeon entrance was located in a small wooded area and we entered at around 11pm. The trek on foot in the dark caused my eyes to adjust to darkness. When we entered, I was temporarily blinded. I saw and heard a dark shape moving towards me, which is when Mei reacted. She used a Firebolt to kill the attacking goblin.”

“How can you account for this going forward?”

“We can ensure that not all of us will be accustomed to light or dark as we enter a dungeon, ensuring that one of us can respond immediately regardless of the lighting.”

“Ms. Zhou, why were you capable of responding as quickly as you did?

“While the incident team verified the rating of the dungeon, I used my phone to adjust my vision to brighter light..” Mei answered quickly.

“And did you coordinate this with your team?”

“No, common practice among raid teams is to have your mage adjust vision for brighter conditions. I neglected to mention it as I should have, knowing that the rest of the team may not have been exposed to this practice.”

Lee nodded, satisfied they understood the issue and how to resolve it going forward. “Next, we’ll continue with a review of your ambushes…”

By the time they were through with the debrief it was well and dark outside, the sun having long set. “I have no idea why I had it in my head that the cold wouldn’t be that bad.” Grace complained as they got off the bus, making their way down the street to her apartment. “Winter isn’t supposed to start this early.”

“It’s Minnesota, I’m pretty sure Winter starts after Halloween.” Alice told her, long adjusted to the cold. “Remember going trick or treating in our winter jackets? We had that blizzard the day before and half the houses hadn’t even shoveled.”

“Oh, I remember. I also know the song is a ‘white Christmas,’ not ‘white Thanksgiving.’” Grace grumbled while she opened the door to her building, kicking the slush off of her shoes before heading inside.

“Speaking of, I was going to ask what everyone had planned for the holidays?” Ethan asked Mei and Grace. “There’s an open invitation for you both to join us. Penny has joined Alice and I with our parents the last few years and we’d love it if you joined us.”

“I hadn’t planned on anything.” Mei answered. “My family is going overseas during Thanksgiving. I was probably just going to hang out at home.”

“That decides it, then. You can come with us.” Alice spoke with a finality that indicated she wasn’t to be second guessed. “And Grace, you know our parents are dying to see you again. They’ve been pestering us about when they’d be able to. You’re coming, too, unless you were planning on flying home.”

“Does your mom still make that sweet potato and marshmallow abomination?” Grace hung up her coat. “I still can’t believe my parents let me eat that. It tasted the same coming up as it did going down,” she shuddered at the memory.

Penny scoffed at that. “I’ll have you know that it is a traditional midwest dish, and I will not let that insult stand!”

“What are you doing?”

“Ordering some sweet potatoes and marshmallows.”

“No, Penny, I absolutely refuse to let you desecrate my oven.”

“Then I guess you’re going hungry tonight, because that’s what I’m serving.”

Grace looked to the others to back her up, each of them studiously not making eye contact.

An hour later, the apartment smelling of baking sweet potatoes, they were spread out, oiled rags and stain remover at work as they maintained their equipment. Ethan and Grace found themselves together again, the rest of the team chatting about a Korean drama they had been binge watching.

“Thanks for inviting me to Thanksgiving. It’s going to be nice to see your parents again.”

“They’ve been threatening to come down here and visit from the moment you walked into the briefing room. They really can’t wait to see you again.” Ethan paused. “Why didn’t your parents ever reach out?”

“I.. My parents didn’t do well after the dungeon break. They refused to even talk about it, acting like our lives before California never existed. I think they saw some things, even though they would never admit it to me. They split up around a year and a half after the move.”

“They were close to the break when it happened?”

Grace nodded. “Yea, dad’s office was downtown. Only a couple of blocks away from the break.”

A reverent silence sat between them as they both focused on their equipment, the quiet full of unsaid words. The weight of childhood memories, the resentment that builds over years, the grief of realizing you can’t go back and fix things.

“I had a screaming match with my dad right after I got here and met you. I thought he would have been excited to hear that you and Alice were here. Happy that I had a chance to be on a team with both of you. Instead he just shut me out, told me he didn’t want to hear anything about you, and started screaming when I asked him why.”

Ethan reached out and squeezed her hand, not sure how to say the things that he felt, wanting to express his support without it feeling like false empathy.

She squeezed his hand back, wiping at her eyes with the back of her other hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to dump this all on you.”

“I haven’t had to deal with anything like that, Grace, but I don’t need to in order to know it isn’t easy keeping it all bottled up.

“I just wanted to know why they did it. I was so upset at him when he started yelling. It’s like he took me away from everything and everyone I knew and doesn’t think I deserve an answer as to why they did it.”

The rest of the team had gone quiet, noticing the exchange between Grace and Ethan. Mei got up and retrieved the same pack of tissues from her purse, offering one to Grace again.

Grace gave a small laugh, thanking Mei. “I promise I don’t normally make a habit of crying in front of my friends.”

“Are you really friends if they haven’t seen you ugly cry at least once?” Penny joked.

“I don’t have nearly enough eye shadow on for a proper ugly cry,” Grace quipped.

The group laughed, the kitchen timer starting to go off. Penny popped up to go pull the concoction out of the oven. “Dinnerrr timmmme!” she sang out.

Grace squeezed Ethan’s hand again before standing. “Thanks, Ethan. Now excuse me while I get cleaned up. I have a duel with an abomination, and I’d like to look my best.”

Grace: Hey, anyone wanna hit up the Ironclad match with me tonight? They’re up against the Shadowfangs.

Mei: I’m in, last time they played against each other they brought out a wyvern.

Ethan: Sounds fun. Where are the Shadowfangs from again?

Penny: Ethan. I love you, but we’ve talked about this, you know I can’t abide Fang ignorance in our relationship.

Alice: Ignore them, Ethan is successfully attempting to bait Penny into another PRL rant.

Grace: Ew, Penny is a fangs fan? Fitting for a shadow mage.

Alice: Trust me, you really don’t want to get her started.

Penny: Too late. The Shadowfangs were the one of the founding PRL teams, shortly after the dungeon breaks of 32’ and 33’ local Marked who had worked together needed a way to stay in practice, so they formed a practice league…

Ethan: What’s PRL mean?

Alice: Ethannnnnnnnnnnn

Penny: Ethan I promise I love you, I really do, but I’ve told you before, PRL stands for Pro Raid League, and the Fangs..