By Sea by T. Thorn Coyle

Author:T. Thorn Coyle [Coyle, T. Thorn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: T. Thorn Coyle

22

Charlie

It was late, and Owlbear was packed with geeks and nerds. Angry geeks and nerds. Every gaming table was full, which was astounding, considering the last-minute call. But it hadn’t taken long for word to spread that white supremacists had attacked the shop, twice, and that one of them had punched a Black woman in the face.

Portland had its issues, but when things got bad enough? People rallied in support.

Charlie and Hai stood between the tables and the main wall of the shop, so they could still see the front and the doors, in case anything else went down. Charlie couldn’t imagine any Nazis would be stupid enough to make an appearance that night, but you never knew.

Sam leaned against the back wall, close to the mini kitchen and the washrooms. Hoodie up, her mouth was set in a straight line and her arms were crossed over her chest.

The room smelled of model paint, Hai’s hair pomade, Rockstar, and coffee.

That feeling of, Charlie guessed he had to call it Thor, still buzzed through him. He felt huge. Powerful. Solid in ways he wasn’t used to feeling, despite being a big, muscular kind of guy. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to fuck or fight or have a beer.

Or all of the above.

This was heady shit, and he hadn’t felt this pumped up since high school.

Not since the first time he beat up someone who’d been trying to beat him, for being a comic book and D&D geek. Charlie still felt badly about the beatdown, even while he realized it was the only thing that was going to stop the bullying. After that, the other geeks made sure to hang with him as much as possible. His aura of protection extended far enough that, even though the kids still got pranked, all the worse abuse stopped.

Hai was speaking. “Charlie and I have been thinking of calling a meeting for a while now, to organize against this latest round of creeping fascism in geekdom. We’ve seen the influx of Nazis in the Furries—foxes with swastika armbands—and the rise of overtly fascistic tabletop games. Plus, just dudes hanging out, intimidating the rest of our clientele….”

He looked at Charlie, who cleared his throat and picked up the thread. “Then Owlbear got firebombed, which was bad enough, and today, as you know, the HackMaster assholes just escalated. They punched Raquel, who owns the café down the street.”

“So, what are we gonna do about it?” asked Xena. A tall, busty, broad-shouldered woman with emerald green hair, a purple skull sweater, and combat boots, she owned an online cosplay shop and was a regular fixture in the local scene. “Are you asking us to go kick some ass? Or petition City Hall? Or…?”

The runes around the shop flared to life. Charlie felt a few people flinch in response, which was interesting, though most of them didn’t even notice.

“This is war,” he said. “And, just like war, we’re going to have to take this step by step. I don’t want anyone going into battle unprepared.

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