Reference to: 'The Comic Book Store Regeneration'
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"Shall we sit here?" asked Tracy as Sheldon looked over the Tea Emporium sitting area.
"Too drafty and the light will shift there in forty five minutes," he said. "We'll sit over here." He marched purposely to a booth and sat. Tracy followed and set her mug down on the table before settling in across from him.
"So what do you think of the Flash so far?" she asked.
"Better than Arrow," Sheldon replied as he stared at his watch. "I'm finding it to be rather drab this season." He picked up his tea bag with the string from his mug and set it on the provided plate. "Two minutes. You might want to take your bag out, too, unless you like substandard tea."
"I like it a little stronger," Tracy said with a bit of a smile.
"Fair enough." He took a sip. "You said that further interactions with me would be awkward because of my association with Leonard. Discuss."
"Well, as you are now aware, I'm very good friends with Alice and she wants nothing to do with Leonard given their history."
"And I'm considered part of Leonard because I'm his roommate."
"That's right."
"So this would only rectify if either Alice relaxed enough to allow me to enter your social circle or else I have to remove Leonard from mine," said Sheldon with a frown. "As I've only just met you it's unfair of you to ask me to choose."
"I realize that."
"So this is goodbye," Sheldon said matter-of-factly.
"This is tea," Tracy countered.
"I've known Leonard for ten years. He's my best friend and roommate." Sheldon's mouth twitched. "He puts up with me."
"Putting up with you isn't a basis for friendship," said Tracy as she took out her tea bag. "You're friends with someone because you genuinely like each other and treat each other with respect. See, that's why I have to side with Alice on this because Leonard was a real douche to her."
"I understand." He took another sip. "It seems I am at a crossroads. Leonard is engaged to be married and will soon move out of the apartment, leaving me alone, and yet it seems that he's not leaving fast enough because I'm losing my newfound friends." He looked at her. "When Leonard leaves will you be my friend again?"
Tracy leaned back in her seat and sighed. Being a speech language pathologist she had a lot of experience with children on the Autism spectrum and their difficulties with finding and maintaining friends. It was the awkward formalness and directness Sheldon had that made her take him under her wing at Comic Con and now, it seemed, beyond.
"I never said I'm not your friend now, Sheldon," she said. "That's why, even though Alice will probably kill me, I want to invite you over for game night tomorrow at Dragan's place."
"What kind of game?" Sheldon asked warily, recalling his experience with Elizabeth.
"Card games. Mystic Warlords of Ka'a mostly but we also play Illuminati."
"That sounds acceptable."
"Only one rule—no Leonard," Tracy warned.
"Agreed," said Sheldon. "I'll need a ride."
"I'll pick you up. Say five thirty?"
"Alright. I live at—" Sheldon hesitated. "Tracy, my mother warned me about how city folk can take advantage of unsuspecting people."
"And you're afraid we'll leave you at the side of the road with no pants?" she asked with a little smile.
"Well, I've already wandered through a train station with no pants and I'd rather not experience something similar."
"I promise you'll keep your pants, Sheldon. Your kidneys too," she said with a straight face. "Come with me if you want to have fun," she added in her best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.
"Hasta la vista, baby," Sheldon agreed.
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As Raj left the elevator and went down the hall to Howard's apartment he thought over his friend's voice when he called about going over to Leonard's place for Talisman. To his mind, Raj had never heard Howard sound so lost as he declined and hung up. Quickly, Raj texted Leonard that they couldn't make it and jumped into his car.
Right now there was only one place he could be.
Raj knocked at the door and waited.
"What are you doing here?" Howard asked, surprised as he opened the door.
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't check on my buddy when he's down?" Raj chided lightly. Silence. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure."
Raj stepped in and went to the couch. There was a gloom to the place as the only light on was over the kitchen table.
"So," he said as he sat. "Are you going to tell me what's going on or do I have to ask Bernadette?"
"Did Penny talk to you?" growled Howard.
"Why would she?" Immediately Raj bought a clue. "This is about Bernadette, isn't it?"
With a deep sigh Howard flopped onto the couch.
"Everything's a mess, Raj."
"How?"
"I don't know. Bernie's the woman of my dreams and yet I'm not—happy?" Howard clasped his hands and rested them on his knees as he leaned forward. "I'm supposed to be happy and there are times I'm really happy." He shrugged even as he shook his head.
"Let's start at the top," Raj said soothingly. "Did something happen?"
"I don't know if it's one thing." Howard sighed. "When I dated Bernie she was, well, nice. Since we got married she's...not that I'm saying she isn't nice now only that..."
"Howard, just say what you feel."
"All I ever wanted was to meet a nice girl with an overactive sex drive, settle down and have kids. I realize that I had to change in order to land someone but I'm beginning to feel like I've had to give up too much."
"And Bernadette hasn't," Raj confirmed.
"Raj, look at this place," said Howard as he gestured around the living room. "Aside from the 3-D dolls we made and the statue of Gandalf there's nothing in the living room that's mine. This is supposed to be our place and instead it's just that I moved into her place. She wanted me to leave my mother's house but at least at Ma's place I had my own room."
"Maybe you should look at getting a two bedroom apartment?"
"I thought about it but I don't know if Bernie will want to spend the money." Howard looked at his friend grimly. "I mean I've changed but there had to be something of Howard Wolowitz that Bernie liked to begin with, right? I can see some of the things she wouldn't like but it seems that it's everything now."
"Howard, if you're this unhappy I'm sure she won't mind."
"You know what I'm afraid of? We'll make the move and things still won't be good."
"Does Bernadette know you feel this way?" Raj asked softly.
"We don't seem to talk. Like adults at any rate." Howard sighed. "I swear I think I was more competent and independent when I lived with Ma. Here it's Bernadette Knows Best. Only I don't know if this is the best for me."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Think this over."
"You going to your mother's place?"
"No. Ma will have a stroke if she knew Bernadette and I were having problems," snorted Howard.
"You can come stay with me," offered Raj. "Then maybe you should look into some marriage counselling."
"Probably. And thanks for the offer but I really want to be alone right now."
"Sure," said Raj as both men stood and went to the door. "But call me if you need me."
"Thanks," said Howard with a weak smile that didn't reach his eyes.
He closed the door, leaving Raj to walk towards the elevator.
There were a lot of times when Raj wished the best for Howard when it came to women but never did he pray about it.
He prayed now.
XXX
"This is rigged," growled Dragan as he slapped his Mystic Warriors of Ka'a cards on the table.
"How is this rigged?" asked Sheldon as he gathered the cards. "It's my turn to deal."
"Oh, I don't think so," Kim said as she took the cards from his hands. "The last thing we need is you dealing from the bottom."
"Why would I cheat?" Sheldon said indignantly. "You said to play to the best of my ability and I am. It's not my fault I'm vastly superior."
"You forgot humble," Ron chuckled as he munched on some potato chips.
"Well, I do have two doctorates and an eidetic memory for starters," Sheldon sniffed.
"Shut up!" Alice gasped. "You mean you're Sage?!"
"Forget Sage, he's Wesley Crusher!" Tracy laughed.
"I thought you were doing some sort of card counting but couldn't figure out how," said Kim before taking a sip of her beer.
"Your mistake was telling me which decks we were playing," said Sheldon. "From there it was a matter of recalling the card combinations and that, as they say, is that."
"Sonofagun," mumbled Dragan. He stared at Sheldon before getting out of his seat and ventured to the book shelf. "You ever play Pathfinder?"
"I prefer Dungeons and Dragons," said Sheldon.
Dragan took a book off the shelf and brought it to the table.
"Look over this page," he said as he slid the book to Sheldon. The physicist got a brief look before Dragan took the book away. "Okay, What's on page fifty eight?"
"An update to the monk kit I assume. 'In Table three-ten in the Special column, in the seventh level entry, change "Wholeness of body" to "Ki pool (cold iron/silver), wholeness of body".'"
"Page one seventy four."
"'In the Smashing an Object section, in the immunities paragraph, delete the second sentence.'"
"Page thirty six."
"'In the Bardic Performance class feature, in the fifth paragraph, in the first sentence, change "and such performances are language dependent" to "and many such performances are language dependent (as noted in the description)".'"
Dragan slapped the book shut.
"We are so taking you to a casino," he said with a smirk.
"You expect me to sully my talents at a place of vice?" said Sheldon.
"Fine, but we're entering you into every MWOK tournament on the western seaboard," Kim said adamantly.
"It's just a hobby." Sheldon took a curled potato chip, examined and determined its arc before eating it.
"You do realize that people make a living playing tournaments, right?" said Ron.
"Which he isn't doing tonight," said Tracy. "Now, we have to figure out how to make this more challenging."
"We can take random cards from random decks and slap them together," suggested Alice.
"But then some of the sanctioned combinations might not be possible," Sheldon replied.
"It's the 'you not always winning' we want to make possible," said Kim.
"Besides, this'll give you the chance to see how smart you are without the memory schtick," winked Tracy.
"Woman, they haven't generated an intelligence test capable of measuring my intellect," Sheldon said crisply.
"We'll go in teams, too, to add more randomness," said Dragan. "So who's with Julian?"
"'Julian'?" asked Sheldon.
"Forget Wussley Crusher; you're so Dr. Julian Bashir."
"If we're talking about super men I'd much rather go with Khan."
"All in favor of renaming Sheldon Julian say yay or nay," said Kim.
The entire group called 'yay'.
"Well, you'll still feel my wrath at any rate," Sheldon pouted.
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Raj entered the cafeteria, spotted Leonard and Sheldon at the table and dashed to his seat.
"What's the rush?" asked Leonard.
"No time. Howard's coming. Look, things between Howard and Bernadette aren't going so well so just be cool with him, okay?" warned Raj.
"Why should we be brisk? I'd have thought more understanding would be the proper protocol," said Sheldon as he wiped his fingers with a napkin. Raj opened his mouth to say something.
"That's what he meant," said Leonard. "Colloquial slang for understanding."
Sheldon nodded just as Howard came to the table.
"Hey buddy," Raj said enthusiastically. "Look everyone, Howard's here."
"Thanks," Howard replied hesitantly.
"So, how are things going at the lab?" Leonard asked gently.
"Fi-ne." Now Howard knew something was up.
"Howard, did you know that the snorts, grunts and wheezes of the hippopotamus have been measured at one hundred and fifteen decibels—about the same volume as being fifteen feet from the speakers at a rock concert?" asked Sheldon.
"No, I didn't," Howard said as he opened his water. "Uh oh, bogy at ten o'clock," he said as Kripke came around the corner.
The plasma physicist rubbed his hands gleefully as he approached the table.
"Hey Coopah," Kripke gushed. "I have to thank you for intwoducing me to your ex-girwfwiend. She's a smawt cookie."
"What about Amy?" Sheldon growled. Leonard noted the seriousness of the tone. So did Kripke, whose smile widened.
"She weawwy gave me a hand with my stwing theowy calcuwations. Top notch stuff." Sheldon's jaw dropped. "Wooks wike you were wong about ditching stwing theowy so soon, woser."
Kripke wandered off leaving Sheldon to digest what he had heard.
"Why would Amy help Kripke?" he said quietly. "She knows that he's a mortal enemy of mine and he made me—" His jaw stiffened. "Why didn't she help me when I was stuck? Why did she let me wallow in misery thinking my career was over when—" His cheeks reddened. "Has my move to dark matter been a mistake?" Leonard made to speak. "No, it's not a mistake. Not a mistake!" Sheldon pulled out his phone and began to text.
"Wow, what a betrayal," whistled Raj. "Love can be vicious when it goes down the tu—" He suddenly realized that Howard was across from him. "But that doesn't mean it's done for sure." Sheldon looked up.
"Would 'WTF' be appropriate here?" he asked.
"Definitely," the group agreed. Sheldon continued to type:
SCooperPHD: Amy, Kripke informs me that you are helping him with his string theory research. WTF?
"Why do you think she helped Kripke?" Leonard mused. "I didn't know that she knew him."
"She was aware of him," Sheldon grumbled. "Our rivalry was obvious given the amount of times I vented to her about him. She even hugged me when—" Sheldon stopped and glared at his friends. "She knew." His phone buzzed and he checked the text:
Amy: Yes, I was looking over some of your work and came up with some theories of my own that I ran by Barry.
'Barry'? I hadn't realized that you were intimate with my academic rival.
Amy: He's a colleague. He's also in string theory. Why shouldn't I consult him?
Why didn't you consult me?
Amy: Because you were busy whining about your work and given the size of your ego there was little likelihood you'd listen to my ideas.
I listened to Raj when we collaborated. I even listened to Leonard. That should say something.
Amy: Regardless, Barry made me feel welcome and we genuinely collaborated.
Amy: He says that I really changed the course of his research.
"Bah!" Sheldon growled.
To reiterate, he's my rival. Even if I allow for the cockamamie idea that you somehow couldn't approach me—even though you seemed to have no problems approaching me about hand holding and date nights and I wasn't enthusiastic about them...
...You still went to Kripke. You betrayed me.
Amy: So he made you cry because his work was superior. That's not his fault. You're just being petty.
"Petty!?" Sheldon roared, causing the others to jump. "She says I'm being petty! How am I being petty when she teams up with my arch rival to—"
"Bernadette and I are separating for a bit," said Howard as he set down his fork.
Silence.
"I'll need a place to stay," he continued.
"You know my place is always yours," said Raj after he recovered.
"Nonsense," said Sheldon. "Raj, you have a one bedroom apartment. Howard can't spend his time on your couch." He looked to Howard. "You can take Leonard's room."
"What about me?" Leonard squawked.
"You're the logical choice," Sheldon continued as he turned off his phone and set it on the table. "You spend an inordinate amount of nights at Penny's thus leaving your room unoccupied."
"But it's small at Penny's," Leonard whined.
"Now's the time to find out if you two can get along more than carnally."
"Fine, but I'm still going to have access to the apartment."
"Of course, but only during certain hours so as to give Howard privacy."
"Thanks Sheldon," Howard said, surprised at the lanky man's offer.
"As your tertiary friend I could do no less," Sheldon said evenly as he took up a forkful of salad.
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Pathfinder Core Rulebook Errata.
wwwlivesciencecom27339-hipposhtml: Hippo Facts