"I'm recommending a board game cafe, really. You can play just about anything on your phone, it's just that you don't get close to the same social benefit that you'd receive when seeing people in person."

She nods firmly and stands up. "Okay then. Clearly it's time for me to touch up my appearance a bit and then head out."

Off to the mirror she goes for touch-ups and straightening out her outfit.

The beauty products work like magic, leaving Sable looking healthy and youthful. Quite a bit more so than she did back in Louisiana... anyway, there's board game cafe within lightning-quick elevator and comfortable walking distance.

She smiles at her nurse-RPing neighbors. "Thank you so much. I feel a lot better. Y'all helped so much."

They smile and wave back. "We're happy to be there for you. Everyone deserves to feel happy and cared for."

"Another reason thomassia is the best. Well, off I go. See y'all around."

And she heads out.

Making her way through the huge skyscrapers, Sable finds a cozy-looking cafe behind a glass wall with a vaguely medieval theme. There are a few people playing various games on various tables at the moment, although things seem fairly quiet at the moment.

In she goes with a smile. What did her quick web search on the walk over say the etiquette was? Find someone who doesn't have a partner yet or grab a game and a table? Something like that?

Yes, find someone waiting with a board game placed on a table, sitting by themselves, or obviously not playing it with anyone. A young man sitting by a cardboard box with a bunch of different tough-looking pirates plastered all over it very much fits the bill.

She walks up to him with a grin. "Ooh. I love pirates, but I don't think I've seen this game before."

She hasn't seen any thomassian games before, so that's conveniently true.

"Well, yes. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's a name-historical Risk-style game. I think the factions are basically perfect in both balance and depth, so every game is really interesting." 

"Sounds great."

She takes a seat across from him and helps with any setup that's still left to do, taking a look at the instructions to get a feel for how it's played.

It is quite literally Risk, with soldiers and attackers and defenders and territories, but it's different because the characters get extra bonuses. One of them has a special ability that makes each player roll dice as if they had more soldiers, so you both deal and take much, much more damage, to give one example. The game also has ships that make nearby soldiers more powerful, and are necessary to move soldiers across water, which can be much quicker.

Oooh. This looks great. She spends a moment dithering and then picks a faction, getting her army set up. Affecting an overdramatic voice, she teases, "Ready to bow before our piratical might?"

"Well, let's see how mighty you end up being." He makes the first move, moving towards the center of the board, with all the strongest and most defensible regions.

Sable moves toward a large and somewhat rich archipelago toward the edge of the board, aiming to make her stronghold there where she can focus on being a naval power first and foremost. She'll plan to intercept any attempt to attack her on the sea before it reaches her.

About halfway through the game, it's turning into a stalemate. Sable's defensive bonuses make it difficult to take out her position, but she simultaneously does little damage back. However, Sable has a slowly growing lead, and will eventually win if she stays extremely defensive.

She turtles up in her islands, surrounding herself with a naval patrol, sending out occasional raiding parties to bleed her opponent and rile him into smashing his forces against her fleets.

His frustration builds up, and he ends up conceding after a few failed attempts at taking her position. "Well, I guess today just wasn't my day? Well played, miss." He bows slightly at Sable. "I'm quite impressed that you beat me like that." 

She bows in return. "It was a pleasure, good sir. Well fought. You almost had me a few times, there."

"I think you're just being nice, honestly. You played incredibly carefully and I just couldn't find a weakness after the first few fights went badly for me."

She shakes her head and smiles. "Well, thank you. I think you're flattering me, but either way it was a fun game."

She taps out a quick order for a cocoa to-go on her phone. 

"It's getting late, but perhaps we can play again sometime?"

"Very happily. Do you play board games often?"

"It's been a while, but I'm getting back into it, yes."

"Then I'm sure you'll have tons of fun playing here! Have a nice evening, lady."