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 Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:52 pm
There was something really cathartic about shopping. The thought was very strange to Gently Ponsonby, who was a self confessed idiot when it came to malls and shopping in general. In public, in the every day, she never thought about shopping as a pass time, if only because so many other girls were always so giggly about their trips to the stores and she simply did not understand them.
The difference between then and now, them and her, was that she was not shopping for clothes. She knew very little about that whole fashion thing. Instead, she was in one of her favorite stores.
Surrounded by used video games.
It was difficult to find places that still sold the oldest of old games, but this place was unique. It offered everything from the new age consoles to a large collection of what it was most known for: older games. Everything was used, they offered no new games as there were other stores in the mall for that. Along one wall were arcade like structures built into alcoves, homing old consoles with a game to play. The games changed regularly. The consoles included and NES, a SNES, a Sega Genesis and an original playstation, among others.
It was a nice place for nerds to just hang out, as well as talk, buy and swap games.
Gently was browsing the Super Nintendo cartridges, hoping to find something new to take home to play, already holding two NES carts.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:24 pm
This little shop in the mall was basically nerd heaven - by nerds, for nerds. It was some place where you could hang around the whole day while no employee would get pissed at you, and had it's fair share of regulars.
Matthew Desmond was one of them, even though he had never managed to make his sister come inside for more than 5 minutes before she found an excuse to bolt out. Well, it was Ashley's loss.
The purple-haired boy was leaning against the counter, chatting with the clerk in between the other man having to ring up purchases, when he noticed it.
The NES.
Super Mario Brothers.
It would have been a crime... No, a sin... To leave such a classic unplayed. With a nod, the young man went toward the stand, gave the cartridge a good blow, and then was off to rescue a princess from a giant lizard.
It didn't get any better than this.
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:28 pm
Gently's ears perked up when she heard the familiar click of a NES cartridge sinking into the machine, the protective door closing after it. Turning her head, she saw someone was playing on the trusty NES in the corner, and she grinned.
She had to go see what they were playing.
Trotting over, her games in hand, she peered over his shoulder to get a good look at Mario hopping around to familiar 8 bit music. It really was a classic, but it was also a fun game that she felt was timeless. Any kid these days could pick up the controller and enjoy it, even if they did have an XBox or a PS3 or what other super graphic-ed up console.
She grinned, then looked at the young man playing. She was taken back for a moment, a surge of recognition hitting her. She tried to have a memory for faces and names, if only because the newspaper required it a little bit. She couldn't place him right away, though, certain she had never seen him before.
And then she had it.
"Oh!" She said, forgetting that she hadn't been speaking to him before, and her sudden outburst was a bit random, "you look like a girl I know!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:51 pm
It wasn't like peering over Matthew's shoulder was hard - he was relatively shorter than most men who flittered around them, but the purple-haired young man had stopped caring much about it a long time ago.
He was aware of the presence of another right next to him - that odd feeling one almost always got when someone was looking over their shoulder - but he didn't mind. It was commonplace - when someone started playing, others flocked in curiosity as to what classic had been dusted off this time.
It was only when Gently spoke that she truly spoke. Well, that was curious. She looked a little... old. No, not really in the way that she looked old, per-se, but she looked well... old for Ashley. Because what other girl could he possibly look like ? "Oh, do I, now ?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:43 pm
Gently was still a bit shorter than the young man, but she didn't seem to notice. Height meant nothing! It was all about the personality rather than the body housing it. At least, that's how Gently liked to look at it.
Gently smiled brightly and nodded her head, glad he just went with it rather than going through the dog and pony show of asking her what she meant and who she was. They'd skip to that part later.
"You do! Ashley? She has hair like yours. I mean, not exactly, obviously. Hey! Are you related to her? She's a sweet girl," she chuckled, all her words tumbling out of her mouth fairly quickly. She couldn't help it. She was in one of her favorite places in the city, and she had found someone that she must know by proxy.
How could she not be excited about it?
Plus, he was playing Nintendo. Which, in itself, was something worth talking about.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:09 pm
"Yeah, she's my little sister." Matthew answered, clearly used to questions like these. They did look rather similar, and had it not been for the fact that the boy was clearly older, they might have passed for twins - Matthew had the brown eyes of his mother, rather than the green eyes of his father, which Ashley had. His skin was also a little more like his father's, while Ashley was a little paler.
"Are you one of her teachers ?" He asked, curious. Definitively too old to be a classmate, that's for sure... Hm. Matthew was suddenly distracted by the death sound, and he frowned. "Damn, that was sloppy." Stupid bottomless pits.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:16 am
Gently chuckled at that. She could almost say she was, if the fleeting lessons she tried to impart in the ways of trapping and awesome negaverse-ing counted as teaching. Of course, that might be a little hard to explain, and she shook her head instead.
"Friend," she amended, nodding her head. "She's a sweet girl. We just bumped into each other once, and had a coffee."
That, at least, was almost true. There had been coffee at some point, though the bumping into had been more of a 'Painite falling from great heights and Fluorite being nearby' kind of deal. More details she couldn't explain, and didn't have any need to.
She looked at the screen, frowning at Mario's untimely end.
"Whoops, sorry. I'm getting you killed."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:52 pm
This all seemed a little strange to Matthew, but ultimately, he chose not to question it too much. Ashley was a social butterfly, after all - perhaps it had been a friend of a friend kind of situation. "Doesn't surprise me. She's a real sweet kid." There was fondness in the man's voice, and it was evident that he cared very much for his sister.
At Gently's comment, though, he let out an amused chuckle. "Oh, no, im plenty good at that myself. It's been awhile since I got near a NES."
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:39 am
Gently smiled brightly. If he only knew what his sister was capable of, considering she was in the Negaverse. Not that she was going to give any hint of that. She simply nodded and chuckled, agreeing that sweet was the best word to describe Ashley.
"Really?" She tried not to look hurt that he was not a retro gamer like herself, though the effort gave way to a grin anyway.
"I still have mine hooked up and, ah," she lifted the games she was set on bringing home with her, excitement shining in her bright sea green eyes, "in constant use. NES and SNES. I can't help it, I really love the bit era of gaming."
Trying not to speak entirely of herself, the English accented young woman tilted her head at him.
"What is your console of choice?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:32 pm
"Yeah, my old NES died a... rather fantastic death. I could tell you how, but I think Ashley would kill me. It could be considered blackmail material." Or Gently would do that herself.
It involved a 6 years old and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The stuff of nightmares for any die-hard gamer. "Pretty sure all my games are still at my parents', but I can't seem to find a working NES to save my life." He was rather unlucky on that aspect.
"Mostly my SNES, which survived death by little sister, and my ps2. Don't have a whole bunch of space in my apartment, my roommate's s**t takes over everything." Summer couldn't come quickly enough, really. He was getting his a** out of here the second his lease was up.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:43 am
Gently was immediately interested in this situation. She tilted her head in wonder, just trying to imagine this fantastic death. And how it could be something Ashley would kill over. She was very interested now, and really, really wanted to learn what happened.
But would she have to ask Ashley, or bother Matthew until he told her? That was the question.
She grinned.
"Well, if you ever want to hit some NES up, you can always come by my gaming haven!" Her house, she meant, "8-bit looks fantastic on the big TV."
One of the reasons she was glad to be out of school was not having to deal with dorm or roommate issues. Of course, it was a double edged sword because now she lived alone and found she wasn't particularly good at it. She liked to go out, to have fun, to be with people, rather than always alone at her place. The only real exceptions were movie marathons and when she was gaming or building a new trap or gizmo. But she couldn't go too many days without some form of social interaction.
"Unless, of course, I need to fear for my NES's life at any point."
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:53 am
"Ah, no, not anymore." Matthew just laughed. "Ashley is long past the point of accidentally destroying electronics. I don't think your NES has anything to fear."
God, she was so going to kill him. But hey, what good older brother would he be if he wasn't annoying ?
"I might take you up on that, sometime." Going to a near-stranger's house ? A tiny bit awkward. But she was Ashley's friend so it was better, right ?
Hm.
Now, Mario had once again started his run to the castle, carefully stomping goombas and jumping over bottomless pits.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:13 pm
"Well that's good. I'm going to have to get her version of the story, since I don't want her to kill you for telling me," She grinned, shaking her head. She didn't have any siblings, and never had to deal with younger ones messing with her toys or breaking things. Or older ones doing the same thing, but on purpose.
She chuckled and nodded her head, not sure he meant it but leaving the offer there anyway. She loved playing the NES with other people, much more than playing alone, if only because the nostalgia and mockery of the terrible, but wonderful, games was too much fun for one person alone.
She looked at the screen and watched Mario running around, making his bid to save the princess. But, inevitably, she would be in another castle. Shifting a bit, she glanced at her watch.
"I should get going, if I'm going to get some gaming in. Ashley knows how to find me if you want to hang out some time! It was nice meeting you." She smiled sweetly, bright green eyes shining. She offered her hand, though he was playing the game so she pulled back.
She couldn't handle the responsibility of killing Mario a second time.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:10 pm
He was definitively thinking about it, and might hit her up one of these times. "True, it's getting pretty late, isn't it ?" Matthew pondered out loud. The stores would close in about an hour, and if Gently wanted to get some gaming in... yeah.
"Sure, ill be sure to bother her into bothering you." He winked, and gave a nod of the head. "I'll be seeing you sometime, most likely !"
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 9:52 am
"Glad to hear it!"
Gently clapped him on the shoulder eagerly, chuckling. She wasn't much for handshakes outside of interviews and work. And there were too many there, so she was well stocked on them. In her personal life, she preferred claps on the shoulder, obviously, or hugs and exuberant waving.
Leaving his to the NES, she made one last effort to see if there was anything else she wanted to buy before heading to the cashier and taking her two new NES carts to be paid for. Safe in their bags, she said bye to the cashier, who she knew by name now, and waved her hand over her shoulder at Matthew again, calling another goodbye.
She left after that, humming to herself as she trotted her way home, her mood quite high. She would have to ask Fluo what the best way to kill a NES was, and see if she had any idea what she was talking about.
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