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 Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:12 pm
"Well, almost anything. Anything that's posted online," Dari reasoned. He seemed to have trouble thinking of what to type in, though. They had been so many places for so many reasons, what would be the best to show to a selkie without upsetting her? That was when Toby finally spoke, voice sleepy but still managing to carry from the arm chair.
"Show her Breyer."
Dari nodded and typed in the name of a forest they had recently been to and the screen filled with beautiful emerald greenery. He chose a particularly flattering shot and pulled it up. "We were there last month. It was gorgeous."
He paused then as Maia asked a question and considered it a moment.
"Well. It does math. You can write in it. You can research anything you like, talk to people from all over the world... it can do a lot of things. What do you want it to do?"
"There's games too," Toby offered.
"Ah. Yes. And games."
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:31 pm
"Told you he was awake," Maia pointed out. Her eyes hadn't moved from the screen, and when pictures of the forest popped up, she was delighted. "I want to go there," she said. She'd never seen such green: she was used to the brown sand dunes of Oregon. "Can we visit sometime?" She stared at the picture, as if looking long enough would open a portal.
She didn't pay much attention to Dari, math, huh. Writing, that'd be useful. Oooh, talking to people around the world! Now that caught her interest. "Other Selkies? And you guys?" Oooh and games?
"Want to play a game with me?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:37 pm
"With you two being so loud..." Toby murmured, but it didn't seem angry. He stretched out and changed positions again.
"Sure, we can visit some time." They may never make it there, but the goal was to keep the entity as calm and happy as possible. Besides, who said she wouldn't be able to visit herself after a few lessons on being human?
"We can call Niamh once we get back to HQ," Toby offered. He had been planning to anyway.
"Oh... sure," Dari said in response to her offer. There weren't really any multiplayer games pre-loaded on the computer but many could be turned into a group sport. "There's a card game, a strategy game..."
"If you two wants to amuse yourself, you can install something." Toby again. Dari looked to him and seemed to consider this a moment. But what?
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:53 pm
"Your ears must be sensitive, we weren't being that loud," Maia protested. And even if they had been, computers were truly, marvelous exciting machines. She rewarded Dari with a bright smile. So she'd get to visit the beautiful forest in the picture. Someday, that usually meant a long time from the present. "Go back to bed Toby," she instructed, pointing to the bed. "We'll be quiet. Right Dari?"
"Install something?" she wondered. "Lets find something on the internet! Come on Dari. Bet I win."
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:58 pm
Maia seemed vibrantly awake and so for once Toby listened, standing and giving his back a good pop before flopping onto the bed and snuggling in. He eyed the clock. Alright, he had another hour, that'd be nice. His back and neck were killing him from staying cramped in that arm chair.
"Sure. What kind of game do you want to play?" Rather than turn to the internet, Dari went to the program that allowed you to buy computer games, and moved to 'free.' It might only be for tonight, after all. "There are switching games and thinking games and card games... I don't know, pick something you like the look of." His voice was indeed quieter for Toby's sake.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:10 pm
Maia turned to make sure Toby had obeyed. Seeing that he had, she smiled. He seemed much more comfortable in the bed. She'd insist upon him taking it for the night tomorrow. She turned her attention back to the computer screen.
"Oooh, that one," she pointed to bejeweled. It was the most colorful, which caught her eye. As promised, she kept to a low volume. "Do you know how to play?" she asked. "Can you show me?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:25 pm
It was in fact rather shiny, and Dari clicked to install. While it loaded he explained.
"You can switch a gem with the one next to it, and you make rows of three or more. It's very simple." His own knowledge of games came from graveyard shifts and long nights while everyone slept. They teased him less if he did his curious wandering while others weren't around, not that he really minded the teasing. The game was done in moments and he pulled it up on the screen. The tutorial began to play and he gestured for Maia to follow it. It took him a moment to remember the mouse, and showed how to hold her hand on it.
"You click this button to interact with things, and this one will undoubtedly throw an unwanted menu at you."
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 11:23 pm
Without Dari's instructions on how to use a mouse, Maia might have found herself tapping at the screen hopelessly. She watched the tutorial on screen, doing as it indicated. Switching brightly colored gems was fun! "So tell me more about the places you've been," she said, not moving her eyes from the screen. "If everywhere is as beautiful as that forest, I want to see all of it."
She'd seen a very limited part of the world, she was realizing. Oregon wasn't the whole world: it was out there!
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 10:01 am
"It's not all so beautiful, no," Dari replied, moving away for just a moment to bring the arm chair closer again. He eased himself down in it to keep Maia company. "We've been to deserts and islands and forests and lakes. Forests commonly and jungles much more rarely. Then there's the towns and cities, those are always the most difficult to navigate in, for me at least. We've been many places, even within the U.S."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:06 pm
"Cities are overrated, I've heard," Maia said. "Besides, things are more beautiful the more natural they are." All that greenery had intrigued her. She wasn't sure about deserts, she'd heard about those. They were beaches without the water, hot and dry and awful. "I beat the first part. Want to play next? What did you find in Breyer? You must have been looking for something."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:58 pm
"No, you keep on playing," Dari said with a smile. Bejeweled was not made easier by his ability to see in a fourth dimension. Most things on a computer were not, save the computer itself.
"Breyer is a fairly common stop for us, for any traveling agent. It's a hot bed for fae activity, seelie and unseelie. It's one of the few wholly natural habitats in the world. We help them, we protect them, and we make physical contact a few times a year. It's easier to send supernatural entities themselves. Really humans seem to be the only species to need sight stones and such."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:17 pm
Maia turned away from the game. Brightly colored as it was, switching gems only kept her attention so long. The more she heard about Breyer, the more She wanted to visit. A place full of fae, a completely natural place, untouched by humans. It sounded perfect. "I'd like to see other fae," she said. She had met the kelpie, but he'd been an alarming sort. What were other fae like?
"I'm glad there's people like you two protecting others," she said. "That place sounds wonderful."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:32 pm
Dari couldn't blame her. It was very much a game for those with a knack for tedium. How it had grown so popular so quickly was well beyond him.
"Have you not met many other fae?" he asked, joining in conversation rather than haranguing her about keeping occupied. "It is a beautiful place. The way the sun shines through the trees, and the music. There are creatures as large as a bear and smaller than your little finger. It truly is amazing. Our job brings us to fantastic lands."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:54 pm
"Just my parents and that kelpie, and that was an accident. I didn't know it was there, I was exploring the area and it grabbed hold of me. Took me by surprise or it wouldn't have gotten me under water. Anyway. He became angry because he couldn't drown me." She glanced at the alien. Hm. How did one get such a job? She wanted to travel and see places, meet people.
"I'm sure there's more fae in the world than anyone could ever meet."
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:04 pm
"Absolutely," Dari agreed. "There are entire species that nobody has discovered. There's life beyond this planet that humanity can't fathom. Unfortunately, their response is often to destroy it. That's where we come in. We both do and do not exist, and yet we're expected to save humanity from itself and the supernatural from extinction. Of course the word 'supernatural' was also coined by humans." He smiled. Was he rambling? He felt like he was, but it had all just sort of fallen out of him. That was alright, wasn't it?
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