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 Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:01 am
"I want to," Maia said. "Please? You can help, too, if you like." She smiled when he mentioned the dog. "Yeah, we made friends. I read to her while Lori went home, and then we went to the park." She looked to Dari. "Want to play a game?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:03 am
"If you really want to!" Toby replied, and then disappeared behind the bathroom door.
Dari turned back to Maia and nodded. "Sure. Wat do you want to play?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:06 am
Maia considered Dari's question. She didn't know what his favorite game was, she realized. She looked over their video game library and paused. "Which one do you like best?" she asked. "We'll play that one."
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:09 am
"They all have their high points," Dari said. Plus some had some very, very low points. "Did you find the Nessie while we were gone?" Maia had taken to calling the great beast in their scuba game as such and it had caught on.
"How about this one?" A whimsy, bright shooter involving paint rather than bullets.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:14 am
"Nah, it's more fun to play it while you two are here," Maia said. She hadn't played it at all, to be honest. "I went shopping yesterday, but I couldn't find anything good." Good enough. "Oh, that one looks good," she said. It certainly didn't seem violent, with the bright colors.
"How do you play?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:16 am
"Where did you go?" Dari asked as he loaded up the game and retrieved the controllers. "It's easy. It uses the gyroscope in the controller too. It uses all of the capacities in some way. Come on." He nodded for the couch and offered Maia a controller.
"They're squid-people."
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:24 am
"The mall," Maia admitted, shrugging. "I wanted to get you and Toby a welcome home present, so it'd be ready by the time you got home." She didn't mention missing classes to do so. "I'm going to ask Lori, I told him about stuff." She looked towards the bathroom, hoping Toby could not hear over the water. "You know, my liking him."
She took the controller, looking towards the television screen. "Squid people?" she echoed.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:33 am
"That's very sweet of you," Dari said, and then nodded. "Ah. Yes, he may be a valuable ally. That's not to say this'll be anything like war--" he turned to Maia, "except it sort of is, isn't it? Emotionally." Toby was a tough nut to crack.
"Yeah, see? Their pigtails are squid arms. You can turn into a squid to swim in the paint. Or ink. It depends on the pun they're making at the moment."
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 11:43 am
"Sort of," Maia agreed. "An emotional battle." She watched the screen, curious. "Huh. Hair arms, I get it. Let's play," she grinned at him. A squid, swimming in ink. Clever writers. "Are we playing against each other, or together?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:00 pm
"Well, we can do either. Which would you prefer?" Dari went about setting Maia up with her own character. His had been moderately customized. Even Dari just wanted dumb gaming every once in a while. "Boy or girl? The color changes depending on the team we join."
He also enjoyed how easily hair-arms slid off Maia's back.
They were well into their second round when Toby emerged, almost visibly steaming. He was in a towel, lacking any clean clothes to put on. "Who's winning?" he asked.
"Us."
"Good." Up the stairs he went, and he would return later in comfortable clothes to plop down on the couch with his roommates. "If we want to go out I'll just go put pants on."
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:10 pm
Maia seemed to thoroughly enjoy the game, and co-op with Dari was fun! She looked up as Toby emerged. Huh. He was steaming, how much hot water had he used? He'd probably needed it, though, after more than a week in the jungle. "Want to play?" she asked, when he joined them. She offered him her controller.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:19 pm
"Nono. I'd rather watch," Toby said with a smile.
The next day he was still a little thrown-off by the mission and all of the travel, but he was happy to be able to get up and make breakfast as usual. His back thanked him for sleeping in an actual bed. Soon enough they were off for the carnival.
"Have you ever been to a carnival?" Dari asked Maia.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:28 pm
Maia's concern that Toby needed more rest was only broken by her enthusiasm for the carnival. Maybe they could get cotton candy. Or something especially good.
"No, but I've seen them. At night they light up beautifully. I watched the lights sometimes." She looked to Dari and smiled. "Now I'll get to see what they're like! Have you been to one?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:38 pm
Dari nodded. He had somehow expected that Maia would take part in the fairs near the beach. Maybe large groups of adults frightened her? He wouldn't blame her. If so, though, she'd certainly come a long way.
"I have, just once."
"He can cheat at the guess-your-weight game."
"Well all of them are so rigged, it's good to get something back."
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:50 pm
"You can play the games with me," Maia invited Dari with a smile. She didn't mind cheating, not when the games were already rigged. "We can win something for Toby. And I've heard there's all sorts of sugary things you can eat there." That was always a plus, right?
"What were carnivals like when you were a kid, Toby?" she asked.
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