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 Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:02 pm
Well, that made sense to her. It wasn't something you saw in anime or manga, and so she doubted it a bit, but whatever; she didn't want to argue while she was embroiled in this knock-down drag-out fight with a guy twice the size of her character. But once the victory screen flashed again, she set the controller down on top of her feet and crossed her arms on top of her knees. "Something wrong," she asked, because that was like the third time she'd seen him fuss with his hair in the past five minutes. Even Zell wasn't so fussy.
"Yeah," she said, "I play the tournament circuit. The LAN ones are good practice, the RL tournaments are good money." With a frown, she peered over at his screen. Why were there so many? Well, it wasn't worth noting. She looked back to her television set, stood up and turned it off. "The one from last year's New Year tournament semifinals is good," she informed him. "I almost ran out of time."
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:57 pm
Parker had one hand in his hair while Tate spoke. Wrong? What was wrong? He raised an eyebrow. "Is something... wrong?" he repeated, clueless as to what she meant. It was often that Parker paid attention to the physical quirks of his own personality. He also had a habit at biting at the inside of his cheek and drumming his fingers on tables, not that he realized it.
Leaning back at Tate leaned in, Parker followed her eyes to the screen before heading back to her face. She was pretty. Most girls were. But girls also had a tendency to be evil -- middle school had taught him that lesson well. "How much do you typically make at the RL tournaments?" he asked, finger dragging idly over the edge of the desk. He'd stopped in on a few competitions, minor ones held at malls and whatnot, but if there was money to be made, Parker suddenly felt a hell of a lot more interested.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:12 pm
"Uh... nothing," said Tate, giving him a weirded-out look; she was aware of everything she did, or she tried to be aware, but the point was, was he messing with her? She settled back into her chair, like a normal person this time, and stared back at him.
She thought about it for a moment: How much did she make at the tournaments? "The people who enter all pay a fee, and 60 percent of everything everyone pays goes to the winner," she said after a moment. "I think the least I ever got was $75?... It was a total wash." Normally the prize money was a lot better, but after he'd said not to spread around the fact that she was a proud soon-to-be-owner of a PS3, she wasn't going to say that.
Trying to shift the focus off her career playing video games, she asked, "What do you do?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:00 am
Parker returned Tate's weirded-out stare, but probably to a far lesser degree. She was odd. The teen didn't give much thought to it, and instead, diffused the situation by scrolling across the screen in front of him. He clicked a few links, opened a couple new pages, and when Tate spoke again, he welcomed the change of topic. Awkward moment was awkward. Listening quietly, Parker wondered if it might be a good idea for him to practice video games more. If that could be a stable source of income, then it seemed to make perfect sense that he might devote some of his time to it. After watching Tate play, he doubted his own skills. Parker was the player that took his time and completed all the side quests, finishing battles only because it was a requirement to advance the storyline. Tate seemed quite a bit more strategic in her style of play. Still, it was an interesting thought. Perhaps he would look into this... yes.
"I fix computers. And read." The chair swiveled under his weight, and Parker turned slightly to face her. "I want to go to university and study philosophy." Computers were fun for him to tinker with, but he felt his true calling was philosophy -- just like his mom. It was a feeling he couldn't shake. He'd know about his application to Barren Pines any day now, and he hoped more than anything that they would accept him. It would look so great on his transcript, much better than Hillworth Grammar School. His fingers drummed idly on the edge of the keyboard, eyes flickering over to Tate in her chair.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:58 am
It was good to have a goal, supposed Tate, who particularly had none. She didn't want to spend her life playing video games. Probably she'd try to get into whatever university Giselle got into, and study game development. It was the only thing that she really felt passionate about besides her drawings... but nothing in those was original. Hardly anything she made was original.
She didn't like that thought. She was annoyed at Parker for bringing that thought back. It showed when she asked, "What would you do with a philosophy degree, anyway?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:33 am
The only reaction Parker gave to the hard edge in Tate's voice was an extended pause before he responded. "Philosophize," he said. There was no humor in his voice, but he raked one hand through his hair, reclining slightly, and continued, "I want to pontificate. I want to write a book that opens up a new way of thinking, that takes a thing we've known all our lives and forces the world to look at it in a different way. I want to cause a paradigm shift." He shrugged, and the gesture seemed starkly ambivalent to the direct nature of his words. Typically, Parker might just brush off the question and give an indirect answer, but today, he didn't. Tate had showed what she was good at; this is what he was good at doing. End of story.
The screen in front of him glowed blue, and Parker tapped a lazy finger on the key, minimizing a window. He'd go ahead and buy from his old website. He knew that. It was all about building a rapport, and Parker liked to consider himself a patron of his old site. Even if it saved him a little money, Parker decided that, on principle, he would stick with his original. He had no intention of telling Tate that, however, and instead, he shifted awkwardly in his chair, unsure of where to take the conversation from there. Aside from video games, what could he talk to her about?
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Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 9:38 pm
"That's a lovely goal," said Tate, gritting her teeth now. "Except that almost never seems to end well." Maybe he had some kind of persecution complex or something. Now she just felt really, really inferior; which was dumb, because philosophers never caused any great upheaval in their lifetimes. Not that she was aware of. They were always arcane, mysterious beings in manga, and people tended to get pissed off at them. The wise old sage was the first to fall. Did he know that?
Didn't matter. People would do what they wanted, even if they knew it was bad for them. So would she. "Well, good luck with that," said Tate as she shut off the console. "I've got to head home. There's a tournament on LAN."
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:07 am
Parker watched Tate carefully, still trying to make a ruling on her. In the end, he decided he didn't have enough information, or enough motivation to pursue further conversation. Not that he really felt compelled toward the latter. "Good luck in the tournament," he said, offering a noncommittal shrug. Then he turned back to the monitor, went to the website he always used, and blatantly ignored Tate's advice.
Parker was a creature of habit who believed in patronage. He could sacrifice a little extra money to maintain that.
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