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 Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:18 pm
"Come on." Dari waved for Maia to follow him as he headed back out of the apartment with the key Toby had put down and toward the 'rec room.' It was really just one of the gathering-places for the residents. The games were really intended for children, but that didn't mean they weren't any fun. He grinned at Maia's question. "No, he's fine."
"Here. Pick one." He pulled back a curtain to display the shelf of games. If they played here he could easily grab another when Maia inevitably ended up tiring of it.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:37 pm
Maia followed Dari, eager to leave her apartment. She was reassured when he told her that she hadn't hurt Toby's feelings. Good. She didn't want him to feel unwanted. She picked up a brightly colored box. Candyland. "This one has bright colors," she observed. "Have you played it? Is it any fun?" She'd learned that brightly colored didn't always make the most fun time.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:41 pm
"Well, that's made for young children, so I don't think it'd be fun for long. It's cute, but not especially engaging." He crouched to join Maia and bounced a bit from the speed of the motion. "Honestly, a lot of these are 'roll the dice and move that many,' which is fine if that's what you want to do." Scrabble was out. "How about checkers? Have you ever played checkers? It isn't very visually entertaining, but it's simple to understand." It might keep Maia's attention for longer considering that it was fast-paced and also required actual thought.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:44 am
Maia lost interest with just Dari's description. Blegh. She'd had enough of boring games: she placed the box back where she'd gotten it. "Checkers?" she echoed, before shaking her head. No, she'd never played. "I can try." He said it was simple to understand, and maybe it would be more fun. "Lets play! When do you think Toby will be back? He can play whoever wins."
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:49 am
Dari pulled the damaged box from the stack and went back to a small table between two chairs. He pulled out the board and the pieces and began setting black checkers on black squares.
"Do you want to be red or black?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:10 pm
"I'll be red," Maia said, watching him set up the pieces. "How do you play?" She asked. The board didn't seem altogether exciting, so it must have been the gameplay that was engaging. Dari had suggested it so that meant it would be fun. "Its kind of like fire, huh? Red and black. Fire and smoke!"
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:16 pm
"They're pretty classic!" he agreed, then pushed the red stacks of pieces to Maia. "Set them up starting in the back on every black square. So what happens is this: we can move our pieces only one space a turn, and we can only move forward diagonally, like this-- or that." He demonstrated with one of his front pieces. "Except if there's a piece in front of you and an empty space behind it, you can 'jump' them." He demonstrated this with one of Maia's pieces. "and then you take the piece that you jumped." He held her piece hostage only briefly, and then offered it back to her. "and you can jump over more than one piece, but you need empty spaces between them. I'm probably making it sound difficult. It's really not. And if you can get a piece all the way to my back row, or I can get it all the way to your back row, we put another piece of the same color on top and it's 'kinged' and the double-piece and go backward and forward." That was pretty concise, right?
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:56 am
Maia did as Dari instructed, putting the red pieces on the black squares. His instructions kept her interest with the demonstrations. She took her piece back, beaming. So the point of the game was to take as many of the other players pieces as possible, and whoever had the most left won? "So I don't want you getting to my back row," She said, nodding in understanding.
"You can go first!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:13 pm
"Correct," Dari responded, giving a little nod. He might have urged for 'ladies first' but Maia didn't seem that type of woman. No, she offered for him to go, and so he did, making his first tiny move. It would take a while for things to get going and hopefully Maia wouldn't lost interest in that time.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:34 pm
Maia moved one square, mimicking Dari's first move. This game probably involved a lot of thought, she decided. The first move didn't seem that important thought, when there were many other moves to make. "Do you play this very often?" she wondered.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:47 pm
"More often than others," Dari responded. It was a sort of sideways answer, but it was the best he could offer. Yes, he played checkers often when it was just him and someone else, far more often than Candyland or Snakes and Ladders. When he was alone, though, it was more often something digital. So really it all depended. He made another move.
"Did you play any games with the children at your beach?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:23 pm
"Hide n seek, tag, games like that." Maia replied, taking her turn. "People don't really bring board games to the beach, I guess. They bring beach balls and volleyball and that stuff." She smiled at him. "All of this is new to me," she said. "Its exciting."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:36 pm
"I'm glad." Really, a lot of people they brought back were entirely overwhelmed by the sudden presence of so many others, especially humans, and the drastic culture clash. Maia seemed to be doing well, all things considered. She didn't like her room, but no one ever did, and you weren't allowed to change much unless you planned to stay for a year or more.
"I've played Hide and Seek, when I was much younger. I've never been able to play volleyball, though."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 2:41 pm
"I'm no good at it either," Maia admitted, when Dari said he'd never been able to play. "I kept catching the ball. And you know, you're supposed to sort of bop it back over the net I guess. I haven't tried it in a while." She veered her eyes away from the board briefly. "Do you want to play another game after this?" she asked. "Maybe one Toby can play with us?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 2:50 pm
"I've never tried, to be honest."
Was she done with the game already? Nobody had been jumped yet!
"Toby's likely to be busy for the next couple of hours, but when he returns I'm sure he'd be willing to play something before he goes home."
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