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 Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:52 pm
"The XBox?" Dari disappeared into the bathroom again, sat on the toilet, and began working on his ankles. He would be able to hear them from in here. 'Hear' of course being relative. "Sure."
Toby didn't really consider 'maybe' situations plans, but whatever made Maia happy was fine. She still clearly looked like she had been crying.
"Do you mind if I take a shower? Or do you want a tour first?" What he wouldn't give for a shower, but Maia might want the tour from the homeowner himself, plus Dari might think it was too impolite to give it himself.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:02 pm
Maia pretended to consider Toby's question. "Go ahead," she said. "I can wait." She flashed him a smile. She had been a surprise guest, after all, and she'd cried on him. He deserved some time to himself.
"Dari can show me pictures of the lake maybe."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:20 pm
There was a sigh of relief and Toby headed toward the bathroom. Maia was more than welcome to join him at this point. Dari was finishing up cleaning himself. A few brown-stained cloths were scattered and he began to gather them and stuff them into the bathroom trash bin. He wearing pants only because he'd been told Maia was coming. He had been comparatively naked before. At Toby's house, he didn't have to wear clothes. He'd been teased only once about his rear, to which he had explained the functionality of the buttocks. Toby had never questioned him again. Other people were made uncomfortable by people older than infancy without clothes, though, so he had thrown some pants on. He and Toby were nearly the same size.
"Oh, I don't remember the name of the lake," Toby said, toeing off his socks.
"I do," Dari said and stood, smelling faintly like citrus. Even after the alcohol evaporated he carried a sort of pleasant scent after cleaning. He offered a smile and stood, gesturing out the bathroom door. "Shall we?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:31 pm
Maia waited for Dari to make the first move, she didn't know the layout of the house. "Are you excited to have another sleep over?" she asked. Privately, she hoped the morning never came. Despite ideas and plans for other days, she dreaded having to go back to her apartment tomorrow. "Toby told me he has a boat on the lake."
"Can you show me? The lake, I mean."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:46 pm
Dari just smiled. It took more than a sleepover to get him excited, but he nodded. "I'm very pleased."
Toby had shown his warmth, after all. He had taken Maia in without prompting save the tears he could see had fallen. i was always best to treat others with kindness. Tough love was not something for this poor selkie and Toby seemed to have realized it.
The door closed behind them as Toby prepared for his shower.
"He does," the alien continued. It was nice to go out and watch the stars or the occasional fireworks. He liked being out on the water.
He also nodded at Maia's question and continued to a bag on the living room floor, the room to the left as they had entered. He pulled out his laptop and opened it up, starting it in seconds and then settling down on the couch. "You may sit." Just in case she wasn't sure.
He brought up an image search for 'goldwater lake' and the town it existed in. The body of water was clearly large. It had an area for swimming and then the docks as well as some less-populated areas away from the beach and toward the green wood. It really was a rather green place for Arizona, and the beach was sizeable as well. "Here."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:59 pm
Maia sat, looking at the pictures: she hadn't expected such a nice place in the middle of a desert state. "Its beautiful," she said. "Toby said next day off we could go to the lake maybe. If we go late enough, you could come too and you wouldn't have to put on make up." She was sure covering his body with the stuff was as uncomfortable as it sounded.
"Do you want to come?" she asked. "You have the same days off as he does, don't you?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:01 pm
"It would be very hard to get inside and not be noticed," Dari responded reasonably. Of course he might be able to alter his shape to make it easier but, in the end, he always ended up in makeup. He was completely used to it by this point, although the projector was a nice change from the norm now and again.
"I do, yes. Sometimes I work nights when he does not, but only sometimes. I'd always like to come."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:20 pm
"Good. Then we can all go to the lake. Then the mall, I've never been to one. Toby said he'd take me to one and we'll buy something to do together. Oooh, maybe I could get a game for his Xbox and we could play that. And we could look at the stars. Do you know if they're any different here than there?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:49 am
Dari nodded. Something told him that Toby hadn't agreed to all of this directly. Just because Maia was staying here didn't mean he'd want to spend his days off entertaining her. Toby was a good man, but he was firm in his routines.
"Games can be quite expensive." Besides, Maia didn't have any money yet.
"The stars are the same. Maybe a little less bright out here with the light pollution."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:55 am
"I'll save for a good one, then." She didn't have any money yet, but once she got a job--no, Toby had said not to worry about getting a job yet. "Oh, so you can't See different stars in different places?" She asked. "I suppose that makes sense. Since the earth spins. Sometimes it looks like the stars are moving all around us, if you lay down and watch them long enough."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:25 am
"Oh, well, throughout the year you do see different stars. The constellations are seasonal. It'll be the same stars here you'd see from Oregon, though, shifted for the distance. You know, a long time ago people thought that the universe revolved around the Earth? It seems silly now."
Back in the bathroom, Toby was drying off. Then he stopped. s**t. He'd forgotten to grab clothes. Normally he just wandered around in a towel, but he had a guest. A female guest. Damn it! With an annoyed sigh he opened the door.
"That's the XBox," Dari explained, pointing to the device sitting on the lowest portion of the entertainment center. He rose to get it but paused to watch Toby wander by with a towel around his waist. The werewolf didn't stop, though. He just headed upstairs without a word or any small acknowledgement. Huh.
"Anyway. These are the controllers." He lifted one by the cord to show Maia. They had three, two black and one white. "But I'd bet Toby will want to give you the tour when he's finished."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:16 pm
"It's not really that silly when you remember they thought the world was flat, flat like a piece of paper," Maia said. "But that was only some people, I think. Because someone told me the Greeks always knew the world was round." She noticed Toby. She grinned, and turned her attention back to Dari.
"Tour first," Maia agreed with a smile. "It's a nice place." So much more home like than the apartments at HQ.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:20 pm
"Right. It was a ridiculous rumor that spread through culture. Like the anti-vaccination movement." People really were stupid sometimes. At least it wasn't all of them all at once.
"It is, isn't it? 'Bachelor pads' are supposed to be filthy and small and badly-decorated, but then I don't suppose most bachelors are Toby's age."
Toby began down the stairs then in pajama pants and a worn old t-shirt. If he pretended nobody had seen anything it would all be fine.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:37 pm
"You mean the shots that make people not-sick," Maia made a face. She didn't like the thought of needles. Too many children had described them to her. "I don't get sick," She informed him. It was a lie, but better to get colds in the winter than deal with needles, right?
"He seems like an old man in a young man's body. Well. With a young man's excitement and competitive spirit."
"There you are, Toby!" Maia noticed him on the stairs. "We waited for you."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:59 pm
"Yes," Dari replied with a nod. It was possible that Maia had never gotten sick before, but certainly at her age she'd have experienced something? The effects of loss on a fae, a sprained ankle, something. She was rather lucky if she hadn't!
"He is an old man, whether he likes it or not," Dari said, smiling to Toby as he spoke.
Toby clicked his tongue. "Please! They call it experience. You want a quick tour, Maia?"
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