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 Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:41 pm
"Experience or not, you're still old," Maia pointed out. "Older than me, at least." She smirked at him. She stood from her seat on the couch. "Okay, lets. Dari showed me the Xbox. If you're too tired tonight, we could play tomorrow if you like."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:53 pm
"I'm thirty-three," Toby insisted. Biologically anyway. His body hadn't aged in quite some time even if it had changed with his transformations.
"No, we should be able to play tonight. I'm not done yet." Done with work, yes. Consciousness, not so much. Dari wandered off to begin setting up the console and Toby put a hand behind Maia to guide her.
"So this is the living room, and down there--" he just pointed, as Maia had already been down that hall. "is the bathroom, and the linen closet is against the other wall. Then next to that is the laundry room. I can teach you how to use the washer and dryer if you need. It's definitely not laundromat level." He guided her through a wide doorway into the other side of the house. In the hall was a bay window that showed the back yard, now dark. It was a good place for parties, he had to admit. It was all wide and open and interconnected. ...he needed to have a party. "Then this is the dining room?" There was a large table and a hanging lamp, a set of chairs and a black and white photograph of a landscape. "and this is the kitchen." Just beyond that, again connected by a doorway that covered almost the entire wall. The kitchen was large, comfortable, and had a lot of counter space. The fridge stood proudly. Then they were back in the entryway. "And up the stairs--"
He headed up in his bare feet, leading Maia toward the second story.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:26 pm
Maia smirked at him. She shook her head. "No you aren't," she said. "Your eyes give you away." Oh, so they had time. Maia wasn't sure that was a good thing: she'd have to back in the morning. Possibly to stay.
"I've never used a washer," Maia admitted. "So that'd be nice." She admired the kitchen for a long moment, smiling. And the living room had been just as nice. She followed him up the stairs. "Your room?" She guessed.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:41 pm
"Laundry's got some rules, but once you get the hang of it you don't really forget."
Toby ignored the comment on his age and stood at the top of the stairs, gesturing from the landing at the three doors from left to right.
"My room, bathroom, guest room." Only the bathroom door was cocked open slightly. "There's no shower up here, though. It's a half-bath." For the last two words he employed a posh British accent.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:01 pm
"Half bath means no shower?" Maia asked. Huh. Maia opened the door to the guestroom and looked around. "This is mine for tonight?" she asked. She Sat Her bag on the bed, turning to look at Toby. "You have the nicest house, Toby. Lets go play a game. I bet Dari wins again!"
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:14 pm
"Right," he replied with a nod. She invited herself into the guest room and Toby chuckled. Well then. He nodded again when she asked if it was hers. The room was done like any other guest room with a full-size bed and its own closet. The decorations weren't especially floral or fluffy, but it was safe to assume that that wasn't Toby's style.
Being with Maia was like a constant assault of disconnected sentences. She hadn't even taken a breath between complimenting his house, offering a new distraction, and insulting his game-playing ability. He laughed again.
"Thanks. Come on." And so the two of them headed down to the living room again where Dari had finished hooking up the game system. One could easily sit on the couch and play.
"Welcome back," he said, "Did you enjoy the tour?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:45 pm
Maia sat next to Dari on the couch. "It was nice. I like my room. The beds bigger than the one I had at home." She smiled at him. "I bet Toby you'd beat him at a game, so pick one you're good at. If you win, I'll show you one of the treasures I brought from home and Toby won't be able to see until he beats you at a game."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:50 pm
It was a silly little game and one that really only resulted in humoring an innocent selkie and achieving bragging rights, but the men shared a glance and agreed without words. It didn't matter if it was silly. It would mean something to Maia. Different people had different ideas of the world, and hers being somewhat simple didn't make her any less of a person.
"What are you thinking?" Toby asked. He nabbed a controller and sat beside Maia, leaning back as he browsed. They had shoot-em-ups and fighters, both a bit violent, but fantasy and strategy popped up with the same frequency, as did indie games. What could they play against each other on?
Also, the username on the screen appeared to be jellydog40.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 5:41 pm
"You have a strange name on screen," Maia pointed it out. "It doesn't say either of your names." She'd practiced the alphabet with Dari: and neither of their names started with J. "Why don't you play some thing you're both good at?" She leaned against the back of the couch to watch. She was curious to see what these games were like.
And besides: the boys were fun to watch when they were competing. She liked that even more than rewarding them with prizes.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:10 pm
Toby laughed. "No, it doesn't. It says 'jellydog forty.' You shouldn't use your real name on public profiles, always remember that." Their avatar was adorned with random objects with no real correlation. "Jelly," he said, pointing to Dari, then thrust a thumb at himself, "Dog."
"Yes, positively charming," Dari teased, but Toby just laughed again.
"Um. There's not much we can play against each other. There's a zombie game? It's four against four, though, so it'd be us and three computer characters. Then there's things you can play online against people. Lots of guns, usually. There are some we could play with each other too." Portal 2 came to mind. No violence, no monsters, just goofy humor and portals.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:24 pm
"But you're not a dog and he's not a jelly," Maia protested. She hugged Dari to demonstrate. "See? Jellyfish sting most of the time, and edible jelly is weird, but Dari's neither stingy nor weird. And you're not loud And obnoxious and you don't Chase frisbees--well, maybe you do. I don't know. "
"Can I play?" Maia asked. She picked up a controller. "You can both beat me."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:27 pm
"Well, that's up for debate," Toby offered with a cheeky half-grin. He was clearly most at-ease here in his own house, although out with friends he had been similarly relaxed. "There are non-stinging jellyfish. Not the black ones, but..." He shrugged. "People play Frisbee too, you know."
"He is definitely also loud and obnoxious," Dari said, smiling at the hug and patting Maia's back.
"Oh, um..." Toby arched a brow at the games library. "If you want to kill things I'm sure we can find a game, but I don't know of many three-player games." It wasn't like Splatoon was made for the XBox.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:38 pm
"I think Dari's more like a cat. Cats are supposed to be able to reshape themselves to fit in all sorts of things. And Seamus reminds me of him." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Not like dogs do. Dogs catch it in their mouths. And sometimes they chew it up entirely."
"I haven't seen that side of him," Maia glanced at Toby and tried to imagine it. She smiled. "You might be right."
"I don't mind killing things. I'm not really hurting anyone."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:41 pm
"Uh." Toby's brow furrowed and he inclined his head slightly, imagining a cat reshaping itself like Play-Doh to fit under a door. "That's... not exactly how it works? Besides, he's named after a jellyfish."
"That's his fault," Dari urged.
Toby nodded about the conditional on killing things and queued up the most mindless, simple game he could find. Hopefully Maia wasn't afraid of zombies. While he did, Dari turned to explain the controls. Toby set the difficulty to the easiest setting.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:59 pm
"Sure it is. They fit into chimneys and boots and boxes and sinks. They're sort of like a liquid. But not."
Maia listened to Dari, hoping the game wasn't too scary. She didn't like the idea of hurting things, she never had, preferring to help instead; but these weren't real things. "Okay. You and me, we'll be a team." She glanced to the screen. Well! This certainly looked different than snake!
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