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 Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:18 pm
Maia had no idea what Dari was saying. She stared at him for a long moment. Huh. She plugged it into the nearest outlet, put the nub where it belonged, and found where the metal cylinder went on the back of the computer. It was the only circle hole shaped hole there.
The cds meant nothing to her; she gave him a blank stare. "No," she said. "I figure this round button turns it on, but I was waiting for you."
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:25 pm
Dari sidled up beside the selkie and nodded. "That'll do it. Just press it all the way down, once. You don't want to turn it off this way, though, if you can help it." He was clearly excited, or at least it would be clear to anyone who knew him. His expression was more focused, he smiled at small things. 'Emotionless alien' indeed.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:29 pm
Maia pressed the button and the screen lit up. It went through the first couple screens without trouble, then it wanted to know what language and area they were in. Maia stared at the screen for a moment and shook her head, glancing to Dari. "It wants something," she informed him.
She would have to remember how happy computers made Dari.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:03 pm
Dari grinned but didn't laugh. The poor thing.
"We'll go through it together. First it wants the language. Gaelic is unfortunately not an option, so scroll down until you see 'English U-S'." He figured she would be able to figure it out from the sounds. Very little else looked like 'English.'
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:14 pm
So it wanted the language. Huh. She scrolled through until she found English-US by looking for E-N-G. She'd found two that matched that, and saw why Dari had specified. There were two English. "Now what?" she asked, watching the computer screen.
It popped up with a "Let's connect to the internet" screen which requested wifi information. She looked to Dari questioningly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:18 pm
"Oh, uh. Here." Dari took the laptop gently and clicked the proper network, then typed in what appeared to be a rather complicated string of numbers for the password. "We'll write it down for you, just in case." The computer should keep it saved, but computers didn't always do what they were supposed to do. He handed the computer back then.
"Oh. What do you want to call the computer? It'll show up on our network, not anywhere else really. 'Maia's PC'? 'Queen Selkie's Computer'?" He smirked up at her. Her username would presumably be easier, and she should definitely set her own password if she wanted one at all.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:26 pm
Maia took the computer back, blinking at Dari's question. Her computer got a name, too? "Oh. Well, Maia's PC is fine. I think Queen Maia's computer would be too long for it." She smiled at him. "But don't forget, I'm the reigning figure over all the world's selkies."
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:29 pm
Dari nodded. "Right." It might not be, but simpler was often better. "Your name should be the same, then just 'PC' in caps." He paused. Err. "You press and hold this button here, the 'shift key'. Any letters you hit while holding that down will be capitals."
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:34 pm
The selkie nodded, typing her name and holding down the shift as she typed PC. She was a hesitant typist, typing carefully with one finger. It'd take some practice before she'd be writing novels. She did that, and the computer screen started to flash bright colors.
"Hi" the screen read, in white. Maia shielded her eyes. "What's it doing?" she asked.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:40 pm
"It's saying 'hello,'" Dari said. This part always felt a little weird. "Humans tend to assign human-like characteristics to electronics. Voices, artificial intelligence, and... things like this." Lori may have gone over the voice recognition feature of her phone, and he may have saved it for another day. Who knew? Either way, mindless computers programmed to greet you like a person through text was just slightly unsettling.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:56 pm
The computer continued to flash blinding colors, text continuing; we're getting things ready for you, almost ready, updating; but it was the bright colors that puzzled Maia. "People are weird. That sounds like a horror movie; electronics come to life and take over or something."
"...Does it do this every time I turn it on?" she asked, making a face.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:59 pm
"No. Just the once, unless you have to clean it out one day and start all over." He'd get her set up with an antivirus, just in case the internet led her astray. An adblocker as well, because they didn't need her taking any surveys to win money that didn't exist.
The screen resolved to a neat new desktop. "There. Now you have your own computer." He unpackaged the mouse and plugged in the tiny USB. It took a moment for the computer to register it, but he wiggled it on his palm and it reacted. Here you go." He offered it to Maia so she could look around before they started installing things.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:15 pm
Maia beamed, taking the mouse and immediately started to click things experimentally. "I want the background to be prettier," she said, "Maybe an ocean theme. This one's so plain."
"What are those cds for?" she asked. "For the computer?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:20 pm
"Yes. So you can make documents if you want. Let me do something first and then we can find you a new background." He took the laptop gently and went straight to the internet for a new browser and a free antivirus program and then assisted Maia in finding a background she liked more. Then came the installing, the settings, the basic instructions. All while this was going on, the savory smell of some meal cooking wafted in from the kitchen and grew steadily stronger. Toby had finished mopping and moved on to cooking. The grocery store was planned for tomorrow, but he had had enough. He made something meaningful to him, to thank Maia for her help, but got cold feet at the last moment. This was something his mother made when he was young, and that was all he shared. They ate at the table and then made their way back into the living room to start up the game Dari had found at the mall. Hopefully there wouldn't be any sharks.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:28 pm
Maia stopped Toby on their way to the living room and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you for dinner," she said. "It was wonderful." It had been too, and it clearly meant something to Toby. His mother had made it for him. She knew that was special. She released him after a moment, pulled away and led him to the couch.
She was pretty excited to play the new game; but good food and a busy day had her raising her hand to stifle a yawn.
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