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 Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:13 pm
Camp had not gone quite as Gently had imagined it going, but such was the way of the world. If she beat herself up over every time a senshi or eight billion got in the way of one of her plans, she would be doing their job for them.
In any case, she was glad to be home. No more screaming kids. Senshi fights. Arts and Crafts disasters. Wild animals. Swamp monsters. Just her DVD collection, some wine and herself. Or not.
She didn't like being alone, she quickly realized.
In truth, whenever she had been playing the part of the head counselor she spent most of her time thinking about Matthew, and whenever she powered up she found herself wishing Alunite was there. So, of course, the first thing she did now that she was home from camp was shower. Then call Matthew.
She pondered putting make up on the many bruises she was sporting, one along her jaw and other injuries, small scrapes and bumps, accessorizing it. Damn senshi and their penchant for aiming for the face. She opted against it, though, staying seated on the sofa and waiting for the doorbell to ring.
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:36 pm
Matthew had been home, actually, visiting his parents when he had gotten the call. Needless to say he eclipsed himself in a record time - only catching the tall end of his mother's comment of the call probably having been his girlfriend before he made it out of the house.
His mother wasn't quite right, but perhaps she was close. Maybe. Somewhat. He really had no damn idea.
He knew roughly where she lived from the address, and it was pretty far off his parent's house, which had him cursing the fact that he hadn't taken his car to go there. Most people would have called a cab.
Matthew wasn't much people. His solution to the problem was to duck in an alley, become Alunite, and roof-run his way there. Hey, less circulation !
He was indeed there pretty quick, letting go of his form as he hit the pavement of another alley, then finally walking up to ring the doorbell. His heart was pounding, both from the run and something more.
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:50 pm
Gently nearly leaped out of the sofa when she heard the doorbell, stumbling all over herself to get to it. She managed not to spill herself to the floor, her sore body protesting the hurried actions.
Reminding herself to be cool, she moved to the door and then stopped after unlocking it. She didn't open it.
Maybe she should have put on make up. He wouldn't want to see her all banged up, especially after she had given him such a hard time about his bruised face before.
"Uhm," she called loudly, so he knew she was in there at least. She peered into the peep hole, to make sure it was him, leaning on the door. Finally she opened it a crack, not visible.
"Okay, if you come in you can't make any comments, okay?" She said. Not the greeting she had wanted to give him, certainly not what she had imagined, but he had a funny way of making her more confident in herself and completely awkward all at once. Right now it was the latter.
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 8:41 pm
Steps. Steps coming closer. There she was ! The sound of the lock going off...
Then nothing. Nothing at all. Had he gone to the wrong address ? Or worse, had she changed her mind ? ********. "Gently ?" He called out, before the door finally opened just an inch, and he heard the familiar voice from the other side.
What... ? "Are you okay ?" His face was now creased in a worried frown. "What happened ?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:01 pm
"Uhm."
She stepped back and let him in before she answered that question, shutting the door and locking it before she looked at him and then down at the floor sheepishly. She was more embarrassed about being so badly defeated than the bruises themselves.
"Camp didn't go... as planned. As it turned out, the senshi were all over us. There were cats there. I can only guess they tipped the senshi off. In any case, we got creamed. Ah well, back to the drawing board, as they say."
She frowned, rubbing the back of her neck ruefully. She looked like she had been through the ringer. Of course, considering how large the fight had been, she might as well have been.
"It's not as bad as it looks. Or sounds. You should see the other guy." She grinned at him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:06 pm
Oh, good lord, she looked like hell.
She sat on the floor, and Matthew followed suit, crouching in front of her, expression concerned. It hadn't even occurred to him to tease her for ******** senshi." His own ears were ringing, but he didn't care. No, now wasn't the time for him. He needed to put his own uncertainty aside. There was something much more important to focus on now.
Gently needed him.
"Do you need anything ?" Oh yes. There was no crow-baring him off now.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:20 pm
Gently looked at him and for a second seemed fairly pitiful. She saw how concerned he looked, and it made her feel bad. Why, she had no idea. Maybe she just didn't like seeing that expression on him, giving him something to worry about at all.
She smiled reassuringly.
"I'm alright, I promise. There were just a lot of them at the camp all of a sudden, and few of us to defend ourselves. We had to retreat in the end. Oh and the swamp monsters! There were this monsters. I don't know if they were youma or what, but they weren't discriminating against who they were knocking around."
She had a nasty bruise on his stomach from that encounter. It had it her so hard she had passed out because of it, missing most of that battle. When she had woken up, she had to get herself back to camp to settle the campers and get them home, and deal with all that chaos as well.
But at least now she was home, and she had Matthew there. She couldn't think of anything else she wanted.
"Help me up and we'll sit on the couch. Do you like movies? I've got my nintendo hooked up right now, too. We could play that. I just want to... unwind, if that's okay." She just wanted to spend time with him, and forget about everything else. He had asked if she needed anything, after all. This was it.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 7:35 pm
This was what Gently needed, and Matthew was more than willing to provide. He offered his hand for her to take, then gently lifted her up when she took it.
"As if senshi weren't bad enough..." Not so long ago, he might have been surprised, but the rift had told him that much - not all youma didn't attack the negaverse agents they encountered.
And they were, overall, not a fan of him. At all.
"I figure we can play Nintendo. As long as you don't make me fall in bottomless pits again." He gave a clearly over-exaggerated pout.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:21 am
Gently held on to his hand, letting him help her up and leaning against him once she was close. It wasn't usual for her to let herself feel bad about failures. She liked to, and forced herself to, stay positive and keep on trucking. Back to the drawing board wasn't just a saying for her, it was more a way of life.
Sometimes, though, she just needed to step back and take a break, relax and feel bad about things. Then she could just cuddle them away. At least, she could now.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that. Unless we're playing Battletoads. Then I might. On accident." The controls in that game were difficult, especially on two player. It was also one of the hardest games she had ever encountered, and she had never gotten by the third stage. For a while she had believed there were no more stages: the speedbike stage just got faster and faster until it was impossible for anyone to beat.
Since then, she had seen it done on the internet, and she wanted to beat it.
"Actually, I think Battletoads might be fun," she kept his hand in hers and led him to the sofa, letting him sit down while she put in the game, making sure the cartridge was blown into and dust free, before going to sit down on the sofa with him. Cuddled against him, she gave him the second player controller.
As the game began, she looked up at him from her very comfortable place at his side, then stretched up a bit so she could kiss him lightly on the cheek.
"Thank you for coming over."
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:58 am
"...You have Battletoads ?" Was that awe on Matthew's face ? Um, hell yes there was. This was a game he'd wanted forever, as a kid. He'd never gotten it. He had wanted to play it ever since then.
+500 for Gently, right there, right now.
"Hell yes." Hell yes hell yes hell yes. Was this going to end in disaster ? Probably.
Would it be fun ? Absolutely.
He waited on the couch for her to come sit with him, accepting the controller and letting her huddle up. He had the urge to just hold her, but playing one-handed wouldn't be so convinent, wouldn't it ?
"It's no problem." He said, taking a moment to look at her. "I... missed you." A lot. A whole lot more than she probably might have expected.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:15 pm
"Of course!" Gently said, brightening easily. "Doesn't everyone have Battletoads? Everyone cool."
She grinned at him, teasingly, but she liked to play with him. It certainly made her feel much better. As did cuddling with him on the couch and gearing up to murder him 'accidentally' a lot in Battletoads. Of course, she would get serious after a few rounds because she did want to beat that damn level.
She'd power up for better reflexes, if she had to.
At his words she looked a little surprised, but she smiled and settled down against him once more. The game was rolling and the first level started up, the two on their quest to save the missing toad of their group.
"I'm glad to hear that. I missed you, too. I would have written, but I never asked if you knew how to read," more teasing, but this was a defense mechanism with her. Now she was feeling bashful and silly, happy to know he had at least spared a thought or two for her while she had been at camp.
"I'm very glad to be home."
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:33 pm
"It's actually pretty rare, I looked it up once."
Or maybe he'd just gotten unlucky. He preferred to think it had been rare.
Unaware of her intention to murder him 'accidentally' a few times, he picked his own toad and off they went.
"Well, I never did ask you if you could write." Hey, turnabout was fair play ! "I guess that makes us even, right ?"
This wouldn't go unpunished, through - one stray punch did Gently's toad in. "Whoops..."
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:38 am
"Hey! Alright, that's it, you little bugger," she said, shifting against him. There were two ways to play this game incorrectly. Spend a lot of time punching, kicking and anvil-ing each other before the speed bike part, or getting him killed by blocking his controller at inopportune times.
She did all of those, when she had the chance and felt the timing was right. Most came when they were playing the first level and she just punched him back for killing her, or hit him with a stick. The cave level, when they were repelling down a long cavern on strings, came with a new move. They could turn into anvils and slam into each other, mostly on accident.
Mostly.
"I don't know how this game is supposed to be two player," she laughed. They had both gone through many lives already, "it's nearly impossible to play without murder!" Of course, she could probably try harder to avoid killing him, but where would the fun in that be?
"Okay the next level is nearly impossible. I've never beaten it and I really want to." She looked at him with a pleading expression on her bruised face, though she had all but forgotten about camp and the fights at this point. She was very relaxed, languidly leaning on him, apparently losing any concept of personal space.
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:19 pm
Matthew just grinned - the best smartass grin he was able to wield, really - and then the fight was on. Really, it was a wonder anyone could even get anything done in that game to begin with ! This whole co-op system where it was just as easy to kill each other than the enemies was a complete trainwreck.
God, he loved it.
He wasn't any kinder on her than she was on him, but their laughs made it all worth it. That was the point, right ?
"Alright then." Srs bizzness face on. It was hysterical. "Let's blow this joint, partner."
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:42 pm
She looked at his serious face and, for some reason, didn't take it too seriously. Bursting out laughing, she surprised him with a quick kiss. To throw off his game when she needed him to focus? Even she wasn't sure of the motive, but his expression had demanded it.
Then she hunkered down like it hadn't happened, her own expression set as her green eyes leveled at the screen like it was a long time rival. They were finally going to settle things.
And she had back up this time.
Of course, the level was murderous on single player, but with two people trying to dodge impossibly fast bricks set on squishing them? It almost seemed impossible. They would have to learn the patten piece by piece and work as fast as they could.
She took to yelling 'left! right! jump!' just to remember the patterns. There were far too many, and it was easier for her actor's mind to hit cues when they were verbal. She almost threw her controller at the screen twice, and the second time it only saved itself from flying by getting its cord caught on her hand.
Lucky devil.
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