(2018-03-01) Games, Gaming, and Gamers
Games, Gaming, and Gamers
Summary: A group of students find themselves getting to know each other in the billiards room and what they have in common.
Date: IC Date (2018-03-01)
Related: None
NPCs: None
Scene Runner: NA
Players:
ariel..ashton..lily..loukanos..trevor..

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Billiard Room - Winbarry Estate


The Billliard Room has no pool tables. Although someone has made some efforts and there's a few board games and a deck of cards with some books on a shelf along the wall. A half finished puzzle with basset house puppies takes up one of the tables.

A few small sofas and wingback chairs make conversational areas, throw rugs decorating those little areas. An entertainment center with a TV, blue ray player and a gaming console system has been set up. A pair of french doors lead to the back patio.

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It is afternoon, and classes have just ended, which is an absolute blessing for Ashton, who barely had the attention span to sit through the classes without going mad or causing some kind of distraction inadvertently. It did not take Ashton long to get out of the uniform. He is wearing a jeans and a tee shirt. Still caught in the same funk that he has been in for the last couple of days. Sitting on one of the couches not too far from where the television is playing whatever channel was being watched by the last person. Ashton is sitting with his back to the arm of the couch, with his socked feet pulled up on the cushion in front of him. He is trying to study. Okay, enough of that. Aggravated, he groans. "What's the point?" and tosses the book to the floor… somewhere across the room.

Someone else is immediately out of uniform once classes end too. Trevor, a newer student, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. He's not going to be wearing shoes unless someone makes him though! So right now, since no one has complained at him about not wearing shoes, he has none on. He enters the room just as the book is tossed across the floor. Blink. A look at the book, then at the person on the couch. "…Bad time?"

Whenever Loukanos can get away with it, he wears no shoes. No complaints so far, and that wouldn't stop him, anyway. However, as he finds no fault with the school uniform (none that don't apply to most modern clothes, anyway), he's still in his yellow sweater and khaki pants. Just barefoot. It's a look. As he enters the Billard Room, he glances between the book and Ashton. Picking it up, he says gently, "Study session gone wrong? Maybe you need a distraction," The new student gets a smile, then a double-take. Blue eyes narrow ever so slightly.

The last time Ashton had looked up no one else had been in the room. "Oh crap. Sorry." He looks up and sees the green boy? "Um.. hello.. yeah you could say that." As Loukanos walks in, a bit of a smile brightens his expression a little. He sighs, "I haven't really been able to focus all day."

Trevor looks at Loukanos, and waves. And then tilts his head at the narrowed-eye look. "…Hi?" he ventures uncertainly, giving a small finger-waggling wave. His hands draw towards him a little, not quite sure why he's being looked at that way. Ashton brings his attention back, and he smiles a little. "…Are you OK?" He has a quiet, raspy sound to his voice.

"Sorry…" Loukanos realizes he's staring and eases into a smile again. "You, um, feel a bit like some of the nymphs back home." He shrugs and looks at Ashton, leaning against the couch a little. "I am sorry that you're having trouble focusing," After a sigh, he adds, "If I could take it all away, I would."

Lily all but skips in, smiling brightly as she comes. In her hands she has a DVD case and around her neck she's sporting a set op headphone, microphone point straight up and the kitty ears on the headband pointing straight back. As for the rest of the outfit, she's wearing the school uniform, even if she hasn't been to classes yet. With a cheery "Hi!" to the boys in the room she heads straight to the TV and starts to put the game she's brought with her into the game console.

Ashton snorts slightly at Trevor's question to him, "Well, I think the jury's still out on that…" He says it with a bit of bitter sarcasm, though not directed at particularly anyone or anything in particular. His azure-green eyes flicker up to Louk, "I know, Babe… I'm sorry that I have been such a pain…" He sees yet another new face, "Um.. hi."

Trevor tilts his head again at Loukanos. "Nymphs?" Blink. Blinkblink. "…I guess I am… since I'm still a kid. But I've never heard kids called nymphs before…" Lily's appearance gets a similar wave and a, "Hi." He smiles, then watches as she puts the game into the console. He pouts a bit at Ashton's answer though. "…I'm sorry. I hope you can be OK again soon," he says softly.

Babe? That's new. Louk likes it! He shakes his head, "No need to apologize. I'm just worried, is all," Mimicking Trevor's head tilt unintentionally, the godling frowns, "Nymphs. As in the immortal and beautiful women that frolic with the gods. Not saying you're a girl. Just that you feel like one." He furrows his brows. "Nope, that didn't come out right. I sense their magic in you." Better. He watches Lily enter the room with a pleasant smile. "Greetings. You're both recent arrivals, yes?"

Lily looks back as the game loads up. "I am. Brand, spanking new!" Plopping herself down on any empty space on the couch she gives Ashton a little concerned look, "What's needs to get better? If you don't mind telling?" As she speaks she folds her legs under herself, settling into a comfortable position to play from.

Pretty much as soon as he said 'babe', Ashton blinks. Where did that come from? He looks up at Louk and smiles slightly. He's okay with it. He nods slightly, "I know you are. I'm sorry.. " So much for the no need to apologize, huh? He grins over at Trevor, "We're all teenagers here.. I'm pretty sure the reason that nymph is never applied to us is because it is pretty much a given…" He looks at Lily, offering a lopsided smile, "Um.. almost everything?" Ashton stops for a second, as he looks at Louk, choosing not to say what is on his mind. "I'm Ashton and this is Loukanos… " he grins slightly, "Who could sit down and stop looming."

"…Hee…" It's a quiet little chuckle, when Loukanos stumbles over words a little. "Nope. I'm not a girl. Not the last time I checked." He is, however, a new arrival, so he nods to that bit of the question. "I'm Trevor," he offers. "I… make plants." He smiles at Lily. "Welcome, then. I'm… new-ish. Got here a few days ago." then he looks at Ashton, blinking. "…Do you molt?" he asks it seriously, because here? One never can tell. "I'm pretty sure that's not a normal human growth cycle, though." A look at Loukanos. "…He is really tall." No, Trevor's just really short.

"Plants? That's delightful. I make them, too!" Loukanos all but beams when Trevor reveals his powers. "I am Loukanos." He says, to both Trevor and Lily now. "If either of you needs any help settling in, just let me know." He shakes his head at Ashton. "I can't actually. Just stopping by," He places a kiss on that map of dark hair before ruffling it. "Talk to you later. It was a pleasure to meet you both."

Lily looks around and arches her eyebrows slightly. None of the boys seems particularly tall to her. But boys can be sensitive about these things so she doesn't say anything, instead following the other conversational thread, "Well, nice to meet you all. I'm Lily and I got here just a couple of days ago." As if making that comment had triggered something her voice drops in volume. She's not whispering, its legitimately like someone took her volume dial and turned it from a 5 to a 3. "And I hope things get better. Ashton, right?" And then her game is loaded up, showing the splash screen for Overwatch. As to her powers, not a comment.

At the molting remark, Ashton cocks his head, "Well, I haven't so far, but I'm not ruling anything out…" He says it seriously, but then grins slightly. "Plants? That's cool." He nods when Louk says that he does as well. "Me, I just do magic… nothing that special." He frowns as Louk has to leave, "Oh, okay.. I'll see you later." Yeah, he definitely could use some relaxation time. "Yeah, Ashton.. " He shrugs, "Either they it will or it won't… just let time determine which, I guess."

Trevor smiles broadly as well when Loukanos says he also makes plants. "Really?" Then Loukanos has to leave. "Aww. OK, I'll see you later!" He seems the cheery sort, at least. Though even if the hesitant note to his voice has disappeared, the raspy note's still there. Like he doesn't talk much. For himself, as the game loads up, Trevor plops himself down on the floor to watch, but not where he'll be in the way. "…That's an online game, right?" Ashton's gets a tilt of his head. "Still. I hope they do."

Lily nods, "I hope they do too, Ashton." Offering up the controlled to Trevor she adds, "It is! You can try it if you want. I can coach you through your first game." She seems very eager to share her hobby.

Ashton smiles to the two. "Thanks.. I appreciate it. So how are you guys settling in? I've only been here for a couple of weeks myself… I'd like to say that you get use to everything, but I haven't so far.. just when you think you have, something new comes up… " He pauses, "But despite that, the place seems pretty cool.. as are …" another pause, "most of the people here…"

Trevor leans back, in surprise, holding his hands up as if the controller is something that would bite him. "Oh, er… no thanks… I'm not good at the shooty games," he says. "I'm too slow for most of them." He looks to Ashton. "Haven't had trouble yet. Hope I don't." He tilts his head a little at Ashton. "Only most?"

Lily pouts ever so slightly as her offer is refused but her smile quickly returns as she offers the controller in turn to Ashton, "You can try then, if you'd like. Its a really fun game." She even takes her headphones off with her other hand and offers said kitty-eared equipment up too, as if it was something that would definitely make the offer impossible to refuse.

Ashton holds his hand up, "Not today.. another time, sure thing… just not today… Thanks though… " He looks over at Trevor, "This place may be cool, but it's still high school, which means no one gets along with everyone… Even when they are as charming as myself." He says that last part purely jokingly.

"…The earphones are cute," Trevor does remark. "I'm better at the games I can sit there and decide what to do. When everything's moving so fast, I get lost and I mess up." Ashton gets a pout. "Yeah, I guess not… sometimes people just don't get along. It's weird."

Lily pouts a little more this time but she doesn't make a huge show of it either. Instead, she puts her headphones on DJ style (one muff on, one muff off) and logs into the game. After a few moments she's puit a group together and is sitting in the lobby, waiting for a game to start, "Well, I hope I don't have problems with people not liking me. No, I'm not talking to you guys! I DO have a life! Yes, I'm talking to some IRL friends. No. Its not girls. Ewwww… Jackrabbit! Shut uuuup!" Whatever comment was made last on her headphones has her blushing a bright red and muttering 'stupid boys' under hear breath. Trevor gets a "thank you" as a quick afterthought.

The door to the kitchen swings open and in wanders a tall good looking boy with dark, curly hair and pale blue eyes. A couple of those present would recognize Ariel in his boy form and for anyone who wouldn't he has a name tag on his t-shirt (brown with old west style script that advertises a product with the unlikely name of Peepum's Nasty Gum) which reads 'Hello, my name is Ariel.' He's carrying a box for a board game called Netrunner under one arm and sitting on his head is a tiny blonde girl, no more than six inches tall, who for those familiar with her looks like the girl form of Ariel, but teensy. In his free hand the boy carries a Santa Clarita smoothie, chunky and red and probably best uninvestigated. As they come in the boy is saying, "…see if you're any good at this. I mean, I'm fucking awful at it and there aren't enough cards here to do a good constructed deck, but it should be a good test." The homunculus Ariel nods, sprawls out on the boy's hair and says, "I'm hungry!" Ariel sighs heavily. "This isn't going to work at all." Li'l Ariel replies, "What do cats taste like?"

Ashton watches Trevor and Lily. "I'm sure that you'll have no problem making plenty of friends." He chuckles at Lily's muttered remark, "Yeah, he certainly have our moments at being stupid." He looks up, "Hey. Ariel… " His words drag out a touch as he sees little Ariel, then the homunculus asks about the taste of cats. "Um.. wow.." Then looks over at Trevor and Lily, "Member how I said you don't ever get use to things around here… " Looking back to Ariel, "Hey, Ariel… How is it going?" He can't help but to stare at the little female Ariel.

Trevor tilts his head at the talk. And then he gets a hilariously bad idea. A bit loudly (which accentuates that raspy tone in his voice), he asks, "Another grape, madam? Or would you prefer a chocolate?" He grins mischievously in Lily's direction. He blinks in surprise as Ariel and his… little friend enter. "Hi," he offers with a wave, his eyes wide. A blink at the little Ariel. He also nods at Ashton's reminder! "Yeah. I see."

Lily giggles in response to Trevor's comment. Into the microphone she says, "Chocolate. Always chocolate, Charles. *pause* *pause* *pause* Yes. That was my manservant. What do you mean servants are outlawed? I pay him very well, thank you very much. He gets housing, three square… EEEW! JACKRABBIT!" The last she's saying as she's look around to see who else has come in. As she sees the mini-Ariel here eyes widen and she whispers 'chibi!' before speaking back into the microphone. "Sorry guys. IRL intrudes. *pause* *pause* Yes, yes, its all Jackrabbit's fault. I'm off! Laters!" Taking her headphones off she hops over the back of the couch and, hands held behind her back she leans over to take a close look at the miniature girl, "Who's your friend, Ariel? She so keeeuute!" Seems she's forgotten (or is ignoring) the events of the other night.

As Ashton is lounging on the couch, his phone goes off. He looks at it and practically jumps off the couch. "Yes, Grandmother." He holds his hand over the phone, "Pardon me.. I have to take this or else there will be hell to pay." With that, he heads out to the back patio.

Ariel slows to a stop when he sees just how packed the room is and when he actually sees Lily for just a moment a look of fear crosses over his face, then he regains his composure and continues on toward the chairs in the back. Pointing up at the little Ariel, he says, "That's Ariel. But so am I." Little Ariel glares daggers at Lily and bares her teeth. When Ariel introduces her she nods and bangs a tiny fist on his head, "We are one flesh!" Ariel grimaces at the pronouncement and grumbles, "That's not creepy. Uh. Anyway, let's just go with she's my familiar. I'm gonna see if she's smart enough to play Netrunner and if so then maybe I'll start collecting again."

Lily growls back at mini-Ariel but its the kind of mock growl you use to play with a feisty puppy. And its followed by another, "You're so keeute, Chibi-Ariel!" Then mega-Ariel mentions Netrunner and Lily has to slap her hands over her mouth to keep herself from squealing her excitement, which might end up being bad for people's health. So, to further avoid an embarassing moment she starts to run out of the room. But in her wake can be heard a, "Don't move! I'll be right back!"

Ariel watches Lily go running off, looking a little confused. "Oh, wait. She's a super nerd, right? Maybe she has a deck. Man. I haven't even played for like a year. I have no idea what the meta is now." Tiny Ariel growls and pounds Ariel's head, hissing, "Shaper decks are for bitches!" Ariel blinks and that and reaches up to pick up his duplicate. "Hey, can you be cool for like five minutes?" The little thing grins at her bigger twin and then says something that really doesn't even bear writing down. Ariel's eyes go wide. "I'm pretty sure I'd never even think something like that." Little Ariel tilts her head and whispers, "Fall Formal?" Ariel winces and nods. "Oh, shit, okay."

Lily runs back into the room with not one, not two, but ten Netrunner deck! Sitting across the table from Ariel she grins at the boy and says, "I've had these FOREVER and not been able to play! I love the art. And the concept. But my friends are so into anime they forget there's other fun things out there too!" She starts to pull cards out of the deck and dumps them on the table before grabbing up the insturctions to start rereading them.

Ariel's eyes widen as Lily drops down an enormous pile of Netrunner cards. He looks from the boxes to her and back. The little Ariel glares at her and hisses, "Demon child!" but regular Ariel rolls his eyes at the comment. Maybe Lily's not all that bad. "Ignore her. She's an experiment. I don't think she got a full dose of my intellect. I'm just glad she stopped saying really crude sexual things to herself in the mirror." Ariel reaches out and starts 'helping' Lily unwrap the cards. "Did you ever learn to play? If not the first few games are going to seem like duds."

Lily shakes her head in response to Ariel's question, "No. All I know is what I've read in the instructions and on the 'net." But then mini-Ariel is hissing at her and, instead of taking offense like many would, Lily lets out a controlled little squeal of happiness, "Cuteness overload! Look at her, all protective! Who's a good, precocious chibi-Ariel!? YOu are, that's who!" As she fawns over the little homunculus she reaches out a finger to pet her on the head, kinda like she some sort of kitten.

The tiny Ariel stares in horror as Lily reaches out to pet her. Regular Ariel also looks pretty stunned. But then rather than snapping at her the little Ariel gets pet and just melts against Lily's hand. "Oh, jeeze, don't encourage her. When I reabsorb that I'm going to remember all of this from her point of view and it's going to be /so/ /weird/." He takes the decks and starts sorting them out. After a bit he takes out his phone, hits up Board Game Geek and pretty quickly has made a pair of good beginners decks. "Okay, I can explain the rules, but we'll have to take it slow because it's been a while and honestly I'm awful at explaining rules."

Lily gives little Ariel a few more pets because… Well, because its just damn cute what she's doing. Then she takes her hand back with a tiny hint of a blush on her cheeks and takes up her deck. "It’s OK. I learn things like this quick. Heck, I learned to play Magic when I was 5." She draws her opening hand and carefully examines the cards, once in a while looking over at the instructions she has sitting right next to her. "How about you start, since you already know at least the basics?"

Ariel then explains to Lily how to play Netrunner Reloaded. It's an explanation longer than one pose and true to his word he's not the best at this, occasionally having to double back and revisit concepts and several times grabbing the instructions to make certain he remembers certain things correctly. As they play bad mistakes are made because of faulty memories, the rules themselves not being well written or a combination thereof. Boardgamegeek on his phone becomes an invaluable ally for making sense of things. But before long they're actually playing the game. Little Ariel leans over to watch, interested despite her surly nature. This close it's evident where she's not like the bigger girl Ariel, her features smoother, clothes untextured, simplified in every way suggesting at limits to just how fine Ariel's shapeshifting can get. "Okay, and I… think that's actually the end of my turn." he's playing a dead simple straightforward Haas-Bioroid deck, a good pairing against Lily's Shaper hackers.

Yep. Lily's a newbie at Netrunner. Which becomes obvious as she constantly tries to gain control of things as quickly as possible. Something that's a good idea with many, if not most Magic decks. Not so much with a Shaper Netrunner deck. But she's hanging in there as best she can and she's clearly having fun, all smiles and frequently having to cover her mouth to keep control of her voice when she gets excited about something, good or bad.

Ariel reaches up to flick as his duplicate the second time she goes ahead and gives away something in his hands. "Don't help." The little Ariel snaps at him, then climbs down from his head and walks around the board, picking up markers and looking at them before she continues. The game goes on, which Ariel setting up tough defenses and working to get her victory points through agendas. "I didn't think there'd be another board game nerd here. Maybe we should start a club."

Lily laughs merrily as Ariel calls her a 'board game nerd'. A controlled laugh but still clearly highly amused. "Do you ever have a talent for understatement. I am the Queen of Geeks." She says, with pride in her voice, "If something can be described as nerdy, geeky, or weird, I'm all for it. Anime, natch, boutique board games, CCGs, video games, and anything else you can think of. And I would definitely be up for a club!" She keeps plugging away at the game, even if its becoming clearer and clearer that her early game mistakes are going to make winning this one without divine intervention impossible.

Lily laughs merrily as Ariel calls her a 'board game nerd'. A controlled laugh but still clearly highly amused. "Do you ever have a talent for understatement. I am the Queen of Geeks." She says, with pride in her voice, "If something can be described as nerdy, geeky, or weird, I'm all for it. Anime, natch, boutique board games, CCGs, video games, and anything else you can think of. And I would definitely be up for a club!" She keeps plugging away at the game, even if its becoming clearer and clearer that her early game mistakes are going to make winning this one without divine intervention impossible.

After another handful of moves Ariel manages to trap her in an attack, finishing the last agenda he needs. Li'l Ariel throws her hands up and cheers when the original wins the game, but he just smiles. "Well, I'm glad to have someone to play stuff with. There're plenty of nerds here, but I don't think anyone else does Eurogames."

Lily sticks her tongue out at Li'l Ariel and sighs in disappointment but quickly is back to smiling. "Settlers! You play Settlers, right? One of the best games ever!" She starts gathering the cards back up and putting them away. Seems one defeat is enough for her for the night. But instead of taking them all back she keeps her Shapers deck then hands everything else to Ariel, "Put together a few decks. Lets see who else we can rope into this in the next few days."

"Settlers is an okay beginner game, but if we can get the four people that takes I'd rather play Agricola or, well, they probably don't have Chaos on the Old World or Cthulhu Wars here, but those would be good, too." Little Ariel pipes up, "I wanna fuckin play, too!" Ariel just rolls his eyes and has a slurp of his now warm meat smoothie. "You're too dumb, but maybe next time. I'm just getting better at it."

Lily nods, "Yeah, but like you said, Settlers is a good beginner's game. Another really good one is Ticket to Ride. Oh! And Smash Up! Smash Up is perfect for this school!" Li'l Ariel also makes her giggle so hard that she has to once again cover her mouth with her hands to keep herself under control.

Ariel is sitting at a table with Lily, playing a very complicated (and goddam expensive) looking card game. At the moment he's a tall good looking boy with broad shoulders and dark, curly hair. Watching them play is a tiny version of his girl form, no more than six inches tall, who grouses at Lily when the girl laughs at her. "Fuuuuck you, Shriek!" Ariel reaches over and flicks the side of the little one's head. "Be nice." The tiny Ariel glares up at him and says, "You be nice!" Ariel considers that for a moment, then nods, "Touche."

Lily starts putting together a list on her phone. "So, what other games do we need for the club. I brought a few but not a ton of them. And besides, it would be nice to donate a few for to the school, for future generation, right? Oh! Oh! Munchkin! Have to have Munchkin!"

"Carcassonne. Then if anyone gets serious about it, Agricola and La Havre. Oh, Seven Wonders. Just in case we get a good group." Ariel's being hopeful here. You never know! Little Ariel is getting bored of this talk and climbs back up onto Ariel's shoulders, muttering, "Where's Conner? Wheeere's Conner?" Ariel gives the homunculus a sideways and picks her up to drop her back on his head. "You aren't his type, Tiny."

Lily nods in agreement with Ariel's suggestions, adding them to her list. Then she bounces up from her chair and grins,. "I'm going to go order these now. I'll see you later." And with that she dashes off in the direction of the girl's wing and her laptop.

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