Day 29: Game Room

[scintillatingly]

Brunch had been relaxing, and Sora felt like he hadn't had a low-pressure, easy conversation like that in a while. Bridget seemed like a very sweet girl, and he wouldn't mind getting to know her better. He wondered if she had friends (other than Roger) who she could stick with in this place, or if she was on her own. If it was the latter, maybe he

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[theycutitout]

[ Wasn't sure if you were waiting for someone or not, so feel free to tell me if you want her to leave you alone~ ]

Breakfast came and went. Nothing more than fluffed up bits of art, trying to disguise the bodily nourishment as something prettier then it was. Painted up and dressed up like a pretty thing, like a pretty, plastic flower. It served its purpose, like everything did. Meant to pretend. Meant to be just like it wasn't deep down inside.

River stepped into the Game Room slowly, craning her neck to see over the heads and take in everything here. Play bits and puzzles everywhere. Bright colors and sounds and laughter. Mildly entertaining at best. Sad attempt to dress up the prison as a playground and appease the children. The girl frowned, making a face at the simplistic puzzles and primitive electronics that lay scattered about the field. Too easy, too slow, so she decided instead to play another game, an invisible one that came from so many years of a fractured mind playing games with itself alone.

After making a quick stop to pick up one of the Gameboys, River pranced over to where the elven lord's companion, to label her simply anyhow, remained. Without a word of introduction, she held out the archaic device as though handing over a peace offering.

"Simplistic technological advancement. Archaic electronics meant to entertain the masses."

[hamenleai]

Shana blinked in surprise as the unfamiliar girl danced up to her with an easy grace, her own green eyes wide in uncomprehending bewilderment as she glanced from the object the young woman held and back up to her face again.

"What?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice. She wasn't entirely certain the other girl had been speaking all of any language Shana had ever heard before.

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River almost sighed, but the sigh got lost somewhere in the fields of genuine amusement. Electronics and technology, no matter how primitive, seemed as lost on this one as "magic" was on her.

"Flip the switch on the side. Colors and blocks. It's like a puzzle," she explained, pointing to "on" switch in question as she shook the handheld system lightly in front of the other girl.

[hamenleai]

Shana stared at it a moment longer, feeling like an idiot. This place had such strange things. Half of them she didn't even understand their purpose. And she was trying to find a polite way to refuse, just to keep from looking like an even bigger idiot then she felt.

Then she smiled, glancing up with curious green eyes to eye the girl who seemed to know what she was talking about. "Will you show me?" she asked hesitantly instead, wondering if she'd be able to understand better by watching that trying and failing on her own.

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Grinning and quite obviously pleased to be able to excercise her basic understanding of ancient, entertainment modules from an Earth That Was she'd never even heard of before, River held the device out so that Shana could watch exactly what she was doing. Flipping the switch on, she watched the lights and letters, spelling out the word "Gameboy", flashed across the screen. Music gave it life as the limited color spectrum danced with the game set firmly in its place.

"A complex-for-its-time device used mainly to entertain children and a select group of adults by prompting them to fit blocks of various shapes - but always composed of four segments, never more, never less - together to make the puzzle disappear. An increase in speed for the falling blocks is used to quicken reactionary skills." River looked away from the screen as the blocks fell, still tapping the buttons to arrange them just right even as her eyes weren't focused on the puzzle. She flashed a charming smile at the other girl.

"There's something hidden in the blocks. They're trying to teach you something, if you listen."

[hamenleai]

Shana was watching the screen in fascination as the little blocks moved and River effortlessly manipulated them to fit in the puzzle, and she understood what the girl meant about reflexes. She couldn't imagine something doing this. Other worlds were so strange. This was what they did for entertainment??

When River flashed her a smile and spoke again, she glanced up to meet the other girl's gaze curiously. "There's something hidden? What do you mean?"

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"That would be cheating~" River chirped in a teasingly authoratative tone, laughing as she spoke. "You have to read them for yourself. Colors spell out words you never knew were real to you." There was always a meaning that couldn't be seen with eyes, a meaning you had to hear and trust with senses that weren't so blatant.

"How are the Elven Lord and his Shadow?" River asked, suddenly changing the subject without warning. The smile she bore clearly revealed that she wasn't phased by the quick switch, however; she danced the line between sanity and understanding, and she danced it well. "Can't forget the dragon either. It must be difficult for him here."

[hamenleai]

Shana blinked at this unexpected turn of conversation, flicking a sideways glance at the girl in surprise.

"You know Valyn and Shadow and Keman?" she asked, green eyes curious. She tried to think back, wondering if Valyn or Keman might have mentioned her.

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"Only one and long ago," River replied, manipulating the blocks into another line that disappeared in what she supposed was meant to be a flash. Ancient devices weren't typically good and depicting such effects. She shot Shana a knowing look. "The lord. I was rude." Without warning, River thrust the Gameboy in Shana's direction, after pressing the pause button to halt the progress of the falling shapes.

"Your turn," she chirped happily.