@simon.laurent;

[incelligent]

uhhhh

hey there. hiya? i um

[#killingit with the Social Interaction. Guess who was pulled from his home world at ten and has been living on the Edge without any form of social media for almost a decade? Simon may be handy with gadgets and gizmos, but the whole talking to people thing? Not quite his forte.]

sorry, new here

still combin through the info decks or whatever they're called

was just wondering if anybody had any extra cans of paint lyin around?

[and ofc if things couldn't get any stupider]

ps the paint would be JUST for painting NOT for snIFFING

[who is gonna break his heart and tell him that art supplies are extremely expensive here...
plz... wreck his shit]

Comments

[baum]

[ Oh.

Yeah, okay, that doesn't sound good. ]

Wait

You like where WHAT is going?

[incelligent]

what?

[look at him trying to seem Cool and Bad (tbh tho the train ppl murder is um,,, actually worth significant concern)]

don't tell me you've never tagged a wall before

[baum]

Of course I've tagged a wall before

[ During the days of his misspent youth. It's lucky he's so much older and wiser now. ]

I'm just saying maybe not on the walls of the safehouse where we all have to live, and not where everyone can see you talking about it, man.

[incelligent]

a boy can dream, can't he?

[A sigh. He misses the Apex. Spray-painting the mall car is a fun way to pass the time when there's nothing to do.]

it's not walls im tryin to paint, bud

tho i gotta admit, that sounds pretty rad

[tagging walls not... god forbid, normal wall painting]

[baum]

[ Thank god. ]

I'd bet on there being better places to tag. We'll have to see

What do you want to paint, though?

[incelligent]

lil soldier bois

[gross??? simon. has john even really agreed to be ur friend.]

i can send u some pics of em when they're all done

[baum]

Dude

[ What does he even say beyond that? Jesus Christ, Simon. ]

Seriously, what are you gonna paint?

FYI if that was the real answer I'm checking out of this conversation in t-minus 5, 4, 3...

[incelligent]

nyEGH

[Why did that sound effect translate to text, why did Simon let that happen.]

but i need them to look just right so i can set up the dawn scene from the battle of Esmoroth

when the light shines through the mountains over all the soldiers as they fight to the death to defend their all powerful and super cool leader with like this totally awesome long blond hair

[and who is that supposed to be]

it's just really epic??? man i SWEAR

[baum]

[ What is happening here? There's really only one thing he can say to all of that. ]

The dawn scene from the battle of what?

[incelligent]

oh, um

[wow now he is finally feeling sheepish all of a sudden]

it's... the name of my fantasy novel?

novels?

that i uh wrote

[This isn't gonna end well for him oh boy.]

myself?

[think on your feet simon!!! this is cool... how does he make this sound cool-]

its a trilogy

[NO]

[baum]

You've written a trilogy of fantasy novels?

[ Evidently, he has befriended a nerd. ]

What's the story, we talking a band of plucky adventurers on a quest?

[incelligent]

[Oh wait! That didn't go as bad as expected. Right, John likes computers! Which means that he's definitely more of a nerd than Grace and... Simon may or may not be excited to learn how to count in binary with him.]

oh yeah!

yeah, actually

[baum]

Tell me about it.

[ Look, this is literally the most chill he has seen Simon be since they arrived. Clearly the novel is a good thing. ]

[incelligent]

[John would be right.

Well, that's certainly... Unexpected.

In all his years of friendship with Grace, which honestly stems most of his lifetime, she's never once stopped to read anything but the Foreword that she wrote. The fact that John would willingly entertain a description means a whole damn lot to Simon, and it certainly cements the bond that he assumed they had anyway.]

you ever heard of a game called Chambers and Centaurs?

[baum]

No

I'm not really a gamer, unless we're talking arcade games. It doesn't matter, though, tell me anyway.

[ It's nice, actually, to find that hook of Simon's interest. Maybe the familiarity of something he loves will keep him calm. It's probably only a temporary fix, but it's better than nothing. ]

[incelligent]

oh! i used to love arcades too ahaHAha

ha

[The ones he remembers.

Barely. The train had an Arcade Car, but the Cat had made a home of it.]

tho im really more of a tabletop guy? it's way more fun! because you get to play with all your friends, y'know if they wanna play

[Even though he mostly has made up stories by himself.]

but yeah anyways its like that? like one whole quest? haven't really finished it yet, but

like, 3 books? that's the plan, baby! w00t w00t

[baum]

That's cool, I think.

I mean I haven't played tabletop either. What is that, like Dungeons & Dragons?

[ He has at least heard of it. ]

[incelligent]

hmmm

[Simon rubs like 3 of his stupid chin hairs]

is that a roleplaying game that consists of the rolling of dice, a medium to large group of people, and oodles n oodles of creative storytelling and nonstop fun?

[baum]

Far as I know. I've never actually played, I can't tell you about group sizes

I'm pretty sure they do the whole fantasy thing, though.

[incelligent]

but it's the bOMb

[mr... baum]

maybe we can try and get a game together

[baum]

You up for teaching me how to play?

we are just gonna pretend he typed with proper grammar the whole time it's... far enough down

[incelligent]

Am I up for it? Is that even a question?

[Thankfully John is not around in person to witness just how excited Simon looks right now, he's practically beaming.]

You betcha! 👍👍👍