normal_norman (normal_norman) wrote in _fracture_, @ 2014-02-02 11:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | adam, chapter 1, norman, the regent hotel |
What is this sorcery?
Who: Norman and Adam
When: Late morning
Where: Lobby area
Norman still didn't get this. He didn't understand where he was or what the purpose was. The note he'd gotten wasn't really that helpful and the only thing that kept him calm was the suitcase filled with his own items beside him on the bed. It was scary, still, but at least he had his dice and his cloaks. And because he couldn't sit in his room and find the answers, he threw on his black cape and pocketed a favorite 20-sided die as he headed out of his room to find the lobby.
So Adam thought about heading to his room. He got there actually. Then he sort of said ‘fuck it’ because yeah, there was no way he could just sit there and fret about a non-date and what that meant and why the hell Kyle wanted to date him. Of all people. There had to be girls that were better options for a gay guy than he was. But Kyle wanted to and Adam knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth, which mean no fretting and on to find something else. He’d bounded into the lobby with the energy that only someone who just had what mostly amounted to the best morning ever could have, looking around and wondering what part of it he’d explore today. Honestly the bar was out of the question because as nice as that chick had seemed, Adam didn’t want a repeat of her questions that pissed him off and would kill the whole good, kissing mood he was in. Nope. Something else...someone else. He barely registered the cape when he spotted the kid and called out. “Hey!”
At first, Norman didn’t expect that call to be for him. It never usually was. It was almost always for someone else and the three voices he registered with ‘Hey’s were very far away from him right now. Or at least, probably were. But when no one answered the voice, Norman slowed and turned, looking around before looking back at the person down the hall. He pointed at himself and blinked. “...Me?”
Adam looked around himself then nodded. “Not sure who else. I mean...well yeah you.” He knew that feeling. Like he didn’t exist. He’d been there until Jeffrey. He started towards him, trying to seem open and not intimidating, not that anything outside of his height really could be intimidating. “How’s it going?”
Jesus that guy was tall. Way taller than Norman, who was mostly just average. Or, honestly, on the small side of average. “Uh...good. I guess. Goodish. How’s it going with you?” He asked, reaching for the inside of his cloak to curl it up in his fingers. It was a reaction, one he had when talking to new people, but not one he noticed consciously. “Uhm...I’m Norman.”
That was a cape. Weird. Adam hadn’t ever really been that weird, but he’d seen those kids. They didn’t even want to be his friends back that honestly, but he didn’t judge. Not now. Not after so many years of being alone. “Going pretty great,” he said with a smile. “I’m Adam.”
“Adam. Nice to meet you, Adam,” He said, rocking back on his heels for a moment before realizing he hadn’t offered a hand to this new person. Unhanding the cloak and wiping his hands on his jeans, he offered one out to Adam and hoped he would take it. “I have manners, I swear,” He promised, grinning goofily at Adam again. “Even though I’m not sure whoever put us here does.”
“Surprised you didn’t squeeze my name in there one more time,” Adam said lightly with a smile. He took the guy’s hand and shook it. “Manners are details. I’m not used to them. And no, but I’m not hating them as much as I did when I first got here.”
Ugh. Great, Norman. Normal people didn't see a need to do that, repeat the name of the person they'd just met. Get it together…
He tilted his head a little at Adam's statement and then pulled his hand back to tuck them both into his pockets. "Why's that? Did they give you a million dollars too or something?"
“They gave you money?” Adam asked, raising an eyebrow. “But not. Just...good circumstances. My friend is here and I didn’t think...well things are different and I’m kind of excited about it.” How did he explain that he suddenly had a sort of boyfriend? Was Kyle a boyfriend? Adam had no idea.
“What? Oh...no, I meant...a million dollars on top of being here...That was confusing, sorry…” God, Norman. Could you be any more awkward? Embarrassed, he scratched the back of his head as he listened to Adam, only perking up at the end of his sentence. “...Wait, your friend is here? Maybe my friends are here too! Where was your friend?”
Adam tilted his head a little, wondering if he was like this was how he had been. How he was. Probably. “It’s cool. Just got confused.” He smiled some then nodded. “Yup, found him in the hallway having a meltdown.
Maybe his friends were here then. That seemed promising, someone else finding a friend in this place. “Well...I hope my friends are here. It’ll be really hard, trying to play Magic with myself.” He glanced at Adam, thinking he might know the answer to this question but Norman never really liked to judge. “Do you know how to play Magic?”
“Yeah here’s hoping,” Adam said, though he was doubtful. If they really wanted his friends to be there, they would have given him Jeffrey too right? And so far there was no sign of his friend. But Adam didn’t want to think about that right now. “Magic...the card game?”
“Yeah!” That was promising, that he even knew what he was talking about! “Magic: The Gathering. I have all my stuff with me. Well, not all of it, but a good amount of it. Would you want to play sometime? If you don’t know how, I could teach you….”
“Oh…” Most people would say no. Adam couldn’t. “Sure. No promises that I’ll be any good.” So maybe he’d learn Magic. It was better than not having anyone to talk to.
“Well, it’s a hard game no matter how much you know about it, but it is really fun. And I have my D&D stuff here too, if you’re ever interested in that…It takes more time but it’s so much fun…” He was babbling. He should get it together but this guy had just agreed to play Magic with him! “Too bad we can’t...order a pizza or something. My friends and I do that, order a pizza and play games all night.”
Adam shrugged a little. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about that dude,” he said with a small laugh. “But I think you can. I mean there’s room service. I don’t see why they couldn’t bring you pizza if you wanted it.”
"Maybe I'll try that," He said, smiling a little more. "Nothing better than a pepperoni pizza and a night of awesome games." He rocked back on his heels, feeling a little less awkward now that Adam had mentioned wanting to play Magic with him. "I could tell you about Magic now, if you want."
Adam looked at the guy curiously, then realized he had nothing better to do and wound up shrugging. “Alright okay.” It would help him kill time before he had to go on his date anyway. “Lead the way.”
“Alright! Okay!” He repeated, beaming a grin as he started back toward his room. He hadn’t gotten far and he figured he could find his way back there pretty easily. He probably should slow down, because he was walking like a kid getting ice cream, but he was just so happy to have someone who was interested. “So..you play video games, right?”
Adam followed after Norman without much else to do otherwise. At least the guy seemed happy about it. That was enough for Adam. “I do. Halo, Madden, things like that.” He played with Jeffrey some, but they were all Jeffrey’s choosing.
“Ok, so, shooters...sports. I’ll probably set you up with a red deck. Red is a good deck for people who...well, berserkers, I guess. You probably know that term, right?” He played video games, he’d heard of Magic...of course Adam knew what a berserker was. But really, Norman figured it was common knowledge now anyway.
Adam made a tiny face then shook his head. “No. No I don’t. I don’t think so. Am I supposed to?” he asked. Maybe he should. Maybe he just hadn’t been paying attention to things. “What’s the difference with a red deck?” Was he supposed to know these sort of things.
“No, no, it’s ok. It’s...Berserkers, heavy attack, low defense. Super, mega strong guys? Tanks, also. They’re sometimes called tanks,” Norman absently let them into his room and started straight for the bed, popping open his suitcase to find myriad of decks in it. they were all housed in neat, color-coded sleeve protectors and synthetic leather deck cases and he was ridiculously proud of them. “So a red deck will be a good one to learn on, because it gives you a lot of strong characters and spells to attack your opponent with. A lot less tricks to worry about in a red deck than in a blue deck...but I think, once you know what’s going on, you’d like a blue deck better. They’re...strategic, blue decks.”
Adam was so confused. He stared at the guy, the giant binders, all of it just...confused. “This sounds really complicated. I may not be smart enough.” Still he sat in Norman’s desk chair, waiting to see if he could figure this out or just make a fool of himself.
“You’re definitely smart enough. If I can do it, you can do it,” He promised, bringing over a choice selection of cards and putting them down on the desk near Adam. “Ok, get ready for the ride of your life! This is gonna be great,” He said, definitely feeling like that was true and hopefully Adam would feel the same way by the time they finished playing.