Who:Conner and Maxxie What:hangout When:recently Where:Kent house Status:complete warnings: none
Conner didn’t really know many people, but so far Maxxie seemed pretty decent. Like maybe someone he could get to know. They seemed to be about the same age, so he ordered a pizza. He figured if he liked it, the other guy might. And what else did people do when they got together? There was the podcasts he’d found, but then what? Maybe art or something? Conner wasn’t super good yet, but he enjoyed it. Apparently people said that mattered most.
So he waited for the other guy to show up. He hadn’t exactly told him what he was, but Conner wasn’t sure he wanted to. People treated him differently when he did, so for now he was just a guy with a dog. And a pizza on the way.
Maxxie was pleased to hang out with Conner again. They had already met a couple times at Maxxie’s place when he would show the other various methods of making art, most of which had involved sketch drawing with pencils. Conner had obviously been a beginner at it, but he also seemed to enjoy it as well.. Which was something the blond, British dancer had stated as important. Art was just something that Maxxie enjoyed a lot.
That did still leave a few other forms of art that Maxxie could teach him about. He could hardly wait til they tried painting next. Oh, or sculpting? Pottery? That could prove intriguing too. Maxxie also wondered if Conner knew any type of dance as well, because that was also something Maxxie often thrived in. Hm, maybe later. He was content to focus on art for now, and then eventually move on to other things that his friend hadn’t tried before.
Today would of course be the reverse, this time it was Conner who’d be showing him something new. Podcasts. It did sound interesting. He supposed they did have a few back in his time a decade and a half ago, but he’d been busy with either school or partying with his friends. Ahh, his friends. Tony. Anwar. Sid. He did miss them, especially Tony and Anwar. But here in Madison he was fast making new friends, and Conner seemed a good one. And so here he was, now standing at the door of the lad’s house and knocked at the door. “Hello.. Conner? It’s Maxxie, here now..”
Conner was trying to blend in as a normal person, so he didn’t rush to the door before the other guy arrived. “I know.” He said as he opened the door. He knew the sound of the guys heartbeat and breathing patterns. He knew that about everyone though. He studied people silently.
His white lab on the other hand was very much not silent and came to inspect the new person at the house with hesitance. The dog wasn’t as hyper as most dogs might be, he was cautious and critical when it came to new people. But still curious. He stayed close to Conners side, protectively. “You can come in.” He stepped aside, but the dog didn’t move yet.
Maxxie smiled as the door opened and seeing Conner’s familiar face. “Hi,” he said in greeting, sliding into the home as he was invited - and then noticing the other boy’s dog. “Oh, you have a dog? They’re my favorite,” he said, crouching down in front of the white canine. Maxxie understood the animal was inspecting him, so he held out a friendly hand so the dog could sniff, and also introducing himself (and possibly even saying the usual “Who’s a good boy,” thing), and giving it a pat or two if the animal was accepting of such.
Then he quickly stood up and followed Conner through to his room. “It’s a nice place you have here, definitely better than my apartment,” he said with a grin as they had soon stepped into the bedroom. He was indeed curious as to what new stories he would hear from the podcasts. He set his backpack down then, which had a sketchbook and pencils inside.
“It’s Clarks.” Conner looked back at Krypto who only tolerated so much of the dog baby talk before trotting off to find his own thing to do. “It’s fine.” Conner really didn’t know what to say about the house. It was just a place he was living at currently. “He’s my guardian now, so I guess I’m here. That’s Krypto, he came with me.”
He hadn’t really had anyone over at all, this was a first. He wasn’t sure what to expect. His room wasn’t really decorated. “I’m told I’m supposed to decorate it or something but I’m not sure how..” He shrugged as he motioned to the mostly simplistic decoration of the room itself.
Maxxie took a slow glance around the room as he sat at the foot of a bed, his blue eyes taking in the surroundings. It was certainly true about the room - there were a few necessities in the room, like the bed, a lamp, possibly even similar TV and radio system like Maxxie had himself. And definitely very spacious. But the walls were mostly bare. “Probably could put up a painting or two? Oh, or posters? If you have some favorite music bands, there’s posters of them. Or of a favorite here or actor from TV. Or movie posters. Or anything, really. If you see one you like in a store, just get it and put it up over an empty wall space.”
He recalled even seeing some posters with nature in it that were amazing to view. The blond then scooted over a bit so Conner would have ample space to sit if he needed. “So.. the podcast stuff. I assume we use headphones, I’m thinking. And since this is new to me.. You can pick out the one you liked best so far.” He did like surprises now and then so he was curious to what Conner would pick for them to listen to. Plus this was a nice change, as Maxxie was often the one teaching new things, but this time the blond artist would be learning today.
“Maybe not one of mine yet…heh.” It wasn’t great. “I actually don’t know a lot of music or anything. I never really had time for that stuff.” He paused as he gave it a little thought. “I liked video games. When I first got to the tower we played a lot of those. Gar taught me how.” He missed his friends. He was having a hard time making new ones, so he appreciated Maxxie making time to hang around.
“Lois said I could get some game systems though…do you play any?” He’d only ever played a few on pc, and some on xbox. He liked them though. “Headphones I use might hurt you. We should probably just play it over this.” He had a large sound system in his room. One of the few things he had asked for so far. He really didn’t want to impose on Lois and Clark too much. He tried to be in as small of a space as he could be, even though they’d said he didn’t have to. Conner scrolled through the phone he had in his hands. “What kind of stuff do you like? Comedy, or true crime or adventure show?” There were different types to pick from.
“I’ve played a few on PC, but mostly from Playstation 3,” Maxxie admitted. “Assassins Creed seemed cool, also played some fight games like MK and Tekken. It’s funny though, for most here those are classics.. You know, because I’m from 2008. I heard they have PS4 and 5 now, with graphics that actually look more real.” It was definitely amazing from what he’d seen so far.
Maxxie smiled at him then. “Well don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time for music now. Best way is to flip through radio stations til you hear music you like, then look that band up for more of their songs. There’s even apps on the phone that has that too.” He glanced briefly at the phone in Conner’s hand, trying to think of what he liked best. “I’m open to all three but maybe we can listen to adventure first? That sounds a bit exciting.” Which was true, he did like adventure tales.
“The ones we played were mostly rpg stuff. Or fight games. I don’t know which ones they were though. Gar usually picked the game.” Conner was just kind of along for the ride, but he missed Gar. Nonetheless. He’d had a stupid fight with him before showing up there, and hoped one day he’d get to see him again. “2008? Huh. I’m from 2022..few years ahead.” Yet in some ways not ahead at all. Conner didn’t know much about pop culture or whatever.
“Is that how most people find things? Just…randomly scroll?” Conner really didn’t know. Things were systematically chosen for him most of the time. “Lois says I should get one…should I get ps5 then?” He decided to use the laptop in his room for this then, and put on one of the podcasts. It was sort of a choose your own adventure type. “Did you bring the paints? Maybe we could try both at the same time?”
“I’d say yes to a PS5, definitely worth it,” Maxxie said with a nod. He knew that his friends back home would certainly find it interesting. Gar sounded like a good friend to Conner. “Maybe Gar will show up here too, he sounds like a cool person to meet,” he added hopefully. Then Conner had picked the podcast. He smiled as he listened to it more with his friend. “Bloody brilliant, this is.” he mused. “Sense it’s like.. Well, different outcomes. Like a ‘choose your adventure’ type? I remember reading books like those in a library once. And this? This seemed the next level.
Maxxie nodded with a grin as he opened his backpack. “I did, actually,” he said as he brought out some thick paper. Then a couple paints in a box, and two brushes, a damp long rag, which he handed one of the thin paint-brushes to Conner. “I have more in the apartment, but these are blue, brown, and green. Just watch this and.. copy it.” And so, as they listened, he dipped the brush into a paint and set it to paper, while also observing Conner next. Then painting a bit more, and occasionally cleaning the brush off with his cloth and picking different colors. It was feeling even more fun as they were listening to the podcast adventure while doing this. “Hmm okay. Ps5 it is then. You can come by when I get it.” Conner had been thinking of also maybe getting a part time job of some kind, ps5 and occasional visits weren’t really enough for him after san fransisco. It was nice, but he needed to physically do something. “Yeah..I hope so. He is. He’s like what I’d imagine having a brother is. Though I’ve never had any siblings.” Conner didn’t have any real family, only created family. He scrolled through podcasts and nodded. “It gives you ways to interact on your phone or tablet or whatever so when it gets there we can touch the options.”
Conner nodded as he looked over the various supplies Maxxie had. “You start. I know how to copy, but I have no idea how to do any of this.” He wanted to see what the other guy would do. Conner could identically copy, but imagination was a hard thing to learn.
Maxxie glanced up, looking at their phones which were linked to the podcast. :Oh, that sounds fun,” he spoke with a grin. They would just have to listen for the point in the podcast story for the choice-making times. It sounded like a fun game. From what they were listening to so far, the story was certainly exciting and kept him wanting more of it.
“Yeah, I can do that,” the blond nodded, starting with the brown color. “Maybe a happy tree,” he said with a laugh, slowly drawing a large trunk of a tree. “There’s this famous painter from years ago, used to be on TV a lot. Really nice guy. He was really good with trees. Soft voice too, he had some cool philosophy about painting.” He continued, slowly filling out the trunk image with the paint, including roots and branches next.
It was going to be a promising night of someone he enjoyed hanging around. And honestly Conner needed the distraction. This place threw lots of curve balls. He watched and absorbed much like a copy machine as Maxxie painted along, and took it all in. He had a photographic memory on top of all the other tricks he had. “Do you want to stay for dinner? Clark’s cooking I think.”
This was definitely turning out to be a fun day for Maxxie.. actually for both of them, it seemed like. He could already tell Conner was a cool, great guy, and seemed to enjoy most of the activities that the blond did. And of course he was grateful to learn something new as well. And seeing how well the other boy was copying him as he painted? Wow he adapted quite nicely. While also at the same time also progressing through the podcast, hitting some buttons on the special phone as they came up.
And now an offer of dinner? Maxxie couldn’t help but smile at that. It would be nice to have a meal with Conner and his family. Even if they might not be from the same universe, but they all seemed nice enough. Eating together would be a great way to know each other better. “Sure, I’d like that,” he said with a quick nod. And he was actually getting hungry himself too. “Just a few more stuff to add in this painting, so we should be ready to go eat as soon as we finish it.” This was definitely the best day ever. Which he was confident there may also be plenty more of later on too.