Video games on Floor Fourteen

[sonof_thrain]

Characters: Thorin and open.
Setting: Floor Fourteen- The Media Room
Format: Prose, will match.
Summary: Thorin stumbles across the Media Room on Floor Fourteen. He wants to know more about video games as Jonouchi mentioned them to him once.
Warnings: Possible angst and swearing.


It didn't take long for Thorin to enter the Media Room on Floor Fourteen. He had heard about these so called "games" from Jonouchi. The boy seemed quite versed in modern technology. Something, Thorin hadn't mastered quite yet as this was nearly his second month within the Tower.

He entered the room and noticed the soft, large chairs and the strange technology within the room. Boxes which were on the wall in front of the chair and wires of some sort. What did all of this do? He picked up a controlled for one of the games and pressed a few buttons out of interest. There was no image on the screen and wondered was it broken? Was something supposed to happen. He felt awkward and out of place. Would someone be able to guide him in working on of these machines? He sighed and felt like throwing the controller down in a rage.

Comments

[gomu_ningen]

Out of the dwarf's peripheral sat the young lad. He had a similar looking controller in his hands, and the monitor in front of him was flashing and sounding off with the most out-worldly of sounds. Like lightning flashing across the sky, the light of the screen flickered over the features of the young pirate. He seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit, a rather stupid grin flashing across his face as he punched his fingers into the soft buttons of the remote.

[invisible_friendship]

This was Jonouchi's haven and one form of entertainment he was still able to indulge in. Naturally he spent majority of his time here in the tower on this very floor. Not only was it one of the safest to him, but it was also one of the funnest! So when the blonde saw that the warrior finally made his way around to this floor, he was excited! It looked like he needed some help operating it though.

The blonde slid in to join Thorin. "Hey, Thorin! I see you made it! Need help working the console?" He'd be more than happy to teach the guy.

[undroppedeaves]

Here is someone who probably can't help at all. But he smiles when he sees Thorin, he is doing a lot better now then he had been and this tower, despite all it's dangers was another thing that could be endured. Like all things.

"Hello Thorin."

[concept_killer]

Satsujinki didn't have much use for video games. You needed to be able to see those to actually play them. But the media room had two uses for him that he appreciated. One was to put on headphones and listen to music and block out everyone else. The other was that a certain other person frequented this room but hadn't shown up for quite a while. But he still waited.

Obviously, the only important matter here was the headphones and music. He felt a slight jolt on the floor when the controller was tossed so he turned in the direction he felt it coming from and slid off the headphones.

"Got a problem or did you just trip and fall?"

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin watched the boy play the game with some wonder. How did it all work? He had never seen such a machine like it. Noise and sound mixed together. It was all magic to him. "How do you work the machine in which you are using?"

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin nodded as he saw a familiar face. Jonouchi. So, he had come after all. The dwarf felt very out of place here. So many new things and he could not work them. It made him uncomfortable to be so vulnerable right now.

"Aye. That would be appreciated, Jonouchi. I know not in what I am doing. These contraptions seem like magic to me."

[sonof_thrain]

"Greetings, Samwise." He offered a smile and a nod. The hobbit had found his way to this floor also and this curious room. A magic room filled with strange items and objects. Noises and sounds that were alien to him.

"What brings you here, Sam?"

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin turned to see the boy. He had met him before within the tower on another floor. "Nay, I did not trip nor fall. This contraption seems alien to me. Do you know how to work such things?" He did not know if the boy could see. Thorin was at a loss really.

[undroppedeaves]

"I was just passing through, getting to know all these floors. There's so many you barely get to the top before you forget what's at the bottom." He smiled, "And you?"

[concept_killer]

"We're kind of in a room full of contraptions so you're going to need to be a little more specific." He could help but he mostly needed a starting point. That and he was too lazy to feel around and try to figure it out himself.

[gomu_ningen]

"Ne-?"

The young man cocks his head to the side, looking over the bearded individual with a rather blank expression. He lifts up the controller and presents it to the warrior, offering an inviting grin.

"Not sure, I just found this thing on and started messin' 'round with it. It's pretty fun! It's like a book but it moves when you press buttons! Wanna' try?"

[sonof_thrain]

How could he put it to him without sounding ridiculous. This was hard enough. He was a dwarf in a room full of strange objects, far beyond his comprehension. "Tis hard to explain but I will try. I want to know how to play one of these games people go on about. A video game?"

[sonof_thrain]

"Aye, that is true enough. I came here out of sheer curiosity. That and someone mentioned that you could gain some sort of fun from these objects." Thorin fingered a controller in his right hand and frowned at it. It didn't look much. "I have not figured out how to work these contraptions of yet."

[sonof_thrain]

"Like a book? It is like no book I have ever seen." Thorin frowned and didn't know what to make of it all. Damn it, he didn't even know how to work such things! Perhaps, he should not even be here. This was no place for a dwarf.

Yet, he wasn't going to be beaten. "Could you show me how to work this?" He held the game controller up to the boy.

[concept_killer]

"Oh, right. I guess some people are into that kind of thing." Well, he was into video games when he was younger. Not too much but he did spend some time at the arcades.

"Let's start from the beginning. Did you pick out a game to play?"

[invisible_friendship]

Jonouchi wasn't passing judgement, he actually thought it was pretty cool a warrior was going to play a video game. It was almost like a dream come true. The thrilled blonde eagerly began to explain.

"We'll start with the basics. You have to turn the system and TV on." He pressed both of the power buttons for Thorin to see. Two buttons wasn't hard, right?

"There should be a load screen coming up, which game is in here?" They'll find out!

[undroppedeaves]

Sam looked at the objects, he had no idea how they worked either. "Well those seem to be buttons, maybe we should press them."

He picks up the closest controller and begins pressing each button in turn.

[gomu_ningen]

"Sure thing!"

Luffy lifts up the controller, explaining the basics of how the game "Dig Dug" was played. The lad himself wasn't entirely sure how the game mechanics worked exactly, but he was knowledgable enough to inform the Dwarf Prince of how the delightful "moving book" was played.

"So all ya' gotta' do is keep tappin' the button and it'll blow the dragons and meatballs up! Here, give it a try!"

He offers up the controller with a bright grin, shaking it with an inviting vigor.

[the_white_rider]

A year ago, the Wizard would probably have been as lost as the Dwarf King as far as technologies were concerned-- Thankfully over the course of the past year, Gandalf learnt how to use most of the technologies present in the tower and available to the residents. He hardly trust most of them, specifically the network, but the games present in this room were harmless enough.

The White Wizard was on his way to the library when he caught a familiar sight in the media room, -- That of someone he once knew well... And who should have been dead. Deviating from his original path and engaging into the Media Room, he would go toward Thorin, using his staff as a walking stick. Gandalf was probably noticeably "whiter" than the way Thorin may remember him.

"I believe you will have to activate the device before being able to make use of it, Thorin Oakenshield."

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin looked up as he heard that voice. It couldn't be.....

...Gandalf? His eyes came to rest upon the white figure of the wizard. He was not dressed in his usual, drab grey robes. But, of bright white. A change of dress? Or something else? The affairs of wizards did not concern Thorin.

"Gandalf. I did not know you wandered these halls also." He noticed that the wizard also carried a white staff.

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin just watched as Jonouchi did everything for him. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "A....load screen? Does that mean it is working then?" He didn't have much idea about games and felt lost. It was lucky the boy was here to aid him.

[sonof_thrain]

"Aye. Beware of what you press, Samwise. It could be a trap, laid on by these so called moderators. Administrators, Legolas called them. I have heard of evil crimes they commit." Thorin looked at the controller with apprehension. He hardly trusted anything within the tower.

[sonof_thrain]

"A game? I know not of anything. Perhaps it be best if you picked the game out." He had no clue. How was a dwarf supposed to know what game to pick out?

[sonof_thrain]

The words "dragons" and "meatballs" caused him to raise an eyebrow. Now, he was interested. Destroying dragons and turning them into meatballs? That sounded like fun.

"Aye. I will give it a shot." He took the controller and frowned. How did this work? Tap the buttons and blow the dragons up? Right. He looked at the moving picture on the screen as he smashed the buttons with his thumbs.

[gomu_ningen]

"Not bad! You're picking it up quicker than I did! Do they have video games where you come from?"

Thorin's button mashing was just the trick when it came to this game. Guys with beards must be really good at this sort of thing, Luffy thought. Now the question was, how did he get a beard of his own?

[concept_killer]

"It's not that easy." How to work this out...

"Do you read books or listen to stories? What kind are your favorites?"

[invisible_friendship]

The load screen flashed before them with the consoles name, followed by the game. It looks like a fighting game, the kind beginners normally button-mashed at. "Yeah, see the opening credits! You can skip them by pressing one of the buttons. It'll bring up the menu." With a system this old, it should just have one option. "Press play when you see it."

[undroppedeaves]

He looks at the controller fearfully, but nothing seems to have happened, on screen or elsewhere. "I have witnessed their cruelty, it seems they will stop at nothing."

[the_white_rider]

And Gandalf was relieved not to have to explain it once more. Many times already he had had to explain the reasons behind his changes to those who had thought him dead in the depths of Moria.

"And wandered them I have for far too long." Gandalf stated with a light smile "But it is good seeing you again, old friend."

[sonof_thrain]

Old friend? It had not been many weeks ago since he saw the old wizard. Yet, time had passed within the tower and Thorin wondered how long had the wizard been here? He was different. White instead of grey now. Did the tower do this to him?

"Gandalf. Why are you now white, instead of your grey robes and staff, which you carried before? I am confused deeply." He looked up at the wizard with confusion in his eyes.

[sonof_thrain]

"Nay, there is nothing like this from where I hail." He could not help but smile slightly at that. Nothing like this ever hailed from Middle-earth. It was alien to him. Thorin's eyes fixed onto the screen once more, as he smashed the buttons and wondered if he was doing it right.

"Am I doing this correctly?"

[sonof_thrain]

Press play. Alright, he could do that, couldn't he? Thorin waited for the load screen, before pressing the button when he saw the word "play." He pressed the buttons a few more times, as the fighters appeared on the screen. He picked the one with an axe and a muscled torso.

[sonof_thrain]

"I believe everything in this tower is a show of their cruelty. They give us devices which we do not understand. They feed us food, which is barely edible. A curse upon whoever did this." He growled.

[sonof_thrain]

"I do read books. I used to, before I was torn from my world and placed here. I listen to stories, told by Balin, a dwarf from my world." He swallowed. Would he ever see the old dwarf again?

[gomu_ningen]

"Yeah! There ya' go! Quick! Make sure you tap the button REAL fast when you get close to the dragon, yeah?"

[Luffy watches in amazement. This guy was a mighty warrior! He'd only watched the squirrel girl play it and he had learned by trying to copy her.]

"You must be really strong if you're really good at this game!"

[undroppedeaves]

"They are cruel indeed." Sam nodded putting down the controller, not wishing to inadvertently trigger any negative effects.

[invisible_friendship]

"Once your done with that, you just pick the map you want and fight against the computer. Sometimes they're hard. This game should have a two player option!"

[sonof_thrain]

"Pick a map? I understand the concepts of using a map, so maybe I will understand this after all." Thorin nodded and used the controller to choose a map.

[sonof_thrain]

"Things like these are no use to us, Samwise. These are for those of us from another time and place. We are warriors from Middle-Earth. Not toys to be played with."

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. He really enjoyed these so called "games." Thorin, however, was not that good at using the controller. His large fingers bashed the plastic buttons rather hard and he felt as if he would break the controller.

"I am strong, but that is because I am a blacksmith and warrior."

[undroppedeaves]

Sam nodded, though he wasn't sure he would call himself a warrior, of any kind.

"I wouldn't say I'm a warrior, I'm just a gardener." Yet still not a toy to be played with.

[gomu_ningen]

[Cue the enthralled eyes.]

"Y-You're a blacksmith AND a warrior?! WHOA! I knew it! You've got the "warrior's beard" to prove it!!"

[invisible_friendship]

"It's hard at first, but once you get use to it, it's really easy." Unless you have a hard ass computer to beat, but he won't divulge that just yet.

The blonde pointed eagerly toward the screen as the count down started. "Your match is about to start!"

[sonof_thrain]

"Indeed. I am a warrior and smith, not some pawn in this twisted game the tower plays with us. We will be free of it's malice, Samwise. Never let it beat you."

[sonof_thrain]

"If you say so." Thorin's eyes were yanked to the screen, as his match was about to start. He hoped that he wouldn't make a complete fool of himself in front of Jonouchi and the others within the room.

[sonof_thrain]

Thorin just raised his eyebrows at the boy. Warrior's beard? Was he being serious? Thorin did take pride in his beard, as did every other dwarf in Middle-Earth. "You seem in awe of me, yet, I am unsure why."

[undroppedeaves]

"I wont, it will be hard pushed to make pawns of many here." Most people seemed strong, survivors.

[gomu_ningen]

"That's 'cause you've got a strong face! You remind me of the giants where I'm from! They look a lot like you, but they're giants. They fight with honor and pride, and face everything without question! Yup. I can tell you're just like that!"

[Candid Luffy compliments. One dwarf at a time.]