- - S a s h a -

She had spent a while the night before contemplating what books she ought to lend to Garret. It wasn't that she thought they'd be in bad hands but she just wanted to ensure her selections would be welcomed and not just taken out of awkward politeness. She had what Harry Potter books had been released and she wasn't sure if Garret had gotten into them or not. Some of her friends did but some also were skeptical at the idea of witches and magic but the ideas that came from the series just took Sasha's breath away. "Do you read any manga?" They were hard to come by these days but Sasha had acquired a decent collection. "I figure these might be easier to deal with, you can finish them super fast." She walked over and picked up the first volume of Fruits Basket, Hana Kimi and Inuyasha. She then handed them to Garret, knowing she probably should have given him an actual book like he had, but she thought they could do another exchange if he wanted.

Garret then spoke up, saying he had brought some cards with him, which was good. It may be easier for him to understand with his own cards, rather than burrowing her own. "You'll be fine!" She smiled to him. "Well the best way to make a deck really work is to have a certain type. Like all grass or fire or a mix of fighting and rock, stuff like that." She told him, not wanting to ramble too much. "Sometimes people add in type advantages that oppose their own type. Like if you have water and you know your opponent may use grass to counter, sometimes if you have a fire pokemon in there, just in case, it can really help. And then there's energy cards which kind of act like your PP, so if you attach them to a pokemon, they can attack." She took a break, not wanting to just overload Garret on the bits of gameplay.

"I learned by just doing it." Sasha finished. "How about we have a practice game and I can walk you through turns and stuff?" She suggested, having an inkling that he'd get it better if he did it. They sat down on the carpet and she shuffled her deck. "So first, put six cards face down, over to the side. Those are our prizes, each time we K.O someone's pokemon, we pick one up and put it in our hand, the first person to get all their prizes, wins." She began to explain. And then she walked him through drawing, taking turns, setting up your bench with pokemon who weren't being used. By the time Garret was getting the hang of it, her mother called them down for lunch. They headed down and took their seats. "After this, we could walk around a bit or watch some tv." She suggested, trying not to overthink things too much. She wanted her guest, er friend to have a good time.

- - D e v o n -

Seeing the girl wave to him, he couldn't help but note that yeah, it was a bit different from seeing her at school. He felt something funny inside his stomach but he figured it was just nerves. They were about to play laser tag after all. "Hey." Devon greeted her. He gave her a 'tch' at her comment which to him was a bit funny. "Oh not much just waiting on you." He grinned at her. The two of them headed inside. There was a distinct smell of pizza, soda, sweat, and plastic. There were people playing video games and running around. There were announcements over the cries of kids, talking about the next round of laser tag. It was all fun and games. He grinned even more and looked to Ami. "How about we get three games?" He suggested. Each game was ten minutes and that gave them about a half a hour of fun before they decided what else they wanted to do.

Walking up to the counter, he got his wrist band and waited for his friend to do the same. The next round wouldn't start for another six minutes so that gave them some time to kill with arcade games. They walked around and played a few, not too worried about the tickets they got or didn't get. When the next round was called, he ran over to the entrance of the arena and he and Ami got their gear on. They'd both be on the same team for the first game. He tapped his neon green vest and held up his gun. "Those aliens ain't gonna know what hit em." He laughed. There would be two teams of red and green and then aliens popping up in the arena. The teams could either be against each other and the aliens or team up. It was the players' choice. Devon's player number was G6.

He heard the upbeat techno begin to play as the safety blurb ended and they were let out to charge their weapons and get going. He glanced to Ami and then the others on their team. They'd kick some butt for sure. An announcement over the arena which was all black with neon paint and obstacles, said they could now begin and save their world. Awesome. Devon ducked behind some tubes and looked around. A flash of red caught his eye and he shot at it. It hit which cased the enemy player to feel a mild vibration and sound. He looked around and hurried over to hide behind a corner in the middle of the arena. In his eagerness he seemed to have lost Ami. He figured she'd be off at the enemy base trying to score points there, so he headed off in that direction, strobe lights flashing above his head.

( I know it's short, but hey, we gotta give the kids some interaction. )