Pl@y H3r G@m3s

[Erin Hackett]

Lydia had messaged Erin over skype and had invited her over to come play some video games in her room. In Lydia, another girls, room! It should have been understandable for a gay girl such as Erin who had something of a small interest in the other girl to feel excited about it all. Problem was, when Erin started to like someone in any way, even if they were a guy, she started to look up information about them. Hacking things such as the schools network when she could or the computers or other devices that a person owned. Cellphones and computers were the easiest for Erin to get into and while she found few things that made her feel like she should not try to like flirt with Lydia or anything she still could not help her thoughts.

Even if she is taken already…we could be just friends. Yeah, that would be cool right? I could handle that. Not like I could ever even ask her out or anything so not even a point in worrying about such things. Erin thought to herself as she headed to Lydia’s room having been informed where it was and everything from Lydia. Erin did bring her laptop bag with a few things, just in case but she did actually plan to play video games with the other girl. She could not recall what they had talked about playing and she probably was going to leave it all up to Lydia to pick everything. Erin doubted that she was going to even be able to say anything because she would be in Lydia’s room. In another girl’s room. Alone. Well apparently alone but Erin didn’t know what the other girl had planned up for the two of them.

“Worse case, just vanish and run. You can do this.” Erin gave herself a small pep talk to herself as she took a deep breath. Standing outside the dorm room door for a moment before giving it a good knock. Soon as she knocked she wanted to just run or use her power to hide but she remained frozen there and just hoped that things didn’t start off to awkward.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia had been talking to Erin over skype, feeling unusually confident, possibly due to the fact that she was in a good mood and it was also over the internet, which was just somehow easier to the young electromancer. She had been giggling and enjoying the other girl's virtual company so much, chatting about games and such and how much school sucked, less so with awesome friends.

... But then it just kind of happened. She invited Erin over to play some games, it was the weekend so it wasn't like they had classes but still. It was an impulsive move, like most of what Lydia did. Not calculated, just happened and now her she was, sitting in her room... Wearing makeup. Which was a rare enough feat in itself for her, waiting for a pretty girl to arrive.

She found herself feeling unusually flustered and going OCD over the placement of everything in her room, making sure all of her clothes were put away and not just strewn all over the floor or anything. She then sat in her desk chair where her laptop was planted, open with rock music lightly coming through the speakers. 

She spun in her chair a little. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The sound of the door somehow drowned out the sound of the music or her own thoughts and she hopped out of her chair and darted to the doorway, swinging the door open in a sleek motion. "HI!" She exclaimed with a grin. 

[Erin Hackett]

The wait at the door felt like forever while Erin debated on running away or just using her power. The conflict of the choices felt so real but soon the door was opening up and while Erin could still use her powers, Lydia had already seen her. Would know that Erin was there and then chickened out at the last second. then she would think I was a jerk or that I thought something mean about her and that was why I left. But that would be a lie and look at how hot she looks. Never that huge of a fan of makeup but some girls can pull it off. Says the girl who is always wearing eye shadow and eyeliner. Erin had the mental talk with herself all while the door was being opened and Lydia greeted her with that excited grin and a hi. She is happy to see me! 5(0r3! Erin thought to herself as he mouth opened up to say hi but it just hung there for a moment before Erin cleared her throat.

"Hi Lydia. Thanks for inviting me over. I got you this." Erin said as she reached into her laptop bag and after a second of rummaging around she pulled out a Link plush doll and held it out to Lydia. She was not even sure if the girl liked the video game series but she had to at least know of it being a gamer. Worst case Lydia would reject it our take it and sell it if she did not like it. Either way Erin didn't mind...well deep down she would like the girl to take it and sell it over rejecting it but she should have done some more research on what the girl actually liked instead of diving into her person life history before she bought the present. Lesson learned, it was too late now and Erin's family was in new money so it was not like she or her father were breaking the bank by Erin's purchases.

"You look very pretty today. Well I mean you look pretty everyday...not that I'm like watching you every day just..." Erin tried to explain but just started to blush before clearing her throat. "So...video games...yeah...got to love them." Erin said trying to go for a subject change instead and was feeling that feeling of wanting to disappear again.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia felt a large smile envelop her lips as the other girl stood in her doorway. She was just an absolute vision of beauty. Lydia had enjoyed her company previously, but what she had not noticed was herself quickly becoming attached to the other girl's lovely, if slightly introverted personality. She found butterflies in her stomach driving her mad.

Said imaginary stomach creatures went wild when the other girl presented her with a link plush, she had always loved Legend of Zelda when she was little. She found her eyes widen and her mouth a gape in awe. She slowly took it and snuggled it and then grinned widely at the other girl. "Thank you so much, I- I love it!" She smiled.

As the other girl complimented her Lydia felt a blush wash over her and she nodded slowly, not quite sure how else to respond. "I-Uh." she cleared her throat, trying to leap over the frogs inside of it. "I was just thinking the same thing about you.." She smiled awkwardly.

As the other girl tried to move the topic along she nodded quickly and gestured inside. "Umm, Yeah! come in!" She smiled, thankful for the change in topic.

[Erin Hackett]

Erin didn't feel like she was beautiful or anything like that and while she was wearing eye shadow and eyeliner, she wore those two things almost religiously but other than that she didn't feel any different. If anything she felt unattractive because of her whole awkwardness when dealing with the other girl. Plus she was pretty sure that girls like Lydia didn't have a thing for girls like Erin who were like a cross between a skater tomboy and a hardcore gamer. Either way she didn't want to think about it and just handed over the plush doll and hoped for the best. Already tucking some of her hair behind her ear, revealing the multiple piercing she had in it. Her hair often covered up the ear piercings and generally what she wore covered up any tattoos that she had or planned on getting.

When Lydia said that she loved it there was an inner victory dance going on in Erin's head over having picked the right plush doll. Score! Already off to a good start! Erin thought to herself as she gave a simple shrug to pull off being 'cool'. "It was nothing, I'm happy to hear that you like it." Erin responded back and then there was that whole giving Lydia a compliment that happened that just made Erin feel like her cool points had gone back down because she had been so not smooth when she gave the complement. Lydia was blushing so that was a good sign so that made Erin feel like she had gotten some cool points back now but she still wanted a subject change in order to avoid any more awkward blunders and making things just get super awkward.

"Really?" Erin asked but then started to shake her head no, wishing she would not have asked. She could not handle something thinking that she was beautiful or anything like that. The shaking of her head caused her hair to fall out from behind her ear and covered it up again. Thankfully Lydia was letting her in the room and Erin didn't hesitate to walk in, looking around the common area of the dorm for a moment before trying to figure out which room was possibly Lydia's. If they were even playing video games in Lydia's room. "So uh...what were we playing and...in your room?" Erin managed to get out as she messed with her own clothing a little bit as she moved around the room a little but mainly was just getting some space between her and the other girl.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia had been trying so hard recently to break out of her self imposed shell. She didn't like just being seen as that computer geek girl in the corner of most rooms, she used to be extremely athletic at times, loved being out in the sun, enjoyed a lot of outings with friends, that kind of thing. 

Since her mutation had activated however, she had been forcing herself to be a lot more careful around others, and had maybe taken it just a little bit overboard and gotten into the habit of just not being close to other people, and therefore not going out and cultivating the image that clung to her like glue of the geeky but pretty girl in the corner. 

She nodded and smiled. "I ummm.. I don't hang out with my dorm mates that often, so this is kinda my safe place, I play games, watch movies, use my computer for things that I probably shouldn't be using it for..." She made shifty eyes and then took a seat at a corner of the bed and fished in the desk for her remote for the T.V.

"Sooooo, what do you wanna play, or like do? Just hang out with music, play a game together? Your choice." She smiled and then lowered her gaze from Erin a little. 

[Erin Hackett]

Lydia was smiling again, man it was such a cute smile. Erin had to remind herself that she was a guest in this girl’s room so she had to behave. Not that you would be bold enough to do anything anyways. She is too pretty to even like girls. Erin thought to herself as she walked into the room. She looked around a little, getting a feel for the place and figuring out the kind of people that Lydia lived with. At least the place was not a mess; Erin knew her room could end up pretty messy. It was what happened when you binged out on games sometimes and forgot to clean up after all the snacks and little meals you had while gaming.

"Oh, do you not like them or something...or just shy?" Erin dared to ask. She didn't look at Lydia as she asked, moving further into the room and putting some distance between her and the girl. She was happy that she did show up and that Lydia liked the plush doll gift. Having that in mind she knew what else she could get her next time, if there was a next time. For now she had to focus on making sure this time went well. That the two of them had fun and that Erin didn't make a complete fool of herself or scare the other girl in anyways.

"Well, you said you wanted to play video games and I only brought my laptop. So uh...if you want to play a computer game we can do that, to play a game you own. It's your place so you decide." Erin said, giving a small chuckle. She really, really did not want the choice to be on her. She was just a guest here, she didn't really come prepared other than her laptop bag with the things she needed for her laptop.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia wasn't an idiot, or blind. She knew that people looked at her in a sexual way, quite often. She was considered to be quite attractive by quite a few people, she wasn't vain or anything, just not blind. It was even more true within groups of people who spent most of their time on computers, even Bellefonte seemed to have social classes within school, and a lot of the geeks seemed to drool over her, which was kinda gross.

However when it came to Erin she could never tell if Erin actually was interested in her (Not very likely), or if Lydia was blinded by her attraction to Erin and was just completely imagining things. It was so frustrating, as Erin spoke, she unconsciously had her eyes glued to the other girl's lips and when Erin finished speaking she averted her gaze and gathered her thoughts.

"Shy I guess... I didn't always used to be like this... It's just with my power and everything, I don't get close to people very often." She hoped that Erin didn't take that as a 'I don't care about you so it's fine' She didn't actually know why she was being so friendly with Erin, she just couldn't bring herself to hide herself around the other girl, just wanting to actually be herself. 

"Sure, let's play a computer game." She smiled and unplugged the extra cables from her laptop and pulled it and the mouse and mouse mat onto her bed with her, leaning back against the wall in the corner. "Any particular games?" She smiled, trying to force away the awkwardness clinging to her form like wet clothes. 

[Erin Hackett]

Erin didn't actually know that Lydia was looking at her lips; she just knew the girl was looking at her. Yet, you were supposed to look at someone when you were talking to them so it didn't make her feel too weird. Just a little bit warmer than normal do to the fact it was a pretty girl that was looking at her and talking. They were also in a room together, all alone as far as Erin could tell so her mind was having a little adventure with that for a moment or two. Nothing too bad, just a fantasy about being super cool and smooth when it came to talking to Lydia.

Lydia explained that it was more of a shy thing but how she didn't used to be like that. It was because of her powers that she didn't like to get close to people. Erin never really understood why people changed when they came into their powers. She knew she was pretty much the same as she was before, minus having a few more panic attacks here and there. You would freak out more often too if you were worried that your power was going to make you disappear forever or the fact that it did in fact hurt when your power started to make you flicker when you did get scared. "I see...well if it makes you uncomfortable for me to be around you...just let me know and I can go." Erin said as she took a step back.

She had a hard time physically being around people too, specifically girls. So if it was hard for someone to be around her, then she was fine not being around them. She was perfectly fine with creeping on them from a distance. She did smile a little when Lydia said that she was game for playing a game, but the smile soon went away at the next question. She didn't know. She did not come prepared for figuring out what they would be doing. She just figured they could hang out, be just in one another presence. She didn't think the plan out past that and now was standing there slowly turning red from embarrassment.

"Uh...anything that you want. I have a lot of games and if I don’t have what you have, I can easily get it." Erin said, shuffling around a little where she stood. She wanted to hide for a moment, to try and build up some bravado.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia Instantly regretted what she had said to the other girl that was with her, almost straight after the words left her lips, Erin seemed to take it as Lydia not wanting to be near her. It was the opposite. Lydia wanted to be near people, she didn't want to hurt them, but she needed friends just like any other person, and for some reason she found it easier to trust Erin.

She shook her head, and moved her hands frantically, as if she was trying to physically back out of what she had said, or try to explain. "No no! I uh... I didn't mean it like that." She took a deep breath and then tried again. "I am comfortable around you, you don't make me uncomfortable. You're nice, and kinda awesome. I pretty much never find people that I don't automatically type circles around, you're different." She made different sound more like special then weird. 

She smiled awkwardly and then cleared her throat browsing her games library, looking for something strategic maybe. She didn't really know what would be good to play. Maybe something turn based that they could play while chatting. 

[Erin Hackett]

Lydia seemed to go into something of a small panic, completely with head shaking and hands moving around frantically. Erin took another step back, feeling bad that she was upsetting the other girl. She wanted to use her power even more now to just hide for a moment to let the two of those both calm down. Granted, Erin was not all that worked up and was more so embarrassed because she didn't really think everything through. She should have thought past getting the girl a gift and suggesting that they play video games with one another.

Erin was still getting used to dealing with people and was limited in her ideas of what to do with someone for fun. Erin did relax a little as Lydia explained that she was fine around Erin, part of what the girl said did make her start to blush a little bit more again. She looked away then, messing with the end of her shirt as she worked up the courage to say something. "Thanks...you are pretty great yourself. Being able to hack and pull off what you do...I feel like I have come across your work before on the internet." Erin spoke up following after the girl.

She didn't say anything more while Lydia looked through her selection of games. Erin was more focused on looking around the room some more. She was trying to get a better idea of the kind of person Lydia was, what she liked, and general information that Erin liked to learn about people. She bit her bottom lip, thinking, and wanting to help. "Uh...could play like a car racing game. Those are apparently fun with friends...or like something like Mario or..." Erin spoke up, but her voice got lower the more she spoke.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia was glad that Erin didn't really seem to want to leave. She was kind of terrified every time she did actually get close to a person that she was going to scare them away. She was not really massively good at being sociable, even worse so around people that she perceived as good looking, or just generally was unsure where their friendship stood. 

She gave a sheepish smile to the compliment. Computer skills were one of the few things that she actually took a lot of genuine pride in. She was fairly decent at most video games, she wasn't too bad at writing, or maths. But she was far beyond most people her age at computer related skills, though from what she had seen of Erin, she couldn't be that far ahead of the other girl. The prospect of which she found to be absolutely thrilling. 

She smiled and nodded, noting the way that Erin was trailing off and becoming slightly quieter, possibly less confident. She smiled and tried to reassure the other girl. "Racing game sounds like a good suggest! Lets start with that." She smiled reassuringly. "Just pick one you like and we'll play it." She gave the other girl another sheepish smile.

[Erin Hackett]

"O-okay." Erin said with a nod when Lydia said that it was a good suggestion. It did make her smile, feeling like she had made the right suggestion. It felt good to be right or at least that Lydia agreed with her suggestion. She blushed a little and managed to keep some of her bravado when she was asked what they should play. She still wanted to leave it all to Lydia to pick what they would play; she was just here to hang out. She didn't really know of all the games the other girl had and she didn't know what she was in the mood for.

So trying to decide what they should play was taking a moment or two as she looked over the section. "How about um...do you have little big planet karting?" Erin asked, not sure and then started to panic a little. "If not just like umm...you pick. So long as its multiplayer we can play it together. It's your games after all and...you know." Erin said as she blushed a little and then took a step back. She felt like this was a bad idea now. She could not think of anything for what they should do and Lydia kept putting it back on her to pick things. Erin didn't know what would make the girl happy and being asked what she wanted was really making it hard for her to well pick.

She was good at giving commands and making choices when she was playing a video game but in person not so much. Normally if she had come up with a plan on what she was going to do first from the start, then she knew what to do. Yet she didn't plan anything for the two of them, just a plan for herself that she would just play a computer game if they could not come up with something to do together. "We can uh...try this again another time if...you know...so we are better prepared or when...I don't know." Erin said, really unsure and it just made her want to hide for a little.

[Lydia Faust]

Lydia noted Erin's smile at the attempt of reassurance. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was actually kinda nice to make other people less awkward, She wondered idly what Erin did with her free time when she wasn't playing video games or in other girl's rooms. She wasn't going to ask right now though, they had just started getting over the last wave of awkward. 

She recognised the game. She had quite a lot in her library, it was what she spent most of the money she got on. She didn't really see the point in spending a gigantic amount on clothes, after all the enjoyment you could get out of something which you wore, whereas something you could play with, particularly with others, had infinitely more value. 

She nodded gently and pulled a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes. "Hmm, I think so. Let's go with that then." 

A tiny wave of panic swept over her when the other girl moved away, what ever did she do wrong? This should have been so much easier than it was. Why did Lydia scare her away...? The blonde tried to calm the other girl, not "Noooo... I mean uh... I'd like to play games with you... If you don't wanna play with me that's okay though." her cheeks felt hot. 

[Erin Hackett]

The other girl was nodding in response to Erin's suggestion on the game, saying that she did in fact have the game. It seemed like there were finally getting somewhere and there was a small amount of hope that they would be able to play a video game together. Yet, Erin was still unsure and felt that perhaps she was not ready to be alone with a girl yet. Not fully alone like they were, perhaps somewhere public like they had been when they met. Damn it all. I'm so not cool or smooth right now. When was I ever? Shut up me! What would Quinn or Tim do in this situation? Well Quinn probably smoke a cigarette and blow it in her face cause he is a jerk and Tim would probably be all nice cause he had a girlfriend and so seems like the nice type. Erin's mind wondered off as she tried to figure out what was really best in this situation.

Lydia didn't seem to agree with the two of them putting it off and trying again another time when they both had a better understanding what they wanted to do and not being so odd around one another. Well, Erin was blaming herself why things were odd because it had to be her fault. The other girl was to pretty to be fumbling around and being nervous when dealing with someone like Erin. No, Erin was making it odd and thus the girl was acting odd in return. How could you act normal around someone who was acting odd around you after all? "I would like to play games with you too but..." Erin managed to get out, taking a deep breath.

She had to be a little bolder. To just say it and get it out of the way so that she could get better at well dealing with others in general. "It's just that...you don't really seem sure of what you want to do and you keep leaving it up to me. When this is your room and I wanted to do something that you would enjoy...and wanted you to pick." Erin said, taking another step back to get more space between them and build up some more courage. "I want to play a game with you it’s just...everything just feels really awkward...more than likely my fault because you are really pretty and I just don't know how to really act around a girl and...I'm being a total noob. So L, four, slash, backwards slash, slash, backwards slash, three of me." Erin said, taking a deep breath after and looking away.