Let's play a game

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "Well," The young man began, thinking for a moment. What exactly did he do for a living? Jack didn't really work for a living, at least not in the traditional sense. His abilities and complicated morality enabled him to never particularly want for anything he needed. The work that he did... Jack wasn't entirely sure why he did it. He'd never really thought about it, he just did it. Luckily, his pause wasn't too long before he'd come up with a sanitary way to phrase I kill stuff and help other people kill stuff, too.

    "I help solve problems. You know, streamlining difficult operations to help ensure maximum potential for success." Jack shrugged, smiling. It was still the truth, after all. Just a prettier way of saying it. "It's more exciting than it sounds but can still be a bit of a grind sometimes."

    Firing one last shot, the young man replaced his own controller in it's holster. See? It wasn't so hard, but the little kids running around seemed incapable of that tiny bit of effort. Jack followed Lydia, wondering what the show would be like. Save a couple of unfortunate school talent shows, he'd never seen anything remotely resembling a magic show. Luckily the walk was short so he didn't have much time to dwell on memories of tweens struggling to separate rings in front of the school.

    "Cozy place," he commented once inside, looking around. The young man was of the opinion that a little clutter only added to comfort of a room. Jack found somewhere out of the way to stand while she made her way to the desk. Lydia handed him the tickets and he read them, briefly, before pocketing one. "A girlfriend? I wish. But, um, I don't have one." Jack rubbed his neck, smiling sheepishly. He held the second ticket back out. "Here. It would just go to waste if I kept it."

    Jack looked around the room. "So what do you have to do around here?"

[Lydia Lawless]

"Thanks." It was only a hotel but it was home. At least for this week. She used to have an apartment but was rarely in it and decided it was just a waste.

"You seem really nice, and good looking. I'm sure you've got all kinds of women trying to date you." She looked puzzled and couldn't believe that a great guy like him wasn't already taken. "Is it because you travel for work so much? Because I completely understand. I just move around too much I guess.

"Hmm.." Lydia looked around her room for something, anything that they could do. She had books some books, a Yoga DVD, guitar, and of course some of her magic stuff. "Are you hungry? We can order something up to eat and play cards or something. This must be the real reason I'm single." She laughed at herself a little "I'm pretty boring."

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Jack's face flushed at her compliments and made an aw shucks gesture. "I guess, I dunno. A lot of women seem to find me weird and immature, considering how much I still like video games and stuff," He shrugged, looking at his feet, face a little sad. "And yeah. With how I travel, it's hard to find anyone willing to put up with a guy like me, not even knowing what city I'll be in next week." The young man figured Lydia understood something about that. Not the weird and immature part, but she seemed to have to travel a lot, too, and he knew that wasn't always easy.

    At the mention of food, Jack's stomach growled slightly, causing his face to flush a little. But he didn't want to seem too eager. "I could eat. What did you have in mind?"

    Lydia mentioned that she was still single and the young man shook his head in disbelief. "You're messing with me. I bet you have to beat guys off by dozens just to get any respite from the constant attempts to get you to go out with them," Jack teased her, chuckling. "I'd kill just to have a woman like you look at me twice in that way."

    "N-not that I'm hitting on you or anything!" The young man sputtered quickly, turning as bright a red as his dusky skin would allow once he'd realized the implications of what he'd said.

    The young man's eyes spotted the guitar and they widened slightly. "You play?" Jack asked, gesturing toward the guitar. He'd always wanted to learn but had never had very much musical ability. So instead he just enjoyed listening to others. Well, if they were any good, that is.

[Lydia Lawless]

"I'd rather be immature and have video games in my life." She nodded about the traveling part. It seemed like they had more than just a love for video games in common though.

"Let's see." Lydia went over to the desk and brought back the binder that most hotels provide with all the information someone could possibly need, such as numbers to the lobby, tv channels, and of course food places that will deliver. "We have so many options!" She moved to his side and held out the list so he could read it too. "Pizza, Chinese, Mexican.. ooh man you're going to have to decide."

Lydia looked over at him as he was talking, her smile getting bigger. She seen that he was getting embarrassed again. "You were totally hitting on me." she said teasing.

She also looked over to the guitar. "A little bit." She didn't mention that she was in a band for a brief period before she began the whole traveling magician thing. "I haven't tried in a while though so I'm probably pretty rusty. Do you play?"

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "Oo," The young man tapped his chin, thinking. Lydia walked over so he could look at the options, too, and Jack moved back a little, leaning over her shoulder slightly so he could read better. "So many choices. Uh, let's see... Pizza is pretty tried and true, don't you think?" He actually hadn't had pizza in a while, normally just grabbing a burger or a steak wherever he went. But the quality of the pizza did depend on where it came from. "Have you ever had any from here before? Getting it from a good place makes a pretty big difference, I find. Unless you want something else?"

    Jack's cheeks became even more flushed, if that was possible. "I-I would never! Well, I mean, not that I would never. You're pretty and cool and-and... But I mean, it's just, I wasn't-" He decided to shut up then, realizing she'd just been teasing. The young man suddenly had the strong desire to teleport home and curl up in the corner until his ears stopped burning.

    "I tried to learn when I was little but I've never been very musical. What made you want to learn?" Ok. So Lydia was a musician, she played guitar, and she loved video games. It was like some higher power was slapping him in the face saying 'See? Some people can be perfect.'

[Lydia Lawless]

"No, I haven't tried this place. I say let's be daring and try it anyway. What do you like on yours?" Lydia got her phone and ordered whatever pizza it was that he said. "Can I also get some breadsticks, and a large salad?" She probably shouldn't have waited so long to eat, but at least the big order should leave them both with plenty of leftovers. Maybe. "Did you want anything else?" She asked Jack. If he did mention something she'd order that too.

Lydia began to giggle as she watch Jack turn all shades of red and trip over words. "I like you, Jack." She didn't know what else to say without sounding weird so she left it at that. Truthfully, she was really enjoying his company.

"I think you would be great at anything if you tried. Lydia spoke honestly. Well I think music is just great. I'm afraid if I go on I'll just sound cheesy. But I kinda just decided one day to try it out. And it's calming to play after having a stressful day."

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "Well, I am feeling a little adventurous," Jack admitted with a silly grin. "Um. Typically I'm cool with whatever the toppings are," The young man began, thinking. "Though I prefer pepperoni and ham when it's up to me and no one else minds. Simple but tasty. What about you?"

    Jack hoped she didn't have a problem with meat. Meatless pizza was ok as a last resort but now that he'd been thinking about it his growling stomach was totally demanding some meat with it's pizza. "I don't have a problem with that. Just don't expect me to eat any salad," he told her, only half joking.

    Lydia told Jack she liked him. "Oh? Thanks. I like me too," the young man teased. "But, uh, yeah. I like you too. You're not half bad for a random stranger I bumped into at the arcade, Lydia."

    "You would know more than I do about it but I'm not sure. I just, I can't-" Jack looked at his hands with a sad smile, thinking of all the terrible things they'd done together. "I just can't imagine making something beautiful with these." He turned away from Lydia for a second to compose himself.

    When he turned back, Jack was smiling his usual easygoing grin. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring things down. I don't suppose I could convince you to play me something? We spent a good while fighting zombies. Had to be pretty stressful."

[Lydia Lawless]

"That's figures, a man that wants meat on his pizza and doesn't want to eat salad. But it sounds fine to me." He was her guest so she wanted to let him choose.

Lydia rolled her eyes but smiled when Jack stated that he liked himself too. "Well thanks. I'm glad you bumped into me too. I mean.. that I bumped into you." she forgot for a minute that she had taken the blame for that.

She watched as Jack showed sadness, but Lydia didn't exactly know why he was. She wanted to comfort him somehow but wasn't sure how. The girl reached out and lightly touched his arm. He seemed to be smiling again and asked her to play something on the guitar. "Don't apologize. I'm here if you need to talk about something." Lydia thought for a minute about what song she wanted to play for Jack as she picked up the guitar.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "Are you implying I'm a stereotype?" Jack asked, feigning offense. After a second he couldn't help but drop his hurt expression for one of mischievous amusement. The young man supposed he was a bit of a stereotype sometimes. Jack liked video games, thought vegetables were yucky, and never wanted to clean his room.

    After the young man's brief slip in emotion, Lydia touched his arm. He was, of course, tempted to jerk away but , luckily, Jack had been working on that and instead of recoiling at being touched by someone, he simply waited for her to move her hand. It occurred to the young man that in the movies the guy would have placed his own hand over hers, keeping it there for a moment before gently taking her hand from his arm and holding it in both of his own before letting it go. But this wasn't a movie and Jack wasn't anywhere near smooth enough to pull something like that off.

    "I'm ok, really. Nothing I need to talk about." He assured her. Jack watched Lydia take up her guitar and pause for a moment, as if trying to decide what to play. "You look-," The young man nearly blurted out something very silly but managed to stop himself at those two words, only blushing slightly with embarrassment. "Sorry. I'll be quiet."

[Lydia Lawless]

He got her. She wasn't used to him yet and when he looked offended by her comment she was about to apologize and say she was only joking, but Jack gave her a smile and everything was better. "Well, you can't be too much of a stereotype since I haven't met anyone like you before." Lydia became shy and quiet for just a second or two.

"Alright.." Jack didn't want to talk about it and she didn't want to pressure him into it either. But at least she had offered so he knew he could if he decided to later. A lot of people had told her before that she was a good listener, and she never told their secrets to others.

"Hm? No, tell me what you were going to say." Did she look dorky? Lydia brushed it off the feeling for now. She chose a song that was easy to play since she really hadn't played in so long. Plus it was fairly quiet and wouldn't bother everyone inside the hotel currently. It was "I'll follow you into the dark"

If there's no one beside you
when your soul embarks
then I'll follow you into the dark

Lydia sang along to the simple music and only looked over at Jack a couple times. She was a little embarrassed, and realized it probably wasn't the best song choice. Just as she finished playing, there was a knock on the door. "Oh good, that must be our food." She placed the guitar down on the bed and retrieved the food.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "I-I'm not so special," Jack mumbled, his face flushing at what he perceived to be such a compliment. "I never expected to meet someone like you in a place like that. I mean, I didn't know someone like you existed, could exist." He managed to stop himself there, staring at his feet, slightly flushed, before he embarrassed himself further.

    "N-nothing. I-It's nothing," His face was burning but the young man continued, embarrassed. "You'll laugh. It's silly."

    Once she'd finished, Jack began clapping before he remembered to pick his jaw up off the floor where it had, curiously, fallen at some point. "You didn't tell me you were so good! And your voice," The young man gushed, forgetting himself for the moment. "Beautiful!" There'd been a knock at the door and it tempered his excitement for a moment while Lydia went to get to get the food from the delivery guy. Jack's stomach nearly tore itself from his abdomen to get directly at the pizza when she returned but the young man forced himself to be patient.

    "Where did you learn to play?" Jack asked, both curious and needing something to say while he waited for.

[Lydia Lawless]

"But you are special." she assured him. "I wasn't expecting to meet such an amazing guy there either, but I'm glad I did."

"Telllllll me. I can't promise I won't laugh but it won't be at you." She gave Jack a pouty face and grinned. "Pleeease?"

Lydia began to blush like crazy and couldn't look Jack in the eye. "You're just being sweet. I'm not that good really. But thank you for the complement." She blushed more when he said her voice was beautiful. Lydia wasn't fond of her own voice so she really appreciated him saying so.

"A friend of mine had a guitar so he taught me the basics, and then I ended up buying my own and just practiced a lot while occasionally playing with him." The pizza was placed on the table and Lydia passed the paper plates to each of them, and then waited for Jack to pick out the slice and whatever else he wanted before getting her own meal. "So, what else do you like to do?"

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "Ok, ok, I'll tell you," Jack relented, his face heating up at just the thought of telling her. "I was going to say that you look, well, soulful, I guess." Even as he said it, the young man rubbed his neck, glancing away with a sheepish smile. "It was dumb, I know."

    The young man shook his head, a determined smile on his face. "I'm not so obsequious that I would joke around when I say that I liked your song. It wasn't over complicated or flashy-- Simple, sweet, and I felt it." Feeling that he was staring, the young man, in an effort to stop, began to look around the room, eyes flitting from this and that before back to Lydia again.

    Nodding his head as she talked, Jack accepted the paper plate she offered. As for the slice of pizza he grabbed, the young man chose it the same way he usually did when eating pizza with someone else. He gave the pizza a quick look over before nabbing the second biggest slice, leaving the biggest for Lydia, since they were at her place and she'd ordered the pizza. It was only polite. The young man took a quick bite before answering her question.

    "Well, I like to watch television, though that's more something I do when I've got time to kill. Working out helps me keep my stress levels in check. And, um, don't tell anyone but," The young man glanced around in a dramatic fashion before leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. "Sometimes I volunteer at this puppy shelter I know. Dogs punch me right in the soft spot, for some reason."

    Taking another bite of his pizza, Jack swallowed and asked "So what do you do when you aren't working or playing video games or just being amazing in general?" He said that last part innocently enough, but couldn't help but grin a little, teasing her.

[Lydia Lawless]

"Aww you think so? Thanks." Lydia had a cheesy smile on her face thanks to all the compliments from Jack. "That wasn't dumb at all, it was really sweet."

After Jack took a slice of pizza, Lydia reached for the salad. She also put a breadstick on her plate and started with that. Maybe Jack would run away scared once he sees how much she loves to eat.

It was almost unreal how much they had in common. She nodded to his explanation about working out for stress relief. Going for a run before her shows was a good way to clear her head, but she also loved many different workouts. "Working out and puppies? I think I love you." she said jokingly. "That's really cool that you volunteer. You should bring me along sometime if you wouldn't mind."

"How's the pizza?" she asked though she was already reaching down for a slice she had been eying and added it to her plate. Before trying it she took a minute to pick off all the pieces of ham and set them on the side of her plate. "Hmm. Well I got to meet a really cute guy at the arcade today. Besides that I haven't had much time to do anything besides work related stuff lately."

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "It's nothing special," The young man mumbled, his face flushed with embarrassment. Truly, Jack didn't see any of the good things he did as being praise worthy. He did them all not particularly because they were good things but because he wanted to. Jack really liked dogs but didn't have enough time on his hands to take care of his own, so instead he occasionally volunteered to help out. It was a good thing, but the young man felt that his selfish motivations disqualified him from being considered a good person just because he did something good. "I'd be happy to bring you along. Ya know, if we end up in the same city at the same time, in the future."

    Jack tried not to pay too much attention to how Lydia was eating, or at least he tried to look like he wasn't paying too much attention. He wanted to pace himself and that meant not finishing his third slice by the time Lydia touched lips to the breadstick she'd picked out.

    "Pizzas pretty good," Is what Jack would have said if he hadn't had a mouth full of cheese and ham at that particular moment in time. He nearly choked when she mentioned meeting a someone at the arcade. "W-who's this cute guy? I must've just missed him." The young man was really focused on his pizza now, working hard to ignore his burning ears.