A New Addiction

[Armandeus]

Where had television been all his life? Armandeus had to wonder as he stretched out across the bed, his stormy eyes glued to the glowing set in front of him. He had discovered the addicting picture box one night during his wanderings of the new rooms, and had been instantly hooked. Every night since he'd found himself making his way back to watch it, and tonight was no different.

His arms laden with a tray full of snacks, up the stairs he went. Past the first hallway where his room was, and up onto the top floor. These were the more expensive rooms, and luckily in Ar's case, currently empty. Down the hall he went, to the very last room, pushing the door open as he entered. To the bed he went, placing the tray upon the medium sized trunk that sat in front of it.

This room, like the others, had already been furnished with the proper furniture, but unlike all the others, it had no bedding of any kind. Whether forgotten, or simply over looked, Armandeus didn't know. Either way it was a strange, and oddly fond feeling to lay upon a bare mattress. The feeling brought back memories of the first place he had stayed in Rhy'Din; a bare room with nothing more than a simple mattress upon the floor. That was a time long and far in the past though, and he shook his head to clear away the memory. There were more important things to think about at the moment, namely the television, and so a hand reached out for the remote.

As the set flickered to life he settled down, the hand that wasn't holding the remote, reaching down for a handful of snacks, as he wondered, yet again, where the television had been all his life.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

[
What was that noise?

It filtered down through the ceiling of her own room and caught her attention. In fact, it was distracting her from her late night study. In the years that followed after leaving the Tower, she never did stop practicing with the Source. If you could call it practice. It was more of a chance to have the sweet energy flow through her body.

Now that perfect peace she had was being disturbed by tiny voices. And ominous sounding music at that.

There had been a few miscreants around New Haven recently so perhaps the sound was that of someone sneaking in through the upstairs? Rising from her meditation mat on the floor she pulled her white stain robe from off the back of the chair and headed up the stairs. Not moving too quickly. If an intruder was upstairs she did not want them to know that she was coming. As a precautionary measure, she held on to the magic flowing through her so she would be ready, instantly, for any danger that might arise.

On the top landing now, De'Ryanna walked even lighter than she had coming up the steps. It was always said that she was the lightest walker in the court. De'Ryanna could dance on rice paper without it making a single sound.

Close to door she halted. It wasn't an intruder inside the room. She knew that feeling. Letting herself relax she tightened the robe about her waist and pushed back her hair and eased the door open.

"Armandeus?"

[Armandeus]

Being new to watching the television, Ar hadn't yet made the connection between the loud noise, and being able to hear the noise one floor down. To add to this misfortune he had gotten caught up watching what had been proclaimed 'Shark Week', therefore the racket coming from the room resounded of ominous music followed shortly by ear-splitting screams.

Coming from a small forest village, Armandeus had never seen the ocean before, let alone a shark. Which is why he was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning forward with wide eyes as he watched the screen in a mixture of horrified fascination.

It was safe to say he was well into his show when De'Ryanna would ease the door open, unfortunately her question came at the same time the shark suddenly appeared on the screen with jaws opened wide. With a startled yelp the Elf fell off his perch upon the bed and onto the floor.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

Hearing the sudden yelp she quickly entered the room. Her face a mask of determination, arms outstretched before her, right over left with the palms held out, she made a steady pace toward the box in the room. Any noise that had been coming from the unit had stopped. She had never seen anything like it; it reminded her of an aquarium, but it was the strangest aquarium she had ever seen. For one, it was square, and she didn't see any areas for natural air for the contents within it to breath.

This aquarium not only had sharks, but people seemed to have been pulled into the box as well. The boxes captives all seemed terrified of the great white shark. How very strange. She had put a shield around the box, but the beings inside didn't notice, for they didn't seem affected in the least.

"It's okay. I got it." Her normally light tone was flat. Concentrating on what she was doing. "I won't let it get you. Whatever it is."

Whatever it is was right. A quick glance to Armandeus then back to her captive.

[Armandeus]

"What happened to the television?" After hearing the screams coming from the people as the shark attacked, the silence was startling. Ar's head popped up from the other side of the bed with a confused look as he glanced between the now silent television and her.

"What do you mean you've got it? It wasn't doing anything to me.." He couldn't see anything wrong with the set, the people on the screen were still running and screaming. But the look on De'Ryanna's face and the way she was holding her hands out in front of her, towards the television, was making Ar feel a bit nervous. "What are you going to do with it?"

[Gawain]

[I just found this gem....oh, my. -wipes tears- I keep forgetting not everyone here knows tech. May I? Permission slips from both, if not, I'll leave ya alone and the admin can delete this. ]

[Gawain]

Gawain had come looking for Ryanna, and was surprised to see her rushing into Armandeus' room. He decided to approach slowly, as there may be a problem, and he did NOT want to be mistaken as Ry's enemy. Too much of her mother in her......]

As he rounded the corner, he heard the conversation, and was instantly glad he had been round to the lavatory earlier. "Hello, guys. Ryanna, it's fine, release it. It won't hurt anyone. It's pictures which are broadcast over the airwaves and recieved by the er, box. Armandeus, is this the first time you've seen one? Ryanna, you too?! Light, that means neither of you have seen......stay right here, I'll be back in just a little while!" With that, he was rushing out, making a mental note to grab his secret stash of coin on the way out. He was about to right a grievous error....these two had never seen Star Wars! Not even the good ones! The horror! Off into the night, scrambling to form a Gateway into the seedier, yet techy, side of the realm proper, he located a newer set, a DVD player, and went in search of the DVDs. John Williams would soon be washing over them both, and he will have fulfilled a parental obligation -and- helped out someone he was beginning to think of as a new friend. He liked this Armandeus kid, he seemed to be good people.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

What?" Clearly, she was very confused. When did her father get here? And why was Armandeus looking at her so strangely?

The pictures in the box kept flickering from one scene to the next but nothing was coming out of it. She cleared her throat and set the screen back down where it was before, curiousity taking over now that this object seemed to have her father so ecstatic.

Looking at where he had vanished she let go of her weave and the Source and blinked. A bit dazed she sat on the bed and looked to Armandeus.

"Broadcast? What's he talking about? I thought.. the things in there are not real?"

[Gawain]

Gawain came back into the room, bounding like a pup with excitement. He was carrying a pretty large load on his back, but he wasn't having any trouble with it. After a few moments, a few mumbled curses, and a smile, he had assembled a large plasma-screen television, a DVD player, and a surround-sound system. After it was all plugged in and ready to go, he loaded up the first DVD and smiled as he shook the remote control out of the box and loaded batteries into it. "Lady and Gentleman, may I present quite possibly the greatest achievement of man since the crossbow was invented. I give you....Star Wars." With that, he pressed play, and stood back as the credits began rolling and John Williams' score began washing over them. This was going to be a fun, fun night.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

"Star.. Wars?" Yes that was lost on her for she thought that it was going to be something about a war happening amongst the stars. She watched the screen and leaned over to offer a hand to Armandeus if he still needed help in getting on the bed. He had been sitting here, no need to keep him off. They could all share the bed.

This TV thing was interesting. It was like a play, only you were not able to touch the people or interact with them. "Father.. have you met Armandeus?"

[Armandeus]

Armandeus must have hit his head when he fell off the bed, for he could have sworn the other man just said something about a war amongst the stars. If there was war he was surely going to do his part in fighting, and so he stood, slipping a few of his curved daggers from their hiding places.

That was when he noticed the others seemed perfectly calm, and the supposed war seemed to be coming from the television. Unsettled at being caught off guard he took a seat on the bed beside De'Ryanna. "What happened to the sharks?"

[Gawain]

"Yes, we have met, once, briefly. However, I did not get a chance to be a gentleman, so I will do so now. Saesa omentien lle, Armandeus. That was a quite old form you were speaking earlier, but I appreciate your help. Cooler heads should prevail once in awhile. I fear I must be going, though. I have a lot of thinking to do, and I fear a bit of growing to do as well. Enjoy the shows, and don't stay up all night..."

He knew, as he walked away, that it was pointless to say, but he had said it anyway, just like it had been said to him all those years ago. But then, he was around way before DVD was anything more than three letters that were nonsensical together, even before there were such a thing as a movie/film. He simply had no idea. He did know, however, that he had to watch himself even more closely now, and some quiet meditation was in order.

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