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Hm.

[ He's just going to grunt at that. Yeah, he picked that shitting machine in particular and he's already grown pretty fond of that shitting machine.

Anyway, he's approaching the outside of the apartment now, and he pulls into the curb and kills the engine. ]

Take Lucy out back quickly before you bring her up, alright? Important to keep the routine goin' of getting her used to doin' her business outside.

You are so using that as a distraction. You suck. [She gives him a look before opening the door, keeping Lucy in her arms despite her being a bit heavy at this point.]

[ Maybe Ellie is right - maybe he is using it as a distraction. He's not going to let Ellie argue with him about it, though. He, too, climbs out of the car and shuts and locks the door behind him, and he leaves Ellie to take Lucy out back while he heads up to their apartment.

By the time Ellie comes upstairs with the dog, Joel is in the living room with that same serious, grave look on his face. First matters first, though, he gives a nod in gesture to the dog doing her business out back. ]

All good?

All good... [Ellie suspiciously eyes Joel even as she crouches to set Lucy on the floor. As Lucy makes a dive for one of her chew toys, Ellie starts to circle Joel.]

Joel... spill.

[ His arms come up and cross over his chest, still looking quite sombre, like something pretty bad has happened. Good poker face. ]

Well, like I said, somethin' happened, and... Guess you best just go see for yourself.

[ He gives an incline of his chin in the direction of their bedroom, where Ellie will find...

A new gaming system set up and plugged into the TV, with two controllers (it came with two controllers - he didn't ask specifically for two) and a stack of video games that he guessed Ellie might like. ]

[Skeptical, Ellie has no choice but to go check out the bedroom. It takes her a moment to figure out what is off, but the new device hooked up to the TV--

It totally looks like--

Ellie gasps.

And then, Ellie squeals.]

No way. No way! What! What--

[ As Ellie heads off, Joel stays where he is in the living room and just continues to look serious and sombre and like something terrible has happened - and then breaks out into a smirk to himself when he hears Ellie suddenly squealing in surprised delight in their room.

Surprising Ellie, spoiling her, has become one of Joel's favourite things to do. ]

[And this would be Ellie popping back into the living room with hurried footsteps, right up to Joel. She punches him in the arm. Not too hard, not ever meaning to hurt him, but enough to convey her excitement--as if the smile on her face didn't already.]

That's what happened, right? Money fell out of your pocket and turned into video games?

[ Joel is trying to hide his smirk as Ellie hurries back out to the living room towards him, though there's a very obvious amusement in his usually hard eyes, and when she punches his arm, he sways loosely on the spot as though her punch is almost strong enough to send him staggering off to the side. (It isn't. He's just playing along with her.)

He really looks quite pleased with himself, as much as he's attempting not to show it. Although, he's arguably not trying very hard to not show it. ]

Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. Don't ask me how.

Edited (WORDS skjdfgdf) 2014-09-01 09:25 (UTC)

You're dumb. [There could not be more fondness in that word. Ellie steps in for a quick hug but then she's grabbing his arm to drag him towards their room. GOTTA GO.]

C'mon, you gotta check this out with me!

That you way of sayin' thanks?

[ Of course it is - he hears the fondness in her voice for what it is, and when she hugs him, he puts his arms around her and gives her a quick, loving squeeze in return.

And then, he's being dragged off towards their room, Lucy bounding around their feet excitedly. She jumps up at Ellie a couple of times and jumps up against Joel's thigh with a scrabble of her big puppy paws. ]

Ah, well. Look, I ain't real into video games myself--

[ He's still letting her drag him to the room, though. ]

You did this to yourself. C'mere. You gotta at least help me figure it out.

[She steers him to the bed and pulls on his hand until he sits.]

Jeez... I was good with the dog, you know. This is a lot.

[ Help her figure it out? Well, hell. He could plug the system up to the TV no problems - he even plugged it up to the surround sound system he recently bought - but playing video games is another matter.

Still, he lets Ellie steer him to the bed and make him sit down. Lucy jumps up onto the bed and Joel has to screw one eye shut as Lucy, panting happily, shoves her wet nose against the side of his face. He lifts an arm around the dog and gives her back a ruffling scratch. ]

Well, y'know. [ He doesn't really know how to address Ellie's comment about this being a lot without sounding awkward, so he switches back to the matter of helping her figure out how to use the game. ] I got no idea how to play these things, you know.

[She's listening, but she's busy inspecting the controllers and the manuals and the games and the boxes and the everything. She's always wanted a game system. It always sucked seeing the old ads for games she would never be able to play.]

And I do?

[ Oh hell. Well, alright. She's got a point. Taking his arm away from around the dog, he pushes himself up from the bed and steps across to the stack of games he bought. ]

Well, what d'you wanna try first? I mean, you got-- [ He starts holding up different games. ] A coupla racing games, a basketball game, soccer game, combat fightin' games...

[ Nothing that involves shooting guns or zombies or horror or anything that looked to him when he was browsing the games like it might in any way remind Ellie of the shit they went through back at home. ]

[She takes each game after he holds them up. It's like with the movies--there's too many. She wants to play them all RIGHT NOW.]

Did you buy the whole fucking store? Jesus...

I guess I did buy a few.

[ As he hands the last game to her, he scratches the back of his neck. Maybe he went a little overboard buying games. Then again, it's not like he can't afford it. ]

Maybe try one of them racing games for now. Ain't like the rest of the games are goin' anywhere.

[A few. Yeah, sure. Ellie sits next to him on the bed so that she can fish out the racing game from the stack on her lap, glancing over at him with an excited smile.]

Promise not to be a sore loser.

[ Heh, jeez. How'd he managed to be so easily roped into playing damn video games with Ellie? He can dismiss this, he supposes, as simply showing her how to use it. Not that he has much of a clue himself when it comes to actual gameplay. ]

You remember how I told how to handle DVDs? Y'know, not to put your fingers all over 'em? Well, you treat video games the same way, alright?

[ He reaches for the game she's picked. He opens the case and carefully pries the disc out, and he gets back up from the bed to step over to the console, to show Ellie how to put the disc in. He turns on the TV while he's there. ]

And when you're done with playin' the game, you put the disc back into its case. Got it?

[ Because Ellie is messy as hell and he's constantly got to be on her case about cleaning up after herself, even if he's not the neatest person in the world himself. ]

Yessir. Got it. Crystal clear. [Kinda. She's excited, bouncing a little on the edge of the bed.]

Now what?

Well, once I switch the TV over to...

[ What was it again? HDMI1? HDMI2? He picks up the remote and starts flipping through the TV sources until, suddenly, the game console's logo appears on the screen.

He returns to the bed and takes a seat next to Ellie again. Lucy, forever happy to be around Joel, shuffles over to him and nudges at his cheek with her wet nose for more pats. He gives her a quick scratch behind the ears before taking up one of the controllers and handing it over to Ellie. On the TV, the game has loaded and the start menu has come up on the screen with the game's music playing over the surround sound system. ]

Select 'new game', I guess.

[There's a barely surprised squeal of delight as the game pops into the screen. She's seen old advertisements for games and has a pretty good idea what they look like, but actually being able to play is something else.

She's so excited that when prompted to do something, she just sort of freezes for a few awkward moments.]

... how? This button? [She presses it. Yes, that button.]

[ Yeah, that works. Now there's a selection of gameplay options on the screen: 1 player, 2 player, 3 player or 4 player. ]

Maybe just select the 1-player option for now. Give you a chance to work the game out for yourself without me holdin' you up.

[ Lame attempt at trying to get out of playing the game himself here. ]

[Ellie fiddles with the controller for a second and down goes the blinky hand to 2 player and it's selected.]

Oops.

[She nudges him with her shoulder. Totally an accident.]

This thing is tricky.

[ Joel clicks his tongue and gives Ellie a deadpan sidelong glance. ]

Pretty sure you did that on purpose.

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