- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 20:02 -
GG: john i am so glad you are online!
EB: oh?
GG: i have been lonely :(
EB: i'm sorry.
GG: no but its okay now because you are online so i am not lonely anymore!
EB: that's good.
GG: :D
GG: where have rose and dave been?
GG: those two are never online anymore... :(
EB: oh, i think they have been playing this new online game.
EB: it seems pretty cool, but you have to pay to play it.
EB: i am saving my money for the con air special edition DVD.
GG: well that is fun i guess
GG: i think we should play an online game too
EB: really, i thought you didn't really like computer games?
GG: im not very good at them but they can be fun
GG: find something easy for us to play john
GG: then rose and dave will be jealous of how much fun we will be having.
EB: well okay, give me a minute and I will try to find something fun...
- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -
John minimized his chat window and opened typheus. Surely it wouldn't take long to find a free online game that he and Jade could play together. After about ten minutes searching the web, he found something that seemed perfect: SLUMBERBUDDIES: Pillow Wars.
It was a simple, multiplayer flash game. The player could control their character from a overhead perspective. There were four rooms and one hallway to navigate. By moving your character over pillows scattered throughout the room you could equip them and throw them forward with the spacebar. Pillows stayed in play for five seconds after being thrown before disappearing. Hitting your opponent raised your score and at the end of the time limit the player with the highest score was the winner.
This seemed simple enough. Just arrow keys and the space bar were all they needed to play. More complicated keyboard commands could be used to access more powerful moves that allowed you to score higher when you hit your opponent, but John figured that there would be no need to use them. It was just going to be the two of them playing, and Jade had asked for something easy.
- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 20:14 -
EB: alright, i think i found a game you will like.
GG: really!
GG: thats great!
EB yeah, its called slumberbuddies pillow wars
GG: it sounds cute
GG: :D
GG: how do you play?
EB: i will send you the link the the game.
EB: the controls are explained at the start. it's really easy.
GG: okay!
GG: this will be fun!
GG: and then rose and dave will be so sad they missed it
EB: yeah ;)
- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -
John sent the link to Jade and loaded the game on his computer. There was a screen to select the character that he would be playing as. He finally settled on the boy wearing plain brown pajamas because they reminded him of the Ghostbuster jumpsuits. John shot an admiring glance at his movie poster across the room. So sweet.
gardenGnostic appeared on the game's list of waiting players. John clicked her name and invited her to start a private game. Once Jade had accepted the game started up.
John started in the lower right room. He scanned the screen and noticed green, blue, and red pillows on the floor of his current room. He moved over to the green pillow, worth three points each hit, and moved through the door at the top of the screen.
A few more pillows in this room, but not much else of use. Still no sign of Jade... where could she be? He carefully readied his pillow and moved through the door on the left of the screen.
He was now in the hallway. Unlike the previous square rooms, this one was shaped like a vertical rectangle with two doors on each long side. John bit his lip. She could be behind any of these doors.
A girl in robot pajamas entered the hall from the door directly across from John. This was his chance! He quickly tapped the space bar and sent his virtual pillow flying toward an unarmed Jade. The girl flinched and the point counter at the top of Johns screen flashed to three.
"Eeep!" Jade unintentionally squeaked out loud. She retreated her character back into the room she had come from. There were new pillows on the floor of the room and the sight of them filled Jade with relief. She had got off to a bad start when, in the excitement of playing a new game, she picked up and threw every pillow in the room. They faded away after five seconds, leaving her without ammunition for the next room.
Jade directed her girl over to the nearest pillow, a blue one. Just then the boy in brown pajamas burst through the door. Jade flinched and slammed the spacebar, launching her pillow in the opposite direction of her opponent. The boy tossed his green pillow into her back and rushed to the left to equip another pillow.
Jade was wiser this time. She picked up the green pillow that had just hit her girl and took aim.
DIRECT HIT!
Jade clapped her hands in giddy excitement as her point counter went up. But it was a brief victory; John quickly retaliated with a red pillow directly to her head. Now the game was really on, as she rushed into the hallway, and then into the lower right door, throwing him off her location.
Two more minutes of pillow fighting passed before the game ended. ectoBiologist with 19 points; gardenGnostic with 14. John minimized typheus and opened pesterchum.
- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 20:21 -
EB: hey jade, good game!
GG: yeah it was fun
GG: :)
EB: do you want to keep playing?
GG: yes!
EB: should i,
EB: err...
EB: do you want me to go easy on you next time?
GG: no need
GG: i am having fun just playing a game with you
GG: but thanks!
EB: okay, i am having fun too! :)
EB: but i have a question.
GG: what is it?
EB: why did you choose the robot pajamas?
EB: i would have thought you would pick the puppy ones.
EB: because you like animals.
GG: i do!
GG: but something made me pick robot
GG: they just felt right :)
EB: lol, okay.
EB: i will start the next game.
- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -
GG: i cant wait!
GG: oops youre gone now
Jade closed her pesterchum enamel and maximized her echidna window to return to the game. She was really starting to get the hang of this now. Maybe she should read how to do some of those advanced moves...
John breathed heavily as he ducked out of the hall and through the door to the lower right room. Jade had gotten increasingly better during the past two games, so starting in the hallway where pillows never respawn was especially bad luck.
Even worse luck is that he just ducked into the room where Jade was standing, pillow in hand. "Shit!" John cursed and backed into the hallway as fast as he could, only moments before the green blur could fly into his stomach.
He dashed straight across the hall. Finally he could get some ammo. A quick scan revealed that there were only red and blue pillows in this room, so he snagged a red pillow, good for two points, and readied himself in the top right corner.
Jade entered the right side door just as he had planned. He launched his pillow quickly and took off toward the top door as the girl flinched. He had almost reached safety in the next room when he was hit from behind with an perfectly aimed green pillow. How was she launching those pillows so fast?
He made it into the top left room and grabbed a nearby pillow. Blue, only worth one point, but he didn't really have time to run to the top of the room to retrieve the more valuable cushions. He needed to be equipped and ready. Jade ran into the room and threw her red pillow at the same time John tossed his. The two pillows collided in air, canceling each other out. This was his chance to escape. He took off toward the right hand door, quickly picking up another blue pillow and shooting it blindly in Jade's direction before he exited.
In the hallway he noticed his point counter jump up a point. Score! His last shot must have hit!
In the brief moment he paused to enjoy his unlikely victory, Jade burst through the door and into the hall. John was stunned, he hadn't even picked which room to hide in yet! The girl in robot pajamas raised the green pillow over her head and a light began to flash around her.
John's jaw dropped. He tapped furiously on his keyboard arrows. He didn't know what was happening, but it couldn't be good. The flashing light got brighter until the words "super combo" appeared and the pillow raced toward him. He didn't have a chance, the pillow smacked him square in the jaw, throwing him backwards.
The used cushion blinked on the ground in front of him. He and Jade were now on opposite sides of the hall with the only pillow in the room between them. The both rushed to the center at the same time, and John let out a war cry that, he would learn later, woke his father from his nap downstairs.
Jade reached the pillow first. She grabbed it in both hands and lifted it behind her head in preparation to strike. Before John could retreat she swung the pillow up and over, gathering momentum before crashing it down on his head with tremendous force. He fell back and watched the blinking pillow disappear.
Out of ammo, Jade dashed through the door to the top right room. John picked himself up and headed to the lower right.
John took a deep breath and looked around the room. Some green and red pillows were scattered along the right side, but he didn't pay them any attention. What was right in front of him was so much better. John's overbite pressed against his lip as he let out a happy squeal. The rare golden pillow was right in front of him. This was worth 8 points if he could hit her, which would even the playing field considerably. He grabbed it and headed to the upper door with a confident smirk.
"I'm the star," he whispered. "It's me."
He burst into the next room. There stood Jade with a green pillow and an intense look. She returned his smirk with her own, brows furrowed in concentration.
"And THEN the big man comes," John continued, reciting Dave's stupid comic like an epic narration, "for a little one on one."
Jade threw her pillow with all her might, but John was ready. He dove to the left, flying through the air like a slow motion action shot in the movies. This projectile whizzed by leaving him unscathed. He hit the floor shoulder first and rolled into a somersault before springing to his feet. Jade was in shock, jaw open in the middle of the room.
John flung the golden pillow straight toward her. The legendary cushion struck out for its target in a shining blur. Its great force rammed into Jade, contacting her directly in the stomach. She fell backward to the floor and John nearly jumped up with excitement. He pumped his fist in celebration.
Jade pushed herself up from the floor and clutched the blinking golden pillow in her hands.
"But it turns out that this girl is pretty good at stuff..." she quoted incorrectly.
John stepped back in fear. The ball was in her court now, there were no pillows within reach to block with. But... YES! Out of the corner of his eyes he could spot a powerup. The speed slippers would help him escape. He braced himself and began to sidestep toward the furry pink footwear.
Jade began to glow pink and sparkles surrounded her. She pulled her arm back, ready to strike. John gulped when he saw the words "double point special move" appear above her head. There was no time to lose, he had to get those slippers! Jade let the pillow fly.
John dove toward the slippers in desperation. As he fell to the floor he grasped the powerup with his fingertips. He did it, the slippers were his! But it was too late, the pillow was already on its way and it struck him as he lay on the ground, just starting to experience the super speed he had been granted. John rolled sideways across the floor.
"I'm telling you..." he muttered, "moves like that are UNREAL, it doesn't even HAPPEN."
John smashed his head onto his keyboard in defeat. "Most of the time," he finished quietly.
The game was lost. When the timer ended he closed the window and pulled up his chat window with Jade.
- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 20:46 -
EB: wow!
GG: :D
EB: you really beat me that game.
GG: i am getting better at video games i think
GG: hehehehe
EB: how did you do that crazy finishing move?
GG: it is one of the advanced moves
GG: i looked it up
John opened the game and looked at the instructions for the advanced moves. He scrolled down to the one he had seen Jade use, "double point special move." Press shift, 1, 2, D, 5, G, 6, J, M, 9, and spacebar.
John carefully placed his fingers on the keys listed. Impossible! This arrangement was hard to pull off when taking his time. There was no way she could have hit this combination on the fly in the middle of the game. She'd have to have...
John paused.
"Oh."
Jade smiled and buried her sleeping face deeper into the pillow she was hugging. The robot next to her had just finished writing a message with all three of its mechanical arms.
EB: goodnight Jade.
EB: :)
- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -