Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT
Author's Notes: For correctly guessing the answer to a riddle, voltairetheheadlesswaltz on tumblr asked for a fic where "Henry and Lily take Mal to an arcade because she has never been to one before." For anyone who doesn't know, board is another word for level in arcade games.
Of Games and Family
The first thing she noticed was the fast assault of sounds and lights pervading her senses. Luckily, it was a bright sunny day so the building was mostly void of children as they had decided to spend the day at the beach of in the woods parading around pretending to be their ancestors, so Maleficent wasn't worried about feeling out of place. There was a small part of her that did feel that way, but she knew it could have been much worse if the arcade was full of children. A hand on her shoulder caught her attention and she turned to see Lily smiling encouragingly at her. Nodding her thanks, they continued their trek further into the building, Maleficent's eyes roving over the various colored machines. She understood the basic concept of an arcade having seen Henry and Lily play games at the house, on something called a Wii, ring toss games and sporting events, along with their handheld contraptions. But this was entirely different.
Henry was leading the charge, allowing Lily to be with her mother as he came to the desk and pulled out three twenty dollar bills and his personal arcade card. "I'd like to put twenty on mine and get two new cards, please, Jake," he asked politely, glancing over his shoulder as the dragons made their approach.
"Sure, Henry," Jake replied, getting the cards activated and handing them off to the kid. "Have fun, ladies," he dismissed them with a cheery grin.
Maleficent stared for a few moments at the card in her hand, trying to determine its difference between the plastic card Regina used at Granny's now and then. Henry waved them over to the air hockey table which had just cleared of the last 'contestants'. "Lily, play me?" he asked, figuring it might be best to show Maleficent how to play the games before just letting her at it.
"Yeah!" Lily came over, the hand on her mother's shoulder encouraging her over. "So, we take the cards...the black strip on the back has to face down and in between the plastic screen thing...then we slide it. Not too fast and not to slow," Lily managed to explain without seeming matter of fact and snobby. She constantly had to remind herself that a lot of things in this world were a brand new experience for her and that she needed to take things slow, be patient, like her mother was with the most basic of magic things. After Lily had questioned elemental magic and Henry accidentally scoffed because 'it was the most basic thing in the world', they had refrained from training around others and Lily was grateful for that. And kept her mother's patience in mind when she was showing her modern technology.
Lily and Henry began to play a very aggressive round of air hockey, Maleficent watching keenly by the center pole of the board. Obviously the point of the game was to sink the bright orange disc into the gaps on either side of the board and to defend that gap from the other player. It was an intriguing game of hand eye coordination and practiced skill. Absentmindedly, Maleficent wondered if she would accidentally hit the disc too hard and send it flying through the air, although...she was a more gentle creature in later years and imagined herself being patient in the game.
When Henry cheered at his victory and Lily pouted Maleficent opened her mouth to suggest a game against her daughter in order for her to win but Lily caught her gaze and shook her head. Lily glanced around the arcade briefly, trying to decide what might be a good first game for her mother. Driving was probably a bad idea, and any shooters may confuse or frustrate her. Though it would be interesting to see her usually implacable mother flustered.
Her eyes lit up when she found an old console and she reached for her mother's hand and urged her to follow. "This is an easy one. There is only one thing you have to worry about, this joystick. The purpose of this game is to collect all of the dots. The larger dots give you the opportunity, though short, to gobble up the ghosts that chase after you," Lily explained, pointing to the demo screen.
"Ooh, Pac-Man. That's a fun one," Henry agreed, looking up at Maleficent who nodded her ascent, still unsure what to say in this situation. She was taking everything in to assess before commenting. Some would see it as shy but it was commonplace for Lily and Henry to see her like this when they introduced her to new things. It was a learning curve.
Maleficent stepped up tot he device, pulling out her game card and angling it the way Lily had shown her earlier and waiting for it to inform her she had swiped correctly. Smiling at the small victory, she straightened and gripped the joystick as Lily pressed the start button. Henry crept in on the other side of Mal, but not as close as Lily was standing. He got along well with the older dragon, but he wasn't sure what she thought of him so often kept his physical distance just in case it was unwelcome.
The game was in fact easy. For the first level. Maleficent caught on to the mechanics of the game quickly and finished that board without losing a single life, but shortly after starting the second level, the ghosts became quicker and the maze pattern a little more difficult so she lost a life swiftly. She bit her lip in concentration as she focused her attention further and tried to not grip the joystick with inhuman strength. No need to break the game.
"Yes!" Maleficent exclaimed when she finished that board.
"Awesome job, mom," Lily agreed, clapping Maleficent's shoulder in excitement. Maleficent's face neutralized as she stared at Lily in brief shock. Slowly Lily's face flushed as Henry looked on in confusion when Pac-Man's last life was taken by Pinky in the game.
"You just called me 'mom'," Maleficent breathed.
"Yeah..." Lily mumbled, looking down at her converse clad feet. Henry grinned from Maleficent's other shoulder, realization dawning on him. "I mean...it was about time, right?"
"Whenever you think it's time is time," Mal offered diplomatically. She would never push Lily into doing or saying something she didn't feel comfortable or ready for. "But this does make me happy, so thank you, Lily," she smiled brilliantly, taking Lily's hand in hers.
Lily glanced up at her mother through a slight curtain of hair, a wan smile on her face.
"Well..." Henry drew out the word, deciding a change of subject was in order. "Since Pac-Man is now dead..." he looked pointedly at Lily. Oh, he was so totally Regina's kid, Lily thought, as she mock-glared at him. "Why don't we move on to another game?" he finished, moving off. "Mal's choice this time since Lily and I have already picked,"
Maleficent watched the little prince head off and shook her head at his playfulness before following, Lily's smile widening only when her mother's back was turned. This was good. An essential change. It felt good calling Maleficent her mother...