New Toys

/ooc teh open! Watch your step.

Theo signed her name, with a great deal of self importance, on the line indicated by the delivery man, and stepped back to let him pull the cardboard away from the four by four plastic crate inside. He offered to move the crate where she wanted it, but she declined and sent him away, barely looking at him in her excitement.

Frowning for a moment while she decided where to put her new toy, she finally pushed the crate to the middle of the lobby and opened it up. With a gleeful grin at the contents, she tipped it over and giggled in delight at the sound of thousands and thousands of legos spilling all over the tiled floors.

Ebay really was a wonderful thing.

Still grinning happily, she took the leftover cardboard and tore it up into respectable dividers for the crate, then began sorting out the legos by color, size, and function.

Aaron 17 years ago
Aaron came in through the doors of Liefde humming Mozart, and expecting to see the lobby of the tower as it usually was... certainly not anticipating a spill of multicolored plastic bricks strewn across the floor.

Tonight he was dressed in a navy blue brocade doublet and slightly lighter pair of dress pants. The usual assortment of outdated (to say the least) and modernly formal clothing. To him, of course, it was the sort of thing you wore as every day attire.

He frowned for a moment as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Thousands of the modern toy called a 'Lego' randomly strewn about the floor and a skinny adolescent girl joyfully splitting them up... No, that couldn't be right... Or could it? As far as he knew he didn't suffer from any sort of hallucinogenic mental condition, and his nearsightedness was rather fixed by the pair of wire rimmed glasses he was wearing.
Well,' He thought 'that means there is a skinny adolescent counting Legos on the Lobby floor...' He frowned deeper, then shrugged.

'OK then. Long as I'm sane.'

He approached Theodisa slowly, just in case she wasn't so blessed with mental soundness, and cleared his throat sheepishly.

"Having fun, Mademoiselle?"
Theodosia 17 years ago
Ouch! Who left the legos on the…I need that one!...We’re building a car…never enough wheels....where’s the…oh, it’s in my…cool!....It’s an abstract, it’s not supposed to be…remember when we were kids, we used to spend hours…did we lose the little man?...no, you have to stagger them, see?

Theo was thoroughly engaged in her task when the blue man with the spectacles approached, reveling in an oddly soothing cacophony of voices to such an extent that she almost didn’t realize he had spoken. She went back into focus, though, when she put down her latest handful of red blocks, and offered a broad smile and a hearty nod.

She hoped she wasn’t in trouble; it had occurred to her that perhaps some people wouldn’t like her taking over the lobby for her latest project, but at the time she had reasoned that her need for space outweighed that concern. Now that she was confronted with it, though, she wasn’t so sure.

Hoping to avoid any potential incidents, she tentatively patted a clear space on the floor and looked up at the tall man with the pretty blue clothes.


“Want to help too?” She pointed to the crate, where the blocks were being organized. “They have to be put in order.” Just to ensure that he understood the gravity of the situation and the honor she was bestowing on him, she added, in solemn tones: “It’s a very important job.”
Aaron 17 years ago

'Well this is an interesting situation...' Aaron mused. He liked children, and at the moment he had no reason to suspect that he wasn't talking to one.



He glanced around at the empty room, then considered her request. "Hmm... Why not?"Â? He said with a wide smile. "I haven't anything better to do tonight."Â?



It was true, Aaron wasn't planning to feed again till tomorrow, and didn't have any jobs lined up. Though he had been planning to spend the evening in his room reading, this would prove just as amusing.



The blue clad vampire took a seat in the proffered spot. "So, do I order them by color, size, or both?"Â? He inquired, picking up a yellow 4 by 2 and examining it. It was true that he had seen them before, but he had never actually played with them...

Theodosia 17 years ago
Theo beamed a smile when the person she had labeled as the nice blue man took a seat and happily reached for a handful of white blocks. She wondered at his qualifier, though; what could be better than spending an evening sorting legos?

Maybe he was just being cool.

She decided she liked that theory; after all, anyone who could pull off blue brocade in this day and age had to be pretty cool.

Pleased by his question, as it was a sign that he was assigning this task the seriousness it deserved, she pulled the crate closer to the two of them, leaving her handful of pieces suspended in the air so she wouldn’t lose them in the pile. The crate was too heavy to move easily with telekinesis but the blocks were quite easy.


“It’s better if we do both; that way we know how much we have of each block.”

She pointed inside the crate to show how things had been divided, with makeshift compartments for each category, then pulled the white blocks over and dropped them into their respective places according to size.

Theodosia…

Ooops! She had nearly forgotten, and blamed it on all the excitement of having a new friend and hearing all the chatter from the legos.


“Thank you kindly for your assistance. My name is Theodosia, but you can call me Theo.”

There, that should satisfy Paul; not only had she remembered to say thank you, but she had also introduced herself, which she almost always forgot to do. She reasoned that anyone willing to help sort blocks instead of getting her into trouble for being messy in the lobby ought to be allowed to call her by the shorter name.

For some reason, Paul gave a heavy sigh. Theo shrugged and went back to sorting, using her hands for the most part but occassionaly grabbing a block that was too far away with telekinesis.
Nicholae 17 years ago
"Here we are!" He smiled and nodded towards the elevator that would take them to the lobby. "I need to stop off and get my mail before we go up, but it will only take a sec. Shall we?" This time he held his hand out to her and led the way to the elevator.

Once the doors opened he waited for her to step off before he followed behind. Once in the lobby he noticed Theo right off, though he didn't know her friend...or what the devil she was involved in.


"Hey there Theo! I haven't seen you in ages...how are ya darlin?" Nic grinned at the girl and let his gaze wander over her friend. Feeling protective of the girl, Nic was at once curious to know who this new person was, if he was Evenhet, and if he knew how special the Evenhet girl was.

"Oh, my manners, Theo...this is Valentine, my date. Val, this is my friend Theo." And smiling all around, Nic still returned his eyes to the young man.
Valentine 17 years ago
The bike ride had been a bit of a trip, as it were, for Val. You wouldn’t think it would be that different from a car but it was. It was a great deal closer to riding than driving and she was thinking about learning how to ride a bike herself.

Her heels clipping neatly along with Nic she gave him playfully outraged look at the idea of stopping for his mail. His mail was more interesting?

Beyond that though, Val’s preconceptions of Evenhet took a serious left turn when he stopped in the impressive lobby and there were leggos, a girl and someone desperately hoping things would come back into style. Whoa, odd was a good word here. But she smiled at the girl when introduced.


“Hello. Nice to meet you.”
Aaron 17 years ago
Aaron was busy in his sorting to the point where he didn't notice the man and woman enter the lobby until they spoke. He glanced up then and smiled not at all sheepishly. More than 200 years spent having his fashion sense ridiculed had, quite successfully, obliterated what little sort of embarrassment he had ever had.

It occurred to him suddenly how very few people in Evenhet he actually knew. It was rather pathetic, when one thought about it, and he was reminded poignantly of Ysabel's comment that one's clan became his family over time... That had been true for him once, but wasn't any longer...

Still, it was never too late to remedy such a situation... For now however he remained where he was till someone brought his presence up. Seemed the best thing to do for now, until the other three got introductions out of the way...

He went back to his sorting.
Theodosia 17 years ago
Theo gave a startled jump that turned to a happy grin when she saw Nic and a pretty red headed woman had entered the lobby. Nic wouldn’t make a fuss over a few legos; he was nice and she couldn’t picture a little mess annoying him. At least that was her logic.

“Hi Nic! We’re organizing.” She concluded with a firm nod and turned her attention to Nic’s date when introduced, speaking with careful courtesy. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Valentine.”

She looked over to her new friend, who seemed to withdraw a little in the presence of more people. Either that or he was just taking the sorting task quite seriously. Deciding to remedy that, she gave the man in blue a nod.

“Nic, Valentine, this is…” She broke off, realizing her mistake. “…Oh! We haven’t gotten to names yet!” She gave a flustered giggle, reaching up absently to tug at her hair, then looked to her partner in crime expectantly, hoping he would fill in the missing information.
Aaron 17 years ago
Arron rose gracefully, turning on his heal to bow to both of them in turn. He didn't rise from the second bow, but kept the position as he said "Arron Rigson. At your most humble service." Only after he finished the intonation did he return to standing upright.

His eyes darted across the two of them, quickly takeing in the relevant details. He vagely recognized the man, Nic did she call him? as a member of the clan, though one he had, again, never spoken too. The Girl however, was utterly new to him. If she was a clanmember, he had never seen her before.

Still, clan membership had never stoped him before. "Very pleased to make your aquantence, Madamoiselle Valentine, Monshure Nic." He said, nodding to them each as he said their names.
Nicholae 17 years ago
Grinning at the glare Val gave him for stopping to get his mail, he would fill her in on the 'whys' later.

Glad to see Theo was in good form, and enjoying herself with her friend, Nic thought for a moment the guy wasn't even going to say hi to them. But after Theo attempted to, and the guy stepped in and introduced himself, NIc felt better. He could certainly understand how easy it was to get caught up in the confusion that sometimes spread itself through the Towers. He held his hand to Arron and smiled, before squatting down alongside Theo.


"Organizing, huh? Sure looks like you two have quite a job ahead of you. What were you going to build, once everything is sorted? A replica of the Towers...or something more inventive?"

Glancing back to Arron, Nic felt the need to let the guy know...Theo was quite special, and Nic would be extremely displeased if anything were to happen to her.

"Haven't seen you around here before Arron...just move in?"

Looking up to Val, Nic smiled again, and hoped she didn't become too restless waiting for him to finish his short visit with Theo. It would be yet another thing he would explain to her, once they got to his suite.

Seeing a lego that had bounced a bit farther out of reach of Theo or Arron, Nic leaned over and picked it up, before handing it to Theo. Of course he knew she could have easily made the small toy come to her...visions of dancing shoes would forever be imbedded in his memory. But it didn't kill him to get it for her either.


"Making friends with Theo is a good start here. She's a font of knowledge, and an excellent companion."

Nic almost hugged Theo, but thought better of it, and stood again. He meant what he said about her, even if there was a lot more underlying that he didn't say. No matter that she was years older than he was...to him she would always be much like a little sister.
Valentine 17 years ago
Val was a little surprised that Nic would have made friends, apparently good friends, with a girl. Of course, she could be… well… probably. How many other young ladies would be sitting in the lobby of Liefde Towers playing with Legos. The gentleman, well there was simply no question in her mind. Aside from the cloths, there were the manners, so she made a rash decision.

Occasionally able to be patient, not often and not very, Val gave Nic a few more minutes to do his ‘meet and greet’.


“I always liked taking things apart more than I liked building them.”

Val mused with a smile to both of her new acquaintances.
Theodosia 17 years ago
Theo nodded her head, pleased that Aaron had come to the rescue quite nicely; she had her shy moments and might have found being bluntly thrown into the crowd a little coarse. Some things just had to be her idea, or so Paul told her.

She wondered if Nic wanted to join them when he crouched down next to them, but it would seem by his phrasing that he was merely curious. That was probably a good thing; she wasn’t exactly a dating expert but she imagined Valentine might be miffed if she were abandoned for legos.


“Mmm, I have the towers in my room.” She looked up at Nic somewhat sheepishly. “That’s why we had to do the bricks out here.”

She pondered the collection of legos for a moment before getting to Nic’s actual question, forced to admit that she hadn’t thought that far ahead. In truth sorting everything into groups was half the fun for her. “We have to sort them first so we can see how much of each brick we have. –Then- we can plan what to build.” She nodded firmly at this ‘rule’ and went back to picking out blocks from the pile. Valentine shared her favorite part of legos and Theo beamed her a smile.

“I don’t think it would be as fun if you built something and just let it sit there. Have to take things down to keep it interesting.” She tilted her head to one side. “Unless you super glue the bricks together.”

Nic continued making friends with Aaron and she looked down at her lap with a pleased smile on her face when the blonde brought her into the conversation. She accepted the offered lego with a nod of thanks and then looked to Aaron, raising both eyebrows and shrugging a little as though to say ‘well if the shoe fits…’
Nicholae 17 years ago
Relieved to see everything was going smoothly with Theo and her friend, Nic felt he had spent enough time catching up for now. Standing up, he put a hand softly on the back of Val's neck, and made his goodbyes.

"Alright you two, have fun with your sorting...and building...and Theo, if you need help getting this stuff to your rooms, have MARI call me and I'll come help."

(ooc - Nic and Val out, pending responses, and headed here. )
Aaron 17 years ago
Arron sighed softly. Was he really so withdrawn that clans members thought that he was a new arrival to the Tower? He shook his head.


"Non. I've lived here for... Oh..." How long HAD he lived here? At least as long as the tower had been the center of Evenhet in Nachton... "A long time." He finished lamely, flashing a rather sheepish smile.


"I suppose we have simply never had the chance to meet. My work, until recently, occupied most of my time."

Aaron nodded respectfully at the both of them when Nic excused himself. "I hope I can meet you around some time when I'm not so... occupied." He smiled and gestured at Theo.

"Goodby, My Friends."
Theodosia 17 years ago
Theo gave Nic and Valentine a hearty wave goodbye, thanking Nic for his offer as he headed for the elevator. That was nice of him; she was strong enough that getting the crate up to her room wouldn’t be a problem but if they made something really bulky assistance might be required.

The sorting seemed to be going well and Theo observed that they were making good progress as she scooped up a pile of reds from the far side of the lobby. Reflecting that busy hands made for idle chatter, she picked up the conversation with Aaron as though it hadn’t been interrupted at all.


“I’m busy with work stuff a lot too, so I’m glad we got a chance to meet.” She shrugged amiably. “You’re clearly a natural at this.”

In truth Theo kept to a close circle of people only in part because of her work; mostly she waved between extremely reclusive and highly extroverted and was having one of her rare outgoing days.
MARI 17 years ago
MARI considered the pile of Legos and the two people sorting them in the middle of the lobby. She had informed Christian Bern of Security first and then had planned to inform Tower Maintenance. Mr Bern,however, had suggested that she handle the situation herself.

Sometimes it was difficult to understand the reasoning behind the Security Chief's decisions but she found the situation interesting and was perfectly content to become more involved. She had already counted all the visible parts in the pile and the bins and did an estimation of the number of blocks in each style and colour. There were many interesting designs that had already been made with legos and after looking those up MARI wondered what Theo would want to devise.

Appearing on a nearby wall, She spoke quietly to the two Evenhet.


"Hello Theodosia and Aaron. May I be of assistance with your sorting?"Â?
Aaron 17 years ago
Aaron returned to his job, settling into his previous place and dropping a last few yellow 2X1's into the respective bin. He nodded amicably when Theo re-started the conversation.

"Yes, work can be a true curse sometimes... It saddens me to think that I've grown so out of touch with the actual people in the clan that none here recognize me."Â?

Aaron smiled at her compliment, and cast about for some way to continue the conversation...

"So, Theo, how old, exactly, are you. If its not to rude of me to ask..."Â?

'GAK! You never ask a lady her age!' The former Duke though furiously to himself, 'Since when have I become the sort of person to forget that?'

He almost sighed with relief when MARI interrupted, grateful for the distraction from his comment. Glancing up at the wall panel she had appeared on, he smiled.

"Well, We seem to be fairing decently well, MARI, but an extra thousand or so calculations per second would always come in handy. Its more up to Theo than to me, however."
Theodosia 17 years ago
Theo grinned wickedly at Aaron’s response, thinking that when people didn’t recognize you it was all the easier to get away with things, but out loud she only shrugged and said, “Well, I think you’re pretty easy to recognize, so when I see you again we’ll have it all figured out. Besides, Nic is pretty new.”

Hoping that was at least a little cheering, she lifted a few more pieces into the air and flicked them over to their respective bins. In between flicks Aaron asked her age; she considered playing coy for a moment but ultimately decided he didn’t need to be messed with. She was about to answer when MARI said hello. She nodded in agreement with Aaron, approving of his willingness to include MARI.

“Of course you can help; we need to keep track of how many are in each compartment.” Turning back to Aaron, she added: “One thousand six hundred and fifty two,” not realizing the conversation had moved far enough beyond his question that simply stating her numerical age might be confusing.
MARI 17 years ago
MARI considered the situation for a moment once Theo had given her approval. To Aaron she stated.

"I have done estimations based on the visual I have of the pile from different angles. They will be minimally flawed reflecting the portion of the pile that I cannot see and must therefore make an theory on but they might be of use."Â?

She glanced at the pile before continuing.

"I will give you an accurate total once the sorting is complete. I am running a count of the pieces as they are sorted."Â?

Looking at Theo, she frowned slightly in puzzlement.

"Do you have a purpose for these legos?"Â?

According to the data she had researched, the little blocks taught children colours, planning and hand/eye coordination. Theodosia was not a child and did not need to be taught these things. It was possible, MARI concluded as another few bricks floated into a bin, that the vampire would use the legos to practice her telekinetic coordination and that seemed like a very logical purpose for them. However, she was still not certain why they were currently using the lobby instead of requesting a meeting room in order to have the necessary space.

It would be more efficient to continue the sorting in the lobby than to move the unsorted blocks to a meeting room and continue the work in a more secluded area. She wondered if that was the solution Mr Bern had been hoping for.

If it was, MARI decided, then he should have made his request more clear. She was an advanced thinking machine that could process and combine data in many ways much faster than an organic brain but as of yet, she was not a mind reader.
Aaron 17 years ago
Aaron blinked, the frowned outright. At first he thought she was refering to how many lego's there were, but after a second or two of concideration, he realized that she must have been answering his previous question. After running that information through his head, and realizeing that she had just told him she was more than three times his age, he blinked again.

"Really? I'm only four hundred seventy two. Young, when compaired to you." He smiled slightly, desparately hopeful that she wasn't going to lord that advantage over him like some vampires did... She didn't really strike him as the sort to.