moogic the gunthering

Ariel couldn't deny it, they were a little nervous. A lot nervous. The girl in front of them was kind of loud and moved a lot. Tracking her movements was hard, and she kept tilting her head, leaning forward and trying to get their attention when they wouldn't look her in the eye.

It had been Rachael's idea. Though Ariel ended up spending a bit more time with Stanford, Rachael seemed to take it upon herslef to be something of a therapist to them. Part of that seemed to involve having them spend some more time with people closer to their own age. Everyone else in their own group were adults, so this warranted a trip to the other cell.

Just that was a bit of an ordeal. Strange people. It was difficult enough to keep a hold of their words when confronted with this change of scenery. But who knows. Maybe it would help. They'd certainly been through worse.

At least the young folk here shared some of their interests.

The girl smiled, and slapped her deck of Magic cards down where Ariel slid theirs delicately into position. They rocked in place, back and forth and fingers shaking slightly as they drew their first hand. Not great, not terrible.

They watched their opponent's plays closely. Mountain. Tap. Bloodhall Ooze. Jund deck. It certainly seemed a fitting choice for such an energetic person. They watched the grin that crossed her face in the satisfaction that she already had a body on the field. That was immediately followed by another lean forward, asking if they were paying attention.

No need to answer. Turn one island. Turn two swamp, tap, Bitterblossom. It was their turn to smile, even if it was small and maybe a second off-beat. Maybe they should have been hurt when they saw the look of surprise in the girl's eyes at such a play, but at a time like this, it didn't matter. For once, Ariel was participating in something, placed on an equal footing.

"I put a one-one counter on my Ooze!" the girl said, gleefully.

Ariel paused, and then slowly tapped a message out on their phone. Speak.

"You can't do that." the text to speech voice spoke, matter-of-factly.

"What? Why not?"

"You need to have a green or black permanent to add counters."

"Uh, my forest?"

"Lands are colorless."

They flinched for a moment when the girl's cheeks puffed out slightly, thinking they had gravely offended her. Luckily, sacking her horde of goblins to feed to her enormous dragon seemed to put her in better spirits, and she barked out a laugh.

Somehow, they knew the outcome would be like this. A Control deck wasn't the best choice when so many of those dragons could just trample on through straight to their life. Still, as they gathered back up their cards they felt her hand slap them lightly on the back. They siezed, going perfectly still and terrified of what her next action would be... until the girl spoke.

"Not bad, kid! You're pretty good. Come back again when you get the chance. I think Benj is gonna bring his Bant deck."

Maybe it was just the sudden rush of feelings, but they started laughing. Loudly. Too loudly, and the girl drew back, slightly alarmed. It was only when they managed to tap the word "Thanks" on their phone did her attitude ease.

Despite everything, maybe Rachael was right. They certainly did feel a bit better now.