Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
I shook my head in confusion. "If I can't play them on my own, how would I be able to play against you?"
"Not against me, with me." Gideon shifted and took the controller from my hand. I missed having him close, but I knew he hadn’t gone far because I could hear him shuffling around. He began asking questions about how to set the console up with his television. I was curious enough about what his plan was to talk him through the process. After a couple minutes, I heard wood scraping over wood and I realized he was moving the coffee table in front of the couch out of the way. Then his hand was taking mine.
"Let's sit on the floor," he said and then he was helping me down to the floor and positioning us so his back was against the couch and my back was against him. His legs were on either side of me.
"Okay," I said when I settled my hands on his thighs. "I can get on board with this."
I felt the rumble of Gideon's chuckle against my back. Just hearing him laugh was enough to make me not care about what would happen next. If me making a fool of myself while trying to play a video game in front of him would elicit this kind of response, I'd happily do it.
I couldn't make anything out in front of me besides the shape of the television and the small entertainment center it was sitting on, but I did hear the familiar music of my video game as it booted up. An unexpected rush of excitement washed over me. It was only amplified when Gideon placed the controller in my hand.
I still had no clue what we were doing. But then Gideon's fingers closed over mine on the controller and he began clicking some of the buttons as we walked through the stages of getting the game going. It finally registered what his plan was. He wanted us to play the game together. Together as in us being one character and working together to reach the end goal.
It seemed like a ridiculous idea, but as Gideon began reading the prompts on the screen to help us figure out our character, the same giddiness I'd always felt as a kid when I'd started a new game washed over me. I still didn't really understand how we would manage it, but I automatically began telling Gideon which traits and weapons we should select for our character. To my surprise, he began describing what was happening on the screen in considerable detail. Everything from what our character was wearing to what he looked like. Even though I knew what every screen looked like by heart, his descriptions were so vivid that it was like I was seeing the image for the first time. Not seeing with my eyes, but with my mind.
The man was actually being my eyes, but he was doing it in such a way that I could see. It was as if there were a rock in front of me but instead of just steering me around it, he was telling me its size, color, and shape, making it possible for me to see the thing in my mind’s eye and know what kind of berth I needed to give it.
I didn’t think it possible, but in that moment, I loved Gideon even more.
"Okay, here we go," Gideon said. He removed his hands from mine on the controller and said, "We're in a clearing in the woods. There’s some kind of jewel or something to the right. It’s suspended in the air."
"That's an enchantment jewel. It will give us the ability to withstand any spells the Huntress puts on us." As I spoke, I moved the joystick to the right. Gideon immediately began correcting me. It was weird to try and follow his directions, but after a handful of seconds, I heard the distinct chime that said we'd claimed the jewel.
"Oh, wait, there's something in the trees. It looks like some kind of bird. Shit, it's coming right at us!"
"Does it have red wings or black ones?" I yelled as I began pounding on the buttons that I hoped would give the character his broadsword.
"Black! It's right above us!" Gideon shouted. Before I could react, there was the telltale sound of the character being grabbed and carried off by the Night Falcon.
"Fifteen seconds," I said with a sigh. "I think that's a new record for me."
Gideon's lips skimmed my cheek and then he said, "Don't worry, baby, we’ll get them on the next go." Before I could respond, Gideon was hitting the button to select our next life.
Since it clearly meant so much to Gideon for us to try and play the game together, I went along with him, even though our character was killed off almost instantly yet again, this time by the Ogre of Truth. Despite our continued demise round after round, I found myself getting caught up in explaining the different elements of the game as we came across them. Gideon's descriptions made it easy to know what was on the screen and while we hadn't made much progress when it came to the level itself, every time the telltale sign of our character dying occurred, I found myself eager to hit the button to start a new game. Gideon's enthusiasm grew with every attempt we made at clearing the first level. His excitement fed into mine and by the time he paused the game for a bathroom break, three hours had passed.