Free Web NovelMatt waited, but Noxx said nothing.
Matt looked at her. Noxx had her head down, eyes fixed on her own hands, fingers still on her knees.
Matt kept waiting.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Noxx wasn't talking.
Matt didn't push her. If Noxx needed time to put together what she wanted to say, he could give her that time. It cost him nothing. He just had to sit there and wait.
Twenty seconds.
Twenty-five.
Thirty.
'What could she need to tell me?' Matt thought to himself.
Thirty-five seconds.
Forty.
"Why are you two so quiet?!"
The blonde poked her head in, her eyes — one red, one blue — looking at them with a confused expression.
"What are you doing?! Are you okay?! Did something happen to you?!"
Noxx lifted her head.
"Don't get involved."
"Huh?"
"I said don't get involved. Learn to read the room."
The blonde blinked.
"Read the room?"
"Yes."
"How do you read a room?"
"…"
"Is it a book? Does the room have letters? Where are the letters? I don't see any letters in the—"
Noxx let out a sigh.
"Can you give us a few minutes alone? Please."
The blonde's eyes went wide.
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I need to talk to Matt."
"I can listen too! I'm part of the team! I have the right to—!"
The blonde walked toward where Matt was sitting. Her arms stretched forward as she leaned in to hug him.
Matt raised an arm and put his hand on her face.
He stopped her.
Matt's palm covered half her face. The blonde stayed there, leaning forward, arms outstretched, face squashed against his hand.
"Go away."
"Mmmf!" The voice came out muffled behind his hand. "Mmfmfro, mf mf fmm!"
"I can't understand you at all. Go somewhere else."
Matt pulled his hand back.
The blonde stepped back. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, and her eyes looked at him with an expression halfway between indignation and something that looked a lot like pain.
"But I don't want to leave! There's no other space here," she said, looking around the room with an excuse not even she believed.
Noxx snapped her fingers. A door formed and opened, revealing a dark room.
The blonde looked at the dark room.
Then looked at Noxx.
Then looked at Matt.
Matt gestured at the door with his head.
"There's your space. Go."
"But I don't want—!"
"Obey."
The blonde closed her mouth and looked at Matt for two seconds.
Then her shoulders dropped, she turned on her heel, and walked toward the door with short, heavy steps.
Every step was a silent declaration of protest, but she went into the dark room and stood at the threshold, watching them without blinking.
Matt looked at her.
"Close the door."
The blonde didn't move.
"The door."
The blonde bit her lip harder, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. Her whole body trembled with the effort of not saying what she wanted to say.
Then, slowly, she raised her hand, grabbed the edge of the door, and pulled it toward herself.
The door closed.
The sound of wood against the frame echoed through the room.
Silence.
Matt exhaled through his nose.
'Finally.'
He turned toward Noxx.
Noxx was in the same position, sitting cross-legged, hands on her knees, eyes down.
Matt watched her for a few seconds.
"Are you going to play the silent game with me?"
Noxx looked up.
"The silent game? What's the silent game?"
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"It was a joke."
Noxx blinked.
"Ah."
Pause.
"I get it now."
Noxx went quiet again.
Matt waited.
Noxx opened her mouth, but closed it again, unsure whether to say that to Matt.
As the silence started to become uncomfortable, an idea occurred to Matt.
He needed something else.
Matt looked at his own hands.
He thought for a moment. Then closed his eyes and concentrated.
A rectangular object, about the size of his two palms together, with a screen in the center and buttons on the sides, dark gray with rounded edges.
A handheld gaming console.
It wasn't an exact replica of any console that existed on Earth.
It was a mix of several — the buttons from one, the shape of another, the screen from a third.
It was a version that Matt's memory could build from the pieces he remembered.
Noxx saw it and her eyes traveled from the floor to the object in Matt's hands.
Confusion replaced the tension on her face, and her head tilted to one side.
"What is that?"
Matt pressed a button and the screen lit up.
A sound came from the console. A short, sharp electronic chime, followed by a simple melody that rose and fell in quick notes.
Noxx startled. Her hands lifted off her knees, fingers spreading open, and for an instant — for a fraction of a second — Matt saw energy starting to gather in her palms.
The reflex to summon the guns. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Matt laughed.
"Relax."
Noxx looked at him with her eyes wide open, hands still raised, energy still gathering in her palms.
"You can relax. What's in front of you is a video game console."
Even so, Noxx finished forming the guns, keeping them low at her sides while staying alert in case she needed to fight.
"A video game console?" Noxx repeated.
The words came out of her mouth as if they were from another language.
Each syllable pronounced carefully, trying to find a meaning that wouldn't appear.
"What's the combat utility of that?"
Matt laughed again.
"No, it's not for combat."
Noxx looked at him without understanding.
"It's for entertainment."
Noxx frowned.
"Entertainment?"
"Yes."
Noxx looked at the console. The screen glowed with soft colors. The melody kept playing in the background, looping in a way that seemed to have no beginning or end.
"Why would anyone want to entertain themselves with something so small?"
"Don't underestimate its size."
"It's smaller than my two hands."
"And with it you can play several things that can be pretty entertaining."
Noxx looked at the console again. Then looked at Matt.
"What kind of things?"
Matt turned the console over in his hands.
The screen showed a menu, simple square icons with names below each one.
Some had pictures of swords.
Others, buildings.
Others, figures jumping between platforms.
"All kinds. It can run combat simulations."
Noxx raised an eyebrow.
"Combat simulations?"
"Yes. Fights against enemies that aren't real. You practice strategy. Learn patterns. All without anyone getting hurt."
"Mmmm."
"There are also simulations where you can build cities."
"Build cities?"
"Yes. You place buildings, roads, houses. You decide where everything goes. You manage resources. You watch it grow."
Noxx said nothing, but her head tilted a little further to the side.
"And there are others where you control a character who jumps between platforms, kills enemies, collects things, and progresses through levels."
Noxx processed that.
"Why would I want to watch someone do that when I could just do it myself?"
Matt laughed and Noxx looked at him. Her expression shifted from confusion to something else. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together.
"Are you making fun of me?"
Matt raised a hand, trying to stop laughing.
"No… no, I'm not making fun of you."
"It seems like you are."
"No, really. That's not it." Matt took a breath and tried to calm down, but another laugh escaped before he could hold it back. "It's just that what you said reminded me of my time on Earth."
Noxx looked at him.
"Earth?" freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"Yes. A lot of people there have that same question. But not exactly the same as yours. It's different. It's another thing. But I can't explain it to you with words."
"Then how?"
"You have to try it."
Noxx looked at the console.
"If you try it, you'll understand why I, and a lot of other people, like this."
Matt shifted and moved closer to Noxx.
Noxx tensed, her back straightening suddenly, her shoulders rising, even her red eyes opening a little wider.
Matt was close.
Closer than he had been in a long while.
Noxx could smell him.
Not the physical scent, since they were in the mental world.
It was something different.
It was the essence of his presence.
Something Noxx couldn't describe but recognized instantly.
Something that quickened her pulse in a way she didn't understand and didn't want to examine.
A pinkish tone appeared on her cheeks.
'Will Matt notice?' Noxx thought nervously, swallowing.
Matt lifted the console with one hand and held it out in front of Noxx.
"Put down the weapons."
Noxx looked down at her own hands.
She hadn't noticed. At some point during the conversation, her fingers had closed around the triggers of the guns. Her hands were in the exact position they took when she held them in a fight.
A reflex.
Noxx opened her hands abruptly, fingers spreading wide.
Her palms ended up completely open. It was a stiff, exaggerated, too-fast movement, and the weapons fell to the ground.
Matt looked at her.
"That wasn't necessary either."
Noxx lowered her eyes.
"I was just obeying your order…"
Her voice came out lower than she intended.
She was embarrassed.
Matt watched her.
Noxx was tense. Her shoulders were rigid, her back straight, her open hands trembling in front of her.
"You can relax."
Noxx looked at him, confused.
"Playing whatever I'm about to give you isn't something you need to be tense about. It's not an exam. It's not a test. I'm not going to evaluate you. It's just… playing."
Noxx didn't respond right away. But something changed in her face.
The tension didn't disappear completely, but it softened a little. Her shoulders dropped a few millimeters and her hands stopped trembling.
"Okay."
Matt held the console toward her hands and Noxx grabbed it.
Wrong.
She grabbed it wrong.
She held it with both hands, yes, but with her fingers in the wrong places.
Her thumbs were on the screen. Her index fingers underneath the console. Her pinkies on the side buttons. She was holding it upside down and sideways at the same time.
Matt looked at her.
"Not like that."
"Not like that?"
"No."
Matt reached out. His fingers touched Noxx's and moved them, one by one.
"The thumbs go here." He placed them on the main buttons. "The index fingers here." He set them on the top triggers. "The rest of your fingers hold it from behind."
Noxx felt Matt's fingers on hers.
They were firm, sure of themselves. They knew exactly where to go and how to move hers without hesitation.
Noxx kept her gaze fixed on the console.
She didn't look up.
She wasn't going to look up.
If she looked up and saw Matt's face at that distance, something inside her was going to break.
She didn't know what, but she didn't want to find out.
'Focus. It's just a console. It's just an object. It's just—'
Her fingers settled into the correct position.
Matt pulled his hands back.
Noxx felt the warmth of his fingers disappear.
"Do you feel it?"
Noxx nodded.
The console felt firm in her hands now. Stable. The buttons were under her thumbs. The triggers under her index fingers. The weight was distributed correctly.
"Good." Matt sat down beside her, back against the wall. "Now I'll explain the buttons."
Noxx nodded again.
'I'm not going to fail. Not again. Not in front of him.'
That thought appeared in her head before she could stop it.
It wasn't a rational thought. She was about to play something she didn't even know what it was, with an object she had never touched, using concepts she didn't understand.
Failing was the most likely outcome.
The most logical one.
The most normal one.
But Noxx didn't want to go through that again in front of Matt.
"This button on the left moves the character," said Matt. "You push it in the direction you want them to go. Up, down, left, right."
Noxx looked at the button.
It was round, flat, and moved when pressed.
"This one on the right has four smaller buttons. Each does something different depending on the game. Jump. Attack. Dodge. Interact."
Noxx looked at the four buttons.
They had different shapes: a triangle, a square, a circle, and an X.
"The ones up top are the triggers. They're for secondary actions. Shoot. Block. Aim. Depends on the game."
Noxx nodded.
"And this button in the center—"
A thought crossed Noxx's mind.
'Matt held this in his hands a moment ago.'
The thought appeared and vanished in less than a second.
Noxx buried it.
Pushed it down.
Crushed it under layers of forced attention toward the words Matt was saying.
"—is the start button. You press it to open the menu, pause the game, or select options."
Matt looked at her.
"Got it?"
Noxx nodded.
It was a clumsy nod.
Fast.
Too fast.
Her head went up and down twice in less than a second.
Matt watched her with an expression Noxx couldn't read.
"Then pick a game."
Noxx looked at the screen.
The menu was there. The square icons with names below.
Some had swords, others buildings, others jumping figures.
Noxx moved her left thumb.
The cursor didn't move.
Noxx moved it again.
The cursor moved right, but not where she wanted.
Noxx frowned.
She moved her thumb harder.
The cursor shot to the edge of the screen and disappeared.
Noxx pressed her lips together.
'Relax. It's just a game... It's not combat. Nothing happens if—'
Her right thumb came down.
She pressed a button.
The screen went dark.
The melody cut off abruptly.
The light from the screen disappeared.
The console went dark, silent, and inert in her hands.
Noxx looked at the dark screen.
Then looked at Matt.
"What did I do?"
Matt looked at her. His mouth twisted, his shoulders started shaking, and he laughed.
He simply couldn't believe someone could be this clumsy when learning to use a console.
