"I'm Ortho Shroud, I'll be showing you around Ignihyde in place of-"
Ortho's introduction is cut short by the Devil Fruit user running up to him with starry-eyes,
"Woah~! Your hair is so cool! And how are you flying??"
"My brother built these features into my body, and more!"
Enjoying her enthusiasm the boy doesn't hesitate to explain. Y/n grins at him,
"Is your brother a genius? He sounds pretty awesome!"
Gasping softly, Ortho eagerly nods and begins rambling to her about his big brother and everything that makes him great. Listening intently, Y/n still takes a moment to look at her surrounding. She figured that all the dorms would be in different looking places, but the dark spookiness with the huge skeletons surrounding them take her by surprise. Just where is this supposed to be?! Getting over it, she turns back to the young boy,
"Your big brother sounds like a great guy! You think we could meet or something?"
Excited for a moment, it's short lived as Ortho looks to the floor before sighing and closing his eyes,
"Probably not, he always locks himself in his room to play games or work on stuff."
Sensing his disappointment, the Devil Fruit user tries to lift his spirits,
"Hmm, I see. But you never know! Maybe we could convince him and we'll all get to hang out together. I used to convince my older brothers to do my ideas all the time!"
About to reach the entrance of Ignihyde, the young boy tilts his head at her,
"You have older brothers?"
"Yep! Three of 'em. I get how much you love your big brother and how you want the best for him.",
The way Ortho spoke about his brother makes it pretty clear he admired him, but also worried for him... and Y/n can relate. If she had to count every time Luffy alone did something that worries her, she'd lose count. She continues,
"So if you're brother ever changes his mind, I'll be waiting."
Floating up to her height, she assumes he gives her a smile as he closes his eyes,
"Thank you Y/n!"
Returning back down, the two enter the dorm and the woman is met with a different vibe. In contrast to the outside, everything looks clean, shiny and futuristic with several glowing signs. Staring with wide eyes, the woman tries to wrap her head around what she's seeing. She runs up to one of the glowing signs, however as she gets closer she notices it's actually transparent,
"Huh?? What are these...?"
Before she can try to jump up and touch it, Ortho explains,
"Those are digital displays showing our schedules and data of how well our dorm is performing in comparison to last year."
Y/n squints at the display, more confused than before and looks at Ortho for more answers,
"Uhhh... digi... tal?"
Not understanding, Ortho goes through his data base of emotions and expression and analyzes her to see what's wrong. Even with that, he can't tell what's the issue,
"Yes, a digital display.",
He takes a moment before his eyes widen a bit,
"Do you not know what that is?"
"Nope, I've never seen anything like this."
Letting her words sink in, Ortho thinks about it in depth and how far her lack of knowledge might go. In the meantime, the Devil Fruit user turns back to the display and approaches it.
'It's so pretty and glowy... I wanna touch it.'
Preparing herself to jump up and grab the screen, Y/n is pulled back by her shoulders as Ortho turns her around,
"Do you know what technology is? Computer? Phones?... electricity?"
The woman answers confidently,
"Of course I know what electricity is!",
She points upwards,
"It comes from lightning in the sky."
A short silence follows, before the young boy happily exclaims,
"Oh no! This is a complete emergency we can't ignore! Don't worry Y/n, I know exactly who can help!"
Grabbing her arm, Ortho starts flying and dragging her through the halls, deeper into the dorm. Where to? The Devil Fruit user isn't so sure.
"Um... okay???"
'Wait... why do I need help and how is this an emergency? Crowley, one day is NOT enough to understand what's up with these dorms-!'
As Y/n still tries making sense of everything, they arrive in front of a plain, white door. Ortho wastes no time barging in with her, and they're met with a guy with longer blue flames for hair sitting on his bed holding a device with multiple buttons.
"Idia!"
"AH! Ortho?! W- wha-?!"
Ignoring the guy's high pitched scream, the young boy pushes the woman in front of himself and points towards her.
"This is an emergency! Y/n doesn't know anything about technologies or electronics!"
Clearly unprepared and confused by her arrival, Idia fumbles over his words. Anxiety taking over, he pulls Ortho towards him as he angrily whispers,
"I thought we agreed you'd take care of showing her around...! Why is she here??"
"I told you, Y/n doesn't know anything about technology so-"
"Uhhh, how does someone not know about tech?!"
Baffled and almost offended by her lack of knowledge, Idia glances over at the woman. He refuses to believe someone like that could exist, she has to be lying! He takes a closer look at her behavior. Y/n, giving up on trying to make sense of everything, wanders around the room, curious of the strange gadgets around her. What captures her attention the most are the multiple digital screens floating above a desk.
Without thinking, the woman gets up close to it but quickly leans back, blinking a few times and rubbing her eyes. She wasn't expecting the brightness to burn her eyes, it isn't even hot or anything.
"I wonder... "
Speaking to herself, Y/n goes to poke at the screen- only for her finger to go through it and causing the screen to shake.
"Oh!"
As Idia observes the woman repeatedly poke at his holographic display while smiling and laughing to herself, he's in disbelief. It's almost pitiful, watching her interact with the things in his room. He can't imagine going a day without his tech, and she's gone her entire life not even knowing what a phone is. Ortho tries convincing him more,
"You always complain about normies not getting the depth of your favorite animes and video games, now is your chance to show her!"
About to retort, Idia stops himself and is stunned. The words "animes" and "video games" echoing through his mind as his slowly looks back over to the Devil Fruit user, still having fun with the hologram. She has never played a video game or watched a single episode of any anime. This... is completely unacceptable! Refusing to let her go on like this any longer, he takes step forward to confront the woman.
"Do you-! Uh, do you know what video games are...?"
All the energy and courage he had deflated immediately the moment he realized Y/n turned to look at him, and is now mentally cursing himself for even trying in the first place. The woman thinks about it for a moment, she knows what games are! But how different can video games be from regular games? Y/n let's out an elongated "uh", still in thought, as the young boy pushes his brother closer to her,
"C'mon Idia! You should show her!"
"Yeah, show me!"
Not to sure about what they want to show her, Y/n encourages him anyway.
Gulping, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat, Idia approaches her and stands in front of his desk next to her as he begins typing something. Since she's super new to gaming he considers picking out some old classics, but if he really wants to wow her he might as well show her one of his favorites.
"Here, look. This game is called "World of Legends"."
He passes her a controller and gestures for the woman to sit in the chair, as she intently looks at the opening scene being displayed and a story of the world is being told,
"It's a fantasy mmo- massive multi-player online game, where you defeat bosses and clear dungeons to gain rewards and level up. I created a new account, so you can pick whatever you want for your character."
Giving a determined nod, Y/n looks at the character select menu and looks at all her options before looking at the controller and its buttons. Catching on, Idia helps her out
"You move around using the stick on the left and press X to select. The game will explain the rest to you.",
He mutters the next part under his breath,
"I srsly can't believe I actually had to explain that to another person..."
Not paying attention to that last part, Y/n focuses on the game and slowly makes progress. Satisfied with her character, she moves on to the next section as another scene plays out on the screen.
"You just made your character look like you...?"
"Yep! Why?"
Idia stares at her for less than a second, then stutters out a quick "no reason" as he diverts his gaze to the screen. Truthfully, he did expect a noob like her to either do that or make an edgy, cringy character, but it doesn't stop him from cringing at the memory of his first character.
The first moments of the tutorial are uneventful, besides Idia correcting Y/n on how to hold and press the buttons properly as she keeps going back to holding it in one hand while pressing the buttons with her index finger. Slowly, she catches the hang of it and makes it to the end of the tutorial where it asks who she is. Going to type her name in, the Housewarden takes the controller from her.
"Hey!"
"Yeah, no. You can't use your real name, you have to use a username that isn't taken yet."
The Devil Fruit user retorts with a frown,
"Well what username isn't taken?"
"How should I know? You have to try and see if it accepts it- and your real name is definitely already taken."
Groaning, she leans back into the chair and glares at the screen as if trying to intimidate the device into giving her a name. Not wanting her to attack his electronics like she tried with The Dark Mirror, he inputs a name for her and tells her to put in a password she won't forget. Doing as told, Y/n finally starts playing the game. Following Idia's advice on where to go, what to equip and how to defeat certain enemies, the woman is having a good time and so are the two brothers as they watch her become better at it.
The real challenge arrises as she enters the first dungeon. Her control over the movement is still wonky and causes her to panic and run away when her health gets to low, while loudly complaining that it's a lot easier to fight in real life then in game.
"Are you experienced in fighting?"
Huddled in a part of the dungeon that's cleared from enemies, the Devil Fruit user rests the controller on her lap and turns to look back at Ortho,
"Yeah, I've fought some pretty strong guys... and none of them were as tedious as this! Ugh."
Annoyed by her approach at the dungeon, the Housewarden gives his insight,
"That's because as soon as you have more than one enemy near you, you start spamming the button without thinking! You actually have to be strategic and think carefully about who to take on first."
Deciding this is his moment to show off and brag, he extends his hand out to the woman,
"Here, let me show you how it's done."
Obliging, Y/n hands him over the controller and offers him back the chair. Ortho and her watch from Idia's side as he maneuvers around the enemies with ease and makes quick work of them. Even though she has fun and enjoys playing the game herself, it's even more fun watching Idia play as his younger brother cheers him on. The Devil Fruit user also notices the smirk that appeared the moment he started playing, whenever he comments or makes fun of certain opponents. And the woman has to say, she likes this attitude more than his stuttering one. It feels like he's more himself, in his element.
Immersed in the game play, Y/n absent-mindedly places her hand on the Housewarden's shoulder and leans closer to get a better look at the screen. This action is almost enough to pull Idia out of his focus, but his short moment of panic is interrupted by Ortho pointing out the appearance of the dungeons boss. Idia redirects his attention on the game, hoping Ortho won't point out how his heartbeat sped up. With both the younger brother and the Devil Fruit user cheering him on and warning him about special attacks, even though he already knows then, the boss is finally defeated and drops loot.
"That was so cool Idia!"
"Right? He really is the best! I'm glad you can see it, Y/n."
Touched by how much Ortho cares, and a little flustered by Y/n's compliment, Idia still accepts the praise before their attention is caught by the sound of walking and murmurs coming from outside. Checking what time it is, Ortho informs them,
"Classes ended about 20 minutes ago, so students are returning to their room. Since you still need to see Diasomnia, it would save you time if you went to find one of their students or went directly to their dorm."
Nodding at his explanation, Y/n mentally curses herself as she remembers she wanted to meet up with Yuuken and Grim after classes ended. Quickly asking for the direction to the mirror, explaining she needs to go the cafeteria, the Devil Fruit user books it for the exit but not before declaring she wants to play more games with them.
'Man, those games are way too fun! If it hadn't been for Ortho reminding us, I would have ended up watching him play until who knows when!'
The woman hopes that Yuuken and Grim are still in the cafeteria, but then again where else would they be? They couldn't have cleaned all those mirrors in just 20 minutes, so they're probably still there cleaning.
Back in the Housewarden's room, Ortho turns around to look at his brother, happy with how the entire interaction went.
"You did great, Idia!"
A bit surprised at the praise, the older brother smirks,
"Of course I did, I'm a pro at this game. There's no way I'd lose at such a baby level."
"Not the game, I mean with Y/n!"
The panic from earlier is coming back to Idia, as he's unsure of where Ortho is going with this.
"This isn't just the first time you spent time with someone else in person, but the first time you talked openly with a girl your age! Isn't that great?"
If Idia wasn't already sitting in his chair, he's sure his legs would have given out as he feels his entire body become tingly and numb. His heartbeat quickening once more as he leans forward to hold his head and just crumbles in his seat, wishing for the world to self destruct right then and there.
ꕀꕀꕀꕀꕀꕀ𓊝ꕀꕀꕀꕀꕀꕀ
TO BE CONTINUED