“Okay?”
Maxim uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands in front of him.
“Heath is so much better at setting up computers, but he shouldn’t know all the reasons why you might need one.It would…unsettle him.”
“But I just…I can use yours if that’s easier?”
Maxim made a shocked face.“And have you exposed to all the work things I have to deal with?Absolutely not.But you mustn’t tell Heath the computer is for your digitizing and cataloging work.”
“But—”
“We’re going to tell him it’s for fun.”
“But—”
Maxim raised a finger.“Like video games.Do you play video games?”
Raven ran his hands through his hair.It was probably messy.He couldn’t remember when he’d last brushed it.
“I never did.As a kid, I mean.But I did when I moved in with Jason.He has a Switch.”
“Like an off switch?”
And Raven…cackled.The sound almost scared him.“It’s what the console is called.”
Maxim nodded.“Heath will get you one of those too.Also for fun.”
“But we were just talking about digitizing stuff.”
Maxim scooted closer on the couch.“That is the ultimate goal, but this will help with what we’re going to be telling Heath.That you enjoy gaming and need gaming things.I gamed a little myself not too long ago.I acquired a broadsword rather quickly.If you find the correct game, I can show you.”
Raven nodded, more or less flabbergasted.Maybe I’m still dreaming.“Okay.”
Maxim beamed.“Fabulous.”He pointed at a book that was sitting on the table.Raven hadn’t noticed it before.“I shall go change, and then I’ll be reading some more.”He frowned.“Unless… Would you enjoy a game?Analog, while we wait to ply Heath for the digital kind.”
Raven was still confused, but at least this confusion had nothing to do with what was going on in his own head.First he drags me up to that storage floor with all those personal memories, and now he asks me for a game?
“Do you mean like cards?”
“Hmm.I was thinking chess, in fact.Do you play?It can be enjoyable.”
Chess.Raven had read up on the rules, had even, back in the dorm, downloaded an app and played a few rounds.He’d read about the game in books or stories often enough to feel like he was missing out for never having been taught it, and being wiped out by that app within minutes hadn’t really been fun.It had made him wonder what he was missing about it.
“I don’t really know how to play.”
Maxim’s eyes warmed.“Not a worry.I will teach you.”
It was the rounds of chess he played with Maxim that helped Raven keep it together over the next few weeks.Maxim had carried down a massive wooden game board and big game pieces carved from stone that had a comfortable weight to them.They kept the board on the table and would play whenever the fancy took them, sometimes in the mornings before going downstairs for blood, sometimes in the evenings.
During the day, Raven worked on what he began calling the Forbidden Floor.Maxim came upstairs with him often, but not always, and answered questions about what things were and where they should be put.
Ume stuck to Raven’s side unless they were at the restaurant.He had befriended the kitchen staff, or rather, had learned to make cute eyes at them to get homemade food.
Jason became a regular visitor to 43 Ruthaven as well.He took care of in-house mail or did coffee runs.He also visited Raven on the Forbidden Floor.
One day, maybe a month after he’d arrived, Raven had retreated to a set of old armchairs on the Forbidden Floor for a break when he heard the elevator arrive.It was early in the afternoon, and the light was so bright that there were no dark corners here to fear.
Despite rationally knowing that he was safe where he was, the sound still made him jump.Maxim wasn’t here.He was never as jumpy when Maxim was there with him, often chatting, but sometimes being quiet.
