Dallas was sitting on a park bench. He was not doing anything special, ruminating on the nature of man or anything like that. The park seemed like a nice place to crash for a bit before heading home after a fine day of lazing about.
In his right hand, he had his phone. He had been reading up on wrestling news inbetween looking at the trees that were here. Things had been wild, and the areas he frequented were blowing up constantly with behind the scenes stories, podcasts and clips of old wrestling from 20 years ago. He had been trying not to dive his nose too far into such things, if only to not lose interest in the medium and not lose sight of what he had out here.
A park isn't the same as the true wilderness out there, too controlled and neatly put together for it to be something nature would allow. Still, it was a great place to relax and Dallas could apprecaite the nuances it had over the real thing. The grove of trees, for example, he liked to look at it for just such a moment.
He shuffled his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, and stretched his legs a bit while keeping his eyes on the grove. It was a sight for sore eyes.
Same ole' nature
Open
Hmm, maybe he should build a Commander deck.
((Toby Underwood pregame start))
Toby was just kinda like, taking a walk, you know? Class was out, he didn't have any homework he needed to rush to work on, and he was off the job tonight, so he was just kind of loitering with his thoughts. In this case, Magic thoughts. For a long time, he'd been pondering this, actually, so now was as good a time as any to make a call. Toby was a modern player, through and through. But the Modern meta was kind of bad for him; he playede Murktide at the moment, but white was pretty dead, so he was feeling kind of bummed and thinking of trying another format. He'd rather die than play with the casuals on Arena, though, and with how much WotC was jerking off the EDH every set, maybe he ought to give that a try? He could get a precon and fuck around at one of them ore casual stores. He'd probably kick ass doing that, which would be fun.
Toby didn't usually see anyone around the park at this time of day, but today he actually recognized someone. Dallas was cool, kinda. Sheltered, maybe? Had that vibe of like, kid who would crash and burn as soon as the real world got to him. But that didn't matter to Toby, not right now. He'd learn, or not, it wasn't really something he had to worry about.
"Hey dude, what's up?" Toby waved as he walked past. Thinking too long about dumb trading cards got kind of boring, and Toby always appreciated the company. "Just vibing?"
((Toby Underwood pregame start))
Toby was just kinda like, taking a walk, you know? Class was out, he didn't have any homework he needed to rush to work on, and he was off the job tonight, so he was just kind of loitering with his thoughts. In this case, Magic thoughts. For a long time, he'd been pondering this, actually, so now was as good a time as any to make a call. Toby was a modern player, through and through. But the Modern meta was kind of bad for him; he playede Murktide at the moment, but white was pretty dead, so he was feeling kind of bummed and thinking of trying another format. He'd rather die than play with the casuals on Arena, though, and with how much WotC was jerking off the EDH every set, maybe he ought to give that a try? He could get a precon and fuck around at one of them ore casual stores. He'd probably kick ass doing that, which would be fun.
Toby didn't usually see anyone around the park at this time of day, but today he actually recognized someone. Dallas was cool, kinda. Sheltered, maybe? Had that vibe of like, kid who would crash and burn as soon as the real world got to him. But that didn't matter to Toby, not right now. He'd learn, or not, it wasn't really something he had to worry about.
"Hey dude, what's up?" Toby waved as he walked past. Thinking too long about dumb trading cards got kind of boring, and Toby always appreciated the company. "Just vibing?"
"Ah! Toby!" Dallas answered with a wave of his left hand, temporarily out of its holding space before quickly shuffling back in.
Dallas liked Toby, he did not know the guy well, but the dude always came across as a nice enough person to him. He never had any problems with him before and it was always nice to have someone 'round to talk to about the sight here.
"Pretty much, man, just watching the trees, enjoying the sights and waiting on some wrestling news." He said with a smile before reflexively asking:
"You?"
Dallas liked Toby, he did not know the guy well, but the dude always came across as a nice enough person to him. He never had any problems with him before and it was always nice to have someone 'round to talk to about the sight here.
"Pretty much, man, just watching the trees, enjoying the sights and waiting on some wrestling news." He said with a smile before reflexively asking:
"You?"
"I'm just vibing, you know?" Toby replied, hands in his pockets because it was kind of cold and also he really was just chilling. "Taking a walk, you know? It's not too cold out tonight, so might as well." Track practice wasn't until later in the year, so he also didn't have that to worry about. Meant he had more time for card games.
"You into wrestling? I dunno much about it. It's all made up, right?" Watching sports wasn't really Toby's thing. Not enough drama, you know? They had their weird little storylines but they were so boring, like, not enough people to hate each other and ruin their own chances being petty. That was where the fun was. Toby paced back and forth a little, trying to keep himself warm. Okay, a jacket may have been a good idea, he'd admit.
"You into wrestling? I dunno much about it. It's all made up, right?" Watching sports wasn't really Toby's thing. Not enough drama, you know? They had their weird little storylines but they were so boring, like, not enough people to hate each other and ruin their own chances being petty. That was where the fun was. Toby paced back and forth a little, trying to keep himself warm. Okay, a jacket may have been a good idea, he'd admit.
"I getcha, always nice to have a walk." Dallas said in earnest. There was never anything better to clear ones head than watching nature at work without really watching nature as it works.
What caught him offguards was the mention of wrestling. It shouldn't have, it was the obvious question that was almost always asked about it, and he knew on a level that Toby did not mean anything by it, guy is just curious and all, but it always, without fail, annoyed him that the hard work wrestlers did that the authenticity of it would always be questioned and asked about.
"Yeah, I am! Been watching for a long while now, just kind of stuck with me. And I guess, kinda? The stuff they do is real, but what they are fighting over ain't, if that makes sense?"
What caught him offguards was the mention of wrestling. It shouldn't have, it was the obvious question that was almost always asked about it, and he knew on a level that Toby did not mean anything by it, guy is just curious and all, but it always, without fail, annoyed him that the hard work wrestlers did that the authenticity of it would always be questioned and asked about.
"Yeah, I am! Been watching for a long while now, just kind of stuck with me. And I guess, kinda? The stuff they do is real, but what they are fighting over ain't, if that makes sense?"
Okay, sure, fair enough. Toby liked nature, he guessed. Normally 'quiet' wasn't really his thing; he liked action, activity, people, doing stuff, all that. He was extroverted like that, or something. Well, okay, not always, obviously he wasn't doing that right this moment, but still, that was kind of the norm. Nature and activity kinda didn't click to him, unless he was hunting, which seemed not that fun. Maybe he should go camping with some people sometime. Go hiking, fishing, hang out by the campfire? That'd be some fun nature.
"So is it like, okay so bear with me," Toby said. "I watch a lot of like, reality shows, like Survivor, and this show called The Traitors. And like, the stuff they're doing is legit, but the editing puts stuff together to make a story." He gestured a little with his hands." So like, for an episode they build up these two people having a grudge, or something, and then one gets voted out, but that's just the part we see, right? 'Cause they edited like, days of footage. So there's real stuff happening, but they like, tidy it up to make it make sense to the viewers."
"Like that?"
"So is it like, okay so bear with me," Toby said. "I watch a lot of like, reality shows, like Survivor, and this show called The Traitors. And like, the stuff they're doing is legit, but the editing puts stuff together to make a story." He gestured a little with his hands." So like, for an episode they build up these two people having a grudge, or something, and then one gets voted out, but that's just the part we see, right? 'Cause they edited like, days of footage. So there's real stuff happening, but they like, tidy it up to make it make sense to the viewers."
"Like that?"
Now, the conversation was moving into the territory of something Dallas had no idea on. Sure, ask him about hiking, camping, hunting, maybe even wrestling when he had some good examples to work with, but reality tv? He was no… aficionado? on that, no one in his family was. His parents had always been dismissive of it, especially when stuff like Jersey Shore and all those family shows became a thing at those channels that didn't have that stuff before.
Dallas was not sure of the comparison. Toby was talking about reality tv here, and that could be as fake as you could get a lot of the time. Rigged and pushed towards weird hype stuff, with folks that acted worse than wrestlers could, somehow. For all he knew, even the stuff Toby mentioned could have a lot of fakeness to it, he had barely seen Survivor, if only briefly to see if the experience was what it was said to be, but it did not hook him, and Traitors? Never heard of it before.
But could he say that? Guy was talking about this out of interest for what he was watching, even if the comparison wasn't what Dallas would have gone for. Although, he guessed it could be the label of fake that had been stapled to them both.
"I guess? I haven't watched much reality tv so I'll take your word for it. But it sorta works like that with the promos they use before matches? They edit stuff together that took months, hell, years to make."
Dallas was not sure of the comparison. Toby was talking about reality tv here, and that could be as fake as you could get a lot of the time. Rigged and pushed towards weird hype stuff, with folks that acted worse than wrestlers could, somehow. For all he knew, even the stuff Toby mentioned could have a lot of fakeness to it, he had barely seen Survivor, if only briefly to see if the experience was what it was said to be, but it did not hook him, and Traitors? Never heard of it before.
But could he say that? Guy was talking about this out of interest for what he was watching, even if the comparison wasn't what Dallas would have gone for. Although, he guessed it could be the label of fake that had been stapled to them both.
"I guess? I haven't watched much reality tv so I'll take your word for it. But it sorta works like that with the promos they use before matches? They edit stuff together that took months, hell, years to make."
Okay, this conversation was getting boring. Like, Dallas was fine, and all, but this was going nowhere fast. Toby didn't really know what a 'promo' was, nor did he really care. He didn't mind small talk if it was like, entertaining, but this wasn't it. Surely there were more interesting things to talk about than wrestling, somewhere, right?
Toby pulled his hands out of his pockets to check his phone. Now, the question was, how to disengage without hurting coming off as a dick? It probably wasn't that big a deal for Dallas, so he could just make a smooth exit. Easy, peasy.
"Yeah, I getcha. Hey, I just got a text, I gotta get going. See you around, though?" There. Nice and gentle, good excuse, nothing to worry about. He wouldn't mind chatting the guy up some other time, just, you know, about something he could actually get into. That's all.
Toby pulled his hands out of his pockets to check his phone. Now, the question was, how to disengage without hurting coming off as a dick? It probably wasn't that big a deal for Dallas, so he could just make a smooth exit. Easy, peasy.
"Yeah, I getcha. Hey, I just got a text, I gotta get going. See you around, though?" There. Nice and gentle, good excuse, nothing to worry about. He wouldn't mind chatting the guy up some other time, just, you know, about something he could actually get into. That's all.
"Yeah man, see you around." Dallas responded. Shame that a sudden text came when he was in the midst of getting to talk about this stuff, but shit happens and one could only shrug at it and move on. It was the way his parents had always viewed it and he had followed their example for the most part.
Still, there was a nagging thought that maybe going in depth on wrestling was the wrong move, he did check his phone during it, but that could have been something important. Better benefit of the doubt, right?
He gave a wave to the other boy as he left and focused back on the nature that was around him. The small amounts of it, anyway.
(Dallas Reynolds continued elsewhere))
Still, there was a nagging thought that maybe going in depth on wrestling was the wrong move, he did check his phone during it, but that could have been something important. Better benefit of the doubt, right?
He gave a wave to the other boy as he left and focused back on the nature that was around him. The small amounts of it, anyway.
(Dallas Reynolds continued elsewhere))