"Welllll, I have quite a few so I can show you– various ones?"

"Sounds good to me!"

"Cool! And in the meantime… Got any interesting hobbies? Oh– the shapeshifting thing, if you know anything else about that you could tell me about it?"

He shrugs. "Not really, the shapeshifting's very frustrating, and it's not really a hobby. As far as hobbies go, I like reading, going on walks, watching movies, talking to people, flirting and making out with them, nerding about stuff..."

"Nerding about stuff sounds possibly fun, if you have particular things to nerd about," says Theo. "Any particular genre of movie or book that you prefer?"

"I like nerding about lots of things! Like math. I like nerding about math. Or physics. Or biology. I just—don't often have anyone to nerd with. As for genres, mmm, I like stuff with good well-built stories and worlds and characters, especially smart ones, but nothing in particular beyond that. How about you?"

"Nerding sounds fun, but I'm not sure if I'm nerd enough about enough topics. For books – I like ones with happy endings, mainly, especially if there's a– thing that they have to overcome."

"...so like ninety percent of them," he laughs.

"Yeah, it's– a bit more precise than that but I'm not sure how to word it, and the happy ending has to be an honestly happy ending, as opposed to something like 'and then he became god and recreated the world in the horrific way it was before, but at least it's not destroyed', because that's… stupid."

"I don't really mind a sad ending so long as it's, like, sad for a reason and not some Diabolus Ex Machina. Like, if things go wrong because god decided they would that annoys me, if things go wrong because the characters are stupid in ways that don't make sense for them to be that annoys me, but if it's genuine lack of forethought, or if the problem was genuinely hard and they had only a very slim chance of succeeding anyway, or stuff like that, then I enjoy that."

"Mm… I think it depends, but I'd prefer to know it's gonna end badly going in, then it has a chance to redeem itself on the other properties before I get to the end and have the sad note that makes me think 'ugh.'"

"I don't particularly enjoy a book less if I know its ending but I prefer not to. I like trying to figure out what's gonna happen." Pause. "I really dislike Sherlock Holmes books."

"I haven't actually read them!" says Theo. "Is any of this due to the 'look how smart I am deducing all these things' thing?"

"If he were actually deducing all these things I'd be okay with it, but he's actually doing voodoo magic to reach his conclusions and that's not nearly as interesting. Or, rather, it'd be interesting if it were explored as magic rather than just waved away with a 'huh.'"

"Yeah, so it's the– oh, right, I didn't mean the stuck-up attitude, I meant to, like, scare-quote 'deducing'. Since, you know – 'deducing.'"

"Right, yeah. It's just that the process through which he deduces stuff is very black-box-y and impossible to replicate at home. It's not really interesting to reach the end of the book and find that the key to solving the mystery wasn't even actually mentioned to the reader. It's probably supposed to make me feel impressed by how Mr. Holmes thought about looking at this very obscure thing but it only makes me feel frustrated that I never got the chance to check whether I would, in fact, have looked at this very obscure thing had the information been available to me."

"I think they're mainly meant for people who would not even bother trying to put the pieces together, even if they were all available?" he says. "I don't know. Like I said, I haven't really read them – they're sort of, part of a genre that I don't really tend to read."

"Why not?"

"I'm not really a fan of– mystery novels that much? Crime things, those can be interesting, but things like Sherlock where they're all set in the past and they're– also weirdly 'deduce'-y, not sure how to phrase that better, I don't really enjoy those all that much. Or, maybe I would, but I haven't read many because of the fact I don't think I do or would like them."

Shrug. "I like Agatha Christie a bit more."

Then they're at Theo's house! It's not huge, but it's, you know, a decent sized house in a small town. He opens the door and shows Sadde around.

Sadde will be quietly impressed by the house and follow Theo as he's shown around.

It's not– that impressive, like, it's sort of impressive since it's mainly Theo's because his mom is practically never around, but he hasn't gotten 'round to telling Sadde that yet, though he will have by the end of the tour.

Kitchen, living room, point out the bathroom, show Sadde the various books and games and movies available, mention that his mom travels a lot and she won't be back for like another two weeks this time, move swiftly onwards to ask about what Sadde wants to do—

"...in a completely empty house with you? We-ell, I suppose you could show me video games..."

"… Video games it is," he says.

He has quite a few. Of various genres. Is there any particular type of game that catches Sadde's eye?