THE MOMENT
"Wait...," Keys raised his hand to interrupt Crystal's explanation. They were reviewing their latest practice game and he questioned her choices. But, it came with a light chuckle as he gave her a curious look. "..what do you mean, 'it's too dark'?" he asked. The pair of friends sat on a white sandy beach beneath deep red sky. Deep black water lapped at the sand and a gentle breeze kept them cool. It was one of Keys' favorite places in the multiverse and it had become one of their regular stops after practice.
Crystal decided it would be easier to show him and stood from the towel. She pulled the card in question out of her as she got to her feet, then held it up.
[Stormy Night] a deep voice filled the air and the red sky went black. A heavy downpour began showering them in an instant. The combination of the black night and the thick drops battering her face, Crystal could no longer see the edge of the beach anymore. She was getting drenched; but, that was only for the effects of the card.
"It's too dark!" Crystal said. "I can't skate fast in this weather, and I can't even see who I'm supposed to be healing!" she said. Keys was still smiling broadly as he got to his feet also.
"Wow," he said. "You're something else..," Crystal wasn't sure what he meant by that; but, she thought she heard some fondness in his voice. She hoped she thought she heard it. "You just jump right into things and get going don't you?" he chuckled.
"What are you talking about?" Crystal asked. She was growing annoyed by the constant pelting of rain. But, she didn't want to dismiss the effect until he admitted he saw her point. The moisture wasn't real anyway and she was willing to endure the minor annoyance for the sake of being right.
"Pull your Slate, I wanna show you something," he said. He flicked his wrist upward and a large glass pane appeared in the air before him. Crystal did the same to summon her own Slate.
"Go to 'Options'," he said. Crystal pressed the appropriate button and her character sheet was replaced by a long list of options. Crystal had a boundless curiosity and she'd played with many of the options already. However, she also had a tendency to be distracted easily and she never managed to work her way through the dozens of toggles available. There was always something more exciting to do. "Scroll down to 'Spell Effects'." he said. She gave the screen a solid swipe and let it scroll down on its own for several seconds.
"Okay," she found the button and pressed it. It brought up a new screen of toggles.
"Hit the one that says, "Disable Personal Spell Effects," he said. The moment Crystal touched the toggle, the rain vanished. It was a bright, red, sunny day again and she was dry as a bone.
"Huh," Crystal wasn't surprised in the least; but, she didn't let herself feel bad for not finding that option sooner. Instead, she had another question. "Then, how do I know if it's active?" she asked. His eyes widened in surprise and he tilted his head at her.
"You mean you don't-," he caught himself and shook his head. "Well, you didn't have this set up, it's fine," he chuckled. "Scroll down, there's another option that says, 'Display Buff and Debuff Icons'." Crystal searched for the option and found it quickly. She also decided that she would redouble her efforts to play with the options more.
A blue icon in the shape of a water drop appeared in the top left corner of her view when she pressed the toggle. She concentrated her gaze on it and the description [Stormy Night] appeared beneath it until she looked away. She looked around at the empty white beach and grinned.
"Sometimes I forget it's supposed to be a game," she said.
"Yeah," Keys smirked. "And that's a good card to help our team win the game. So, now you don't have any excuse not to play it, right?"
"Right!" Crystal nodded. "This is the best kind of dark and stormy night," she giggled. "It's not dark and there's no storm."