destinystrings | Shura's birthday party, backdated to the 26th

Entry tags:

Shura's birthday party, backdated to the 26th

Who: Shura, a bunch of friends and you?
Where: Growlanser Arcade, Cancer Ward. Will later move to the Taurus Ward.
Summary: Shura celebrates her birthday with friends and strangers alike.
Warnings: Taurus Ward, underage(?) drinking, Nyx's Club

The day was much better since she had decided to celebrate. After joining with Yamato in Virgo and getting a thick hoodie to keep herself warm in the snow, they had travelled across the river to the Cancer Ward to pick up Elizabeth at the station before heading to the arcade.

The Growlanser arcade was as loud and bright as ever, even in the middle of a quiet Monday afternoon. It was still time for school, so Shura and her group almost had the arcade to themselves, and they were going to take full advantage of it. And Shura was gonna begin by finding that table flipping game she had seen on the Network.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That's all right, I can explain."

She took his gloved hand and pulled him toward one of the numerous crane machines lined by the entrance, one that contained a 5 to 1 ratio of ugly demons, but also contained the ultimate prize, the legendary hee-ro Frost Ace in plush form! And look, an Arioch on top of the pile.

"This is a crane machine! You insert money to gain a limited time to operate the crane and grab a plushie to bring it to the chute. You win if you manage to fish one out and let it fall in the chute before the crane resets. This is a machine that gives its own reward."

Yamato pulled his hand away when they reached the crane machine, flexing his fingers slightly in discomfort. He still wasn't used to casual physical contact - especially if it was without warning.

"I see..." Yamato muttered, peering inside of the machine at the 'rewards' inside. Stuffed toys? Yamato didn't have a use for them, and it seemed a bit wasteful and pointless to pay for an attempt to try and win one. Wouldn't it be more economically sound to purchase the toy in a store instead of blowing large amounts of money in trying to win one instead?

"Toys are useless rewards, though."

You silly boy, it's because they're not available in store that you get them from a crane machine! Speaking of, Shura was hard at work manipulating the Frost Ace closer and closer to the chute.

"Well, I like plush toys. Don't worry though, I'll get you some candy as soon as YES!!!" One Frost Ace get! Shura opens the little door on the front of the machine to pick up her reward. When you squeeze the toy, it says "hee-ho!". Shura is beside herself with cute. "Fuck yeah, I've been eyeing this one for a long time! Anyway, let's go inside, we're getting snowy." And there was no chance that Yamato would want photo stickers of himself and Shura anyway, she was certain.

Despite Yamato thinking the rewards were useless, he did watch Shura with obvious curiosity. He supposed he could see the use in playing a game, if the rewards weren't your cup of tea. Learning to use this crane could help one to judge distances, as well as develop hand-eye coordination.

Still, perhaps a better reward system, like food.

Yamato almost jumped at Shura's joyous cry at grasping a Frost Ace, blinking a little at her as she claimed her price and cuddled it shamelessly. That excited over a bit of fluff and cotton?

"...hm, yes," Yamato said reluctantly. It was cold outside, but, the inside of the arcade was so bright and loud, he could already feel himself get a headache just from looking inside of it. "You will show me these other 'games' you mentioned."

Only an hour. And then sweets. Endure, Yamato.

Shura smiled and, Frost Ace in hand, looked around the arcade. Thing was, she had no idea of Yamato's tastes in game, and she wasn't sure he knew either.

"What would you like to try first, a shoot-em-up or a fighting game? Both we can play together. In a shoot-em-up, we collaborate by shooting targets on a screen. In a fighting game, we play against each other by making characters fight. Unless you prefer something else? We can probably earn tickets for candy by playing pinball or whack-a-mole..."

Yamato mulled over his choices. The 'Shoot-em'up' (what a weird name) sounded the more appealing. He knew how to use firearms, even if they were usually useless against demons, and he quite enjoyed shooting on the range. It made him concentrate and focus, and cleared his mind, and in this loud, thumping, overwhelming atmosphere...that would be welcome now.

"The Shooting game sounds tolerable."

Shura smiled brightly. "Let's go then! They're right down that row of machines." And off she went to bring Yamato to a machine that allowed one to shoot zombies with green blood.

Zombies with green blood? Being dead and reanimated did not cause green blood, unless they had sulfhaemoglobinaemia before they died, and ingested large amounts of sulphur-

What was he doing? This was a silly civilian game. Accuracy was too hard to ask for.

"This is it?" he asked, his tone mildly disbelieving as they stopped before the large machine. He slipped the plastic gun out of its holder, inspecting it with a small frown. He knew they couldn't use actual weapons for this game but... it was just pulling a single button?

"I know, it's a bit old," she said, misinterpreting his disbelief, "but it's still fairly popular. I think you'll like it. You gotta shoot the zombies and avoid shooting the civilians, so it's not just mindlessly shooting at everything that moves." She set Frost Ace at her feet to take the plastic gun.

"When your half of the screen says RELOAD, you shoot the ammo thingy in your corner of the screen," she explained, showing the revolver cylinder on the bottom left corner.

"Ready?"

That was incredibly unrealistic, but Yamato held his tongue on it. Again, civilians. Asking accuracy on firearms of all things was asking far, far too much. He adjusted his grip on the fake gun, settling the butt of the rifle into the groove of his right shoulder, adjusting his stance to be balanced.

Okay, so he wouldn't have to compensate for the recoil if this didn't actually shoot, but this was comfortable in a familiar sort of way.

"Ready."

Shura nodded and inserted coins in both Yamato's slot and hers. It took a few moments for the intro and prologue to scroll by, and then the carnage began. Shura was not very good with her firearm, but her reflexes allowed her to shoot faster than Yamato. It wasn't very useful still when she had to shoot the same guys three times as much as him, however.

Yamato tuned out the prologue and the ramblings - the acting was poor and no doubt the script was even poorer - and promptly started shooting when the action stage started. Shura was quicker at the draw than he was, but Yamato's hits were accurate, and between the both of them, they flew through the stages quite quickly.

Hm, it was kind of fun. Not the same as having a real firearm on the ranges, but something to pass the time, at least...

Unfortunately a real range was much over Shura's budget, so this would have to do. The dialogue was absolutely awful, the script no better, but the action kept the players on their toes right up until the end where they faced a boss with small and changing targets on its body. Without Yamato, Shura wouldn't have been able to beat him, she was too off target half the time.

For winning, the machine rewarded them with a terrible ending and some tickets to drop at the main desk for rewards.

"Good job!"

"Hrm," Yamato slid the fake gun back into its holster, glancing at Shura from the corner of his eye. His expression was neutral, although he seemed a lot less grumpy than he was when they entered the arcade. That was practically a smile for him.

"This was a relatively easy 'game' to play if one has experience in such things," Yamato said dismissively, brushing the praise aside as meaningless. "You need to work on your aim, though. Speed does not count for much if you do not hit your target."

"I don't play shooting game that often, to be honest," she explained. "I'm terrible with a gun. I'm more of a crane game addict, but that's boring to watch... speaking of watching! I want to find a game I saw on the Network the other day, if you don't mind?"

Yamato was adjusting to the loud, flashing noises of the arcade, so he inclined his head in agreement as he slipped his hands into his pockets. He still wanted his sweets too, dammit.

"Certainly. What does it look like?"

"It's a table flipping game! The machine is red and yellow and I think it was at the end of a row to make space..." Shura is already looking around for it, passing by the stage for the dance games.

That just drew a confused look from Yamato, trailing after Shura as she hunts about. Table-flipping? That sounded like a senselessly destructive game to play - how would it even work? One would flip a table and it would...fall down?

His gaze was snagged by one large machine with two platforms marked with flashing arrows. Hm?

Suddenly finding herself alone in her quest, Shura backtracked to find Yamato by the dance games. "Something got your attention, Yamato?"

Yamato turned away from his study of the machine. From what he deduced it was obviously some sort of rhythm game. Arrows would appear and one would step on the corresponding arrow. Finally, a useful game. It would be good to learn dexterity and improve overall fitness.

"I was just examining this surprisingly useful game. Have you found your, ah, 'table-flipping' one?"

"Not yet, but if you want to play this game, I'm all for it!" She was happy that Yamato had found a game he deemed 'useful'. Maybe it would convince him to stay a little longer and have some fun.

W-Wait, he didn't want to- urgh.

Yamato swallowed his knee-jerk protest, heaving a quiet sigh as he glanced at the brightly coloured machine once more. He had been curious about how civilians occupy themselves, and, again, his prize were sweets. Would he rather shuffle about in boredom for the next forty five minutes or actually do something that would be useful and...maybe sort of fun?

"...very well," Yamato conceded, his hands lifting up to unbutton his coat. It wouldn't impede his movements, but it was very thick and heavy - and a Hotsuin never sweated.

Shura removed her hoodie as well, wrapping her things in it. "Do I have to explain how it works?"

"I think I've figured it out," Yamato said a bit flatly. He was ignorant of civilian entertainment, but he wasn't stupid. Hrmph! He draped his neatly folded coat over the railing part of the dance machine's platfrom, and stepped up onto it.

"I was just asking," she said, jumping onto the platform. She inserted the required coins in the machine. "Pick the song?" she asked as she rotated one ankle, then the other to warm up.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject