vidya game time

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Who: Yosuke and Gilbert
When: Backdated to the 17th of March
Where: Arcade in the underground mall
Summary: Bros playing video games. Only one of them is probably any good at it.
Warning: Warnings for embarrassing DDR failure.

This place is too loud. Too bright. There are too many flashing lights that still confuse him and fill him with anxiety. But two years living in this 'modern' world and Gilbert still hasn't assimilated properly when it comes to all of this technology.

He's been in this arcade a few times before. The first time he'd left with a migraine that he thought would never go away, and the second time he'd embarrassed himself by tripping over a stray power cord and nearly shoving an entire rack of stuffed animals on a small child. He'd caught it before it could do damage, but he'd still fled and promised never to show his face in this place again.

But he can't say no to a friend either. Especially a friend who 1 - he owes, and 2 - wants to continue helping his antiquated way of thinking expand a bit more.

Luckily, no one recognizes him as he stands just inside the entrance waiting for Yosuke to show up, staring down at his feet and trying not to bump into anything or anyone.

Comments

[inthejunk]

Yosuke is running a little late. It's a habit to swing by the diamond even when he's not supposed to be there, just in case some poor soul is standing around confused and terrified. He tries to text Gilbert from the train to let him know, but people keep pushing and shoving and steeping on him, so he gives up and stands between the two narrow poles at the front of the car where most of the passengers can't even squeeze in, let alone shove past. He has to hold his breath when they take a turn, but it's sort of worth it.

By the time he gets to the arcade, he's rubbing his ribs a little where the bars have been bumping them, but he's otherwise pretty cheerful. Finally, he dragged Gilbert out of the mansion for something fun.

He lifts a hand in greeting when he sees Gil. "Yo."

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How anyone can hear much of anything over the beeping and screaming in this room, he's not really sure. He sees Yosuke wave at him, but he doesn't hear whatever it was he just said. Shoving himself off of the wall he's leaning against, he moves to greet him.

"Good morning. Are you all right?" What's with the rib rubbing, bro?

[inthejunk]

Yosuke nods cheerfully. Yeah, it's morning, kind of. He can't totally hear you either, dude, but he's fine with it. And apparently not too concerned about his ribs, because he drops his hand and leads the way to get some tokens.

"The machines take these, you know?"

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It's cool. They'll get used to the noise eventually.

Machines - a word that he still doesn't always recognize in context with all of the electronics in this city. The one and only time that he's been inside of this place it was with Oz, and Oz took care of buying things like tokens. So he'll just follow behind like a puppy, letting Yosuke tell him what he needs to do.

"Why don't they just take coins?"

[inthejunk]

"Yeah, they're like coins! Exactly."

Yosuke nods again, and holds a handful of them out to Gil. You can pay for snacks later, dude. The first round of games are on him.

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"No, that's not what I--"

You know, he's not exactly sure why he asked anyways. If this is the way that things work, then this is how they work. Okay, he'll try it this way for now. He takes the tokens in one hand and glances around the room, hesitation and confusion still apparent on his face and body movements. He's really not sure where to begin.

[inthejunk]

What to do first? Yosuke pauses, right smack in everyone's way, and looks around. No shooting games, Gilbert would kick his ass at those. Maybe some table hockey. Or something silly and hilarious like ski-ball. He kind of wants to see Gil trying his hand at ski-ball.

Yosuke glances over curiously and suppresses a smirk. Man, this is clearly the best idea ever. Maybe he can even get Gilbert to do karaoke upstairs later...

"Anything look like fun, dude?"

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And Gil stands next to him, likewise in the way except he takes up more space than his young friend. Oops. But he follows Yosuke's gaze around the room, just with less certainty and overall recognition of pretty much anything he's looking at.

"I don't--" he starts, cutting himself off as he spots an airhockey table. A few people are putting their paddles away, one mocking the other over his flawless victory.

"How does that one work?" At least you use your hands for it instead of moving things on a screen.

[inthejunk]

Oh, yeah. His eyes light up a bit. Perfect.

"I'll show you." He waves Gilbert over and grabs the mallet on his side of the table, pointing to the other one with it.

"You need this to defend your goal with, and to take shots. See the slot in the table on both sides? Those are the goals..."

He's not sure how well Gilbert can hear him with all the buzzing and bleeping and electronic sirens going off in the background, but he does his best to gesture helpfully while he's explaining.

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Defend one side? Okay, that sounds easy enough. He moves to take his position on the other side, mallet in hand as he stares down at the table. He's missing a few words here and there due to background noise, but there are games like this back home. They just involve larger pieces and feet.

"But what do you protect it from?" he asks, pointing towards his own goal with one finger.

[inthejunk]

Yosuke makes a 'just a second' gesture at Gilbert. He does it with a loose palm, halfway between polite and relaxed, because he still hasn't decided how best to relate to Gilbert. Then, he puts the tokens into the slide bar and starts the table.

The air rushes in, and the puck pops up. Yosuke grins, and nods at it. "From this."

And without any more warning than that, he takes the first shot.

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He isn't prepared for it, so he stands there looking blankly at the table (because seriously, why is it making that noise?!) as the puck slides across the table, bounces off the side of his own paddle, hits the side of the table and then bounces back directly into his goal. The little LED panel on the side of the table awards Yosuke the first point.

It's there and then gone so fast that he almost doubts that it was there at all.

"It...wait, what?!" he mutters as he tries to peek down through the goal. Where did it go?! You might have to use your hands for this one, but it's still nonsensical!

[inthejunk]

"Yatta!" Yosuke grins. He shakes his head, though, at Gilbert's confusion. "Look on your side. You have to set it back out, dude."

You know, so he can score again before you figure this shit out and basically wipe the floor with you.

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Set it back--

Oh, there it is.

He picks it up and sets it back on the table, eyes narrowing distrustfully as it starts ghosting over the surface. How does this thing work?! Okay, no, he's got this. Carefully, he swats at the puck and lets it bounce off of the side of the table in Yosuke's direction. It doesn't move very fast, but at least it's pointed in the right direction.

[inthejunk]

Yosuke easily blocks the shot, and swats it lightning-fast back in the direction of Gil's goal! You're gonna have to do better than that, dude.

read this tag while imagining shounen sparkles in the background of the scene.

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His reaction isn't quite as quick, and the puck slides right past him and bounces off all 3 sides closest to him before he even has a chance to see where it went. Though, by this time, it's also been flung back into his goal. Yosuke - 2, Gilbert - 0.

CLEARLY, THIS MEANS WAR.

Angrily, he removes the puck again and slams it onto the table. With this shot, he'll--

Hit it with all his might and send it flying towards the opposite goal.

Lol w/e Yosuke thinks you suck.

[inthejunk]

[DENIED.]

[He just smacks it back your way, with a particularly obnoxious smirk.]

[Heh.]

Man, you really suck!

[He seems pleased by this.]

/switching to action tags too

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[Damn it, this game is harder than it looks. His reflexes should be better than this. Plus Yosuke is calling him out now, and that's only pissing him off even more. If that's the challenge he wants to throw down, then Gil will just have to show him who sucks more!

Spoilers: it's still him.

He grits his teeth and slams his paddle against the puck at full strength, sending the thing flying directly for the goal.]

Oops sorry dude. Can't read at 4am I guess!

[inthejunk]

[Nope.]

[Whack! the puck darts back your way, dude. Hasn't anyone ever told you you have to play dirty to win? Here, he'll show you.]

Man, you wouldn't think they would put a bakery in here, huh?

meh, it's all the same.

[retraced]

[He's distracted by the question and misses the puck, but thankfully it bounces off the table behind him hard enough that he can hit it again over to Yosuke's side.]

A bakery - what?

/facepalm

[inthejunk]

[Damn, you didn't look. Yosuke laughs brightly anyway, and slams the puck back enthusiastically.]

Yeah, for all the cream puffs like you, I guess!

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[--!!]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY--?! OH THIS IS WAR. As soon as the puck bounces, he HITS IT WITH RIGHTEOUS FURY. It might be headed straight for Yosuke's paddle where it might just...like, bounce off of it and fling itself off of the table.]

[inthejunk]

[Holy shit, dude. Yosuke ducks in surprise, and it sails in an arch right through where his head had been a second before and slams into an unsuspecting basket of nachos.]

[Scattering them all over the massive dude they belong to.]

[Yosuke gapes for a minute, and then points helpfully at Gilbert, from where he is on the floor.]

It was him!

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[So quick to sell him out?!

Whatever, he'll bitch about it later.

Gilbert raises a hand in apology, nervous and awkward.]

Ah...sorry...it was a mistake...

[Okay, now which one of them is courageous enough to walk over and pick up the cheese covered puck sitting in front of Pissed Off Nacho Man?]

[inthejunk]

[Not it.]