vidya game time

[retraced]

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]

[Easy is definitely the wrong way to pick. You're supposed to go by fun. Highway is the easy one, and no one ever gets a motorbike to ride it on boring old higways. What you want is the jump track.]

This one is pretty cool...

[retraced]

[Just like jumping with horses, right? He's watched that happen before, at least. Okay, he can do this...he can!

Except just as he makes this decision, the fake game-motorcycle starts to shake beneath him, to give the effect of actually being on a real road while the screen shows them their gameplay. Oh good god, what has he done.]

Is it supposed to move?!

[inthejunk]

Uh. Yeah.

[Jeez, dude, how big was the rock you crawled out of? Oh, well. He taps the screen.]

Keep an eye on your speed and your acceleration, right there.

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[Okay, he'll keep an eye on it.

Even though he doesn't understand what he's reading.]

Okay...

[And there goes the game, counting down to the start of the race. BEGIN.]

[inthejunk]

[VROOM! Yosuke revs his bike and shoots off down the imaginary track, assuming Gilbert will figure it out easily. Everyone knows how these things work, right?]

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[And while Yosuke takes off into a good, clean start, Gilbert's fake bike on the screen just sort of...teeters. Just as he does. He kicks it, but it still doesn't move forward.]

How do you make it move?! [He doesn't even have his feet up in the right place, let alone putting enough pressure on them to make it go.]

[inthejunk]

...That isn't how you kickstart it.

[Yosuke rolls his eyes, and doesn't even take them off the screen as he reaches over and demonstrates the throttle.]

Use that, and the pedal.

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[Pedals? What, the thing where his foot can rest? He puts his foot where instructed and - yep! Sure enough the little bike moves. Well he's just going to floor this thing then and attempt to catch up, as futile as that possibility is.

Technology is suffering.]

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke is kilometers ahead already, taking turns tightly by leaning the bike to one side and steering carefully, jumping over the pits and ramps in the course. Totally at home, and grinning to himself a bit, too. He loops back around and wastes a bit of time sneaking up behind Gil, and using a ramp to jump his bike for a bonus score.]

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[Meanwhile Gil's bike is puttering along, running into walls because turning is hard. The guy on the screen looks like he's seen better days at this point, and a voice in the speaker encourages him to be more careful! Yeah, like it's just that easy.

So Yosuke will have plenty of opportunities to pass him up as he tries to take this next turn too sharp and crashes into the side of the ramp.]

[inthejunk]

You shouldn't steer so much with the wheel. Use your weight.

[Yosuke leans the bike into a curve again, demonstrating.]

The whole thing moves, see? If you just turn with the wheel, you'll keep falling over.

[retraced]

[Use your weight, huh? Well, he's a lot bigger than Yosuke, so he should be able to use that to his advantage, right? Because that makes a whole lot of sense. Okay, coming up on the next turn here, just gonna leeeeeean over and ease the bike over carefully--

And then slide off of this stupid plastic seat and hit the ground with a loud yelp, a sharp arm flail and a painful sounding thunk. The little man on the screen stops moving and stares at the track, just as pathetically. Digital!Gil definitely feels real!Gil's pain and embarrassment.]

[inthejunk]

[Snrk.]

I guess that didn't stop you from falling over after all. Uh. Hold on with your thighs. Even with horses it's done that way, right? You know, no one just...sticks.

[He's trying so hard not to actually laugh right now, because he gets the feeling you're probably close to snapping down there.]

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Damn it!

[He scrambles back up, slams his foot back down on the petal and tries again. Hold it with his thighs indeed! He can do this shit! Even though he's like four laps behind at this point, it doesn't matter! He's going to finish this damned race!]

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke has been wasting a bit of time anyway, circling around virtual Gilbert in a bored way while his friend tries to figure the mechanisms of the game out.]

I think you're getting an electric can opener for your next birthday. Hey, when is it anyway? Mine's in June. We're going to play paintball.

[Matter-of-factly. Because you won't say no to his birthday party, right?]

[retraced]

[His expression turns more focused, quiet. People always look at him funny when he says this.]

I don't know when mine is.

[inthejunk]

Really?

[Yosuke is a little surprised, but not completely shocked. There are plenty of old people who don't know, either. Maybe Gilbert's from a time when that kind of thing didn't matter to people.]

Hmm, unless you only want it every 12 years I guess the lunar calendar is no help...

[retraced]

[He turns a little in his seat, shifting his little digital guy around another corner.]

Oz gave me an age once. I go by that.

[inthejunk]

Why didn't you just say that, then?

[Vroom, vroom, screeeeeeech. Virtual Yosuke rides literal laps around virtual Gilbert, then skids to a stop that throws virtual dirt all over the other. Yosuke grins, clearly amused by his own display of rude prowess.]

[retraced]

Because it's not an actual birthday.

[He frowns as the screen and jerks his handlebars around, trying to get his guy to fight back. He just sort of wobbles there, though.]

Stop that! We have to finish this race!

[inthejunk]

Since the point is to mark the time that passes, it's fine to use something that's not exact, right?

[Virtual Yosuke doesn't seem particularly intimidated. He just starts up one of those ramps again, clearly still wasting time.]

But if I crossed the finish line now it would just say Game Over on your screen. It's more fun to let you catch up.

[retraced]

It's whatever day he decides on.

[Which may or may not technically exist here AND YET IT SORT OF DOES which is weird, but hell. Timelines, etc. Digital Gil is still trucking along.]

Give me a second...I think I've got it now.

[inthejunk]

You can't just pick your own?

[He still doesn't get what your relationship with Oz is about, dude.]

You do seem to be falling over less, now.

[Yawn.]

[retraced]

If it wasn't for him, I could just as easily do without a birthday.

[Then maybe he'll get the full 'my reason for existing' speech someday! But for now, he's just grunting and attempting to make this stupid digital guy go FASTER.]

[inthejunk]

I guess. But isn't it nice to have one? It's like keeping a tickmark that all of your friends and family are counting, too. That's why there's respect for the aged, right? Because everyone knows they've had more experience.

[He's not calling you old, dude, really. Though he is butting your back tire obnoxiously from time to time.]

It goes more than 40, you know.