2934/Arcade Times

Arcade Times
Date of Scene:	31 August 2015
Location:	BaG - The Arcade
Synopsis:	Shin and Allenby visit an arcade to talk about stuff.
Cast of Characters:	756, 760

---

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin has invited Allenby to the arcade! It fits a lot of his criteria for meeting somewhere with her: It has games, it is a suitably cliche location for a love interest rendevous, lots of bright and shining colors. It's pretty much the perfect location for a tropey, cliche anime date.

    Shin has even elected for a 'side episode' new outfit consisting of jeans, Chuck Taylors, a t-shirt, and a bomber's jacket. There's a strong chance he bought an entirely new outfit to suit his desire for tropey alternate outfits on special occasions.

    Regardless, he's waiting for Allenby with a big bag of tokens.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    Turns out Allenby's a gamer. She's only dropped this fact once or twice on the Broadband so she's actually not too sure if Shin knew about it when he invited her here. She's kind of excited to be here too since it's actually the first time she's been to the legendary Bar and Grill at the edge of the Multiverse. Sure, she's heard about the mechanic but thus far she hadn't actually tried to capitalize on it. Today she has every reason to do so!

    Rather than her usual dark blue bodysuit, Allenby's actually sporting a pair of skinny jeans and a fuschia tank top the same shade as that vest she usually wears. There are a pair of sandals on her feet, giving Shin a rare glimpse of her bare feet.

    "Wassup." She greets as she steps into the arcade area from the main grill. She seems to be in...okay spirits at least following her loss at the WMAT.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Waddap, buttface," Shin says, throwing a couple playful punches at her. Nothing that is remotely threatening and she can probably dodge or catch them in her hand with basically no effort, "I figured you might need some cheering up, and as a love interest, it seemed like a fairly narratively appropriate time," He comments as he tosses her a bag of tokens.

    "Plus, it's been a while. Wanna see my sweet axe scars?" He asks as he rolls up the sleeves of his jacket to expose a pair of scars on his forearms from where he caught an axe against them, "Check it out. Awesome, right?"

    Mostly, he's being his usual boisterous self at her to try to draw out the more hyper Allenby that he's fond of.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Wataaah." Allenby deadpans as she catches each punch with an open palm. It's all from the same hand too, which she moves fast enough to pull this off, though somehow still manages to do so with halfhearted effort. Shin has seen her go all out before so he'd know when she was actually exerting as opposed to just messing around. She catches the bag of tokens and half-smiles. "Heh, you'd be right about /that/. Man, I can't believe I'm out already. I mean, I should be excited to get to fight strong people but...well now I don't get to anymore. Meh."

    She leans forward to inspect Shin. He'd probably notice now that she has a big ol' bruise on the left side of her jaw. There are also hints of healed-over cuts pretty much all over her body. "Where the heck did you get axed? I know it wasn't in that last fight you had against that other kid." Dex, a fight she actually came to watch. "Those are shaping up to be some pretty wicked scars though."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "It happens! Think of how many people have beaten my ass since I got here, and I thought I was one of the best in my world," He notes to her before listing, "There was Zorne-bot... Krezentia... Mordred... That injured Domon guy... Rock Lee... you... Shizune just the other day," A weirdly high volume of girls on that list.

    "Oh. That cat man from Hyda-whatever. He got mad about irreverence and hit me with an axe," Shin says as he grins at her, reaching out with one hand to poke her jaw-bruise a couple times, "I guess that means I don't have to worry about your creepy whip fascination any more," He notes, recalling an earlier conversation about prizes.

    "Anyway. This arcade," He changes topic to wave around, "Has about everything in it. I figured we could shoot the shit, talk about what we've both been up to. Catch up and get that token side anime episode where we bond or something."

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Zorne-bot?" Allenby questions, that being the only name she didn't recognize from the list, probably because whoever it was didn't have a real name attached to it by Shin. "Well yeah, it happens to you a lot. Me, though, I've had to spend my whole life training to win a fighting tournament. I'm...not really good at anything else." the latter is pointed out with some reluctance, it clearly not being something she's admitted to many people if anyone. "I guess there's always next year. And you're still in the tournament, right? Have you had another match since that Dex guy that I didn't get to watch?"

    Shin gets a blank stare when he strrts going on about the Miquo'te. "Who?" she repeats. "I don't-hey!" she shoves Shin playfully, "I don't have a creepy whip fascination. Ribbons /all the way/." Though are beam ribbons really any different from whips..?

    She waggles the bag of tokens and heads over to one of the cabinets, "Great, let's SHUMP it up while we bond. Tell me about this cat man."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Yeah. I think it was one of Krez's minions," Shin says as he considers it it, "That's all I know. She threw bombs at me," He comments, folding his hand under his chin. Of course, this thoughtful stance is something he can't hold for long before switching to a more relaxed posture, "Naw. A-Quals are still going, so I'm waiting till they wrap up. But don't get down on yourself," Shin says seriously to her, "You're more than just a fighter. Gotta figure out what else you're good at. Like maybe dancing, or go into cooking or something," He ponders.

    He rocks a bit when she shoves him, laughing, "Sure. 'Ribbons'," He notes, making air quotes with his fingers as he follows after her, settling onto a fighting game cabinet next to her, "The cat man? Is name was N'Raha. I think he lost his temper due to some crazy powers. He kinda flipped his lid and whacked me real good, along with some monsters. I kinda chewed his ass out and he came to his senses."

    Shin scowls a bit, "Then a stupid Dragon from the Union started telling me how to live my life. I guess she wants to apologize to me now or something for what she did, but I'm dragging feet on it."

    He blinks a few times, "Enough of my sulking. What's up with your end? I wanna hear all your crazy stuff," He adds.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Oh, huh. Krez has got all sorts of people helping her out so that could be anyone." Allenby shrugs casually, not seemingly motivated enough to really look into who it might be. "Oh good, so I haven't missed any more of your fights? Yeah, I at least want to watch you fight in the tournament. And...ehhh....video games? I'm good at those. I guess."

    Allenby passes Shin some tokens and leaves the bag next to her on the Galaga cabinet she's picked. "Hm, never heard of him. Guess he doesn't speak much on the Broadband. Seriously though? Teamkilling? With an axe?"

    Shin can hear her jerking around the joystick and rapidly pressing buttons. "So uh.." she starts to laugh, "You're gonna have to be more specific when you say 'stupid dragon from the Union.' I don't know that much about the people in the Union but I do know they have a lot of stupid dragons." She gets quiet for a moment, still clacking away at her game.

    "Uh...beyond the WMAT I really haven't done that much besides, well, train." she says, sounding a little disappointed. "I was mostly focusing on that. But now...well...yeah, sorry, I don't really have any cool stories about psycho cat men."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Dragons in general seem stupid," Shin says to her pretty flatly, "Fed-side and Union-side from what I've seen, really. People like that are why I'm not really 'in' with either faction, but Rocket Jerk hooked me up with Syndie access," He grouses, the distraction causing him to get a bit too lax at his game and take a few hits in the match.

    "Anyway, Video games? I hear there are pro gamers. I bet if you streamed on Twitch or some shit wearing a low-cut top, or even that bodysuit you usually wear, you could get a ton of subs and donations!" Shin comments as he thinks it over, "Just gotta play a popular game and people will roll in the dough for you."

    He gives her a thumbs up with that advice, "We gotta make you some cool stories. Keep sticking around as my pre-casted potential love interest, and it'll happen."

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Fed-side...hmm, only one really comes to mind. This one with a big booming voice...Smaug I think? Came down to help planet Reptillon. Can't really think of any other 'fed dragons. They're mostly dinosaurs there." Her words are fast and loose, not really focused towards hiding anything really since Neo-Sweden's alliance with the Confederacy wasn't that big a secret outside her own world. Just a fact that didn't get announced very loudly. "Sounds like the Syndicate stuff is working out for you though."

    Her words are interrupted by a swear as she loses a ship. "What? People can actually make money off of that?" she asks incredulously. "Man, fuck the Gundam Fight, I'd rather do that as a job." Allenby grouses before continuing her game. "Hey has that Crysanthemum lady got in touch with you at all about your next plot point? Because that was loads of fun and I totally want to do it again. Though on another note..."

    She frowns, "People keep asking me why I fight when I fight them. This wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't feel like my answer was kind of...I dunno, flimsy? You don't have people asking this all the time, do you?"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "I don't get people asking because I just tell em all the damn time," Shin says with a heavy laugh, "I'm always talking about trying to be better, so people know why I fight," The comment about being a Fed draws a quirked eyebrow, but he also doesn't really say anything or seem to dwell on it. Allenby didn't seem like one of the Bad Feds any more than some people were Good Unionites, so it's not his place to judge.

    "If you really wanna make money off it, you'll have to get fanservicey about the stream. That's how the girls do it. Or you could just... not be an attention whore and be SUPER good, some guys do it that way," He ponders it over and pauses his own game, watching over her shoulder.

    "No word from her yet. She seems like a busy lady, so if you see her around Fed-side, you can probably try to ask her," He notes, shrugging a bit, "As for why people ask YOU..." He stops and thinks, "Probably because you don't SEEM like a fighter, so they want to know. You seem like the kind of girl who'd rather be doing anything but fighting, in some ways. So they wanna know what your angle is."

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Oh. Maybe I need to start doing that. Yet...hm, I think I just want to fight strong people and that's it. It doesn't seem like all that much. I'm not even that into the whole getting better thing." Allenby admits, then swears again as she loses another ship. Laughter follows. "I run around in skin-tight spandex, it'd take some effort to get even more fanservicey. I bet I could just wear this and get all the views I need." Her inflection indicates she means her current outfit. BARE ARMS, how scandalous.

    She grunts in affirmation as the insect-like ships swarm her on Galaga. She's doing good until Shin says that she doesn't seem like a fighter, which apparently throws her off enough that she loses her last ship. "I don't?" she pauses, "...hm, yeah, I guess I don't. I didn't ask to be a Gundam Fighter, actually. I didn't get a choice in this." She reaches for more tokens.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Probably, yeah. I know I'd pay to see less!" Shin says with a thumbs up to her that somehow is as weird of a statement to make as it is something he seems to have qualms saying outright.

    "How don't you have a choice?" Shin asks, not really paying much attention to the potential foibles of asking such a question at point blank. He narrows his eyes a bit, "Are you secretly in debt to the swedish mafia for smuggling furntire out of IKEA?" He asks in a hushed whisper.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Oh would you now?" Allenby looks up from Galaga to eye him with a slight grin on her face. "Why am I not surprised by this? It's like you've got some kind of thing for fighty girls that can kick your ass. Not that there isn't any problems with having those kind of tastes."

    She doesn't put another token in yet, turning over his flippant words in her head. Her reaction is to laugh, "Ahaha! Good one. But no. I'm an orphan and a ward of the country. Neo-Sweden's military basically owns me and has for...uh...over a decade now I think? Not as fun as an IKEA mafia which I will not confirm or deny the existance of."

    She finally puts that coin in. "It's not all bad, though. I've got a place to live, I get to stay on the colony instead of Earth, constant healthcare. I guess the publicity of being a Gundam Fighter is kind of cool, especially since there actually aren't that many girls in the 13th Gundam Fight."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "I'd have some follow-up comment, but I should probably wait until we trip more flags, I think?" He says in regards to the kind of girls he likes, "So we'll take that question and have you ask me again in like... a different scenario, later, so we can accrue more points." He says with a hand reaching out to pat her shoulder.

    He frowns a bit at the sound of her situation, "That sounds shitty. I'd run away," He admits, folding his hands behind his head, "But that probably isn't a HUGE option for you, so don't take me as gospel here," He notes, thinking it over as he finally fires out a question:

    "I could get why you did it before, but why now? What does Sweden give you that the Multiverse as a whole, couldn't?"

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Probably a good idea. Just keep grinding those social points." Allenby reaches over to return the pat to Shin. "You'll get there eventually. And out of 'smack to the face for a comment like that' territory."

    She lets out a low noise and, rather than starting up a new game, she turns to face him. "It is shitty." she agrees. "And you're right, I would run away, but it isn't an option anymore. Maybe years ago when I wasn't as trained as I am now. But after more than a decade, they don't have any other backup Gundam Fighters. At least none I'm /aware/ of."

    She smiles in an oddly frustrated manner, "I don't think there is anything. Maybe I could make it on my own as a combat vagrant like you do. Problem is there are a lot of other people now that won't let me do that. Maybe once the 13th Gundam Fight is over they will let me go. Well, unless I actually win it, then I'd have to be around four years later to fight the contender."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin grins at her when she returns the pat to his shoulder. He turns to lean himself back against the machine he was just playing on and then looks sideways towards Allenby, "You do you. That's the best advice I think I can give. 'You do you'. Find what you wanna do, what makes you feel like YOURSELF, and do that."

    He reaches out towards her and, in a rare moment of him breaking from the irreverent attitude, pats her on the cheek with a palm before lowering his hand, "I don't like seeing people miserable. So at least, if you can't change it, find something about it to make you happy."

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "You do you?" For a few moments, Allenby's mind goes to places better not mentioned thanks to the showing skin conversation from minutes ago. It takes Shin's explanation for her to chase that thought away and realize what he really meant. "Yeah...yeah I really need to do that. 'cause sometimes I don't really feel like much of a person, not going to lie."

    She looks at him and, in that moment, she finds herself wishing he'd left his hand there a little bit longer. "I think...I think since the Multiverse opened up to us, I finally have. I really do like fighting people that can meet me on my level. But I think I gotta find something /more/ than that, right?"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin's a totally sweet and very nice guy, sometimes. Someone who generally wants to help out where he can and see Allenby be a happier person. There's glimpses of his more serious side, occasionally, under the irreverent attitude and the cavalier actions. And one can genuinely see sometimes that he wants to really care for pe-

    As she looks at him and makes that comment, his hand comes out and straight forward, trying to bop her in the nose. It wouldn't be a strike hard enough to make her bleed, but it could water her eyes a little if she's caught off guard, "Keep that guard up."

    He sticks his tongue out at her, "You're a good lady. I'm sure you'll find what you need. Take it one step at a time. Best advice I can ever give is just go for what you want sometimes, and try not to worry about the consequences."

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    Words words words-WHOAH! Reflexively, Allenby smacks away the object going right at her face, meaning Shin doesn't get a direct bop to her nose. Instead, he gets to hit her cheek, a decidedly firmer part of her face than her nose and something that can take an impact quite a bit better. Fortunately, it comes nowhere near the bruise on her jaw.

    "Oh so we're gonna have one of those kind of relationships." Allenby teases, "Just remember, turnabout is fair play." She makes a little 'staring' motion at him but doesn't actually hit him.

    Instead, she smiles. The sullen mood she walked in with is gone. "Thanks, Shin. You're pretty wise sometimes, you know that?"

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Yeah, don't tell people, though. They might start thinking I'm someone to take seriously," He responds to her last part first, folding his hands behind his head and watching her with a big grin on her face.

    "And consider it keeping you on your toes for when the many other love interests start filtering into my narrative. I'm helping shift the odds in your favor, you know? Gonna be tough, since I'm so awesome," He's pretty clearly teasing her a bit as he leans against the machine. Overall, he seems pretty happy to have gotten her mood cleared.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Hah, can't have that, can we, protagonist boy?" Allenby teases him right on back, followed up by a: "You better watch out, I might get another love interest and then we'll have some crazy love paralellogram going on." Though at that point she has to wonder if that one saiyan girl has made any other passes at Shin. "C'mon you, let's two player something. It's no fun going to an arcade if you don't two-player it up. Here, I think there's some kind of dinosaur shooting game over there." She gestures towards the Jurassic Park game, which looks super inviting in all it's Jeep-like glory.