358/Arcade and Vexations

Arcade and Vexations
Date of Scene:	03 September 2023
Location:	Game Crown Arcade
Synopsis:	On one of the last days before school gets fully back into track, Coco and Amy both end up at the Arcade, taking the opportunity to play together and talk about their respective difficulties adapting.
Cast of Characters:	Amanda Faust, Coco Kiumi

---

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The red Puella Magi is out on patrol. There were multiple Witches in Jyuuban lately, after all. Today, she finds nothing.

    But, she finds herself revisiting the place where they fought Carbonado, where Sailor Moon -- who turned out to be Tsukino-san from History class, of all people! -- protected her. Amy winces a little at that memory. She's supposed to be the protector, as an adult and as a man. And now *that* just brings to mind a mess of confused feelings.

    But when she sees the arcade, her thoughts are clear.

    Normal civilian Amanda Faust walks in. Here, it doesn't matter whether she's Mallory or Amanda. Here, it doesn't matter whether she graduated long ago or is still going to school. Girl, guy? She's a *gamer*. She has faced countless challenges, seen uncountable worlds and been hero, antihero, disembodied commander, puzzle solver, tournament fighter, and more. She smiles and strides deep inside.

    But...

    When you challenge people and win, they leave the machine, and then it's just her and the computer. And after awhile, her heart's not as in it. Although, it's still nice to lose herself in this for awhile. God, she feels like she's 15 again...

Coco Kiumi has posed:
It's one of the first days of school, and teachers are still being lax with homework, so students are probably figuring out they should take the chance to peruse one of Tokyo's various pastimes with abandon while they still have the chance.

Coco is similarly taking the chance to wind down. She has been eyeing the various games at the arcade this being actually her first time here. She isn't particularly interested in most offers here, but she should try something new for a change, right?

She is looking at one of those skee-ball games. Having asked around, the consensus she got pointed her to this machine. She is heading there where she stumbles upon a familiar redhead. "Hey, Amy, you here too?" she smiles at her fellow student. "I was about to head for some skee-ball, what about you?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    There is only so much that a psychic schoolgirl, a martial arts master, and the man with the blood of Orochi in his veins can do against a cheating boss with OP attacks. Amy doesn't really feel like spending yen just to beat it here, she can always emulate it at home.

                                   CONTINUE?                                    
                                                                                
                  9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...                  
                                                                                
                                   GAME OVER                                    

    Amy looks over from her screen. "Coco?" She smiles back, running up to hug Coco and then hesitating, wondering if that's a bit much for a casual meeting. "Oh, just playing some old games... but everyone I play with gets sick of it and leaves. Honestly, if any *real* champ was here they'd kick my ass, this is Tokyo after all, but I guess no one serious is looking at--" She stops and looks away for a moment. Then back to Coco.

    "...Anyway. Skeeball, huh? Not much for videogames?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco notices the hug Amy has happily initiated with her run and completes it, pulling her in. "Can't say I have ever been", she answers with levity.

"I couldn't really try back at home, and when I was here", she says, making a wide gesture, not really referring to just Tokyo, "I didn't really feel the motivation to try. Not much of a surprise, but I was more one for music, and they offer Karaoke booths at Arcades."

She looks at the screen with game-over on it, reserving a quizzical side glance for Amy about her incomplete sentence. "I assume being uncontested gets tiring after a while", she points out with a nod, "can't blame you there. And no one serious is looking at old games?" she tries completing the sentence. "At least, you aren't trying to play skee-ball", she snickers.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks back at Coco for a moment. "Sure, let's go with that." After a moment, she shakes her head. "No, I'll be honest: I was thinking, they're not looking at a teenager. A. A teenage girl, even." She walks forward to the skeeball machine. "Alright, let's try skeeball." She puts in a token and balls roll down the track. She grabs one and bowls it too hard, making it fly up and thud against the back wall of the game before dropping in the 0-point ring.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"What's the issue with that?" The correlation between being a teenage girl and being disregarded by these champions eludes her, walking towards the skeeball machine as seeks some clarification.

Coco puts onto a nearby table her own tokens, as invitation to make use of them too before reaching down to grab one ball from Amy's token.

She tries to moderate the energy she is putting into it after witnessing Amy's result. The ball clangs against the bottom of the 20-point ring before it too bouncing into the 0-point one. "That was close!" she exclaims, lamenting her lack of beginner's luck.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "...Although, I suppose my old appearance would also be a strange sight here... but, if anyone who plays the old games is around, they'd be old like me too. Those games are from the 90's..." Amy bowls more moderately, getting the ball into the 20-point ring herself, and then stepping aside for Coco to try again. "I didn't actually... come here, though. All this time I never thought to. Well, I just... I dunno. I was never one for *going* places, you know? Anyway, in my time, videogames were seen as a guy thing. I always thought that was stupid, like if I *were* a girl of course I'd still love videogames, and it was just made-up nonsense because some executive somewhere decided their place was in the boy's aisle at toy stores, and things are somewhat different today but online is still a cesspit. I've started avoiding some games with voice chat..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Hmm, so you'd be out of luck no matter what", she comments, grabbing another ball. "How did it go with, you know, finding like-minded people?" she asks, her forehead corrugated as she stares at the rings.

"I mean, there has to be someone that would accept sharing their passion with you if they are really enthusiastic about it, right?" One toss later, the ball ends straight into the 30-points ring. "Yes, I did!" she exclaims, moving her arm in a fist pump. "Alright, up to you." She gives up her post while looking cheerily at the hole her ball fell into.

"That sounds, I had no idea video game culture could be so toxic. I thought it would favour having fun first and foremost. At least you found some workaround." She shakes her head: having to use a workaround at all was fae from ideal, she supposes, telling Amy as much after a brief pause.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Oh, nice!" She holds out a hand to high-five Coco. "Oh, uh... I mean, yeah, I've been playing with other high schoolers this evening, but... No one's serious about old games, y'know? So, they get discouraged and leave after I trounce them... and then they don't end up continuing to try the game like if I hadn't challenged them..." She slumps a bit at this realizition.

    "Huh? A workaround? For what?" She throws another ball, but it juuuust bounces off the edge of the 20 point ring and drops to 10 points. "Drat! I mean, it's not like I didn't have to deal with racist ten year olds screaming slurs in the counter-strike days. Maybe not aimed *at me*, but..." She blinks, as she steps aside to let Coco go again.

    "Ugh, here I am going on about this... You're the one who" she glances around, then shrugs, "Eh, people will think we're talking about a game if they do overhear. You're the one who has to deal with living *above water* in a completely different world, even if you did get a practice run. How's that going? Like... Is there really never any... nothing you need to vent about?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco nods at hearing Amy's grievances. "That's tough. But..." she hesitates, not wanting it to be seen as commiseration. "Ok, don't take it in any particular way, but you could try and teach me. I like rising up to the challenge even if I would be a fish out of water this time." She chuckles. The ball she picks up ends up falling into the 10-point ring too.

"A workaround like avoiding chats and whatnots", she elaborates. "There are you are trying to relax, and you get mean comments thrown at you. Even if you are able to ignore it, it's still effort you have to put in that direction instead of relaxing, I think." Coco inserts a new token into the game, letting a new series of balls fall into place.

She sighs at that question. "Alright, I suppose we have been chatting about each other's grievances towards adapting." She looks down at her legs. "Being stuck to the ground for one. It's just jarring, not having the freedom to go in whichever direction you please. Heck, water currents can help you along, but wind is at best unneeded in that regard. And let's not talk about gravity."

She waves that off, her expression having soured a bit. "And there is the way sensations differ up here: they are misplaced. For one, sound is less audible underwater, and you have to have a good ear to pick it up. That's a disadvantage up here though, and things can be a bit loud sometimes."

She goes back to look at Amy with a calmer expression after the initial outburst. "The variable weather is irksome sometimes with how you need to rely on outside help. I could sleep in the artic waters without feeling anything in particular, but here I am more more susceptible to differences in temperature for some reason."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Coco... wants to learn videogames? "Sure! Do you have any idea what kind of game you'd like to learn?"

    She pouts a bit as 'avoid chat' is called 'a workaround'. "It's not, really. It means cutting out part of the experience. Although... people like that wouldn't coordinate as a team anyway, probably. Sometimes I find good ones."

    She glances down at Coco's legs. "Oh, damn. I guess swimming is kinda like flying, huh?"

    "It's not like you don't have gravity... but I imagine it feels quite different without buoyancy."

    Amy takes a moment to imagine a human version, from Coco's description, being on an alien planet with weird magic air that doesn't provide any air resistance at all and yet carries sound better, meaning she's constantly hearing all the noise around... she winces.

    "Huh. Maybe your mermaid form is more than growing a tail? Like it changes your flesh to be more temperature-tolerant, somehow?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco picks up another ball while she thinks about Amy's question. "Hmm, a game that lets you explore too, maybe. Gives me something to do while I get used to the fighting." She taps on the sphere, before sending it flying into the 0-point zone.

She nods at Amy's explanation. "Do you keep in contact with the good ones?"

"Yep, and I kinda miss it. Though, water can offer its own share of problems. Putting on my cerimonial clothes is annoying when water pushes back against it. Wearing clothes here is much easier."

Coco looks at the slightly dimmer light outside now that it's switching to autumn. "Maybe, but I am going to miss it a lot in the upcoming months."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Exploring isn't so much something we'll see in an arcade, but... I think I can find something. Do you have a computer?"

    Amy shrugs. "I send friend requests, but I don't really... talk extensively to random people I met in a game?"

    "...Yeah, wet clothes suck." You don't know the half of it, Amy! You have not yet experienced wet cloth clinging to a sensitive chest. Euuuuggghhh.

    Amy follows Coco's gaze outside. "Eh. Heat means humidity and bugs and it feels awful. Cold's better. Besides, we might get snow days!"

    Beat.

    "...Okay I guess maybe that doesn't happen here so much as it did in America. Drat. I get a second childhood and no snow days... oh well." She flings a ball somewhat carelessly and it just ends up in the 10-point ring.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco nods enthusiastically. "Yes, I am all set up on that front, and it's a rather good one too, I think. There were lots of details that apparently made it superior to the average computer."

"You don't talk extensively?" She repeats slightly confused. "But that was of the experience, was it not?"

"No, it's not so much that they would get wet, that would living a nightmare. We have magic for that, thankfully. It's just putting them on that's problematic", she clarifies, thankful that's not as bad as Amy's impression of it.

"Hmm, you want snow? I could probably do something about it with help. Just need to get here a lucid dreamer here from home and have them use this stone that alters reality based on your dreams."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Coco 'apparently' has a really good computer? "I'll be the judge of that."

    Amyt slumps a bit. "Well yeah, but during the game we're talking about the game. And I'm not like... having an extended personal conversation with a bunch of strangers listening..."

    She blinks. "How is putting on clothes *harder* when they, and you, are dry? And now you've got legs instead of a tail...

    "You have a stone that alters reality based on your dreams?!?!" Amy shouts. Some people look over. "Um... wow, what a crazy item your GM is allowing in the campaign! How do you even stat that, like, what are the rules for that?!" Nice save.

    She lowers her voice, stepping a bit closer. "But seriously, what? How does that work? What can it do, and how does it not just end up making everyone take tests they haven't studied for in their underwear?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Sure, you can come over anytime", she invites before adding a clarification. "At least, as long as you are fine with otters being around."

Coco shrugs when Amy is incredulous about the difficulty of putting clothes. "Well, I suggest trying to do it on a mildly windy day for something that should resemble that experience."

Coco puts her fingers about 6cm apart. "It's a stone about this big that forms naturally on the seafloor. If you put it next to your pillow, it will peek at your dreams and make them come true, and that's why we call it dreamseer stone."

She laughs at Amy's example. "You would have to be a bit foolish to use it if your plan is just hoping good dreams happen to you that night. Sure, you could get a new tv or signed shoes of your favourite star, but you could also get someone you know mad at you. Using lucid dreaming is a much better method to warrant the result you want."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks. "Why would I not be fine with otters-- OH! Can you talk to otters 'cause you're a--" She lowers her voice again.

    "Oh, you meant *in* the water. Okay yeah I can see it now. 'Specially with long hair, that's still kinda a pain really..."

    Of course, there's one thought that entered Amy's mind at the mention of a stone that turns dreams into reality, and it was immediately followed by 'bit late for that, isn't it'

    "Huh. I tried to lucid dream when I was young, but I was never able to do it reliably. A couple of times I just... knew I was dreaming, but I was never able to hold onto-- to stay lucid for long."

    Amy blinks as she has another thought and rubs her chin with the side of a finger. "Now that you mention it... ever since the change, my dreams have been more vivid and I've slept better. I guess it's 'cuz I'm young again..." She looks at Coco. "If merpeople have it down to a science is there, like, a book I can read? I mean... there's still stuff that would be cool to try, like flying or turning into animals."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Hmm-hmm", she replies with a satisfied smile that says she is quite proud of that ability. "We can communicate to any sea creature, and we often use them as messengers, but the really neat part is I started using otters as my surveillance network ever since I came up here. You don't know when one might stumble on someone who knows something about Gaito", Coco adds after checking around for possible eavesdroppers.

"Since the Sealing Key is needed to bring other people into his palace and he has started perusing this dark alliance here in Tokyo, I only need to wait for the opportune moment to take it back."

She picks up another ball and tosses it into the 20-point ring with an amused sound."But they are also useful with regards to school and other events around here. They like to be pet, and petting them helps you to destress, so we both get something out of it. They stop at my dorm room anyway to get salmon."

The mermaid nods in affirmation. "I will bring it to you next time. I just need to send a message to my palace."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Coco explains her plan to intercept the sealing key. "Ohhh, smart! I'm glad we have another way to get the key." She smiles, truly glad that they have an answer for that, 'cuz she seriously had *no* leads.

    She also smiles at news of the book. "Really?! Wait, am I gonna be able to read it? I don't know... um... merpeople-language. I don't suppose they have one in English?"

    She lines up a shot and oooh, so close, it bounces off the rim of the 20pt ring and drops into the 10pt one. "Hey, um... in case somehow shenanigans ever occur with these stones, you know about signs you're in a dream, right?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Yes, I wasn't going to give you one in our language", Coco smiles. "Unless you want to learn of course, then I can bring you one for that too, as well as english and mermaid language copies of the lucid dreaming one."

She tilts her head to the side in curiosity. "I am not sure I follow: I don't know of any particular signs about being in a dream. Could you explain?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "...Learning mermaid... merfolk? Would be cool, but I've got a lot on my plate right now so I'm not gonna plan to any time soon, but sure, I wouldn't mind having the resources to start looking into it."

    Amy's eyes almost seem to light up as she has been asked to explain a weird topic! She can't hide her enthusiasm! "Well, there's lots! I find most telling are when you can breathe underwater -- umm, okay, but also when you can't read. Or rather... Things that display information, like clocks or especially digital clocks and books or anything showing writing, they're not... *stable*. Clocks will display nonsensical times, the contents of books will keep changing, and may be hard to read at all. That's why, that's why you have dreams where like you find some key piece of information in a book or magazine but when you try to find the page again you *can't*. I've also heard that lightswitches won't work, but I've never had an opportunity to test that."

    She holds her finger to her chin, "Hmm, let's see, what else? It's been awhile since I thought about this stuff..."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco gives Amy an ok sign. "Got it, I will bring you those too. It's not a library, so you don't have to worry about giving them back."

"Oohhh, you are quite well-versed in this stuff", she exclaims in admiration at Amy's fervent speech. "Now I get why you were interested to learn more about what other merfolk have studied, is this another passion of yours?"

She waves her hand at the first time of her list. "Yes, breathing underwater wouldn't really work with me, but I can start trying to pay attention to the rest of the signs you listed. Have you verified some of them already?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Is this a passion? "I guess?"

    Amy blinks. "Huh? Whaddayou mean? Like yeah I've experienced the writing things loads of times-- ohh right, I guess a lot of people don't remember their dreams. I mean, I forget *most* of them, but I still remember often enough... and I've had an extra 20 years of, y'know, dreaming... ...Yeah, those were examples from experience. I've seen digital clocks display words, inconsistant times, or impossible times, I've had trouble with books... not *always*, though. Like I guess if it's part of the dream that 'you read this in a book', then you read it, but, trying to go back and find the page it's on again after is impossible."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I quite like how you got motivated by the stuff in your dreams", Coco chuckles. "Then, I guess we can go to my room and send an otter on the way. While we are there, you can also check out my computer. Do you like the idea?" she proposes with a smile.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks briefly awkward, but still smiling as she looks away. "Well uh... dreams have always been cool places where I could have impossible experiences. I guess it matters less now that I'm *living* an impossible experience, but, it's still something I once cared about, ya know?"

    Barely any skeeball tickets have been earned. Absent anything cool to trade them for, Amy is left with getting some cheap little pink charm that goes on the end of a pencil or pen.

    "So, you said it was apparently quite a good computer... according to who?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Mm-mm, that makes sense. If you wanted something out of your grasp, that's an easy road", Coco agrees with a nod.

The tickets Coco trades her in earn her a pair of silly comedian glasses, which she promptly wears with a playful twinkle in her eyes. "Do I look good, Amy?" she asks with a faux-straight face.

"According to the specifications listed on the sides of the products. Things like graphic memory, cores, ram... Those were the things to check according to smart buying articles on that subject", she elaborates.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I wouldn't exactly call it easy... I never did manage to lucid dream reliably or on purpose." He never did manage to try turning into a girl, though that's academic now.

    Amy giggles at the glasses, and nods at the explanation. "Hmm. You did your research." her estimation of Coco's computer knowledge raises slightly.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Thanks!" she smiles at Amy's approval. "We can go see then." With that, the two girls return to the academy's dorms, paying the otters their due taxation of pettings and having Amy check the pc.