CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[insinning]

It's a holy night. Silent night.

All is calm.

Everything is b r i g h t.

Comments

[insinning]

[Oria! Why must you say such things]

What's wrong with my current clothes?

[They're soft, comfy...]

Also, will we even have time to shop that much?

[He doesn't want to take up all their free time looking for clothes]

[dissimulative]

Nothing is wrong with them on their own!

[ Yeah!!

Oria checks the time. ]

Hm, probably not enough for shopping for clothes. Is there a place you want to go to?

[insinning]

Mmm, what about that old school arcade? That was fun last time.

[And the food was good]

[dissimulative]

Gonna show me your gaming skills with your gloves on?

[ That said, Oria holds Sinclair's hand and off they go to the retro arcade! ]

[insinning]

Do you think they'll make a big difference?

[Handholding. This is normal!! The arcade is quiet because people much prefer the modern ones connected to their selcoms and Sinclair instantly goes to a puzzle game]

[dissimulative]

Depending on the game, yeah. You need to adjust your expectations in the same way you think you're going down the stairs, but it's much lower than you thought.

[ The arcade being "quiet" is one of things Oria likes about this place. ]

But this puzzle game might be the same. Sometimes, it reminds me of how I need to organize the UI so it stops being cluttered with random stuff.

[insinning]

Mmm...my selcom has been a mess lately.

[ Swiping a card into the machine... lets go for a few soothing matches of puzzle bobble]

This one should be fine with my gloves.

[dissimulative]

You like these sorts of games, huh?

[ It seems calming to Sinclair, and Oria is glad that he has a game that he can play for fun. But multiplayer? Count him in. ]

Alright, let's go!

[ It's time to pop those bubbles! Oria seems... pretty quick on the uptake. ]

[insinning]

...how are you so good at this.

[Oria??? Sinclair is doing well, but he knows Oria doesn't normally play these games]

[dissimulative]

My name is Oria Severine, king of the arcad--ah, crap.

[ He misfired a bubble into a direction he didn't want it to go. That's what he gets for firing these off so quickly. The mistake costs him time to get the unnecessary color out of the way so that he can get at the true objective. ]

You just aim and shoot to clear the bubbles off the screen, don't you? I've been into tetris recently, so a lot of my free time has been sunk into that.

[ His tone indicates that there are absolutely no regrets. Tetris and Puzzle Bobble are still... different games, but his reflexes seem to be getting better by the day. Oria really uses his multi-processing skill for games... ]

[insinning]

[Snicker, snicker. Serves Oria right. But Sinclair keeps playing, lining up bubbles with a little more care and aim. Thank god for multi-processing skills. They can keep talking and playing without missing a beat]

Mmm... tetris is a time sink like that too.

[He's just glad Oria shares these interests too. Most people their age wouldn't want to visit a retro place like this with him]

[dissimulative]

It is! It also pushes the limits of P3 for a bit, but don't tell coach I said that or I'm gonna be playing nonstop tetris for hours for "training". That's just pure torture.

[ He really just sank in all that processing power into tetris. Wild. Oria doesn't do that here though, since he's able to play just fine while talking to Sinclair. ]

Maybe I should start a trend with tetris. It'll be so "new" to our generation, but it's actually so old.

[insinning]

...I feel like whatever you do would be a trendsetting thing regardless. [Oria did have that charisma and appeal. But for now, Sinclair is happy to play these retro games and not have to share. And the bubbles sure are getting faster. Sinclair's hands work quicker to keep up]

[dissimulative]

[ In the meantime, Oria keeps up his pace of shooting bubbles really fast. He's cleared the bubbles off the screen except maybe two more color groups, but he's struggling to clear them without creating more color groups in the process. ]

You think so?

[ He's familiar with Sinclair not wanting the arcade to be crowded. Oria doesn't want that to happen either, so that's why he looks thoughtful. ]

Then maybe I shouldn't, hm?

[ He pauses for a second to wink over at Sinclair and resumes the gameplay. Heheeehehe. ]

[insinning]

Uh. Um...

[Why does Oria do that. It distracts Sinclair enough that he ends up sending bubbles in the wrong corner and has to frantically work to fix that. Come on luck!! give him the colours he needs!!! He needs blue, not red and green and purple!!]

...well, it'd be nice to have something to ourselves for a little longer.

[dissimulative]

I think so too.

[ Distraction successful! Sometimes multi-tasking is a double-edged sword. ]

Like a little private-public rendezvous.

[ He makes it sound so scandalous with how he says it. ]

[insinning]

[Let Sinclair process this for a second, his parallel processing power cannot handle this]

Wh-

[oops, more missed bubbles. Sinclair is now completely pouty]

Don't make it sound so weird.

[dissimulative]

It's only weird if you think it's weird.

[ That's not how it works, Oria. Anyway, he dramatically presses the button to launch one last bubble to clear the screen! ... For now. He can have several seconds of fame before more gets pushed from above. ]

Besides, it's true!

[insinning]

That is definitely not how words work!

[One last rescue keeps Sinclair dying, but he's definitely not out of the danger zone]

How so?

[dissimulative]

No one else is here and it's out in the open. That's how!

[ Sound logic to him. ]

[insinning]

But the word rendezvous is a bit...

[Aaaah he can't keep up anymore!! the bubbles reach the end of his screen and it turns to stone. His loss]

[dissimulative]

Good game!

[ Though Oria looks pretty smug about it anyway. ]

I'll let you pick the game again.

[insinning]

Mmm...if you're fine with that then...

[Looks around. Ah, there's the washing machine-like game]

Have you tried these kinds of rhythm games before?

[Brightening!!! Time to test his gloves on them. rest in pieces, oria's palms]

[dissimulative]

I haven't played this before, but I saw someone play it. Actually, I saw a kid play it before. It looked pretty simple... so why not?

[ He's ready for a challenge with how his expression brightens. ]

Let's go!

[insinning]

[Setting the game up for a proper match also jesus christ that kid putting everyone to shame.]

Simple, huh... I wonder how good that kid was.

[Because uh, Sinclair puts it on a hard mode and....it's a LOT]