Lʌsт Lιvιɴ' Soυʟs

[Shiintzu]

Ｎ Ｏ Ｏ Ｄ Ｌ Ｅ__________
graphix and layout by shiintzu
════════════════════════════______
In a dream of old I called you________________________
But the signal's gone away...__________________

Noodle nodded as she lit another cigarette for herself. Games it was. Another thing to add to her "Why 2D is a cool guy" list. Getting to know him more, cons like his less than satisfactory combat skills and low intellect were far outweighed by the pros. He liked videogames, he was great with music, and he learned rather quickly. Most of all, he cared. He wasn't like those people who just hung around for their own survival and helped when it favoured them. He had her back, and even saved her life just yesterday when she had put herself in an unpleasant situation. Though she had never had one, she could almost say that he was like a brother. She wouldn't tell him that, though. It was too weird to go out and say it, especially since they hadn't known each other for too long. Maybe she was moving too fast after all. Getting too attached was bad. At any moment, he could be taken out of the picture, and she would be on her own again. Noodle frowned slightly at the thought.

"That sounds like a great idea, 2D!" she said, quickly replacing her previous expression with a smile. She snatched up a few bags, as well as some drinks and stuffed them into her backpack to munch on later. Snacks were always a great thing to bring along to play games. Getting up to get food was always an inconvenience, especially when one planned to spent the entire day planted in front of a television. She pried the map out from the front pocket of her bag, and unfolded it to observe the various colourful blocks representing the different shops.

"...Well, there is an arcade somewhere nearby.." she began, looking into the distance, "There it is!" It was right there across the way from where they were. They must have been too hungry, too paranoid, or too tired to even notice. Now that she thought about it, arcades were often close to food courts and such. As far as other options went, there was a GameStop not too far away from them. She noticed it was across from a furniture shop. Maybe if the felt up to it, then could move a couch or something into there for their comfort.

"Then there is a GameStop a little ways away. Take your pick and we can get started." she said, blowing out a stream of smoke as she folded the up map.

[AgentKaz]

tonight i think i'll walk alone
i'll find my soul as i go home

___________________________________

2D yawned again, then he looked over at Noodle to see her frowning. He tilted his head. "Er, you okay?" he asked. It was probably nothing, though. There was probably no reason to get too worried, and she seemed to go back to a more positive expression soon enough. False alarm. He shrugged, walked over to the table, and threw some food and beverage cans into his bag. There, snacks were taken care of. Hopefully this would just be a nice, fun day that had no zombies in it, unless the zombies were only in video games. He wouldn't mind those so much.

"Oh, er, could I have one of those?" he asked, looking back over at Noodle and gesturing towards the cigarette. What he needed was his own pack so he didn't have to keep bumming smokes from her. That would have been a smart thing to get back when they were at the convenience store, but, well, he didn't exactly think ahead much. "A pack, actually, do you have any extra?"

He looked over at the arcade and raised an eyebrow. "That is... pretty close." He wasn't sure how they'd never noticed it, but that didn't really matter. At least they wouldn't have to walk far. And if they decided they wanted something other than snacks, they could get back to the food court pretty fast. He wasn't sure which one Noodle would prefer, but he was more inclined to go to the arcade. They tended to have games that he liked better. It didn't matter that much to him, though. "Er, we could go to the arcade first, and then Gamestop later, if you want," he said. "I don't really mind, though, we could go to either."

He picked up his stuff and made sure he had everything. If he left his keyboard there it most likely wouldn't be stolen or anything, but he preferred to have it with him. Just in case. "Okay, let's go!" he said with a grin. It was time to have some much-needed fun for a change.

[Shiintzu]

Ｎ Ｏ Ｏ Ｄ Ｌ Ｅ__________
graphix and layout by shiintzu
════════════════════════════______
In a dream of old I called you________________________
But the signal's gone away...__________________

"Yeah, I'm fine.. " she replied quietly, "..a pack? You can have three." She dug around in her bag for the case of cigarettes, and opened it to pull out a few packs. It was probably inconvenient for him to ask all the time, though she did often offer him a cig whenever she took one out for herself. Either way, it was only fair that he had his own. She couldn't be the cigarette keeper, especially since she was burning through them faster than he was.

"We can start out at the arcade and see what they have." It was a better idea to just take a look at whatever was closest, anyway. It had been a while since she had visited an arcade. She usually didn't have time to. All the combat training and practice with different instruments left little time to go out casually to the mall and play games there. Why even bother when she already had a gaming platform at home where she could relax in her own comfortable corner and play games without the worry of keeping an eye on your coins, and being considerate of the next person in line to play. However, from the experiences, she had had in arcades, there was a certain joy in playing the more interactive ones like riding the bike, or using the game shaped controller.

"Yeah! Let's go!" she said, hauling her belongings over her shoulders. There was never any harm in leaving them behind, but it was almost second nature to keep track of her stuff. That way she could focus more on the game and less about her guitar getting hauled away by a group of mischievous zombies, though it was highly unlikely. She headed off towards the room, where, already, she could see the flashing lights from the games.

[AgentKaz]

tonight i think i'll walk alone
i'll find my soul as i go home

___________________________________

2D looked over at Noodle. "You sure? That's good then," he said. As long as she was okay. He'd been a little worried that something might have been wrong, but he was glad it was just his imagination. When you were a survivor in a zombie apocalypse, it was a good idea to make sure other survivors were okay. Or something like that. "Oh, thanks!" He smiled and took the packs, dumped two in his bag, and opened the third one. Cigarette business taken care of, he looked back over toward their next destination.

He nodded. "Yeah, and if it's no good then it's not too far to the other place," he said. He hadn't been to an arcade in a while, but there was always the chance that what you'd get was a crusty room full of broken machines and a guy who yelled at you when you got change. He was hoping more for a nice place full of fully-functioning games, but you just never knew.

The short walk to the arcade was nice compared to the long day before. The arcade was actually pretty nicely sized for a place in the mall, although bizarrely empty. No sign of zombies or survivors. If there were others, though, the arcade would be a weird but possibly fun place to live. "Which one d'you want to play first?" he asked, looking at a Donkey Kong machine. "D'you think they have Pong?" They probably didn't, but it was worth a look. Either way, it seemed to be a nice collection of stuff they had.

"We can probably find the keys to the cabinets and then we don't have to find money," he said, looking around for an office or something. There had to be something around there they could use to get free games. "Well, at least there's no zombies," he said with a laugh. The office had to be around there somewhere. "Er, if we can't find that, there's probably change on the floor." That would be a last resort, though.

[Shiintzu]

Ｎ Ｏ Ｏ Ｄ Ｌ Ｅ__________
graphix and layout by shiintzu
════════════════════════════______
In a dream of old I called you________________________
But the signal's gone away...__________________

It was awkwardly quiet and deserted, aside from the various bleeps and bloops that echoed across the walls of the large game room. 2D's smooth voice seemed to break the monotony of the noises when he asked what game they should start with. It had taken her a moment to decide, given the amount of choices that had been laid out between the two. First person shooter games were going to go at the bottom of her list, since she had received plenty of practice yesterday when they were defending themselves from the zombie horde. She spotted a motorbike shaped console and trotted over to it. It had a cheesy generic racing bike design, airbrushed to a bright yellow, and adorned with a few false logo stickers. She jumped on the device, and it shifted as she leaned side to side. Though this toy was nowhere close to a real bike, she missed riding one all the same, and found herself letting out a soft giggle. She looked over to 2D "We can check if they have pong. There are a lot of games here." she said with a smile.

"...I suppose we can try to find the keys." Noodle replied. She found it amusing that finding the keys was hardly ever her first solution. Her brain had immediately got to hacking the machines before she even got to the arcade. "However, if we find a good screwdriver first, I can easily work with that." she said with a grin as she shifted the bike underneath her from side to side. With a small hop, she was off the oversized controller and headed towards the front desk.

[AgentKaz]

tonight i think i'll walk alone
i'll find my soul as i go home

___________________________________

2D grinned as he passed a couple of fighting games. He was pretty good at those, and was looking forward to trying them out. "Yeah, there's a ton! This place is is a nice one," he said. It was pretty cool to have a whole arcade to yourself, especially one with this many game choices. Although the fact that the main reason they had the arcade to themselves was because everyone was dead was a little disconcerting. He looked over at Noodle and laughed. "That one looks pretty cool!" he said. "I'll look for a screwdriver too, then." He took another look around and continued onwards.

"I'm checking back here!" he called, slowly walking towards the back of the room. Accidentally bumping into another machine on his way through ("Wizard needs food, badly!" it informed him as he jumped back) he noticed a door in the far back. "Aha, there we go," he said, and walked towards it. It was already opened slightly, so he opened it just a little more, in case anything was in there. "Anybody here?" There wasn't an answer, human or zombie, so he pushed the door open all the way. It was just a little office, with a chair and a desk and a tv and a microwave and not much else. There were also a few bloodstains on the floor and wall, but apparently what was in there had left already. He opened the drawers of the desk, but they were empty except for a couple of pens, a handful of coins, and an old half-eaten burrito. No keys. No screwdriver. He made a face at the burrito and closed the drawer.

He took another look around the room to make sure he didn't miss anything and then made his way over to the front desk. "Guess they don't use the office much. Couldn't find anything in there," he said, looking back towards the office door. "Er, except some pens, if you wanted any. Some coins too, I guess, if we need them. And a burrito, but it's gone bad and I think somebody was already eating it. Then I guess something was eating him." He shook his head. The burrito guy'd probably met his end before he got to finish the thing. "So, how'd you do?"

[Shiintzu]

Ｎ Ｏ Ｏ Ｄ Ｌ Ｅ__________
graphix and layout by shiintzu
════════════════════════════______
In a dream of old I called you________________________
But the signal's gone away...__________________

Noodle decided to check behind the counter, momentarily observing the various prizes that were hung up on the wall. Trying to gain tickets was useless now. They could literally pluck any gadget or plushie off the wall and have it for themselves. It was a shame. Gaming to get all those tickets was half the fun, even if the games cheated you out of your money in return for meagre chips of paper. She shrugged and brushed past the flamboyant feather boas to search in the cabinet under the cash register.

The majority of the discovered contents were useless. There was a mouldy drink cup, some register paper, a roll of tickets and a key ring thick with keys. The shelf lower down held a flathead screwdriver. Looks like they found what they needed. She scooped up the set of keys and the screwdriver as a second thought. She wasn't entirely sure if she had the patience to sift through the plethora of keys just to play one single game. If anything, the screwdriver could be a good skeleton key if used correctly.

Noodle popped up from behind the counter when she heard 2D's voice. He had returned unscathed, so it was safe to assume there were no left over zombies haunting the corners of the arcade. She slammed the keys on the glass counter and hopped over it in a single smooth motion. "I found some keys and a screwdriver." she declared, "I doubt we will be needing the keys too much, though." she hovered the heavy set of keys over his palm before dropping it into his hand.

"So where would you like to start first?"

[AgentKaz]

tonight i think i'll walk alone
i'll find my soul as i go home

___________________________________

2D stared at the keys in his hand for a moment, blinked, and then started looking through them. He appeared to be studying them intently as he flipped through. "None of these say what they're for," he said after a while. The management probably had some kind of system to tell which was which, but he certainly had no idea what it was. He didn't want to be the guy who had to open up the games at the end of the day, though. That had to be a long job. "Guess we'll have to do it your way then," he said with a grin. It would probably be easier.

Setting the keys down on the counter with a nice thunk, he looked up at the prize wall. "Oh, cool, there's prizes!" he said. Free prizes. Nice. Usually you had to save up tickets for years to get the good stuff. Not that candy and temporary tattoos weren't good stuff, but this time they could have anything they wanted. Including all the candy and temporary tattoos. Sure, the reason the prizes were free was because the zombies had killed pretty much everyone, but there was no need to think about that now. He made a mental note to check on the prizes when they were done, mostly so he could pretend like he actually won the stuff.

"Er, well, I saw Street Fighter over there, if you're interested," he said. "Had a couple of other ones like that too, from what I saw. They've also got that game where you have to feed a wizard or something, the one that yells at you? Not too sure about that one. Ran into that one by accident." He laughed a little and shrugged. "I didn't really look that hard at everything though, they've got a lot. Since they've got the prizes there they probably have stuff like, er, skeeball, stuff like that? Probably. We could go around and just look at stuff too, I guess. You got anything you want to do first?" He had his eye on Street Fighter (or Mortal Kombat, or really anything where you hit the buttons a lot and beat up the other guy, because he always thought he was pretty good at those) but he didn't need to play that first. He also wanted to see everything else the place had (and maybe see if they had Pong). It didn't really matter to him where they started. After all, they had practically forever to spend in there until they got bored.

[Shiintzu]

Ｎ Ｏ Ｏ Ｄ Ｌ Ｅ__________
graphix and layout by shiintzu
════════════════════════════______
In a dream of old I called you________________________
But the signal's gone away...__________________

"We can play that if you want." Noodle said, shrugging with a smile. I would still like to look around though. She was fine with Street Fighter, but she was hoping to find something more involved, or just more challenging later on. She was at least hoping to find Dance Dance Revolution. After all, no arcade worth visiting was complete without one. She wasn't sure if 2D would be quite as enthusiastic about playing. It was apparent that coordination was not his thing, but there was no rule stating that they had to play all the games together. She assumed that after playing a few games together, they would go off into their own directions and regroup when they felt like it.

After getting a good look around the arcade, Noodle was more than ready to play. She found a DDR station, which she planned to dominate. There were a few other games like first person shooters as well, (which piqued her interest even after blowing off zombie heads all yesterday). Then there were a few racing games she wanted to get her hands on.

"Do you still want to start out with street fighter, or did something else catch your attention?"

[AgentKaz]

tonight i think i'll walk alone
i'll find my soul as i go home

___________________________________

"I think I need a better look around too," 2D said. Although he had taken a quick look at everything when he was trying to find the office, he hadn't been paying very close attention. He got a more thorough picture of the arcade this time around, without bumping into any hungry wizards. From the looks of it, they had a pretty even assortment of regular games and more detailed games. He'd have to remember to check this place out again if things ever got back to normal.

He'd noticed a few games he liked along the way, as well as quite a few he'd never heard of but thought might be pretty cool. "Yeah, let's start with that," he said. "Might try everything eventually, though." He laughed. The amount of games in the arcade was pretty overwhelming. This seemed to be the sort of place you could easily spend a whole day at, as long as you had the money. He always found himself to be better at the more classic arcade games (or more simple, considering how much he ruled at Pong) so Street Fighter would be a good starting place. Not having to pay for the games was a big plus, though. He could try out whatever he wanted without wasting change, no matter how he fared.

He navigated the maze of arcade cabinets to the Street Fighter machine, then bent down and looked at the coin slots. "Yeah, if we open this there's probably a button to press inside to make it work," he said, standing up. "How do you think they figure out which key's which? There's got to be too many games to figure that out," he said.