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 Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:45 pm
Barnaby was in the Groove.
It was a rare day indeed when he was on the top of his game, usually too distracted by the noise and the hubbub of the arcade to keep all of his wits about him. Racing games required complete and total focus if you wanted to come in first. You had to be completely focused on every turn, every bend in the road, every errant pylon, and Barnaby was practically glued to the game screen. One more turn aaaand….
"BOOO YEAH!" The redhead threw his arms up in the air when he passed the finish line, grinning like a complete idiot. "VICTORY!" Aaaah it felt so good! It was almost good enough to do a victory dance. Instead, Barnaby settled for tapping in his initials and adding them to the top player list, letting out a low whistle when they landed near the top. "Niiiiiice."
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:17 pm
"Daaaamn!" A voice agreed above Barnaby's head. Alexander was leaning over the machine's built-in racing seat, staring at the high scores list. Or, rather attempting to lean -- the plastic wasn't very comfortable, and someone was considerate enough to leave some gum on top of it. It was this bright pink splotch Alex was carefully avoiding, and avoided altogether when he sat down in the second driver's seat.
"Not bad of a score! You managed to beat mine," he said, adjusting the seat and wincing as it squeaked into position. "Care for another race?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 2:26 pm
The redhead's grin only widened when he realized he had an audience, tilting his head back to look at Alex. Though he didn't recognize him from school – which wasn't saying much – there was definitely something vaguely familiar about him. Perhaps he came to Larry's Pizza often, or maybe he was a fellow arcade patron. Whatever he was, he was challenging Barnaby to another race and the teen was downright eager to comply.
"Hell yeah! I warn you, though, I'm pretty goood~" He sing-songed the last bit as he fired a few more coins into the slot. "You can pick the track. Whatever one's your favourite." With a roll of his shoulders, Barnaby was ready for action.
Let round 2 begin!
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:28 pm
"Ha! Don't have to tell me that twice -- you're pretty good with your wheels. I'm personally all about the platformers and shooters here. Especially that one over there, y'know? My name's currently on it three times in a row," he bragged, "It happened while I was trying to crack the highscore on that one. Someone named AAA got it which is really, really annoying since it can be anyone y'know?"
As he spoke, he added his quarters to the machine and adjusted the seat before flipping through the car selection. "But what can you do? AAA's not too bad if you want to be Anonymous Andriod Alpha, but c'mon. If you make it to the top you should at least flaunt if off! Even if you change the last two letters to "S" then it'd count." Alex selected his car and flipped through the tracks, choosing a racetrack that was set up to look like a city. "There! This one good?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:25 pm
"No s**t, really? Three times?" Damn, that was some determination! Barnaby was definitely a little jealous, but at the same time quietly pleased that his current challenger was an arcade regular. Though shooters weren't exactly his thing - a little too much stand and point for his tastes – there was always something a little exciting about a competition. Now that he knew the face of the current highscorer he was obligated to try and boot him out of the top three spots.
It was a guy thing.
The redhead made sure to snag the brightest car he could find while Alex selected his, watching as the tracks flipped by across his screen. "AAA's pretty lame, but if that's your initials I guess you're S.O.L. I always wished I had cool initials to put up there. Something witty, you know?" He was forced to return his attention to the screen when Alex chose the track of choice. City track? Nice.
"Better than. You ready to eat my dust?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:40 am
"Yeah really!" What Alex didn't mention was how many quarters he had to spend in order to get those spots. Or how he figured in a couple of weeks those same high scores would be at the bottom of the list, or not on there at all depending on if the machine glitched and had to be reset completely.
Alex shifted in his seat and grabbed the wheel, watching the lights count down. "What sort of 'witty thing' could you do with three letters? 'W.O.W.' is pretty lame, as is 'B.A.M.', though -- greenlight! -- I suppose 'F-U' or 'FYU' is possible. Personally, there needs to be a machine that accepts up to five letters, just in order to put in 'U.P.U.R.Z.'"
The boy slammed on the acceleration at the green light, hissing as some of the computer controlled cars sped past him. "Argh! Stupid hit-the-acceleration before the green light! I can never get the timing for that stupid boost!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:36 pm
"Three's not much to work with," the redhead agreed readily, eyes darting off the screen for a moment to check his position. Feet on the pedals? Check. Hands on steering wheel? Check. Ready to rock and roll? Double check! Satisfied that he was totally ready to kick butt, Barnaby looked up again and tipped his head when Alex declared that five letters was the optimal length for the naming system.
"U.P.U.R.Z.? What for?"
Any thoughts on three or five letter names flew out his brain the moment the green light was declared. Slamming his right foot to the pedal, he grinned and watched the car speed ahead. It took him a minute to shift the view – he always liked first person better – but after that he was in his element. Until, of course, he hit his least favourite turn.
"Shiiiiit I forgot about this turn, goddamnit." Barnaby wrenched the wheel around to compensate, knocking over the row of pylons on the track. Nice. "Bet I can hit more pylons and pedestrians than you~!" He sing-songed, flashing Alex a cheeky grin.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:47 am
Alexander's car was chuggin' away, scraping by other cars and bouncing off of walls. “Aw, you just had to claim the seat with the steering wheel that doesn't drift to the right!” He laughed, yanking his wheel to the left as he tried to find the sweet spot in order to keep his car going straight. Seventh... sixth... fifth... fourth...
Aaand back to sixth after taking a right turn too sharply. The green car was thrown into reverse, crashing into the seventh-placed AI controlled car and flipping back into position. “HA! Take that!” He announced. Nevermind the computer couldn't hear him – Alexander was one of those gamers.
He glanced over to Barnaby's screen as he cursed, snickering. “Use the breaks, padawaaaaaaw crap!” His turn on the turn, Alexander didn't have the benefit of the now-missing pylons, careening off the street and into wall before bouncing off of it and onto the sidewalk. “Oh you are so on! This sidewalk's mine!”
A moment later, he crashed into a lamppost. “Oh that is so not cool.”
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 4:24 pm
Alex was coming up fast – he could see his opponent's dot on the mini map – and the teen grinned wider. Unfortunately, the brunette took a turn wrong and dropped back down. "Aaaw, dude you were so close, come on!" His foot hit the break several seconds after Alex gave him the clue, causing him so skid sideways and then swerve violently to avoid hiding a tree.
"Who puts a tree in the middle of the sidewalk? I mean honestly!"
Holding a steady third, Barnaby's fingers tightened on the steering wheel as they neared the tunnel. Tunnels were the hardest part of racing games; one wrong move and you could be careening off into defeat. It was one thing to lose to a computer simulation. It was quite another to lose to a real player. The stakes were higher, and the redhead was only too willing to rise to the challenge. "Iiiiiiit's tunnel time! Damnit, who turned out the lights?!" Unlit portions of the tunnel were a b***h.
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:06 am
“It was there just to slow you down,” Alexander replied in a haunting tone, removing one hand from the steering wheel to blindly waggle it in Barnaby's direction before throwing his car into reverse and back onto the track, right into an upcoming AI-controlled car. “Argh! Don't stall don't sta- yesss! Aha! Anyway, mock not the sidewalk trees, for they hurt when you walk into them. Especially so when there's other people around, moreso when one of those people is someone you're trying to impress. Not that it's ever happened to meeee tunnel!” He exclaimed happily as he moved his car from side to side, preventing the car behind him from passing him until he reached the tunnel.
There, he positioned his car in the middle of the roadway, trying to keep it going as straight as he could in order to increase his speed. “Your mom,” he told him, answering his question. “At least there's headli- oh, wait. Nevermind, apparently the sponsors for this car race are too cheap to provide headlights. Or seatbelts, for that matter.”
He glanced at his minimap, trying to pick out Barnaby's car from the computer's. Was he player one or two? He twisted the wheel as the tunnel curved, bouncing off a computer-car in the dark tunnels and wincing as his speed took a hit.
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Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:15 pm
His only response to Alex's finger waggle was to stick out his tongue – how old was he again? – and continue driving like a maniac. Er, controlled maniac, but that was what driving a race car was all about, right?
The redhead couldn't help but make an incredulous noise in response to the sidewalk tree story. "Dude, why are people you know walking into—" He was cut off by a sudden clunk indicating he'd hit a wall. Cursing under his breath he whipped the wheel around to compensate, still grumbling when it caused him to slip back another place. Damn these computer controlled cars. They had such an advantage!
"My mom totally leaves the lights on. Yours on the other hand…" Baranaby punctuated the statement with an eyebrow waggle – not that Alex could probably see – and gave an excited whoop when he saw the entirely non-metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. "Psh, who needs seatbelts or headlights? It's only a few casualties every now and again! Oops, like that guy. Sorry dude, couldn't see you! It'll only be a flesh wound!"
The track curved out of the tunnel and back towards the starting gate, signaling the end of lap one. One down, three to go!
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 4:15 am
"Haha!" Alexander laughed triumphantly at Barnaby's collision, keeping his eyes on the screen. At least the cars had tail lights (if you could call them that, pixelated texture and all) to somewhat go by.
He raised his foot off the gas petal in order to slam it down again. Would it help him get ahead? Probably not, but it was the thought that counted.
"I didn't know you were into that kind of thing!" Alex replied as his car zipped out of the tunnel. "Giving a stiffy to a stiff, since she's dead and all."
Obligatory pause for awkward silence.
"Naah who am I kidding? She leaves'em off in order to not see your ugly mug!" He yanked his car wheel to the right, passing a computer-controlled car via the sidewalk before turning it left, blocking the car from passing him. "MAN! This game needs some speed-boosting pads. Or rockets. Mmm, rockets."
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