Orin had a lot of time to think these past few days, but nothing he was thinking was doing any good. He had gotten some good advice, but he couldn't shake the funk he was in. And it was his father's idea to go have some fun.

And his father always knew best, so he agreed when his father put the twenty dollar bill in his son's hand and told him to go have a good day.

And then he realized just how much his father must have been worried about him. Money was hard to come by in the household, and if his father thought that a trip to the arcade would help…maybe he was right.

But Orin had no intention of spending all that money. He accepted it because his father wouldn't take no for an answer.

…And then he'd gone to the arcade and swapped five dollars for tokens and meandered around.

He wasn't sure what he wanted—but he wasn't playing for tickets. So he thought he might try a different sort of game.

There were a few racing games installed, but they were either occupied, broken or boring. But the motorcycle seat was totally empty. Or, at least, one of them was; a girl was on one but he didn't think he'd bother her.

So, he climbed up on the platform, settled into the seat and…reached.

Stretched his legs towards the ground.

…And couldn’t reach.

He tried harder, and wiggled in the seat trying to get comfortable with the turning mechanism, but he didn't have enough mass to make much of a difference, and without his feet planted on the ground he was just wobbling on a very set seat.

Lips pursed more, he tried to stretch once more, groaning with the effort—and still couldn't reach.

With an exasperated sigh, he slouched forward.

…Seriously, he was supposed to be able to get a learner's permit for a vehicle in two months. It was going to be a problem if his legs never grew. He'd never be able to reach the peddles!

--------------

Annabelle seemed to be in a constant state of tired. Things were… stagnant with her girlfriend right now and honestly, she wasn’t sure if she was complacent or happy. Then again, she could probably only figure that out talking to Lila instead of thinking about it. Talking about it with her, however, meant something was wrong and she didn’t want to do that.

Basically, with Annabelle, things were all-or-nothing. Either they were a problem, or they weren’t. Either she liked something, or she didn’t. It was black and white. There was no middle ground, no gray. It wasn’t a healthy way to live life, she was pretty sure, but like the white haired girl cared. Most of how she lived her life wasn’t healthy. What with murdering civilians that looked at her wrong and going about stalking her girlfriend when they were on patrol at night. That wasn’t healthy. That was borderline creepy stalking.

Instead of just dwelling on these things, Annabelle figured it was time to go play her favorite game. She climbed up on the motorcycle and popped in her quarters.

Before she knew it she’d spent hours here. She might not be the best at it, but she was good. At least to her. Gold eyes glanced over when she heard rustling around next to her and she couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. A boy trying his hardest to reach the peddles. Oh, the woman knew she shouldn’t laugh, but it was a funny and cute sight!


“You’ve almost got it! Stretch!”

--------------

Orin glanced up when he heard the laugh and almost seemed embarrassed, but he laughed at himself too. "I'm trying!" he said, and stretched dramatically to show what efforts he was making.

"Ugh, this isn't fair!" he wasn't mad; there was still a smile on his face. "I've been looking at this ride for years and my legs still aren't long enough. I thought I was supposed to hit a growth spurt in high school, but man! It sure is taking it's sweet time, you know? Killin' me."

He wiggled his legs a bit, jutted them out in one last effort and then just sighed and hunched forward. His eyes went to her screen. "Maybe next week," he laughed. "Can you really drive one of these things?"

--------------


“Just a little more!”

She seemed to be encouraging him and then laughed a bit before she looked back to her screen and let out a yelp. She veered to the left, barely dodging another car and then looked back at him. “In real life? Probably not. On this game? Sure!” She didn’t even have her driver’s license yet. She was working on it, okay? Annabelle hopped the bus or walked everywhere lately.

“Maybe soon, though!” She was saving for some kind of transportation. Obviously she was a flashy sort of girl, with her skin tight jeans, fashionable boots and top and what not. So the money she’d been saving, well, was a lot. Top of the line, brand new, never been driven before. That is what Annabelle was looking for and she was not going to settle for anything less. A motorcycle though.. She could probably pull that off.

It was a minute more when the race ended and she snapped her fingers. “Rats! Fourth place!”

--------------

Orin was quiet as he watched her, not wanting to distract her any more than he already had. Even when she came in fourth place, he still let out a cheer for her. "Don't say rats! You did great! Better than I could do," he laughed. "Maybe I can't play, but you did a great job! Play again, I wanna watch!" he said, fumbling around for a few coins before he handed them out to her. He leaned forward eagerly.

"I bet you can get at least third place if I'm not distracting you this time! Oh, well. But I want to watch, is that a distraction? I'll be quiet. Or I can cheer for you!"

He just seemed excited to see someone playing. "—Oh. My name's Orin, so if you want me to cheer let me know who I should be cheering for!"

--------------


“Fourth place is good?” Well, she hadn’t thought of it like that. She turned to look at him and just gave him a wide grin, eyes lighting up. “Well if you say so, it must be true, right?” She reached out and ruffled his hair a bit before nodding.

“Yeah I’ll race again! Cheer loud, okay? It’ll definitely help. “I’m Annabelle! I’m counting on you, Orin.” She winked at him then and turned back to the screen. “Maybe when your legs grow you can come back and race me. It’d be good to have some competition around here~” Her voice came out as sing song as she selected the next course.

With that, she got her serious game face on and clutched the handlebars of the motorcycle tight. “Ready..? Here we go!”