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 Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:49 pm
"Hey, uhm," Etain lagged behind, stalling out in the middle of a block of sidewalk, head craned in one direction to peer at the brightly flashing neon signs, all the people inside and the 'CHING-CHING-CHING!' sound of a handful quarters dropping out of a change machine. Etain looked back at Tovar who (along with the gold dragon, Watson) had ambled on a few steps further before they'd stopped and turned back to face the unicorn.
"What is it?" Tovar asked, shooting a suspicious glance toward the arcade.
"Your just goin' grocery shopping, right...?" Etain hazarded, edging around a little where he stood. His guardian nodded, slowly. "Can I stay here and you pick me up when your done?"
Tovar squint at the arcade, chewed on his lower lip. This was the first time Etain had ever really asked to be 'left' somewhere. "If you promise not to wander anywhere."
Etain perked up, ears flicking forward. He nodded enthusiastically.
"And if you keep Watson with you."
The unicorn drooped visibly, ears rotating and floppy sadly downwards. "Aw, but--"
"She's not going to bite you, Etain."
Watson whipped her tail around, fluttered her wings and snorted loudly. Etain stared at her, looking mortified. "A-alright," he agreed after a long, very long moment.
Sighing, Tovar nodded. "Alright, I'll pick you up when I'm done. Stay put," he reminded the boy.
"Tovar--?"
"Huh?"
"Can I have some money."
Internal facepalm.
Fifteen minutes later, having just barely figured how to work the change machine, Etain was skirting around the inside of the arcade like a nervous bird - half because of all the people and blinking lights, but definitely partly because of the dragon that was ambling around practically on his heels. She made him nervous.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:11 pm
"I don't see why you allowed him to come," Raven said sharply. "He can't come into a bar."
Sighing, Mahou squeezed Raven's hand. "Because the poor boy wouldn't survive alone with Bee in the house. Now this way they have arrangements, and he can have some fun. Besides, if the client didn't insist on the meeting place, you wouldn't be in a bar either."
When Mahou was right, she was right. But Raven didn't have to like it. "So what do you suggest they do, wait outside?
Anoki hovered behind Mahou and Raven uncertainly. As usual, they were talking like he wasn't there, but he'd learned to ignore it in favor of just listening. He definitely didn't want to be left alone at home with the girls, but having to wait outside a bar didn't sound much better.
Fortunately, Mahou had a better idea. "There's an arcade. Right here, in fact. We can let Anoki and Myung-Ki play in there for a while, and pick them up afterward. Here." Now Mahou was finally adressing Anoki, and handing him a pouch full of change to boot. "Have fun, and don't leave the building without us. And don't let Myung-Ki be the boss. Alright?"
Whether it was alright or not wouldn't make much difference to the plan, Anoki knew, but he nodded anyway. He had no idea what an arcade was, but apparently you needed to pay to use one. So he took the pouch, waved goodbye to Mahou and Raven, and pulled Myung-Ki inside.
There, the flashing lights and sounds dazzled him out of doing anything further.
Myung-Ki, on the other hand, looked around suspiciously. It was flashy, which was good, but it was unfamiliar. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:21 pm
Etain hooked his fingers over the edge of one of the large consoles, watching a pair of older kids mashing buttons and twist sticks. He had just enough time to watch one of the people on the screen beat the tar out of the other one ('FINISH HIM!,' howled the game) before one of the older boys said something Tovar wouldn't like him saying inside the house and chased him off. Etain scattered, retreating back toward the entryway of the arcade. Watson waddled after him. She was getting fat, he noted anxiously. Probably eating cats or something. Aiee, creepy.
--Waita.
His attention snapped away from the dragon, hooking on the other preteen. Just as quickly, his eyes dropped to the red dragon at the other boy's side.
H-e-double hockey sticks, Etain thought sourly, frowning a little bit.
Nonetheless, he slowly began moving the Anoki's general direction. He recognized the other boy, just faintly - hadn't seen him for a long time, sure, but knew his face. Watson hung back slightly, eying the other dragon with nearly the same amount of suspicion as Etain.
"Hey!" Etain called out, waving shyly at the other boy. "I know you!" Well. Kind of.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:39 pm
His person was still gawking like an idiot, so Myung-Ki slunk over to a nearby pinball machine. It was first especially shiny thing nearby, and he felt that it would be an adequate place to start his conquering. Even if it was silver, an inferior metal AND color.
Part of the gawking was Anoki trying to remember the name of the kid who was waving to him. He knew him, of course- he remembered denting the slide, and looking for the other horn. Now that Raven had taught him, he knew that unicorns only had one horn, and felt silly for implying otherwise. In fact, he felt awkward all around.
Not that there was anything to do about it but reply and get it over with. Anoki sighed, disconcerted by the lack of actual decisions he'd made that day, but brightened slightly as he remembered the boy's name.
"Um. H-hi. Oh, you're Etain, r-right! H-hi!"
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:44 pm
Cool, he even remembered his name! Not that...Etain could actually remember the other boy's. Crud. His whole face kind of screwed up awkwardly as he fought to remember. 'A' something. Not that something like that narrowed down the possibilities a whole lot.
"Yeah," he said at length, watching the red dragon move off toward a machine in her peripherals. "Etain, that's right. Uh..." he hesitated, flicking his attention back to the other kid. "Sorry, what's your name?"
Meanwhile, Watson plopped herself lazily down beside Etain, leaning up right against his leg. It was enough to make him jump a little, skitter quickly approximately one and a half steps to the side. "Is that your dragon? Did your mom leave you here? Tovar left me here."
He was spewing words, he could hear himself chattering all over the place. Tovar thought it was funny most times; Etain just felt a little sick to his stomach because of nerves, but he guessed words were better than throwing up or something.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:54 pm
"Anoki. It's ok-kay, it w-was a l-long t-time ago, r-right?" At least, Etain had looked shorter before. But then again, so had he, so Anoki tried not to make a big deal out of it. They were both there now, and that was what mattered, wasn't it?
Roaring at a gamer who was approaching the pinball machine, Myung-Ki was curled atop it's surface like a cat, but with eyes wide open and glaring at anyone who cared to watch.
Anoki smiled at the gold dragon. It (he? she?) was so pretty and sparkly. Myung-Ki would probably like that. But when Etain mentioned his partner, and Anoki looked next to him, he found himself short one dragon. When he saw Myung-Ki perched on the machine, he let out a shout and darted over. "N-no! This isn't y-yours! We're j-just v-visiting!"
Myung-Ki snorted. Visiting was the excuse his person had for not letting him take/damage/appropriate stuff that should have been rightfully his. But usually the horrible word was accompanied by better gifts later on, so he sulkily climbed down, hissing at the gold dragon nearby. It certainly wasn't HER shiny they were visiting.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:03 pm
"Anoki," Etain repeated absently, telling himself to remember the name this time around.
Watson seemed to be rather offended at the other dragon hissing at her. She sat up, head swinging sharply upward causing her whiskers to shiver slightly with the movement. She trashed her tail a little, looking irritable. Harumph. She shot Etain a glance, clearly expecting the boy to do something about the red's attitude.
Instead Etain wiggled off, putting a little more distance between himself at the gold dragon, twirling the gold bracelet around his wrist nervously as he did so. "Uh, what's his name?" he asked suddenly. "Or is it a she? Watson's a girl."
Meeting people without Tovar as a buffer was kind of nerve wracking.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:11 pm
Myung-Ki lashed his tail at the gold, but remained otherwise docile. A large part of the reason was that Anoki had one hand on his head, and if he moved he knew there would be no gift later. A little patience now was worth an big payoff later, and he knew that the more patient he was, the bigger his reward would be.
"Th-this is Myung-Ki. H-he's a b-boy. And he's g-good," Anoki added, emphasizing the last word and staring at Myung-Ki while he spoke, instead of at Etain. For once, his dragon actually seemed to be taking the hint. Maybe he was getting better at the whole taking charge thing.
With Myung-Ki under control, Anoki could finally look around. "S-so, wh-what do you d-do here? I've n-never b-been."
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:20 pm
Watson growled a little despite Myung-Ki's apparent 'good behavior,' apparently not entirely convinced. In turn, she waddled closer toward Etain - who immediately began moving away again. It's was like the two made subtle circles around one another. Etain kept his attention on Anoki, though he kept a notable eye on the gold dragon out of the corner of his eye.
"I've never been neither," he explained, shrugging with both shoulders. "Put you put money in these machines and then you play games. That's what other people are doing leastways, so that's what I figure the idea is." Besides, if nothing else it was loud and bright and shiny and for some bizarre reason the whole package of the place appealed strangely to something in the back of his brain. Go figure.
"Wanna to play something with me?" There was something called 'Ski Ball' in the back of the arcade that didn't look to difficult. Granted, Etain wasn't entirely sure why people didn't just walk up the ramp and dump the ball in the right circle instead of rolling it there but...maybe that was something you learned how to do later.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:30 pm
Well, that explained the pouch. Anoki unzipped it and looked inside, finding a few folded dollar bills and a couple handfuls of quarters. It was a lot. Mahou must have expected to take a long time. He sighed, looking around again. At least the kids there looked like they were having fun.
He also noticed the way Etain and Watson seemed to be square dancing, and frowned. "Are you ok-kay?" Digging in the pouch, he pulled out a quarter and held it out to the Gold- but not before giving the pouch itself to Myung-Ki, so he wouldn't get jealous. "H-here."
It was a meager offering, but Myung-Ki took the pouch in one clawed paw and shook it. It jingled promisingly, so he let it be.
"Y-yeah. I have m-money." Actually, Myung-Ki had it now, but if he wanted to he could get it back. The 'Ski Ball' did look sort of fun, if you were into bowling or throwing or anything like that. Maybe it was an acquired taste.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:53 pm
Watson perked up, looking surprised and inordinately pleased with the offering. Ignoring Etain for the time being, she waddled forward (she really was a little overweight) and snatched the coin from Anoki, rocking back on her haunched so she could look over the bit of silvery metal. Etain made a worried face, clearly paranoid that she'd try to eat it or something. Comically, Watson stuffed the quarter in her mouth, clacking at it briefly with her teeth before shunting it into one of her cheeks like an excessively large and rather scaly hamster - to keep it safe.
"Yeah, we're alright. She just..." Etain shrugged a little, worrying at his lower lip with his thumb. Clearly, the unicorn was a little afraid of the dragon. Just a little. Not a paralyzing fear to any extent, but concerned, cautious of her presence.
But in the face of money and ski ball and playing games with another boy - Medusa was cool and all, but Etain didn't hang out with other boys too often - he quickly seemed to forget his nervousness, digging in his pockets. "I got money too. I can show you how to work the machine if you need quarters later - figured it out all by myself." He beamed, clearly proud of himself. Ha, clearly he rocked this arcade thing. "Come on, it's this way."
With a short, jerky motion of his hand, Etain turned and led the way toward the back of the arcade where the giant ski ball machine lay in wait against the wall. Watson, the quarter still in her mouth, turned and wandered after him.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:12 pm
That seemed to help a little. And it confirmed that Myung-Ki wasn't the only dragon who liked shiny things. When Watson put the quarter in her mouth, it made Anoki just a little nervous, but he decided not to worry. It was her quarter now, and she could do whatever she wanted with it.
Myung-Ki snorted and pawed at the pouch some. That other dragon might have gotten one shiny, but he had a whole bagful. He was better and had more stuff and was just better. So there.
"Th-there's a machine that g-gived you m-money?" Anoki had seen one of those before, but Mahou said that to use one you needed a special card. "I d-don't have a c-card. B-but I have l-lots of c-coins!" He tugged the pouch away from Myung-Ki quickly, keeping it just long enough to extract several coins and stuff them in his pocket.
The machines- for there were three, lined up next to each other- were a bit daunting, with long ramps to roll balls on, and targets in the middle with several rings and holes for the balls to fall through. Anoki put a quarter in one of them, and jerked as there was a loud clicking noise, the sound of several heavy balls dropping into a bin just above the money slot.
"W-what now?" he asked, picking up a ball. "D-do you th-throw it?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:23 pm
Etain watched with mild interest as the ski balls clattered down the chute, thud-thud-thudding into place. He eyed the ramp, the target at the end. "Naw," he said, waving his arms absently in an attempt to explain. "You, uh, you roll 'em I think. I mean, I guess you could throw 'em too, but uh, iunno. Rollin' seems to work better."
Watson patiently clambered up onto the adjacent ramp, digging her claws in and wiggling her way clumsily up onto until she could sit down heavily, watching the other ramp that Anoki had decided to play on with interest.
"Here, I'll do this one and show you," Etain said, digging in his pockets for quarters - they made loud clanking noises. Apparently he'd gotten a little overzealous with the change machine and had turned every single dollar bill Tovar had given him into quarters. Ambling over to the third ramp, he stuffed a quarter into the slot. Click, click, fwooooosh... - thud, thud, thud. He plucked one of the balls out of the chute, weighed it absently in his hands, wound up, let it go--
It hit the ramp with a loud crack, rolled up and over the hump at the end of the ramp and... straight down again. Etain looked up at the scoreboard expectantly.
It ticked '000' back at him.
"Crud." Grimacing, he looked back at Anoki. "I'm no good."
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:39 pm
"Oh." What a weird game. But Anoki was determined to give it his best. He turned back to the targets, pulled his arm back, and rolled the ball carefully up the ramp. A little too carefully, because it only made it about halfway to the target before rolling to a stop. It didn't roll back either.
"Ooops. I don't th-think I've g-got it yet."
A little pleading was all it took to convince Myung-Ki to crawlget the ball back. Getting him to release it was harder. After all, he'd worked for the ball, it was his! Even if it wasn't especially shiny.
Anoki sighed, but didn't argue. He knew that Myung-Ki would get bored of it soon. In the meantime he took another ball and rolled it with considerably more force. That time it rolled along speedily, hopped over the bump, and sank into the lowest, ten-point target, sending the scoreboard alight with flashing lights and the number "010."
Gawking, Anoki looked at the scoreboard. "I d-did it!"
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:01 pm
Etain threw up his arms triumphantly over Anoki's success with enough speed and force to bring the hem of his shirt a good two inches away from the waist of his pants for one, and for two to scare the bajeesus out of Watson who promptly floundered back over the far edge of the ski ball ramp she'd been laying on, thudding on the floor out of sight with her tail still stuck up on the game. It waggled in the air momentarily and Etain hastily dropped his arms, saying "Oops."
With a grunt, Watson pulled herself back to her feet and lumbered back into her resting place, pausing long enough to shoot Etain a sidelong, clearly wary glance before settling all the way back down.
"Good job!" Etain declared, wiggling a little in place but keeping mind to keep his hands to his sides rather than up in the air. "Ten points."
Fueled by his Convienantly New Best Friend's victory (any person Etain was hanging out with at the time tended to be his Best Friend Ever), Etain got another ball out from the chute, flinging it zealously up the ramp toward the target.
Swoosh! Ten. The scoreboard over the ramp ticked to record the minute personal triumph.
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