A Doll's Destiny

"Ah, I see. Are you having fun?" Clara replied. He seemed to enjoy playing it but she really didn't know much about it. But if he was having fun, that was the main point, wasn't it. She ate a bit more of her snack and then took a sip from her glass of water and she stared at the screen to take a look at some of the game.
 
"I am. Thanks, lovely," Aiden replied sincerely.
 
"That's good. I'm glad you like your game," Clara replied. She finished off her snack and then went into the kitchen to wash her hands. She returned and took a seat down again. She let out a yawn and leaned on the couch a bit. "Do you mind if I watch you play a little?" She wanted to take a break after doing all that cleaning.
 
"Actually, I wonder if you'd like to play with me. Did this playstation come with one or two controllers?" Aiden replied. He didn't want her to just sit there.
 
"Sure, I don't mind playing with you. I think there's another one," Clara replied. She went into the box to take a look and there was another one. She took it out and opened up the back to put some batteries in. Once that was done, she sat back down. "So, how do I play this game?" She looked at the screen as she turned on the controller.
 
"Here," he returned to the main menu and selected two-player. "I think we can either play against each other, do a battle, do a race with other characters, or do a racing cup? Which would you like?"
 
Clara thought for a moment. "Well, you've been playing longer than I have, right? So, you'd probably win if it was only against us too. So, maybe one with other characters as well. So that way I don't feel as inadequate," she commented. She wasn't sure how well she would fair at playing it as she hadn't played any video games before.
 
Nodding, Aiden chose Arcade Mode, then chose the blue kangaroo character agin. "Okay, now you can choose who you want to be, what type of kart to use, and add different things to it."
 
"Okay," Clara replied. She copied what he had did, of course with choosing a different character and different kart. Once that was done, she waited for him to tell her what else she was supposed to do. "So, now what?" She figured it wouldn't be too hard because she remembered from the previous night that it was a racing game. But she wasn't familiar with the mechanics yet.
 
"Now we choose our track," Aiden instructed. "There's a lot to choose from, and some are easier than others."
 
"I suppose you can choose then since you've already been playing them and know some of them," Clara replied. "I wouldn't want to pick the wrong track. But do be considerate and go easy on me. Maybe a track that's more on the beginner side. It wouldn't be really fair to pick a more complicated one when this is the first time I'm playing this game. First time I'm playing any game for that matter."
 
"Fair enough," after a moment of browsing through the list and glancing at their previews, Aiden selected a track. "Here, Coco Park. There doesn't seem to be any major obstacles, and it looks like it's just a standard track."
 
"Okay. That sounds like a good choice," Clara replied. It sounded simple enough from his description. "And what are the buttons to actually play this game? How do I move my Kart and such?" She still wasn't sure how she was supposed to be able to play this and which buttons on the control would do what.
 
"X is to go forward, square is to stop, and the arrows are to stear. The circle button lets you use your powerups, and the L and R1 buttons make you jump," Aiden explained as he started the race.
 
"Okay," Clara replied. It didn't seem so bad, but it was a lot to take in for the first time playing anything. She was bound to hit the wrong buttons considering she wasn't aware of which one was where exactly. She took a look down at the control as she tried to get herself familiar with the placement of each button he mentioned. She didn't have much time though as he already had started the race, so she looked back up and gave it her best shot.
 
As the race started, Aiden took off right when the mountdown finished. Hitting a question mark box, he received a potion and dropped it behind himself.
 
Clara was a little slow to start as she was still figuring it all out and trying to remember the buttons he told her, but eventually she got moving. She was farther behind, but she wasn't doing awful. She was just trying her best to not hit any obstacles and still stay on the track well enough. She wasn't expecting to place really well anyway.
 
"You're doing good. You can hit those boxes with question marks. They powerups, and the plain boxes have little fruits inside," Aiden explained.
 
"Okay," Clara replied. She wasn't sure how she would do with adding on power-ups and the like, but that seemed to be part of the game. When she first tried to hit a box, she happened to miss because she was still trying to get the hang of everything. But when she tried another time, she actually was able to get one of the question mark boxes.
 
"Depending on which powerup you get, it can either be thrown forward or back. I've even managed to get three of the same one," Aiden went on.