Mahou Madness!

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Yay! Umm, I think just playing some games is fine... I uhh, don't really know many other activities honestly..."
Luca admitted, she was glad Namiko was willing to come over, even if she couldn't stay the night at least Luca would have someone close for a little while...
"Umm, my parents should be home tomorrow so I won't be too lonely this time, I hope they don't make me cut my hair though... I kinda like it like this".
She declared.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko just smiled at Luca and stroked her head.

As she looked out the window, she thought of how aimless these days were. The specter of some huge and apocalyptic change lurked in the corner, and it was inching closer and closer. She was not naive, not anymore, so she could feel it coming, but could only wait for it.

Before they knew it they were stepping, pigeon-toed, into the static air of the afternoon. "Alright, lead the way," Namiko sighed, in the style of a mother to her child.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca quickly led her to her house, skipping the whole way and humming some random tune vaguely recognizable as coming form an old magical girl show... Just a little ironic honestly, and the skipping and stance... Even if Luca didn't get to wear a female uniform it wouldn't be long before someone figured her out... Or mistook her for an effeminate gay man, the rumors were already around too.
"Welcome to my house again!"
Luca declared as she stepped in, ditching her shoes and turning to Namiko, a smile clear on her face.
"If you get hungry let me know and I can make something to eat!"

 

[twinkletide]

On the mention of hunger Namiko's smile faltered and came back brittle. "No thank you," she said. "Why don't we go to your room? We can bring chips or something. Something cheap."

This house. It didn't induce that visceral feeling in her but it did make her feel naked, an almost childlike fear. If Lucas wasn't here she wouldn't even think of going in this house.

(Namiko, age 10, residence: Two stories, three bedrooms, chromed washing machines, sturdy locks, electronically controlled alarm w/ password, expansive kitchen, picket fences and porch gardens.)

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Huh? Okay... I have some chips I think..."
She ran over to a cupboard and grabbed some generic branded chicken chips, heading up to her room with them.
"I hope you don't mind chicken? It's one of my favorites... And papa ate all the other flavors already anyway... He snacks a LOT!"
She declared, opening the bag and going over to the console pile.
"Any idea what you wanna play?"

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko nodded as she followed Luca up the stairs. "Chicken is fine. Thank you." As soon as they reached her room and Luca opened up the bag, Namiko took one and stuffed it in her mouth. The overwhelming sodium of the chip comforted her somewhat.

"Hmmm...what do you have for shoot-em-ups?" Namiko figured it was time to show Luca her skills.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca grabbed chips one at a time, and always wiped her hands on a cloth that she left sitting between them in case Namiko felt like using it.
""Well... I'm not a great shooter game player... But I have all the typical ones, COD, Battlefield, all that stuff... I've also got Doom if that counts and this one cool game called time splitters... Oh! And Halo of course!"
Honestly who owned a Microsoft console and didn't have Halo?

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko laughed. "I didn't mean shooters, silly. I actually don't like shooters much either." And frankly, people who played shooters didn't like Namiko much either, for various reasons having to do with nitpicking and tactical gaffes. The last time she played Battlefield 4 she nearly got flayed by her own team. "I meant shoot-em-ups, or bullet-hells. Galaga, Touhou, anything released by Orange_Juice. I'm really good at those, if I do say so myself."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Oh! I umm, I don't play many of those... Umm, I have kinda bad reflexes? And when there's a lot of stuff on screen and it's all moving fast I get sorta confused and feel a little sick?... It's part of why I am so bad at shooters as well..."
She admitted.
"I think I might have Galaga though if you wanna play? I'd be fine with just watching... Since that doesn't usually make me very sick or confused".

 

[twinkletide]

She nodded and smiled reassuringly. "That's alright." To be honest she wasn't expecting Luca to be a fan anyways, but she was at least glad she had one. "You can load up Galaga, but I want to see you play first, if you don't mind. Think of it like..." She paused. "A test. I am your senpai, right? You'll see what I mean."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Oh... Alright... Umm, here I go".
She loaded up the game and pretty quickly got going, though it soon became clear just how bad she was, it seemed like when she tried to keep focus she quickly got confused and overwhelmed, and inevitably lost fairly quickly since she just couldn't keep track of all the projectiles, this might have been a weakness to keep track of, if Luca ever had to fight an enemy who fired a lot of small attacks.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko watched Luca's gameplay intently, noting everything - which direction she gravitated towards by default (left), her reaction time, her hand-eye coordination. The whole thing made her frown. This would be a problem. It was hard to keep from mentally correcting every mistake Luca had made.

After three minutes Luca was finished, rammed by a little pixelated alien. GAME OVER flashed on the screen in teal text. Namiko clucked her tongue and made some thoughtful noises.

"You," she said after a while, "are too reactionary. You aim where enemies are rather than where they're going to be. Someone crosses into your sight you button mash. Now this isn't a problem when attacking, since you're a swordfighter, but - well, say you're dodging lots of little blasts coming at high volume. You see one coming, and you jump out of the way, but - bam! - there was another one you didn't see, and you jumped right into it." She paused. "Things like this are important. Life or death."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca looked a little embarrassed at her failure.
"Umm... I know... It's just that I have trouble... Like by the time I realize the shot is there it's already hit me... And it's already so hard trying to keep track of everything... I can't manage to figure out where they are gonna be next... I didn't always used to be like this... I used to be great at games like Galaga! But then it started getting harder slowly over a few years and now I am pretty terrible..."
She admitted.
"B..but anyway! Your turn! I'm sure you are way better than I am!"

 

[twinkletide]

The self-excoriation made Namiko a little sad, especially considering she caused it. She did wonder what caused her detoriation in skill. But ultimately Luca needed this lesson if she wanted to survive as a magical girl. "Alright." Namiko accepted the controller and peered into the screen. "Watch how I do it. Keep in mind I'm not trying to show off; I'm trying to teach you something important." She smiled at Luca. "Trust me." And without further ado she pressed start.

It's difficult to describe Namiko's method of playing. Would "perfect" work? As vague and undefinable as that is, if anything fit the bill it would be Namiko's gameplay. She took movements that seemed initially baffling but turned out to be works of genius, shot every enemy as if they were taped to the end of her barrel, drew perfect angles in the air. She would never be quite this deft in real life, but here it was 100% abstraction: two dimensions, clearly defined hitboxes, things moving in patterns, and so she was, as it were, 'in her element'. When she finally died it was obvious she only did so out of time constraints.

She put the controller down, looked Luca in the eye, stuffed her mouth with a chip. "So," she asked in between crunches, "what did you notice?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca spent half the time being amazed by how good Namio was at the game... And the other half getting dizzy from trying to keep up with what was going on, she still had trouble with that and doubted training would help much.
"Umm... You are really good at that game?..."
Luca replied, in all honesty that's all that she had noticed, her inability to take in the whole screen without getting a little confused meant that she was often too busy playing catch up to figure out what was going on.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko swallowed the remnants of the chip and sighed. This was going to be difficult. "That didn't come out of nowhere. The point is, you need to plan ahead. I know a lot about math but you don't need to; all you need is a lot of practice." She took another handful and shoved them in your mouth. "Anyways, I can understand if you're having trouble keeping track, so don't worry. I'll help you shape up. It's my responsibility. Remind me to take you to an arcade one day." She looked back at the screen. "Well, I think that's enough training for the day. Anything else you wanna do?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Ahh... I do try and plan ahead... I'm good when there aren't many things to take into account!"
That was true, he could at least manage to hold his own in a one on one fight, and seemed good at most kinds of games.
"I will... I think there is actually one near school we could go and visit today if we wanted to... It's open till like midnight and the sun still isn't down..."
Luca suggested, she couldn't think of much to do other than play games, at least this would get them out of the house.

 

[twinkletide]

At the mention of an arcade nearby Namiko perked up. Arcades were her one public love, her source of leisure outside the house. She'd must've deposited hundreds of thousands of tokens into those little slots over the years, leaned over boxy machines enough to give her scoliosis. The owners of the venues knew her by name. "Sure!" she said, uncharacteristically excited, and hopped up. "Let's go!"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca couldn't help but smile at her excitement, that was new! Though she had something else to ask... She really wanted to do it...
"Umm... You think I should... Get changed?"
She asked quietly, clearly she didn't just mean getting a pair of jeans and a t shirt, Luca likely wanted to go out in a dress or something else feminine.
While Namiko was thinking Luca pulled a small bag out of a draw, opening it to reveal a massive pile of arcade tokens... It seemed she was a regular at the arcade!

 

[twinkletide]

Luca's meaning by "get changed" was obvious. She smiled patiently. "Sure thing. I'll wait outside." Just before she left the room she caught a glimpse of her token bag, causing her eyes to widen. Geez, she was almost as much an enthusiast as she was! It made her somewhat happy, that she had this thing in common.