Mahou Madness!

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca was clearly happy at receiving Namiko's approval to get dressed up, she was still nervous on that front and had some trouble fully believing that Namiko wasn't just being polite about everything, despite constant evidence that she was fine with it.
Luca would emerge about ten minutes later, wearing the dress she had been wearing when Namiko awakened her as a magical girl, her shoes were fairly neutral denim slips on of all things... She had a purse? Judging from the slightly worn look of it and the clear repair job on the strap it was something Luca had saved from being thrown out.
"So uhh... You ready to go?"
She asked, a slight clacking sound from the bag revealing that the cheap plastic tokens were inside.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko waited patiently outside the door, not thinking about much of anything. As a result, her mind was absolutely clear when Luca came out, allowing her a 100% un-filtered view of her.

She was...quite pretty. The dress was the exact same one she'd first seen her in, and if it already convinced her then, she was indistinguishable now, a pretty teenage girl in frilly dress. Namiko smiled. "Yes, Luca. Let's go." As they descended the stairs, Namiko added "You look good, by the way."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"R..really? You think so?"
She asked, clearly pleased by the compliment and holding back giggles, well she was certainly happy! It seemed like she might explode into happy giggles at any moment if Namiko wasn't careful.

Once they were outside Luca locked the door and walked to the bus station, it was only a few stops to the arcade so before long they had reached it, the place didn't exactly scream it's presence, at the end of a sort of alleyway between a McDonald's and a furniture store, you wouldn't see if unless you were looking, but once inside it became obvious, there was some random song in the background with way too many thumps in it's beat, and a whole variety of games, some old some newer, with what looked like a staircase to a second floor of games.

 

[twinkletide]

Luca's overjoyed voice nearly buckled Namiko's knees. It took all her strength not to tackle her right then and there and smother her with little cuddles. It was such a strange feeling, something without precedent in her life. An overwhelming feeling. Yet there was something of fear in there too, and growing reservations.

The walk was short, and Namiko almost missed the place. Though the outside was quite innocuous, once inside the gaudy 80's decorative sense and booming, squelching techno made it quite clear. Everything was frosted over with a layer of neon and the air crackled with chunky chiptunes, whirrs and blips and bloops, a synesthetic display of force. It brought a smile to her face. This place got it, got what arcades were all about. You could feel the atmosphere moving through your veins like blood.

"Wow," Namiko said admiringly, taking in the place like a hiker would a sprawling vista. "Where do you wanna start?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca seemed pleased that she liked it and stopped to think about what they should play, before settling on an obvious and kind if a favorite of hers.
"That one there! It's super fun..."
She pointed out one of the racing games, it had four seats, one of which was occupied by a brown haired girl that neither of them recognized.
"If more than one person plays it turns into a multiplayer game!"
Luca explained, bouncing over to it, she clearly felt at ease in this arcade, with mostly nerds and unpopular kids visiting at this time it was something of a safe zone.
"Oh... But first..."
She reached into her purse and pulled out a pile of tokens, offering them to Namiko before she sat down.

 

[twinkletide]

Ahhh, racing games. Namiko wasn't as good as those as shmups, and she didn't play them as much, but this was another kind of game where skill and statistics coalesced into one whole, which meant they were okay in her book. And they were plain fun to play, especially in arcades. "Alright." She accepted the tokens and sat down in one of the oversized seats, flipping each one showily between her fingers before slotting them in. She leaned back, getting comfortable, and took great care and time choosing a vehicle that would fit her. After deciding finally on a red sports car, she looked over to Luca's screen to see what she chose.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca sat down and moved through the menus with practiced ease, and rather than something like a pink car she ended up going for a purple Ferrari styled car, it wasn't actually a Ferrari though, since there was no way a company that made arcade games was going to bother actually licensing the brand for a crappy token game.
After a quick nod to the other girl, which seemed to be some sort of arcade etiquette, Luca started up a race and Namiko got an option to join or refuse the multiplayer match, with the stranger joining straight away, it was so much more satisfying to play against a human in these kinds of games than the laughably bad AI.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko immediately accepted the multiplayer match, noticing for the first time the girl playing alongside them, with hair much like hers. Giving a quick nod and smile to her also, she prepared for honorable combat. Or racing. As the cars lined up in third person at the finish line, with a scantily clad woman counting down with a flag in her hand, Namiko gave the pedals a couple mandatory pushes, causing it to rev threateningly.

3,

2,​

1,​

GO!!!​

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

As mere moment before the go appeared on screen Luca gunned her engine and the car spend ahead, it wasn't a massive head start... But it seemed she had memorized the exact time that the accelerator would actually move your car without causing a spin out.
She was clearly better at racing than shoot em ups, managing to keep a tiny bit ahead of the stranger and taking every little shortcut, how many times had she played this game? Desperately pretending that the other players were really friends and not just strangers?

She was so focused on the game that Luca didn't notice the large crowd of teens entering the Arcade, wearing their school uniforms and spreading out start playing games, it seemed this place did get busy sometimes! Which was honestly the only reason it was still open.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko burst off in heated pursuit of Lucas. Though she still worked angles like a pro, she was less familiar with the terrain and ended up missing multiple shortcuts. In the end she was about on par with the unfamiliar girl and behind Luca pretty consistently, only managing to come ahead a couple times for a couple seconds each.

In her haze of monomaniacal focus Namiko also failed to notice the teens pouring in. She just kept staring at the screen, and—it seemed—glaring at the place rankings.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

As the race was nearing it's end some of the teens who had so far just been whispering among themselves and sometimes pointing, approached the three girls where they sat playing.
"Nice looking race... Mind if we take over?"
One of them asked, looking like he had just made some big joke by trying to speak casually.
"Oh! Is that Lucas?! Hah! See guys totally called him as a faggot!"
It was the lead bully from school... And he earned a few laughs from his friends, though at least the girl racing with them didn't seem pleased.
Needless to say Luca was like a deer in headlights, letting go of the controls as her car rammed into a wall and stopped moving.

 

[twinkletide]

Luca's sudden interruption allowed Namiko to snatch second place, behind the other girl. Their cars skidded past the finish line, and the bikini woman returned to congratulate them. But at this point she was no longer paying attention. She wheeled her head around to the bullies, fire in her eyes. The word faggot hit like a slap to her face. Faggot faggot faggot. A legacy of shame and ostracization.

Mudgirl.
Ouroboros.

"Do you wanna say that again?" Before she knew it she was standing face-to-face with the boy, gazing at him with a stare like a green flame.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

The kid seemed amused, and this close the smell of cheap alcohol was clear on his breath... Where the hell had he gotten his hands on that at his age? Though it seemed the liquid courage was overriding his fear of Namiko.
"Heh, standing up for your boyfriend again? Or is it girlfriend? And sure... Faggot, faggot faggot faggot! You like that sweetie?"
He asked as one of his friends started to look nervous.
"Hey man... Maybe this is a bad..."
The bully didn't even turn to him.
"Shut it wuss... Or you're next.."
He threatened as Luca finally stood up.
"N...Namiko... Let's just go... It's not worth it..."

 

[twinkletide]

The smell of spirits and his ghoulish presence, and his horrible, horrible words brought Namiko so close to turning him into slough, turning his face into a cherry slushie crunching on the blue carpet. The animal part of her could see it, envision it clearly, even as the robot part of her tugged on the reins. But Luca's words, her fearful voice, brought her back to Earth. She turned to Luca, her words full of unheard-of despair and anger and desperation, her face full of the same. "Why?" she croaked. "What? Are you not worth it? Are these people not worth it? Is anyone worth it? Is...is..." She deflated, her fists unfurling at her sides. Around her, things clicked. People laughed. The machines whirred and lit up and sounded off in a cacophonic scorch. Things were what they were, as always they were. Heraclitian flux, everything becoming.

"Let's go." Namiko grabbed Luca by the shoulder and pulled her out of the venue, leaving the lights and music behind for cold air and dead concrete. Yes, it was cold outside, growing colder. What is weather for but reinforcing feelings? There's a reason they call it atmosphere.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca felt... Strange, on one hand they had avoided a fight where Namiko very well may have done something she would regret, because of course Luca wasn't worried about Namiko losing... But about what would happen if she fought too hard and did too much damage...
And on the other hand, she had just been totally outed in front of someone who would no doubt take delight in spreading pictures and word of mouth around to everyone in the school... It would eventually end up making it back to her parents of course... She almost wanted to jump back into the closet and become Lucas again...

Still though... She was more worried about Namiko!
"Umm... Nami?... Are you okay?..."
She asked, shortening her name and moving to hug her, she herself was sniffling a little but held back, she had just seen her big tough unbreakable friend basically have a breakdown!

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko stared out into the steady stream of cars venturing out in the grey evening. When Luca hugged her it was almost like hugging a rock. She stood there and stared.

"I'm sorry," was all she could say. Her hand perched atop Luca's head but it was almost pro forma at that point.

She realized, suddenly, why she wanted to defend Luca so much. Because, without knowing why, she believed in her. She believed in Orphan, yes, and magical girls, but as of recently those had fallen into the background. This was an ideologue's belief. It was strong and sturdy and passionate but dangerous - think the Crusades, think terrorism. Her heart ached to shed blood for her belief.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca tightened her hug when she didn't feel Namiko respond, the usual hand on her head only partially calming her, she was getting increasingly worried now and just wanted to sit down somewhere and talk, or even just sit in awkward silence with the knowledge that Namiko was okay... She wasn't blind, and had noticed her strange behavior...
Before she could say anything though, they were interrupted by a toothache... It was really strong, a dangerous chimera was just around the corner from them!

 

[twinkletide]

When the toothache hit Namiko wasn't even surprised, not even with the extreme force of it. Without so much as a pause she removed her hand from Luca's head and transformed. "Let's take care of it," she said in a desolate voice, sliding Roanoke out and gripping it like a child. "Be careful," she said, and those were the only words that held any emotion at all.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca nodded at the warning and transformed, sword appearing right away this time, it seemed the class had stuck, so she could use it at will.
Fortunately it seemed this time was a normal chimera, well as normal as a dumpster sized lizard covered in greasy black spikes that fired off like bullets could be considered... And they did get to see it firing! It was in battle with a magical girl winging a massive blade on a stick... It was Fen! She must had arrived back from Germany and was no caught in a battle, unable to actually land a hit on the deceptively quick reptile.

 

[twinkletide]

As they gazed out into the streets they saw a magical girl in black armor fending off a large lizard chimera with a halberd. Namiko recognized her as Fen, her colleague in Orphan. Well, they brought her back quite quickly. That was to be expected with Orphan, however.

"Luca," she said, "help Fen out. Keep moving. Be careful about those spikes. Remember what I taught you." She hopped up on a rooftop directly behind her and fired a shot right at the lizard's head, leading her target to compensate for its movement.