flameinthedarkness

Idia actually glances away from the screen as Cater says that, seeming to snap out of his concentration long enough to process Cater's reaction... his hands moving the entire time to keep himself safe. And smiles a little. "I can do it holding the controller upside down. I've been tempted to try a blindfold run of it, but not got around to that yet." Then back to the screen, confident he was fine, but still, to blow it now after all that talk would be so shameful.

"I donno, you never had one thing you loved so much you just repeated it over and over again? Like a song you know back to front or could tell it from only a few notes?"

"Seriously?! How would that even work? Would you just focus on the sound cues? Muscle memory?" The screen is so busy with lights and colors that he finds himself looking instead at Idia's hands. He watches the way they fly across the buttons, manipulate the joystick...and he definitely starts to think certain thoughts about what he could do with those hands and long objects...

...when Idia asks his question. He blanks out, realizing that no, he's never had anything like that before. Nothing at all comes to mind. Sure, he's memorized things before, but not really for any kind of attachment. Performances take practice, and Cater's almost always putting on some kind of performance.

But it's a good thing he's learned to smile through those kind of intrusive thoughts. Means that the good energy can keep going.

"When you put it that way, I think I get it!" We all have those things, he hopes to imply without outright lying. "I can see how much you love this game, even now!"

Maybe one day Cater will feel at ease to answer stuff like that honestly. Because Idia wouldn't judge him on it. Different people, different paths. It's fine. And maybe he was a bit more obsessed about this game than most would, but it's just so very special to him... to them...

And maybe later Idia would note that Cater didn't really answer him, that he deflected it... but right now, nope, it passes him by. "Pretty much, yeah. The different bullets have slightly different sounds when they fire, and the enemies all follow a set path, so yeah, muscle memory of how to move around them. But even still, the issue is I would have to fully rework how I would play this. I would need to use the edges of the game to reset myself, but this game doesn't have sound cues linked up to that happening, unlike some other blindfold games I've seen played which rely on the sound when the player character hits a wall or something. Not sure it's even possible, but could be fun," Then a chuckle. "And really fucking frustrating to try."

Whew! Idia keeps talking and Cater relaxes again, smile widening as the passion he has for the topic gets to him, too. "Ha! I'd love to see how neon your hair turns when you're that fired up. When you do your first blind run attempt, count me in!"

Yes, he totally just invited himself to the very theoretical event. Even if it means breaking into Ignihyde, Cater's absolutely about seeing Idia work himself up over something like this in real time.

"Though, it does lack the distinct appeal of watching you work a joystick."

Idia lets out a laugh at that, it resulting in him closing his eyes to do so, then quickly snapping them back open once he realizes, an 'oh fuck!' going along with it as he quickly corrects his error. "OMFG! You almost killed me with that!" Yet still grinning away despite the complaint. "STFU! No way after that!" He totally would let Cater join in. Even if he would 100% be a distraction during it.

Then spluttering over the next bit, Idia's shock jerking the ship nearly into an enemy before Idia slams the joystick back the other way. "WTF?! You really trying to get me killed! WTF was that?!" Tone and expression half way between amusement and shocked surprised, so caught off guard by that. But unable to stop himself chuckling away afterwards, body shaking with humor as he really tries to stay focused on the game, but was quickly losing his normal pace at it.

Just like his smile, Idia's laughter catches and Cater can't help joining in. It's a different kind of happiness than what he saw at the café, but it's just as appealing. A spontaneous giggle fit that puts you into stitches. "It's your first prototype run! Consider me your makeshift blindfold!"

Yeah, he is a total distraction and he won't apologize for it. Not that he is trying to get Idia killed...but seeing him laugh like that is definitely even more entrancing than the gameplay.

And it was working, stuff that Idia would normally have no issue dodging or dealing with... gets him. A bullet that he normally would be able to dodge taking his one life as the game flashes 'GAME OVER' a moment later. Idia dropping his head as his hands moved to the edges of the cabinet at the defeat, almost as if he's upset by this all...

Before lifting his head just enough to try and glare at Cater... but failing since he's fighting a need to smile as well. "You fucking asshole." Those words shaking with laughter he was forcing down, trying to act angry at what just happened. He actually lost. Idia can't remember the last time he lost at this game.

"Ahhhh." Idia pushing himself back off the sides of the cabinet, tilting head back a moment to let out a sigh of a breath as he ran a hand through his hair, pushing his hoodie back in the process to do so. "Ah well. Guess I failed." Hmmm, he moving to the controls again to undo what he had done, hiding the debug menu again. "So no one can find it." Don't want someone to come along and break the game.

"Guess you got further on it than I did."

Cater can't stop laughing as Idia curses him out--it's clear there's absolutely no malice behind it, after all. And when his hood comes back, he feels even happier, glad that Idia's getting so in the zone. "Just cause I had an amazing backseat gamer."

Without further pause, he's reaching for Idia's hands to pull him to the next machine. "Hey, how about a racing game? That way we can both play!"

There's a big game where they both control a wheel and pedals to emulate steering a real magical racing wheel against one another on an obstacle course. It's always pretty popular, but it's empty right now and Cater hurries to snag it for the two of them.

"Shame I didn't." One more jab at Cater before letting it go, calming back down and showing curiosity towards that suggestion, not even seeming to question taking that hand, as if it's natural to do so. Maybe still caught up in all which had happened, easily moving along with Cater. "Yeah? Haven't done too many proper driving games, don't have the set up for it." Because of course if Idia was going to he would have the full kit to go along with those type of games.

"They got those shooting co-op ones too, right? Ones that use a prop gun to do so?" Idia had also seen those before, and also never tried them, but they could be a team on that, right?

"Yeah! Like, shooting through zombie hoards and stuff! There's a couple different ones! Let's find one of those next!" For now, he slides into one of the two seats and inserts the necessary tokens for two players, selecting a cutesy cartoon driver from the choices. "Random racetrack sounds fair."

It's an even playing field for this one. Cater knows wheels, at least skateboarding wheels, but Idia's got those godly gamer hands. Either way, with a handful of CPU opponents, it'll be fun regardless.

"O-Ok." Yeah, that sounds like fun, but right now sliding into that seat and looking over the controls that were in front of him, picking his own character and nodding away at Cater's choice. "Yeah, I think so."

This was totally new for him. Well, a lot of today was totally new to Idia, but it's not a game he's played and feels real different from similar games on a console, those pedals to begin with. But he's both curious and keen to learn and see how it goes. Which at first... isn't great, so used to more cartoonish racing games or kart games which have extra powers and stuff on top, so he's a little slow off the mark with the start of the race, getting the feel of those pedals, the right breaking to acceleration contrast for turns, and how sensitive, or not, the wheel was. Yeah, it's a well played machine, feeling it's age a little as Idia huffs about lack of response a few times, but he's picking it up and compensating for where the game is lacking. By lap two he's really getting the feel of it.

This one, for Cater, feels much more playful. He whoops and cheers as they zoom around turns and over ramps, laughing as the two of them take turns passing one another. "I'm hot on your ass," he exclaims menacingly as they pass into the third and final lap. "Watch out, watch out!"

Ultimately, though, Idia's ability to compensate for the machine's responsiveness gives him an overall edge, and Cater spins out too much to take the lead. "Aw man," he whines as he comes in second, still smiling as he falls back in the seat, feigning being a sore loser. "You're the raceway king."

"OMG STFU." What's that gamer talk, Cater?! What the hell was that? But it helps to break Idia out of concentrating too much, of being too focused on working this all out. It's not that he's try-harding this all, it's more it's a puzzle his brain wants to solve; how it worked, best way to play, how to get best results. So Cater there helps to remind him it's a game. It's fun. That's what's important.

And as he finishes ahead Idia smiles broadly... before it starts to falter, hesitant as his fingers drum over the steering wheel as the game takes them through a final lap cut scene of their drivers still driving and the results come up. "Um... this is, ah... still fun, ah, for you, right?" Was he winning too much? True, he didn't win at Star Rogue, but still, Idia had been showing off a little with that. Then this. He's... worried Cater might not like it. See him as being too competitive. Idia's really not, he's really trying not to be.

"Hm?"

The question throws him off, but as he turns in his seat to face Idia properly, he's still all smiles. His eyes soften a little as he leans against the steering wheel, cheek resting against his arm. "Are you kidding me? I'm having a blast!"

Fortunately, he's never had much of a competitive streak and as such he's never been much of a sore loser, either. Just being here and playing these games...

"I can't remember the last time I really smiled like this."

Oh... oh. Oh. Good. Good, that smile returning a little more to Idia's face. "M-Me either..." Then deciding it's worth voicing those thoughts. "I just... didn't wanna ruin the fun... if I win too much... that's all..." But... Cater seemed to get that? It feels like it at least. And... yeah, Idia is really having a great time.

In fact, "I'm having a lot of fun... thanks."

Idia looks so nice when he smiles.

Cater feels his face flushing a little again, bashfulness seeping in. "As long as you're having a good time, you're not going to ruin a thing for me."

He pauses, just finding himself looking at his classmate, his friend--no, his date, before clearing his throat, jumping out of the game station. "So! Shooting game?"

He doesn't take Idia's hand directly this time, just offering his forward to give him the choice.

"Way to put pressure on me then." Idia fires back... but that smile still in place to show it's meant as a joke.

Getting off that game, Idia glances down as the motion of that hand movement catches his attention. Oh yeah, they, ah... they really have been doing this all day, haven't they? A moment of nerves spiking up again in him, before reminding himself he had liked it so... reaching out for that hand of Cater's once more. "Yeah, yeah, that."

...ehh, considering he's just raised this concern... should he... hnnng... "Ah... about the, ah... DDR later on, um... I... kinda done that in the past too..." Idia knows Cater said he was going to show off on that, and with what Idia had just asked, yeah, he's worried that might be something Cater wants as a 'his' thing, not something Idia can do. "Well, I mean, I'm good for like one song, then ready to sit down." Glancing away off to the side as he admits this all.

Feeling a small spike of giddiness when Idia willingly takes his hand again, Cater starts walking them toward the shooting games. When Idia brings up his experience with the dancing game, he seems as excited as ever. "Really? Awesome! You'll definitely have to pick the song we do together, then."

He nudges Idia playfully with his hip, giving him a sly look. "Idia Shroud has rhythm--who woulda thought?"

Of course, he means it as a joke, as well--and besides, real dancing isn't at all like this kind of dancing, so it totally makes sense that his sense of coordination with gaming would help him out. Definitely takes a lot of energy to go at it for multiple songs, that's for sure.

As they reach the machine they were looking for and drop hands to fill the coin slots, Cater does pause as he picks up his toy gun to tell him, "Seriously, though--no pressure. Not for anything."

"Ehhh," Idia lets out a groan, mostly played up at this point with how the, ah, date is going. "Jamil knows... unfortunately... caught me dancing once. It was so embarrassing..." Idia never made that mistake again! Always had senors set up to make sure no one came across his concert time ever again! Though the suggestion of that song, "We can pick together." That's better than putting it all on him.

Having been distracted with that gun and the foot pedal that was part of the ducking system for the shooting game, Idia looks up from them as Cater speaks. "Oh... um. Yeah, sure." Then realizes that comes across rather passive and correct himself. "I will, promise." Then before this all got too heavy, "You better be a good shot." Turning to that countdown for the game.

"Pfft!" Yeah, Cater's definitely okay with bringing back the easygoing ribbing as he sets himself up. "I'm more than just a pretty face, you know. The Dark Mirror picked me for a reason!"

Still, he's glad that they're on a team instead of against one another. It would take a lot of losing for him to start getting tired of playing, but Cater's definitely more into the co-op spirit...you know, so long as he isn't letting anyone down. As the game takes them into the first level, Cater's definitely holding his own. Even if he's never going to really be able to reach Idia's expertise, he's pulling his weight well enough to keep them going through the story, pushing back the enemies and keeping himself adequately loaded.

"I know, I know." Idia answers back with a bit of a grin, though not able to think of any smart ass comments to add to that, so just leaving it as a reaffirmation that Cater was right about that.

And they make a pretty good dent in the game, getting decently far through it on those first tokens. Cater's a good teammate, he can certainly hold his own and Idia doesn't feel like he's being held back by him. Eventually the game will just reach a level that they won't be able to fight against, too many enemies, not enough time to reload or get cover from attacks, but hey! They made the high scores list! "Go on, put in some names."

Cater's torn between cheering and groaning when they finally die, whining as he leans over to shake Idia lightly by the shoulder. "Aw, maaaaan! That was so good--I don't think I've ever made a high score list!"

With Idia having so graciously offered Cater the power to put in names, without hesitation he inputs deez and nutz.

He's getting shaken. Why is he getting shaken?! Idia so caught off guard with the sudden contact and the shake to follow that it takes him a moment to realize this was Cater celebrating their score, needing a moment to process it... then smiling at Cater's reaction.

Until he sees those names. "...I don't know you." Turning and walking away.

...he's actually fine, just playing up the part. But come on, man! Really?!

"Awwww, come on! Whatdya mean? You totally know boffa!" He can't keep a straight face as he all but bounces along behind Idia, fully looping himself around one of his arms to keep him from getting too far. Forgot he was dating a total clown, did he? Never again will Cater receive the power of naming a two player high score. "What're you feeling, next? Plenty of choices, all of them fun!"

And yet again Idia is caught off guard by that grab, glancing down to Cater as he did, unable to keep up that act of stomping off as Cater grinned at him. It's almost edging along the lines of Cay-Cay but... different. A different type of joy. One that feels a lot more real, now that Idia has gotten a glimpse under that mask. "Boffa what?" Ok, he'll let you have that one, if you really wanna delve that low, Cater. You really going to take such an easy target?

Let's see, "How about we see if there's anything good even in those crane games? No point planning to do them if nothing worth getting."

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new icon for you

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