In front of the Arcade...

[americandiplomacy]

Ever since Miho introduced Greg to the arcade at the local mall, he's been there most weekdays after school for at least an hour or two... It ate a lot of money, sure, but it's money he would've spent on point cards for his phone at any rate.

At the moment he was just outside, though, sitting on a little bench near the entrance and fiddling with his phone for some reason or another. The boy was, as usual, paying no attention to his surroundings or anything but himself and the small piece of technology in his hands. The perpetual and unfortunately socially discouraging look of vague annoyance and great boredom was in place on his face, though he was completely free to approach for anyone not bothered by it!

(( Open RP, feel free to either post your own thread or join in one in progress! ))

Comments

[americandiplomacy]

He let go as well, surveying the store, and then nodded. "They'll probably have what I'm looking for here, uh, yeah." Should he..? "[Thank you..!]" That worked, right? It probably made Seiya happier than he realized.

Greg stepped toward the section with several backpacks and started browsing. Hmmm! Some of these were more sporty, definitely not what he wanted... Others were for kids, and despite how funny using a cartoon-themed backpack sounded he figured he'd shy away from that. "What do you think? I like black... Or dark green, hmm."

[seiyayamada]

Seiya nearly jumped up and down with glee. His use of English around her was like tossing a dog a biscuit.

Following him inside, she surveyed his options. "The black is very [cooool.]" She nodded solemnly, as if she was an expert on the subject. "But the Totoro ones are really cute..."

[americandiplomacy]

The idea of wearing a small furry creature in backpack form was an odd one... He'd seen them around school, though, but mostly on the girls. "Black is okay, yeah... Hmmm." The black one was pretty roomy, too. That's really what he needed more than anything, so Greg pulled it off of the hook and nodded. "We'll go with this one, then. It'll hold my books, uh... A lot more than that, probably. Never hurts to have more room." That said, it did look kind of bulky. Why was something like this bizarrely difficult?

[seiyayamada]

She rewarded him with a thumbs up, heading back down the aisle. Pausing, a backpack caught her eye. Seiya froze in her tracks. "[Oh. My. God.]"

Low and behold, a backpack fashioned to look like an American flag hung on the rack. She grabbed it, holding it up towards Greg. "[OH MY GOD!]"

[americandiplomacy]

Greg kept right on going until the first exclamation, then turned around to see what she was holding... Oh, wow. That was really tacky, by basically anyone's means. Seiya meant for her, right? She didn't think he was gonna wear that? "... Uhhh... I get the feeling it'll make me stand out even more, you know?" He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up just a bit, but then flattened it back out. "Do you want it? You could wear it. [Pretty cool!]" Hopefully that'd work.

[seiyayamada]

Seiya's cheeks flushed and she held the bag close. YES! Approval! She nodded enthusiastically, jogging to his side. "[Totally!]" Her whole world was cloud nine at the moment. "I'm definitely buying it! [Super!]" Heading to the counter, she couldn't stop grinning like an idiot.

[americandiplomacy]

At least she was having a good time, he figured. Greg headed toward the counter and paid for his new backpack, then let Seiya do the same for her ridiculously patriotic purchase. If it made her happy, who was he to judge? He slung the empty black backpack over one shoulder and headed for the exit. "Uh, what was next? I forgot what your little order was."

[seiyayamada]

Immediately after purchase, Seiya shoved her bags into her new American rucksack. Putting it on, she struck a pose, modelling it for Greg. "Ta da!"

Heading out of the store, Seiya frowned. "Well, the loop back to the Arcade is next." She was sort of sad to see the day ending.

[americandiplomacy]

Seiya got a thumbs-up in response to her little bit of modeling, and to be fair it did look all right on her. Greg couldn't pull it off, he'd look like a massive tool, but the third year somehow managed. He just hoped she didn't get ridiculed for it! Actually, he didn't really know anything about her classmates... Or other friends. Maybe they were all cool?

"The, uhh..." She looked a little down, actually. "We don't have to go there, if you don't want? I dunno how into games you are. There's other stuff there, though... Miho and I got our pictures taken in one of those booths, and all that."

[seiyayamada]

Seiya perked up a bit. She was into games, but taking pictures sounded especially interesting. "Let's take pictures!" The spring in her step returned as she headed to the arcade. "It'll be fun!"

[americandiplomacy]

Heeey, that worked. Every student in this country seemed to fucking love taking pictures, from what he'd seen. Oh, and then adding cat ears and little smiley faces to them and crap. He almost forgot that part. "Uh, sure! I was kinda surprised..." Greg moved up beside her and kept the pace, "Arcades aren't really a big 'thing' in America. This one seems pretty popular."

[seiyayamada]

"Really?" Seiya loved these little lessons. She synced their steps, a determined look in her eye. "Everybody here loooves Arcades. They're a good stress relief!"

[americandiplomacy]

"Yeah, see..! That's what games are good for, right?" Hey, this is something Greg almost seems passionate about. "It's different over there, it's getting better but, uh... If you like anything but sports and shooting games you get looked at funny. In school, anyway. It's just, I don't..." He huffed, looked like he got a little worked up, and then dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Anyway, here's better for that kind of thing."

[seiyayamada]

"Looks like you fit in." She flashed a warm smile to him, playfully tugging his sleeve. As they approached the arcade she grew giddy again. Listening to him talk about games fired her up!

"We'll take pictures and then you should show me your favourite game!"

[americandiplomacy]

Greg calmed down pretty quick, not that he'd been super fired up... Or looked it, anyway. "Thanks. Yeah, I guess I do." Sort of, anyways? It was still weird, being one of the only ones here white as a sheet. Still, he didn't get nearly the amount of strange looks or glares as he'd expected and everything was going all right so far. No reason to complain.

They were at the arcade when he finished that little thought process, and he stepped in... Trying to remember where the machine Miho showed him was. "It's, uh... I think the one we used is pretty far back? Miho-san said it was better because it had more options, or something... It's older, though."

[seiyayamada]

Seiya followed him inside, slinging her bag to just one shoulder. Tucking it neatly by the machine she slid in, waiting for him to follow. "Yep, I remember this one. Miho-chan and I took pictures here when we first met."

Plunking some yen in the slot she began to examine the options, waiting for him to join her.

[americandiplomacy]

Greg dropped his new backpack down by the machine as well and stepped on in, leaning slightly over to puzzle at the little monitor. "Uhh... Miho did all this last time, actually. I never got to see what all this stuff does." He was hoping Seiya was more knowledgeable... If not, hit random buttons and see what comes out, he supposed. "I'll be ready this time, though. It, uh... We had a few where I looked pretty confused. Didn't realize it'd start so quick, heh."

[seiyayamada]

"Hahaha!" She laughed, flipping through the backgrounds. Smirking, she checked the little box next to an option. "Don't worry, I'm an eighteen-year-old japanese girl. It's in my blood."

Seiya adjusted her bangs before grinning at the little marker. "[Ready, set, GO!]"

[americandiplomacy]

Snorting at the joke, he moved back and onto the 'X' pre-emptively this time so that he wouldn't be caught off-guard. Greg looked toward the camera with his usual expression and reached up to adjust his tie just in time for the flash to go off. That'd probably look snazzy, he figured, in its own way. The pictures happened quick, but then he didn't intend to pose outlandishly so that wasn't such a big deal.

[seiyayamada]

Seiya gave her biggest smile, even flashing a peace sign towards the end. As the screen showed their pictures, it turns out the background she had chosen was none other than an American flag.

On the one where Greg was fiddling with his tie she scribbled, '[FREEDOM.]'

"Wow G-kun you look so [dashing]!"

[americandiplomacy]

Greg ended up the same in most of them, like a scary unmoving statue compared to his beaming friend. He did manage to flash the peace sign when she did, though, and that ended up cuter than he thought it would. Which was a shame, because he hated cute! "Oh, the flag. That's something, heh." He looked all right in most of these pictures, and now came time to edit... Or time for Seiya to edit, which he was more than happy to let her do all the work for. "[Freedom], huh? You need to work on your E's, heh." They looked a little more like C's, though to be fair the little pen drew lines pretty wide.

Couldn't really argue with the facts, he did look pretty suave in that picture even if it was unintentional. "Uh, thanks. You look pretty [awesome] in this one, too." Seiya ended up pretty photogenic, or at least had a nice smile.

[seiyayamada]

Choosing carefully, she picked each decoration as if she was choosing her disciples. Printing the pictures out, Seiya offered him his copy before examining hers. They were pretty damn cute. But awesome? If she smiled any more today her cheeks would fall off.

"These came out really good." She slid them carefully into her bag.

[americandiplomacy]

It all came out all right, in his opinion, and he watched Seiya work diligently (really diligently, actually, this seemed like a serious affair) from over her shoulder. There were no cat ears on him this time, at least! Miho had put those on him in eeevery picture, man. Well, a few were mouse ears, but it was animal ears in general..! "Looks like they did, yeah." Greg swiped his little sheet of glossy pictures up when it printed out, then looked them over before picking his backpack up and dropping the sheet right in.

"Right, so... Uh, you wanted to see my favorite game? Playing it might be a bad idea, it takes a bit, and..." How to put it without sounding like a cock? He was pretty damned good at it, which meant a session would last a while. "It takes longer if you know what you're doing, uh, go with that."

[seiyayamada]

"Are you saying I'm not up to the challenge, Guregori?" she taunted, though it was all in good fun. Jumping out of the stall, Seiya adjusted her bag on her shoulder. She'd be up to anything!

"Lead the way, [Captain!]"

[americandiplomacy]

Seiya got a grin in response to the little taunt, and after he shook his head the expression normalized. "I'm saying you'll be using a lot of yen, Seiya-san. Pfff." Greg taunted right back and then stepped out of the stall with a slight stretch. Little cramped in there, always. "It should be right over here, [soldier]."

He led her through the maze of arcade machines (and past a fat guy that smelled like doritos and sweat, that was unpleasant) and eventually into the section filled with rail shooters. Point and shoot at the screen, what could be easier?! A lot of things, because these things were quarter-eaters... Or yen-eaters, he figured, given the location. "Hmmm, someone's using my favorite one..." Greg pointed toward the Time Crisis machine, which had a guy who looked twice their age on it. He seemed to be having a good time, although not doing entirely well! "Any of the other ones catch your interest?" He caught an Area 51 machine out of the corner of his eye, and whistled low in appreciation. That thing had to be old as hell!

"Actually, this one." It wouldn't be hard to convince her. "You're an American soldier, uh, and you have to kill aliens."