[open] network/action; pew pew pew

[hopefragment]

» WHO? Hajime Hinata and NERDS
» WHEN? anytime after 5/17
» WHERE? the observatory OR the bar, either place
» WHAT? come play copyright-infringement-free galaga with him
» WARNINGS? none??? please i hope we don't need them he just wants to play vidya

[A text goes out over the network from username hinatahajime, sometime midmorning of the 17th.]

hey, uh, i found my gamegirl just sitting in the cafeteria earlier. the only game in it was my copy of gala omega, but if anybody's as tired of staring at the walls as i am, you're welcome to come play it with me. i'll be in the observatory for a while, but i might head to the bar later

[When he gets tired of sitting on the floor, that is. Either way, he can be found in one of those places playing his totally-not-a-gameboy. He called it Gala Omega on the network, but it's clearly Galaga.]

Comments

[bu773rfly]

[hey nerd.

Erika looks a bit tired today, in the way a lot of people around here do - frazzled by the situation, the commotion over the list, the stress of thinking about the future.

She walks wordlessly from the elevator to sit facing him, and leans to peer at the screen, squinting suspiciously.]

Is it working right?

[hopefragment]

[Pew pew pew!! He pauses the game and glances up with a smile. He actually looks a little more at ease than he has in recent days; being able to unwind and play what's become one of his favorite games really helped his morale a lot. Even if he can't explain how it got there in the first place.]

Yeah, it's working like normal. I left the charger in my room; that part's a little weird since it plugs in here instead of a normal wall socket from back home, but...

[He holds it out for her to take a look if she wants. It sure is a blue Nantendo Game Girl Advance, with Gala Omega paused on the screen. (it's galaga)]

Here, take a look.

[bu773rfly]

[Takes it.

...That sure is Galaga. One of those games she knows of the existence of but has never actually, personally played because she is a dirty dirty child of the 00s.

She flips the console over and studies its labels and ports, then hands it back.]

It looks normal. Are there wear marks you can tell it's yours from, or something?

[hopefragment]

Mmhm.

[He nods as he takes it back, flipping it over to show a scrape along one corner.]

I dropped it... I don't know, it must have been a couple months ago. Plus it has all my save data on it. I don't know how it would have ended up here, though.

[bu773rfly]

Same way we did, I guess.

[For all her frenetic conspiracy-boarding about VR and AR and spacequakes and implants on the network, she's neatly avoided thinking about that subject. It brings up uncertainty and bad feels and that sensation of being found crying on deck 6 a little under a week ago.

...Yeah, still not comfortable to think about. It sets off a gross feeling in the pit of her stomach.]

Just the one game, huh?

[On to lines of conversation that aren't serious business probing analytical shit, for fucking once.]

[hopefragment]

Mm.

[It's weird that something that's his would just materialize out of nowhere. What's stopping anything of anyone else's from showing up at random? Why hadn't he found, say, Chiaki's Game Girl? Or anyone else's?

Disquieting.]

Yeah, just this one. It's the last game I had in it, after all. I was playing it with-- someone.

[He finishes lamely, because there was a breath before he could say my friend, but just saying 'Nanami' isn't a name Erika would recognize. Can he even call Chiaki his friend? Is he worthy to stand beside her? All signs point to no.

So 'someone' it is.]

[bu773rfly]

[Someone, eh. Erika gets the sense of peering into an aquarium, spying on life from behind a solid pane.]

It's too bad there's just one. Two-player mode would be a lot more graceful. [...whoops] Not that I mean to complain. Just comment. Hopefully any kind of entertainment will keep tensions down.

[Interpersonal or otherwise. Bad thoughts like to breed in empty heads.]

[hopefragment]

No, you're right.

[He huffs through his nose in wry resignation, tapping his fingers against the console.] Nanami and I would play two-player mode. She'd beat me every time, but... I guess that's to be expected from the Super High School Level Gamer.

[He taps it again before giving Erika a smile. It's a slightly sad smile, but he tries to mask it with a soft laugh.]

I guess it's okay if we just switch off, though. You can try to beat my high score.

[splinten]

[Did you say nerds? The not-a-gameboy makes him nostalgic for Roxy; a pang of missing her hits him.]

It's called a GameGirl in your world. Huh.

[hopefragment]

[Oh, #relatable? When he saw the little blue handheld in the cafeteria, he'd felt a sharp pang of loneliness. He can't play games with Chiaki anymore, and that's terrible.

Hajime blinks up at Dirk, confusion momentarily crossing his face. It never occurred to him that similar consoles in other versions of Earth might call it something different.]

What do you call it?

[splinten]

GameBoys. There's a magazine called GameGrl, without the i, but not a handheld console.

[Both Jane and Roxy had copies of GameGrl. More lonely teenaged boys missing their gamegals right here.]

[hopefragment]

Oh, that's kind of weird... I wonder what the difference is.

[He holds out the Nantendo Game Girl Advance, offering it to Dirk to inspect.]

Have you ever played Gala Omega?

[splinten]

[He looks it over. It looks like a Nintendo Game Boy Advance.]

Not that I'm aware of. Roxy was the gamer. She told me about things, but I never really played.

[hopefragment]

Oh... yeah, I knew someone like that. She's the one who got me playing this old game again in the first place.

[He's still holding out the copyright-free device.]

Want to give it a try? Nanami was right when she called it a total classic.

[splinten]

I'm going to guess Nanami is the person you're referring to.

[He takes the device. He gives it a try? He can figure out a GameGirl, these systems are relatively intuitive.]

[hopefragment]

The only controls are left, right, and shoot, [he adds helpfully. That's literally it.

He'll watch Dirk's screen upside-down, humming and nodding once. His lips curve into a small, slightly sad smile as he continues,]

Yeah. Chiaki Nanami, the Super High School Level Gamer. There's no way I could ever beat her, but... playing games with her was fun.

[oculusriffs]

So you just randomly found it?

[Dave is bored out of his mind, and not all that interested in engaging in the great space station job search, so the second he read "game," he was pretty much on board for checking it out.]

[this also means that there may be hope for him yet. he'd love nothing more than a computer, any old computer, with his usual mixing software. he wouldn't even care if the speakers were half busted, as long as he could get some sound out of them.]

[hopefragment]

Yeah. Weird, right?

[He turns blue handhold around, showing the title screen for what's quite obviously Galaga, just titled Gala Omega. Can't get sued if it's a Nantendo Game Girl, it's fine.]

I kind of don't want to question it that hard. What's that saying about gift horses...?

[He says that, as if he hasn't been investigating and trying to figure out just how the heck this got here.]

[oculusriffs]

[it's only slightly copyright infringement, it's all good.]

That you shouldn't stand behind one, probably.

[that's. that's not the saying, Dave. but he holds his hand out, as if to ask if he can have a go at Gala Omega.]

Whoever left this thing out here for you couldn't resist giving you an ironically fitting game, could they?

[hopefragment]

[No, that's not it... that was a rhetorical question, Dave... Between Ryuji and Dave, Hajime's going to have to learn alternatives to what should be common phrases.

But he laughs a little, shrugging helplessly as he hands the console over without hesitation. His top score is visible at the top, and while it's not game-breakingly-high unlike some people he knows, it's actually pretty good. The one (1) thing he's good at, and it's still not enough for him to be talented.]

It is kind of fitting, isn't it? I didn't even think of that, it's just the last game I was playing before showing up here.

[oculusriffs]

[time to tear this high score a new one. and, because Dave has little tact when he's not in the mood, and because it seems like a natural subject to segue into:]

So they let you have video games in the Project, or whatever it was?

[hopefragment]

[Hey wow that. sure was a topic change that Hajime doesn't care for one bit. His expression freezes, his shoulders tensing as he looks down at the table.]

No. I... thought this was the Project, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Meaning I never started it in the first place. This is just... something I was playing with someone I knew.

[In an attempt to get away from that, he adds with a wan smile,]

I'm surprised they let us have video games in space jail.

[oculusriffs]

[that reaction was noted, even though he doesn't seem to acknowledge it outwardly. and Hajime changed the subject pretty much immediately — Dave doesn't really mind rolling with that.]

[besides, they're both in on the space jail joke now.]

Probably didn't want the prisoners to revolt. [he says it slightly absently, focused on completely owning some digital space nerds. it's not really much his style of video game, but it's entertainment. something new to focus on. it goes unsaid for now, but the fact that Hajime is sharing is appreciated.]

Not that I even know who we'd be revolting against. The assholes yelling in the walls?

[uragiru]

[ he sees the post on the network, but doesn't necessarily intend to take the invitation, and doesn't seek it out deliberately. but there's so little to do on the station right now that wandering is inevitable; he finds himself on the observatory deck when he runs out of menial tasks to busy himself with, and Hinata is still there, sitting on the floor and playing his game.

Akechi still hesitates. between the question of why bother and the ever persisting feeling that he'd be intruding, that he's unwanted and he'll be rejected as always. what makes up his mind in the end is the fact that he's so bored he's starting to feel like those animals in captivity that hurt themselves for lack of anything else to do — so he makes his way over, neither announcing himself nor trying to be sneaky about it. ]

That's quite the old-fashioned console. [ he makes sure to put on a very deliberate but charming smile. ] I never played video games much myself, but even I feel a little nostalgic looking at that.

[hopefragment]

[It's almost funny, how important something like this became to him. It was a game he played for a while, maybe a little more obsessively than normal, then set aside until hearing it by chance from a random girl's handheld. Then it became one of many games they played together, but it was still the common link, the one thing he had in common with someone talented.

Of course, none of that is obvious from the cheerily retro (old) music and the pew pew!! of the pixel spaceship. Hajime pauses the game and gives the newcomer a quick, almost embarrassed smile, not seeming bothered at all by the interruption.]

Oh... yeah, it is, isn't it? It wasn't until recently that I'd started playing it again, so I was a little surprised to find it here.

[He shifts a little, not sure if he should stand up, or invite this guy to sit with him. In the end, he just stays where he is. Partly because his butt's gone kind of numb from just sitting on the floor, and it's best he not hop around and try to restore feeling to it when there's someone watching him.]

Want to give it a go?