OPEN: [insert random itunes lyrics here]

[stohess]

Who: Annie Leonhardt stohess and........ YOU.
What: A newcomer explores the castle. What is going on? What is happen? What is this place evena all about? Why are there no walls? you know. Big ones.
When: The morning of September 6.
Where: Cair Paradisa.
Rating: ???

So this was a new world.

As impossible as it was, it was a relief. From what she initially discovered about Paradisa, it knew nothing of the taint of the titans... and humans, although still small in number, were thriving and free. It was leagues better than back home, where certain repercussions awaited her. Not that she was one to stray from reaping what she sowed, she couldn't help but refuse to accept punishment for something in which she couldn't remember her reasoning.

It was annoying, to say the least. But really, what did it matter? She was stuck here now, and here she would stay.

And so, she'd explore. She would get a feel for this so-called kingless castle, something completely separate from the fucked up political and miltaristic system she had seemingly left behind.

Not that this place was much less a prison...

<sub>(ooc. OPEN TO ALL, OPEN FOR ANYWHERE IN PARADISA. PUT WHERE YOUR CHARACTER IS IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE MAYBE? YEAH!

also i am at work right now, so tagging may be slow.

please let me know here here if you want to avoid canon spoilers!)</sub>

Comments

[bezazzled]

Mabel's eyes widened in awe. For as long as this girl had been in the castle--not that she knew exactly how long that was--she expected it would be one of the first places anyone would want to visit. She smiled an even wider smile and bobbed on her heels, snapping her GameGirl shut.

"Then you have to see it! Imagine the best arcade you can think of. It's even better than that. I can take you there if you want!"

[stohess]

Arcade? What.

But considering the fact that this girl looked more than excited about whatever an arcade was, it must have been something important. And considering she was going to be stuck here for quite some time, it appeared as though Annie did, in fact, have time for games.

"Okay."

[bezazzled]

There was no way this wasn't going to impress her, Mabel thought. She couldn't exactly place what era she was from, but no one could resist the game room's charms, least of all Mabel.

She motioned for the girl to follow her, walking at an eager pace that was almost a skip.

"My name's Mabel," she said, hands behind her back. "What's your name?"

[stohess]

Why was she skipping? No one should be this happy. That was weird. But not one to judge optimism where it was deemed fit for a given situation, Annie simply followed behind at a steady pace, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Annie."

[bezazzled]

"You're new here, aren't you, Annie? It's okay. We're all new at some point, right?"

Mabel approached the elevator, pressing the button to call the car down to the lobby. The down arrow lit up as the car began its descent, and Mabel simply turned to face Annie.

"It's not really such a bad place to live when you get used to it."

[stohess]

"I am," she admitted, knowing it was more than obvious. She shrunk back in the slightest, bowing her head and lowering her voice by a small degree. "Though I am at a loss as to what to do here."

[bezazzled]

Tapping her chin, Mabel scrunched her face in thought.

"Well, what do you normally do? You could probably just do that. Except school. We don't have a school here. Weird, but I'm not going to complain."

It's then that the elevator car arrived at the lobby, the bell giving off a pleasant ding as the doors parted. She stepped inside without hesitation, and then beckoned Annie inside.

[stohess]

This was a weird room, Annie thought, as she walked inside. Is this the arcade? This didn't look like it was full of games... What were those circles?

"I don't think I can do what I normally did here."

[bezazzled]

As the doors closed, she reached a finger out to push one of the circles. It lit up, and a moment later the car gave a slight jostle as it began to ascend. The lights above the doors began to light up with each floor they passed.

"I don't see why not. Some people back home are super heroes in funny costumes with capes who fight crime and beat up evildoers. They do that here, too. If they can do that, I'm sure you can do whatever it is you do." She paused and looked over at her. "What do you do?"

[stohess]

She kept her hands in her pockets, eyes scoping out this small room and wondering why it was shaking so. Was it a moving room? A moving box?

In any case, she would answer. Not that the term "titans" was commonplace here, it seemed. "I fight monsters."

[bezazzled]

It seemed everything Annie would say would excite Mabel. She lit up again, this time sounding even more worked up than before.

"That's perfect! It doesn't happen all the time, but we get monsters enough that we could totally use more people to fight them. We've had dinosaurs, giant robots, and all sorts of creepy stuff. You'd fit right in!"

With another pleasant ding, the elevator car announced its arrival to the seventh floor and parted the doors. It wasn't the image of the grand lobby with its tile floor, high ceilings and its bright lights, but a more moderately lit hallway with lush carpet and fancy paintings adorning the walls.

Mabel stepped out and motioned Annie to follow her. "It's just at the end of the hall."

[stohess]

Wait. Really?

"Then this place is dangerous," Annie said, looking around as she followed behind Mabel.

[bezazzled]

"I guess so, but not all the time. And even when it gets dangerous, there's always a bunch of people that come together to protect the rest of us that can't fight monsters. More often than not it's just annoying instead of dangerous."

They reached the end of the hall, and the open doors to the game room revealed an endless number of bright lights and electronic beeps and boops.

"Anyway, the rest of us who don't like to think about when the next weird monster thing is going to show up like to distract ourselves in here!"

[stohess]

She had been about to say something in regards to all the danger afoot, but dear sweet whomever that was a lot of color. And lights. And-- what?

It would suffice to say that Annie had seen nothing like this before.

"This is an arcade?" Just what kind of games were these, she wondered.

[bezazzled]

"Oh my gosh." Mabel stepped aside so that Annie could get a better view, but also so that she could take in her reaction to what was clearly her very first trip to an arcade. "You've never even seen an arcade before, have you? I totally get to be the first person to show you!"

She jumped around and pumped her fists into the air.

"Okay. Okay. Don't get overwhelmed, but there's a ton of stuff here. What's your favorite genre? Wait. Do you even have video games where you're from?"

[stohess]

"I have no idea what a video game is." She understood games. Who didn't? Were video games a type of game that was played on brightly colored boxes that flashed lights everywhere? Was that even a thing?

"I presume the games are played on all these brightly colored boxes."

[bezazzled]

"Yes! There's all sorts of types of games you can play. Fighting games, racing games, shooting games..."

But Mabel knew that all of this could be incredibly overwhelming for someone just meeting them for the first time. She motions for Annie to follow her to a rather boxy looking video game, the words PAC MAN lit up above the screen.

"We'll start with the basics and work our way up. This right here is the screen. You'll look at it at all times, because that's where all the action is. Right here is your joystick. You can move it this way and that, and the little yellow guy on the screen will move wherever you tell him. And these buttons just start and stop the game."

She moved aside so that Annie could approach the console.

[stohess]

Annie does indeed look at the screen. And the yellow circle with a triangle. And there were some colorful blobs that turned blue and there are also some white dots and some other dots that vaguely resembled cherries. And numbers. Oh, okay... That sure was a thing.

"What am I supposed to do?"

[bezazzled]

Mabel could have played the game herself as a demonstration, but she didn't want to crush Annie's hopes of ever becoming the best player by showing off her own skill. Instead, she moved in closer to her and took her hand, placing it on the joystick.

"When you press this start button, the game begins. Use this stick to move Pac Man. If you move it right, he goes right! Move it left, he goes left, et cetera, et cetera. Your goal is to eat as many of the little dots as you can, but watch out for ghosts! They will kill Pac Man if he touches them. But if you eat one of these big blinking dots in the corners? The ghosts will blink white and blue for a few seconds, and then you can eat them."

She gave her a hopeful look. "It's okay to mess up a few times while you get the hang of it. Are you ready to try?"

[stohess]

Annie continued to stare at the machine. This was very daunting! Not that she would ever admit it, of course.

Heck, if she could master three-dimensional maneuvering gear easily, she sure could handle anything else, right?

"Fine," she replied, placing her hand on the joystick.

[bezazzled]

It was like watching a child take its first steps. And also not at the same time.

As soon as Annie was in position, Mabel moved her finger over the start button, but paused for one last bit of advice.

"You get three lives to start. Remember: avoid the ghosts unless they're blinking white and blue. If you see some fruit, you can eat those, too. They help boost your score! Aaaaaand..." The button was pressed, and the game began in all its retro glory. "Go!"