Hanging Out

Was he being serious? Not only would it be difficult to for him to outdance two other people in general, but he was also crippled! He certainly seemed like he meant what he said despite this. What do you mean? You wouldn't be able to beat anyone while you're hurt. It was just absurd. He'd probably only end up hurting himself even more if he tried to do that. Anima also noticed Evelyn almost fading away, just barely. She looked over at her, flashing her a nervous smile. She didn't want to leave, did she? Anima certainly hoped not. After all, the whole purpose of this was to hang out with Evelyn, so it wouldn't be too good if she was intending to bail.

He sure talked tough, and Anima spelled out the obvious. If it came to a dance-off, they could've both counted her out, but she wouldn't mind watching it from the corner. A cripple and... well, Anima. It'd probably be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of phenomenon. She found herself adjusting her hat, focusing on the ceiling, when she caught Anima's silent smile out of the corner of her eye. Oh... Evelyn returned a weak little smile before turning her gaze away, her eyes wandering to the cast around Preston's foot.

Evelyn looked up again, barely raising her head, putting a hand on her elbow. It wasn't her place to butt into their conversation, but it didn't look like Anima had really answered his question. If she was being honest, it was just awkward watching two people chat when only one could actually talk. "Um... sh-shoot?" she ventured, shuffling her feet. Ha. Like her mother would've ever let her shoot a gun. Her father had floated the idea around once, but of course, it'd gotten shot down and blown apart like a clay pigeon. You could've heard her ripping into him from across the street. They'd lived in Montana, but she'd never even been close to a shooting range. "N-no, not re-really..."

Preston raised his eyebrow, tilting his head and reading quickly over the mute's hastily scribbled writing before cracking another smirk. What the fuck ever. "I still have one good leg that could out-dance you any day." Anima straight up looked like the type of girl who would trip over a dandelion. He figured that Lord only knew how the hell she'd survive on a dancing machine of all things. And as for the other girl, he supposed the same thing could be said, although he realized then he hadn't really gotten a good look at her yet.

Fleetingly, he looked over the Evelyn chick up and down before softening his smile. "Alright, then. Since Anima seems so concerned about my poor ankle, I guess I can spare the time to teach you two something new. Come on." He gestured for them to follow him and made his way over to the other end of the arcade, where a small shooting range was. Not literally, of course. They were fake rifles wired to a booth with lazer targets popping out various places on the wall. "How about this, I'll give you two a quick lesson, whoever racks up the most points after gets the first drink back at my place?" He threw the words out so carelessly as he picked up one of the toy guns, holding it out to them.

Anima followed after Preston, staying somewhat close to him and Evelyn. Last thing she wanted was to get separated and end up having to navigate through all the other people in the arcade by herself. When they got to the shooting range, she looked at the rifles. Of course they wouldn't be real guns. Not that it was a problem. Real guns were loud and Anima would probably get knocked off her feet by the recoil if she tried to shoot a real gun.

Anima thought Preston's words over carefully. Except by carefully, she started writing almost immediately after hearing them. Sure. After all, she liked to think she had okay aim. It was the only reason she was able to use her gift half-decently. She took the gun from Preston, before looking at Evelyn. Hopefully she was okay with this.

Was... was he serious? She almost stiffened up at the mention of a drink. Yeah, a drink at some random guy's dorm, but that thought, that fear was secondary. It was almost instinctive. When she heard the word 'drink,' it was like a prayer answered. The reality didn't set in until she was following after them to the range, her heart fluttering in her chest. No. That wasn't what she signed up for. She could drink back in her own dorm if she wanted to.

But she couldn't say no. That was the catch. She was just getting dragged along for the ride, and if she was being honest, Preston alleviated some of the awkward tension, even if the idea still made her uneasy. So it was already decided from the moment Anima had agreed. Evelyn took a rifle gingerly out of his hands, swallowing. If they were gonna play that way, then she'd play to win. She'd need all the drinks she could get.

Preston smiled down at the both of them as they each took a rifle out of his hands. They were both quiet about it, which was slightly jarring, but they didn't seem to object either. He thought he even saw hints of determination in their faces, or he liked to think so, at least. Sticking a few quarters in the machine, he started his own game, targets lightly up red and a large minute clock above the entire set begin.

"Tuck the hilt into your shoulder, right hand on the trigger, left on the grip, keep your eyes down the gun barrel." He rattled off quick instructions, turning to the side and straightening into the proper form for an intense pretend shooter. "Aim at the target through the circle at the tip and - fire." He quickly sent one quick lazer into one of the closer targets. The red light went out and a short bell rang.

He'd played this game all too many times and wasn't about to be humble, moving left to right firing down near every target tgat popped up, even the ones that swung around and moved. Once the game was over, his score flashed and tickets came pouring out. "You ladies ready?" He asked, shooting them another smile and slipping more quarters in, starting their games up.

ooc;; roll a dice or rp a winner outt??

As the game started, Anima started taking shots with the toy rifle as the targets popped up. She took her time with her shots, and this was both beneficial while also detrimental. While it meant she almost never missed a shot, it did mean that targets did sometimes manage to go back down before she could shoot it. This would probably work out except... How was Evelyn doing? As much as she wanted to look over and see how Evelyn was faring, Anima simply couldn't risk it. If she was barely winning, she would probably be giving that up if she stopped focusing.

Eventually the game concluded. How did it go? Had she won? Anima looked up first at her own score, and then over at Evelyn's.

The member 'Mount' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'100-Sided Die' :

This was going to end terribly. She already knew that while she lined up at the end of the booth, lifting the gun and staring down the sights as Preston loaded in a few more quarters for their game to start. It was just a stupid game, so why were her palms getting sweaty? Evelyn knew they wouldn't focus on her, but it still felt like the whole arcade was staring at her, pressuring her to do well, ready to pounce and judge her when she failed. God, did this have to be a competition?!

The game started up, she clenched both her eyes shut, and pulled the trigger. A cheesy laser sound rang out, and tingalingaling!, a bell rang.

She opened her eyes. Red lights were flashing where she'd shot down a target on the far end of the range. An uneasy smile flit across her lips, and she fired again, and again. Pshew! Pshew! Two more of the targets went down. This wasn't so hard.

It was over before she knew it. Evelyn lowered the barrel, staring down at her handiwork. She'd missed a few here and there, but she'd just kept her finger down on the trigger, blasting them right as they shot up or swung past. For every one she missed, she hit two more, and she was standing head and shoulders above Anima on the scoreboard by the end of the game, even with all her missed shots.

She still hadn't topped Preston, but even getting within reach felt like a victory by itself. Evelyn stepped away, standing a bit taller, and gingerly handed the rifle back to Preston. Evelyn made sure not to look up at him, just so he couldn't see the self-satisfied grin spreading across her face. Stop smiling. Stop smiling. Stop smiling. You look like an idiot.

The member 'Sleepy' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'100-Sided Die' : 81

The young man took a few steps back and crossed his arms together, watching as the two of them start to fire off at the targets, both of them seemingly determined to come out on top. He couldn't help but smile a little at his genius. This was sure as a hell lot more do-able than DDR of all things, and it carried less of a chance of breaking something. Pres didn't bother to say a thing as the two played on, chewing at his cheek and thinking that Anima was taking far too long to hit her targets, as if she were afraid of missing. The girl beside her was a surprisingly good shot, racking up points fairly quickly. For some time, he thought she might catch up to his score.

All too fast, however, the game ended. Preston took their rifles from them, setting them back on their respective racks and shooting them a grin. "Good game," He mused, looking at Anima. "You need to learn how to shoot faster." If she did, her score might have been saved. As well as his ankle. To the winner, he placed his hand on her back, smiling even as she tried to hide her face away from him. "First drink on me, Dear. Just like I promised. But first..."

Preston grabbed a token out of his pocket, winking and waving it towards them, he headed off in a different direction - straight for the cyclone machine. He'd tried this once before, having made an arrangement with a nearby bystander to get all the tickets himself to avoid any suspicion, but that was months past. He was ready to work his magic again.

He slipped the coin into the machine and waited carefully, watching the light bounce from bulb to bulb and waited for the perfect moment. When it came within his reach, his pressed the button sharply. If one were paying attention and looked closely, they might've seen the deliberate small sparks that slipped into the metal, but it lasted for less than a moment. In an instant, the bells on the game were ringing and well over a thousand tickets began pouring their way out of the game. "For you, girls! Get yourself something nice." He had a weird, smug look on his face - almost unfitting for a guy who'd just won the jackpot on a children's game.

Well, shit. Seems Evelyn won. Although, it was probably for the best she'd be drinking first, assuming Preston was being serious about that. After all, Anima hadn't consumed anything alcoholic before nor did she have much of a clue what it might be like to be drunk. It probably wouldn't take much to get her drunk, either. Anima had been somewhat lost in rhought until she snapped out of it due to hearing all the sudden noise from the cyclone machine. Damn, that was a lot of tickets. After hearing Preston's words, Anima collected some of the tickets and headed off to exchange them.

A few moments later, Anima returned and instead of holding a bunch of tickets, she held something behind her back with a slight blush on her face. Maybe neither of them would ask about what she got? Trying to ignore the possibility and likelihood, she waited until Evelyn and Preston were ready to leave.

Eep!

It was a gentle touch, but it made her jump in her skin. She didn't say that out loud, did she? Evelyn snapped up her head to raise her eyes to his, a tinge of red coloring her cheeks, and reflexively looked down to avoid his gaze. Oh. Stupid, fucking stupid. What was her problem? She was making this more awkward than it had to be. Just play it off, play it cool. A drink, right. They were still doing that. It's just... It wasn't every day that someone reached out to her like that. Yeah, there was occasionally the special exception, but if she had any contact with anyone at all, it was usually someone bumping past her in the hallways or stepping on her toes, and they almost always moved on like they hadn't even noticed. But that was stupid, wasn't it? Anima had grabbed her hand just a little earlier. Just thinking about that made her uneasy. This felt... well, it was almost a little too much.

She was overthinking it. The moment was gone before she could blink, and he was moving off with an arcade token between his fingers, right for a small machine crowned with a small glass dome, lit up in a rainbow of colors. Evelyn watched in half a daze, not following what was happening until a ribbon of tickets went spurting out of the machine, landing in coils around the floor. Jackpot. She blinked, putting a hand over her mouth. Was he that lucky? The moment was almost a little... too perfect. Evelyn shook off the misplaced confusion. For them? Really?

...As much as Evelyn wanted to shake her head and refuse, it wasn't like he'd put a ton of effort into winning it, and trying to hassle with him over it wasn't worth the effort. Besides, he looked pretty proud of himself. Well, if he was going to treat them...

She ended up picking something simple. Most of the stuff were cheap toys or stuffed animals, so after a few moments of agonizing over the decision, she'd snatched up something that looked like it'd been collecting dust on the bottom shelf. Sea Monkeys, amazing instant life! Just add water, food, eggs, and bam, you had a tank full of brine shrimp. In reality, she was just going to end up scooping them out and feeding them to Sushi once they got big enough, but she'd always been curious about these things. Besides, it wasn't like they'd take up much space or be much upkeep.

Evelyn turned away from the counter with the box held close to her chest, her eyes flickering from Anima, to Preston, to Anima again. It looked like Anima was hiding something behind her back, but she didn't bother to ask. "Um, th-thank you for this..." she muttered to Preston with a small sheepish smile. That was the least she could give since he'd paid for both their games and handed over all those tickets. Not to mention how he'd rescued them from an awkward silence, or how he wanted them over for a drink... Thinking about that made her queasy. "I sh-should, probably... w-w-well, go h-home now though." Home. She'd meant to say 'her dorm,' but those were the words that slipped out. It felt like she'd lived her whole life here, even if she still had trouble swallowing it. That tiny room really did feel like home now. "Y-you two sh-should go h-h-have that dr-drink though, heh..." They sounded like they knew each other well, and she didn't want to intrude.

The Autumn hung back as the two of them burned through the tickets. The guy at the counter had given them a strange look over the stockpile of newly acquired tickets, but Preston paid him no mind. What was he going to do? Call them out for just being lucky? After the girls had gotten their picks of the litter, he stepped forward and picked something out with what handful of points they had left: a few pieces of candy, a chinese finger trap, and a frog-shaped eraser. He stuffed them all in his pocket, treasures saved for later, and looked over the two.

Anima seemed especially shy, hiding her prize behind her back. "What are you hiding?" He prodded gently, stepping around the two and headed towards the door. "You don't have to be shy. It was a gift." The brunette had first waved off the other girl's thanks, giving it little thought until it hit him that she was trying to leave the two of them alone now. He held back a sigh. That wouldn't do. He was rather looking forward to the company.

Preston put on his best smiling, turning to look at her - for a moment, anyways. "That won't do. I promised to hand over the first drink to the winner. You would stand me up like that?" He feigned a small look of disappointment. "You don't have to stay long. One drink, then I'll let you go, alright? I could use some new friends." Not waiting for an answer, he walked up to the front door, glancing outside. It was snowing, but there were people out and it was sunny and clear. Even as he put him at ease, he'd rather they not be held up on their walk.

Oh... Shit. While Evelyn didn't seem like she was going to ask about it, Preston sure was. Sheepishly, Anima brought the grey and white teddy bear to her front, her face reddening as her gaze fell to the floor. Now they knew she decided to get a child's toy with her share of the tickets. Anima kept her eyes glued to the floor until she heard Evelyn speak, followed by Preston speaking again. She intended to leave? Finally looking up from the ground, Anima hastily went over to Evelyn, despite having no idea what she was supposed to say, or in her case, write. She just knew she didn't want Evelyn to bail on them now.