Let's partyyyyyyy! [open]

[livingdeadgirl]

Who: EVERYONE.
What: A meet-and-greet party for everybody in Anchor!
When: early October
Where: the VR room lobby
Warnings: none yet
Format: go wild!

[ The day before, a wild network post appears, from the username @aa : ]

hi everyone!
i just wanted to let you all know
the meet and greet party previously discussed in this space
will be held tomorrow afternoon!

it will take place in the vr room lobby
and of course everyone is invited
refreshments and games will be provided
but if you would like a little extra challenge
please feel free to bring something to share!

attendance is mandatory!
(lol just kidding)
seriously though i do hope to see all of you there ;)

[ She's also posted handwritten signs to that effect in the mess hall and several of the staircases. Just in case! ]

---

The day of, a party appears in the VR Room lobby area, as promised!

Though it's not brightly lit, the lights there are are brightly colored, creating a chilled-out evening atmosphere like you'd find at a club. Plush chairs and couches are interspersed throughout the room, and there's been a solid attempt to clean the place up, or at least do something about all the dust.

A shortage of conventional party supplies has forced Ami and Cho to get creative, so the tables and parts of the wall are decorated with paper flowers, and the buffet table is presided over by a number of ... weird, pink, glitter-covered, vaguely animal-shaped sculptures made out of spare plastic pipes and stuff. With googly eyes. If nothing else they're a conversation piece.

FOOD: The main offering is barbecue! There's a pretty wide assortment of meats, all of which Cho has certified safe for human consumption, and also certified delicious. Chips, dried fruit, and a few different desserts are available, including homemade chocolate chip cookies that Ami made herself (wich Cho's help). All the trays are helpfully labeled, including allergy information.

Any and all potluck submissions are welcome as well! Just set it down over here and make a little card of your own.

DRINKS: Sadly, the coffee machine is still out of order. But there is a cooler stocked with ice and a few different choices of juice and soda. Alcoholic selections are limited to two types of pre-mixed drinks, which are intentionally weak on the alcohol, but at least they're not tequila sunrises. If guests want anything stronger, they'll need to bring it themselves.

ENTERTAINMENT: In fiddling with the controls, Ami got the overhead speakers to play some music, but couldn't figure out how to modify the playlist, so it's just one song on loop. Maybe if she keeps the volume kind of low, no one will notice. No live music is scheduled, but if anyone wants to bring a guitar and jam for a while, they will be more than welcome to.

And most of the arcade games are online! Anyone for Fruit Ninja? Air hockey? Dance Dance Retribution? Virtual Billiards? Or perhaps you'd like to try out a full-simulation game in the VR Rooms proper? Now's as good a time as any!

Oh, and don't forget to enter the raffle! The winner will be chosen randomly and announced a few hours into the party.

Comments

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Yeah, that Genji! Ami only met him at this party, so she doesn't think he's been around long. ]

You don't need to know, but a ninja is basically a super-fast stealth assassin, and by extension a Fruit Ninja is a super-fast fruit assassin. Basically -

[ She opens up the game's title screen, which includes an assortment of fruits labeled things like "Start," "Options," and so on. ]

- the game will throw a bunch of fruits up on the screen, and your mission is to slice them up! [ Indicating the motion controller in her hand- ] This is your ninja sword. The dot on the screen shows you where you're aiming.

[ She demonstrates, pointing it at the screen, then makes a SLICE motion across the Start Watermelon. It splits in two with a satisfying wet crunch! ]

I'll show you the first level, okay?

[braidmage]

[ A fruit assassin? Is that a thing that's necessary in some worlds?! Or is it just something in a game? It's honestly hard for him to tell but he gets embarrassed asking too many earnest questions sometimes and so he is just going to pretend he understands completely, and roll with it, and if he has to admit he's confused later, so be it.

And he's glad for his patience, because the words of her explanation on their own make very little sense, but then he sees her swinging that piece of plastic in the air and on the screen, the image of the watermelon is sliced through.

He beams, nodding his encouragement for her to continue her demonstration. ]

So you swing that thing in the air like it's a sword and you're doing battle against... those images of fruit and if you cut up a lot of them, you win?

[ It's basically a high-tech version of the games of pretend they would play in his village, troll and troll hunter, swinging sticks at one another pretending they were swords, muttering random words and pretending they were mages...

Reynir watches intently, gaze going from Ami to the screen... ]

[livingdeadgirl]

Yup, that's pretty much it! - Oh, and watch out for the bombs! You don't wanna slice those.

[ She may have forgotten to tell Kieran about that part, and it startled him so bad he fell flat on his ass. Which was funny, admittedly, but it'd be mean to do it on purpose.

Anyway, the level begins! There's really not much to it - level 1 doesn't even have bombs - so before long she starts getting into a rhythm. She doesn't go for each fruit individually, but tries to get multiple in a single stroke, since that's where the big points are. With each swing of her "blade," she's rewarded with cleanly sliced fruits, satisfying juicy noises, and particle effects.

After a minute or so, the level ends, and Ami steps back to give Reynir and his long arms some room, brushing a stray hair out of her face. ]

Okay! Are you ready?

[ Sure hope so, because the screen says "PLAYER 2: START!" ]

[braidmage]

[ Reynir watches her playing, a grin slowly spreading across his face as he starts to get into it. She's clearly played this game many times before, and there's something appealing in a very simple way about the sound effects and music and bright colors and movement.

When she moves aside, he steps forward a little, assuming that he will have to trigger the beginning of the game, but it just happily goes ahead and starts without him. His reaction is delayed before he realizes it's really going, that he is supposed to be doing something already, so many fruits are falling uncut! Then he starts swinging wildly, not aiming the control optimally for the game system to pick up his movements, not aiming all that well between his hands and the images on the screen.

He gets a few of the fruits, though, and gasps and giggles every time, with all the glee of a delighted kid. ]

Did you see that?!

[ By the end Reynir has gotten very few points, but he seems elated, turns to Ami and asks: ]

Can I do it again? Can we play as a team?

[ Everything is more fun with a friend, after all. And he's used to games that are more collaborative. ]

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Great job, Reynir! Mostly great job! Ami actually ends up taking another step back to avoid those long flaily arms. His wholesome excitement is kind of adorable, though, and Ami cheers him on whenever he gets one. ]

I saw! You're doing great!

[ When he's done, she grins and nods to his request. ]

Sure! I think there's a co-op mode, yeah. Let me see. [ She backs out to the main menu and fiddles with the options to set it up... just a sec here... ] Okay, that ought to do it!

[ And now, let's begin! Now, full disclosure: it is the kind of co-op where you share a single health bar, so if one person screws up too badly you can both get a game over. Also, this time there are bombs. Good luck! ]

[braidmage]

[ Reynir just waits for her to set it up, watching as she clicks through the various screens, gets all the settings right. Co-op mode. The phrase is unfamiliar and he tucks it away to remember for next time, if there is one. What a strange and wonderful place this is! ]

Okay! Let's do it!

[ His enthusiasm, combined with perhaps some overconfidence from playing the very easy round on his own, combined with the bombs, means it's only a matter of time before he's racking up a great deal of damage for them both. He keeps up a stream of sound as they play, little exclamations of surprise when the bombs go off, questions about if they're bad, and then the occasional 'Oops!' every time he hits one by accident.

And it's a lot of times.

They get a game over quite quickly, and Reynir stops, long arms dangling at his sides. He doesn't look discouraged, though. Just a bit surprised, and perplexed. ]

How are you so much better at that than me?

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Oof! Oof! Oof! Ami tries to help him through it, but she can't teach him how to play and carry the game by herself at the same time (if indeed she could carry it at all). And then while she's distracted, she starts missing fruits and hitting bombs, too, and it's just... it's a little bit of a shitshow all around.

No one could have anticipated this outcome. No one.

At the Game Over screen, Ami sighs, but she's really not too put out. It's not like they're burning quarters or anything. ]

Beeeecause I've played it more than twice in my life? [ She smiles. ] You're actually pretty good for someone who's never seen a video game before! All it takes is practice.

[braidmage]

Are these really common where you're from?

[ No need to explain that they aren't, in his world. His complete unfamiliarity gave that away. But now he's curious because she's talking about it like she's had opportunities to play quite a bit. ]

I wanna try again. This time I know not to hit any bombs.

[ He can practically imagine Emil rolling his eyes at that comment, making some joke about his intelligence. That gives him a pang of homesickness for a moment, but Reynir isn't a gloomy sort of person by nature and he shakes it off easily. He will be home someday and when he sees Emil next he will tell him all about video games. ]

Maybe we can do a mode that is a little easier?

[ He's still getting a handle on the terminology, clearly. ]

[livingdeadgirl]

I think we're already on Easy? But let me check.

[ Maybe there's some kind of Training Mode? Where you can't lose? She'll go rooting around in the menus looking for that for a bit. ]

But yeah, we've got loads of these back home. Well - maybe not these specifically. Big arcade cabinets like this have been on their way out for decades. But we have video games that we can play at home, or right on our phones.

[ It's kind of a pain to navigate these menus, incidentally. Waaay too much fruit slicing that you're not getting points for. ]

What year is it for you, by the way? Just curious.

[braidmage]

[ CABINETS? Surely that is some kind of translation error. Otherwise, Reynir is fully imagining a cabinet of the kind you would have in a kitchen, but where you open the door and there is some kind of screen like this inside? Yeah he's a little lost. But he gets at least that these sorts of games are both common and varied in Ami's world, and frankly? That's cool as hell.

He watches Ami going through various screens with writing on them, looking for whatever settings she needs to change. He is grateful, that he's not trying to figure it out on his own, or he might have given up by this point. ]

90!

[ He omits the usual 'Revised' from the year because every time he's mentioned that in the past, people have asked what it was revised from and he's had to explain about the Illness and the Old World and he understands entirely why people are curious, but this is a party and he really doesn't feel like talking or thinking about trolls, just now.

If only he knew! ]

What year is it for you?

[ He stands a little straighter when the loading screen comes up again, shoulders square, determined to do better this time. He is going to prove himself! This is serious business! ]

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Fortunately, there is in fact a training mode! And you can do co-op on it, too! How convenient. His answer gets a perplexed look from her, though, as the level starts loading up. ]

Ninety? You mean like... 1990? 1890? [ They definitely had video games in 1990. ] I'm from 2018, myself.

[braidmage]

Just... 90.

[ He feels a little twinge of guilt. Maybe he really ought to explain that, according to the people he's talked to, he's probably from the future compared to her, not the past. But that meant mentioning the fact that, possibly even her own world was going to go through a pandemic-related apocalypse and that's just... not party talk. It's not! He will just tell her some other time.

Much of his concentration is on the game (the training mode is popping up helpful tips as they go, which are actually helping a great deal), but he can talk and swing at the same time. ]

That seems pretty common here. People from near-ish 2000.

[ Those eighteen years might seem like a big difference to Ami but to Reynir it's all pretty much in the same zone - even Kieran who was from the 1800s. ]

I still don't really understand how there can be people here from different times. And different worlds. But I guess it doesn't really make sense to anybody else either? Nobody seems to know the answers when I ask. So at least I'm not the only one who is confused for once.

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Just 90. Like... 90 AD? Did they even call it "AD" back then? Whatever the case, it's absolutely wild that Reynir's from that long ago. All this future tech was overwhelming even for Kieran, and he's just from cowboy times - imagine how strange it must be to someone from Roman Empire Still Exists times! ]

Well, I'd say you are adapting really well! But yeah, I am yet another person who doesn't have those answers, I guess.

[ Slice slice slice. She's starting to get into a groove now, a little bit, but she makes sure to leave plenty of fruits for Reynir. ]

... Somebody once said, "Time is like a game. Just one fun game in Reality's cupboard... But when all the games are back in the cupboard, everyone is about the same."

[ It was Aradia. Aradia's the somebody who said that. That's not a new memory, it just feels vaguely relevant at the moment. ]

[braidmage]

I'm doing my best!

[ Reynir seems really pleased with the praise, enough that he takes his attention away from the game long enough to smile at Ami. Then he realizes he is being inattentive and gasps, snapping back to it with ferocious concentration.

He listens to the quote or aphorism or whatever it is she's reciting, frowning a little but hanging in there until the end in case she'll say something that will make the whole thing clear.

That something never comes.

So he admits: ]

I have no clue what that means.

[ Just a few more seconds and they've cleared the round - and done well enough that there's some stars and fanfare from the game itself. Reynir, delighted, exclaims: ]

We did it!

[livingdeadgirl]

... Yeah, me neither. [ Ami laughs. Speaking of time, that anecdote definitely wasn't a waste of it! ]

[ But yeah! They won training mode! With like 5 HP left, but whatever, they won! ]

Oh, neat! Look, we wouldn't even have died that time! See, you're already getting the hang of it. [ She gives his arm an encouraging pat. ]

[ ... and then realizes - ] Oh, durr, I totally forgot to ask what your name is, huh? I'm Ami!

[braidmage]

What?!

[ But then Reynir realizes that, no, he hadn't introduced himself, had he? Where have his manners gone. He laughs, pushing a wisp of hair back behind his ear and then says: ]

Wow, I guess I skipped that part, huh? I'm Reynir. It's really good to meet you Ami.

[ Then, with bright glee in his green eyes and just a hint of pleading, he asks: ]

Can we try a different game now, together?

[livingdeadgirl]

You too, Reynir!

[ Ami takes a moment to consider his question, looking him up and down as if she's giving him a serious appraisal. ]

Hmmm... yes, why not! You have learned well, grasshopper. You are ready to graduate... to Mario Kart.

[ So they'll play that next, and I'm sure it's even more of a shitshow! But hey, it's all in good fun. ]