nexus_crossings | nerd alert

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Since when was there an arcade in the Nexus? Has it always been there, or has Chris been simply ignorant of the video game haven's existence? The latter would be a shame seeing as how he's been suffering from video game withdrawals since his arrival. No matter at this moment, though. He can debate the when and how later. For now, or rather, for the past few hours, Chris has been indulging himself. As soon as his eyes fell on the large sign that proudly stated 'ARCADE', all of his other responsibilities of the day were pushed aside and forgotten.

Anyone who steps in will see him hunched over a game halfway down the middle aisle. The screen illuminates his face with a shade of blue, and the concentration he holds is evident in his expression. He almost appears to be in a trance in the way that his unblinking eyes trace across the screen. Occasionally, he'll lift a hand to prop up his glasses that have slid down the bridge of his nose. Aside from that, his fingers are busy with tapping buttons and wiggling the joystick. Finally, if the spectator hasn't grown tired of watching him, the game plays a fanfare, and Chris is straightening himself and beaming. "Hell yeah!"

Oh, right, the outside world exists, and he apparently has an audience. No matter who is hovering nearby, Chris will greet them with a smile and a raised brow before issuing a challenge. "Think you can beat my high score?"

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Speaking of his other responsibilities.....

When Chris looks up from his game finally there's a familiar redhead leaning against the side of a nearby machine. Her own perfectly sculpted eyebrow is raised, arms crossed in front of her chest.

"So.... this is where you ran off to."

The expression he holds is teetering between sheepish and innocent. "A couple games turned into..." God, he isn't even sure, to be honest. He can only shrug at the end of that. Whatever estimate he gives will probably make Natasha grimace.

"So, you up for a game or not?"

"Uh huh."

Just like barton, she swears. Natasha rolls her eyes and sidles over. Chris knows better than to assume it's a come on--that's simply how Natasha is with everyone. Especially when she's in public in any capacity.

"Fine. Let's go kid, and then you can explain to me why this was more important than what I sent you out to do."

Oh, he definitely does know better than that. Chris would never assume that Natasha was coming on to him - not now, not ever.

There's a flash of sheepishness that's ultimately taken over by a look of triumph. He wasn't actually expecting her to resign to playing, but he's definitely glad that she did.

"Oh, you'll see why this is more important."

A token is slipped into the slot, and the game flashes before urging the redhead to pick a character.

"Bask in the glory that is Street Fighter, Nat."

"...Here." Natasha gives Chris a handfull of bills and turns her attention to the screen. "Get more tokens, and get me a pack of gum while I figure this thing out."

Is this the expansion that has Vega? It better be. Claw is where it's at. Natasha gives the console a glare that would melt Siberia and turns her attention to the screen. It's been a long time since she's touched one of these things.

Ironically, the last time she saw this game it was with Barton.

His eyes dance from the money to Natasha and back. Did that just happen?

"Seriously?" A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. Hell yeah he'll get more tokens and a pack of gum. "You're a woman after my own heart," he jokes.

This is Street Fighter II, so Nat can bet her bottom dollar that has Vega. Go forth and kick ass.

Chris ducks out to nab a handful of tokens and search for the needed gum. She seems like the type to chew on something cinnamon flavored, but since this is an arcade, she's going to have to deal with double bubble. To Chris, that's perfect. It's part of the ambience.

He returns quickly to hover over her shoulder. She's definitely doing something right because Chris whistles with a raised brow. "Look at you."

She's not going to waste Chris's valuable pizza funds (he better be eating something other than that with how hard Natasha is training him) trying to learn this game.

This game is going to rue the day Black Widow discovered its existence.

Sending Chris away also has the added benefit of him not being there to see her struggle to learn the ropes for her first few matches. There may or may not have been some very creative swearing in Russian before Natasha found something of a footing.

"Look at me what." Is her reply, not looking at Chris until the match is over. Take that Sumo Guy. The gum is plucked from Chris's fingers immediately, a small cube popped into her mouth. Good. Now she's less likely to grind her teeth when she gets frustrated. "Punching an obese man out shouldn't be something to cheer over."

"Look at you kick ass!" Of course she's a natural. Her determination is unbending, and she would never let anyone get the best of her, not even in a video game.

"Hey, Honda is a tank, and you should be proud of taking him down." Winning your first match is a big deal, okay.

"Oh! Next round is starting. Looks like you're fighting Blanka."

Edited 2016-04-21 02:46 (UTC)

"So is this against a computer or am I fighting other people over a network or something?"

She spares a glance Chris's way while the match loads, and she legitimately looks like she's interested in their newest bonding activity. He'd taken to training, gun care, and shooting with minimal complaint. The least she can do is learn how to have fun with him once in a while in return. Chris is a good kid. One she wants to look out for.

"Could I play you later even?"

"Nah, this is just the computer."

He will open up a whole world of gaming to Nat if it actually intrigues her enough. And wouldn't that just be awesome? They get back all sweaty and tired from her spartan training, and what next? Mario Kart. Is there a better way to unwind? He doesn't think so.

His smile widens into a full blown grin at the question. "Hell yeah you can!"

It's not something Natasha would do every day but the activity is certainly something she could see herself sitting down to do once in a while with Chris. He's so excited about it Natasha can't help but to smile along as she gets a handle on the game.

She likes throws. As soon as she figures them out, she likes them a lot.

"Good. The whole arcade doesn't need to know I'm just figuring this out..." She says that but she's pretty good. Good reflexes on this one.

He is not at all surprised that Natasha likes throws. Something about that suits her. Chris sort of wants to say something about it, but he refrains in order to skip out on the incredulous look it might earn him.

"Your secret is safe with me." Even though she could definitely fend for herself with those natural skills. Nobody would even suspect her of being a novice. "You're teaching me to kick ass in real life, so I'll teach you to kiss in the video game world."

"Isn't this game a bit old for you?" She tilts her head just slightly enough to peer out of the corner of her eye at Chris. A bubble gets blown while she waits for his answer.

"I mean, this is something Barton plays, and you're at least half a generation younger than he is.'

That is a much better question than 'aren't you a bit too old for this game,' so he offers a smile, glad that Nat is not the sort to judge in that way. "What can I say? I like the classics." They're the very foundation of what video games have become! They're to be respected.

"It doesn't have HD graphics or a riveting plot, but it's timeless, you know? Anyone can enjoy it, I think."

Games are an excellent practice for hand eye coordination. If Barton approves of them then Natasha can hardly argue. Though, she is rather dubious as he seemed to get that knowledge from listening to a Mr. Wade Wilson.

A story for another day.

"You're not a hipster are you?" She teases, but is kind enough to make that evident in her voice instead of the same monotone that she says most everything else in. "Do you play newer games, too or just the classics?"

The blond actually appears insulted by the insinuation despite the lighthearted tone attached to it. His feigned displeasure is more obvious when he slaps a hand against his chest and bats his eyelashes.

"How could you say that to me?"

He chokes out a dramatic sob, wiping away at a non existent tear before cracking a smile that crumbles the charade that was shoddily strung together.

"New and the classics. Best of both worlds, Nat."

She wrinkles her nose at his playacting, and laughs after shaking her head. It's soft, not like the usual bark of laugh she gives in sarcasm.

"You really need to work on your lying skills." He gets bumped lightly by her hip before she starts her next match. She falls silent for the match, the only sound being the occasional bubble she blows in her gum and the tappatapptap of her fingers on the buttons.

"This guy doesn't specialize in throws does he." She purses her lips. Another victory though this one not so easily won. "I think I'd do better with someone who was."

This is the sort of place his brother would likely frequent. It makes the officer pause and give a nostalgic sigh for a good long moment before he recognizes that he's being spoken to.

"High score at what, pray tell?"

"Street Fighter." A smile hangs on his mouth, and he sounds so proud and delighted when he says it. "The second one, to be exact."

"I have to confess, I've never played it."

He's never played any video game, to be exact, but that wasn't what was asked of him. The officer moves so he can see the screen, looking a bit embarrassed by the admission.

"So...it's quite doubtful I could."

No need to be embarrassed. Chris is hardly the type to pass a harsh judgement.

"Doesn't mean you can't try." Believe or not, the blond is not attempting to coerce others to play the game so he can boast over how unbeatable his score is. Rather, he wants to spread the enjoyment that can be taken from an arcade game.

"Okay...h..how do you play?" The officer is easily several years older than Chris, but he seems rather sheepish when he approaches the machine, carefully reading over each of the buttons.

"It's a fighting game, yes?"

"The best fighting game of all time."

The explanation is quick and simple enough. There are four main buttons, two for kicking and two for punching. And then, of course, there's the joystick for moving.

"Basically, all you have to do is hit your opponent more than they hit you." Or hit them with just a few strong combos. Chris will get to that if the other wants to play more after getting a feel for the game. "Also, blocking is your best friend. Don't forget that."

"I see. This appears to be simple but is in fact quite complex, isn't it...?" Seems like a game that is very much easy to get into but very much difficult to master beyond a certain level.

Character selection isn't important to Katsuya and he leaves the cursor where it defaults to on the headbanded fighter. He systematically goes through the buttons Chris has taught him, trying to determine which combinations of buttons will provide various attacks.

He isn't the best at this, having never touched the machine before, and the timer runs out before he finishes his first fight.

"Oh..u..uhm. Oops."

"Yeah, you could definitely say that." Nothing menacing about a few buttons, right? Wrong! The willpower it takes in mastering some moves is mind boggling.

"Hey, don't worry! You didn't even die. That's awesome," he offers with a supportive tone.

"My brother was always quite good at these things. Kind of shocking that I've never played until now, when I think about that."

Ouch, yeah. That's a past tense usage there. He's nothing if not tenacious though, and the next round will go in his favor. It's only the first round--so it's kind of difficult to lose too badly.

The 'was' slips by Chris, and the meaning behind the statement is not understand. That is probably for the best, though. It would reduce him to apologizing and tripping over his words, not quite knowing what to say to a stranger who holds that sort of grief.

"I'm kinda surprised. I mean, you're pretty good."

"I think..." The officer smiles a bit wider, giving Chris a glance out of the corner of his eye. "You may be flattering me in an attempt to keep me playing." He's not that much older than Chris is but he definitely carries himself like he's someone's father, or at least father figure.

Being a police officer is part of that, but so is his personality really. Games are fun and fun isn't responsible obligations to ones family.

"Who do you prefer to play?"

Han ... literally has no idea what the hell he's seeing in this place. Only that he texted to see where Chris has been lately and between games he simply got an address by way of response. Solo has never seen so many flashing screens in all his life before.

For a while he just walks around, taking it all in. After he's had his fill, looking at the different games, he wanders over to Chris.

"Nope." He says shaking his head. "I think your high score is safe, kid."

Edited 2016-04-19 00:07 (UTC)

"You could at least play a round." Anyone who can pilot a starship can certainly learn to play a video game, right? He wouldn't be surprised if Han caught on quickly.

"C'mon, you'll like it."

Well, he has great reflexes and on a game that's forgiving to button mashers, he's likely to have some success.

It's just unlikely that he'll be dedicated to a fighting game long enough to learn the moves. On the other hand, there's little doubt he'd make a great partner for a rail shooter. And he'll probably wreck people trying to keep up with him in this game.

At Chris' encouragement, he looks down at the controls, dubious. "What the hell?" He says with a shrug. It not as if there's anything riding on him winning or losing here.

"How does it work?"

That is definitely a game that they can go searching for next. For now, Chris is eager to share the wonders of Street Fighter II with Han.

He visibly brightens when the other agrees, his smile widening even more so when Han asks for direction.

"Alright, so this-" He points to each button as he goes along. "--is a light kick, a hard kick, a light punch, and a hard punch. Use the joystick to move. You can jump, duck, and block with it, too. Oh! And you can do combo moves if you press the buttons and move the joystick in a specific order." But to spare Han from the confusion and the nerd babble, he'll skip explaining those. "First things first, though. You gotta pick your character."

Yeah, let's take gaming with Han on the slow and steady. He could probably handle the explanation of combo moves and how they work, but realistically, they would just keep them from the fun part. The actual game. And besides, he'd probably forget half of what Chris said by the end of the first match.

"Uhhh." Han moves the joystick around the character select screen. "Let's see. Blond haired guy with headband ... practically the same guy again ... fat guy ... stick figure ... don't even know what that guy is supposed to be ... token lady ... shemale with claws."

"I think the green one." Han says. He moves the cursor over to Blanka, but no idea he needs to press start to select him.

Edited 2016-04-21 02:16 (UTC)

Well...Han is not wrong with any of those descriptions. But how dare is refer to Chun-Li at the token lady even if that is completely accurate.

"Blanka. Not a bad choice." Ah yes, the green goblin-ish guy with the sad backstory turned happy. "He's pretty popular, actually."

Okay.

Ready.

Start.

...Why isn't Han starting? The time will eventually run out, and his character of choice will be chosen since the cursor is highlighting the space around Blanka, but, for future reference of speeding things up, Han should know about the select button. "Let me just--" There. Chris will just press it for him.

"Okay, so now you just pick which country you want to fight in first, and the fight will start."

Oh, well look at that. Chris pushed a thing and the game selected a thing. He supposes that seems like something he should try to remember.

"Country?" He says with a shrug. "Country from where?" It's not as if Han's been to earth and recognizes any of these places or flags. Anyway, he scrolls around for a moment before picking the USSR stage because that seems as good as any other. And look, he even figured out that he has to push the thing Chris did just a moment ago to select the level.

Isn't he a quick learner?

Han decides to make a bit of small talk while he's watching that loading screen. "I assume you used to like playing these things at home?"

Edited 2016-04-21 15:51 (UTC)

Chris tends to forget that the Nexus is not on Earth, and not all the inhabitants are from or are even familiar with Earth. He appears sheepish and briefly feels like the greatest idiot. "Uh, Earth, my planet." Whoops. "It doesn't even really matter which place you pick first."

Good job, Han. Anything is possible now! That's one button figured out, and the rest will come.

"I played this one a lot when I was younger," he says, his eyes set on the game as the battle starts. "Arcades are kind of hard to find." There are certainly none near him. "But I played other games."

"I suppose I should have known." It was a game that Chris was familiar with, after all. Plus, no single planet, other than Earth, that he knows is so obsessively divided up by its inhabitants. It's just not a thing that happens very often where he comes from.

Oh. The thing is starting!

He's gotta do some stuff, right?

Uhhhhhhhhh.

Move the stick and, okay, the green guy starts moving around. Push the buttons like Chris was saying and the green guy attacks. This doesn't seem to bad ...

Han walks the first stage Zangief all the way into the corner of the level and starts cheesing him to death with the low kick.

He shrugs at that. No shame in Han not knowing. It's not like Chris knows much of anything about any other planets.

Wow. Han Solo is truly a novice at this. But he is winning so far, so whatever works for him. Also, there would be no judgement if Han was losing. Video games are meant for fun, and Chris is perfectly happy talking to other while he mashes buttons. He just hopes that Han is enjoying it.

"So you've never seen stuff like this anywhere else?" Are video games seriously just an Earth thing, or are they just super uncommon?

Well he can't be good at everything, can he? More time and he'd have a better idea of what he was doing, of course. The aim wasn't to come here and become a video game wizard, though, it was to talk to Chris.

"Depends on if you count holographic things as 'like this' or not." He says with a shrug as the next match starts. This time he's working in more than just the one move, but he's still trying to grind the enemy character into the corner.

Talking to Chris might mean becoming a video game wizard, honestly.

"That sort of counts. Same concept, different utilization." Not as fleshed out and expanded upon. "Wait until you see some of the other stuff. The graphics are insane." Just give him some time to find a system and the games if they exist here (which they should, considering the arcade).

"They don't tend to be geared towards entertainment." Han says as he's trying to virtually kick and punch the crap out of his CPU opponent. "They're more often simulations for learning something."

Not that he want's to step on Chris' enthusiasm, but he does have some things other than games on his mind. Hopefully, a subject change won't rub him too much the wrong way? "What have you been up to besides spending time here, lately?"

Chris is about to protest, jump in and state that video games from Earth have lessons attached. But then he recalls that newest Mario game where all of the characters can dress as cats. Okay, so a good number of them are solely for mindless fun, and even the ones that involve learning are still designed to be entertaining in some way or another. "Some games are like that." Is all he says.

Chris could go on and on about video games for hours, so a subject change is probably needed for Han's sake. Besides, he actually enjoys the shift in topic. Small talk doesn't bother him. "Odd jobs, Spartan training under Nat, that sort of stuff. I think I found my rhythm here. Like, living normally even though this place is seriously not normal."

"So you're not like the people that go back and forth then?" Han says as a response. He knows a lot of people do, but he'd be kind of glad to find out that it wasn't the case for Chris.

Han seems to have beaten Zangief and his little pixilated plane is now flying off to Japan. Looks like the next match is against the fat one.

"You mean to home?" Like to home home? Discomfort washes over his previously amused expression. Hopefully Han's concentration is set on the game. Though the change in Chris' tone might be a giveaway. "No, I don't--I just stay here."

One of these days, Chris is going to have to explain to him what happened. He has heard bits and pieces of things that didn't really make a lot of sense from Josh. And it was during an episode, so he took it all with a grain of salt.

"Good." He says with a nod. "I'll feel better knowing that Josh has someone looking out for him."

It's possible that this very subject came up while the two of them were working on the speeder a few days ago. It's been on his mind ever since. This pirate has no intention of leaving all the people he's befriended in the Nexus behind, but let's face it. This guy is probably never going to settle down in one place for any length of time.

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nerd alert

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just noticing that typo now like wow @ me

Wingman Chris working in sublimal messages

AAAAY

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