[PRP] The Magician's Game (Wander & Makkah)

[tenaciousgadabout]

Itch-it-a-cop-it-a-Mel-a-ka-mys-ti-ca!

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

A sign reading DIGITALHALLA sat above the door of the mall store the highblood girl found herself in. Sweeping over the covers of all the music on the racks of the store, Makkah sneered.
”Ugh. Why is it that everything that’s all the rage today has to be so bogus.”
She tapped her hands on the racks while she looked around, drumming a fast, repetitive beat loudly. It was doubtful she could hear it over the small tape player strapped to her belt loop, which plugged into the clunky plastic headphones she was wearing over her hat. She moved on, briefly stopping to consider some hot pink fingerless athletic gloves hanging up near the counter before she was struck by the sight before her.

”Aw, what!? This is SICK!!!”

She ran up to the game console set up in the back corner of the store that was affixed to a small tv. The machine, despite being new, held a layer of dust on top of it. Makkah brushed off it’s front side gently as she looked at the game list written on the sign next to it. Her mouth agape, she read the sign above the display aloud.

”I...am about to go...totally postal. IT’S THE SUPER EXODUS ENTERTAIN-O-PYRAMID CLASSIC!!!!!!!”

The highblood hopped up and down excitedly, oblivious to her volume level in this mostly empty store. Distantly, the lowblood cashier looked up from their cozy position in front of the TV on the counter, playing ”An Auspistice Comes To Dinner” a cheesy Rom-Com from a sweep or two ago.

”This isn’t even supposed to be OUT yet! They must’ve put it out early by mistake!! Awe man, it looks JUST like the original!!” She grabbed one of the attached controllers and traced her finger up the game list one more time. She already owned an original Super Exodus Entertain-O-Pyramid back at home, but she had to have this. As she reached the top of the list, her smile dropped slightly.

”How could they miss Chrono-Provoker? That was, like, one of the biggest game of that sweep! Well, whatever, they have Battle Croakbeasts so I guess it’s not a total wash.”

As the machine hummed to life, visibly spewing dust out of the back as it’s internal fan began to rotate, Makkah scrolled through the game list to select Battle Croakbeasts and hit the start button. A notice popped up on the screen suddenly.

ATTENTION: 2-PLAYER ONLY DEMO

”What?! That’s bogus, who has friends if they’re at the mall this early in the night?!”

The lowblood cashier let out an annoyed grunt as Makkah scanned the store. Seeing a kid a couple racks down, she began making moves to grab a gaming buddy.

”Gl!tch~”

IT BEGINS!!!

 

[Gl!tch~]

Sometimes she got tapes delivered to her directly, but if Wander wanted to be up to date on some of her shows she had to go to the store directly. And not everything was on VHS. Some shows were DVD-exclusive, and DVDs were easier to play anyway. But the orangeblood liked the weird feed to tapes when watching them. She liked less when the reels got all janked up sometimes. And they did take a lot of space... But she enjoyed them.

However, two tapes was more arm space than two DVDs. She had to be smart about that when shopping.

Anyway, she was here today because TV ads kept showing off some brand new shows that were out now. And the next shipment would definitely take a little while. Wander couldn't wait that long, not when she wanted to get the next part of this series as soon as possible.

While she scoped, she had to force herself to ignore whoever kept yelling. From a glance, it seemed to be a highblood. (With so much purple on their clothes it could only be)

who has friends if they’re at the mall this early in the night?!

Wander froze, bit back the annoyance, then kept looking through the racks of DVDs. She had friends, they all just weren't here. And that was good, because then she could surprise them with new shows later! As much as she would like to be around her friends right now... Especially with an obnoxious highblood around. Maybe she could sneak out quietly.

tenaciousgadabout

Happy boxing day have a tag

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

The highblood rounded around the CD rack to find the only other troll in the shop (save for the attendant behind the counter who definitely wasn't interested in playing.) She appeared to be a young lowblood around her age! Makkah walked over and posted herself up on the cd rack next to her.

”Yo, are you like, busy or whatever?”

She pointed behind her, at the game display in the corner. The dim light of the game bounced off the dark store, blinking as the game counted down to go back to the menu.

”See there's like, this game thing over there, and it's a two player thing. Like two player only I mean. And I uh, don't have anyone else to play it with so I was like, wondering if you wanted to uh, play it. If ya want.”

Smooth, Makkah. Real smooth. She tried to save face with by shifting her weight into a more confident pose.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

"Uh..."

Highblood. Caste highblood.

"U-uhh..."

If she said no, she'd be culled! How could she be stupid enough to go to Civisect on her own like this?!

Wander shut herself up by biting her lip, and nodded real hard. "I-I c-c-can...p-play..."

Abby, meanwhile, contemplated on when she could lift the kid's cool hat and wear it herself.

tenaciousgadabout

>:3a

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Makkah jumped out of her posturing immediately. It totally worked! Makkah's confidence in her coolness was back up. She clasped the girl's hand excitedly.

”Radical!! I'll show you how!”

Pulling her along, she brought this new friend over to the eye-straining screen. Pixelated Croakbeasts spewing out-dated catchphrases sat perched over each side of the game's title. Makkah gestured to pick up the controller as she explained.

”Okay so this is Battle Croakbeasts and it's like a shooting game, so you can move with this and you shoot whichever direction you're facing with this, and...”

The purpleblood rattled on, explaining the rest of the mechanics before starting the game up and shoving the other controller in her new captive friend's hands.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

"O-o-okay..." Wander mumbled, despite instantly dissociating furing the entire training session. Before she knew it, the game was on and her croakbeast stood still, waiting. She experimented with buttons, taking a little adapting to the movement and shooting willy-nilly.

"Am I d-doing it right?" She had no idea. Wander didn't play video games much back at the swamp, and they didn't have games out for kids like so many places on the Outside.

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Makkah beamed excited as the start screen loaded up. She'd played it enough times to run her Battle Croakbeasts cartridge on the original Super Exodus Entertain-O-Pyramid into the dust. As the first level appeared onscreen, she immediately began going through the motions of beating it with an of a master.

Her partner in croak battle was sliding over the learning curve gracefully in the meantime. Makkah happily chirped back, "You're doin' great, for sure! Keep it up, new kid!"

She continued through the steps of the first level like a ballet dancer, mind able to drift easily as she followed the routine. As she did, she realized, "Hey, what's your name by the way, new kid? I'm Makkah! Makkah Raynna! You might know me as Lil Mac! I was on TV a while ago! Did you see that at all? Did you see me on TV?"

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

Where Makkah seemed to be able to play with her eyes closed, or at least talk and game at the same time, Wander's hands shook and she got distracted very easily. She responded many times during pauses in conversation with "Uh-huh"s, not really paying attention but trying to at least play the game right.

Her thinkpan lagged with information that came her way, the bits and pieces that managed to process anyway.

And then she nearly dropped the controller once she did make the connections.

On TV! Oh no, not another one!

"O-oh! S-S-Supers-star?" How did she keep running into famous trolls? Did the universe just hate her that much?

Now she really struggled to focus on the game.

"I-I... Um. I...oh- ah....watched a lot of it...g-got some autographs..." Ohhhh boy she should really stop talkinggggg....

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Makkah was hella psyched now. A fan!! She grinned to herself, thinking about how she must be like, totally making her sweep for her right now.

"Oh, NOW I get it! No wonder you're all anxious and junk, you're like, totally star-struck or whatever right now!" The highblood kept her hands moving in the pattern she'd known since she was a tiny grub as she looked to her Player 2.

"I just want you know it's like, no biggie. Me, I mean. You can take a chill-pill, I'm not some lame stuck-up person like some famous people, y'know?" Perfectly done. Maybe now this lowblood would stop buggin' and they might break some high-scores. She had to admit it was fun being recognized though, it seems like everybody forgot way too quickly just how big of a deal she was supposed to be! She'd have to sign something for the lowblood later, if she remembered. For now, it was her prime gaming time.

Gl!tch~