Announcement Box

[Seraph]

"I know!" Lynn was feeling good. The salad had been strange but tasty, and the conversation and company had been a welcome change from the open stares she got on base. Anubis knew how to keep a girl interested; Lynn was quite sure he wasn't even aware of it.

Of course, it didn't hurt that she was pretty geeky for a 'normal girl', as he called her more than once. It gave them things to talk about. "Did you see the new class they announced? I mean, dual wielding just about anything? That's gotta be boss."

"I played the hell out of the last one - would you believe I was the first one to find the last Valkyr set piece? The helm that nobody could figure out how to get to?" She grinned, chuckling a little bit. "Nobody messed with my character after I was the first to complete the Valkyr set."

She sighed, and stretched a little, hands reaching into the dry, darkening Katina sky. She'd stopped to do so, but apparently Anubis hadn't noticed right away, as he'd gotten ahead a few steps. It was all she needed; the thought popped into her head, and she acted on it.

Taking a few running steps, she hopped up onto Anubis' back, and wrapped her legs around his middle. "Hah! Now who's tall," she crowed from her perch. "So, where we goin'? Mind if I catch a lift?"

[Lunar]

"Which is great but- Lynn?- Woah!"

First Lynn was next to him talking, then not there, then on his back. Surprised, Anubis stumbled forward, but caught himself and straightened up, wrapping his arms around Lynn's legs to help hold her on his back. He looked back, raising a brow and replying, "We're going... I dunno, but I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get there." Looking ahead now, Anubis found it impossible to keep a smile off his face.

The night had been great so far, with the meal going smooth and his date seemingly well pleased. He half expected something to go horribly wrong at any moment, and wondered if he'd been around Terra just a little too long. Just relax. Relax and savor the moment.

And it was a nice moment, as the snow leopoard's body was comfortable warm against his back in the cool night air.

"So you've been around here longer then I have. Any ideas? I'm game for just about anything." He had ideas himself, but figured he'd see what Lynn wanted to do. No harm in asking, right?

[Seraph]

"Hm." Lynn paused to think, feeling a slight lull from the motion of Anubis walking. "Well, if we hadn't just been sitting and eating already, I'd say I know a nice little coffee shop not far from base, but..."

She thought some more. "There's a theater, and the big arcade, but..." She stopped talking, and if she'd been walking, she'd have stopped that too.

She knew he'd love the place, but she wasn't sure how he'd handle the other people there. They were their crowd almost exclusively, and some of them got a little...weird. Especially about her.

"There's another arcade too, a better one, but I don't go there much. It's smaller, more out-of-the-way, and full of guys who love to hit on me." She made a small noise, then smiled and pulled in a little closer to him. "You might have to pretend we're going out, if we go there. Otherwise they'll try to horn you out."

Another pause. "Well, they'd try anyway." She cuddled a little closer, resting her cheek against the back of his shoulder lightly; he was warm, and night had fallen a little quickly. She found herself wishing she hadn't left her coat with her bike, but...there were benefits to not having it.

[Lunar]

Anubis smirked, glancing over his shoulder. "Try, yes. We'll see how far they get on that. Right, point the way, Lynn." And point she did, along with verbally directing and pulling or pushing on his shoulders. Eventually they got there, Lynn sliding off his back, and the jackal studied the building.

It was fairly large, with lots of bright neon lights, and holoscreens, and loud techno rock mixed in with the sound of arcade games being sent out in waves. It looked pretty good, considering the size of the town. Not on the level of the ones he had frequented in Venom City, but that was to be expected. With a smile he looked down to his date and waved a hand to the entrance.

"Well then, shall we go?" He took her hand in his, and she led him inside.

Dark, noisy, somewhat stuffy, with the smell of grease mixed in with cheap deodorants; yup, it was an arcade. Lights flashed everywhere, people cheered and boo'ed competing players, and the sound of cards sliding or coins clinking (a novelty for sure) were all too familiar elements to Anubis. "Niiice. I can dig this." He stepped in a bit more, taking in the sights and sounds, and looking for his favorite games.

[Seraph]

Lynn grinned as she slid off Anubis' back, and felt a pleasantly warm flush creep up her face as he took her hand, with a matching flutter in her stomach.

Don't get so excited. It's just pretend, so the boys will leave us alone.

Lynn led him into the dark, cool arcade, and felt herself relax a little at the sounds and smells of the place. This was her home-away-from-base, really, when she could bring herself to face up to--

"Little Lynn!" She fought the groan that came to her as he walked up to them from the side; a burly, dark-colored tabby with a ruff of white at his neck and chin. She smiled at him, squeezing Anubis' hand slightly as if to tell him it had already started.

"Hi, Rocky." Her voice was light, unconcerned. Good. "How's the place been? Any scores I gotta beat?"

"Only mine, on SZ5. I finally beat your Endurance time. Seventeen-fifty." The big cat looked pleased with himself, puffing up a little bit. "Not bad, eh?"

Lynn looked impressed, and she was; that was a good time. Nearly eighteen minutes straight of SZ5 VR was pretty taxing. Her own time had been sixteen minutes, and it had wiped her out doing it. "Not bad." She turned to Anubis, and tossed him a wink. "Don't think I know anyone who could beat that."

Rocky seemed to notice Anubis for the first time, and actually jumped a little. "Whoa! Didn't see you there." He squinted at Anubis some, then nodded. "You must be the guy Lynn talks about. Her boyfriend. The mercenary." He looked Anubis over casually. "Taking a night off, eh?"

Lynn remembered a discussion she'd had with Mitzi, a co-worker back at base, about terminal mortification. First documented case, comin' right up...oh, gods...

[Lunar]

The jackal smiled, teeth showing. It seemed friendly, open even. Maybe it was, too. He hadn't decided his intent yet. "You could say that. We're both real busy these days, so I figured I'd treat Lynn to a night out, like when we first met." His tone was casual, his hand remained in her's, and the smile remained on his features. The lie, as it were, wasn't hard to pull off. He decided to thank Terra for that, as she had trained them well in the art of deception; a necessary skill in the mercenary business.

Taking a moment to look the cat over, Anubis cocked his head a little. "So what's this about your Endurance score? 17:50? That's pretty impressive." And it was, the techie had to admit that. Still, his competitive nature was slowly starting to stir, and already he was sizing the man up, along with any passerbys, and wondering how many scores he could trample in his wake.

"What's your title character? Or are you a jack of all trades?"

[Seraph]

Lynn smiled as the boys talked, and kept herself from glowing at Anubis' smooth words. Oooh, I need to remember to compliment him. Maybe it's a mercenary thing, being able to lie like that.

Then again, his hand was warm and firm in hers, and he was pretty close, pretty casual about it. Maybe it wasn't so much a lie...

Nope, nope, don't get too optimistic. That gets you shot down, in just about every sense.

Rocky grinned at the shop talk, and said, "Well, I play a handful at competitive level, to deal with certain matchups, but I'll always have a soft spot for Johnny Bird. Been playing him since SZ1, and he's probably my best, with a few exceptions."

Lynn nodded to this. "His JB is to be feared. He's the top in system for that character." She smiled wryly. "He even beats me sometimes."

The tabby wrinkled his nose. "Marin is cheap. And JB is legacy. Therefore better."

Lynn sighed. "Marin replaced Zetsubushi, who played exactly the same and was in the original. Quit your whining." That was the thing she didn't like about this guy - he was amazing at the game but he'd yet to stop considering things 'cheap' when they beat him too often.

Rocky shrugged. "Whatever you say, Little Lynn."

Lynn tensed when he said it again; she hated that pet name, yet at least with him, she just couldn't get rid of it. She realized she was squeezing Anubis' hand again, and relaxed. No sense breaking his fingers; he wouldn't thank her for that, in this arcade especially.

The tabby smiled at the two of them, then turned around and looked at a group standing around some older-style cabinets. "Hey, I gotta go for now. Maybe we'll meet up later, have a match, blue dude?" His tone was light, confident.

Lynn almost wanted to laugh. If only he knew what he was getting himself into...

[Lunar]

The 'blue dude' held back a smirk, keeping his smooth smile instead, and shrugged. "Sure. I'm a bit out of practice, though, so don't expect much." When the tabby had sauntered off Anubis looked down to Lynn as they began browsing through the arcade. "Rocky, eh? I'll remember that."

The Rocky guy seemed like a nice enough fellow, if a bit full himself. But it was an arcade, and that was to be expected. Anubis periodically passed in and out of that phase on a regular basis during any of his gaming excursions, and had learned that no matter how good you were, there would always be someone better. The jackal had learned to revel in both the sensation of winning, and the feeling of loss. Both served to make his gaming better, in the end.

Then again, some people never really learn.

Anubis chuckled. "So come on, let's play something. We'll save SZ for last, right? How about a classic?" More or less leading her now, Anubis came to stop at an older controller-based game. The images were still projected, but by a more basic, flat holoscreen. "Here, Kenrosuku. A good warm up." Taking out his universal Slide Card (one of the greatest gaming inventions of all time, which saved the arcades from going extinct) he stepped up to the P1 controller and raised his brow.

"Ready for this?" A friendly smirk.