Press Start to Join - For Noob

[CyanDimitrik]

If only Streets of Rage were in the arcade! But Katsumi's never seen it featured in any iteration of Club Sega! She'd otherwise have already hefted her smaller acquaintance upon her shoulder and toted her - likely kicking and fussing - to the cabinet. Still, Suzume's enthusiasm is appreciated.

A part of her wants to be cautious. Every time she's tried to be friendly with someone from the federation, it's gone weird somehow. Her self-preservation instincts are telling her to be less open, less amenable, and push the other girl away. It'll inevitably go bad, and Katsumi will be on the receiving end some way or another. But another part of her is craving human contact, and on a peer level it feels more fun. She's yet to successfully be friends with someone from a wrestling federation. Suzume seems nice. What could go wrong?

"You did?," asks Katsumi in reference to her hair. She didn't mean for it to come off so skeptical, but it did. She breezes right past that, however, and she attempts to tug the other girl by the arm around the arcade. "Up a floor, then! Wait, which other game?," she asks, shooting the short girl a curious look. Yes, while still walking and expertly dodging other arcade patrons.

[Noob]

"Yeah I did!" Suzume huffed before blowing a stray strand out of her face. "You should have seen it when I got out of bed." She said with a giggle. The brunette was well aware of the mess that was her hair but there was little she was prepared to do about it other than make sure she wasn't the 'spot the protagonist' winner.

Suddenly Suzume was tugged forward by an excited Katsumi. "Huh? How about...Final Fight or Tek...ennnnnn!" The woman said while trying to keep her balance. Kat had a pretty good grip on her and was now pulling her through a crowd of people. While the taller girl was weaving through them, Suzume was not as lucky, being pulled into person after person and trying to apologize to each person she bumped shoulders with. She had little time however since every time she tried to stop she was tugged in a different direction. "Wait wait...KATSUMI! Maybe I can try the stairs without help?" The girl sighed, hoping to make her way up a floor of her own volition. She had a feeling any other way would likely trip her up.

[CyanDimitrik]

Suzume is, alas, like one of those stretchy sticky hands you get out of the capsule-toy dispensers. And for those out there who don't know what that means: Katsumi is yanking poor Suzume around by the hand, causing her to whip around and smack into various things - mostly people - with reckless abandon. It's not until she suggests she may attempt the stairs on her own that Katsumi pauses.

She looks back at the brunette and blinks. Poor lil' battered thing. She might have more sympathy for her if her hair didn't seem to be perpetually disheveled, though. In a way, Suzume always looks like she's being bonked around. Still, this seems more like a short-person problem than anything Katsumi's fault.

"No-no, Lil' Bit. I may not be able to carry your burden."

Suzume has maybe one second to figure out where this is going.

"But I can carry you!"

With the fairly inappropriate Lord of the Rings reference made, Katsumi suddenly leans forward to try to wrap her arms around Suzume's waist to heft her up onto her shoulder! And if all goes according to plan, she'll be leading Suzume rear-first through the crowd. This may not have been the best day to wear a skirt.

[Noob]

Suzume finally got a second of peace and would use it to pat herself down a bit and fix her now askew glasses. "If you're gonna drag me through people, at least tell me to DODGE!" The woman said with a slight giggle. Luckily she hadn't bumped into anyone too solid. Katsumi seemed to have been a mostly decent navigator.

Suddenly Suzume felt a pair of arms around her waist. Her eyes went wide as her feet left the ground. "Haaah! Katsumi! Lemme dowwwn!" Suzume started to whine, now lifted over her new friend's shoulders. The smaller woman started to kick her legs wildly at first before the reality of the situation hit her. The last thing she wanted was to be kicking randomly in a crowd of people and the odds that Kat was going to actually let her down were slim. "C'mon..." She said, still squirming around a fair bit in an attempt to slip off Kat's shoulders.

Suzume sighed and just lowered her head, her face bright red as she was hauled through the crowd. "Can you at least just make sure no one can see up my skirt?" She asked before crossing her legs. She'd just wait for the first chance she got to hop down and onto her feet.

[CyanDimitrik]

"Quit wigglin'!," fusses Katsumi, who clearly is the inconvenienced one in this scenario!

Soon enough, however, it seems Suzume has accepted her fate as luggage. It's even to a manageable enough point that Katsumi needs only one arm wrapped around her waist to keep her positioned on her shoulder! Though her request is heard, processed, and totally understood.

"You got it!"

Her free hand plants against Suzume's backside to keep her skirt down. Subtle.

Soon enough, they reach an escalator. Katsumi's neck cranes to look up at it, smiling to herself. "Could you imagine getting a back body drop off this thing?," she asks. She then realizes, "Oop-! You can't see. Hang on." Ever helpful, Katsumi turns a 180 to aim Suzume's face towards the escalator in question, as a line builds up behind them.

Grumbling starts to rise among the masses. One voice finally shouts, "Move!"

"Hey! Be nice! I will kick your ass!"

Diplomacy.

[Noob]

"hhmmm!" Suzume gasped as she suddenly felt a hand on her rear. It was better than having people see up her skirt, but just barely. It appeared that Katsumi was intent on manhandling her and carrying her all around Club Sega. To make matters worse the bluenette seemed to have no awareness of how she was positioned. "Waaah! Hey!" Suzume yelled as she was turned around, almost hitting the wall.

Suzume could see what Kat meant about the drop now but it was hard to focus on that over the protests of a growing line of people. Slowly realizing what was happening the brunette was beyond mortified. "Oh my god Katsumi...can we just go? Or can you let me dowwwwn?" She began to pout. Suzume was fully prepared though to be carried up the stairs against her will while everyone else looked on in bewilderment.

Now just hoping Katsumi wouldn't start a fight Suzume sighed and rested her chin against the woman's back. "...Onward." She said with a roll of her eyes.

[CyanDimitrik]

"Tsh!," scoffs Katsumi to the faceless, but certainly uppity individual in the growing sea of frustration before her. But Suzume's fears are not realized, as she promptly turns and steps onto the escalator. By now, there's no one in front of them on the steps, but Katsumi is content to stand in place and enjoy the leisurely ride. She even has happy-shut eyes and a blissful smile on her face.

However.

Poor Suzume is now facing the aforementioned sea of irritable faces. The natives are restless, and now all they have to do while they wait on Katsumi to finish her ride is staaaaare at Suzume.

The escalator ride isn't particularly long, but one might be forgiven for feeling like it took ages under these circumstances. But once they reach the peak of their ascent, Katsumi merrily skips ahead a few steps before tilting to deposit Suzume on her feet. "And here we are! Side-scrolling heaven!" She, in no uncertain terms, flounces her way through the aisles, rounding off to arrive at something that causes Katsumi to nearly stumble over and faceplant. There it is. Her favoritest: Bare Knuckle, otherwise known as Streets of Rage.

Katsumi's eyes are wide, perfectly round, and excessively shiny. "They have it here~!," she coos in equal measures awe and excitement.

[Noob]

Suzume couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably as she was forced to face the angry people behind her during her ride up the escalator. Of course none of them were particularly upset with her but she still felt like part of the problem. If only she was on her own two feet again. That would have to wait though until the ride upstairs was over.

Finally the brunette was put back on the ground and would release a sigh. She pat herself down and fixed her skirt, just glad that she was able to move around more freely. Looking around she'd notice all the arcade cabinets around her, most of them from games she wasn't terribly familiar with. Side scrollers were not her area of expertise. As she followed Katsumi along though she could tell that the woman was excited. She seemed to have an extra spring in her step.

"So this is your favorite?" Suzume asked, finally speaking. Sure it looked cool but the brunette didn't quite see what all of the fuss was about. It was no street fighter, it wasn't even a Marvel vs. Capcom. It was a video game though and so Suzume would gladly give it a shot and try to hold her judgement until she was playing.

[CyanDimitrik]

"Ah-huh!," squeaks an enthusiastic Katsumi. Her eyes don't leave the screen, even as she's popping coinage into the cabinet. "I call-," she then pauses. She's too pro to deny her new lil' buddy her pick of the litter. Finally, those dark greens turn from the screen to the side, regarding Suzume.

More importantly, "Hurry up and put the money in!"

Once Suzume gets with the program, Katsumi's attention returns to the screen. "I can be whoever. You get first dibs. See, the chick there? She's the fast one. Black dude's all power. Whitey's balanced and boring. 'Course, they added a wrestler dude in a sequel who's even more power-based than the black dude, and they added a retarded skating kid who's even faster than the chick, but he's so weeaak. Oh, and there's a cyborg, too. But I never got into him. Just jumped the goddamn sharks on that one. Whatever."

That's about as concise an explanation as Suzume's going to get. And it all boils down to a selection of three characters Suzume gets to choose from, to whom Katsumi has yielded first pick. Impatiently. Her yellow-painted nails tap rhythmically on the cabinet surface.

[Noob]

"I...ummm..." Suzume stammered as she put some quarters in. There wasn't nearly enough time for her to analyze what each character did. She didn't get much out of Katsumi's explanations either either than a bit of information on who she obviously disliked. She had a quick decision to make though and so she'd chose speed, locking on to the chick and pressing the select button. "Speed please!" Suzume said as the choice was made. She hoped it fit her style. She figured Katsumi would likely tease her for picking the big black guy anyway since there was little further from Suzume than that.

Not really knowing what to expect Suzume would just stare at the screen as the colors flashed around. For the most part she'd just try to follow her new friends lead and hope she didn't mess anything up. She only had so many coins anyway and wanted to make them last. Had she been playing a more traditional fighting game she knew they would but here she was unsure.