Press Start to Join - For Noob

[CyanDimitrik]

Club Sega is badass.

This is a truth Katsumi has known to be true for a long time. Being a gamer nerd for most of her life, the different installations throughout Japan have always been her playground growing up. Her adoptive family didn't care for it, but they tolerated it - of all the places she'd ever go, she always seemed to be at her best behavior in the colossal arcade. Give the girl money, and she'd be occupied for hours. For Katsumi, it was like a perfect escape - no worries, no problems, just people who were enthusiastic about gaming like her. It was Heaven.

Katsumi hadn't been in four years; not since she began her wrestling career - or more particularly, since she began college. She just didn't have the time. The mix of her federation and university studies kept her extremely occupied. But now that she's joined LAW, the siren call of classic arcade gaming and losing herself in the wash of what she could generally consider "her people" is too heavy to ignore. Between the stresses of needing to push herself to win and take all challenges, and the emotional toil of heavy life changes - and other factors - she's needing a break. She could play her console games or PC at her lame apartment, but Club Sega is her medicine.

The neon glow of the six-story arcade gave Katsumi all the warm fuzzy feelings she could hope for. She arrived in a black miniskirt, tanktop, knee-high leather boots, and the same coin-centered choker she wears to the ring. Over it all, she wears a lightweight gray hoodie open. She dressed to relax, but with her personal punky style intact. What made it all the more special, however, were the fans she'd encounter inside. It was a long trek up beyond the first couple floors, stopping to shake hands, make jokes, accept words of encouragement and wry admonishment for her behavior, and doing a few impromptu photos. It was all in stride - even the aforementioned would-be scoldings. She loved it. The fighting in the ring was certainly an integral part of who she was, but the impact she had on others - the glamour, the notoriety, the affection - that made it all meaningful. Sort of a reaffirming to her life choices. Something she might have needed. She may not be a star in LAW, but this made her feel like someone, at least.

At this point, she's on the third floor of the arcade with a small crowd gathered around her. The game of choice: Darkstalkers. It may not be the most popular flavor of the month, like those rhythm games, but this gave her a chance to play around with wrestling fans. And at this particular moment, she's dealing with a younger fan - a girl who's insistently button-mashing. Katsumi isn't terribly familiar with the game, but she's latched onto Morrigan as her bae-to-play, and hasn't done awful. That is, until now. The particularly keen among her spectators have noted she's a little slower on reaction times and more simple in her button-pushes than with other challengers, giving her young opponent a clear advantage - all with a knowing grin.

"Hey, c'mon!," foux-fusses Katsumi. "You've played this a bajillion times, right!?"

"No!"

"Ah-huh! You're hustling me!"

The girl giggles. "Am not!"

"Are so!"

"K.O.!"

The girl shoots Katsumi a wiiiide, self-satisfied smile. Katsumi responds with a grin of her own. "Killin' my cred'. You know that, right?" The girl nods happily, to the laughter of the onlookers. Katsumi giggles and tussles the girl's hair. "Punk. Get outt'a here, I've gotta save face."

As the girl rejoins the spectators at large, Katsumi turns to face the crowd and opens her arms wide. "Katsumi Oshiro, taking all challengers in the ring and in Club Sega! Who's next!?"

[Noob]

Having been swamped with work, wrestling, and writing, Suzume barely had any time to herself recently. The girl was feeling completely exhausted. Because of that she decided to drop everything and just spend the weekend doing whatever she wanted. Today that meant video games galore. While she was normally ok with just shutting herself in to do this, today she just needed some fresh air. Having heard about Club Sega on a few forums, Suzume decided today was the day to check it out.

Spoiler

Upon entering Suzume was nearly blinded by all the blinking lights. She adjusted her glasses and began to make her way about the place. Moving around she spotted some of her favorite fighting games but most of them seemed to be too busy for her to want to wait for. Eventually the girl bumped into a small crowd huddling around one of the games. Pushing her way through the horde of people, Suzume finally made her way to the front of the crowd just to see the little girl leaving.

When she heard the open challenge, Suzume's face lit up. "Oooo, ooo me!" She yelled, almost jumping up and down as she ever so slowly got closer to the arcade cabinet. "I wanna play! I mean it aint street fighter but I that one was busy." She continued, mumbling the last part.

[CyanDimitrik]

Katsumi had her pick of the proverbial litter, hands raising enthusiastically as people vied for the opportunity to play with the professional wrestler. But one manages to stand out amidst the cluster; a mousy girl with glasses, looking entirely too ecstatic.

"Gotta give it to my girl here," she calls, pointing to Suzume with a grin on her face. She's cute! Vaguely familiar, but it's hard to really pinpoint where she's seen her from. It's the hair and glasses, she thinks. Some members of their audience also seem to recognize her, some murmurs rising up among them. Why, even a few point at her.

Katsumi turns to the cabinet again and hunches over it, pushing out her pert lil' rear, bobbing side to side. "Alright. What's your name?," she asks as she puts in the coinage to continue before the timer runs out. Naturally, the cursor goes right back to Morrigan.

[Noob]

Suzume excitedly ran up to the cabinet and grabbed the controls. "BI-SHA-MON~" She yelled out, immediately hovering over the character. It was only a few seconds later that she would reply with her real name. "I'm Suzume." The brunette said as she briefly turned her head and smiled. It had been a long time since she had played at an actual arcade and was looking forward to showing off a bit. She just hoped she wouldn't have to go easy on Kat. Seeing that a crowd had gathered though she assumed her opponent was either good or someone with a bit of notoriety.

"Alright, ready when you are." Suzume said as she mashed the start button. The brunette quickly turned her head back to focus on the screen, waiting patiently for the game to start. Focusing hard Suzume's tongue poked out slightly from the side of her mouth. Unlike with wrestling, she was ready to kick some butt when it came to video games.

[CyanDimitrik]

"Aaalright, Suzume!," Katsumi chirps, expecting that she already knows who she is. She was a part of the crowd, after all! Right? And no one would be in the crowd if they didn't know the Punk Princess! "I won't go easy on you! Get ready!"

She can clearly tell that she is. She's got her tongue poked out and everything. And when the match starts, Katsumi is similarly focused. Eyes are narrowed, lips pursed into a thin line. The difference between them would no doubt be a question of skill level, which Suzume would almost certainly have over Katsumi.

This is not a game she's particularly versed with. She's played it a few times; enough to pick up a trick or two with this particular character. Outside of that, she's what most would describe in the gaming world as a "High Roller". That is, she mashes button combinations and swivels that joystick around with wild abandon in hopes of landing on something amazing. The pros? She's unpredictable. The cons? Basically everything else.

[Noob]

"I don't expect you to...ummmm...yeah." Suzume mumbled the last part as she realized she had no idea what her opponent's name was. With the fight about to start though she didn't have the time to ask. Now it was time to focus on combos an frame perfect timing. While Suzume didn't have the latter, she was fairly proficient in the former. She seemed to at least be good enough to take on Katsumi as was apparent by the sudden button mashing.

The strategy took Suzume by surprise at first. She had thought that with the crowd watching, Kat would have been more skilled. The brunette turned and just stared at the other woman in wonder for a moment, letting her character get hit a few times. Soon snapped back to reality though Suzume would grab the joystick tight and start mounting an offensive. Unlike her counterpart she would hit the buttons with precision, looking to land big hits and punish any mistake Katsumi made when possible.

"C'mon, you can't just mash like that. That's so lame." Suzume whined. She frowned after getting hit with three low kicks in a row. "Reeaaaalllly?" She sighed before trying out a special attack and hoping now to just get a quick win.

[CyanDimitrik]

When Suzume looks over at Katsumi, she'll see a look of marked (but undeserved) confidence on her face! Those expressive dark green eyes are glued to the screen, nimble fingers bashing against the buttons like they owed child support. And when she gets those free hits in, the smile on her face only grows.

"Don't be a hater~," coos Katsumi playfully as Suzume whines.

Their audience snickers.

"Now get ready for th-"

Suzume interrupts her dramatic plans.

"Get ready f-"

"Get ready for-"

"K.O.!"

Katsumi blinks at the screen a couple times as Morrigan sails in slow motion. Suddenly, she whirls in complete about-face to the audience, arms raised. "Don't worry! We all saw what happened with Cathy Jefferson! None of it matters 'til that final bell!"

By the time she turns back around, Round 2 has already started. Hopefully Suzume has been nice enough to wait for Katsumi's showboating to wrap up!

[Noob]

"Yes!" Suzume shouted and pumped her fist before turning back to the screen. She was pumped and ready for round two. Her opponent didn't seem as ready though as she was addressing the audience. Suzume's character threw a quick punch before she realized there was no response. She turned her head and rolled her eye's. "C'mon. The round started." She said, bouncing slightly on her feet and clearly excited to keep on going. Unlike Katsumi, Suzume intended to wait until she actually won to start talking more.

The brunette hunched over and would inadvertently wiggle her butt for the crowd. She was ready to get down to business though. Not waiting very long for her opponent to get back to the game, she would start tapping buttons, going for the first combo that came to mind. Seeing Katsumi's strategy though she decided to take it a bit easier on the woman so that the match lasted a bit longer then their last one. She was having fun after all and it would be a good time to try and practice some of the harder moves she couldn't normally pull off.

[CyanDimitrik]

Suzume's attempt to direct her attention back to the game gets a grin from Katsumi. "Someone's in a hurry to get beaten~!" And someone is definitely not the sort to keep quiet until the end of a match, like the complete opposite of Suzume.

Still, Katsumi gets back into things. And this time, she's being more deliberate and careful. As Suzume goes for more difficult and less-finessed combos, Katsumi is picking and choosing her moments to burst those wild button-pushes, kinking up the machinations! Should another look be stolen her way this time, she'll see a rather different look on the punkette's face - this time, her tongue is the one slightly poked out, eyes narrowed in concentration.

The audience is enjoying things. They're enjoying the heat, the bob of Suzume's rear, and the hipbump Katsumi sends Suzume's direction! "Don't get distra~cted~!" Obviously the point of doing that is to distract Suzume.

[Noob]

"In your dreams!" Suzume replies with a giggle. As her overconfidence starts to display it self though she realizes that all of a sudden her character's health is getting quite low. Perhaps she should have just stuck with what she knew. She still had plenty of time for that though and would start giving the round the seriousness it deserved.

Before she could do much Suzume felt a sudden bump, sending her a few inches to the side. "Waaah! Hey!" She whined as she was thrown off, her fingers sliding from the buttons. Before she could reposition herself correctly she saw her character slowly falling to the floor. The brunette glared at Katsumi and pouted. "No fair!" She declared, her eyes glued to the taller woman. There was little she could do now though other than turn back to the screen and kick some butt.

"This round I'm not going easy on you. Bishamon is gonna chop ya to pieces." She said with a smug grin. This time she was ready for any tricks that might come her way, or so she thought. Either way if Katsumi wanted to beat her fair and square it would be no easy task.