[video]

[scootch]

[The journal clicks to life - shaky at first, then clearing up to show Ellie's excited face.]

Oh man- is this what used to happen during Christmas? The whole surprise-gifts-under-the-tree or whatever... it's kind of late, and yeah, there's no tree, but--!!

[She turns the journal around to show her sparsely-decorated apartment at first, and then, when she fixes it, a big, box-style arcade machine, the game title of "The Turning" splashed across the front in faded letters. It looks kind of beaten up, but not in too terrible a condition.]

Does anybody know about this game? It's supposed to be so cool, I heard all about it from a friend back home. I can't get it to work, though... they're supposed to be plugged in, right? It's in the middle of the room, so the cord won't reach anything.

Can somebody strong come over and help me move it? I wanna give it a try! ...And if it doesn't work, would anybody know how to fix this kind of thing?

Comments

[Voice]

[rutagraveolens]

That sounds amazing! Where did kids get the money from?

[It sounds like the sort of thing they would have in the Capitol.]

[video]

[painfully]

Fair enough. Where do you live?

[Written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

Of course not.

You can also see if the coin panel on the front is locked. If it's not, keys might be in there. Sometimes the button for the debug menu is located in the front. It's how you change things like game difficulty and how much money you have to put in to play.

[Video]

[respect_points47]

Nope! But it's a normal electrical machine, right? Easy peasy.

video

[theboywiththebook]

[The Power of Belief will move it for them! If he can make it work that is.]

I'm sure I can go grab one at the store. They've got everything there, I can go there and be at your place in five minutes.

[And he's giving her a smile that is just asking if it's okay. Because, video games.]

[video]

[disastergirl]

Wait, hold on! First of all, what even is that thing?

[It sure looked interesting enough, though.]

[risingwinds]

[And here we have one Ventus, using one of his usual ginormous grins. This... is really neat. An acrade box? Best present.]

Well, I'm not as strong as Terra, but I could always try using my Zero Graviga magic to move it around. It might be kinda tricky, but it's worth a shot, right?

[video]

[scootch]

...Oh, um.

[Crap. In her excitement she'd kind of forgotten that hey, people would have to actually come over. And the first rule of living solo is to never give your home base away to a stranger.]

...Can I... get your name first? I mean. I don't even know you.

[Voice]

[scootch]

From their parents, I guess. When they had them.

[Back then it was kind of normal to have at least one, for the most part. Or so she's heard.]

[scootch]

[....Oh, right. Money.]

We don't have any coins here, though.

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

You can set machines to freeplay mode, no money needed then.

[A pause.]

But if you wanted the authentic feel of putting quarters into the machine, maybe someone at the smithy could make some metal tokens the same size and weight? It is a bit satisfying feeding tokens into the machine.

[Video]

[scootch]

[...Well, it can't hurt.]

Okay, I'll let you know if it's busted, then.

video

[scootch]

[She's iffy about letting adult strangers over to her place, but kids? Heck yeah. Kids can occasionally be trustworthy.]

I don't mind. It's the... Heart building. Room seven.

[She can't get over the dorky name, but it's home. Kinda.]

[Video]

[scootch]

Yeah, I'm not interested in monsters. I've had enough of those.

[Freaking infected.]

Heart building, room 7.

[video]

[scootch]

It's an arcade game! Ever heard of those?

[scootch]

...Your... zero what now?

[What the heck does that even mean.]

Re: [Video]

[luckynumberthree]

I've been volunteered, have I? Sure thing, Squirt. You can pay us in video game matches, how's that?

[Voice]

[rutagraveolens]

Oh, okay.

[Rue's voice is a little soft since the idea is pretty foreign to her. They had rations and food lines in District 11 with a bonus given once a month to spend on extra supplies. Money for playing, that was unheard of.]

Do you think there will be more games like that in Luceti?

video -> Action

[theboywiththebook]

The heart building? Okay, I should be there soon. I'm just at the flame building.

[And by anyone's definition of soon, this would probably be strange. Considering the Flame Building is all the way on the other side of the village.]

Okay, see you there.

[And off the video he goes. Now normally it'd probably take him a good 15-20 minutes to go to the store and then to Ellie's. But, the magic of pixie dust helps cut the time. Thank gosh he has a whole bottle of it.

Just a pinch and he's off. To the store for an extension cord and then to Ellie's. And to top it all off, he manages to find the window of Room 7 on the second floor.

Tap, tap, tap, he'll just float outside it. All glowy and golden and stuff. No big deal.]

[Video->Action]

[wildbluevagner]

Right. I get that. [He says a bit soberly. Already he's tinking of her as someone who shouldn't see his true form.] I'll be there in a jiff...

[He has enough tact to teleport into the hallway of the relevant floor rather than the actual room. Perhaps the bamf could be heard. And then there's a knock on her door.]

[Video]

[voiceinthedark]

I'm the operator. Of course I volunteered you, Simon.

[risingwinds]

Zero Graviga!

[He laughs, rubbing the back of his head.]

It's an antigravity spell I can use to lift stuff off the ground.

[video]

[disastergirl]

Nope! We don't have machines like those where I'm from.

And what's an 'arcade'?

[Voice]

[scootch]

Maybe. I haven't really been here long enough to know what to expect. But I hope so? I mean, I'd love to play every game I can get my hands on.

[scootch]

Oh wow, I never even thought of that. I'll give it a shot! Maybe the game's got a few spare coins hidden somewhere that I can use for a reference.

I like the idea of getting the authentic experience.