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Vera just squealed excitedly when her father picked her up, while Valery shot him a grateful smile. She loved Vera to death, but she could be a handful. It was never really a problem, but the pregnancy made a lot of things more difficult. Luckily, the little Noble was distracted by the games, flashy lights, and the idea of playing with her dad.
It was whack-a-Sith time!
"Mhmm!"Vera said before she pulled over a small step so she could actually reach the machine. She then grabbed one of the hammers, waited for her dad to be ready, and fell into the Force. Visions could show her terrible things, but sometimes they also helped immensely. Split seconds before the Sith heads came up, Vera knew where they'd be and slammed down the hammer to whack away and increase her score.
She was too good at this game, but Valery narrowed her eyes when she realized that her daughter was using the Force like this.
Maeve wandered the Astral Arcade, grimacing like a drenched cat. She had no idea why she was here. Blinding neon lights, ringing bells and the sound of shrieking children—it was hell on earth. The last place she'd ever want to be.
But orders were orders, and Maeve had received hers directly from Master Noble. "Have fun," the report had stated, and nothing more. So, like a good Jedi Shadow, she'd obeyed.
Wandering aisles of flashing boxes and screens, Maeve eventually stopped short of a large tower, a strength-testing game that reached to the ceiling. She read the name once, then frowned. The Mandalorian Striker? It was probably the dumbest name she'd ever heard of.
So, of course, Maeve just had to play it.
Snatching the beskar hammer from where the giant, bald-headed man had left it, she readied herself into an offense stance, the kind of poses you learned back at the temple. Part of her was tempted to use the Force to enhance her strength and absolutely demolish the game—maybe earn a hundred tickets as a result—but she was a Jedi Knight, and there was no honor in cheating.
Maeve took in a deep breath. Raising her arms high above her head, she brought the hammer down like a thunderbolt, slamming it against the lever.
Caltin Vanagor
would find himself intercepted by a very irate looking Zeltron. Arms crossed, Yula stared down the hulking Jedi Master with her neck craned upward at an uncomfortable angle.
"Hey! Careful with that aim, big guy!" She barked, jabbing a finger at Caltin's chest. "That game is new an' my ma is gonna throw a fit if it ain't up an' running!"
More likely, Joza would make Yula put her mechanical skills to use and fix it herself.
"Ugh, figures you'd show up just as I finished unloading a box of Ginko Pops with your face on 'em." She shook her head. "Enjoy the arcade, but go easy on the equipment, or else."
Arching a brow, Yula grinned and shot him a pair of finger guns.
"Alright, where's that repair guy? Matt the Radar Tech
! HEY, MATT! GET OVER HERE, THE TROOPER GAME IS DOWN!"
Scanning the arcade floor, Yula did a double take on what appeared to be an empty chair at the Cloudcutter racing game. She stomped over and snatched Kyra Perl
by the collar of her shirt.
"Found you!" She cackled triumphantly. "Get back to the snack bar, twerp. You’re on nerfdog detail.”
“Keep taking time for yourself until you are you again.” —Lalah Delia
Nothing more awkward, and “willies” inducing like a Zeltron ticked off at you with her arms crossed, but that was Yula Perl
right now. She was poking him and yelling, and what was worse, others began to turn their heads, especially Chrysa. Chrysa didn’t know what he did. She was glaring at him!
Great, now SHE was folding HER arms!
Didn’t the ticket guy give you my credit card? I wanted to pay for the damage!
Oh, “Finger guns”... great! Chrysa uses those when she’s… great now SHE’S giving him a look. With a sigh, he decided to go and get them both a couple of drinks. The beverage counter wasn’t far away and… oh great… it’s the bartender that hates him already. The big guy can’t seem to win tonight.
Walking back quietly, he gave Chrysa her drink and she just giggled and went back to her game.
Kyra yelped and clutched her tokens close to her chest. "Son of a-" She half fell out of the racing game, her legs tangling as Yula Perl
pulled her out.
"Geeze, watch it, you're gonna break something-- uuuuugh." She shoved off Yula's grip and managed her way to her feet. "Such an 'itch, I was just testing it," she complained, already making her way back towards the snack bar. She shoved her tickets in her pocket and paused as she reached a corner, hovering just long enough to make a face at Yula before ducking away.
Act natural, Act natural... She glanced over her shoulder...
Then saddled up at the next machine. "Ooo, Porg Hunt!"
Inanna had no chance, it seemed, given her lack of arcade experience.
That said, Cato hadn't exactly done spectacular himself, not even cracking third against the NPC racers. He furrowed his brow, unsatisfied with his apparent rustiness. But Inanna didn't seem to notice, and so he made no comment. A sign of weakness would not do. Serena hardly registered one way or another, just enjoying the bright colors and lights flashing on the screen. She bounced up and down in her carrier, and screeched approvingly, "Nicely done, co-pilot," He bopped his palm against hers, "And... nice try, honey," He grinned smugly at Inanna.
"Ohhh, okay," Cato chuckled, putting in another token of his own, "Haven't been embarrassed enough yet?" The next course loaded in, and the game started anew.
"I wouldn't expect to see them at arcades, though," the alien girl with the funky fresh ears remarked.
"Oh, there's a bunch of Jedi here," the Nautolan uttered without even thinking about it.
As the next song started up, the green-skinned boy seemed determined to beat this thing at its own game. It was only after he'd spoken that he actually thought about what he'd said. Taking his eyes off the machine, his head-tails bounced from side to side as he turned his head and actually scanned the room.
"Well, there a couple of Jedi here anyway," he amended.
One in particular was familiar. And also stood out in a crowd. "See the brah that looks like he could be a MMA fighter? That's Master Caltin," Zak commented, before he returned his attention back to the machine in front of him.
"I'll play winner," Daiya announced, placing her token on the edge of the display screen, regretting her first choice of game. The pair on the DDR machines were already working up a sweat, and greedy eyes watched the patterns pass on the screen, longing to be part of it already.
"Right on," the Nautolan chirped, as he motioned to the open station by him.
Was he winning? To be honest, he had no idea. Quintessa
or Loomi
were probably in the lead. Zak was still trying to figure out what this game thought was cool right now.
...or it could just be randomly generated movements with no connection to the actual music. At this point, Zak was thinking that was it.
"Oh you're a DJ? That's actually pretty rad! I used to dance. Still do, from time to time. I'm Quintessa, by the way."
"Astral!" the boy remarked. So, at least he knew her name. He still had no idea what species she was, but maybe he'd figure a way to ask that on the sly later. "What's your favorite type of music? Core drive, glitz?"
Please don't say sparkle-bop. Please don't say sparkle-bop. Please don't say sparkle-bop.
"I'm kinda into wreckpunk right now, but I love playing heavy isotope," the Nautolan added, as he glanced back to the machine to see how he was doing.
He should probably be paying more attention to this thing.
Tall and mean, though now clean. Corin was free from the often worn scuffs and scrapes that lined his face, for now. Out from the robes and back into the leathers, his time at the temple had been more frequent than it had been in years. Perhaps there was an attempt to learn, to adapt, to become better. Possibly. The chance to set it aside, even if for a night, was much welcomed.
He thought himself a regular spacer gunslinger from behind the arcade screen, the wired-in blaster possessing much of the same kick. There was a focus written across his face, despite the small and eager sight of an ever-faint smile. A broad one would be unbecoming of someone so otherwise condemned to brooding. Though the brightly shining memories of his childhood, as few and far between as they often were, included a place like this; dark and dingy with more foul smells than one could recognise, as was the case with Denon. Dagon was there, he always was.
Not anymore.
Twirling the fake blaster around his finger, Corin blew imaginary steam from the barrel.
"How does your human saying go?" Inanna asked, eyes glued to the screen as a new game started. "'If at first you don't succeed, try again'?"
Her second attempt was a lot better... and Cato's was really, really bad. "Nice try, space cowboy," she said coyly, getting up out of her seat and watching him fail over his shoulder with a satisfied smirk. Serena reached for the long strand of tickets dangling from Inanna's hand, trying to grab them.
"You know, I used to work at a club not far from here..." she remarked, her gaze wandering over the other games. Topple the Trooper was down... Dance Dance Regeneration seemed to be pretty popular, though Inanna actually laughed out loud when she tried to picture Cato playing that with Serena strapped to his chest. Hello, shaken baby syndrome!
She watched Caltin Vanagor
get chewed out by Yula Perl
while Maeve Linahan
tried the Mandalorian Striker, then complained that it was rigged. "Well, most of these games are basically gambling machines," Inanna said. "Why not take a chance?"
She picked up the "beskar" hammer, raised it over her head, and swung.
“You’re lookin right at one, partner,” Loomi remarked with a grin, making a feeble attempt at finger guns. “Not just us either. Over there at the wack-a-somethin game? That’s Valery Noble
. She’s a big deal… I think… Yeah, that’s right. I’m not confused.”
She was confused, but that wasn’t stopping her from saying things. She just felt really chatty today for some reason. Maybe it was just the pheromones in the air that had her all strange-like. Not that she was in any position to ponder anything further.
“Awesome,” Loomi noted with a wobbly smile, “I’m gonna go do something else I think… I’m starting to feel…”
Woozy? Was that the right description? Perhaps. She wasn’t exactly in a right state of mind to take a stand on such a thing.
“You can take my spot,” she added, awkwardly stumbling off the DDR machine. “Break a leg or whatever it is they say.”
And so she was off, wandering to gods knew where. She rather absentmindedly looked for things that might be interesting, but all the lights were beginning to get confusing.
This was, of course, when she bumped into someone. A Jedi woman with blonde hair who was clearly much cooler than her playing some kind of Mandalorian themed game. It was enough to make Loomi stumble back, but she shockingly kept her balance.
“Golly,” she laughed sheepishly, her antennae curling back in embarrassment, “Sorry about that. I’m a bit scattered right now.”
"My human saying?" Cato jokingly scoffed at the implication (Even if, for all intents and purposes, he was raised human). "Story of my life, though," Albeit with probably less success than implied.
As was very much the case with their second turn. Cato stared aghast at the screen, showing Inanna having placed decisively above him, "Yeah, yeah. Beginner's luck. It's been a while, alright?" He smirked playfully as he left the seat, grabbing his measly two tickets.
"That so?" Cato raised an eyebrow, as they scanned the available games. He too liked the idea of showing off his dance moves, but it would require a quick baby transfer to make possible. Inanna spotted the striker game as it became open, leading the way to their next competition, "Kid-friendly gambling," Cato quipped. Inanna did pretty well, all things considered, even if she didn't reach the top. "Step aside, madame," He handed Serena over to her while he prepared for his turn. He cracked his knuckles, grabbed the hammer, and swung.
At the dance machines, feet and bodies thrashed in a coordinated frenzy, as Daiya watched on with eager delight. The soles of her feet itched to join them, and her heels bounced with the beat of the music. Her ears took in the conversation between the players, falling right back out as her eyes greedily consumed the scene before her. They followed the patterns on the machine, her knees and ankles twitching with every new command for the dancers, trying to follow it without being a part of it herself. Of those who were, the wide-eared pink girl and the tendril-headed green boy almost seemed matched, almost, until her eyes spied the girl pulling far ahead of the boy.
The teen grinned with all the pride she could muster, pink was always a winner.
“...You can take my spot. Break a leg or whatever it is they say.”
"Really?" Words shook the teen from her reverie, a broad, eager smile on her lips. Daiya had almost forgotten about the bug-legged girl at the third platform, and flushed nearly as pink as her curls. Needs more color, her mind supplied, but she wasn't going to say that to the raven-haired girl, "Astral, thanks!"
Daiya climbed up and dropped her token in the machine. It took a moment to start up, allowing the teen time to collect herself. She passed her smile to the other two dancers next to her, tucking hair back behind her ears that was surely going to fly out anyway. Her eyes looked past the machines to find Hex
in search of another game, and Cinder
showing off her skills at the scree-ball machine. A corner of her lips tugged at the sight, Cinder had some great wrist control!
Her head snapped back to the game in front of her, the heady thrum of the music already vibrating inside her body. She jumped into the first pose as the game started scrolling through moves, following odd commands that twisted her hips like she never had before. It was so different from dancing in a club, where the music guided yet never commanded.
"Oh my stars, your moves are a-mazing!" the teen had to raise her voice over the music, and by then it wasn't clear which one of her fellow dancers she was talking to. Her hair was starting to bounce out from behind her ears, and Daiya ignored it.
If she ignored her instinct, too, the game became a lot easier to play.
The teen just let the game tell her where to go, and focused on getting there. Daiya let her hair fly and her heart pound as her feet moved from position to position, feeling like less of a dance than a training program. It didn't matter, she found herself giggling and beaming from the effort anyway. "Okay, this one is way fething better. I could do this for hours."
As the music started to change, Daiya could feel a rising question in her heart. "Oh, I wonder if this has any Sparkle-Bop!"
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Inanna said, grinning as the machine spat out fourteen tickets.
She exchanged the hammer for Serena, covering the giggling baby in kisses. “Watch Daddy,” she said.
“Hi Daddy!” Serena exclaimed, one of her favorite phrases.
Daddy wasn’t terrible, but he didn’t exactly impress. “Definitely rigged,” Inanna said, shaking her head. “Although, it’s probably calibrated to take Wookiee-level strength into account...” Compared to them, human strength just wasn’t all that.
Serena stretched out her arms and made grabby gestures with her fingers toward the hammer. “You want a turn?” Inanna asked. Looking up at Cato, she shrugged. “Why not. If she beats us, we’ll know for sure that it’s rigged.” Or that their child wasn’t just half-Zeltron, maybe…
Setting Serena on the floor—she could walk by now, but for obvious reasons they didn’t want to just set her loose in the arcade—Inanna placed the hammer in her hands. “You ready?”
Serena screeched, raised her arms, and with Inanna’s help keeping it steady, brought the hammer down.
Kahlil chuckled a little as he watched Vera swing the hammer away. Even if she was using the Force, it wasn't that bad, was it? He took up the hammer, glanced to her. Then flashed a wider grin. Why not play along. No harm, no foul. He turned his gaze to the machine, lifted the hammer, then started to just go to town. Have some fun.
"Yay, daddy!" Vera squealed when she watched her dad win a bunch of tickets on his first try. At this rate, those big plushies were gonna be hers, so there was no stopping her now. Vera kept whacking away with everything she had, fueled by the desire for cute, stuffed animals.
Valery watched the excitement, sighed, and swallowed her words. Her little girl was happy and Kahlil seemed into it as well. So she decided to just watch and smile lovingly at the two.
When the game finally wrapped up, Vera collected her tickets ans counted them with a grin. "Hmm, let's race! Mommy can join with that, right daddy?" She looked at the racing game, then at both of her parents. Competition within the Noble family was always going to be exciting, and this game allowed her mom to sit down.
"Ican try but I'll have to take it slower." She chuckled and joined the two as they walked over to the racing game. Vera got seated, looked all serious, and waited for the countdown while her parents also got ready.
Hexes inner voices '...Neutral...' '...Doubt...' '...Anger...'
Coloured '.....' are also words that Hex can hear , but I decided not to write them to reduce clutter
Hex spent a few moments watching Daiya
in the dance machine, pulling out her pad and taking a few shots to upload to their anti-social media profiles. But now was time to find another game. topple the trooper looked good, Hex had a decent throwing arms from lobbing party poppers and other explosive devices around so this should be a piece of cake... right?
She picked up the projectiles and threw them, missing with her first shot and wrinkling her knows.
'...its a good job grenades aren't precision weapons...' "No chit!"
It didn't matter, she was having fun and spend a couple of her tokens on the game, watching tickets pop out of the spot after a short time. She looked about to see who else was in attendance, quite the variety of people, a few kind of recognisable. She pursed her lips a little when she spotted a few jedi floating around, ready to chop in half anyone who had tha audacity to beat them in a dance off no doubt. She shrugged it off, it was the corpos she was trying to spot, take them down a peg or two by whooping them at arcade monopoly or some chit.
“You’re lookin right at one, partner,” Loomi remarked with a grin, making a feeble attempt at finger guns. “Not just us either. Over there at the wack-a-somethin game? That’s Valery Noble. She’s a big deal… I think… Yeah, that’s right. I’m not confused.”
"Oh, there's a bunch of Jedi here," the Nautolan uttered without even thinking about it.
One in particular was familiar. And also stood out in a crowd. "See the brah that looks like he could be a MMA fighter? That's Master Caltin," Zak commented, before he returned his attention back to the machine in front of him.
“By the Force, that’s…crazy.” The tiny Asa’nyx said, It was very weird that the Jedi Battlemaster who had cut off her legs and kicked her into a dumpster on a backwater planet in the Outer Rim was here, among so many others. And was she pregnant? Quintessa batted her lashes in disbelief, but didn’t let her gaze linger on the fiery-eyed Jedi for long before stepping off of the dance machine, a dizzying sensation crawling up her spine.
“I…think those pizza slices I had earlier were bad. I feel like I’m going to…throw up” Quintessa said, steadying herself on the handhold of the dance machine as she did. “I’ll be…back.” She lied, before making her way to the nearest bathroom, to do exactly as she had said, before beelining towards the exit.
As Maeve went on about how rigged the game was, she was surprised when someone else bumped into her side. She whirled, Jedi instincts on alert. With the toy beskar hammer in hand, she loomed over the stranger, threatening to fracture their skull.
Instead, she found herself staring at a scarred, five-foot tall girl with heavy prosthetics and a shy, sheepish look on her face. Maeve frowned and lowered the hammer. "…sorry."
She set aside the weapon for someone else to use, though she couldn't deny the stab of guilt she felt at nearly murdering an innocent girl in public. Then again, looking at her now, she seemed about ready to drop dead anyway. Like Maeve, she was probably just as equally confused and overwhelmed by the blaring lights and noise of the arcade.
Part of her could already hear Valery's voice in the back of her head, nagging, Have fun! Be social! Make some friends! Ask her to play a game with you! Her words needled at Maeve's conscience like a nudging elbow, before at last, she caved.
"I…" she began cautiously, trying to find the right words. "Would you…?"
Maeve paused. There was a sudden, awkward heaviness in the air, and after staring at the girl for a long moment, she realized something. She wasn't social at all.
With a sigh, Matt walked around the arcade machines, and looked for the banshee that screeched.
There she was.
"What? You don't have to shout like that, you know," Matt mumbled, as he walked over and continued to eat a muffin. "I have fantastic hearing."
The radar tech glanced to the busted machine.
He raised his eyebrows.
Blinked.
"Palpatine's balls, what happened?" the sentient stared, then turned slowly to look at the tall gym junkie beside the game. "Was this you? Did you try bicep curling it or something? Wha-why?"
Matt finished the muffin with a sigh, as he stuffed the rest into his mouth, and began to mumble to himself. Hands on hips, he considered how best to repair the obscene amount of damage done to the booth itself, before he just figured start at the beginning. But that required some parts, from the back, which meant more effort to walk and gather it all.
Sigh.
"I'll be right back," Matt said, before he turned to the hulking bruiser. "Oh, and just calm down, have a protein bar or something, okay? Don't break the things. These are kids games. For kids. Not moving houses."
The radar tech shuffled away, head lowered, as he continued to mumble.
He passed someone - Maeve Linahan
- as the sentient complained about a game she played being rigged.
Fortunately, Matt the Radar Tech
appeared quickly. Yula gave the repair technician a sidelong look. He was eating a muffin. Had she pulled him away from his break?
Oh well. He could eat and work at the same time.
"I do have to shout." She insisted, provided no follow up, and left to man the prize counter.
On the way back, she snatched the pitiful pair of tickets that spat from the Porg Hunt machine. The glare she gave Kyra Perl
was a mix between "do your fething job" and "I'm disappointed that you suck so much at games".
She chose to say neither. Instead, she fell back onto an old Perl classic.
"I'm telling mom."
With a sniff, she stuffed the tickets into her pocket and continued on her journey.
A familiar head of dark hair at one of the other shooting games gave her pause. Her heart skipped a beat. It couldn't be Dag-
It wasn't. Yula's stomach sank, but not as much as she figured it would. Still, she found herself creeping in from the side, not exactly trying to hide her approach, but her footfalls were lost to the noise of the arcade.
She held up two fingers to the side of Corin Trenor
’s head, pulled the trigger, and mimed a blaster going off.
"You know that family members are supposed to be working tonight, right?"
Yula smiled from one corner of her mouth. They'd left things on dismal terms, and she wondered if the bright lights and blaring sounds were enough to drown that out.
Kahlil Noble
