AlphanumericAlpha goes to a local hang-out and looks for someone to play a game with her. After the recent explosive popularity in Kronor™ Cards and the infamous board game: Giant Squids are Eating my Children and are in My Lawn!!!, the local game shoppe in Alpha's vicinity was filled to the brim with fledgling e-sports commentators and players hoping to make it big in the Board Game and Trading Card Game leagues. It was something that Alpha wouldn't typically pay attention to, already addicted to the borderline-illegal Terrasphere Online thank you very much, but the crowds often hindered her way in getting My Little Pony figures and her favorite Toy Bun™ key charms. She'd have to wait in an hours' long line compared to her previous five minutes (and that was only because she was browsing the candy aisle right next to the register!) in order to get her goods and now the lines is plump with boys trading cards and completely disrespecting the integrity of My Little Pony with cheap vandalizing pranks on the posters. She was proud to admit that she did a hit-and-run (although illegal) on the head honcho of a group of guys who were constantly mocking friendship and magic. It was easy to lure the unsuspecting man into an alley and then kicking him in the balls a few times—all while dressed up in a baseball cap and with her hair tied right up and hidden. Although she'd still seen the boy a couple of times since the incident, she was happy that he had failed to recognize her features and had, in her good fortune, appeared less and less over time. The game shoppe was all to her. Well, until the previously mentioned Kronor, 'Giant Squids are Eating my Children and are in My Lawn', and fire nation fanatics invaded. And, well, she supposed that was enough backstory for her experiences in the store (which is affectionately nicknamed by frequenters as 'the Hang-Out'). As she walked in, she fished out her gaming license (a little membership card they had here which let you rent out some gaming supplies in-store only for free) with a neat portrait of her face and the words 'Katherine Sutton' inscribed on it. She looked around to see a plethora of people today; they were hosting a regional competition, weren't they? It was supposed to be some East Coast competition for god knows what and Alpha couldn't help but be curious. Regardless, she stood still there in the unofficial 'looking for someone to play with' part of the room. Hopefully someone would be bored enough to play a game of good ol' Monopoly or something with a total stranger in the back.
As Alpha made her way further back. She would likely catch a lot of shouts and cheers just a bit ahead of her. In a corner of the game room was a practice round of "Magic: The Awakening" a new collectible card game the likes of Yugioh and it's game in question's distant relative Magic: The Gathering. This game was much more weebo and otaku than the original Magic. The cards featuring extremely animeish style design and the style played a bit like a yugioh ripoff. So many wondered why it was not just made as a Yugioh game? Probably because the cartoon it spawned wanted to try and drag in more western gamers with it's brand name since Yugioh was losing some prestige after it's latest edition. The group was watching in awe. Several of them were wringing their hands in frustration. The source of this frustration, awe, and nervous excitement? The player sitting on the right side of the table. Her hair hung down long in a deep shade of bluish black. She was in a blue t-shirt and a plaid skirt. A fair and youthful face looked at a hand of cards strewn in her hand through rather thick glasses. Her finger would slide them up in adjustment as she glanced over at her opponent. He was a nervous looking guy. Sweating all over the floor and table. He was probably in his 30's. Curly haired and freckle faced. His kind gross but in a adorable way face was showing a lot of panic. He was in a bad spot. His Giant Troll of Agathor was paralyzed and both of his trap cards were nulled. He was thinking of using a elemental field spell but the girl already used field convert to keep any attempts to set things his way in jeopardy. If this was just one game it would not be too bad. The problem and why this table had so much attention was because this girl had won.... every single match since she arrived for the practice rounds against several regional champions that will be taking place this evening. That was a week ago! She not only won every match but barely received more than 10% damage to her Lord Character, Perfect Maiden. The game was fairly balanced but she just seemed to have all the right cards at all the right times. Several people were beginning to make accusations of foul play by the girl. The chubby man could not take the pressure. He threw a card onto the table. "I conjure Miasma Overlord of Peril! He attacks your Perfect Maiden using my magic card.... Risk Breaker!" The man added another card and laid it face up next to his over dramatic monster card. The crowd grew silent as even the naysayers wanted to see what happened to stop this high tier monster that added ailments and hefty damage did to the girl's Lord. She would look at it and then look into her hand. After about two or three seconds, she put a card face up in front of her Perfect Maiden and then drew a card from the deck to act as a replacement. The card she placed was Overworld Contract. A card that allowed her to play one additional card directly from the deck and any effects would nulled if they also effected her cards, but only if she chose to accept it. Yes, yes she would. She placed it face up as well. It was Armageddon. Which wipes out everything on the map and adds additional 200 Health Points of damage to the Lords of both players. Of course... she had activated it though the Otherworld Contract so... The man threw all of his cards down and jumped out of his chair in rage. He had lost? He stomped off and wiped a few tears from his eyes. The girl looked after him and seemed to want to say something but he had left too quickly. Looking a bit shocked from the outburst. The girl would gather her things and get up from the table as she was swarmed with her previous spectators. Trying her best to be polite, the girl would weave through them and awkwardly answer a small set of questions. After making it past, she sped up some to lose the crowd and bumped into someone. "Oh I-I'm sorry! Are you alright?" @Alphabet Chocolate
Alpha was startled, eyes wide and her mouth in the shape of an 'o' in surprise as she was almost knocked over by some large moving projectile. She barely kept herself upright but she did it. A few moments later and she would regain her composure. "Uh," she moaned dumbly, rubbing her head which had been grievously (in her own opinion) injured by the offender in question. She was surprised, however, to hear an apology nudging at the edge of her ears. A soft voice that slightly reminded her of her grandmother a distance away and sparked her into a sudden reverie which lasted for a solid minute before her eyes regained a sharp focus and she found herself, finally, taking in the visage of the lady in front of her. "No worries! No problems! Not a trouble!" she grinned, rubbing her head. She offered the woman her hand, a blossoming smile stretching her face from ear-to-ear. Then she looked around curiously to find any reason for the woman to be running in this crowd and, finding nothing of particular interest, looked back at the peculiar and anxious blue-haired woman. "Are you in a rush or something? Do you need directions? Any help?" she interrogated without a pause for breath, her innate curiosity once again taking over. At the last syllable, however, she suddenly stopped and her eyes widened. She laughed sheepishly, almost as if embarrassed, and winced. "Sorry bout that, I kinda ramble a bit when I get excited! Gotta hope for the best that it goes away someday!" And then, making a sudden movement yet again, her eyes began to have something flicker underneath it. Interest. Serendipity. Curiosity. Playfulness. All of it flashed one after the other and, with a smirk replacing the red-faced grin that had placed itself on her face mere moments before, she tugged on the woman's shirt and pointed to the nearest TCG table. "Ha! You know how to play any card games?" @Hitomi Aki
The glasses wearing girl nodded and smiled at the other teen. A look of relief from being away from the crowd that had her surrounded earlier. Her glasses were crooked so she quickly corrected them with her hand as the girl she bumped into spoke some more. Directions? Card games... oh no. Hitomi was not going to play anyone else today. Not right now, she had to do some work. In truth she was not even here to play in the tourney. This was just something she did on occasion. It was interesting to see how others made decks and considered them perfect.This game in particular was not very balanced. She thought the game developer should do something but it was not like they would listen to her anyway. "Oh no it's okay! I ramble a lot myself. I get under her skin so much! Hahahaha... my friend I mean. Or coworker anyway. I'm Hitomi, nice to meet you!" Hitomi nodded again and made a stressed look but smiled anyway. Her naturally friendly disposition keeping her from being rude to the person who was in truth actually yes, slowing her down. Hitomi's schedule was absolute insanity. It was her personal curse though for being in such a situation. Always way too much to deal with. She only wished she could be better. "I am pretty busy so yes. I work around the clock. It's rare that I get a chance to play anything. Like Terrasphere you know? So I just play things like this. Much less time consuming if you ask me. It's pretty easy once you know which cards to combine. The Lord, Perfect Maiden is a prime example...." She felt the stares fall on her but it did not bother her. Dealing with Nexus Corp officials day in and day out was much harder. Hitomi had mastered the art of getting along. It was her nature to not cause others strife if she could help it. So she would not instigate more by talking about her win. Then again... maybe it would be good to have someone to walk out with. Some of these guys were pretty big after all. She leaned a bit into the girls ear and whispered. "I think I may have hurt some feelings here by winning too much... hehe. Mind walking out with me?" @Alphabet Chocolate
