touchscreens | 001 ✗ video + action.

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001 ✗ video + action.

Oh, hey - I bet it's working, this time!

[ To the technologically impaired, these terminals are a little daunting - who knew you had to take your gloves off to work a touchscreen? Not to mention the thought of hooking up to some nebulous and well-populated network. He may or may not have spent the last ten to fifteen minutes talking to nobody, slowly realizing he was talking to nobody, and then trying again to figure out how to get to the Help tab.

Anyway, it's definitely broadcasting, now. Maybe. Probably. He's not trying again if it isn't. (He might.) ]

Am I really talking to all the other, uh, visitors out there? I guess that's pretty handy. Though... It feels like I've been doing a lot of talking, lately, and not a whole lot of actually getting to know the people I'm stuck with. [ Which more or less translates out of polite doublespeak to: he's tired himself out trying to figure this place out one way, how about FAQ round #2? ] So I thought, why not just ask? A little old-fashioned, I admit, but... I've got nothing to lose.

[ He shrugs, smiling thinly. ] So tell me about yourselves, okay? Or your 'worlds,' or whatever. And just 'cause it's no fair if I don't start, I'm Zack. I used to wanna travel, when I was a little younger. [ A pause, and a little more genuine humor leaks into that smile. ] I guess I sure got my wish, huh?

[ There's only so much aimlessly (but alertly) wandering around a foreign city a guy can do, so Zack's taking a break from that to ...aimlessly wander around the common floor of building #1 (having significantly more luck with the video games than with the terminals) and along the walkways between buildings (for the view, naturally).

He's not in great shape - it's actually a lot harder to remember to maintain contact with total strangers than he would've expected it to be - but he isn't exactly falling on his face, either (not that he'll be turning down any free hugs, regardless). And, of course, anybody who crosses his path - and doesn't make themselves too busy for him to accost, post haste - will most likely be finding themselves in a conversation. However one-sided. (He's not picky.) ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Considering the fact that Lloyd lives in Building 1 himself, passing through the first floor happens pretty regularly for him. It's on one such pass that he happens to pass by while Zack is in the middle of playing a video game. Lloyd's footsteps slow when his attention gets caught by the moving figures on the screen, until he comes to a halt, right behind Zack.

Zack, hope you don't mind having some random eighteen year old guy watching over your shoulder as you play. Lloyd's never seen a video game, and his attention is arrested.]

Whoa, you're making the screen do that?

[ Hopefully Lloyd is too distracted by all the fancy technology to realize that this is not exactly the coolest or most badass game Zack is playing. Given recent events in his life, though, can he be blamed for straying away from the ones with the guns and the explosions and the wholesale murder? Something with lots of bright colors and cutesy graphics is just all-around easier to stomach.

Plus, it's kind of fun. Enough so that he doesn't bother to more than passingly acknowledge the kid hanging over his shoulder, glancing sideways in the midst of a two-second lull - at least until he speaks up. ]

Uh, yeah- [ Oops, missed that platform. He laughs a little sheepishly as the Continue screen pops up. ] ...Well, I was. You want to try?

[Lloyd perks up, not expecting the offer, but not about to pass it up.]

Sure! It looks like fun!

[He takes a seat on the couch next to Zack, reaching for the controller.]

I'm Lloyd, by the way. What's your name?

Zack.

[ He hands over the controller as Lloyd sits down next to him, and then offers his hand. ]

I'm guessing you're not from a place that has this kinda thing?

[Accepting the controller with one hand, Lloyd takes Zack's hand with his other, giving it a good, firm shake. Friendly contact like this is part of the reason he isn't doing too badly himself. Perhaps not in top shape (who does remember to hug people as much as this place wants?), but things like casual handshakes are easy enough to do without much thought, so he isn't necessarily starving for human contact yet.]

No, not really. I've seen stuff like the screen before, but the ones I saw only showed other people, or boring stuff that didn't make much sense. Nothing like this. [He eyes the controller.] How does it work?

[ Well, that's good. He's definitely not qualified to give any crash courses in technology. ]

When you press different buttons, that changes what happens on screen. This one'll start the game again, [ he explains, pointing where appropriate, ] and you use these to go different directions. The blue one's kind of an attack, and that red one makes the guy jump - aaand that's about all I figured out, before you showed up.

Huh. That sounds easy enough.

[Feeling confident, Lloyd starts the game up. Let's see, blue to attack, red to jump... He tests out a few of the buttons, and sure enough, the guy on the screen responds.]

Oh man, this is awesome! Look! He just jumped over that trap! What does he need the attack for, though? Are there monsters he has to fight?

[No familiarity with video games, but the idea of monsters is still a real thing.]

Oh yeah, just like real life.

[ Oops, it would've been pretty irresponsible to let him wander into that virtual situation without any warning. Not that any of the food-stuff themed monsters in this pastel-heavy game are liable to strike much fear into anybody. A bunch of cupcakes and cookies and swarms of sprinkles. (It may not be very manly, but it is making him hungry.) ]

They come at you kind of slow, though, at first, so you'll have plenty of time to get 'em.

[Speak of the devil and the devil will come. Or devil's food cake, in this case. Look out, Lloyd! A cake monster's on the screen!

The teen sits up straight when he spots it, even leaning forward a bit. Hey, manly or not, that monster's a threat to the life of the little guy on the screen!]

Uh oh, here comes one now. Blue button to attack, right?

[He mashes it down and... Splurt!]

...did I just squirt it with icing?

Sure. How else do you fight a cake?

[ You have to meet it on its own level!!

...Okay he actually has no idea what he's talking about, but it's funny, so whatever. ]

Make sure you collect the frosting they leave behind, too, or you'll run out.

If I had to fight a cake, I'd eat it!

[Lloyd grins cheerfully at the thought. Bloop bloop bloop, the little guy sucks the icing back up as Lloyd maneuvers him around to each glob. Unfortunately, while he's doing that, a cupcake monster launches a jelly attack, hitting the figure on the screen smack on.]

Ow, hey! It just took one of my hearts! Dammit, that was a sneak attack! Where did it even come from? Hold still, you jerk!

[Squirt squirt!]

That might not be the best strategy. What'd you do if you got full before the enemy stopped coming at you?

[ There's no puking on the battlefield, son. Especially not rainbows. ]

...Uh-oh, looks like it's gonna start raining, soon. [ The suspiciously cheerful clouds are moving in, Lloyd!! And they are bringing deadly gumdrops with them. Which they will drop periodically, in an easily avoidable but fairly annoying pattern. ]

[Aw, come on, what's wrong with vomiting rainbows?

...other than the, you know, whole vomiting thing. Dammit, that's a good point.]

Full...? [Lloyd's expression falls.] Damn, I didn't think about that. But... couldn't I still eat some? Who wants to let a whole cake go to waste? [Even a giant cake that's trying to squash you into jelly.

Oh man, deadly gumdrops. Run, little screen guy, run! But though Lloyd tries his best...

Deadly gum drops dodged, but Lloyd's too close to the edge of one of those bottomless pits. Dodging a gum drop means- Doo doo doo... GAME OVER. Continue Y/N?

Aw man, I forgot about that trap!

Edited 2013-08-08 11:47 (UTC)

[ It's an acceptable tactical measure to create a distraction, but the rainbow vomit must be wielded with great restraint.

Because it's super gross and stuff. ]

I don't see why not, if you really wanted to. But I'm not sure if eating mutant cakes is such a hot idea, to begin with. [ With the little cake legs and cake arms and cake faces. It makes him think of mako cake, which would be a truly terrible thing, if it existed.

Totally on the edge of his seat through the deadly gumdrop gauntlet, Zack is just as disappointed when the poor, questionably innocent little avatar on screen bounces off the candycane spikes lining the walls of that endless pit and fades off screen. ]

Hey, no big deal. It's the same pattern every time, so as long as you remember that, you'll be able to get farther, next time. You can't give up on the first go, anyway.

[But ultimate attacks are meant to be abused! Every shounen video game hero knows that!

The words "mutant cake" make Lloyd wrinkle his nose.] I didn't think about it like that. I guess that would be pretty weird. How do they even make mutant cakes?

[Hitting the same button Zack had hit before to start the game again, Lloyd flashes the other guy a grin.]

Who said I was going to give up?

[Squirt squirt! Already making short work of the cake!]

If I die again, though, you want another shot? [He did kind of take over Zack's game.]

Edited 2013-08-09 13:32 (UTC)

[ I don't know. Multicolored hurl is more of a desperation move, imo.

Zack holds up both hands, clearly warding off the thought of evil animated cakes. ] Beats me. I'm hoping it's just a gimmick.

[ Because if there are real mutant baked goods, here, he's going to have to reconsider his generous opinion of the city, so far.

In any case, he's not looking to interrupt the fighting spirit going on up there on screen, though he nods when Lloyd asks him another non-rhetorical question. ]

Sure, I'll give it another go. Looks like you're picking it up pretty quick, though, for somebody who's never played any of these games, before.

[But you gotta admit, it'd be cool to see it in action at least once, right?]

Me, too. The only kind of food monsters I've ever seen are plants, and those are bad enough. Some of those things have a really mean punch.

[Don't speak too soon, Zack. Second go or not, Lloyd still loses a heart to the gumdrop rain. He makes a face, but presses on.]

I've used other kinds of controls before. At least this isn't as hard as flying a Rheaird. What about you? You made it sound like you've seen this stuff before.

[ Fascinating, maybe. Cool is pushing it. ]

Seriously? I've seen plenty of monsters, but I don't think there're any I'd compare to food, at all. Especially not the plant ones. [ Well... The 8-Eyes look a little like jello, but even that's a considerable stretch. And they definitely don't make him hungry.

The giant evil pie (and its cherry minions) coming up on screen kind of does, though. First boss fight!! ]

Only kind of. There are a couple of places in Midgar that had games like this, only they were all on these big, bulky machines. And you had to pay to play them.

[All right, fair enough. Either way, probably better from a distance.]

Seriously! Pumpkin Trees have these pumpkins on their branches as big as your head, or bigger, and trust me, you don't want to get hit with one of them. I had one send me flying twenty feet once. I swear my stomach still hurts just remembering.

[Oooh, evil pie. Damn, are boss fights allowed to look so delicious? It's distracting enough that Lloyd almost doesn't dodge one of the cherry minions in time when it tries to bop his guy on the head. Lloyd hastily sends a squirt of frosting its way, knocking it out of the fight. Too bad there's still three more minions and the pie itself to deal with.]

You have to pay? Aw man. I wouldn't get to play almost at all, then. I usually have to spend my money on other stuff, and sometimes I still don't have enough. I guess I could hunt some monsters for furs or fangs or stuff I could sell, but... [He wrinkles his nose.] That's really messy work.

[ And upwind. ]

Pumpkin Trees, huh? Never heard of 'em. ...But from the sound of it, that's lucky. [ Although a stomachache seems like it'd be the least of his concerns, if he found himself thrown a good twenty feet. Usually he doesn't land on his stomach.

Anyway, past injuries are not as interesting as how that monster pie is starting to break apart into individual slices for its last-ditch assault on the poor little sprite in the chef's hat and apron. ]

Tell me about it. No amount of money's worth all that... yuck. Besides, half of it'd have to go to Potions and Remedies, anyway.

[Oh, the impact with the ground hadn't been much fun, either, but the punch to the gut that had launched him in the first place was what he remembered clearest. Ugh, thank goodness for friends who know healing spells.]

Yeah. I try to avoid them, but it can be pretty hard if you're in a forest. I mean, how do you spot a tree when you're surrounded by trees?

[The pumpkins could be a giveaway sometimes, but if they were covered in dirt and leaves, or were hidden behind another tree...]

So what about your world? What's the worst plant you've had to fight?

[Crap crap crap! The chef just lost another heart! Only one heart left until he's dead.]

Tell me about it. Medicine's way too expensive!

[A narrow miss!]

Dammit, this monster's hard!

Edited 2013-08-13 02:48 (UTC)

The worst plant, huh? I dunno...

[ This is a tough one. While plants definitely rank high on the annoyance scale, they're not usually the top of the list in power (and a little Fire usually takes care of the worst of them). His worst experience with a plant monster is easier to pinpoint, by a lot. ]

I guess the Flower Prongs have always sort of had it in for me. They grow around my hometown, where everything's pretty green and leafy, and they're hard to spot 'cause they're so small. Or - 'cause they start small.

If you get into a fight with one, you've gotta knock it out fast, or it'll just keep on getting meaner.

[ Kind of like that pie. Although - what's that? A floating platform carrying a magic golden butane torch has just descended from the pixelated sky. Better grab it quick and power up. ]

[They start small. That sounds particularly ominous, especially in this context.]

How big do they get?

[Whoa, wait, what's that on the screen? ...okay, it's kind of hard to tell exactly what it is, with the way the picture on the screen is kind of grainy, but there's no mistaking the flame that's dancing on the end of it. Lloyd's face lights up and he instantly mashes the button to jump.]

Aw yeah! Ha ha, Zack, look! We can burn the pie to a crisp!

[His next attack shoots flames instead of icing.]!

Hah! Take that! Burn to oblivion, evil pie!

Bigger than me. [ Which should be ominous, given Zack's not exactly a little guy. ] They get some pretty nasty claws and teeth, too. If you got stuck tangling with one long enough to see it grow to that size, though, you'd have worse things to worry about - like falling asleep.

[ And then getting plant eaten. Which he assumes is terrible, but can't pass any real judgement on seeing as how it's never happened to him (except maybe in virtual reality - speaking of which). ]

Hey, all right! I didn't know there were flamethrowers in this.

[ Though apparently neither did the pie, because it is now nothing but crunchy black pixel debris. And there's the door to the next level. ]

So, how does it feel to have beaten your first boss fight? Any words of wisdom from our triumphant, returning hero?

[Lloyd gives Zack an incredulous look.]

How could anyone fall asleep while fighting a giant plant?!

[Just as Zack directs his attention back to the video game, victory fanfare starts to play. Lloyd considers the question, considers the pixel dust on the screen, and... Okay, so it was just a fake monster, just part of a game he was playing, but Lloyd still feels something like the same pleased rush when he kills a monster in real life. A huge grin spreads across his face. Victory against an evil dessert? He knows exactly what to say.]

That was a piece of cake!

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