there are two rules no murder and no giftboxes

[lullabytes]

Who: Dangans of all kinds, other non-Dangan invited guests. Anyone who would be at the designated location who wants to party-crash. Although the designated location is, uh...
Where: Goldenrod City, in the Johto equivalent of Chuck E. Cheese
When: Forward-dated to the evening of March 14th. Because Lucy's going to be busy this weekend.
Summary: Nanami uses her birthday to take a bunch of people who wouldn't normally go to a kid's place to a kid's place (though she also invites some people who would be totally chill with it). There is an actual ball pit, what the hell Nanami.
Rating: PG13 at most for some people's language probably KUZURYUU.
Log:

It's pretty obvious by the time the actual location other than "in Goldenrod" is disclosed (though Nanami hands out the address and location so it's possible you could get there without realizing where you're going) that Nanami was completely the one who picked out where they're going. If Kuzuryuu or anyone else she brought up "eating dinner" with thought she would choose a nice sit-down restaurant or at least a legitimate restaurant, they were sorely mistaken. She has, of course, chosen the Johto equivalent of Chuck E. Cheese. Which is, of course, over-the-top with the Pokémon theme. Hands are stamped at the door to show that you've paid to be there.

There are arcade games, playable with tokens purchased and handed out at the door. Tickets are given over from the games based on winning or how well one won, and can turned in at the main counter for ridiculously cheesy prizes that mostly only children would be interested in. There are games other than arcades, such as skee ball and air hockey. There are claw machines with prizes within.

There's also a full-on child's playplace with climbing things, tubes to crawl through, slides, nets, etc. This includes a full-on ball pit.

The food is mostly pizza, although the menu also offers cold-cut sandwiches, buffalo wings, salad bars, and desserts. There's also cake, obviously, which was brought in with the party, as well as a pie. ...There is probably an animatronic show as they eat dinner because this is what Nanami picked and she's totally turning seventeen, the cake says so. There's a table decked out and reserved for the party, so claim a seat for your breaks and eating times and go have a blast! Clearly this night can only end gloriously.

Everyone not in the know of trigger lists would have been warned at some point prior to the party by Nanami not to bring gift-wrapped boxes (bags are apparently acceptable if they are plainish and not involving a lot of giftwrap, as are unwrapped things) with zero explanation of as to why this was.

Comments

[freshprints]

[Oh lord help us all she knows not what she does

or perhaps she does

either way this is going to be magical]

That's right. At the higher difficulties, the rhythms begin to change — the patterns you're asked to complete become more complex, building on the techniques you've already mastered.

[ardent]

Well, if that's all there is to it in essence, maybe I'll try it sometime!

[This is such a bad idea.]

Have you been doing that for very long?

[freshprints]

It's a game I've played before, sometimes. Usually for exercise.

[She actually looks a little awkward at that admission.]

More formal sorts of workouts...aren't really something I've devoted time to.

[ardent]

[It is going to take all of his restraint to not start enthusiastically shouting about his classmate's body and exactly what she should be doing with it in the middle of this fucking knockoff Chuck E. Cheese, but damn it, he is going to manage if it kills him.]

Well, games in general aren't anything I've devoted time to, so in some ways I think you're ahead of me, getting both the game and the exercise in one go.

[...you know, that was awkward as all get-out but it's going to have to work for now because just think about what the alternative could have been.]

[freshprints]

[Well, it's good that he avoided that, because if she'd thought it'd been awkward a minute ago, having Ishimaru-kun screaming about her body like a renegade Andalite would've just been...that sure would've been a thing, all right.]

...The purpose of holding the party here is so that people will play the games; that's what Nanami-san intended, isn't it?

If there's any time when it's warranted and expected to devote time to them, it's during an occasion like this.

A+ animorphs reference

[ardent]

...Well, I suppose that's true, isn't it...

[...Kirigiri are you trying to get him on this machine because if that's what you're attempting this is just kind of soaring right over his head here

if not then carry on]

she wants my bah-dee buh buh dee bah-dee

[freshprints]

[...Okay, time to go for the gusto then.]

So if you're not playing the games, you're in violation of the event's protocol.

[FIGURE IT OUT, MAN. 2 + 2 = POSSIBLE SOCIAL RULEBREAKING AND WE CAN'T HAVE THAT NOW CAN WE]

[ardent]

[OH FOR GOD'S SAKE THAT WASN'T FAIR - ]

R-Right, of course!

[oh my god just let him up there then that was such a low blow and you know it]

[freshprints]

[Look she will be generous, she will even contribute his first token so he doesn't even have to buy his own game for the first round.

That's totally generous, right.]

You need to press the green button to start the game on your half of the screen, and when the difficulty selection comes up, choose one of the beginner modes.

[ardent]

[...Kirigiri, this is really dumb...

He flinches a little bit at the noise the thing makes when he hits that green button in front of him, but he manages to do as he's told without anything colossally stupid happening as a result.]

All right...

[Just. Going to kind of look down at the platform once that's done with. Experimentally tapping the arrow-things like he expects it to explode on him. God, we haven't even picked a song yet.]

[freshprints]

[Well, no need to worry on the song-picking front; once he's got his half of the game booted up, she's more than happy to take over with businesslike calm and start spinning the roulette wheel looking for a song.]

Do you like Chopin, Ishimaru-kun?

[Couldn't hurt to ask, really. She doubts he'd know any of the more popular, bubblegum-pop selections, but something a little more classical might do the trick.]

[ardent]

Well enough!

[...wait, why - ]

...There are things like that on here, then?

[freshprints]

Mmhmm. The song variety is surprisingly extensive. Most of the songs have been remixed to have a stronger beat and a more dance-like sound, but some of the melodies are lifted straight from classical pieces.

[She lands the roulette wheel on this selection, letting the machine play a few bars aloud for his appraisal.]

Like this one. It's Chopin's Etude in C minor, isn't it?

[ardent]

Ah...it is, actually!

[Okay, this thing just got about a million times more fascinating. Why did no one tell him games are potentially interesting.]

[freshprints]

[... :|a ]

If you want to try this one, then, press the green button again to select it. Otherwise, there are dozens of alternative possibilities.

[ardent]

All right.

[ ... :|a

>PUSH BUTTON BECAUSE WHY NOT.]

[freshprints]

[IT'S TIME TO START YOUR OWN SHOW

hopefully Ishimaru will not jump out of his skin at the helpful voice abruptly yelling out of the speakers once his choice is confirmed

...

hopefully this time around the voice will shout one of the DDR tag lines that isn't "LET'S DIE!"

...we can only hope]

Ah — also, it's permitted to put weight on the arrow pads at any time; you aren't penalized for pressing an arrow where there isn't one cued, only for failing to press one that is cued.

[ARE YOU READY? LET'S DANCE]

[ardent]

[oh god it talks to you and WOW THIS IS REALLY LOUD FROM UP HERE good lord

he does appreciate that really helpful tip kirigiri but gently caress this is a lot of music

not overwhelming-levels of music, but it's a lot of music

however he is going to do this thing

he is on beginner mode and he is staring at this screen with all the intensity of a bus full of nuns that is on fire

we are going to win the ddr

yes we are]

[freshprints]

[Kirigiri, thankfully, is slightly less intense about the whole business, which is in part because she's getting kind of tired from her multiple game runs and this isn't exactly an easy song, so her combos are not perfectly up to scratch.

Still, she's unlikely to lose the round with Ishimaru doing the thing over there, so that takes some of the pressure off.

AND LO, THE THING IS DONE

ALL THE DDR

WE'RE DOING IT WE'RE MAKING IT HAPPEN]

[ardent]

[WE ARE SUCCESSFULLY DOING THE THING...and this is probably the first collaborative thing that we have actually successfully done and that's a little sad.

That said, however, the music gets surprisingly easier to block out once he's used to the volume levels and has taken to just kind of glaring at the screen while the arrows scroll upwards, and...that...was actually surprisingly not terrible. He's not sure he'd consider it fun, but at the very least it was not terrible.

...also while he can't say it's more physical than it looks, it still manages to be more physical than expected, wow.]

Well, that was...

[ ... :|a ]

It was interesting, anyway!

[freshprints]

[Almost absently, she steps to the front of the pad and starts hitting the green button so as to make their scores come up faster.

MAYBE ISHIMARU WILL FEEL BETTER ABOUT THIS ONCE HE REALIZES IT GIVES HIM A GRADE...]

It's not really difficult, exactly. Just physically demanding, and somewhat involved.

[ardent]

[...oh. Oh no, it's graded.

He is going to come back later and study this machine. What have you done.]

I see what you mean, yes!

[...Ah, right, right.]

...I appreciate this, by the way.

[freshprints]

...That I danced with you?

[Ishimaru...]

[ardent]

...Well, that, and showing me how the game works and everything!

[KIRIGIRI-KUN CAN'T WE JUST LET HIM BE AWKWARD]

[freshprints]

[NO]

Oh. Then you're welcome, Ishimaru-kun.