open || ain't no party like a birthday party

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WHO: Minako, Sakura, Ragna, and you!
WHERE: One of the arcade bars in the city.
WHEN: March 10th
WHAT: BIRTHDAY PARTY!
WARNINGS: None foreseen! Feel free to threadjack for Minako's Hot Potato Categories game.



[Welcome to the Emporium, an arcade bar that Minako and Sakura have decided to host their joint birthday party at! Come on in and have some fun playing games, eating junk food, and just hanging out with the birthday girls (and guy, if he decides to come).

There are, of course, the numerous arcade games that the place is known for, ranging from the old school 2v2 fighters to the shooting gallery kinds. But there are a smattering of other games as well, like DDR, darts, mini hoops, skeeball, and the pool table, too. There's also a wall of crane games in the back, with plenty of random and mostly cute prizes to win.

Make a stop by the purikura booth if you have time. Make some duck lips at the camera and then take the snaps home! (Or give them to the birthday girls for the memories.)

Oh, and be sure to exchange your money for tokens before you play all these games. The token machine seems kind of finicky, though. Maybe a strong (and hopefully discrete?) kick will help jumpstart it.

Walk to the dining area, and there'll be a feast waiting you! The arcade is providing a ton of pizza and wings, as well as alcohol, if you can show your ID. For dessert, there's the cake that Shuji made for the girls, as well as Minako's lemon tea cakes. Those are limited supply, though, so snag one before everyone eats it up.

Next to the dining area, there's a big sign that says "DUNK TANK OUTSIDE". Maybe take a look? Just be reaaaally sure you want to climb in before you do it, though. The towels provided by the arcade are pretty small.

And finally, if you need a break from the chaos, there's a couple of couches on the second floor. Take a load off and watch from above.]

Comments

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That's fine. Just be yourself, Lucy.

[She would love it if Lucy could manage a smile, of course, but the fact that Lucy is willing to do this at all is more than enough for Minako. She gives her friend a quick smile and then turns to the monitor, tapping away at the options before stepping back.

A moment later, the screen changes: the example models are in a simple back to back pose with heads turned and smiling toward the camera. It stays for five seconds, then reverts to camera mode, so the two of them can see where they're standing and posing in relation to the frame.

And only gives them ten seconds to do it.

Minako, a purikura veteran, has copied the pose exactly in two seconds flat.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy's calmness started to dissipate when Minako turned the monitor on. That was presumably an example image, there were people smiling, where was she supposed to look, uh—

Her friend's back bumped into Lucy's, which made her unfreeze slightly, but she was still at a loss for what to do and the timer was counting down and this is too much pressure ahhhh.

Lucy manages to get somewhat in position, though she shoves her back against Minako's abruptly and with a bit too much force. And she doesn't quite manage to smile before the light flashes, at most a slight curve at the corner of the mouth. She doesn't blink! But overall she just looks slightly startled.]

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[The screen takes a few seconds to show them the picture, and Minako peers forward, grinning. Slightly startled!Lucy is a good Lucy expression. And she's so happy that Lucy is trying to smile here.

(She's pretty sure that's what's happening! She likes to think that she's gotten good enough at reading Lucy's expressions to tell.)]

Okay, looks like the next one is finger hearts!

[The example picture is showing one model making a heart with both hands, and then another model making hearts with her thumb and index finger. Minako chooses the latter, smiling brilliantly.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Minako is correct! Lucy made an Attempt. She wasn't sure it was a good attempt, but Minako seemed happy. Mission successful!

...Lucy still felt a sense of impending dread at seeing there were more, though. But she was doing this for Minako, so however many pictures there were, Lucy would be here.

She was a bit perplexed by the next example, though, and had to crane her head over to see what Minako was doing. Making a shape with her hand—oh! Half a heart. And Lucy was presumably supposed to make the other half.

So she did that!

But not with her physical hand. A vector curled around her shoulder opposite Minako, mimicked what Minako's hand was doing, and the spectral resonance pressed against her fingers before the camera went off again.]

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[Minako starts when she senses what Lucy is doing, and the camera catches her in that instant, the still image showing her eyes closed and lips parted in a huge laugh. Her half of the heart is off center because of it, too. But!]

Okay, I don't know what the others will be like, but this is my favorite so far.

[long_live_the_queen]

[On her side of the photo Lucy looked a bit Concerned, glancing at Minako. But Minako was far from insulted or worried, and Lucy relaxed after hearing her friend laugh. Her mouth curled at the edges again, and the vector disappeared.

There. That wasn't so bad at all. Her chest felt light and warm, too.]

What's the next one?

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[Minako has to carefully dab away her tears of laughter so she doesn't ruin her make up, leaning in to look at the screen.]

Victory signs! Or anything else you want to do.

[Minako loves the victory sign though, so she holds up one hand for that by itself, and then puts the other hand's victory sign behind Lucy's head to make bunny ears.]

Cheese!

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy was still awfully proud of herself for making Minako laugh; she'd at least try to do what she asked, though she had...less of a plan. Maybe raising her hands and opening them?

But the camera caught Lucy's hands mid-motion, so at the most they just looked like weird blurry crab claws. Lucy leaned over to look at the picture—and made a little chiding mumble.]

Hey. Why's your hand there?

[Her head looked like it had antennas??]

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Bunny ears.

[She puts the two extended fingers behind her own head, wiggling the tips and her nose in demonstration.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[A little frown, and a similarly small huff.]

I'm not a rabbit.

[She just looked like a disgruntled one on TV. And right now.]

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Hehe, no you aren't.

[But it's cute to imagine.]

Okay, last one is free for all, do whatever you want to do!

[Minako decides to go for a silly face, winking and making duck lips at the same time.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The disgruntled expression eased away from Lucy's face; anything she wanted to do? Hm.

A vector pulls her hat off, and plops it onto Minako's head. Her horns were plain to see now, but Lucy didn't mind. She was almost-smiling again.]

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[Minako closes her other eye in surprise when the hat falls onto her head, and that's how the camera catches them: Minako, squinty eyed, and Lucy, half-smiling Lucy.

The machine cheerfully announces that they need to move to the next booth for decorations, and Minako adjusts the hat on her head, putting it at a slant so she looks roguishly ridiculous.]

Decorating! My favorite part. It's a little confusing, but I'll walk you through it.

[long_live_the_queen]

[The cheer was infectious, and Lucy chuckled softly as she followed after the other girl. It was just a short distance to go--someone would have to really be paying attention to notice her horns in the brief seconds she was out there.]

Okay.

[She was a little wary about possible sparkles. She didn't particularly want to sparkle. But Minako seemed so happy it was hard to be very bothered.]

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[Minako makes no promises on not using sparkles. She loves drawing sparkles.]

Okay, so take up that pen there-- and look, here are the different option tabs! Stickers, stamps with our names and the date on them, and some face beautifying options that we don't really need...oh, and here's the pen feature, and the undo button, for anything you want to write on the pictures.

[long_live_the_queen]

[So many things. Lucy was at a bit of a loss as to where to start (and avoid anything too silly) once she picked up the pen. Maybe something small?

She pulled a flower out of the image tab, and dragged it over onto Minako's hair in the first one, just above her ear. There.

Lucy passed the pen over to her friend.]

Your turn.

[please don't make her regret this]

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[Minako blinks.]

You sure that's all you want to add?

[long_live_the_queen]

[A slow blink.]

...oh. I thought we were taking turns.

[On that note, though--maybe some stars in the corner?]

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We can! You can take your time, though. And choose between which pictures you want to decorate.

[NO PRESSURE, even though there's that little timer at the top that says there's only 50 seconds left.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[With a brief glare at the machine (you better not count down that fast), Lucy continued, but briefly. Since she had the tab with stars and things open, maybe...a sun in the corner of this one? And a moon on the last one, where Minako was wearing Lucy's hat.]

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[Meanwhile, Minako is sneaking a picture of Lucy so seriously decorating their purikura pictures. Favorited!]

Ooh, you should put a sun on your head in that one, to match the moon one!

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy suspects nothing.]

Here?

[She hovered the sun between her horns on the photo, not letting go of the pen.]

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[Good.]

Yes, right there! That's perfect.

[It vaguely reminds her of the Eye of Saurun, somehow.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[excuse you she's prettier than Saurun.

if shorter]

Okay.

[And she lets go of the screen, just in time for the timer to cheerfully announce that it was finished.]

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[Not as decorated as Minako is used to decorating-- she would've added a bunch of text and a ridiculous amount of stickers. But it's Lucy's efforts, so it's nice as it is. Minako beams and hops off the stool.]

It's printing now! We can enter our emails for a digital copy of our favorite shot if we want, too.

[So much technology.]