What good's a theme park anyway? [Minori] [Finished]

Lucius sighed a little as he made his way through the crowd of people. He had spent the better half of a day checking out this "Galaxy Theme Park" out of curiosity. It was supposed to be something special, actually all of Penecia Island was supposed to be, and while it was exciting for a theme park Lucius couldn't help but feel let down.

There was something overall...off, with Azores, and he hadn't been able to really figure out what it was. Though he had heard some tales and seen a few interesting things, he sitll had no clue who or what was causing it, and it was starting to aggravate him. Was he being excluded from the real excitement of the region?

Ugh... He needed to take a moment to think. Lucius sat down on a bench and scouted the area. Maybe there'd be someone that stuck out a bit, someone who he could speak with and really learn more about the region he was in.

Now what?

The only reason Minori had come to the amusement park in the first place was to hang out with a friend--more of a friendly acquiantance, really--but she had failed to notice the text from them until after she had already arrived on the island. Staring down at her phone, a quiet sigh slipped from the girl's lips.

"Sudden emergency, huh?" she murmured to herself, unable to hide the dejection on her face, "Well, what can you do?" Smiling weakly, she typed out a cheerful response to assure her friend that it was fine and not to worry. She ended the text with a bright "Next time!" before slipping the phone into her pocket.

Lavender eyes scanning the park, Minori let out another little sigh. It was no fun being in a place like this alone, but she had already made the trip and paid the fare so...why not? The only question was where to start--this place was bigger than she had expected.

Lucius was soon found himself growing more impatient. As it turns out most of the people at the theme park were adults with their children: ordinary families. None of them would really be worth a chat, especially not in his current mood. He needed something to lift his spirits, lest he found himself sitting on this bench all day.

That's when he spotted her. A short, but pretty thing with lavender eyes and flashy pink hair. She looked to be about his age, too.

...Well she was better than the ordinary families around the area, that was for sure.

Lucius got up and made his way towards her, coming up with his strategy as he did so. She seemed to be a bit down, and was putting her phone away. Did she get stood up? Maybe ditched, actually. By friend or by lover? She didn't seem overly distraught, so he assumed friend. This would be a lot more difficult if she had a boyfriend or something, so it was a convenient assumption to make. She was looking around, too...ah, he had his opener.

"Excuse me, miss?" He approached her with a smile and curious tilt of his head, "Sorry, but you seem like you're lost. Is everything all right?"

Yes, nothing could truly beat the concerned citizen. Here we go... Lucius thought to himself.

Perhaps she could check out the games? Minori was pretty sure that the majority of them were rigged, but maybe one or two of them were winnable. She wouldn't mind getting herself a cute stuffed animal to keep her company for the day. It sounded pretty lame (and terribly lonely) to carry around a toy for company, but--

Having not expected anyone to approach her, Minori jolted a little when she suddenly found herself being addressed. Turning to face the stranger, she stared in surprise when she found her eyes level with a chest rather than a face as she had expected. There was an awkward pause, and then she shifted her gaze up, blinking up the boy owlishly.

"Good afternoon," she greeted politely, pink lips curving into a smile, "Thank you for your concern but I'm okay, really! Not lost per se, but..." Trailing off, she glanced left and right, giving the area another good scan before turning her attention back to the boy.

"Just not really sure what to do I guess," she admitted with a sheepish grin and a shrug of her shoulders, "This place is a lot busier than I had anticipated."

"Yeah it's pretty crowded around here. It seems people came in droves today," Lucius chuckled. Yeah, she was definitely ditched. She didn't seem like the type to show up here alone...like he did. "But at the same time it is a theme park, so we shouldn't be surprised,"

He slipped his hands in his pockets and gazed around. She didn't leave too much room for him to move forward, but he had anticipated that. "Still, I'm glad you're fine and not lost or anything. You got friends or family coming? Or are you here alone?"

Hmm, not as smooth as he'd like. Tch, he'd wait and see how she'd react.

"Yeah, quite the crowd, hmm?" She agreed, locking her hands behind her back as she looked around again. Her smile grew warm when a cheerful little family walked past them, her eyes lingering on the two little girls and their parents. She had come here a long time ago with her family too, hadn't she? Though that had been many, many years ago. Shaking away the feeling of nostalgia, she turned back to the boy just as he shot a couple of questions at her.

Minori lifted both brows, lips twitching in amusement at what she felt was a less-than-subtle inquiry. Deciding to humour him, she shook her head, her hands still clasped behind her back. "Mm, unfortunately not. I was supposed to meet a friend here, but they couldn't make it."

"What about you?" she countered, leaning forward a little and tilting her head with a friendly smile, "Waiting for someone, or are you here alone? Because if it's the latter and you don't mind company, we should definitely hang out." Straight to the point, apparently; there wasn't even a ounce of hesitation in her voice as she said this.

That tiny, quiet part of her was demanding to know why on earth she was asking a complete stranger to hang out, but it was squashed beneath her desperate desire for any sort of social interaction. It was hard to keep up her cheerfulness when she was alone, but it came much more naturally when she had someone to bounce off of. In this case, this boy.

"Oh? Well that's too bad...and of course I don't mind company," Lucius said with a chuckle and a smile. He was a little surprised at her forwardness, but nontheless intrigued. Lucius started to pay a bit more attention to the girl, too. With a hair colour like hers I guess it wasn't too surprising that she was being forward.

"Anything in particular you wanted to do? Try out some of the rides or games, eat cotton candy? We both paid for tickets clearly, so we may as well get our money's worth," Lucius then smirked, and decided to see if the girl he was speaking with was the spiteful kind. "We can make that friend of yours jealous with how much fun we have here,"

To be honest Lucius wasn't that kind of person. He didn't really get jealousy or envy, it just didn't make all that much sense to him. If you want something that someone else has why not just one up them if it really bothers you? Still, he didn't think this girl was like that.

A part of her had expected for him to reject the offer since they had only just met, so she was genuinely surprised when he said he was fine with it. Eyes visibly lighting up, the corners of her lips curved upwards just a little more. Suddenly this little trip to the amusement park didn't seem like it was going to be quite as boring as she had thought it'd be.

"I kind of wanted to check out the games," she confessed, jerking her head in the direction of said booths, "Though I'm up for anything, really. Some rides would be nice, and ooh yes, definitely cotton candy!" Minori bounced a little on her heels at the prospect of cotton candy, a treat that she hadn't had in ages.

His words that followed caught her a little off guard, but she simply smiled before shaking her head. "Nah, it's not their fault. Something came up, and I can understand how it'd take priority over a silly trip like this." Sure she had been disappointed, but there was no helping it. They weren't even close friends to begin with, so Minori wasn't entirely caught off guard that the other girl had chosen to cancel these plans over the other ones.

But enough with dwelling on that--she actually had some company now! "I'm Minori, by the way!" she chirped, extending a hand out to him, "And you are...?"

Lucius noted that the girl seemed to be happy he agreed to her offer. That was good, very good. It may have meant she had a bit of an interest in him...or that she simply didn't want to be alone. Hm, he'd have to see as time went on.

She excitedly talked about all of the things she wanted to do at the theme park: which was pretty much everything. It was...cute, yes. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at her bright eyes. Lucius took her hand and smiled, holding eye contact, "Minori? What a lovely name. I am Lucius, Lucius Bradford,"

"Well let's start with some games then, shall we?" Lucius headed towards the games booths, which consisted of your typical theme park games, including some that had fake duck targets and toy guns you had to shoot them with, a dunk machine with some minor celebrity as the dunkee, a basketball mini game based around who could score more baskets in the allotted time, and etc. As he scoped out the games he made sure to note that Minori wasn't the spiteful or jealous type, at least not on the surface. Ah well, it wouldn't change any fun they might have.

"Well, Minori, which game strikes your fancy?"

"Lucius," she echoed for confirmation, smiling warmly as she filed the name away in her memory, "It's nice to meet you!" Minori gave his hand a gentle but firm squeeze before releasing it, moving to trot alongside him as he head towards the games. She let out a thoughtful little hum as they neared the booths. There seemed to be a pretty variety, and upon being asked for her opinion, the girl cocked her head to the side as she considered their choices.

"Maybe the basketball one?" Minori suggested, breaking free from matching his pace so that she could bounce forward a few steps in front of him. Twirling around to face him, she began to walk backwards (which probably wasn't the wisest idea in a crowd full of people, but apparently it was working out okay), "We could make a competition out of it, you know?"

Her lips shifted into a playful grin. Truthfully, Minori wasn't at all athletic and Lucius had a distinct height advantage, but she was hoping that dumb luck would get her through.

"Likewise, Minori," Lucius said, observing the girl as he walked with her. She had some small, interesting quirks it seemed. She also had some apparent confidence, challenging him to the basketball game. He gave the booth a lookover, mostly checking the cost. Money wasn't really an issue at all, either way, but he nodded when he saw it only cost 2 dollars for 10 tokens, and only 1 token per round of any game of your choosing.

"Basketball, huh?" He replied, matching her grin with one of his own. In truth he wasn't much of a basketball fan, but he was sure he could win at this game. "Sure, you're on,"

He approached the booth, which thankfully didn't have a line-up, and handed the vendor two dollars. "10 tokens, please," The vendor was a young, teenage kid, who merely grunted before taking the money and handing Lucius his tokens. It was hard for Lucius not to smirk at the unhappy teen, who was likely bored and suffering through a part-time job, but it'd probably be best to not appear too dick-ish in front of Minori.

He then handed the boy 2 tokens back and handed Minori her 4 remaining ones, grinning, "All right, ready when you are,"

Stepping up to the booth in excitement, she hovered beside Lucius as he paid for the tokens, making a mental note to slip a dollar into his pocket later during the day for her half of the tokens. The way she saw it, she could hardly ask a new acquaintance for pay for things for her, even if it was just a dollar and even if she herself would probably do the same if the opportunity arose.

"Thanks!" she returning his grin and taking the offered tokens. Slipping them into the pocket of her dress, she picked up one of the small basketballs in front of her. Three basketballs per round, huh? At least that meant that she'd have more chances to uh...hopefully score.

"I'm ready! Let's give this a go, then."

Too bad sheer confidence wasn't enough to let her win. Her first throw, as one would expect of someone with minimum upper body strength and a lack of height, was way too short. It made a tiny arc before hitting the ground of the booth with a little bounce. Not one to be deterred, she threw the next one a little harder, the ball falling just inches away from the hoop.

Minori put the most force in her last throw which, in hindsight, had not been the wisest idea. The ball hit the backboard and ricocheted back with a force, earning a yelp from the girl who ducked behind Lucius and narrowly missed being beaned in the head. Whipping her head around, she breathed out a sigh of relief when she realized that her wayward ball had failed to hit anybody else either.

Okay. No basketball for her. She was content to give this win to Lucius.

Lucius broke out in laughter as Minori's last basketball flew over his head. It wasn't his usual "mean" laughter, either, but one of genuine amusement. The girl had tried her damnedest but she had failed to score a single basket. By default that meant he SHOULD win the game, so long as he could score at least one.

He looked back at the girl, who had hid behind him to avoid being struck my her own wayward basketball, and smiled, "Well, you definitely get an A for effort,"

He approached the booth and took a basketball. He took the form he saw most people take when they would go for a shot, aimed and fired...and missed. Pfft, whatever, he had two more chances. He only needed ONE basket to win. He took his next ball, aimed and shot it, and frowned when it bounced off the rim.

Hm, it'd be honestly be embarrassing if he wound up missing every shot too.

He took a breath and focused. Think of it like parkour...one step at a time, speed up once you start He thought to himself. Lucius took his last shot, and smirked as he heard the swish of the ball passing through the net.

"Well, looks like I win this round," He said with a chuckle, turning to Minori. Hm, the more he looked at her the harder it was deny that she was indeed cute. Not that he really denied in the first place, hell it was half of why he even bothered to talk to her. "Want another go? Or should we try a different game?"

Minori decided that she'd take that A for effort, because it was the only passing grade she was going to get when it came to this game. Maybe she could have gotten a A in "braining someone in the head" too had her lost ball not whizzed safely over everyone's heads, but she was grateful that it did.

She couldn't claim to be surprised when Lucius managed to get a ball into the net, matching his pleased smirk with a puffed-out-cheeks pout. It didn't last long, however, as her usual smile found its way back to her face shortly after. "I concede defeat this time," she announced with a solemnness that was ruined by the grin on her lips, "But I'll win next time!" Except she probably wouldn't; not unless she accidentally knocked the poor boy out with a mis-aimed throw.

"And oh no. No, no more basketball for now," Minori hastily held her hands up, her eyes going round, "Why don't you pick the next game?" Despite the little mishap just now, Minori still seemed to be enjoying herself. She was grateful for Lucius' company, apparently having decided within the short time that they had known one another that he was someone she could feel at ease with. She didn't see any reason this would change either, so long as he wasn't the overly curious type and she could continue to hold him at arm's length.

Lucius chuckled at Minori before looking out towards the next booths. They all seemed to be focused around one's "aim" for the most part. You had to "hit something" for all of these games, something that Minori hadn't seem that good at so far. Though it was likely her lack of upper body strength that led to her failure at basketball...

In that case, the duck shot game would probably be a better match for them.

"How about the duck shooter game, then?" Though he asked and smirked back at her, he already started walking in the direction of that booth. "Unless you have any objections, of course,"

So far Minori had enough quirks to keep him interested in hanging out with her. The girl's behaviour wasn't overly predictable but it was nothing exciting at the same time. To him that meant there was potential, and he was certainly glad he had decided to approach her after all, even if she wasn't easy on the eyes.