Seeing the Sights [Brittie]

It was a good thing that, today, he actually knew where that cafe was, and, as a result, as able to procure himself a cup of coffee during his daily wandering. With the sheer amount of energy that girl had shown him the first time they met, he was certain he needed all the extra energy he could get in order to even have a chance of catching up with her. Still, the decision to meet in a gaming arcade worked pretty ok with him as, honestly, he had at least some level of ability with the things; he was no master of the joystick, definitely, but he could at least play them adequately, and knew enough about the blinking colors on screens to know what was what, for the most part. He didn't take her as someone who was an expert herself, but if he was going to get shown a place to have fun, he'd at least test it out for a bit before moving on.

Today he went with the same pair of shoes he went with khaki cargo shorts, a pair of Nike sandals, and a t shirt, due to the relatively warm weather; he could have dressed for a later time of day but, honestly, he didn't figure he'd be out too late, as he specifically arranged a time where they'd get out and about fairly early, in order to see a pretty good number of areas. In any case, with how much they'd probably be moving, he didn't real feel like getting sweaty over the whole thing; it's not like he was on a date, and didn't really need to dress up for the occasion. He'd probably opt for her to take him to one of those clubs she mentioned when they specifically arranged that.

He yawned, looking around the area; despite being at the entrance to the arcade, he could already tell how packed it was, and figured it was almost always like this, given the amount of people that seemed to crowd around certain games in play; no doubt looking at someone who was getting a high score, or about to seriously rack up some prizes at one of the many claw machines, and variations of the sort; he'd have mixed into the crowd a bit more, perhaps, if he hadn't been waiting for someone. The idea that she could have arrived first did pop into his mind a bit, but he didn't exactly take the time to scan the crowds, as that felt like a bit too much, and he cursed himself for not remembering whether or not he got her number for this little meetup; with crowds this thick, it'd be impossible to find her if she decided to stray a bit.

"Man...I feel like this is going to be a pain, somehow... Then again, I gotta get out and get more comfy with this place, lest I turn into one of those...uh...shut ins? Yea..." he mumbled to himself, yawning just slightly as he tried to find a way to pass the time; eventually, he took out his phone and started pulling up one of the games he downloaded for times just like these, turning the phone from side to side as he steered his car to the finish line; racing games weren't so bad, and races usually gave you enough time to make a wait feel like no time at all. Though, he admitted, the feeling of playing a game on your phone while in a gaming arcade did feel a little redundant.

Today was a fairly good day; the weather was nice, he actually had plans for once, and he was doing fairly well in his racing game. It wasn't surprising, admittedly, because he had gotten himself fairly far in it, during the times he tilted at odd angles in order to beat the game, and so he typically knew what he was doing; he was able to hit all those shortcuts pretty easy. Still, he wasn't the type to be too engrossed in a game, especially when he had come to this place for much more than one on a cell phone, so, when his vision suddenly darkened, and he found the warmness of skin against his own, it hardly bothered him that the sound of cartoon metal hitting a rock wall ever so slightly sounded, prompting him to slide his buttons along the screen to pause the game.

He chuckled at the voice that followed.

"Oh, that's reaaaaal funny, Brit. What if I was working on a big event, or something?" he said between his laugh, starting up again as he let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. The close proximity was a bit odd at first, he thought to himself, but he didn't exactly stifle from it; to be sure, she was just being her odd, easily excitable self, so he'd go ahead and humor her for a bit, given she'd taken the time out of her day to show him the town. He held his phone by the side, holding it up and turning it around so she could have a better view of the small piece of hardware, letting out another chuckle as he rolled his eyes. "Honestly, though, if you really want this phone, you could have it; if anything happens to it, like theft, I get a nice, brand new one. It'd be a real upgrade, trust me..." he said, smirking afterwards, before yawning.

"Nah, see, there's this thing we have now of days called a 'Pause Button', and it works pretty well, when you find yourself...errr...interrupted during play time, y'know? Maybe one of these days you, too, can work the magic of such a futuristic feature," he stated with a dramatically smug demeanor, before turning his head just a bit to catch sight of her, as he had guessed, excited face. "...Though, I'll admit, you probably just made me scuff the paint on my sweet ride. I mean, I just got it, too..." he said again, a small grinning appearing at the side of his mouth. "...Anyways, what's up? How's it going? And where ya' been? I've been lookin' all over for ya', y'know," he said casually, saying the last sentence in such a way that it was clear that he was lying through his teeth, and was trying to make it obvious; shifty eyes not taken into account. "I had to wait..." he paused, moving his hands above his head to make a ride arcing. "...Reaaaaaally long for you to show."

The slightly shorter male rolled his eyes, before grinning yet again. "What are you, four? Ya don't break any 'records' in any of the racing games that even matter; it's much better to get far and get more cars," he sighed, shaking his head dismissively, feigning the look of someone who was explaining something too complicated to a small child. "But yea, ya kinda failed to ruin my game, so...I guess you fail at trying to make someone fail?" he said casually, trying to make sure that whatever he was saying now would leave some sort of meaningful impact; hopefully a laugh. "...Well, you know, the offer is still on the table, in case you want to get something a bit more concealed in your life," he said simply, putting the black rectangle in his hand into his pocket, shrugging his shoulders to loosen them just a bit, before turning to face her.

"Heh, you think that look of yours is that rare? I couldn't even count on my fingers the amount of women who dye their hair every color of the rainbow," he said, casually, not meaning to take away from her style, but to jokingly defend the fact that he did try to look, and failed for whatever reason. Still, despite what he was saying, he couldn't help but see her outfit choice, and wonder whether she opted to express her fashion in such a way often; come to think of it, she wore clothes that made her look pretty good, last time, too, so it was more likely that her closet was filled with stuff like this, and, more than likely, this wads considered plain for her.

A funny thought, being that trendy.

"Yea? Beating some scores to get some...fabulous prizes? Sounds to me like this game corner is turning into little more than a casino, y'know?" he said, casually, thinking about how beating some random high score, for many, would be fairly impossible, and would leave them losing their money, with no gains to show for it. He wasn't exactly a gambling man, himself, but the story of how she was with another guy, and won prizes seemed to catch his attention, causing him to arch his right brow in thought. He couldn't really put his finger on the why, exactly, but that admission was enough to make him want to absolutely beat that high score, and bring back a prize that would blow the other guy's out of the water; it wasn't so much that he felt the prize itself would be important, but that he felt he just need to establish himself.

And, as he thought about the why, he couldn't help but have a bad taste creep into his mouth.

"Man...I'm so lame, sometimes. Alright, yea, let's try it out; I don't need a pause button, when I'm probably gonna need to keep my focus through the ordeal, y'know?" he smirked, shaking his head one last time, before looking at her again. "Show me the way, Britty. I'd be more than happy to feed the machine..."

Well, at least you could say he paid attention. Despite how much she seemed to be over energetic and flighty, she seemed to stick around subjects fairly well, seemed very sure of exactly how she would go about things. Fun. When she decided to poke his cheek, this time, it didn't really catch him off guard; from what he'd seen so far, this was just par the course for her, as she didn't seem to have any understand of personal space. He sighed, before grinning at her question. "You? Special? What, you got a medal or something? Otherwise, yea, that is what I'm gonna tell ya'," he commented, chuckling afterwards, raising one of his brows as he looked for her response, which he was sure was going to be incredibly amusing, if what he'd seen so far was any point of reference.

"Though...with an outfit like that, and those good looks, you may stand out...just a bit," he stated casually, almost offhandedly, shrugging his shoulders as he followed along behind her, to wherever it was they were going; in such a place, it was easy to not be entirely certain where you were going, unless you absolutely knew the place well. Thinking about that, in fact, forced another question to pop up into his mind, but he decided it was best to handle the one directed at him first. "Racing, fighting, sports, moba, platforming, adventure, rpgs...etcetera, etcetera... Honestly, like music, I pretty much just play what I like, and don't really focus on specific titles, or anything like that. Oh, but I guess I'm not a fan of first person shooters..." he stated coolly, his brows knitting as his curiosity began to get the best of him.

"You? And you seem to really know what you're doing here...so I'm guessing this is a big hangout for you, yea?" he asked, clear curiosity dripping into his voice. Honestly, he hadn't actually thought she was the type to like video games much; she seemed a bit too popular look, and far too energetic to see her sitting in front of a game and mashing away at buttons for any real length of time. It was funny to think about, actually, and really humbled him, as it made him think about all the times he teased his friend about being a little nerdy; maybe it was getting a little more popular to play games a lot. Also, it made him realize that maybe he shouldn't judge books by their covers.

"Just a bit, so don't let it get to your head, or anything," he stated, chuckling, remarking one last time on the matter. It was kind of fun for him to get out and hang out with people now and then, even if he didn't really know whether or not he'd make this a regular thing, still needing to search for a job himself. Work always took up so much time, so he was never quite sure how much he would have left to do random bullshit like this. "So...you like your fighting games, huh? I never woulda guessed, just looking at you, to be honest..." he mused, his face becoming just a bit more thoughtful as he stayed in pace behind her, keeping up fairly well. "Yea, well, the sports games I play are like, nba with basketball, which let's me have my own career. I, uh...never really had a chance to join a team and stuff when I was younger," he said again, before letting out a slight yawn, making it clear that the subject was a boring story to get into.

"But yea, I'm usually busy sleeping, moving around, or training to game, so I guess that may be why I don't really settle on a specific type, y'know?" he said casually, his expression making it clear he was struggling to explain what he meant properly. She would probably understand what it was like, being too busy to really spend a lot of times on things, because of work. Maybe. "Oh yea...agency. You're a model, right?" he stated, before thinking on what else she'd said, trying to recall it properly, given how fast she seemed to be talking, and how much information he actually had to process. "Eh...I get that," he said, before offering a slight smile, even if she wasn't exactly facing him. "...If you want me to be honest, I kinda thought you weren't really interested in this sort of thing, and was just trying to meet me in the middle, thinkin' this is more my style," he said simply, almost dismissively, before yawning again.  

"...Guess I gotta thank you for showing me around, since you don't really have that much time, eh?"

The black male's eyes narrowed, and he watched the strange girl continue to talk at her normal frantic pace, walking backwards as though it were perfect normal. It was, he had become increasingly more aware of, considerably hard to follow exactly what she was saying at times, and even more difficult to read exactly what she would do and say next. She was...unpredictable, and that alone was more than enough to get him interested; most people were pretty cookie cutter, and you could almost guess what they were going to do as though it were telegraphed. Honestly, he couldn't help but chuckle at how impossible she was. "Heh, you talk fast," he stated coolly, raising a brow as he looked her over again, unable to read her expression beyond pure, unadulterated excitement. "And...you're not really easy to read. You're a pretty dangerous girl, aint ya?" he stated casually, chuckling again and shrugging his shoulders, this time looking legitimately interested.

"Sir' Brit? Wouldn't it be more like...madam, or something along those lines? I don't really know the proper title for a female knight, honestly..." he stated thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his right hand as his brow knitted. "...but honestly, if you're escorting me through something called the 'Labyrinth of Arcadia', I'd rather just go home," he said, shaking his head as he laughed. He shrugged his shoulders again, this time making a big show of it. "And, let's be honest, you're not exactly an impressive enough knight to entrust my life with, miss," he said again one last time, before looking past her, smirking just a bit. "Also, look out."

"Heh...looks can be deceiving, as you seem pretty ready to prove," he retorted in response, just as casual as her own reply. It seemed he could talk pretty easily with her, despite how he couldn't actually follow her as much as he'd have liked, and that definitely eased any tension that could potentially come from her quirky nature and his disinterested way of viewing things.

The next few moments saw her rant on about being superior, the potential defeat he was going to face, and an apparent education in the correct terminology for a female knight, eventually leading up to her falling flat on her ass, much to his immediate amusement. He looked at her closely, raising a brow as he struggled to keep himself from laughing, before he broke out in a sudden fit that consisted of intense laughter and pointing that lasted for several moments unabated. The tears from the stress were clear, but eventually he stopped, the laughter dying down as he wiped the tears from his face and struggled to look down at her without breaking out into another fit.

"Oh...thank you for that display of chivalry, Dame Brit. It was really...a learning experience...hahaha..." he stated simply, struggling not to laugh even then, before scooping her up into his arms in a big show of chivalry, more meant to mock her earlier claims of being some sort of knight, more than anything romantic. He couldn't help but think, then, that she was actually incredibly light, and actually not that hard to lift. "...But allow me, Duke Mike, to show you that chivalry does not only apply those sworn to knighthood," he said casually, making a big show of lacing his words with sarcasm. "Also, how to balance oneself on their feet proper."

"Man...why is it that this seems so much lamer when you say it out loud...?" he answered, already considering dropping her outright from the sheer embarrassment she seemed to enjoy putting him through. "Anyways, I hope you're ready, 'cause I'm highly considering dropping you; I only did this to prove a point, after all..." he mused, allowing the false threat to, at the very least, get her to think about it. She was, quite literally, a hand full, and it was obvious that getting her flustered wouldn't have been quite as easy as he thought it would be, much to his disappointment; he had hoped at least some of her attitude was little more than false bravado, and it would easily be stripped away when she was faced with such a situation.

You know, like any normal human being.

Instead, he found her continuing to laugh it off, going as far as to start feeling on him in public. This. Did not. Go as planned. He sighed in clear exasperation, setting her gently on her feet, making sure to mask the fact that, yes, it was a bit harder to keep her lifted than what he would have liked her to believe; it was good that he knew how to lift with his legs, as those were some of his more...powerful parts. He scratched the back of his head with his right hand, rolling his eyes as he watched the few looks directed towards them for that little display. "...anyways, what's this talk of fighting? I thought we were here to find treasure, and not to have a battle to the death..." he said casually, giving a half yawn after finishing, making it clear that he wanted to at least return to a sense of normalcy; or as close to what got with her. "C'mon princess, continue showing me the way."