Nerd Palace (Blue/Open)

[Deleted]

Ryudo was bored. Sure, he was grateful that the day's steady stream of customers was done with, for the most part. But things were so dull while he was working. And it was a Saturday! Nearly five PM on a saturday and he was working. He should have gotten a job as a DJ instead of his old game store job back when he returned to town after his training.


Not that the training had gone all that well. Yeah, he had learned how to fly, but after crashing a bajillion times, he had stomped off and stopped training without having learned how to control it. And that goddamned True Oni form. That was a real pisser.

But oh well. Today was working day. Get money from selling vidya games to people. As well as pen and paper games, replica swords, you name it. If it LOOKED like it came from a game, the Nerd Palace had it. Hell,they even had anime.

Ryudo sighed. At least he wasn't working at the one Gamestop in a small town. Now THAT was hell. He had only gone to a Gamestop once, in some crappy podunk down, and it had been crowded as hell. And not in the "Yay more business!" sense, there were snot nosed brats everywhere playing pokemon. Adults talking about Call of Duty, crap like that.

At least Nerd Palace had the policy that if you weren't a customer or playing a sanctioned game at one of the tables, you couldn't stay. Granted, there was a group of teens playing 3DSes in the back, but they were cool. Quiet, at least. Not the kind that gave Ryudo headaches.

He stretched his arms, glad he didn't have to wear that damned armor at work anymore. He was wearing his usual, everyday clothes, with the standard retail name tag.

"Buh......is it closing time yet?"

[Deleted]

Ah man, it was getting late in the day. Well, not that late. The sun was still quite present in the sky. But it was enough to make Blue a little anxious. She kept lifting her hands to the sunshine, watching as it refused to be soaked up. It was okay. She was alright right now. Nothing to worry about, no random tantrums or breakdowns to fuss over. What if she had to use the light she had stored up, though? And... And she used too much? And it ran out? Completely? Gah, she hated when that happened! Everything about her pulled a complete 180. She was probably unrecognizable at times like that, when she had no light left inside of her. Then again, she would have been, if she was around other people long enough for them to notice the differences in her. She tried her hardest to stay in line, though, to not do anything rash when around people for more than just an hour. Which didn't happen very often, mind you. She bounced around a lot. Always made up excuses, found some way to get away from others. Her fear of herself was getting the best of her. And it was so easy to control, too! Or, one would think. "Just keep the light stocked as long as possible," she berated herself in her head more often than one would like to know. She would, if she didn't need to let the light out. After a while it became too much, too overpowering. She felt like it was suffocating her.

The dark-haired girl wandered around. She didn't really know where she was going right now. She had just gotten done working her shift at the The Wandering Mule not too long ago, and now she had nowhere to go and nothing to do. She was still wearing her uniform required for work, a simple black dress with a little belt and bow at the waist. She switched out her heels for a pair of navy flats, and she declared herself good enough. After a while of mindless wandering, Blue had somehow stumbled upon a game store, something called "Nerd Palace." She had never heard of it before now, which wasn't really surprising, considering how she didn't get out too much. The blue-eyed Borrower peered into the store. It actually looked pretty interesting... But there weren't too many people in there. Her eyes flickered to the hours sign. They were still open... The girl slowly wandered in, her flats silent against the ground as she curiously began to look things over. She had never really played video games or gotten involved in anything like this, but from the looks of it it seemed to be quite the popular, fun thing to do. Blue grimaced a little to herself. Just another thing to set herself apart from the rest of the world.

It was actually surprisingly easy to get lost in this store. Not like the literal kind of lost, but the mental kind. Blue was so behind on all of it, she didn't know where to start. Her eyes kept trailing back to the teenagers in the back of the store. They were playing with something. She didn't know what, but they looked like they were having a lot of fun. The girl sucked in a deep breath and lowly turned her palms up to the store's overhead lights. Nothing absorbed. Good. Sometimes she leaked light without even realizing it. She figured it was a part of her subconscious working for her, knowing when the light inside was becoming too much and when she needed to let some of it go. The brunette lifted a hand and ran her fingers through her long hair quickly, her light eyes skimming over all different kinds of merchandise. Now that she didn't exactly have to worry about her mood going all out of whack on her all of a sudden, she figured she might as well take a better look around. What would it hurt? Nothing. Who knows, she might even get into this stuff if she learns enough about it. Blue quickly glanced back to the teens. Surely they knew all about this... Maybe she could go talk to them about it. But that would be barging into their time and space. The girl looked back forward, then searched the store area, her eyes landing on a young man who had... Blue hair. And a name tag. Maybe he could help.

[Deleted]

"Hey, Ryudo! Come play with us, we know you're a Monster Hunter ace!"

"Can't kids, I'm on the clock."

"Awww, fine...."

He and the boys laughed it up a bit, before he noticed the attractive young lady who looked a little confused. TYR's (Pronounced Tweer, roughly) Dreams was playing quietly over the shop's PA system, god knew the boss loved Nordic folk metal. In any case, he walked over to the young lady, and decided he'd give her one of his big, bright smiles, and give her the spiel that he gave every customer.

"Welcome to the Nerd Palace, where you can find everything from pen and paper to Xbox 360. My name's Ryudo, and I can answer any questions you have."

It was a simple spiel, but a spiel nonetheless. He didn't sound bored like he usually did, though. There was something about this girl that interested him. She seemed...different from the GAMER GRRL trash that seemed to fill the store after the big crowds had gone home. By that he meant the typical I'M A GIRL AND I GAME SO I'M BETTER THAN YOU AND DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT types. Those were annoying as hell.

In any case, he gave a big, bright smile, his almost overly white teeth showing in a genuine display of happiness. If she was as confused as she looked, she was buying a gift for someone, and those were always easy sales.

[Deleted]

The brunette quietly watched for a moment as the blue-haired employee talked with a couple of boys. Their laughing made a little smile appear on her lips, though it vanished just as fast as it came when the young man looked her way. Was it creepy to smile at things like that? To watch people enjoying themselves and to wish to have that kind of experience too? Blue looked down for a second and messed with the belt on her dress as she tried to act like she wasn't there. It must've not worked. At all. Whatsoever. Obviously it wouldn't have anyways. The girl looked back up quickly and smiled a little bit back - though hers was nervous compared to the young man's - when she saw his welcoming expression. As he walked over she contemplated staying in her spot or taking a few steps back. She compromised with taking one step back. Blue nodded a little and smiled a little more softly. She knew that all he was feeding her was what he was payed to say, but it didn't bother her.

"Um, you can call me Blue," she said. She looked over to the side at the many items in the store. "My questions...?" A small laugh escaped the girl as she looked back to Ryudo. On her lips was a slightly embarrassed smile as she looked up to him in chagrin. The man was a few good inches taller than she was. "I... I don't even know where to start," she confessed, her cheeks growing red as she realized how stupid this was. Why did she come in here if she didn't even know anything about it? "You must think I'm crazy," she said, looking around and letting her eyes skim over the different products offered at the store. "Since I'm here and I've never even... Um... Played these or anything." The girl gestured slightly to everything on display, and even to the teens who were still playing their games in the back. If she went up to them and watched... She would be so, so lost. How she had managed to avoid getting involved in video games and all this stuff and even not knowing a single thing about any of it was beyond her.

((Sorry this is so short and suckish << >>))