Sixth Curse

[bondsofsuffering]

[Video/Action for Cancer Ward Arcade]

[Hey guess who's calling during work at a game center? If you guess Hizumi, you are 100% correct. He's got an extremely excited!!! expression as he talks, having clearly made the most wonderful of discoveries and being eager to share them with the world.]

Great news Hinoto-Ri! According to studies, playing video games can reduce stress-- going off of that, if you happen to be suffering from stress due to unexpected demonic kidnappings, playing some video games to let off some steam is a fantastic solution. And it just so happens, the arcade is pretty much empty right now, so what better time to drop by and try to heal some of that trauma?

...Also, if anyone brings me snacks, I'll seriously owe you one.

[Please. He's hungry and bored and desperately needs someone to pester.]

Comments

[bondsofsuffering]

You’re going to leave me on my own-?! Geeze, that’s cold.

[otakuro]

Hey, you should've asked forty minutes ago before I booted up the system. I've got to beat this boss before I can go anywhere.

[bondsofsuffering]

What game is it?

[That was a quick recovery.]

[otakuro]

Last Ronin Avenger: Darkest Moon of the Night.

[A slight pause.]

It was on sale. It's better than it sounds.

[bondsofsuffering]

...Were you that desperate?

[otakuro]

Wha -- It's called being thrifty, not desperation! Sheesh.

Just give me ten minutes and I'll be finished fighting this slime monster, OK? It keeps regenerating; I think it's glitched to heal faster than I can deal damage...

[bondsofsuffering]

I dunno, cutting expenses on video games? That sounds pretty desperate to me.

Well, since I'm such a good person, I guess I can wait that long...

[otakuro]

Maybe I've just played every other game I'm interested in this city already, alright? Besides, there's nothing wrong with appreciating the historical struggles of ronins in feudal Japan.

...Hang on, the ooze is spitting fireballs now.

[bondsofsuffering]

Are you sure there was fireball-spitting ooze in feudal Japan...?

[otakuro]

((Sorry for the late response! I've been out ill for the last few days. Feel free to ignore if you'd rather not continue!))

[Atsuro reappears briefly on the screen with an irritated expression.]

It's symbolic, OK?

[Vanishes again. ...Reappears.]

Of... warlords. Warlords with fire arrows.

[bondsofsuffering]

Warlords with fire arrows that regenerate.

History sure was a mysterious time-!

[otakuro]

Many things were lost to the annals of history during the Meiji Restoration! It's artistic reinterpretation.

[bondsofsuffering]

Heeeh, people were really scary back then-!

[otakuro]

You never know. Fire-breathing samurai could still be around in modern times... hiding in caves or something. [Hadn't that been 'fire arrow shooting samurai'] Maybe they turned into you --

[A sudden cut-off as Atsuro disappears for a few moments.]

...
Augh, no, I died again!

[bondsofsuffering]

Well, I guess death counts as "finished fighting", right?

[otakuro]

If you want to be technical about it, I guess...

[SIGH why doesn't anyone understand him and his video game needs life sure is hard when you are so special. Atsuro grumbles a bit and steps away the screen, whereupon some rustling is heard.]

I don't see why people make games that cheat. It just means they don't have the knowhow to program a competent AI.

[bondsofsuffering]

You're interested in that stuff, right? Have you ever tried making a game yourself?

[otakuro]

Me? Sure I have. It's easy to code simple games on the computer - games like these, not so much.

[bondsofsuffering]

Have you ever thought about it, though? It sounds like it could be interesting...!

[otakuro]

I think you'd need a lot of special developer's tools to get anything really well-designed done. There's something online for RPGs back in my world - a program called RPGCreator or something along those lines.

[bondsofsuffering]

They'd probably have something like that here though, right? It might be fun to look into!

[otakuro]

...I guess they probably do!

Hah, why are you so interested in this all of a sudden? Are you out of games to play, too?

[bondsofsuffering]

Aaah, you got me. My funds took a hit, so I can't really afford anything right now.

[otakuro]

...Don't they pay you at the arcade? What're you spending all of your money on?

[bondsofsuffering]

...I kinda splurged.

[...On hospital tests. But still.]

And then I went and got kidnapped and missed some days because of that. Money's gotten tight until my next paycheck.