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Golden Hour. Semi-Euclidian geometries pierced both the highest heavens and the deepest blues of the oceanic memoria. Its lights, dazzling and resplendent, projected an unabashed arrogance that sought to outshine the stars and reveal the secrets the fathomless waters concealed below.
Cars, speeders and spheres all whizzed past Stelle as she strode down Glaux Avenue. She watched as an impatient dreamseeker launched himself into the sky from a pingball machine to avoid having to wait at a crosswalk. The absurdity of the waking dream operated on a completely different logic to the physical world, wrought from immaterial memoria by the hands of a few select mortals.
It would go without saying that Golden Hour, and every other Moment on Penacony, would have been an affront to any self respecting god. It was fortunate that most Aeons didn’t care, that and Stelle had hit the last one that did with a train.
As it turned out, Aeons were scarily susceptible to sufficient blunt force trauma. Tayzzyronth had once been squashed underneath Qlipoth’s hammer, Ena had been given a strong enough concussion that Xipe was able to reclaim THEM, and Nanook would eventually have THEIR skull dented by the very bat she wielded. Stelle couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face, though this time she wasn’t on Penacony to kill an Aeon.
It was then that a voice calling her name cut through the crowd, the voice behind reason she had suddenly dropped off every radar and gone radio silent to all her friends. Stelle turned to the direction of the voice and spotted her smile.
Brighter than the myriad lights illuminating the many buildings, the rest of Golden Hour’s splendor seemed to pale as Stelle honed in on that singular beacon. Firefly stood shining, her long silver hair played in a gentle sway amidst the motions of people passing by. Their eyes locked and chemistry sparked in the open air between them. Stelle’s long gait turned into a quick jog, then a run as she closed the shortening distance between them.
The tides of the crowd did not part for their rushed reunion, however. So what Stelle had imagined to be a romantic run toward one another in slow motion was more akin to Stelle wrestling down anyone that got in between her and her waiting lover. Firefly stayed to the side of the street, watching and wincing every time some poor bystander was crushed by Stelle’s unstoppable approach.
Hair tousled, clothes tussled, Stelle came to a stop and bent over both knees to catch her breath, completely unaware of the wake of disgruntled dreamgoers following the path she’d blazed. She raised her head to present Firefly with a triumphant smile.
“Found you.”
The empty space behind Stelle soon stitched together once more and life in Golden Hour resumed to it’s normal pace as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened. After all, such disruptions were commonplace in a land where dreams came true on the regular. Firefly offered a hand up and Stelle took it with a gleam in her yellow eyes.
“Yes, you found me,” Firefly giggled before she pulled Stelle up to her full height. She gestured to the building beside her. “Bring’s back memories, doesn’t it.”
Stelle’s grin widened and puffed up her chest in pride. “The place where I used all of your credits to buy an unreasonable amount of food.”
Firefly’s giggle burst into full laughter. “That’s not something people are meant to be proud of.” She admonished playfully, “Far from it!”
“Well, yeah but—” Stelle blushed, “It’s a fond memory though.”
“Very.” Firefly assured her with a light touch on her arm. “I’m glad you asked to meet here.”
“Allow me to be your guide this time,” Stelle declared. “Let me show you to our newest attraction in Golden Hour.”
Firefly was about to question the possessive use of ‘our’, but swiftly remembered that Stelle was a legitimate shareholder of Penacony and had every right to make that claim. She just shrugged and tailed behind Stelle as they made a direct line for the new, and cleverly named, ArcadiHour, built after the recent success of the Origami Bird Clash arcade game series.
As they walked, Stelle began to spin a tale about the origins of the arcade. Apparently, the previous venue named Bingo-Ku, had housed a … creative game, which had been best described as a game of Bingo played by masters of martial arts. Unfortunately for Bingo-Ku, business was hard to come by as experts visiting the sweet dream were few and far between. Popularity aside, the final nail in the establishment’s coffin was an unfortunate falling-out between the rights holders of Bingo-Ku and Golden Hour leasing firms, resulting in their eviction and eventual replacement with the much more popular ArcadiHour.
Firefly stopped short of the door and Stelle pivoted to match the bewildered look on her face. “Stelle. When did you learn all that?”
“All of it was against my will.” She sighed and her shoulders sagged. “Hours of meetings, contracts and useless legal jargon repeatedly drilled into me. So boring.”
“Not very befitting of an arcade, is it.” Firefly smirked.
“Not at all.” Stelle said and straightened. “But now you can enjoy yourself here even more since you have the full history of the ArcadiHour!”
“I’m not convinced.” Firefly deadpanned.
“No, me neither.” Stelle conceded immediately. “Let’s just forget about it and head in.” Firefly gave an excited nod in response and they passed the sliding glass doors and into the building proper.
It was as if they’d crossed the threshold into another world. The hubbub of the street behind them was silenced when the doors slid shut and was replaced by a new raucous soundscape of blips and beeps and squeals and cheers. Row upon row of vintage games lined the long hall all the way down— and impossibly, beyond their eyeline.
It took a member of staff’s approach to snap them out of their awestruck stupor. “Welcome esteemed guests to ArcadiHour!” The bronze intellitron greeted with. “I take it that it’s your first time visiting?”
“Y-Yeah.” Stelle stammered as she did her best to wrench her eyes from the physical impossibility that continued to stare her down.
“First time visiting an arcade of any kind, really,” Firefly added.
“I see. In that case, would you like a guide to show you—“
“Nope. Thanks!” Stelle said quickly and tugged Firefly to follow. She picked a random lane and began to walk. Beyond the bewildered Intellitron’s earshot Stelle explained, “We’d never hear the end of it if Silver Wolf finds out we actually did a tutorial mission.” Firefly understood immediately. “Besides, I have tons of the Clock Tickets that this place runs on, we don’t need to buy any.”
Stelle proffered a thick wedge of stacked tickets and placed the brick-weight load in Firefly’s waiting hands. “You are full of surprises today.” She giggled.
“Aren’t I always?” Stelle winked and Firefly shrugged with a nod in agreement.
“Never a sane day with you.” She beamed. Firefly hefted the tickets in one hand. “Let's see what this many can get us then.”
Basketball hoops, penny pushers, air hockey tables,
They took turns shooting hoops, with Firefly emerging the undisputed champion and eventually atteacting the nearby attention of other players, all enraptured by how effortlessly accurate her throws were. Stelle was simply unable to compete and eventually conceded before the growing crowd grew too large.
Next up was a game of Whack-a-Meme featuring miniatures of many memes that Stelle and Firefly had both faced in person. This duel of skills was much more heavily contested. Stelle’s familiarity with each meme’s characteristics have her the much needed edge versus Firefly’s incredible skill and speed. The machine broke before a winner could be declared and they swiftly abandoned the smoking attraction before they got in trouble.
“Did you really have to hit it that hard?” Firefly laughed under her breath as they both dashed deeper into the arcade.
“It was that crystal dinosaur meme! You have to break it to beat it.”
“It was a toy version.”
“And I beat it.”
“Definitively.”
At some point the even rows of games and attractions began to meander and curve in on themselves, twisting and winding into disordered chaos. Eventually stopped beside a couple of empty air hockey tables. In fact, this part of the arcade appeared entirely unoccupied. Though that wasn’t what got their attention.
“Stelle! Let’s settle this once and for all.” Firefly declared before running toward the lone crane game surrounded by pinball tables and bright arcade cabinets. “If you win me three plushies I will concede that you are the better arcade gamer.”
Stelle wasn’t stupid, she knew what Firefly was doing. But at the same time she did want to beat her, not to mention how happy it’d make Firefly to win those plushies.
“Alright, bet. Now watch and learn.” Stelle’s grin beamed with confidence as she rolled up her sleeves and approached the controls. Firefly eagerly fed the first tickets to the machine and it whirred to life.
Stelle guided the crane with unerring focus, despite Firefly’s jubilant attempts at distracting her. The claw lowered and grasped feebly at the ears of a small plush chimera, and rose without a grasp. Stelle cursed under her breath and took the controls up once again. This time however, Firefly’s attention wasn’t entirely focused on the game being played.
Stelle whooped in joy as the claws purchase held around an unfamiliar yet cute chibi character sporting a red and blue headband. Firefly’s focus shot back as the telltale sound of soft fabric hitting metal played out. “I did it!”
“That makes two more to go.” Firefly teased.
“Dang, ok.” Stelle sighed. “Here’s your cool plushie I guess.” She offered the plushie up to Firefly who shooed it away.
“Thanks sweet. Put it with the others when you win them.” She said distractedly. There was something else afoot in this arcade that she was yet to discern.
While Stelle won her plushies she absorbed the environment around her. She felt the absence of life, the oddly clammy and stagnant air, the endless lines leading to nowhere…
“Uh. Stelle?I think we’re lost.” She said finally. Stelle had just won her second plush and pumped the air hard in celebration, then turned to see what Firefly saw. “Do you remember which way we came?”
“Oh. Uh, that way— wait, no. That way? No—“ Each direction they looked stretched beyond the horizon. Endless twisted rows of bright and beeping arcade machines. “Huh…”
“It appears that we’re lost in some kind of non-euclidian space.” Firefly pondered. “Any idea of how we can get out?” She asked. Stelle pushed the two won plushies into Firefly’s arms and looked her dead in the eyes.
“Wake up.” Stelle said, uncharacteristically monotone.
“What?” Firefly asked,
Wake
Up.
Firefly started awake in her bio-pod. Above her, Silver Wolf jumped from where she’d been leaning in to check on her. “Jeez, what the hell, Fly?” She yelped. “I thought you didn’t get nightmares.”
“I—“ Firefly started weakly. “I don’t.”
She motioned to rise and her arm brushed up against the two plushies beside her. The same two that—
Memories trickled back through the fog of disorientation. They’d been on a date to an arcade and…
“Yeah.” Silver Wolf tutted as she watched the recognition play across Firefly’s face. “Against all our recommendations you let Stelle convince you on an adventure to Penacony. You idiot, you’re still too weak to be doing anything like that just yet.”
Firefly smiled despite the harsh words. It was Silver Wolf’s way of caring and she appreciated her worry. She sighed and let her tired, aching body lie back down, dragging the two won plushies closer to her chest. Sure, it wasn’t sensible to leave her pod in any capacity, dream or otherwise, but she had no regrets. Time with Stelle was time worth paying for.
