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“are you sure about this?” You hesitate, shifting your weight around the most uncomfortable chair you think you’ve ever sat in. Vriska doesn’t answer, rolling her eyes and smiling at you over the styrofoam cup in her hand.
“Yeah, you can get your ears done and not die.” You make an unsure noise in your throat. You glance down at your open palm, holding a pair of silver stud earrings rattling on a cardboard backing. They’re so shiny it’s mesmerizing. The silver contrasts with the smooth dark paper, glittering like stars in the sky. Etched into the top is some name you can’t pronounce, and turning over the paper you notice a price sticker that’s been sloppily scratched off.
“where’d you get these? they’re really nice...”
“Don’t worry about it, dork.” Vriska shoves your shoulder gently. You roll your eyes, smiling as you shake your head. You almost don’t hear Vriska’s next words.
“I’m glad you like them.” It’s said so quietly that you can barely make it out. You can’t help but smile at her, leaning your head against her arm.
“you’re so sweet vriska.”
“Oh, shut up!” She turns away from you, shoving you harder, but you notice her flushing. You only grin wider.
Taking a look around the Claire’s that Vriska dragged you to, you can’t help but be nervous. You’re sitting with your back facing the window, in a row with a few chairs like the one you’re sitting in. They’re tall, wire-framed chairs with vinyl upholstery. The other side of the room is lined with blue and white shelves, jewelry and other accessories glittering on them. Eyes still roaming anxiously over the area, you see a younger troll in purple two seats to your right, kicking her legs as she chatters to her older companion. The girl is carrying a pair of earrings set with some gleaming violet stone. You notice a small blue dot on her earlobe, marking the spot to be pierced. You’ve always admired that sort of earring. You never thought you’d get your own ears pierced, though!
You can’t believe Vriska talked you into getting it done! When she suggested going to Claire’s, talking about piercings, you thought she meant for herself! Now she’s standing next to you, drink in hand, smug as can be. Her arm is half-full of bags from your shopping spree, at least six different colors of them hanging from her forearm.
Vriska finally speaks, straw dropping from her lips
“You’re gonna be fine. You thirsty?” She reaches over to offer you her slushie, poking your lip with the straw. You reach for the cup but she pulls it away, leaving you staring at her in confusion. Vriska’s hand combs through your hair, and you relax a little. She puts the straw to your mouth again and you open your mouth to accept it. Fine. You take a sip, the frozen red drink flowing up the straw. You can’t make up your mind whether it’s supposed to be strawberry or cherry. Maybe it’s a third thing. As you ponder, Vriska pulls her cup back and slides her hand from your head onto your shoulder.
“Don’t drink it all.” She grumbles. When you’re sitting down like this, you have to look up to see her face. Her blue tongue pokes out between her lips, moistening them. You notice her tongue is stained from the slushie, turning purplish.
You notice a short pale figure weaving its way through the shelves and aisles. The shape breaks through and you realize it’s a short Carapacian dressed in a dark apron. Barely peeking out from the long garment is a pair of shiny red shoes, contrasting with the rest of the outfit. A name tag pinned smartly to her chest reads Piercing Adept, and next to it is a pocket with a clear box, filled with differently sized needles. You tense, gulping.
The Prospitan hands you a few sheets of paper and a disposable pen, quite businesslike. She motions for you to sign it, and scurries over to the trolls a few feet away. The younger one looks nervous as the Piercing Adept pulls on a pair of gloves. They don’t quite fit, since they’ve got five fingers and PA only has four. The troll sucks in air and puffs out her chest as PA tears open an alcohol wipe and sanitizes the ear, then picks a sterile needle from her case.
You avert your eyes nervously, not wanting to watch. Vriska jabs you in the shoulder with her elbow, hissing “It’s not even that bad! Look, it’s already done.”
You look and see she’s right, the girl’s ear is already glittering with the purple stone piercing. You watch PA drop the needle into a small, bright red box, then stow it in her apron and retrieve an identical needle from her clear case. You can’t see what happens to the ear on the other side, but the young troll barely seems to feel it. The Piercing Adept steps back and nods proudly, giving a gloved thumbs-up to the trolls, who stand and walk out of the store still chatting.
“See? You’re gonna be fine.
” Vriska rolls her eyes as PA scampers back to you.
PA checks over the signed papers and nods, then pulls out a blue marker. She uncaps it, showing you the fine point, and waves at you to turn your head. You do so, your eyes straining to watch her. She traces the shape of your earlobe, then pens in a small dot near the bottom. She flits to the other side and marks the same spot on your other ear, then steps back. She produces a hand mirror from her apron and turns it towards you, looking for you to approve.
“uh. that looks good, thank you. right vriska?” You look to her, and she shrugs.
“Looks fine.”
Piercing Adept nods and retreats to the back again, leaving you to steel yourself. You take a deep breath to settle your nerves, and Vriska’s arm brushes yours as her hand travels from your shoulder to your hand. Her fingers interlace with yours, and you smile at her.
It’s not long before PA returns, alcohol wipe in hand. A moment of checking the piercings and the marks on your ear, and she nods to you. You breathe and nod back, and PA tears open the prep pad. You squeeze Vriska’s hand, and the nails of your other hand bite into the chair. The wet cotton leaves your ear feeling cold, and before you have time to process, you feel the needle pierce your ear. Your lips purse as you suck air into your lungs, and you fight to relax as PA finishes the first ear and moves to the other. In three breaths’ time, she’s done, and holds up her mirror to let you see yourself.
The earrings shining on either side of your face captivate you. You reach to touch one but hesitate, hand stopping an inch from your ear. You start to smile, amazed at how pretty they look. How pretty *you* look. You catch Vriska’s lips curving too.
Piercing Adept nods, seeming satisfied. She folds away her mirror, and bids you a good day before she goes back to her other duties. Vriska doesn’t let go of your hand as you stand up, and with you still smiling brightly, she walks out of the store with you in tow. You catch sight of your reflection in the glass and can’t keep your eyes off your new earrings.
“they’re so pretty!!!!!!!! thank you!” You say, giddily.
“Yeah, I told you that you’d like them.” Vriska smiles smugly. She squeezes your hand as you walk past storefronts.
You keep smiling and thanking her until she tells you to shut up fifty feet later.
Vriska:
Jesus, June is too cute. You can barely stop smiling like a doofus around her. Especially with how she smiles like a doofus. She keeps looking at herself in every shop window you pass. You can see why, she does look good in those earrings. If you looked that good, you wouldn’t stop looking at yourself. That and making sure everyone else saw, too.
Speaking of, you can’t stop looking at June either... Even as she chatters on about where to go next, you forget to think about where you’re going. As you sip from your drink you suddenly collide with a solid object in front of you.
“Hey, w8tch where you’re going, jackass!” You snarl at the troll who’s clearly at fault. Some olive-blood with dyed hair swept to one side. He must think he’s soooooooo cool. "The f8ck is your pro8lem!"
“wO4H,, cH1LL oUT” He slurs his words. “i d1DN’T s33 y0U”
“Oh, stuff it l8ser!” You shove a finger in his face, but June squeezes your hand before you can chew him out.
“vriska... please don’t get into a fight right now :(” June pouts at you. She’s doing the puppy-dog eyes again. Damn it. You glance back at the douche and put on an indifferent face.
“Wh8tever, I don’t have time for this.” You shove past the other troll and pull June along. You can feel his eyes on your back, and mumble something after you. God, you wanna beat his ass. But you’ve got more important things right now. You turn your eyes back to June. She looks a little upset.
“So you wanna get ice cream?” You suggest sweetly. June’s face brightens. It’s so easy to distract her. She pulls out her phone, searching for a map.
Several minutes of fighting your way through crowds later, you arrive at the ice cream parlor. It’s supposed to be Alternian food, but you’ll be the judge of that. It’s been a long time since you’ve had real Alternian ice cream. They better not fuck it up. The door opens with a bell sound. You walk in and see a few trolls behind the counter in aprons and hats. You’re still not sure they’ll do it properly. If they taunt you like this and don’t deliver you’re gonna have to make it someone’s problem.
The building is an odd mixture of Alternian trends and some style you don’t recognize. Red booths, checkerboard floors... You’re sure it’s some human custom.
June’s smiling as bright as ever. Maybe you won’t make too much of a scene. She walks up to the counter behind another couple ordering, and peers into the glass cases full of flavors. There’s many you recognize, and even more you don’t. You wrinkle your nose at a few. You watch June, whose mouth has fallen open at the selection.
“You know what you’re gonna get yet, dork?” You tease June. She snaps out of it, looking up at you.
“uhhh... maybe”
“Well you better figure something out.”
“what are you getting?”
You blink.
“Mint.”
What?? You don’t even like mint that much. Oh well, you’re getting it now, or you’ll look like some kind of idiot.
“okay! i didn’t know you liked mint, i’ve never seen you eat anything minty.”
“Yeah, whatever, what are you gonna get, nerd?”
“i’m thinking about birthday cake!”
“Well, order.” You nod to the counter, where the others are moving on with their orders.
You and June step up and order, and your ice cream is in your hands before too long. June gets a cone and you get a cookie bowl. Taking your treats away from the counter, you pick out a booth in the corner of the shop, one tucked away. Not without a window, of course. You drop your many bags on the seat beside you, sitting across from June.
“i really like the look of this place!” June rambles in between licks of her ice cream. “it looks like it's from the 50s”
“The fifties?”
“yeah! 1950s back on earth. there used to be places like this where people would come and hang out”
She’s adorable. You have no idea what she’s saying but you’re happy to just let her talk. Minutes pass and you each finish your ice cream, and June starts eating her cone. There’s ice cream smeared across her lip, and the melted stuff inside the cone she’s eating doesn’t help. Her smudged face and fancy earrings clash just a little, but you don’t mind. The last bite of the cone disappears past June’s lips. She smiles at you and you can’t resist leaning over the table to plant a kiss on her lips as she chatters on.
She stammers to a stop, her rambling interrupted. Her face flushes red, the smear on her lips becoming more apparent. You pull away. June blinks, smiling in spite of her furious blushing. She really has no reason to be embarrassed, anyone would be jealous of her right now.
“uh. vriska, you have something on your. on your lip.,” June stumbles over her words, and you swipe across your lip, remnants of ice cream from June’s mouth coming off onto your finger. She’s so flustered over a kiss. An idea strikes you.
“This?” You stick your finger into June’s mouth. Her eyes widen and her lips close on your finger automatically. You smirk at her, showing your fangs.
“You’ve got something on your face too.” You pop your finger out of her mouth and grab her chin, pulling her face closer to yours. You kiss her again, lips caressing hers, and your tongue gently finds the entrance to her mouth. You can still taste the “birthday cake” flavor on her. You don’t care much for the taste, but you don’t mind one bit.
June:
Oh!
Vriska holds your mouth firmly. Your face burns as you pull away, and for a moment Vriska doesn’t let you go.
“You’re such a mess~”
Oh my gog. You blush furiously, stammering, struggling to put together a sentence.
“n-not right now!!!!!!!!” you hide your face in your hands, keenly aware of Vriska still holding your chin. You pull her hand away from you, pushing it down to the table and resting your own on top of it. You other hand slides down from your eye to cover your mouth.
“Fineeeeeeee...” Vriska relents, still smirking at you. She lays her other hand over yours to squeeze your hand between hers. “You’re so cute.”
You make a tiny strangled noise in your throat, staring at your hand clasped in hers on the table. You really wanna kiss her again. You bite your lip as your hand drops from your face to her hands. Air hisses between your teeth as you try to put your thoughts back together, still staring into her eyes.
“i love you, but can we do this somewhere... not here?” Your eyes flit down sheepishly.
“You wanna go somewhere more priv8?” Vriska smiles slyly at you.
You bite your lip as your eyes widen at her.
“maybe.”
Vriska snickers at you, her composure breaking. Her shoulders shake. She pulls one hand out from under yours and bites her finger to stifle the laughter.
“Oh my god, you’re so desper8.” Vriska takes a breath to stop laughing and meets your eyes again, reaching to cup your cheek. “You’re adora8le.”
You start to protest, but Vriska silences you with another kiss. You settle for a grumble. It might have come out more like a whimper, though. Vriska stands up, still smiling at you.
“Let’s go see what else is around here, I need new 8oots.”
You look up at her, pouting. She rolls her eyes at you.
“Come on, I’ll make out with you l8er.”
You stand up begrudgingly, taking her hand as she picks up your armful of bags from the booth.
“Good girl.”
Vriska says it so casually that it takes a moment for you to process what she said. She’s already turned away when you freeze, mouth falling open. Vriska looks back at you when she tries to pull you along but you don’t move. She notices your face and her confusion turns to a wolfish smile.
“What is it, June~? Are you okay~?”
Your mouth flaps for a moment as your face reddens.
“you- you can’t-” You sputter, struggling to complain. Vriska’s gaze sits heavy on your face. Her smirk grows wider.
“You don’t want me to call you that?” Vriska feigns innocence.
“well! well not- i mean-” You realize she’s just fishing for a reaction and close your mouth.
Vriska snorts and turns, pulling you out of the shop behind her.
“Come on, dork.”
You follow, thoughts racing even as you try to squash them. She can’t just say that! She can’t just do that to you! Although, you don’t really want her *not* to do that... You struggle to sort out your feelings, but Vriska’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts.
“What’s Payless?”
“what?” You look up, seeing the store she’s talking about.
“I mean, they have shoes, 8ut... Is it just shoes?”
“basically."
Vriska shrugs.
“Well, let’s see what they have.” She walks through the open glass doors, dragging you along. The store is filled with slightly claustrophobic rows of shelves, stuffed racks of shoes. It smells like leather and plastic and the lights flicker yellow. Vriska is forced to let go of your hand as she walks into one of the narrow aisles, and you fall into step behind her.
You wind through the rows, dodging other people in the meager space between full racks, trying to keep your bags from knocking things off the shelf. Vriska stops occasionally to pick a pair of shoes off a shelf, turning them over in her hands before putting them back. You pass through sneakers, cleats, and dress shoes in silence before you speak.
“what are you looking for?” You ask Vriska, head tilting. You can’t make heads or tails of her selections.
“I don’t know. Looking around, I guess.”
“oh.”
“You see anything you like?”
“not really. i don’t need new shoes.”
“What a8out these?” Vriska holds up a pair of blue-and-white dress shoes.
“no, those look uncomfortable!”
Vriska cracks a smile.
“Yeah, you’d look a little 8it silly in these.” She puts the fancy shoes back on the shelf and rests her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m not seeing anything I want. Wanna go somewhere else?”
“sure.”
You both turn to leave, weaving in and out of the shelves again, all the way back to the entrance. The crowds have thinned a bit in the minutes since you entered, and you see a familiar tall troll through the mess of people.
“it’s kanaya! vriska, we should go say hi!” You grin, grabbing Vriska’s hand and dragging her through the crowd. Getting closer, you notice Kanaya talking to someone else, a short troll you don’t recognize.
“kanaya! hi!” You call her name cheerfully, waving with the hand not holding Vriska’s.
“Oh Hello June, And Hello Vriska, Are You On A Date?” Kanaya greets you elegantly, but with no shortage of happiness.
“yeah!” You smile brightly, squeezing Vriska’s hand. “and who’s-”
You stop. Looking at the other troll, you notice two things in quick succession. First, this troll is oddly pale. And secondly, she lacks any sort of horns, although she is wearing a headband. On second glance, she seems to just be wearing very pale makeup, and looking closer-
“Hello June.”
“rose! i didn’t recognize you!” You gasp, marvelling at her transformation.
“Yes, Kanaya and I have been trying out a new ‘style,’ as it were.”
You look them up and down, admiring their outfits. Kanaya’s dress hasn’t changed much, but Rose wears something like you’ve only seen on your dad’s old CD collection. What was that band called? KISS? Rose is wrapped in layers of lace, net, and chains. She looks striking in it.
“wow! where’d you get all this stuff?” You gush.
“Hot Topic.” Rose answers you matter-of-factly.
“where?”
“Hot Topic. Haven’t you heard of it? I'm surprised June.”
“no? should i?” You feel like you’re missing something important. Vriska locks eyes with you.
“Have you seriously never been?” Vriska stares at you like you’ve just asked her which way is up. You can only shake your head. “June. You’re going to Hot Topic right now.”
Vriska’s tone leaves no room for argument. She turns to Rose.
“Where is it?”
“Just upstairs, on the North side. If you’re going now, would you like to meet back up at the food court in an hour?”
Vriska shakes her head.
“No, we just had ice cream. How about the arcade on the second floor?”
“That works for me. Kanaya?”
“That Sounds Good.” Kanaya nods.
Vriska nods back solemnly and grabs your hand to drag you to the nearest escalator.
Vriska:
You knew June lived a pretty sad life before you, but Jesus. How has she never been to a Hot Topic???????? This needs to be fixed immedi8tely.
Pulling June into the store, you close your eyes and breathe in the smell of incense and fake leather. It reminds you of making costumes for Flarping back on Alternia. This has to be the best place on this planet. There’s a few people wandering through the store, but you don’t pay any attention. You step around an employee with dyed hair talking to a customer, looking around the shelves.
“Come on, June, let’s look at these 8elts.” You drag her over to one side of the store, a rack of different belts having caught your eye.
“oh, these are kinda cool.” June seems interested in a few of them. As she should be.
“Do you think I’d look good in this?” You hold up a thick black belt studded with dangerous-looking spikes, twisting it around your waist.
“oh! maybe. probably.” June seems oddly flustered about it. You decide not to push her. You’re here to get this girl some culture, god damn it. You hang the belt back in its place, taking a few steps away to look around.
“you don’t like it?” June asks innocently. “it would look good on you.”
“I do, I’m just not gonna 8uy it.
” You shrug. June just nods.
“okay.”
You wander over to a wall of band shirts, some of which you recognize. Most of them you don’t, though. You leaf through a few shirts looking for your size, but don’t find anything.
“You know any of these 8ands?” You pause rifling through clothes to look at June.
“i’ve heard of a couple of them, but not really.” She shakes her head. Poor soul.
You rotate towards the jewelry section, filled with sparkling crystals and shiny metal. Bracelets and necklaces hang next to earrings, clattering against each other as you brush them. You find a star-shaped pendant painted blue, and hold it up to June.
“This would match your eyes.” You take the excuse to stare at June’s eyes.
“it’s pretty.” June can barely keep her eyes on the necklace. You don’t mind too much, since you get to look at her either way. She brushes her earlobe absently. “i don’t think i need new jewelry now, though. i mean you just got me these earrings!"
You purse your lips and nod. “You know, you’re pretty hard to shop for, Eg8ert.”
“sorry!” June looks sheepish. You crack a smile at her. She’s so adorable. She points behind you. “hey you were looking for shoes earlier, right?”
You glance around, noticing a shelf stacked with different shoes. Near the top are a few pairs with a checkerboard pattern, but at the bottom...
“Ooooooooh, these are nice.” You pick up a pair of red platform boots with a studded buckle around the ankle. They’re oddly heavy, and a squeeze of the toe confirms that they’re steel-toed. You smile widely, flashing your fangs. These boots *are* nice. “I could break someone’s nose with these.”
June gulps loudly as her eyes widen.
“Yeah, I could definitely f8ck some8ody up!” You smile wider, canines catching on your lip. “Definitely 8uying these. Thanks for pointing them out, June~”
It takes a moment to notice she’s tongue-tied, but once you do it becomes apparent she’s blushing just a little.
“y-yeah you’d look good in those.” Of course you would. She’s such a dork.
You carry your new boots around the store a while longer, but neither you nor June see anything else you want. You finally come back around to the counter to pay, and freeze in your tracks as you spot the cashier. It’s that damn troll who ran into you earlier!!!!!!!! You eye his green hair and shitty piercings. Definitely the same douchebag. Fuck! Just your luck he’d be here!
June bumps into your shoulder when you stop. She looks at you, confused, then follows your gaze. Understanding dawns on her face as she recognizes the troll. She shifts uncomfortably and nudges you forward.
“Uh, hi.” You bite your tongue, trying not to cause a scene for June’s sake. You put your boots up on the counter. The troll with the dyed hair looks up at you, and his brow furrows.
“h3Y,, 1 s4W y0U e4RL13R”
“Do you? I don’t recognize you.” You lie through your teeth.
“y34H,, y0U r4N iNT0 m3..” The olive-blood rings up your shoes, shrugging. “i'M c00L tH0UGH, n0 b1GG13.. sORRY i bUMP3D y0U..”
“Mhm.” You slap a few bills on the counter and grab your shoes, desperate to leave.
“d1D y0U w4NT a r3C31PT?”
“Yeah, sure.” You take the slip and hurry out of the store, June in tow.
You drop your bags on a bench just outside and sit down to pull on the new boots. They make you a good few inches taller, now standing a good deal higher than June. It’s adorable how she has to tilt her chin up to look you in the eye now. She was always shorter than you, but the boots double the difference.
“So did you have a good time?” You ask June. She nods, smiling up at you like a doofus. “I knew you would.”
You smile at her, then grab her face and tilt it up towards you. She squeaks as you kiss her, arms wrapping your waist. You hold her for a moment. You break the kiss, hands lingering on June. She has such pretty eyes. You finally let her go, retrieving your pile of bags from the bench.
June fishes her phone out of her pocket, checking the time. You can’t help but smile a little at the sight of her dorky wallpaper. It’s some kind of collage of pictures of you both, with blue swirl effects like picture frames. You’re tempted to grab her face again and give her another picture for her scrapbook. Dweeb. June’s voice interrupts your train of thought.
“we should head back downstairs if we’re gonna meet rose and kanaya.” That’s right, you were supposed to join back up with them. “they said about an hour...”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t wanna be l8.” You playfully shove June.
June leads you down two floors to the meeting place you agreed on, an arcade. The windows are tinted so you can only see blurry blinking lights inside. A sudden flicker of light goes off behind the glass, a reverse silhouette in the shape of a troll, bright and gone again like a flashbulb burning. As you pass through the doors you can see Kanaya just inside. She’s clearing her throat trying to compose herself, a black lipstick mark on her cheek. Rose stands next to her, smiling. She probably had to stand on her toes to put a kiss on Kanaya’s cheek. You bite your cheek to stop from smiling thinking about June standing up on her tip-toes just to kiss you.
“Hey, Kanaya, are you trying to 8lind people in here?” You tease.
“No I Was Just Startled.” Kanaya responds curtly.
“hi rose! and kanaya!” June grins, waving energetically.
“Hello again, June.” Rose smiles composedly. Her pale makeup is still as pristine and striking as it was an hour ago. You briefly consider trying that style of makeup, but you quickly abandon the idea. You’d probably look ridiculous.
“I Took The Liberty Of Purchasing Fifty Tokens For Us All” Kanaya digs into her bag and retrieves a plastic bag full of gold-ish coins. “It Won’t Divide Evenly But It Was That Or One Hundred And Frankly That’s Too Many.”
Rose nods in agreement. Kanaya shakes the bag out into her hand, long fingers deftly dividing the tokens. She hands out piles to Rose, June, and you, the coins catching the light as they fall through the air. They remind you of the fake dubloons you used for Flarp purposes before you accumulated vast amounts of actual wealth.
June smiles as she’s handed her tokens, and grabs your arm, eyes lighting up. She tugs on you gently, guiding you into the maze of arcade cabinets and air-hockey tables.
“i have to show you this game!” She’s so earnest you can’t help but follow. Rose and Kanaya follow you loosely, chatting to each other. June weaves through the machines, and you could swear she has a sixth sense for whatever she’s looking for.
“i found this the last time i was here,” June explains. Of course she’s been here before. How has she been here but not Hot Topic????????
“here!” June stops in front of a blue box that reads “The Real Ghostbusters” across the top in red letters. It sounds familiar, she probably mentioned it before. The machine has two joysticks and four buttons for two players. “do you want to play? i’ll pay both tokens, since it takes one for each player.”
You shrug, why not.
You end up playing the game for another hour. You bust out twice within the first twenty minutes, and decide to stop wasting June’s tokens. She looked worried then and you assured her you’re fine to just watch her play for now. She gets almost comically into the game, laser-focused on shooting ghosts or whatever. Rose and Kanaya are playing air-hockey behind you when June’s Ghost Buster dies again and she runs out of coins.
“oh no!” June’s distraught face turns to you. “i didn’t mean to spend all my tokens here. i wanted to get something from the prize counter...” she laments.
You bite back a laugh.
“I’m sorry hon. You want me to win you something?”
“no, don’t use your tokens on me.” June shakes her head forlornly. God she’s pathetic. You grab her shoulder.
“Come here dork, I’m gonna win something anyway.” You pull her away, looking for machines that dispense tickets. You find some spinning wheel game with a green Earth fish on it and brightly colored numbers along the wheel. You drop a token into the slot and pull the lever to spin the wheel. It spins and clicks loudly, and comes to a stop on... 10. The lowest possible number. The machine spits out one measly ticket.
“That’s 8ullshit!!!!!!!!” You spin the wheel again and roll a barely better result. Two tickets this time.
“well i’m sure you’ll win sometime.” June comforts you.
“You’re damn right I will.” You screw up your face and focus before throwing the lever again. You’re gonna win it big on this machine, whether it likes it or not! The wheel spins and spins, clicking in its housing. It slows, comes to a stop... You open your eyes.
“JACKPOT!” The machine spews glorious tickets at your feet. You laugh maniacally. June narrows her eyes at you.
“did you cheat? with your magic luck powers?” She interrogates you.
“What if I did?” you shrug. “That’s not cheating. Who am I cheating, it’s a machine."
“that’s unfair.” June pouts.
“To who?”
“i don’t know, it’s just not honest. it doesn’t really count.”
You hold up your glorious pile of tickets, one end still pouring out of the machine.
“Counts fine to me.” June looks uncomfortable but shrugs.
“i don’t know... i guess it’s not based on skill anyway...”
“Exactly. Now come on and let’s hit some other games and get some sick loot.”
June purses her lips, then shrugs. You roam around the arcade, playing games and winning even more tickets. You don’t use your luck powers anymore, mostly. Maybe you did a few times. But not enough for June to notice. Not because you’re guilty! You just don’t want her to get upset. Definitely. That and to wow June with your amazing skills. She appreciates them, as she should. You finally get down to your last few tokens and decide to call it before you run out entirely.
You walk back to the prize counter, where the woman behind the counter spots you over the shoulder of someone else and points you to a machine to count your tickets. You make your way that direction and start feeding it your enormous mass of paper. It takes several minutes for the slow machine to suck up every ticket. Finally it spits out a printed receipt with a triple-digit number of tickets.
You come back to the counter, waiting in line for a moment before you reach the front. You take the time to scan the rows of cheap toys and plushies in dozens of colors behind the counter. There isn’t much that’s interesting. You turn to ask June if she sees anything, and see her staring starry-eyed at one of the plushies, mouth hanging open. You follow her gaze.
“oh my god vriska look at that one!” She points out an enormous blue cat plush, easily four feet long. It’s shaped like a tube, with four round nubs for legs and an immense oval head. It’s the dumbest creature you’ve ever seen, but June seems enamored with it.
“...Do you want it?”
“ohmygodyes.”
You get to the front of the line.
“How much is the blue cat?”
“500 tickets.” The human woman behind the counter points to the stickered numbers underneath where it sits. You hadn’t seen it before, which is shocking considering how brightly colored the stickers are. You hand her the slip from the ticket-counting machine and she reads it, then nods, and pulls down the huge blue cat from its shelf. She passes it over the counter and feeds your slip into another machine, which prints out a new slip with a much smaller number. Shame. She passes it back to you.
“This will be good basically forever, you can bring it back and spend the tickets any day you like.” She smiles.
“Thanks.” You smile back and walk away, handing June the enormous plushie. She looks like she’s drowning under the fluff and having the time of her life while she’s doing it.
You reconvene with Rose and Kanaya, and Rose raises an eyebrow at the enormous cat June carries.
“Quite a large cat there, June.”
“yep!” June giggles. “vriska won it for me!”
“Did she? How nice of her.” Rose really seems to mean this. She nods her approval.
Kanaya clears her throat and pointedly glances at her phone. “It Is Getting Quite Late Now, Should We Consider Wrapping Up The Day And Heading Home?”
You shrug. “Might as well, I don’t think there’s anything else to do here.”
“that sounds fine to me.” June says from under her several pounds of blue plush. Rose nods in agreement.
The four of you adjust your bags (and plush) and make your way towards the bottom floors and the exit as the sun approaches the horizon. June’s face appears from behind her cat, smiling ear-to-ear at you.
She’s so adorable.