Taking a Breather

Life, Milestone

The kids decide to go to an arcade in Times Square!

After all that's happened, the group hasn't had time to breathe and get a grip on the situation. Eos explained that they have some downtime before another monster attack. As the "Safe place" Alistair mentioned, is likely under Amble Technologies. Monsters won't attack until the conspiracy makes their next move. Have fun, be kids for a while. Taking that into account, they decide to leave and hit up an arcade in Times Square Jayden is a regular here along with the rest of the Basketball team so he shows them around,. Chris offers to pay for whatever they want, leading to a few jokes about him being rich. This clearly upsets him, prompting him to leave and Alec to follow while they decide on what to do   Stopping by the go-kart track, Chris would just watch as the cars drive by until Alec caught up with him. There, he would explain how he hated people pointing out the fact that he was rich. Back when he was little, kids would always isolate and bully him for being rich. Whether it was jealousy or just fun to mock someone who lived in an entirely different world than their own, they took great joy in rubbing in how he wasn't like most kids. Even Amber began to bully him when in public to avoid being ostricized by her friends. Then high school came, and suddenly it was so cool to be friends with a rich guy. Everyone tried to play nice, except for Amber who commited to her role. Alec can speak up, asking if he hates her for that but regardless, he never resented her. Instead he resented the people who forced her into that role. When they're alone, the two are no different than the were when they were little, just two kids having fun, even if she is a bit more busy with soccer now. Feeling better now that he got to explain why it bothered him, Chris agreed to go back to the group. Jayden and Akane apologize but he just smiles and says "Let's just have some fun"   From there, Alec can hang out with his other classmates   Jayden and Chris   Jayden and Chris want to go play laser tag. It goes really well with any of them winning. If he wins, Jayden cheers and jumps for joy. If not he sulks, clearly annoyed about not winning. Regardless, Chris explains that winning isn't everything. Jayden argues that it's not whether he wins or loses that bugs him but that he was so certain he could win. There's nothing more embarassing than being certain you'll win and then losing. Jayden uses an example from his past. Back when he and Alec had first met the two were playing basketball together. Everyone was watching, Jayden was so certain he would win. Why wouldn't he? He was the star player on the team and Alec was just some new guy. Then somehow, Alec managed to win. Now that he has the power of a god, that makes the shame even worse. Alec has the option to either tease him about it or call out that maybe his overconfidence was why he lost. Jayden just sorta grins though and offers to go another round after a brief silence   Maya and Akane   Maya sighs as she just watches Akane play one of the countless games, just enjoying seeing her have fun after what happened with her family. Alec approached and can either tap her on the shoulder, making her jump in shock, or just wait and she'll ask her how long he's been there. Eventually she relents and asks Alec what to do. She's been avoiding Akane for a while before all this Mythos stuff. They're still friends obviously but she's been having this weird feeling, one she only ever felt before with Taylor and she remembers how that turned out. After all, she was a coward who failed to stop her boyfriend from commiting murder. Alec can ask but she'll just shake it off and refuse to elaborate. So, Alec has an idea. Using his own money, he books a table for the two of them and plenty of food. The awkward silence is almost deafening but eventually Maya asks about how she's holding up after her family got attacked, to which she admits she hasn't really had time to process it all. Even though they just left today, she feels lonely with nowhere to go back to. But hey, the games are a nice distraction. Maya smiles and assures her that if she needs to talk, she'll be here. Heck, when this is done she can even stay at her place. This random thought results in more silence, leaving Maya completely embarassed but Akane just grins and says she'll think on it   Then she asks a similar question, what about her? It must have been a shock seeing Taylor again. Maya tried to put on a fake smile but Akane saw right through it. She insists that Maya be straight with her. She doesn't want her to turn into a mess again like she did last year when he was first arrested. Knowing it would do no good to lie, she admits she doesn't know how to feel. She's ashamed of what happened, scared that he's back. Akane sighed, putting her hand on Maya's and assuring that what happened wasn't her fault. She was his girlfriend, not his mom. And besides, he may have a Mythos but so do they, and she'll do anything to protect her. They all would. Maya seems uncertain but smiles upon hearing that