[Meika Hijiri]

Meika is a disaster in all of the worst ways. She's a revolving door of the worst possible situations that could happen to a person, and while most people do not seek these moments out, Meika is unique in that she seems to be a magnet for misfortune, although perhaps magnet is not the right word. In fact, Meika does not passively attract trouble. She actively seeks it. Such is the character flaw that led to her getting disowned entirely, a punishment that her mother naively imagined might get Meika's life back on track. Alas, no dice. With more freedom, Meika has become worse. She's free to cause problems without any fear of the consequences, and, god, with her induction into UA University, Meika has not gone hungry in her search for fun.

That makes it all the sweeter when she does eventually sit down to relax from a long day of ruining her chances at a future. She has homework tonight, but who really gives a shit? Meika certainly doesn't. All she really cares about is playing Lethal Kombat, which has been a difficult task since she's still trying to save up money to buy a TV of her own. Luckily, UAU happens to be one of the most prestigious schools in the country (and people still wonder how somebody like Meika got in at all), and they retrofit all of their dorms with a common room that includes wall-mounted TVs, and not cheap ones either.

So, tonight, Meika's parked on a couch in her dorm common room, a controller in her hand, leaning back into the cushions and almost drowning in them as she slips her fingers effortlessly across the joysticks. It's all fun and games practicing combos in the training tool, but she's itching for a real fight by now.

---

junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Everything sucked, but exams were over. It was a tough fight, but Jun was confident that she'd be able to move up. For the time being she needed to decompress, to relax, and what better way to do that than to binge Space Battleship Musashi? Just a good way to put something cool in, turn her brain off, maybe doze off to sleep- What the heck was that in the common room? Jun was dressed in pajama pants, an oversized T-shirt, a pillow under one arm and balancing an old DVD player and a stack of disc boxes in the other. She just stared at the screen in the common room, the fighters going at it(?) and she just let out a sigh, moving over to the other end of the couch to set her things down. No sense in fighting over the TV. I'll just rest here until she packs it in, or something... So she'd lay against the side of the couch, watching the combos and the like...only to realize: Wait a minute. Who's taken over this thing tonight? She looked over, tired eyes processing Meika and drawing a blank. She hadn't seen this girl before, so...either she was as elusive as Ana was, or she was new. Well, it would be rude if I don't introduce myself... "Uh. Hi," she says, giving Meika a wave. "Don't mind me, just...here. I haven't seen you around before, I'm Junsuina Kanjo." Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

X, Y, A chained into L1 into Up into Piercing Ovipositors, into... Meika can't remember what comes after this, as her character slowly returns to the ground and the uncontrolled dummy falls onto his face a few meters away, a damage counter tallying up the total DPS of the aborted combo in the top left corner. Meika releases a beleaguered sigh at the sight of it, knowing she can do better and yet still finding herself distracted. Maybe it's how plush the couch is? The fact that she's not in her own space and practicing on her own time? Or, maybe...

Meika chances a glance to her left and finds that there is a girl watching her, leaning on the arm of the couch with her own hands filled to the brim with discs and a DVD player. By the time Meika glances over, the girl is obviously finishing up a sentence that was obviously directed towards Meika, but the blank look on the punk girl's face is enough to imply that she didn't catch any of it. What, had she just introduced herself? Meika glances at Jun, then to the TV screen, then back to Jun, and her eyes narrow. If the other girl thinks she's getting a turn on the TV anytime soon (given that Meika's gaming sessions often last deep into the night), then Jun has Meika's permission to pry that HD screen from her cold, dead hands. Almost as if she is a cat, Meika's devil tail whips to-and-fro on the surface of the couch cushions, but her face goes alight with a snaggletoothed, crooked smile. This girl can't steal her TV if she's the enemy Meika's been looking for all along!

"Oops, wasn't listening," Meika admits while in the process of unearthing another controller hidden in the pockets of her oversized jeans. She uncoils the cord from around the middle of it, and then extends the controller to Jun. "Sit down. You're 1V1-ing me."

Meika's words are definitely not a request. She looks at Jun expectedly, silently urging her with all of her might to settle in for some Lethal Kombat!!

---

junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun blinked, taking a long minute to process what exactly this girl just said. Yep. Imprudent, upstart first year. Thankfully, not like Gen, but doesn't know the hierarchy yet. That was perfectly fine with Jun as she sat down, leaning against her pillow and letting her body relax. Man, what were those demon creatures that were small? Imps? This girl kinda reminded her of one of those, mischief and all. She just stared at the controller as one of her thumbs found the ring on her middle finger, flicking it and allowing the outer band to spin. "Uh. What?" She glanced up at Meika, raising an eyebrow before looking at the controller again. "S-sorry, I'm not exactly good at these kinds of games. Or, many video games period. Well, I mean, there's a buncha mecha games I've played, but-" she wanted to go on about Battlemace 80k, but that was a lot to dump on someone new. Plus, she didn't have the braincells to accummilate to explain it all. "Honestly, was hoping to binge an old series, but if not that's fine. I can just...sit here. Watch you do...whatever this is." A major reason why Jun didn't jump at this was because of the braincells thing. See, if Jun accepted, her pride was going to be put on the line... And she was competitive. Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

Meika raises an eyebrow in Jun's direction. Not good at these kinds of games? Don't make her laugh! If Meika took that at face value, Jun would be the kind of person Meika hates. Doesn't try anything new because she's so afraid of failure, only focuses on her studies, doesn't truly know the joy of being able to get good at something, to get so good that it makes other people wish they were you. But, luckily for Jun, Meika doesn't take that statement at face value! Thing is, though this blonde is weird and stuttery at the prospect of playing this type of game, and she might really be bad at video games, she doesn't seem like a stranger to competition, and that's what Meika is really looking for. While the girl doesn't care about schoolwork or classes or, uh, doing the whole hero "thing", she does care about embarrassing people in video games she's good at, especially if said person puts up a good fight.

"Um, K," Meika sneers, still upholding the snarky smile on her face while gently setting down the controller suspiciously close to where Jun now relaxes upon the couch. "I dunno why being good at it really matters. Whole thing about being a hero or whatever is, like, getting good at it, right? Everyone's gonna suck donkey ass when they start."

With an effortless swipe of her fingers across the buttons and joysticks of her own controller, Meika pulls off a masterful and flashy combo on the screen, and she sends a mischievous, prying glance in Jun's direction as a cloying smile plays on her face. "Oh, no, I got it! You don't wanna play cuz..." Meika's smirk grows into a full, toothy smile—she's obviously trying to egg Jun on. "You're afraid you're gonna lose against me!

Meika shrugs as if she doesn't give a shit, but her subconscious is desperate to get Jun on that goddamn controller. "Hey, that's okay! Everybody looks dogwater compared to me, afterall. We can't all be pros."

Oh, idea! Meika's still executing combos while she speaks, but there's a clear tone to her voice that indicates that she's up to no good. "Under normal circumstances, I would literally never have you touch this TV cuz gamin' is sacred, buuuuut, since I'm soooooo nice..." Meika's eyes indicate to the controller next to Jun. "if you beat me in Lethal Kombat, I'll hop off."

A perfect plan! Afterall, Meika doesn't intend to lose, but she does intend to beat Jun into the ground with everything she's got!

---

junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun rolled her eyes at the whole dogwater comment, getting comfortable as she brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Right, but what hero needs a controller to keep the peace and respond to catastrophe?" That alone was enough to give some insight into Jun's mentality; to her, hero work wasn't about beating up the bad guys. "Besides, I have other games I'm good at." Which was true. Had her life not taken the turn that it did, she could have gone on to be one of the Kansai region champions for Battlemace 80k with her Lamenters. Probably still could if she went back and played the game like she used to. But of course this girl's imprudence was going to get on her nerves. The first taunt caused her to frown, looking over at her like she had just shot her dog. The second caused a subtle eye twitch. Her final statement made Jun take a deep breath as she closed her eyes, sitting up as she reached for the controller. "I see someone failed to teach you humility growing up." This was a little out of character for her, but she was exhausted from all her exams and she was still a little emotionally compromised after the whole Momo thing. It was safe to assume she was still off her game. At the very least, Jun was no stranger to video games. As she picked up the controller she let her fingers meld around it as she looked it over, seeing that it was similar yet different than what she was used to playing with. The only problem? She was not very familiar with fighting games. Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

Yeah, Jun turns out to be exactly what Meika expected. Total fake superiority complex. Meika has quite some experience with these types of people, so it's easy for her to pinpoint them at a glance. Top of their classes, dedicated to their future, studying all the time, and judging the people who don't pursue life in the same way they do. Thing is, while it's easy for Jun to look down on Meika because, well, look at Meika, it's obvious she's a disaster, Jun will always have something to prove, because maybe, deep down, Jun doesn't actually believe all that. Meika doesn't really enjoy manipulation in the traditional sense, but when it comes to getting these girls to loosen up, manipulation is a good tool to get them on Meika's level. They all bleed red, so why not have some fun in the face of it? Just like she thought, Jun took the bait, grabbing for the controller, but not before making a quip about humility.

Meika, of course, plays dumb. Way better to have people underestimate her than to have to meet some random expectations she really doesn't care about. She raises an eyebrow, sneering. "Humility?" she chirps, turning back to the TV screen. "Dude, stop makin' up words!"

Meika uses her controller to navigate out of the practice tool and to start up a local area match. Soon enough, they're in character select, and Meika immediately chooses the bug lady, if only because she's probably the grossest character in the game and Meika has about the same sensibilities as a 14 year old boy. On this screen, though, Meika takes a chance to point at one character on the screen, Johnny Kennel. "He's easiest for beginners, if you want to try him," Meika informs Jun, her antagonistic facade fading away. "But up to you. As long as you give me a challenge, cuz it's boring stomping everybody ALLLL the time."

---

junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Oh no. This girl was dumb. Okay, well, maybe Jun was being a little harsh in her judgement. Just a tad. Jun had just met this girl, and while she was already like sandpaper there were far worse in this school. Like Kurokami Gen. As Meika began to navigate to the multiplayer, Jun would move her fingers over the controls in order to familiarize herself with the device, glancing up only when prompted to pick a character. Though the recommendation made Jun scrunch her nose. "Gross." She was not keen on playing with anything that had any kind of ego. It was why she avoided the Inquisition and Inquisition players when she played 80k, as they were fairly self-centered. She'd instead begin to flip through the roster, stopping on Sonja Knife. She seemed to be the type that would be harder to play, but Jun didn't care. She selected up and waited for them to get to the play screen. "You'll have to give me a second to get familiar with the controls," she says, rubbing her thumb over a joystick. "Think the last time I played something like this it was when I was..." she trailed off, the memory coming back to her as her face darkened. That was immediately getting canned for the time being. Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

Sonja Knife, huh? Meika narrows her eyes at the screen, a minuscule smile creeping up her face like ivy on derelict ruins. Interesting choice, she'd say. In most ways, how somebody chooses their fighter in a game like this is a good judge of their character and personality. Though Jun might not realize it, Meika's carefully analyzing her, thoughts running through her head at a mile a minute. The other girl, though obviously the kind of girl to follow rules to a T, holds within herself the slightest sense of rebellion, more prone to walk her own path if the set out rules and suggestions don't particularly match how she sees the world—perhaps it's only coincidence that UAU so closely matches her sensibilities. Given that Sonja is also a pretty nice zoning character, Meika makes the leap that, most of all, Jun likes to keep people at an arm's length. A defense mechanism, maybe?

There's really no use speculating, though. Either way, Meika likes her odds. Sonja may be good at zoning, but D'Norah's range is some of the best in the game, and Sonja has some real stubby arms. Regardless, Meika doesn't mind helping Jun get acquainted with the fighter she's chosen as they get into the game. Meika briefly sets down her own controller to indicate to a few buttons on Jun's.

"Get acquainted as you'd like, but here's some important buttons," Meika starts. "Your Y button on it's own is a ranged projectile. Left Button is your throw and Right Trigger is your block."

Meika picks up her controller once more, leaning back into the couch, almost consumed by the cushions. She releases a yawn. "K. Ready when you are."

---

junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... In any other setting, Jun might be doing the same, analyzing her opponent for any tell, any window into their very soul. But Jun just wanted to relax, and if she had to suffer through this in order to do that then so be it. While Meika's insights were helpful, Jun wasn't going to just stop at that. She remembered, a long time ago, that there were combo lists within the menu, so once they booted up she pulled up the menu and started to look over her move list. Jun would sit there in silence as she glanced through it, comparing the moves to the buttons on the controller. Once finished with that she went back to the game, beginning to experiment with all the buttons and not just the ones Meika had told her about; part of it was out of distrust, and another part was because she learned best by doing. After a minute she nodded, sighing. "Okay, I'm ready." And the first round was probably her biggest struggle. She didn't expect Meika's character to outrange her like that, and despite projectile spamming to try and compensate she was getting cleaned. Before she knew it, the first round was finishing, and she let out a sigh. "Now I remember why I didn't play these to begin with," she says dryly, deciding to take up a more defensive strategy. She'd dodge when Meika went in to attack, and spam her combos in close range once she was able when there was an animation delay. Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

First round went about how Meika expected. Meika was, after all, heavily engaged in the competitive scene for this game at one point and she's going up against who could be considered, for all intents and purposes, a complete beginner. It isn't in Meika's nature to go easy on people either, so of course she cleans up in round one, much to Jun's chagrin. Her comment following the first round does make Meika's eyes roll, though—not maliciously, though. In fact, Meika seems to be enjoying herself, even if the most she can express that is through more needling, albeit in this case in the hopes to help Jun improve her mindset.

"Girl, the hell are you talkin' about?" Meika intones, briefly setting down her controller to flex her fingers. "I'm way better than you, and you still held your own better than most other first-timers. Regardless, you're not gonna be great at everything you touch first try. Gettin' good at this shit doesn't come easy. I spent nearly six hours a day practicing combos for this game when I first got into it. So don't gimme that crap."

Into the next round they go. Jun seems to have gotten into a new tactic. She's playing way more defensive, trying to make use of Sonja's superior zoning to keep Meika off of her, and only spamming combos when Meika tries to go in. Unfortunately for Jun, D'Norah has some great gap-closers, and her teleport into cocooning Sonja pretty easily punishes the new tactic Jun's put into practice. It's only after doing this a few different times that Meika finally speaks up.

"You've got the right idea in zonin' me, but you're not playing to your character's strengths," Meika murmurs underneath the click-clack of her moving joysticks. "Sonja outclasses my character a lot when it comes to damage, but she'll only do that when she's up close and personal. If you play aggressively, you'll win. Sonja's best when she's running me down. I already see you taking notice of animation delays, so use that to your advantage."

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junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... "Uh huh. Pretty sure you'd say the same if you came to play in my sandbox." Being accustomed to tabletop games, Jun was confident that she could outplay and outmaneuver this girl if it came to things like that. At least, so she thought. While video games were flashy lights and colors, there was some level of strategy involved in them. Like this one. There was also the major issue that Jun was loath to point out: time. On top of model building and learning how to play 80k, Jun spent a lot of time training her mind and body for hero work. She didn't have much to spare when it came to learning something like this. The advice as the second round progressed put Jun on edge. It reminded her of a game of shogi that she watched her father and grandfather play many years ago, and seeing vulnerabilities within her grandfather's field she urged her father to take the initiative. He explained that it was a trap, and the two decided on a second game in order to demonstrate this. While she remembered her father making short-term victories, in the end he was defeated. It was something that stuck with her in almost everything she did. While the advice was plausible...it to her sounded like a trap. So she decided to try something a little bit different to that; predicting the teleports. The first instance she tried to grapple, which failed spectacularly, but it did give Jun a little bit better insight. She backed herself to the edge of the map as best she could and waited, and once the teleport came she hit the 'kick' button and effectively juggle Meika in the corner. "So...like that?" Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

Meika flashes a smile in Jun's direction. "If I wanted to get good at building sandcastles, then I'd get gud," she replies, shifting her blue eyes back to the TV screen. "And if I wanted to have fun, then I'd have fun, regardless of how good you are at making sandcastles. You have the same options, Jun. Probably more."

Regarding time, though, that's likely where Meika and Jun differ. Jun is certainly dedicated to the path of being a hero, Meika is on the completely opposite end, often regarding hero works and the types of people that pursue it as endlessly naive and, in some cases, people seeking to reclaim power in their lives through the path of least resistance, sometimes to the detriment of others. Just like cops, of course this program attracts people who are more prone than other people to want to use their innate power in whatever way suits the. Wherever there is law enforcement, there are bastards. To Meika, that's just the truth of the universe. So, when the girl is not utilizing the useful classes in her course of study, she's slacking off and getting better at the things she wants to get better at, whether that be competitive fighting games or her hacking hobby. Oh well, not everybody likes fighting games as much as she does to want to dedicate that much time to them. Most of all, Meika's just glad she's found somebody to play against. The dorm internet is way too bad to even think about playing online.

Jun does something surprising, though. Meika's eyes widen as she watches her character get juggled into a corner after one too many teleports. Makes sense, any high-tier player would learn to punish predictable moves, but Meika had been approaching the fight on the understanding that it would be easy to bully Jun with things that no higher-tier player would get bullied with. In a way, it elates her, like she's a momma bird that's just watched her hatchling baby fly from the nest. She can't hide her smile, pride swelling in her chest. Fly, baby Jun, fly! "Okay, I see you," Meika murmurs. "Nice mixup."

The girl decides to stop drowning in the couch cushions in favor of leaning forward and actually focusing up. Time to start playing like she's playing against some of the highest-rated players in the prefecture. "Aight, let's see what you got."

---

junsuina

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... If there is a God out there, please bless her soul. "N-no, it's a metaphor. I mean...I mean you'd think the same thing I was thinking if, for instance, you played 80k with me." Not many others played with her, so at the very least it would be a change of pace. As the third round began Jun tensed up, beginning to think of the best way to go about it. She didn't think she'd get away with the wall strat again, and Meika had proved that she had a means of dealing with Jun's zoning. And it was likely she could easily take her in close quarters, else she wouldn't have stated the whole 'get aggressive' speal. So she had to do what she did on the battlefield: look for tells and predict her movements. Which was significantly harder to do than what she was used to. For the time being she'd play defensive, throwing out a few long-range attacks when possible and punishing Meika when she got close and missed a move. This last round was going to be anyone's game. Meika Hijiri

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[Meika Hijiri]

Wow, did Jun really think Meika was that dumb? Surprising, really, but almost flattering. Was Meika really leaning into her character that well? Most normal people would immediately try to correct Jun, to try to make her realize that they are not as dimwitted as she is unknowingly implying, but Meika isn't really like most people, and almost compulsively goes against the grain. Maybe it's a bit of defeatism, maybe it's a bit of apathy, but most of all, it's probably just that Meika doesn't really give a shit what other people think of her. While she values opinions of people she cares about, that respect will always stop at their opinion of her. She refuses to let anybody change her, and even further, she couldn't care less about people who try to. Nor can she really muster up any energy to care about people making snap judgements about her, or misinterpreting who she is! She's gonna walk to the beat of her own drum anyways, so there's really no need to make any corrections. So, Meika feigns surprise in that form of sarcasm unique to her, only barely noticeable.

"Metaphor?" she repeats, moving the word over her tongue like it's dirty, then suddenly lifting her eyebrows into what could be interpreted as recognition. "Ohh, are you talking about that skin ointment they advertise on the TV all the time?"

She pauses. "I dunno why you'd bring that up now, though. What's 80K anyways? Is that how much you bench?"

Meika takes the slightest, sneakiest glance at Jun's arms. Could be true, could not be, she can't really tell. Oh well, back the game anyways. So the third round begins, and Jun's finally taking it seriously, looking at it like a strategist instead of an ends to a means. She's playing smart now, and Meika won't lie, she likes to see it, once again feeling like a proud Mama Hen—well, for a few moments, anyways. That feeling quickly fades when Meika finally focuses on winning. The temperature around her drops a few degrees, and her focus is palpable, like she's suddenly blocked every sensation from her mind except for her thumbs on her controller and her eyes on the screen. Flow has been entered, and Meika would eat her own throat if she lost. This is the true power of a girl whose competitive beyond any normal means.

Last few rounds, Meika was mostly just relying on innate skill and experience. This time around, she's fully tuned into her superior knowledge of the game, taking advantage of her almost eidetic memory when it comes to Lethal Kombat. Jun has strategy, but she hasn't studied frame data like Meika has. She doesn't know exactly where the hitbox for each combo begins and ends, and she doesn't know exactly how many active frames is in each move—unfortunately for her, Meika does, and she's using it to her advantage. At this point in the game, she's lunging in for moves only when she knows that Jun is in recovery frames, and she's purposefully keeping Jun at the very edge of the hitboxes of her own moves, knowing Sonja could never compare in range when it comes to this. When the combo ends, then Meika backs up, respecting Sonja's superior power, and she prepares to do it all over again. She doesn't want to embarrass Jun, but...

She can't help herself. Meika loves the taste of victory more than anything else.

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@jun