Dark Crow Rising

"Hey, Nin, do you have a moment?" I call out to the human soul as we happen to cross paths, or rather, he came upon me. A few days have passed since he first came to be here and he's been ignoring me otherwise. Some modest remarking with Motrtha has revealed his mind is a mess, Undwote is not all that bothered about it, though. I find this unacceptable even if my deathly brother's logic makes sense.

Putting my book down, my powers somewhat force the mistreated mortal to me. I offer them a seat, but he refuses with a slow, hopeless shake of his head. A wave of my hand makes the book vanish and instead, a game appears along with some refreshments. A jug of Motrtha's special apple mix always betters my mood, maybe a glass will help Nin's too.

"What do you want...?" he asks, tired of being pestered, tired of continuing to exist in a way he shouldn't.

"I would like you to be willing to have that talk with me now."

"About why I died?" he questions with a shaking voice as a self-hating gaze watches his own nervous antics. Failing to sense Apahthein, I forgo trying to have Nin's mood improved through utter detachment.

"Yes, so, please, talk with me." I say as I gesture to the game and the drink on offer. However, his head shakes and I frown at what I had prepared. My powers make it all vanish and I rise slowly.

"Is there... Is there anywhere quieter we can go?" he asks me and I keep my reaction on the inside. Does he fear that I am a cruel god? One that will encourage others to come to laugh? Without violating Dad's word, I cannot truly understand the worries sinking into this mortal's mind.

"There is Hot Rod's, an arcade-sports bar combo. While not literally quiet, there is lots of ambient noises keeping any words spoken hidden." I explain, though, he may not fully grasp what I have just explained. Mortal diversity makes it hard to tell, some still live their lives on the plains as nomads, others dwell in machines while some know only hand ploughs.

"Bowling?" he lets out and I start to nod.

"Yes, the ship's bowling alleys are there." I say, smiling a little as it means Undwote has passed a bit of information on to this here mortal.

"That will be fine..." he answers quietly, shrugging as his lacking will sees him swept up into my wishes.

"Would you like me to show you around?" I ask as I speed up our arrival to the place in question. Nin takes a step back, in complete shock about the change in scenery at our new destination. A curving, bulging wall of orange-painted, plastic-looking metal with a fake car driving on the wall. One neon sign glows bright and proud, illuminating the words 'Hot Rod's,' an old memory of Dad's.

Some holiday place he used to go to when age still applied to him.

"Might as well, I have no idea what an 'arcade' is." Nin goes as we walk in through the wide maw of an entrance.

"Well, on the right there, we have slot machines, no fun to be had in there. Further up, be it either via ramp or stairs we have the bowling alleys. Enough lanes for the whole family to load it up. On the right are pool tables and left of the initial half are the bigger game consoles. Racing games and the like." I explain, watching Nin closely to make sure the information didn't blank his mind.

"So there are more games through here?" he asks as we come near the left 'doorway.' I nod as he takes in the fairly large room and all the flashing machines decorating its walls and centre. As Nin heads off to look at the games, I glance towards the sports memorabilia Dad doesn't care much for. It bemuses me, it all being here, but, it's his nostalgia, after all.

"How we liking it?"

"Well... This is certainly something..." Nin mutters as he glances up at the ceiling to give his eyes a break from the epileptic show. His hand rocks one of the true-to-scale motorbike games and he nonchalantly pushes buttons.

"I had the exact same sort of face you have right now when I first saw all of this." I decided to explain to the mortal with a warm smile. That day was one of the first that Dad started to treat us like his children, his family. We were no longer just things he made that day, we became sons and daughters. I fear, however, that sometimes that it never became the case.

Dad may simply be stubborn, but, he also struggles to listen.

"Toys...?" Nin goes as he finds the claw machines. He then briefly laughs as his hand messes with the air hockey table.

"How about this game? I feel it will give you a vent." I ask him as I come to a stop by a large black machine with green lights and panels. Front-heavy plastic machine guns are hooked to the machine by thick, black cables and partially worn and abused chains. Tapping the big, red start button, the game starts up, exiting its reel of footage and scoreboards.

Electric rock music plays as the name of the game flashes into existence, several bangs of light at a time. 'P.H.A.N.T.O.M UNIT' the device goes before the introductory reel starts up. Skipping it with the press of a trigger, creating a little jpeg of a bullet casing as I do so. It's been a while since I've played this one so my memory is a little shaky as to what it is.

Some military task force comes to mind and strapped and booted men clad in black breach a building.

"Attention all operatives, members of the Viper terror group are on the move again. Responsible for the bombing of Port Hudson earlier this month-" the game begins to exposit while I keep my attention on the enamoured human soul.

"Alright, so while we have time, see this little switch?" I say to him while pointing to the bright orange switch attached to the side of the gun, "This determines fire rate which is how quickly you spend bullets. You have three options, single, burst and full-auto."

"All that meaning?"

"Single-shot, as in, one at a time. Burst is a small collection of shots. Automatic is when you want the walls to be filled with all the holes you want."

"Alright, what is best?"

"Whatever you feel like, if you like precise shooting, go for single, not confident? Burst. And if you, again, just want to see a hole-filled man, go for auto."

"What one is burst?" he asks as he flicks the switch unendingly between the three, clearly marked symbols.

"The one that looks like three tubes is what you want." I explain as I do it myself, solving the issue.

"So I just point at an enemy and pull the trigger?"

"Yep. Be careful though, sometimes the game throws hostages in the way and you lose a life if you shoot them."

"Lose a life...?" he questions, shaking at the words.

"How many hits you can take in the game, not actual lives like..." I try to explain, not sure how frail the eggshells are exactly.

Nin nods slowly and grips his weapon as the game takes us to a cutscene of a black helicopter flying over a desert. A low-polygon African man holds a brick of a radio to his mouth and the screen switches to showing us a buzz of activity. Jarringly, the game switches from a pre-rendered moment to the actual engine and its first-person field of view. Our ears are greeted by the sound of digital bullets and the almost flashing mirage of rotor blades.

Let's go...

Information flashes over our screen and a steady tune accompanies the spawning enemies. Their shots fly wayward all over the place before some start to blink red, thankfully, I cease them. Contrary to me, however, Nin is slow and he is struggling to take it all in. The life-stealing shot that just hit him even frightens him a little.

He often forgets to reload and I nudge his gun away so that he does, "Stop that!"

"Aim away from the screen to reload! Pay attention to the bar as it rapidly goes down." I explain as mine refills itself with lines of white pixels. Nin continues to die and the attrition starts to get to me at the worst point as the first boss appears. Thankfully, the mortal is learning and more so for me, I do not need to pay to play. Dad made it so all we needed to do is press the big red button.

Only Dad ever did it the 'proper' way, line of coins on the console frame and all.

"What's happening now?" Nin wants to know as the screen flashes red over and over after the early game, vehicle boss blows up. Our extraction helicopter spirals out of control and crashes into a dramatic fireball. Dust fills the screen and as it is wiped away, a word is revealed.

Survive.

I turn to Nin as he shows his enthusiasm and I smile at the improved mood. The game lets us know we can now flare in air support and it is the first thing he recklessly does. An NPC wishes us luck and a whole one terrorist is bopped about by the flashy light show. That lone enemy flashes out of existence before Nin cackles a bit at the remaining horde.

"Let me handle the flares." I say as I use my powers to block his button.