like a dream, {this is unreal}

[Beau]

In Beau's hand was a large disposable coffee cup, filled to the rim with his own German imported brew. He sipped at it idly in the comfort of his large jacket, shivering from the slight chill. He was lucky to be on the streets at this hour- the precipitation had momentarily stopped, and his hair was now quite tameable. Unfortunately, his lovely locks were beneath a hat and styled how it usually was. Plain Jane, but still quite handsome; if you were into that style of his.

A sudden flash had caught his eye. A neon sign with several game logos had been flashing annoyingly, the lights rather close to burning out. Beneath his sunglasses, the colors were still rather vibrant. It was no doubt an arcade. A childish grin spread over his face, tossing the now-empty coffee cup into the nearets wastebasket. He pulled open the glass door, the grin faded to a smile almost immediately. The games were under-average to Beau. Most had collected dust, from lack of use. They looked almost broken down to Beau, whom was much more used to the high-tech ones back in Hamburg and Berlin.

Shrugging this off, he picked the most interesting looking one of the bunch. It was one he recognized- Dance Dance Revolution. He had the game at his old estate, but he'd lost interest after he'd played it so many times. Hastily shoving a quarter through the appropriate slot, he waited for the menu to pop up. It was slightly slow, and the songs were rather outdated. Finally selected his difficulty, and the song with the most beats per minute, he removed his jacket and waited for whatever the game could bring.

[Tassle]

Cody walked down the street lazily, a beer in hand as usual. He had just come out of the bar after settling his work schedule with his new boss. He was going to work evenings on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays. The busiest nights of the week. At least back at home, anyway. It meant drinking less, but he didn't mind. Watching people get drunk was almost as fun. He smirked at all the drunks he'd seen in his life. Angry drunks, happy drunks, drunk drunks, sick drunks, stripper drunks, and his personal favorite, pick-up drunks. Especially females. When the ladies got drunk, they felt invincible. They would walk up to a guy and lean on him, ask him out, throw up on him, and either pass out or ask him for a drink. They were hilarious.

But right now, he wasn't watching drunks. He wasn't even getting drunk. He was sipping on a simple Bud Light looking for something to do. Absolutely nothing. A neon sign caught his eye for a moment before it flickered off. A second later, it came back on. ARCADE, it spelled. Shrugging, Cody walked into the dimly lit building. He observed the games, all of which were empty. All but one. Some kid with a hat was playing DDR, one of his favorite games. He had never had a chance to own one, but he used to take part in the competitions they had at the beach where his Pop and brother went every summer for vacation. He had gotten good enough over the years to qualify for a Difficult and actually place. He was pretty proud of himself.

Walking over, he watched the screen, taking a last gulp out of his beer before throwing it in a trash can. What song are ya doin'? He asked, looking over the guy's shoulder. He took a quick glance around the arcade, searching for a game to play on his own. Next to the other guy's game was an Alien vs Predator knock off with a plastic shotgun. Rolling his eyes, he put in his change and waited for the game to start up. Well, it was something to do, anyway.

[/blockquote]

[Beau]

Before the song had started, Beau heard the familiar tingle of the store's bell. It was automatically rung before a customer entered, just to signal that the store owner better get their ass in gear and make sure they don't steal anything. But for now, it was a young man with a beer in hand. An eyebrow arched, a corner of his lip pulling up in a half-smile. No doubt the guy was going to get kicked out of the store for alcohol possession. It was to his amazement that he wasn't, and it was rather lucky of him that he'd glanced back to the screen when he did. The song had started, and nearly caused Beau to miss the first step.

The arrows came up in a flood- kind of like when you drenched yourself with honey and ran through a bee farm. All those bees resembled the arrows. Beau's movements were slightly graceful, save the two-step jumps he had to do constantly. His breath was immediately ragged one-quarter of the way through the song- the SuperNOVA version of the arcade game offered Xepher, one of the hardest of the songs. Especially on expert, Beau was probably going to lose five pounds after the song had finished. He cast a sideways glance as the random kid had spoken to him. His wrinkled his nose in thought. "Xepher." He concluded, once a background of the song had flashed to reveal its name.

Beau eyed the machine that the young man had inserted a quarter in. The plastic guns looked quite flimsy. Apart from this, the game had decent graphics for being made by cave-men. "What are you playing?" He asked, his eyes glued to the screen now. Somehow, he racked up a hundred-step combination, and he wasn't about to lose it. "It looks old." He commented, the corner of his lip pulling up once more before he finished the song. He'd barely gotten any slower beats to take a rest; his chest was rising and falling constantly and a slightly sweat broke out over his forehead. He stepped from the machine to peer over the guy's shoulder. It was probably the only other decent-looking game.

[Tassle]

(ooc: OMG, I totally have SuperNOVA! lol. Xepher is freaking hard)

Cody nodded when the kid told him the name of the song. He'd never heard of it. Then again, the arrows boggled his mind, so it was definitely no Difficulty song. How on earth could anyone do all those in order? And...and get a 100 combo? You had to be freaking kidding me. The kid's feet were a blur, criss crossing and jumping as though he did it every day. Who knew? Maybe he did. But his lack of breath told a different story. His chest was heaving, as though he were having an asthma attack. But the kid kept going, so Cody figured he was alright.

He turned back to his game when it started up. The first aliens appeared, and he raised the gun and fired. Bull's eye, as always. Truthfully, I have no idea. He answere the other guy. Some knock-off crap of Alien vs Predator, I guess. He continued to fire, spewing blood on the floor. One by one, the dead aliens vanished into oblivion. A pathetic idea, if you asked Cody. Since when do bodies just vanish into thin air? It was rediculous, but he didn't ask questions. Not of game programers, anyway. They were the Gods of kids and immature teenagers, and he didn't dare mess with those roudy punks.

My guess is it was made in the Ice Age. Cody joked, adding a half laugh to the end of the sentence. He gave a quick side glance to the DDR expert and shook his head. Good Lord, how long did it take you to be that good? He asked, firing rapidly at the screen. He shot quickly at the final alien who was conveniently hiding behind a wall. Come on you sonofabitch chicken, come out and fight me! He shouted at no one, firing sparatically. Finally, the alien listened to him and hopped out, being shot into a million pieces almost instantly. Cody smirked, but the smile quickly vanished. A red and white sign blinked on the screen reading GAME OVER. What the Hell? He screeched. The screen automatically moved to face his killer...a large alien that looked ten times bigger than the others. It never said anything about a level change! Man, that is so freaking unfair. He slammed the gun back into its holster and turned back to the other guy who was watching him now.

[Beau]

ooc| Ugh, have you ever tried it on Expert? That is sooo freakin' tough. xD

Beau leant against the metal railing of the Dance Dance Revolution's safety rails. His chest had settled, his heart slowly returning to its normal pace. He'd have to quit smoking- deadly habit. In fact, he could probably go for one right now, to calm himself. "Alien, predator?" He repeated, eyebrow cocked. He'd heard of it, of course, but the game looked nothing like it. But, then again, the man had named it as a 'knockoff.' Of his small English vocabulary, Beau added yet another word to his ever-growing dictionary. It was a slow process, but slowly he got used to it. Hell, if he was paying someone several hundred a month for classes on speaking the damn language, it'd better be worth.

Beau's nose crinkled in distaste as the man's well-aimed shot had killed a beast. It crumpled, falling to the floor in a million pixels. His jaw dropped when it merely disappeared- being used to the newer games of today, not fifty years ago, the fallen victims and comrades always stayed put at their spot of death, unless the game's graphics were superb and they began to rot. At least the shot was good- it was a perfect hit. "No doubt," He commented half-heartedly. Its ancient system was nothing to be surprised at. Since Beau's arrival, everything seemed to be twenty years behind the times. Hell, he even saw a tractor that looked like it could explode at any moment, and the sound be the cause of one's death.

Beau gave a half-assed shrug. "I have played it many times at home." He nodded softly. He owned almost every system, which had been packed away in boxes for now. He'd bought the game when a girlfriend-at-the-time suggested he had, and slowly grew onto the game. Unfortunately, she took those games when they'd broken up. It was the only thing she'd taken- which was odd, since Beau's home was loaded with all sorts of expensive stuff. He grinned when the alien had been shot, and even wider when the screen flashed an avid gamer's worst nightmare. He laughed at the man's reaction, his grin spreading from ear to ear. "That was actually rather funny." He nodded, crossing his large arms.

[Tassle]

(ooc: you kidding? I can barely do Basic! (at least with that song) let alone difficulty or expert! lol)

Cody leaned against the arcade game lazily, looking around for anything else there was to do. There was a small counter with prizes, a soda machine, ping pong games, a few claw machines that hadn't been restocked, and a few more gun games. Nothing really interesting. Wanna switch? He asked, half kidding. He wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution, but after that display of talent, he didn't want to make an ass of himself. If it wasn't too late already, that is.

He got off of the other machine and walked over to the DDR game. He dug for a quarter in his pocket as the kid spoke. He had a pretty thick accent, but from where, Cody couldn't tell. He had taken Spanish at school, and it certainly wasn't that. German, maybe? He shrugged, dropping the coin into the slot. Lucky. I never had any games growing up. We were broke until my parents got divorced. Yeah, his Mom had always been mooching off his Pop, stealing all his hard earned money for her cocaine. They couldn't even afford a decent house while she was around. But as soon as she had left the picture, they're money skyrocketed. Within a matter of years, they were able to move to a decent neighborhood and buy a horse. But by then, it was too late for Cody's brother. Mike had been sucked into the world of crime, finally getting a broken arm in a high speed car chase. Oh, and five years in prison. Can't forget that.

So what's your name, anyway? He asked, trying to select a song on the game. You from Germany or something? You got a pretty cool accent. Cody never looked at the kid. He was too absorbed in the blinking screen of the old game. But he hadn't meant it in a mean way. He had been honest. He liked the kid's accent. It was pretty nifty, and it made the kid sound...what was the word?...not different, not unusual, just...unique. Special. Or something like that. Something Cody didn't have that he wanted.

[/blockquote]

[Beau]

ooc| I nearly have a heart attack, it goes so fast and then slow. And then fast again. xD

Beau shrugged lazily. He didn't mind giving up the game; he had played it far too much in his lifetime for now. "Go ahead." Beau smiled slightly. He stepped out of the way to trade the game, digging into his pockets for another quarter. Once he found it, he inserted it into the slot and picked up one of the flimsy plastic guns. It felt rather fragile in his grip, like it could be broken if he slammed it into its holster the way the guy had. Hell, he'd probably break the machine that way, too. He watched the screen in silence for a few moments.

Just as quickly as the game loaded, the aliens began to flood out. He shot, missing once or twice before getting the hang of the system's aim. After a minute or two, he had sucessfully killed more than ten. He glanced side-longs, to the kid whom apparently had a troubled background. Beau's had been troubled for quite some years, with the tight funds, and his aunt and uncle's death. But, it looked better when the stables had come into inheritance, and even more so when Lorenz was now part of the Austen family. He glanced over. "I didn't have games, just horses." The only kid whom had gotten games in his family was Lorenz. When he became an Austen, he was spoiled rotten. Both Annalise and Beau loved doing so- the child always made their day. A sharp pang of guilt pierced his heart momentarily.

A voice startled Beau from his reverie. Apparently, he'd still been shooting at the aliens, some falling or accidently killing their comrades. He managed to last longer than the boy by a few minutes, but his roll soon ended when an alien that managed to hide sprung out and caught Beau by surprise. "I'm Beau Austen." He half-expected the kid to know his name. His arrival was apparently well known throughout the small town. Hell, apparently he'd been receiving phone calls before he was even in the country. He gave a nod when he slung the gun back into its holster. "Yeah, I am from Hamburg." His eyebrow arched. "What about you? Are you from here?"

[Tassle]

Cody narrowed his eyes in mock jealousy as the kid continued to fire, outlasting his own score by a few minutes. He turned to his game and finally selected Mugen by Terra on Difficult. He loved how the song just seemed to roll of the game, and how your footsteps did the same. It was also pretty cool that it was in another language. Terra had another song on here too, that he liked. Doll, he thought it was called. But he wasn't going to go digging around for it just to find out.

The arrows flooded the screen, but his half-experienced brain had learned to mentally slow it down and see just where each arrow was and what the correct pace was. And having that metal bar behind him to hang onto was pretty handy, as well. He gripped it tightly, his feet stepping on the metal pad quickly. He could never get the 100 combo the kid had, but he got to 45 before getting a Good ranking. Not bad for a kid who only played over the summers and at his friend's house. And even then, he didn't think he was worthy of a Difficult ranking until just a year or so ago. It was one of his many life long dreams to gain that ranking. Note the heavy sarcasm. Not to say it wasn't exciting. He practically had dreamed of getting that good at something, even if it was a silly game. He just didn't have many life long dreams. Survive life, that was pretty much it.

Beau, huh? Cody pondered. He smiled a bit. That sounded like BEAUtiful. Cuuuute. Nice to meet ya. I'm Cody Foster. He reached a hand out to shake once his game was over. He hopped down, his breath coming a bit ragged, but none the worse for wear. Finally, all those years of sprinting a mile then jogging two had done him some good. Nah, I'm not from here. I was born in New York, but my dad and brother and me moved to Kentucky a few years ago. My Pop shipped me here to try and straighten me out. Though, why he thought I needed straightening out was beyond me. Cody shrugged. It wasn't, really. He had been quite the jailbreaker, without having to break out of jail. He broke tons of other stuff. Car windows, car tires, mailboxes, the works. But he only broke those if he had something against the owner. Something worse than just plain old not liking them, and usually worse than plain old hate. If he loathed them to his very core, he killed their stuff. Better than killing them, was always his excuse.

[/blockquote]

[Beau]

Beau watched as the boy chose his song and danced, using the metal rail for support. Beau had attempted to hide his mocking grin at this. To Beau, it looked awkward and a good way to cheat. He shrugged this off, mentally. It was good for a kid who just drank a beer. If it were Beau after a beer, he'd be drinking still, and the arrows would look nothing more than a series of blurs and other objects. Hell, he'd probably in the bathroom, getting sick from the arrows after they made him dizzy. That was drunken Beau for you.

Grinning, Beau shook his head slightly as the two grasped hands and greeted each other in a more formal way. "Beau. Like bow-tie." He corrected him, chuckling. He released his hand just as Cody had; his eyes slightly confused. He recognized the name, it itched numbly at the back of his mind. "Kentucky? Never been there." He shrugged. The only areas Beau had visited on trips was places with more famous names- Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Hollywood, Texas. Names that he could pronounce naturally on his accented tongue, names that everyone had heard of. He didn't care that he needed to be straightened out; to Beau, everyone did. Their lack of knowledge of the pricey brand-name clothing and such baffled him.

Without knowing, Beau had slowly repeated Cody's name, as though he'd been recalling the name. Well, he had, and suddenly it came back to him. "Cody Foster!" He looked up, face bright, proud that he'd remembered someone who could literally mean next to nothing to Beau. "Ah!" He seemed slightly relaxed now that he knew more about him- they were still strangers to each other, however. "I know of you. I just hired you the other day." He nodded, crossing his burly arms. "Hunting Hills Stables, yes?" He asked, nodding softly to his own words.

[/size]

[Tassle]

Cody hopped off of the game, looking up at his score. A B, not bad for how long it had been since he had last played. The game asked if he wanted to play again, and flashed a white sign telling him to insert more 'credits'. Why were they called 'credits' anyway? Why couldn't the game just say coins, or freaking money? Why'd it have to be so difficult? But then again, why'd he have to complain? It was a game, nothing to get upset over.

The kid, Beau, politely informed him of the correct pronunciation. Sorry, I'm a bit deaf in my right ear. He apologized, embarassed. He was surprised to say that that was actually true. It hadn't been long ago, two years ago, three tops. He had been on the phone during an electrical storm, silly him. Luckily, he had just gotten out of the shower literally seconds ago...he had still been wearing the towel to prove it. A bolt of lightening hit next to their house, zapping the phone lines and permanently damaging his ear. Of course, he couldn't complain. He'd rather choose to be deaf in one ear than dead.

Don't go. At least, not to the city I lived in. Nowhere near the great Louisville. All my town had was a few stores, a mall, and maybe a farm here and there. Nothing extravagant. We were the only people I knew for nearly fourty miles that owned a horse besides a Thoroughbred, and there weren't many of those around. He kicked the Alien vs Predator knock-off machine lightly in a final, bitter payback stab. Stupid game ripping him off. But of course Beau had been able to make it past that. He had watched, after all.

He sat quietly for a moment, observing the small arcade. There wasn't much, and no matter how hard he looked, the games wouldn't turn into anything better. Suddenly, he heard his name called, and he jumped in surprise. Yeah...? He looked at Beau questioningly. Beau said that he was the one who hired him. For a moment, Cody didn't believe it. The kid wasn't all that much older than him. How could he be his boss? But Cody hadn't met his employer, and how else could the man have known that he had applied for a job? He said the name of the stables, and Cody finally accepted that he was his new employer. Yeah, stable hand. He smiled a bit, rather proud of his job. Didn't know that you were the owner. Family run, or something? He didn't mean to sound rude or disbelieving, just curious. Surely the kid wasn't rich enough to buy as big a ranch as Hunting Hills. At least, Cody doubted it, though admitted it was possible.

[Beau]

Beau shrugged when the kid had apologized for his minor handicap. It was nothing to be sorry for- hell, Beau had a couple of handicaps himself. Maybe it was the fact he was fully color-blind in one eye, thanks to looking into a laser pointer for a period of time, and a small case of Narcolepsy. It wasn't anything too horrible- save his damaged eye, and the short time lapse of paralyzation before he'd fallen asleep or woken. Shaking his head, he grinned. "It is fine." He held up his hands in mercy, as though his mispronunciation was forgiven.

Beau's grin didn't fade for a quick while. The man didn't care that he'd startled Cody, or the fact he was reluctant on knowing how he came into ownership of the stable. Nodding softly when the stable-hand spoke, he gave a small shrug, and replied slowly. "It was my families'. It was inherited to me." Beau lent against the faulty knock-off arcade game, which had received a swift kick by Cody earlier. Beau would've done it, but his toes were far too important to break. "It has been passed several generations. It is a..." He searched for the word, with some difficulty if it wasn't obvious. "Hair... hair something?" He looked to Cody, hoping that he could elaborate.

Giving up on his word search, Beau crossed his heavily tattooed, muscled arms. Hoping he didn't make too harsh of an impression, being the employer and all, he gave a soft smile. "Do you like it there?" He asked, grinning. Hell, Beau wouldn't be mad if the kid shook his head, or shouted, "Hell no!" in his face. To be honest, Beau didn't accept the stables at first. He still needed to get used to the layout, the average facilities and anything else that wasn't as fancy as Germany's stables. "You can be honest," Beau reassured him. He wasn't the type to fire a worker because he didn't enjoy the place.

[Tassle]

Cody grinned sheepishly as the kid...owner...accepted his apology. Cody could be such an idiot sometimes, and talking on the phone during a lightening storm was proof of that. But he couldn't change that now, and he certainly wasn't getting any hearing aid. At least, not until he was at least thirty. They were tacky, and stuck out, and just plain uncomfortable. He had one at home, collecting dust in a corner somewhere. Never again would he wear it. It was terrible, and his brother got a kick out of it...the worst thing that could happen to Cody, that he could think of at the time.

Beau elaborated on how he got the stables, piquing Cody's interests. A family run thing? Cool. He didn't have any antiques in his family that had been passed down like that, and he sure wasn't going to get anything from any will any time soon. He was stuck with what he had. Nothing to be proud of, nothing to frame, nothing to take special care of. Nothing interesting, and certainly nothing like a high-class stable. Beau stumbled on a word for a moment, then looked to Cody for help. He had a ways to go yet with his english, but Cody had to give him kudos for doing so well. Heirloom. He said, smiling a bit. He was happy, almost honored to help. It sounded weird, but he always had an admiration for people high up on the social ladder. And to be conversing with the owner as if they were good buddies was pretty surprising. He was from the New York slums. He had to wonder if he was even worthy to be at Hunting Hills, let alone talk to its owner.

When Beau asked if he liked it at the stables, he was about to say that he loved them. They were beautiful and perfect for the horses. But then the kid told him to be honest. That was a different answer altogether. Well...to tell you the truth, at first I hated them. My dad shipped me here to straighten me out, so I guess the hatred was instilled in me before I gave this place a chance. But you hired me, and I bought a horse just a couple days ago, so I've been seeing more of this place. And it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. There aren't as many tight-ass trainers as I thought, and people aren't as stuck up as I had imagined. There is actually some civilized company in this place. He looked to Beau, meaning him. Not only him, there were others that were pretty nice, but he was definitely one of them.

[/blockquote]