#Reprieve - 2

Misha had dealt with a variety of different texters.

Elias usually took 2-3 hours to respond, Gray almost never did and if they replied it would usually be in person, and Misha’s mother always sent curt one-worded messages because she took too long to type anything else.

He really shouldn’t be surprised that a girl that spends more than half her life staring at her mobile phone, texted with the punctuality of a 911 responder. Less than a second of sending a text, this girl would already be typing.

Paragraphs. She typed paragraphs in milliseconds. Usually ranting.

Honey had relinquished her number to both Elias and Misha, so they could form a group chat, in which they spent a lot more time bickering than planning this supposed ‘training’ session. Honey would complain then Misha would send memes to shut her up.

It devolved into a war of attrition. Elias as the witness.

Plans for the weekend had been made, but at what cost.

Honey impatiently taps her foot and it drives Misha nearly insane.

“Why the hell are we at an arcade?”

He knows what she’s thinking. She didn’t waste her perfectly good Saturday afternoon to come to an arcade with him, Gray, and Elias, but he also knows her desire for revenge overcomes her desire to bail.

And although Misha should be a little more apologetic since Honey’s brought her gym duffle bag and looks fully prepared to annihilate someone with one of her vicious kicks, he scoffs.

Her attitude was always off the charts.

Except with Gray of course.

Gray came on the premise that Honey would be there to judge their outfit, which consisted of a frilly blue dress, black buckled shoes, and just about every hair clip they owned. Including the crescent moon Honey had gifted them.

Misha’s convinced the only reason Honey hadn’t tried to strangle him once they got there was because Gray jumped in front of her with a darling smile and a childish twirl of their skirt.

Duly noted.

Honey has a soft spot for people who admire her and Gray treats her like an idol. Honey might be trying to train her own Sinstagram protege.

“Mimi always ties the bow lopsided.” Gray says, looking directly at Misha.

He tries not to look hurt.

“That’s because he’s an idiot.” Honey adjusts one of Gray’s ribbons that had come loose. Gray bounces happily on the balls of their feet.

Misha’s not exactly sure what Honey did to gain the attention of a hyperactive nine-year-old, but she usually made some interesting first impressions.

He hopes it was without the social media mention this time.

“If you want to know why we’re at an arcade, go and look at the scoreboard.” 

Misha waves to the closest arcade machine to their spot in line. It’s a terribly old game, one with outdated graphics and too many special effects on the title screen to be reasonable.

Honey scowls.

Most likely because she doesn’t want to be ordered around, but also because she’s probably trying to tolerate the smell of sweat and piss that emanates from the carpeted floors.

Compared to her meticulously chosen outfit and flawless make-up, everything looked like it was bought at a garage sale at a discounted price, including the people.

“Whose name is at the top?” Misha asks once she’s at the machine.

Taking her sweet time to look at the leaderboard like it physically pains her to lay her eyes on the flashing screen.

CapeCom is number one.

“Try that machine.” Misha points to another.

Still CapeCom.

Honey looks at the one next to it.

CapeCom again.

Almost every machine with a scoreboard has CapeCom as number one.

“You dragged me out here to just show me that The Rook is a game freak with no life?”

She snarls like she’s ready to bite the next person that pisses her off. Which is probably anyone that comes within a five-foot radius of her.

And Misha’s not looking to get chomped on by a feral blonde monster today.

Knowing this, Misha takes both of Gray’s hands and swings them in between Honey and himself, a shield from her furious glare. Gray giggles childishly, unaware they’re caught up in the crossfire.

“Nope,” Misha smiles when Honey refrains from trying to kick him in the shins because Gray’s blocking her aim, “You’re here for training.”

“In what way is this training?” She fumes.

Her knuckles are now unbandaged and healed. Ready to assault her next victim with brutal mercilessness.

They’re at the front of the line, Misha takes out his wallet to pay the employee who looks like they’ve been trying to recover from a hangover the whole morning and afternoon.

 Someone beats Misha to it.

“Because, Honey, this is where CapeCom trains.”

Elias has appeared out of nowhere with his gold credit card. He flashes it to the arcade employee who seems to sober up at the sight of the shiny little piece of plastic.

Misha didn’t even have enough time to pull out a couple of crumpled bills from their bet at The Midnight Fights.

Staring at a particular redhead in disbelief.

“Eli…”

Elias smiles. Cheekily.

He hands them all maxed-out point cards. He’s leaning on his cane today, the steel gray thing that makes Misha's stomach churn at the sight of it.

He tries to keep his eyes grounded on the freckled dimples of Elias' smile.

“I heard CapeCom’s a bit of a celebrity at this arcade, in fact, he actually got his name from a game here.”

Although she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be here, she takes one of the point cards. Misha might be imagining it but her eyes seem to sparkle with it in her hands.

“Is this a joke?” Honey scoffs.

“Nope, all serious,” Misha guides the little group to a section of the arcade that’s tucked away in an alcove.

There’s a row of yellowing machines facing back to back in this little nook of the arcade. Some of them are taken, but most are empty. Enticing passerbys to play with some over the top animation sequences and obnoxious music.

“This is CapeCom’s favorite game, Street Brawlers.”

Honey looks unimpressed. Or maybe that’s just her neutral face.

“It’s a competitive fighting game that features a variety of martial arts, with a bit of fictional flair. Each character has their own set of attacks and special abilities that I want you to memorize.”

“This is stupid.”

Misha gives her an exasperated look. He’s just glad the least she’s doing is listening, he can hardly handle her like this, let alone in her supposed ‘bad mood’.

Dealing with an egocentric maniac had its struggles, but there was one way to make Honey cooperate, although just barely. Misha always knew how to drag Honey along by giving her hints of something she wants only with the promise she’ll get it if she listens.

“Not when CapeCom bases all his moves off the characters.”

Honey’s eyes are glaring daggers at him and he knows it worked.

He invites her to sit at one of the machines. She stares at the hole-ridden seat, stuffing coming out from a large rip on the side and plastic peeling off like dead skin, taking a painstakingly long time to decide whether she should leave or not.

Her eyes linger on the game screen.

She sits.

“The Midnight Fights are such a joke if they let arcade nerds into their top 5.”

Elias chuckles and leans against the machine she’s sitting at, using the clunky game to hold himself up rather than his cane.

“CapeCom plays this game religiously, he knows every character and every character’s moves and combo attacks, which he’ll use when he’s fighting you.”

Misha starts explaining, “You’ll want to choose a character and-”

“I know how to play.” Honey looks impatient, almost eager, glaring holes into Misha's forehead,

“Are we fighting or not?”

He raises his hands, palms out, in defense. 

“Not with me, look at the scoreboard.” Misha taps the screen.

Her brow furrows and she peers at the list of names. She probably wanted a rematch for their little altercation in the classroom that felt like so long ago. Now Misha knows he won’t be trying to pick a fight with her any time soon.

CapeCom takes up almost every spot on the first page of names, except for 7th place.

It belongs to someone called GG.

“Honey! Let’s play!”

Honey peers around the side of the Street Brawlers machine to see Gray sitting opposite of her, swinging their legs in giddy excitement.

Her eyes dart from Misha to Elias.

They’re wearing smug looks.

GG stands for Gamer Gray. Picked out by the precocious youngster themself.

“Memorize the attacks and counters. Win once and that’ll be your training for the day.”

For the first time since Misha met Honey, her overabundant confidence seems to sputter. Just for a second before she blinks it away as fast as it came, still, she watches the screen with uncertainty.

7th place on the scoreboards was incredibly good.

Misha pats Gray on the head.

“Fine.” She says, taking hold of the game controls. Her hands look like they’re already familiar with the buttons and the joystick. 

So she really did know how to play?

Misha can’t picture Honey coming here by herself, but then again he doesn’t know her very well aside from her unquenchable anger and her revenge-driven grudge in The Midnight Fights. Maybe he was right to bring everyone this time, maybe they all needed the break.

She looks at the two other teenagers in their group.

“What are you two here for then?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of ‘hanging out’?” Misha smiles, taking Elias gently by the arm and whisking him away towards some of their personal favorite games.

It’s better that Elias lean on him instead of that awful steel cane.

Misha would give his life for the laugh he makes as they drift away from the Sinstagram menace and the young Street Brawlers professional. 

The four of them will be here for a long time if Honey’s trying to win against Gray so they might as well use the point cards to their fullest extent and enjoy the freedom of their Saturday.

Honey makes a face like she’s ready to fight him for real, without the 2D graphics and the flashy special effects that came along with the game. Despite all the strife Honey puts him through, this isn’t going nearly as terrible as Misha expected.

“Have fun!” Elias says over his shoulder as the game starts.

---

Honey’s a fast learner.

That and Gray’s a wonderful teacher with more patience than Honey’s ever had in her entire life.

It still takes two hours for her to successfully secure a win, but she manages to knock Gray’s character out with one measly HP left. Elias and Misha had gone through just about the entire arcade before they came back to watch her and Gray.

Was it really a surprise that when it came to something involving violence, Honey excelled in it.

Misha pats her roughly on the back while the other two applaud her for her efforts with the same enthusiasm people would have when a child blows out their birthday candles.

She lets out an exasperated sigh. Looking more drained than any of them had ever seen her.

The screen congratulates her with a flashing, “K.O.”

Honey smiles.

This isn’t one of her fake, sickly sweet smiles where she grits her teeth through a grin or the sinister smirk she gives when someone pisses her off.

This is a real, authentic smile.

Maybe the first she's had since she met Charlotte.