All In The Game of Love

[topmeup]

WHO: Max Carson and YOU
WHERE: De Chima and Heropa
WHEN: Throughout February (with a 3-day stop in Heropa)
WHAT: Max is checking out his new homebase city, De Chima, and also taking a trip to Heropa for a date visiting friends an ad campaign for his Energy drink sponsor! Very busy first month.
WARNINGS: Puns and terrible flirting. Really he should be ashamed. Other CW will be added if needed.


De Chima : Various Public Locations (Throughout Month)
[He was touring the city. He'd had an offer from his boss to show him around so he could get used to the major spots they used for marketing and "face-time" with the public, but Max likes experiencing things like this for himself. He wanted a more organic view of the city that wouldn't come with a guided tour.

So he does his own thing. He buys groceries, hits up the mall, especially the clothing and electronic stores. Purchases a high end portable charger which will work great for him being so on the move considering he doesn't even have a generator set up in his room in Double-Oh Five yet. Then he hits the movies, because how could he miss the big poster advertising the Rom-Com-Palooza in honor of Valentine's Day coming up?

It's like it was made for him! And if he happens to see anyone else possibly eyeing that poster or loitering nearby, he may just go up to them and try to coax them to join him. Movies are always better when you have company after all.

And he doesn't miss the chances to pass out ad postcards, either. Don't be surprised if you suddenly find yourself having a shiny postcard held up in your line of vision with a lightning bolt striking the top of a mountain on it.

Take it to the Max All Day Long with our new and improved energy formula! Receive one free 20 oz can from any participating retailer by presenting this ad coupon.

Gotta make sure he's making himself useful since he did talk his boss, Mr. Andre Nalyn, to do a photoshoot and ad campaign out of Heropa so he could visit some friends down there.]


Heropa : Outdoor shopping center and other public locations (02/08-02/11)
[FLORIDA. He may live in areas often pelted by snow in the winter but that did not mean he couldn't embrace the absence of it. Especially if they were going to get this photoshoot done early so he could have the free time for a date doing fun things until their return flight. They wanted pictures of him doing physically active things while holding and/or drinking different MAX drinks. Which was cool with him, although he swapped the energy drink out of the can and replaced it with water part of the way through. No need to cause him to have a major crash on the first day.

Part of the marketing is him going up to different people around the outdoor shopping center and asking them if they would be willing to do a dare in return for a gift card. Not even a MAX coupon, but an actual $100 gift card. His boss knew how to go all out.

What is the dare? Well he's not going to tell you before you agree to it. What kind of fun would it be if he gave you the chance to say no first? But he promises it won't be anything dangerous. Probably.]

Comments

Malts n' Munchies Malt Shoppe | Closed to Lester Papadopoulos

[topmeup]

[After getting part of the photoshoot out of the way that morning, Max had begged off and gotten permission to take a few hours to himself. Which of course meant he'd messaged Lester to let him know to meet him at the malt shoppe he'd texted him about. Max knew he was cutting it a little short getting there, since he did have to travel from the other side of town. Without a license, he wasn't planning on getting on the road by himself anytime soon, so public transit it was.

He pushes open the door the shoppe and looks around for him immediately. Did he get there first?]

[lesterzeppelin]

[ Sometimes - when it really matters - Lester can make it early to a date. Gods, he hasn't had one since he was immortal, and those were easy. He would have snapped his fingers and bam! Instant wardrobe change! New appearance!

But Lester Papadopoulos had raging acne (read: one zit) that couldn't be hidden under the best concealers, and fluffy hair that refused to be tamed by mousse or hair gel. (He'd know: he tried.) So of course, he's feeling woefully inadequate as he waits by the entrance.

He has a blank notebook, already filled with a haiku: First date jitters, whee!
Can't say I ever asked for this
Someone tell me to --- ]

Max!

[ Lester rises to his feet, clumsily resting a hand on the table, ] Hey, man. How're you doing?

[topmeup]

[Max sees him and his smile turns broad and beaming. He's only slightly out of breath from running from the bus stop to the malt shoppe. Lester is looking positively adorable over there and Max is just happy to finally get to meet him face-to-face.] Hey, Lesi. I hope I didn't make you wait too long.

[lesterzeppelin]

Nah. You're right on time.

[ He grins, going ahead and sitting back down, only so he can hand a menu over. ]

I uh, I just got out of a lesson early. No big deal.

[topmeup]

[Max tilts his head bit, sliding his hand along Lester's shoulder for a moment before moving along to sit across from him so they can look right at each other. It also gives him a clear view of the door--reflex, training to be careful about places where you can't see where people could attack from. One of the few lessons that has always stuck. He can't protect people if he doesn't see the threat coming.]

Lessons? You going to school?

[lesterzeppelin]

[ Lester shakes his head, biting a little on his lower lip at the insinuation that he's young enough to attend school. Despite his mortal appearance, he's never been. ]

I teach kids music. [ beat ] Well, I'm supposed to. Mostly, it's making the piano play itself whenever they can't hit a note, and seeing if they're making any progress this week.

[topmeup]

[He could have been in college for all Max knew, he won't knock people wanting an education with a side of social interaction. He'd wanted it for himself, too.]

Lesi that's awesome. Except the playing the piano for them part. My mom tried to get me to learn when I was a kid. [You know as if he isn't barely over eighteen.] I have too many thumbs for piano. But she let me fail all on my own. [He says it with a laugh.]

[lesterzeppelin]

Your mom also wasn't paying out the nose to learn from me... probably. [ He hopes. Man, he just knows the rate for having an actual imPort teach you music is significantly higher than the others. ] So I don't know, I feel like it's my duty to help 'em since I can't exactly physically play the notes.

But also, who says you need to play anything when you're with me?

[topmeup]

[Can't play? He wonders back to their previous conversations and if he missed something about that. But then Max chuckles because that totally sounds like flirting.]

I don't know. I like games. Wouldn't mind playing a few with you.

Space Race Arcade and Game Shop (Heropa) | Closed to Max Mayfield

[topmeup]

[Max is waiting at the arcade for The Other Max having already started playing some of the games. He has some tickets sticking out of his back pocket, since he hadn't really cared about winning them, what with the main event coming up. He even plays a round or two of "space hockey" (air hockey with pucks designed like asteroids and strikers made to look like space ships) against one of the local kids. He doesn't do too bad himself, but it's not a game he plays that much. He laughs and warns the kid]

Next time I'm back in town, we're gonna have to play again. I'm gonna practice.

[beyourzoomer]

[She watches from the door for a few minutes, as he plays with a kid she's seen hanging around the arcade in the last week. A tiny smile tugs at her mouth, almost involuntarily. She wonders if Max has younger siblings. He seems like the kind of guy that would be a good big brother. There's a spike of envy that she shakes off because that's stupid. And pointless. And Max, generally speaking, just isn't that petty of a person.

She watches the local kid head away, grinning triumphantly without noticing her presence, then she moves over to where Max is standing, arching an eyebrow at him.]

I have a pocket full of quarters. We may be here awhile.

[topmeup]

[Max turns at the sound of her voice, hand up in greeting.] Yo! One sec!

[He walks around the air hockey table and sets two dollars worth of quarters down on the table because patting the kid he'd been playing on the shoulder.] Your winnings. Don't go spending it all on one game. [He winked at him and them made his way right over to Max.]

Hey there, M&M. Let's get our game on.

[beyourzoomer]

[She watches him pass the quarters onto the boy he'd been playing with and tries to imagine Billy ever doing anything like that -- for her or anyone else -- and nope. Nope, never going to happen. Whatever.]

Sure. Pick a machine.

[She's already familiarized herself with most of them.]

[topmeup]

[Max looks at her, then looks over at the row of multiplayer cabinets. Then he looks back at her.]

You know I'm making you play Donkey Kong, right? We can't not play Donkey Kong.

[beyourzoomer]

Sure. We can play Donkey Kong.

[She beat that one over a year ago. She almost feels bad about this, but maybe he's better than she's anticipating. Dustin hasn't beaten her yet, though, and he's got the second highest score on most of the games back home.]

How's De Chima? You like it there?

[Because she hasn't visited her friends yet and that's where they are.]

[topmeup]

[If Li'l Max is as good as she says she is, he's expecting her to beat him out with speed and familiarity, but that's not enough to stop him from wanting a go at it. It's one of the first games his dad ever taught him how to play. There's a lot of nostalgia factor pushing his choice.]

De Chima's cool, but colder. I'm used to cold, grew up in PA, but man is the weather in Florida nice right now in comparison.

[He steps up to the cabinet and pops some quarters into the slot before stepping back so Max can put in her own. No sense in playing chivalrous when he knows she's got a bunch of her own money to spend.]

I'm calling Player One.

[beyourzoomer]

Yeah I'm not a big fan of cold weather.

[She'd only been in Hawkins for a couple weeks and it hadn't taken long to discover that fall in the Midwest? Not a good time. It hasn't even snowed back home yet, and while she does kind of want to see snow just because she never has, she's dreading the cold that comes along with it. Basically she'd rather live at the beach.]

Be my guest.

[She grins at him even as he steps away and she slides her quarters into the machine.]

Good luck.

Heropa Dares 02/10 - Let me know if this is okay or if I should change it

[breaks_pots]

Link was no stranger to dares. And while he didn't know what a '$100 Gift Card' was, if there was a reward, it was worth doing.

The guy talking about it seemed to be going up to random people and asking and thus far had overlooked Link. Not surprising, he was short and had been standing out of the way. But Link decided to walk up behind him and tug on his pants. Grinned at him, and pointed to the card.

If his three inch, pointed ears didn't give him away as an import, the tattoo on his wrist that he didn't bother hiding sure would.

This is good!

[topmeup]

Max looked down at the feel of his pants being tugged on and blinks for a moment at the sight of short blond looking up at him. He smiled down and holds up the card in his hand. "You want one of these?" he asked. "You're gonna have to do a dare for it. Get that adrenaline pumping. You okay with that?"

He figured that he was, since he came up to him on his own, but Max has to ask because the the camera man gets the agreement on video. It covers them before they have them sign the permission forms.

[breaks_pots]

There would be no way the cameraman didn't get a very enthusiastic yes out of how vigorously Link shook his head. He even bounced on his toes in excitement. Whatever the dare was, he was sure he could do it no problem! And then he'd get the reward! And... do something with it. Whatever one did with a gift card!

[topmeup]

Max liked the enthusiasm he was seeing from this kid. He pulls a stack of cards out of his pockets and then shuffles them a bit before flipping the top card over to show to the camera and to Link.

"Here it is! Juggle four eggs in the air without cracking any of them for 90 seconds." He reads it out and one of the production people quickly brings out a carton of eggs from a portable cooler they were carrying with them.

[breaks_pots]

Link looked at the eggs and looked at Max. He took the four eggs, but he wasn't sure what 'juggle' was. He tilted his head at the man, obviously confused. Then held one hand out to Max in offering. Jutting his chin forward and hoping he could be shown what juggling was.

[topmeup]

...He was starting to get the picture that this guy either can't speak, hates speaking, or doesn't understand English. Or maybe all three? Who knew. But Max was't going to leave him hanging so he pulls out his handy dandy smart phone and brings up a video of different people juggling.

"Like this, bruh," he explained. "But keep them in the air. Eggs hitting the ground aren't gonna bounce back up. You cool?"

[breaks_pots]

Link pulled his hand back and studied the video being shown him very intently. There seemed to be a lot of complicated tricks to this juggle thing. And he wasn't allowed to try the bouncing, either. He agreed that breaking would be bad.

About half way through the video, his eyes very much locked to the screen focused on studying it, he started tossing one of the eggs up from his left hand and catching it with the same hand. Getting the feel of doing one at a time, but catching it with a second egg in his hand, too, since this juggle thing seemed to require he move the eggs between his hands.

After a few catches, he started adding the second egg into the mix, tossing and catching the two with one hand. Not looking, of course, because the video was still playing and he wanted to get this right.

At the three minute mark, he tosses the first one up from his right hand and catches it in the same hand as the first to stay in his left. Again, getting the feel of it. It takes a bit longer on that side to add in the second egg in his right hand, because he's left handed. But by the time the video ends, he's got all four going up and down. They're still in the same hands they started in, but it's just for practice. Getting the timing down.

After another minute of that, he begins passing the eggs between his hands. Not a single one drops. He seems to have caught on to the concept really fast. He's not doing any tricks, just yet, cause the eggs are fragile, but he's got superb eye-hand coordination.

Link stays focused on making sure the eggs don't drop for a good minute, going into two, before looking up at Max, head tilting in question once more. Was this good or did he need to do more?

[topmeup]

Max lets the video go to help the guy learn the moves, even though he figures he's probably giving him way more assistance than he is probably supposed to, letting him watch the video as long as he is. But the producer isn't telling him to stop, so he leaves it alone and figures they'll edit it as they want to keep it short.

"And I'd say we have a winner!" Max cheers, reaching into his pocket to pull out the gift card from the other envelope he's holding. He holds it up in the air, as if he's ready to hand it over but stops before extending it fully.

"But...you could win five times this much if you did our ultra challenge! Interested?"