A pair of foxes meet in an impromptu encounter during a break at a local arcade center.

Fox Meet

After finishing her boba drink, Rui wanders along the boardwalk of a popular arcade district. While strolling along the pathway, the blue furred vixen stops to turn and observe the colorful lettering illuminating the giant tent, which reads in flashing orange letters, "COLORFUL CIRCUS". Pausing to observe this for a moment, she ponders for a moment before entering inside to see what the place has to offer that is new.

Upon entering the giant gaming tent, the blue fox squeaks in delight from seeing one of the games available and she runs up to it to inspect it. Upon further inspection, it is a simple hopscotch arcade game.

Once Rui observes the attract sequence for the game, she withdraws to exchange some of her cash for gaming tokens, which can be used for other games. Afterwards, she comes back to the hopscotch game she laid her eyes on and initiates play after inserting a couple of tokens inside.

While playing away, Rui muses to herself in thought, 'If I can move faster, then I can beat my high score. I just gotta keep moving.'

While Rui is occupied with her game, there is another additional patron to the services. Coming into the tent is a female fennec fox who is scanning her own blue eyes around in search of a game to engage herself in. So far, nothing yet. But when she focuses her eyes on Rui, the fennec fox takes an interested gawk at her.

Here before her is this strikingly amazing blue furred fox in front of her, casually immersed in a hopscotch arcade game. In light of this, the fennec vixen remains rooted in place, staring at the blue vixen before her intently. It doesn't take long for her to realize she's been staring; when she snaps out of her trance, the fennec fox begins to search for an available video game to busy herself with until the blue fox is done with her game.

Eventually, the fennec fox settles on a basic Pac-Man arcade game, but not before inserting a quarter inside to start a 1-player game of her own. By the time the fennec vixen progresses considerably along her Pac-Man game, Rui has already left the hopscotch game, having moved around further inside the arcade.

Further inside the arcade, Rui is engaged in a game of ice hockey against a fellow gamer, a black / white male Siberian Husky, in fact. His soft smile and turquoise eyes seem to compliment his form. During the moment he and Rui are engaged in their ice hockey game, the fennec fox is more into her Pac-Man game, focused more on passing the level she's on… until she loses her last life. She groans, "Man, I was so close! Urgh, I hate losing when I'm so close to passing!"

After removing herself from her Pac-Man game, the fennec fox wanders around for a bit when she observes a giant Space Invaders Frenzy arcade machine. Seeing the huge cabinet, the fennec fox watches the attract mode for a bit, her thoughts traveling elsewhere. Sighing, she caresses the studded wedding ring on her finger while lamenting, "I wish my husband was here. We'd be having so much fun together…"

"Ah!" A sudden tap on her shoulder causes the vixen to whirl around in surprise, finally coming face-to-face with the last thing she expected to sneak up behind her - Rui. The blue fox has an expectant look on her face, which softens up a bit, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Hey, you married?"

"Um, yeah. But that's beside the point, y'know?" The fennec fox subconsciously caresses her wedding ring, her black-tipped ears and her muzzle turning red with the subject. Rui swore she could have noticed steam shooting from the fennec fox's larger ears.

Coughing to clear her throat, the fennec fox introduces herself while observing, "Erm, my name is Carmen. And I have never, ever seen a blue fox before. Are those rare? Not that I'm trying to be offensive or anything-"

Much to Carmen's surprise, Rui actually giggles at the fennec fox before her, her tail swishing around a bit eagerly. She hums, "Blue foxes are rare to an extent, but not common. And you're not offensive, either. Carmen is a beautiful name for a pretty girl like yourself. Who's the man you're married to? Is he handsome?"

"Why are you so interested in my marital status?" Carmen's ears fold flat with her face heating up again. Hearing her quip, Rui shrugs, "Just curious. Most people sometimes keep their rings as mementos."

Raising an eyebrow at Rui's inference, Carmen elaborates with a sigh, "If you're that desperate to know, then yes…" a giggle escapes her throat along with a seductive squeak, "he's handsome, and sexy too. Maybe I can bring him here the next time we see each other. His name is Khalid, by the way, but I think you'll like him."

"I can already imagine." Rui smirked, her face heating up also. But what comes next is a warning that Rui halfway didn't expect from Carmen herself - the vixen snaps her fingers directly at Rui's face, bringing the blue furred vixen back to reality. "Khalid is mine and he's mine only, got that? Trust me, I won't hesitate to rip him apart if he ever decides to step out on me. I won't hesitate to rip apart the other woman he's seeing as well, just to send a message."

Rui gulps at Carmen's murderous change in demeanor and her warning. She laughs off the sweaty, shaky feeling she's producing and comments, "As the saying goes, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', right? And that woman is you."

"Yep! So if he tries anything he'll regret for sure, I'll tan his hide so badly his pelt won't be worth selling!" A shiver creeps up Rui's spine at how fast Carmen's cheerful demeanor returns and the fennec's chirping. The blue fox begins to shift nervously on her pawfeet when she sees the Space Invaders Frenzy arcade game. Changing the subject, Rui invites Carmen, "Say Carmen, up for a co-op round of Space Invaders?"

The sandy furred vixen smirks at the proposal and eagerly accepts, "You're so on! Co-op play first, then competitive play!"

"Sorry Carmen, this Frenzy game only sports cooperative play, not competitive play." Rui reminds her, noticing Carmen's wagging tail. "If you want competitive play, we can do regular Space Invaders."

"Sure, it's a deal!" The two foxes begin a 2-player co-op session, which quickly spirals out of control between the mix of incessant shouting between the two foxes and the mix of big and small enemies darting across the screen. A few powerups were scattered here and there at random intervals, allowing the duo to inflict heavy damage to some levels. Along the way, tickets were beginning to disperse from the machine during gameplay.

Carmen is too immersed in the hectic gameplay of Space Invaders Frenzy to even notice the tickets being spit out by the machine. Only when Carmen feels something brushing against her foot does she pause in her gameplay to briefly stare down at the ticket pile gathering at her pawfeet. She exclaims, "Rui, check out all these tickets we're being awarded! It's like we hit a jackpot or something!"

The sandy furred fox resumes her gameplay, having left Rui to pick up the slack briefly. The blue fox scoffs, "That's no jackpot. I've hit score thresholds in games where I have seen actual jackpots; trust me, they reward a lot more than this!"

Carmen giggles in response to Rui's assessment, "Yeah, but I bet the reward is necessary for all the grinding we gotta go through. We should redeem these for something valuable! Even certain games here pay out a jackpot of real cash!"

"You read my thoughts exactly like they were!" Rui asserted in return, drawing another smirk to her muzzle. And it happens during the conversation - a fleet of tiny alien enemies rapidly pinball against the screen, closing in on the barriers at an alarming rate. Despite Carmen's intense crying of encouragement and urgency, the pair is able to finish off most of them but the remaining few manage to escape and reach the bottom, terminating the 2-player co-op session.

"Dammit! So close!" Carmen stomps her pawfoot angrily, her black-tipped tail swishing around hotly. "We almost had them!"

"Yeah but no one can beat our high score now, can they?" Rui directs Carmen's attention to the high score screen, leaving the fennec fox awestruck. "That's a lie! 2 million points!?"

The surprised squawk only makes Rui giggle at her misguided assumption. The blue furred fox shakes her head and explains, "Far from it! We only managed to get 208,690 points, so we still did pretty good."

Her tail wagging at a moderate pace, Carmen comments, "I agree! It was fun and intense, and I enjoyed it!" Just then, the sandy furred vixen happens to think of something, and she brings this up to Rui, "Say, Rui? You mentioned that some games dispense real cash. Ever heard of Flamin' Finger?" When Rui's ears fly up in attention, Carmen wistfully reminisces with a giggle, "Khalid and I played that game a lot. He hates it; he claims it's rigged."

Rui shakes her head at Carmen regarding her husband's view on the game. The blue fox brings up Space Invaders as a reminder, "You know how in Space Invaders, the aliens get faster the more you disintegrate them? Think of Flamin' Finger in that same way. The closer you get to the finish, the faster the time runs down. The principles parallel each other."

Taking in the information, Carmen has played Space Invaders plenty of times, but this is her first time actually hearing of and having a chance to play a new game. She humorously assumes, "So it seems that Namco borrowed Taito's first video game to learn from it in the development of their game."

Rui agrees, "Yes they did. It would seem that way." She shrugs, throwing the sandy furred fox a nonplussed expression, "But each game company has their own way of research."

"Whaddaya say we go for a round of Flamin' Finger? I can't wait to try that one out!" Now Carmen is giddy in wanting to try the redemption game. Rui arches an eyebrow at her, "Are you sure you know what you're dealing with?"

Carmen's expression turns deadpan from Rui's question. The vixen snorts, "I've seen people play it and win, some with minor alterations to handle the difficulty. But whatever jackpot is on there, I want to win it!"

The two foxes leave the Space Invaders Frenzy arcade machine, each with handfuls of collected tickets. They also have extras from their separate games before they engaged in the Frenzy gameplay - Rui with her hopscotch and Carmen with her Pac-Man.

Wandering throughout the arcade tent, Carmen's blue eyes fall upon the redemption desk. The vixen then expresses, "My hubby and I have been dying for a new game system. I want to get a Nintendo Switch for us to play with."

Rui hums, "I dunno. The PS5 is pretty tempting. But the games that are out now aren't really appealing to me. All in-game purchases and microtransactions and whatnot."

The fennec vixen grunts in annoyance and agreement, "That's the same reason why Khalid and I held off on buying Gran Turismo Sport and 7. A lot of those new features came out too late. So we stuck with our PS1 and still enjoy older games; even with multiplayer, they're still enjoyable!"

"Ain't that the truth?" Rui snickered in return. "I have a PS3 and I'm still finding older games to have fun with! It's like the world has gone on a nostalgia binge!"

Carmen sighs, "Tell me about it." Sighting the Flamin' Finger redemption game, the fennec fox points to the fiery colored machine in the middle, "Hey, there is the game we were discussing! Shall we play a few rounds?"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind! Maybe we can earn some extra stuff along the way!" Carmen chirps happily. The two foxes end up redeeming their tickets at hand first before going on to play the Flamin' Finger redemption game. Halfway contrary to Rui's and Carmen's expectations, the machine dispenses both tickets and cash. They play 5 rounds total, only managing to win two and end up collecting a mixture of both arcade tickets and money. The pair then leave when Carmen mentions, "There's another game that Khalid mentioned to me before - ever heard of Stacker??"

Rui assumes, "You mean that blue or red game where the blocks make it virtually impossible to win? I've not only heard of it but also played it a lot. Very frustrating to win!"

"I'll play a couple of times then I'm gonna book it and leave." Carmen admonished, then she smiles, "Maybe next time I can bring my husband along for you to meet him."

"If he's sexy as you say he is, then I see no problem with that!" Rui happily agrees, unaware of the murderous glint in Carmen's blue eyes. When the blue fox finally notices, she sweatdrops and holds her hands up defensively, "Not in that way, Carmen!! Honest!!"

The fennec fox relaxes her demeanor and exhales in apology, "Sorry. It's just, a lot of girls keep giving my husband Gaga eyes like he's some sort of chick magnet. Do they not see the ring?"

Rui objects in reason, "Uh Carmen, a hot guy is more noticeable than what's on his finger. And judging from what you explained just now, he must be very attractive to be hit on every single day."

"It's not like being a doctor has its perks either. At least in the social workfield." Carmen's black-tipped ears fold in worry where she elaborates, "Gotta deal with other graphic content."

"Sounds like both of you have it rough." Rui acknowledged, giving the fennec fox a sympathetic gaze. She then suggests, "How about we finish up and we split?"

"We can do that! But we'll need some bags to carry our stuff. What did you get?" Carmen assessed, her eyes focusing on Rui.

"Apart from some cash, I got some keychains." Rui responded. "What about you?"

Carmen holds up a Nintendo Switch for Rui to see, leaving the blue fox spluttering in surprise, "From that Flamin' Finger redemption game!?"

"No, the redemption desk." Carmen turns her attention back to the games before them while musing, "I wonder if I can redeem something else from this Stacker game we're going to play."

"Only time will tell. Time and skill." Rui observed.

After a bit of searching and obtaining some bags to put their items in, Rui and Carmen locate a blue Stacker game located farther inside the tent. After three rounds of playing, Carmen is now carrying a PS5 in her arms, shaking from pure excitement and adrenaline. Even Rui is left impressed, "I cannot believe it - you actually won the game on your second attempt! I only managed to get the Minor Prize!" She holds up a diamond bracelet to emphasize her point.

"Khalid will surely be amazed when he sees me coming home with this thing. Man, that last block was the hardest one!" Carmen squeaked in astonishment.

"We can finally go now." Rui breathes a sigh of content, satisfied with her day coming to a close. Then she realizes that she doesn't have a way around. A light blush tints her face when she gently nudges Carmen's shoulder and requests, "Er, can you give me something I can use to get home with?"

"Just fish out my keys and hold them for a bit. I can give you a lift to your place." The fennec fox responds, resigned.

"Oh, thank you! I forgot I came here by bus and it is such a long way back to my house!" Rui groans out. This earns a giggle from Carmen while she responds, "Hey, no problem, Rui! I don't mind anyway!"

~~~~~

Rui belongs to Zoey_Hyena from Toyhouse; Carmen and Khalid (mentioned) belong to me!