Circe's Manor Raids Again

[Ookalf]

*The maid looks to be playing a shoot-em-up Danaye doesn't recognize, and is dying to a difficult boss repeatedly.* How many times is this gonna... Ugh! *She finally loses her last life and turns away from the machine with a sigh... Which is when she notices Danaye.* ...You waiting for a turn or what?

[xGoggles]

"Ah, I-I wasn't really.. umm.. Y-you j-just.. sounded very frustrated at it, that's all..." Danaye said unsure what to say. "I... umm.. haven't seen this game before. What is about? Is it really hard?" Danaye gets a bit closer to the game, just to get a better look at it.

[Ookalf]

Oh, it's nothing important, really... *The text on the cabinet is written in a language Danaye also doesn't recognize, but from the images and what she can see of the screen it looks like a side-scrolling shooter akin to Gradius.* I've been trying to get the high score on this game for a while, but I always die at the stage five boss. *The maid sighs.* I seriously just wish I could past this already...

[xGoggles]

Danaye nobs while listening to the maid, and felt some kind of strange urge in her body, almost like the feeling of having to let out a fart, though the slight pressure wasn't concentrated on any specific spot. Unsure what this was, she did what felt natural and let go of the slight pressure that was built up.
Lucky for her it wasn't a fart, but it did create a bit of smoke.. Just a puff of smoke was all that was left of where the maid she was talking to was standing... But where did she go all the sudden?

Meanwhile, the maid might find that she was in a totally different place right now, something more flat and 2D-like. The environment looked out of the world yet also familiar like she once saw this before..

[Ookalf]

...Huh? What? *The maid looks around in surprise when she realizes she seems to floating in some kind of tunnel.* This looks like... No way! I'm in the game!?

[xGoggles]

Something blinking above the maid might grab her attention. It was a big line of text in bold pixelated letters saying, "START GAME"

Danaye turns her head and looks around for the maid "Hmm, where did she go? Was she some kind of Ninja maid??"
The genie was not at all aware yet of what happened to the maid that by the wish was now inside the game!

[Ookalf]

Start Game? How am I supposed to do that!? *The maid looks around desperately for some kind of start button or other interface.*

*Meanwhile, back in the arcade, Danaye seems to be all alone... What now?*

[xGoggles]

There were no buttons anywhere in sight for the maid.. Unless.. Oh, wait! There they are~ If she somehow managed to look into the 3rd dimension, she'll see the arcade room again, and the buttons that were in the distance but also very huge! But, most noticeably a big glass-like barrier that blocked her path to go anywhere near it...

She could also see the clueless genie walking away from the machine, not noticing that the maid was stuck inside there.

Having no help from outside, maybe the maid could use the platforms of the background to climb up and touch the 'START GAME'-text physically?


Danaye meanwhile still confused about the strange encounter, starts to look for Penny to see what she was up to.

[Ookalf]

Hey, over here! Hey! *The maid waves her arms to try and get Danaye's attention. When that fails, she turns her attention back to the game world.* Guess I just gotta do this... *Spotting the platforms, she starts climbing her way up them to reach floating text, hoping that will accomplish something.*

*Back in the real world, Danaye finds Penny playing air hockey with someone. Neither one has noticed her.*

[xGoggles]

After some trial and error of getting used to this moving in 2D space, she finally reaches the text to touch it and when she does.. the environment starts flashing as it brings her to level one!


Getting closer to watch, curious to see who was winning, Danaye didn't announce her presence, just so as not to cause a distraction for Penny.

[Ookalf]

Whoa! I guess we're doing this... *The maid presses on down the path, dreading what's to come. This game has a lot of enemies, and she's not sure how well she'll be able to defend herself...*

*The current score seems to be 3-2, with the other maid in the lead. Both seem to be of around equal, average skill.*

[xGoggles]

Lucky for her when the game started she also gained a shooter and whichever other equipment needed for a character on level one. Lucky she played this game a ton before, right? This stage was quite easy before, so playing it now should work out too, wouldn't it? Though the enemies sure did look way scarier now up close like this... Hopefully, her experience can carry her through!


Oh no~! Penny was losing! Danaye almost thought of maybe cheering her on like a cheerleader, but that would be way too embarrassing when thinking about it. Preferring to just say a quiet, "Go, go, Penny. You can do it~"

[Ookalf]

*Right now all she has is a single laser rifle, the likes of which she's never actually used before in real life. She mostly ends up firing wildly at anything that looks like an evil robot... Which honestly seems to be working out so far.*

*Penny does not seem to hear Danaye's whispered cheer and keeps on playing... And manages to score the next point! Woo!*

[xGoggles]

It sure was different now, playing from this perspective, not having a full overview of the map, looking at the creepy enemies up close. It sure was some getting used to. But this still left the question, how was she getting out of this game?



"Yay Penny~", Danaye said slightly louder this time.

[Ookalf]

Just keep going and I should be able to get out... Right? Isn't that how these things work? *The maid pushes on with that thought in mind, not knowing if it's true or not. She does seem to be slowly getting better at shooting, at least.*

*Penny actually does seem to here Danaye this time! She shoots the genie a quick smile before returning to her game.*