Little Rascals

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:23am by Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Ziara Rrareth & Veronica Kiley
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:49pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Little Caesar's Arcade
Timeline: current

ON

Right from waking up, Veronica wished the day would go by with an extreme speed, or school would end early and abruptly. She couldn't help but feel overly excited whole day. She couldn't concentrate on anything at school, as her mind was preoccupied with one single thing: her visit to Mr. Mindo's wonderous place after school. Her mom talked to Mr. Mindo and gave her permission to visit the peculiar little man's arcade, which fascinated her so much during her first (and so far, only) visit. She jumped in joy when school finally ended, and literally ran to the turbolift and headed to the entertainment deck.

"Mr. Mindooooo!" the girl shouted loudly as she slowly entered the arcade, which looked abandoned. "Mr. Mindoooooo!" Where could he be, she wondered, while she looked at some of the fascinating machines on display. "Mr. Mindoooooo!"

On the upper deck of the large simulation, Mindo abruptly stopped kissing Lieutenant Ziara Rrareth's neck and put a hand on hers, which was unzipping the jacket of his uniform. If Mindo were deaf, he'd still recognize the sound of Veronica's loud voice. He sighed and looked down at Ziara, also partially undressed lying on the cool surface of one of the air hockey tables. Mindo rolled off the table and zipped up his uniform while handing Ziara her own black and gray jacket.

"Hang on," Mindo shouted to Veronica, trying to think fast while also smoothing his tousled hair. "I'm... fixing something..." He stood up and looked at Ziara. "Sorry," he whispered.

Ziara gave his face a playful kiss, not wanting the fire inside her to fade as it certainly would with the interruption. She growled slightly in frustration and shrugged her own gold uniform back on and zipped it up reluctantly. It wasn't the first time she had been interrupted during a liaison, at least her pants were still on.

Fixing something? Veronica raised an eyebrow. Maybe she was intruding upon something? In that case, she should just leave the place, go home, listen to her mom complain about patients, and do her homework. Not exactly the best way to spend the evening, she frowned. "Okaaay!" she shouted, curious about what was going on.

It took a moment for Ziara to slip out to where Veronica was, "Hey!" She said with the purring Caitian accent she loved. "I'm Ziara, I was helping Mindo out with something." She said as she approached the young girl.

Veronica looked up to see the other person besides Mindo. She quickly realized she probably did intrude upon something. Or rather the cat-lady intruded upon their get-together with Mr. Mindo. She suddenly felt angry at her for that, but she tried to her her feelings. "Hello!" she shouted in the direction of the woman. "I'm Veronica. Veronica Kiley, Mr. Mindo's best friend."

"Is that so? I've known Mindo for a while now, so I guess I'm an old friend. What brings you here?" Ziara said with a pleasant purr and a smile. Of the three, Ziara was the tallest, which was an odd situation for the short Caitian to be in. She was almost never the tallest.

"Are you a Caitian?" the girl asked with a curious glance, seizing Ziara up. "We learned about your species at school." she said proud of her knowledge. "I'm here because Mr. Mindo promised me that he shows me more of those games." she indicated the pinball machines and other kind of arcade devices.

"And so I shall," Mindo said, descending the staircase, his uniform back in shape. "Hi Veronica. I see you've met Ziara, my friend. Ziara, this is Veronica, Dr. Alves' daughter and the best video soccer player on the ship!"

"I am!" Veronica folded her arms proudly, glad that Mr. Mindo praised her in front of his friend.

Mindo rested a hand on Veronica's shoulder. "Veronica, do you know about automobiles?"

"Auto... mob..." the girl thought for a moment. It was something connected to Earth history. It took her a second to remember. Ah, yess. "I know, I know! We learned about those in school." she claimed happily. "But I've never seen an actual one."

"If you ever get the chance, drive one. Unlike with a lot of other modes of transport, you feel this connection to the terrain you are driving over that you just don't get with anything else. It makes it exhilarating." Ziara said.

Veronica didn't quite get what Mr. Mindo was trying to say, but she just shrugged, like if she'd understood the thing. "Aham. Okay. I will try." she nodded. "Soooo.... any awesome games to try?"

"Well," said Mindo, "I have a game where you get to drive your own automobile. In fact, it's a racing game, so you can go as fast as you want! And in old Earth only adults could drive automobiles. But I think you're grown up enough that you could do it. Care to try? I have five machines hooked up to each other, so you could even race both me and Ziara!" He looked up and winked at Ziara.

Ziara grinned, "Do you think you could beat me?" She asked Mindo playfully.

Veronica felt glad that Mr. Mindo considered her grown up enough to play the game he mentioned. However, she felt a bit jealous as her host gave quite much attention to the other guest present. "I can beat both of you!" the girl interrupted.

"That sounds like a challenge to me!" said Mindo with a smile. He led them over to the far wall, where several racing games from different arcade eras sat ready for playing. There were a few machines in which to sit, and steering wheels and other gadgets. Mindo sat Veronica in the center, between him and Ziara and gave Veronica a quick run-through of how the game was played. When he was convinced she had a good idea of how to play, he took to his own seat and picked his car, a little red Corvette. He looked over to see which one Veronica and Ziara picked.

"We'll see if we can meet it." Ziara said with a amused purr. She spent a few moments picking her car, and finally settled on a 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500-KR in bright orange with two black racing stripes running down it. It wasn't the best car, but it was definitely one of the most stylish. Ziara took a breath and muttered a prayer in untranslated caitian, asking the spirits to help her not be as competitive as she could be at times when it came to racing.

Veronica took a careful look at the available cars. She had no idea what they were capable of, but there was a green one, which had a nice colour, and looked good, so she chose that one. She saw as the strange cat-lady uttered some strange words in herself. "Okay... Let's do it." she shrugged and looked at Mindo with an eager glance.

"Good choice of cars," said Mindo with a grin.

The race started. Mindo had made the settings for just three cars in the race. No need to make things more complicated with other, computer-controlled racers. Almost immediately, Ziara took the lead. Veronica was not far behind her in second place, and Mindo followed in third. Mindo was more concerned with Veronica's driving as she was new to the entire concept, and he wanted her to be encouraged. Much to Mindo's surprise and delight, Veronica was actually quite good, and soon she had overtaken Ziara in first place. Now it was time for Mindo to compete. He wasn't going to go easy on Ziara, as she was clearly an expert. Ziara managed to pass Veronica again, and the finish line was coming up. Just at the last second, Veronica sped ahead of Ziara and came in first place, with Ziara barely second and Mindo a close third.

"I won! I won!" Veronica shouted with joy, but also with quite much of a surprise. She was completely new to this game, and never imagined that she could actually win against Mr. Mindo and his friend. So, victory was just as sweet as it was completely unexpected.

"You were surprisingly good at that!" Mindo said, impressed. "I guess that's why they say kids learn faster."

Ziara looked over and nodded, "You did pretty good, perhaps you can be a racer someday too!" She purred contentedly.

"Thank you!" the girl replied joyfully. She was proud of her achievement, especially since it impressed Mr. Mindo. And well, his friend too. "Actually, I want to be a football player." she said, looking at the cat lady.

Ziara considered her for a moment, as if trying to look inside her. "I think that's something you can do." She concluded.

"You really do?" Veronica asked enthusiastically. "I'm a very good player, actually. Just ask my mom."

"Her reflexes are really good," Mindo added. "You should see her on the pinball machines."

Ziara nodded, "I do, playing a game like that is a skill, one that can be developed and honed. I believe in you and that you can develop and hone that skill to a knife's edge if that is what you put your mind to. Remember that belief is much more powerful then negativity."

"Ah, sure." Veronica nodded, not really understanding what the cat lady was trying to say. She then turned to their host with a smile to pose a completely innocent question. "Mr. Mindo, do you think my mom is pretty?"

Mindo's eyes widened at the question and for a moment he met Ziara's amused gaze. "Yes," he said. "I think your mother is very pretty."

"I knew you do!" the girl shouted in happy appreciation. "She is. And I don't say that because she's my mom."

Ziara smirked at Mindo, "Well, I don't have to say so, but I do think your mom is a very lovely lady. I'm sure you'll grow up to be like her." She said, trying to defuse the awkward situation.

Mindo cleared his throat. "Does anyone feel like a friendly game of Skee-Ball?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I hope so!" Veronica smiled at the cat lady. She considered her mom a true role model in every sense, although sometimes she could get on her nerves with all her stupid grownup things. "Skee-Ball?" she looked at Mr. Mindo, her eyes opening wide with utmost curiosity.

Mindo grinned. "Follow me."

OFF