The inside of Murphy's was a gamers paradise. An enormous room stretched out in front of the entrance, packed with every type of arcade booth imaginable. From older retro titles like Mortal Kombat and Pacman, to newer titles with fully enclosed booths that contained vibration, auditory, and visual experiences that enhanced gameplay to a level that was unimaginable at home.
On the second floor, numerous computer monitors could be seen, the dim lights of the monitors reflecting off the glass balcony, flickering images just barely discernible from Eric's spot near the entrance as players practiced in the last half hour before the tournament began.
Above the second floor, another similar level could be seen, computer lights shining through the glass walls emitting a promise of games and competition. As Eric was craning his neck to see if he could see anything above the third floor, a familiar voice called out to the group.
"Yo Eric! Mark! Griffin! We're over here!" Ryan's voice called out from across the arcade room floor, bringing attention to the trio as they took off their coats and jackets.
Putting his gloves in his satchel, Eric looked up to see Ryan, Gio, Rob, and Nick approached. Ryan was wearing his jacket wrapped around his waist, his pale face still flush from the cold outside. His black hair was wet, probably from not wearing a hat in the snow Eric theorized, striding forward to give him a fist bump.
"Glad you guys could make it. Did Eric wake up okay?" Gio asked, still wearing his coat and breathing heavily into his cupped hands in order to warm them up.
"Yeah he was ready when we arrived. How long have you guys been here?" Mark asked.
"Not long. I wanna say we arrived only like five minutes ago?" said Nick, flashing a grin as he gave Mark a high five. At six foot two Nick was tall but stocky, with a broad frame akin to that of a linebacker. The coach at their highschool had been after Nick to try out since he'd transferred the year before, but Nick remained firm in his decision to just kick back and enjoy highschool life.
The son of a high ranking military member, Nick was always on the move as a youngster, and as a result, he had become a master in the art of making friends. He and Eric had first met at a military function the summer before, and Nick had quickly latched on to him once he found out that Eric enjoyed Legends of Lore as much as he did. They'd added each other and began playing that summer, and as a result, when they discovered that Nick would be attending the same highschool that he went to, Eric had taken the opportunity to introduce him to the others.
"That's four of team A that are here. We're just waiting on Jun right?" Eric asked, giving Rob a fist bump as he approached.
Rob was dressed even more casually than Eric was. Wearing sweatpants and a stained hoodie, Rob looked like an asian hipster. Weirdly enough, the look suited him. Eric couldn't tell whether his clothes were actually cheap and threadbare, or whether they were expensive designer items. A difficult task for someone as fashion challenged as himself, Eric thought with a small chuckle which earned him a slight eyebrow raise from Rob.
Waving a hand at Rob to indicate that it was nothing, Eric turned to Mark who was checking his watch.
"Jun should be here soon. Have you guys seen Alfredo or Raj?" Mark asked, looking at Ryan who checked his own watch.
"Alfredo texted me that they were on their way about fifteen minutes ago. They should be here any second now," Ryan replied.
As if on cue, the doors burst open and a loud voice could be heard, "Yo Ryan my man! What's poppin?"
Turning around, Eric was confronted by the sight of a well dressed hispanic youth, with a pair of sunglasses tucked into his collar despite the snowstorm raging outside and a long black overcoat, the man was the pinnacle of good looking. Especially once he removed his hat and revealed his slicked back hair and charming brown eyes. Eyes that seemed to dance whenever he smiled. It was no wonder the girls at school went gaga for Alfredo, Eric thought as he waved towards the man.
Next to Alfredo stood the owner of the voice. In stark contrast to Alfredo, this guy looked like a blue version of the Michelin man, Eric thought with a laugh as he glanced at Raj's ridiculously sized parka.
Raj was a big boy, even compared to the fairly tall guys that comprised most of the group. Standing just below six feet tall, he was only a tiny bit shorter than Eric. But what Raj lacked in height, he more than made up for in mass. Raj was huge, where Eric was slim, Griffin was husky, and Nick was jacked, Raj was fat. Once, Eric had seen him do a cannonball at a pool party, and he'd sworn that the water level in the pool had visibly decreased after Raj had left the pool.
Nevertheless, Raj was a great guy. His heart was even bigger than his body, and he wore it on his sleeve, glad to help anyone he could no matter the issue.
Beckoning the pair over, Alfredo and Raj joined the circle, mimicing Gio as they breathed hot air on their hands in an attempt to warm up.
"So, we see any strong teams here?" Raj asked, looking questioningly towards Mark.
Mark shrugged, "Not yet. But we only just arrived," he said, indicating towards Eric and Griffin who nodded their confirmation, "I did hear however that N5 was supposed to be here, same with the Atlantic Carries."
"Shit N5? Here?" Alfredo interjected.
"Well it's not confirmed. Atlantic Carries are though."
"Eh. No one said it was going to be easy. Anyways, I'm going to go register for our team. Ryan did you register for you guys yet?" Mark asked.
"Nah I was waiting for these two," said Ryan, jacking his thumb towards Raj and Alfredo, "I'll come with you to register."
As Ryan and Mark walked towards the counter, the discussion naturally flowed towards the tactics and strategies that they'd practiced in the last two weeks. Gio was having the most trouble, as many of the strategies relied on the top lane being in an adequate position to teleport around the map and help the team. Something that Gio was not particularly adept at. Despite Griffin giving him as much assistance as he could, Griffin was also forced to go mid as much as possible due to Ryan's aggressive playstyle.
As a result, many of the strategies that Eric's team had agreed upon were useless for Ryan's team which had resulted in heavy limitations on the strategies that they could perform. Of course in the two weeks of training they had figured out a few ways to combat their weakness in the top lane, but it was going to be interesting to see if Ryan's team could defeat opponents once their weakness was revealed.
As Mark and Ryan returned, the door to Murphy's opened once more to reveal a toned, Korean teenager wearing a dark coat. Seeing their group, he headed straight towards them, giving Mark a grin as he arrived.
"Sup bitches. Ready to get carried?" said Jun.
"Haha you can try. But there's no way you're getting past us," Ryan said with his trademark bravado.
"If you can carry us to the finals I won't complain Jun. But Nova Five and the Atlantic Carries are here. Didn't Mack dominate you last time we fought against Nova Five?" Eric asked with a grin, flashing a mocking smile at the new arrival who looked at him with disgust.
"Yeah I remember Lands messing you up as well. What were you, like zero and fifteen?" Jun replied.
"One and thirteen actually, had my carry boots on," Eric replied coolly.
"Alright you two break it up. Our team is registered in the C bracket and Ryan's team is in the B bracket so we shouldn't meet until the playoffs if we're lucky," said Mark, breaking up the fight before it could begin.
Greeting the others, Jun removed his coat, stowing it in his bag as he joked around with Ryan, Rob, and Gio. Putting his bag back on, he was just standing up when a bump from behind sent him stumbling forward awkwardly, narrowly avoiding tripping as Raj caught him.
"Thanks," Jun muttered to Raj before turning on the person who'd bumped into him with a snarl on his face.
"The fuck do you think you're doing?" demanded Jun, staring down the diminutive bearded man who'd ran into him.
"Sorry mate. Didn't mean to bump into ya. But you should probably move away from the entrance," said the bearded man.
"Maybe you shou-"
"Haha our bad. Sorry about that. We were just about to move out of the way," Mark said smoothly, interrupting Jun mid-sentence and defusing the heated atmosphere.
"Yeah. Sorry again, just didn't think anyone was standing so close to the door," said the bearded man apologetically, moving to rejoin the rest of his team who'd come in behind him.
"Why'd you stop me?" Jun demanded, whirling on Mark.
"No point causing trouble before the tournament's even started. We don't have any subs if you get kicked out. Plus that was Jarlaman from the Mooseheads. You really want to piss off the captain of one of the only good semi-pro teams in the province?" Mark explained.
"Damn that was Jarlaman? Dudes shorter than I thought he'd be," Raj commented which got a laugh from Jun. Seeing that the situation had been defused, the rest of the group let out a sigh of relief and grabbed their bags, moving away from the entrance.
Finding a place near the arcade, the group chatted for a few minutes, brushing up on strategy and checking their gear quickly as they awaited the beginning of the tournament.
"Once you buy your second item, I'll teleport bot and we'll double gank-" Mark was saying when all of a sudden, the lights began to dim.