Video Games! (Salsa/invite)

He breathed into his cupped hands before rubbing them together creating some friction, man was it cold, but not even that was going to stop him from waiting in line. Why would it, Danny had been waiting months since they had announced the sequel to his favorite video game, and no measly drop in temperature was going to stop him from getting his hands on it. “Aw man it’s finally out!” With every second the anticipation grew, as only two more minutes and the doors to the shop would swing open, revealing their goods to the public. Danny was ready, standing on the balls of his feet, knowing when the doors opened he needed to sprint and beat everyone else, he was so ready. Or at least that’s what he thought.
“Okay folks if everyone could just form a single-“ the retail worker began stammering as he unlocked the door, but before he could finish he had to dive out of the way to avoid being trampled. Poor guy, he didn’t get paid enough for this. Danny was about to push his way through as well, but as he did he became his own enemy, stepping on his own shoelace and tripping himself. He staggered back up, “nonononono..!” He quickly picked himself up and ran to the game aisle and noticed the cardboard shelving with the giant billboard, at the end of the aisle, that read “CyberMegaDefense II: The Return of the Plague!”

“Yes!!” He picked up the pace and ran up to the shelving only to find them almost empty as people continued reaching and plucking the games off one by one. “No!” As he reached it he was afraid to find the stand completely bare, but what was this? Had fate smiled upon him? One last copy, it seemed to give off a holy and welcoming light as Danny reached for it, but that was only in his perspective.

Birch had a lot of responsibilities in his life. He had to shift living locations every-so-often within the city as his job required, planning 'jobs' with Pixel in order to keep the lights on, masterminding the return of a organization that could rival if not completely out-muscle and out-finance the Teen Titans in their entirety... and standing in line for the past few hours for the latest sequel of CyberMegaDefense might have just been the biggest responsibility of ALL! Beyond all this VERY important work that Birch attended to day and night, there had to be time for recreation. Some people went to fancy dinners with the money they brought home, some went out on cruises... Birch? He was a bit more humble... He enjoyed a good game. In fact, he might openly consider himself addicted to them... were it not such an... unpleasant way to introduce ones-self.

Needless to say, Bark was excited, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet, his hands stuffed HEAVILY into grey, heavy hoodie pockets, his sanguine eyes staring over the heads of many other customers... CyberMegaDefense, cumbersome in name only, was potentially one of the best games to come out in the last decade by FAR!... and that said a lot. With well-written RPG's and typical War-games having stolen the spotlight for years upon years, to have a Cyber-punk-style FPS come along and STEAL the spotlight from BOTH... Well... let's just say it proved itself beyond a shadow of a doubt. Bark had to get his hands on that game. He NEEDED to get his hands on that game...

...And he suspected, everyone else was here for the same reason! Ah post-Christmas sales... One might've thought it was Black Friday with how many people were lining up just to get inside... and be swiftly taken to the hospital as they ran over each other to do so! As the poor retail-guy opened the door, he was practically FLUNG back out into the streets by the tides of over-enthusiastic potential customers, as if the man had pulled a plug on a dam which caused the biggest surge of water to just BURST into his shop! Instinctively, Birch stepped out of his position... or rather FOUGHT THE TIDE in order to break himself free, walking over to the man with a sympathetic smile. offering him his hand.

"You okay bro...?" He asked, sighing heavily. "Sorry about how your store's gonna look in a moment. People, am I right?" With one last sad smile, Birch DOVE back into the rushing current, the trained H.I.V.E agent meeting his match as he was pushed, shoved and nearly RAN OVER a few times as he attempted to push his way past the HORDES of people to get to the isle he needed to get to... With an almost comical level of force, Birch was EJECTED from the surge of living bodies, left STUMBLING... right to where he wanted to go! Above the isle read a billboard more glorious than anything he'd ever seen: “CyberMegaDefense II: The Return of the Plague!”  Instantly a toothy grin spread across Bark's lips as he lightly jogged through, what was now, a silent, empty isle, his expression gradually darkneing as only empty shelves met his hopeful gaze.

"Say it ain't so..." Birch grumbled, his heart sinking in his chest... before it sprung back up SO FAST, it practically shared his skull with his brain! Over at the BACK, on the very last Isle... was the only copy of the game he had seen thus far, the style of the box-art and the slime-like font of giving it ALL away! Making a BREAK for it with all the dignity a professional baddy could have, Birch would REACH for the game... before freezing just as his hand touched it, spotting one that... didn't belong to him! Birch's head would turn away from his prize and his tunnel-vision would expand for the first time since he got within the store, spotting a teen... maybe 4-5 years younger, looking like he was going to have a heart-attack! Black hair kept only slightly and blue eyes which seemed almost MAD with excitement, Birch was almost afraid to get between this boy and his game... Almost.

"Ah, geez bro... Looks like you just missed it." Birch commented with a sad smile. "Maybe next week, huh?"