sometimes you gotta fit in to get in

[zuckered]

While the rest of the island wines and dines, dressed as though prepared to walk the red carpet, I'm seated in the third floor lounge of the Compound with a tall stein full of beer to the side and a controller in my hands. In my defense, I tried to stay for the whole of the party. I made a valiant effort. But pleasantries can only go on for so long

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[callofkaren]

Needing a break from the party and a chance to get out of her heels, Karen had shoes in hand and a sweater over her dress when she headed downstairs, fully intending to kill some time before heading back out, or back home, if she lost track of time and Nick had to find her.

Though she recognized the sounds of Halo before she was even fully down the stairs, she headed over anyway, glad to see Mark there -- and unsurprised, to some point.

"Hey," Karen said, leaving the greeting at that, well aware of the gaming zone. She collapsed onto the couch next to him, dropping her shoes on the floor by her feet.

[zuckered]

While the familiarity of the voice didn't quite land in the first few seconds, Mark wasn't far enough into the game for the presence to go unnoticed, and as he'd already beaten HALO plenty of times over the years, he quickly found the pause button and gave it a quick tap, freezing an Elite in mid-roar. Somewhere along the way, he'd wound up with a plastic pen cap caught between his teeth, worrying it until his gaze landed on the person in question.

Oh.

"Hey," he greeted, the cap falling from his teeth and earning a fleeting look, baleful. Glancing up again, he reached out for the spare controller, holding it out to her with a touch of a grin. "Wanna play?"

[callofkaren]

"Of course," Karen said, accepting the controller with a grin. While Call of Duty was where real talent lay, she'd played enough Halo over the years to jump into any sort of firefight without much trouble.

She'd done a lot of playing with Chuck, sitting on the same couch for hours until their fingers ached and they were both a little delirious from it all. But missing old friends came as easily as breathing now, and Karen swept it aside.

"Did you check out the party?"

[zuckered]

"Cool," Mark replied, grin only widening as he quickly tapped on the buttons to take them back to the main screen- and if he lingered on the main menu for a couple of seconds longer than necessary, well, he was always rather fond of the HALO soundtrack. "I'll put us on campaign. We can switch to free-for-all if someone else stops by, obviously, but I've been a little nostalgic for this storyline, lame as it sounds. I feel like the successive releases of HALO all vaguely strayed from a story that I enjoyed as is. And the soundtrack for ODST just felt kind of weird. Jazzy."

Glancing over after picking out his profile, curious to know if Karen had her own account and, if so, what her username was, Mark nevertheless nodded in response to her question. "I was at the party for a while. Not too big on politics, though. I appreciate that millions weren't poured into any of the campaigns here, but dressing up and congratulating one another just doesn't seem like a good use of my time. I voted, though." His lips quirk. "You were there too,