His eighteenth birthday was tomorrow, and Walton couldn't think of a better way to celebrate it. Rayven was in town for a couple of days to hang out with him. The two of them had gone out on a double date with Sasha and Abby. They'd already gone to the movies- to see Avatar. It had been pretty good, a lot better than Walton had expected. After the movies, Walt had decided they should do something a little more fun- where they could goof off and be teenagers. You were only young once, after all.

Walton had led them from the theater to an arcade down the street. "You ever played laser tag before?" he said to the three of them as they went inside. "It's a lot of fun. I bet you'd love it, Abby. You get to wander around in the dark and shoot each other. I thought it might be fun. We can play some of the games too, see if we can get enough tickets to get a good prize." Probably not. It took tons of tickets for a decent prize, and most games barely spit any out at all.

"What do you say, you girls up for it?" Walton asked. They could split the teams after he got them to agree to it. He hoped he got to team up with Rayven, though. He had a feeling she'd played before, and the two of them could probably wipe the floor with Sasha and Abby... That might be a bit unfair, though. So splitting it guys against girls would probably work just as well and even the playing field a bit. He just hoped that they were having fun. And that Sasha would be able to loosen up enough to have some fun.

So far, the date had been absolutely amazing. She had gotten to spend some quality time with Walt and had been having fun with him. They didn't really talk during the movie, but she was at least able to sit beside him and be close to him. She wanted to hold his hand or something, but she didn't want to be the one to initiate something like that. It should be him to start it. That's the way things worked.

She was nervous about staying at his house the next couple days, but was ecstatic that she was going to be able to be with him on his birthday. He was there for hers after all. She even thought about getting him a gift. She had no idea what though. She hoped she would learn something tonight that would tell her what to get for him.

"I love laser tag! It's so much fun! My brother and sister and I play when we can. I'm not the best at it, but I still have fun. My aim is horrid," Rayven said with a laugh. "So are you guys up to it? I think it would be a lot of fun!"

Sasha hurried to catch up with the three other teenagers, reaching them just outside the arcade, his hands shoved in his pockets.  They'd just finished seeing Avatar (for the third time on his part, though he hadn't admitted he'd seen it already) and, between feeling obliged to watch the credits to the end (as always) and lingering to look at the display in the theater lobby, he'd fallen behind.  But, in a few jogged strides, Sasha caught up to the group, trying to force the goofily geeky grin from his face. 

"Love that movie," Sasha breathed against the cold air.  So much for avoiding sounding like the geeky one of the group.  He would have been perfectly content to recommend finding a coffee shop where they could discuss the implications of the successful advances in animation as well as both the overt and subtle political undertones of the film but Walt had already come up with other ideas. 

"Laser tag?"  Sasha shook his head slightly, confirming he'd never played before.  Wandering around and shooting each other in the dark - a concept which, for whatever reason, appealed to muggle youth.  A living version of one of Georgiana's games.  Old Spencer, his avatar in Halo 3[1], would be quite amused to see the table's turned.  It was a shame others couldn't appreciate the proverbial plethora of ironies in his head. 

Grinning, and scratching at the new and not-very-well-broken-in jeans, Sasha shrugged at Abby.  "Do you want to?"  This was, after all, their first official date.  Even if the adults that knew about the outing thought it a simple 'Evening Hanging Out With Friends.'  There'd be no great disappointment if she opted against creeping around in the dark with fake weapons.  But, he'd also do his best if she wanted to try it.

1.	Insert Bright Colors, Receive Reaction - while playing Halo 3, Sasha named his avatar Spencer who suffered many deaths and many regenerations

Avatar was the first movie Abby had seen in a theater. She’d been blown away by the graphics and the Three-Dee glasses, the large screen and the sound. During the battle scenes she’d jolted in her seat a few times and clutched Sasha’s hand – which wasn’t just an excuse. The movies took some getting used to! But after sitting still for a few hours, she was more than ready to run around.

“Yeah!” She said with much enthusiasm as they walked into the arcade and neared the laser tag area.

Then she paused and looked at them curiously. Walton had said she’d love it, Sasha didn’t seem worried about anything, and Rayven seemed enthusiastic.

“It doesn’t actually hurt, right? Shooting each other? You don’t keel over like in games?” She flailed her arms a bit to demonstrate.

“Because I really need to kick Gigi’s bum when I see her! Shooting practice would help.” Her new goal. Surprise Gigi and Cyhirae by getting good at video games while they were at school.

They went through the process of signing up at the counter, and Abby inspected the scoreboard above their heads. Names flashed on it, but not normal muggle names. So this was like a video game!

She grabbed Sasha’s arm, “Let’s pick characters from that film you like! Star Battles? Star Wars?” Whichever one that Kohaku liked that all smart, geeky blokes seemed to enjoy. “I’ll be the one that goes - wait for it.”[1]

Her interpretation turned a few heads. Abby was too busy laughing to pay too much attention.

1.	Kind of like this video!

"It was a great movie," Walton said to Sasha. "Makes me excited to see what's out next summer. Summer blockbusters are usually hard to beat." He'd have to look up what was supposed to come out when he was home and had access to the internet and muggle periodicals. Of course, summer would also mean he'd be looking for a job of some sort post Hogwarts. Something he'd rather not think about. Walton had no idea what he was going to do after Hogwarts or whether he'd stay in the wizarding world or go back to the muggle world for a while. He really ought to start figuring it out soon.

"No, it doesn't hurt," Walton assured Abigail. "You wear this vest thing that tells if you've been shot. You don't get seriously hurt. Otherwise it wouldn't be very fun." He liked watching Abby's excitement, and was enjoying how easily entertained she seemed to be with the muggle world. Walton had felt the same way upon discovering the magical world. He shifted his gaze to Rayven, grinning when Abby said he needed to kick Gigi's butt.

Georgiana was... Interesting. Walton wasn't very sure what his official opinion about the girl was. She didn't seem as... Slytheriny as the rest of the Slytherins, but did seem the sort of girl who had a real mean streak. The ride on the train had been pleasant enough, but she wasn't the sort of person he'd choose to spend extended periods of time around. Even so, it wasn't like him to talk bad about people so he kept his mouth shut about that. Even so, the idea of Abby shooting Gigi was kind of amusing- even if she didn't mean it with a literal gun.

Walton paid for him and Rayven when they signed up at the counter. He watched Abby grab Sasha's arm and start talking about Star Wars. That was a good movie. Another of his dad's favorites he'd been subjected to growing up. Walt liked it alright, but preferred action and adventure to sci-fi for the most part. But when Abigail began her impression of Chewbacca his eyes grew wide and Walton snorted loudly. The snort quickly turned into a deep, booming laughter coming straight from his gut as she kept on. That was the most hilarious thing he'd heard or seen in a very, very long time. "Abby," he choked out between laughter. "You're hilarious!" But if she wanted to be Chewbacca, then let her!

"I thought it was a great movie! It's so cool the things they've come out with. Could you imagine what it would be like to watch something like that with the aid of magic? It would be so amazing!"

Rayven didn't get to go to movies often, but she had been a few times. The other movies she had gone to see where just regular movies. Nothing like that. She couldn't help but imagine it but enhanced with magic. The things could actually come out of the screen! Or you could feel the air or some of the small creatures could appear beside you! Magic was still so fascinating to her.

When they got int the laser tag place, she looked up at the scoreboard. She knew hers would end up being close to the bottom. She would maybe get a shot or two, but that would be it. She knew if it was a real gun she was using, there would be bullet holes all around her target. It didn't change the fact that it was a lot of fun to play.

Rayven burst into laughter at Abby's wookie voice. She couldn't do much better!  When she was finally able to regain herself she took a deep breath and blew it out to calm down a bit more. She looked at Walt and smiled. She had never seen him laugh like that before. The little snort before it was cute too.

"So how are we going to split teams? Girls against the guys or us against you two?"

Sasha grinned at Abby's question and, tagging on to Walt's answer, shook his head.  "Even in the Muggle world, we prefer games that don't leave us, you know, dying."  At least, not literally.  Figuratively, though, it was apparently quite popular. 

The arcade was packed with (mostly) teenaged holiday revelers and it took a little constant shuffling to negotiate the crowds.  When Abby grabbed his arm, Sasha shifted a little closer to the group as a group of excited boys brushed past.  The Ravenclaw didn't have the heart to point out to Abby that practicing with an actual light gun was unlikely to help her with shooter games using a controller. 

He paid the fellow behind the counter for himself and Abby, and looked down at the squib when she launched into a Chewbacca impression.  Despite the slight, obligatory blush, Sasha laughed a moment, nodding his head.  "We can do Star Wars, if you want.  So, that either makes me Hans Solo and you're my copilot.  Or, I'm Luke and you're, you know, escorting me.  Though, if you'd seen Professor Storm in the-" 

Sasha quickly caught himself, glancing between the other two.  Professor Storm's inadvertent donning of a Darth Vader apron had been remarkably amusing on several different levels.  For better or worse, the ranks of those who could completely appreciate the irony were quite small.

But, Sasha quickly turned towards Rayven and shrugged.  He gestured towards Abby.  "The two of us against you two?" he suggested.  In his mind, it was the only option that really worked.  Him pairing with Rayven and Walt with Abby just seemed odd, given the general circumstance.  And, if he partnered with Walton then, well, he'd be hunting two girls.  "Team Star Wars against team ... unless you want to be Ze Dark Side." 

One could only speculate why he thought accentuating his German accent was a good idea. He had no clue.  But, he was trying to have casual, goofy fun!

Abby grinned at the answering laughter, happy to amuse. She was looking forward to the game even more now knowing that the shots wouldn’t hurt.

“You should be Han Solo! That would be funny.” It’d be funny because she could totally see Sasha as Luke instead, so if he tried to act like Han Solo she’d be giggling during the game. A lot. Of course, Abby didn’t tell him this. She didn’t want to kill his ego!

But she couldn’t help giggling at his German accent. “This is a bad idea! You’re going to make me laugh during the whole thing.” She paused. “I’m cool with that.”

Abby didn’t need an excuse to stick around Sasha, though of course she wouldn’t have minded girls against guys. Rayven was energetic, positive, funny – they seemed to have a lot in common.

Once they’d all signed up, they entered what Abby thought of as the ‘preparation for butt-kicking’ room, where other teens were getting ready and the game host explained the rules. She donned her vest and other gear, trying not to get distracted by how goofy it all looked.

“Should we come up with a plan?” Abby asked Sasha as she practiced posing with her gun.