#ohk

1: guns, and kids, and so the balance shifts

It's a pretty normal day when they come, to be honest. Eret's sitting at the front desk, tapping a pen up and down while their foot bounces double-time, eyes unseeing as they stare at the POG Laser Tag logo bouncing around the computer in front of them. He sighs and pushes away from the desk, the chair's wheels squeaking as they roll over the tiled floor. Just another day, in an empty laser tag venue. That isn't to say they never get customers, just...not quite as often as he'd perhaps prefer.

Eret pulls out his phone and scrolls through his notifications, when a ding at the door grabs their attention. She snaps her head up to see three people—teenagers probably, but he's not too sure—walk in. Stuffing the phone away in one of their many pockets as they stand up to face the group, Eret smiles and says, "Hi! Welcome to Paramount Order Games Laser Tag!"

The tallest of the three steps forward, and Eret realizes they're wearing a mask over their face with a simple smiley face on it. A little bit strange, but it is almost Halloween, so Eret supposes it's really not that strange at all. He’s always wearing sunglasses, anyways, so who is he to judge?

"Hi," the kid says, pulling Eret out of their thoughts, "we'd like to play laser tag for a couple hours." He pauses awkwardly. "You guys take walk-ins, right?"

"Yep," Sam pops the p as he emerges from the backroom, evidently having heard the bell ring. "Just fill out a couple forms for us, ok? Then go through that door right there." He points at the door on the side wall, labeled EQUIPMENT. "I’ll be waiting for y’all."

The kid turns to look at his friends, then shrugs. "Sure," one of them says, the one with the headband. Eret plucks the necessary paperwork from a stack on the desk and slides three waivers towards the kids. They fill out all the blanks and Eret waves them through to the door Sam pointed out earlier.

"Can't believe we've never come here before," the masked kid says as they walk away. The headband kid laughs. "I know right? I've definitely passed by this place like, a million times, on my way to practice."

"Have fun," Eret calls after them. He turns his attention back to the monitor and nudges the mouse to get the blocky screensaver to disappear, opening up the cameras to watch the kids enter the arena. Sam did a good job setting up the arena this time, they think with a twinge of pride. Let's see how this goes.

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