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                       Jinx My Life                        
                    -by Sgt GobSmacker-                    
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                    Dublin City Affairs                    
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Dublin City Affairs
\/S\/
I woke up groggily, my eyes feeling crusted due to my lack of sleep. I sat up on my bed slowly, careful not to hit my legs on my desk. I rubbed my eyes, only to receive that annoying feeling to rub them more.
I sighed drowsily, looking up into the ceiling. "Why did I play Modern Warfare all night?" I waited for a few seconds before answering my question. Trying to remember things from the night before really did a toll on one's memories. 'Oh yeah... practice.'
"Shane, are you up?" Questioned a voice outside my room.
I stared at door. "Why don't you come in and find out? I asked unenthusiastically.
I heard a happy sigh. "Yep, you’re awake!"
A creaking sound emanated off the door as it opened, revealing a short, slender figure with trimmed, manky chocolate colored hair that hadn't been on a date with the shower in a while. His eyes were a hazel brown, which reminded me of mud every time I saw them, oddly enough. He had a rough, soul patch beard, giving his chin a fuzzy sort of look. His face gave off the appearance of that of excitement, vibrant with energy on what was taking place today.
"Hello Brian..." I felt very sluggish this morning, gaming all night can do that to a man.
"Shane! C'mon get up off your ass!" Brian was literally hopping in place, his baggy tracksuit trousers and coat were making an irritable rustling sound everytime he jumped.
"Alright, alright." I sighed inwardly, getting onto to my feet. I walked over to my wardrobe and opened it up, exposing its contents. Clothes were scattered around the inside, making it look like one, big wash bin. I rummaged through the clothes for a few seconds finding a pair of baggy, tan colored combats which fitted comfortably, and a baggy, orange shirt with an art design depicting a dragon skull. The shirt didn't make me feel itchy or look tight fitting on my body, baggy was the best for all occasions in my eyes.
"C'mon man! Get your hair washed, your teeth cleaned!" Brian demanded, stomping a foot on my wooden floor. I stared at him unamused.
"Did you do any of that?" I raised an eyebrow.
His eyes darted back and forth, his grin vanished in an instant. Brian didn't choose to answer, but instead to slowly back away out of my room. A small smile formed on the edge of my lips, I let out a quiet laugh.
"That's what I thought." I whispered in triumph.
I walked down the hallway and into the bathroom, sauntering up to the sink and turned on the tap. I put in the drain plug and let the hot water run for a few seconds. I used this time to gaze upon my appearance in the mirror.
"Well... shit. Talk about 'enchanting'..."  My walnut coloured hair was as ruffled as the feathers of a dead bird a person would find on the curb of the road. My chocolate coloured eyes looked like they were bleeding with how bloodshot they had become. Bags had formed underneath as well, making me look like I had run a marathon... well, a gaming marathon. The stubble on my chin looked like it a obtained a mind of its own, the hairs going in every direction possible. A few spots had appeared on my tannish skin.
I sighed and shook my head, looking back down at the tap. My eyes went wide with boo-boo. The sink was about to overflow... with scalding hot water to boot.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” I needed to pull out the drain plug. I placed my hand over the hot water, a hair lengths away from touching it. I whispered a small prayer to whatever god was up in the sky before I furrowed my brow, closed my eyes and prepared myself for the oncoming pain.
I bit my lip as I stuck my hand into the water.
"...It's not as hot as I thought it would be..." I said, trailing on in confusion. I reached for the drain plug and pulled it out, watching the water spiral away down the pipe. I let it reach half-way down the sink before I put back in again.
The sound of footsteps emanated from behind me. I turned to see Brian standing at the doorway, looking around the bathroom in befuddlement, probably because of that ruckus I stirred up. His hair was sopping with water, and his face was dripping wet.
'Must’ve used the shower.'
"I heard you swearing like Gordon Ramsey on crack... What got you riled up?" He asked casually, cleaning out his ear with a piece of tissue paper.
"Nothing to worry yourself with." I sighed. “Thanks for the concern though.”
“It’s why I’m here!” Brian walked off back down to the shower room.
Time to clean myself up.
I grabbed the razor and toothbrush out of the cabinet.
With my stubble non-existent and my teeth a deathly shade of white, I walked back up the hallway and entered my room, picking up a hair comb off of my 'Desk of Many Things'.  I combed the knots out of my hair. As I was at that, I cast my vision around the room.
The wall was covered in posters of various games and artwork. Clothes were strewn around the place like a twister had came in and crashed here for a for a few minutes. Pencils, markers and various other items I couldn't give a solitary crap about were scattered all over my 'Desk of Many Things'. The room was an absolute mess.
I sighed. "I'll need to get my room sorted out later." I set the comb back down on my 'Desk of Many Things'.  A thought had landed within my minds living confinements.
"I'll need to get breakfast sorted." I stroked my chin in thought 'Last nights leftovers?.. No. Toast?... Nope. Scrambled eggs?.. Don't feel like it. Fruit salad?... Na-da... Bacon and egg bagels?...Yeah, why not? Plenty of bacon there.'.
“Bacon and egg bagels it is.”
\/B\/
I dried my hair and wiped my face off of any excess water that had clung to my head. I put the towel back down on the rack, and by putting it down, I meant fecking it over the rack without a care in the world. I don't want to spend my days making everything as orderly as possible. I turned around and back into the hallway as I heard the sound of Shane's footsteps going into the kitchen.
'Oh yeah, it's Shane's turn to cook something this morning. Hope it's not scrambled eggs, I hate that stuff.' I shiver went down my spine at the mention of those scrambled concoctions of hell. 'Better see what he's making.'
A concoction of aromas assaulted my nostrils as I walked into the kitchen. The fizzle and pop of bacon being cooked filled my ear drums. I saw Shane standing by the cooker, spatula in hand. I looked around the kitchen, there was two sunny-side up eggs on the counter with a couple of cleaved bagels to go with it. I sauntered up behind Shane and looked over his shoulder... only to see the bacon.
He sure does work fast.
My mouth filled with saliva as I pictured eating those slices of pork, but quickly swallowed, Shane wouldn't like his face covered in spit. He seemed to have noticed my gulp, as I saw his ear twitch.
"Hey, Brian." He sounded content with what he was doing.
I grunted in response, my eyes glued to the golden brown slices of crispy meat, imagining the lovely crunch and delicious taste.
"Bacon is just about done, sit down and I'll get it prepared."  He pointed the spatula to the stool by the counter. I went over to the seat and sat down, waiting for the meal.
Shane lifted the frying pan off of the cooker, carrying it over to the counter. He used the spatula to lift the candied bacon out of the pan, laying two streaks in between each of the two bagels.
"Hurry up, for God’s sake!" I shouted.
"A’ight, quiet down! Foods up." He concluded, sitting down next to me. The bagels tasted like heaven, presuming I even knew what heaven tasted like to begin with, the lovely crunch of the bacon, the softness of the egg and the chewy texture of the bagel combined together was, simply put, divine. We ate in silence, waiting for at least one of us to spark a conversation. I was too content with my breakfast to even try.
\/S\/
'Better talk to him about that Gaming Tournament...'
"Brian?" I asked, finishing up my breakfast.
"Ya?" He responded with a mouth-full of bagel mix and match.
"What times that Modern Warfare tournament on again?" He seemed to have perked up a lot at this topic.
He swallowed. "It's on at two, so we have to be there by one. The journey to Dublin takes around four hours."
I sighed in frustration, I was tired enough as it was. I glanced over at the clock... It was half-past nine.
I stared at blankly for a few more seconds, smacking my lips together and-"Shit, we have to get going now!" I panicked, running out of the kitchen, down the hallway and into my room. I yanked the car keys off of my ‘Desk of Many Things’. My footsteps echoed off of the walls as I rushed back into the kitchen.
"C'mon Brian, move your ass!"
He got up off of the stool. "What about tea?!" He exclaimed. "That's like a number one must have in the morning!"
"We can get some on the way!" I grabbed his arm, ushering him to out the front exit. Brian squirmed free out of my grip.
"Alright! Alright!" He sounded annoyed, very annoyed. I unlocked the front door, stepping aside so Brian could get past. He grunted in irritation, brushing against me as he stepped outside.
I walked out onto the porch, locking the door behind me. I made a light walk to our old, grey Citroen AX. The car had scratches ranging from small and trivial, to long and extremely noticeable. There was a dent on the drivers door, dust and grime completely covered the sides. The tires were covered in mud and who knows what else. The roof had various stains ranging from bird droppings to dead insects. The windows were tinged a light black, making it easier to see out of when facing sunlight on a good day. Which, unfortunately, never happens in Ireland.
Brian was leaning on the car, waiting for it to be unlocked. I used the fob on the car keys to unlock the door. Brian opened the door as soon as I had done that. I got inside the Citroen, sitting on the tacky, leather seats. I slammed the door shut. Brian was on my left, turning on the radio to listen to local radio station. I inserted the keys into the ignition, the car revved to life as I twisted the keys in its port. I pressed the clutch and forwarded the gear stick into first gear. I proceeded to drive out on to the main road.
\/1 Hour\/
"-And then the helicopter spun out of control! Crashing into one the support pillars of the building, making the tower into an unstable mess. We all jumped down and parachuted to safety, turning around to see the tower collapse into rubble and shit. It was awesome."
Brian had ended his Battlefield 4 rant, trying his best ways to get me to play that game. I'd chose Call of Duty any time of the day, week, month and year.
"And that reminds me..." Brian stroked his chin in thought. "...Why are we having a Modern Warfare 1 tournament in 2014?"
I concentrated on the road I was driving upon. "I explained it to you last week. It's so gamers can reunite with the classics of the last generation of consoles." I looked down at the digital clock on the radio interface. It was 10:34.
I looked back up. Something caught my eye, a glint of yellow a few hundred meters in the distance.
"Well, screw me over a railing and paint me yellow, we finally found one." I mumbled to myself.
"Found what?" Brian asked, ripping his gaze away from the window.
"There's a McDonald's over in the distance." I pointed in it's general direction, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. I cast a quick glance at Brian, managing to capture the look of pure happiness on his face.
\/B\/
My face had a massive cheek ripping grin on it. Tea! After 1 hour, you will be mine!
I gazed back out the side window, thinking of that harmless drug called tea. Well... It was mostly harmless, you just get a headache after three days without drinking it. Trees and ditches zoomed by, its burst of color could only be visible by the naked eye. Crows and various other birds glided above telegraph wires, a few flocks sitting upon them.
Cars that varied from small and bland to big and colorful went by in a blur. Cars heading our direction left us to bite the dust as they sped past our hunk of junk.
The McDonalds was in plain site now, its parking lot had the number of cars equivalent to that of the fingers on my hands. Shane drove up a few more meters before turning right and into the driveway. He parked the Citroen next to red, glossy looking mini with the Union Shane painted on the roof.
"Damn Brits..." I whispered harshly under my breath. Shane took notice of my abhorrent change of mood, taking the keys out of the ignition.
"Why do you hate them so much?" Shane paused for a second. "It boggles me." He said.
I turned quickly in his direction. "One" I stuck up a finger. "You know they had control of our country for 800 years before we finally gained independence from them in 1922. That's only 92 years." He looked at me with a flat expression. "Two, they curse at me for no reason on Call of Duty, always making sex jokes about me mother, bless her soul... And three, I don't like being around them." I concluded, crossing my arms.
Shane smacked his lips together and sighed. "Right, anything else you want to add about our neighbours across the waters?"
"Nope."
"Good. So we can now, actually get out of the car and get the tea you've been wanting for the past hour."
\/S\/
That wholesome smile returned to his face, the face you would love to smack so hard it would break the sound barrier. I exited the car with Brian in tow. We stretched out our legs to get the stiffness out of them. Brian kept grumbling curses toward those English folk as we walked toward the entrance. Sometimes I don't even know what to think of it. I mean, our Dad is English for Pete's sake!
Brian walked ahead of me, opening the door so I could get past. I nodded my head in thanks automatically, as I was used to this sort of thing, even though there was no need for it. There was quiet talks between a few people here and there as we entered, but what stood out the most was the guffawing, insults and loud talk from a table to the far right corner of the family restaurant.
Oh, how I despised people like this. I already had to deal with enough of them back in college, let alone pubs and various other hang-out places.
I turned to Brian. "You go order the tea and I'll find us a seat." He sighed in annoyance and nodded his head.
I cast my gaze on every inch of the restaurant, doing my best to find us a viable spot. I spotted a nice table next to one the many windows. I made my way over to the seating.
I noticed two guys a few feet away from my current seating arrangements, talking with hushed voices. One was skinny with short ginger hair, he had freckles on his cheeks. He was wearing a long black top with blue cargo shorts. The one opposite was a tad bit overweight, with a big ol' lumberjacks beard. He was wearing a baggy Halo t-shirt with black tracksuit trousers.
An odd duo to encounter on your travels but was in no way weird, just unusual. I sat myself down on the padded seat, tapping my finger on the table to pass the time. I glanced at the duo, only to see that they had turned their heads back to the their original directions from staring at me. Their hushed whispering started again.
I sighed with irritation, ignoring their assumed talks on me. I started tapping my finger against the table top again. I looked up to see Brian walking to my location, holding a tray with two cardboard cups of piping-hot tea.
He placed the tray on the table as he sat down. He sighed in relief as he grasped the steaming beverage.
"Let's drink up!" He said gleefully. I looked at my brother and nodded, grabbing the cup of tea.
\/?\/
"- Wait! Shh! Shush..." I held up a finger to silence my friend. "I recognize that voice."
"Who's voice?" My companion asked.
I smiled at him. "I think it's time we introduce ourselves." I got up out of my seat, my buddy in tow.
\/S\/
"-Then I said-..." I blocked out Brian's voice as I saw 'Ginger' and 'Lumber' walking casually over to us. Brian stopped his rant as the duo were now standing by our table.
"Excuse me?" 'Ginger' asked Brian, his voice screamed English upbringing. "I couldn't help but notice that your voice was eerily familiar." He paused, I was starting to find this a little creepy. "You wouldn't happen to be 'xXChestHairTingleXx' now would you, on the 'Frolicker' team?"
I glanced at Brian, who was having a look of recognition on his face. I could see that he was trying to hold a great deal of racist comments.
"Yes..." Brian trailed on slowly.
"Aha!" Ginger raised a finger into the air. "Marvelous! I am 'Sir Lag-a-lot' you may have come to know me as!" He bowed in a mockingly. Familiarity dawned over Brian and I faces. That name sparked a braincell, these two were part of our six man team for the upcoming contest.
'Sir-Lag-a-lot' and the other guy should either be 'PuppySmasher11', 'RightDeadBeatz' or 'ioSnipesTheManiacoi'
'Come to think of it... I wonder if this is the same guy who was roaring over the mic at me. That name is very familiar.'
"But my real name is George Olivers, glad to make your acquaintance." He added. "And this is-"
'Lumber' cut him off. " 'RightDeadBeatz'-" He spoke with a heavy Scottish accent. "-Or Arran Carson you may refer to me as, nice to meet ye at last." He put his arm out for shake, which I gladly accepted.
"I'm Shane O'Neill." I then gestured toward my brother. "And this is Brian O'Neill, my brother." Brian nodded his head.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Do you mind if we take a seat?" George asked, glancing at the empty spaces next to me and Brian.
"Not at all." I shoved over a bit to give him room. Arran sat next to Brian.
Brian smacked his lips together before taking a slurp of his tea. "So... it's a mighty coincidence that we managed to meet you guys here, instead of at the tournament up in Dublin." I was intrigued by it as well, so I decided to add in my question.
"Yeah." I nodded my head. "How was it that we met ye here? Why weren't ye at Dublin in the first place?"
George answered both of my questions without a moment’s hesitation. "Well you see, we both come from London and there were no flights going to Dublin City at the time of booking them, and the rest of the flights to land at surrounding counties were too expensive. Our flight to Farranfore airport back in Kerry wasn't our first choice... or second for that matter." He paused. "And for as how we met you fellows here, we decided to stop by here for a bite to eat."
Brian was the next to speak up. "Is that ye're mini out there?" He pointed outside to the Union Jack mini car. Aaron responded to his question, looking a little troubled at the design of the car as well.
"It is... sadly enough." He looked at for a few more seconds. "In retrospect, it was the only vehicle that was available within our budget. So we had no other choice but to go along with it. Tis embarrassing for me to go about in." I could now tell that Brian wasn't only one that was brave enough to spew out a comment like that in front of an English man.
"Well..." George started. "To be honest, it is a tad bit uncomfortable to go around in it."
"I'm uncomfortable just by looking at it!" Brian exclaimed.
I raised my hands up defensively. "Easy there B-Man, don't be like that now." Brian grumbled under his breath.
There was an awkward silence between the four of us. Arran sighed, looking around, until he finally spoke. "So... What's your gamertag on Xbox Live, Shane?"
"I thought ye would already know?"
"It has stomps in it or something like that, don't it George?" The high class English man just shrugged.
I shook my head. "Fine then, it's 'IICurbxStompzII'."
George was looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully, trying to recall the name. "Hmmm... That seems very famil-"He paused abruptly. "Wait a minute-." He gazed at me, narrowing his eyes. "Your that quick-scoper that was annoying the living daylights out of me!" I saluted, a small smile on my face.
Arran started laughing gleefully. "Aha! You have no IDEA how much you made George here, scream at his TV!" He started to calm down a bit.
"Thank ye laddy."
"What for?" Curiosity was evident in my voice.
"It was about time he got o' bit of his own medicine." He let out small chuckle. I looked at George, who was sporting a tomato coloured blush on his face.
I could hear Brian laugh quietly to himself, shaking his head. "Well-" He begun. "- I think it's about time we head back on the road. Yeah?"
"Yeah." George said, nodding his head in agreement. "We can tag along behind you guys."
"Alright!" I clapped my hands together. "Let's get to it!"
We proceeded to exit McDonald's, bringing our unfinished tea along with us. Getting into to our vehicles, resuming our trip up to Dublin City.
\/31/2Hours\/
"Oh my God! Finally!" Brian shouted in glee, unbuckling the seat belt. We stopped our car right outside the Royal Dublin Society building or the R.D.S. for short. It was a tiring journey for me, Brian and our two new colleagues alike. Stopping for a piss halfway here cost us some time. The traffic on the way into Dublin City was mank.
I yawned tiredly, exciting the Citreon. I turned to see George and Arran slow down their Mini behind us.
'Why didn't we just book a hotel here?... Eh we'll book one for tonight.' I thought gloomily.
"Haha! Yes! We made it lads!" I heard Arran said with joy.
We were all lucky that we managed to find a parking space. The car park was packed with vehicles ranging from buses to jeeps, and a lot of people were walking from in and out the entrance.
I turned to Brian. "Do you have the passes?" He nodded his head, taking out two Modern Warfare styled team cards from his wallet. "Alright, that's good." I looked at George and Arran. "Do ye two have ye're pass cards?" George pulled out one from his right pocket whilst Arran took out his from the pouch belted around his midsection. "Let's head in then."
We made our way past a good deal of people, shoving in between the crowd to get to our gate, which from what I remembered was on the east section of the building. There was stands and stalls dotting the place, making it seem more like a market than an actual Modern Warfare convention. People were buying all sorts of goods, ranging from shirts and hats, to statues and figurines.
The bland, concrete ground was echoing with our every step... well, it would have been if there hadn't been so much noise being carried all over the place by all other sorts of various noises. I looked behind me to see my brother and 2 new colleagues in tow. Thank God they didn't get lost in the crowd.
I turned back around to see the Modern Warfare Tournament area a few meters away. It had great deal of designs around contributing to Call of Duty 4. The entrance was flanked by two cardboard cut-outs of two soldiers I knew all too well, Captain Price and Gaz of the S.A.S. The entrance was around three meters wide, with a security booth on the inside for the identification passes.
"Lets do this,guys." I said to my three compadre's, a smile on my face. We walked toward the panel.
"Passes, please." The man on duty asked us in a bored tone. I took out mine, showing it to him.
"Shane O'Neill. GamerTag: 'IICurbxStompzII'. Team: 'Frolickers'." I told him. He looked up the name and team on his laptop. His eyes darted around the screen for a few seconds before laying them on his target.
"Alright, enter." He pointed toward the area of operation. I thanked him, and went on my way. I leaned against a nearby wall, patiently waiting for the others.
George was the first to greet me. He lifted his arm up to look at the time on his watch. "The contest starts a two, doesn't it?" I nodded in response. "Okay, good. That's in 25 minutes." He mumbled quietly, he then said made his voice a little louder. "That should give us enough time to find our two other team mates." He gestured toward the crowd of people.
"Can't we just wait until we get into our designated area's?" I asked him as Brian came along to join us.
"I suppose, but it would probably be better if we introduced ourselves beforehand."
Brian butted in. "T'would be best if just leave until the tournament starts." I nodded in agreement. George started muttering about us being 'unsocial buggahs'. Brian, thankfully, didn't hear him. While George was mumbling incoherently, Arran walked over to our current location.
"Aye, finally made it through." He stretched out his limbs, the pop of his joints could be heard faintly through the hustle and bustle of the building. He noticed George in one of his moods. "Did ye rile up George here?"
"No, I'm fine! I'm fine." George massaged his temples. "What are we going to do if we're not going to being to be looking for our fellow comrades?" He sounded irritated.
"Well, we could always-." The sound of our team name could be heard faintly by the security booth. "I think we are about to meet our team members." I smiled formed on my lips.
I walked over to security booth, waiting by the side. What I was expecting was to be a guy, wasn't a guy, but instead a girl. It's hard to say I was expecting it.
She was around the same height I was, her hair was a dark, hazel color tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a tannish leather Shaneet with a white shirt depicting a black Gears of War Oman symbol underneath. She wore a light sapphire jeans with that were torn at the knees.
"Hello there." I greeted her, throwing my stupor out of my minds balcony.
"Hey." She said, walking past me. I didn't want to touch her shoulder to get her attention, mom always considered it 'rude and ungentlemanly.'
I looked around and back at her. "Are you with the Frolickers?!" I shouted over the noise. She stopped dead in her tracks, turning to look at me.
"Yes!" She answered with a Dublin accent.
I walked over to her and put my hand out for a shake. "I'm Shane O’Neill, or as you probably saw on the team's homepage, 'IICurbxStompzII', Co-Leader of the group." She took my hand for the greeting.
"You’re the co-leader." She smiled. "I'm Nancy Mckenna, or 'PuppySmasher11', nice to finally meet you person, Mr O'Neill."
"Please." I let go of her hand. "Shane will do alright. Let's go get you acquainted with the others." She nodded.
People were walking to and fro around us. Talking in groups for plans of action against other teams. I got back to the others, Nancy in tow.
"Hey guys." I got their undivided attention.  "This is Nancy, one of our team members that I happened to come across at the security panel."
"Hello." She greeted them. They responded with quick hello's, in Brian's case, a grunt of affirmative. "Just get her acquainted with you lot, and I'll wait for our remaining comrade in arms." They all nodded. I walked back to the security booth without a word. Leaning against the back of it. I waited.
\/20 Minutes Later\/
"Attention." The intercom sounded, it's robotic voice silencing everyone around us. "The Modern Warfare Tournament will begin in 5 minutes. Please go to your designated areas."
My eye twitched. "Screw this! I'm not waiting for him-her-!" I groaned in frustration, grabbing my hair out of anger. I walked back to the group, who were currently going to our team zone with a new guy...
My face contorted into a look of rage, relief and straight up not giving a damn, whatever that looked like to other people.  Nancy walked over to me.
"Shane, are you alright." She looked concerned.
"....Yeah... Just grand." I shook my head, cutting straight to the chase. "Who's the new guy?" He had a black skin color, wearing a short sleeved Modern Warfare shirt with tanned cargo trousers. He stroked a hand through his short brown hair, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh him?" I nodded. "That's Alex Stevenson, or um... what was his gamertag again?..." Nancy stroked her chin. "Oh yeah, it was 'ioSnipestheManiacoi'. Brian said it's our team leader."
"Alright then." My face radiated annoyance. "Why didn't ye get me to come meet him if was with ye the whole time?" I demanded. On the outside I was annoyed, on the inside though? Oh-oh-oh, boy was I seething.
"He was in the military, telling us what boot camp was like and all that. To sum it up in one word... T'would be hell."
I rubbed my eyes, not wanting to start an argument. I sighed. "Let's just get into our zone. C'mon." We made a good pace toward our team area. There was a sign on top with green, modern warfaresque captions that said 'The Frolickers'. "Yo, wait up!" I called after them.
I heard Alex say something to the others, they nodded their heads before going on inside, Alex turned and walked over to me.
"Hello Shane!" He had a beaming smile on his face. "Your brother, Brian, told me a bit about you." He said in a deep British accent as he reached his arm out for a shake. I took it, albeit slowly. "If you must know, I'm Alex."
"Yeah, I know." My eyes started feeling funny, the kind feeling you get when you start getting impatient. "Good to meet you." I let go of his hand.
"Shall we head in?" Alex jabbed a thumb over to the entrance. Nancy and I nodded. As we made our way inside, I took a quick glance at the other teams entering rooms similar to ours. Our room must have been in the middle of the tournament panel, as there was three team rooms off to the left, and four off to the right. I turned around and headed on in.
The room was rectangular in shape, the light was coming from the ceiling, which glowed a lime green. Six screens went along the right side, with an Xbox 360 underneath each, with a black controller to boot. There was six bean-bags in front of the flat screens.
"Attention." The robotic voice sounded intercom again. "Games will last 15 minutes with a 100 Team Deathmatch score, the first to reach this minimum score will win the game."
"Oh my god! We already know this!" Brian shouted, sitting down.
"There will be a Team: Versus screen above each of one of your monitors. This will tell which team you will up against after five games of Team Deathmatch against your current challenger. Every 5 matches, the game type will change. Get yourself acquainted with Xbox 360's presented to you."
The Xbox's all turned on at the same time, giving off an echoing effect as the intro sounded, before going into the homescreens.
"You will all download your profiles onto the consoles." It said. "Have this done by five past two, by then, will begin the tournament." It silenced itself.
"Alright guys." Alex called out. "Let's get signed in."  I rolled my eyes, I already knew what to do. I don't need someone holding my metaphorical hand.
I went into the download profile icon, and begun typing in my email address. I hated doing these actions when I went onto Sean Gilligan's 360. It annoyed me to no end, as my profile was already downloaded onto it.
I entered the email. The password notice came up. I sweared under my breath. I looked at Arran, whom was to my right, and Brian, who was to my left, making sure they weren't peeping in on me. They looked too busy with their own to give a crap about mine, I shrugged and began scrolling the screen for the various letters and numbers for my password.
I tapped the start button rather hard, as I saw Arran glance at me from the corner of my vision. I backed out of the Microsoft notifications, the ones that would say 'would you like to save this password' and more unnecessary things. As soon as that was done, I logged into the Modern Warfare game.
I sighed and called out. "Has everyone signed in?" Grunts and other sounds of approvals was the response. "Alex?"
"Yeah?" He said, gaining access to the multiplayer screen.
"Can you invite the lot of us to you Xbox Live party?" I inquired.
"Sure thing mate." Alex nodded.
A few seconds later, the invitation popped up on my monitor, I accepted it without hesitation.
'Alex sure does work fast if everyone is in the party already.' I mused in thought.
"Everybody is in the game, yeah?" George said. I leaned back on the bean bag and nodded in his direction.
"Aye, lad." Arran said. The main theme music of the game could be heard all around us.
"Mhmm." Nancy nodded her head.
"I am." Brian said, looking at him and nodding, pretending to cough while rapidly saying the word 'wanker'. Nancy seemed to have heard it, as she was sitting right next to him. She gave fierce punch into his arm. Brian recoiled in pain and let out big "Yeow!", he rubbed the area of impact gently. He glared at her for a second before looking back at his screen.
I stifled a chuckle. 'Watch your language around women you chucklefuck.'
I looked down at the xbox, my gaze looking for anything odd. Until some wiring caught my vision, I hunched over and grabbed. I lifted it out to be met with a classic 360 headset.
"Yo, guys!" I called out, they all turned their heads to look at me. "There's headsets underneath the T.Vs!" Brian was the first to pick his out.
"He's right, there is!"
"This will help better than shouting over the gunfire." I heard Alex say.
The noise of mics being plugged into controllers sounded around the room. I found them a tad bit uncomfortable, it was making hairline hurt for some reason.
Brian decided to mess around a bit. "Testing, testing! 1, 2, 3!"
"Aw, shut it!" Nancy said in a playful manner.
I went along with my brother's tom-foolery. "Good morning, Vietnam! Today we-!"  The fizzle of the intercom coming to life ruined my quote. I sighed in melancholy. "We will remember you Robby." I whispered, lightly pounding a fist against my chest.
"Attention. Games will begin in 1 minute. Look up on your versus screens to see who you will be competing against." It silenced.
Nancy looked up at ‘VS’ monitor. "It says we're going against 'UltraMarines.'
"Who the hell are they?" Arran asked in confusion.
"I bet they're Warhammer 40k enthusiasts." Alex explained. "Heresy, this and heresy that. I'd say there's around 5 ten foot poles up each one of their arses."
Brian cupped his hands over his face, letting out a muffled scream. "Why did it have to be the bloody Warhammer maniacs?! Why God?! Why?!" He let out another scream.
"75 minutes of our lives facing against them?" George said, looking at all of us. We nodded in unison. "Gordon Bennett." He cursed quietly.
"What's wrong with these guys?" I asked. They looked at me as if I was crazy. "Surely they're not as bad as ye say they are?"
Brian answered my question, albeit with heavy doses of sarcasm to boot. "Naw, they're very friendly." His tone then turned serious. "They will beat our corpses with infinite tea-bags."
"But-"
"Or we will beat their corpses with infinite tea-bags." He had a devious grin on his face.
The intercom came back to life. I'm starting to hate that intercom. "Attention-."
"Oh my god!" I grabbed my hair in utmost annoyance, nearly ripping it out. "Stop saying that!" I shook my fist angrily up in it's direction.
"You will be directed with your competitors in 5 seconds." Our party was clashed straight with the 'UltraMarines' team. The weren’t even in the party chat.
This was just great, we were competing against possible Warhammer fanatics that would scream bloody heresy for the god emperor, or preferably, we would be up against people who were clueless about Warhammer and just ended up with the name by chance. Hopefully the latter.
“George.” I sighed out. “Can you get out of the party and see what they are saying?”
He nodded, and proceeded to leave the chat room. “Alright, lets hear what you buggers have to say…” I heard him mumble.
George had a look of someone who was struggling to excrete. I could faintly hear lots of shouting coming from his headsets. His eyes got wider and wider, a faint blush appearing on his face.
“What’s happening George?” I asked, perplexed at his current state.
He turned his around slowly to face me. “Insults… and a lot of them. Those bastards wouldn’t know class if it hit them on the head.” George rejoined the party.
I sighed. “Let’s get this over with…”
The timer went down. The game for the map of ‘Broadcast’ had begun.
“Here we go, baby!” Alex clapped his hands together, a massive grin on his face.
FIVE HOURS LATER
“I can’t believe this!” I think I popped a blood vessel in my forehead.
A single tear streaked down Nancy’s face.“I can’t either…”
“We were doing good too.” Arann said, stroking his bushy beard.
“Don’t worry chaps, we can get another shot next year.” George said to us, undisturbed by past events.
“That’s the problem.” Alex proclaimed. “There is no next year.”
My eye twitched. I looked back at Brian. “Just because a certain someone threw a hissy fit.”
Brian took his gaze off of his feet and at me. “It’s easy to when you get constantly killed by a kid in a corner!”
“But you didn’t need to throw the controller at the screen!” Nancy retorted.
Brian looked at her as if she was crazy. “Did I actually break the TV, t’was only a small crack.”
‘’That ‘small’ crack cost us the tournament!” I threw my arms into the air in exasperation.
Alex let out a sigh of anger, pressing the bridge of his nose. “Guys, shut up. Nothing we can do now. Yes, Brian may have been acting like a child, but is this seriously the end of the world?”
“To Shane, it is.” Brian quipped.
I responded by slugging him in the arm.
He let out a yelp of pain, holding on to his now bruised limb.
George was getting nervous. “Listen, fellows. Might it be best if we just calmed down a notch?”
I nodded, much to my annoyance, taking a few deep breaths. “Alright, alright. Should we just split up here? It’s nearly seven, Brian-.” I glared at him as I said his name. “-and I need to book a hotel. We can trade our phone numbers now if ye want.”
“Sure.” Arann said, he took out his Nokia. “Um… does anyone have a pen?”
“I have one in my handbag.” Nancy replied. After a few seconds, she handed the black pen to Arann.
“Thanks, lass.” Arran looked back at me. “Eh, do you mind if write it on your arm? I have no paper.”
“I don’t mind.” I put my arm out for him.
This went on for a few minutes, with Alex, Nancy and George doing the same.