Dancing With the Stars: Wheel of Fortune!

How good's your luck?

An AR phantom had ventured into the arcade to collect a player stamp, but it's this question that had caused him to pause, take a moment, and then finally decide to join this game of chance. A game all about spinning a wheel and getting a 'random' reward, good or bad. 'Random' because there's never true 'randomness' to anything a computer does, and according to Vera's pragmatic approach, the same applies to life.

Those are the oh so deep thoughts that cross his mind as he watches the wheel spin round and round, arms crossed yet expression calm. He had come here out of curiosity and just that.

So, what will it be?

A PRIZE ticket, apparently.

"Huh... What's this?"

No, he has no idea what it means.

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The wheel stopped spinning, and it seemed she got no reward from her spin. She was already fumbling around so much in the dark, it was almost impossible to see.

Did she win a reward? Did she not?

"... Is it supposed to make a noise?" She spoke out loud, hoping someone else would respond. Maybe she didn't spin it right.

Where were the letters supposed to appear at anyway? Rose wandered around, gripping the edge of the wheel and slowly walking around in a full circle. "... Huh. What kind of gameshow is this? Where is our announcer? Wasn't there supposed to be some rhyming lady?" She mumbled to herself in confusion, only to spin the wheel again, hoping to maybe make it this time.

"Oh, wait! Is it because Y isn't a vowel here? Silly me! I want a U then! Give me a U!"

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“I don’t think you need an outfit change.” A voice called, followed by the steps of a newcomer.

Angelo had arrived just soon enough to see the little girl attempt to coax the Wheel’s favor by shouting presidents. Never being one to rush, he had waited, curious how the game worked, and wondering if treating it like the actual Wheel of Fortune would be the correct path.

He bowed his head politely at Rose Garden. “Your sweater is pretty enough as it is. Maybe try some more letters? Or a different president?”

He was quite sure the entire thing was pure chance, but it couldn’t hurt to try; he was one of those types of people who still smashed A whenever he tried to catch Pokémon. And most importantly, he didn’t want to soil the girl’s fun.

“Let me give it a go.” Reaching out, he took hold of the wheel. “Let’s see… how about—” Shit, American presidents? He didn’t exactly move here to study history or politics. “Er, Barack Obama.”

He sent the wheel turning.

He smiled, hearing her laugh. What a precious kid. She reminded him of his younger siblings back at home — albeit with better manners. No mangoes thrown at his head. “That’s alright, it’s been a while since I watched it myself.” And really, most of his knowledge came from memes.

He squinted, remembering said memes. But Wheel Of Fortune was a family program, wasn’t it? A girl this young could watch it, surely.

He stepped back as Rose Garden took her turn again. Lady Luck was not favoring them for the first round, but he made an impressed noise at Rose coming to the same guess. She seemed to be concentrating quite hard, although he couldn’t recognize her expressions well in such dim lighting. “You make a very fair point.”

He observed the space beyond them. It was as if the game was missing an audience. “I’ve never seen a game show take place in the dark, but they did give us a neat little poem, right? Don't mind the dark, just move by feel. It's probably a feature.“

At his turn, he placed his hand back on the wheel and was glad for the dark, for it hid his grimace. “... Then again, this is based on an event called Dancing With The Stars and there hasn’t been any dancing yet.” And he did not have any sort of fancy feet. He would prefer not to slip on his face in front of the girl, even here. He pulled the wheel and hoped it wouldn’t demand choreography.

There was a thoughtful hum as he heard Rose Garden slump about the event, as clueless as he was. He wished he had answers to give her, but he had barely been playing for more than a few months.

“You fought giant bugs?” Perhaps it was hyperbole. The world was so much bigger to little kids. Angelo dreaded the idea of a little girl being chased by Mothra. And then there came the sound of a bonk, a familiar, undeniable one that had him impulsively step forward, hand outstretched to check for a bump on a little skull, but all he found was air.

“Are you alright? Your head doesn’t hurt?” he asked, still flailing a bit in the darkness, but she recovered just fine. He let out a small sigh of relief at the giggling and the tapping of happy feet, unharmed, and still enjoying herself despite the circumstances.

Even more surprising were the new sounds: the wheel coming to a stop, celestial mechanisms locking in place, and the clunk of a compartment snapping open.

“Holy—you did it! That’s amazing!” Angelo cheered, giving the dancer some well-earned applause. That certainly answered whether they were playing the game right.

And then it was his turn.

"This... might not work," he murmured sheepishly, doing an awkward little foot shuffle before he made his spin.

Whatever fear the encroaching darkness of the venue had on him had ebbed away, only to come crashing back to him with a familiar hiss.

“Finn?” Angel’s foot stepped back automatically. He couldn’t see Finn’s face, but he could already imagine what it looked like, from the barbs already flung at him.

And this time, he couldn’t just attribute it to the guy being naturally God’s worst creation. This time, he actually had a reason, and it involved him, and it was terrifying.

He flinched, seeing that obscured shape reach past him, grabbing the wheel and spinning it, heat burning over his face at what he thought to be one of those ‘gotchas’.

“Why do you care? I thought you wouldn’t be talking to me,” he spat back, surprised he even managed – and without stuttering, to boot. Well done. At least in VR, he can’t get decked, but he’ll need to book it once he leaves the booth.

When the wheel finally stopped, he gave it one last spin.