Racing the Light

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
[Oh, chat.  It's like you know how terrifying he is.

You want to start, or shall I?]

Verna Gardner
[You! You can start!]

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
Sometimes when you die, you remain unremarkably dead.  To Cipriano, such a thing is just boring.  And thus, unthinkable.

Sometimes when you die, you remain dead but are not buried.  In this, there is promise.  But as your body is fixed in time, so do many remain rigid and unmoved by the new wonders of the world.  To Cipriano, such a thing is also boring.  And thus, also unthinkable.

However, wonders are piling up at a rather astonishing rate and there are pressing matters that impose upon the time he has to experience them all.  And so, having encountered something new and fascinating and full of colored lights.  Colored lights and alcohol.  Colored lights and alcohol and a not insignificant number people who are at an age where they love to flirt with alcohol poisoning.  Any number of the Kindred would be tempted to start cracking skulls with airborne skeeballs, but Cipriano is mostly entertained by the spectacle.  He's not sure that he's seen something this garishly surreal since the time he attended ball of the macabre hosted by a Malkavian.  Less lights, more costumes.  Roughly equivalent in degree of fascination.

Particularly as concerns this game involving brightly colored landscapes and pipes and perpetually hungry plants.  What is going on?  Why don't they find out what castle the princess is really in before they attack?  What is with the bizarre turtles?  They were in that other game too.  Except they were heroes?  He thinks they were heroes.  Probably.

He lounges against the wall, watching as people play games.  He is quiet, and he knows how to stand out of the way.  The space is loud, all discordant symphony of chirps and beeps and gunshots and laughter, but it reminds him of a carnival.  And he loves carnivals.

Verna Gardner
Herd animals seek safety in numbers. Verna would be horrified to discover how a certain slice of the population sees her and her kind as kine, but some of the behaviors do fit, don't they?

After having been dragged out into an alley by a predator and making a fool out of him, well, it's time to be safe. So when she told her friends the horrible details of all she'd been through, they understood something without question -- Verna wouldn't be going out and getting her mind off of it all unless they employed group measures. The buddy system. Girls watching out for girls.

This time, at least, they let her pick the venue. They're not going to end up giggling and getting drunk at a strip club.

So, it's to the adults-only arcade they go. Verna's more interested than any of the rest at spending what money she has on the arcade games. Flor, Victoria, and Angela have been mostly getting smashed at the bar, and giving Verna their free tokens. It works out.

Verna's at the Dr. Who pinball machine. Every so often, it sings out the theme song to the show, and Verna hums along under her breath, completely unaware that she's doing it.

[And how are we doing at Pinball?! Dex+Alertness = Hand-eye coordination!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
Cipriano isn't expecting anyone he knows, but Verna eventually draws his attention.  Look at her, playing with one of those machines with the flippers and the lights and the sound.  He smiles a little, because as clearly as she was not at home with a gun in her hand, this is a place she has chosen because she wants to be here.  That, or she is really faking it for those girls who are going to be draped over the bar like wilted flowers soon.  They'd be easier prey than Verna, and likely one of them would consent to being split off the herd, but the utility of such a thing is outweighed tonight by curiosity.  They are food.  Vodka-spiked food, which is at least more interesting than plain food, but still just food.  Verna is interesting.

He stalks through the arcade, pausing once to marvel that he recognizes a symbol on one of the brightly colored shirts.  The symbols which endure are sometimes arbitrary.  He would not have guessed about the Playboy bunny.  He wonders how many of those pink triangular drinks he'd be consuming through the only girl in a shirt he understands.  Not enough, really.  Not with something he already knows is a good diversion.

Cipriano closes the last of the distance to Verna.  There is less space for lounging against things here, so he takes up leaning on the unoccupied Wizard of Oz pinball machine next to her.  [Something else he understands!]  There is no attempt to disrupt Verna's game, but the sudden appearance of some guy you met at a gun range through a crowd of people looking very sober and slightly puzzled at an arcade bar...may still qualify as distracting.

Verna Gardner
Verna is out for the evening, and that means the usual formality of her teacher uniform has been replaced by a minty-blue sweater with little chevron cutouts for decoration. It's belted and long, and underneath, she has on black leggings and a pop of red heels. They're not the astronomically tall kind, more sensible, like in a different outfit they might scream business. And, nothing seems to be even the slightest out of place with her. Hair, nails, makeup, it's all perfect, if a little subdued. She doesn't exactly do all of this to catch the eyes of everyone. More for herself, see?

She hasn't lost her ball yet, and her eyes track nothing but the machine in front of her for a while, until she becomes aware of the leaning man, and her heartbeat ratchets up a few notches. She risks a glance, wide-eyed, hoping it's not Jon Marc. It isn't.

"Oh. Oh, you scared me," she says, looks at him with a little cock of her head. "I know you. From the shooting range, right?"

She loses her ball. She doesn't much care. The machine makes its little sad 'you lost' noise and prompts her to shoot again.

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"Either you are very easily spooked or someone is still out to get you.  That first one seems unlikely."  But he does not apologize.  Maybe if he'd crept up on her and nipped her.  But he was not menacing and he does not feel that walking up to Verna merits an apology.  Even just a social one.

"Know might be a strong word."  He smiles, all easy and relaxed.  Predators aren't afraid to show their teeth, are they?  Verna seeks herds for comfort and Cipriano shows off his teeth when he smiles.  The things they do without really even thinking.  Little tells built into nature.  "But yes, we met there.  I am pleased to see whatever demons you have haven't devoured you yet."

Verna Gardner
Okay, Verna. It might be a little weird that this guy has run into you on two separate occasions now, but that could just be coincidence. He's probably not stalking you on Jon Marc's behalf. Probably. She's wary, trying to tamp down her paranoia, and it shows.

"Well. I am not usually so easily spooked," she says, as if to answer his question. Yes, someone is out to get her. Is it you?

"But no. They have not devoured me yet."

The way she says that last bit? Defiant. Like she's not going to go into that devouring without a fight.

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"If it's any consolation, if I was plotting anything more dangerous than mischief against you, I wouldn't be standing here."  Cipriano laughs.  "And I definitely wouldn't be teaching you to shoot me.  Which is probably the thing you have more cause to believe."  He doesn't seem particularly concerned about whether she believes him.  She is an interesting diversion, which is a number of rungs above snack in Cipriano's world, but there are a ridiculous number of people in the world.  He can find something else to do with his time if he must.

"And you are playing this flippy-paddle game instead of celebratory I-am-not-devoured drinks?"

Verna Gardner
She looks at him for a few seconds, then a brow raises. "Flippy-paddle game?"

There's that quirk of the head again. "You mean, pinball? Also, I will have you know that I had my celebratory I-am-not-devoured drinks. Now I am having my celebratory I-am-not-devoured retro gaming. Soon, I hear, there will be a celebratory I-am-not-devoured passing out. All said, quite celebratory, I assure you."

She glances over to her game, which is about to give up on the idea of there being a person there. She at least trusts him enough now to peel her eyes off of him. "Well. I suppose that is true. It wouldn't be in my enemy's best interests to teach me proper shooting stances, would it?"

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
[How terrible are you at trying pinball, buddy? Dex+Alertness/Sp: Precision]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"Well, just don't forget the celebratory compulsive door-lock checking and you should be fine."  There is a soft sound in his throat that doesn't quite make it to a laugh and another careless smile.  "And no, it really wouldn't."

He stops leaning on his pinball machine, drops a quarter into it, and starts tapping at the buttons.  It could be better, but it could definitely be worse.   It isn't that long before the machine makes a sad sound to tell him he loses, but most of that time he spends laughing.  Because pinball is ridiculous.  But awesome.  Definitely awesome.

Verna Gardner
[Pinball, Verna?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )

Verna Gardner
Her 'friend' goes to play his Wizard of Oz game, and Verna's chirps at her. Fire the danged ball okay? She does. She takes her time with the plunger, trying to aim for a certain spot that will get her the chance for a free ball event, but does not hit it. The bumpers rack up their points, and she barely manages to save everything when one of the bumpers shoots the ball straight for the paddles at lightning speed. But in the chaos so created, her victory doesn't last long. Soon, her last ball is lost for good. Some poor shlub is shoot by a Dalek, and the machine makes the iconic egg-beater-turned-death-ray noise. Ex-ter-min-ate!

Her turn doesn't last as long as Cipriano's, which is amusing. "You're doing quite well for someone who didn't know what the game was called a few minutes ago."

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"Eh," he says.  "Who likes labels?"  And then he grins, the grin that one gets after a few decades hanging out with Toreador and playfully mocking the few who will tolerate it (and those are the interesting ones).  "I think I should have an authentic relationship with everything.  Sentient or not.  Honestly is very important to me."  You can almost hear laughter in each of those terribly faux-earnest words, see it flickering in his eyes, but he does not actually laugh.  Barely.

Verna Gardner
"Well, it is honestly called a pinball machine. I like pinball. It's more... physical than most of these games. A nice combination of skill and randomness. You could play for hours or get very unlucky and only manage five minutes."

In his game, when he makes enough of a score to trigger the acquisition of ruby slippers, the wizard appears inside a crystal ball, complete with animated flames, while a jaunty rendition of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' plays in the background. When he loses, a witch exclaims: "You don't have the power to control my ball!" It's a cacophony of lights and sounds.

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
[Are you going to let it win?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 7 ) [Doubling Tens]

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"Whether we label it or not, I'm not certain I can permit it taunt me in such a manner."  He drops another quarter into the game and tries again.  Perhaps he was kidding about not knowing what this game was.  Perhaps he is exceptionally lucky.  Or perhaps he learns very quickly.  This time he puts up a more proper fight against the witch.

Verna Gardner
"That is how it gets you to keep feeding it coins. It taunts you," Verna says. "These games are like that. Before you know it, you've lost all your lives and all your quarters."

Verna watches, astonished, as he makes the game deliver not one, but two multiballs, and rescues Dororthy. He ends up making the farmhouse fly away in a tornadic twist multiple times, and Verna gets the distinct impression that he was lying about not knowing what pinball was.

"Or... you know... you just keep playing perfectly, forever. Goodness, you've played this before, haven't you?"

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"Maybe.  Maybe not."  Having soundly defeated the witch he lounges against the machine again.  "Which would you believe?"  There is, under his amusement some curiosity.

"What is your favorite game?"

Verna Gardner
"I believe that you are better at games than you let on," Verna says, smirks.

"My favorite? Here? Well, that would probably be Tetris. But someone else was playing it. It's pretty popular," Verna says, taking a final gawp at his high score. "Otherwise, the pinball machines are really nice. I'll have to try out this Wizard of Oz contraption. It's new. And interesting. Though, I don't know it at all."

She blushes a little at that 'new and interesting' bit. Maybe she's not talking about the game. Oh, Cipriano, are you getting flirted with in the most subtle of fashions? Has Verna had a couple of drinks tonight? Yes. Probably.

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"I am gifted with many things," Cipriano says.  "Modesty not among them."

He slides a half-step to the side, so that he is leaning on the very corner of the pinball machine.  And then he gives Verna a look that is less flirtation and more dare to invade his space enough to play with him still standing there.  If a lion flirted with its prey, it might be like this.  And, whether or not it qualifies as flirtation, it certainly does not qualify as subtle.

Verna Gardner
Verna glances over to the bar to check on her friends, and sure enough, a couple of them were staring. She'll never hear the end of this one. Verna? Scoring the only cute guy at a place that offers old video games and vodka? They'll want to know just everything.

But still, it's nice to know that someone's looking out for her, right?

"Modesty is so overrated."

She grins at him, steps up to the machine, getting all close if not exactly comfortable, and feeds it quarters. The Wizard of Oz theme starts up again, and she shoots the ball, taking up her stance at the flipper switches.

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
Cipriano watches Verna play.  He does smirk a little, he can't fucking help it when he gets what he wants.  But his triumph in this is tempered with something a bit softer than his triumph over the witch.  "In that we are as one."  And yet, despite the dare to come into his space, despite his disdain for modesty, despite what Verna's flock of tipsy guards will suspect, Cipriano's eyes linger on Verna's hands.  On her eyes.  Track the movements of the ball.  Beyond the movement of his eyes, an occasional slight motion of his head, he is very, very still.

Verna Gardner
[Pinball? How goes it?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Verna Gardner
[Verna's just not as good as Cipriano at pinballs.]

Verna Gardner
The game's lights and sounds are very much like a carnival. The thing has multiple levels, at least five flippers, video from the movie... Verna manages to trap two of her balls, and makes the house spin, before the witch cackles in glee at her defeat. No win for you, today, Verna.

Her eyes are on the ball, see? Watch how she calculates angles and momentum behind those sharp eyes. And not all of that is learned from playing -- part of it has been learned with pencil and paper and lots of actual calculations.

But the physics is just not with her tonight, is it?

"Aww. Not my night," she says, looks up at him a little sheepish. "I like it anyway though. These things always remind me of my first actual experiment in school, you know? We had a pinball and a setup to drop it in order to measure the local gravitational constant." A smirk. Someone else can also boast.

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"Local.  Gravitational.  Constant."  He doesn't say it like mockery.  He says it as though he is tasting those words very carefully.  And he is not without any training in mathematics.  The way he learned to navigate the earth was mathematics.  He can work a fucking sextant.  That's probably more practical mathematics than most graduating high school students.  Not a candle to Verna, but then, in this that is most people in this bar, isn't it.

"How does a pinball tell you that?"  And he really must be curious.  Because there is no impish grin and words like, 'flippy-paddle game ball.'

Verna Gardner
She leans up against the game, which beckons with witchy taunts to get her to feed it more quarters. "Well, you have an apparatus that holds the ball in the air, and you have a pad at the bottom that reacts to pressure. So you measure the time of the the release of the ball, and the moment it hits the ground, and use that data along with the height of the drop to calculate how fast it accelerated."

It actually seems like he's interested, which is... more than most people. Men in particular tend to shy away once they find out for certain that they won't be able to beat her in this department. But he's at least honestly curious. So she keeps going.

"See, people think that gravity is the same everywhere. But it isn't. Gravity will be a bit less powerful at the top of Mount Everest, for example. You can measure that local fluctuation. Sometimes, those little changes can be important."

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
Cipriano follows some of that.  He understands pressure, the pressure to set off a mousetrap is different than the pressure to set off a bear trap. He knows what Mount Everest is.  But that gravity would be different on top of it?  He is amazed.

This is exactly why Verna got his attention.  The girl whose blood was heady with one-going-on-three too many cosmopolitans wouldn't have told him anything new about gravity.  The most they would have to do with gravity was forcing him to rescue them from it.  Rescues could be interesting, but rescuing drunks from gravity...?  Okay.  But only the once.

"Even if we could get high enough to escape gravity, we would still need wings to fly?  Or something by which to navigate?  Uncharted flight sounds as desirable as uncharted drift at sea."

Verna Gardner
"If you got high enough to escape gravity, wings would not function. They require air -- something to push against. It's why rockets don't have wings, and instead propel themselves by pushing against their own fuel," Verna says, with an air of rightness. She is right. She believes in this, like a devout priest might believe in God.

"But if you escaped gravity, you would still have the stars. They're even clearer without all the air in between you and them. That's why they put telescopes in space. You could still navigate by them."

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
Cipriano is still smiling.  He is less smug, perhaps, but there is nothing that suggests Verna's understanding of rockets drives him to feel anything but more curious.  Verna is hardly the first woman he's known who was smarter than he is.  He is many things, but neither modesty or brilliance is among them.

"And the stars would seem as landscapes, rather than fixed into orbit around us.  Constellations would dissolve as you moved past them."  And he sounds fascinated by the thought.  Apparently someone will be all about going into space.

Verna Gardner
"I don't know if it would be like that, unfortunately. Of all our thoughts on the subject, no physicist has ever been able to come up with a way that we might go faster than the speed of light. And some of the light from those stars takes millions of years to reach us. The constellations would change and shift, but slowly."

She grins and leans a little toward him, "But, you know, I have run faster than light. Once."

There's a little giggle there, a little secret. There's a trick to it, and don't you want to know, Cipriano?

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
Verna has run faster than light, she says.  Cipriano doubts that, but he smiles and matches her lean forward all the same.  Speaks quietly, this close to her.

"Tell me."

Verna Gardner
Verna's eyes just glitter. It's not hard, in this place, with all the blinking lights of various colors. But she loves talking about this kind of thing. It's her very passion. None of her friends are going to believe that she was talking to this guy about gravity and the speed of light. None of them.

"Well, it was an experiment again. You see, light travels through substances, yes? Like glass, it can pass right through. But it goes more slowly through some things than others. And if you cool down that substance -- that medium -- enough, it can slow the light passing through it a great deal. If you cool a substance to near absolute zero, where it is barely even moving at all, you can almost freeze light inside. So, we would have light races."

She smiles at him, like yes. I am that good. I beat light in a race. For real. Now who's immodest?

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"You hobbled light and then raced it?"  Cipriano laughs.  "Not sporting, perhaps, but brilliant."  He straightens, then pulls a small notepad and pen from his pocket.  Writes something on it, tears free the page and offers it to Verna.  It is his name, written in the kind of perfect script that no one learns anymore, and his number.

"I cannot stay.  Do enjoy the rest of your celebration.  I do hope that your demons have withdrawn.  But if not, can call if you need me.  Or if you want to talk about gravity and stars."

Verna Gardner
Verna. Got. Digits. Oh, and a name. In beautiful, perfect script. "Cipriano?" she says, trying out his name, though her r's are rather insufficiently rolled. "I'm Verna. Here, I'll..." she digs around in her purse for a bit, returns with a napkin and a pen, to draw out her own name and number.

It's not as perfect as his, but perhaps that's only because of the lumpy napkin. Her handwriting, as opposed to most intellectual types, is crisp and clean -- and it seems that someone has practiced writing this signature a great deal.

She hands her own offering over, and she's blushing again. "I hope I never have the need to call you. I hope they catch that creep who's after me. But I'd like to call you. Thank you for the conversation, Cipriano."

Cipriano Santos-Augustine
"I rather hope you never need to call either."  It is quiet, and perhaps the most serious thing he has ever said to her.  And there is a hint of something dark in his eyes, because he certainly may not have told Verna everything, but considering the circumstances of their first meeting he's hardly pretended to be anything like an adorable kitten.  More like a mostly grown and very playful lion.  "Goodnight."