Geek-Chic for Dummies

Exhaling, the Pinball Wizard cracked his knuckles.

Oh, we've barely begun. That was the longing stare from across the room. Now...the approach.

Reaching into his pocket, he removed some quarters.

See, now I know what it needs.

Gently rolling the quarter over his knuckles, he flipped it upright and rolled it down his gloved finger into the slot. Honk. Honkhonk.

The response is made, and now, the dance. You'll notice this table has a non-standard entry...the idea is to hit it lightly over the colored squares - extra points are awarded for a better skillshot.

Lightly launching the ball, it stopped forward motion on yellow and rolled back into the rocket, relaunching. As it entered the hidden end of Town Square, Alec bumped the table, ensuring that it didn't slide down the magnet well and end the ball.

The bump was to prevent the ball from hitting wellpoint on the table that sends the ball down the center and out of play. Now we're in town square bopping around. And...here it comes.

Sending the ball up the length of the board, Alec hit the right ramp, lighting Ball. As the ball dropped back into play, he explained

The other ramp will light Gum, then you hit the gumball machine when you're ready for multiball.

Sending the ball up the board, it missed the ramp and rebounded into the Jukebox, activating Clock Millions. As the ball re-entered play, he hit the Clocktower Target, and the ball came back down. Popping it from the left flipper to the right, he then shot the left ramp, lighting Gum.

Now, we'll hold off on Gumball for a minute - better with more targets lit. We'll jukebox again and see if we can get it all set up for a good multiball run.

Aishe tried to fathom what Alec was talking about, but it appeared that he'd suddenly started speaking a foreign language. She was a passable pinball player, but she didn't evolve any strategy to the game... she simply knocked the ball around over whatever bells and whistles made the most noise and congratulated herself if it stayed in play for more than a minute.

She gave it her best, watching intently as Alec expertly whacked the ball over everything he'd defined as the important parts. His judgment of the right angle and force was, as in the air hockey game, quite precise.

"Do you play pool? You should, if you don't."

Chuckling, Alec replied

I haven't since coming to Nachton, but that reminds me...I should. Good way to bolster my income while I continue to build my client list...well, until I get banned from playing in this state as well. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. I've got a fair hand, I suppose, but pinball is more fun. Bells and whistles and whatnot, and fewer people try to assault you with bits from the game when they lose.

Hitting the Jukebox again, he got Town Square Madness. Knocking the ball around the Spiral as it entered play, he then sent it back into Town Square to rack up the score. As the ball left Town Square, it lit Right Spiral, boosting the score and prepping the Power. Flipping the ball back into the Square for a few more points as the clock ticked down, Alec then smiled, shooting the ball into the Powerfield.

Ok, this is a tricky part - there are magnetic flippers under the Powerfield - you have to use them to knock the ball up past the eye in the pyramid...and...there we go.

"Magnetic flippers? Sounds more like a nuclear spill at Sea World."

Aishe watched what Alec was doing though, trying to figure out how to do it herself. She couldn't help it though...

"How silly. The Egyptians would never have put an eye like that on a pyramid."

She made sure to affect the proper amount of scholarly stuffiness so Alec would know she was joking, and wouldn't feel she'd mortally insulted his dearest love. Or second dearest love.

As the Power roared in defeat, Alec started laughing uncontrollably at Aishe's comment, missing the ball on the re-entry. Chuckling, he stepped out of the way.

Wow...no doubt. Well, your turn - you can take second ball since we've already earned a replay. I'll shoot the extra ball next round if you don't grab it yourself.

Aishe mock-cracked her knuckles elaborately. "All right, let me at it!"

Moving in front of the machine, she tried to gently send the ball into play as Alec had directed. It meekly bounced upwards and then indecisively rolled back down. Biting her lip a bit, she tried again, with slightly better results. Finally, on the third go, she sent it rolling what she hoped was properly.

She almost distracted herself with her mental pat on the back, but zipped her attention back to the game just in time to spastically hit a button, any button, in the hopes that the ball would bounce back up.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she carefully tossed the ball around, trying to aim for any of the spots Alec had pointed out. She wasn't as good a judge of angles, but she did manage to make the thing whistle and flash several times.

Ah, the brush of virgin fingers against the Devil's teats. The Machine knew Aishe was fresh blood, and pulled out all of the nasty tricks on her. First, she had the first time difficulty of judging the approach ramp and undergauged the shot twice, then hit the red tile for 2,000 before entering the Rocket...which passed the ball through Town Square without touching a bumper. The ball made a line straight for the hole, but Aishe managed to flip frantically enough to wobble the table, breaking it from its path, then nip it with a flipper. Bouncing the ball off of several unlit targets, she managed to light some with the Jet Bumper hole, and even managed to shoot the left Spiral, though it was unlit.

Well, that's a good way to get the feel of the table. Gotta start somewhere. Hell, most people lose their first ball straight out of Town Square, so you're doing fine.

Getting into her rhythm, Aishe whacked the ball around a bit more. She still wasn't very good at knowing when to hit where, but she found contentment in simply making the bells and whistles go off regardless of point total. She managed to smack the ball around for another minute or so before hitting the wrong spot up at the back of the table, which sent the ball flying straight down dead center between the flippers.

Snapping her fingers ruefully, she turned to Alec. "You have another one, see if you can dig us out of the depths I've plunged us into."

Snickering, he watched as Aishe fell into one of the classic Twilight blunders - shooting Clock Tower while unlit. She had managed to get all of the hitchhikers and robots he'd skipped, and added several jet bumpers. He was now set up for the chain - Lock to Power to Extra to Multi.

You actually set the table up pretty well for the multiball run. Watch. Four shots.

Shot one - Locked...shot two, into the Powerfield, beat the power, re-enter to Shot Three to score the extra ball to shot four to start the multiball...ooo...and the coveted Powerball.

Nice. The white ball is the Powerball - it doesn't respond to the magnets, so you can't fight the power with it, but it also is lighter, faster and won't hit magnetic wells.

As the multiball commenced, Alec disjointed his sight, reacting on instinct and zones rather than angles. Jet bumper greed unlit lock gum town square clock millions hitchhiker clock jet spiral gum jet robot gumball hitchhiker jet town jet robot spiral clock madness town square town square jet tower...oops, one down, spiral robot hitchhiker skillshot yellow lock jet town tower oops...and...hold.

Catching the last of the multiballs on his flipper, Alec put Aishe's hand on the other flipper.

Ok, I'm going to shoot multiball now so you can enjoy that nastiness I just did.

Hitting his target, he stepped out of her way.

"Uhh... multiball? I'm not sure I like that sound of thaaaaaat!" What was going to be a polite let-down to the pinball machine turned into a half of a wail as Alec scooted her in place at the helm.

Gritting her teeth and concentrating, she tried to focus on all three balls at once. Anything Alec had previously mentioned about hitting key areas flew out the window as she frantically juggled all three balls.

One of them went down almost immediately, but she managed to recoup and keep the other two winging back and forth for a little while. She began to giggle as she went half cross-eyed trying to track them both.

Another minute or so later, a lifetime as far as she was concerned, the second ball was gone. It made having just one relatively easy in comparison, and she bounced that one around for a bit, trying to figure out how to hit it at a specific target. She got close a few times, before it too went the way of the other balls.

She stepped away, still laughing softly. "Well that was fun! Can we do that again?"

Chuckling at her frantic glee, he watched. She had the makings of a good pinballer if she'd plan a little more ahead. After the ball died, Alec nodded.

You can do it as many times as you can set it up. So...we'll work on your aim. First, you want to shoot that ramp...it is easiest from that flipper. After that, the other ramp - the ramps can be done in any order, but when you put the ball in play it goes to that flipper more often than not. After the second ramp, shoot that alley, and boom, it'll restart. Go ahead.

Aishe didn't think she was good enough to hit all the targets, but she would take the opportunity to practice. She managed to get the first ramp easily enough, but couldn't quite get the angle right for the second. She thwacked the ball several times in futility before it barely nicked the tip of her flipper and dribbled down between the two in spite of her button-mashing attempts to prevent it from doing so.

She huffed a little sigh. "Too bad! I wanted to see that multi-ball thing again. You do it? I'll practice again after."

She moved aside to give Alec an imploring look as the last ball popped into place.

Nodding, Alec added another yellow tile to their score, shot the second ramp and then the alley, starting the multiball again. Letting his eyes lose focus again, he became the table. One minute. Two minutes. Three. Five. At seven, he lost the powerball...ten...at twelve he lost the second ball, and caught the third. Grinning over at Aishe, he restarted the multiball again, drawing this one out to eighteen minutes before clearing the table.

Not too shabby. But now...the Pinball Wizard is thirsty. More cokes for us.

Aishe watched wide-eyed as Alec wow-ed her with his pretty amazing pinball skills. Enough so that she didn't even notice the passage of time. He didn't seem to notice the two or three gangly teenagers who peered over their shoulders with worshipful expressions, but Aishe tried to make some room for them to see better without giving up her own vantage point.

When the self-proclaimed Pinball Wizard finally let the poor machine rest and declared it to be time for more soda, Aishe agreed and moved away. She could almost hear the pinball table give a whimper as the teenagers closed in on it hungrily...

"That was pretty impressive!" All right, it was downright incredible. "I don't think I could ever manage that. And I'm not sure if I want to know how long it took you to perfect those moves."

Aishe looked around a bit more as they went over to the counter for a second round of sodas, trying to decide what would be fun to play next in case Alec didn't have any ideas. However, his taste so far had proven both fun and mesmerizing, so she was more than willing to go along with whatever amusement behooved him to persue next.

Shaking himself out of his Pinball Reverie, he headed behind the fountains. The "employee" had moved over to the Skee Ball prize counter and was flirting shamelessly with the girl there, as usual. Thinking a change of pace was in order, Alec made himself a root beer float.

Want anything specific? Oh...the game is pretty clear once you figure out the art of the bump. The trick is to not tilt the table, and have a plan going in...like anything else, it is a subtle combination of skill, strategy and rules bending. Since I am good with strategies and rules that can be bent, it came pretty quickly for me. First pinball table I can remember playing on was about four years ago in one of the restaurants near Tulane. Heh...can't remember the restaurant, but the table was Dr. Who.

And you could probably manage it...it is just like anything else. All about how much time you sink into it.

At Alec's inquiry, Aishe held up her empty glass and tapped the side. "Another cherry coke would be lovely," she said. Pulling out the half-finished jar of cherries she added a liberal amount into the bottom of her glass first. "Can't let these go to waste, after all."

Listening to Alec describe his pinball-playing history, she smiled softly. She could understand why he was nervous about his new relationship with Ginnie. He seemed like the type who was comfortable knowing exactly what the rules were and how far they could be bent; he liked plans and strategies and to have things all mapped out with no surprises. Therefore, forging off into the realm of the abstract - dating someone and moving in together - must be potentially terrifying.

She mentioned as much to him while she watched him mix up the drinks, but added, "You know, I really do think you have the right attitude. If you're still worried though, maybe you should just sit down with her and let her know how you feel? If she knows you that well, maybe she can give you a heads-up on things she might prefer you do or not do. Exploring the unknown is fun, but only when you've got a few tools to work with. No one likes to be stranded alone."

Chuckling, Alec nodded. Mixing another cherry coke, he stated

Yes...that'd be a valid approach, and one I've tried. Generally, though...I find that I get my plans all set, envision the situation, and...ok, actually, here's a good actual scenario. Set up a meeting with her to talk shop - goal is to learn more about her work self...wind up somewhere along the line dressing a bit better for a casual affair than is perhaps advisable, shop talk happens, but is pushed aside for file transfers and then inclusion in a social situation that results in us twined in bedsheets after shockingly deep revelations about ourselves that we really couldn't seem to help.

That is really more the source of things than anything. I'm not stranded alone, as you put it. We're both clearly there, in the same place...but the trouble is that our intensity dissolves things like goals and rationality, well, except for work related things, luckily. I am CERTAINLY not complaining about that - I think I just need to vocalize it all to get it sorted in my head. And the trouble with that is that I don't know how to summarize some of the things...or what is off limits.

Shrugging, he passes the drink to Aishe, starting on his float.

Mmm...good. I guess it would be helpful if I'd had more relationships. That way I'd have a benchmark to go by. By any measure, this is happening pretty quick. I'm good at adapting to situations, but the whole social thing is still a bit tricky for me. I haven't totally alienated anyone or weirded someone out by my behavior tonight...but

"Oh shit...have you been blinking?" Focusing a bit more on normal signals since he was in a public place, Alec made sure to blink...but staring was socially appropriate when talking to one person, so he wasn't worried there.

Ah...sorry. This whole thing has got me rambling a bit...somewhat unusual for me. Drink ok?

Aishe listened to Alec talk while he mixed her another drink. When she had it in hand, she speared a cherry on the end of the straw and munched on it thoughtfully, listening to her friend. She wasn't oblivious to the fact that there was a smile on her face while he talked... it may have been a goofy stupid smile, but she just couldn't help thinking how perfectly adorable he and Ginnie must be together. If she felt the same way as he did, they were certainly head over heels for each other.

Darn it, it was just cute!

"Delicious," Aishe replied when Alec asked her about her drink. "Thank you." She took another sip. "I really think you two will be all right. If she sounds anything like you do now, then you've really got it bad for each other. You can do just about anything when you both drive for it and want it to work out."

She watched Alec blink. He'd been staring again. He did that a lot, she recalled, thinking back to the ball. But everyone had their little oddities. It was funny, the way he blinked as if he had to consciously remind himself to do so.

"I know I must sound horribly cliche... you know, love conquers all and as long as you have love you can do anything!" She said it in her best overdone damsel-in-distress starlet voice to accentuate. "Really though, I think you both know in the back of your heads what you want and how to get there. It's just that your heads aren't driving right now. You are moving fast, like you said. It'll slow down a bit and you can both have a breather. There's always room to learn about each other, and you're just starting."

She paused and laughed lightly. "See, now I'm rambling!"

Chuckling, Alec pur his hands up, mocking Aishe's "rambling".

Whoa there, Professor - clip that string!

Seriously, though...the outing has been good for me. It gave me the opportunity to wrap my head around the situation, reinforced that I'm not crazy, showed that there's a high probability for success and that I can whoop your butt at air hockey. I won't mention pinball, because that simply isn't fair. Perhaps next time we can dig around someplace with historical significance and you can make me guess what historical period we're dealing with or something...that'd probably even it out.

The reason why I mention this is that I should also probably do something productive this evening...so this'll be my last round.

"Hmmm, digging around someplace with historical significance - you're on! It will give me a chance to prove I'm not entirely hopeless. I'm going to have to find a pinball machine somewhere to practice on, too."

Aishe was glad Alec had been free for a while. She enjoyed talking to him, and it was nice to know someone in Nachton with whom she could relax and not worry about... well, whether they might want to bite her or not. It wasn't that it mattered one way or the other what he was; vampire, familiar, human... she supposed perhaps it was the fact that she was under Evenhet's eyes now and there was a small amount of "I hope I'm doing everything right" associated with that. To forget that fact for an hour or two was lovely, but she was ready to get back to it now.

"Thanks for coming out with me," she said. "Give my regards to Ginnie, too. I hope we can do this again sometime."

Shrugging back into her jacket, she considered for a moment and then gave Alec a quick hug. "And don't worry too much. You guys will be fine."

She beamed a smile at him and gave him a wave. "Time for me to be productive, too."

There was still plenty of night time left after all!

((ooc: Aishe out))