(Untitled)

[shortofcrazy]

Riley is going back to DC soon. Really and truly. He's even dressed as he was -- jeans, sneakers, dark T-shirt, maroon and brown-striped shirt (left unbuttoned), and a dark brown crushed velvet blazer -- when he stepped through the door a week or two ago. He's sitting at the bar with a half-drank can of Red Bull, a folded-up pair of designer

Comments

[monk_with_mask]

"Daaaaa," Chichiri's possibly never going to grow entirely used to these computers, but he won't comment.

He'll just try to break Riley's concentration by prodding him. He's nice like that.

[shortofcrazy]

Riley makes a startled "Urk!" sort of noise, and accidentally hits the button, selecting a square.

The entire game's screen goes up in red x's, with a little bomb graphic at the center.

"Couldn't you say hello like a normal person?"

[monk_with_mask]

"I could, no da." Chichiri shrugs. "But I preferred my method, really."

[shortofcrazy]

"Your method," says Riley longer-sufferingly, as he starts another new game, "just cost me the game, man. Your method kind of sucks."

[stopped_signal]

"Ohhh, it's got you now."

Says the guy with the laptop and bag of what appears to be snack chips of some description. He has seen that look before. (Occasionally in the mirror.)

Shaking his head, "Let me know if I need to stage an intervention. Orrr, let me guess: You can quit any time you want to."

[shortofcrazy]

"Look, man, I can quit any time I want--" Riley looks up. Blinks. (He may not have connected the guy to the first night that he came here, but he remembers the laptop.) "To," he finishes lamely. "Hi. We've met, right? Guy-with-robots-and-a-moon?"

[stopped_signal]

Mr. Universe blinks.

Then, slowly, he grins.

"You know ... I think we just may have." A thoughtful pause-- or at least a pause, which could be mistaken for thoughtful by the generous. "It's, uh, something R, right? Ryan, Ryle, Ringo ...? Help me out here."

[shortofcrazy]

He snorts. "I don't have the hair to be a Ringo." He looks thoughtful, too, in turn. "Ryan's not bad, though. But--" he says, and he clicks a box only to see the screen light up with death X's.

He sighs. "--It's Riley. Hey."

[twiceahero]

"No, not that one." Barbara was rolling by, but screens tend to catch her eye. "That's a two-one-two pattern." Help offered she turns to continue on her way.

[shortofcrazy]

"--A what now?" Riley says, dumbly, and he belatedly turns to see who had spoken.

[twiceahero]

"Certain numerical patterns only show up when certain mine placement patterns occur. Sometimes you can identify mine locations based on number patterns even if it appears that the mines could be found in multiple configurations. That means that," she leans over to point at the screen without quite touching it, "this pattern indicates that this square will be a mine, while this other one won't."

[shortofcrazy]

Riley stares at the wheelchair-bound woman for an unsure moment, then looks at the screen.

He clicks the square that she had indicated would be a mine.

Boom.

"...Huh," says Riley.

[queenofmay]

Having newly been introduce to the idea of The Net (the world, not World Wide Web), she found herself paused a foot or two behind him, watching the strange little images pop in and out.

"What is that?"

Completely distracted from her tray of matching tea set and her intention to go read by the fire.

[shortofcrazy]

"Huh? You don't know--" Riley turns around and takes in the woman's tea set and style of clothing. "--Minesweeper?" he finishes, lamely.

[queenofmay]

That deserved a raised eye brow slightly, but it wasn't a cruel expressionate, followed a deft shake of her head, though she did offer her words with doubtful hope.

"I know what mines are, but I fear our references might be far off from each other."

[shortofcrazy]

"Mines are bombs," says Riley. "Things that -- explode, when you step on them. This is a game where you try to make as many squares," he gestures at his new game, with several grayed-out squares, each with numbers in them, "come up as possible without clicking on a picture of a mine. You lose when you hit the mine."

:D?