(Untitled)

[twiceahero]

Barbara doesn't play a lot of games. She's a busy woman. But every so often she'll play something as long as it's conveniently nearby. And she's good at it.

So this evening she's playing pool.

By herself at the moment, though she doesn't look like she'll object to someone coming and getting their butt kicked. Because Babs is good at pool.

Comments

[divisionrogue]

Nikita's back for a little while; developments with Michael and the black box are going about as expected, but she's restless.

Killing time in a no-time-zone might chill her out. "Care for a game?"

[twiceahero]

There's a nearly invisible moment of stillness from Barbara.

"Took a bullet through the spine when I was 23," she answers after a moment. Then she settles her stick across her arm and the lip of the table once again.

[divisionrogue]

Ugly; even if Barbara opened that line of commentary, it clearly isn't one she's comfortable with. Nikita watches, waiting for her to make the shot before offering something in recompense. "At twenty-three, I was making enough stupid and destructive decisions to last a lifetime."

[twiceahero]

Barbara exhales slowly and takes the shot. Given the awkward angle that Nikita left her with, it's small wonder that she doesn't quite make her shot. And while her intended ball is near a pocket, it's not the one-inch distance that she's managed throughout the game. Easy enough to clear if Nikita wants to.

"I'm pretty sure that that's what you're supposed to do when you're 23," she points out.

[divisionrogue]

Nikita does choose to; she's not going to go easy on Barbara at this moment. That would be insulting. And she's not perfectly on her game now either.

"There's degrees of forgivably stupid." Nikita takes the shot, knocking Barbara's ball away.

She doesn't fool herself that anything she did while working for Division is forgivable.

[twiceahero]

"True enough," Barbara allows with a slight shrug.

[divisionrogue]

They've gotten far enough away from the dangerous subject for Nikita's shoulders to relax, and for her to sink one more ball before she misses her shot, and considers the table. "I'd like to see you make this one."

[twiceahero]

Barbara pauses, smirking over Nikita. "What's in it for me?"

[divisionrogue]

Amused, Nikita sips her drink, then says, "A favor or a truth. Which do you prefer?"

[twiceahero]

"Truth," Babs answers without hesitation. Favors are easy enough to come by. The truth takes work.

[divisionrogue]

Nikita opens her hand toward the table, inviting Barbara to take her chances and earn a fact.

[twiceahero]

Babs glances over her shoulder as she rolls around the table to take up a position.

"One per ball?" she suggests with a little smirk.

[divisionrogue]

Considering there are only three left, counting the 8-ball, Nikita feels she can endure that much. "Fair enough."

[twiceahero]

With a nod, Barbara turns her attention to the table. The 8-ball is in an unfortunately difficult position on the table, but Babs still has those two balls sitting at the corners.

She sits for over a minute trying to figure out approaches that'll let her get all three, but... while there are a couple of potential options, but they're all extremely risky.

So she settles for taking those two corners.

It leaves the cue ball out of position for any sort of shot on the 8-ball, but if she gives Nikita the game, it'll be a small price to pay.

[divisionrogue]

"I think I just got played." Nikita's amused and disbelieving more than anything, and she wanders around the pool table, trying hard to find a shot that will lead to her sinking all her balls plus the 8-ball.

One... easy. Two... not bad. Three.... and it goes caroming off the last bumper, leaving the cue ball on the other side of the table from Barbara's ball, but in a non-impossible spot. Nikita shakes her head ruefully.

[twiceahero]

"Should have challenged me to a swim," Babs shoots back. But, yes, Nikita did get played.

Still, the shot's going to be a hard one, so she takes her time lining it up. Even though now she basically feels she's won.

She hits just a little too softly, though, and both the cue ball and the 8-ball roll to a stop an inch away from the pocket. It's a gimme.

She rolls back with a sigh. "Looks like this one's yours."