OOM: Suite 134

[watching_you]

Veronica slouches low on the couch, ducking out of the range of Indy's back swing.

"Let me guess. Another strike."

She sighs and props her beer on her chest, holding it in place with her breasts and the low-cut V of her shirt.

"Big surprise. Glad we didn't put money down."

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[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

Indy turns to her, twirling the Wiimote around on its strap. The score reads 178 to 96 in his favor, with the tenth frame still to go.

"It's all in the wrist."

Even though his victory is secure, his grin isn't horribly smug.

"Don't swing so hard," he advises as he settles down beside her. He then gives her a playful poke under the ribs. "We're not trying to work out our frustrations on this one. That was what the boxing was for."

[watching_you]

The poke makes her jerk impulsively, which leads to hurried beer-stabilizing.

"Hey – careful."

Her round-headed, no-armed character takes to the screen, standing ready to send its virtual bowling ball down the virtual bowling lane. Without bothering to get up, Veronica waves her controller vaguely at the screen like an inexperienced conductor in front of a full orchestra.

Her avatar drops the ball directly on her foot, but doesn't seem to mind.

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

The ball then starts inching down the lane.

After a snort, Indy reaches for his own beer and leans back. At this point it's not clear whether the ball is going make it to the pins, or even the gutter for that matter.

"Much better," he monotones. "You take instruction really well."

[watching_you]

"Mmph," Veronica offers grumpily. "Don't need instruction. I do, however ..."

She empties the rest of the bottle and passes it in his direction.

"... need another beer."

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

Indy rolls his eyes, but accepts the empty graciously enough. After downing the remnants of his bottle, he hauls himself back up and heads through the (slightly less numerous) stacks of cardboard boxes and into the kitchen. Two fresh beers are acquired and opened. And, after checking the television screen, he decides he's got time to rustle up a snack of chips and salsa as well.

"So, yeah..." he says, picking up the pre-strike conversation again. "He got turned back into a turtle for a few weeks, but he's human again as of yesterday."

"Birthday thing maybe. We dunno."

[watching_you]

"Magic," Veronica says dismissively, from across the room. "Bah. Don't trust it, probably never will.

"But how's he doing, anyway? Can't be fun having someone fiddling with your mammalian off/on switch."

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

Indy's reply comes with an accompaniment of rustling, tearing and skittering sounds, as chips are poured into a bowl.

"I'm guessing he's doing fine. Sometimes hard to tell with Mike. Being back in his natural form was probably nice for a little while, but I think he prefers being human."

Smirking, he pops the top off the salsa jar.

"It has advantages."

[watching_you]

"Advantages?"

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

"Geez," he laughs. "Do I have to spell it out?"

He retraces his steps to the couch and sets the bowl and salsa jar down on the nearest end table. He then passes Veronica one of the two beers and takes his seat again.

"Think about it, Vee. You're good at deducing things."

[watching_you]

"Why do I get the feeling this is something I really don't want to dedu-- OH LOOK AT THAT."

The crowd of virtual bobble-headed freaks lets out a cheer and a wave of applause, and Veronica jumps to her feet, spilling some of the drink as she does so.

"That's what we call a strike, bitch! How does your instruction feel about that?"

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

Indy laughs again. "Nicely done."

"Possibly the lamest strike in the history of ten pin bowling. Not sure I'd be particularly proud of that achievement, but... I get the feeling there's a victory dance coming anyway."

He hopes there is.

[watching_you]

"Nice try," is all he gets.

A strike in the tenth frame means she gets to bowl again. Veronica attempts the shot in technically perfect form, for once: it goes straight into the gutter.

"Well that ends that party."

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

"One more ball," Indy reminds her, stifling his chuckles at the disastrous follow up.

"You can still make a hundred and sixteen."

"That's pretty good, you know," he condescends.

[watching_you]

"Stupid decade-old motion sensor technology. Nowadays they just have these little things for your fingers, you know..."

Her next attempt is a little better, hitting just right of center and taking half the pins with it. She slouches back onto the couch as Indy's avatar takes over the screen.

"Alright, Mister I'm-So-Great-At-Wii, let's see what you can do."

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

Indy gets up and moves his drab colored and heavily stubbled Mii to the right. He stops when it's lined up with the last arrow before the gutter, then executes a lazy swing.

Not even waiting to see the results of his action, he turns away to steal a few chips. Meanwhile, the ball arcs gracefully into the pins, clearing them all with a satisfying clatter.

"Unbelievable," he drawls, still not looking at the screen. "Who is this guy?"

He lets the various replays show as he dips and crunches.

[watching_you]

Veronica chuckles.

"Such an asshole.

"No more bowling. Don't you own a video game you're bad at? We should play that one."

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

"Sorry you're not having fun yet," Indy sighs. "Tenth frame though. I'm not done yet."

He moves back into position and bowls again. It's another strike, though it takes a very lucky pin bounce to get it, and a second or two of teetering.

"I'm not as good at tennis," he lies. "We can play that next."

With a chance to break two hundred now, he gathers himself for his final ball. The extra concentration is very evident.

[watching_you]

It's that extra concentration that makes it all worthwhile, really. Veronica slouches a little lower on the couch and prepares for her attack.

As Indy begins to make his move, pulling his arm into a steady back swing, she reaches out with her leg and draws her foot up along the inseam of his trousers.

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

"Hey..."

The distraction strips Indy of all his poise and a tragic gutter ball results.

"Crap."

"Happy now?" he humphs as he turns around. There's a glint of amusement under the surface though. "I was gonna beat Mike's record."

[watching_you]

Veronica innocently crosses her legs, as though that had been her sole intention all along.

"Happier," she allows.

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

"I guess that's something," Indy grunts.

"You'd better not forget this though. I lost the one chance I had at bragging rights for the sake of your happiness."

He sits down again and takes a conciliatory swig from his beer.

[watching_you]

"Well gee, I really just did it to be mean, but not having to listen to you brag is an added bonus."

She takes a moment to stretch, leaning forward. Her spine is stiff from an afternoon of slouching.

"So... tennis? Or golf again, maybe?"

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

"I've still got bragging rights over you," Indy points out. "Just not Mike."

"Tennis," he then decrees, already moving through the menus to get the next sport ready to go. Seeing her stretch only concretes his decision. A game that involves a bit more activity should prevent her becoming a part of the furniture.

"Have a go on your own first. It takes a few games to get the timing down and figure out how to do the power serve."

[watching_you]

"Okay."

Veronica gets to her feet and settles into a reasonably solid serving stance. Its dropped soon enough when, after a couple serves, she realizes that this game, too, is mostly about the wrist. Very quickly, she gets into a steady back-and-forth rhythm with the opposing computer-controlled players.

"So you've heard about how thrilling my life's been lately. What about you, what's the Indy update? Any action, adventure, romance?"

[henry-jones-jr.livejournal.com]

Indy is pleased to see her settle in so fast. It's one thing to keep a rally going though, quite another to pull off shots that the CPU players are unable to return.

"Not much," he confesses. "Met an Irish gal called Fiona, in from Miami 2009. She's... um..." He seems to struggle a bit to find the right description. "She's a looker. And she's definitely a live wire. Likes a bit of action, far as I can tell."

"We've been hanging out a bit. She's a lot of fun."