2013.06.26 - Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock

The Metropolis Tech Expo.
A combination of a job fair, technology demonstrations and seminars, and hardware exhibits, as well as a mini-market for which all sorts of equipment, tools, and parts could be found, it was a good place to locate various parts that otherwise would have to be ordered online and leave you little chance of inspecting the merchandise yourself. 
Needless to say, this was a perfect, ideal opportunity, both to check out various technology, and to pick up different parts for Doug's little project. One that the young blond intended to take full opportunity of, wandering up and down the market after checking out the 'Virtual Reality: Augmentation' presentation. 
Coming to a stop on a particularly hard-to-find chipset, Doug reaches for the chipset... 
The bartering system is an amazing thing, while normally Harper Row would not have been able to afford a ticket to this expo, or the added expense of traveling to it, she's able to attend thanks to a ticket one of her customers gave to her in place of a payment.
Expecting to find something boring like a Gotham City Gala Event, Harper Row was pleasantly surprised to find it was for a Tech Expo, in Metropolis City no less. So, here she is. While she doesn't have that much money, she has scraped up enough to possibly by a handful of bits and pieces, that otherwise would be seriously hard to find. Or seriously out of her price range. Sometimes the deals at the Expo's totally outweigh what can be found on the internet.
As for Doug, he'll find that just as he reaches for the chipset another hand will likewise reach for the hard to find set. It's clear this hand belongs to a girl, as thin wire bangles are crammed upon the wrist, and a variety of color polishes the nails. "Hey - " Comes the voice that owns that hand, "- I saw it first." While her words might sound confrontational, they're not really more like friendly aggressive, and it's obvious she's staking her claim.
 
Not willing to let go of the hard-to-find chipset, and finding that the other hand wasn't about to let go of it either, Doug hesitates, looking back up at the owner of the recalicrant appendage, a teenaged pierced punk girl with dyed blue/magenta/black hair clad in frayed jeans and a blue-white plaid shirt. 
Her body language certainly didn't match her harsher words, but Doug could tell that she wasn't about to yield an inch. 
Casting a quick look down, the blond frowns. Only the one chipset. "... Ahhh... I had it first," Doug replies, lifting his chin, unwilling to yield his prize. 
Harper's head tilts slightly to the side when Doug exerts his own claim over the chip set. At his words, a grin tugs a corner of her mouth upward, causing her cheek piercing to dimple ever so slightly. "I don't think so. I definitely touched it first." And to prove her point, Harper Row will jerk her hand holding the chipset towards herself. She's testing to see how strong his grip really is on the chip set, she's hoping not strong, since the picture the blond young man in his blue shirt and tan shorts (to the knees) presents isn't one of 'dominance or aggressiveness'.
"Besides, isn't it polite to always let the girl have what she wants?" Queries the young punk girl with that grin of hers still gracing her lips.
 
Maybe not dominance or aggressive, but just a bit -put- out, and Doug's hand moves with the tug, followed by a tug back. "I don't think so. I -had- it first," the young man says mildly. "I'd offer it to you if I had a choice, but I really need this one." 
Doug's sapphire gaze shifts to take in the punk girl's frayed appearance, and for just a minute, he hesitates, considering the courtesy factor. 
"Fine. Rock, scissors, paper?" the young blond says, keeping his grip on the chipset. 
Gray eyes narrow slightly when Doug doesn't immediately hand over the chipset. If only her skills with her own 'femininity' were better, she'd just bat her lashes and get him to hand it over, but sadly, they are not. She's more tomboy-ish than girly girlish.
Still, while she's not some simpering little idiot, she does have her own charms that she can employ and she does so. Still not relinquishing her hold on the chipset, Harper makes a show of thinking over Doug's suggestion, then, "I think Rock, paper, scissors, lizard and Spock is much more appropriate, don't you?"
Harper waits to see if this young man catches the rather geeky reference that she just made.
Eyebrows arched, Doug flashes a quirky grin as it sinks in. "Oh, please. I -can- do the Spock gesture just fine," he replies, flashing the Vulcan salute with his free hand. "So you saw the Big Bang Theory, did you?" 
Let's see... Rock loses to Spock and Paper, Spock loses to Paper and Lizard, Paper loses to Lizard and Scissors, Lizard loses to Scissors and Rock, Scissors lose to Rock and Spock... 
"Fine," Doug replies, closing his fist and shaking it. "On three, then... one... two..." 
And on three, Doug flashes...
Another grin graces Harper's features, this time with a hint of respect in it, when Doug catches her reference. "Why, yes, yes, I did. No geek worth their salt would not not watch the Big Bang Theory if they had a choice."
When Doug closes his fist, Harper does the same thing. She's of course, using her free hand, not the hand that has a hold on the chipset. As he begins to count down, Harper automatically shakes her fist as well, and when the countdown is done, Harper flashes her own gang sign -
Or rather, her own geek sign. For Harper, her hand deftly makes the gesture for Lizard and with that, she immediately looks to see what Doug chose.
And what were the odds that she'd have expected him to -not- repeat Spock? 
Apparently quite poor. 
Sighing, Doug looks at his Vulcan salute. "Lizard poisons Spock," he grimaces. Still, the young man -had- proposed a game of chance.
Releasing the chipset, albeit with a melodramatic sigh, Doug inclines his head briefly in a short bow. "Congratulations, miss. You have chosen... wisely," he intones in an imitation of the Guardian of the Grail from the Last Crusade Indy movie. 
Wrinkling his nose, Doug adds wistfully, "I hope you use it well. Uh... what did you need it for?" 
Triumph! Success!
Smiling gleefully now the young woman easily pulls the chipset towards herself (when Doug releases it) and flips it over in her hands a few times. While the price my be a teensy weeny bit high for her, she still has enough for it.
And while she definitely catches the grail reference, she doesn't remark upon it, at least not yet. Instead at Doug's last question, Harper will cant her head to the side again as she considers the young man. "I'll tell you my secret project if you tell me yours first." She grins again, that expression resembling something that should be on the Cheshire Cat than a normal punk-haired girl.
"Ahhh... experimenting with a VR upgrade," Doug replies. Close enough to what he was aiming for, anyway. The sooner he could get the upgrade to work, the sooner he could show Caitlin (well, if he ever got it to work outside the Danger Room)... and smack around RollingThunder. Whenever that would be. 
Folding his arms across his chest, Doug affects a stern look. "And now your turn. Fess up, and don't tell me you're going to make an origami unicorn out of it." 
A brow arcs upward at Doug's mention of his experiment, project, whatever. It obviously intrigues her, as she asks, "VR upgrade, eh? I haven't spent much time with VR systems, what exactly are you upgrading?" She asks curiously, even as he asks his last question. Eyes brightening with humor, the short-haired woman exclaims, "You totally guessed right. I am totally making an origami unicorn, but the cool thing about it, is it's totally robotized. So it folds itself up and unfolds itself automatically. It also shoots laser beams out of it's eyes."
She smirks, as she fishes into her back pocket, for a beat up wallet. No, she's not one to carry a purse, thanks. Fishing out the money to pay for the chipset, Harper will hand the bills over to the vendor, even as she keeps an eye on Doug.
"Trying to put together something that will let me interface with the Internet in a different way," Doug replies, eyeing the chipset with regret. Oh, if only he had been a few -seconds- faster. 
Staring at Harper, Doug barks a short brusque laugh. "No, seriously... I'm guessing you're not making an origami transformer. Robotics?" he asks, before slapping a hand to his head. "Oh, sorry, forgot my manners." Bringing his hand forward with just a bit of hesitation after having seen exactly where Harper's hands had been, the young man smiles. "Doug Ramsey." 
"Hey, her hands are clean. She is a girl after all and girls are clean.
Shaking his hand, Harper will say, "Nice to meet you Doug. The name's Harper." The chipset will be shoved into the pocket of her plaid shirt, as she adds, "And seriously, no not robotics. It's more of a computer upgrade, though not like yours I'm thinking." Considering the tables around the two of them, "VR, huh? I can't say I'm an expert, but if you're looking for something that allows the info on the internet to be translated to your VR set-up, I saw something over here that might help." She says, as she motions toward another table, "Because these babies - " And she pats her pocket that holds the chipset, "ARe definitely coming home with me. Come on I'll show you." Harper says as she moves towards the other table, pausing only long enough to make sure Doug follows. 
"Maybe someday you'll find this same chipset at another expo." And with a grin, the short-haired woman continues towards the other table to help Doug find a suitable replacement.
The End
Category:Log