Couch Potato [2430-2-2-Mon-7pm]

[Alexander Riggs]

Tommy looked pretty proud of himself, which amused Alex to no end. He nodded, looking down at his own clothing in disgust. "You're right, man. I need to change out of these work clothes too. I'm pretty sure I spilled some kinda cleaning supplies on my pants earlier. They stink like chemicals..."

He hurried off to his room to get changed, picking out a clean shirt and pants from his closet. He tossed the old clothes in a pile on the floor and quickly pulled on the new stuff, heading back out to meet Tommy once again. "Alright man, let's do this!"

[Tommy]

Tommy finished getting dressed and headed out into the living room. He stopped to grab his keys to the apartment, and a couple of joints, just in case he ended up finding someone to sell to while they were out. And if they didn't snag any girls, they could be used to get them some drinks, in a really round-about way. "Hell yes dude!"

He headed out of the apartment, making sure to lock the door once Alex had followed, and then headed down the street. The Square wasn't all that far away, just fifteen minutes or so. That was the one awesome thing about Terra: everything was so close. You could just walk wherever you needed to go, or take the elevators, or grab a cab if you really had to. Most people walked, though there was steady scooter and bike traffic, no matter the hour. Some people still had cars, but they were mostly antiques. If you wanted something big and fancy to drive, you got yourself a shuttle, or a spaceship, and just cruised around Terra from spaceport to spaceport.

"Okay, so, if one of us brings in girls, we make sure to set up the other guy. Deal?" It was win-win as far as Tommy could see. If they both went home with girls, then everything was cool. And if they didn't go home with girls, then they could both commiserate their misfortunes. But if only one of them took home a girl, the other roommate was going to end up pissed, and that would blow super super hard.

[Alexander Riggs]

"Deal," Alex nodded, glancing around the square. While shopping often closed down for the night in many places of Terra, there were just as many places that stayed open all night, providing all sorts of interesting night life. While the emphasis wasn't so much on shopping at night in the Square, it was certainly fun to look at how differently stores adjusted themselves for the evening crowd. Between the brighter lights to attract attention, yet sometimes increased security to ward off the unwanted attention, it was a far cry from the way the place looked during the day.

He rarely saw the place anymore, now that he worked nights, but he had certainly spent plenty of time here when he was younger, doing shopping of his own. Out of people's pockets, that was. He too would have to adjust himself between the day and night crowd. The night crowd was easier. They were often drunk, or unable to notice or even hear him with the music and everything else happening in the Square. It was harder to hide during the day, when it was brighter, and people were more alert. And they were legit shoppers too. Families, housewives, business people... he'd always have to come up with crazy lies to distract them, or get on their good side. Sometimes he missed the excitement of it. But then he remembered the times he'd gotten caught, and he decided that the excitement from the bar was more than enough for him nowadays.

"Hope someone good is playing tonight," Alex commented. "Then again I guess girls are more willing to get out of here when they're bored with who's on stage, so maybe not..."

[Tommy]

"Dude, hope for some good looking dude who can't take every girl home. Maybe he'll skim off the top and grab the hottest, but then there will be a whole bunch of really cute girls who will be willing to let anybody talk them into coming home." Tommy was an eternal optimist about these sorts of things, and saw opportunity in everything, espeically when it came to snagging women. He was the sort of fellow who would get dressed up and crash a wedding, because there was nothing that got a girl interested in coming home with a stranger like seeing two people get married.

There was the usual crowd in the Square when they reached it. The band was still setting up, and the usual die-hards were crowded around the stage. The crowd was a pretty even mix of men and women, which meant that whoever was playing probably sounded like a million bucks, but didn't necessarily have the looks for it. That meant more competition, but Tommy wasn't too worried.

He scanned the crowd, trying to locate girls. There were a few pockets of them here and there, clustered together and laughing. It was funny, but this made him feel like he was back home on Nox. Yeah it was brighter, and yeah nobody was trying to eat you, but the same skills that had served him there would serve him here. You had to approach the pack carefully, and find a way to get on their good sides, make them open up the circle and let you in. And then you could divide them and steal away what you wanted.

"Dude, hotties straight ahead." There were four girls clustered together. Two of them looked like sisters, and Tommy automatically x'd them out of his plans, knowing one wouldn't go anywhere without the other. Of the girls left, there was a nice looking brunette, and a smoking hot blonde, Tommy instantly knew that he was going to spend the rest of the evening hitting on the blonde until either she went home with him, or he got a drink splashed in his face. "Time to roll out the charm."

[Alexander Riggs]

"You know, I've never actually thought about the competition working for us..." Alex commented on Tommy's suggestion. In it's bizarre quality, it actually made sense. At least, as long as there were plenty of hot girls to choose from so that there actually were some left over once Good Looking Dude took his pick. Because really, even Good Looking Dude was screwed if the pickings were less than satisfactory.

He peered in the direction that Tommy had motioned in, realizing there were four of them. Well, two would have been easier, since once one hit it off with one of them, the other would usually follow suit, even if it was just out of pity. Like, the female version of a wingman. Wingwoman? But four meant a pack. Girls in packs meant more eye rolling and solidarity and whatever other crap they could come up with to shoot you down quickly if the whole pack didn't approve. And if only one girl liked only one of them, Girl Number Two would still have Girl Numbers Three and Four to disappear with, leaving Guy Number Two screwed. Girls with options was always a bad thing.

On the other hand... if things went really well, that meant two girls per guy. But things never went that well.

Well, except maybe for Mr. Good Looking Dude.

Alex shook himself out of his thoughts and nodded. "Alright, let's do this." He nearly put up his hand for a high five, but then remembered Tommy would likely try to turn it into some sort of Jumping High Five of Awesome, and while that was fun sometimes, you just didn't do that in front of the chicks you were about to try to hit on.

[Tommy]

Tommy crackled his knuckles and headed over. The key to approaching girls was the say to approaching a herd. You had to slip up on them and before they realized there was anything wrong, you were right there in the midst of them. And then you went for the kill, but not literally, because Tommy was a koala and his ‘hunting’ methods were waiting for more leaves to show up so he didn’t have to go looking for them, or occasionally dropping on someone’s head.

He slipped up to the girls, using another group as cover as he approached them. They noticed him out of the corner of their eyes, and Tommy pulled off his signature move: the fake shoelace trip. He 'tripped', and for a moment, all eyes were on him as he skidded to the side and barely caught himself in time. When he turned to look at the girls, one of the sisters giggled into her hand, while the brunette clapped. Tommy bowed, "Thank you! Thank you! I'll need a volunteer for my next trick! Yes, you, the gentleman in the jacket!" He gestured for Alex to join him, and before the girls were even aware, the two of them were standing right at the edge of the circle, almost ready to squeeze in.

"I am going to read your mind. Don't be alarmed." Tommy told Alex, putting on his best serious face. The girls watched and giggled as Tommy dramatically put his hand to his head, squinting up his face, "I'm getting a reading... yes... your name is... Alex? And you are a totally rad dude? Am I correct?"

[Alexander Riggs]

Alex wanted to smack his own forehead, but refrained himself. Tommy was doing the dumb magician pickup routine again. It worked a lot less than Tommy seemed to think it did, but if something worked even part of the time under Tommy's brain, it was generally considered a success. Anyway, now that it was begun, Alex had no choice but to play along.

"Who... me??" He headed over to them, trying to look as overly bewildered as possible, making it obvious that they knew each other, but comical enough to keep watching. He let himself look shocked as Tommy revealed his name. "I am Alex and I am pretty rad, yes! Wow, this guy!" He pointed at Tommy, looking at the girls as impressed-like as he could.

[Tommy]

"No need to look so amazed! This is simply my gift! My talent! But not my real talent, if you get my drift." He directed his last statement to the blonde, who snorted. "But Alex! Good to meet you! I'm Tommy, the Magnificent! These lovely ladies can introduce themselves!" Tommy grinned at them, drinking in the giggles from the girls.

"Moxy." The blonde said, tossing her hair around. "That's Gabby, Emily and Ellie." The brunette, Gabby, seemed the least impressed. However, Emily and Ellie couldn't stop giggling. Tommy began to wonder if they were twins, then dismissed it. He wasn't interested. He wanted Moxy, who was stacked and clearly used to having people chase her down.

"Moxy, Moxy.. I'm getting a vision." Tommy closed his eyes. hand against his forehead and the other one pointing out, towards the bar, "I'm seeing... drinks. Yes, I see that we're all standing around with drinks in our hands. But what's this? I'm seeing girls buying drinks for boys! It's almost as if gender roles were now and forever permanently reversed! The seducers become the seducee's-" Tommy cracked open an eye, "Seducees?"

"Try 'the seduced'. That's got a better ring to it." And there was actually a bit of a smile on Moxy's face.

"Thank you." He shut his eye again, "The seducers become the seduced! A victory for women everywhere!" He pretended to stagger as the 'vision' wore off, and when he looked around, Gabby looked even less impressed than before, and the sisters/twins were nearly red from giggling. But Moxy still had a bit of a smile. "That was intense. I think I might be parched."

"Well then. maybe I should get us some drinks." Moxy reached out, tugging on one of Tommy's curls, "What do you boys drink?"

[Alexander Riggs]

Wow way to be subtle, Alex nearly rolled his eyes. At least it seemed to be working on the blonde, and the two who were very obviously sisters didn't seem to mind either. Sometimes, he was astounded at what some girls would fall for.

Gabby, on the other hand, seemed irritated. This one was his. He leaned towards her, shaking his head in embarrassed amusement. "He does this every fikin time. Sometimes I pretend I don't know him, but for real."

He glanced back over at them as Moxy was actually offering drinks. Apparently it had worked. He had a moment of thought, knowing they'd come with the intention of getting girls to buy them drinks. But he realized that blatantly accepting one in this situation would likely impress Gabby even less. Alright, a little reverse psychology then.

He shook his head, waving her off a little and making sure his voice was sincere instead of the overly fake tone involved with the magic trick. "Nah, don't worry about me. It was this guy's 'vision', not mine. I'm just here for the music." Cue awkward smile-shrug, aaaaand wait...

[Tommy]

Alex stepped up and did his role admirably, being the long-suffering friend to Tommy's wildcard. Tommy let him do his thing, knowing that Alex would charm Gabby in a heartbeat. And Tommy would keep on being dumb and jovial. He leaned a bit forward so Moxy could keep playing with his hair, "The Magnificent Tommy will drink anything, but he does have a weakness for anything using Kahlua."

"You're going to let me pick your drink? You're a brave man." Moxy grinned, and were Tommy a cartoon character, big hearts would have been floating around his head. "Fine. But you have to help me carry them."

"Oh I'll help you carry anything." Tommy said, and followed Moxy to the bar, blatantly flashing Alex a thumbs-up. Gabby just shook her, and as Tommy hurried after Moxy, he heard her say to Alex, "You should really get better friends. What a pig."

Tommy was so intent on following Moxy that he didn't notice the familiar face in the crowd, and didn't warn Alex. He only had eyes for Moxy's backside, and her lovely long blonde hair.

[SYN+ACK]

SYN+ACK was working the crowd. Big public events like these were the best place to pull e-scams. The bar was usually electronic scanners to take money off of people's cards. It wasn't the most secure network, and SYN+ACK had hacked into it in less than two minutes. Right now, her little machine was piggybacking on the back of every electronic transaction, adding one credit to anything over 5 credits. The bar's tabs would say they'd broken even, and the people would wake up tomorrow and not be sure how much they'd spent, and be unable to know for sure if they'd been ripped off or not. And SYN+ACK would have more than enough money to keep living life the way she wanted.

She was checking on her total when she spotted someone walk by that made her look up. SYN+ACK didn't like recognizing people, because that meant they might recognize her. But it was Tommy, that harmless stoner roommate of Alex's, who was following some built chick like she had him on a leash. Looks like he'd turned out to watch the music. And if he had come out...

SYN+ACK excitedly pushed through the crowd, looking around. There Alex was, hitting on some girl with dark hair. SYN+ACK had to hide her grin, quickly assessing the situation. It was crowded and busy. Even if Alex started yelling for the police, she could kick up a ruckus and get somebody to help her, and then make a break for it. There were plenty of exits, and plenty of people to lose Alex in.

She did a quick once-over to make sure she was dressed up right. And then she walked over Alex and the girls, heading in behind him. She could hear him say something to the brunette, who actually gave Alex a smile. "-not so bad, I guess." SYN+ACK only heard part of the girl's response. And before Alex could say anything, SYN+ACK tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, and she slapped him hard.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Years of scamming had made her able to drop into character in only a few seconds. Her characters was Upset Girlfriend, and Alex had been put into the role of Sleezy Boyfriend, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! I THOUGH YOU'D BEEN HURT OR SOMETHING AWFUL, BUT NO, YOU'RE AT A CONCERT, FLIRTING WITH GIRLS! I HAD TO LEAVE OUR BABY WITH THE NEIGHBORS!"

The brunette and the other girls standing nearby looked at Alex in a completely different fashion. SYN+ACK kept up the performance while the brunette spoke, "You have a baby?!"

[Alexander Riggs]

"Yeah.. that's what happens when you don't pick your roommates, I guess," Alex shrugged, turning back to the others after watching Tommy and Moxy wander off. "In his defence though, he's more of a were-koala, rather than a pig."

He was about to respond to Gabby's next comment, when out of nowhere he felt a tap on his shoulder. And then, surprisingly, a slap on the face. He blinked, rubbing his face as he tried to figure out what was going on as he was suddenly being yelled at.

Her. It was her. What the hell??

"You--" He nearly tackled her to the ground before realizing he was being watched by the other girls. Not to mention the attention it would gain from the rest of the crowds. He glanced over at Gabby. "No I don't have a baby. I barely even know this girl!"

[SYN+ACK]

SYN+ACK burst into tears. It was really remarkable. She had spent hours practicing this in an assortment of hotel rooms around Terra. Most actors picked some sad memory to focus on. But she didn’t have sad memories, or at least, nothing worth crying over. So instead, she always thought really really hard about losing all her data in a Network crash and presto, instant tears.

“Alexander Riggs, I wish I’d never met you!” SYN+ACK sobbed and punched Alex in the shoulder, making sure that it looked weak and girly, even if it did actually hurt him a little. “I was going to be a dancer! Now I’ve got a baby, and you’re always out with that deadbeat Tommy, and I have to stay home and hope that you’ll come home to me, but you never do!”

She turned to the girl Alex had been hitting on, still weeping profusely, “He always says he’s a good guy, but he’s not a good guy! He’s not a good guy at all!”

The girl looked at SYN+ACK, and at Alex, and threw her arms up in the air, “I’m out. I didn’t come here to get roped into someone else’s drama.” And she walked off, taking the other girls with her. SYN+ACK kept up the weeping until she was out of hearing range, and immediately switched off the water works, “Man I’m thirsty now. That takes a lot out of a girl.”

[Alexander Riggs]

She punched him in the shoulder and he nearly reacted with a punch of his own, gritting his teeth as she went on and on about nonsense that didn't exist. There wasn't even any point in protesting any more. Girls would always side with fellow girls, even if the fellow girls in question were lying through their fiking teeth.

He couldn't believe it as they finally ditched him, and the chick from the bar's face completely changed. What was this girl's problem?? He scowled at her, turning away. "If you're so thirsty, go steal some other guy's livelihood, you crazy bitch." He was going to find Tommy and get the hell out of here.

[SYN+ACK]

“Goodness, how did you guess I was a crazy bitch?” SYN+ACK refused to be intimidated by Alex. After all, she had the advantage here. The worse he could do was maybe try hit her. As long as she still had working hands at the end, she could destroy him with a few keystrokes, “And I’m already making a tidy profit off this crowd. Protip: never pay electronically at these events or any event where the promoters don’t give a crap about good security systems! And they never do!”

She finished cleaning off her face, completing her transformation back into her usual bouncy self. SYN+ACK resisted the urge to start dancing around, especially since Alex was already on a short fuse, “Don’t be so sulky! You nearly got me arrested! Do you know how long it’s been since anybody tried to call the cops on me? I was so pissed! I was going to just destroy your life at first. You know, empty the bank accounts, get you fired or deported, maybe wreck up your family’s lives too. But then I saw your records and wow!” SYN+ACK grinned at him, the sort of smile she reserved for people who she actually respected. There was almost no one who ever got to see it, except maybe a few of the better hackers.

“I’ve never met a real arsonist! Why’d you do it? Do you just like watching things burn, or is it one of those weird sexual things?” SYN+ACK took Alex’s arm, yanking him towards the bar, “Do you still even drink, or did you give that up when you decided to become laaaame and go straight?”