George Washington Masonic Memorial- Alexandria, VA- Saturday night

[solo_sword]

Sometime after the cheer had been had and people had been appropriately soaked, there was a trip into Alexandria, and specifically a little monument. Which, yes, Jaina found pretty cool, even if she's used to seeing monuments. It wasn't stuck on top of another monument, to begin with. That automatically put it in the plus category.

"This is pretty impressive," she admitted. "And I'm not even entirely sure what it is."


[For ltcolkirk, and NFB for distance]

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

Since John couldn't tell her his shining moment of FH stealth, he went for the next best. "Well, my buddy and I used to sneak out and hustle pool on the weekends at my old school," John offered.

[solo_sword]

"Good use of it," she said. "What's pool?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"It's a game where you use geometry to hit balls into pockets with really big sticks," he said. Thinking better he added, "On a table."

[solo_sword]

"That's got to be really interesting when it goes wrong," she decided. "Sounds interesting. You any good?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm what they call a pool shark," John grinned proudly.

"Meaning I'm good, yes."

[solo_sword]

"I'd dare you to prove it, but I think I'd be a pretty easy mark," she said. "And now I know you're a pool shark, so that kind of ruins the surprise."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John laughed, "Well, I figured you knew that when I said I used to hustle pool."

[solo_sword]

"Maybe you got bad at it," she teased.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"It has been awhile," John admitted.

[solo_sword]

"Is it something you can do here? Or in Fandom, anyway?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I think I heard there's a pool hall in town," John was pretty sure he'd heard Fast Eddie's had a pool table, but he wasn't positive. "If not, it can't be difficult to find off the island."

[solo_sword]

"You should get back into it," she said encouragingly. "And then teach me so I can beat you." And that last part was said with a grin.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Hmm...teach you so you can beat me," John raised an eyebrow. "What would I get out of such a plan?"

[solo_sword]

She raised an eyebrow right back. "I don't know. Does anything come to mind?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John was impressed by her constant non-traditional return on their conversations. That didn't stop him from teasing and using air quotes. "You know, the proper reply would be more like, 'the satisfaction of teaching someone something new,' or whatever."

[solo_sword]

Jaina had to laugh at the use if air quotes, and said, "Okay, that's the proper reply. What's the real one?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"French fries," John said completely seriously. "I'll teach you how to beat me at pool for french fries."

[solo_sword]

"French fries," she repeated. "That... sounds easy enough. You're on."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Excellent," John liked this plan. "Whenever you're ready for your pool hall education, I'm there."

[solo_sword]

"Perfect," Jaina said. "I like your negotiating style, John."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Why thank you," John said. "It's been finely honed over the years for the purpose of food acquisition."

[solo_sword]

"A better reason than most people have, especially at such a young age," she said. Okay, she might have been partially serious about that.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

He snapped his fingers, "Darn, you mean I could've been negotiating for use of the family car - or spaceship?"

[solo_sword]

"Well, you seemed to really want those French fries. Who am I to deny you that?" Jaina said. "Unless you wanted to reopen negotiations."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"First I'd need to know if you currently possess a spaceship," John said. "Or a family car."