12131/Dance Dance Archivist

Dance Dance Archivist
Date of Scene:	23 July 2022
Location:	A boardwalk arcade
Synopsis:	On the evening before their next big encounter, Cael and Jon go to a museum, argue with museum guards - and then shameless compete with each other at an arcade.
Cast of Characters:	Cael Becker, Jonathan Sims

---

Cael Becker has posed:
    The pair step out from the door Jon opened out onto the Boardwalk, with Bear trotting at Cael's side wearing his brightly colored service dog vest. A brief glance around results in a nod of satisfaction as Cael remarks, "We're not far off - it's only a couple blocks that way," she explains, nodding her head. Her arm is wrapped with Jon's before she adds, "Com'on. What game do you want to try first, Your Royal Godliness?" There's a playful lightness to her voice today. "Do you want to be destroyed at Daytona - or Dance Dance Revolution?"
     A few heads turn at their unusual arrive - there's even a few snapped pictures, and even a whisper of 'Archivist,' which Cael studiously ignores.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    They've spent a portion of the day wandering the MOMA and the Met, which Cael had to drag Jon out of after he nearly got into a shouting argument with a docent about mis-labeling of some of the artifacts in their ancient Egyptian collection, specifically from the Old Kingdom. Words like 'colonialism' and 'theft' may have been used, in a loud, vociferous voice. Jon may have still been a little drunk after some last-minute research in the Velvet Room. He /may/ have cast aspersions on the provenance of every artifact donated by colonial-era art dealers, and thus huge portions of the Met's collection. Cael /may/ have had to make soothing noises at security while dragging her boyfriend away.

    Whether or not he'll ever be allowed /back/ is a good question. Maybe Jon should not be allowed in museums with Egyptian artifacts in the future.

    Now, he flushes darkly at the whispers, which he can't help but notice, and says, "At least I know /how/ to dance. I never did learn to drive." He sighs and tucks Cael's arm in closer to himself. "Sorry about... everything today. I know you hate museums as it is."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Are you kidding me?" Cael asks - letting out a laugh. "You finally made museums fun! If only I'd thought to bring popcorn..." She mimes munching from an invisible bag, while giving on a playful nudge. What she //doesn't// mention is that she's pretty much positive multiple cellphone videos were taken, and they might already be going online. Will they go viral?
    ...who is she kidding, of course they'll go viral.
    "Dance Dance Revolution it is," she remarks. "Though. I'm not 100% sure you can call the racing games 'driving' - and I know y ou can't call Dance Dance Revolution actual 'dancing.'"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shrugs. "At least I know a little bit about the latter. I know /nothing/ about the former, except 'turn the wheel and the car goes this way.' I wouldn't know which pedals to push." He smirks over at Cael. "That's /your/ world. And I'm often as lost in it as you are in mine."

    They sigh as they continue down the boardwalk. "I always forget how much I miss these places, as ridiculous as they are. Boardwalks, I mean. Food and fun, and right next to the water. Annabelle and I used to hang around on the pier a lot, back home, making up ways to bother the tourists. Not that we ever /did/ anything but it was fun to imagine." A pause. "We never did go to the arcade. Granny wouldn't give me the pocket money for it after some kids beat me up and stole it."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "There are //two// pedals, Jon. //Two.// And if you're afraid to figure them out in a //video// game..." Cael gives Jon a playful nudge.
    "Alis and I went to Hurricane Harbor a few times." She takes a few steps before remarking, "We'd go to some of the more crowded parts of the park - and Alis was pretty good at lifting wallets. Or there'd always be someone foolish enough to leave a purse lying around, and you just casually pick it up and stroll off like you have all the right in the world to be doing so..." She smirks at Jon before adding, "For all the trouble you faced as a kid - I think youre childhood was a little more innocent than mine."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Annie probably would've lifted the wallets if I'd let her," Jon remarks. "But I was always afraid of getting in trouble. Did I ever tell you--well, no, I didn't remember until recently anyway. We became friends because... Annie's family were dirt-poor. Eight kids in a house that had two bedrooms, everyone was miserable. She spent as much time outside the house as she could, to get away from it. But everyone in school knew, you know? Kids know. Her clothes were ragged, she didn't always have enough to eat."

    He sighs. "Predictably... that got her picked on. One day I was trying to read a book, and these kids were harassing her, and I thought... I thought I'd be a big hero, you know? I walked right up to them and said 'you can't talk to people like that' and the ringleader said 'oh yeah says who' and I said 'says the Archivist'--I actually /did/ know Gran was 'the Archivist,' that's something else that got removed from my memories. She'd sat me and Sasha both down about it after Mum died, to let us know we had an important legacy."

    "The kid said that was a stupid codename." A pause. "So I punched him."

    Jon clears his throat, cheeks flushing. "Anyway, umm, me and Annie became friends after that, but Granny was always... well... I got in a /lot/ of trouble for punching the kid. And I don't think she liked that I made friends with the 'poor' girl, and brought her 'round, and asked Granny to feed her. I mean... she did, and she was perfectly polite to Annie, but I didn't want... well, lift wallets and maybe we get caught and maybe Granny says I can't be her friend anymore."

    A glance over. "But you're right, generally. It /was/ a lot more innocent than yours."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael's silent for a moment before remarking, "I mean - other than the seven siblings things... Sounds like maybe Annie and I would've had a lot in common. You know?" She knows that girl was Jon's friend. She knows she's probably become a monster. She was willing to look at whether or not there was anything left of her to save but- fuck. Did Jon have to go an //humanize// her like that, for her?
    Would there be anything left of her to save?
    "And I mean - that was the sort of stuff that was getting Alis sent to Juvie. And //that// was why we ran away together." And ended up with the Alhambras.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Maybe so," Jon says, then smirks at Cael. "Although... are you also a manipulative brat who'll lie and cheat to get her way? Gods, Annie drove me /crazy/ sometimes. She'd tell me things and I could never figure out if they were true or not. I understand why now, she had to develop survival skills in her /highly/ dysfunctional family, but..." He shakes his head.

    "I miss her," he says softly. "Even with all of that... I miss her. I've been missing her, and not even knowing it, for /years/. Imagine if someone had taken all your memories of Alis away. Imagine how... how /empty/ you would feel."

    A sniffle, and Jon glowers over toward the arcade coming into view. "Are you sure we shouldn't try a shooting game? I'm pretty good at shooting things." Wait, Jonathan Sims wants to /shoot/ things? Will wonders never cease?

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael's step actually falters for a moment at that thought. "God..." Forget Alis? That's- That's an utterly horrifying thought. She squeezes Jon's arm tighter as she murmurs quietly, "If there's anyway to save her, Jon..." But there might not be - and she knows that. She suspects they both know it.
    "First dancing, then shooting, then driving?" she suggests in an amused voice as they close in on their destination. "And we'll see what else we come up with. Alright?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon stops, right there on the Boardwalk, and looks down at Cael. "I don't know if I can give up on her, Cael. I--I'm afraid of facing her. I'm afraid she's too far gone. I might--I /might/ need a nudge, if you honestly think she is. I might need you to... pull a trigger, or hold me back so someone else can." He swallows. "Because the Annie I knew... she wouldn't want to try to unmake reality. She wouldn't want to try to hurt me and the people I love. Not on purpose. Even when I handed Agnes to her... taking my memories, I think it was so I wouldn't hurt. It was /wrong/, but she meant well. I think."

    He takes in a slow breath, then lets it out. "So just... just... I don't know. I trust you. Okay?" Then he leans down to kiss her, not caring who's watching. Let them snap pictures and take video.

    Pulling back, he smiles. "Dancing first, sure. I expect to be soundly beaten."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael returns the kiss - her heart aching for everything Jon must be feeling. To lose his oldest friend this way - to regrain the knowledge and the memories, knowing they might have to kill her...? "If there's a //safe// way to contain her while we try to take the time to find a way to save her... Then I'm all for it. But if we can't... if she's too much of a risk..." She lets out a heavy sigh.
    "I want to save her, Jon, but I promise you - I won't let her threaten you, or innocents, or the people you love... I won't let her bring down the world around her. Alright?" She lefts a hand to touch their cheek, a sad smile on her lips, before she leads the way into the arcade.
    "Thank God we don't have to do quarters anymore," Cael mutters as she puts in her credit card to put money on a payment card.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon twines his fingers with Cael's. "I've been trying to figure out what the point of all this is. The wild goose chase. Leading me to the chip shop, and leaving no other clues. /Why/? Hoping the spider would take me out? Hoping I'd take /her/ out? Hoping I'd do exactly what I did? It's driving me 'round the bend a bit."

    No, really? Sane and healthy people yell at museum docents /all/ the time, after all.

    "So I've never played this game before... how is it even... done?" He peers at the mat laid out in front of the screen. "You step on the places it tells you to?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I don't know, Jon," Cael answers sincerely, and with sympathy. "If there's still some part of her left then - maybe she is just trying to hurt and piss you off enough that you... stop her. Or, yeah, maybe she's trying to feed you to the Spider. Maybe she sees you as her biggest threat. I don't know."
    As they face the screen, Cael points at the preview images flying by. "Well - you see the arrows, yeah? It tells you where to step, and for how long. You have to get the beat right - time your step correctly so you can get the point. But usually it times up with beat of the music."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Hmmmm." Jon peers at the screen, then rolls his shoulders and neck and steps onto the mat. "I think I can do that. I'm not a great dancer, but I /do/ have rhythm." He's wearing a skirt today, his bronze one, but that shouldn't cause a problem.

    "Oh." They waggle the pink fingernails. "Gabby thinks I should get dark green. What do you think?" It's a definite segue away from talk about Annabelle. He doesn't want to talk about Annabelle too much more, at least not right now.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Honestly - better than the pink in my opinion, but- you put whatever color makes you happy," Cael answers simply. "There are many things in this world that bother me. Your fingernails are not one of them," she says with some amusement, slipping in her card to pay for both games. "You pick the first song. They're rated by difficulties," she points out simply, "And it should play you a little sample as you scroll over them."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I wanted your opinion. You /do/ have to live with the nail color I choose, after all. If I decided to get super-long mermaid nails you'd have to see them every day." Jon grins at her. "And I'd have to live with the /comments/ every day."

    He stares at the options on the screen. "I... don't know any of these songs," he says, with that slightly lost tone he gets when he's feeling overwhelmed. "Uhh..." With a frown, he selects one of the easier songs, that has a poppy beat, and shrugs. "Guess we'll see how this goes, hmm?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Have I commented on the pink even once?" Cael counters. I mean - sure, she raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes when she first saw them, and then left it a that. "What are //mermaid// nails, though?" She can't let //that// pass without at least asking.
    Then with a smirk of amusement she adds, "I wouldn't know any of these songs either if not for this game," she points out - getting on the dancing pad as the count down starts. Bear takes a seat beside the machine, tail wagging idly as he watches with his head slightly cocked. Moments later the song starts, and Cael starts stomping to the rhythm, jumping as she moves her feet into the correct positions on the pad, racking up combo after combo.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "An eyeroll screams /volumes/ to an empath, Cael," Jon replies with a smirk. "As for mermaid nails--shimmery colors in blues and purples and pinks. Sometimes with scales as nail art, sometimes just the colors. Agnes has been /begging/ me to let her get them, but I'm wary of her using gel polish, I'm not sure how that'd interact with the fire she creates. /And/ they cure it under UV light, so I'm worried about cancers, you know?" Can homo magi /get/ cancer?

    It takes Jon a moment to figure things out. He gets the rhythms down fast, but keeps putting the wrong foot on the wrong spot and making irritated noises. So by the end of the first round he's going to be behind Cael, if only because he can't rack up combos at first.

    A huff, and he says, "Okay, I think I've got the hang of this. Let's do another. I am /going/ to beat you at /something/." He grins at her.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Oh, yeah, I'd roll my eyes and then get over it," Cael huffs out, letting out a laugh. "But Jon - if you're not letting Agnes do it - you really can't! It's not like- ...drinking or whatever where there's an age limit! It's nail polish, for fuck's sake!"
    She calls encouragement over to Jon whenever she manages to spot a combo on their side of the screen - but she doesn't take her eyes away from her own screen too often. At least, not when the arrows are really flying. As they stop, she grins across at Jon adding, "That wasn't bad for your first time. You should see the drubbing I gave Agnes on her first game." Gesturing to Jon she adds, "Do you want to pick the next song, too? I want you to find the ones with a rhythm you can really get behind. You know?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I don't make fire from my hands!" Jon protests. "Anyway I don't know--not sure it's /me/, you know? I sort of miss the black." Of course he does. Beneath the cardigans and sweaters and pressed slacks of only a few months before was /always/ a repressed alt kid who secretly wanted to wear eyeliner and sit around listening to broody music. Now he can just /embrace/ that. It's that or soft, comfortable things in earthy tones, really.

    Jon ponders and then just picks the next song on the list, also an 'easy' song, eyes narrowing slightly in focus. Cael's attitude seems to have galvanized him. "Don't patronize me, Becker," he says, half-jokingly. "I will /wreck/ your score, just you watch."

    He /is/ doing better, picking up combos and moving with the rhythm. It helps that he's relaxed and let himself feel the music, instead of panicking at every mistake.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'm pretty sure you could make fire from your hands if you wanted to," Cael points out simply, crossing her arms over her chest as she smirks at him.
    "How about this. You beat my DDR score," yes, she says 'DDR,' "in the next five games - me, and you, and Agnes will go to a salon, and I'll let you both have my nails done however you like." How long will she leave them on, though? That she hasn't promised.
    She jumps into the next song easily, still keeping well ahead of Jon, but seeming genuinely pleased by their progress. "Great!" she calls over to them.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "And what do you get--if you beat me--hmm? Beyond the satisfaction--of beating an amateur?" It's only fair to ask! The offer, though, as silly as it is, spurs Jon onward, grinning a little as he starts to get more combos.

    "My fire doesn't burn anything I don't want it to. Agnes goes through unwarded gloves like tissue paper. It's a different thing entirely." They frown. "She's still learning to control it--sometimes I worry that--"

    They miss a crossover--a fairly simple one, really--and trip over their own feet, nearly falling off the game mat in the process. "Bloody hell! Ugh."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Once you get your first win over me - //then// we'll start talking about what I get if I shut you out!" Cael counters with a laugh. "Right now I get the pleasure of playing DDR with you." Which honestly - //is// all that she needs. She glances their way when they stumble, a momentary look of concern on her features. It causes her to lose her own combo streak, but she picks it up again quickly enough. It was a silly thing for her to be worrying about, really - Jon is //not// going to get seriously injured playing a video game.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "That's--that's enough? Really?" Jon peers over at Cael for a moment while he checks his ankle--it's fine, not even twisted--and then starts the next song. He refrains from speaking through this one, and does /much/ better, finding a groove and getting enough combos and streaks to potentially beat out Cael's score.

    "Much better," they say with satisfaction as the song ends. "But... did you mean that? Just... playing the game with me is good enough?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Why wouldn't it be?" Cael asks - letting out a laugh. Then Jon starts the next song without any preamble, and the few glances Cael risks towards Jon's screen are- impressive. Very impressive. The game is much closer than she expected, and at the end of it, she pulls Jon over towards her for a solid kiss. "You've been putting me on! You've played this before!" she accuses playfully, amusement reflectd in her eyes. She's a little breathless from the kiss, on the heels of multiple games back-to-back, but she's ready for more.
    "Yes, I mean it. I'm having fun. You are too, yeah?"
    She hops back over to her own pad, adding, "Come at me!"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I have not!" Jon protests. "I can't /lie/, Cael!" But he grins at her, returning the kiss, starting up another song, getting ready to dance--

    And he doesn't notice that his shoe's untied. He steps right on the lace, trips, stumbles, and this time /does/ fall off the game mat, very nearly hitting their head on the rear bar on the way down. They wind up in a crumpled heap on the floor for a moment, groaning and putting a hand to their head, shoulders shaking.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Jon?" Cael asks. There's concern in her voice - but only to a degree. The Archivist doesn't die playing Dance Dance Revolution - that's just not how the story goes. Bear, meanwhile, lets out a bark, and moves over towards Jon to sniff at him with curious worry. Bear even adds a few messy licks from his tongue.
    Abandoning her game, Cael offers Jon a hand up as she eyes him critically for any sign of injury that would put an end to their little bit. "You alright?" she asks. "I swear, if I get you hurt tonight - well. What would Agnes have to say about that?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon... is laughing. /Laughing/, and he takes Cael's hand and lets her pull him up, and sweeps her up for a kiss that gets a few people staring before he breaks away to tie his shoe.

    "Alright," they say, still laughing. "You win. I say we give up DDR as a lost cause, buy the game to play at home, and go shoot things. And then you can /wreck/ me at driving." Somehow, the falling off the mat has them in a better mood than they've been in days. Weeks, even.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Sure," Cael agrees with amusement. "Let's do that." She tucks herself in against Jon, all smiles. "And I still mean it. First time you beat me..." they, and Agnes, can get Cael's nails painted however the pair of them like.
    For her part, she's also relaxed and happy, just enjoying the moment while Bear wags his tail excitedly, and licks at Cael's hand.
    The mutt's just delighted to see both of his people happy.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon leans down to give Bear a pat and then turns his smile on the people staring. "Oh, like you've never seen people having a good time before. Shove off." Well, that'll probably be up on the internet shortly, too. Alas.

    They squeeze Cael tight against them and head over for one of the shooting type games. Not that there's much chance they'll beat Cael, but--there's hope, maybe. And it'll be fun, which is the point right now. To rest, and relax, before whatever happens tomorrow.