Reuben’s Billiards playing games

fit and since it's black and white the dice say the shirt is orange hues
after dark

---

For year and years, Alby had structured his life around feeding. His work days were geared toward it, his evenings off happened with blood in mind, and his free time was often spent in idle pursuit.

Now, though? Now that he could walk in daylight and go a week without eating? The fact that today was his day off, Safiya did not have need of him, and he had eaten just yesterday during his break at work... He was left with time. And surprisingly little desire to stay at home. The joy of a sleepless life, restlessness came easily.

He had not played billiards in some years. The advent of television and other idle entertainments had killed a lot of these pastimes. But in the seedier corners of the world where alcohol ruled and everyone was desperate for connection without obligation, you could find places like these.

Practicing on his own was fine and well. But he had the table and it seemed a waste. When he'd sunk enough balls to feel confident he wasn't a complete fool at this, he racked the pool balls back into their original triangle and cast his gaze to what seemed to be another loner.

"Fancy a game?"

---

if someone joins we don't have to play the game out move by move because i barely understand it but we can roll for VIBES

Fit

---

It felt wrong to visit a bar on her nights off, but Ana really didn’t know where else to go when the sun went down. There was the club, sure, but Ana didn’t feel the need to dance, and there was home, but she did not feel that she wanted to be left with her own thoughts.

And you didn’t get information by staying inside. You did not accomplish your goals when you allowed yourself to rot on either your bed or your couch.

And so she would drag herself out. Force herself to be social, and kind as she fished for any type of information that might be available to her.

No better informant than a drunkard… But it wouldn’t be a drunkard that called out to her. It would be a normal looking man with an offer of a game that Ana couldn’t seem to refuse. A raise of a brow as she placed her drink atop a nearby side table.

”Sure, I’m down.” Took one of the free pool stick into hand.

Good. Someone his 'age' more or less, for all he could not thing it that way. He simply acknowledged to that to her eyes he would not seem to be the thing he was, and should act accordingly. So his smile and his "Cool," was all for her benefit as she took up the offer seamlessly.

"You want to break, or shall I?"

A faint gesture at the table where the cue ball waited to scatter the rest.

How long had it been since she’d played pool? A year? Two? It was hard to say, but she figured that she could make as well a partner as any in this bar.

”I’ll start us off,” she answered easily, moving to position herself before the cue, pulled the stick back and-

Apparently it had been too long because the stick would pull too far left and she’d be left looking like a fool. Pressed her lips together with an embarrassed blink and would trudge forward as if that hadn’t happened at all.

Maybe if the man was polite he wouldn’t comment. If he was an ass… Well. :)

Second hit proved successful and the balls would scatter, a single orange stripe making its way into a pocket. ”Ana by the way.”

Hey, if she was going to ignore her error... so was he. A little graciousness now would go a long way later if he ran into any such similar issue. All in good fun, anyway, right? He smiled softly but did his best not to let her see any flicker of amusement in him. Especially as the second attempt went that much better.

"Alby. And it seems I am solids this game. Thanks for humoring me."

He pondered the layout of the table for a moment.

No laughter or snide comments went over well for Ana who had been prepared for such things. Relaxed all the more for it as she pulled away from the table and offed him full range for his turn.

No intentional or unintentional cheating on her end.

”Course’” she shrugged. ”Nothing better to do, and tons of time to kill so you’re actually helping me out here.”

"Helping each other out here," he added lightly. "But glad to be of service."

He eyed the field. Lots of things to play here. He decided to go for a fairly straightforward shot, seeing his chance to get a solid ball into a corner pocket without much in the way. Avoided the 8 ball entirely, since that would need to go in last if he had hope of winning.

Eyed the line, took the angle and hit the white ball, against the solid ball, right into the pocket in question.

It'd get trickier from here, no doubt.

---

1/7 sunk

Watched as he made his way around the table, eyeing the way that he held the stick and deciding that she would mimic the motion next time around.

She wouldn’t embarrass herself with a second fumble if she could help it.

”So pool your usual thing?” She question as her turn came back around. ”Or is tonight special?” A red went in with a soft click.

Moved and sunk a purple before sending a green careening into a corner.

---

3/7 (DO YOU COUNT FIRST BALL IDK)

"I don't know that I'd use the word 'special...'" he hummed, shaking his head lightly as she got a considerable lead. He was going to have to try harder.

"But it has been a while. I had some unexpected time to myself and haven't been out to make new friends in a while." A curious glance at her, to see how she'd take this. But it was his turn and he refocused...

Well, not super well. He managed to bounce one of his balls off a bumper to avoid a foul but all he did was rearrange the play area. Damn.

---

i say it def has to count, right?!! anyway... still 1/7 for him, oopsie

Not special but unique then.

Similar vibes in the end, and ones that she could understand. Tonight wasn’t necessarily special for her, but it definitely wasn’t something that she did often.

”Well, if you’re looking.” She hummed eyeing the table. ”I’m in need of a few too. New to town, so-“ Hit the green ball into the pocket this time.

A yellow would find itself clacking noisily into a solid.

---

4/7

He hadn't been doing much breathing other than for talking here, but that was enough to know she was psychic. It was the sort of moment that made him intensely glad that his appetite was very much elsewhere tonight. Nothing to be tempted by, not unless he started doing stupid things. Which he wouldn't--he knew how to measure himself against that. Years of resisting the natural allure of this blood he didn't want had gone a long way.

But it was still a fact, and one he needed to take into account.

"Winner takes the other's number?" he suggested with a little smile. She was beating him handily already. But maybe he could change that right now...

Maybe. He wasn't so sure as he realized that ther handful of stripes balls left on the table were very much in his way. He lined up to try and get past one to hit his own directly into a corner pocket--but oops, no, he hit hers first and it went bouncing off and his own... well, didn't matter.

"And here I am, granting you ball-in-hand."

Which meant she could put the cue ball anywhere she liked. Yay.

---

still 1/7, rip

A prize offered, and Ana couldn’t help but snort in response as he totally fumbled the play for a third time, brow raising in a light tease.

”Seems to me like you really don’t want to take my number.” She chuckled taking the ball as it was offered. ”I’m hurt.” Placed the cue ball off to the side, planned to take another two out as she had been doing previously and-

No go, cue ball clacked noisily against the intended target, but her aim was off and the yellow stripe would bounce noisily about the table.

”Just giving you a chance, of course.” A lie.

This time he did laugh, but it was companionable in its intention.

"Ohh, you might regret that."

And he meant it as a threat, but when his next attempt was also another whiff of an effort to get any of his balls anywhere worthwhile, all the solid green did was bounce off the bumper and eye him innocently.

So maybe she'd regret it because he wasn't going to take any good advantage of this at all.

"Did I mention it been a few years since I played last?"

Heh.

And she was prepared to feel regret…

Only it never came, and she had to press her lips tight together to suppress the laughter that wanted to burst from her lungs.

”You might have mentioned that,” she returned, a soft breath of laughter as she moved back towards the table.

And because she didn’t want the game to end too early, she would strike the cue against that same yellow and watch it bounce against the bumper back towards the middle.

”So if not pool, what do you normally do?”

Kind of her. He would do his best to not let her down. As he considered his next angle...

"I journal... garden. Read, sometimes? But I spend most of my time running the graveyard shift at a grocery store." And patrol my town, keeping an eye out for trouble... He trailed off for a moment, to take the shot he'd decided on.

And it was a good one! Managed to find a spot where he could chain reaction two balls into movement, and to his pure surprise and absolute luck, both went into pockets!

"Would you look at that! My pity points!"

---

3/7 finally

Journaling, she did this sometimes. Not often.

Gardening, never.

She did read though, a lot, or did. Not so much for pleasure anymore. Mostly research, but she enjoyed it all the same. Didn’t mind that she couldn’t so easily get lost into the words, not when it was making her personal goal all the more attainable.

A widening smile and the soft clap of her hands for his score, ”now it’s a game.” She praised taking her place before the table.

”Seems we both prefer the night life too,” she commented eyeing the yellow and fully intending to sink it this go around.

Found the cue entering the pocket instead and frowned for it. Giving Alby here more of a chance than intended, but this was fine.

---

4/7

"You take one graveyard shift one time and the next thing you know it's your whole life."

Said in soft humor as he claimed the cue ball for himself. Able to place it wherever, he decided to go for a shot that wouldn't embarrass him. Lined it up on a solid ball that had a clear path to a pocket, and let it loose.

One ball was certainly much better than none.

---

4/7

A soft chuckle of her own as she focused on the remaining balls upon the table. Determined to get the yellow now that it had evaded her twice now.

Couldn’t help but smirk as she watched it clatter into a hole, straightening as she moved to attempt another found bumped instead.

”At least graveyard tends to be quiet.” She offered as she attempted to map out where she might hit next.

---

5/7

"I do like the quiet. Is that what has you out later?" The irony of saying this in a fairly noisy pool hall was not lost on him, but he also didn't think this was a scene they would often find themselves in regardless.

His own shot? A hit to one of her set first, an unfortunate foul, especially as his own ball didn't even manage to go anywhere worthwhile.

All hers then, to put the cue where she wished. Really setting himself up for a bad time.

---

4/7 redux

It was a little ironic that she loved the quiet so much, especially when her power made it so much easier to create noise instead. A little ironic that it had taken her longer to master turning things down rather than up when she held the preferences she did.

But her world had been different then, and loud hadn’t been so bad. Now loud was a weapon, while quiet was a defense.

”Somewhat,” she answered honestly as she lined up her shot. ”Mostly just trying to get an idea of how things work around here.” One ball sank, it really was her game tonight.

”Get a layout of the town and stuff.”

---

6/7

"Admirable. You based out of Rice Bluff?"

He didn't know around here half as well as Hawknell or Alder, obviously, but it was certainly a place to start. And she seemed confident enough to get by here in a way a lot of people didn't. Though she remained very fortunate that the temptation of her blood was a background thought at best.

Lining up another shot, he managed to hit two balls. One sunk in corner pocket, the other came to rest just in front of a second pocket, though it didn't go in.

Better.

---

5/7

A shake of her head as she looked the table over.

”Nah, I got a place over in Valencia.” She corrected lining up her shot, ”ended up here by pure chance to be honest.” Served her well if she was being honest, especially when she’d ended up finding some company for the night.

Or at least a portion of it.

”This around where you live then? A hit of the cue, and Ana would find herself getting yet another foul.

---

6/7

"We're more neighbors than you'd think, then. I'm actually down in Alder Heights."

No harm in admitting it. He was a private man but thousands of people lived in that city.

With her foul he had an easy chance to line up the shot he'd been eying earlier, and sank the ball easily without messing up the cue himself. A light bow--the game was tied up. Each of them with one ball left on the table and the eight ball sitting darkly, watching them. Waiting for its time.

---

6/7

Oh yeah, she’d been over there.

Stabbed some shifter bitch and had been avoiding it since.

”Just be careful around there,” she called, taking her shot and sinking the final stripe into a pocket, ”met a few shifters out that way.”

And she did miss the eight, but her eyes were gauging for a reaction from the man that she hadn’t bothered checking tonight.

---

7/7 onto the 8

Oh well wasn't that news...

"Did you now? What sorts?"

Step up your pool game, Griffin, she was about to beat you.

Which he proceeded to not do, because he sank the ball he was after, sure, but the cue ball went in with it which meant they both came back out. Bah.

---

6/7

”Not sure, never saw the animal.” She answered unsure what to make of that reaction, but as he handed the ball over she would make a point of brushing a ring across a finger.

A casual move, but calculated as she again gauged for a reaction.

For him it was such a non-event that it didn't even occur to him that the slight brush of hands was intentional. He did not have a lifetime of looking out for silver, for all he knew quite well how it much a defense and weapon it was against the shifters.

"Fair. I'm always just a bit curious."

No reaction.

He was telling the truth then.

It was enough to have her relaxing once more, smile pulling more natural as she moved back towards the table.

"Be careuful, curiousity will get you infected." She warned as she placed the ball in the most optimal position, and sank the eight with a victorious grin.

"And it looks like that's game."

Ah yes, infected. The one shifter side effect he most certainly didn't need to worry about. Not that she needed to know that--he was not one to casually confess to what he was. Even if the times had changed in many ways, he had an old school sort of mind set. And no desire for any psychic pets.

A friend, however? Well...

"Suppose that means I owe you my number. If you're still interested?"

She placed the pole along the table, nodding her head in acceptance for her prize. Dude wasn’t a shifter, and she needed some connections in this new city.

People that she could pretend some normalcy with.

’Definitely am,” she answered pulling her phone out, and opening a new contact. ”And I’ll even be nice and send you a text so that you have mine.”