maskormenacelogs | [Open] Video Game Upgrades 2.0

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[Open] Video Game Upgrades 2.0

WHO: Bart Allen and YOU!!
WHERE: Alfred's Arcade Adventures in Heropa
WHEN: Late February
WHAT: Setting high scores, bragging, heckling, whatever floats your boat
WARNINGS: The princess is in another castle!

Despite the ongoing war for supremacy that pasted itself in alternating names on the high score tables of everything from Centipede to the latest new cabinet in pride-of-place at the entrance, another one of those games featuring imPorts, Bart loves Alfred's. It's the perfect blend of nostalgia and noise, and even his fans tend to be as interested in watching him crush games as asking off-the-wall questions.

Besides, the owner is amazing and sometimes slips him extra tokens in appreciation for the free publicity.

Currently, he's just chilling, enjoying yet another variant on Bubble Bobble, letting the slowish pace and easy physics become a rhythm of its own. But it's hard to notice when he's being watched, even if he doesn't actually take his eyes off the screen.

"You want this one? Otherwise I might be a while," he asks, apologetically. It's like ten more levels before he should be in range of his score target. Timothy Drake, you're going back to number two, he thinks.

The war is only half the fun, if that.

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"I don't know," Tim says from just over his left shoulder. "I figure if I distract you enough now, I might get to keep my high score."

His approach is completely breaking the rules of their rivalry, where they studiously refuse to acknowledge each other as they systematically take down each others' high scores. By now (and especially after the six years that didn't happen in that other city), Tim knows that Bart could absolutely destroy any score on any of the machines at Alfred's, but that would ruin the fun of it. Maybe it's actually harder to not be as good as you know you are. Tim knows he's felt like that sometimes.

Anyway, it's hard to ignore Bart now when they were--kind of--friends in that other place. Maybe they'll be friends here. Maybe not. but he can't just pretend he's not there.

"You might, but it ruins the challenge of actually setting a score you should be able to beat on your own," Bart said. While it isn't hard to die and leave a decent score, it's still tricky to get one, as well as not going too far beyond the prior benchmark.

"Got a few more levels before I'm even on the board."

It's funny, because he can't really remember why he started doing this or what purpose it serves, other than a way to do something that involves Tim that doesn't leave him wishing he was a different Tim entirely. And after that time in the city.

"You okay? After everything?" This time he does glance over his shoulder at Tim, while a combo chain clears three quarters of the screen.

"I guess I should wait to try to distract you, then." Bart has a point, though. It's no fun to try to beat his score if it isn't a challenge.

He lets Bart see him shrug before he turns back to his game. "Fine, I guess. Nice combo. How much of it do you think was really real?" It's an idea he's been wrestling with on his own. He doesn't want to bother anyone else with the thought, but in some ways it's a little easier to talk to Bart. They weren't really friends before. He doesn't know if they're friends now. But they know each other, and they were friends in that other place. Maybe that counts for something.

"You're probably talking to the wrong guy if you want a straight answer. That place seemed as real as this one. But I've also been in the position of remembering events going a way that got changed by actions people took affecting the timeline. And those feel just as real, too, even though they didn't really happen the way I remember." Even as he speaks, his focus on the game isn't horribly affected. One or two missed shots as he tries to find the right way to talk about it.

"They're people we could be, decisions we might make. Have made, on one level. I know that me let a good number of people get hurt because he couldn't always manage to bumble his way into saving them. The long-term mission was more important."

"I dunno if I want a straight answer as much as I just want to bounce ideas off someone. I'm not the guy in the family that goes all over the multiverse, so this whole thing is new to me, and that was something else." But he considers Bart's words for a few moments while the lights and electronic sound effects from the game fill the space around them.

"How are you doing?"

"The problem with having a perfect memory is that you get a lot of practice in not thinking about stuff you don't want to deal with. That wasn't the worst thing I've done," he said, not too loud. "I knew I could be the double agent because I met another me in a future I hope never happens that was doing almost the same thing."

And he really doesn't want to say more, because this isn't that Tim, and Kon would never consider Lex a role model.

"You can just treat it like a bad dream. Or you can let it change you. But remember that decisions that seem right in the moment are still defined by those moments."

Tim waves a hand almost dismissively. "I don't know. I'm not that disturbed by that other me. I can see who he was and how he got there. I had his memories. It's easy to see how I would have gone from the person I was when I arrived to the person I was when we turned up over there. I'm not sure how different he was from me now." He pauses, then makes a face. "Well. He was taller."

"Lil' bit, yeah," Bart says, to the taller bit. Apparently one thing about Tim Drakes is they stay short.

"You were still a good person." He wasn't sure he'd managed as well. Not with the number of folks he'd sacrificed along the way to stay where he'd been.

"Having to make hard choices doesn't make you a bad person," Tim points out. "If it did, I think we'd all kind of suck by now."

"Decisions I made got people killed. It doesn't exactly feel like things good people do." And while it wasn't the first time he'd made those kinds of choices, it still wasn't what he liked to think about.

The whole conversation has him slightly distracted, and with a loud clash of sound, the game announces his failure. He sighs, turning to lean against it and look at Tim.

"Sorry about that." Tim nods to the game behind Bart, and smirks a little. "But not that sorry." His tone is teasing, but the game isn't actually what's important right now.

"It sucks," he agrees. "But sometimes even good guys have to make tough choices. In any case, I think that other me wouldn't have been friends with you if you had been a total jerk."

"I think you like wasting my quarters," Bart retorted.

He shrugs a little at the real comment, shaking his head slightly. "You never talked to his coworkers. That me was a total space-cadet if you asked them. Always staring off, late to meetings, not exactly the guy you wanted in charge of things," he said. Although most of that was an act, or at least, the distractedness had more to do with mentally juggling how to get the information he was being handed out to the right people quickly enough, and other things like that. "Not quite the good little soldier, but...well. That place wasn't anywhere to play the safe bets."

Tim frowns a little. He knows he'd been lucky. The person he was in the other city wasn't a whole lot different than the person he is now. Sure, he'd been older and taller--something he's happy to joke about--but aside from a few issues that he'll never ever take up with an actual therapist, that other him had been pretty recognizable.

"No, I know. That other you mentioned enough to that other me... I've never been too bad at reading between the lines. I know it sucked for you. That level of undercover is really hard."

"Well, having total recall means you know exactly which lies you told who," Bart said, smirking weakly. "It kinda helps. And not being afraid of looking like a total moron."

Well, he'd meant more emotionally difficult than technically difficult--though it had definitely been that too. Still, they're new to this whole "might be friends" thing, so Big Emotional Conversations are sort of beyond that level.

Tim smirks a little in return. "Hmm. Perfect recall and not afraid of looking like an idiot. ...Drama kid?"

"Raised by a virtual environment that let me be anything I wanted to be. I'd never even met a drama kid before..." he trails of, because of course the person he's thinking of is Tim. Who wasn't really, but he sure did go method when he was undercover.

The particular quality of trailing off voice, combined with Bart's expression give him the idea that the drama kid he might be talking about has a name that sounds like Tim.

"Seriously? Like, stage makeup and enter stage left and all that?" He can't see it. It's too weird.

"And 'virtual environment?' What's that about?"

"I don't think he ever actually did it on stage, but he sure pulled a hell of an act when we had that reality TV crew hanging about. His dad wouldn't have approved of the publicity," Bart said, grinning at the memory. Mister Sarcastic had definitely been...something.

"It was the only way to keep up with a kid who literally didn't know how to slow down. I was born fast."

Tim's jaw actually drops. "Reality... TV..." Yeah, he can just bet Bruce would have had a problem with that. (Because of course they must be talking about Bruce. Surely Tim would have no other Dad if he was Robin...) "I bet that was something. How did he not get, like, bars across his bedroom door to keep him from participating?"

Born fast, which--in speedster talk--probably means light speed. "Yikes."

"Because it wouldn't be the first time he pulled one over on Bruce? I think the terms were that nobody be able to connect him with Gotham or his nighttime activities, which pretty much had been there since he first joined the team," Bart said, considering. "I've met him in other guises, and it's always a little creepy to realize just who that was."

He shrugs. "At the time, I didn't know anything else. It's only been since getting out that I realized just how messed up things were."

"Yeah?" He grins a little. "I guess I need to step up my theater kid game."

He nods a little at Bart's explanation. "Well, when that's all you know, I guess that would make sense. I bet that was an adjustment for you." He can only imagine. The shock must have been unbelievable.

"It's easy enough to relate to. That world had a reset button." And just imagine how that shapes one's way of thinking. "It took me a while to really understand that nobody was keeping score and extra lives weren't readily available."

"Heck of a culture shock," Tim agrees. "Though I guess things might be more fun if we kept track of high scores. Like in here." He nods to the arcade around them. "Maybe there would be bonus points for style."

"But then you'd have to wonder how badly some people are doing," Bart said, thinking of a few of Dick's fashion choices. "I mean, Alfred is clearly kicking everyone's collective butts."

The best way to Tim's heart--flatter the people he cares about. "Well, obviously, and he wins at life in general, full stop. But it'd be nice to know by how much people are winning and losing."

"But who's going to tell Dick he's last?" Because Bart definitely isn't that brave.

Tim snickers. "I volunteer. Gladly and with joy in my heart. It's practically my duty."

"I really hope I'll be around to see the souvenir video." Because while he'd like to be a fly on that wall, he'd want to do it from a safe and secure distance.

"I'll give you a preview." He schools his face into solemnity and reaches out to put a hand on Bart's shoulder. "Dick. I hate to tell you this, but we all voted, and you're losing at style points. It's the ponytail. It's gotta go."

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[Open] Video Game Upgrades 2.0

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