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Claudia Donovan (clauds) wrote in makebelievelog,
@ 2013-05-12 01:48:00

Entry tags:

claudia donovan, h.g. wells

Who: Claudia Donovan and H.G. Wells
What: Laser Tag 101 ~~and H.G. in a kind of eh mood~~
When: (backdated) Saturday, May 11th, 2013
Where: Claudia's rooms
Rating/Warnings: Probably very low
Status: Closed/Incomplete

Claudia knew that Christina's birthday was coming up. Claudia was a techie with a good deal at her fingertips. This included the ability to screencap things on their show or, better, go into the Wikipedia and poke around if she didn't have access to it already through her laptop and what files were stored on there.

But that was all the more reason to take a day to give H.G. a "Laser Tag 101" lesson. Claudia had picked several YouTube video clips to show her, had digital and printed photos (and a laser pointer) at the ready, as well as "stickynote tape" that could be used to effectively stick up any of the printed photos. She had a few that she wanted printed out and stuck up for effect when she addressed them.

And there was also cute lil' Dee, Elena's kitten/cat (Claudia didn't know what age the distinction was made at nor how old Dee was) and Roan. The two pets were fairly well behaved, even when she and Elena were out. They had taken to rooming together probably as well as she and Elena had. Roan didn't mind being used as a cat bed, at least thus far.

And, maybe a little, Claudia needed to spend some time with H.G. too. The focus was primarily distraction and amusement for H.G., but Claudia really did like spending time with her and Claudia had been down socially as of late between Jensen's departure and the notable silence between her and Myka. Really, Claudia had been experiencing an opportunity to get to know the Victorian woman like she never had before at home and, really, it was kind of nice. Weird, but most things were weird in her life. And Claudia would take weird with a shot of distracting H.G. over weird and bored, doing nothing.

When there was a knocking at the door, Claudia didn't go over to get it. Instead, she called, "It's open. C'mon in." and continued to stand there and fuss with getting the sticky note tape to unwrap. It was at the start of the roll and, for reasons she had yet to figure out, the tape didn't want to cooperate and rip-off at the marked line where it went from a "protective layer" of one-sided tape to the actual double-sided stuff. Claudia was, indeed, a tech genius having problems with a roll of tape.

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clauds
2013-05-15 05:08 am UTC (link)

Claudia would've made a cat joke, had she noticed H.G.'s fascination with the laser pointer. It was likely for the best that Claudia was preoccupied with making circles with the laser, herself, around the various targets.

"Yep! And various places have various targets, like I said. Some smaller, some bigger. Some worth more points, some worth less. They'll explain their specific vests once I pick a laser arena and we go in to get suited up." Claudia explained with a small nod. "Some arenas also have targets within the actual arena. I've yet to decide if we should book one of those types of arenas or make it so it's just moving targets. I almost think - just people would be easier."

After a moment, she held the laser pointer up. (It was turned off.) "Now, lasers like this, even the laser tag guns, people don't point at other people's eyes. Even if harmless, you point at the vest. Eyes are just a general - no. Because lasers, even low power, don't mix with eyes. That's why I took the laser out of the CD player I gave you to take apart. Well, that and because I wanted to play with it."

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indelibleink
2013-05-15 05:39 am UTC (link)

It was for the best that Claudia hadn't noticed Helena's fascination with the laser pointer and thus didn't make a cat joke. The Victorian woman was already certain Claudia would make cat jokes at her for the rest of their lives, so one less she had to deal with was good for her.

The variance in both the size and number of targets was a bit unexpected. So there was certainly need to make adjustments upon seeing the vests of whatever arena they would end up going to. But then there was talk about targets other than people. "While I would normally say something along the lines of where is the enjoyment in only having people be the targets, it may be easiest for those of us who have not played laser tag before. Though in the arenas when people are the only targets, is there some type of terrain that can be used to provide cover? Otherwise it seems a bit silly to just have people running about without some sort of tactics other than frontal assaults taking place."

"Are you telling me that because you think I would underhandedly shine a laser in an opponent's eyes, or are you simply relaying the etiquette?" Even knowing the lasers were harmless, Helena wasn't exactly going to shining them into other people's eyes. In this case, she did like the fair fight.

"Can I just make the comment that the fact the game of laser tag takes place in an arena almost makes it sound like gladiator games in ancient Rome? Only without blood and death, obviously."

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clauds
2013-05-15 07:51 pm UTC (link)

"There is terrain. The arenas vary, like I said. Mostly, I'm trying to decide what arena is best. My current favorite is-" Claudia reached for her computer and picked it up, swapping tabs around and pulling one up onto the computer screen with a few clicks of computer keys. The screen showed a jungle themed layout of "King Solomon's Ruins" that seemed completely inaccurate with any idea of the Biblical Solomon. "It has multi-level, fog, black lights, and creative decorations. It's 7,500 square feet of playing area. Normally for a bigger group than ours, but since there's a Jedi, a few Warehouse agents, a former Secret Service agent, some zombie-survivors, and so on and so forth... it seems like we'll need more space, to me. We can private-rent the place, so it's not like we have to worry about little kids underfoot. It's just a question of deciding on the right weekend and getting the teams secured down so that the deposit doesn't get lost." Because even if the fairly highly-paid Claudia covered most or all of it, she didn't want to pay for no reason.

"It really does sound Roman, only without the whole 'we who are about to die solute you!' doesn't it?" Claudia asked after a pause, smirking a bit.

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indelibleink
2013-05-15 10:47 pm UTC (link)

Looking at the arena that Claudia pulled up, Helena studied the pictures as she explained. It certainly wasn't anywhere near being biblically accurate to King Solomon, but Helena wasn't about to point it out. She simply took it for the entertainment factor that it was obviously being presented as. "Perhaps the larger arena would be best for our group. It does seem as though many who are used to tactical fighting are involved. So I think it would suit us best to have the larger area. We simply cannot have the Jedi feeling constricted, it wouldn't exactly be fair to beat him when he wasn't able to operate to his full ability within the rules." Helena smirked a bit, still highly confident that they could and would beat Anakin's team. "We are going to make certain he does not use his Force abilities unfairly, correct?" Because that would just be cheating when not everyone playing had the same abilities he did.

"That it does. Though given the level of competitiveness we have in those who have expressed interest in playing, there might be some level of blood and hurt ego involved." But again, Helena was still confident her and Claudia's team would come out the victors.

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clauds
2013-05-16 09:02 pm UTC (link)

"There's no way to make sure he doesn't use the Force, but he's said he won't. So - here's to hoping that he sticks to his word. And, if he doesn't, we'll just have to have a few tricks ready to even the playing field." Claudia smirked right back, fully intending to consider retaliation if Anakin did slip and use the Force.

A few more key taps and Claudia had a strategy page up. "And here we have an entire page written by a laser tag lover who covered nearly every angle of it. Shall we begin with the reading and discussion?"

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