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[uncertainrelation]

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[originallutece]

Miss Everett is going to be putting on a fashion show soon.

[Hello to you too, Robert.]

[uncertainrelation]

In civilized countries, we begin with a preamble of "hello", my dearest Rosalind.

[originallutece]

You began one of your recent texts to me with a poem, so don't start getting fussy. Do you want to hear what I've got to say or not?

[uncertainrelation]

The sending of a poem is a bird of a completely different feather. YOU simply delivered the meat of the news without even a salutation for introduction.

And the answer is yes, naturally I'll escort you.

[originallutece]

No. You shan't.

[uncertainrelation]

...I beg your pardon?

[originallutece]

If you'd let me continue, I would have told you that you aren't going to be escorting me anywhere, because I'm going to be in said show.

[uncertainrelation]

...

You're what?

[originallutece]

She needs--

[There's a long few seconds where Rosalind tries and fails to come up with a proper synonym.]

--models for her dresses. Naturally I owe her a great many favors, given how often I commission her, so . . .

[uncertainrelation]

So you...offered yourself up, as a volunteer?

[originallutece]

She asked. I merely acquiesced. There's a rather large difference, and I'll thank you to notice it.

[uncertainrelation]

The significance of the difference being...?

[originallutece]

Volunteering suggests I was eager for it, and all it entails: dressing up and, and doing one's hair and the like. I'm merely doing this as a way to repay her.

[originallutece]

[Well. This is a fair sight better than jukeboxes, she must say.

Really, she ought to be celebrating. The return of her powers (even in such a limited form) is a success, but Rosalind can't help but be wary at this new gift. Surely it's only a matter of time before the city takes it away; surely there's some kind of price tag attached. And yet while the former is inevitable, the latter hasn't yet made itself known: Rosalind's spent the entire morning zipping about the house, to no ill effect.

So. It's high time they tried elsewhere, with more factors to manipulate.

The park is a place full of rather regrettable memories for her right now, but it's a wide-open space with plenty of room to err. Rosalind shifts her weight, glancing about.]

You can't cheat simply because you've a larger range than I do.

[uncertainrelation]

And how precisely would I be cheating?

[Okay, well, this business of Rosalind's returned powers is decidedly strange, but by the same token, one does not look a gift horse in the mouth. One takes it outside and experiments on it until one understands everything about it. Science!

He can see, though, how fidgety she is out here, and given the locale and what he's heard about her history with it, it's not as though he can't perfectly understand why. So he instinctively moves behind her a step, bringing his hands to rest lightly on her upper arms, and rubs them soothingly up and down to try to help pacify her skittishness.]

Cheating implies a breach of the rules, and as far as I recall, there aren't any to this game, save the obvious.

[originallutece]

All right: don't take advantage and win simply because you've the superior power right now.

[She leans back, pressing lightly against him, soothed despite herself.

It isn't as if her powers suddenly nullify his own, she tells herself. If anything happens, he'll gather her up and they'll be spirited away, quick as anything.]

The range seems to be about fifteen feet or so; you can't zip around beyond that, or there'll be no point in playing.

[uncertainrelation]

I would never take advantage of you, my dear. Perish the thought.

[And since she's right there, and this is perfectly natural, he presses a kiss against the side of her head, into her hair, as he gives her a squeeze.]

So you'll zip and I'll zap, and may the best R. Lutece win?

[originallutece]

[Oh, he's-- oh, and a little smile appears, just like that. Rosalind lingers in his arms for a long few seconds before simply--

It isn't effortless. Rosalind has to orient herself and think of where she wants to go, but the entire process only takes a moment. There, just like that, and suddenly she's a few yards away, smiling over at him.]

Precisely so. Come on, then.

[And oh, there she goes: heading west, her form flashing and barely visible, racing away as quickly as she can.]

[uncertainrelation]

[Strange, that. He can tell from watching her that what she's doing isn't precisely the same as his own experience somehow — as though in a way she's traveling whereas he simply moves from point to point in space — but the sight of her smile is compelling enough that he has no reason to linger on those technicalities just yet, and so he files them away in favor of zipping off after her, keeping to their agreed-upon five-meter rule by leapfrogging to all the same points in space that he's been seeing her appearing and disappearing.]

Are you quite enjoying yourself, then?

[He calls after her, as though they are on a stormy sea in a rowboat instead of dashing west through the forests and clearings of the park.]

[originallutece]

A fair bit more now that I know you're not going to cheat.

[Which is mostly said to annoy him with the imprecision of the word. Rosalind keeps moving, and now she's getting the hang of it: she appears and disappears at a far faster rate, visible for only half a second before vanishing and appearing elsewhere.

It isn't effortless. She's panting even now, her heart pounding hard as her body tries to cope with the sudden exertion she's putting it through. She's not going to be able to last, and that's as fascinating as it is irritating.

So. Best to make these last few minutes count, right? He's following her with eerie precision, appearing and disappearing in all the same spots she has. And as they've already established she can keep up and outpace him long distances . . .

Hm. How fast is she, exactly, compared to him?

It happens in an instant, too quick to comprehend: she vanishes from one place, reappears in another, and then forces herself back precisely the way she came, standing only an inch or so away from where she'd first been. He ought to be here in an instant, only a few inches away-- unless, of course, his reflexes are quicker, and he knows to dodge her.]

[uncertainrelation]

[And naturally, as Rosalind is without a doubt the cleverer of the pair, her trap unfolds precisely the way she thinks it's going to: Robert is a few leaps behind her still, and focused enough on following her trail that he's not really paying huge amounts of conscious attention to where they're going; he's simply in a rhythm of there, there, there, which brings him automatically along the chained path of her last known theres, which in this case happens to put him just inches away from her reach right about at the same time that she reappears herself.]

— What!

[HOLD UP WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE]

[originallutece]

Hello.

[She looks far too smug for someone who managed to play a simple trick.]

Now, do you think that was because my reflexes are inherently faster than yours, or because you simply weren't paying attention?

[uncertainrelation]

[Well, he can't very well just let her stand there and not make a grab for her, now can he? Let's see if he can get his arms around her waist and scoop her up into a hold.]

You're asking me to concede to carelessness.

[originallutece]

You're going to have to be honest if we're to study this properly.

[Not that she's making any efforts to pull away right now. Rosalind's back arches, her fingers smoothing idly over his suit coat. She'll linger just long enough to catch her breath, she decides, and relaxes more fully against him.]

Now: were you paying attention?

[uncertainrelation]

Only to your trajectory. I see the error of my ways; naturally I should have been paying attention to you.

[DOCTOR LUTECE I SEE THAT DOUBLE ENTENDRE YOU JUST DID THERE]

Shall I remedy that error now?