Ball And Socket [Completed]

[ttlynotblue.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Genie and Carpet
Content: Just two buddies catching up during an incredibly elaborate game of pool that Genie intends to win.
Setting: The Cheap Prayer [F5]
Time: Night
Warnings: None

The Cheap Prayer had not been his initial alternative, especially after careful evaluation of the crowd within it. Dark, dirty -not to be confused with stinky, for some people in the bar smelt surprisingly lovely-, and dangerous... He had tried, and rarely did judge a book, or individual, by their cover, but in this case could not help but feel skeptical of these people. They were a mysterious crowd, a lot of which looking as run down as the shack-like tavern themselves. Genie held his tongue, though. They seemed to mostly keep to themselves, and he was sure he and Carpet would be the same.

Now, you're probably wondering why the jinni would select such a shady place. For one, it already had a pool table. However, due to the little light provided by candles within the tavern, he deemed it upon himself to install a dim pool table lamp to shed more light onto the table. This was something he did not mind, though. Compared to the nightclub, 'The Wild Ginger' was a lot less distracting.

The stentorian music, the bright, blinding lights… Not to mention energetic crowd. His attention would have surely been focused on that around him apposed to that before him. Pool required concentration, careful calculation, and a watchful eye. He had to make sure Carpet didn’t cheat. –not that he expected him to; the rug appeared a natural at a majority of games. But just in case he did.

Patiently awaiting the enchanted rugs arrival, Genie carefully sanded his custom crafted pool cue. He had begun work on the cue shortly after his own arrival, and though he was no carpenter, it certainly did not look all that bad. What did was the great amount of sawdust he had left on the floor. Not to mention the amount of noise he had made while working with the power tools and other machinery he had summoned to craft the cue

Comments

[gimmesometassel.livejournal.com]

The Cheap Prayer.... The Cheap Prayer.... Oh, that must be it! It wasn't much to look at, was it? Carpet had probably overrun it twice before he'd figured out that he had pissed it--and that was because he had decided to fly closer to the streets and seen the sign, unmemorable as it was. Glad to have finally found the meeting place, Carpet pushed open the door and flew in, looking around; it wasn't much to look at on the inside, either.... He and Genie were probably really the only two spots of color in the place.

That, at least, made it very easy--as if it ever wasn't?--to find Genie; Carpet waved a tassel in cheerful greeting, raising a small cloud of sawdust as he zipped over. Wow, he hadn't known Genie did woodworking!

[ttlynotblue.livejournal.com]

Looking up from his work, Genie smiled excitedly as the sight of his friend. Snapped his fingers, he performed a thrust-forward double thumbs up as the legendary Fonz. "Aaaay! Rugman, long time no see, ay?" At this, he turned to a mirror and insured that his hair was properly slicked back before offering Carpet his hand to perform their secret handshake.

"Hope you didn't have a hard time finding the place," The djinn began, knocking the jukebox behind him with his elbow to get it working. "I passed the place a few times myself. Good thing we got those maps on those journals though, otherwise I wouldn't know WHERE I'm going. -remarkable little things, aren't they? To bad they aren't equip with internet, I really need to update my Facebook status. I've been thankful it's the weekend for three weeks!"

Pausing for a moment, he observed his surroundings. It was doubtful that the bars occupants appreciated the large quantity of sawdust he had left behind. “Maybe I should clean up a little while the stain dries.” He said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Alright boys, I want this place spick and span in ten or less!”

Producing a whistle from thin air, he blew into it to summon multiple duplicates of himself equip with a wide range of cleaning supplies. Almost immediately they hopped to work, scrubbing, mopping, and sweeping every surface they could in remarkable speed. In the mean time, Genie blow dried his pool cue in hopes of helping the stain dry faster. In his hand he held a pocket watch, carefully keeping track of the time.

“And time!” The jinn said after a few seconds hand passed, clicking the timer. His duplicates vanished in a cloud of blue smoke as a rather pleasing scent arose. “Ooo, lemons!” he commented, tossing his blow dryer aside and grabbing his now completed cue.

[gimmesometassel.livejournal.com]

Carpet flashed back a thumbs up in return as he joined the Genie at the pool table, promptly returning their secret handshake with the sort of absurd dexterity only a flying, ridiculously flexible length of textile could manage. He curved into a rough approximation of a question mark, one tassel held horizontally as though shading non-existent eyes as he looked around--it had definitely taken him a few attempts to spot, not that it had mattered too much. His own shiny gold journal was set on the raised edge of the pool table as he listened, amused; the could only agree on how useful the maps were, though he'd already gotten quite a good idea of what the city was like himself, just from having the opportunity to fly around it so much. It was even prettier overhead than on the ground....

The carpet curled into his question mark shape again, before pointing at his big blue friend and 'snapping' as the internet was mentioned. Couldn't Genie just magic up some sort of internet connection or something? Even if his powers were only semi-phenomenal and nearly-cosmic now, how hard could connecting to the internet be? Maybe he should start a facebook page at some point himself.... then again, the journal was the only computer he'd actually personally handled himself before this, so maybe it wasn't a good idea after all. Regardless, Carpet did an enthusiastic aerial flip as the duplicates disappeared, completely oblivious to the lemon-y fresh scent, (why would a weaver bother to include a nose?) and picked up one of the pool cues that had been already at the table. It didn't look too bad.... And even without a custom-made one, he was still confident he'd win!

[ttlynotblue.livejournal.com]

The rug had every right to be confident; Genie almost always lost a game. Be it tennis to tic-tac-toe, even his once phenomenal and cosmic powers had failed to help him. Though, cheating was still an available option, it was an unfavorable one. Aside from on a few rare occasions, he had never been one to cheat. However, over the thousands of years they had played against one another, and all the times the djinn had been beaten, if he lost to Carpet one more time, just one more… He owed the rug a cookie. Or had it been something else, a milkshake, perhaps?

Their bet had started out as most do, ‘you’ll never beat me in a thousand years’, but now that thousand years suddenly seemed rather likely. Carpet had probably long forgotten about it, as had Genie due to the brief ten thousand year suspension until recently, but he would keep to his word. If he lost this game, he would reward the rug greatly, regardless of his frustration. Nothing was more pathetic than loosing to a rug for one thousand years straight. Perhaps Abu would be a better competitor in the future; he knew he could beat him.

Summoning a pool triangle, he quickly arranged the balls within it. “I suppose I could sprinkle a little pixy dust and establish an internet connection for myself, but that’s not exactly fair to the locals is it? My journal would be full of Youtube videos, like that one I showed you with that dramatic gopher. That one’s hilarious!”

Genie laughed at the image of the in his head, lifting the triangle off the table and placing the white ball into place. “Oh, that still makes me laugh.” He said, wiping a tear away. “At any rate, you can break. I have the feeling that you’ll need the head start. After all, I have been practicing.”

[ttlynotblue.livejournal.com]

Waiting for his opponent to make his move, Genie chalked his cue and took a quick glance around the bar. He had predicted that they would attract a fair number of eyes, it was only natural when one looked as… Well, different as they did. Compared to the rest of the bars occupancy, which consisted of nothing but fair skinned blondes with blue eyes, Genie didn’t expect to see anyone he recognized. However, there was one boy that caught his eye. Upon their eyes meeting, the boy smirked.

“Al?” the jinni asked, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. “AAAAAAAAAL!” He didn’t quite understand how, or even why, but the genie was by no means about to question his friends sudden appearance. A number of far more important questions arose such as Aladdin’s response to the gifts he had purchased for him on his world tour so far. He bounced about like a child in excitement.

Laughing at this, Aladdin stepped forward and nodded at his friend. “It’s good to see you too, Gen- Oof!”

Embracing the prince in one big, squishy hug, Genie immediately went on to tell how greatly he had missed his old masters company. Of course the boy shared a similar story, though not quite as elaborate, but by the time they reached a local café the topic had long passed. Every detail regarding the jinni’s journey prior to Paixao, as well as all the gifts he had purchased for his friend were more than enough to keep a steady discussion for at least a week.

Now, it wasn’t something that occurred often, especially a case such as this, but somehow, the djinni had managed to completely forget about Carpet. Aladdin’s sudden presence was overwhelming and exciting for a number of reasons, but had the work of another’s magic not been over him, Genie would have never left his perhaps oldest friend behind. Once he finally broke free of the mysterious delusion, the weight of guilt that would befall him would surely be like none other.