milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

guppy sandhu,
teja

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Guppy starts his new job tomorrow morning. To distract somewhat from the nerve-wracking nature of this, he's currently chilling in the bar in front of the television, watching the 2014 World Snooker Finals.

He tried to watch it at home, but was overruled in favour of some program about a desert island that Fran wanted to watch.

It occurs to him that once he's done, he could theoretically go and place a winning bet at home, but that would be against his honest nature.

There's enough hot chocolate and marshmallows to go around if anyone wants to join him.

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Teja comes up, with a cat on his shoulder, and they both stare at the screen Guppy is watching.

"What are those?" Teja asks, astonished. "Those are no squid, nor is it football."

The two options he knows for tee-vee, down here in the bar. Up with Pyrrha, there are also movies and video games.

Which this isn't, either.

"Snooker." Guppy says, looking up and shifting over to make room.

"It's a sport, you hit the white ball to knock the other coloured balls into the little nets."

"It seems to be an odd game of chance," Teja says, "and why would it involve lying upon the table, one's rear end up in the air?"

"Skill, not chance." Guppy says. "And you have to keep at least one foot on the floor, or it's a foul. He's lying down to reach."

"You mean, the balls go as they wish them to?" Teja asks.

"Well, when they get it right, yes." Guppy says. "It's all about angles, physics, spin and so on."

"And what are the rules?"

"It's probably easiest if you sit and watch a bit, and I explain as we go." Guppy says. "But to start with, you hit a red ball, and then a different coloured ball. If you hit the wrong ball it's a foul. After all the reds are gone, you pot the other colours in order of how many points they're worth."

A red is being potted.

"So next, he would try and sink one of another colour -- the green one, or the pink?" Teja says.

"Pink if he can." Guppy says. "The pink is worth six, the green only three."

"Which is the most valuable ball?" Teja asks.

"Black is seven." Guppy says. "Yellow is two, green is three, brown is four, blue is five, pink is six. So the maximum score you can get in one go is a hundred and forty seven, which is also my room number."

"Is that why you picked it?" Teja asks.

"I thought it would be easy to remember."

Which is why the mun picked it.

"It is, when you care about this sport much," Teja says.

"It's a fairly distinctive number." Guppy says.

"Some people find the sport boring, but you can get a huge amount of variety in it."

"It is not merely watched for the amusement of seeing them stick their rears in the air like that?" Teja says.

Pause.

"When will the other man get a chance to play?"

"When he misses, or the next round." Guppy says.

"He does not look as if he were stopping," Teja says.

"That's Ronnie the Rocket." Guppy says. "He's pretty good."

"That is an odd name to have," Teja says.

"Well his real name is Ronnie O'Sullivan." Guppy says. "He's probably the best snooker player that's ever been, when he's in the right mood."

"... How may one gauge his mood?" Teja says, looking doubtfully at the screen.

"His mood seems somewhere between 'Javert' and 'recently awoken bear', to look at him."

"Generally by how he's playing." Guppy says. "At present, good mood."

Teja watches.

"... That should have been impossible," he says. "It is not how geometry works; not when building ramparts, or laying siege to a city."

Which was Teja's main use for geometry.

"Did you build circular ramparts?"

"If needed," Teja says.

"Well if two cannonballs strike one another, they bounce off at angles, right?"

"I know nothing of cannonballs," Teja says. "They were not invented in my time."

"Oh. You must have sports at least?"

"Yes, we played Roman football," Teja says.

"If the ball bounces off a circular post, or tree, it goes at an angle, right?"

"That it does," Teja concedes.

"And if you aimed them, you would have some control over that angle."

"So that is how it works," Teja says.

"More or less." Guppy says. "Except for some random factors like static on the cloth."

"So small things make great difference," Teja says.

"Indeed. And see there - he can't hit the ball he wants directly, that's called a 'snooker', like the game. He must now hit it off the cushion."

"That's the rim?" Teja asks.

"Yeah, the soft green bit around the edge." Guppy says, getting up to point.

"It is bouncy!" Teja says.

"Yes, and you'll see they bounce in a different way to the two spheres."

"There is quite an art to this," Teja says, nodding slowly.

"It doesn't get much more exciting than this." Guppy says. "This is a good match."

"So it is," Teja agrees, now understanding more.

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