Bowl-O-Rama Time

[andtherevolution]

WHO: Utena, Lucina, and YOU
WHERE: Kingpin Lanes, a bowling alley in Heropa
WHEN: Friday, March 8th
WHAT: The owners of Kingpin Lanes screwed up their alcohol order are offering massive discounts for anyone 18 and under! And they've kindly requested that Utena and Lucina spread the word to their friends. Why don't you come join them?
WARNINGS: Potential underage hooliganism. Otherwise, nothing so far.
OOC NOTE: Later on today Lucina will be posting on the network letting other characters know about this, with a link to the log. The log is just going up a little early because of our OOC schedules.



Hey, so your got Lucina's invite! Great! Or maybe they found out bout Kingpin Lane's generous deals (discounts on games with groups of six or more! free drinks with every order of atomic nachos! and so on and so forth). Or maybe they literally had nothing better to do. Either way, the lack of beer and the higher than usual concentration of youths have chased off the bowling alley's older regulars, leaving plenty of alleys free.

THE BOWLING LANES

Even with the lack of cheap beer, at least a couple of the lanes will be taken up by bowling teams playing their scheduled games. Around 10 PM, though, they'll shuffle out as the regular lights dim and the blacklights flip on, illuminating everything in a garish neon glow. Grab your friends, a pair of bright white shoes, and a neon ball, and knock down those technicolor bowling pins! If you forgot the score card, don't sweat it - the monitors up above will keep score for you. Assuming they don't malfunction, that is. Wait, did the screen just flicker? Eh, don't worry about it.

THE ARCADE

Is bowling not your thing? No problem! There's a mini arcade just to the side for customers to waste both time and quarters. There's pinball machines and ski-ball for anyone with more old fashioned taste, and a couple different crane machines for people who just love to throw money away. If that's not enticing enough, there's an electronic basketball game, the hit arcade shoot 'em up Burger Blasters, the light gun shooter Duckpocalypse Now, the driving game Krafty Karts, and a little mechanical horsey for the young and young at heart.

THE PARKING LOT

Sometimes you just need to breathe in some fresh air. Or bum a smoke. Or partake in other less than wholesome, possibly illicit substances where underpaid nacho slingers can't see you. As long as you don't get caught, there's no problem. The parking lot is a no judgement zone! As well as a "I don't get paid enough to keep track of every jerk here" zone.

OTHER

Start a brutal feud over the last pair of size six shoes! Make snide, passive aggressive comments as someone picks the bowling ball you wanted! Weep bitter tears as the change machine eats your twenty! Or be brave and daring and find out what makes the Atomic Nacho Platter so atomic (spoiler: it's just extra jalapenos and some tabasco sauce). If it can take place in or around a bowling alley, you can do it.

Comments

[dragony]

Not properly.

[ Ruka, on the other hand — for as long as she's been stuck in this world, off-and-on — is something of a recluse, keeping mostly to herself. She ventures out only rarely to Swear-Ins and gatherings like this, and even then hangs on the fringes, like now. If Catra's seen her face, it's either through deep diving through the network archives, or a short highlight snapshot in an imPort interest tabloid. Her voice, though — that crops up often enough.

She drinks her coffee, and talks around the cup. ]

I'd remember meeting you. Catra, isn't it?

[plentystrong]

Hm. So you do know me.

[ Catra gives her a searching look, but she can't place her. ]

Who're you, then?

[dragony]

That's the trouble, isn't it? The more you show your face, the more people will recognize it — but you might not know them at all.

[ Advantage? Disadvantage? She couldn't say for everyone, but — well, there's a reason Ruka usually doesn't show her face. ]

We've spoken, before, but you might not remember. [ She shrugs. ] It's Ruka.

[plentystrong]

Yeah, sorry. Doesn't ring a bell.

[ Because holy shit, Catra gets a lot of network responses. She can't remember everyone who replies to her posts, especially if it's voice only. ]

[dragony]

Thought so.

[ She says it blandly, without insult; she's used to being forgotten, even by people she cares about, so a relative stranger not knowing her is toothless in comparison.

She swirls her cup, takes another sip, and sets it down — far enough away to signal it empty and ready for refilling. ]

Do, curiosity satisfied, or was there something else?

[plentystrong]

[ Really, Catra could leave it at that, but she doesn't feel like going back to the party, but also needs entertainment, so she jerks her head at Ruka's cup. ]

What are you drinking?

[dragony]

Coffee. It isn't very good, though.

[ It is, after all, coffee at a bowling alley where all the other customers are teenagers. All they have is the bulk instant stuff that was probably charcoal in a previous life. After the attendant on the diner bar passes by and refills it without a word, Ruka retrieves her cup, now steaming for the scalding heat of beverage. The look she gives Catra is curious. ]

Is it something you're familiar with? In this world, or where you came from?

[ It's a sincere question, but Ruka manages to ask it without any sort of weight: there's no veneer of judgment, like it's something lacking if Catra doesn't know, or the expectation that of course she knows — but likewise, there's no condescending prejudice that she couldn't possibly know, either. There's no value, one way or another, no expectation.

It's a question without a wrong answer. ]

[plentystrong]

[ Catra sits down on the chair next to Ruka, her back to the bar, where she props up one arm. ]

Not at home, but I tried it here. Not sure I like it, exactly.

[dragony]

It's okay. This stuff is pretty low quality, so it mostly tastes like dirt.

[ She adds one (1) creamer. ]

But the caffeine content is pretty high, so it's good for staying awake. Since I'm tired most of the time, it helps me endure things like this.

[ Because teen bowling? That's endurance, baby. ]

[plentystrong]

Tired? Really?

[ Sounds pretty alien to Catra. She's more like perpetually wired. ]

[dragony]

Mmm...

[ Her head cants, thoughtful. ]

Humans have a really wide range of physical strengths, of course, but that's true for their capabilities, too. Some people can develop muscle strength very fast, or have better eyesight, or can hold their breath for much longer than their peers. The reverse is true, too.

For me, it means that my muscles get sore much more quickly than regular peoples', and my heart has a hard time keeping up with the rest of me. When I try pushing past those limits, just to keep pace with everybody else, it's very exhausting. The caffeine helps trick my brain into thinking I'm not as exhausted as I am. It accelerates my heartbeat, too, which isn't good, but... well, it's not like this kind of thing will kill me for real, so it's nothing to worry about.

[plentystrong]

[ Wow, that's a lot of words. ]

So... basically, your body is useless.

[ Catra, a master of tact. ]

[dragony]

Basically.

[ Flat. There's no indication that she's offended, though; she just takes another drink of coffee. ]

I don't like coming to these things. But, the more imPorts there are somewhere, the more likely somebody's going to be a fucking idiot.

[ Or, more likely, one person is going to make a mess, and then everyone around them will be a fucking idiot. ]

[plentystrong]

[ Catra snorts derisively. ]

What, are you the imPort police or something?

[dragony]

Ugh, no. I don't care about small stuff like that.

[ She makes a face. Because that's all police are good for, right? Arguments and petty theft? ]

I mean, like... someone loses control of their powers and sets the building on fire. Or the street gets sunken into a parallel dimension full of giant, ravenous carnivores. Or some asshole spikes the cola with, like, memory-altering hallucinogenics and everyone's convinced they're Hungarian Mobsters.

I think you missed it, but a couple months ago, we had a guy take a party hostage, by implanting people with techno-organic pseudo-parasites that took control of their bodies and turned them into living weapons.

It sucked, but that kind of thing can be pretty common.

[plentystrong]

[ This elicits a dry laugh from Catra. ]

Looks like I came in just in time to miss all the excitement.