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

[swordsense]

[Adora doesn't let it get to her. She flicks a look over at Catra, but otherwise stays focused on her game, hitting one of the bumpers that drops out a second ball. Multiball showdown with Skeletoid!]

Maybe, I guess. But it looks like you're just as dorky.

[After all, you're playing too.]

[plentystrong]

Pfff -- no. I'm just playing because it's better than... whatever those people are doing.

[ She gestures toward the bowling lanes.

Yeah, just ignore how you were yelling at the pinball machine just a minute ago, Catra. ]

[swordsense]

Sure, sure. I mean it completely is better.

[Adora hits another point multiplier, and does a fist pump. Yas! She's getting the hang of it.]

Bowling seems boring, for sure.

[Really boring. GASP they agree.]

[plentystrong]

[ Well, that... is an underwhelming response to Catra. Adora seems very chill being next to her. Is she so small a threat, so insignificant in Adora's eyes?

She leans back against her machine, frowing, her tail swishing back and forth slowly. She could cause a scene, right here, in this bowling alley, but is Adora really worth it? Maybe she should just go back to her game. Show Adora who's insignificant.

So she turns around and does just that. ]

Yeah, whatever.

[swordsense]

[This is a weirdly normal response from Catra. It's almost enough to make her feel things are starting to slide back to where they should be between the two of them. But that swishing tail has always conveyed irritation at best, and outright anger at worst. She knew the warning signs.

Adora tilts herself so she can watch both games, not wanting to stop because this is actually kind of fun.]

...You're getting a pretty good score. Dang. If you can hit that one top multiplier you'll probably beat mine.

[plentystrong]

[ There it is again. The prickling, the itching -- none of this is right.

Or wrong in all the right places, as if Adora had calculated it -- the best way to destroy her. By acting as if nothing has changed at all, as if she wasn't the one who twisted the knife, as if they can be anything now but each other's undoing.

Catra's tail bristles now, and she growls a little, voice tight when she answers. ]

Do we have to talk?

[swordsense]

[Adora's eyes flick to the side, and one hand presses down on a bumper, catching the ball and holding it just above the precipice of falling to it's doom. A hint of strain flits just behind her eyes. Honestly, it would be incredibly easy for her to just stop trying, with Catra. Probably easier than even even getting through even a little...and it would certainly get her scratched a lot less. People here were nice, and Blue Beetle had been right. She had a shot at a normal life. She could reinvent herself, find friends, enjoy her time here.

But that's just a small part of her. The larger part rankles at the notion of abandoning Catra and just going on about her life. It was too easy, too simple. And it would, most of all, hurt Catra. She knew that these vociferous denials were a cover for some deep emotional wound. Catra had become an asshole, but she was a lonely asshole, and come hell or high water Adora knew she was going to make sure she never felt well and truly alone to the best of her ability.]

I'm not going to stop talking. You can acknowledge my presence, or not. That's your choice, and I can't force that.

[plentystrong]

[ Catra is about ready to explode. Her whole body is vibrating with the effort to hold herself in check. If she did attack Adora now, it would probably accomplish little except to have the press hot on their trail again, and she doesn't want to show Adora just how much she is affecting her. So she forces herself to remain calm -- but she cannot quite keep herself from grinding out a reply. ]

You know, at this point, you're just insulting me.

[swordsense]

And how am I doing that, exactly? By playing flipperball? By treating you like a person? By extending an olive branch since we're stuck here?

[She's calm about it, enumerating what she's doing. She hasn't been an asshole or anything, she's dead certain of that. She's defended herself, she's been amiable, and she's definitely got zero reason to be mean.]

I don't follow the logic here.

[plentystrong]

Are you serious right now?

[ Catra whips around, closing in on Adora, pointing a clawed finger at her face. ]

You don't get to just leave and then act like it's nothing! I'm not going to forgive you. Ever. There is no olive branch! There is no friendly chatter, like we're anyone else in this room! And if that's what you're trying to do, you're not treating me like a person at all!

[ And maybe

at the end of the day

what Catra wants is simply to have an effect on Adora. To be acknowledged, to know that she is still something to her.

Because if she doesn't, that means she is nothing at all. That she never meant anything. That she can be discarded.

Catra won't let Adora wipe the slate clean. ]

[swordsense]

[Adora takes her finger off the flipper, letting the ball drop. The machine resets, but Adora does not. She turns to face Catra, her fists balled up. If she wanted a reaction, she got it.

You don't get to leave being the first thing out of Catra's mouth is a sure sign that the issue is still that.]

So that's what this is about? Still?

[She takes a step forward, not quite stalking, but with her chest puffed out, her muscles taut.]

I left to do the right thing. To help the people of the world we live on. I offered to take you with me. I gave you every opportunity to come with me. I've tried every single thing I could think of to show you that you have a place away from the Horde.

[She slams a fist into Catra's machine, jolting the ball still in the launch chute.]

I wanted you to know that no matter what, even if you don't forgive me, that you are the single most important person in my life. I wanted you to know that no matter what, you are beyond important to me. I thought I was making that clear.

[Her voice rises an octave, she sucks in a breath, growing angrier and angrier by the word. She cannot believe that she still has to make this clear. That her leaving so she didn't wind up being asked to murder innocent people is still the root of all of Catra's selfish, selfish problems.]

Or is me being nice to you, after you attacked me, after you kidnapped Glimmer and Bow, after you tried to burn a city full of innocent people to the ground...somehow NOT CLEAR ENOUGH?!

[plentystrong]

[ Honestly, Catra is taken aback by Adora's reaction -- she didn't think it'd be quite this vehement. And she flinches, for a moment, but it's fine, this is good, this is her finally back on familiar ground. She's having an effect, finally, and it gives her a comforting feeling of power.

It's heady, the adrenaline rushing through her veins, she's almost drunk on it, on the knowledge that Adora could kill her with her bare hands right now. She also knows that Adora won't; despite everything she just said, she knows Adora has some kind of feelings for her, and Catra has no compunctions about using them against her.

She simply doesn't believe it has anything to do with actual love, or anything other than Adora's own ego.

Now she wants to laugh, but it comes out more like hysterical giggles bubbling up from her chest. ]

Wow, I really pushed your buttons there, huh?

[ They're close, so Catra doesn't have to step in closer, so she just raises her arm and puts a single clawed finger to Adora's forehead, just barely enough to touch. ]

There's my girl.

[swordsense]

[That’s not a great place for Catra’s hand to be. Adora’s arm whips up, a blur, catching her former best friend’s wrist and squeezing it tightly. Then she’s spinning, moving behind Catra to pin that arm at the small of her back. It’s a pretty basic restraint, but one she’s relatively confident she can maintain. Leaning in, close to her antagonizer’s ear, she almost growls. This probably isn’t what Catra wanted, and she noticed the flinch. Don’t think she didn’t…she knows she’s very much a bull in a china shop sometimes, and right now? She is definitely that.]

If you want to push my buttons so bad, fine. If this is the only language you understand, fine. We can do things this way.

[Her free hand grabs Catra by the back of the shirt and she lifts her straight up, starting to march towards a side door, carrying her like a mother cat carrying a troublesome kitten.]

If you can’t believe that I still care about you…that you’re important to me, then I don’t know what to tell you. You’ve got to be deaf, blind, and dumb to miss that I care for you. But if you want to make me mad, if you keep being so incredibly selfish, then I’m going to start treating you the way you want to be treated.

[And this is just the start. She kicks open the side door and tosses Catra outside, glaring at her.]

[plentystrong]

[ Well that is. That is just.

The absolute height of embarrassment, mostly, and Catra reacts by flailing all of her limbs, which makes her sway from side to side in Adora's grip. There is loud hissing involved.

Not that it involves her from being tossed out the door like some kind of stray yard cat. She turns around at Adora, glaring back with equal venom, and hisses again.

But then she stops, eventually, because... honestly? This is a lot of adrenaline, and she's getting tired of constantly being bested by Adora yet again, so she gets up and dusts herself off. ]

I needed some fresh air anyway.

[ And she turns on her heel, about to stomp off to nurse her wounded pride. ]

[swordsense]

[Adora, still angry, can't keep herself from continuing. She's angry, and will undoubtedly remain so for a while. Catra had really, really struck a nerve and now she was just going to act she hadn't started this and slink off? Oh no.]

Right. Skulk away like you always do.

[She remains in the doorway, not bothering to follow. Mad as she is, she's not interested in escalating a physical confrontation, because then Catra'd definitely get more than wounded pride.]

You keep saying I left you, but it feels more like you keep leaving me.

[plentystrong]

[ She stills for a moment. Adora is right, isn't she? And that's part of why Catra refuses to go with her. Because now, she can be the one to walk away. And she wants it to be hurtful, wants Adora to feel that pain. She wants Adora to know what it's like to be dropped like a hot piece of iron, to be left in freefall.

Catra cannot let Adora back in because she never wants to fall so deep again. If you asked her, she'd say she's happier now than she's ever been.

Why then does her chest feel so tight? ]

Yeah, well, guess that's just how it is now.

[swordsense]

[The difference here is that Adora's too angry to feel sad. Not about being left, but about Catra being so unwilling to accept the clear evidence in the room. She's being ridiculous, and it's starting to wear down Adora's temper.

She doesn't pursue, her hackles are up and she wants time to reorient herself.]

Ugh.

[Adora turns, closing the door and sagging against it with an angry huff.]

...Stupid cat. I know this isn't what you want.

[And with a growl, she pushes off the door and back to her flipperball game. Hopefully, hopefully, that will calm her down a bit.]

[plentystrong]

[ Catra stays where she is until she can hear the door closing behind Adora. Then she walks toward the parking lot, kicking at a pebble in her path on the way. ]