(no subject)

[continuousgroaning]

WHO: Tina Belcher and you
WHERE: Various places throughout the Porter cities, except for Jeopardy
WHEN: Early January
WHAT: Two more of Tina's closest friends have disappeared, so she's a mixture of Sadsack and Angry and might get into a bit of trouble in the meantime.
WARNINGS: TEENAGE ANGST and being sad over lost friends

1. Maurtia Falls #001

Home is a difficult place to be right now, now that Angus has disappeared. He'd been around the entire time Tina had been, and she's always taken for granted that he's just going to be there. So she's going to alternate between being mopey, doing things like lying on the couch and groaning, and trying to keep busy by stress-cooking and cleaning. At least the household will be clean and well-fed?


2. Mischief - Porter city of your choice

Tina's still hanging around with Team Skull, as much as she tries to disentangle from them and remind herself she's not suited for gang life. Perhaps that will change, though, if this place keeps throwing crap at her. After Iris and Ango's departures, Tina can be found stalking around some of the Porter cities, Skull cap and bandana to obscure her identity, being egged on by a small group of grunts in various bits of teenage mischief- like pushing over trash cans or using rotten produce or soda to make sticky messes.


3. Horse/mischief cleanup - Porter city of your choice

Other times, Tina feels bad about whatever trouble she's causing and tries to overcompensate by taking out her beloved Jake, a placid piebald miniature pony, and visiting the Porter cities. He'll sometimes don a unicorn costume, complete with colorful chalk in his mane. Or else she can be found picking up trash, even if it wasn't her specific fault, with a frenzied energy that's unlike her.


4. Wildcard

Or anywhere else? Hit me up on Plurk at shurimon or Discord at Yedong#9491 to talk ideas.

Comments

Mischief in MF

[hatejakku]

Finn liked Guzma. Really. He was a cool guy, seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, didn't mind thinking for himself once in a while. But, man, bringing kids into his group and letting them cause such a ruckus around the country was getting annoying.

Finn stood back with his arms folded over his chest, his Aegis uniform still pristine despite standing a bit too close to the next trash can that's pushed over.

He looked at it then looked at the kids. "Party's over."

[continuousgroaning]

Tina sees the uniform, knows that the authorities are here and she's likely to get in big trouble- but at that moment she doesn't care. The grunts look to her, obviously hoping that this time she won't chicken out, and Tina, plowing through the twinge of guilt she always feels when she's bad, looks Finn straight in the eye before rushing at the upset can, kicking the garbage here and there.

"Nah. I don't think I'm done yet."

[hatejakku]

Peer pressure. Great.

Finn heaved a great sigh, moving his hands to his waist and wondering if he actually wanted to handle this today. He could bring them in or call their guardians or something but not before they cleaned this up.

Just as he was about to get into Scary Mode, he got a good luck at the girl kicking around garbage. His brow furrowed in confusion, and he bent forward a little to make sure...

"Wait, aren't you Tina? The... restaurant owner? The cook?"

He visited her booth at FanPort and got a cooking lesson from her there. He'd admired her talent and work, so hers wasn't a face he'd forgotten. Seemed like such a sweet kid, though... Dammit, Guzma.

[continuousgroaning]

Tina freezes at the sound of her name, realizes she has seen this man before and even interacted with him, and before she can stop herself, she responds,

"Oh... yeah, yeah that's me."

There's a long, awkward pause after that, and Tina slaps her forehead with her palm as the grunts look at each other, then burst into derisive laughter. Tina tilts her head back and lets out a long groan.

"Uhhhhh... I didn't... mean... that..."

[hatejakku]

Finn's shoulders slump as he glares at the other kids then straightens up to address all of them again.

"All right, all right. No one's leaving until all of this is cleaned up. Then I'm taking all of you in."

And they're not empty threats either, not for a guy who can teleport. Hauling around a herd of kids across a couple of city blocks shouldn't be too difficult.

[continuousgroaning]

The grunts seem fired up to argue, but Tina turns and fixes them with a glare.

"Stop," she scolds them. "I never should've let you all talk me into this. You do what you want; I'm not going to get in any more trouble." One or two glare angrily at Tina and start to turn to run; she lets them, knowing this will catch up with them eventually, and without waiting for the others to react, she angrily kicks at the ground and then starts picking up the trash.

"... some criminal I am," she remarks to Finn, taking off her bandana so she can speak more clearly.

[hatejakku]

"I think you're doing great," Finn offers before vanishing.

He reappears a second or two later, holding the kids but the collars of their shirts before pushing them forward and folding his arms across his chest again. "Help her."

At least he's impressed with Tina again. Still a sweet kid. But Finn starts making a mental list of things to nag Guzma about, anyway.

[continuousgroaning]

The grunts shoot Tina a glare of death; however, knowing they're caught and won't get away this time, they begrudgingly begin helping turn the trash can right side up. Tina can't make eye contact with Finn, though she makes sure every last scrap is picked up, as the grunts step back and loaf a little.

"Yo, T, I knew you were too soft for this," a tall boy grumbles.

"I think you all figured that out a long time ago," she snaps back at them, before muttering aloud, mostly to herself, "So why can't I admit that to myself? Oh, right, because everyone I care about keeps disappearing and I don't know what else to do about it."

[hatejakku]

"Oh yeah," Finn groans, rolling his eyes. "Because kicking around trash makes you real tough." At least do some graffiti or something. That's actually creative. But he's not at liberty to suggest that.

Not to mention that his expression softens when he looks down at Tina. "Kicking around trash doesn't help anything either... C'mon. Let's go back to Helix. Figure out what to do with such dangerous criminals."

The law? Call their guardians (if they don't have any, call Guzma) and hand out a couple of fines. What Finn's going to do? Lock them in a cell for an hour or so, ask them what they learned if anything, and wave them home with a warning.

All of these kids probably need some help, some other outlets beyond whatever they're doing here, but Tina seems like the easiest to reach first. He'll have to start with her.

3 in Nonah

[perfectlyhuman]

Ice cream. Ice cream is good all year, even if adults insist you're not supposed to have it during winter. Feels like a waste, really, specially when it won't melt on you so easily.

He's enjoying himself some, Dog held on a leash, when he notices a...pony? A unicorn?? No- definitely a pony, with a fake horn, accompanied by a familiar face. So Adam approaches.

"Is that your horse?"

[continuousgroaning]

The pony doesn't shy away from the dog at all; indeed, his body language remains relaxed, almost bored. Tina smiles and nods in reply to the question.

"This is Jake. He likes it when I dress him up like a unicorn. ... I think."

[perfectlyhuman]

Dog stares up at the pony, big beady black eyes watching the creature and taking in his chances of ever being intimidating toward it. It is much bigger than a cat, or a horned bunny, and he hasn’t had much luck in those cases either.

Adam smiles and approaches Jake, looking at the bright colors of his mane, “Can I pet him?”

[continuousgroaning]

"Go for it. He's really gentle," Tina says, the affection and pride in her voice obvious. "He's training to be a therapy horse, so he's hard to rattle. He loves getting attention."

[perfectlyhuman]

Adam's smile widens, and he reaches over to pet the horse's mane. "Hey, boy."

He vaguely remembers seeing Tina with more horses, a good few months back, when the fairies were around. "Are you just taking him for a walk?"

[continuousgroaning]

"His name is Jake." Tina smiles, but then her expression turns a bit more serious at his question.

"Yeah, I... needed to get some fresh air, I guess. There's been... quite a lot of stuff happening lately. Some of my closest friends went home, too. Or wherever they go when the Porter takes them out of this world. I feel so overwhelmed sometimes, like I need to get away, no matter where."

[perfectlyhuman]

Adam looks at her, smile fading as soon as she mentions her friends leaving. “I’m sorry.” Offered quite honestly.

“Where would you want to go, though?”

[continuousgroaning]

"Thank you."

Tina sighs and looks around at the streets.

"I don't know. Anywhere that's not Maurtia Falls, since that's where I live. But then again, it doesn't make much of a difference when I see reminders of those people everywhere I go. Even at home." She wrings her hands a little. "I guess I'm... part of me is looking for something or someone I can help. That's why I take my horse with me, because he makes other people happy. And maybe if I help other people feel good, it will help me feel good."

2 (MF?)

[desmodusdraculae]

[The other two Batmen may have a specific routine they follow, but for Kirk's part, he more or less does his own thing, intervening whenever he thinks its important. Reckless mischief doesn't typically rank.

Only it's a slow night, and this is the third time he's passed them kicking over trash cans. Landing on a nearby awning, he simply sits on it and stares at them.]

Really? Another one? Do you guys ever get up to interesting crime?

[continuousgroaning]

[Tina lets out a gasp of surprise at the voice suddenly addressing them, and the grunts stop in their tracks, looking around frantically, then looking to Tina for leadership. Some of them have rotten garbage in their hands, ready to chuck it at the windows of a nearby shop.

Tina squares her shoulders and asks the air (about a quarter turn away from where the voice actually came from):]

This isn't crime, it's a form of art. It's a statement against society's norms.

[desmodusdraculae]

[Well, in fairness to this group of Team Skull punks... That was definitely a new one.]

Which is "minimum wage workers need to clean windows more often?"

[continuousgroaning]

[OK, that definitely gets her to hesitate, though one of the grunts jeers:]

What do we care? If they hate it so much, they can join us!

[Tina just. stands there and groans a little as she tries to formulate a smart response. Oh, she knows how hard it is to clean up vandalism, consdering the times the restaurant had been left a mess, both from outside forces and from her siblings' mischief.]

Y-yeah! Who wouldn't want to be a part of Team Skull?

[desmodusdraculae]

[This isn't typically how Kirk operates. He's gotten very comfortable with punching people first, then asking questions either never or when he has to fill out paperwork, but the idea of hitting what are clearly dumb kids doesn't sit right with him.

So he continues down his current line of thought. It seems to be effective.]

But then who would provide you all with a clean canvas to throw trash at?

[continuousgroaning]

Huh. Good point.

[Tina, however, has to stop herself from rolling her eyes at her fellow grunts. Her slow reply means the voice is getting to her, though.]

We could also... do it ourselves... and maybe do an actual canvas with actual paint every now and then...

Yo T, you better not be going soft again.

[desmodusdraculae]

Oh yeah, T, public destruction is far more metal than actual art.

[continuousgroaning]

I dunno about that. Wasn't there a guy who got a lot of press for destroying a painting after someone bought it? ... of course, that's not really the same thing as graffiti or garbage art...