I'm nearly human look at me

[unobtainableredemption]

Characters: Kaine and OPEN
Date: Sometime after the bottle event
Location: Various
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 to be safe (for Kaine's mouth)


Option 1 - Fire Sector
[Kaine’s standing in front of a storefront, looking through the window at the mantle displayed on the other side and debating whether or not he wants to buy one. Not for the fashion, mind you, but for something he could temporarily wear to cover his face and conceal the giant shiner surrounding his left eye. It’s a cliché, but you should really see the other guy.]


Option 2 - Water Sector
[He had intended to go right home, but now that his face was concealed by the hood of his newly bought mantle, Kaine finds himself walking right past the door to his suite, eventually winding up in a park in the water sector. It's clear by the path of destruction as he enters that one of the baby turtles had been through recently--the rubble had not yet been pushed to the side. He found himself smiling despite himself. When were they going to learn that they couldn't destroy everything?

Kaine sits on one of the benches and pulls the hood low as to cover his black eye, and just stares out at the mess. He could head home some other time.]


Option 3 - Metal Sector (Wearing this costume, though he still has short hair)
[He had forgotten how heavy the outfit was. It was the complete opposite of his Scarlet Spider costume—bulky with ridges and angles that have angles. Then there was the cape. What was he thinking when he added a cape to this thing? There was no reason for it whatsoever. Not like the raised “veins” of the costume, which had once pressed upon the scars of his degeneration to slow its progress, but now just serve to remind him of where the scars used to be. It was perfect.

He couldn't be the Scarlet Spider anymore. Not after what had happened in the bottle. It only served to remind him just how different he was from the others, and just how far he had fallen from what he could have been. And then he found this, his old outfit that once kept him alive, the outfit he wore during the year he spent terrorizing both Reilly and Parker, as well as anyone they might have cared about… and if that wasn't divine intervention, he didn't know what was.

Kaine leaps to the next building, never losing a stride in his step. He’s trying to get used to the suit’s bulk by doing something he’d done hundreds of times in it before... but if he bothered to stop and think about it, he’d realize just how suspicious he looks dressed like that leaping across rooftops at a sprint.]

OOC: If you want to roll with something other than those, feel free to either PM me, reach out to me at redconfession, or just start a thread, your choice.

Comments

Bowling

[unobtainableredemption]

Arriving/Mingling

[unobtainableredemption]

[ The bowling alley was pristine, to the point where Kaine wouldn't be surprised to learn that it had just finished construction yesterday. The hardwood and linoleum showed no signs of wear, and neither did the shoes being dangled in front of his face. It made him wonder why the kedan who owned the place had bothered to create it at all, because clearly there wasn't a demand for bowling alleys on a turtle.

Unless, apparently, your names were Kyle Rayner or Peter Parker.

This mess all started several hours ago when Parker showed up at his front door unannounced, and started loudly proclaiming that they should go 'bond.' The ensuing argument (okay fine, bickering) caught his next door neighbor Rayner's attention, and the next thing Kaine knew he, Parker, Rayner, and three of Rayner's friends he didn't recognize were being ushered into the brand new bowling alley in the Wood Sector, and bowling shoes were being thrown at him.

Did neither of them understand the word "no"?]

[escarabajo]

[Jaime's methodically stuffing his feet into his own hideous bowling shoes and eyeing the brand spankin'-new wooden lanes. It looks relatively... normal and Earth-ly, for a kedan construction. Kyle must know his way around a bowling alley.]

Are we putting bumpers up? Because I'm pretty much useless at bowling unless we're, uh. Granny-throwing here.

[demon_brat]

[ Damian was - to put it very, very mildly - surprised, when the Lantern had located him (again), had him make himself presentable, and taken him. Somewhere. ]

[ Now he is even more surprised to find himself in a bowling alley. Which is something he vaguely knows the rules of, and has sort of maybe once or twice wondered what playing would be like, but - well. Most of his experience with bowling alleys has been busting criminal activities happening at or around such. ]

[ He's generally a small dark cloud, by Kyle's side, until Jaime says that, and he mutters, almost just to himself, ]

What are bumpers for?

[escarabajo]

[Has Damian seriously never played bowling? What kind of deprived childhood is that kid even living?]

For people who aren't used to bowling yet. [He gestures to the gutters at the sides of the alley, where the bumpers'd be placed.] If you're not good at keeping your ball in the middle of the lane, it'll make sure you won't get gutter balls the entire game.

[demon_brat]

[ Excuse you, he'll still probably kick everyone's ass with nothing more than his eye-hand coordination. And it's not been deprived. Seriously. ]

[ Really. ]

[ ... much. ]

[ For now, he frowns, though it's not as focused as his usual scowls. ]

Is that not some sort of cheating?

[escarabajo]

[Keep telling yourself that, kiddo.]

Not really. [The frown doesn't cause him much concern. He's known Damian to be a particularly... surly sort of kid; at least he's actually here to try to have some fun like a normal not-an-intensely-honed-Batmachine kid should.] It's a handicap, mostly.

[For people who suck at bowling, too. Like him.]

[demon_brat]

>Tt.<

[ Damian squints at the track, then tilts his chin up. ]

Even if you will use such aid, I shall not.

[ But he's not planning on not explaining what he does, when he gets the rolls correctly. ]

[escarabajo]

Somebody's feeling ambitious.

[He's a Bat. Bats are always ambitious.

Though, Jaime figures that if Damian ends up sucking, it'll make him feel better if Jaime's scoring gutter balls right along with him.]

The bowling balls are over there, too. [He points them out with a wave of his hand.] I already called the blue one. Don't even try it, dude.

[demon_brat]

Determined.

[ Yes, he's ambitious. Always. ]

[ Then he raises an eyebrow at Jaime. ]

Is there anything particular for each of the balls, or are you attracted by the color?

[escarabajo]

Well, the weights are different, but.

["Attracted by the color". Really, Damian.]

What, you don't have a favorite color?

[demon_brat]

Of course not.

[ He has extremely few actual personal preferences. Don't ask. You don't want to think too much about it. ]

Bowling!

[unobtainableredemption]

[Despite his early reluctance to get involved at all, Kaine was finally worn down, and he was beginning to improve, if he did say so himself. Thought his score might not be anything worth celebrating, he was doing all right for someone who had never gone bowling before. At least he wasn't in last place (he wasn't quite sure why that mattered to him in the slightest, but it did).

Kaine released the ball. Down most of the lane it stayed straight, just as he had lined it up to be. Then, as it neared the pins, it began to veer left... too far left for it to hit a decent amount of pins. So he did what anyone would do in that situation—fire a minuscule amount of webbing from his wrist to correct the ball, which promptly corrected itself upon being hit. His hand barely moved from his side when he flicked his wrist to fire the projectile, trying not to draw attention to what he had just done. Not because he didn't want to be called out for cheating, but because he could barely come to terms with how pathetically involved he had gotten in the stupid game in the first place to resort to that to avoid another gutter ball.

And for the record? He bowled a strike. ]

[mendelian]

[He might not know how Kaine accomplished it, but Connor knew enough about trajectories and spin to know that the chances of that ball hooking left and then right to correct itself were slim.]

Nice shot.

[There was something about the way he said it though. This was supposed to be a friendly match, and whatever just happened won't be continuing in the next frame. He won't say anything more pointed than that, though, because he was actually having a nice night and enjoying the company. It was a welcome break from the recent chaos.]

[unobtainableredemption]

I guess I'm starting to figure this whole stupid game out. [Kaine definitely caught the guy's tone. Did he know? If he did, this is mortifying, because honestly this is the dumbest thing ever to be getting competitive over.]

[mendelian]

[Connor has seen people get competitive over a lot of weird things, including seemingly insignificant nonsense from people who claim to be on the same side. Call it vanity, pride, sheer bullheadedness. Bowling, at least, was a genuine competition.

He leaned against the scoring desk, thumbs in his back pockets, and watched the resetting pins.]

Do it again, and I'll be asking you for lessons.

[unobtainableredemption]

Kaine takes a seat near Peter, keeping as much of a distance as he can between him and Connor. He definitely knew. God, he's officially pathetic.]

You're doing better than me. I should be saying that to you.

[mendelian]

[Laughing easily at this, Connor shakes his head.]

I'm not embarrassing myself, but that's about it. Good thing, too, because if I was landing every ball in the gutter, I'd never hear the end of it from Kyle.

[unobtainableredemption]

You mean you don't regularly? [Because really, his neighbor talks too much.]

[mendelian]

[Connor snorts, but quietly, very quietly, and the laughter is quickly tucked away where his friend won't notice it.

Because, really, Kyle sometimes does not know when to keep quiet. It's true.]

I... he's never gone on about bowling, to be honest, but I'm a little dated. Maybe he's picked it up.

[unobtainableredemption]

He dragged us all here, didn't he? He must like the damn thing.

[Speaking of, he finds himself looking around the bowling alley.] God, who even thought this was a good idea, anyway? [Means the bowling alley, not the outing. He knows damn well who's responsible for that.]

[mendelian]

[Connor looks around the alley as well, finding himself smiling in amusement.]

I think he likes that it's normal and fun. There's not a lot of places here are. That's probably why the bowling alley's here. It's not a bad idea, having a place to unwind. There are worse options.

[unobtainableredemption]

Really? Bowling is what people consider normal and fun these days?

But I mean seriously, look at those people. They have less an idea of what they're doing than I do. I watched one of them carry the ball over to the pins and hit the pins with the ball he was still holding.

Mid-Game Break

[imaginate]

[Halfway through the... thing that's a bowling game between people who a. need to have fun, and b. people who drag such people to have fun, Kyle calls a general break for grabbing some refreshments. There's no vending machine up there yet but there's a small counter, and he grabs a couple of bottles of juice and some small crispy snacks. The kedan aren't much for bowling but they've been watching and a few are in the other lanes, copying. This could catch on.]

Don't fight over it!

[Cheerfully, as he puts the tray down on the small table attached to one of the couches there.]

There's some other stuff there; this looked the most interesting.

[unobtainableredemption]

[When Kyle called for break, Kaine remained seated and just stared out at the lanes. He's still coming to terms with the fact that his neighbor and Peter had managed to drag him out here, with no less than four other people. At least the angry midget ninja kid seems to hate being here as much as he does.]

Remind me again why you dragged me out here?

[He takes a handful of some of the crispy snacks. You drag his ass out here, he's stealing your food.]

And speaking of here, what Kedan was stupid enough to build a bowling alley when no one--other than apparently you and your friends--knows how to bowl?