Logs:If Wishes Were Fishes
| If Wishes Were Fishes | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia | 2024-09-14 "I'm in love with Ion--actually in love." |
| Location
<MOJ> Champion's Circle - Mojoverse | |
Originally this was intended as a place for the games participants to relax and hang out in between events, but that idea quickly fell by the wayside when their initial participants were all too dead and/or traumatized to do any hanging out. Still. in preparation for hosting a bunch of Earthlings they've taken their best stab at what Earthers might enjoy for a little R&R, which has led to this... place. It's looks like it was kind of a bar, once. There are tables to sit at, though half of them come pre-knocked-over; there are several broken bottles and broken pool cues lying around (no pool tables in evidence.) There are numerous guns. Several of the bottles behind the bar are filled with bullets, a couple more with gasoline; some do have alcohol but none of it is drinking grade. There is also a game of darts. If there ever were any employees there are not anymore, but a very large number of cats are in residence here. The building doesn't end so much as just truncate like it's some kind of movie set. The open back of the "bar" opens up onto, a road that for some reason has a large ramp leading to nowhere. There are a variety of vehicles out there with keys in the ignition and though it's usually hard to tell this from a look, they have the indefinable air of cars that will explode at the slightest provocation. Maybe it's the unnecessary racing stripes. It’s later in the day now, the ‘excitement’ from the days challenges having come to a close now. Some of the tables have been rearranged, one shoved into the center of the bar, and various items that were scattered around are now making a collection on the table surface. Amo is standing over the table, twirling a dart in one hand, and the other loosely holding a bag of chips, which she holds up to her mouth to shake a few in. Some of the crumbs fall onto her shirt which, luckily—or unluckily depending on how you look at it— is a newer uniform, this one with the edges burnt in various places. She wipes off the crumbs and places the dart into the table, and moves a stray broken bottle and some pool cues that are meant to represent people in some sort of diagramflowchartgantt chart perhaps. She stares very intensely, “-Alright alright so if Scramble’s got Jean covered, maybe they’ll stop burning effigies of her-” Amo slides a pack of Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum Tape in, then narrows her eyes, “Shit, whose this supposed to be again? Tian-shin stands across the table from Amo, studying the makeshift sand table with a look of grim determination. "That one is Destiny." She says this with authority, though her brows pinch in what might be mild uncertainty. "I don't think anyone wants to try anything with her because her wife is so..." Her lips compress and the hesitation drags on. "...intense. But she doesn't seem to be very possessive, as far as I've seen. I should talk to her--the less crazy one. Maybe we can get some kind of wuxia rivalry going." She takes a deep breath and heaves a sigh. "But I'm still supposed to pick a romantic drama. This is so far out of my wheelhouse, I wish Scott would just hand out assignments. You know he wants to, deep down." Amo hums in thought, nodding along with her lips pursed. “If they both want in—I mean.” She shrugs a shoulder, “Could open up a whole lotta opportunities. We could fake one of them forgetting an anniversary or somethin’. Hilarious, they’d eat that shit up.” She leans forward, then slides the gum off to the side. Her eyebrows tick up in a sort of humor when she glances over at her, “Oh absolutely. I bet he’s got a mental list, all in code too.” She tilts her head, as if looking at the layout at a different angle might help, “You could hop into something that already exists.” Her eyes dart around the makeshift board, “You could throw yourself into whatever Scott, Ion, and Jean got goin’ on if it starts losing steam—fans are real wild though. Might cause some riots.” Tian-shin crosses her arms and taps her fingers along her arm. "The problem is Mystique seems like the kind of person who might murder you for suggesting--" She cuts off and peers suspiciously at Amo. "You're not Mystique, are you?" She's shaking her head as soon as the words are out of her mouth. "Sorry. This is just..." She looks down at the battery, shot glass, and chocolate orange signifying the Scott-Ion-Jean love triangle, her fingers clamping down on her arm. "I don't think that would be a great deal. Not because of the fans. It's just that." Her mouth twists down on one side. "I'm worried I might end up making real drama if I get tangled up in Ion's wires." A rare smile flickers across Amo’s face, “Ah shit, you caught me. My plan’s ruined.” She says flatly, dumping the rest of the chips into her mouth and wiping her chin with the back of her hand. She lays the empty chip bag on the table, and looks at Tian-shin. Her head ducks forward slightly to get a better look at her, and her gaze jumps from the pieces, the fingers clamped down on her arms, and back up to her face. The middle of her brow pinches, and there’s a hint of concern that manages to slip in to her otherwise neutral tone, “That’s alright. Somethin’ happen?” Tian-shin gives a soft, breathy laugh, looking down to conceal her blush. "Nothing happened." There's something in her silence that suggests a pause, and she lifts her eyes to the strategy board. "It's stupid and I need to just get over it. There are more important things to worry about." She picks up the batter and rolls it back and forth across her hand. "I'm in love with Ion--actually in love. That probably isn't conducive to pretending to be in love with him..." She shrugs. "...for show." The wariness in Amo’s stance gives way to surprise, and she leans back on her back leg, “Oh.” There’s a pause, and while she’s facing the table, her gaze lands somewhere beyond it. She nods and sucks in a breath through her teeth, “Yeah let’s avoid that one.” She promptly moves the cocktail shaker meant to represent Tian-shin further away, “And none of that. S’not stupid. There’s always gonna be big things to worry ‘bout, yeah?” She’s looking back at her, voice carefully non-judgmental, “Does he know?” "It would be kind of stupid even if we weren't here." Tian-shin doesn't sound all that committed to this opinion, though. "I'm prospecting--trying to join his motorcycle club, we're not supposed to be involved like that." She traces her fingers over the pommel of the sword she's leaned against the side of the table. "He doesn't know, and I don't know if he would be interested even if we could. But it seems kind of pointless to go there when we can't." Amo has leaned her hip against the table, arms crossed loosely, thoroughly invested. “Not supposed to.” She echoes, “What about once you’re in. Is it against the rules to ‘be involved’ inside the motorcycle club?” Her brows knit together, and she uncrosses her arms to pick up a cue ball and idly roll it in her palm. “How long you been trying to ‘just get over it’?” She makes air quotes with her free hand. "There's a good reason for that rule." Tian-shin twitches a joyless smile. "And it's not outright forbidden, but it's not a great idea, either. I don't know exactly when I started feeling that way, it kind of crept up on me and then I lost him and that's when I knew. I've been trying to get over it for a year." She stops and looks down at the battery in her hand. "That actually sounds very melodramatic, in a soap opera kind of way. Maybe it would help to...act it out? Then put it away along with our relationship of convenience." She sets the battery back whence she'd plucked it, very carefully making sure the triangle is somewhat close to equilateral. "It was more fun back when the 'convenience' was face and not survival." “Act it out with who? With him?” Amo’s pointing at the battery, brow raised, and all tones of neutrality have vanished into clear astoundment. She huffs out an impressed laugh, “You know yourself best. Yeah go for it, I don’t see anything going wrong here.” She says sarcastically, but there’s a clear encouragement as well. She slides the cocktail shaker back over towards the triangle and it lands next to the battery, almost knocking it out of the triangle Tian-shin had set up, “Are you saying you two already did something like this before?” she gestures vaguely to the table towards their pieces. "It might be easier than actually acting. I'm miserable at it." Tian-shin sighs, but she just sounds tired, not theatrical. "But, yeah. I guess it was kind of like this. Except the stakes were lower and the circumstances more pleasant and we were performing for a bunch of highly tradition-bound Chinese people. I should," she concludes reluctantly, "tell him." She scoffs, almost but not quite entirely humorous. "Or else it might be Mystique who ends up professing my love to him, more dramatically than I'll ever manage." “You think so low of me?” Amo winks, and allows some armor to briefly ripple under her skin, to give the effect that she’s about to shape shift. Then she waves a hand, “Nah I’m just kidding. Screw all this though,” She jerks her chin at the table, and idly rolls the cue ball back and forth between her hands, “You’re already living the plot of a rom com, fake dating and all.” She pauses in thought, then her face screws to the side “Yeah that’s tough. Should, shouldn’t, up to you. It could go well.” She shrugs a shoulder, “I mean, he might also…” She trails off, and sighs. She stops the cue ball from rolling and leans heavily on her palms, allowing herself to sag a bit into the table, “Alright how ‘bout this. When you…lost him,” her voice turns questioning here, like she wants to ask more on this, but she continues, “Did you wish you’d told him?” "I don't think there's any way for it to go well, but I doubt if could go all that badly, either." Tian-shin's hand tightens on her arm, though she keeps her shoulders determinedly relaxed. "It feels like dumping a lot in his lap right now for no particularly good reason. I just have to watch where I step, romantically. Maybe ask our stoic leader to assign me someone I can unconvincingly fake crush on while Destiny schools me on the swording front." Her expression wavers just a moment before going smooth again. "If wishes were fishes, they'd...still be fictional. Next best thing is getting drunk, if you're down to join me?" She snagging the shot glass and going to root behind the bar, though she stops just long enough to side eye Amo again. "If you turn blue three rounds in, I called it." “No good reason.” Amo echoes neutrally. She raises an eyebrow, and first follows Tian-shin with her eyes, then the rest of her body soon follows languidly towards the bar. “You’d know best. I’m rooting for you either way.” Is all she says, then shrugs a shoulder. “Y’know if it’s an assignment you’re lookin’ for, I could be your plan B. I can lead for the two of us.” A bright grin flashes across her face, “We could get a whole lil’ faction goin’ crazy I bet. Break all their hearts when my evil clone replaces me in the third act.” She leans forward onto the bar top to rest her elbow on it, “If I start turning blue you better call Joshua.” Then, quieter, with a quick mischievous raise of her eyebrows she adds, “I bet I last at least four.” | |
