ArchivedLogs:Self-Identified

Self-Identified
Dramatis Personae Kaori, Shane, Taylor	2013-09-02 '
Location <NYC> Riverside Skate Park - Morningside Heights
Tucked between Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights, and the Hudson River, the Riverside Skate Park is a mecca for skaters of all ages. The fenced in area is ringed by trees, and the park itself is actually manned by a city attendant during daylight hours. Skaters must sign a waiver before using the facilities, but anyone can come in just to watch. Also, Friday-Sunday food and drink vendors often circle the park, or come inside to sell their wares. Inside, the park is packed with skate trick elements. Many can be daisy-chained together in complex routines; ramps, jumps, rails and curbs. There is also a competition-sized half-pipe wide enough to support several riders at once. All of the trick elements are sturdy, and well built, because the city doesn't want to get sued. Skate on! Labor Day weekend seems to have signalled the end of summer for real; the heat has dropped abruptly down to a mild low-seventies. The pleasant weather has brought many people out of doors, enjoying the holiday before work starts up again. Shane is out here, too, with skateboard in -- not really hand. His feet rest on it; he is perched on a bench at the edge of a skate park, watching a pair of teenagers -- one lanky-tall Japanese youth, one much shorter Latina girl -- in one of the halfpipes inside. He is not inside, himself; he sits. He watches. Dressed casually in cargo shorts and a grey v-neck t-shirt, he has made little effort to /hide/ his -- very blueness. He is seated together with another young man who is drawing even more stares, jet-black skin and a wealth of tentacles emerging from his rather modified t-shirt. Both seem to be largely ignoring the stares they get, though perhaps not as successfully as they make out -- though both /have/ skateboards with them, neither makes any attempt to actually, well, skate. Eventually Taylor gets up, leaning in to ask Shane something; Shane pulls out his wallet, handing the other boy a ten before Taylor leaves. Shane stays seated, feet rolling back and forth on his skateboard as he watches the others in the park. The scrolling noise of a lazily rolling skateboard probably doesn't stand out much just outside the skatepark. In a brief scrunch of wheels shoved sideways to brake, right behind Shane though, Kaori comes to a halt, and links her fingers high in the chainlink fence running behind Shane's bench. It makes a soft, metallic clatter as she settles there. She is standing to his right, also facing the half-pipe, and just sort of pretending to dangle from the fence, watching the skaters, still standing on her board. Kaori is wearing electric-blue calf-length shorts, blue vans, and a black tank top. Her hair and socks are matching neon pink. The socks reach almost to the hem of her shorts. "Hi," she offers shyly, having invaded the blue boy's space, even if there is a fence between them. "Do you know what time is it?" Kaori adds in tidy, but obviously accented English. "Fuck do you want," Shane says this without turning around, his shoulders tightening slightly against the sound of a voice. His head turns slightly to let his gaze follow Taylor as he heads away towards a hot dog cart on the other side of the park. "He's already heard /all/ the fucking Japanese porn jokes --" But the question stops his snippiness, turning slightly to actually get a /look/ at Kaori. His brows pull together, and for a moment he studies her uncertainly. He reaches a hand into his pocket, pulling out his cellphone to flick the screen on. "Quarter to five. Do I know you." Kaori jumps a little at Shane's first response, cocks her head, and then smiles. "Oh, that's ok. Our porn is too weird for me, even. American porn is best," she offers with a silly grin, perhaps trying to be diplomatic. "I don't think we've met. I would remember you. But, I thought you and your friend would want to know about a show coming up, in Harlem. I'm spinning to raise money for Sanctuary." She folds a quarter-sheet sized handbill to fit it through the fence, proclaiming a block party this weekend in the street outside SPIN records, with DJ Spinster headlining. Then she nods at the gate a little ways away, and adds, "I also try to get opinions on my new website, because skaters have good taste, and I can't decide. Ok if I come around?" "German porn is best," Shane corrects with a small quirk of smile. He glances back towards the pair in the halfpipe, and then looks at Kaori again. "You're Japanese?" He eyes the handbill skeptically before reaching to take it through the fence. He glances it over, turning on his phone screen again to pull up Kaori's website on its browser. "Sanctuary. /Are/ you. I'm sure that'll be great for your career. -- So, what, you think we look like freaks so clearly we've gotta support terrorists?" There's odd amusement in his voice, in contrast to his earlier abrasiveness. "S'like some fucking racial stereotyping there." "Hai," Kaori answers in regard to her heritage, and then her expression falls. Visibly distraught, she squats down on her board, bringing her eyeline below Shane's. "Wait, sorry. I get words wrong sometimes." Her pronunciation starts to falter as well, making her accent more noticeable. "Just... you're mutant, right? I thought, you know, equal rights and..." She struggles, says something in frustrated Japanese which can only be a self-effacing cuss if her body language means anything. "I'm sorry for... Sorry." She looks so disappointed. This clearly did not go how she thought it would. She sags for a moment, and then starts to stand. "Mutant, pfft, it's just a birthmark." Shane's clawed fingers gesture towards his -- entire face. "Hey naw s'aright I'm just fucking with you. Yeahsure I'll check out this thing." His eyebrows tick upwards at the Japanese, and his own in reply is slow, halting and -- consisting largely of profanity: "{That shit in Harlem is fucked the hell up.} -- C'mon. Around. Sit. Whatever. You a freak too?" His eyes shift away from her, glancing back down to his phone as her page loads. Kaori's eyebrows jump up and she bounces with involuntary, stress-relief laughter. "{Shit! You fucking scared me.}" Kaori speaks slowly, pronouncing the words carefully for the beginner. She scoots her board toward the open gate, makes a hard turn and a quick pirouette to right herself and roll back to Shane's bench. She takes the spot next to the boy, and removes her teddy-bear backpack, leaving her board under her feet like Shane did. From the bear is produced a glitzed out Stark brand tablet, and with a few quick movements, she has some pages loading. "Yeah," Kaori agrees, back to English. "That whole thing is seriously fucked up. Just trying to help the church." In response to the the question about her freakiness, she doesn't look up from the tablet. She just shrugs, "Um, actually, I'm not sure..." "Oh but.." Kaori points at Shane's phone. "That's my current site. It's shit. But I met guy here the other day who did some mockups. And I like /all/ of them. So I don't know." She holds up her tablet for Shane to take. "Those tabs are the new ones." She points out a collection of sites that definitely match her public persona. One is a mix of vibrant purple and pink, but the colors are used conservatively, so the user doesn't go blind. The second is done in a noir style with interesting black and white backgrounds. The third is a far out design, tastefully done, but definitely more artsy than super 'user friendly'. Interestingly, all three designs sport a cartoon warlock watermark, unique to the designs of Doug Ramsey. "Not sure about what? Being a freak? I mean, you kind of /look/ like a freak," Shane answers cheerfully, scooting a little closer to glance over the mockups. "Your old site is shitty," he agrees after taking the tablet and looking at it, "those are --" He frowns. "Slightly less shitty. Go with the black and white." Not that he sounds /particularly/ enthused. "Are you any good?" His feet roll back and forth, shifting his board left to right beneath them. "Why are you trying to help?" Kaori actually /grins/ when Shane says she looks like a freak. "Thanks, I try," she says. She starts to pull her bright pink hair into pigtails while she talks. "But I guess I mean, I don't know exactly? I-" She frowns slightly, and continues. "Um, you mean, 'mutant' right? Because 'freak' means lots of things, sometimes?" She takes his vote without comment, and then nods at his question. "I'm getting better! Each time," she says. She struggles with a deep-seeded over-modesty, though it's not false. She's just not used to self-promotion. "And it just seems like the church has many expense, but it's not the church fault." "Freak is self-identified, I think. Whatever kind of freak you want to be. You can be a lot of different axes of freak all at once, I think." Shane shrugs a shoulder, slouching back against the bench as he watches the kids skating; the smaller girl seems to be instructing the taller boy. "Whose fault is it, then?" His head tips back, eyes searching the sky, now. "You know how much shit doing a mutant charity show is going to get you, right?" Kaori shrugs, watching the instruction as well. "I don't know who's fault. But the cops don't treat people right. And the church needs money. If I get some shit, it won't be the first time." Kaori finishes her pigtails and points at the half-pipe. "She's good. Do you like to drop?" "The cops --" Shane's smile for a moment is /sharp/ and quick, flashing a plethora of razorblade shark-teeth at Kaori. "{Fuck the cops.} Goddamn assholes. They'd be happy seeing all of us dead, I think." He shrugs, curling one leg up onto the bench though the other stays rested on his skateboard. "Yeah. I mean, I'm not great. Learning, I guess. Not a whole lot of tricks in my arsenal. You come here a lot?" Kaori's expression hardens somewhat in sympathy with Shane's words, which is obviously undercut a little bit by her overt attempts to out-cute herself. But she nods and says, "I like the word ‘fuck' in English. It sounds good. /Feels/ good. To say." She takes a deep breath and nods at the pipe. "Yeah, I have to come and practice." She moves the board to the side and stomps the nose to flip it up into her lap, exposing a scratched up, but recognizable Rockstar logo on the bottom. She points at it and says, "They pay me to compete, so I have to keep sharp." She grins broadly, her attempt to copy Shane's toothy grin, when all it looks like she could hunt and catch is a cold. Or /maybe/ the gingerbread man. "I like the money." "/Hah/. Yeah, it does, doesn't it. I might say it too often." Shane glances down at Kaori's board, for a moment, but then abruptly his eyes widen. "They pay you to -- Oh, holy /shit/, that's where I know you from. You were in the fucking X- --" His fingers snap. "Oh, maaan, Dusk would flip his fucking /shit/ if I told him I met you." His grin widens, though his lazy slouch remains. "OK, next to you I'm /really/ not great. -- Wait hold on you're /not/ a mutant, are you? ‘Cuz then he'd /really/ flip his shit." Kaori smiles down at her board when Shane identifies her. "Um, well, that's what I meant before. I'm really not sure. I think I /might/ be. But it's hard to explain." She looks sidelong at the boy briefly before setting her board back down on the ground, resting her feet on it again. "Sometimes it happens when I teach something. If you want, I could show you? I'm sure you can kickflip already, but how's your Butter flip? Sometimes people don't pick that up right away." Kaori keeps staring at her board. "Khhh." Shane shakes his head, stepping down on the end of his board to flip it up and catch it with one hand. "Shitty. Taylor's --" He gestures off into the distance, far across the park towards the taller boy with the tentacles, "-- much better than I am, I'm pretty much here to uh." His teeth flash in another grin, and his black eyes shift back towards the pair in the halfpipe. "Make everyone else look good by comparison. -- Y'know, they have tests for --" His nose wrinkles, though, and he frowns as he looks her over. "-- Actually, fuck, you probably reeeeally don't want to get tested if you think you might be, huh." Kaori smiles, but shakes her head. "No, no I don't think I'll take the test. I know it's shitty to say it, but it could really fuck things up for me… " She sits with her admission for a bit, and finally asks quietly, "Do you still wanna see the flip?" "It'd fuck you right the hell up. My brother and I aren't allowed to compete in most athletics and that's like -- goddamn /high school/, you know, nothing actually -- serious." Shane shrugs a shoulder, glancing sideways back towards Kaori. "Always do kind of wonder how much the world is going to freak the fuck /out/ the first time a pro athlete comes out, though." He looks down to Kaori's board, nodding. "/Hell/ yeah." Kaori could not possibly look more relieved that Shane doesn't hold her possible closeted status against her. She sets her teddy bear pack down, and stands up on her board. Drifting a little ways in front of Shane. Without any preamble, she just says, "Ok, it goes like this." She pops the board onto its side, and balances there. The she stomps the end of the board, flips it beneath her, and is suddenly standing on the trucks, board nose in hand, balanced perfectly. She can feel the sensation of transmission, or broadcast leaving her body, but she's still new at even identifying what the feeling means. However, she did the lesson much more quickly than she usually does, and without any of the verbal explanation, probably to test her theory. "Ok, now you try." She grins down at the sitting boy. "What, just like that?" Shane sounds amused, though he's getting to his feet readily enough, watching Kaori intently through her demonstration. "I mean, I think you're gonna need to show me again before I --" He is getting onto his board, mimicking Kaori's demonstration as he flips the board to its side, then flips it again to balance on the truck. "-- Woah or -- not. I didn't really expect to -- I usually fall the hell /off/ right before this part." Kaori grins at the boy, still balanced on her board. She glances over her shoulder, which apparently does not upset her balance in the least, and spies Taylor still in the pipe. She looks back at Shane with a that grin that says she really /should/ have a mouth full of sharp teeth too. "You wanna show off for your friend when he comes back? You could try this sequence…" She thinks for a second, and then twists and flips through two moves, and lands in a handstand, her board balanced on her feet in the air. She winks at Shane and echoes herself, "Now you." She seems to be enjoying herself thoroughly. The girl probably doesn't get much social interaction in between /ignored/ and just being oggled by fans who know what she can do. "Thaaat one is /definitely/ going to have me on my fucking face," Shane answers with a snort -- though it fades into a look of surprise as he finds himself echoing Kaori's moves fairly fluidly. He topples himself out of the handstand into a crouch, black eyes wide. "... Wait, holy shit, are /you/ --" There's a flutter across his eyes as his clearer inner eyelids blink, managing this startled look without actually breaking his stare. "Is that what you -- I mean did you just teach -- wait fuck of /course/ you just /taught/ but I mean did --" Another blink. "Does that always happen?" Kaori grins at Shane's doubt, and then her eyes go wide as he performs the movement so fluidly. "Holy shit, you're so strong!" Then he's processing the implications, and she tilts on to a one-handed handstand to reach up and take her board, before dropping down to sit cross-legged facing Shane. She thinks, and then shrugs, "Well, I guess not /all/ the time? I mean, at sushi, people don't start using chopsticks like me." She chuckles, "Maybe I should try that! But yeah, it was confusing. First, I could copy other people. Then… I could make them copy me. But I dunno. I know there are people with… brain control? Is that the right word? But I don't hear anything. I dunno, really. But my snowboard lessons always go well now." She grins and hugs her knees to her chest, briefly. "Pretty strong, yeah, but I can't usually just --" Shane waves at the board in indication. "Wait, you can copy what other people do, too? Doesn't that make --" For a moment he stops, his smile kind of crooked. "Shiiiit, they would /really/ kick you the hell out if they knew. Uh. Yeah. Some people have mind control but --" He shrugs, dropping his board down to crouch on it. "Do you learn /everything/? I mean, that'd be so fucking useful in school." "Sadly, no," Kaori says with a smirk. "Just stuff… I can see people do. God, school would have been /so/ much easier. And, I know it sounds like cheating, but I still have to train and stuff." Kaori is a little defensive, but this also sounds like an argument she's had in her head more than once. She sighs, "I mean, I have to work out, and I have to practice to remember things. Otherwise it fades." She gestures at Shane's board, "You do too, by the way. Or you'll forget. But yeah, I learn most things on the first try." "So -- if I do practice I'll actually /remember/ this shit? I mean. Could you -- /make/ me a kickass skateboarder? Like. Just." Shane snaps his fingers. "Like that. I mean, fuck cheating, sign /me/ the hell up. Do you /give/ lessons? Cuz I'd be all over that." He shrugs a shoulder, leaning down to curl his fingers around the lip of his board. "I cheat too, I guess. The other way around? I still have to learn shit the normal way but I /don't/ have to work out. -- I guess I work out a lot anyway but even if I didn't --" Another shrug, and he grins crookedly. "We smooshed ourselves together somehow, it'd be pretty unstoppable." Kaori is nodding along with Shane's questions and then she grins and blushes furiously down at the concrete for a moment at his suggestion of smooshing. "Um, well, I /do/ give lessons. Normally I try not to project, or people won't come back. But I could make special lessons. If its in private. Or everyone will be able to copy it too." Kaori looks sideways, watching the kids in the pipe, then back to Shane. "Normally… I have to charge a lot, or people think it's weird. But… maybe you have something I could learn too, since you know what I can do? And I'll just write down that you paid cash. My accountant is cray." "Ohmygod are you serious." Shane's eyes light, his smile brightening further. "I mean -- I don't know what kind of things you want to learn, I know --" He frowns. "... how to swim? I guess most people don't really swim like /I/ do though, that wouldn't be so helpful. Other than that though I mostly --" His gills flutter, for a moment, opening and closing restlessly beneath the fabric of his t-shirt to make it shift strangely. "-- mostly fight. I don't know if you're really interested in, um. Learning to fight. I fence!" He says that with a little more cheer. "Fencing is pretty, uh -- /pretty/." Kaori nods, and grins at first, thinking about swimming, but then she looks at Shane's webbed hands again, and considers his comment. She lets it go in silent agreement with his assessment. Probably not the best fit. Her eyebrows go up though when he mentions fighting. "Actually, I learned a little karate when I was little, but it was… before all this." She gestures in a vague way, taking in the skate park. "I've watched some youtube to learn more, but its just bits and pieces. And fencing looks so cool! Could you imagine? The Pink Bomber showing up to the Olympic Exhibition in fencing?!" She bounces up, pirouettes, makes a vague foil jab motion with her empty hand, and flounces back to the ground again. "Yes please?" "You could see me fight on youtube." Shane's smile thins, briefly, small and sharp, "if you have a strong stomach. Um. I mean, /fighting/-fighting's more useful but fencing is definitely -- most /elegant/. We can -- I have -- fencing gear. I could lend you. Teach you. It /is/ pretty awesome you /basically/ get to be a pirate and swashbuckle around, what's not to love?" Kaori cocks her head at the blue boy's cryptic comment about youtube. "Did you film a fight? I would like to learn self-defense too, but fencing just sounds so cool. I could wear an eyepatch! Or not… I might get dizzy. Do you go to a fencing school?" The young woman starts to speak in high speed, and her accent turns up a notch as she gets more excited about this idea. "My pa wears an eyepatch," Shane informs Kaori, his smile warming into brightness again. "And he's pretty much the /most/ swashbuckly, I mean, he's like. A superhero /for real/. I don't think he gets dizzy though I guess he doesn't have much depth perception? But I think his brain compensates anyway." He shrugs a shoulder. "He sees funny anyhow. -- uh. No, most -- fencing clubs won't let us --" His hand waves vaguely. "My high school just has a fencing team. And the coach is /wicked/ hot so my brother convinced me to join." He obviously seems to think this is an /excellent/ reason to begin fencing. Kaori grins, openly delighted at Shane's description of his father. "Your dad sounds cool. My parents still don't know about… me. And all this." She gestures between herself and Shane, indicating the lessons, and her ability. She seems even more interested, however, when Shane is describing his school. "Oh, wait… did you find a school that is friendly to mutants. I hear about… kids kicked out. All the time. Just for… Well. You know." She shrugs, stands and gets her backpack off the table before sitting back down on her skateboard next to Shane. She retrieves two little water bottles from it, and hands one to Shane without asking if he'd like one. "My parents, uhhhh, well I mean it's kinda hard for me to hide it." Shane wears a crooked smirk, accepting the water bottle with a nod of thanks. "Yeah, a lot of schools are shitty as hell. My pa put us all in private school because most places --" He shrugs. "If you shop around a bit, can find a couple places that aren't crappy." He uncaps the water, pouring some into his palm initially and splashing it against his face, then lightly tugging aside the collar around his neck to hold some against his gills, too. "-- My dad is /way/ beyond cool he is basically the greatest person /on earth/." He sounds rather sincere about it, too. Apparently he missed the boat on teenage sulkiness when it comes to parents. "Would your parents freak, do you think?" Kaori watches Shane with the water, and blows a long breath out through pursed lips. "Oh, shit yeah they would. Your dad sounds cool. But I didn't go to college. Which means I'll never find a husband." Kaori rolls her eyes dramatically, her voice dropping to sarcastic quotation. Apparently she's had this conversation often. She chuckles ruefully, no real humor in the sound. "I'm bad enough as is. They don't even want to know, I'm sure." "Are you in the market for a husband? Because you could probably throw a stone here --" Shane waves a hand around the skate park, "and hit a dozen guys who'd trip over themselves to fill the spot. But I mean, what you're already doing sounds kind of way cooler anyway. Though," he admits, "I've never /had/ a husband so I don't really know if they have some hidden appeal I've just overlooked." Kaori laughs and shakes her head. "Not really! I dunno." She shrugs, "I never have either. Doesn't really sound all that great, honestly. I like my freedom. I travel all the time, party, do whatever I want. I /like/ that. You know what's really funny?" Kaori leans in conspiratorially, "I make more than both my parents, combined. So fuck husband shopping." She leans back against the bench and sticks her legs out straight in front of her. "I /suppose/," Shane has to give this a moment of thought, though, "that there's probably some guys out there who'd love travelling and partying and doing all that /with/ you instead of -- I dunno telling you to stop and go make him a sandwich. Oh! Oh and," his teeth flash again, here, sharp and bright, "with as much as you make you could probably just /rent/ a husband for a while if you ever wanted one, I know this guy oh /man/ if I had the cash -- oh! Hey!" This, he is calling not to Kaori but out past her; Taylor is returning, now, with /four/ hot dogs and two sodas; carrying all these and his skateboard as well, tucking his wallet back into a back pocket with one hand, he still has limbs to /spare/. Three of the four hot dogs get deposited one by one in front of Shane, though he is giving Kaori a faintly wary look as he does so. "Hey. Friend?" "Sure. I mean as of like ten minutes ago. Kaori, this is Taylor, Taylor --" "-- no /way/." Taylor's eyes widen. "For real?" "Debatable," Kaori says, musing on Shane's suggestion, and then laughs out loud at the idea of renting. "Either way, I think I'll do ok without resorting to /renting/." She's still laughing when introductions are made. She blinks for a second, missing the moment to play it /totally/ cool, but to her credit, she recovers quickly. "Hi," she offers with a bright smile and quick bow from the waist, still sitting. "I'm real, I promise. You're all figments of /my/ imagination." She beams up at the many-armed boy. Shane snorts, looking between his own webbed clawed hand and the tentacle that is currently handing him his soda. "Your imagination," he tells Kaori, "is fucked the hell up." "Hey, speak for yourself, Aquaman, some of us are actually useful." Taylor prods at Shane's chest with one tentacle, and /he/ is recovering, too, toning down disbelieving fanboy-wide eyes into a smaller smile, a bob of his head in a nod. "Wow. Um, hi. I was -- gonna say that we were all heading out soon but if you're --" He glances between Shane and Kaori uncertainly. Shane just shrugs, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Nah, s'cool. Here, lemme give you my -- thing. Number. For fencing." He pulls his own contact info up on his screen -- cell number and email address -- turning the screen to face Kaori. Kaori grins and nods, popping up to her feet. She takes out her phone, flicks the screen quickly, and within seconds a brief message buzzes Shane's phone. "Just keep that number to yourself, ok?" She smiles, "I have to change it often enough already. Oh, and maybe keep that other stuff too… Oh! But do you think you'll come by the party? The block party, I mean?" "Shit, you mean I shouldn't post all of this on Twitter? Why didn't you tell me that ten /minutes/ ago." Shane's brightly amused smile, at least, marks this as Not Serious. "Uh -- I mean, sure, if we're -- /probably/ I'll come I don't know what my work schedule is like. I'll definitely tell people about it, though." Taylor is still staring just a /little/ bit, but this ends as Shane gets to his feet. "Party?" he asks, puzzled. "Show-concert-thing. Fundraiser for Harlem. We're totally in. Well, /you're/ totally in, he," Shane switches here from addressing Taylor to addressing Kaori, "is a jobless slacker so he'll totally be there. "-- fff, I've still got /school/ --" Though from the sudden excited widening of Taylor's eyes it's /probable/ that he will be there. Shane gathers two of his hot dogs beneath an arm, downing the third in three quick bites. "See you round, then, I guess. It was nice meeting you. -- Hey," not waiting around overly long for goodbyes, he's already getting onto his skateboard to start away, heading towards the halfpipe first to collect Daiki and Inès, "-- dude, guys, you want to see what I just learned?"