ArchivedLogs:Troublemakers

Troublemakers
Dramatis Personae Blink, Taylor
In Absentia	2016-04-28 '
Location <NYC> The Batcave - Greenwich Village
Nestled in a basement of the meatpacking district, a hybrid of arcade and cybercafe, The Batcave is far more sociable a place than its name would suggest. Filled at all hours of day with the beeps and music and explosions of a myriad of arcade games, as well as the laughter and conversation (and curses) to go with it, the dark theme in decor is broken up by the bright lights of their game machines. One corner of the establishment is a perpetual LAN party with a projector screen-equipped lounge area for spectators. Along the opposite wall, a counter serves soft drinks and greasy junk food, and off in the back a door leads to what is by far the larger part of the establishment: a fully-equipped laser tag arena. Wrap in a black cloak with purple and magenta trim, Blink has been in front of the Blockout machine in the arcade for a while now. She has gathered a couple of gawkers since passing the 250,000 point mark, but she's finally starting to lag behind the relentless pace of the blocks filling up the 3D gamespace. When the Game Over screen finally flashes, she earns a place on the high score board for that machine, though perhaps startlingly not in the top three. She does not seem bothered, and, entering her name, wanders over to stand in line for food, rubbernecking at the LAN gaming while she waits. Taylor has /been/ gawking, at least for the last few minutes of this. The end of the game peels him away to the food line as well -- though in here he's more gawkee than gawker, the multitude of black tentacles protruding from his Black Lives Matter tee attracting their own set of stares. Certainly he must notice but he seems rather inured, just tapping his wallet restlessly against his leg as he waits behind Blink. "-- Hey that shit was tight." One of the smaller tentacles waves back towards the Blockout machine. Blink turns and blinks at Taylor, green eyes skipping between his tentacles and his face. She's startled, maybe a little squicked out, but not /very./ Strongest of all is a nagging familiarity. "Thanks! I wish there were more games like that, 3D puzzles." Her smile is thin, shy. "Can't get enough of them." Her eyes suddenly go so wide that the whites are visible around the huge green pupils for a moment, memories clicking into place as she recognizes him. "Oh! I don't know if you remember me but you saved my sister from getting stomped on by some cops at a protest, few weeks back." "I like them but I'm so fucking terrible." The tentacle rubs sheepishly at the back of Taylor's smooth head, now. His brows lift, grey eyes focusing on Blink with curiosity. "Wait, I did? I saved a few people from getting stomped which one was -- uh. I mean, that whole time was kind of a blur anyway I might not remember even if you said. You both okay, though?" "I figured you might not." Blink produces her phone and goes into the photo album. "It was pretty chaotic anyway, and you seemed out of it. I was afraid maybe you'd gotten a concussion. But this is my sister, anyway." The picture is of Alice at the protest in question, before it went violent. "We both got arrested, but they let us go the next day. Lot of bruises but nothing serious. The friend you were looking for...Karrie? Was she alright?" "My head was fine. Or -- not fine, but --" Taylor's eye scrunches up; he shakes his head quickly. "Oh! Oh hey yeah no I remember. Recording every-damn-thing? That one?" He fidgets with his wallet, shifting it from one hand to the other. "Karrie was good, yeah, no, I mean. We both got arrested. She was kind of excited about it," he admits with a crooked smile. "Think it made the protest real-er." "Yep, that's her." Blink's smile is small but indulgent. "She was pretty excited about it, too. /I/ was just worried one of us was going to get deported." Shakes her head. "Didn't even get charged with anything, though our mother saw us on the news and yelled at me for three hours straight over Skype." She /almost/ grins, but fights it down into a more controlled smile. "I'm Blink, by the way. That's...my name." "Deported? Oh, yikes. That'd be a massive pain. I just had to deal with my school bitching at me and then /my/ sister fretting." Taylor's smile is wider. Bright, fond. He extends a hand to Blink. "Taylor. So you guys don't make a /habit/ of getting arrested, then?" "About every other time I tell people we're from the Bahamas, someone cracks a joke about why we wouldn't /want/ to be deported." Blink shakes with Taylor's, her own hand very fine-boned, but her grip strong. "It was her first time. I've been arrested once before, at a demonstration to demand accountability for the Deepwater Horizon spill. There were a lot of white hippies and the cops were /so/ polite. How about you?" "A few times. The cops -- usually aren't polite." Taylor moves up in the line, tipping his head back to study the menu. "I'd -- guess the people joking about that are people in zero threat of /being/ deported. Are your folks back there?" "They definitely haven't been too polite at these protests, but even then--they're extra motivated to be impolite to /you./" Blink also looks up at the menu now, though it's only a quick glance. "Yes, after we were both out of highschool mum and dad moved back to Eleuthera. They fret about us a lot and are always trying to subtly suggest we go home--especially now." When her turn comes, she flashes the cashier a quick, bright smile. "Hey, can I get a large curly fry and a coke, por favor." Her wallet is hand sewn from a silvery fabric and decorated with green vines and leaves, and from it she digs a ten dollar bill. "Gracias!" "For some totally unknown reason, yeah, any time there's trouble anywhere near the cops' batons just /want/ to find me." Taylor sounds wryly amused, for all that. "Families fret. It's what they do. You got any plans to flee? Shit's been -- real real." His tentacles press down against his back as he steps up to the counter, curling in smaller as his smile brightens. "Two slices of cheese pizza and a coke, {please? Thank you}!" His own please and thanks comes in Japanese. The cashier doesn't look /much/ less unnerved by his easy smile and the tentacles stowed away, but he does, at least, take his money. Blink's eyes track to the tentacles 'hidden' behind Taylor's back. An inwardly shudder that runs through her, and a sense of mild unease /about/ her own unease. She shakes her head again. "Plans? No. What's happening here...it's important, I want to be a part of it. Besides," More lightly now. "Who knows what kind of trouble Alice would get herself into without me around." "What's it like back where you're from?" Taylor moves away from the counter after getting his change (and dropping a couple dollars into the tip jar), tentacles still pressing as close to him as they /can/. Which really can only go so far to minimizing their appearance. "For freaks, I mean. Sometimes I read about shit other places and I'm like damn, I should get the fuck out of this country -- and then sometimes I read about it and I'm like oh shit we have it easy." He can't help a chuckle at Blink's last, tough. "But you, /you/ stay out of trouble? I mean you were right there with us, yeah?" Blink's first reaction to the question, in her mind, has nothing to do with the Bahamas. A quick cycle of snapshot memories full of Chinese people: adults gazing down at her with reverence or revulsion or horror, children hurling stones at her, temples and exorcisms, foul-tasting tinctures, a government school with high gray walls and razor wire... But aloud she only says, "Plenty of bigots, but the government isn't out to get us, at least. Won't protect us from people who are, either." Her smile this time starts out a little forced, though her own amusement (and pride) are plenty real. "Well, yeah. But I didn't say I /wasn't/ trouble, just...I'm usually better at getting other people /out/ of trouble, too." Taylor winces, head ducking slightly at the flutter of memories. "I guess sometimes that's -- about the best you can hope for." The wince clears into a quick smile, though. "/Well/. If you're going to be trouble anyway, the best kind comes with your own escape route. I -- need to work on that part." "You alright?" Blink does not seem to have made the connection about why Taylor just winced, but since it seemed to pass quickly she does not press. "It's certainly the best we can /expect/, but...maybe we can hope for better. Work for better." << Demand better. >> When she looks at the mass of extra limbs coiled behind Taylor this time, it's with a thoughtful hum. << Well, depending on how far he can reach... >> "Vertical's the way to go, if you can. I might be prejudiced toward it, but most humans think very two-dimensionally." One of the servers slides her fries and drink across the counter, and she bows as she accepts. "Do you play Mass Effect? There's a multiplayer thing happening in a while." "Yeah I'm --" Taylor shakes his head, waiting for his pizza to come up before he rejoins Blink. "I can climb like a boss. I'll have to try that more often." His expression lights up at the suggestion, eyes skimming away towards the computers. "Oh /man/ do I. That's the kind of trouble I could go for tonight."