13180/Pretzels

Pretzels
Date of Scene:	25 October 2022
Location:	Downtown Manhattan
Synopsis:	After not blowing up a subway, Hex and Josh go for pretzels. Hex gives Josh a reality check (?!). Only one guy ends up in a coma along the way.
Cast of Characters:	Joshua Foley, Valerie Killmore

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Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh hurries into the alleyway in downtown Manhattan after the short, blue-haired woman. The traffic behind them dies down into the usual honking. He looks over his shoulder and breathes a sigh of relief when he does not see any police chasing them down.

"Hey, so uh, that was really a bomb? How'd you learn to make something like that?" Josh asks as he catches up to Hex and slows to a fast walk.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
Heading through the traffic, Hex maneuvers easily past vehicles. Unconcerned, unworried. Perhaps that's one of her super powers? Immunity to traffic? It's much more likely she didn't even think about the cars, some of which had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting her, but she's past those when she's entering the alleyway. Immediately heading to the various dumpsters, she's lifting up lids and sniffing big, and then moving on, just checking them out first.

"Really a bomb?" Hex pauses and looks back over her shoulder to Josh, "I don't make imaginary bombs, that'd be CRAZY!" She chuckles and shakes her head, looking back into a dumpster she's freshly opened, "Oooh, half a box of capilone's pizza." She pulls out half a box, looks like someone tore it, and she pops it open, "And a partially eaten slice. Hmm, not the best option." But she sets it to the side, "What do you mean, how'd I learn? I just... I dunno, always been good with putting together broken things."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Yeah, would be crazy," Josh agrees and clears his throat.

He looks distinctly uncomfortable with rummaging through the dumpsters. He looks into the one with the pizza and wrinkles his nose at the half-eaten slice.

"I could just buy you a pretzel," he offers. "I got a little cash left. Not much, but like, least I can do for not exploding me?"

He looks self-consciously up and down the alley, then gives Hex a once over now that she is not in whirlwind motion and he is not fearing for his life.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
Pulling back from the dumpster, Hex comes to rest in a bit of a pose. Hands on her hips, just above her pant line, and one arm more bent at the elbow than the other. "Buy a pretzel?" She squints a little bit at Josh, like he's speaking a foreign language.

"What's wrong with discarded, things? Huh? You got a PROBLEM?"

And then she starts walking up to Josh, determined, her hand comes up and the intent is to jab her finger into his chest, poking him repeatedly, with a bit of bruising force, "You too GOOD for it? Wanna show off with your MOoooooneeey? Huh? Is that it? Not ... im ... pressed." Whether she makes chestfall or not, she'll twirl back around and throw up her hands into the air in frustration.

"Why is it? Every ... fuckin' time. Just, no no no, yes, please don't kill me, thank you for not killing me, jeeez. Like a broken record! I swear. If George were here, he'd DEFINITELY wanna shoot you."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh's eyes widen when Hex strides over to him. He takes a step back under her poking and blinks. His face reddens.

"I got my skateboard out of the trash" Josh protests defensively and holds it up. The board has seen better days, the yellow trucks have faded, and whatever the graphic on the bottom had been it has been ground off. A few hints of skulls are all that is left of it.

"I just got out of jail and kicked out of my house and I'm trying not to get caught by f'ing cyborgs," he grumbles. "I was just trying to be nice. Girls."

Josh throws up a hand in exasperation. He runs a hand through his blond hair, which is looking a little greasy at this point, and sighs. Josh walks down the alley a bit and pushes up the lid on one of the dumpsters. "Need a new duffel bag? There's a bag in this one."

Valerie Killmore has posed:
"Waaaa waaa waaaaaa." Hex rolls her eyes and shakes her head, "Who ISN'T being chased by the police, cyborgs, and houses?" And she starts moving and pacing back and forth in the alleyway. The skateboard does get a sidelong look at it and then she quirks her mouth to the side.

"I probably do, I mean, my last one got tossed with the bomb. But, not yet. I need to 'feel' it, when I find a new one. You can't just accept EVERY bag that comes into your life."

Though she does wander back over and looks into the dumpster, "Yeah, this one is giving me those crazy eyes. I don't trust it." Then she looks to Josh and smiles, "What'd you do that made you so interesting to the cyborgs? You can buy me a pretzel, if you tell me."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh raises an eyebrow and looks at the bag. He slowly closes dumpster lid.

"How'd this turn into it being a favour to me to buy you a pretzel?" Josh asks rhetorically with a smirk.

He glances up and down the alley again, then turns his attention back to Hex.

"I uh, I used to work with them, trying to protect people from muties and stuff? Turns out I'm one," Josh says bitterly. "I know what they do to muties and got nowhere to go, so...."

Josh shrugs.

"Dumpster pizza's better than being strapped to a chair or cut up or whatever, right? As long as I dodge the bombs," he adds with a wry smile. "Good enough?"

Valerie Killmore has posed:
"You really wanted to waste your money, I didn't. So, I'm letting you do what you want in exchange for information. I don't see how that's so complicated." A pause, and Hex sort of squints at Josh a moment, "Are you dumb? Is that why you skateboard? Or maybe, skateboarding is why you aren't so bright?" She taps her head hard, indicating 'the brain', and shakes her head.

There's a hmmm and a few nods, "Ohhh, so they are after you because you betrayed them? I knew there was something about you that I liked." And she hmms, thinking, looking up a bit, and bringing a hand up to grab at one of her braids, fiddling with it with both hands now. "Is it? That's a tough call, pizza is great. Being strapped to a chair is pretty great. Cut up just ADDs something, so, I'd say. Depends on the toppings." Like the question was really getting her input.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh tries to keep a straight face but chuckles despite himself. "Not all skaters are stupid," he replies dryly. He shakes his head and starts walking down the alley.

"You're.... Not like other people. You can build stuff, make bombs, do backflips, have like some kind of pain thing, and seriously give no fucks about what people think," Josh says. "Where are you even from?"

He drops his skateboard, steps on and rolls slowly along. "You're like chaos on two feet."

"That's a compliment," Josh adds quickly, looking over at Hex.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
There's a pause as you say not all skaters are dumb, she looks at you, stares, then smiles, "Of course not!" Hex mentions and then shrugs, "Just the ones who biff it all the time." And then she's walking further into the alley, no longer looking into the dumpsters, "Pretzels, right?"

And she's thinking about what you are saying, and then she takes in a deep breath, and holds it, waiting, literally, and then when you just ask about where she's from she lets it out. "Hells Kitchen, originally. I mean, I think, I don't really remember being born. What a trip THAT would be." She comments.

"I'm pretty much a walking curse, though. Get people killed, stuff I build doesn't always ... work, right." She reaches up and scratches at the side of her head, squinting a little, "I ... I don't work right. Too skinny to rely on my looks, too smart to ... wanna live, in 'that' world, over there. Where everything is clean and pristine because they toss all their broken and ugly things over here. Like, just because it's out of sight means it ain't worth anything, as if it never existed in the first place." She shuffles her steps a little, looking down and about at the trash on the sides of the alley.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Pretzels," Josh says with a nod. He looks over at Hex and shrugs. "I don't think you're too skinny."

He weaves slowly around a lonely, muddy Nike runner lying in the middle of the alley. As they get towards the sidewalk he steps off, flips the board up and carries it.

"I'm from the Bronx. It's... Yeah. It's like you said. It's all about the looks and new. I mean... Yeah. And no matter how hard you try, it's like, never good enough, you know? Seriously, I tried. It's bullshit if you ask me. Whatever. Doesn't seem so important right now, you know? Fuck 'em, right?"

Josh is about to slide into the flow of pedestrians. He smirks, looks at Hex, shrugs, and tries just walking through the flow like she does.

"Hey! Watch it!"

A man in a high-visibility vest walks right into Josh when he gets cut off. Josh lands squarely on his ass and curse.

"Idiot, look where you're goin', huh?" the man in the vest says and carries on.

"Josh picks himself up off the pavement. He clears his throat, and turns a bit red. "Pretzels! Yeah, super hungry," he says trying to look like nothing happened.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
"I am. Tho." Hex corrects, and looks down at herself, "Always the skinny punk bitch, forever and ever. I knew so many chicks at the orphanages. Curves, not fat, just, you know, the 'right amount of fat'." Offers Hex, in a slightly different tone, "But me? I was made fun of all the time for it, gotta be true."

And Josh talks about where he's from, what he deals with in more vague detail, "It's not about being good enough. No way. You gotta think of it another way. You are you, fuckin' deal with it." Then she watches as Josh just strolls into pedestrians and gets bumped to his ass by the suit guy.

Her foot moves, it rolls a nearby bottle up to the top of it and then she does some spin hop launching the bottle from her foot the 20 or so feet through pedestrians, missing them, and cracking the suit guy on the back of the head with it. Shattering against skull, shards stick into his head and the poor man is bleeding but is also crumpling to the ground.

"Woo. Got him. Fucker." And then she steps out into the pedestrian lane, people are immediately giving room and some are taking pictures and maybe even calling for emergency help for the man. "Bet he doesn't act like a jerk again, come on, let's get pretzels." And she veers in that direction, just walking on the sidewalk like nothing of note took place.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh raises an eyebrow when Hex talks about the other girls at the orphanages and Hex getting picked on. He looks a little incredulous that ayone could.

"Holy shit," Josh says, when Hex launches the bottle. It's not clear if he's talking about the bottle soccer move, hitting the guy, or both. He turns his head when the cellphones start coming out and hurries after Hex.

Down the block and around the corner they find the pretzel stand. Luck has it the only people ahead of them are just leaving.

Josh steps into line looking like a nervous teenager. "Yeah, so um, that was a sick move," he says. "But I really don't want to get picked up today, okay?"

"What can I getcha?" asks the young woman working at the stand with a polite smile. She brushes a stray strand of blond hair with dyed pink tips out of her face. She is pretty in that conventional way.

"One of the pizza ones," Josh orders and looks to Hex.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
There's a smile on Hex's lips, "Yeah, it was pretty rad. Straight through the crowd, wasn't really sure I could do it. But, blam-O, got him right in the head. He might go into a coma." She nods her head a few times, like that would be the only thing to make the move better.

There's a bit of confusion, "You are ALWAYS worried about the cops, I mean, seriously. I'm walking around and I blew up a bridge not too long ago." She states and shrugs, "They aren't that competent. Or strong, or fast. Plus, prison? Jeez, so easy to get out of there."

To the stand though and she squint grimaces, and looks away. She's holding a hand onto one of her arms now, moving it up and down a bit, somewhat shyly when confronted with the blonde with cool pink tips. "Ugh. See?" She turns to Josh, "How do I compete with miss beauty pageant here? Like, not at all." At first it may be seen as a compliment, but Hex starts gripping her hands into fists, "It's just... unfair. Blonde, bitches, everywhere. I really really want to take this stand, attach spatulas to it, then strap her in, and send it to the moon."

She's rambling, but not impeding the order, just getting more and more angry as time moves on, "Chocolate Peanut Butter pretzel with Mustard. Quickly, so I don't have to stand here and listen to you tell me how ugly I am, how skinny I am, how fuckin' weirdo goth I am. Stop it." She clamps her hands on her ears and crouches down, starting to mumble, looking left and right, but mostly at her thighs, something about Jane, Samantha, and Jill, and how she'll light their hair on fire again.

Joshua Foley has posed:
The young woman's smile turns plastic and then alarmed. She moves back just a little.

"Maybe you should..."

"No!" Josh interrupts her forcefully. He pulls out a couple of bills, entirely too much, and puts them on the counter. "Just make the fucking pretzels fast and give them over. Now."

The woman behind the counter looks even more alarmed, but something in Josh expression makes her nod slowly.

"Yeah, sorry, sure," she says and starts making their orders.

"And don't skimp on anything!" Josh adds, somewhat authoritatively. He runs a hand through his hair then turns to Hex with a smirk.

"She's not that hot, I think they like, clone girls like her," he says with a shrug. "Super basic, like everyone I graduated with. Forget her, she's not badass like you. Seriously."

Josh sighs impatiently, the knot in his stomach getting tighter the longer the pretzels take. The woman is clearly rushing.

"So... Real question. What are my chances out here? I was getting my ass kicked in pretrial, I've never had to..." he gestures vaguely around him. "Am I gonna end up in a dumpster or something? Or I dunno. What do gangs do to people on the street?"

Valerie Killmore has posed:
Crouched down like she is, Hex is shaking her head slowly and has her hands clapped over her ears, she's not really hearing other people right now. She hits her head once, then again, with the palm of her left hand. "Stupid, stupid, eat more, get boobs, fuckin' punk bitch, why you dye your hair BLUE? Are you depressed?!" She is rambling out her own craziness.

Then she is panting heavily, as the pretzels are getting made, but then she's standing. Hands back at her sides, and she's looking around, clear headed. "Her? Oh, she's, pretty I guess. Clones are kind of hot. I'm sure they steal the lead roles in snuff films. Cause, they're basically renewable people." She turns and leans against the stand, back into it, elbows on the counter as she tips back, bringing her legs up close to her chest with just strength and balance, then slowly starts pushing them out forward. Even as strong as she looks, this would be difficult if not impossible with just the little bit of purchase her arms have on the counter, "You're afraid of dying? Or being burned alive more? Maybe have your skin peeled? I dunno. Do gangs do that kind of stuff?"

Hex thinks about it a little longer and looks up toward the sky, squinting to see if she can't find the answers there, "I mean. If you can't fight, you're dead. Or just hook up with someone who DOES fight well, and then do whatever the hell they want, no matter what kind of sick thing they're into, and go from there. That's kind of my gameplan for the future."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh blinks, not sure how to react to the sudden changes in Hex's demeanour. Then he stares as Hex pulls a move that would make a Cirque du Soleil acrobat feel like they needed to do more planks.

"Um... what?" Josh asks, then shakes it off. "Peeled, yeah, no, yes?"

"They're done," comes the voice from behind the counter. She carefully slides the pretzels onto the counter and backs up again.

"Thanks," Josh says out of habit. He picks up Hex's and offers it to her before grabbing his.

"I have nightmares about getting burned, like, I can't do that again," Josh says. "That was messed up. Julie showed me pictures, you know those movies where they like napalm people and it's just charred corpses? I was like that."

"You seriously need someone like that? I saw you break that guy's arm on the train. And the bottle thing. If that's not enough I'm fucked," Josh says. He fights the urge to look over his shoulder in front of Hex. "I gotta figure something out."

Josh starts walking and takes a few morose bites from his pretzel. After a couple of steps in silence he stops dead and looks at Hex.

"You ever feel like you're in a bad dream, except maybe all the good shit you remember was the dream and now you're awake and you'll never go back to sleep? Everything's turned inside out? It's like when you know you get shit faced and the room spins, except it's not spinning it's everything you know that's spinning instead?"

Valerie Killmore has posed:
The pretzels arrive and Hex takes hers, a PB and Chocolate with mustard pretzel. The best kind. And she starts eating it, "Huh. You know, these do taste like garbage even before they are in the garbage. That's pretty amazing." She starts walking, without purpose, just in a direction, if Josh is going a particular way though she'll follow.

"Nightmares? I guess, you could call them that." She offers a little shrug and keeps walking, "Oh, I mean. I'm okay, my problem really lies with the fact that I'm just gonna fuck up everything. You know? So I need someone who isn't going to fuck everything up, is wise, strong, smart, powerful. Then I won't end up killing them. I hope. And maybe I could be with them long enough to get really angry at them, and bury them alive. It's kind of a dream of mine." A pause as she listens to you talk about being in a bad dream.

She starts to tilt her head to the side, and hmmmmmms, "I ... I don't really know what you are saying. The world is a bad and terrible place. The only way to survive here is to be worse. That way, the world seems pretty good. Otherwise, you'll just go crazy thinking about it." She states and keeps walking.