3639/Down with the Ship

Down with the Ship
Date of Scene:	30 September 2020
Location:	Chelsea Piers
Synopsis:	Spiral, arriving on ship to dance, finds herself with a different partner. There is in fact dancing, and a lot of salt water in awful places.
Cast of Characters:	Spiral, Anya Corazon

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Spiral has posed:
The cruise ship is just leaving the harbour. A salty Spiral, fresh from having spoken to her lawyer (long story) wants to have some fun. She's worn out her welcome at Betsy's nightclub, but one thing she genuinely likes to do which is fairly meek is dance - and she doesn't really care about invitations.

Cue the Grandeur of the Seas, a massive cruise ship just leaving the docks for the Caribbean. It so happens there's a black tie ball going on on the deck as the ship makes its majestic way out to sea for a tour of the east coast. Lots of businessmen and socialites, quite a stiff crowd, and elegant music with a live band playing the classics. Literally.

So a six armed freak, all swords and blue spandex, suddenly popping into existence right in the middle of the crowd causes quite a stir to put it mildly. Not that she cares, despite a few shrieks of surprise from the more delicate people present - she's there to dance, and dance she does, pirouetting gracefully around in a performance which is, in fairness, exceptional.

She is the Time Dancer of Death, after all.

Anya Corazon has posed:
With the outside being dark, the night has come. And the moon is the only light we'll see...

The song, misremembered, is still stuck in her head. Humming it idly, Araña hunches on top of an unloading dock. Her father is out tonight, so she can patrol with a clear conscience. But she hasn't found much, and wasting the night doing nothing...not fun.

Still.

Focusing the lenses on her goggles, Araña looks around. Her handler, also listening in, comments. ~I hear something on the backup systems. North.~ She harumphs, then turns to look. "Aaaah...yeeeahp? I think so. I'm not gonna have to swim am I?" ~Good practice if you do. Get moving.~ She sighs, not particularly liking her handler most nights.

Then she starts to run, leaping to land on a passing boat heading the right direction. Let's minimize the wet at least.

She'll be there in a moment.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral actually has her eyes closed as she dances around on the deck, managing to not get a foot wrong as she twirls despite that. However, all is not well.

She's not exactly matching the dress code in her blue spandex. She doesn't have an invitation to this exclusive ball. And she doesn't even have a ticket to be on the ship, for that matter. It takes a little while for the security boys and girls on the ship to find their courage, but they do find it.

Two well dressed ships guards in resplendent uniforms head over to her, one male, one female, as the music comes to a screeching stop, and one of them grabs at an arm. "Please, leave immediately, get appropriately dressed, and return with an invitation.". Naturally the ones doing the apprehension do their best to be nice about it.

Spiral opens her eyes, and stops dancing anyway, as the music has stopped. "Start the music! I just wanted to dance... with an audience. I liked audiences.". She doesn't even pull her arm away, so it looks like things might not go south.

But... someone in the audience is rich, doesn't like mutants, and wants her gone. "Get this weirdo out of here." someone in the crowd calls out. The wrong thing to say to Spiral. She looks around, suddenly ignoring the guards entirely and trying to find the culprit with her solid white eyes. "Freak? Is that what you are thinking? Yes, I am a freak. Yet I can still dance better than you!". NOW she tugs her arm, passing the poor guard off to another arm - and then pushing him into the crowd where the voice was coming from, the crowd scattering with a few screams.

The only thing worse than a mutant, is a violent mutant!

Anya Corazon has posed:
Klunk.

Not the expected noise, though ships do tend to make noises as they move. A sound from off to one side, near the deck. It might be missed; people are focused on the ongoing drama, the six-armed dancer, the screaming.

So it might be forgiven when the soaking-wet superhero drags herself onto the deck, retracting her grapple line and looking particularly annoyed. "Salt water, yaaay. I need new underwear now. This is going on your bill."

She gets no response from her headset, goggles in place, and looks around. Drip. Drip. Screaming. More dripping. She pauses to shake out her hair, hoping this doesn't ruin it, and then sighs and heads toward the noise. "I need a better agent. I never get to dance."

Aaand then she's there, and facing off with a horde of scared people, what appears to be the entertainment (which has more than the usual amount of limbs?) and guards in an uproar. "Okay, what's going on?" she asks, nice and loud. Which is probably more than most heroes stop to do. Assumptions suck.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral has had a bad day, and pulls a sword out of her belt, which provokes a few more screams. Then she casts around, checking the crowd - and zeroes in on the fattest man here, an unfortunately man in his fifties in a perfectly tailored, but huge, suit. She stalks over his way.

"Well, I just wanted a dance, but apparently the freakshow isn't invited." she says in an ice cold voice which belies the fact that she's working herself up into a rage. She points the sword at Mr Fat, and says, "Someone hired me, someone lacking much care for their fellow humans. Someone probably with a fake smile and feigned innocence, someone cowardly.". She pokes him with a fingertip. "Someone like you, maybe.".

Apparently she really doesn't like overweight people. Harsh. Meanwhile some more guards are running to the area, having been alerted, these ones armed with pistols, though that's probably not a good idea given the crowd. They actually pause though, because they run are running right by Anya. A look of relief when they see someone a bit supeheroish. Someone who might solve their problem. One of them points to where the dance was supposed to be.

"Crazy mutant just arrived and started waving swords around... and threatening people. The guests aren't very happy. Someone has to get rid of her, but God only knows how!".

Anya Corazon has posed:
Oh god. "Got any info on her?" she asks, not talking to the guards. She's got better resources to draw on. A moment later she's listening to her earbud, and frowning. Do not engage. High threat. Wait for help. Retreat. All of the things. She looks at the water, considers the cost in life and to her hair, and decides. No.

Grabbing a guard, she whispers to him fiercely, then pushes him toward the idiots in the band. Then she cricks her neck, walking out into the empty center of the room, and says, "You want to dance? Dance with me first." Her voice is challenging, but her hands are empty.

And, lo and behold, a single member of the band actually gets up the balls to follow orders. And a violin starts to play.

Dance? Fight? A choice is there, in the air. But there are partners who want to be with Spiral, apparently. And the gaurds seem to be passing her the authority to try.

Spiral has posed:
And just like that, the fat guy is forgotten. Spiral often does a pretty good job of hiding that she's completely ax crazy, but on bad days like this, the facade drops a bit. She takes a few steps back to where the ball was supposed to be, looking over at the band, and then her white eyes seem to focus upon Anya.

"Who are you? You're not in my twisted past..." she says - she's already unconsciously dancing though, arms twirling around her and tracing out odd shapes in the air. The sword goes back in her belt, those things are valuable.

But hey, she got what she wanted. And takes advantage of it, slowly lifting up one furry boot, until her knee is up high - and somehow managing to hold it for a second despite all gravity - and then dramatically taking a whirling step forward. It's a bit more refined here than a nightclub.

Anya Corazon has posed:
Instantly the difference in training would be evident. This girl, whomever it is in the goggles, is no dancer. She's untrained, she barely knows the moves. She is a fighter and that helps. Dropping low, she moves her hands into position, but turns. "Araña," she says, pronouncing the ñ with a flourish. "We've never met, but there's no time like now," she says, mangling the quote nicely.

Still, she's managed to get the lady off of killing folks. For the moment. Cameras are on them, of course they are. Everyone has a phone. But she gets closer, turning and ...watching. "I can't do those moves," she admits. Do not engage, doesn't necessarily mean do not do anything.

"But...you just came to dance? I'll dance with you. If I can."

She hasn't attacked. Will she? Does she even need to?

Spiral has posed:
"Dance... and maybe get answers.". Spiral looks around the crowd for the big guy she was hassling earlier, but he's wisely beat feet by now - encouraged by the cruise ship guards in any case. So has the guy with the big mouth, he's been diverted, and is probably complaining to the captain right now.

"Araña." Spiral repeats. "Spider-Woman?" she guesses, judging by the attire. "What moves can't you do? You can't dance?" she asks. A sidelong glance at all the phones being held up to look at her, and she feels a certain pang. She's been in show biz almost her entire life, after all.

"You'd start dancing quickly enough if I started punching you, I'm sure." she says drily. Though she doesn't actually do that, she just holds her middle set of arms up against her chest, and spins, ballet style. The top two arms are up high in a somewhat menacing posture, while the bottom two are straight held out from body. She's also spinning right towards Anya, and stops in front of her with a wide, somewhat psychotic smirk, accentuated by how her eyes don't actually have iris or pupil.

Anya Corazon has posed:
Guts. The girl has them. Psychotic moves make her sweat, and she knows how dangerous (roughly) her dance partner is. And she holds her ground, pausing to bop a bit to the beat. Classic white girl moves, on a mexican's darker pallor. "We could fight," she says, an eyebrow raising unseen behind the oversized bug goggles. "I'm not afraid of it."

A pause lets her have a beat, and she walks herself over in a calm, controlled backwards cartwheel. Simply showing balance, no threat. But when she comes to her feet she's holding her grapple. "My weapons don't match yours though." and she places it on the ground.

"So, no. Just me, Araña. How about, I throw a few moves, you dance with them, and we see if this becomes more?" More of a fight, she thinks. She might be wrong, though she's ready to do what little she knows. She's set up to throw a flying knee. If the mutant is prepared to dance against her, this might actually be a show.

Or, you know, she could get decapitated.

Spiral has posed:
Not that most people would know, but Spiral's most powerful abilities by far are her magic - because she barely uses it, aside from to teleport around. She loves getting her many hands dirty instead, with a nice victim to play with. ...So she's quite happy to accept a no swords dancing contest.

"If you're a god, I will be upset." she tells her opponent, one finger wagging at her. Seems meek for a god but you never know... might be Loki. She just twirls on the spot, her gaze mostly fixed on Araña, aside from the occasional moment where she has to snap her head around because her back is to her. It's not much of a gap.

Anya Corazon has posed:
That...that makes her laugh. The girl's head leans back and she laughs as if she wasn't expecting the comment, unable to keep it in. Then she runs her hands through her hair, over her head, and drips a little. "Hardly," is all she says, and anyone with a modicum of reality will realize...truth.

"I like to play though. And maybe I can learn a few things myself." And she spins low, a leg sweep done too far away used as a dance, then comes up with power! She lifts into the air, a knee thrown to strike! But she's telegraphed it so much at this point it's not even a threat.

I mean, she literally came up from the ground for it. And her arms are wide, eyes on Spiral's face. Let's dance, you ballet nerd. See if I can keep up.

Okay, well...she's a bit insulting in her mind. But this is her first dance-off!

Spiral has posed:
Spiral merely tilts her head, eyes narrowing slightly, but she seems more amused than anything else. She's not here on a mission or anything, more a series of conflicting whims, though one of those whims is right in front of her, encouraging her.

The ballet nerd jumps up quite high for the sweep, and one might think this would be quite good for the following knee, but unfortunately Spiral has so many hands. The top two arms are spread wide as if still dancing, and in a way she is, but the other four (!) grab at the upcoming knee, and the foot - Spiral can reach surprisingly low with the bottom two arms - and tries to grab at it so she can send Anya over in a spectacular cartwheel with a heave.

Anya Corazon has posed:
And she takes it! She lets the grab happen, landing the cartwheel far away. It likely looks incredible on camera, though she turns it into a roll as she keeps moving. There's a lot of inertia to deal with there, and she's got all kinds of balance going on.

When she's back up, still alive (and both surprised and pleased to find this!) she grins. Not the kind of fight she'd expected, but it's not the type of dance that Spiral had hoped to find either. So, a compromise may have been reached? She takes a step, then another, and then she drops into a handspring. She comes in, a floor routine pass, and does a full spin in the air, coming down feet-first toward Spiral. It could not be more easy to detect coming, and easy to simply step out of the way to avoid.

How will the dancer choose to react? That is on her.

Anya, for her part, is hoping to land and then toss out another leg sweep. But that's fantasy and she knows it.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral cartwheels backwards herself - it's quite easy when you got six hands, she can almost form a wheel and just roll - and then when she comes up she sees Anya already in the air, headed down. She leaps up and twirls herself around so she's more or less side by side with the descending Anya, and just to make things a bit more painful the three arms on that side wrap around her back and take hold.

When the two land, Spiral just uses those three arms to push Anya away, with the a turn and the lowest hand on her other side seeking to trip her by way of encouragement. Really, those lower hands really are cheating when it comes to brawling, no wonder poor Psylocke has such problems.

No matter what happens, Spiral's top two arms quickly reach up above her head so that the spin she goes into is that much more impressive for the cameras.

Anya Corazon has posed:
The moves she's using...she's outmatched no matter what she's chosen as the medium, here. Tripped to the ground, she lands on her butt more heavily than she has in a long time. And she looks up as the spin of her opponent makes her look ungraceful, bad at what she does, and immature.

She does kippup, a flip to her feet from her martial arts training, but she keeps her eyes on Spiral as she does. "I didn't catch YOUR name," she says, thinking a moment. "I think I've earned it." Then she does a one-hand cartwheel, turning 180 at the top. Not an attack, there isn't even a threat. Then she changes it up, throwing a double kick, low and high. For anyone with two hands, a real threat.

But we all know better by now.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral has this rather infuriating smirk plastered across her face by now, and when Anya does the kippup, she stops spinning, all six arms spread out wide, more like wrestling than dancing, the metal ones glinting in the night air thanks to the lights covering the deck - and a bit like some sort of giant insect as she crouches a little. Six arms certainly make her very alien.

"I am Spiral, the Time Dancer of Death." she says melodramatically. Melodramatically enough that while she paws away the low kick easily enough, even with the middle two hands the high one almost gets her before she paws that one away too. Really there's pretty much going to be at least one arm waiting to block wherever Anya goes it seems!

Spiral does back up a bit though as the blows hammer into her arms, and makes the effort to try and make even that look graceful, spinning as she goes on one leg. Maybe a bit too slowly.

Anya Corazon has posed:
For all her work, for all her fears, Anya is trained well. Nina, the one who was born and raised to be ...well, her...has been teaching her the skills needed to fight. And she sees an opening and her body moves.

The kicks drive her back, the situation having given her the right to be there at all, and suddenly Anya drops to her hands. She spins on them, her legs splaying out in a full splits, and tries to hook behind Spiral's legs. Spiral, the time dancer of death, spinning on one foot. A pose, and a way to make herself off balance.

The sacrifices we make in order to dance.

Anya however knows how this will work if it...well, if it works? So she rolls afterward, aiming to land on top of the falling figure. She needs to get inside her guard.

BAD IDEA.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral is showboating, of course. It's almost inevitable with her, and the less respect she accords her enemy, the more showboating that happens. So she's quite surprised when her solo leg is suddenly wrapped up in Anya's own, and suddenly tumbles to the floor in a distinctly un-graceful fashion.

The former stuntwoman does roll with it instinctively though - and promptly ends up with Anya right on top of her. "This isn't ballet..." she hisses, her hands flailing around, trying to grab hold of Anya's own even as the two of them end up in a tangle of limbs, most of them Spiral's.

And if she manages to grab Anya's, well, she's still got four more...

Anya Corazon has posed:
"No kidding," Anya says, trying to grapple as well as she can. She's outmatched, she's outlimbed, and she's out...other things. But she's here and she's the only hero available. "I can't beat you, I'm trying to stall til real heroes arrive," she admits, but she pauses as she finds her arms tangled in four arms, and starts to giggle.

"This is ridiculous, isn't it?" she adds, kind of pulling to get free, finding her elbows caught and a hand in someplace inappropriate. She pauses, frowns, then tugs. "Okay now I'm stuck."

She looks at Spiral's face, then to the crowd who are STILL FILMING, and says, "Want to reset? I'm not sure if anyone's actually coming anyway."

Spiral has posed:
Spiral laughs, the ever erratic dancer already moving on it seems. "I already got what I came here for." she tells Anya as the tangle of weird, squirmy limbs proves too much for her. "I am not lying you know.". Her white eyes narrow, and she leans closer to Anya. "I am a monster, but you can see my corrupted form with your own eyes. It is the ones you cannot see you should be looking for.".

She even pouts a bit and goes for the pity party option. "No six armed dancers allowed at this ball. Maybe someone is flying to the rescue... it doesn't really matter.". She pushes Anya off of her with all six arms, and then rises to her feet. "There are cyborgs to destroy in the Tenderloin still. I'd tell you more but I signed an NDA. Ha!". Some bitter laughter suggests just what she thinks of that NDA, mind.

Anya Corazon has posed:
Assuming that better minds than hers are getting all of this, Anya pauses to press into the small of her own back. A cracking noise suggests that she needed to have done so, but standing up properly is all that she's needed. "My first monster battle and it ends up like this. I'm no match, but...hey, maybe there's a little something to all of that."

She isn't sure what even she's talking about either, but she tilts her head. And then, out of nowhere, performs a spiral on one toe, ending up facing the other, hands above her head.

"And I don't know about you, but I think six armed dancers were the only ones actually dancing. G'wan, go fight the cyborgs. We'll get into it one day for reals though. I'm sure it'll happen.

She's still aware of the cameras, of the way that she's being judged by the world. But still, she's saved lives here. In a wierd way...

:She's got this MASSIVE urge to play Crypt of the Necrodancer now though, when she gets home. Which had better be soon! Holy crap the time!

Spiral has posed:
Spiral shrugs. "I didn't give them a chance. I would only show them up anyway.". She has also seemingly had enough of this place - though with all the cameras on her she decides to go out in style, with a final pirouette and then a jump. A sissone, in fact. This time however, there's an otherworldly glow about her, and when she lands, she vanishes with a pop.

She doesn't have to worry about salt water getting in her underwear unless something really has gone horribly wrong at least!

Anya Corazon has posed:
Huh. And nobody got punched. "Did you get all that?" she asks her headset, looking around the room, at everyone who may or may not consider themselves 'saved'.

~Just get back to base,~ the voice says to her. ~We'll do damage control later.~

Sigh. "No chance anyone has a boat do they?" she asks the crowd. When nobody gives her a ride back to shore, she nods. Then she makes a fist, trying to invigorate herself for her long swim. And jumps up onto the side of the deck's railing.

"I saved you all, right? I think? Please tell it that way, Dios I need a better agent." Then she backflips off the deck, into the water. And is gone.

Until she's fished out of the ocean by the coast guard. Ugh. Salt water. It gets everywhere.