5873/Punk Rock in Brooklyn

Punk Rock in Brooklyn
Date of Scene:	07 April 2021
Location:	Alleyways: Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Mania and Kainashi fight bad guys, establish peace through mutual head scritches.
Cast of Characters:	Kainashi, Andi Benton

---

Kainashi has posed:
    You know those moments when you really think that you made some sort of mistake in life, and God is punishing you for some minor transgression?

    That's how Liz Bailey was feeling right now. She had been walking home with an arm full of groceries, making her way from the market to the tiny efficiency apartment she shared with another person when two guys begain to follow her.

    They made occasional calls and asked if she was one of the Freaks, 'cause they were lookin' to get Freak-aaay.

    She ignored them, and tried to walk faster, until she made a short turn down a handy alleyway, weaving between bags of garbage and other refuse to try and discourage them from following -- but the two men pick up speed -- eventually cornering her when a fence blocks her in.

    She turns, her eyes wide as the two men give dastardly grins, and one cracks his knuckles.

    "Oh, we're gonna have fun with you..."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Oh, we're gonna have fun with you..."

On patrol, Mania had been watching the two from above as they cased people in the area, looking for a victim, looking to take advantage of somebody. As soon as she saw them, as soon as she heard them, she knew they were up to no good. It reminded Andi of the Billionaire Boyz, or whatever stupid name they gave their gang. The rich trust fund brats who thought money meant they could do whatever they wanted. Not even their money, but that of their parents. They were taught a lesson.

Perhaps these two would follow, and follow is what Mania did as they made tracks after poor Liz, into the alley. She'd have to see this, or at least some of this. When they thought they had her cornered, that's when Mania dropped down silently behind them and repeated their words. By the time they turned around, she let them see her smile, mouth having formed to show sharp fang after sharp fang, a long, wet tongue to go with it. "We heard you like to get freaky. Do you like to dance?" the costumed vigilante asked, failing to make it sound innocent at all. The claw-tipped hands, the spiked protrusions along the arms and legs, the big spider across the front and back, and that face? This was their nightmare.

Kainashi has posed:
    "They LOOK like they might be able to dance." comes another voice, higher pitched and squeaky.

    Liz is horrified by Mania's appearance, but when she looks up and sees a... dog?

    A Dog person?

    The scarred-up pitbull hops off the fence, baring her teeth in a menacing manner -- not nearly as nightmarish as Mania, but as she drops two weighted lengths of chain?

    Probably making it hard for the two to figure out who to fight!

    "L-look -- we don't want any trouble!" one of the men states, taking out a gun, and aiming it at the dog!

    "Back off!"

Andi Benton has posed:
//Can we eat them? Just a hand, or a finger?//
<<You already know the answer to that.>>
//A hand, then...//
<<AHEM.>>
//It was what you call a joke. We thought it was funny.//
<<Whatever. No eating people.>>

This exchange between Mania and Andi goes unspoken, all over the course of a few seconds as they react to the additional presence. "You don't want any trouble, but you followed this poor woman into an alley after bothering her, making her feel uncomfortable, and now you don't want any trouble? A little late for that, don't you think? How stupid do we look?" Normally when Mania speaks, there's little evidence of a mouth to move. Right now, it articulates with every word, and carries that otherworldly, alien tone backing the feminine one.

As soon as the gun is pulled, a hand goes up - just after spotting Kainashi - and black tendrils lash out to wrap up the hand brandishing the weapon, prying it out of his grip. "That was a mistake," Mania says.

//It's the doggy!//
<<Focus!>>

Kainashi has posed:
    It is, in fact, the Doggy, who had heard some trouble while on patrol and came to lend a hand.

    Kainashi gives a grin at Mania, and then gives a shout of "You take the ugly one!"

    And she darts in with her chains a-swinging. When the gun is grabbed and taken out of play, she whips one of her chains out to grasp one of the two guys by the feet, hopping up anf using a trash bin for greater height to tug him up and off his feet, sending him crashing to the alleyway below.

    The one who pulled the gun to point it at Kai, on the other hand, is turning to face Mania and has an abject look of HORROR on his face!!

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania is, in fact, focusing, on its 'prey' for the evening. "There are so many ways we could deal with you," the 'creature' taunts. "Would you like to hear a few?" His expression suggests anything but that. "No? But we thought you were into the freaky stuff." As noted before.

Scoffing with a dismissive, "Boring," she adds to Kainashi, "Which one is the ugly one?" as if trying to help with a decision that's already been made. She lets the guy get a good, close look at what could be awaiting him within that lethal-looking mouth of hers, only to close it as he watches it seal back up and disappear as if it was never even there. Then she grabs him with both hands, slams him up against the wall hard enough to leave him short of breath, and she webs him to it in a few places. It's very strong, very sticky. "Stay."

To Kainashi, she adds, "Uh, not you. Keep going."

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi has moved to tether her guy upside-down to a fire escape, and she was currently upside-down securing him.

    She tilts her head back, hr ears flopping.

    "Bad Mania. No biscuit." she jokingly replies, and then she looks to LIz.

    ... who has fainted.

    "... well. Guess we won't be getting a 'my hero'." she adds in a wry voice.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania might frown, but it can't be seen now. "And here we were going to ask her to be a dear and call the police. You mind doing that while we see where she lives?" The symbiote-clad young woman steps away from the one she's left in place, adding, "We're just going to check her ID. And my webbing will go away in about an hour, so make sure they know it's an emergency."

Mania digs around within a purse or whatever Liz has with her, the hand having reformed by now. "We can get her to wherever she lives, safely. Then we would like to chat."

Kainashi has posed:
    "Ah... sure..." Kainashi states, andfumbles a moment, pulling out her phone, and fiddling with it a moment before she hits the voice command button: "Call Police."
    "Call Maurice?"

    "Call /Police/."
    "Playing: 'Message in a Bottle' by The Police.'"

    The Canine flattens her expression.

    "Miyagi. Bring the Bacon."

    "Contacting local Brooklyn Precinct 115. Alerting police."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania stands by and listens to Kainashi trying to make things work with..Miyagi. "Did you say bacon?" comes a question, "Because we think we remember something about chocolate-covered bacon at one point, and..nevermind."

An address is checked and she adds, "She lives way on the other side of the city. Better get moving." She hoists the 'napping' Liz over a shoulder and begins to scale the wall of the building, calling back, "Join us on the roof." Once they're up there, she lowers her voice. "Actually, she's just down the street a couple blocks, but we did not want to let them know. They shouldn't be bothering anyone for a while."

Soon, she hops across a couple gaps to alleys below, and she sets the woman down near a door leading to the roof access. "When she wakes up, she'll figure it out. So..how have you been?"

Kainashi has posed:
    "Oh, I can't have chocolate covered bacon. It'll upset my stomach." Kainashi replies to Mania, and then she gathers up Liz's shopping, and follows behind, depositing the shoping back with the fainted woman, before turning to follow Mania back up to the rooftop.

    She hops over the side, and skids a little in the gravel.

    "You did really good out there, Mania! You're really terrifying!" she states with a bright grin to the dynamic duo of Mania and Andi, and scratches the back of he rhead.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania did forget about the shopping, but that's what Kainashi helps with. All's well that ends well, and Liz might wake up thinking she went on a very imaginative bender for all anyone knows.

"You think so? The terrifying part. We have been working on how to be scarier." The expression turns curious, if the eyes are any indication, but there is no other way to tell except for body language, hands settling at hips where that loose, spiked belt rests. "And you can at least have bacon, we hope."

<<Now remember, don't do anything unless she invites it. She isn't just some animal.>>
//We..won't.//

The symbiote is going to try not to cross any lines!

"You handle those chains pretty well, too," Mania adds with a hand gesture.

Kainashi has posed:
    "If I didn't know your scent, I'd probably be really scared." Kai replies as she sits down on the edge of the building, and she gives a grin. "I do like bacon. I like turkey better though. Not as much as I like tacos." the canine gives a smile as she turns to regard Andi and Mania... it was hard to think of them as two separate people. She was trying to keep it in mind.

    "Yeah, I'm gettin' pretty good at 'em. They weigh like eighty pounds a piece, so I have to be really careful not to break someone's bones or anything."

Andi Benton has posed:
Sirens aren't long in arriving, meaning the police will find the two troublemakers right where Mania and Kainashi left them. With that covered, she moves away from the building they're on, to move to one a few more down, motioning for the pup to follow. Once there, she dips into a crouch and glances around, given the direction those solid white eyes shift, before they return to her.

"Shit. That's heavy enough to really fuck someone up if you hit them hard enough. Uh, sorry about the swearing. We have a creative vocabulary sometimes. We can watch it if it bothers you." What's that? An attempt at politeness? "Tacos are great, yeah. And cheesesteaks. If you're ever in Philly, don't bother with Geno's or Pat's. They're fine, but they're for tourists."

Kainashi has posed:
    "What's a Philly? Isn't that a baby horse? Is there a baby horse that *eats people* and has a pair of toursit restaurants in it?!" Kainashi questions, her eyes going wide a moment as she follows behind Mania.

    "And your language doesn't bother me. It sounds weird when I do it. I think the Sensei looked at me funny and I never swore again." she states with the utmost honesty.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania ends up somewhat mimicking Kainashi, rubbing the top and back of her head. "We..meant Philadelphia, not baby horses. It's the city we are from, and they're famous for cheesesteaks. Oh, and the liberty bell and all that stuff. And we will try not to swear around you..too much." Head tilts at the mention of the sensei, which tells her 'martial arts.' This would confirm a little more of what she saw, whether it was mentioned before or not.

"We do not frighten you, either?" If that's the case, Kainashi must have seen some things. The 'mask' is kept up for now, concealing Andi within.

Kainashi has posed:
    "Well... no." Kainashi states quietly, and her head tilts. One of her ears draws up. "Do you want me to be frightened of you?" she asks awkwardly. Her whispers shudder a little.

    "I mean, I'm not smart... but I hang around with some pretty scary people other than y ou. There were blue people who smelled like bad eggs in the sewer that one time! They didn't scare me." she pauses.

    "... the snake woman kinda scared me. And the one that got eaten by a deathlog."

Andi Benton has posed:
The spiky areas of the arms and legs flex ever so subtly. Mania admits, "We..are not /trying/ to frighten a friend, so we are glad. We only want to frighten people like the ones we stopped, but you saw what happened to the other one." The one who passed out. Poor Liz.

So, there is a briefly cheerful tilt to the eyes, Mania sitting up a little more fully. "We do not remember deathlogs, unless you mean something different than what that sounds like. But we remember that fight. It was weird, yes. Also, we think you are neat and interesting. We had not met talking..ones like you before. And you are smart enough."

Kainashi has posed:
    "Death... log things, big lizard, go--" and Kai does her best impression of a bellowing crocodillian, which involves opening her mouth really wide and showing all her teeth, her tongue tilting and curling slightly, one eye half-closing and the other one wide open.

    It's a pretty decent bellow, and someone below goes 'WHat the HELL was THAT?!'

    She gives a smile though, her scarred up face twisting.

    "Well... that's good. Because you are a friend. Both of you." she smiles cheerily. "... and it's OK. I'm pretty dumb."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania squints at the roar, and after that's done and the voice from somewhere can be heard, the 'face' retracts and peels away from Andi's head, tendrils curling back into the rest of the..well, it isn't a suit, exactly, but close enough.

"Just your mom!" she shouts back after cupping a still-black, still-clawed hand to the side of her mouth, giving Kainashi a wink of mischief afterward. "Oh yeah, those things. And you're not dumb, no matter what you say. You've obviously learned a few things. So have I, with..all this." She gestures to herself.

"Mania keeps bugging me about wanting to ruffle your ears and all that, and I have to keep telling it that's not just something you do without permission. It seems to think it's okay if it wants to know what it's like." Eyes roll, the expression scoffing. Much easier to tell when it's the pale-skinned purple-haired, multi-pierced Andi there.

Kainashi has posed:
    "... yeah, ruffling people is weird. You don't just walk up to someone and --" she pauses, and she raises those markings that pass for eyebrows. "OHMIGOSHYOURHAIRISPURPLE!!" she squeaks, and she brings her hands up to her mouth in shock. And she head tilts. "Does it hurt having all those metal bits in your face? Or the holes to put them? I've been looking at getting these put in with holes --" she reaches up to grab her eyebrows "But that'd require stuff tht I don't have and I don't think Alopex would let me..." she traills off.

    And she considers a moment.

    "... if I can ruffle your fu-- hair--" she trails off a moment, and then ponits to the longish, wiry hair that's a good inch or three longer than the rest of the fur on her body. "... you can ruffle mine?"

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton perks a moment at the reaction to the hair, then the piercings. "Yeah, purple," she says, pointing to it. The cut and style would let Kainashi see that the version Mania has, though exaggerated, is not that different. It's a personal touch. "Does it hurt? It stung a little when I got them, but nah. It's fine now. You just have to keep them from closing back up if you leave the piercings out too long. I've always been a little rebellious, but dad could never really say no." Just why, she doesn't get into at this point. "So..Alopex is like your mom or what?" she asks before her own eyes widen briefly at the question.

//YES SHE CAN!//

The voice inside her head is so loud she actually grimaces. "Mania..likes that idea." At that point, the symbiote begins to reappear around and over Andi's head, but does not quite reach the hair just yet.

Kainashi has posed:
    "Alopex..." Kainashi pauses a moemnt, and she rubs the back of her neck again, drawing a little bit backwards.

    "... she's like... a mentor? Older sister? She got me out of a bad place. She taught me how to talk. And when I need her, she is always there." she gives a small smile. "She's not the sensei, but she's my..." she wrestles a moment with the word, rolling it over "Senpai?" she considers.

    And she gives a bit of a shrug, and then looks back to Mania.

    And she reaches up. She very, very carefully puts her roughed up hands, with their dull claws instead of fingernails, to Andi's head, and she ruffles through the purple hair.

    "... I want pink hair, but I can't have it. I dunno how it will take to my head. And it'll probably turn all the white fur pink." she states with a little smile. "Your hair is so /soft/!"

Andi Benton has posed:
"Oh. We think we understand. So in a way she is like Spider-Man. He has helped us, and taught us some things, and tries to make sure we do not lose con..oooh. We can feel that." Mania pauses, the eyes having reformed into a look of glee at the mutant's touch in the purple hair. Hair is often a sensitive thing. Ever get a haircut and a shampoo and feel relaxed just from someone else's fingers in the hair, massaging the scalp? It's like that.

"This is good," they both end up saying. "You should have all the pink hair you want." Soft though the hair is, Mania decides to go the rest of the way. It's an odd look, purple hair atop /that/ appearance, and the thicker, spikier bits of symbiote 'hair' replace it, yet remain more soft than not. At the same time, a hand settles atop Kainashi's head to ruffle lightly, slowly. A low-sounding 'chrrr' can be heard from Mania.

Kainashi has posed:
    Kai keeps rubbing at the spikes as Mania's 'hood' comes back over, here she digs her claws in just a little bit.

    Meanwhile, she feels fingers in her hair, ruffling against the rougher, coarser fur that's growing out at the top of her head, and she gives just a little smile.
R
    ... nevermind that there's a steady 'thumpthumpthumpthump' of her tail wagging.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's claws curl just enough that Kainashi can feel that as well, if gently, similar to those atop her own head, and the sound that rises is even more easily heard than before. This is, apparently, new to the symbiote, and in some way it transfers the feelings through to Andi herself so she knows just what it thinks of this.

Then the hand kneads slowly between the ears, eyes shifting toward the motion of that tail. Aside from the sounds of approval, words are allowed to wait. At least outwardly.

//Andi we could do this all night.//
<<Yes, but..mmm.>>

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi is the one who pulls away, though her tail is wagging, she straightens up, takes a deep breath -- and then proceeds to very vigerously shake her head, her ears flapping noisily a moment before she streatches her jaw out.

    "I oughta keep going on my patrol route -- I've gotta give a report before I finish up the night--" she pauses and then gives a soft 'huff'.

    "OF course. The fun part gets turned into a /chore/."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania has come to sort of just sit there in a brief state of bliss, clearly so distracted by things that it takes a few seconds to register that the contact is no more and Kainashi has spoken of having to move on. "Mmm?"

She covers for it by catching the mention of a report and finishing the night. "Oh. Yes. Of course." Mono-syllable words for the moment, then she shakes her own head as if to clear her thoughts.

"If you ever want to do that again, we would be happy to. And it was nice to bust some losers with you." Gotta keep it professional among street protectors, yes.

Kainashi has posed:
    "Well... tell you what. Do... you think you could help me dye my hair?" she questions nervously. "I Could see about maybe showing you our place. You know. To hang out when we're not busting losers and saving people." Kai gives a grin.

    Then she hops to her feet, and tugs her hood back over her head. "Take care!"

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton pulls back the veil, so to speak, letting Kainashi see her face again. And her hair. "Hell yeah, I can help. If your Senpai Alopex will let me, unless you're thinking of doing it behind her back and surprising her. I can help with that, too."

What a bad influence.

"I don't know about the piercings, though. We'd better start with this first. And I'd let you see my place, but I've kind of had to keep all of this a secret from my dad. I'll..well, it's complicated and I'll tell you about it another time. You be careful, and don't chase after any cars."

She couldn't help it with that last part, but she must think Kainashi will take it for the joke it's meant to be.