873/Roller Derby Privilege Party

Roller Derby Privilege Party
Date of Scene:	30 March 2020
Location:	Whirl-o-rama
Synopsis:	Pizza, grumpy Julian, Doug jokes, bodyslamming!
Cast of Characters:	Illyana Rasputina, Julian Keller, Gabby Kinney, Samuel Guthrie, Douglas Ramsey, James Proudstar

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Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Do you think Whirl-o-rama is a cool, vintage throwback to 1979 when disco ruled and everyone who had sparkly short-shorts slapped on a pair of buffed white skates? Well, it's not. Sorry, this ain't Brooklyn. Westchester County is thirty-five years behind the Big Apple, and so Whirl-o-rama is a large, sort of cavernous complex surrounded by a pitted and mostly empty parking lot preferred for teenagers learning to drive or the odd game of Pokémon Go. Inexplicably there's a gym at the Whirl-o-rama. Inside, everything is frozen in the late-80s, from the claw machine dispensing sorrow and lessons of capitalism to every kid. The shop sells huge rot-your-teeth rainbow coloured lollipops large as a plate and taffy sure to ruin that expensive orthodontic work Mom and Dad spent two arms and a leg on.

The disco ball suspended over the huge oval roller rink at least is period, and a leering array of weird mascots for little-remembered shows and restaurants watch over everyone. Of course there's an arcade with neon printed red and blue checked carpeting, the laser-light background from every school photo and... Games. Games that no one even liked on their first run. Bleating declarations of "Elf needs food!" and Metroid-knockoff beeps join the lyrics of whatever the minimum wage teen running the DJ service can bring up.

"Happy birthday, Julie!" keeps interrupting the savage, sick beat of Freddie Mercury going on about his bicycle *ding!* and that kid is /really/ going to get TK-punched to next Tuesday.

The less said about the skate shop, the better. The attendant is cowering behind size 7, dodging a boot thrown at his head. Disinfectant wipes, sprays, and a prominent sign reading "Wash your hands" do not account for the stench wafting up from an unclean pair of boots. This, clearly, Illyana takes umbrage to. "I sw-swear they're c-cl-clean!" cries the poor spotted kid, literally spotted with red marks like a panda. "The l-l-last sh-sh... Shiiiit!"

There goes the other skate, scoring right into the canvas bag marked "Washing" in red letters.

Julian Keller has posed:
Julian Keller sighs, wearing a red leather jacket with the collar flipped up over a t-shirt that cost as much as renting out the whole building for the day, along with designer jeans and now a pair of custom-fit red and white trimmed rollerblades.

"It's not my birthday, but anyone can feel free to come and give me gifts. Real gifts, not, like, well wishes," he says. Does he cheat and use his TK to make him an amazing skater? Maybe. But its hard to see his eyes glow behind those shades he's wearing and he's certainly not going to tell.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"This is greaaaaat!" The exuberiant crowing comes from Gabby as she skates past Julian backwards. Maybe she was really good at this after all? Or maybe she was just daring and unafraid enough to try skating backwards. Judging by the way she crashes into the barrier wall, rebounding forward, and swinging her arms out to catch her balance as she spins in a circle with legs sliding wide apart---It's probably the latter.

At least she does manage to recover while grinning her head off. Another deer-legged attempt to pick her speed back up as she moves forward commenses. She's mildly better at forward once she gets up to speed. Stops are still uncertain.

"I could try to win you one of those stuffed animals if you want?" She calls out to Julian with a glance over her shoulder at him.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie has drove some of the kids here this evening. He used one of the schools SUVs though so the kids did not smell like Pizza before they got to the rink. He is now heading over to grab a drink from the grill area and watches the going on for a bit.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    Who had his own roller skates?
    If you guessed Doug, you guessed right! They're *vintage*. And right now he's out on the floor, skating in a circle. "Biiiiiiiiiicycle! BIIIIIIIIIIICYCLE!"
    In a T-Shirt that says 'I DO ALL MY OWN STUNTS' on it. "Man I can't BELIEVE this place is still here!"

James Proudstar has posed:
There will be no skating in Proudstar-ville tonight, for Mighty James wears a size 22 and they only go up to 16 here (and they only have one pair of those, though at least it looks considerably less-worn than many of the more standard size pairs). It may be just as well....7 feet and 350+ lbs of angry Apache barrelling around the rink may be...mildly hazardous for others, even if a few here could likely survive it without too much injury (or would recover quickly enough).

He has played a couple of outdated arcade games. He has eaten things that could technically be called food, but he remains skeptical as to the veracity of those claims. Mostly he's just sort of lurked around, occasionally chit-chatting with someone or whoever that engages with him, but as is often his way, kind of keeping to himself otherwise. At least for now. Julian is probably wearing more than the annual income that his family had while James was growing up, possibly just with his shirt, but Jimmy is comparatively low key...simple blue jeans, a red shirt, and a pair of enormous-sized hiking shoes. Still a fairly expensive getup if only for the fact that clothes in his size only comes from a select few outlets, and they usually aren't cheap, or have to be custom-tailored. He's not particularly close to where Julian is, but even amidst the din of everything else he can hear the words, a bit of a smirk settling across his face as he does. It does grow a bit less harsh at Gabby's antics, however.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
"Everyone give it up for Speedy McQueen out there! Look at her go!" Yeah, he's really bored. Paying attention with one eye, swiping right and sipping Mountain Misty-Jolt from a big ol' can on the other. Kid has legs of steel from years of skating and a definite interest in hockey scores, so it's all good out there. The ring-ding-ding of a bicycle bell ushers out Queen and brings in a grueling, stompy beat with a body count. The ululating roar conveyed through all those speakers shakes dirt out of the overhead vent. Thump, thump, thump, let it go. Unconventional, but no one in here is really over 25, are they? Let the bodies hit the floor, let the...

Illyana, the child of Siberian snows and the enormous crescent lake scarring Asia like a winking eye, is practically halfway to crawling over the scarred wooden counter after that poor kid. She has a hand on a bottle of Lysol spray disinfectant, and liberally fumigates the room with huge sweeping arcs of her arm. Around her, chintz Christmas lights and incongruous Spongebob SquarePants lights swing wildly, Bob's leering face soon dripping with a coating of industrial strength antibacterial.. On her feet are her usual curb-stomping black boots with half a dozen buckles, so why is she even concerned? Oh. They have actual wheels attached, no telling how.

"This will kill you," she hisses with all the sibilant death notes given to an avatar of Violent Ends and Violent Delights. "Do you douse them in Axe?" Poor kid, he hasn't a hope, hiding as she takes over the cleaning of surfaces and finally leaves the bottle rolling past.

Poor kid, he hightails it to the door and runs straight out past the edge of the rink, flinging two fuzzy keychains and a handful of Mardi Gras beads past Julian and Gabby in outright terror. "There's a monster in th-th-there!" he wails, totally ignored by DJ Yzerman (Wiser, Man!) up there in the booth, totally making sure the place hasn't burnt down but not much else.

Julian Keller has posed:
Spirals a bit out of the way of the incoming Illyana, a rather skilled motion that requires more than mere mental manipulation but a bit of actual acuity. "Charming all the boys as usual, I see," he calls out to Illyana, although there isn't much real menace to it.

He eyes Gabby warily as she offers to win him a prize, "I generally don't have a great deal of interest in stuffed bunny rabbits, not being an eight year old girl and all, but I won't object if you take a whack. Like most beneficent gods, I am fond of tribute in whatever form it comes," he grins.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney glances over toward where Sam and Jimmy are to wave at them with one outstretched hand. Just before the guy goes flying by her throwing the keys away with a look of sheer shock. She'd not really been paying as much attention as she likely should have to Illyana. "Should we check on her?" She wonders aloud with a little frown of thought.

Julian's mention of tribute earns a laugh though. "Everyone needs a mascot, though! Gimme a shooting game and I've got you covered," she promises with a self-assuredness that might make one wonder about why she's so confident. Either way she kicks one foot back attempting a nice little forward lean with arms spread wide as she rolls around on one skated foot.

"No cheating, Doug!" She teases lightly with a grin. Of course he would have his own skates. Go figure.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie looks over and waves to gabby it is nice to have someone who looks at the world through fresh eyes around. He nods over to James, and says "How you doing Jimmy?" He will ask the other man, and will chuckle a bit at Illyana's reactions.

James Proudstar has posed:
Jimmy glances up to Sam and gives him a wan smile, and a slight shrug of broad shoulders, "Just takin' it day-by-day, Sam. Feels like about the best I can do right now." A hand lifts to return Gabby's wave, but his attention remains focused more on Sam, "Sorry I've been kinda out of touch. Been dealing with a lot of heavy stuff, and the Genosha business didn't help." Pretty much everyone has heard about what happened to his Reservation by now. It was a keen topic...just prior to Genosha's disaster. He understands why it has to be on the back burner now. Truly. But that doesn't take a way a big pile of unresolved emotion and a burning wish for some righteous vengeance...if he knew where to direct it. "How're you doing? Kinda surprised Roberto isn't here. You two finally get the separation surgery?" He teases, with no real venom in his tone or expression.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    Doug skates by backward on one foot. "We used to come out here on the weekends and *tear it up*. ...Yeah, what a rowdy bunch of kids, terrorizizng the roller rink. "The air rifle pulls up and to the left." Then he skates by Julian. "Why so sour, Keller?" He asks, skating around him in a lazy circle, "A Mexican magician told his audience he was going to vanish on the count of three. He counted, "Uno, dos..." and disappeared without a tres!"
    He beams at the surly teenager.

James Proudstar has posed:
Sam can probably see James wince for some reason, though the big Apache manages not to groan outright, even if the joke wasn't directed at him.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Civic duty done, Illyana glide-stumbles up to the wall separating her from the paneled pit with its polished wooden boards. Not before giving Sam and James a deadly smirk, the corner of her mouth barely lifted but ophidian glitter percolating through those Arctic-blue eyes. "Want to go out?" A sweep of her hand gestures to the open rink, at least not the one claimed by a hotrod, Gabby spinning round, and Doug showing actual competency. "I can lend a pair, da?" Because no doubt a huge pair of big red Santa boots with roller wheels on them is hidden in Piotr's closet, and she is one for group activities. Behold her swinging her leg over the wall rather than going through a door like a normal person.

You might like boys, Keller. I'd shatter them with the first smile," she fires back as she gets her balance. Testing. Wood is a whole lot different from ice, even polished, but she pushes off and gets a wiggly glide going on. Not for her keeping to the outside, she uses the natural curve to build up speed while hunting down her prey. For Gabby, it's got to be dead obvious. Noo-no-noo-no, shark on the loose. "Volchonok, too soon for dad jokes!"

Another twist in the music, a defiant anthem: "We're not gonna take it! We're not -- 'Everyone give it up for JuuUuUUuULie!' -- anymore!" No more bad jokes, anymore!

Julian Keller has posed:
Julian Keller clasps his hands at the small of his back, skating backwards, "Me? Sour? Not even a little bit. Sure, I still think most people are idiotic scum and I am extremely tempted to telekinetically rend the sound system out of the wall if it keeps teasing me, but I am the epitome of zen and pleasantness. Gabby here's going to get me a mascot. Illyana might gut someone, which could be very entertaining."

"No, no, not even your 90s sitcom comedy stylings will ruin my mood today, Douglas. So Cut. It. Out," he says, making a scissors gesture.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Oooh good tip," Gabby responds to Doug with a solemn nod. She's already turned her attention toward the shoddy arcade to eye it from her spot on the floor when the movement of Illyana coming over into the rink comes into sight. "Uhoh." She knew that look even if she didn't know Illyana very well herself. That was a hunting look.

Turning her attention forward she focuses on kicking her feet back to pick up speed in an attempt to escape! Tongue tucked in the corner of her mouth she swings her arms, pumping them to gain speed and momentum before the worst might happen.

It doesn't stop her from piping up, "Did you hear about the kidnapping? It's okay, he woke up!"

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie looks over to Illy, and says "May join you guys in a bit." He offers before she is off. He turns to Proudstar, and puts a hand on the other man's shoulder for a moment, as he says "Well if ya need someone to talk to I am here, if ya need someone to punch, I can call Berto." he grins a bit and says "He has been busy a bit and not sure he approves of my new girl friend, that or there is a magnum PI convention near by." He jokes about his friend.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug skates alongside Gabby, still going backward. "Hey Gabby, two whales were swimming next to each other. One says--"

Then Doug proceeds to say something in whalesong. For a whole minute. "OooooooooOOOoooOOooooOOOoooer, OOooooOoOooooooOOOOOooo, RoooooOOOOOOOOooooOOOooooo..."

"Then the other whale says..." He opens his mouth and sucks in a big double lungful of air, "...Come on Frank, I TOLD you to stop at one beer!"

He skates away. Still going backward.

James Proudstar has posed:
"Yeah, that'd do it." Jimmy notes of Roberto's absence and Magnum PI conventions. However the other bit piques his curiousity a bit, "New girlfriend huh? Guess I've been even further out of it than I thought. What's the news there?" He lifts a hand to Illyana's offer, grinning with a glimmer of mischief, "I'll let you know when Doug's jokes push me to justifiable homicide. Or I get real tired of hearing about Julie."

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
"Buy him a bearskin rug," advises Illyana from afar on matters great and Berto. Her flick of movement marks the liquid black wheels of her boots catching the ground and spurring her along, a tiny hellion after the actual hellions. Gabby is in motion already, precipitating a need to strike out in hot pursuit of Gabby. She's going to make herself a target, the Russian lowering her profile to sweep out after her like the Dutch running down a gold medal in short track becomes apparent. Hey, this surface is smooth; she learned skating on the roughened blocks of ice with its own endemic seal population and occasional icicle tsunami. Zipping to close that distance gives fair enough impression she's out to chase them full around the rink, no holds barred. Did anyone tell her it's not a blood sport without being a derby girl?

Or an actual hockey player? Russian, kids. Nothing is worth doing without fatalism or fatalities. "That joke is even worse!" she calls out to Doug. Hey, it's not Lashkiel Daemonic or Russian, consider it a boon to announce in English. "Whales talk about magnetism, anyway!"

Julian Keller has posed:
Julian Keller rolls his eyes, "Oh god, can we please not just keep track of who everyone's breeding with at the moment? It's just a tracking vector for who's going to get mono at this point," he mutters. Is he a bit bitter, a bit jealous, a bit neglected? Maybe.

"I really need to get a mute button for Doug," he sighs to himself. And, of course, as usual, he ends up talking to himself. Doesn't he always? He shoves his way off the rink and glides into the snack area, going to get a drink. So much for his untouchable good mood.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Aforementioned Lashkiel Daemonic sounds like a rivulet of song dancing on Illyana's lips. The retort is totally a good one.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The probably with going really fast when you weren't totally skilled at it meant that corners were hard. Gabby doesn't quite make the turn and instead slams into the wall with a yelp. Rather than let it stop her though she throws herself away from the wall using it to push off again. Not to get *away* from Illyana though, but toward her. She's on a collision course with the Russian and ducks forward bringing one arm out in front of her face so she leads with her elbow. Maybe it was against the spirit of it to change course but no one had told her that!

It's all done with an likely inappropriate warcry of, "GERONIMO!"

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
For reasons known only to himself, DJ Yzerman up there decides to put on 'Footloose' as a song. Because his 80s kick is ingrained.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie winces a bit as Gabby hits the wall. "Now that seems familiar for some reason." He will say of her crash. He looks over to Jimmy, and says "Yea, she is a great girl, just her dad is really big anti us." He motions towards the group. "Also think he would not approve of his daughter dating a pizza guy on top of it, so having to do the sneaking around a bit."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug circles right back around to Illyana, and then he gets a load of Gabby and says, "Micro-missile on your six, beautiful!" He steals a kiss on the cheek in a micro PDA before he skates back to Julian and says, "I don't know why the DJ keeps doing that, your birthday isn't till July."

Then he says, "C'mon Keller, I'll buy you a soda and a slice to make up for all my terrible yet awesome jokes."

James Proudstar has posed:
The Geronimo cry doesn't faze James. The man was a proud warrior and an inspiration to James' people. Even if the name came more often from the lips of palefaces, in it's own way it did him honor. Or at least that's how James had rationalized it rather than KILLING EVERYONE. OK, perhaps not that extreme, but he definitely had to make some peace with it a long time ago. "Huh. Got a Romeo and Juliet thing goin' on? Always figured you for a romantic, Guthrie." However the little PDA between Doug and Illyana gets a raise of the eyebrows, which is about akin to a start of surprise from the stoic fellow, "Whoa...wait...Doug and Illyana?" He seems to mull this over in his head a bit, then shrugs, "Don't think I would've seen that one coming...feelin' like I was in a coma or something all of the sudden. Or did I fall through some portal to another dimension or something?"

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
The Demon Queen of Limbo might be the unstoppable object. Gabby, the immovable one. One has amassed considerably more speed than the other, and she's just plain taller by a near foot, more with the boots considered. The other is lobbing herself at the blonde sorceress like a missile. This cannot possibly end well or outside a portal, this is factual. Especially that sudden dart inward of the other objet d'amor-- read, prey -- zooming past to swivel her right off her axis for a split second, which is probably all Gabby needs to capitalize on knocking the Russian askew. Or totally off balance, or possibly be thrown into a double salchow, double lutz. Don't spike the landing!

Well, fine, Gabby's getting a hug if they both go flying, preternatural reflexes or not. They're not James-level fast, but still pretty darn effective when it comes down to it.

Julian Keller has posed:
Julian Keller hops up onto a railing, dangling his custom blades idly, "You know that offering to buy things for a rich person doesn't earn you a lot of favor? But..." he says, "I appreciate the thought," he says, almost spitting out the words. He's trying to be nicer. Really.

Well, some of the time anyway.

Along those lines, he takes a moment to quickly put up some TK bumper shields for Gabby and Illyana. Just in case either of them manages to turn the other into pudding in the process of all this, although he doesn't interfere in the actual contact.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
There's a yelp, and a laugh from Gabby as she crashes into Illyana only to be caught into the tumble. Legs an arms askew. She rolls with it much as she can, but it's pure momentum at this point. Likely right into the TK bumpers that Julian has thoughtfully thrown up at the least.

When they finally come to a skidding halt and Gabby starts to extract herself, there's only a little blood running down from her nose. Not that she seems to mind. Grinning broadly she laughs out, "That was great!"

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"It's got nothing to with money." Doug says, as he loses his skates long enough to go get a couple of slices and some ice-cold soda. He offers one out to Julian. "Now I remember why this place stayed open."

He holds up his own slice, and tilts it toward his mouth. "The cheesiest, greasiest, nastiest slice of pie in the tri-state area. We used to run all night on these and pints of Mountain Dew."

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie looks over to James "Yea, Ah was a bit surprised not the couple Ah would have had my money on to come out of our class, but they make one another happy so Ah am happy for them ." as Doug comes over he will pat the man on the shoulder, and "What do you call other peoples pizza here? Nacho cheese pizza." He tells the lame joke to his friend.

James Proudstar has posed:
"Yeah. Think we all deserve that where we can grab it." James accedes to Sam, giving him a bit of a smile. When Sam moves over to Doug and makes his own awful joke, James groans, though there's no real rancor in his voice, "I let the kid get away with cultural appropriation cause she's a kid, but any more of these jokes and there's gonna be blood." He is fairly clearly not serious, or at least most here have been around James and his deadpan manner enough to see through the stoneface.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Telekinetic shields for the win! It saves having to explain the torn elbows and knees, which all good parties at the roller rink have. No doubt it's the cool sort of party that gets you all the friends, or at least the fiends. The two of them go bouncing off one another, and if nothing else, Illyana has a lot of experience getting herself into a fairly defensive tuck and roll. Skates don't make this any easier, of course, but she's past the point of minding too much. An impressive scratch reddens her cheek, running up into her hairline. No bleeding from the nose, and there's a reason leather pants are great for such affairs. Nothing is torn, just buffed up minorly.

The spikeless version of her pauldron is there, though, where it absolutely was not part of her usual attire, wrapped protectively down the shoulder that impacted with the floor for the most part. The gleaming metal is actually not solid black for once, but peculiarly a chromatic shine almost as glimmery as a rainbow. Gabby's face easily reflects in the steel that isn't steel, showing her fancy new warpaint. "You weigh nothing!" she announces without much explanation to Gabby. "Let's do it again, except this time go straight at the boards."

Her gaze flicker-flashes back to the others. Gossiping, fed, no one dead. Aww, it's not even a party yet. Thumbs-up thrown to Julian and Sam, the dad of them all, before she hauls herself up with her feet braced wide and offers her hand to Gabby just in case they need it. "Though can I throw you at them if they keep making the bad jokes? Bet you could totally knock them all over."

Her shadow totally doesn't have horns. Nope.

Julian Keller has posed:
Julian Keller makes a face, "I'm not sure 'nastiest' is a description I want of a food before I put it in my mouth, but I'm going to just assume you meant it in a positive way. You are the language master, after all," he says, taking a bite of the pizza and quickly swallowing before he burns his tongue.

"I think assuming the best of each other is what we're generally meant to do. Otherwise we'd all be beating one another's brains out all the time and we do enough of that in Danger Room," he says.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"Nasty is only an acceptable adjective when you're talking about pizza, yes," Doug says. Then he says, "Well, like Ben Franklin said, we all hang together or we all hang separately. That means, whatever difficulties we have, circumstances make us family. So we have to work at it."

He takes a sip of his soda, and hops up to sit, before he watches Illyana. "I think she finally found a friend who doesn't mind if she swings to break bones." He looks up at Sam and Jimmy, and then says, "See, when I make them, they're clever. When SAM makes them... they're dad jokes."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney clambers back to her feet still grinning. "Yeah, I know, I come from small stock," she responds about weighing nothing. Her hands smack against her thighs to dust herself off with a sidelong tilt of her head taking in the defensive change in Illyana's attire. The suggestion earns a broader grin along with a laugh. "Lemme grab a drink first, and I promised Julian a mascot. It won't take me long though these are kids games. Not like a high powered rifle or something."

A hand is offered out to Illyana to help her back up if needed before she makes a small escape. Her voice lowers as she whispers, "I saw some pretty princess dolls maybe he'd like that." With a playful wink to the devilish Russian. With that, she whirls about to skate to the side--Somehow with more skill than before. Maybe she learned from experience quickly. "Be right back!" She crows while practically hopping over the edge of the rink and scrambling for the arcade.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie grins and chuckles a bit as he says "Yea yours are better sure." He tells the other and says "So, what have you been up to Jullian? Don't think I have seen you roaming the halls much of late.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Not nearly enough danger happens in the Danger Room for /some/ people. That's why they bash into one another like pinball machines. On her feet and obviously mildly bleeding, nothing else, Illyana gives a lazy roll of her shoulders and considers the right way to go about turning the skating rink into a mosh pit. Or a hockey arena. You know, it's all fun and games if a hockey game breaks out at one of those. Her hearing is canny enough to pick up on the tail end of Doug's suggestion. "Still close enough! Be careful!"

Don't ask the implications of that, because she's off like a firefly after the girl going for a drink. "It could be a high-powered rifle, but then you would have no stuffing. Let's go see if he can get his own Princess Thor." She dips right along, following Gabby halfway and then finishing her lap. The next one's a lot faster than the first, with momentum enough to help her reach the boards and leap up far enough to actually breach the distance with a vault. Whee!

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug crosses his eyes and sticks his tongue out at Sam. Nyeh! That seems to occupy his attention for the moment.