Three-Card Monte [Closed] - Printable Version
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Three-Card Monte [Closed] - Tindome - 09-14-2016
![[Image: monte.png]](https://alonimi.net/misc/images/graphics/monte.png)
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - Tindome - 09-14-2016
Kiki was standing in the middle of sidewalk, waiting to get mugged. Her purse was enormous, her shorts were too short, and her shirt was too big for her. The shirt was grey, and just said NO in large floral letters. She was wearing flip-flops. She thought that she probably should have dressed with more deliberate cuteness, maybe a dress and some heels. Curled her hair like she was pretty and helpless. But she also didn't feel like it, and didn't care what she thought. She chewed her gum and checked again that her phone was in her back pocket.
Kiki was loitering in a nearby alley, waiting to steal her purse. She'd worn black everything, from the turtleneck to the domino mask. She'd dyed her hair black, in the fastest and laziest way she could manage. Gloves on her hands hid the black stains on her palms. She looked like a small child's idea of what a bad guy ought to look like. She thought that she ought to have put a little more effort into it, maybe worn one of her spare henching outfits. But she didn't feel like it, and anyway, that might complicate things outside of a henching job. It didn't need to stand up to much scrutiny, certainly not for long. She licked her teeth, wishing for gum that wasn't there.
Kiki was sitting on a fire escape waiting to save herself from herself. She was wearing a blank white uniform, and had put her hair in a high ponytail. Usually if she was sidekicking, she'd add on some logo patches and dye the leather the appropriate colors. In this case, she was pretending to be a hero in her own right. Which… she wasn't. So. Blank. It would work well enough, anyway, regardless of what she thought. Inventing a superhero persona would be too much work. She yawned; waiting to save the day was always boring. She wished she had her phone.
Kiki in the alley had decided she'd waited long enough. Worst case scenario, they had to do it again a little later. Or maybe drag out a fight until it got the right attention. But anything had to be more interesting than standing around in an alley alone. She'd understand later, when she was herself.
Kiki on the fire escape swore as she realized she was ruining her plan. She probably should have predicted that. If she was honest, she was grateful for the opportunity to do anything but sit there. She jumped down from her perch so that she'd be ready to chase herself.
Kiki's purse was snatched off her arm. Her original plan had been to gasp loudly, or scream in a high-pitch, or yell 'stop thief!' But that was the original plan, which she was not ready for, because it was too early. So instead she said: "Dude! What the fuck, man?"
Kiki sighed and blew a gum bubble as she ran past herself to chase herself.
Kiki was loitering in a nearby alley, waiting to steal her purse. She'd worn black everything, from the turtleneck to the domino mask. She'd dyed her hair black, in the fastest and laziest way she could manage. Gloves on her hands hid the black stains on her palms. She looked like a small child's idea of what a bad guy ought to look like. She thought that she ought to have put a little more effort into it, maybe worn one of her spare henching outfits. But she didn't feel like it, and anyway, that might complicate things outside of a henching job. It didn't need to stand up to much scrutiny, certainly not for long. She licked her teeth, wishing for gum that wasn't there.
Kiki was sitting on a fire escape waiting to save herself from herself. She was wearing a blank white uniform, and had put her hair in a high ponytail. Usually if she was sidekicking, she'd add on some logo patches and dye the leather the appropriate colors. In this case, she was pretending to be a hero in her own right. Which… she wasn't. So. Blank. It would work well enough, anyway, regardless of what she thought. Inventing a superhero persona would be too much work. She yawned; waiting to save the day was always boring. She wished she had her phone.
Kiki in the alley had decided she'd waited long enough. Worst case scenario, they had to do it again a little later. Or maybe drag out a fight until it got the right attention. But anything had to be more interesting than standing around in an alley alone. She'd understand later, when she was herself.
Kiki on the fire escape swore as she realized she was ruining her plan. She probably should have predicted that. If she was honest, she was grateful for the opportunity to do anything but sit there. She jumped down from her perch so that she'd be ready to chase herself.
Kiki's purse was snatched off her arm. Her original plan had been to gasp loudly, or scream in a high-pitch, or yell 'stop thief!' But that was the original plan, which she was not ready for, because it was too early. So instead she said: "Dude! What the fuck, man?"
Kiki sighed and blew a gum bubble as she ran past herself to chase herself.
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - megs - 09-15-2016
"Just - ungrateful is what she is," Makai complained in between bites of greasy lo mein noodles. Checking in on Veronica always seemed to do nothing more than piss him off. He didn't even know why he continued to do it, when she made it very clear she did not want him to. He picked up an egg roll and glared at it as if it were the source of his vexation, because he knew exactly why he did it. "Ungrateful?" His company repeated back to him, not bothering to scowl at their own dinner, since they did not share his obvious disappointment. Stellar Matthews: all the time business partner, sometimes bitchfest partner was staring at him in what he refused to acknowledge as disbelief. "Ungrateful that money doesn't fix what happened to her parents?" she asked, unnecessarily, for clarification. Stellar leaned back and crossed her arms across her chest. The expression he was ignoring never left her features.
"Her parents were Bad People," he replied, over eggroll, punctuating the words carefully. This was the same argument they had every month. He could predict the hour-to-hour events of the fifteenth without ever having to live through another one. His determination seemed almost masochistic. Stellar didn't reply, she didn't have to. 'Not to her' went without her saying for the hundredth time. So, she shrugged, taking a swig of beer instead.
Makai smothered more complaints with dumplings. It was difficult to tell if this was stress eating or just eating. The man was build like a brick house and consumed more calories on a daily basis than a football team. Before he could continue to gripe, they were alerted to the sounds of distress nearby. He turned in chair to see what was happening, just in time to see someone in all black fly past the window. "Robbery in progress," Stellar chimed, mocking the predictable buzzing of police radios. He turned back to face the table, and his lo mein.
"You're not going?" she asked.
"…it's a purse."
"Oh, I'm sorry, your majesty."
Giving her an indignant 'what the fuck' look, he pushed himself away from the table.
"Want me to tag along?" She looked smug.
"Yeah, because I want to fucking read 'Solarflare and Moonbeam Team Up to Stop Purse Thief' in the fucking paper tomorrow," he hissed at her.
She laughed as he swept away to change.
Solarflare couldn't remember when a purse snatching had started to feel beneath him. A city full of metahumans and wannabe heroes, certainly there was some rookie around that would be more than happy for the five seconds of gratitude that came with returning a knock-off of some gaudy designer purse. Not to sound cliché, but he had bigger fish to fry. He was an established hero, the kind with nemeses that could actually rain wanton destruction upon the city at any fucking moment.
Everyone recognized his signature red and gold costume, with the sun emblem emblazoned across his chest. News anchors fawned over his windswept hair and wondered as to who was hiding under the mask. Kids dressed up as him for fucking Halloween.
He'd given the thief a head start for fun, not that it would get them very far, and it wasn't as if they could outrun him. Solarflare all but dropped out of the sky to land a few feet in front of the criminal; far enough away to give them time to stop before they ran into him, and to briefly contemplate their terrible decision.
He should have said something clever. He should not have sounded bored when he said it. It being, "hand it over," while motioning for the purse.
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - Tindome - 09-15-2016
Kiki skidded to a halt; she still hadn't caught up with herself.
The plan had always involved a confrontation with Solarflare. It was just that–
"Oh, that is just complete bullshit."
Kiki, still cracking her gum on the sidewalk, was 5'3". Kiki – the rest of her – was 5'2". There were probably better responses to have overall to the sudden presence of a very large man in an intimidating costume, but she was a little bit…
… out of it.
This plan obviously wasn't going to work, anyway. This was the kind of plan that worked with nice heroes. Which he clearly wasn't. Improvisation time.
"Shit," Kiki muttered as she caught up to herself, her vague attempts in the direction of heroism looking extra-pathetic in the context of Man What Can Fly And Whatnots.
Kiki in black reached into the purse to grab something that looked suspiciously like a cartoon raygun, turning toward herself at the same time. Then she tossed the purse at Kiki in white, sliding sideways to run in the other direction, with a helpful yell of: "He's a dick new plan!" Then she bolted toward another alley.
Kiki caught the purse, wide-eyed and frozen as a deer in headlights. "What!" At which point she realized she was completely fucked. "I'm such a bitch!" she spat accusatorily as she turned to run in the opposite direction of herself, down a completely different alley. She may not have known all the details of her plan, but she could get the gist. Which was: fucking run, dipshit.
Kiki hadn't moved from where she'd been standing when her purse was stolen. She blew a bubble and scrolled through Twitter, making no effort to get out of the way of passing pedestrians.
The plan had always involved a confrontation with Solarflare. It was just that–
"Oh, that is just complete bullshit."
Kiki, still cracking her gum on the sidewalk, was 5'3". Kiki – the rest of her – was 5'2". There were probably better responses to have overall to the sudden presence of a very large man in an intimidating costume, but she was a little bit…
… out of it.
This plan obviously wasn't going to work, anyway. This was the kind of plan that worked with nice heroes. Which he clearly wasn't. Improvisation time.
"Shit," Kiki muttered as she caught up to herself, her vague attempts in the direction of heroism looking extra-pathetic in the context of Man What Can Fly And Whatnots.
Kiki in black reached into the purse to grab something that looked suspiciously like a cartoon raygun, turning toward herself at the same time. Then she tossed the purse at Kiki in white, sliding sideways to run in the other direction, with a helpful yell of: "He's a dick new plan!" Then she bolted toward another alley.
Kiki caught the purse, wide-eyed and frozen as a deer in headlights. "What!" At which point she realized she was completely fucked. "I'm such a bitch!" she spat accusatorily as she turned to run in the opposite direction of herself, down a completely different alley. She may not have known all the details of her plan, but she could get the gist. Which was: fucking run, dipshit.
Kiki hadn't moved from where she'd been standing when her purse was stolen. She blew a bubble and scrolled through Twitter, making no effort to get out of the way of passing pedestrians.
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - megs - 09-18-2016
Solarflare's hand dropped to his side, sans purse. His mouth fell open a touch, baffled, as his eyes followed the perp in black as she skirted down an alley. It was safe to say he was annoyed, becoming more annoyed as he brought his gaze back to the one in white. Who now had the purse.
"What's going…" he didn't get the chance to finish his questioning. They'd bolted in opposite directions.
He kind of regretted not letting Stellar come along for this absolute shit show.
He decided to follow the one in white. She had the purse now, and that had been his original goal. He'd just have to figure the rest out later. Pushing himself from the ground he took to the air and flew down the alley in pursuit. Catching up with her was easy enough, he could hear her feet slapping the concrete as she fled. It was kind of comical watching her little legs try to carry her off in some semblance of speed. Okay, her legs were probably normal sized. He was just huge and irritable.
Coming up behind her and grabbing her by the waist, was probably not the most polite thing to do.
He did it anyway.
He tossed her over his shoulder despite protestations. Flying upwards, he found a tall building and deposited her gracelessly upon the empty rooftop. He landed, frowning down at her. "I'll take the purse now, and an explanation."
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - Tindome - 09-20-2016
Kiki had really been hoping that he'd go after her.
The other her.
She yelped when his arm went around her waist; she'd have fallen over if he hadn't been holding her up. She kicked and squirmed, a tight grip on the strap of her bag. Getting thrown over his shoulder knocked all the air out of her, and she wanted to kick him again. She stayed relatively limp instead. Relatively, because she was also clinging to him because she didn't want to fall.
He probably wouldn't drop her. That wouldn't be very heroic.
Kiki had expected him to follow her.
The her-her.
She was wearing black. She was the bad one. Obviously. That was how colors worked.
She tried to follow from afar as Solarflare carried her away, really tempted to stay underneath him to catch herself. That might be too obvious. She just didn't want to let herself out of her sight, needed to be ready for escape.
Kiki crumpled onto the roof when he dropped her off his shoulder, landing on her ass with the bag in her lap. She glanced to the edge of the building. Too high to jump, even if she could catch herself.
This was fine. This was totally fine. He was distracted, like he was supposed to be. This was going… good. Yeah? Yeah.
"Sorry." Shit, no, that didn't sound perky enough for a ponytail this high. She cleared her throat. "Sorry!" she tried again. She pulled herself up to her feet, trying to brush dust from the white leather. She was briefly distracting trying to look at her own ass to see if it was scuffed up, turning in a circle. She still wanted to use that outfit later. Then she straightened, clearing her throat again. "It's just, uh." She looked in the bag. "I think I – I think she took the only valuable thing in here?"
The contents seemed exclusively comprised of fun-sized candy bars.
She held it out for him. "Anyway, you can have it I guess." She'd already forgotten about trying to be perky. What was a distracting explanation? This was a lot easier before she'd made it obvious that she was in cahoots with herself. "I would totes love to explain because I'm a big fan or whatever, but it's like. Super-duper classified. Like, crazy classified."
The other her.
She yelped when his arm went around her waist; she'd have fallen over if he hadn't been holding her up. She kicked and squirmed, a tight grip on the strap of her bag. Getting thrown over his shoulder knocked all the air out of her, and she wanted to kick him again. She stayed relatively limp instead. Relatively, because she was also clinging to him because she didn't want to fall.
He probably wouldn't drop her. That wouldn't be very heroic.
Kiki had expected him to follow her.
The her-her.
She was wearing black. She was the bad one. Obviously. That was how colors worked.
She tried to follow from afar as Solarflare carried her away, really tempted to stay underneath him to catch herself. That might be too obvious. She just didn't want to let herself out of her sight, needed to be ready for escape.
Kiki crumpled onto the roof when he dropped her off his shoulder, landing on her ass with the bag in her lap. She glanced to the edge of the building. Too high to jump, even if she could catch herself.
This was fine. This was totally fine. He was distracted, like he was supposed to be. This was going… good. Yeah? Yeah.
"Sorry." Shit, no, that didn't sound perky enough for a ponytail this high. She cleared her throat. "Sorry!" she tried again. She pulled herself up to her feet, trying to brush dust from the white leather. She was briefly distracting trying to look at her own ass to see if it was scuffed up, turning in a circle. She still wanted to use that outfit later. Then she straightened, clearing her throat again. "It's just, uh." She looked in the bag. "I think I – I think she took the only valuable thing in here?"
The contents seemed exclusively comprised of fun-sized candy bars.
She held it out for him. "Anyway, you can have it I guess." She'd already forgotten about trying to be perky. What was a distracting explanation? This was a lot easier before she'd made it obvious that she was in cahoots with herself. "I would totes love to explain because I'm a big fan or whatever, but it's like. Super-duper classified. Like, crazy classified."
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - megs - 09-29-2016
Solarflare resisted the urge to cross his arms. Or plant them on his hips. Or any other practiced power position that was intentionally designed to intimidate her. It would have been strictly overkill at this point. The roll of his eyes matched the circles she turned. This was the exact type of rookie nonsense he’d been grumbling about before. He should have just let her handle it. Whoever she was. “Who are you?” he asked. His mostly neutral tone still sounded like a demand. Looking her over he noticed that she was devoid of emblems. The white leather was hardly a statement.
What the actual fuck was this night?
Landing on the rooftop he stalked over to her to take the bag from her possession. He frowned upon opening it and scanning the contents. “Something more valuable than all these mini chocolates?” He portrayed a mocking sort of disbelief. Reaching inside he helped himself to a tiny Snickers before thrusting the bag back in her direction.
Ripping open the wrapper he popped the candy into his mouth and handed the trash to her as well. “Crazy classified,” he repeated slowly over a mouthful of chocolate. This time he did cross his arms. “They probably should have picked a better liar for the super-duper classified mission.” He didn’t know who 'they' would have been. Didn’t have to. Since, he didn’t believe her story for a second.
Stellar would think this was fucking hilarious when he told her about later.
RE: Three-Card Monte [Closed] - Tindome - 01-08-2017
"I'm, uh." Kiki reached for her hair, but it wasn't hanging over her shoulders like usual. She licked at her teeth, wished for her gum. "I haven't decided on a name yet," she lied. "Or, like, a theme, or whatever."
On the ground, Kiki continued to watch the rooftop, and also took off back toward herself. Kiki who remained still had the raygun she'd taken from her purse.
She took a reflexive step backward when he approached her, though she tried to stand her ground as he took the purse from her. "I guess?" She made a face when he shoved the bag back into her hands. What did he think she was? A coatrack? It wasn't any more endearing when he gave her the wrapper of the candy he'd eaten. She dropped it to the roof in a manner suspiciously like flinging it back at him. It was still mostly dropping it on the ground, because candy wrappers did not lend themselves well to throwing.
"I don't really need to lie, though," she pointed out. "I just have to say it's classified and then not say anything, soooo…" She felt like that proved some kind of point. She didn't know what. She inched closer to the edge of the roof.
Near where they'd started, Kiki grabbed herself. The second black-clad Kiki melted into the first, much to her displeased surprise. She staggered, then made a sound of disgust, tucking her phone into her back pocket. She blew a gum bubble, sucked it back into her mouth. She'd grown imperceptibly taller, a little more shape to her shape. "Fucking stupid," she complained. She stepped out of her flip-flops and picked them up in her hands before starting to run in the direction of the first Kiki in black. Running through a city barefoot was stupid, but not as stupid as running in flip-flops looked.
On the ground, Kiki continued to watch the rooftop, and also took off back toward herself. Kiki who remained still had the raygun she'd taken from her purse.
She took a reflexive step backward when he approached her, though she tried to stand her ground as he took the purse from her. "I guess?" She made a face when he shoved the bag back into her hands. What did he think she was? A coatrack? It wasn't any more endearing when he gave her the wrapper of the candy he'd eaten. She dropped it to the roof in a manner suspiciously like flinging it back at him. It was still mostly dropping it on the ground, because candy wrappers did not lend themselves well to throwing.
"I don't really need to lie, though," she pointed out. "I just have to say it's classified and then not say anything, soooo…" She felt like that proved some kind of point. She didn't know what. She inched closer to the edge of the roof.
Near where they'd started, Kiki grabbed herself. The second black-clad Kiki melted into the first, much to her displeased surprise. She staggered, then made a sound of disgust, tucking her phone into her back pocket. She blew a gum bubble, sucked it back into her mouth. She'd grown imperceptibly taller, a little more shape to her shape. "Fucking stupid," she complained. She stepped out of her flip-flops and picked them up in her hands before starting to run in the direction of the first Kiki in black. Running through a city barefoot was stupid, but not as stupid as running in flip-flops looked.