Roots of Jade

[Deamon]

((Kimiko Kao continued from I Hate Mustard))

The bowling alley was an ugly building. It was ugly on the outside and inside, marking it as a product of its time. It sounded like a harsh assessment but it was a true one. Kimiko didn't hate the bowling alley, she just thought it looked incredibly outdated and tacky. There was nothing wrong with the services it offered, although the carpet was the worst thing Kimiko had ever seen.

Her reason for being in the bowling alley was that she was going to be meeting up with Clarice, because they had decided to play a few games of bowling. Kimiko had been bowling a handful of times, in both Tainan and Kingman, so she wasn't as bad at it as she could be. The ball would hit the pins most of the time and she didn't need the barriers up, which was good enough for her. It wasn't anything she took seriously or put time into, but it was a fun distraction.

She stretched her legs out in front of her. She had decided to walk to the bowling alley, it meant she could get some air; it wasn't a taxing walk for her. Clarice would arrive eventually and Kimiko didn't mind waiting for her, she had earned that much. Clarice had been the first person at middle school to make an real effort to be friends with her when she had arrived. Most of the other kids had found her interesting, but she was the new kid who was Asian and couldn't talk. They weren't bothered about friendship. Clarice had been different, she had put in the time and effort to get to know her and socialize with her. That meant a lot to Kimiko at the time and still did.

So she flicked through the news on her phone and waited, frowning as she saw the news that Mayor Lai was still boycotting city council meetings in Tainan. She agreed with his position and appreciated his sentiment behind making the protest but he was a presidential hopeful for the Pan-Green Coalition. He needed to solve problems not be seen to be making them. Sighing Kimiko switched over to Facebook, this was why she was hoping that the New Power Party got some traction. Until Clarice arrived she would busy herself with looking at peoples updates. She found it was less frustrating.

[ViolentMedic]

((Clarice Halwood continued from Hecate on Roman Halloween.))

Bowling time! Bowling wasn't something Clarice did too much, but she enjoyed it when she did. Hell, she enjoyed any competition, really. And it was all the better when she was challenging a friend.

She'd jogged to the bowling alley—why miss the chance for exercise—and took a moment to stretch outside before going in. She spotted Kimiko sitting nearby, looking at her phone, so she ran over and smacked her shoulder lightly and playfully.

Her and Kimiko had been friends for ages. She'd admittedly, same as most others, seen her as 'the mute Asian kid' before she'd seen her as just Kimiko. But Clarice had known what it was like for people to see your race before they saw you, so she'd tried to talk to her. And it turned out to be super easy to get along with her. Anyone who hated bullies, got that politics were important and was just as generally awesome as Kimiko was would always be great in Clarice's book. Even if Clarice didn't always quite grasp the Taiwanese politics that Kimiko was concerned with, although she tried to follow as best she could.

"You ready to get your butt kicked?" Clarice signed, grinning.

[Deamon]

"Oh you think so?" Kimiko asked returning Clarice's grin.

Another reason Clarice was such a good friend was that she had actually learned some sign language. It meant a lot more to Kimiko than just being nice to her, it took a lot of effort to learn but Clarice had done it so that they could communicate better. Kimiko still remembered moving to Kingman and finding out that she had to learn the American Version of sign language. The doctor had offered her an electronic voicebox but she had refused that outright. It had never been brought up again, instead she just knuckled down and learned. It was more rewarding to her anyway, when she was younger it had felt like they had a secret language no one else knew. Even now they were older they were still some of only a few people at school she knew that could even speak ASL.

Kimiko stood up and stretched her arms out behind her clicking her back. "Suppose we should go pay."

That was the other good thing that came with having Clarice around. She could handle all the talking and it removed all the awkwardness that could occur when Kimiko had to do it. Sometimes people would ask her questions and she'd have to type out an answer on her phone otherwise they would think she was being rude. It was easier having someone else with her in the long run.

"Hopefully the money will go towards replacing the carpet."

[ViolentMedic]

"I don't think so. I know so," Clarice teased. Well, really, she figured the chance was about equal for either of them. Neither of them were actually bowlers, and it wasn't as if Kimiko didn't have arm strength. She was a gymnast, for fuck's sake.

She wandered towards the desk where games were paid for and shoes were rented. She signed as she trotted along. She used to have a problem where she'd try to sign too fast or too enthusiastically, and her various signs would just blend together.

"Nah, that carpet's gonna survive until the apocalypse. Besides, no matter what you spill on it stains blend right in. Super practical, really."

Clarice opened her mouth to ask the person working the desk to rent a lane, before letting out a little 'oh' under her breath and turning back to Kimiko.

"How many games do you want to play? And what shoe size?"

[Deamon]

Kimiko paused for a moment as Clarice asked her the question.

"Let's say two games?" She shrugged, seemed as good a number as any. "Size 6."

She always remembered that American sizes was larger after an incident after she'd been over for around six months. She had been wanting a new pair of trainers and her parents had surprised by buying a pair. Needless to say they were extremely tight and after causing her to rub the skin off her ankle her parents traded them in for a size up. She had marks from that for what felt like forever at the time. In reality it had probably been three months. She hadn't made the mistake again though and neither had her parents. It had become a little in-joke between them whenever someone wanted shoes as a present. Other people would probably think that it was stupid but it meant something to them.

"We won't need three games. I'll beat you too bad."

Kimiko had no memory of every winning at bowling, but Clarice didn't need to know that. Not if they were just throwing trash talk back and forth. She found having an entire conversation without anyone actually saying a word normal. Sign language was the normal method of communication when she was at home. Her mum and dad had both learned it so that she wouldn't feel left out, it did make meals take longer than normal because you would have to stop and sign out what you wanted to say but there was something pleasant about it. A family happily communicating in silence. Having Clarice over when they were younger had been interesting, as she knew ASL and her parents knew TSL. The closest comparison Kimiko could find was if one person was talking Spanish they had learned in Mexico and the other had learned it in Spain. They would be able to understand bits, like a picture half drawn. Luckily everyone knew English so they had always had a backup.

[ViolentMedic]

"Gotcha."

Outloud, she asked the person at the counter for two games and two sets of shoes. Soon, they sent Clarice and Kimiko to Lane 3. Clarice grinned as she pushed Kimiko's bowling shoes into her hands before trotting towards the lane.

She recalled going bowling with her mother the last time her mother came to visit her instead of Clarice going to her. Clarice had always preferred visiting her mother than vice versa, since it meant also connecting with the part of her family that lived in Kayenta, and had always done so since getting her licence. But she remembered it being fun. Her mother was similarly competitive.

"Do you want to go first? Should I?" she signed, once she'd put her shoes on the ground and dropped into a chair so she could put them on. "Also, how are things? I saw you going—" Clarice made an exaggerated sigh. "—for a moment right when I was coming in. While looking at your phone? Anything up?"

Once she was done, she started putting on her shoes. The only real issue with ASL is that she couldn't really do it when her hands were busy. Any chatter would have to be crammed in between rounds. Not too different than only being able to talk between mouthfuls of food during a meal, and on her part she could say things outloud if she really had to. She preferred to keep it ASL with Kimiko when possible, though. That just seemed like good etiquette.

[General Goose]

((Bradley Floyd continued from My Friends Are Assholes))

Oh, they had picked the wrong lane.

Well, it wasn't really their choice. The bowling alley assigned you lanes, based on some complex coding algorithm that was incomprehensible to the human eye, based on scientifically rigorous marketing and space allocation concerns designed to squeeze as much refreshment money as possible out of the clientele.

Probably.

Or they just picked lanes based on random number generators.

Clarice and Kimiko disliked Bradley. That much was obvious, even when Bradley did not understand a word of Kimiko's sign language and did not listen to a word of Clarice's constant whiny blabbering. But from their tone, their expression, their general aura, it was obvious they had a low view of Bradley. And Bradley couldn't blame them for that.

But at the same time, it meant his bowling experience just got a lot more fun.

He grinned like a maniac.

[Deamon]

Kimiko accepted the shoes from Clarice and nodded towards the person at the counter, it was the best thank you she was able to give. Turning and following Clarice to their lane, it was number three. That was a lucky number, Kimiko smiled to herself, Clarice was going down. She sat down and got to work pulling her own shoes off and putting the bowling alley's shoes on. Clarice was asking if she wanted to go first or not, Kimiko gave a shrug it didn't matter to her.

Watching Clarice sign as she put her shoes on Kimiko waved off her concern. She finished putting one of the shoes on before replying.

"Mayor Lai is boycotting meetings, things are still looking good for the elections. So it's nothing to worry about, just annoying." She slipped her foot into the other shoe. "I'm good though"

After slipping the other shoe on Kimiko looked up to see something that actually did bother her. Standing in lane four was Bradley Floyd, it was fitting that he would be in that lane. Four was bad luck after all, it sounded like death. Not that Kimiko thought Bradley was the embodiment of death. That was stupid. She would however prefer to be dead than talk to him. It could be interpreted as an example of Wu Wei.

"I'll go first." Kimiko signed as she stood up and grabbed a ball, taking care not to acknowledge Bradley. Taking two steps towards the line Kimiko released the ball and waited to see the result. Six. Not bad and not good.

"How're you anyway?" She asked as she waited for the ball to be returned. It was the polite thing to do, Clarice was her friend after all.

[ViolentMedic]

Clarice nodded. That did sound irritating. She remembered enough to know Mayor Lai was in the area of 'not an asshole' where politicians were concerned, although she couldn't remember the specific reasons why he was important.

Clarice gave a thumbs up at the six. Could do way worse.

"Pretty good! Got some more videos up. I think I'm gathering popularity. That's totally one step in the direction of fame and fortune." Clarice left out the part about how people always watched her more educational v-logs—usually on language—and the projects she put tons of work into—the occasional short films, for example—tended to get very little attention at all. But that was the way of things, she supposed. At least people were watching her stuff at all.

She'd failed to notice, until that point, that Bradley was in the next lane. Now that she'd noticed, however, it made her mood immediately sour. Because this fucking asshole, right?

Clarice hadn't punched anyone since she was a little kid. She liked fighting, but only in the proper wrestling way. Her dad had always told her that strong people didn't go punching weaker, more annoying people. Bradley, however, sorely tested her in this regard. It was like everything he said was designed to anger her.

Outloud, Clarice couldn't suppress an irritated grunt. Otherwise, she acted like she hadn't noticed him. At least in any way that Bradley would be able to notice. She very much doubted he knew sign language, though.

"Oh good, I was just thinking the atmosphere was too nice and needed a giant, steaming lump of shit called Bradley in the middle of it," she signed.

[General Goose]

Of course they weren't going to initiate the conversation. People had a certain illogical dislike of Bradley, one that did not need words to convey.

Actually, it was a pretty logical dislike.

Let's not lie here.

Still, there was no reason not to be civil. Not to be polite. Not to extend a path of friendship. Bowling alleys were social places after all, and interacting with these lovely ladies struck him as a much better idea than just repeatedly calling his cousins with offers to go bowling.

Bradley had mastered the Roman Bellic voice pretty well.

Bradley liked Clarice. She always reacted hilariously to even the most minor of antagonisms. And Kimiko had a trait that precious few of her fellow activists possessed. Which trait that was, he would leave unspoken.

Heh.

"Well, if it isn't Mr Bean and the Incredible Sitting Bull!"

That was a clumsy nickname. Bradley hoped Clarice would get the implied reference to the Incredible Hulk there.

Also, Mr Bean was the only silent character who came to mind. His improv skills were rusty today.

"How are ya both?"

[Deamon]

"Awesome!"

Kimiko signed before retrieving her ball. She nodded in agreement with Clarice's sentiment. They did not need Bradley being there. Kimiko channeled that annoyance into sending the ball back down the lane and wiping out the remaining pins, so that was a split. She didn't know how a split actually translated into points but it was the one below a strike. So that was good enough for her. Spinning around with a flourish Kimiko grinned at Clarice and started to sign.

"So begins my destruc-"

Only to get interrupted by Bradley. Kimiko couldn't help but shoot him a quick glare. Another thing she hated about signing, people would just talk over you. She knew it was visual and everything but it just seemed like the more polite thing to her. Granted she was biased. Kimiko shot Bradley a confused look over her nickname. Who was Mr Bean? The name was familiar but she couldn't place it. She got Clarice's name however. It said a lot about Bradley as a person.

She wobbled her hand in response to Bradley's question. She had been better before he had started talking.

[ViolentMedic]

God. First he had to interrupt, and then of course he would go right to something like 'Mr. Bean.' She'd be peeved enough at the Hulk/Bull reference—ha ha, she was bulky, gee she'd never heard that one before—but really?

She wished she could say she was surprised, but she really wasn't. Bradley was of the sort who'd probably think the height of humor was a dead baby wearing a Nazi uniform. This was comparatively light and it still made her angry.

"Fuck off, Bradley. I'd ask if you had anything better to do but that'd imply your existence was relevant," Clarice snapped. "We're trying to have a conversation, so if you could shut up for once?"

To Kimiko, she signed, "How hard would it be to 'accidentally' get him in the head with a bowling ball? Probably too hard. And I'd hate to make the carpet worse."

Once she'd signed that, she retrieved a bowling ball and sent it down the lane. It knocked down eight of the pins, leaving the ones on each of the furthest ends standing. Goddammit. This would have normally earned a light but amiable swear, but combined with the rage it just resulted in a barely suppressed urge to walk over there and kick over the other two pins.

Clarice didn't turn back to Kimiko until she'd gotten her face resembling something closer to happy again, although she couldn't keep all irritation out of her expression.

[General Goose]

Clarice was wrong about her perception of Bradley's sense of humour, and if she would have voiced her opinion out loud or Bradley otherwise would have gotten wind of it, he'd have been more than happy to put her straight. The height of humour for Bradley was not a dead baby with a Nazi uniform.

The height of humour was a baby in a Nazi uniform standing over a pile of other dead babies.

Or maybe the dead babies would be the Nazis and their vanquisher would have no such affiliations.

Bradley liked tales to have happy endings, even the darkly comedic ones!

Sadly Clarice did not voice this opinion, so such clarification would be lost on the world at large. The opportunity to articulate, or even construct, such a witty response would forever be squandered, an unknown waste of potential. It was almost tragic, Bradley occasionally pondered, how many of the world's finest jokes would be lost to history or rendered irrelevant by changing circumstances, and he would never realise that that very moment was one of those even more tragic moments, of a comedic opportunity slipping by unnoticed and unmourned.

However, Clarice would soon more than make up for such lost opportunities by providing near infinite ammunition. That was what Bradley liked - no, loved - about Clarice. A very good sparring partner. A great muse for the finest in risque and edgy humour. And such a wonderfully unappreciative audience.

"You got it!" he cheerily replied to her demand to fuck off, deciding not to mine this particular resource too quickly. If he aggravated her too quickly, after all, it might provoke a negative reaction from the management. He didn't want that. The lens of punitive alley management scrutiny, the guilt of getting an innocent person ejected from their bowling alley venture, and the loss of such a humorous target for trolling was an unattractive combination.

He just replied to that 'fuck off' demand with a cheery "not like I was here first or something!"

He held his tongue.

The 'you of all people should be able to sympathise with the position of someone who's been here for ages dealing with unwelcome invaders demanding changes in behaviour' line was too great a weapon to drop this early.

Now that he thought about it, it might anger Kimiko as well!

Maybe.

He didn't really understand Taiwan.

So he returned to his game.

He enjoyed bowling, after all.

But he kept one eye on the more interesting game.

And then Clarice got a split. He couldn't resist providing commentary. "Oh, a split!" he said with a chippy and upbeat cheesiness to his tone. "You know, they call that particular split arrangement of pins bed posts! Or goal posts, but that name strikes me as rather misleading as it applies you want to aim in the middle of them," he mused, deciding to throw in some random trivia.

"So I prefer calling them bedposts. You wanna be a notch on my bedpost, Clarice?"

If either of the girls turned around to face Bradley, they would have been greeted with a wink.

[Deamon]

Clarice, to her credit had enough 'go away' sentiment for both of them. It covered all their bases well. Kimiko smiled when Clarice turned around after her bowl and started signing to her.

"Difficult, unless you 'accidentally' throw it backwards." She paused and gazed down at the garish eighties incarnate that was the carpet. It gazed back with all the shades of neon Kimiko could imagine. "I don't think it's possible to make this carpet worse though."

Then of course Bradley started talking again, as he always did. Kimiko wished there was a way to shut him up. He was aggressively unfunny. She turned around, right into Bradley winking at her. That was something she had no interest in seeing. There was never ever any chance she was going to end up as a 'notch on his bedpost'. He knew that, of course he did. He knew the same went for Clarice. But he just had to say it because that was what Bradley did, he just said disgusting, offensive stuff all the time.

Kimiko rolled her eyes and mimed forcing herself to throw-up. Then she thought of the perfect comeback. She knew she it was a bad idea to encourage him but Kimiko couldn't stand just letting him say whatever he wanted. That idea was as bad as the idea of Bradley himself. Holding up one finger she pulled her phone out and typed a note on it.

"Would that give you a grand total of one?"

Once she was done she showed it to Clarice first before holding it up for Bradley to see.

[ViolentMedic]

Oh good, and he was providing commentary. Because that's what this game needed. Colour commentary from King Asshole. (Although he had a point about goal posts. Why would you call them goalposts if your goal was to aim somewhere that wasn't in between?)

Clarice could literally feel the bile rising in her throat at the idea of being one of Bradley's notches. The expression on her face was similar to that of someone who'd just found a dead rat being devoured by maggots, and she made an audible shudder.

She wasn't going to even dignify that with a proper verbal response, because what the hell did you respond to that with? Well, Kimiko knew. Clarice read the message on Kimiko's phone and snorted.

"Nice," she signed, before Kimiko showed it to Bradley.

She managed to hit one of the two remaining pins, putting her one behind Kimiko. Not too bad. There was time to catch up, if she didn't get thrown out for attempting to make Bradley shut up with her fists. But no. She wasn't going to do that. She wasn't five.

"Enjoy your lead while it lasts." She grinned at Kimiko.

They were going to have fun, goddammit. And Bradley 'Dead Baby Comedy' Floyd was not going to fucking ruin it for them.