Description: Brett is playing a hockey game in the park, Chiyoko is wondering what this telepathy thing is all about then, and Cammy is just walking home in a sour mood. Idle conversation and promises are made.
It's summertime, and it's...ok, not bright and sunny, but at the very least it's not raining or anything. And with the playoffs underway and the Rangers in the thick of things, it's a pretty good time for hockey in Metro City. Enough that Brett Neuer, for once, has a fairly receptive audience, as he tries to preach the gospel of the rink.
"That's it! Soft touches, don't push it too hard or you lose control!" he calls out from the corner to the side of one makeshift net on a blacktop, a couple of kids on blades like him doing their best to handle the roller hockey ball. Even if it's obvious that they're more kids being kids, he can't help but smile as he sees them playing his beloved sport. Sure, Roller Hockey went out like a fad way back a decade or so ago, but hey, there are still a dedicated few who keep it up for practice during the warmer seasons. And even if interest might go and fade with the playoffs...it's a start, right?
Cammy, all business, has been being briefed by Delta Red in their makeshift HQ, and it's not been a very good experience. She's only now just discovered that apparently almost every lawyer in Metro City is the personification of scum; some guy literally bragging about being some psycho demon from Hell, and money grubbing men in suits falling over themselves to be nice to him.
The ex-doll is still somewhat naive about a great many things.
But there is something to, well, not exactly make her smile - making Cammy smile is quite a difficult feat - but at least feel somewhat uplifted. Brett, out on the park, playing games and evidently happy. The last time she saw him, he was a considerably more sorry sight. So she pauses on the path, and watches for a moment.
Unaware of the onlooker he has, Brett starts to skate out toward the kids, watching as one of them manages to flail a little attempting a slapshot. "Hold on, hold on! You're holding it too high!" he says, trying to get the kid to lower his stick before he ends up slapping something other than the ball instead. "Here, one hand at the top, another right around the middle."
He picks up his own stick to demonstrate, showing the hand placement. It should be pretty familiar, after all, it's the same stance he uses for throwing out his Shark Crest. "Lift it back, just to your shoulders, they'll whistle you if it's any higher. Weight on your back leg, turn your body, shift your weight to the front..." He shows it slowly, right up until his stick clacks against the blacktop. "Right until your stick hits just behind the puck. Follow through..." He says, letting his stick flex, before it snaps and gives a little flick to the ball where it bounces off the garbage can acting as the goal. "Until the stick snaps behind it!"
Considering all he's gone through, he definitely seems in better spirits, even as he smiles toward the parents clapping as they see their kids do their best (even if it amounts to one nearly hitting Brett in the head with an errant wrister). He really does love the sport after all, and seeing a new generation picking it up somewhere outside of Canada....
Chiyoko seems to be perched on the top of a bench, apparently looking fairly happy as she watches the birds on the paths and on the branches. She does however, look somewhat concerned to a certain degree about a matter that isn't readily obvious in some ways.
He's Canadian? There's some sort of difference? :p
Cammy is still standing and watching, when one of the kids gives the ball a solid whack, and the ball goes flying - until it gets caught and pinned beneath her boot, one of those automatic movements her body seems to make every so often. She offers the young man responsible a rather plastic smile, before sinuously crouching down and picking it up, to present it to him.
And then she heads over to someone else, someone nearby. Oh, there's Chiyoko, she must need talking to, so she heads that way! for fear of being co-opted into this game.
Brett is Minnesotan, but Minnesota is probably one of the few places with a fervent hockey base south of that northern border. Most other places tend to be rather fairweather until playoff time. Regardless, when Brett hears that solid whack, he finds himself ducking a bit, having been talking to one of the parents before that errant slapshot flew out. "Whoa!" he calls out, trying to find the direction that shot flew...
Before he spots the familiar blonde, having trapped the ball and handed it back to the kid to made the shot. He smiles, and gives a hearty wave toward her, but for now focuses on the hockey training. Hopefully, she'll still be around by the time he finishes up.
Noticing Cammy, Chiyoko looks up and says, "Oh, hi." in a fairly cheerful yet still not really all that energetic like she usually seems before she looks back at the birds again and sighs.
Cammy gives a muted wave to Brett, but seems to recover slightly when it becomes apparently he's not going to try and invite her over or anything similarly cringeworthy. The gospel of the rink, indeed most things she deems frivolous, is lost on this girl it seems, who clearly must have no soul after all. She doesn't even play football.
The one you play with your feet.
She's probably about as fun as Ryu these days. "Morning Chiyoko. You okay?" she asks, looking her over curiously, her more subdued nature not lost on her. "Where's Doctor Hayashi?". No sign of him around after all. "Back in the hotel?".
"Oh, yeah he is." Chiyoko says, "He seems like he's slowing down, he isn't as attentive as he used to and he's spending some time alone, away from me. I think he's sad about something. It happened after he saw me when I got back from fighting. I asked him if it was because we got into that fight and he said it wasn't but he wouldn't really tell me more. And then there's that place we went to... It just didn't feel right. It was like... I see things, I hear things, but... There are some things that only I, 'See' right? Things that only I really understand. Some people might act like they understand the same things I do but they don't. I don't think they do anyway."
Brett continues on his instruction, but as most teachers would attest, attention spans can only be held for so long before the kids are finished. With a few cordial words and a wave to the parting families, Brett is left to pick up the equipment he had lent out to the kids. Once everything's gathered up and stuffed into a bag, he looks back to where Cammy is, seeing her talk to...someone in a tree?
...ok, not the weirdest thing he's ever seen, no. But it still seems a little weird, the kid glancing up at the bald girl on the branch as he starts over. "Hey," he says softly, a more subdued wave toward the special agent as he approaches.
"There's a lot in this word to be sad about." Cammy tells Chiyoko, somewhat morose. "And a lot in this world which people don't understand. Least of all, me.". A frown develops as she remembers, or rather doesn't remember, her past - something she has managed to ignore so very well lately, having had a very involved and demanding mission to focus upon.
"Sorry, I'm not really being much help." she mutters, eying Brett clear up his hockey game, as it beats looking down at the floor. She hops up on to the top of the bench like Chiyoko, and stands there for a minute, before settling down on it next to Chiyoko. "My friend Lita would probably be much better to talk to about this sort of thing. Hi Brett. I have some good ish news for you.".
Chiyoko looks over towards Brett and says, "Oh, hello." before looking back at Cammy and saying, "I guess... It's just that when I get punched in a fight, something happens that makes me... Think differently, act differently for a little bit. I don't think that happens to everyone else, I didn't use to think so anyway. But then I went to that place and... I think I understood that some people really do react like that to living, that there's parts of them that change and understand things... Not just that they -do- things for their own sake. I guess it's like saying... They can feel things?"
Brett hefts and adjusts his bag a little more, making sure it hangs well on his shoulder. "Thanks for catching that shot earlier. We probably would've lost that ball if you didn't," he says gratefully to Cammy, before his expression takes on a more questioning look. "Good news? What kind of good news?" he asks.
He also glances up to Chiyoko, giving her another curious look, before trying to turn aside, hoping he caught himself before it looked like impolite staring. "Nice to meet you too, Miss..." he asks, obviously not recognizing her at all. He's had other things on his mind than NDP after all.
"I ran into some big guy in the slums, and he was a man who had some authority, some gravitas. High up in the Glow operation. Big black guy, fiery aura, looking to teach me a lesson. It didn't work out very well for him though, he was having a bad day I think. Either way, the lawyers are picking over him now, but I wouldn't get your hopes up too high; it seems the professionals concerned with justice are surprisingly lacking in it themselves.".
Cammy shrugs. "Either way, it probably won't do his reputation much good, and I plan on wrecking as much Glow as possible while whatever mob is out there is reeling.".
She then peers over at Chiyoko with vague curiosity, fishing out one braid from behind her back and idly playing with the fluffy blonde tip as she talks. "Most fighters use chi to provide, I don't know, some sort of centre for them when they fight, not to mention all the auras and fire fists and the like. But some use a different source. A few are famous for it; Zach Glen is the one who springs to mind, he's in the leagues all the time, though I barely watch them.". She shrugs, and smiles. "Me, I don't really use either.". Well, that she's aware of, anyway...
"This is Chiyoko. And this is Brett." Cammy adds, indicating them both. It's only polite to introduce, after all.
"So you're saying I really shouldn't think about whether people feel things and just try to focus on keeping myself steady in a fight? But... It seems strange to not think about whether someone can feel like I can." Chiyoko says, "I mean, it matters if someone doesn't want to continue or doesn't like how they feel right?"
Brett scowls as he hears Cammy's description of the man he met. "That's him. That's Duke, that's the guy that visited me in my hotel room and sent those guys after my parents," he said. His spirits lift up significantly however, when Cammy tells him the results of that encounter. "Wow, you...you mean you beat him down?" he asks. He falters a little when he hears the legal wrangilng over his detainment, but not enough to sour his mood completely. "That IS good news..."
His attitude sinks a little though soon after. "I wish I could've been able to help more though," he says, sighing a little. "Just..." He doesn't say anymore, but the grimace he has when he looks at his hands should tell the entire story. Chiyoko's comments gain another questioning look, but Brett simply accepts that as being out of the loop. After all, he's just met her today.
Cammy nods at Brett. "Yeah... the bigger they are the harder they fall.", and she allows herself an impish grin. She /did/ punch well above her weight there after all. Literaly. "It's not over yet." she says in a warning voice when he sighs. "In fact I'm not even sure if it's only just beginning. This guy was talking about how Glow was only the start. Maybe he was being megalomaniacal, but maybe not. Which reminds me, we should organise some training some time perhaps, I'm not going to be assigned to this forever. If Metro City is going to be permanently crime ridden it's not like I'll be seconded permanently to the police force; the people who live here are going to have to do a bit of vigilante work Mike Haggar style.".
And then she adds, "And besides, if it was me in some mobster dungeon rather than this Duke guy in the city jail then I'd like to know I got some friends on standby...".
She headshakes then at Chiyoko, her one free braid swinging behind her back. "I'm not really saying that. I don't really have any experience like that is all. Well, a little similar.". She decides to confide a bit, she is on good terms with everybody here after all. "I got injured in the Shadaloo war, hit on the head really hard. I lost my memory, though only, sort of, conscious thoughts? I can't remember anything, but I still know things, like how to speak English, and how to fight. It's quite an odd sensation sometimes, it feels like I'm on autopilot almost. I had it a little when fighting Duke.". She shrugs. "Either way, that means I'm really not the best person to talk to on the subject of 'how it all works', I don't really think about it much myself. But I can help you get in contact with someone who might know more than me. Zach Glen, Ken Masters even maybe, if he's not too busy.".
Brett nods a little as he listens to Cammy, still looking down at his own hands with a regretful look. "...all I wanted to do was try and get some exposure so I could show hockey to other people. I really never thought it'd end up like this," he says. He snaps his head up when she suggests training. "Training...you mean like, real, fight training?" he asks, eyes casting down to the ground again.
"....geez. I don't think I've even had any kind of real training for just fighting before. I never even took karate as a kid even when my parents suggested I should." He sounds both excited and anxious about the idea, especially when the vigilantism is thrown back in the mix.
"I see." Chiyoko says, she then appears to brighten up a bit as she says, "So, you caught someone else doing something? Well, that's good I guess. I mean, if someone is doing things to people that they don't like then they should be stopped... Is that what I've been doing? Fighting people when they should have just been left alone? I mean, I entered into the tournament just like they did but... What if I should just be staying back?"
"Well... maybe not with me. I don't know.". Cammy seems rather reluctant now she's said it, looking askance at Brett. On the one hand it would probably be a good idea for Brett to get trained if he's going to start fights with Damnd again, but on the other hand, she's pretty certain she'd be terrible at it. "If you've never been trained /at all/ you probably should be. I'm not entirely sure I'm the right one for the job though.".
Cammy laughs a little at Chiyoko, seemingly a little amused. Hey, someone more clueless than her! "If they are in a tournament they want to be there, I wouldn't worry. Have fun. And that guy who I found you with the other day, the guy with the knife, I think he had it coming. There's a lot of dangerous people in this city right now. And I caught someone, yes, thats why I'm here, really.".
Brett thinks a bit more. Training WOULD be pretty awesome, and it might help him a lot more down the stretch if he's still going to be under the eye of Duke and his organization. And it'd definitely go a long way to stack on to that hockey training he has, being a little more applicable in the circuit than knowing how to do a wrister. Looking up, his hand comes back to his bag, holding on to the shoulder strap carefully. "So...if you're not going to be doing the training...who will?"
"Well, I guess so. I mean, it is fun being able to fight someone like that. More for the fact that you get to... Try something hard than hurt people though." Chiyoko says, "You're probably right. If someone's there, then odds are they don't mind getting hurt in the process, even if I do get angry sometimes when I'm hurt really bad."
"Erm... Lita maybe? She's my lieutenant, she fights with a sword; I guess a hockey stick can't be all that different. She's also very serious, very down to earth, and very controlled. She knows what she's doing.". Cammy ponders. "It just depends on how much free time she has, I mean, she has a job, after all. But maybe she'll be free while we're in Metro City for a bit. I'll ask her anyway." she promises. "I guess I can try if she is too busy, I'll probably be useless though.".
"Everybody gets angry when they get hurt bad I think, or at least unhappy. And I'll see if I can find someone to talk to you too, Chiyoko! Someone a bit more... self aware.". Cammy is starting to get to know quite a few people! Well, she doesn't know Zach at all actually but is sure MI6 can find him, and then she can show up and nag. Or maybe Ken, but he sounds rather busy right now.
"And I really should get going. Nice to meet you both again." she says politely, as finally lets the fluffy braid tip in her hand fall, and hops off of the bench lightly. Offering a wave, the former Killer Bee continues on her way.
Brett hrms. Her lieutenant, huh? Well...taht should work...he supposes? A part of him is disappointed that it won't be Cammy herself, but he can't be picky. She IS trying to help him after all. "Thank you, Cammy. For...all of this," he says gratefully, smiling and bowing a little, more from throwing himself into a nod too much than anything, even if he's trying to be polite too.
When she moves to leave, he waves her off, not saying anything else....except maybe a little sigh. Smitten? Maybe. But he probably won't try and act on it at all. Probably.
Log created on 17:22:33 05/15/2012 by Cammy, and last modified on 02:47:28 05/16/2012.