[Open] Mind the Gap

[likeits1999]

Who: Kevin & Anyone
What: Kevin lives his 90s skateboarder dreams
Where: LOVE Park
When: During the Philly camp period
Warnings/Notes: None

[ Kevin's never been to Philadelphia, but even under the ruin of the forest he knows where he is. Once he figured that out, he had to head for LOVE Park.

There are a number of important spots, but the ledges around the empty fountain are a sacred landmark of 90s skateboarding. Skating the gap from the sculpture into the dry bowl is a rite of passage that's been on Kevin's list for years, but back home? That's Sabbat country. You must never go there, Simba. It's not worth getting caught up in a vampire turf war.

Here, though? The only thing in his way is the rough shape the place is in and some plant roots that have luckily missed the all-important fountain gap. He'll take that over pissy vampires any... evening. He supposes it's evening? The sky hasn't changed the whole time they've been here, it's mad spooky.

Kevin wishes he could record himself as he makes the first attempt, and is immediately glad he can't when he misjudges the distance and spills on the landing. He pops back up, grabs the board, and tries again. It takes him to the third time to get his landing right. ]

Hell yeah!

[ Kevin whoops triumph, pumping a fist in the air as he loops back around.

He jumps again. And again. He starts getting fancy, spins and flips in the air. He laughs when he falls, catching himself or rolling through it with endurance the living only wish for. He makes a lot of celebratory noise whenever a daring experiment pans out for him.

He's probably lucky there's nothing in the ruined city that thinks teenaged vampire sounds like a good snack, really. ]

Comments

[likeits1999]

...Thanks, G.

[ There's some irony in "if anyone gives you shit for being nonviolent, let me beat them up for you", but Kevin understands the attempted kindness. It's fine. It's kind of like that time Tommy offered to kill Kevin's sire for him. Trying to correct the shitty parts is probably beyond his ability. ]

It's cool.

[ Kevin's not the most observant or analytical, so he assumes that Dixon just means he was a cop before coming here and not fired. ]

You don't give me shit for skating, I won't give you shit for cop stuff.

[awfulcer]

Deal.

[He gives Kevin a genuine smile.]

Just don't tell anyone. You're the only one that knows. [It's mostly just that Dixon doesn't want to talk about it with anyone. There's a whole can of worms in there, going sour and rotten and soupy the way worms are wont to do in the hot and damp.] And I won't tell anyone you break the law popping wheelies.

So. [Because Dixon has no social skills.] What's it like being a vampire?

[likeits1999]

[ Kevin nods again. He won't say anything. It's not like it matters out here. What's Dixon gonna do, arrest a hobbit for smoking some pipeweed or something?

Shit, they could totally run into one of those if they're out here doing this Lord of the Rings thing.

That would be cool as hell. ]

Being a vampire sucks.

[ The wordplay is completely accidental. It's the same answer he gave Hiccup before. It sucks. ]

Like okay, you think living forever is cool? But no, it really is super not.

[awfulcer]

[He super would if it meant getting some pipeweed out of it. Hell is being addicted to nicotine in the middle of a save-the-world quest through the Rennefaire.

Which, well, withdrawal calls. He can only resist the siren song of a smoke for so long, so he succumbs and pulls one from the pack in his pocket, counting his store down to seventeen.]

No, it seems fucking awful. [Dixon's never held any great value on his own life. The lives of others, certainly; he's selfish enough that he absolutely would wish eternal life on his momma, his dad, his Chief. Would have, at least. But not for himself.] Sorry it's as bad as it sounds.

[He lights up, holding the burning cigarette out to Kevin in case he wants a drag before Dixon goes in on it.]

Being a cop sucks too, for the record.

[likeits1999]

I'm good. Wouldn't feel it anyway.

[ Kevin declines. If he's honest, he also just doesn't like being that close to what amounts to even a very tiny fire. He knows some people in his clan that still go through the motions of smoking even in death, though. Old habits. ]

In New York, the vampires own 'em.

[ Because that's the first thing that comes to mind for Kevin. ]

It ain't good.

[awfulcer]

[Dixon shrugs.]

No, probably not. Sounds like vampires got a lot to get arrested for. What with the sucking blood and all. [He takes a drag, eyes rolling back a little in relief. Christ, he doesn't know how he's going to get through this quest. It was made for people who weren't him, people who are heroic and strong and don't live on a diet of Fritos and nicotine and stout and bourbon.]

That RAP sheet's gotta be something. [He cracks himself up. Any time they had to pull a RAP on someone with more than five years of crimes it was the kind of nightmare only a trained professional could interpret. Immortal decades? They might as well write the whole thing in Mandarin.]

[likeits1999]

Probs.

[ Kevin doesn't even disagree. ]

It's kinda hard to do, though, cause vampires do magic? Some of 'em have mind control junk that makes it real easy, I'm real fast, I got a buddy who can just like... disappear...

[ He shrugs. ]

Mostly when somebody who knows what they're doing gets in trouble and it sticks, it's other vampires they pissed off. You don't get real old unless you're either real good at not getting attention or real good at having so much nobody's brave enough to fuck with you.

[awfulcer]

[Dixon listens to Kevin spill out all the information, knowing full well that he's not going to be able to do anything useful with all these facts about vampire culture. A detective would - any information about someone is something that should be stored up, a piece of metal or plastic to build the microscope to look at the world through. For a long time (way too long) Dixon harbored dreams of being a detective, solving cases, figuring things out that no one else had been able to.

But that's not going to happen and he knows that now.]

That sounds pretty fucking exhausting. [He takes a long drag and whistles.] Hiding all the time or having to be a big-shot. In the real world there's room for people in the middle.

['The real world', like Kevin's from fiction.]

[likeits1999]

[ Kevin just casually drops pieces of fact that way. For as long as he's here with people that can't threaten the status quo back home (as far as he knows), he's free. He can just... talk about vampire stuff.

He's never really gotten to talk about vampire stuff with people who aren't vampires, and most of them kinda don't enjoy the experience.

Maybe it's even sort of selfish to pour it out there for other people and make them hear it. Kevin doesn't know, doesn't analyze it. He just takes the opportunity as it's given. ]

It's... yeah man, "fucking exhausting" sure is a way that can be put.

[ He's been doing this for ten years. He might be doing it forever, if the world doesn't all end the way it seems like it's going to.

Neither of these options is very appealing. ]

I'm used to keeping my head down, really. But that's not something I can do here, I guess?

[ Kevin makes a broad motion with one arm to indicate the whole of the Green, or at least try to. ]

We don't got a lotta heads.

[awfulcer]

[He gives Kevin a beady look and inhales from his cigarette again. He doesn't mind hearing it. The kid even seems like he needs to blow off steam a little, or at least let some seep out.]

Eh. [Dixon makes a waggling motion with his hand.] Depends on what's a lot. I been keeping a list and it's getting kind of long.

[He rummages around in the ladies' backpack he scavenged from the clothing store and pulls out a comic book - the inside page, where the promo for other franchises and letters to the editor sections meet, are covered in names or crude descriptions. The handwriting is quite clear and neat, but it's pretty obvious Dixon's spelling and intuition for syllables is five shades of atrocious and that he doesn't have a ton of respect stockpiled for half the people here - a few of the people without names are things like "fat space guy" (Loken) and "person of color" (Anita, with those three words underlined and 'the black girl' crossed out underneath it). There are little check marks next to each name.]

I was checking people off every night, but now I just do it if they stay here the week. Seems like whatever's jerking our chain is still trying to sort out who belongs here and who don't.

[likeits1999]

[ Kevin comes up the rest of the broad fountain tiers to peer at Dixon's list, his gaze uncritical. It's colorful, at least. He can figure out who some of them are, but others are a mystery. ]

Yeah I been back and forth between both places like... a couple times now.

I guess the best we can do is try and know who everybody is just in case. It's a good thing we got these mirrors to keep track. It could be worse?

[ He shakes his head. ]

Man this is gonna be one doozy of a hike we're gonna do anyway even if we got magic walkie talkies to keep track of everybody.

[awfulcer]

Could be, I guess. I figure I should probably stay away from the mirrors for a while. [Which, for someone who has basically no filter or ability to keep a lid on it, is not going to be easy. He gives a rueful smile that looks more like an anxious grimace.

He takes a last drag on his cigarette and winces as it burns down low enough to bring the ember to his fingers, not from the heat but from knowing he can't just absently light up another one. He'll have to hold off or he'll regret it later.]

You weren't here for the first half. It was torture. I think I lost half a foot to blisters and permanently fucked my back.