2/6 Instance: Showmanship

[Slarti]

Timelined after 'Lost Friends, Found Abilities' but before '4th Degree.'

Bobby: Bobby had already tried all the channels up to the top of Chuck's service, and was on his way back down the dial. Boring, boring, boring. There hadn't even been any mysteriously scrambled channels to try.

Benjamin: Ben tried not to stomp as he walked into the Rec Room so he tried to make up for it by noticing ...who was that?..Bobby, on the couch. He nodded towards him, his shades sliding down the bridge of his nose a bit.

Benjamin: "Sup." He said.

Bobby: "Oh. Hey." Bobby sat up slowly. This was Ben, huh? He was certainly more vertical than the last time Bobby had seen him. Vertical, and seemingly pissy, but for all Bobby knew the guy could always be like this. "Good to see you up and around, man. Doing okay?"

Benjamin: "Been better." He said glumly. Josh can wait, he realized. Not like he's going anywhere. "Sorta had a bad night."

Bobby: "Ah, those always suck." He pointed the remote at the variety of empty chairs. "And there's nothing like shitty TV to make anything better, right? Have a seat."

Benjamin: Ben plopped down in the leather chair in front of him and swung his feet onto the foot rest. "So what's down with you lately? Since y'know, we only have talked on myspace." He grinned a fresh grin, almost feeling half better about the day so far.

Bobby: "Yeah, I suppose I should remember my mom did smack some manners into me. Nice to meet you. Again." He returned the grin, sliding back down into the sofa. "Oh, I'm just chillin.'"

Benjamin: "Ha!" he snorted at the poor pun and shook his head. "Yeah so nice to meet you again too. You been okay since the...stuff, that I heard about." Ben wasn't too keen on how to word things like that.

Bobby: Bobby snickered himself, flipping the remote into the air to cover his unease. "Oh. I'm fine." Always came back to that, didn't it? And with Rogue...

Bobby: "Man, you came to school at the most excitingly unfun time, didn't you?" He glanced at Ben, noting again no obvious mutation. Looked normal. So do you, on the surface. "Now that things are settling down, how do you like it?"

Benjamin: "It's not bad." Ben said cheerfully. "I like the school, but...I'm one of those people who gets attached real well." He thought of Rachel and his stomach churned.

Benjamin: "Ever since I read that note man...My day just got seriously bleak."

Bobby: "Yeah, it's easy to get attached around here." Bobby smiled a little again to himself, then tilted his head. "Note?"

Benjamin: Ben realized Bobby probably hadn't read it, which was a shame being he knew he was good friends with both Rogue and Rae. "This." He said, taking the letter out of his back pocket. "...Not sure if Rogue got to you about this yet..."

Bobby: "I haven't talked to Rogue much since..." He trailed off and took the letter, unfolding it and reading Rachel's scratchy handwriting. ...please don't take my sunshine away. "Fuck."

Benjamin: "Yeah..." Ben said. "I appear to be uh...one of the main insentives for leaving." Ben said softly. "I'm real sorry man..."

Bobby: Bobby stared at the note blankly. "You? Why? Because of the accident in the DR? She... kinda told me something happened, but..." Rachel was gone. It was hard to believe.

Benjamin: "She nearly killed me." Ben said bluntly. "And as you see there...my spider-sense didn't let me forget that easily." Ben wished he still had some whiskey. "I spent last night drinking... playing music... being generally miserable."

Bobby: "The fuck is spider sense?" He looked up at Ben then. The guy looked fine now, no matter what had happened. "She didn't though. I saw her, after. She was upset. Really upset. I didn't know exactly what happened, but I know she didn't mean to... she wouldn't have..."

Benjamin: "I know." Ben said, afraid maybe now he shouldn't have shown the note. "It's...a warning of being in danger. I think my sub-conscious wouldn't let me forget a hit like that..." He could feel his eyes watering.

Benjamin: "It kept warning me of immediate danger whenever I got near her..." He smiled through his anger. "But I know she wouldn't have...had I not pushed her..."

Bobby: "You pushed her? How? After everything she'd-" He cut off, getting pissed. "Handy thing, that spider sense."

Benjamin: "Incredibly." Ben said...expecting it to go off any minute. "I was sparring with her, and I wanted her to hit me with her best shot. Trust me, she did." He looked Bobby in the eyes. "She's my friend, and I would never, ever, ask her to do that again, now that I know what it takes."

Benjamin: He sat straight forward and took a deep breath. "I was on my way to talk to Josh. I want him to go find her. Bring her back maybe. Or at least get me in touch with her to fix this."

Bobby: "Her best shot is pretty damn good... even before. You're lucky she didn't just dissolve you." Bobby dropped the remote onto the cushion and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Wait. Josh doesn't know yet?"

Benjamin: "I dunno..the letter indicates he saw her...maybe he thought she was bluffing...I'm going to find out now." He sunk back into the chair and let out a long breath.

Bobby: Bobby looked back at the letter, actually rereading it all this time. "Well, if she's really just going home it can't be that hard to find her." He sighed and handed the letter back. "Might be the best thing for her," he muttered.

Benjamin: "I can't imagine she'd stay there though...she knows at some point you, me, Rogue...Josh? One of us is going to come for her."

Bobby: "Yeah. Well. She might have the right idea. Be alone for a while." 'I can't take everyone worrying about me, and I don't want to hurt anyone anymore.' He knew about her past, but she seemed pretty rational in the letter. Got no room to judge anyway.

Benjamin: "...yeah..." Ben still wanted to explain to her... wanted to tell her there was more to it.

Benjamin: That she was still his friend...

Bobby: "It was..." He picked at an invisible spot on the sofa cushion. "It was hard in there, dude. I don't know how else to explain it." Bobby looked over at Ben. The guy seemed to mean well, but he could see the hesitation. "She might just need some time alone."

Benjamin: "...Yeah...I get that." Ben said. "I totally get that."

Bobby: "Yeah." Bobby coughed a little and sat up. Time to distract. "So... what do you do, anyway? Other than spider sense? And why spider? Can't say they particularly sense much danger before I acquaint them with the business end of the Bugle or freeze them solid."

Benjamin: "Well... I'd say bat-sense or something if it weren't for this part." Ben said, leaping up to the ceiling and sticking to it. "This is my usual shtick followed by this part."

Benjamin: He began to drop slowly from the ceiling hanging from the webbing he was making, upside down, forcing a smile.

Bobby: Bobby tipped his head back to watch, genuinely laughing. "Nice, man. Good showmanship too." He slanted his head sideways to watch, frowning at the webbing. "That's kinda different..."

Benjamin: "It's incredibly sticky, and very strong." Ben dropped down. "It deteriorates after about five hours though. Sometimes three depending on how much I use." He noted his arms, "I discovered a while ago back in the gym. I can lift about three times my weight."

Benjamin: He snorted "Which is about as much as certain spiders can lift, so...really spider-sense is the only name I could think of giving it."

Bobby: "Okay, fair enough." He smiled. "It's definitely original. I know you know what I do." Bobby's eyes slid to the webbing hanging from the ceiling, flash freezing it. He raised his hand and sent a small bolt of ice to shatter it, then evaporated the whole thing. "Not quite as flashy today."

Benjamin: Ben started to drop but flipped in time and caught himself, landing on his feet. "Whoa!" he cracked a smile. "Where were you when I was drinking all the time? You know how many warm beers I've had here?"

Bobby: "Heh." Probably in Essex's funtime playland. "Dunno, but never fear now. I'm always available for parties of one to one thousand."

Benjamin: "Well you'll be chilling my cream soda then, I'm a recovering alcoholic." He thought about the previous night and frowned. "Well...I'm an alcoholic."

Bobby: "Ahh. That sucks. Okay, cream soda it is." He remembered now what Ben had said about last night and tapped his temple. "That's what the shades are for, huh? The day after drowning the misery?"

Benjamin: "Yeh." Ben said with an unsatisfied tone. "This place needs to tone down its lights man. It's killing my groove."

Bobby: "I know what you mean. Well, not today, but pretty regularly, I guess." Bobby smiled at him a little. "Well, maybe when things really calm down we'll have to crack open a couple frosty cream sodas in a dimly lit place and hang, eh?"

Benjamin: "Sounds like a straight-date." Ben said, putting his hand out for a shake.

Bobby: "Doesn't get any straighter. About time somebody else around here gets that." Bobby laughed, shaking his hand. "Okay, this time? Really nice to meet you, Ben."

Benjamin: "Same here Bobby." He smiled genuinely. "Same here."

[Edited on 7-2-2008 by Slarti]

[Esynthia]

You two lied. There was no ass kicking.

Great instance I'm glad they get along. will be pleased too

[Ult_Sm86]

Coulda brought it to that point...

but that's not the way of the Jedi.

[wingyding]

Nowhere in the jedi code does it say 'There is no asskicking." Great instance.

[Feuerstein]

...

ANYWAY.

That was so sweet. *hugs both* Could Bobby and Benny be any cuter?? I think not!