From the Prom to Baltimore, Friday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was had been at the prom for maybe half an hour before her phone rang; just enough time for her to have a few conversations and a quick trip to the refreshment table (or four). She was frowning when she felt it vibrating in her clutch, trying to think who it could be. If it was her parents, she decided, she was just going to ignore it and tell them later she was studying.

Imagine her surprise when the name that flashed across her screen was Gorgon. Actually, forget surprise. Imagine her concern.

"Hey," she said, setting her cup of punch on the closest table and ducking for the door. "Gorgon, it's Banzai. Did you mean to call me? Is everything okay?"

[For the caller, please!]

Comments

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeah, I know. You would've needed to expect me in order to expect pickles."

Nick knew how this sort of thing worked. And was happy to help himself to a couple of sympathy fries all the same.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Though, I am just saying, think of how even happier I'd be to see you with pickles," she said, offering him a smile that was still more sympathetic than not.

And maybe pushing an apple pie in his direction, too.

[gunslingerpose]

Nick was chuckling and waving the pie off with an easy grin. Not everyone at this table had hollow legs, Kathy.

"I'll keep that in mind for the next time I'm out here, then. Pickles. No coming anywhere near the east coast without them."

[spin_kick_snap]

She was living every Hollywood starlet's dream: the ability to eat and eat and not gain a pound.

"Well..." she said slowly. "I guess if it comes down to you coming with pickles and you not coming at all, I suppose I could do without them. Even though this is entirely your fault, you know. I wouldn't even have known about that place without your introduction."

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeah, well, I tried to encourage Mona to expand into a franchise, but she wasn't having any of it." Nick shrugged. "She kept insisting that there was no way she could add the secret ingredient all the way across the country. And there I was going, 'Mona, if you can find a way to pickle and preserve roast beef, you can sure as hell find a way to pickle love."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh my goodness, you did not," Kathy sputtered, and then broke into laughter. "I hope she hit you! That line is terrible!"

[gunslingerpose]

"She was going there anyway," Nick laughed, shaking his head. "But I still got a rolled-up menu to the back of the head for it."

He'd totally had it coming, and he totally didn't care.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't understand why she still even lets you into the restaurant," Kathy said, tossing a fry at him. "You're incorrigible!"

Don't think she'd forgotten your plan to steal her amazing pun, Nick.

"She must really love you," Kathy decided. "It's the only explanation I can come up with for why she hasn't just banned you for life. That, or your pickle problem probably single-handedly keeps the business afloat." She eyed him. "Now that I think about it, it's probably the pickle addiction."

[gunslingerpose]

"It's almost certainly the pickle addiction." A beat. "And she's still friends with my mother."

So, you know. Mana wouldn't be happy if Mona chased him out. Probably mostly at him, though. It would likely be his fault, after all.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Who, I am certain, must have the virtues and patience of a saint," Kathy decided. "The only way you survived adolescence, I'm sure."

[gunslingerpose]

"Patience? Ha! You clearly haven't met my mana," Nick snorted, shaking his head. "Mana Bartamian is a fierce mama bear, and nobody messes with her kids. Not even her kids."

Nick had many a fond memory of so, so many lectures past.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I bet she's a sweet and lovely woman to anyone who doesn't drive her batty five seconds after saying hello," Kathy declared. "I'll understand why you're confused, though."

She took a long pull off her Coke and asked, "Kids plural? You have siblings?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Oh, yeah," Nick replied, shrugging. "A sister and a brother. Hell, I'm an uncle. Just picture that for a moment. Somewhere out there, there are kids that look up to their Uncle Nikolai as a source of, fuck, good ideas or something."

Now shudder at that thought. Go on.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wasn't going to shudder at that! She was going to look appalled instead.

"I bet you were the one who gives the obnoxious toys at Christmas," she said. "Like drumsets and Nerf guns and anything that makes noise."

[gunslingerpose]

"Nerf guns don't make that much noise!"

Look, it was an important fact.

"And I armed their parents too. You can't say I didn't give my brother a fighting chance, there."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Mmmhmmm," Kathy was doing a terrible job of hiding a smile here. "Why do I get the feeling they were less than properly grateful for that ever-so-generous consideration?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Mostly, they all ganged up on me instead," Nick chuckled, making a reach to steal another fry. The side salad really didn't compare. "Which, hey, seemed pretty fitting, I won't deny that."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy swatted at him and deliberately missed. "Fry-thief," she said. "I should take you down for that."

She was a superhero, you know!

[gunslingerpose]

"You could," Nick mused, defiantly sticking the fry into his mouth, "but then how will I be able to go back to get a twenty pack of nuggets and a couple of sundaes for dessert?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Once I took you down, I could just go for your wallet," Kathy pointed out. "There's this guy I know, does it all the time. I learned it from watching him."

[gunslingerpose]

"See, and there's the trick." And now Nick was laughing. "You'd have to take me down with your eyes closed, baby."

A beat.

"In that skirt."

Even if she kicked his ass, it would be one hell of a show for anyone watching.

[spin_kick_snap]

"...You make a good point," Kathy groused. "The heels, I could do it in. The skirt, not so much."

Not without damn good cause anyway. Soo...three more fries and a chicken nugget, maybe.

Dragging a fry through the remains of her ketchup, she gave him a speculative look. "I wonder if I could do it," she said. "Take you down with my eyes closed. I'm fast enough that you might not be able to move far enough out of position before I got you."

[gunslingerpose]

"That depends on a lot of factors, I'm thinking. How late in the evening it is. How far across the room you are. If you wanna try taking me on here and now, you're welcome to try, but I was out for a few hours before I called you, and it isn't like I've been burning any of that off."

So, for the time being, he was still pretty functionally superhuman.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded. "I'd definitely have better luck earlier on in the night. Catch you while you're still slower than I am. And that would only be one, maybe two hits. That probably wouldn't be enough to take you out."

And giving him an exasperated look, she added, "I'm not going to attack you in the middle of McDonalds. In my prom dress. After warning you about it. C'mon now."

It had been purely hypothetical conjecture!

[gunslingerpose]

And his reply had been fairly hypothetical, too. Nikolai grinned.

"Nah, I know. But just think," he replied, "any given time of the day, there's a chance that I've taken a hit from someone. How can you ever know for sure?"

Besides talking about it very candidly the way they were now.