Downtime 6 -Pretti

[6] Downtime Awesomeness
Reward: “GM Surprise”

Pretti is ready to find out where those bastards that killed Setsu are, and they’ll fucking pay. Uhhh... right after this comm call.

It’s a job. Not a job Pretti can refuse, even though the pay is ‘a surprise.’

“What? Do I get to have another chair broken over my metal ass?”

Green Machine doesn’t give a straight answer. Apparently the job is a surprise too.

Pretti arrives at the arena, which is set up a bit different than usual. Two of the girls are zipping around on skates.

“Hey! It’s Violet Femme and Starbutts! How ya doing ladies?”

The ladies totally ignore Pretti, which is the second rudest thing that happens at that moment. And the rudest?



Starbutts dives toward Violet Femme and nearly trips her as she yanks her skirt off. The Femme is wearing lavender boy-briefs, which Pretti guesses are supposed to be funny. What’s not funny is poor Violet flailing her arms and crashing into the orchestra pit. Tubas and symbols fly everywhere.

“Those guys weren’t even playing those tubas. And now they’re throwing them? Aren’t they gonna help her up?” Pretti crosses her arms. “Men!”

Of course, Violet Femme was prat-falling. She’s fine. Pretti might have guessed it was an act, except Starbutts is a jobber. She normally loses, always getting a spanking from the Femme when the ref three-counts her out.

Green Machine finally explains the job. Pretti is to pay for the past three weeks’ training by participating in a roller derby!

Pretti wears her Babality t-shirt. The reference is lost on her, but she thinks baby-block letters on a baby-doll style t-shirt, the color of which is baby-blue, is super cute. The nonsensical form of the word baby almost prevented her from buying it.

So by the time rehearsal begins, Babality is somehow Pretti’s stage name. Others suggest the Bronze Goddess, but that’s too much like her jobber name. Green Machine wants Pretti to be disassociated from the masked cyber-thighed woman who lost her only two matches.

She doesn’t say why, and Pretti doesn’t ask. She simply races around the track. There are times where she is distracted. Setsu’s killers deserve to die. The thought echos through her mind as she skates, reliving the nightmare of bullets sparking the pavement. She expects to fall, like she did in her only goal attempts... so close! Only to fail.

She takes down an opponent, as scripted—the Ice Princess, who started the race with a rainbow snow cone in each hand. One was exploitively dropped into Snow White’s cleavage. But when she falls to Pretti’s hip check, the Ice Princess falls on her own snow cone, making a rainbow trail that is simultaneously sticky and slippery...



...and dangerous! Pretti’s not sure that the ensuing five-skater pile-up was in the script. Green Machine wasn’t supposed to fall this soon!

“Are you all right?” Pretti calls.

Starbutts breaks a break-away stool over Pretti’s metal ass as she zips by.

“Starbutts is right, Babality,” Green Machine calls back. “The crowd doesn’t know the script. Some insist there isn’t one. So I fell; I’m out. You keep going.”

Pretti understands that to keep going means she’ll be in second instead of Green Machine now.

...

On the night of the actual roller derby, the five-skater pile-up still happens. Pretti isn’t worried about Green Machine and the others being hurt for real. The wrestlers know how to control a fall... and they don’t know how to skate!

No wonder so many of us jobbers get to place in the top five!

Pretti’s pretty sure she’s seen some of the other girls at the park.

“Holy shit!”

Pretti races as fast as she can, but three adepts are gaining on her!



They close in on Pretti like pink, green and blue lasers! No matter how well Pretti maneuvers around hairpin turns, tumbling skaters, soda cups tossed by assholes with front row seats, Buttercup remains inches behind. The audience can clearly see that it’s Blossom’s leadership that guides the other two. Fortunately for Pretti, Bubbles is too sweet to do any harm.

“Believe in yourself, Babality. That’s a pretty name, by the way.”

Her pointer finger lingers as she and Pretti skate side-by-side. Right. That’s my cue to grab Bubbles’ arm! Pretti flings Bubbles, forcing her into a head-on collision with Blossom. As a result, orders are no longer being barked at Buttercup.

As she starts to trail behind and zigzag for no apparent reason, Buttercup groans, “Awhh, now what the fuck do I do?”

That’s Pretti’s cue to catch a soda thrown by a plant. His limp-wristed throw sends the cup spinning toward Pretti’s crotch, but luckily, a genuine asshole also tosses a soda, lobbing it so Pretti can catch it easily.

“Suck it up, Buttercup,” Pretti shouts as she hurls the soda cup at Buttercup.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Buttercup yells as she skates deliberately through a wall of normally-shatterproof glass. It bursts gratuitously!

Only five rivals remain. Fancy Nancy will be the winner, and Pretti will need to fall to her in Green Machine’s place.

Pretti and Fancy Nancy get into a hip check battle. As Pretti is scripted to not lose yet, she helps Nancy pull off a move. To the audience, it looks like “Fancy Nancy is about to Suplex Babality into the tuba section!”

So the announcer says as Nancy’s hands grip Pretti’s body from behind—

[6] Gymnastics

—but what really happens is an acrobatic stunt! Pretti skates onto a ramp, kicking up her legs appearing to be lifted, but she lands skates-first! She spins out, circling as other girls pass, but she’s still good to play her way to second.

She personally finds losing a slap-fight on the way to the finish line anticlimactic, but as Green Machine explained, the ending need not be the most spectacular move. It just needs to be unpredictable.



A girl with a pipe bashing Nancy in the knee, for example... that’s unpredictable.

Unpredictable because it wasn’t in the script.

“AAAAAH! I’m supposed to win,” Nancy wails. She manages to skate on one leg long enough to catch up to her assailant, punching her in the nose!

Medics escort both skaters from the track before more bones get broken. Thugly Suckling was scripted to try that pipe on Pretti’s metal leg. She was supposed to act like the metal vibrates comically in her hands and fall into the orchestra pit where men in tuxedos hold instruments that they don’t even play.

With the accident taking Fancy Nancy out of the scripted first-place win...

“You got this, Babality!” Green Machine calls out.

Of course I do. With the other medalists out, I get the gold, Smashing Pumpkin Spice gets the silver, and Single-O Seven gets the bronze!

Pretti smiles at the two girls as they all race together for their scripted medals...

The fourth of the remaining racers shouts, “Get away from her you witch with a bee!

Those last few words come out distorted, as Management activated the Censor-Comm, likely right after Buttercup’s tirade of F-bombs.

The skater might have in fact said ‘bitches’ plural—because she follows her words with action—taking out Pretti’s rivals by slashing each of their throats with bladed arm guards!



Pretti is sent flying by a third strike, but she lands on her feet. To her surprise (and relief), the blades are made of rubber.

Already Pretti sees Single-O Seven is refusing mouth-to-mouth. Pumpkin Spice accepts it and starts making out with the nurse.

“Sorry,” the nurse says as she pulls away. “Candice, the nurse at the hairpin turn, was supposed to kiss you. I’m a real nurse. I was just...”

Pumpkin Spice nods awkwardly. “Saving my life. It’s cool.” She lets the nurse help her up, even though the blow was mostly harmless.

As Pretti races to catch up with the only rival still in the game, she recognizes her.

[1] Skate Culture

But she can’t remember the name... at least not until Nancy shouts from the sidelines, “Sonya Harding, you aunt with a sea!”

“Sonya Rollerblade! You and Fancy Nancy have always been rivals, but I never thought you’d put a thug up to bashing her knee!”

Sonya glares over her shoulder as Pretti rapidly gains. “The prize money is mine!”

From alongside, Pretti responds, “What prize money? This is a charity event!”

“Charity’s gonna be the name of my yacht. Ya don’t like it, fight me!”

Pretti skates past. “Why bother? Without other skater-fights slowing me down, all I gotta do is out-skate you.”

Pretti leaves Sonya in the dust, winning the race rather unspectacularly. The crowd cheers anyway.



Later at the bar, all of the girls chat and laugh. They’re all friendly, most notably, Sonya and Nancy. Nancy’s knee is fine. Nobody seems bothered that Sonya went off-script and attacked people.

Snow White and Violet Femme sit down with Pretti.

After some hesitation, Snow White finally spills the beans. “Some of the skaters saw you in Urban Brawl. They said you’re fast, and they liked how you went for the goals even with the odds way against you.”

Pretti is not really comfortable talking about Urban Brawl. She isn’t exactly proud that the only reason the Dragons won is because she gave up the ball to Sun. The Dragons would have had five points if she never ran the ball. How could anyone watch her and not see a useless girl with eyes bigger than the bullets?

Violet Femme breaks the uncomfortable silence, “When you fought me last week, it looked like you were letting me win.”

“Well, the script said,” Pretti replies. “And if I struggled, I was afraid my talons might cut you. You’re a heel on-stage but really nice in real life. I’d feel bad if...”

Snow White explains, “That’s why we didn’t tell you that you were scripted to win. We got the skaters to agree, your competitive spirit is better than—no offense—your acting.”

Pretti remembers the medic comparing her competitiveness to that of Setsuko. ...who’s dead because of me.

Snow White doesn’t react to the guilty look in Pretti’s downcast eyes. She goes on, “Our consensus was that as long as you believed the competition was real, or became real, you’d pull off the stunts that weren’t meant to take you out and show the crowd a convincing win.”

Femme adds, “Or a realistic fall if you goofed any of those landings. I figured odds were five to one you’d botch and Nancy or Sonya would take the win.”

Pretti smiles, figuring they all meant well. She really did have to push herself to land that stunt with Nancy, and cyber or not, passing Sonya on the final lap wasn’t easy with all the turns and debris. One slip at any point would’ve taken Pretti out.

She wouldn’t have pushed herself so hard had she known she was scripted for first.

“You really are a pair of heels,” she says to both wrestlers, but in a tone like she means ‘sexy stilettos’ instead of ‘couple o’ jerks.’ Pretti smiles at Green Machine, who apparently joined the table mid-conversation. “I suppose you put everyone up to this?”

((End, unless GM will have Green Machine respond.))

“Aren’t you supposed to get on one knee before opening that?” Pretti smiles and says, “Seriously, thanks for this.”

Whatever the Green Machine’s moved on from, it’s not Pretti’s business. She puts the rings in her purse for now, though she’ll definitely try one on later.

“Y’know Sun’s a lucky guy. If ya change your mind, you can take the gift back, though you’ll have to wrestle me for it.” Addressing all three wrestlers, Pretti says, “Thanks for this, and the last three weeks. Let me buy you girls a round.”

Pretti says, “I guess I should mind my business too. Which is—” Pretti turns to that really nice roller-skating waitress the one with lotsa bandaids on her legs—“a round of drinks!”

A couple weeks earlier...

Once Pretti recovers from her operation, she rests. But she can’t really sleep without MK at her side. When alone, all Pretti can think of is Setsuko. She replays the death in her head. Replays uploaded videos of the death, and of the heavy and the scout responsible. She forced herself to watch that swan dive...

She waits until she is no longer too shaken to be seen in public.

By the time she gets to Emiko’s place, she’s exhausted. Emiko’s only warning of the seriousness of her visit was a text saying, Do you have a moment? I’m outside.

Emiko stumbles out of the couch, quickly straightens up the living room and runs to the door. Opening the door wide, Emiko stands there in purple striped pajamas and a fancy, Momo original, cloak. “Pretti, hi! Umm, full disclosure, you caught me being lazy.”

Emiko’s normally long, straight hair was now a mess.

“Please, come in.” She ushers Pretti into the apartment. “Can I get you a drink? How was the game? I called Setsuko but haven’t heard back yet.”

Hearing her name elicits a pained, guilty expression. Pretti’s tired eyes are moistening. She steps inside, and when offered a drink, she says, “You may want to sit down.”

Stalling. Long enough to close the door.

“I’m sorry... there’s no easy way to say this, so I just gotta say it.”

The half-second hesitation seems eternal. Pretti’s pretty sure Emiko knows what the news is from the intro. No... she could think she’s hurt, but alive. Hesitation gives false hope. I would want the bandaid ripped off, even if my heart were ruptured in the process.

“They killed her, Emiko.” Say her name. “They killed Setsuko.”

*silence*

Emiko doesn't move or say anything for about a minute and then moves to sit on the couch.  She pulls her commlink off the coffee table and softly says, "call Setsuko."

The commlink rings several times and goes to voicemail.  Emiko listens, hangs up before the beep, and says, "call Setsuko" again.  She does this several times with each time bringing more tears to her eyes. “I just needed to hear her voice.”

Finally, Emiko puts down the commlink and looks up at Pretti.  After a few sniffles, she wipes away some tears that had fallen down her cheek and says, "I hated that she played that game.  I understood why but it.. it... it's just too dangerous.  I could never watch the games."

Tears begin flowing faster.  Emiko tries to talk more but gets choked up.

Pretti sits at Emiko’s side. If Emiko needs a shoulder to lean on, she’s got it. If she needs her space, she’s got that.

“It’s an awful game. Setsu was wonderful... but Urban Brawl is not a sport. It’s hell.”

Pretti has the details for the funeral. It’s already on her calendar app, and she shows this to Emiko before setting the comm on the coffee table. “I don’t want you to go through this alone, Emiko. I will pay my respects to her anyway, but I mean, I’d like to accompany you.

“If it were me who lost...” She can’t say ‘MK.’ Not even hypothetically. “...someone close, I know I would need, at the very least, support.”

Emiko nods at Pretti’s ‘Urban Brawl is hell’ comment and then uses Pretti’s shoulder to cry into.

After she’s calmed some, Emiko says, “I put myself in deadly situations too. I can’t shame Setsuko. How did they get her?”

With the invitation to travel together to the funeral, Emiko says, “yes, please. I would like that. I could definitely use the company.”

“On purpose.”

The accusation just slips out, but Pretti can’t help but be honest.

“She was unscathed until the heavy shot her. It was the only hit like it, and I took three particularly brutal hits myself, and I’m not as tough as Setsu was. She survived somehow... said she could stay in the game.” Pretti’s voice becomes shaken as she stammers, “I shoulda—I mean… the medic told me to bow out after the first play. So… Setsu responded same as me. ‘I’m fine. I’ll be careful,’ she said.

“Then, next play, a scout went out of his way to...” Pretti stops. “She was knocked out before she hit the ground. It was a long fall. She didn’t scream. Just fell, and…”

Pretti is quiet. Pissed. Guilty.

“I wasn’t smart enough, Emiko. But I’m not stupid. I’m telling you they killed her on purpose.”

Pretti shakes her head, “Not in those temporary prosthetics. Sun was the only one on our team who scored goals or made tackles. Setsu just sorta stayed in a back-up position and gave cover. There wasn’t a tactical reason to...”

Pretti stops herself.

“Emiko... there’s a lot to this. We tried to investigate all the suspicious deaths. I got help from smarter people than me, and Sun had his contacts. We all knew there was something up. Setsu knew too. We just couldn’t prove it.”

Pretti stares at the floor.

“So... I failed your friend. With her gone, winning the game meant nothing to me. I wanted to kick the stupid smile off that coach’s fucking face.”

Those last words come out bitterly, in part because she means every word.