The Park, Friday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

There was a playground in the park. Little Katherine Li hadn't really been to many parks; most of the parks in Koreatown were either contested territory between the Seventeens and the MS 13s, or firmly under the thumb of the Seventeens. There was a small playground in the lot outside their apartment building that was was allowed to play on during the daytime when her mommy and daddy were awake, but even there she had to come right inside if any big kids came over, especially if any of them were wearing green or had tattoos.

There didn't seem to be any big kids there, though. Not scary ones, anyway. And it was day time. So maybe she was allowed to play on this playground?

She was still gonna hide behind a tree and watch for a bit, just in case it turned out that this wasn't a playground she was supposed to play in. She didn't want to get in trouble.

[Open]

Comments

[meepmeepmeep]

"Meep meep meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee--" Beaker yelled, racing straight for the slide.

The odds were, say, 70-30 that he was going to fall from it.

[spin_kick_snap]

Katherine ducked behind her tree, and instinctive reflex at the loud noise. So all she saw was a blur of red cutting through the falling snow (also, it was snowing how exciting was that?) until she ducked back out again.

Oh, he was going for the slide? It did look very fun...

[meepmeepmeep]

"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Beaker said gleefully, flinging himself down the slide.

[spin_kick_snap]

Well, he didn't fall off, so that was good on him.

He...he didn't seem scary. Definitely not like the kind of kid that would get involved with a gang. They wouldn't slide down the slide like they were having fun, would they? Didn't they just stomp around a lot and yell and try to get little kids hooked on drugs?

...It was possible that most of Katherine's knowledge of what gang members did was entirely based on her parents' kiiinda racist paranoia, with a few elementary school DARE assemblies mixed in.

She crept closer, this time 'hiding' behind the monkey bars to keep watching.

[meepmeepmeep]

"Meep meep meep?" Beaker said, glancing around and then waving exuberantly at Kathy. "Mee!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Katherine, upon being noticed, immediately covered her face with her hands. A moment later, she peeked through the big, puffy mittens to see if he was still looking at her. Maybe he'd realized his mistake and gone back to ignoring her?

[meepmeepmeep]

Since "subtle like a Muppet" wasn't a thing, when she peeked through her mittens the next time Beaker would be. right. there.

"MEEP!"

[whatdattonguedotho]

Eddie had woken up this morning with super powers and a voice in his head that had been deeply concerned about something that involved kidneys and lungs. But then had walked him through finding a credit card with his name on it and going to the store by himself.

That meant Eddie now had a whole massive bag of candy he was hauling around with him. "You sure I'm allowed to eat all this?

Yes, Eddie.

Eddie nodded like he got an answer literally anyone else could hear.

"Cool."

Venom was gonna be in some shit come Monday.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel looked curiously at the massive bag of candy. "Are you gonna eat all of that?"

[whatdattonguedotho]

"Uh..."

Shove him down and keep the candy for us.

"What?" Eddie asked, wrinkling his nose. "No!"

[what_the_shock]

"Hey, I was just asking," Miguel scoffed. "No need to get weird."

[whatdattonguedotho]

"Not you," Eddie huffed. "I mean. You can have one. If you want."

Mind voice apparently needed most of it.

[what_the_shock]

"O-kay." Weird kid. "I don't want it, it just seemed like an awful lot for one person."

It did look kind of good. But did he want candy from a weirdo?

[whatdattonguedotho]

"I'm supposed to eat it to save my liver," Eddie said, feeling backed up by the warm fuzzies from the brain voice.

[spin_kick_snap]

Oooh. Candy. Katherine might be so shy that she squeaked more often than spoke, but she was a kid. And candy was a powerful lure. Powerful enough that it had her inching out from behind her tree enough to try to at least see what kind of candy this weird boy had.

[whatdattonguedotho]

We are being watched.

"Huh?" Eddie said, twisting around to find what it could be. "Hello?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Katherine immediately ducked back around behind the tree, hoping she'd been fast enough to escape notice.

...Because her bright blue parka was so camouflage-friendly, sure. As was the tiny squeak she let out when she saw the boy turning.

[whatdattonguedotho]

"Hello?" he tried again. "You don't gotta hide."

[spin_kick_snap]

Katherine slowly peeked out from behind the tree. And, possibly just because of the candy, solemnly waggled a mitten at him, in a what was either a shy wave or some kind of weird mitten mishap.

[what_the_shock]

A playground? Miguel eyed it dubiously. Gabe might like this sort of thing, but Miguel was really more into computers.

This place was okay, and at least there weren't any bullies, but there wasn't much to do, either.

He caught sight of the girl hiding behind the tree. "Xina?" He got closer. "Oh. Sorry, I thought you were my friend."

[spin_kick_snap]

Upon being addressed directly - by a boy, no less - Katherine did the only reasonable thing she could.

She squeaked and hid her face behind her puffy mittens.

Kathy had always had a really high level of chill. Really.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel eyed her oddly. "Are you okay?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Katherine lowered her mittens a bit, just enough to peek over them. "M-me?" she asked in a whisper, as if there were anyone else there for him to ask.

She did ask. And even glanced behind her to check.

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah, you."

Okay, this girl was a little weird, but she was about Gabi's age, and obviously super shy, so it was hard to be mean to her.

"I'm Miguel. What's your name?"

[spin_kick_snap]

She glanced around again, extra just in case. "'M Katherine," she said, still very quietly. "'S this your playground?"

She could go! If she wasn't supposed to be here! She didn't want to be a bother!