5016/Basketball and Primates

Basketball and Primates
Date of Scene:	26 July 2018
Location:	Central Park, New York City
Synopsis:	Tyler runs into Kid at the basketball courts and the pair teams up to win some money.
Cast of Characters:	Twitch, Kid

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Twitch has posed:
It's a hot day. Not the best weather to be outside, but that doesn't stop a number of people from enjoying themselves at the various sports fields around Central Park. There are people throwing frisbees and footballs, folks out running, a group playing with a hacky sack, individuals sitting around and motherly types pushing strollers.

There are basketball games going on at the courts in the park, players hustling to and fro as they strive to win their games. There are people watching some of the games, one in particular has a large crowd gathered around it. It's evident to even the untrained eye that there's money being exchanged.

That court is where Tyler's headed. He's wearing a white muscle shirt, blue basketball shorts and black sneakers, dressed similarly to many of the other people gathered around the court. When he gets there he looks over the players on the court, admiring their ability to play. When one of them manages to pull off an impressive dunk he cheers with the rest of the observers. Turns out that was the final point of the game and one of the two man teams walks off in defeat as the winners shake hands with a fellow dressed a little better than the rest. As the hands are shook there are folded bills in them. Tyler starts to work his way through the crowd towards the guy who just handed out the money.

Kid has posed:
Even Kid can be social. No need to be a hunter ALL the time! Sometimes it was nice to just play, and he took a likeing to enganging in sports with other humans. Wrestling was a favorite, but street ball suited him fine.

Malcolm was mostly in his usual human disguise. But instead of an adult, he took on a more teenage look to fit in. Seeing the large crowd, he had made his way over and watched the game with glee.

Without a second thought, knowing that a new team was bound to take the court, made up of stranger usually, he quickly hussles his way through the crowd. He MAY have knocked over a few innocent folks, but he didn't notice as he made a bee-line for the money man, thinking he was the one in charge of the game.

Twitch has posed:
The money man looks over at the two teenagers approaching him and grins, showing off his pearly whites, "What can I do for you guys today?" The couple of people Kid sent sprawling are noticed, but not paid much attention to, "You two looking to get a game in?"

Tyler looks pretty unsure of himself as he addresses the money handler, "Yeah. I uhh... never did this before." The youth looks slightly nervous as he stands there waiting to be told what to do next.

"Money up front. Play to twenty one. You and that guy..." A nod to Malcolm. "Are going to play..." More people have come up to try to get a game in and the money man looks them over. He lifts his chin at a pair of guys who already have their money in their hands. "You two."

Kid has posed:
Kid nods, seeming confident enough as he crosses his arms over his chest unworried. His head turns to the other pair of guys and gives them a non to friendly growl ment to intimidate, intimidating one not so much the other.

Kid reaches into his backpack and pulls out a wallet. He occasionly got money from his hunts via taking folks stuff. Pulling out a 50, he hands it to the money handler.

Twitch has posed:
The money handler takes the cash from Kid and some from Tyler, continuing to grin at them before taking the cash from the other players. On the sidelines people start cheering a little bit. It is noticed that Tom and Terry, the other players, seem to be crowd favorites by far.

Tom backs up a little at Kid's growl, eyes going wide before he looks around as if to see if anyone else heard that. Terry is not bothered, the more experienced player acting like he's seen it all. He chuckles at Malcolm's attempt at intimidation and pats his partner on the chest, "Don't worry about it, man. We got these kids." He exudes confidence.

Meanwhile, Tyler looks at his new partner strangely for a few seconds, then says, "Alright, man. Any kind of strategy you got before we get started? I can score baskets at most ranges, I just need to get open."

Kid has posed:
Kid flips Terry double birds, looks like he got a person to break. But none the less Kid leans and begins to sign - unlike before though his watch doesn't speak. As such, Kid, being comfortable with Tyler reaches out telepathicly
    o O ("Well, I could make them freak out with some illusions") a low chuckles comes out ("But if your thinkin a clean game...than let get this is seven shots. Street balls, street rules. We run them around, pass while we get close to the 3 point line. From them, I ape out, you shoot out. What yea think?")

Twitch has posed:
Watching Kid's hands move Tyler nods at his buddy, o O ("No need to use anything but our natural gifts to cream these guys. Let's try not to beat them too badly so we don't out ourselves or something.") Words come out of his mouth then as they move to their half of the court, "Cool. That's a plan. We shouldn't have much trouble beating them."

The money man takes the ball and tosses it to Tom. Tom takes a couple of tentative dribbles and approaches the three point line.

There's enough time for the Terry and another player to get closer to the basket to try to catch the rebound while either Tyler or Kid squares off on Tom.

Kid has posed:
Kid grins and having already senses Tom's unease when he growled, was not above intimidation. He had the ball and so he was the target. Kid get up in front of Tom. Illusion of not, Kid's hefty size was nothing to laugh at as he raised his arms to block the ball.

The sound of ball hitting concrete goes off mutliple times as Tim dribbles trying to find an opening to shoot or get past Kid he was not letting up.

Without a clear shot, Tom tries to fake a left before passing the ball to the right towards terry. The shot is off as Kid shoves Tom to the ground, causing the ball to go off course as it sails through the air.

Twitch has posed:
As the ball starts to go it's own way Tyler darts out from beside Terry and rushes towards it, leaping into the air to snag it. Terry is right on him, having very good reflexes for a human.

Tyler dribbles as fast as he can towards the net but Tom gets to his feet and moves to intercept the kid with the ball. Before he can get surrounded Tyler takes a jumper from just inside the three point line. 'SWISH!' Two points.

Terry moves to recover the ball this time and Tyler moves to cover him. The player bides his time, waiting for Tom to get free to pass it to him.

Kid has posed:
May not have been a three pointer, but it was better than nothing. Kid grins and tries to keep on Tom. Which ever way Tom moves, Kid follows trying to always be in place to catch the ball.

The seasoned pros though were no push overs. Terry dribbles closer and closer even with Tyler near him, keeping the ball arms length away.

A play goes in suddenly. Tom darts quickly to the left and Terry makes pass the ball to Tom who kept moving an dribbling as Terry moved to his spot. Even as Kid tries to follow Tom, the ball is passed again, tossed over head as Tom catches it and waste no time jumping up and shooting it to the net. Another 'SWISH!'. Three points for them now.

Twitch has posed:
It's Tyler's turn to recover the ball now. He grabs it and holds it in his hands, looking for a way to get it to Kid. When he starts to dribble it's with an explosive movement, just darting to Terry's side at high speed.

Once he's gotten a little distance from his opponent Tyler is able to send a bounce pass towards his partner, throwing the ball hard and fast to try to keep Tom from getting his hands on it.

Kid has posed:
Kid moves quick and fast, towards the ball as the bounce pass is made. While the aim was good, Tom was experinced and manages to intercept the ball. However as he turns to pass it, Kid rams right into him, knocking him down, and stealing the ball.

Tom rises having gotten as scrap on his arm from the rough housing Kid's action. Kid didn't notice as he dribbles the ball in his massive hand. With Terry guarding Tyler, Kid makes a pass. Instead of going over or to the side, Kid bounces it between Terry legs to reach Tyler.

Twitch has posed:
Thanks to Kid's quick thinking Tyler is able to get the ball. He dribbles a few feet away from his coverage and jumps into the air to shoot another perfect basket, making it look easy and making the score 5-3 in favor of Kid and Tyler.

This time it's Tom's turn to return the ball. He's more wary of Kid than he was before as he dusts off his scraped arm, watching the secret gorilla way more intently than before. The experienced baller seems unlikely to let Kid try the same thing again. He makes his way slowly, waiting for Kid to try something else, taking his time. It's almost like he's waiting for the teenager to make a move so he can counter it, playing it smart.

Kid has posed:
Kid may think quick and act well on his feet, but he was still a brute at heart. He already gotten the gist that Tom was weary of him mabey even afraid and he was going to use that. Kid moves with Tom as he tries to find an opening to out smart the aggressive teen.... and it works

Running out of patience, Kid goes in to try and steal the ball during one such dribble. Tom realizing Kid's aggresaion antcipated this and dribbles under what would have likely been another shove, to get behind Kid. Without wasting another second, the ball is passed to Terry he tried to stay in front of Tyler.

Twitch has posed:
Even as the ball is moving towards Terry Tyler is striving to get on it. Terry has to play defensively to keep the young man from snagging the ball from him on his first dribble, turning his body around to try to get some space.

The crowd is going wild now. People are cheering at the sight of such an intense basketball game being played before them. Shouts of "Go new guys!" ring out. "Terry took me for a hundred last week, you take it out of him today!" Others cheer for the other side, "C'mon Tom! I've seen you beat tougher guys than them!" and "You rock, Terry! Good defense!"

When Terry moves very abruptly, showing off the agility a lot of time on the court has given him, to throw a pass to Tom Tyler lifts a hand to intercept it almost as soon as it's thrown. Going low and breaking away Tyler runs it down the court for a layup.

Before the ball can bounce more than once after falling through the net Terry is on it and giving Tyler the stink eye, "You got lucky, kid. I'm about to ram this ball down your throat."

"Let's see what you got, old timer," Tyler replies with a grin.

Now that the ball is in Terry's hands the skillful player moves purposefully down the court. He calls out, "Just get open, Tom!" Tom replies with an affirmative and starts to move. Tyler looks back for a second to see what Tom's doing and Terry takes advantage of the momentary distraction to break away!

Kid has posed:
Tougher than him? Kid might just have to get extra mean! But still, the cheering and the sense of normalcy was grand! Kid even forget a bit of where and what he was as he let out quite the roar and pounds his chest as if to excite the crowd.

it makes a few of them silent, cause humans don't make THAT kind of sound, at all. A few are excited by it and let out roars of their own. And some just laugh about it with comments of "That right! Unleash the beast!" and "Stop roaring dude, your partner needs you!"

A good comment if nothing else! Tom takes the disraction to his advanateg and bolts for it when Terry order tom to get open. He calls out "I'm open man! Come on!" he was staying on the move, trying to keep away from Kid.

Moment like this, kid prefer his wheelchair illusion, cause running on two legs ain't easy for him! As Tom is able to for now stay ahead as Kid runs after him!

Twitch has posed:
Terry has just enough time to get the ball to Tom before Tyler can do anything to stop him. As the ball soars through the air Tom skillfully snags it and uses the two legged speed advantage and the distance he'd already gained to get ahead of Kid and bring to the net in order to dunk it. When he hits the ground he turns to the crowd and lets out a happy and excited, "Woo!" He certainly earned those two points.

Sweat drips down the players' faces and bodies as the sun beats down on them. The fans are going nuts still. It's turning into a very good game.

It's Kid's turn to return the ball. Tyler moves to get open so that he can hopefully be in position to score another basket.

Kid has posed:
Kid let out some pants and licks his over sized canines. Fur can be killer in hot weather sometimes. But he had a game to play. With ball in hand he dribbles the ball hand to hand in a rythem. The rythem was not that different from a heart beat.

His eyes lock with Tom as he does the rythmatic dribbling. This was perhaps confusing for the crowd. But unlike most who try to get around their guards...Kid moves forward. Tom hesitates stepping back as if Kid might actually hurt him.

Terry voice cuts in as he tries to keep up with Tyler"Tom, whatcha doin. Get in their man, stop lettin him psyche you out!"

Tom shakes himself off as he tires to get back in the game. He reaches into try and steal the ball. But Kid turn blocking the steal. Tom reaches side to side trying to make any pass hard for Kid. eventually Kid elbows Tom in the gut HARD and he doubles over as Kid hurls the ball to Tyler, a wide left handed pass through the air.

Twitch has posed:
Terry attempts to beat Tyler to the ball as it flies through the air but the young man is too quick and too well positioned to let it happen. As soon as he grabs the ball Tyler dribbles towards the three point line, jumps just before reaching it and... misses! The ball hits the rim and bounces off.

Terry grabs the ball out of the air and starts dribbling down the court only to find Tyler darting in to grab the ball from him, push it to the far side of his body and dash towards the goal, leaping into the air when he gets close. The ball rolls off of his fingertips and into the basket as the crowd goes nuts at the excellent play.

Terry grabs the ball and sets himself up to return it. "Same thing we did last time, Tom! You get open, I'll put it in your hands."

Kid has posed:
Tom get up with a groan, still in pain from the elbow to the gut. He glares at Kid and says "Dude, can you chill!" with which Kid respond to by making a mocking cry-baby face at him.

Both turn their heads as they hear Terry order. Tom begins to make a run for it, but Kid was quick on the pick up and slides infront of Terry to block his path.

Much like a dual with the ball steal, the two are in a tangle of who will get infront of the other. Tom suddenly slides under Kid and tries to run for it "Pass it man!" he exclaims arms out stretched, even though he didn't have the same distance as before.

Twitch has posed:
Tom manages to get his hands on the ball when Terry passes to him, making a simple but elegant jump shot from the three point line.

It's not enough for Tom and Terry to come back, though. The physical game played by Kid and Tyler's raw agility and ability to score from anywhere allow the two metas to come out ahead of their opponents. The whole, 'I'll be a gorilla and you just sink baskets' plan of theirs has worked wonderfully.

The money man shakes hand with them in turn, giving them a couple of twenties on top of what they paid to play. Tom and Terry head off the court looking dejected, Terry cursing at Tom, "You shouldn't have let that kid intimidate you, man! We could have won if you'd just kept your cool." Terry turns back to Tyler and kid and says, "Next time we play I'll have a partner who isn't such a wimp, then I'll school you."

The crowd is happy and excited, aside from those who lost too much money better on the losers. A couple of people come up to give pats on the back. As people touch him from surprising angles Tyler's head twitches around so he can see who's touching him, likely not intentionally on the young mutant's part. It takes him a second to get free of the people and when he does he lets out a sigh of relief, looking to see how Kid's coping.

Kid has posed:
Kid was doing quite fine! It was odd to be admired instead of feared...of course not as many people went near him. Unlike Tyler, in addition to his brutish persona, one can easily think him a mutant if nothing else, and some certainly suspected as such.

But still there was terry. As Terry walks off, Kid locks eyes with him and actually does the slitting throat gesture. Terry may not have been intimidated...but Kid kept to his cards.

Regardless,, as much as Kid enjoyed the attention 'faking' that many minds is difficult when they keep trying to pat you! Making 'fur' into 'skin' or 'cloth' was not easy. But at the very least when he wanted out, he had no trouble getting out...he was even a bit more gentle this time. Kid gives Tyler a double thumbs up. It was a good day, and it bout time these athlets got some grub and water.