Survival Of The Fittest

Clarice would have been quite happy if the world had detonated at that moment.

She tried to shut out Bradley's laughter and mockery, as well as Isaac's slow clapping. She looked down at Kimiko's phone. She felt like exploding on reading it. Dammit, Kimiko, I am not in the mood for that emoticon.

But no, it wasn't Kimiko's fault, she couldn't explode at her. Clarice did a frustrated bounce, hands clenched, before sighing and trying to calm down.

Trying wasn't working. So Clarice signed at Kimiko.

One second. I need to get my ball.

With that, she stepped over the little divide that kept her from Bradkey and Isaac's area. She took a few slow, deliberate steps forward, encroaching on Bradley's space a lot more than what was necessary.

For a moment, she resisted the urge to smash her fist into his face. It was a close call, but she suppressed the urge, staying entirely silent until her bowling ball rolled back out of the machine that processed the thrown bowling balls. She picked it up.

"Just getting my ball," she said, suppressed anger in her voice.

She was going to be calm. And mature.

On her way back to her own lane, she spotted some nachos that had been placed on a nearby table, clearly belonging to either Bradley or Isaac. Casually, she swung the arm that was holding the bowling ball a little. The bowling ball collided with the plate, knocking the nachos to the ground.

"Oops. My bad."

Correction. She was going to be somewhat mature.

Oh, justice.

It was truly sweet. People said revenge was sweet, but Bradley never cared for it. No. So much sweeter to see the world conspire in just the right way, the butterfly effect to manifest in just the perfect way, someone's actions to bite them in the ass at the right moment. So much sweeter to see the justice of nature.

But Bradley knew he could not dwell on this moment forever.

No. He moderated his grin, ceased his dancing, and temporarily suspended his mockery.

Far better to stand back. Perhaps the wheels of time would deliver more blows of justice.

And of course, Clarice knocked food onto the floor. His first instinct was to smirk. But he managed to suppress it. He had worked out she truly despised when someone took the moral high ground, when someone, whether fatuously or not, claimed to live up to the standards she espoused so vocally. So he looked at the nachos. Looked to her. Stood up straight. Walked in front of their lane.

"You know as well as I do that wasn't an accident. And you know as well as I do that all you've done is given one of the poor employees a bigger workload, and contributed to the food wastage endemic in this country. You're willing to harm innocents just to get back at me for being an unwilling beneficiary of your bad bowling skills."

He shook his head.

Eventually the boys left them alone and they went back to bowling. Although Kimiko's mood had been soured and her mediocre bowling suffered as a result. It was a relief to her when she finally got to leave.

((Kimiko Kao...))

What really annoyed her is that Bradley was not entirely incorrect with that statement. She had made a mess that someone would have to clean up, and it sure as fuck wasn't going to be Bradley.

Fucking. God. Dammit.

Clarice didn't respond, only threw her free hand in the air with a frustrated 'aaagh' and retreated back to her and Kimiko's part of the alley. Bradley and Isaac stopped bothering them afterwards--she supposed they had to get bored sometime--but Clarice spent the rest of the day stewing in rage, rage that wouldn't go away even after a long run with Grommit.

Fucking jackasses.

((Clarice Halwood continued elsewhere.))

Bradley loved being right. He apologised on Clarice's behalf to the bowling alley employee who came over to clear up the mess. He was normally pretty civil to those he didn't know when there was a patron-employee dynamic at play: he was a comedian, not an asshole, which was a nuance most people seemed to forget. He wouldn't antagonise someone doing their job just for the hell of it.

Clarice had already done that, after all.

He made sure his explanation of what had happened was loud enough, and damning enough, so Clarice knew this poor guy was aware who was responsible for his current predicament. The employee insisted it was nothing, but hell, that was a contractual obligation, most likely: and from the tone in his voice, Bradley's condemnation had hit the right marks.

One more person thought Clarice was a bitch. Heh. He could be happy with that outcome.

((Bradley continued elsewhere.))