Bowling for Atlantis

[Avis]

There was a very particular scent to bowling alleys. Even though Avis hadn't stood in one for over a decade, she remembered the smell just as well as she remembered the smell of her breakfast that morning. A patina of oil, polish, and cleaner hung in the air, mixing with the occasional wafts of stale carpet and spilled beer. Definitely not a bouquet anyone would to find on their clothing, later, but there was a sense of comfort in it. The last time she'd been in a place like this she'd been at a birthday party, hers, and the flash of her parents smiling over a cake flickered through her mind. A bittersweet memory, but one she felt like embracing for now. She was here with a friend, after all, and she wouldn't mind building a new memory off of the old.

[Pepper]

It had been a while since Pepper had been bowling. Long enough that she wouldn't be able to use the ball she'd bought back in high school and used throughout college. She'd brought it anyway, mostly because she suspected it would be a good weight for Avis. Plus, her bag had her bowling shoes in it.

The Acanthus had stuck the bulky bag under her chair at the theater earlier, since she'd taken taken a cab to meet up with the mastigos. "So, one lane and - What size shoes are you?"

[Avis]

"Of course one lane," the Warlock shot back. "What fun is it if you can't give the other person shit while they do the walk of shame back to their seat after throwing a gutter ball? I'll be throwing a lot of those, by the way, so you don't want to miss out."

A smile, artificial as a paper mache mask, though far harder to see behind, accompanied the words.

"And don't worry about my shoe size. I snagged a pair when I first got here. Only thing left to do is get a ball, plug our names into the machine thingy, and go punish some pieces of wood for existing."

[Pepper]

Pepper hadn't noticed the shoes, but hey, it all worked out. "Sweet. I'm pretty sure you can use my ball easier than I can, and it being heavier will mean that as long as it doesn't bump your thigh momentum will keep it out of the gutter, at least for the first throw. Can you get our names in while I get a ball I can lifted without killing my shoulder?"

She fished her shoes out of her bowling bag, then offered it, and the ball inside, to Avis. The Bag itself was grey with age, at least, what was visible of it under various political patches and pins. Those were pretty old and worn themselves, though a red A and a hammer and sickle were visible on two of the plastic ones. And circular patch of cloth declared "My Body, My choice" Though most of them seemed to be generic support for feminism, de-funding military or universal healthcare.

[Avis]

"Really? You sure you...want me to?" Avis asked, hands extending to take the bag as though it contained a precious, fragile creature rather than a lump of hardened matter. Her eyes fell to the sphere which lay inside it, studying it as though it were an object of far greater importance, and then slipped it out. After a moment of two, realizing her mistake, she slipped it back in the bag and set down to put on her bowling shoes and then type their names into the lane's console. She put in "Des" for herself, and then keyed in "Peps" for her bowling buddy, a small smile playing across her lips.

By the time Pepper returned with a suitable ball, Avis was sitting with the bowling bag on her lap, studying the variety of patches with interest.

"You really did fight in a lot of wars, didn't you?" she said rhetorically, an edge of admiration in her voice. "I've heard about a few of these, but I've gotta admit I'm kinda ignorant when it comes to this stuff. What's this one, here?" the warlock asked, tapping the "My Body, My Choice" badge.

[Pepper]

Pepper returned to the Lane, setting the borrowed ball into the Ball return and giving a confused look at Avis' question - mostly because she couldn't tell which is was from that distance. She walked closer and blinked in surprise when she recognized it. "Oh. Uh. History Lesson, I guess. The Supreme Court ruled that Abortions were legal under Privacy laws like Doctor confidentiality. It's not really the best way to establish the legality of seeking them - Bodily Autonomy would be better. It's your body and your organs that sustain the fetus for nine months, no one should be able to force you to use them for that. I mean, Cadavers don't automatically get their organs donated to science or medicine. So if you ban abortions, you're saying a pregnant person has less rights than a dead body. And that's what that patch represents."

She shrugged Then looked up at the screen. "By the way, you put your name first."

[Avis]

Avis' eyes widened briefly as Pepper explained, then fell back down to the ball bag in her lap, eyes fixed upon the tiny piece of insignificant metal, and in a way, all that it symbolically represented. Pepper's observation went entirely unnoticed, the Warlock retreating a ways into her mind, a place where the scent of salt water filling her nose and the vague impression of water misted against her face.

"It's not that simple," Avis finally said, hollow eyes looking back up at the Acanthus. "Abortion ends a life. It's...murder, basically. That's completely different from desecration, which is about what happens after life."

[Pepper]

Pepper turned back to the Mastigos and tilted her head in measured thought. "It's not just about our bodies, though. If you required a pregnant person to carry the pregnancy, you're also saying that the fetus, that new life that might become a person, you're saying that potential - that they are more important than the fully there, mind and all, person with the fetus in their womb." Pepper wasn't very smooth with her argument. She kept changing the words she used, and her hand were moving as if she was sorting through a box for each one.

Then she sighed, stilled. [Color]"Plus, I'd be a hell of a hypocrite if I denied other people the right to that choice. Only they can know if having a child is right for them."[/Color]

[Avis]

For a few seconds Avis sat there, quiet and staring, the bowling bag cradled in her lap, hands poised around it like pale creatures uncertain whether there was a need to flee. Eventually she swallowed and spoke.

"Well, in a perfect world, no pregnancy would happen without it being desired, and no poverty, cruelty, famine, or duty would get in the way of supporting the child once it was born, so there'd be no need for abortion. Thing is, we're not there yet. I know that. I'm not stupid. And I'm not saying that it shouldn't be done, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying...It's still murder. It might be necessary, but that doesn't mean we should sweep that Truth under the rug," Avis replied, eyes dropping to the little tin pin once more.

[Pepper]

Pepper sat down in one of the other chairs, looking at Avis carefully. "And in a perfect world, there'd be no reason to Lie to them or keep Secrecy." Pepper shrugged, then, and shook her head. "That perfect world might be part of my goals... but I am also not convinced of that Truth myself. I can't see it. I can't Sense it. The one person I trusted with myself enough to ask and could see, would probably lie to me so that what I decided would be easier on myself and keep any guilt to himself." Yeah, Briar would, for sure. "There's undeniably potential there, but..."

She paused, not sure how to explain the way she understood things. "There's no way for a fetus, especially one that hasn't developed even rudimentary organs, to live separate of us. For a while, at least, that fetus is part of our body."