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Trace pulled her coat up again to hide her aggravated face, then moved forward with the bowling ball. She did indeed seem to be analyzing her alley, determined to make up for last time's failure. Of course, all of the determination and inspection in the world couldn't make up for an unpracticed technique; her first ball nearly made it, but ended up in the gutter again. "No matter! Now I know exactly what I'm doing!" she professed, then retrieved her ball. The next roll indeed missed the gutter, this time going relatively straight and knocking over six.

The look of joy and triumph on Trace's face made it clear than it was far more than she ever imagined hitting. She hid it again and said nothing.

In the mean time, Nitro was able to sneak a quick peek at Jailbird's back, thanks to her position: hunched forward with her hands in her lap and no regard for spinal posture. There was indeed a tattoo on her back, a long bar code with numbers underneath. It wasn't the sexiest tattoo design, for sure, but it was still hard to stop staring...

Which made Nitro realize that somebody else was staring too: TriangleMan. He was leaning against the ball rack, trying not to look suspicious as he scoped out Jailbird's behind himself, probably less interested in the tattoo. When his eyes (presumably he had eyes behind the visor) met with Nitro's, he promptly turned to pretend he was looking at the ball rack.

Unaware, Jailbird spoke a bit more about the investigation. "He's found the black box... he's also found about a million other triangle things you wouldn't normally think about. Care to imagine what triangle-fetish underwear looks like?" she asked. "Just something to think about."

Nitro quirked an eyebrow at the tattoo, a little confused. He was expecting something maybe a little more stylish and thematic, like a small bird breaking through a chain. He was a little confused about what the barcode meant, but decided not to press the issue at all, figuring he'd ask if the subject came up.

He glanced over at TriangleMan as well, and smirked a bit as the Navi looked away, before leaning forward a bit to match Jail. If it wasn't obvious by now, it was certain that TriangleMan was a bit of a pig. Sure, Nitro looked too, but he had a legitimate curiosity. TriangleMan was just a perv.

Speaking of perverts, Nitro kind of grimaced a bit at Jail's report. "Jeez, I wouldn't have imagined there'd even be a market for something like that," he muttered.

Meanwhile, Tina tossed her ball down the lane. She flubbed it a bit, only hitting two pins at the side, though it was intentional. She figured Trace might get frustrated after a bunch of consecutive losses, and might be tempted to leave. Tossing her a bone every now and again might be good for her. Tina rolled again, hitting another three pins, making a total of five. Sighing a bit, she removed her chestplate, revealing the form-fitting Navisuit underneath. Tina's chest was somewhat modest in size, but she wasn't outright flat-chested. Tina placed the armor on the seat beside her, and read the monitors. "Triangleman, Kismet, your turn again."

Trace watched Tina's bowl with poorly hidden satisfaction, smiling in an open-mouthed grin before hiding her face again. Everyone watched Tina as she stripped...

"Starting with her chest armor? She's a gutsy one!" TaxidermyMan noted. Shok nodded along.

"Indeed," Kismet noted. She and TriangleMan both walked up to their positions again silently, took their positions, then promptly bowled perfect straights again. "Hmmm... I may just be too lucky today."

"Triangulating... And I too skillful," her adversary added. He spoke quietly, as if he had something else on his mind. He walked back over to the ball rack and began to tap the side of his visor in a cryptic gesture...

Jailbird spoke to Nitro as quickly as she could before he went to join Shok. "No good, the black box is being tapped right now. If he notices, we're screwed," she warned Nitro. Shok stood the alley now, watching Nitro with her creepy, perpetual bite-guard grin.

Nitro stole a quick glance at TriangleMan as Jail spoke, and internally panicked a bit. Matching him up against Kismet may not have been the wisest decision, as a consistently even match-up like that would probably be boring him. He racked his brain for some subtle way of distracting him, and suddenly came up with a somewhat risky solution.

He looked across the room to Tina, and as he caught her gaze, he briefly flicked his eyes toward Kismet, whom Tina was sitting beside. The support program caught on, and gave Kismet a small nudge. She did a similar lock-eyes and glance with her, indicating that she should pay attention to Nitro. As Kismet (hopefully) looked over, Nitro would rise from his seat with his ball in hand.

As he stood, there would be a blink-and-you-miss it glow of green light running from his glove to his ball. He had imbued the ball with a bit of explosive force, though his bit of cheating was only half of his plan. The other half relied on Kismet (or anyone else that happened to be paying close attention to him) calling him out on it. Hopefully sparking a slight argument would distract TriangleMan from the case, if only for a moment. Nitro proceeded to approach his lane, preparing himself for any objections.

*Subtype Ability: Smash - Add Break to Bowling Ball

Unfortunately, Kismet wasn't able to catch on at all, perhaps because she was mostly unfamiliar with Nitro and had no idea what the green light indicated. She seemed to believe it was part of his plan to power up his ball without anyone seeing and that the glance was to suggest that she shouldn't say anything.

On the other hand, Nitro's opponent certainly noticed it. As he walked up to the alley, the tall girl shambled up alongside him, then in front of him, overtaking him so that she stood in front of his alley. Her teeth continued to show in that same, inexpressive bite, but her eyes widened and the lightbulb on her head fleshed on and off in an epileptic way.

"Sorry, chum, she seems to think you've rigged the contest in some way. She wants you to use a different ball," TaxidermyMan translated. His expression changed to one of surprise, however, as she kept on flashing. "Wait, no... She's saying she noticed you rigged your ball... but she wants you to use it anyways. She says it won't make any difference. Strange..."

Jailbird frowned, then turned her head to TriangleMan. "Old Three-Point over there's been using a rigged ball this whole time. It's obvious by how well he's bowling," she conjectured.

"Triangulating... Shut it, Jailbird. You know I'm bowling straight! A genius of my caliber doesn't need cheap tricks."

"Oh yeah? Well personally, I think you and Kissie are both cheating. You both need to take off those damn targeting visors. What kind of bowler plays with a visor rigged to give them battle stats and all that crap?" she countered. Kismet looked a little taken back, but TriangleMan more so.

TriangleMan didn't respond, but rather just removed his helmet. It revealed, perhaps humorously, perhaps expectedly, that his head was one flat, downward pointing equilateral triangle with another red gem in its center. Kismet sighed and pulled down her head, then removed her helmet as well; it collapsed into itself by folding in, then vanished completely. Beneath it, she looked almost equally ridiculous: her hair was vibrantly green and done into two short tails, sticking up on either side. Her mouth was set into a teeth-showing grimace and her eyes were gray with arched brows, like she was frozen in the most impatiently irritable expression her child-like face could manage. "That is acceptable," she finished, then pulled her hood back up, this time without the helmet.

Shok stepped out of the way, seeming uncaring of anything they'd done and focusing her creepy eyes only on Nitro. At least TriangleMan had been distracted.

Nitro opened his mouth to defend himself from Shok's (completely accurate) accusation, before Jailbird jumped in and used the very argument he was about to use. As the situation was resolved and the two navis removed their helmets, Nitro suppressed a snicker and and approached his lane once Shok moved out of his way.

The way she kept her gaze locked on him was a bit creepy, but he put it out of his head as he approached his lane, holding up his enhanced ball. He took a few steps toward the lane, pulled his arm back, and sent the ball rolling down the lane. As it met the head pin, it virtually shattered the first few pins, the pieces flying back against the other pins, knocking them all down, giving him a perfect strike. He turned to Shok and smirked a bit, recalling her comment about his enhancement not mattering. "Alright, if you're so sure of yourself, let's see your roll."

The tall navi's clenched teeth stayed stationary, but the corners of her mouth turned up, making her ordinarily creepy face into an even worse grin. Slowly, she made her way up to the alley, letting her bowling ball hang in one hand; the weight must be the heaviest in the alley, so there was no way that letting it hang unsupported that way ought to be comfortable. She flung back one arm without moving any of the rest of her body once she reached the end of the alley, then swung it back and catapulted the ball forward. When the ball hit the alley, it actually split in two; both equal halves rebounded forward, knocking against the alley's low walls, then collided with the pins simultaneously. Thankfully, one was still left up, or else she'd seem even less believable than she already did.

She turned her grin back towards her adversary, then opened her mouth even wider than it already was. One hand reached up into her mouth, clenched the bite-guard, then pulled it out. The thing was slobbery and oversized and rubbery; it was the kind of thing that everyone would fear having to have in their mouth for even a little while, for the implications alone, not to mention the physical features. She tossed it aside, keeping her mouth open in a huge, gaping expression as strings of saliva fell into place grotesquely. Her tongue rolled a bit, then finally, she clenched her teeth back into a grin. "It's been so long since I spoke," she began, sounding remarkably cultured and clear, "that I was beginning to wonder if I'd be able to manage a word. I pride myself on being able to conduct my psychiatry without saying a word, you see." The lightbulb on her head-bowl continued flashing on and off along with her words.

"Oh! Wow, I don't think I've ever heard your voice, Shok!" TaxidermyMan noted.

"It's safer if I keep in the guard most of the time. There are certain advantages to others thinking you can't talk, actually," she shrugged.

"Ah... What... What was that just now? How did you do that without even using your electric powers?" he asked, still smiling without changing his expression. If his body was capable of matching his reactions, it would be interesting to see if he actually looked scared.

"That's the Blessers at work, TaxidermyMan. BlessMan grants us with tremendous powers to accomplish our oaths. My strength is far greater than it was when I knew your predecessor," she explained.

Trace put one fist to her chin thoughtfully... then pointed her remaining gloved finger in an accusatory fashion. "So you already existed at the time of your predecessor's death, then? Electra was operating both you and TherapyMan?" she inquired.

"I suppose she was! My, you're hung up on that incident are you? You could probably use a little therapy yourself!" Shok laughed; showing that the bite-guard was more than she'd explained, she grabbed one of the straps on her arm into her mouth and pulled it back in her teeth, chewing it slowly. It seemed to be a habit to gag herself...

"L-Look who's talking..." Trace responded, averting her gaze.

Shok shrugged, then took her seat. "We were bowling, weren't we? Please continue," she requested, keeping her arm near her face so she could chew on her bindings.

"Right, right. Come, Miss Jailbird; let's fly together!" TaxidermyMan beckoned, flickering towards the alley slowly. Jailbird sighed, then got up; she looked like she was focusing a little harder this time, perhaps because she didn't have as much to lose. "I hope you won't think any less of me as a gentleman if I play my hardest."

"I don't think of you as a gentleman to begin with, so much as a stiff," Jailbird retorted. The other navi didn't respond and simply made his bowl after a slight pause. He hit first five pins... then another wait... then two. "Seven? I can beat that, maybe," she spoke quietly, then approached the alley, looking alarmingly naked in just her t-shirt and panties. She narrowed her eyes, tip-toed up, then released her ball... She only got one pin. Frowning, she lazily retrieved her ball, then threw it again. She may have already given up, because it went straight into the gutter. "This is a drag. Can we play poker or something?" she complained, throwing one arm behind her head.

"Triangulating... Don't try to change the subject, Jailbird. We did say strip bowling, didn't we?" TriangleMan asked, both of his gems lighting up red as he spoke. They seemed to stay glowing faintly even after he'd spoken... that's because he was breathing so hard.

She sighed again heavily, then reached both hands under her t-shirt and lifted it off. Beneath, she wore a black bra to match the panties, fairly unremarkable except for the look at her breasts. "Okay, you happy? I'm keeping the rest," she finished, sitting down with one leg crossed across her knee and her back hunched. She rested her chin on her fist with a discontented look.

"Triangulating... Who are you saying is happy, Jailbird? I'm happy to see humiliated. Don't assume anything further," TriangleMan responded, his voice beginning to sound less like an air captain and more like a sneering teenager who'd snuck into the cabin and turned on the intercom.

Trace retook her spot at the alley, seeming more preoccupied in thought than interested in the game. This reflected in her two rolls: both went into the gutter. Annoyingly, it seemed like everyone was failing to pay attention through a combination of her not really trying and knowing she was just going to sacrifice more small-time articles...

Jailbird leaned over to speak with Nitro, even more distracting now than earlier. "They finished up in Phyra's; it's not her. She's still got her files, but there's nothing useful in them at all. The next stop is Wodin's place and Ferris is already there. He's been looking for a while now, but the guy's house is huge... like, Phyra's was big, but this guy's is built like some kind of haunted mansion. The worst part is I can't even look at TaxidermyMan to see if he's on to us..."

One thing TaxidermyMan sure wasn't doing was watching the bowling game; he was just smiling idly with his head turned towards Shok. Jailbird frowned, then ducked her head and hid her mouth behind her folded hands. "We might lose them again," she mentioned.

Nitro just kind of nodded a bit as he "listened" to Jail's report. Only a few words got through, namely "finished", "Phyra", and "Wodin". Perhaps Strip Bowling wasn't the best choice if he actually wanted to know what was going on outside the alley.

Tina, meanwhile, noticed TaxidermyMan's apparent lack of interest, and decided that it would be her job to keep him entertained. However, Trace wasn't giving her an easy time in that regard: she managed to knock down absolutely nothing. She'd need some sort of morale booster, for sure, to keep her in the game, as well as a way to keep everyone's interest while they were up. Suddenly, she thought of something. "Okay, Trace, I can tell you're not enjoying this, so I'll make you a deal," she said. "From now on, if I score higher than you, but can't get a spare or strike, I'll take something off with you, just so you're not suffering alone. Do we have a deal?" Without really waiting for Trace's response, she rolled her ball down the lane, hitting three pins off the left. Another roll, and another three pins off the other, scoring a six. Making good on her word, she removed her glove, revealing the hand underneath, which was still covered by her bodysuit. She returned to her seat, and turned to TaxidermyMan. "So, TaxidermyMan, I'm a bit curious: what sort of abilities do you have in terms of combat? No disrespect, but I'm having a bit of trouble picturing you in a fight with viruses or other navi." She wasn't really curious, per se, but perhaps if she kept a dialog going with him, he'd be less tempted to check up on his briefcase, at least while Ferris was in his house.

The new rule was a crowd pleaser, but nobody was particularly excited to watch the girls pull off such inessential items. Trace lifted her leg and removed one boot. "It's fine if you want to... I'm not going to bother thinking about trivial things," Trace scoffed.

TaxidermyMan was happy to elaborate about his day-to_day life,although it was, of course, impossible to tell if he was distracted or not. "You know that story about the hen who bakes bread and asks for help, but the animals only want to help eat it? I'm a little like the other animals in that story," he responded, amusingly still stuck staring where she had been a moment ago. "I love to study death, preservation, reassembly, all of that, but I would hate to actually participate in killing." Trace gave him a suspicious glare, but kept quiet.

Everyone's attention moved to Kismet and TriangleMan as they took up bowling positions. The two stared down their respective alleys as they pondered their shots... of perhaps they were just expecting targeting systems and had forgotten that they weren't going yo be using them. Simultaneously, they started; Kismet was still about as great as before while TriangleMan proved to be a miserable gutterballer.

"Your mind's not the only thing in the gutter!" Jailbird snickered.

He didn't respond and simply clicked off one of his gloves, revealing more of his spindly arm. It looked a little like a strand of DNA, only made out of linked triangular pieces.

Shok rose back to her feet, then picked a new ball, since she'd smashed her old one. "Shall we?" she inquired to Nitro, then made her way to the alley. She went first this time, throwing the ball down the alley so hard that it barely seemed to touch the alley's polished surface. She hit over all but 1 again. " I'm never going to get this just right, am I? I may need some further therapy," she mused, shrugging and grabbing another ball. She got the last pin easily enough. "Your turn."

Nobody else's attention was on TaxidermyMan right now, and unfortunately, he wasn't focusing on anyone in particular either. "Ha, strange... for a moment I thought I saw something..." he murmured to himself cryptically. Tina was close enough to overhear.

"The black box is spotted,"Jailbird whispered to Nitro as he got up. She didn't have time to say more, but clearly, TaxidermyMan needed to be fully distracted right now.

Tina grimaced ever so slightly as she heard TaxidermyMan mutter. Things were starting to slip out of their control, and she briefly glanced over to Nitro as he stood to bowl, one that could easily be interpeted as simply watching him get up to bowl, but one that he recognized as "critical emergency, we need to do something now".

Tina returned to TaxidermyMan again, and reclined slightly. Perhaps unintentionally, but doubtful considering the situation, it would give TriangleMan a nice view of her torso, especially showing off just how closely that Navisuit of hers hugged her body. "So, you already know Shok, correct?" Tina said. "What sort of things have the two of you done together? I'm sure you two have quite a history."

Nitro, meanwhile, took position at his lane, nodding to Shok a bit as he took position. The only thing he could come up with as a distraction was "get Shok to strip," and as he watched her, the only way he could manage that was with another strike. He focused on his lane intently, the thought that the mission rested on his next roll entering his mind.

He approached the lane, the ball in his hand and the pins down the lane taking the shape of a bomb and a row of buildings in his mind. He released the ball, the fictional fuse burning down as the demolition device rolled toward the row of highrises. With a loud clatter, the buildings were enveloped in an explosion, utterly decimating them. Well, in reality, they had shut been knocked down. He gave a short fist pump as he earned his strike, and turned to Shok, grinning with his arms crossed over his chest. Hopefully, with how Shok was dressed already, getting her to take something off would provide more than enough distraction.

TaxidermyMan and TriangleMan both watched Tina; neither of them had moving eyes so they could really oggle all they liked without worrying about being called out (theoretically). "Well, since we are both Teksqp family members who have cross-functional roles in that family and Techari, we experience a lot of overlap in our tasks and run into each other a lot. It can be awkward, because she's much older than I am and knew my predecessor... She's never been very familiar with me, even though I claim we're friends and she knew the former TaxidermyMan. So, I try to be cordial, as any gentleman would, but what can I do? She's such an odd navi," he sighed, as if there was nothing strange about himself.

In the mean time, Nitro was going his best to serve up a distraction in the form of another explosive bowl. "Hahaha! That's what make you Teksqp so interesting! It feels like your solution to every problem involves the obsessions you carry... it's so intriguing. A favorite point of mine to study," Shok laughed, crossing her arms contemplatively.

"You're part of the Teksqp too, you know? And you're also pretty obsessed with your quirk," Jailbird pointed out.

"Of course!" Shok responded. "Now, what you may not have known is that these straps are not individual... in fact, it's really just two big ones wrapped across my entire body. I don't want to discuss it any further because it's a fairly worthless subject," she finished, grabbing hold of one of the straps at her breasts. With her usual outstanding strength, she yanked back her arm and broke it loose, taking about half of her immodest outfit with it and tossing it aside. What was left was only the one band; barely covering her breasts and tucking between her legs, only to wrap her thigh and miss her hind-quarters altogether. Trace pointed forward like she wanted to object, but couldn't get words out. "Come now, you're not losing your focus on your little investigation, are you?"

Everyone watched with surprise as she turned and walked to her seat, exposing her completely unclothed and attractively plump buttocks without a care. She sat down and crossed her legs, then flicked. one hand, indicating that Jailbird needed to get up. Frowning, she did so. TaxidermyMan gulped and rose too (after a pause, of course), still watching Shok with a static smile. if she lost, she was going to be in about the same state as Shok . TriangleMan had gotten a plentiful eyefull (triangular gem full?) of Shok and turned his attention back to his favorite subject of inappropriate glances.

Jailbird went first; she wasn't modest but she still didn't seem particularly keen on losing again. She managed to catch five, but then her next ball went for the same hole and hit nothing. "Aw, dammit... I'm getting better, though!" she cursed.

"Indeed! Now... there we go!" TaxidermyMan laughed, hitting four first. After another pause, he threw again... but got a gutter-ball. "Oh, well shucks! Guess we all make mistakes," he shrugged.

"Hey, you don't need to throw the match for me, dumbass," Jailbird complained, looking a little embarrassed. "And sheesh, I'll take my top off, just don't-!"

It was too late, though; TaxidermyMan, motivated either by chivalry or by having simply made a bad roll, removed his coat and set it aside. His body didn't look awful, in its black skinsuit, but the bad part was the huge spike sticking squarely through his thin collarbone and emerging through a grotesque slit in his stomach. His feet didn't really touch the ground realistically; rather, the spike was mounted to a base on the floor, which supported him. The formaldehyde smell was actually worse with the coat off.

"Triangulating... You should have just let her take her top off," TriangleMan grumbled.

"She beat me! I'm powerless," he chuckled, then appeared in his seat with his spike tilted a new way. Without the coat, it was apparent be wasn't quite actually sitting, like an action figure that won't quite make the pose you want, so you go with the best approximation. "Your turn again, girls."

Jailbird gave Nitro a discrete thumbs-up. "They finished at Wodin's... he still has a bunch of files, but nothing incriminating. The really eerie part: he's been reassembling the data of some of the navis that died... Ferris found his notes on it. He can't get all the pieces to match up so apparently it's kind of grotesque... You don't think he'd kill navis just ti try and put them back together, do you...?" she questioned, raising one eyebrow.

Trace had already stepped back up and rolled; she didn't seem to be trying very hard, because she only got two pins on the second roll. Whatever mystique she had felt hitting the pins earlier had vanished, replaced by the sudden flood of interesting new clues and evidence to comprehend.

Nitro was a bit stunned as Shok removed pretty much half of her outfit. Part of it was the obvious distractions, but another part was concerned with TNT. He remembered their rule about the end of the game, and gulped a bit, as he realized TNT would have to get to that level if her team lost. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with that, even if she was.

Tina, meanwhile, was more than happy to stand and distance herself from the stench emanating from TaxidermyMan, taking position in front of her lane, she took a few steps forward, and rolled her ball down the lane, scoring a three, already putting her ahead. She rolled the ball again, and she only managed another two, leaving her with five. According to her previous rule, Tina had to strip, and she did so with the smallest garment she could think of, though it still had a decent payoff. Tina removed her hair tie, letting her ponytail fall into a curtain down her back. She took a seat back down between Shok and Kismet, leaving a bit space between her and TaxidermyMan.

Speaking of him, Nitro nodded at Jail's report. "Okay so that's one more to go, right?" He muttered. "And I guess that is kind of creepy. I mean, I was made from some old Navi data Chris found on his dad's computer, but I don't think that's really the same, is it?"

"Depends; did your operator assemble you out of the lifeless data of navis involved in a massacre committed by a mime? If not, it's not quite the same," Jailbird responded jokingly, leaning forward and resting her head on her fists with her usual horrible posture.

TaxidermyMan shifted his head in a series of captions, looking between the pretty Tina, the half-nude Jailbird, and the maybe 3/4-nude Shok, all who now had chosen to sit pretty darn far away from him. In the end, playing the chivalry card didn't seem to have done much for him.

Trace took off her final boot; unless she had some limbs nobody knew about, that ought to be the end of her safety net. With that, Kismet and TriangleMan resumed their bowl. It was over so quickly that nobody had time to be bored; TriangleMan removed his other glove.

Shok stepped back up and everyone's interest resumed. "Let's see if you manage another strike, because I assure you I can manage another spare," she greeted him. It seemed like a pretty strange taunt to use... Anyway, sure enough,she managed to separate half the pins with her first roll, then the other half with her second. "Go ahead."

Nitro cracked his knuckles a bit and stepped up to the lane, smirking. "Alright then, let's get this over with," he said with an air of confidence, He seemed pretty sure of himself; his previous strikes had made him a bit cocky. He picked up his ball, and rolled it down the lane a bit non-chalantly. However, his overconfidence would be his downfall, as not only failed to knock down all the pins, but the two left standing formed the infamous 7-10 that Nitro had rolled before.

After a moment of disbelief, he pressed his hands to his face, arching back and sounding out a somewhat loud, yet slightly muffled explative. As his ball returned, he half-heartedly approached the lane again, and rolled his ball, hitting the pin on the left and leaving him with a score of nine. He groaned again, and, after a bit of a struggle with the convoluted design, removed his torso armor, setting it down on the seat beside him as he sat back down, grumbling a bit about warped lanes and other excuses.

"Between my force and your explosions, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that we were damaging the alley," Shok admitted, still grinning unsympathetically. That must be a pretty terrible face to watch while trying to keep calm during therapy...

TaxidermyMan stepped up for first bowl this time while Jailbird remained seated next to Nitro. "Electra's got a big house, but I think we can afford to make this next round the last, for everybody's own good. This last search is our one remaining opportunity to learn that this was anything other than a crazy mime slaying her fellow crazy peers," she whispered, looking uncertain. They'd discovered a lot about Shok today that nobody had been aware of; who knew what else they'd get before the end of the game?

TaxidermyMan had hit over two, ever the gentleman. Jailbird stepped up and rolled, only hitting one pin from the side. She sighed deeply, then rolled again; this one went for the same spot and caught nothing. TriangleMan's gem flashed red in anticipation while Jailbird's own face reddened a bit as well. "You suck at being a pushover," the girl informed her opponent, crossing one arm across her chest slowly. With her other arm, she unhooked her top, then set it aside. She then walked over and sat back down next to Nitro, frowning and keeping her arms over her breasts. "Hey guys! Let's wrap this up next bowl, okay?"

"Triangulating... Poor Jailbird. Who knew you would handle this so poorly? I suppose your record of service should have made that easy to expect," TriangleMan sneered.

"Hey, you're even worse than me without your stupid helmet," she reminded him.

Trace stepped back up and made another positively worthless bowl. She was still in contemplation.

Nitro nodded as Jailbird suggested the end of their game. It seemed things were starting to wind down a bit, and some were left without many options as far as stripping went. This was particularly evident as Jail sat back down, though he did his best not to stare.

As Tina stood up, Nitro called out to everyone. "Alright, last round everybody! After Jail and TaxidermyMan go again, we'll tally up the scores and see who the winners are... and who has to strip down." Tina seemed fairly determined to win as Nitro said this, stepping up toward her lane and rolling her ball, giving her an easy five. She followed it up with another five, her spare saving her from having to strip down with Trace. She turned to her opponent. "You know, you'd probably do better if you were focused on the game," Tina noted. She held her hand out to the navi. "At any rate, though, good game."

"I have no regrets. All I need to be good at is my job and any resources I'm not devoting to thinking about my case are wastes of precious time," she responded, refusing the hand shake and reaching for her feet. As she touched the stocking foot of her navi suit, she realized she was out of gloves and shoes to remove. Frowning and looking embarrassed in a way that contradicted her "no regrets" statement, she unfastened the pocket-book clasp and set the article aside. Underneath, she wore a black navisuit that was relatively featureless but did reveal her figure. She was just a little bit pudgy at the tummy and thighs, perhaps, but otherwise very shapely.

Kismet's face went from a grimace to a full blown scowl; she lifted her hood back on to hide her face a bit. "Very well, let's finish this," she encouraged TriangleMan. He nodded and they bowled. He lost. He removed a boot. His leg looked about like his arm. Sighing, Kismet shook his hand without actually saying good game, because it clearly wasn't.

Shok retook her place without speaking, then rolled for the end of the alley. Half the pins. Another half, making a spare. TaxidermyMan had called it a "lobotomy" earlier. It was done so cleanly and consistently that it almost looked harder to roll than a strike. "Go ahead and finish.. I'm going to check on something that's concerning me..." she urged Nitro, stealing his seat next to Jailbird as soon as he got up.

Tina grimaced a bit as Trace neglected the handshake. Even if they were playing something as taudry as Strip Bowling, it was a bit rude of her to just leave her like that. Shrugging it off, she sat back down, unconsciously sitting next to TaxidermyMan. Perhaps she had gotten used to the stench from being next to him all night? No one could tell.

Meanwhile, Nitro stood up to bowl, Shok taking his seat soon after. The comment put a bit of worry into his head, and he racked his brain for some way to distract her. Sure, he could beat her roll, but that'd likely leave her completely nude, and depending on how the scores tallied up, Tina might have to do the same, which he wanted to avoid if at all possible. As he thought, he made his first roll, though, that option was quickly locked out, only managing a four. He sighed a bit and removed his glove pre-emptively, staring the lane down over the top of his ball, hoping it could give him a solution.

Tina frowned a bit as she watched Nitro. It might be lost on some, but his subtle body language indicated his desperation. She picked up on it because she knew Nitro so well, and Shok might be able to tell as well, being a psychiatrist. Tina glanced around a bit looking for some way to aide Nitro, and her eyes fell upon Taxidermy. An idea popped into her head, one that nearly made her gag, but they were running out of options, so she needed to act.

Taking a second to brace herself, she tapped on TaxidermyMan's shoulder. Assuming he turned to see what she wanted, Tina placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled herself up to him, planting a firm kiss on his lips, which she held for a good ten seconds. It was all she could do to keep herself from pulling away and vomiting over the back of the seat, but she kept it up, knowing the mission was at stake.

Nitro, of course, noticed, and was frozen just at the end of his roll as he gaped, his pose reminicent of the one TaxidermyMan himself took when he bowled. The ball, of course, tumbled out of his hand and promptly rolled into the gutter, slowly making its way down to the end of the lane and dropping down.

TaxidermyMan wasn't a bad looking guy; perfectly acceptable for a kissing partner, if it weren't for the jumbo skewer sticking through him, the needle fingers, the inability to move like a human being, the perpetual dead coldness of his body, and the smell of formaldehyde that served as his body odor. Unfortunately for him, the combination of all of these made kissing him nearly unthinkable to anyone. Fortunately for him, that was just what Tina needed, and he was treated to a good, long smacker for the first time in his brief life as a navi. His body stood entirely still; even turning him to the right position had been something of a challenge. Once it was over, his expression appeared one of surprise and bewilderment, bending both arms out to embrace her but being too late to do it. Even if he could be an eligible guy, interacting with that inhibition would be downright awkward...

"Oh God..." Trace muttered from nearby, clasping both hands over her mouth. Jailbird stuck her tongue out and lurched forward, only keeping her modesty by virtue of the fact that she was now clutching her upper body to keep her lunch down anyways. TriangleMan's gem glowed blue for a moment and a shiver ran through his body. Kismet's ordinarily grumpy and irritable face turned into a downright comical look of shock (maybe blushing a bit?). Even Shok looked fairly confused.

"The Teksqp... you really are crazy!" she chuckled, sounding a little giddy. "Fascinating... I almost want to kiss him too, so I can understand where you're coming from... There is a certain appeal in his weirdness..."

"Oh, now she's interested! I should have made her jealous a long time ago! Ha ha ha!" TaxidermyMan laughed jovially, trying to sound nonchalant about it all. In reality, his voice was cracking a bit and when his body changed again, he'd suspiciously shifted so that one of his legs was up and crossed...

"Looks like Stiffy's gotten even stiffer," Jailbird muttered with a grin; apparently the amusement of the laughability of the situation was now outweighing the grossness. "Hey, bomb girl, did you decide that you've got a thing for dead guys?"

"Uh... to what do I owe the pleasure?" TaxidermyMan continued. Kissing him really had been like kissing a department store mannequin or a stone statue, but with the knowledge that it had been alive once... only all that was simulated... so maybe it wasn't so gross... but kissing a taxidermy dummy or a cadaver sure would be... and the smell... "Oh, excuse me. I believe I have an appointment with Jailbird here. But I'll be back!"

He stood up and bowled; thankfully (or perhaps not, if Nitro had any desire to see Jailbird 100% nude), the recent distraction made him an abyssmal bowler and both went straight for the gutter. Jailbird looked both ways, trying to think of how she was supposed to keep it up without flashing everybody. Shrugging, she realized it didn't really matter if they were all behind her and dropped her arms. She made one bowl, hitting two, then another, going straight into the gutter for lack of effort. She'd already beaten him that round, after all. She crossed her arms back and moved back to sit next to Nitro, rather than taking the seat she had been in, since Shok had encroached upon that area. TaxidermyMan shrugged and removed one of his gloves delicately, revealing that the needles did indeed extend straight out of his hands. He continued to stand for a moment, possibly still frozen, as if waiting to see if Tina was going to give him the eye contact that would indicate it was okay for him to take the seat near her again.

"That's the last bowl! Let us see the scores," Kismet announced, holding up one arm and still only just reaching past TaxidermyMan's height. Of course, when the scores came up, the winner was clear: TNT's team had beaten Nitro's by a huge quantity of points, thanks to the lackluster combination of Trace and Jailbird. TriangleMan's late game terribleness hadn't helped either. A sigh of relief seemed to escape Kismet's lips; she then continued. "The rules state that everyone must strip to match that of the least clothed member, that being Jailbird."

"N... No way! I have to get upper body nude?!" Trace gasped indignantly, not seeming to have realized she was on the chopping block until this very point.

"Triangulating... This is the price we pay for being on the team with that bimbo jailkeeper," TriangleMan sighed, as if he hadn't contributed to the loss.

"No, I refuse! You... you can't do that! I won't take it off!" Trace argued, moving behind Nitro and pressing up against his back, as if she expected him to protect her. She was sort of soft against him, almost cuddly...

Jailbird groaned, leaning forward with both arms crossed. "What makes you special, huh? You think it's okay for me to get naked but the world's gonna end if you do? Come on, Nitro, get it off of her," she encouraged the unofficial team captain. TriangleMan was already removing the rest of his stuff, making him look awkwardly like a model kit that someone has only put together the skeleton for without gluing on any of the outer pieces yet. He kept the triangular plate that acted as his briefs, thankfully... If he had another triangle down there, nobody wanted to know about it.

Nitro basically stumbled back to his seat when Jailbird stood to bowl, looking at TNT incredulously, as she watched TaxidermyMan get up to bowl, a light blush on her face. He knew she was a dedicated person, but to go that far for the sake of the mission? He assumed that's why she did it, because any other explanation made him feel even more nauseous. He didn't even look up as Jailbird took her turn, even in spite of the rather tantalizing view of her it provided.

Tina's face stayed flush as TaxidermyMan approached, looking up at him and smiling a bit, giving him the go-ahead to sit. "Well... I just think that you're a very gentlemanly navi..." Tina said. "And I was a bit curious if... well, how it'd be... if you're wondering, I did feel something..." Nausea would be the most honest answer, but deep down, Tina thought, there was a tiny bit of warmth in that dead coldness...

Nitro, meanwhile, had (mostly) gotten over the recent... excitement, and was now faced with the prospect of not only stripping down himself, but getting his teammate to do the same. "Come on, Trace, it is in the rules," he said. "I didn't write them." It wouldn't take an investigator like Trace to deduce that that was a blatant lie, but he continued anyway, removing all the bits of armor, leaving him in just his navisuit. "I mean, at least you won't be the only one doing it, right?" To punctuate that statement, Nitro removed his navisuit, slipping his finger into the front of his neck and pulling down the center, as if he were undoing an invisible zipper, revealing his slightly toned chest and stomach. He pulled his arms out, revealing the bomb tattoo on his arm present in his swimwear GMO, and bent down in order to pull out his legs, likely releaving Trace of her cover. Kicking the suit off to the side, he was left in a pair of almost cartoonish boxers, though in place of big red hearts it was decorated with a bunch of cartoonish bombs, with cute, white eyes and yellow shoe-like feet, as well as a wind-up key attached to the back. Nitro looked a little puzzled, apparently not expecting the garment to be there. He shrugged, figuring Chris must have given him an upgrade of some sort. He didn't realize, however, that Chris may have given him a reason to need those boxers at some point after meeting Jailbird for the first time...