Once upon a time, Adora had fantasized about starting a bowling league for the Princess Squad. Sheâd seen Catra bowling with Lance on TikTok, and the idea had formed. It would be fun! Catra seemed to enjoy it! She was good at it! So, why not?
Well, mostly the why not was because Vallo liked to beat them up. There was always something going on, and Catraâs enthusiasm was a little lackluster. The idea had really faded out as quickly as it had come, only really sustained by Adoraâs competitive streak that she struggled to tame. And lately, with all that was going on for them personally, she wasnât giving a lot of attention to outside activities.
But when she went by Perfumaâs store to replenish her stash, she realized she hadnât spent a lot of time with her friends lately. She and Perfuma especially had never spent a lot of one-on-one time together, and she decided she was going to fix that. She asked if Perfuma would like to go bowling sometime and was met with much more enthusiasm than sheâd anticipated, but they set a date and that was that.
EZ Lanes was fairly quiet at this time of day, early in the afternoon on Adoraâs day off Defense. There were a few other groups and couples scattered, and the music was lower than it generally was in the evenings, which Adora appreciated. Sheâd been here at night before, and the music plus the sound of bowling balls whacking their pins could be downright deafening.
She lined herself up, squinted at the pins, and strode forward to take her shot. The ball spun wildly to the right and just barely clipped the outermost two pins. âUgh,â Adora groused, exhaling hard out her nose. She was not a fan of doing badly, but she knew this was all in good fun. Sheâd popped half an edible gummy before coming out to meet Perfuma, and it was keeping her at bay â she even turned back to Perfuma with a wry smile and a shrug of her shoulders. âCatraâs way better at this than me.â
"That's because Catra practices more," answered Perfuma cheerily, running her hand over the flowery inlay on her custom ball. She was here anywhere from two to three mornings a week, bowling had become kind of its own meditative therapy. She'd drag Catra here as often as required to help calm her friend down, especially when Catra was having a rough time with something and wouldn't admit it.
Which meant it wasn't long before she had her own custom ball and shoes when she found out that was an option. She'd even picked out a custom ball for Scorpia that had grips for her pincers instead of the standard hole pattern. The two of them had several bowling dates, to the point that bowling was Perfuma's favorite activity. So an invite from Adora had been welcomed with near-boisterous cheer.
"If you want help, just let me know! You'd be surprised how much of it comes from breathing properly and focusing, building an instinct of knowing when to release and how. It's very relaxing, Adora, I promise!"
Practice was probably part of it, Adora would agree with that. She knew Perfuma had taken Catra out several times as part of her meditation, whereas for Adora it was a little more of a sidenote thought. It was fun, but she was a little bit like an old lady, especially lately, and preferred just staying in these days and getting comfy with her wife. She figured it was a side effect of feeling more and more content lately.
Which was why, despite the initial instinct to bristle at being offered help, she nodded at Perfuma and agreed. âYeah, that sounds great, if you donât mind? I think Iâve mostly got it, but my footingâs, yâknow, a little clumsy. And probably that instinct part, too.â
This elicited a happy gasp from Perfuma. She actually wasn't used to being taken up on her offers for help - from anybody, save Scorpia. She quickly set her ball down into the matching bag and clomped over towards Adora. Really, if she had any complaint, it was being required to wear these silly shoes, like her own were going to cause some kind of damage to the lane.
"Okay! Okay. So first hold your ball up, like this." She mimicked holding the ball in front of her face. "Then, relax. Take a slow breath. Visualize where you want the ball to go, not where you want to start. When you're ready, inhale again. Then exhale as you stride towards the start of your lane andâŠ" She paused for a second, trying to find the right words for Adora.
"Oh, think of it like underhand throwing your sword! The release point should feel about the same! Once you have that down, we can start working on spin techniques." She smiled after that, doing her level best to seem encouraging.
Adora was nothing if not an attentive learner. She watched Perfuma and the imaginary ball carefully, listening to all her advice. Hold up the ball. Relax. Slow breath. Visualize destination. Inhale. Exhale and stride. It didnât seem so complicated when she said it like that, and it probably wasnât. She did have a tendency to overthink.
And while the suggestion of underhand throwing her sword was appreciated, she didnât really throw her sword if she could help it. So, that part wasnât so helpful, but she could follow instructions easily enough. She wasnât anywhere near discouraged with this to stop making an attempt, not like the way sheâd frozen out the possibility of learning to cook for ages.
âOkay,â she agreed with a nod. She appreciated the advice and the overabundance of encouragement and scooped up the lane-provided ball just as sheâd instructed. The steps were simple enough, but she looked down at her feet to make sure they were lined up properly before making any moves. She especially focused on the visualizing, right down the middle of the lane in the hopes of finishing off her turn with a spare.
She didnât quite make it, but the ball had less spin and knocked out the entire right half of the pins, leaving three left standing on the left. âOh! That was better!â
As soon as the ball had connected with the pins, Perfuma had let out a whoop of joy with her arms up in a celebratory V-shape. She nodded enthusiastically at Adora and reached out her hand for a high-five. "You're well on your way to being a Pro Bowler!" High-five completed, she shuffled her way up to the lane with her ball in hand, cleaned and ready to go. She held the ball to her face, the same way she'd shown Adora, and whispered to the ball for a moment.
Then she took a few steps forward, releasing the ball in such a way that it arced to the left side towards the middle of the lane, then arced back towards the pin formation. She had her fists clenched against her chest as she waited for the ball to connect with the pins and her excited cheer was cut short when the two back corner pins were left standing. Perfuma had a split on her first roll. She stomped the ground.
"Damn it."
The high five was a good stroking of Adoraâs ego, maybe more so than the Pro Bowler comment. Which was nice, obviously, but a little too generous of Perfuma. But she appreciated it and stood by to watch Perfuma take her turn, hands on her hips. The last thing sheâd expected was to see her react that way.
âOh man,â she said, grimacing sympathetically. No way she was going to be able to clean that off with the pins spread so far apart. She hated the split shots herself.
Taking the comment as a reply to her little curse, Perfuma's eyebrows shot up when she realized what she did. "Oh! You're right, sorry, I let myself get too critical of my... self," she finished, lamely. She tried perking herself back up, as a bit of a rebound. "I'll be more mindful going forward!"
And she did, largely. She only got one of the two in the split and the next few frames went much better, she managed two strikes and was feeling much better about herself. And watching Adora get better and better with every roll was encouraging, too! With a big smile, she looked at the pins for Adora's next roll and made a promise. "If you knock them all down, I'm ordering CHEESE FRIES to celebrate!" And the way she emphasized cheese fries, it was clearly a motivator.
Adora managed to keep up with Perfuma steadily. She was a little bit behind, but she had really focused and was doing well. There was something oddly peaceful about the whole situation, and she enjoyed it. She needed it because Perfuma, as much as Adora loved her, could be a lot. Not Scorpiaâs a lot but not too far from it.
She laughed at the offer of cheese fries for a strike. âIâll buy cheese fries if I donât,â she added, âbecause Iâm not counting on being that good.â She had yet to knock every pin over in one go like that, but she wasnât pressed. She was pleasantly buzzed and her competitiveness was level. But she stepped up to the lane, took every step as Perfuma had directed, and miraculously, she struck dead center and the pins all fell.
She turned to Perfuma with a big grin. âOkay, so cheese fries on you? Please donât scream.â
Perfuma's face turned red with the effort it took to keep the scream on the inside, in fact you could say she was almost vibrating the smile clean off her face. But success was had! After a moment, she exhaled and while the twinkle never left her eye, she pressed the button to call over the attendant.
"Adoraaaaa, you did it, I'm so proud of you!" See, she could keep things at a normal level. Totally cool, guys. "Your form was perfect, release, everything. Ooh if this keeps up, we can start a league team!"
Her ramping up excitement was cut off by the attendant, who looked bored and like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Yeah, what do you need?"
Unabated, Perfuma twirled and raised a single finger. "One jumbo cheese fries for my friend here. She got her first strike!"
Adora thought to protest that it wasnât her first strike ever â she wasnât the best bowler, but she wasnât completely incapable either. Instead, she decided to let it slide. It was the first of the game and this evening, and she wanted cheese fries, anyway. Perfuma was so pleased, and she didnât want to bring that down.
âThanks for helping me,â she told her sincerely, once the attendant vanished to go put in their order. âThis has been fun. We should get everyone together soon and play again.â
"I agree! Even if we don't actually start a league team," answered Perfuma, continuing to smile, then she drew a little flower shape on the table with her finger and looked sheepishly at Adora. "Er, I hope you won't judge me for that little white lie. I think I saw your eye twitch when I said it, but Adora, they'll bring you a free sundae for your first strike so I figured it would be okay."
She didn't add that Catra taught her that, much less that she'd kind of adopted the practice herself. What if Adora judged? Or it got Catra in trouble? No, no, she couldn't do that. Better to take one for the team herself.
Adora laughed, any inkling of annoyance fading when Perfuma explained her tactics. She knew without her friend even saying so that this was likely her wifeâs con, but if it brought her a free sundae, who was she to complain? That sounded delicious.
âItâs okay, Perfuma,â she assured her. She smiled at her and pulled her into a little side-hug. âIâll even share my sundae with you for that genius.â