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legionworld2017-09-02 01:06 am
letsgolegion) wrote in legionworld2017-09-02 01:06 am
Entry tags:
FOOD FIGHT
Who| Anyone who wants in
What| FOOD FIIIGHT
Where| The Mess Hall
When| A few days after "Resistance is Futile" and "An Eye For An Eye"
Warnings/Notes| Nope. Just some good clean fun
The last missions had been rough, but all missions were pretty rough anymore. Still, there was an extra bit of horribleness in seeing innocent people transformed into monsters, especially when it happened to teammates. A few had faced even more trauma while trying to put said teammates down, before it was known that the zombies could regenerate or that a cure was possible.
So the Mess Hall is tense and quiet in the days after the missions. Nobody's being very social, the native Legionnaires are quiet, even the staff are quiet when they're usually pretty chatty in the Mess. Everyone's caught in a groove of that sluggish post-crisis emotional exhaustion.
But then the donut hits. It goes in a soaring arc through the air and hits its target in the face, frosting first.
Everything freezes and stares wide-eyed, trying to figure out who threw it. The tension ratchets up a notch.
Then it breaks.
Someone takes advantage of the moment to do something they've dreamed of emulating from every kid or teen comedy they've ever seen, and screams:
"FOOOOD FIIIIGHT!"
It isn't long before tofurkey rains from the air like a plague. Noodles whip across the room in handfuls. Various rainbow colored puddings and deserts soon become dangerous artillery. Even the staff, who'd spent all that time making the food, gets in on it, taking advantage of the moment to do something wild they never dreamed they'd be able to do - throw mashed potatoes at the faces of the people they serve every day.
The Legion hasn't had an easy time of things over this last year or so, and it hasn't been getting any easier. But they have this moment, on the other side of yet another mission they survived, after yet more villains they've beaten. And right now, the worst they all have to worry about is getting soy whipped cream in their hair.
[ooc: Feel free to make whatever threads you want, with your characters doing whatever they want.]
What| FOOD FIIIGHT
Where| The Mess Hall
When| A few days after "Resistance is Futile" and "An Eye For An Eye"
Warnings/Notes| Nope. Just some good clean fun
The last missions had been rough, but all missions were pretty rough anymore. Still, there was an extra bit of horribleness in seeing innocent people transformed into monsters, especially when it happened to teammates. A few had faced even more trauma while trying to put said teammates down, before it was known that the zombies could regenerate or that a cure was possible.
So the Mess Hall is tense and quiet in the days after the missions. Nobody's being very social, the native Legionnaires are quiet, even the staff are quiet when they're usually pretty chatty in the Mess. Everyone's caught in a groove of that sluggish post-crisis emotional exhaustion.
But then the donut hits. It goes in a soaring arc through the air and hits its target in the face, frosting first.
Everything freezes and stares wide-eyed, trying to figure out who threw it. The tension ratchets up a notch.
Then it breaks.
Someone takes advantage of the moment to do something they've dreamed of emulating from every kid or teen comedy they've ever seen, and screams:
"FOOOOD FIIIIGHT!"
It isn't long before tofurkey rains from the air like a plague. Noodles whip across the room in handfuls. Various rainbow colored puddings and deserts soon become dangerous artillery. Even the staff, who'd spent all that time making the food, gets in on it, taking advantage of the moment to do something wild they never dreamed they'd be able to do - throw mashed potatoes at the faces of the people they serve every day.
The Legion hasn't had an easy time of things over this last year or so, and it hasn't been getting any easier. But they have this moment, on the other side of yet another mission they survived, after yet more villains they've beaten. And right now, the worst they all have to worry about is getting soy whipped cream in their hair.
[ooc: Feel free to make whatever threads you want, with your characters doing whatever they want.]
no subject
He yelps as she does it, and struggles half-heartedly but since he doesn't want to hurt her, there's not much he can do. Mostly, he just tries to keep squirming away from her grasp.
"I told you we don't have to do this right now!" But that's not it, that's not what's behind all this. He finally says what he's really feeling, blurting out, "I don't want to do this right now! It was bad enough thinking you were dead, and now we have to do the whole 'I just want to be friends' thing when I already know that's how it is, and I can totally deal with it and just be friends, and you don't even need to say it."
He stops struggling.
"I just don't want it to have to be a whole thing, and I don't want it to make our friendship all weird and awkward, especially when all I want to do right now is just hug you or something and be glad you're okay."
And especially when it doesn't have to be. He knows how to be a just-friends friend, he's a champ at it now.
no subject
Pidge is so shocked she bolts upright, totally forgetting she's under a table. Her yelp as she bangs her head on the underside is accompanied by the clinking of glasses and silverware. She sinks back down, just a little embarrassed.
Maybe she can use the bonk as a way to reset. He's so frustrating! He's so sweet and funny and brave and also one of the most infuriating people she's ever met. And she's including Lance.
"What do you mean? Why would you just assume that's how I feel?!"
no subject
He takes advantage of her little surprised jump to wrest himself from her grasp, but he doesn't run away this time. Obviously, running away isn't going to work. He has to just confront this. She's not going to let it go, but that really isn't a surprise with how stubborn and tenacious she is.
He has to really think about it. He knows why he thinks she isn't interested, but communicating it is something else entirely. It involves admitting to some insecurities and calling attention to his very obvious flaws.
"Look at me." He gestures to all of himself. "That stupid calendar shoot we did aside, I'm not exactly someone that'd be on the cover of Teen Boy Cute Beat Monthly."
Even though he's put on at least a little muscle, he's practically swimming in his hoodie. He's short and scrawny, even for his real age, and he has a baby face, and sweaty palms, and knobbly knees, and noodly arms, and a voice that cracks, and...
"I'm not like Jason," he says, with an audible 'ugh' to his voice when saying his name. "Or even like Sam."
Who is skinnier but still more muscular than Dipper. He looks properly superheroic, even if he's tiny compared to people like Rich.
"And the first practice we had you saw me totally lose it while sparring with Wash, and you've seen me when I was all crazy and weird, and I was even a literal monster that tried to eat you."
He knows he's a good person (sort of). He knows he's done some heroic stuff. He does have at least a little confidence in himself. But he's still a scrawny weirdo that drips creepy on the floor and she's seen plenty of the worst of it.
"It's okay. I know you care about me as a friend. I'll never be able to do enough to repay you for what you did, for making it so I didn't have to -- so that didn't happen to me. Again."
He fiddles with the sleeves of his hoodie, not looking her in the eye, pudding still dripping down his face.
"So, it's cool. We're cool. I can do the just-friends thing. I'm sorry I've been a jerk about it, especially when you need your friends around, but this whole thing was just really embarrassing the last time, and I really didn't want things to get all weird between us. Except I made them get weird anyway, I guess, but why don't we just move past it and go back to the way it was?"
Problem solved, right? They can still stay friends. Just-friends. Because yes, he's still assuming that's all she wants to be, especially when he was a jerk and ran away.
no subject
She's still kind of reeling from all of this, and his breakdown of all his insecurities doesn't help. She's certain she never said anything about wanting a muscle-bound man. Where did this even come from?
"Look at me, Dipper. What if I told you that I knew you didn't like me because I didn't look like...I dunno, whoever the hottest woman in Legion is!"
She's getting worked up and she doesn't know how to stop it. It's like her mouth is running away from her brain totally out of her control.
"And it's not just that! You're my best friend, and we never would have gotten to this point if all that weirdness never happened! I'm not good at expressing my feelings or even knowing what they are sometimes, I know that, but it's just that...when I was in medbay I had some time to think. And I thought about what you said and why I was so determined to get you out and why I tricked you and I realized..."
She has to gasp for a breath before she can finish.
"I realized I like you too! Like-like you, I mean!"
There. She said it. She can't take it back.
no subject
For a moment, it looks like his brain is completely rebooting, like that sentiment was enough for it to reach the cerebral equivalent of a blue screen.
And then he finally looks up at her again, and his expression looks...actually hopeful. His furrowed brows relax a little.
"Like-like? Like, seriously?"
His cheeks start flushing bright pink.
no subject
Suddenly, she's feeling giddy, like the feeling she had the first time she ever flew her lion. Weightless and excited and a little scared and about to do something she's never done before. She shrugs and smiles, feeling her own cheeks heat.
"So...now what?"
no subject
Wow. Okay.
For a moment, Dipper just stares at her, as if the idea of her liking him back just...hadn't occurred to him at all.
He thinks hard and tries very hard to not just start mouthbreathing or wheezing excitedly in response.
He mostly succeeds.
"Do you...do you want to be my girlfriend? Or something?"
no subject
She assumes.
...This doesn't seem like something she can logic out.
"Yes, I...Uh, yes. I do."
no subject
Okay, now what.
They're both sitting under a cafeteria table and he's covered in pudding. This is just not how he'd imagined that might go down the rare times he'd let himself daydream about it.
Are they supposed to hug or something?
...Maybe it's more of an "or something."
Suddenly feeling a bit daring, he darts forward and plants the tiniest little peck of a kiss on her lips. It's a little crooked so he gets the corner of her mouth more than anything else, but it's just a peck anyway. It's not meant to be some big thing.
When he pulls away, his face is even redder than before.
"Wait, was that okay? Did I read the moment right, or..."
no subject
Wow.
And now he's all bashful which is just really cute.
She answers him by giggling, leaning in, and kissing his cheek in return.
"Yeah," she says while wiping the pudding off with the back of her hand. "Yeah, it was good."
no subject
"Hey, why settle for just 'good'? We could aim a little higher. You know, at 'great.' Or even just good-er..."
He leans in closer again, but not too close. He doesn't want to freak her out and if she seems hesitant or embarrassed he's not going to go for it.
Under a table, in the middle of a food fight, isn't exactly the most romantic place for an actual kiss, but at the same time he can't really imagine any place that'd be better.
After all, they'd bantered and hung out the first time during a heist at an alien casino. They'd held hands for the first time while he'd been hiding under his couch after getting back from the mission where he'd been turned into a monster. They'd told each other their real names down in a toxic waste pit while waiting to get irradiated by a nuclear meltdown. And they'd told -- or shown -- each other their feelings while fighting robot-zombies.
There was a definite pattern to the two of them doing feelingsy things in unusual places at unusual times. So why stop there?
"Like...as long as that's okay."
His tone makes it clear that it's okay if it's not okay.
no subject
"Oh...uh..."
The blush she'd been cultivating deepened to a beet red and her heart starts to flutter. She's surprised at his boldness. She's even more surprised at herself. Those are definitely butterflies in her stomach.
...She can fearlessly face down hordes of zombies but the prospect of a kiss gets her tied up in knots?
It's not even that she doesn't want to, but she has no idea how to proceed. How do you do a "real kiss?" What does that mean? Where do you start and where do you go?
Unbidden by anything but Dipper's use of the word 'great', her father's advice comes to her head. 'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.' Even though this is...probably not what he meant. And she's going to go ahead and feel confident that he'll absolutely like and approve of Dipper.
She's starting to feel like she's stalling and he deserves an answer. An answer that she doesn't seem to be able to find the words for. Another thought jumped into her head:
'If you're going to do it, just do it.'
She closes the distance between them and plants her lips on his.
no subject
The blush on his face deepens, too, and his stomach does backflips as he reaches up one hand to cup her cheek. His other arm gently slides around her waist.
It's all very...smushy, at first, and a little awkward, but all that time Dipper spent practicing on pillows definitely wasn't for nothing, and it somehow winds up a nice smushy. A really nice smushy. The kind of nice that makes him feel like he's got the shivers.
This had already played out in his imagination like a million times by now, even if Pidge hadn't always been in those imaginings. For a little while it'd been Wendy but after he'd tried to let that go, because that was the healthy way to deal with it, he'd just...imagined kissing. He'd thought about how nice it might be to like someone that much and be liked by someone that much.
This is so much better than what he'd imagined, and it's because there's feelings. Pidge isn't just some random girl, she's Pidge. She's smart, and stubborn, and daring, and brave, and fun, and she'd been willing to sacrifice herself to save him from being hurt again in the terrible way he'd been hurt before. And she was willing to fight so hard for basically anyone that needed someone to fight for them.
The crushy little ache he'd been trying to ignore had run deeper this time, and that means the feelings from this run deeper, too.
When he finally pulls away, it's a little slobbery in a way that never happens in the TV and movies, but he still feels breathless. He still just...feels a lot of things, and those feelings make him drop the hand from her cheek to throw that arm around her, too. He hugs her close, burying his face in her neck.
She's so soft, and it's a strange thing when she can be so unyielding when fighting things bigger than her, but it's a nice strange. It's her being able to be so many things at once, like she's got an entire world inside her.
"I'm glad you're okay. And not just because of this, even though this is like...wow. Just in general."
There's a reason he needs to not face her as he says this because his eyes well up at the thought of how it all would've felt if she'd never come back.
"You're my best friend, too. I never thought I'd have one of those besides Mabel."
no subject
This isn't how she pictured falling in love. She never pictured it at all, really. She had too much to do and too many things to be. A "girlfriend" never made it onto list. Maybe she never thought it would.
He's gentler than most of the guys she knows, awkward and unsure and maybe even scared of himself. He's still better at this than Lance and Dipper only has eyes for her as far as she can tell.
That's...nice.
"Yeah...it's wow. Definitely wow." She leans her cheek against his head. "You know, I'm starting to feel like things really are going to be OK."
no subject
There's still a multiverse to save. There's badness out there in the universe. There are monsters, some of them just as scary as the one's he's faced before.
But there's also Wash and the team.
And there's Pidge.
It's so hard to stop hugging her. He wishes that he could do it for the entire rest of the day. That would be nice, just holding her close all nice and safe and being held close all nice and safe.
But he can't cling forever. She deserves her space back, so he gives it.
"I feel like maybe it's more like we're just extra prepared for when things are not-okay. Which helps when you want to make them okay."
He looks off to the side as he logics something out.
"Although technically, I guess if things would still meet a resting state of okay at the end that it probably counts."
See, he's learning optimism! Sort of. Kind of.