|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:01 pm
"Hi. Wouldn't you like a one-on-one opportunity to punch me in the face? I'm sure you would. Let's talk. XOXO, Babs."
Valhalla wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to follow through with Babylon's request to meet up. While the invitation seemed innocent (if not snarky) enough — a note written on generic lined paper with a where and when scribbled as a P.S. and a stamp from the other's signet ring — the squire of Jupiter couldn't help but think that the Mercury squire had something up his sleeve.
The last time they'd faced each other, Valhalla had kind of punched the guy in the face for no apparent reason other than to punch him in the face. Which Babylon obviously remembered.
He doubted that Babylon would be able to physically overtake him (or maybe he was severely underestimating him), but he wasn't all that thrilled about the possibility of getting into a scuffle with a teammate.
Despite his hesitations, Valhalla made his way out of his apartment and into the city, as per the other squire's request. He brought nothing with him aside from the note in his hand and a wary scowl. His odd-looking compass was clasped in place along his belt, where he could be considered unarmed, but that didn't mean he was off his guard.
"You sent this?" he asked aloud, holding out the note as he approached the squire waiting for him at the center of the park by a decent sized fountain.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:39 am
Except Babylon was no longer a squire. The boy who greeted Valhalla was no taller than he had been the last one they met, but his uniform had undergone major revision. Apparently the knights of Babylon dressed halfway between Game of Thrones and Tron. This might have been impressive if it wasn't still Babylon wearing the costume, and he had ugly hair and a stupid face.
Ugly hair and a stupid face and a box of Oreos. These he offered to Valhalla. "Cookie?" he asked, clearly meaning it as a gesture of kindness. "Of course I sent it. My signet only works for me. You don't get to call me Babs, by the way. I was being facetious." Which was a five dollar word if there ever was one.
He shook the box in Valhalla's direction again. "I already ate a whole row of these by myself," explained the knight. "Please don't let me eat the whole package." He already felt sick to his stomach. Sick and ashamed. Maybe the cookies had been a terrible idea. Especially if Valhalla didn't appreciate the gesture.
"Anyway," said Babylon as he waited for Valhalla to alleviate him of chocolate, gluten-free goodness. This next sentence was going to be humiliating, but it had to be said. "I wanted to thank you. For sticking up for me. At the meeting." His cheeks burned. Babylon had never expected to thank Valhalla for anything, and yet... Here they were.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:51 am
Valhalla stopped dead in his tracks when he realized that he wasn't imagining the sudden boost in energy coming from Babylon. This wasn't the energy given off by someone of Valhalla's level. He had him tensing up and he tried not to look too disgusted as he glanced over the cape Babylon was now wearing.
"You're a knight." There was no question accompanying his half-sneer, his own stomach twisting a little as he eyed the cookies being held out for him. "No thanks," he grumbled and looked away, as if that would somehow make him feel a little less like he was doing something wrong.
Babylon was his teammate. He should be proud that he was a knight. He was proud that Ganymede was an eternal, proud that Pasiphae had grown to super. What was it about Babylon that made him fee so... jealous? There was nothing to be jealous about! So the guy was ahead of him in a celestial leveling system that wasn't used, and shouldn't be used to indicate rank. Not for the senshi, at least.
Especially not as a Jovian.
"Uh huh," Valhalla shrugged in forced nonchalance, his arms crossed over his chest in a self-defensive stance. "I wasn't sticking up for you, anyway. Everyone else was just pissing me off..."
It was Babylon. It was short, annoying, freckle-faced, mousy-haired Babylon. So why the hell did Valhalla feel like he needed to prove himself when there was nothing Babylon was even doing to make him feel inferior??
He ignored the offered cookies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:55 am
Babylon continued to hold the box of cookies out, not content to let Valhalla off the hook. "Well, whatever it was," he said, finding Valhalla's macho posturing to be a little bit absurd. At the meeting it had certainly looked like Valhalla was sticking up for him when everyone else was keen on jumping down his throat. What else could you even call that? "Whatever the ******** it was back there, I am here to thank you for it."
Which Valhalla could either, you know, take like a man or try to avoid admitting to it like some kind of giddy schoolgirl. Possibly with a crush, although the consideration made his stomach churn. If Valhalla's poor treatment of him was proverbial pigtail pulling then maybe he really did outrank Gallo when it came to pure maturity - although that wasn't saying much.
He shook the box of cookies. "So this is me, trying to do something nice for you," explained Babylon, fighting the impulse to roll his eyes. "Because it looked like for maybe two seconds you didn't actually hate me from the bottom of your heart - and you're telling me that my impulse was wrong and you really do despise me, just slightly less than everyone else who was at that meeting?"
Now that he'd articulated it, it sounded downright affectionate. Babylon pressed a hand to his chest. "I'm flattered. Really, I am," the knight said. "But you can cut the machismo because it's not a flattering look for you. I know we got off to a bad start, but we're teammates now, and I am..."
Babylon took a deep breath. "Sorry for being a bag of dicks." Which was as sincere an apology as Valhalla was going to get out of him. And considering Babylon had just described his earlier behavior as being a bag of dicks, it was pretty damn sincere.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:54 pm
He stared at the cookies still being held out for him, but not at all convinced that he should take any. Babylon confused him, with his behavior and general attitude about things. He went from being a little know-it-all whom Valhalla wanted to yell at to make him shut up, to someone whom he felt the need to stick up for when others decided to jump at him.
Valhalla had no idea what it was about Babylon that made him want to punch and defend at the same time. Maybe it was that nose. Something about his nose offended him. No, that was a dumb reason. And it wasn't as though they hadn't worked together before. They'd done pretty well at the camp that past summer. It was only after realizing that he was the same wannabe frat boy that he started feeling any kind of grudging dislike towards.
"I never said I hated you," he said after a small pause, turning to actually look at the knight instead of anywhere but. Yeah, he realized that it may come across as him hating the guy, but Babylon had done little to deserve being hated... "You just... get on my nerves," he admitted, forcing himself to lower his arms from being crossed over his chest, one hand reaching up to rub at the back of his hair in discontent, while reaching out with the other to snatch the bag of cookies away from him.
"Stop shaking it, I'll take one, jeez..." he grumbled, pulling open the box so he could take a couple. After tossing the box back to the knight, he shuffled the cookies in his hands rather than eating them right away. "I'm... sorry for punching you," he said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in place while glancing a bit sheepishly towards the ground. That didn't mean he didn't want to punch him from time to time, but Babylon hadn't really done anything to deserve it that one time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:07 pm
"Maybe you never used those exact words," conceded Babylon, because he actually didn't remember Valhalla articulating the outright hatred he'd just accused him of holding. "But there's clearly something going on that you dislike me. Maybe it's a personality thing." Spreading his arms wide, Babylon shrugged sheepishly at the squire.
"I have already admitted to acting like a bag of dicks," he said, in response to allegedly getting on Valhalla's nerves. Well, he didn't need a late-night heart-to-heart to figure that out. Of course he got on Valhalla's nerves - the more important matter was why. "You want me to apologize for it again? Get down on all fours and kiss your feet?" He paused, letting the offer sink in.
"On second thought, let's not do that last one," said Babylon, for what he thought of as being comedic effect. All joking aside, he was trying to be sincere about this. Getting Valhalla to take the goddamn Oreos was a small victory in a larger war of forgiveness. This metaphor wasn't really working for him. Babylon let the line of thought drop.
"No harm done," he said, tapping the crooked bridge of his nose. "Well, no. Actually I had a really nice shiner for a week or so. But I don't think anyone can ******** up my face any more than I've already managed to do left to my own devices."
He shoved another cookie into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, stalling for time. "So I guess what tonight's about is just calling a truce and working out our issues. Which seems to just involve me ceasing to act like I'm ten years old, which I-"
Babylon flashed Valhalla a lively thumbs-up.
"I can totally do that."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:07 pm
Valhalla frowned in slight exasperation as Babylon went on and on about how he must hate him and how Babylon was a bag of dicks and all this other crap. Really, if it wasn't for the fact that he was trying to be nice to the guy, Valhalla might have turned to leave already.
Instead, he strained a smile at Babylon's thumbs-up. "Great..." he attempted a grumble that wouldn't sound like he was about to throw the cookies back at his teammate's face. Right. A truce. And trying to work out their issues. Like that was going to happen painlessly.
"Listen," he attempted, although he kept his distance lest he decided to throw another left hook. "I only came here because I'm trying to keep a promise to my-- to a friend," he amended, grimacing at himself at his near slip up. It wasn't that he was embarrassed that Ganymede was his boyfriend. But if Babylon knew that bit of information... Valhalla was afraid he would never live the teasing down.
He took in a deep breath to be let out slowly, forcing himself to relax and say with sincerity, "I don't hate you. And I don't think you're a bag of dicks, although why you insist on using that analogy I don't even--..." He stopped and shook his head, backpedaling for a moment. "I think you're a good guy, Finn," he said with a small shrug, attempting to be nonchalant about it and not quite managing it. "I think you talk way too much and sometimes I really, really want to yell at you to shut the hell up..."
Valhalla shifted again, wondering why he was really doing this. Was it because he was putting an effort to keep peace within the Jovians? Or maybe he really was trying to keep his promise to Ganymede to 'play nice'? In the end, he decided he wasn't any better than Babylon. Worse, really... for resorting to violence.
"I... wasn't going to defend you," he finally admitted, unable to look at the knight. "I was going to tell you off for being such an annoying know-it-all... But... they got to it, first. I'm no better than the others. You shouldn't thank me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 9:08 pm
Babylon's face broke out into a sunny smile that the kibosh was put on two seconds later what Valhalla admitted to having been this close to also tearing him down. Expression faltering, the knight did his best to shrug the squire's admission off as unimportant. "So yeah, they got to it first," he said slowly, trying to decipher exactly what was going on here. "And it would've been really ******** easy for you to Tippecanoe and Tyler Too and you didn't."
Not that that statement had made any sense.
"You didn't jump on the bandwagon. You actually stood up for me." Babylon gestured vaguely with the cookies, trying to find better ways to express that he was having really confusing feelings in regards to all this. "I mean, why'd you do that? Sure didn't make you popular."
The knight heaved an exasperated sigh, mostly annoyed with his own inability to be particularly articulate. "What I am saying," he said, "Is you behaved in a way that is indicative of feelings other than complete and utter disdain or even just complete and utter apathy and I am trying to figure out what the ******** it was." Because honestly, Valhalla confused him. Valhalla was an enigma at the prickly center of an outer shell of holier-than-thou bullshit and Babylon suspected he was starting to see through it all, but the writing on the wall was in a language he couldn't read.
Having mixed sufficient metaphors in his internal monologue to perplex any and all aliens who may have been reading his mind, Finn shifted his weight and waited for Valhalla to explain himself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:38 pm
He kept his head lowered, his eyes to the ground as Babylon spoke. There were a lot of things that had happened that night. Any bit of it could have influenced him to do something else. Valhalla hated that. He thought he should be able to make a decision and stick to it. Either defend or attack, right? But... things weren't that easy. They never were and never would be. He was a firm believer in anything but black and white.
So he happened to defend Babylon this time, but that didn't mean he deserved his thanks. Hell, for all he knew, he would turn around and snap at him for something else the next time around.
"I didn't realize this was a popularity contest," he said to the ground in more of a mumble than anything else. He was feeling worn down and wary of himself, unsure of what he could tell Babylon that wouldn't contradict himself later on.
"I don't know what it was, okay?" he said, glancing up at the knight for a few moments before he started to feel awkward and looked away again. "But just because I stood up for you doesn't mean you should thank me," he warned, shuffling the cookies in his hands in a way that made him seem almost nervous. Part of him wondered why he was still there, talking to the young man who infuriated him on a regular basis. While his patience held, he worried something would make him snap.
"Uh... but... thanks for the cookies, I guess," he shrugged, taking a step back. "You had some good points back there, you know," he added, his mouth twitching at the corner for just a moment. He knew Babylon was probably fishing for more, but... there really wasn't anything for him to give. Valhalla didn't think he was that complicated of a person, not outwardly at least. Hopefully he'd said enough to keep Babylon settled for the time being. "And congrats on the upgrade."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 11:18 am
At last content that Valhalla had eaten enough oreos, he withdrew the box and resealed it. "You're welcome," he said lamely. This meeting had gone better in his head, although he was perfectly aware that it could have gone a lot worse as well.
"Yeah?" asked Babylon, face lighting up for an instant. (Or maybe it was a shift of the lantern. It was hard to tell when everything was faintly blue.) "Did you go to your wonder?" Not that it was any of his business, but considering it was the bulk of what he'd talked about and Valhalla thought he'd had good points, the knight couldn't help but suspect.
He didn't think Valhalla very likely to answer, though. The squire wasn't forthcoming with information at the best of times, and Babylon doubted he was going to get any closer to confirmation that he'd been right than he already was. "Thanks," the knight said, offering Valhalla a hopeful smile. "I'm glad we had this talk."
Not that he was exactly sure what they'd accomplished here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
