Gummy Plight (16) : During the Star Festival, seasonal pop-up shops are everywhere. StarSweets is a new candy shop that touts a variety of ‘healthy’ sweets in addition to old classics and new favorites. Their reviews are great, and for good reason! Except, when you go, something’s wrong with your order. As you chew, it suddenly gets gummy, and then it gets tacky, and then you can’t chew at all. It’s so sticky that you can’t open your mouth. The only consolation is that the flavor stays fresh and delicious the entire time. Maybe it takes a few minutes, or a few hours; you can try whatever remedy you want, but if you wait it out it will eventually soften and you can free yourself. Overall it’s harmless, just massively inconvenient, and maybe a bit embarrassing.
Slowly patrolling the perimeter of the town square, all but emptied out now, Hestia gave the packet in her hand a conflicted look. None of the sweets in the popup had looked heathy, and she hadn't had the chance to look at the ingredient list...but wouldn't it be great if they were both sickeningly sweet and healthy? There were so many people in her life who liked to live off of candy and it was honestly really stressful not being able to sneak vegetables into all of their daily meals. Especially Mindy, who lived in another state and would live entirely off instant noodles given half a chance.
With a sigh (that was accompanied by an excited little flush) Hestia opened the packet of gummies and popped one into her mouth. Her eyes went wide at the burst of bright, fruity flavor, instantly refreshing.
"MMMmmmmm!" She gave a little steppy dance of delight, completely forgetting her normally solemn composure.
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2023 7:00 pm
The bright signature of a senshi was coming towards her and Tanais paused in her patrol to see who it was. She'd felt them earlier and their paths seemed to be crossing now, tickling the knight's curiosity after a boring and fruitless night. It would be nice if it were someone she knew, but even if it wasn't, chatting up someone new would be more enjoyable than wandering the streets alone.
The signature, now that she was looking forward, felt like a senshi. Okay, well, she didn't really know many of those. This was very likely someone new, then. A thought banished the gauntlets from around her hands, leaving only the leather wrappings and the tall woman settled to wait with one booted foot propped up on the ledge around the rooftop, her elbow braced on her thigh. The soft summer wind up here ruffled her dark hair, and there might have been a part of her that unconsciously shifted to make use of the wind and the faint moonlight that filtered down to make a more appealing picture.
What she saw, gazing down into the square, was a girl (woman?0 in a black and white dress. Slender and pale, and eating something out of a bag in her hands. Definitely not someone she had let before. But maybe someone she had seen before? She set off vague memories of that bank job, but there had been a lot of people there.
"Enjoying the night air?" She called down with a crooked grin, leaning her weight onto her propped leg so she could peer further over the edge.
The Knight signature that had been sharing the area had gotten closer and finally stopped nearby, finally taking Hestia's attention from the really....really delicious...
If Hestia could open her jaw at all right now, it would have dropped as she gazed up at the heroic figure above her. At first, all she saw was a valiant silhouette on high, the wind picking up a graceful banner of hair, a shifting curl of a cape. And then clouds passed overhead, allowing the moonlight to reveal muscled beauty, clad in glinting golden armor, looking down at Hestia with a grin that sent a thrilling little shiver down Hestia's...everything.
As it was, mouth sealed shut, Hestia's face was flushed with heat and she clasped her hands over her cheeks in swooning admiration. It was her! The wonderful, towering, strong beauty from the bank! While other, weightier thoughts surrounded the happenings of that night, every once in awhile since, Hestia would find herself imagining what that knight would have looked like, standing in front of the blazing building, framed by fighting and explosions.
Thinking about it again, the maid senshi felt close to just outright swooning. Trying to open her mouth to call out a greeting, a compliment, anything...! Hestia just could not. The delicious candy was turning into a bittersweet obstacle fairly quickly. In frustration she gestured with two big thumbs up, and then, after pointing to the knight, she held her arms over head in a dramatic heart pose.
You're so amazing, Miss Knight! I love everything I see about you!
xWhimsical Blue
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:40 am
The stranger was cute with her pixie face and bob hair, neatly dressed in black and white. Lovely red eyes too, something Tanais shared and rarely saw in other.
The grin the Knight wore shifted a little, confusion drawing her brows together, when no return greeting came... only strange, excited gesturing. Was that... a heart? What on Earth...? Well, at least the response was positive, if silent. Tanais would take it. Straightening up, she stepped off the building with a feigned casualness, dropping to the ground below to land with ease. A show, of course, or rather, show-off.
"I don't think we've officially met before!" She said as she approached, her thumbs hooked in the leather belt riding on her hips. "I'm Tanais, Knight of Mars. I... hope everything has been going okay for you?"
Not the smoothest approach, maybe, but she was more than a little curious about just what was going on. Maybe the girl was mute? Awkward, as Tanais hadn't the first clue about ASL, but she felt confident they could figure it out. She was quite willing to make a little bit of a fool of herself gesturing about in the service of communicating with a pretty girl. Kinda made her usual flirtation hard-mode though...
"I saw you at the bank, I think? Figured now would be a good time to make aquaintances."
Eyes huge and sparkling, Hestia scooted closer to the shining warrior, not even waiting for the dust clouds (which, admittedly, were more in her imagination than anything) to settle. Tanais! Knight of Mars! Hestians followed and admired Mars in the past so she felt a little bit of extra satisfaction, an extra bit of glue to...
Hestia chewed her candy furiously, trying to get it down. She remembered her! She remembered her from the bank. Chewing and nodding, tears of frustration began to well up in Hestia's eyes. It wasn't even letting her choke it down!
After a long, awkward moment, she realized her actions may be misconstrued, and held up the packet of candy, the StarSweets logo front and center.
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 1:56 pm
More excited expressions, but still no talking. A lot of chewing, actually, which sparked her curiosity all over again.
Ah! Candy. The stranger held up the bag and that explained the chewing, at least. Still didn't explain the not talking, but whatever.
"Ah, yeah! I saw some people going around with those candies." She said, offering a bright smile. "I'm not really a fan of sweets though, so I haven't had them. You look like you're enjoying them, though. Really, ah... into them, huh?"
Okay maybe that was a little rude. Time to switch topics.
"So, um, kind of a quiet night, yeah?" LAME, what the hell, Tanais! "I mean its kind of nice sometimes, not to run into anyone getting up to no good. Too much and it gets kind of boring though. I'm not into explosions and mayhem every night, but it was a lot of fun getting to mess up that bank the Negaverse took over. Not so much in the vault with that awful device they had, but the rest of it. That thing kind of brought up bad memories, you know? I think you were luckier, staying outside."
Okay well, none of this was going how Tanais had envisioned. When she'd pictured flirting up this senshi, she had not seen herself nattering on at her like a highschool boy. She was squandering all of her cool points!
"Ah, I'm sorry." She said, running a hand back over her two toned hair. "I'm kind of babbling. Its not often I struggle with words around a pretty lady."
Tanais gave her best, winning smile, inviting the other to say something, anything to relieve the awkwardness.
No! She was not! Please lovely warrior do not think this of her! Hestia's brain supplied a one act drama featuring her, a maid, desperate to convey a message in the war (of love) to the brave knight of the lands! Only to be failed by her own curiosity! A morality tale was was falling down on her! Crushing her bones and her chance to make a good impression!
But wait!! Tanais remembered her from the bank! She thought Hestia was pretty??! SHE WAS SMILING!
Transforming from a deflating balloon back into a senshi once more, Hestia's brain decided to do one (1) useful thing that night. Pulling out her senshi phone, she began typing rapidly and...and!!! Sidling up close to the knight to offer a view of the screen. Showing what she'd written to the knight, Hestia wasn't sure if it was the summer night, her own flushing everything, or Tanais's body heat but gosh it was sure warm right now.
Hestia's phone
Hello, Miss Tanais!
My name is Hestia, the senshi of Housekeeping. There's something amiss with the candy, which is delicious, but it seems to have sealed my mouth. It wouldn't be too bad, but it's keeping me from telling you how impressive I find you, which is quite tragic! Your heroic form made such an impression on me at the bank that you nearly eclipsed the explosions, causing them to pale in your backdrop!
I'm so glad to have another chance to make your acquaintance!
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 7:08 pm
Apparently something had occurred to the senshi, because she perked up and began furiously typing on her phone. Tanais wasn't entirely sure about it or the lack of response, but she waited with patient awkwardness for whatever she was doing. It was really hard to be cool when you weren't sure of the responses you were getting... maybe she should actually take the leap and learn sign language? It could be useful in instances like this, and occasionally at work. It seemed like a lot of effort though, for the little she would end up using it. Maybe this was just meant to be one of those times she took a swing and whiffed it. It happened, from time to time, and she needed to get used to that.
The shifting caught her wandering attention and Tanais looked down to see a girl with an offered phone. Her lips moved as the knight read the formal message, dark eyebrows rising in surprise.
Hestia, huh? It was a cute name for a cute girl. A slow smile spread at the 'impressive' and 'heroic', and Tanais found herself laughing.
"Sticky candy, huh? That's just my bed timing then, for not coming either sooner or later, when your mouth was free." She said when she sobered, though she still grinned crookedly. "I suppose its a good thing I don't like candy... I wouldn't have held up well to getting my jaws stuck together. It doesn't hurt, does it?"
There was an urge to reach out and cup Hestia's jaw, but Tanais knew that logically there wasn't anything she could actually do to help right now.
Wide-eyed and pathetic, Hestia nodded as she gazed up at Tanais. It hurt so much...her pride might never recover. Thankfully the knight didn't seem annoyed with her, and maybe even...liked...what Hestia had to say.
She might never stop blushing, actually.
The keen and flustered embarrassment didn't stop her fingers from rapidly typing out further, extremely important messages to the knight.
Quote:
I shouldn't have tried them at all, I really wish my mouth was free for you right now! You have such a nice laugh! Have you ever considered professional wrestling, Knight Tanais? You have so much style and charisma!
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2023 2:23 pm
The knight made a soft, soothing noise as she did read out this time, cupping the small pointed chin in her leather wrapped palm and running her thumb along Hestia's jawline. Her skin was so soft...
"Maybe we should get you to a hospital or something... or, actually, I know a Squire who's good with the medical stuff. Maybe Richter could help you out..." Tanais said with real concern this time. Poor girl... She hated the thought of her actually in pain from whatever bizarre, defective candy she'd gotten.
At least the night seemed clear enough. The knight couldn't feel any pesky chaos signatures making towards them, so they were safe enough for now. It might have been unpleasant if Hestia had run into someone who did want to cause trouble in this state. It roused her protective feelings, reminding Tanais that this was what she was meant for, what she'd been awakened for. She'd been Tanais before she'd been anyone else.
Releasing Hestia's face, she pulled a weathered, dog-eared notebook out of the ether of subspace with a pen that likely came from some random cup behind the bar of some night club. She paused in her flipping for a clear page to look again at the offered phone and she couldn't help another low chuckle. Red eyes glinted with mirth and inuendo as her smile turned lop sided and crooked.
"Naw, I'm not a performer." She said as she scribbled a note asking Richtersveld if she could meet her with some medical supplies. "I'm more of the real-world type... I like to get down and dirty, you know? I'm a bouncer, actually. Seemed like the easiest way to make use of my ability to throw people around when I was trying to find something to pay the bills with, but didn't have a scrap of paperwork to show anyone."
Ripping the paper free, she paused for a moment to figure out how she was going to get her signet onto the paper. Tanais really didn't send messages this way much... she'd never thought to put any sort of like... inkpad or something in with the notebook. Cutting her hand to use blood seemed overly dramatic and might actually freak Richter out, as did using a lighter to heat the metal enough to burn the signet in.
"Not that I don't enjoy giving a nice show, of course." She said. "But I like it when its got real stakes."
