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 Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:38 pm
In Vanessa's humble opinion, the only thing more binding than a pinky promise was a spit-shake. She smiled at Tallulah, heart going out to her new friend, and linked fingers with her. She listened enthusiastically, and also more intently than she had ever listened to anything before, as the other girl explained the intricacies of Senshi-dom and super-powers. Uninhibited (and harmless) envy shone in those golden eyes, and Vanessa looked for all the world like a kid who'd just discovered Santa Clause stuck up the chimney. Which was kinda awesome, except Santa Clause had left coal in his wake instead of presents.
"That's so cool," she sighed wistfully, and clasped her hands together, "What's it like when you transform?"
Before her spandex suit and cape had been confiscated, Vanessa had taken to wearing Super Van's costume under her clothes. This poor girl was going through a bit of withdrawal, and always felt a little bit naked without the stretchy material hugging her skinny frame. Even the almost-constant-and-obnoxious wedgies were bittersweetly mourned.
"Can I watch you sometime?"
For all of her excitement and eagerness, Vanessa knew better than to demand such a thing of Tallulah right now.
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:53 pm
Tallulah looked uncertainly back at Van, uncertain if she ought to be worried by her new friend's seemingly boundless enthusiasm. At any rate, it wouldn't do her any good to go giving the other girl wildly fanciful ideas. "Bit of flashing lights," she said dismissively. "Nothing fancy."
It wouldn't do to go telling her about how transforming really felt, would serve no purpose to describe the feeling of having your whole skin replaced with one that was just plain better. No, she wouldn't mention how, after a while, you started feeling more comfortable in your senshi form than your human one - strictly on the principle, of course, that Van probably wouldn't ever experience it for herself.
"We should," she said, tugging on a loose staple sticking out from the backing paper, "we should get to class."
No mention of whether Van could watch sometime. Tallulah might have followed senshi around with a video camera before (and after!) she'd been let in on the secret, but it wasn't like she encouraged that sort of behavior in others. It would be irresponsible to send someone else into that sort of danger - it was certainly a wonder she hadn't gotten her starseed ripped out a dozen times over.
Chalk it up to good luck. Tallulah cleared her throat. "I probably should go," she said.
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:06 pm
If good luck meant having an 11:00 o'clock curfew and bad guys never showing up when they were supposed to, Super Van sure had a lot of that. Except for when she didn't. It was on occasions like these, and there really had only been one, that Sailor Ares liked to swoop in out of nowhere and save her sorry a**.
Tallulah's description of her transformation left a lot to be desired, but it was also good enough for Vanessa, who often pulled the stitching out of her clothes in her rush to unleash Super Van. Flashing lights were less than she had expected, but also totally fancy!
The smile on her face faltered for a moment when the other girl suggested they get to class. Vanessa opened her mouth to protest, but could only concede. Her father's voice rang out like a bell in her head, reminding her that graduation was important. She suppressed a wince.
"Okay," Vanessa nodded, even though she wanted to stay talking with Tallulah like this forever, "Yeah- I can't really have anymore lates on my attendance thing. I'm in enough trouble at home as it is."
She'd failed to recognize the way that the other girl brushed off her request, and spun gracefully away on her heel.
"I'll talk to you later," there was a merry promise, and a whole lot of hope, on her voice.
It had never occurred to her, a girl who was not naturally suspicious, to wonder at the truth of the things that Tallulah said. For the first time since losing Hairy Petty, Vanessa was beginning to feel good about herself, as well as the future. Smiling sweetly, she waved goodbye.
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Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:06 am
"Yeah," nodded Tallulah, smiling back. She was already on the retreat, walking awkwardly backwards down the hall towards the history wing. It now occurred to her that she'd gotten sidetracked and hadn't actually gotten any of the information from Van that she'd started out trying to get.
A follow-up conversation would definitely be necessary, but she certainly didn't have time for one right now. Just like Van she was on slightly delicate footing this year, although for entirely different reasons. After missing finals last semester, Tallulah felt like she had to work twice as hard to stay in the running for the coveted title of Valedictorian.
"Talk to you later!" she called, waved, and then turned quickly and hurried down the hallway. She couldn't say the conversation had been all she'd hoped for, but it had certainly been something.
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