Prompt 3 (Drink Yourself Silly): Pop up shops are a dime a dozen in Destiny City this time of year, and for as much weirdness as they cause, there’s still something alluring about them. Walking through the city, you happen to come across one that seems particularly cozy and is decorated in such a way that you just know they’re trustworthy. The menu only has a few items but there’s something for everyone.
Maybe it’s hot chocolate, maybe it’s coffee, maybe it’s some chilly winter sweet--whatever it is, it’s delicious. And magic, but you didn’t know that when you ordered it. It started with an itch at the back of your throat, but what happened after that was anyone’s game. Some of the drinks turn into a tickle in your nose, and now you’re suddenly sneezing snowflakes for the next hour. Maybe you finish your drink and you suddenly feel warm--like you’re in the middle of summer. (Do you even need your coat? It’s so hot! --Or is that a fever?) Or, the itch turns into something else--and suddenly you feel the urge to sink. It’s compulsive, you can’t help yourself, you must sing. It’s like you’ve forgotten how to communicate in any other way. It fades an hour after you finish the drink, but still...
Waru was elated, over the moon alike a cow on springs, because Alexa was het up for getting out. All the time cooped up recouping — the whiplash of emotions that’d followed. Reconvening with his team, reigning in his boss, a plethora of new corrupts on their doorstep begging for care — Lysi — oh hell, Lysi.
If he didn’t think of Dee, then the thoughts couldn’t hurt him. It was better to shove it all off, bleed the water out like a duck shaking off raindrops.
He was here to have fun.
A nice easy time — not ruminate about everything that had slipped through his grasp or changed.
“So — so how do you feel about the, hell, our new friends? It’s weird that their all pastel colors right?” hadn’t seen the aliens except in brief glimpses, which was fine, maybe they needed alone time?
“Not that I don’t like pastels, but like — all of them.” Soft shrug under a coat that barely counted as such, swore up and down he’d buy something more substantial as the winter wore on, if the sky ever spat out more than fat fluffy flakes that melted the instant they touched the ground. More a slushy wet melt than a crunchy crisp icefall.
“Oh, hell is that a pop up!! Alexa, we gotta, yeh?” eager bounce as he reached for her elbow, and pointed vaguely at a stall up ahead. Admired the snowflake trim if an awning and obvious steam billowing fourth.
He lives pop up stalls — all year round — always found the best s**t there.
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 7:39 am
Alexa gave one of those dramatic little pouts as she pointedly looked down at her outfit. Her oversized sweater was pastel rainbow ombre, with threads of sparkly stuff woven in. Her shorts and shoes were white, her tights baby pink, and her hair was in braids tied off with baby pink bows to match.
"You think pastels are weird?" she asked, pout shifting quickly to a smirk as she nudged Waru with a gentle elbow. "I think pastels are cute, so I think our friends are pretty cute, but, like, I wanna talk to them more before I get like, strong opinions."
She'd hypothesize about them with Waru as much as he wanted, though. She'd chat about anything. It was so good to hear him talking. It was so good to see him walking, instead of, like, bleeding out on the ground. After everything that had gone down over the last couple of months, it almost felt like a miracle that someone had made it through and was still there to walk around the city with her.
Although, she was trying not to dwell on all that.
Like Waru, she felt like she was way overdue for some fun, which meant that as soon as he pointed out the pop up shop, she was skipping off towards it. "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" she said, pausing to twirl on her tiptoes in the middle of the sidewalk, 'cause for the first time in a while, she was feeling bubbly and all the way alive. "Do you think they have hot chocolate? I want hot chocolate."
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Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 5:08 pm
Gawked a little and shut his mouth like a trap after, because sometimes his foot found it's way there. Quite literally. Except Alexa looked good in anything she wore, radiated so much the opposite of what she was as a General. Went straight from Hot Topic princess into -- he wanted to say cottage core, except that wasn't quite right.
Something much softer than that. Comfort, that was draped in hues that belonged in paintings. Things that his newly adopted sister Ana would've adored. Cute? -- Alexa was c'ute' where Livi was punk-pop. Both equally badass as far as he was concerned. No matter how much pink wound up interwoven between either persona. Like a singular conjoining thread--
Her pink ribbons, his tattoos --
How pastels weren't bad, per say. Except he tried to imagine Alexa with pastels as -- well - the makeup and markings on her entire being. If she was her sweater - if - and would she look good as a pastel person? An entire race of soft blotched colors -- that then wielded big-a** swords and holstered blasters and blades on their hips. All sorts of dichotomy, a whole hecking contradiction in his head, for all that the medal he'd gotten out of it was sparkly as heck - it just - clashed with his idea of what space beings would've been.
No little green men. No big gray buff guys. Not even an amorphous multi mouthed death machine. Just squishy, pretty, pastel people...
"Yanno what -- they are pretty cute..." muttered soff, steps lighter for her excitement, how her spirits lifted his with ease. Like her soul was just as strong as her core - indomitable bubbliness -- infections -- "What kind of place wouldn't have hot chocolate!? Hell, I've been on one about getting things with peppermint in it. It's like, why is it only seasonal? Why can't I have it all year round.."
Hands tucked into back pockets of loose black denim. The array of choices before them written in the cutest chalk markings across blackboard, decked with calligraphy type letterings, traced with depictions of Santa, and mistletoe, and candy canes. Twinkle-lights that wreathed round the poles that seemed to be keeping the whole of the thing standing up.
"Ooh, oh and they have spiced chai, eggnog, lookit that - bigass fluffy marshmallows. Have you ever, just like, when you get the one fat one in a cup and it melts into this delicious gooey mess?"
stari_maga
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 6:11 pm
The way Waru looked so embarrassed was kinda adorable. Alexa couldn't help a giggle.
She was pastel in a lot of ways. No, not naturally the way the Velencyans were, but her cheeks and nose were overblushed to a rosy pink, her highlighter and eyeliner sparkly pale gold. Her personal style did kinda edge her away from looking strictly human.
So it was kinda more of a relief than it should have been when he said the aliens were cute, 'cause maybe that would mean that he would think she was cute?
Yeah, that was something she was worried about, now. Her crush on Waru hadn't gone away once it had turned out that he was not, in fact, going to die. Even now, when he was all healthy and they were just out to have some fun in the city, Alexa's heart fluttered at the sight of him.
Which meant she was probably going to have to say something, before she accidentally made things weird.
Although it could probably wait until after she got some hot chocolate. Very little was more important than getting some hot chocolate.
"I want the one with the giant marshmallow!" She said it half to Waru, and half to the guy behind the counter, before pulling a crumpled bill out of her pocked to pay for it.
When the drink was done and pushed across the counter to her, Alexa absolutely beamed. "Oh wow, the marshmallow really is giant," she murmured. "Not, like, clickbait. Menu bait?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 1:28 am
“Ohh, the marshmallow one, huh? Is it cause it’s cute, or do you have a secret sweet tooth?”
He could’ve pegged it as either, and then he got a good look the drink. Deep chocolate, creamy, goodness, a fat as ******** stay-puff mallow that sat in the center and seemed to absorb the liquid as much as it floated in it. Gentle dusting of what he assumed was coco powder; decadently winter-esq treat.
He was tempted to poke the thing almost, hovered up on Alexas side and peered form it to her and — wondered if she’d have to chew through the saccharine saturated fluffmallow in order to get at the drink itself…
“Damn....fluffy!” beamed for that, marveled at how effortlessly Alexa’s joy warmed him. Better than a coat, or coco, and he was loath to admit how he *needed* that sometimes.
Something easy….
To drink from another’s well of boundless cheer when his own ran dry — and it want like he hadn’t realized he had limits…
That he didn’t like having limits.
Except for how the recent events had shown a penlight on it — a spotlight — and then there she was.
Picking him up, quite ******** literally, picking out all the pieces that hurt and taping the rest back up without prying. All reassuring smiles and blessed normalcy. A good general…a better friend.
“Hmm, I’m thinking….” and the spiced chai looked sweet. He made it dirty, because espresso made everything better, because a little bitter always blended well with soft earthy notes.
He shouldn’t have been so bubbly over the show of cinnamon sprinkled atop whipped cream, but there were gingerbread men sprinkles and who the hell wouldn’t have gotten exited about that!!
stari_maga
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 1:19 pm
"The sweet tooth's not really a secret," said Alexa with a little shrug, watching the way the giant marshmallow floated and wobbled and started dissolving into little white swirls in her paper cup while Waru waited for his order to come out. "Half of what I eat's probably like, skittles and snickers and stuff."
It was yummy, and cheap, and she needed something to give her the energy to literally sprint around the city at night.
Even this drink felt a little fancy compared to the kind of stuff she usually went for, but it also looked good. She gave the marshmallow an experimental lick, only for her eyes to go wide when it bobbed down and her tongue accidentally hit the chocolate part.
"Yeah, this is super good," she said, bouncing up on her toes so fast that she almost spilled hot chocolate down her shirt.
The pop-up had a couple of tables set up over to the side, and Alexa headed in that direction, sliding cross-legged into one of those cheap plastic chairs. She took an actual sip of her drink and then set the cup down, her fingernails tapping and tapping against the side of it.
"Hey, Waru?" she said, 'cause this was it, this was the kind of place where people had, like, conversations, and the words had been going around and around in her head for days.
"Can I talk to you about something? Before I, like, accidentally make things weird later on?"
She could already feel her cheeks going really hot.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 4:46 pm
"N' here I thought all the success bound types and 'collegiates-to-be' secrets revolved around ramen. You've got it on lock though, huh?"
The idea of her playing with the end of a pen while she sketched her next piece and popped something sweet into her mouth --- ******** -- it was almost too cute to bear.
The barista handing him his drink was background noise to everything else. Fresh hiss for the cup in his hands that was almost too hot to touch, yet also a nice little shock of warmth. Warmed his hands between the flash of not quite frozen air, nippy dark that held the evening apart from others. Made the frosty flakes that slowly spattered out from the sky seem all that more magical.
"Hmm?" and she wanted to talk - blew steam over his own drink as sidled into creaking plastic on spindly legs, offered up a goofy lopsided grin, because there was nothing he wouldn't talk with Alexa about -- or listen to -- or..
"Sure Alexa - heh - like. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you could say that would make anything either of us have ever seen any more or less weird, yanno?"
Leant his weight forwards enough to make sure she knew, if it was something serious, if it was something silly? How it almost didn't matter to him, all things of equal importance in the realm of 'talk'. How she deserved that same attention, if he'd only known her for months...years...
"Weird can be good even, in my experience."
stari_maga
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:43 am
Alexa was a talker. It was harder to get her to shut up than it was to get her to say what was on her mind like, ninety percent of the time, but for this, she was quiet for longer than usual as her face got redder and redder.
She took another sip of hot chocolate to procrastinate, even though, this time, she barely tasted it, and by the time she put the paper cup back down on the table, she was ready to spit it out.
"I think I have a crush on you."
There. She'd said it.
She felt even hotter now. She wasn't sure if it was 'cause of what she was talking about or if it was because of the hot chocolate. She'd figured out the crush thing back after the battle, and even though she'd been blushing and felt weird about it she hadn't felt like it was literally a hundred degrees in there.
Despite the weird temperature thing going on, she curled up in her chair, hugging her knees close and smashing her face into them. Obviously, no matter what Waru was saying, this was going to make things weird.
"Okay bye," she murmured into her little cocoon.
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Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2021 11:07 pm
The soft look and chuckle for her bright blushed admittance, the flutter of something other that churned bright beneath his skin.
He hadn’t even known — hadn’t considered — and Alexa was so damn sweet all the time; not just nice for the sake of it then? Except she was totally the nicest of nice!
How her statement put the skinned Senshis tease into a whole new perspective, shined a light on —- how Adonis hadn’t been playing — but hinting?
And then his girl - oh, His Girl, turned three hundred shades of pink, blushed inferno — and kicked him with her words as she disappeared into her knees.
Had him standing so fast he nearly tipped his own drink — because —
“No!”
He didn’t know what he’d done, got caught up between wanting to reach for her and just — standing there, clutching the end of foldaway table edge until he heard the plastic creak.
“Just — that is — Did, uhm…am I getting, dumped?”
He would’ve taken friends, would’ve taken holding hands and eating kettle corn. Would’ve taken — scraps at the dinner table — standing sideline and watching her continue to be happy withy he hoards of people who surely knew, who should’ve treasured, and how Sylvite was so wonderful - surely Alexa was equally beloved!! The idea that she liked him and just — ‘bye’ — all the things that could’ve meant.
All the doors that word shut closed…locked deadbolts and keys tossed down drains.
‘Don’t say goodbye, we can be friends, you can like all the people in the world, you can like me!!’
Unfiltered greyhound thoughts that ran after the rabbit of Alexas affection, and he could be grown enough to—to do whatever she wanted? Could be graceful in accepting ‘I like you, but..’
“That is — that’s fine — you’re really red…” felt his mouth wander without his mind, because she really was matched surprisingly well with her curls.
stari_maga
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:21 pm
"Not breaking up," came the murmur from somewhere between curled-up legs and the folds of the pastel rainbow sweater.
Alexa moved slowly, but one eye eventually peeked out over her folded arms. She saw that Waru wasn't running for the hills. She saw that he was still there, still looking at her, and holding onto the table like he was going to about to snap it under his fingers or something.
"Don't freak out! Sorry." She straightened farther. The whole curling up in a ball thing was the opposite of helpful for the fact that it felt like she was on fire from the inside, and she sucked in a breath of cool air instead. Her face was red, now, past the point of a normal blush. Her palms were sweating.
Was this what usually happened when you told someone you liked them and they accepted that? Alexa had no idea.
"I don't really, uh, confess my feelings to people that much? I panicked. I didn't wanna watch if you were gonna think I was being weird and dumb."
She probably would've burst into tears on the spot, and then he would've thought she was being more weird and more dumb.
"But," she smiled, even through the fire in her face. "I think you're cute, and you're a sweetheart, and really fun to hang out with, and I think I'm feeling some things 'cause of all that."
The way he was looking at her now, the way he was saying she could like anyone, or him? It only made her heart flutter faster in her chest.
She tried to breathe and took another sip of hot chocolate to slow her thoughts down. "Yeah."
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 3:42 pm
He wanted to tell her there was nothing to break, not really; except their friendship, except his heart. If she wanted -- if -- how he'd let her, even when it felt worse. How mending bones was easier and hurt less, somehow. Than the act of waiting for the ache of 'people I won't see ever again' to slowly sooth over. He would see her again though, because she wasn't getting rid of him, wasn't -- dismissing him.
No great denouncements of their time together or pleas for space poured forth. No grand assurances that it wasn't him, regardless of how common a denominator he found himself to be. Alexa said 'stay' - even as her skin glowed brightly enough to outshine the pastel wrappings that bunched warmly around her face. Even as he worried over whether he should be checking her temperature, poor girl nearly looked like she was steaming.
"I would never. Awh, Alexa? Just...jeezus, give a guy a heart attack, yeah? No lie, I never woulda pegged you for the shy type."
Tossed in tease to hide the worry, smothered that down under a sigh when he realized he could sit down. That Alexa wouldn't become Sylvite and poof off to somewhere he couldn't feasibly follow. Found ease, as her smile grew, as she slipped out sweet nothings that made his cheeks darken.
"Lissn', like - you can feel all the things, yeah? Whatever you want it to be, I'm real flexible with this kinda stuff. Feelings, flirting, ******** - if it all fades off the second I stop being 'cute'? That's fine too.."
Soft, and he felt like he could finally take a sip of his drink. Could sigh steam and lick whipped cream off his upper lip; now that he was sure she was staying. Now that he could breathe. He could taste cinnamon and gingernsnap - could sip earthy chai and the hint of cardamom that seemed to be mixed into it.
"But I'll always be your friend lexi, no matter what, yeah?"
His Girl, soft spot in his heart that he held for all the people who fell into that ever shrinking sphere of 'mine'.
"If that means you want more of anything - well - what kinda fool would I be to say no? I can be dense, but like, hell - even I'm not that dumb."
If she needed more people, if she had other crushes, if she wanted to change the way things were? Waru prided himself on being open to all of that. Knew at his core that sometimes people needed more, that life was a transient thing which lent it to being constantly in flux. Shifting in and out of phases like the tide lines hinged on the pull of the moon.
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 9:58 am
"What? You'll never stop being cute!"
That snapped Alexa out of her little moment of nerves and embarrassment. She sat up all the way, her back straight, her fingers gripping the edge of the plastic table now. If he thought that she was weird for liking him, that was one thing. She'd have hated it, but she could've worked thorough it. Probably. If he thought that he was anything but the absolute cutest, though?
Yeah, that was just unacceptable.
"Cuteness isn't just what you look like, it's who you are! And you're, like, adorable. Plus, you could totally rock a different body type, or more tattoos, or something."
Alexa nodded like she knew what she was talking about. It was basically impossible for her to physically blush any deeper at this point, but metaphorically, she was going a thousand more shades of red than she'd already managed.
With that same blushy, butterfly-stomach energy, she reached out to wrap his fingers in hers, smiling at the different kind of warmth that ran up her arm as their hands touched.
Then she drooped, eyelids fluttering in a less romantic way, 'cause she could only ignore the fact that it felt like she was burning up from the inside for so long.
"Hey Waru, you flirt with people a lot, right?" she asked. There was no judgement there. It was actually more of a statement than a question. Alexa knew the rumors. She wasn't worried about being his everything in the first place, that seemed like a lot of pressure, anyway, just, maybe she could be his something.
"Does it normally make you feel really, really hot? Not just kinda blushy, I'm talking, like, you're in a literal sauna."
The sweat was starting to show up on her face, too.
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Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 12:05 am
'Godamn, Alexas sweet' - she was wrong - but she was sweet.
Because he didn't mean cute like a carebear, not so much as he meant novel. He knew the novelty of him, how he was, would wear thin, how it always wore off - sooner or later, and her tastes would change. Sooner or later? 'She would change - or he would change - or...'and he buried those thoughts.
For how sweet she was, for how she made his face burn and stomach flow with fresh new fleeting feelings. Fun that churned thoughts of... oh...ten thousand thoughts of all the good times they could have between the moment they were in, and the inevitable end.
"Haha, I mean - okay, yeah. I guess I am pretty adorable, like. Officially and on the inside right? Super cute, even." a half snorted aborted laugh while he squeezed her hands in his own and ran his fingers over the tops of her knuckles, brushed calloused thumb pads over flesh that felt 'hothothot' - on fire - how her blush was putting actual fires to straight ******** shame.
"I also flirt with a guy on actual - like - living fire. Soo...uhh.." and he maybe wasn't the best judge of certain things, but she'd been red for -- way longer than a minute -- and it didn't seem to be dissipating, and...
Waru was about to open his mouth and say something, was going to comment on whether or not she'd caught some winter bug that was flying about; or ask if Alexa was allergic to something in the fat melting mess of caocao -- when he sneezed.
Bright icy flurry of snowflakes that 'aaaahchooed' all over their hands. How he stared, bug eyed and bewildered at the rapidly melting frost. Watched them flake from individually lovely shapes into meltwater where their fingers were joined. "Wh-whaat-the-actual-f u c k...."
He'd never been more embarrassed in his life -- wait no - he totally had - but sneezing snow on his flaming first date was a definite close second to 'most embarrassing moment'.
stari_maga
Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 8:31 pm
Yeah, even now she probably wasn't as hot, temperature wise or anything else, as Faustite. If Waru was used to half-youma, he'd probably have a messed up baseline of how people's bodies reacted to stuff like this.
Which was fine, just not super helpful at this exact second. Alexa nodded weakly.
Then, Waru sneezed snowflakes all over her, and everything made a whole lot more sense.
"Oh," she whispered, and like half of the tension that she'd been carrying in her shoulders dropped away in less than a second. "Oh. It's just the magic." Her voice was still a little bit far away, a little bit feverish, but she talked like she knew what she was talking about.
"There's a couple times a year the boundaries between the worlds get thin and the magic acts up. There's fairies involved. It's a whole thing, and yeah, it's about that time."
She'd been taking notes on this stuff for years. She'd chased a fairy into a bush, looking for answers. She'd left a cake in the park as a peace offering afterwards. As a result of all this, there was a folder in her office stuffed with hints and rumors and evidence.
"It usually goes away after awhile, but, uh," her chair scratched against the concrete as she stood up. "If you're all icy?" She took the few steps over to him, and slowly, giving him time to scoot away or something if he wanted, she put her arms around him.
"Maybe we can balance each other out?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:11 pm
'Oh ******** --- the fever's cooked her brain.'
Immediate concerns that lingered in the worry which glazed over his gaze. Wrinkles that formed right between the apex of his eyebrows, the way they scrunched up comically as she talked to him about -- and he wasn't sure if she was going to give a speech on 'birds n' bees', or if she was higher than any kite he'd ever met? Because faeries, magic and thin boundaries that lay between the realms? All-of-that sounded like something straight out of -- a fever dream - the bottom of a bottle - of....all sorts of the worst kinda trips.
If only Alexa hadn't seemed soo absolutely chill about it. Like this was the umpteenth time it'd happened to her. If not for all her calm demeanor that screamed 'this old hat', he might'of panicked.
Which...okay...it was DC, they had demons that looked like daddies and wispzillas that became glowing office pets. So maybe it wasn't anything new?
Still, as chills ate his frame and icy fog flowed along his nerves - he was really beginning to wonder what in the nine hells the barista'd put in their drinks. His -- hers -- it was so very much like the cookies all over again. Except no trippy bright glow side effects. Nah, this came full on with snow sneezes and hellfire hot-flashes. Something he normally would've protested, heavily, except for how Alexa was suddenly standing, leveling propositions his rabbit quick heart couldn't have possibly refused.
She was warm enough that he shivered for her touch. Didn't wait to drag her into his lap, to return her hug tenfold. "Sure thing Miss heat miser. Heh, you really take all this craziness in stride, huh?" She was wonderful, even as he sniffled snow and shuddered like a freshly fallen leaf.
How he liked the thought of that -- 'balancing each other out' -- basking in her warmth while she soaked up his chill.
"Fair warning tho..if I start to melt, or if you burst into flames?" teased options in his head, breathed air that misted into frost before his very eyes. "We're, uh..I dunno, hospital? Faustite? Something~ Oh, the Amazon dragoness likes stuff like this, for sure."
