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 Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:46 pm
Valentine's was one of Demeter's favorite holiday seasons. Though, really, she flat-out adored every holiday and couldn't bear to label one above any other. Each had its own cute theme, after all! And all the opportunities for seasonal outfits! One of the things she loved to do for Valentines Day was to get valentines for all her friends. Everyone deserved to know they were loved. It was a day of love, and not just romantic—not to Demeter. It would be such a lonely holiday if it were the way some people tried to push it, which was why she went so hard on appreciating all her friends. This time, though, she had a very special new friend. One who fought crime. With superpowers. Just like her. It was totally epic. She practically vibrated in place at the spot she'd asked to meet Hydor, wanting very much to give the lonely Senshi her gift to him.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 12:42 am
What did Demeter want?She asked to meet him, and seemed determined that they had to meet up for some odd reason. He wasn't sure what would have invited the vaguery other than the fact he seemed to keep finding people who were Just Like This, and Demeter was at the top of the Just Like This™ list. On one hand, he was tempted to tell her he was busy. He had some freelance work to do or ... some s**t. In his room. Alone. On the other hand, he knew he was probably this newbie's strongest connection, and as much as he was primarily concerned about making sure the Negaverse didn't remove anyone else from universal cycles, he guessed helping a newbie might have been part of that. Maybe. That was how he kept ending up in Ancha's sphere, too. He needed to tell Faust to get him away from newbies-- Was she ******** vibrating in place? "Need a patrol partner?" Hydor, gruff as ever, slowed his walk as he approached the basic aura as his brows rose ever-so-slightly, his lips an unchanging flat line. What the hell had her unable to stay remotely still--
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 3:20 pm
Demeter couldn't help but grin at his approach, rolling up on the balls of her feet, back down to her heels. It didn't provide much upward movement, given the heels on her shoes, but it still looked and felt bouncy. "Not quite yet!" she said brightly, "I have something for you first, then we can go on patrol if you're cool with it!" With a dramatic flourish, she reached into her subspace and pulled out the items. First, a card, and second, a small heart-shaped box of Russel Stover's chocolate-caramel candies. "Happy Valentine's Day, friend!" She really hoped that Hydor liked it. She'd spent a couple hours trying to draw on what little she knew about him to pick out something she thought would fit him. The sarcastic card wasn't to her taste, but it seemed like something that would make Hydor crack a smile. And chocolate-caramels couldn't go over too badly. Not like she knew if he was allergic to peanut butter and couldn't have Reese's, after all.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 4:53 pm
What was she grinning about? He didn't quite get the chance to ask before she was bouncing more and talking and asking if he was cool with a patrol -- of course he was, he figured that was probably what they were doing here -- and then pulling things out of subspace. A card. A heart-shaped box. For a moment, he felt his heart jump into his throat, and he swallowed it down as he glanced from her to the things she was holding. Happy Valentine's Day-- Friend? The heart attack went away and was replaced with something that could be best described as abject confusion. He glanced between her and the items she was holding and her again, and finally managed a stuttered, "What?" that laid between bafflement and surprise. "Why?" Why was she giving him things? They were friends now? Hadn't they just met-- What even did that card say?
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 5:15 pm
She winced internally, watching his face journey go from "oh my god I befriended a crazy woman" to sheer "what in God's green Earth is she on about?" Which was, at least, slightly better than thinking Demeter was crazy! She really didn't need anybody thinking that. "What do you mean, why? We're friends, of course. Well, I suppose more like friendly superhero acquaintances, but saying 'happy Valentine's, friendly superhero acquaintance' doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? You saved my butt not that long ago and you're kind of one of the only White Moon Senshi I know now, so! Boom, friend-Valentine. I think everyone should get a valentine on Valentine's Day! Not enough people treat it as a holiday for all instead of a holiday for just romantic couples. Like, friends deserve appreciation too, but nothing is like, in the stores for 'National Friendship Day'. But there's plenty of goofy friend Valentine's cards, so why not just let it be a celebration of all kinds of love, right?" .... Oh, shoot, she was babbling. She was totally rambling. Her jaw snapped shut and she blushed, pulling the card and chocolates closer to her body as the shame started to creep in.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 6:20 pm
What did he mean why? He was fairly sure that was self-explanatory, considering what she was holding out to him and offering to him-- And then, of course, she proved why she was a Talker, and Hydor supposed he was getting his answer but his comparative preference for quiet stood out in comparison. He supposed Friendly Superhero Acquaintances was considerably clunkier than Friends, he would give her that far as much as he still wasn't sure friends was the right title. Didn't friends take work and time? Friends came with obligations and concerns and risks responsibility. Was easier not to acknowledge it. He had saved her a**, actually, so he guessed he could wrap his mind around that kind of gift exchange, but wasn't Valentine's Day for lovers and romance and s**t he didn't care about? She had an explanation for that too, of course, saying friends deserved appreciation too. Plenty of goofy cards, friends deserved appreciation, right. In relation to them. And now she was blushing and suddenly not a Talker. Uh. He didn't know what to do with embarrassment-- ********. He felt obligated to clear at least that up but he didn't know what the hell he was doing. Embarrassment at least wasn't productive for patrols. "Uh." He cleared his throat. "Used to Valentine's Day as a capitalistic-doused lovers fest. Also wasn't expecting...," Gifts. Her calling them friends when they just met. Socialization. Anything about Valentine's Day at all. Whatever. He shifted from one foot to the other. "I'll uh. Take the gifts." Yeah. Maybe that was correct. ... How did people keep finding him?
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 11:01 pm
Demeter nodded at his explanation, relief slowly trickling in. Okay, yeah, good. He didn't think she was insane. He was cool with this. Good. She was almost ready to crawl into a hole in shame, after that. She handed over the box and the card, shifting from foot to foot, still feeling somewhat embarrassed. "I hope you like it," she mumbled more than said, trying not to sound like some kind of creepy lovesick girl. She just thought it would be nice!
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 6:41 am
At the least, he didn't find her any more bizarre than he had in the first place-- As she mumbled, he very awkwardly took the items from her, glancing over them. He didn't really know what to do with the heart-shaped box other than check over notes in his head that she, thankfully, was not offering this as some sort of romantic proposal. It did have chocolate in it. He ate like he had never quite left the poorest days of college; fancier chocolate would at least be a change of microwaved cup food like rice and ramen and mashed potatoes. He'd eat it, for certain. Then there was the case of the card. Cards made him nervous at their appearance. So many wrote adulations that felt false, well wishes he knew weren't true, and expressions of care or affection that he had demonstrated evidence he could point to for the purposes of disproving it. There had been a sense of relief when his parents had finally dropped the What A Parent Should Do act and had stopped reaching out at all. There wasn't really any of that on the card, though, just a blatant prodding at what this ******** capitalistic-coated gift-giving s**t actually was. If what she was looking for were a half-quirk of his lips and a quiet snort, she got it. "Uh," right. That was a good response. "Thanks," that felt like pulling teeth though. "Glad you didn't go with one of those sappy s**t cards. I don't eat much so I'll probably eat the chocolate pretty fast."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 8:40 pm
Don't eat much? Well, that made Demeter concerned. But she tamped down the impulse to get nosy and worried all over Hydor, knowing that he probably wouldn't appreciate it. "Haha, yeah, it wasn't too hard to clock you as the kinda guy who would love that for a card," she said with a grin, feeling elated at having elicited such a positive reaction from him over it. "I'm glad you like it. Ready for patrol?" She gave him a cutesy salute.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:40 am
He thought he made it abundantly clear what his general preferences are and made it easy to factor for them. His first and foremost was perhaps the easiest: stay away from him. But the universe's order was being violated, and Hydor didn't have much of an option to work by himself. At the very least he needed a cat, and beyond that he needed to make sure his other fellow Order types didn't end up being food for whatever the ******** Chaos was coming up with this time-- At least for being a Talker, though, she had proven herself a few times to have decent ideas. "Yeah, no. Save that for the people who want it." Hydor glanced over the card one last time before casually disappearing it, opening the heart-shaped box afterward to snatch a few pieces of chocolate. Might-as-well give himself some ******** sugar fuel for patrolling-- It had been a while since he had eaten anything this sweet and sticky, and it took him momentarily by surprise, but he shook it off. With his mouth partially full of sticky sweet chocolate, he started with a, "I don't got anything, so," and hoped she wasn't expecting an even exchange. He swallowed. "Yeah, time to save the universe." For as lofty as his words are, his tone was dry and sarcastic at best. She had made the right read, for sure.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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