Electra

Wander stared down at the giant creature, furrowing her brow. "Wow... I don't think we want to get into the water with that thing. It looks like it's heading for the city. Can you get us to shore before it arrives, so we don't have to have this fight on the bridge? I don't think Tokyo has a Dr. Metropolis."

Erin looked over at Mike and shrugged. "I don't really care," she said, "I haven't done either of those places in sim yet. Want to do Tokyo first?" She had the idea that Tokyo was definitely the bigger city, with more room to run around and jump above the streets. All she knew about Panama was that there was a canal and a palindrome. "Am I supposed to use that bat thing today, or are we barehanded?"

Erin bit back the automatic impulse to make a caustic response, mainly because it really seemed like he meant it. Even if she didn't think he'd be able to help, the impulse to help wasn't something to just shoot down because it made her feel uncomfortable. "I've got a lot of people helping me on it already," she replied instead. "They've had me working with a simulated weapon in these training scenarios, I don't know if it's a prototype or just some kind of reminder tool, but it helps some. "And, you know," she added awkwardly, "same goes, if there's anything I can help you with. Mr. Archer's already inside."

Erin straightened up at the first sound of footsteps in the long hallway, looking over to see Mike approaching at his customary slumping lope. She watched him approach, ignoring her brain's usual burst of chatter about how he was bigger than she was and very strong, and the best way to incapacitate him and make her escape from this underground tomb. At least ignoring those particular reflexes was getting a lot easier after a year around people who mostly didn't want to kill her. She clasped her hands behind her back as he made his apology, and tried to think of what to say in return. "It's okay," she finally told him, after a moment's uncomfortable silence. "I shouldn't have said the things I said either. I know you're not a coward, and if you've got issues you need to sort out, I've certainly got enough myself." She smiled, a little weakly, but it was an effort. "We've both got enough people giving us advice about how to run our lives, I'm pretty sure."

This is the OOC thread for Mike and Erin's reconciliation and simulation destroying.

Erin fidgeted as she leaned against the wall outside the Doom Room, clad in her blue and gold training uniform. She'd come way too early for her training session today, intending to sit down and finish up some of the papers she was behind on since the trip to Erde, but her mind kept wandering. Maybe because it was the end of summer and she knew she wasn't going to have to keep this punishing schedule much longer (at least the school year would be a different punishing schedule!) Maybe it was because she was worried about the session itself, because today's session was a joint training session with Mike. Neither of them were actually hostile to each other after the harsh things they'd both said during the last training they'd done together, but there was a definite aura of things left unsaid between them. Mr. Archer walked by, giving her a nod as he went into the room to program the simulation. She jerked her head in return, saving the glare for when the door was safely shut between them. She wasn't looking forward to seeing what was planned for them today, but surely it couldn't be any weirder than the training she'd done with Mark. It was just a matter of the company. Erin wondered if she should apologize, just get the whole thing out of the way. Even if what she'd said had been true, it had been just as out of line as anything he'd said about her. When she really dug down and admitted it to herself, she knew she wouldn't have said anything if his comments hadn't touched a spot that was already raw. What if some part of her really was hardwired to kill, and she couldn't or wouldn't stop it? She'd been working so hard for months now, and yet she still couldn't really control herself when the critical moment came. If he was right, and some part of her was doing it because she really wanted to, even after all this time, then the whole thing was a waste, and she might as well go back where she'd come from. But she wasn't going to think that way, she reminded herself. She was getting better, and going to get better, and he just didn't understand. If she didn't want to talk about it, she couldn't blame him for not understanding. Or at least, she shouldn't. She drummed her fingers against the wall, waiting.

"It was fun. I'm glad you had a good time on the date. I'd have felt really bad if it had gone wrong after I said you ought to do it," Erin admitted with a smile. She put the lid on the box, then slid into her practice uniform and put her clothes in her duffel bag to wash. "I probably won't be back tonight, so I'll see you at breakfast. Night!" She picked up her water bottle and her bag of textbooks and headed out, leaving Alex to her meditations.

Erin unceremoniously yanked Mark and his peg family out of the car and tossed them into the box, then began sorting her money back into the plastic tray. "Makes sense, I don't know why anyone would need four living rooms anyway. Having an indoor pool or tennis court or whatever would be cool, though." She looked up at the clock. "It's getting pretty late. I probably better get moving so I can hit the gym before midnight." She smiled a little. "Mark and I are training together tomorrow afternoon. I'll try to make sure nothing beats him up too badly, for your sake."

Stesha had been staring at Dark Star like he was more of a strange inscrutable creature from outer space than usual, but she turned her attention fully back when Taylor asked her the question. "Um, I think they sent her clothes, and she put them on. A big white silk sheet like a tablecloth for a toga, some strappy sandals, and a little crown." She pointed to the cedar box, still sitting empty on the loveseat. "She put the crown on, and that's when she started talking in the different voice, the deeper and echoey voice. She disappeared just a few minutes later. If any of it had any powers, I don't think she knew about them. It was more like getting dressed for a trip you don't want to take but have to go on. I'm not even sure if she knew it when the other voice started talking."

"No, I like to hear about it," Erin told her. "I haven't got time for TV anymore, but listening to real life drama is better. And if you can't talk to your roommate about these things, who can you talk to, right?" She spun the wheel and nudged her car into the life judgment lane. "This is the only part of the game I hate, having to try and count everything out. You want to call it a draw, say we split the mansion into two giant condos and everybody lives there?"

"I am too," she said emphatically. She looked down at his picnic basket. "If you want to leave this here, I'll pack it up for the trip, and we can meet here... say Friday at seven? I'll give you a call tomorrow and we can talk about details. It'll be a really nice weekend, and I can't wait to see all the things you've been telling me about." There were layers of meaning in that, but they probably weren't anything that should be explored right then. "Want me to give you a ride home, so you don't have to change?"

"You'll have a good time. Just be happy and don't overthink it." Erin moved her car around the final bend in the track. "He's a nice guy, and he's pretty good at the television reality game. Just don't think to yourself how silly doing things like going to the movies on a date is, and kiss him in the dark. Then you can come back and tell me how it worked out."

Stesha flushed pink at Jack's insinuation, then crimson at Ace's misinterpretation. Given that her face was already blotchy and swollen, it definitely wasn't a good look for her. "That is not how it happened at all," she told Derrick, though it wasn't entirely clear he was currently on the same planet with the rest of them. "If you want to speculate on something," she told Ace, "why don't you tell us the plan you said you had? That's what we're interested in hearing." She wrapped her arms around her knapsack and squeezed it again, holding it like a security blanket.

"Yeah..." she agreed. "I know the feeling." She rested her hands on his chest a moment, feeling his heart pounding under her fingers as quickly as her own was beating. With a rueful sigh, she slid off his lap, sitting just far away enough on the couch to give them both a little space. "Yeah, I'm not sure either. And it would be fun, I'm sure, but, you know." She smiled at him, still a little breathless. "It's getting kind of late, and we already missed everything but the credits in the movie. It would probably be smart to call it a night."

Erin shrugged. "It's just what you do. Why do you go to see a movie if the point of a date is to go be with a guy? If you're not making out, all you're doing is sitting next to each other and not looking at each other. Harry Potter should be a good one though, it's been out for a couple of weeks. Anyway, even if TV isn't exactly like real life, you've seen it and he's seen it, and it's a set of expectations that you both have there in your minds, like a script. You don't have to follow it, but there's no reason to pretend like it's not there."

Stesha glared at Jack. "It's not like you have any business talking about people being creatures of their appetites, especially where Moira is concerned," she snapped, then attempted to rein herself in for the good of the actual discussion. "Honestly, I didn't know anything about any of this until just today. Moira told me she grew up here, with her father, and that he left her the bar in his will. She's not really a goddess, even if she looks like one, she doesn't want to take over the world or have people sacrificing to her or anything." She slid a little closer to Dark Star, though that was largely a fruitless exercise, and spoke to Ace. "If you know any way to solve this without anyone getting hurt or put at risk, we can try that first thing."

Erin chuckled, even if it seemed a little halfhearted. "You actually asked what you were supposed to do while you're at the movies on a date? Don't you ever watch TV?" She raised an eyebrow. "Or was that just what you wanted to have happen? Pretty good move, if it was. I hear you should make sure to go to a movie that's been out a few weeks, so the theatre's not very crowded."

Stesha was breathing hard by the time they broke apart, a movement that didn't do much for either of their peace of mind. Her hairsticks had become dislodged at some point in the proceedings, leaving her braid to tumble down her back and a few loose green strands to frame her face. The air smelled like a greenhouse in spring planting season. She smiled at him, looking a little dazed. "You're really a good kisser," she told him artlessly, but entirely sincerely. She might have been more than ready to go again, but she had to catch her breath first.

"Yeah, sure," Erin said, sitting back against the bed. "We were playing I Never at my best friend Kathi's house, and I beat her because I never kissed a boy and she'd been making out with Ben Bowen in the back of the band room for a month. So when we were outside later and some of the boys came over, she dared me to kiss Luke Debush, right there in front of him, so he would look like a dork if he backed off." Erin snorted at the memory. "I was a sucker for a dare, but I wish she'd dared me to kiss a guy who didn't lick his lips all the time. He was a nice guy though," she said, her voice getting a little softer. "They all were, even when they were being obnoxious." She pushed herself away from that memory, and went back to quizzing Alex. "I thought you said he kissed you once. There were two?"

Erin thought about that description for a minute while she took her turn. "It sounds nice," she said at length. "A lot nicer than my first one, but I was thirteen and it was half on a dare, so that doesn't count." She smirked, moving her little plastic car and collecting another paycheck. "So did he use his tongue? '

"Nothing's impossible, I guess," Erin replied with a shrug. "Maybe he has hidden depths just waiting to be explored." Her expression said she didn't consider that too likely, but she wasn't actually going to say so if Alex wanted to believe that. They took several more turns around the board, the two little cars staying fairly evenly matched. Erin made another dramatic speech, heavily influenced by the Pledge of Allegiance, to get Mark out of a house fire, and Alex got twin boys for Mike's car. "So what did it feel like?" Erin finally asked. "When he kissed you?"

Erin nodded agreement at that. "That's why he's good to practice on. I don't think it would even hurt his feelings that much if you get tired of him and want to quit. And that's a good reason not to use him for anything more than practice, but it still sounds like fun. What are you going to go see at the movies?" She looked down at the board. "And weren't you supposed to be sulking through this turn since you had to get your car repaired? I'm still stuck with blue collar wages here, you know." she teased.

Stesha bridled at the suggestion that Moira wouldn't know her own mind enough to tell whether she was being kidnapped, but it was hard to actually argue the fact that her friend's attitudes could be a little capricious. "I still think it's wrong that they can do that, but if we can find her and talk to her and know she's not in danger, even if she doesn't want to come back..." She broke off and blinked hard a few times, pressing her lips together and giving the knapsack a harder squeeze. "If she's okay and she doesn't want to come back, that's very different. But we don't know that unless we find her. I think she's in trouble, though. I think they're trying to change her into something she doesn't want."

She settled in on his lap, giving him a smile that brightened her entire face. Putting one hand on his shoulder to balance herself, she touched the other to his face, running the backs of her fingers lightly along his cheek. "That's good," she replied. Kissing him again seemed like an excellent idea, except that it would surely be unwise after the entirely prudent suggestion she'd just made that they should wait and think before doing anything else. But the emotion and the position and the opportunity of the moment all provided much louder, if not necessarily stronger, arguments in favor. Oh, hell with it. Leaning into him, she closed her eyes and kissed him again, actions speaking much more clearly than words right now.

Erin hesitated, then shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Some people who've been around awhile say that he and Zaranna, the girl with the little dinosaur, hooked up for a little while, but he's not bragging on it or anything. But with the way he looks and the way he's always so confident, and you said he's a good kisser, it seems likely. Doesn't mean you have to do anything with him if you don't want to."