A Very Claremont Excursion (IC)

[Lone Star]

Janis wrapped her arms around Vicky's waist, and put her head on her shoulder. "Nah. Sorry, Morgan. She's mine now." She stuck her tongue out at him, then returned to Subito's side. "But he'll do." she said, putting her hand over his. "Seriously though, Vick, we'll need to split up at some point. I haven't bought new jeans in ages, and I'd hate to drag our dates into that. Or would I?" A manic grin crossed her face. "The true test of romance!"

Although she felt a bit like she was trapped in a can, it was still going to be a good day. The mallgoers moved around the four teenagers standing still. She sighed happily, glad to be on a date with her friends.

"That being said, maybe we can hit Best Buy first?"

[Ari]

"If you need jeans Jan, best place is the fourth store on the left, second floor" Subito declared without hesitation. He grinned "and sure! So something from Best Buy, jeans, something else, then we stop at Spacers, then the movie? Take as long as you guys need" he assured Morgan and Victoria "the restaurant is just outside the mall to the west, it has a statue of the Earth with a rocket going around it, impossible to miss!" he added as he walked off rapidly in the direction of the consumer electronics store.

"So, Jan" he said companionably to the lightning-thrower "Where are you from? Vick never mentioned that, and I gotta admit I'm curious. People from different states here sometimes seem to come from almost totally different countries, 'sides the language of course"

[Azuth65]

Vicky took Janis' hint and laid one hand over the one her roommate slid around her waist and returned the favor. She whispered so only the blond fulminokinetic could hear her, "Easy now, we don't want to break the boys this soon do we?"

At a more normal volume she said with a wink as the broke apart, "I dunno, Morgan never complains when I try on clothes. Maybe it's that, unlike this one girl I dated a couple years ago, I don't make him suffer through it on an empty stomach."

Double checking the location of the Best Buy she nodded, "I could use some new pen nibs for my stylus, I've nearly worn the first patch down to nothing on this dungeon punk thing I've been working on. Also a good sized external hard drive..." she said trailing off.

[Lone Star]

Janis smiled at her date as she responded. "I'm a native Freedonian, actually! So there's not much else to know, but my dad does make a mean steak. I guess that's the extent of 'culture' that exists in my family. What about you, Subito? Tell me a bit about your home life." She was glad that the two of them seemed to be getting along. Her heart, previously racing, was calm, and her signature sunny attitute was back.

"It's been forever since I've hit a Best Buy." she said to her roommate. "I could probably use a few blank discs, and maybe a new computer game. Although there's always a lot going on at Claremont, our LAN parties in the computer labs have always been a good way to relax."

[Quinn]

Morgan pointedly did not look in the direction of the two girls, instead affecting an easy gait through the crowd of mall-shopping Freedomites. Mention of a LAN party made him perk up a bit, though; he did like a good RPG once in a while. (Though he'd long passed the point of wanting to make a Fus Ro Dah rune; so unsubtle).

"Eh, food or no food, so long as Vickie tries on a slinky dress, I'm happy." Slyface. He did look somewhat awkwardly between the Best Buy and his bag after that, though; he was a bit unsure if the rune stuff would short out any electronics. He wasn't up to using his entire allowance paying off a busted TV.

"And yeah, second what Jan said, Sube; what was it like back home? Bit easier than Claremont?" Wink.

[Ari]

Subito frowned a little deeper than usual, slowly rubbing his curly head with an agitated hand before answering: "It was..well it was hot, very loud and kind of crowded. I don't really remember too much of it, my family left Puerto Rico when I was eight. Apparently some douche with more powers than sense decided to attack a local hero in their secret identity, the fight levelled several houses before the villain was beaten, and my parents figured they could do better than rebuilding their century-old home. Most of what I recall of the place was when me and my sister Galanta would go wandering around the hills of our Adjuntas municiplaity, looking for buried treasure or whatever. We never found any, but we found a LOT of fights, my sis loves fighting so that suited her fine, but I hated never meeting any kids my own age who were interested in just playing"

He grinned at Morgan's winking question "Nah man, contrary to the stereotype Puerto Rico is not some kinda free-love wonderland, and the schools..I dunno, as far as I can tell they're maybe a bit harder than the ones here, but as I said, I was eight when we left and didn't have any kind of definite plan for the future back then, so I may be way off. Home life was..well is busy, my parents don't take too kindly to loafing, everyone is constantly telling everyone else how they ought to do their thing(except for my cousin Rodrigo, guy is crazy-quiet and subdued), and everyone argues back. There's not much downtime, which I'm now a little less used too, never noticed it before I left and only saw my folks now and again instead of being submerged in it all the time" he shrugged in disinterest before turning back to Janis

"Gotcha, it's close to my mom's birthday so I'll look for some music she'd like. Mom loves learning to play different pieces, she thinks I oughta learn to play something too to "preserve a cultural touchstone" as she calls it"

[Lone Star]

Janis nodded understandingly after hearing Subito's story. She gripped his hand and squeezed it a little, and gave him a little smile. "Well, buddy, it is definitely good that you're here in Claremont with your buddies. Now, let's hit the store!" As she walked with him, she whispered in his ear a little secret. "Psst. You're a really cool guy, Subito. I'm having a really nice time."

Listening to what he said about his parents made her understand his shyness a little bit better. Being put under that kind of pressure from your parents must be terrible. She was glad that her father did not demand too much out of her- she generally did fine in her classes and was always active in the heroic community. But arguing constantly with your own family- she couldn't imagine how that must be. Mentally, she made a note to talk a little bit more with him later. She felt like she could tell him a little more about herself- but that would have to come another day.

"Oooh, what does she play? I've heard some international music- it's pretty cool stuff! I'm more of a heavy metaller myself, though." she said, and curled her hands into the "metal" fist.

[Azuth65]

"On the subject of the LAN parties, what's the next one? Diablo II? Or would we be looking at a Call of Duty event this time?" Vicky asked, as they walked.

Hardly breaking stride she turned her head towards her date she slid a sly look his way, "I can't promise a slinky dress but, summer is coming up and that means beach season, my favorite season of them all." What she didn't mention is how little she liked the area before her powers emerged.

Listening to Subito's story of his home life was vaguely familiar, back in Chicago she had needed to beg, borrow, and steal every minute of downtime she could if her parents were home. The basic training her parents put her through plus the usual load of homework and chores made her social life rather difficult. Even most of the books she read to relax her mother made sure they were in Cyrillic Russian to keep her skills in the language sharp.

[Ari]

"She mostly does violin pieces, stuff by guys like Mozart, she really likes Baroque composers" explained Subito, not bothering to hide his broad grin when Janis declared her musical fealty "Metal huh? Not really my thing, 'Fraid to say. Galanta and Rodrigo are more into hard music like that."

He briefly considered removing his hand from hers, but decided against it. No harm in it he told himself, looking ahead through the slowly dispersing crowd of the mall as the four students proceeded.

To Morgan and Victoria he called over as he and Janis took their separate route "Later guys! Don't forget, Spacers has a globe of the world on its roof"

[Lone Star]

Janis squeezed Subito's hand lightly. "See ya Vicky!" she said, waving at her roommate. "Don't get into trouble! Remember that they have security cameras!" she said, winking back.

So she was alone with Subito in Best Buy. "Want to get those CDs first?" she asked. There was no doubt that her previous nervousness had swam up to grab her again. A tiny gasp escaped her lips as she noticed her hands were sweating. She quickly removed her hand and wiped it on her blouse. "Crap. I'm sorry, it's just...first date with ya and all. You know how it is."

[Ari]

"Yeah, that's fine, I-huh" Subito started when Janis removed her hand from his "Oh! yeah, that can be a problem."

Walking on for a few steps an idea struck him, and he turned back to her "Tell you what, hows about we just do this?" so speaking, he slung a heavy arm carefully over her shoulders, keeping step as he did, and making sure not to lean on her. "This way we're still connected, and don't have to worry about sweaty palms" he flashed her a broad grin "And I know what you mean, my stomach is filled with like a bajillion butterflies right now"

He gently steered them both towards the shorter route leading to the store "So, the disks we need are...?"

[Lone Star]

Janis grinned broadly, and held his hand again. "I've got the exact same feeling here, Subito. But I like it." She got on her tiptoes and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. Surprised at her own boldness, she blushed brightly.

"But. Uh. The disks should be in the music section, right next to the video games." she said, walking alongside him. Oh man, Janis. You really did it this time. What if he kissed you back? What would you have done then? Just relax....alright? It's your first date, and there's no need to rush into anything. You barely know this guy!

Thoughts flowed rapidly through her head, but she managed to hopefully get the blush off of her face before he noticed. But he is cute.

[Ari]

Subito was similarly crimson at the kiss, his mouth opening and closing several times as he struggled to think of an appropriate assurance or rejoinder, at last giving up and lightly pecking Janis on the temple. "Yeah, uh...gotcha Janis, I'll check over through that aisle, it looks like it might have something suitably Baroque" he said as they stepped in through the doors of the electronics store.

I had no idea dates were this nerve-wracking he thought

I would advise you to go a bit slower, El Heraldo sounded the deep, grave voice of the Blue Dame

Awesome, how do I do that? he asked mentally

...I have no idea. That usually helped the others, at least, but they all got..involved with others a little later in life came the response

Okayyy then, I'll try and figure out how to do that then

Excellent

[Quinn]

Morgan walked beside Vickie rather quietly after the double date split temporarily, actually looking very pensive as they walked past the crowds of people. Not that it was unusual - the teen had a habit of dropping into thoughtful silences now and then when he was pondering something. Eventually he looked up at Wisp and a slightly awkward smile crossed his face; he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey, I never said this before, but...sorry I just up and disappeared like that. The training trip, I mean. I...had a lot of stuff to figure out."

And the understatement of the year goes to...

"How, ah, did things go while I was gone?"

[Lone Star]

Janis, still blushing at an alarming rate, ran over to the opposite aisle. "I'm gonna look over here!! The CDs might be on this aisle!" she said, running over to check out the rest of the CDs. Jeez, Janis. Run off like a little...well, you are a girl, after all. But not everyone runs off after kissing a guy. You've got to go back and talk to him, seriously. There's no way he'll...hello!" Looking up, she found herself in the classical section. A small smile crossed her face, and she calmly walked back to where Subito was looking.

"Hey, buddy. I found the classical CDs you were looking for."

[Ari]

The place was still a slight din for Subito's powerful hearing, and it took him a second to realize Janis was talking to him. Once that fact clicked into place however, he quickly looked up. "Really? You have?" he asked eagerly "Anything by Hayden? My mom loves his stuff." He added by way of explanation.

[Azuth65]

Vicky squeezed Morgan's free hand. "I figured there was a reason you were gone that long. The important thing though is that you're back," she said giving him a quick peck on the cheek and a reassuring smile.

The teenaged teleporter took a moment and gave a shrug, "Nothing major. Biggest thing was getting shrunk with a bunch of other people and moving through a bunch of a tiny animatronic collection of major cities and monuments. I heard the company is planning on turning the leftover tech and models into a theme park that fits on conference table."

Finally stopping in front of a store she stopped her date, "So, you requested seeing me try on a dress or two huh?" she asked with a smirk and eying the store's sign. Giving his hand a tug, "Come on, I'm curious what you'll pick out."

[Quinn]

Morgan had a somewhat sloppy grin on his face - one he would never have shown the others if they were within eyeshot. But gad, he loved this girl.

...was love the word?

He was a teenager, so it might not have been accurate.

But it felt right.

Did it feel right?

He looked at her and squeezed her hand. It felt right.

"What was it Wash said in Shindig? You want a slinky dress? I can buy you a slinky dress. I'll ask Myrmidon if he can lend me some cash for a slinky dress." Snerk. "Sorry, I didn't get that one out earlier."

[Azuth65]

Vicky gave her boyfriend a wide smile. It was moments like this she'd missed most while he had been missing, holding hands and making pop culture references. Having him back, it was like being able to breath after being held underwater.

"That right there? That's why you're awesome. I love that you can just pop out a Firefly reference," she said with a small giggle.

Tugging Morgan into the store, she spent the next half hour or so picking items out with him, modeling several of them, and finally paying for the ones she liked she hefted the bags. "Okay, I've had my fun. Were there any stores you wanted to swing into before we head back for food?"

[Quinn]

Morgan had a pretty lopsided smile on his face - who said shopping with your girlfriend couldn't be fun? Though he did note that he had to pick up a bigger variation in outfits than hoodies and jeans, really. At her question, he put an arm around her side and kissed her cheek, smiling. "Most of the supplies I'd buy would raise some funny questions, love. Though I do grab a lot of my magic gear at Wal-Mart anyway, so..."

He tilted his head for a minute, pondering, then shrugged. "Nah, I'm all up on sidewalk chalk as-is. And the hotel's pretty good about keeping the workshop fully loaded. That, and I already blew the bulk of my allowance at Chapters yesterday." Weak grin. He nudged her with his shoulder and jerked his head towards the food court.

"Still got enough to pick up the tab for lunch, though."

[Azuth65]

Vicky leaned her head against Morgan's shoulder as he pulled her in, in a low voice she said, "Just please tell me your ghost fighting dust doesn't involve depleted uranium dust."

"I hear you there, I've had to budget myself pretty tightly so I have something to work with after graduation and I need to go apartment hunting. That or move back in with my parents," she said with a sigh mixed with resignation and comfort, enjoying the embrace of her boyfriend.

At his suggestion of food, "Off to meet back up with Janis and Subito?"