7/21 Instance: Chicken!

[Svartfreja]

Current Timeline.


<Carol> Carol's bed was a mess of flashcards with names on as she tried to eliminate people. She had changed her mind about a hundred times already and was still no closer to being happy with the result. Maybe she needed more coffee? She got up to remedy the situation then looked at the time... Crap. She was a bit late. She set the coffee on to get started then hastily started undressing so that she could shower.

<Cessily> Cessily checked her reflection on the shiny surface of her palm one final time, before knocking on the door to Carol's room. "Carol?" she asked, her voice raised. "You ready?"

<Carol> "Uh... that depends on your definition..." Carol called back, tripping over her shoe on the way into the bathroom and flailing.

<Cessily> "Are you okay in there?" She did her best to sound concerned, even though the sound of something falling over brought a smile to her face. "Just tell me if you need help with anything, yes?"

<Carol> "No, I'm good... uh... you can come in or you might be out there for a while..." she turned the shower on then remembered she should get a towel.

<Cessily> Cessily chuckled as she let herself in. "You forgot the time again, didn't you?" She didn't make it sound like an accusation, but rather an amused statement of facts. She closed the door when her gaze was drawn to the mess of Carol's bed. "I see you've been busy."

<Carol> "Work distracted me a bit... a lot..." she confessed, hurrying back into the bathroom with the towel so she could take her shower. "Help me out?"

<Cessily> "With your work or in the shower?" Cessily asked with a laugh, stretching her neck so she could peek around the corner into Carol's bathroom.

<Carol> "... Don't tempt me," she threw Cessily a grin when she saw her face. "That stuff on my bed... SHIELD have finished all the construction work now so they're pulling out the bulk of their people. They're going to leave a few behind to help out with maintainence and stuff and I'm allowed to pick them but so far all I have is two people that haven't pissed me off yet and that's only because they've been here all of a week..."

<Cessily> "And you want me to help you pick? You sure about that?" Cessily pulled back her head before aiming for a clear spot on Carol's bed to jump on. As expected by anyone but her, this made the mess get much worse. "Uhm, Carol, the cards weren't... aren't sorted in any specific way, right?"

<Carol> "Nope, I was just starting on round five... you can't do any worse than I've been doing." The smell of coffee made her hurry her shower along.

<Cessily> "Oh, good!" Cessily grinned and breathed in relief. She made herself comfortable and picked up some of the cards at random. "Anything in particular we're looking for? Because otherwise you know I'll just end up picking the cutest."

<Carol> "People that can do the job and not fail so hard or be jerks to the other staff or students. They're just here for basic security detail and general maintainence, nothing too taxing, you know?" She shut off the water and wrapped herself in a towel, going to get some of the coffee. "Want some?" She held up the jug.

<Cessily> "Oh yes, thanks." She gave Carol a smile in return. "I can try to remember who the students complained about the least, if that helps." Taking a sip from the hot coffee, she shuffled through the names with her free hand.

<Carol> "That would be a huge help, it'll be good for narrowing it down anyway," she wandered over to her closet, rubbing at her hair with the towel and taking a sip of her coffee at the same time.

<Cessily> "If you like, we can talk it over during lunch," Cessily suggested, trying different way to order the name cards, but only ended up confusing herself eventually, prompting her to start over again.

<Carol> "Shall we bring the flashcards?" Carol glanced over her shoulder, holding up a shirt for approval.

<Cessily> "Only if you feel like taking along work," Cessily replied and looked up to give the shirt an appraising glace, before giving Carol her shiny thumb-up of approval.

<Carol> Awesome, now she just needed to find a bra. "Uuugh I don't want to do anything... but I need to do this list, I kind put it off for a while..."

<Cessily> Cessily put the cards down and sipped on her coffee while she waited for Carol to get dressed. "Okay, here's another idea," she said, dangling her legs off the edge of the bed and kicking them back and forth. "We hope the place we're going to has a dart board and let fate decide."

<Carol> "Whose turn is it to pick today? I totally lost track..." She tugged her shirt down and ran her hands through her hair a few times, it was already mostly dry thanks to her powers.

<Cessily> "Uhm... me too." Cessily had her head tilted sideways, looking a little lost. "We just eat out too often." She cracked a grin when a totally awesome idea crossed her mind. "Hey, let's just drive and hit the first place we haven't been to before. Maybe we discover something new and exciting."

<Carol> "I like this plan," Carol nodded, finishing off her coffee, "Okay, let's go. We can take my truck."

<Cessily> "Coming!" Cessily quickly downed the rest of her coffee, then used her stretchy powers to snatch the empty mug from Carol's hand and put them both in the sink. "For someone who was naked just a minute ago, you look fabulous by the way."

<Carol> "Thanks," she laughed, snagging her keys and a jacket on the way out of the door, "More or less fabulous than I was when I was naked?"

<Cessily> "Now don't be silly, not even you could improve upon perfection." Cessily laughed and sneaked a kiss on Carol's cheek as she walked out of the door.

Time Passes.

<Carol> The drive down to the city was full of laughter as they compared notes on the SHIELD agents Carol was definitely not going to be keeping. The traffic was light and they drove down to a different area for a change, near where Carol went to highschool as she informed her silver companion.

<Cessily> "Did you live far from here?" Cessily asked curiously, watching the houses go by outside. "I really like this place. It reminds me a little of my hometown, just bigger."

<Carol> "Kinda... I grew up in the house I brought you to at the start of the year," She turned her head to give her a smile, then spotted something out the window. "Holy shit!" She pulled into the parking lot of the establishment, "I can not believe this place is still open."

<Cessily> Cessily's expression was a mix of amazement and bewilderment as she stared out of the window. "Chickencow?" she asked, sounding both amused and wary at the same time. "Are you sure they sell food here? I mean, edible food?"

<Carol> "Hell yes they sell edible food! I ate here, like, every day after school!" She shut off the engine and opened the door, "It is unlike any other fast food restaurant you will ever enter."

<Cessily> Cessily climbed out of the car and tilted back her head to stare at the restaurant's logo and namesake mascot above. "I think I believe you," she commented, still in awe of the wacky sight.

<Carol> "Wait til you see their menu," she closed the driver's side door and move around to collect Cessily, "It's fun."

<Cessily> "You know I don't really need to eat, don't you?" Cessily asked as Carol took her arm and pulled her along. "Which means I also don't really need to stop eating. Just saying before this gets expensive..."

<Carol> Carol laughed, "Don't worry about it, really. I don't have much of a social life to speak of so there's a lot of room in my budget for food."

<Cessily> "Then I gotta make sure you save some of that social life budget, because we really need to fix that next," Cessily replied and shot Carol a grin as they walked up to the entrance.

<Carol> "Uuuugh but that means people and you know how much they piss me off..." she opened the door for Cessily.

<Cessily> "Okay, then maybe we start off with something where you don't have to interact with them... like going to the movies!" Cessily thanked Carol with a smile and stepped inside - only to stop when coming face to face with a feathered girl wearing a coxcomb hat.

<Carol> Carol laughed at the look on her face, "Come on, just pretend it's normal." She took the other woman's hand and headed over to the counter, "We see weirder every day."

<Cessily> Cessily did her best trying to hide her grin at the staff's uniforms as she followed Carol. "Remind me to give a big tip," she said. "They deserve it for having to wear these things."

<Carol> "Oh they really do," she giggled, "I always felt bad for them... but laughed anyway."

<Cessily> "Is it evil I'm tempted to suggest this place to our students if they're looking for places that offer part time jobs?" Cessily snickered with mischievous glee.

<Carol> "... Oh God, please do. I would love that so much." She scanned the extensive menu board for something that sounded appetising.

<Cessily> "Anything you can recommend?" Cessily asked, feeling a little lost when faced with the huge list of available menus. "And don't say the chicken."

<Carol> "The chicken is fine, it's the 'trick-en' you wanna watch," Carol nodded sagely, "Mostly anything on those three boards is good but avoid the other two because it gets weird.

<Cessily> "Thanks for the warning," Cessily replied. "I think I'll keep those for another time then." Looking over the other menu boards, the silver redhead thoughtfully chewed on her lower lip. "I think I'll try the crispy wings. Oh, and maybe one of those triple cheese burgers. Some chili fries would go well with that. And extra coleslaw."

<Carol> "Hey, there you go," Carol smiled, ordering Cessily's food and then her own giant portion of food that didn't sound like food at all before she turned and leaned on the counter while they figured that out. "Where shall we sit? Or do you want to go drive around for somewhere less terrifying to eat?"

<Cessily> "And miss out on watching other people while we eat? No way!" Cessily grinned back at Carol, before waving at one of the employees to add to their order. "Oh, also donuts! Definitely donuts."

<Cessily> "Once they start singing and dancing for a birthday party we might have to flee, though."

<Carol> Carol laughed, "We can watch people anywhere... how about we go down to the harbour? I could fly us up somewhere high?"

<Cessily> "Ooh, that actually sounds lovely," Cessily replied, watching the petite girl behind the counter try to stuff all their food into one big bag. "We just might have to defend our lunch from hungry gulls."

<Carol> "Well fortunately I'm a good shot," She held up a finger, the tip glowing orange for a moment before she turned around to pay.

<Cessily> Cessily giggled at the idea of seagulls getting blasted out of the sky. "Now I feel sorry for the poor things, even though I know they're made of evil and hatred." Before Carol could protest, she pulled some bills out of her pocket and stuffed them into the tip jar. "Least I can do with you paying for our food."

<Carol> Carol smiled, taking the bags once payment had been made, "Okay then, let's go find somewhere nice with lots of targets."

Time Passes.

<Carol> Carol settled down on the edge of the roof, overlooking the water and started unpacking their food. "Do I know how to pick a good spot, or what?"

<Cessily> "After leading us to this delicious food, I never doubted your talent for finding great places." Cessily snacked on another fry from her bag as she got comfortable by Carol's side, having already decimated a considerable amount of her supply on the way to their rooftop retreat.

<Carol> "I am awesome at being awesome, what can I say?" She gave a grin, taking a drink from her milkshake.

<Cessily> "Well, you took me to the moon, so I'm not even going to dispute that." Cessily returned the grin and leaned against Carol's side, offering her one of her chili fries.

<Carol> She thanked her and took one, resting her head against Cessily's, "Never do anything unless you're going to do it well, right?"

<Cessily> "Don't forget having fun," Cessily replied, bringing up her left hand to play with Carol's blonde mane. "Always make sure you enjoy the things you do, then the doing it well part comes all by itself."

<Carol> "I enjoy most things.... but I'm still good at the stuff I don't enjoy, you know all that boring work stuff I complain about all the time... and yelling at people... okay I might enjoy that a little bit..."

<Cessily> "Just a little? I thought that was the reason you became an officer in the first place." Cessily chuckled and fed Carol another bite of greasy food.

<Carol> "It might be the reason I got promoted so fast..." she took the bite, "well aside from the awesomness."

<Cessily> "So you either impressed or intimidated your superiors?" Cessily asked, a smile on her silver lips as she gazed across the harbour bay. "Yeah, I'd say that's you."

<Carol> "It's part of my charm," Carol assured her. She let the silence settle on them for some time before she had to shift to take a sip of her melting milkshake. "Cess... I want to talk to you about something but I'm not sure how to start the conversation..."

<Cessily> Cessily turned her head to look at Carol with raised eyebrows. "Who are you, and what did you do with Carol?" she asked, chuckling softly as she wrapped her arm around the other woman to hug her closer. "I thought being needlessly awkward was my part."

<Carol> "Well usually... but this is an awkward topic for anyone, I'm sure..." she sighed, "I... I need some sort of clarification..."

<Cessily> None of Cessily's experience as student counsellor was needed to tell Carol wanted to talk about something very close to her heart. "You can tell me anything, Carol," she assured her with an honest smile. "Come on, don't be shy - what is it?"

<Carol> Carol looked down at her lap, trying to gather her nerve. Why was this so hard? "I need to know what this is... between us..."

<Cessily> Carol's nervousness proved contagious, and Cessily was unsure how to respond at first. "I'm... not sure?" she eventually replied, truthfully. "I thought we were taking things slowly... and seeing where it goes."

<Carol> "Well we were... but it's kind of been months now so..." she chewed her lip, "I think it's time to have that conversation..."

<Cessily> Cessily bit her lip, but her smile remained. "I think you're right," she replied, letting her gaze wander across the gorgeous scenery before looking back at Carol. "Now it's me who doesn't know how to begin..."

<Carol> She blew out a breath, running a hand through her hair before she looked at Cessily again, "Well... let me start then... I like this... whatever it is... I'm happy and I don't want it to end..."

<Cessily> "Oh, good!" Cessily instantly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the pressure that had tightened around her chest fall off. "For a moment I thought you had just taken me to this lovely spot to... I'm sorry, please forget what I said."

<Carol> Carol laughed, the relief washing over her, "Right, okay... so neither of us want to break this off so... that's a good start, right?"

<Cessily> Cessily giggled and bowed her head, touching her forehead against Carol's temple. "Yes, I'd say so," she said, before pressing a tender kiss to her girlfriend's cheek.

<Carol> "So... shall we say we're actually dating now? To the exclusion of others...? That okay?" She chewed the corner of her lip.

<Cessily> "Is that what you were worried about?" Cessily asked, sitting back to give Carol a sincere, sympathetic smile. "That I might not be committed to our relationship? You can be honest with me."

<Carol> Carol shook her head, "No... I just think it's a good idea to have all of this said... I mean, before we were all 'not in a relationship' so, I guess... in abstract it would have been less of a big deal... but now, if we're going to do that... sort of important, you know?"

<Cessily> Cessily nodded, while her silver fingers sought out Carol's. "Absolutely," she agreed. "I wouldn't have blamed you for having any doubts about my sincerity. I mean, I know what kind of reputation I have."

<Cessily> Now it was her turn to lower her gaze in an awkward gesture. "Should I have sent the wrong signals, I hope you believe me when I say I only did that not to appear too pushy. You know, in case you found out this whole girl on girl thing wasn't for you, after all."

<Carol> "It's fine..." she took Cessily's hand and gave it a squeeze, "Honestly, I still don't know how I feel about that... I guess it doesn't really matter. Relationships aren't something I do very well so I guess I'm a little bit to blame too... I didn't want to say something and jinx it, I know it sounds ridiculous..."

<Cessily> "No, not at all," Cessily assured her, while caressing the back of Carol's hand with her thumb. "You'd think I'd be better at this by now, but believe me, I know exactly how you're feeling." She smiled. "Looks like neither of us wanted to mess this up. I know I didn't, because... I really want this... us to work."

<Carol> "Then at least we're both on the same page... that's a relief," she laughed again, sliding an arm around the other woman to pull her into a hug. "We can totally handle this."

<Cessily> "I know we can." Cessily closed her eyes, savouring the moment she sat cheek to cheek with Carol on the rooftop in the gentle ocean breeze. "After all, we're totally awesome."