Test Drive Meme #1

[proximods]

The sun is shining and the weather is nice and toasty. Overly toasty one might argue, even. It's a great day to be laying around at the beach, so it's a good thing that that's where you've found yourself today, whether you'd made plans to be there or not. Bathing suit and sunscreen ready, you're going to get your tanning time on.

But with heat comes the expected side effects for a place like Proxima Gamma. While the cool water can sometimes slow the effects, the heated beaches and freshly popped flowers seem to have made getting close to someone else just seem like a really great idea. You can try to fight off the side effects much as you want, but the scientists like to believe everyone has a breaking point.

Comments

[leekspins]

Didn't you?

[That surprises her. She gratefully accepts his offer, sitting beside him with her arms loosely wrapped around her knees. Orihime had thought he'd come to the beach to enjoy the sights, since this wasn't exactly the sort of thing they could easily do back home. Then it occurs to her that he might be under the effects of the scientists' experiment. ...That would explain why so many others were wandering the area this particular day. It was a little more crowded than usual.]

I see...! You're in the middle of an experiment right now. I understand.

[She smiles easily, even though her stomach is in knots. She knows the nature of this place, knows that it will eventually drive Ichigo to become intimate with somebody. He might already have done so. It's not her right to get jealous about it, but still...she can't really help how she feels. All she can do is keep her emotions good and buried. At his question, she nods.]

So far! I met someone who's a superhero back in his world, he can control fire. I'll introduce you sometime!

[As much as she's looking forward to her future surfing lessons, she's pretty sure Johnny Storm would prefer having a guy friend around for extreme sports.]

What about you? What are you going to do today?

[slaythemoon]

[ He's glad she understands, because he doesn't. Nothing about this place makes much sense, if he's honest about it. Scientists and sex and weird dome worlds sound more like some porno-sci-fi B-movie plot instead of reality, but here he is on the beach of a crazy scientist's dome world hoping the part about sex doesn't happen because doing that outside on the sand would be bad. And messy. And sand would get everywhere, and trying to clean that out of places sand should never be would be the opposite of attractive. So far, he's been lucky.

And again, if he's honest, he kind of hopes she's been lucky as well. He wouldn't wish being manipulated into that on anyone. ]

Hey, as long as you do... I'll just take your word for it. [ It's a small one, but she managed to get a smile out of him. She's excited, and it's hard to be sulky in the face of that. Well, that and he's not sure if she's serious or if her imagination is getting the best of her again with the guy who can control fire, but he'll let that one slide. ] Sounds like you've been pretty busy.

[ He actually has to catch himself before he responds to her question, cutting off the word before it ever has a chance to find voice. Alright, he'll concede. If this isn't some weird scientific experimenty thing, then he wants to go have his head examined because answering "What are you going to do today?" with "...you." is not a thing he should ever be saying. In fact, as that thought's being squashed, he actually has a moment where his eyes flit downward to the circle of her arms, a faint blush creeping into his face, and a moment later, he's looking away and trying to pretend that this is all some sort of bad dream. He's been outside way too long. ]

I don't know yet. Maybe try to get outta the heat for a bit.

[leekspins]

Ah ha ha! Well, I try to stay active! The more we know about this place, the better off we are, ne?

[She's convinced that there has to be some sort of weakness in the dome, or some means of passage that they can use to escape. She just hasn't found it yet. So if he finds her out in a storm testing the dome for points where the defenses had an electrical outage...well, he'll know she has a reason and that she isn't just completely crazy.]

[At his comment, she nods. It is very hot, even here in the shade. The breeze isn't enough to alleviate the heat either. There's a way out of the experiment, of course, but she doesn't even have the courage to tell him how much she cares, let alone making a proposition. What can she do to help? Orihime looks around her, pursing her lips in thought.]

Maybe we could go to the juice bar and see if they have any shaved ice? That might help!

[slaythemoon]

[ What the hell happened that suddenly she's the practical one? Then again, he isn't that great at thinking things through when emotions ran high, and right now he's pretty sure this is one of those times. ]

Yeah. Sooner or later, we'll find a way out, even if we have to make it ourselves.

[ If he finds her out in a storm testing the dome, he'll do what he can to help so that nothing happens to her. And afterward, he'll do the nice thing and get her a towel to dry off. Friends don't let friends do crazy things on their own -not when they're his friends, anyway.

The idea of going out in the sun to go to the juice bar isn't the most appealing because sun, but he can't come up with any better ideas or he'd have done it already. ]

Alright. [ Pushing himself to his feet, he dusts himself off from any sand that might have blown on the wind and extends a hand to her. ] Let's go.

[leekspins]

Mm!

[She starts to push herself up to her feet as well, but when she sees his hand, Orihime freezes. Wh...what should she do? It's just a friendly gesture! And she knows if Tatsuki were here and saw Orihime miss the opportunity (especially if she did it on purpose), her head would be twisted right off of her neck. And now she has to take it, because the longer she keeps staring up at him, the weirder it's going to seem. She can't even pretend the flush in her cheeks is due to the heat.]

[With an awkward, crooked smile, she accepts, her thumb locking next to his, fingers curling around his palm. She always thought he had nice hands, all lean and long, calloused but warm and gentle. Would that she could keep holding onto that hand, but she just doesn't have the nerve.]

Thanks!

[With great reluctance, she lets go, but makes sure she leaves her beach bag where they were sitting just in case he wants to reserve his old spot. Frantically she casts her mind about for a new topic of conversation. She has to keep things light, focused on things they'd normally talk about.]

Th...this is a good chance to get in some extra training, too! We don't have to worry about enemies attacking and interrupting. Then when we get back, everyone will go 'Wow! So strong! We'd better go home instead of waging war or things will end up badly for us!'