Above Fandom, Sunday Evening

[zin-the-matrix.livejournal.com]

Well, that had gone spectacularly poorly.

Once the last of the miscreants had found their way off the ship, Zinyak ordered it to retreat to orbit. It did so slowly, smoking in various places, a few fighters limping back in after the beating they'd received. (They were lucky, Zinyak supposed, that he hadn't actually sent out his fleet.) Over half his staff was at present injured, dead, or otherwise incapacitated, and Simulation 45y would have to be salvaged for spare code.

"I suppose we were overly optimistic," he sighed. "We'll have to choose an easier target." He turned towards his second in command. "Plot a course for the White House. And someone please put out this fire. I would like to sit on my throne again."

On its way up, the ship made one final, terrifying noise. Something broke loose from the bottom and plummeted back down to Fandom itself. Only then did it finally break loose of Earth's atmosphere in full.

Down below, in the park, a large chunk of ship hit an empty stretch of grass. It was a chunk of floor, divided up into rectangles that flashed in various colors according to a strange rhythm.

A second chunk of debris came down and hit the ground hard beside it. It let out a burst of static.

And then, at top volume, "THIS IS HOW WE DO IT--".

It made as much sense as anything, really.

[[ thus endeth the BDE! Thank you very much, everyone who participated! Now come out and dance, if you want. ]]

Comments

[bestatmystery]

The aliens were gone and there was a flashing disco dance floor in the park.

Sure, the music was pretty terrible, but Lottie was all over this. She and her mini-managerie were out in the park to enjoy the celebratory mood and dance up a storm.

Or, well, Lottie was dancing up a storm. The four dogs were jumping on top of each other and running in circles and yapping and the cat was sitting too one side grooming and studiously ignoring them all.

[so_hawkward]

Clint's first order of business once he was out of the ship was to get real clothes on. His second order of business was to find food and his dogs - and hey, there was the answer to half of that.

"This is just the perfect strange end to this week," he said, watching Lottie and the animals with a laugh.

[bestatmystery]

"Happy to be of service!" Lottie mimed doffing a hat and bowing. "It seemed a well central location to bring these critters so their owners could find 'em."

[so_hawkward]

Thankfully, the sound of his voice had been enough for his particular critters, and Lucky and Rook stopped playing with the other dogs and ran over to him. "Hey guys. Did you miss me? I was worried about you."

He'd get back to you, Lottie, but his babies needed a hug first.

[bestatmystery]

Lottie entirely understood! "Me and Pepper kept a good eye on them, sir, and made sure they didn't get too lonely while you were gone."

[so_hawkward]

"That was awfully nice of you," Clint said, tilting his head a little to avoid Lucky licking every inch of his face. "I hope they weren't too much trouble, especially with everything else going on."

[bestatmystery]

"Nope! I'm not much of a babysittin sorta teenager, but I can handle animal sitting perfectly well."

[so_hawkward]

"It helps that most animals are cuter than some kids," Clint said. Not his future AU kid, but some other kids. "And it's probably good they weren't with me. It got pretty strange up there."

You know, in case she couldn't tell from the disco dance floor currently occupying the park.

[bestatmystery]

"And I bet they couldn't let you have the psyck-illogical benefits of havin your animal companions with you for what they were doin."

She was so doing a class on this if she ever had to fill in for Washington in Conspiracy Theory class.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was still wearing her scavenged armor outfit but she couldn't head off to her dorm to change clothes until she was certain that the ship had left.

While she was there--"Val?" she said, recognizing one of the puppies hanging around Lottie. "Val! Here girl! C'mere girl!"

[bestatmystery]

Val paused her bouncing, head up and ears up, then barked delightedly and bounded over to greet Kathy, Pepper hot on her heels. Lottie followed a little more sedately.

"Is that one yours?" she asked. "I didn't think you had a puppy!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"She not mine," Kathy said, falling to her knees to hug Val close and pet her ears. She didn't know how badly she'd needed a hug until right then.

God, dogs were perfect. "But I've puppy-sat for her before. I know who she belongs to." She looked up at Lottie. "Were you taking care of her this whole time?"

She was so very proud of her little sister at that moment.

[bestatmystery]

"She and a couple others were just roamin around town," Lottie said. "Someone had to keep them fed. Pepper would have pouted at me otherwise."

Pepper did not appear to be capable of pouting. He was attempting to climb up Kathy's leg to get a better angle on sniffing her armor-loincloth skirt.

[spin_kick_snap]

He could sniff her loincloth skirt however much he wanted, but if he put his face under it, they were going to have a problem. A 'Kathy wasn't wearing underwear, get your nose out of THERE' problem. It would probably involve a lot of swearing because Deadwood had gotten into her head a bit and was still working its way out.

...Not that she was thinking of Deadwood or anything. No.

"Well, good on Pepper, then," Kathy said, obligingly scratching behind his ears, too. "And thank you so much. You want me to take Val off your hands? I'll make sure she gets home tomorrow."

And she maybe wanted something to cuddle tonight. It had been a very long few days.

[bestatmystery]

Don't worry, Kathy, Pepper wasn't that tall. He was very into getting his ears scratched, though. Looked like Kathy had found a new canine best friend.

"If you're sure her people won't mind," Lottie said. "I'm almost out of dog food."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was happy to be best friends with every dog. And cats as well. Hell, maybe even a bird or two.

"I'm their TA," Kathy assured Lottie. "And I'll make sure to text Eliot as soon as I get back to my room and find my phone. I promise, they'll be fine I've got her--and super-appreciative that you took care of her this whole weekend. Can I reimburse you for--" She paused, realizing she didn't have her wallet on her. Or much of anything else, unless Lottie wanted a laser gun. "If you want, when we get back to the dorms I can throw you some cash as a thank you?"

[bestatmystery]

"If you think that would be the appropriate thing," Lottie said. She knew better than to turn down money. "Though you should probably get this Eliot character to pay you back after."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll mention it to him," Kathy assured her, planning on doing no such thing. "Thanks, Lottie, this was entirely awesome of you to take care of everyone's pets like this." She scooped Val up into her arms and stood, appreciating her newly regained agility like never before. "I'm gonna head back to the dorms now. I need a serious shower and then real clothes to wear. Wanna head back with me, or are you gonna stay for awhile longer?"

[bestatmystery]

"I'll stay," Lottie said. "Unless you want more company? The end of a mystery can be a FRAUGHT and EMOTIONAL time."

Mystery, alien abduction, same thing.

[spin_kick_snap]

That was another reason she was taking Val tonight.

"No, no, it's okay," Kathy assured her with a smile, because heaven forbid her emotions interfered with what anyone else wanted to do. "I'm probably going to go right to bed as soon as my shower is over."

[bestatmystery]

"That sounds like an EXCELLENT idea. Can I take a picture of you first?"

That outfit was AH-MAZING.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, uhhh...okay?" Kathy smiled a little and set Val down, who whined. "Shh," she soothed. "I'm going to pick you up in just a second."

Adjusting her outfit to make sure that it didn't show anything it wasn't supposed to, Kathy asked, "Am I posing with the laser gun or without?"

[bestatmystery]

"Ooo! Laser gun MOST DEF." Lottie lifted her phone to snap all the pictures.

Pepper nuzzled Val when she started whining. Lottie got a picture of that, too.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy modeled Scavenged Alien Chic, both with the gun and without, glad for the reason to laugh a little. "You have to text me the best ones," she declared. "I'll post 'em to my Facebook and tell everyone it's an early Halloween gag."

It was already Halloween on Tumblr. Why not?

[bestatmystery]

"Done and done!" Lottie hurried over to get a selfie in at the last minute, doing bunny ears behind Kathy's head. Not that they'd fit in the frame. Lottie didn't believe in selfie sticks.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy laughed, tilting her head to Lottie's and giving a V-sign to the camera. "I want this one, too," she declared. "Look how cute we are."

[bestatmystery]

"We are the most adorable," Lottie declared. "Now go get that shower. You smell like alien spaceship."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Aww, and here I thought that was what every girl wanted," Kathy laughed, scooping up Val again. Not she could smell like alien spaceship and dog, the most enticing of all scent combinations.

"I'll see you later Lottie," Kathy said, waving goodbye. "And, hey, thanks again."

You know. For taking care of Val. For making Kathy smile. For offering to walk back with her.

For being a good friend.

[bestatmystery]

"You are entirely welcome!"

[rhymeswithtable.livejournal.com]

Wait? There was a victory dance party? Set to music that was funky and groovy and still older than Mabel was?

She needed to be there!

"Yeah! Victory dance party! Go Fandom!"

There was even a pig in hip sunglasses, hanging out not far from the dogs and the cat. Because Mabel couldn't go anywhere awesome without bringing her pig along, okay?