fandomtownies | The C.I.C, Friday Afternoon-Evening

A sensible Zora would not still be out and about once the lightning that came with the rain that evening had started. A sensible Zora would have immediately sought shelter for the duration of the storm and be satisfied with the fact that he had spent the entire day before the lightning started up outside, enjoying the rain. But Prince Sidon was not exactly known for being the most sensible of Zora; in fact, he'd built quite a reputation out of it.

He knew Vette worked at the C.I.C. today, and he had planned to come and visit, and he certainly wasn't going to let the threat of a silly thing like potentially fatal lightning stop him.

It did make him move a little quicker, though, each flash causing his heart to surge as he flinched, reminding himself that the lightning here seemed far more forgiving and less likely to strike as it was in Hyrule, and he practically wanted to throw himself through the door once he got to the C.I.C., even if he often felt that, with all those electronics and all the equipment, it felt like just as much a death trap to him as anything else.

(He had reservations even about the filter for his tank, really, and that had been perfectly fine so far, too).

But he didn't burst in, though he might have wanted to, especially as another bolt flashed overhead. No, he just opened the door a little bit, enough to pop his head in and locate where Vette was sitting.

"Ahh, hello, Vette," he said. "Might I perhaps come in? You see, it's very wet outside, and I'm afraid I might wind up dripping all over the floor, and I would hate to inconvenience anyone too much..."

Sure, he was stupid and kind of defying death right now, but he was also still very polite and considerate.

Vette blinked up as more thunder cracked outside, and then shot to her feet.

"Sidon! What are you doing? Get that soggy princely butt of yours in here before you get fried!"

She might have forgotten about the horrifying 'I possibly killed a guy' bloodsplatter all up the front of her clothes. The raven on her shoulder gave a 'Quok!' of protest as its perch suddenly shifted, and flapped its wings around trying to keep its balance.

Overall, it was a heck of a sight.

A sight that would settle in Sidon's brain just as soon as it wasn't fuzzy with mild terror of a different sort.

"It's quite alright," he said, chuckling as he stepped in, because a chuckle was a good way to mask any tremble that might be in his voice, though it wouldn't do much to hide the relief that washed through him and chased some of the tension away once the door was shut behind him. And the dripping wasn't even that bad, as his skin was eager to absorb as much of the lingering rain water while it still could. "I was just out taking advantage of all this glorious rain, and I had wanted to come and visit you anyw---Vette!"

And now he'd noticed the blood, yes, and was appropriately startled.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Who did he need to throw into the ocean and/or have a stern talking-to with?

Vette actually jumped a little at his exclamation herself, and looked down at herself with a start before realizing-

"Oh." And an awkward laugh. "No, no, I'm fine. But you should see the other guy."

Who was a fake cadaver in a teacher's office.

...

"It's fake blood."

Probably important to specify.

If Sidon had eyebrows, they would most certainly be lifted just then, but, since he didn't, he mostly looked faintly concerned for a moment, then relieved, and then confused, but also incredibly curious.

It was an interesting journey through expressions, for sure.

"Why would you be covered," covered was a little hyperbolic, of course, but it still seemed to easiest way to describe it, "in fake blood? Is this something to do with the Halloween holiday we had?"

"Halloween holiday?"

... Vette had gotten a little wrapped up in the heist stuff. Maybe she'd lost track of the world outside. A bit.

A touch.

"Nah, this is from a class thing I had to do."

Mostly just wanted to do. Because she had been slowly going nuts around here with nothing to break into.

"It's an Earth holiday," Sidon offered helpfully, "that I believe involves costumes and candy, and sometimes changing into something a bit different than yourself that seems rather preoccupied with finding wanton women in very loose blouses, but I am rather relieved to report that that particular aspect did not seem to be a part of the festivities this time around."

Look, he'd experienced two whole Halloweens now, and the first one was very, very strange. He was mostly just glad that whatever had afflicted his first one was not something that would be traditionally repeated.

And he waved it away with a dismissive hand. "And some of the costumes do tend to lean toward the more grotesque, which is where I imagine fake blood would come in." As he considered the splattering on her shirt again, he grinned faintly. "But now you've gotten me quite intrigued as to which class this was and how it might have involved creating such a fine mess of you."

Vette tilted her head at Sidon's explanation of Halloween, and decided to just kind of process all of that one later, maybe.

She came around the counter and hiked herself up to sit on the countertop, legs swinging over.

"I'll tell you... if you can keep a secret," she said, giving him a teasing smile. "But I want to think I can trust you."

A smile like that was guaranteed to get a broad grin back, with Sidon laughing with an encouraging pump of his fist. "Of course you can trust me!" he promised. "I am excellent at keeping secrets, you know. I shall take it with me to my grave!"

Which...might be sooner, rather than later, if he kept running around during thunderstorms.

"Besides," he added, positively beaming at her, "this sounds like it's building up to be quite the story, and you do know how I feel about good stories, Vette."

Vette laughed, and then leaned forward to grin at him.

"Okay, so... in one of our classes, the teacher has us pulling a heist," she said, expression sparking in excitement. She missed that kind of action, so help her. "I've been offering my services to whoever wants a sidekick. First it was Paris, I saved her from about a million adorable puppies, and then yesterday morning Sabine and I tried a couple of other rooms."

"Paris!" Sidon remarked with a laugh at that particular detail, because it was hard not be incredibly amused though a bit bewildered by the idea of her being swarmed by puppies, and he imagined she would be thoroughly her typical grumpy self about it, while Vette valiantly 'rescued' her. "Did you know she's my roommate? Oh, I might just have to tease her a little," or a lot; it was a delicate dance, figuring out just how much he could get away with teasing her before she just pulled the plug on his tank, but, again, he was truly a very reckless Zora with a death wish, apparently, "about that, though. It clearly remains in the frame of keeping a secret if you're mentioning it to someone involved, yes? But I'm assuming it's in these other rooms with Sabine that the fake blood comes into play?"

Edited 2018-11-02 14:32 (UTC)

"Right," Vette confirmed, grinning a bit. "We opened one door," they picked the lock, "and one of the teachers had this fake body on the desk, and instructions to cut it open."

She rolled her eyes.

"It's probably the most disgusting thing I've done since I got here, but anything for a good heist."

Which just begged the question of what the most disgusting thing she'd done before she got here might be, but Sidon would do his best to focus on the story at hand before taking the tempting bait to go diving after another one. Especially since a part of him wasn't sure he'd really want to know.

...no, he definitely did. He couldn't help wondering if it would be worse than being almost digested by a giant octorok before bursting out of its stomach with the help of your spear, and, if it was, well, then, he would be sufficiently impressed.

But for now....

"And now I believe I see how the different pieces of this puzzle are fitting together," he said with a grin. "How splendidly dreadful! I trust, though, that at the very least, the instructions lead to the eventual unveiling of some sort of marvelous treasure?"

Pictured, of course, with an inevitable appropriate fanfare to go along with it.

"It was a fake," Vette lamented. "But at least around here, the treasure doesn't actually mean anything to me. And it didn't take long for us to find the real deal anyway."

A toss of a coin, pretty literally.

"I'm mostly in it for the adventure of it," she admitted.

"And it certainly sounds like such a caper could satisfy the yearning for adventure well enough!" Sidon observed, and with each bit, he seemed to grow increasingly excited. "But you simply cannot just leave it there! What became of the fake? Where did you find the real one? What sort of puzzles had to be unlocked to reveal the true prize? Surely, nothing so appalling or messy as the first?"

"Really, it was actually kind of anticlimactic," Vette confessed, leaning in with a grin. "The real one was in a drawer in a boring old office, except there were a bunch of nasty spiderwebs in there. I might have ruined a pen getting those out of the way."

There hadn't even been a spider! How disappointing was that, right?

"That does sound terribly uneventful," Sidon enthused, his smile sympathetic, "but thematic. As far as I can tell, spiders and spiderwebs are a popular decorative theme with this Halloween holiday."

Not that he understood exactly why, but he did note it was very much a thing.

"Weird holiday," Vette muttered, shaking her head. "Anyway, we took the prize, left the fake where it was at, and put the new one back in the nasty body we cut open for the fake. Make somebody else work for it, you know?"

"Well, that's positively devious," Sidon remarked with a chuckle of approval, "and yet, oddly, still somewhat fair. As you said, it would force one of the other participants to go through the same work that you and Sabine had to toil through, yet, at the same time, their efforts will yield a more positive result in the discovery of the actual prize instead of a fake! So I can only imagine they'd be grateful for that."

Edited 2018-11-02 18:42 (UTC)

"Yeah, poking through spiderwebs to get a fake is way less of a pain than operating on a fake cadaver," Vette agreed. "At least this way, they wouldn't be messing up their clothes for nothing."

But besides that, Vette was perfectly happy with being an agent of chaos in all of this. Winning, tipping Diaz off on the fact that she was capable of any of what she'd been doing, didn't seem like a great idea. And it wasn't like a passing grade at a school in another galaxy would mean anything back on Nar Shaddaa.

And that, Sidon supposed, was certainly one benefit to not wearing clothes, but he felt...much more embarrassed about potentially bringing attention to that fact than he might usually just then.

"I'm sorry about your clothes," he offered instead, sincerely, with a soft smile to match, "especially since I know you haven't many to begin with. But at least, or so I assume, they weren't Nina's. I'm sure she'd have a thing or two to say about you getting fake blood on her clothes, though I don't imagine she'd be truly upset about it for too long. Besides, it sounds like you had quite a good deal of fun with it, too."

And that, he felt, was really the important part.

"Between you and me? I've been itching for something like this since I got here," Vette confided. "Fandom's... nice. But slow."

Boring. The word she wanted to use was boring.

"Yes," Sidon said, chuckling fondly, "I do believe we've discussed that a little bit before. I'm glad, then, that you've had something a bit more exciting to occupy your time this week. And do I believe that, perhaps, one of the reasons I've come to see you tonight might help quicken the pace of some of Fandom's...slowness, though I doubt it will be as thrilling or rewarding, as it certainly wouldn't earn you much of a prize, but I can at least promise no fake blood and minimal spiders. I was hoping to pester you about that swimming lesson we were considering, maybe some time next week...if you can make room in your busy heist schedule, that is."

See Vette. See Vette perk right up.

"Oh! Right! Yes! I mean, yes, of course I can make time in my busy heist schedule, unless you were hoping for some midnight lessons, which are fine too, I mean, I'm not actually picky? I mean, I'm picky, but I'm not picky about little things like times. I mean..."

She was going to flail herself right into a ball in the corner.

"When's good for you!?"

God, Vette. Chill.

The...well, bounciness, he supposed, of her answer, the way it seemed to hop back and forth between different thoughts (was it eagerness? It seemed an awful lot like it, but he didn't dare presume that it was excitement, beyond the thrill of learning such an essential and useful skill, of course)...it was almost too much for Sidon. He laughed, beaming, and it just about nearly turned into a wistful little sigh as he tried not to think about just how easy it would be to just sweep her right up from that desk and...

...plans, Sidon. You were making plans, it was the main reason you went out in a terrifying deadly thunderstorm to see her.

"Perhaps Tuesday?" he suggested. "Or Wednesday? In the afternoon?"

Though a midnight lesson. That sounded...splendid and lovely and...terribly romantic, and something that, yes, he would very much like to pursue, but perhaps not until they were both a little more confident in Vette's skills. And when he was a little more confident about...what exactly all this even was.

Anyway...

"Tuesdays are usually my training day, but sometimes it can be good to take a bit of a break in the schedule, and my Wednesdays are typically rather drab and boring as well."

"I have... two classes on Wednesdays and one on Tuesdays," Vette said, temporarily a little let down about that fact. And then perking up a little. "Oh, but I could skip them!"

Vette.

"... Or we could do something after my classes," she amended. "If that works? I don't have anything to do besides those, really."

"I was certainly thinking after classes, yes," Sidon chuckled, "especially as I have one on Tuesday myself."

A rather...useless class, for the most part, true, one where he was feeling increasingly like he was more suited to be teaching it than the actual instructors, but that was quite beside the point.

"But I do think Tuesday would be a marvelous choice, so that's it, then. Tuesday after classes it is!"

"Tuesday after classes it is," Vette echoed, faintly bewildered. Thrilled, but bewildered.

... She was going to need to get a swimsuit.

"So, uh." She fidgeted for a moment. "Maybe after the swim lesson, we could eat a meal together again, or something...?"

"Swimming is known to whet one's appetite quite voraciously," Sidon grinned. "What a spectacular idea, Vette! Should I do a little fishing again? Or should we do something more...." He frowned slightly, hand twirling a little in the air as he search for the right word for something his people didn't really have a concept for, "mmm, traditional, I suppose, from an Earth standpoint. A restaurant, or something of the kind? I do rather enjoy the sushi place, and there's always pizza, but I feel beyond that, I am a bit...limited on what I know I can actually consume without...regretting it a bit later..."

"Nothing you would regret," Vette said quickly, holding up her hands. "I would be just as happy with fish you caught again. Maybe you could show me how you do it? I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help, but I would love to see..."

See Sidon really going all out? Yes, please.

"Wonderful!" said Sidon, hoping his beaming grin was enough to mask his utter relief over the fact that she'd picked his own preference. The concept of eating at a table was still just so...bizarre to him, and human chairs were...so small, anyway. "Fishing it shall be! And I'd be happy to offer more of a demonstration. Dinner and a show! That sounds marvelous."

"It's something to look forward to," Vette replied, settling back with a smile. "I mean, more than the swimming. If I happen to be terrible at it, at least it's hard to be bad at eating."

A pause. Nothing was coming out of her mouth right today.

"I mean..." Hooboy. "Mostly I'm in it for your company."

Aaand her mouth was grounded.

Why would she ground it for saying something so...perfect?

All Sidon could do for a moment was look at Vette with an expression of faint awe, trying to assure himself that he'd heard that correctly. He was quite certain he had, which meant that his eyes were likely to be mistaken for rupees, they were shining so much. And then the grin on his face sharpened.

"Now that," he chuckled, delighted, "is very interesting, as I am mostly in it for yours."

Sure, making sure Vette didn't drown was pretty important, too, but, since he had pretty much all but vowed to always save her, it wasn't that high of a priority.

"Is that so?" And now Vette's grounded mouth was rebelling and making words entirely of its own accord, and who even let it do that?? "Well, then you know I'm going to have to ask what it is you're most looking forward to, now."

Whyyyy was her mouth like this?

Whoever was letting it do that most certainly had Sidon's gratitude.

"You mean...besides your company? Spending time with you? I don't suppose you'll accept your smile as an answer?"

Because he could go on. There was also her laugh, the possibility of more kisses. There would have to be at least one moment where she'd have to cling to him as they made it out in the water, seeing how the water might flick off her lekku when she emerged for air after being underwater.

"It's really impossible," he said, sounding just a little breathless now, but still eager, "to choose just one."

Vette was smiling and ducking her head a little at that. Her cheeks might have been a tiny bit warmer than their usual.

"You know it's totally cheating, with the catch-all answer," she accused, though there was no real heat in it. "But I like it. It's a good answer."

"It's also a truthful answer," Sidon informed her, any attempts to be lofty about it spoiled slightly by the fact that his grin would just not quit, "which actually makes it the best answer."

And not cheating at all!

"It doesn't help me figure out what I need to work on polishing up for you more, though," Vette teased. "I guess I'm going to just have to practice my smile?"

"I should hardly think you've have to work on polishing up anything," Sidon informed her. "Especially not for me. I'm rather certain your smile is perfect as it is, Vette, but...I suppose I could be mistaken. I think I might simply have to see it more to be sure."

Vette was going to die. She was going to die of big dashing shark prince. Right here and now, while covered in fake blood and with a dopey bird on one shoulder.

"Do you get called shameless often, Sidon?"

She was smiling again, anyway. She wouldn't want to let him down, after all.

And Sidon was just going to smile back.

Not that he'd really ever stopped grinning through most of this, but that was beside the point.

"Probably not nearly as often as I should be, I imagine," he admitted.

"That sounds about right," Vette laughed, shaking her head. "You're the most shameless boy I've ever met. And... actually, that works for me."

She needed some shamelessness in her life, really. Some safe shamelessness from a pretty boy who for some reason seemed to think highly of her, which still managed to do her head in every time she realized it.

"Oh, well," Sidon laughed in response, another bright grin to match, "that's excellent news, then, as I'm afraid I'd have been tragically disappointed if it didn't. Though I don't quite know if I can agree with you, Vette. Calling me shameless would suggest that there's something I should be ashamed of."

"Well, I know I can't think of anything," Vette decided, pausing for a moment to consider it, even. "So I guess I'm just lucky? It isn't every day a handsome guy asks to see more of my smile, after all."

You should remedy that, Sidon.

"Hmmmm," Sidon tilted his head, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he considered her, trying too look serious and doing a pretty good job, actually, all things considered, though he kept having to restrain a faint smile, "now that is a problem. I suppose I shall have to see to trying to remedy that."

Because of course that is exactly a thing he would say.

Of course it was, and Vette was pretty sure she was going to just die right there on the spot.

"I know I wouldn't complain at all if you did," she replied, her mouth continuing to say words before her brain could even think about them. "Of course, you'd have to find new and interesting ways to do it, wouldn't you?"

"I most certainly would," Sidon agreed emphatically, with a nod, letting his grin slip out because it wasn't like he spent most of his time already thinking about that sort of thing, so he pretty much an arsenal lying in wait. They really did not get the chance to see each other nearly enough. "I do love a good challenge, though, especially one so completely and utterly rewarding."

"Rewarding, huh?" See Vette. See Vette give Sidon a sly sort of look. "And how is it rewarding, hm?"

At this point she was totally prying for more flattery points, here. It was new and novel and more than a little weird, but she intended to enjoy it before her brain could catch up, dammit.

The C.I.C, Friday Afternoon-Evening

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