Everybody's Working for the Weekend!

[leekspins]

WHO: #1: Peter Parker [Closed]; #2 Tokidoki Rikudoh and Noboru Gongenzaka [Closed]; #3: [OPEN!]
WHAT: Weekend antics! Whether it's getting to hear Peter's crimefighting stories, fighting deep-set mental trauma, or running around Soleil shopping for sewing materials and spending time with friends, Orihime is guaranteed to never be bored.
WHEN: January 19th-20th, 2019
WHERE: #1: On Campus, Peter's Dorm Room; #2 & #3: Soleil


[Log #1: Peter Parker and Orihime Inoue]

[When Orihime arrives at Peter's dorm, she has a backpack slung over her shoulder, sagging heavily with the sheer weight of all the soda she brought. She couldn't decide on what to get from the vending machine, so she just pumped in her coins and got one of everything. Why not? She can splurge for this.]

[As she waits, it hits her that maybe...maybe...she really shouldn't be hanging out in a boy's room. It's not very proper, and she wouldn't want people to start getting the wrong idea. But no one seems to be around to take note (yet), so...maybe it's fine. She's heard that boys and girls sometimes room together, so maybe that kind of thing just isn't a big deal in France.]

[It's fine.]

[Besides, she's excited to hear about his stories. A real superhero...! And he's so young, too! This is going to be amazing and spectacular.]

--------------------

[Log #2: Noboru Gongenzaka, Tokidoki Rikugou, Orihime Inoue]

[After meeting with White Chain, Orihime's definitely glad for a chance to catch her breath and be around friendly faces. Tokidoki is always positive and cheerful, and she's looking forward to spending more time with him. While she's never met Gongenzaka, he seemed pretty polite when she spoke with him over the network.]

[She waits for them just outside the school gates, gloved hands behind her back, nuzzling her nose into her scarf and exhaling to warm her face with her breath. She's got a list of measurements and notes in her pocket so she can get all the things she needs for her massive sewing project. If she can earn enough, maybe she can invest in that runic armor equipment that Gunvolt told her about.]

[Hearing footsteps crunch in the snow, she perks up and turns to greet the first person to arrive.]

Good morning! Are you ready to go?

--------------------

[Log #3: [OPEN!]]

[There are plenty of people who seemed interested in going to the sewing supply store in town to choose the materials for their formal clothes, so Orihime is more than happy to walk them around and point out good bargains, as well as mentioning the pros and cons of good quality cloth versus something cheaper but easier to clean.]

[But she could be spotted anywhere in town, especially near the bakery where she stares in awe at the display case through the window. Someday, she'll have a fancy cake store of her own. Or at least a part-time job at a place like this! ...Maybe... Now that she knows about the impending doom of Nightfall, a cake shop isn't as important to her future as it used to be. She should be sad about that, but...she's not. It feels good to do something important for a change, and to get strong enough to protect the people she cares about.]

Comments

[leekspins]

[She's glad he can laugh. And maybe there's a little part of her that swells up warmly with pride knowing that she helped with that. Maybe he'll heal, maybe he'll carry that with him forever. But she hopes he doesn't lose himself. He's too good, and too kind.]

Really? You mean like supervillains?

[The guy in a bird costume earns a jaw drop. Whooooaaaaa!]

Wow, that's REALLY weird, ha ha! Was it a cool bird at least? Could he fly?

[made_up_names]

Totally like supervillains. And yeah, it was pretty sweet? I had to stop him from stealing all kinds of daemon artifacts from a plane. Completely crazy.

[leekspins]

...Who takes a cool ability like flight and uses it for evil???

[What is this terrible injustice?! She's all the way on Peter's side for this.]

How did you fight him? The plane was on the ground, ne? ...Wait, can you fly too?!

[made_up_names]

No, no! Of course I can't.

[ A beat. ]

I just hung on with a web until we got up high enough, and then I sort of brought the plane down? It was a huge mess.

[leekspins]

Oh.

...

But that's amazing! You beat up a supervillain AND an airplane! You should put that in your profile accolades, it's worth bragging about.

[made_up_names]

Uh ... I'm pretty sure most people frown on crashing a plane.

[ But he's pleased anyway that she seems to like it. ]

He's not the only dude I fought though. Like - he's probably the biggest I had to handle on my own? I stopped a lot of muggers. And then I had the missions with the Avengers.

[leekspins]

[She shrugs a little, smiling cheerfully. He has a point, but she can't really feel guilty about that. He wouldn't be telling this story with enthusiasm if it was a BAD plane crash, after all.]

Wow...I really want to visit New York City, it sounds exciting!

[MUGGERS SOUND EXCITING??? Well...not so much. But she wants to fight crime too, and she would feel pretty safe now that she's friends with a superhero.]

I bet the old ladies miss having you there. Who were the Avengers? More heroes like you?

[made_up_names]

[ Pls Orihime. On the other hand he's pretty sure she could hug the muggers back or something and make them back down. A hugger. ]

Yeah, they're a superhero group? Technically a Hunter group but like. They're all kind of unusual, like me? The guy who recruited me brought me in cause they were having a huge fight and he needed someone else with actual superpowers.

Which, like, turned out to be super necessary? I got laid out by a dude who was sixty feet tall.

[leekspins]

Sixty?! It's not an exaggeration?

[She's so amazed.]

I can't believe no one in the news ever noticed something like that... That was pretty brave!

[The popcorn is going to be nothing but unpopped kernels sitting sad and alone in the bowl at this rate.]

So were they the ones who convinced you to enroll here?

[made_up_names]

At least, man. I had to swing around on my webs and trip him up. I guess he can turn small too? It looked like a suit with runes on it.

[ He sounds pretty proud about getting knocked out though.

Anyway, that's. Honestly a good question? He pauses at that, brows furrowed. ]

Uh - I guess so? It'd have to be. I just kind of got back from my last mission and then my aunt says I have to go to France.

[leekspins]

Just like that? It's very sudden!

[Of course she knows that it sucks to get uprooted from home, but...well, there are differences. He had goals and people he cared about, things he could miss. Nothing else mattered to her without Sora, it didn't matter where she went. He still wouldn't be there.]

But you adapted very quickly. It seems like you fit in here. And I'm glad you came.

[made_up_names]

Well, I just had like - a really tough mission? I guess they wanted to make sure I was better prepared after that.

[ Otherwise it is really weird, right? To just get shipped off to France. He's frowning now, a hand straying to the claw marks on his face again. ]

I didn't even say goodbye to anyone. Gwen showed up, like a few days ago? And she was really upset.

[leekspins]

That's strange...

[Suspicious, even. But she doesn't know anything about these Avengers, she has no way of guessing their motives. More training would make sense, she supposed, but why not enroll him sooner? It's like they want him out of the way to do something he might try to stop.]

[Her gaze moves again to his injuries. She's been wondering about them this whole time, and he keeps touching the marks. Maybe now is a good time to ask.]

How did your face get hurt? Do you want me to heal it for you?

[made_up_names]

[ It's definitely weird, and he's thinking about it now. But. Well. He's not going to come up with any answers on his own.

He pauses at that, wincing guiltily. ]

I - uh, I got attacked by a bear?

[ Does that work? He doesn't think it will work. ]

[leekspins]

...I see.

[Orihime smiles. He's lying, but he has to have a reason for it. She told him the secret of her powers, he told her about his uncle. It doesn't seem like there's much left to hide from each other! So maybe there's someone else on campus like her, who has secret powers, and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.]

That must have been scary! I thought maybe you just got scratched by the tree branches from practicing your web swinging in the woods.

[Which is a slightly more believable lie. She's giving it to him. Happy birthday.]

Just let me know if you want it healed. Then I can show you my powers firsthand!

[made_up_names]

[ Oh. That smile kind of hurts. Now he feels doubly bad for having lied to her, especially since he's reasonably certain he can actually trust her? Heck, she even gave him a better explanation than a freaking bear.

His shoulders slump a little. Sorry, Gwen. If you're mad at him for telling someone, then he'll take the heat on this one. Orihime is too much of a friend. ]

I really don't need it. These marks'll be gone by the end of the week. Usually I heal really fast.

[ He keeps worrying at them, though. Quiet. ]

It's - I said my friend Gwen was really upset, right? She turned into a monster and almost killed me.

[leekspins]

That's useful! I won't worry about it, then.

[She definitely wasn't going to push for information, he looks like he's feeling guilty about keeping a secret. Besides, if it were her secret, she'd be glad he didn't spill the--]

[Whoa look at all those beans!]

[Orihime listens, admittedly curious. So Gwen...is a were-person? Maybe this has been bothering him. She doesn't think he'd just tell her for no reason, and they do have plenty of privacy.]

That's even scarier than a bear.

[To have your best friend suddenly lash out like that...]

Are you guys okay?

[made_up_names]

[ He isn't 100% sure what is going on with Gwen, honestly, despite whatever explanations she's given him. But he doesn't think she's a were-anything? If she is then uh he might want to get those claw marks checked.

Orihime is the ONLY person he's told about this. Partially because she looked heartbroken about him lying, and partially because he genuinely does trust her. And he's pretty sure she won't tell anyone else about it. ]

I think so. Yeah. She calmed down afterwards and went back to normal. I guess she freaked out seeing me in France after so long.

[leekspins]

[She nods to show she understands, but her brow furrows in thought. It's a strange reaction. Most people would be relieved or excited. That sounds more like a panic attack. Why? He said she knew about his powers beforehand, so it's not the shock of learning he's a superhero.]

[It's frustrating, but the only one who'd know is Gwen. Maybe she's just unusually high-strung. Maybe she had an encounter with a copy ghost that was way more evil than a mute who just wanted to dance. Actually that seems like the most probably explanation, all things considered!]

Maybe she had a bad encounter with a monster that copied your face onto its face, and attacked her at some point before she came here. So seeing you made her worry that it was the monster because she didn't know you would be all the way out here.

[made_up_names]

...

[ He has a lot more thoughts on this subject, but first: ]

That's weirdly specific.

[leekspins]

Ha ha! I was just brainstorming...

[Embarrassed, she picks up another cola and cracks the can. Do go on, Peter, she's listening.]

[made_up_names]

Right. Uh. I really don't think it's that.

[ Oof. He rubs at the back of his neck a bit, trying to sort through - well, everything. How she'd acted, what had happened ... What he can piece together based on that. (And since the thread isn't done yet, some of this is up in the air still, of course.) ]

It seemed like I'd been gone for a while? Or - maybe she was. She had that monster with her, but it's only been three weeks since I last saw her? Plus she's taller and her hair got cut when I'm pretty sure it didn't happen recently. So - I think maybe she was stuck in the Outlands and time passed differently or something.

[leekspins]

[She nods. That does seem a little more plausible. Three weeks usually wouldn't be enough for a growth spurt to be noticeable, but cut hair could happen at any time.]

I guess the best way to know would be to ask her, once she's had some time to calm down and adjust to this place.

[Peter said she had a monster with her. A contract maybe? Or perhaps it's like Yuya's situation, he'd said he hadn't known what he'd get when he summoned Odd-Eyes as a familiar, and that it could be dangerous.]

Maybe I can help with that part. Which dorm is she in?

[made_up_names]

[ He straightens at that, alarmed. ]

You want to talk to her about it? I don't know if that's a good idea.

[leekspins]

No no! Not about that! You told me about it in confidence, I won't betray that!

[She almost sloshes her soda on the floor in her haste to correct the misunderstanding.]

I just thought she might like having someone show her around so she doesn't feel too isolated or out of place. If she decides to talk to me about that on her own, then...maybe it'll help you both. She might feel really guilty about attacking you.