[Thread] - Snow Cones! (OPEN)

[waterfell]

Characters: OU: Mizuni Ami [PGSM], OPEN
Where: The park, near the pond
When: in the afternoon
Summary:
Mercury is enjoying snow cones to beat the heat (and giving some out). Flavor syrup courtesy of Indigeo, crushed ice courtesy of Mercury herself. Made while you wait! &hearts
Warnings: You might not get one if she doesn't like you?

Comments

[flipping_bird]

Between apologising, fussing over his friends who all seemed determined to neglect their injuries in favour of feeling guilty and just trying to catch up with everything he'd missed, Robin was in need of some downtime. He'd chosen the park, hoping (despite all experience to the contrary) that he might find a ball game in progress or someone looking for a training partner.

He wasn't expecting this.

"Are those -- sno-cones?" he asked, hardly believing his eyes.

[waterfell]

"Not at all!" came the immediate cheerful rejoiner. "It's sno-cone syrup." An impish grin. "Want a snow cone?"

She'd spoken almost automatically, that slight mischievous tone second nature to her by now. Mercury then looked at the boy who'd approached. He seemed about her own age, maybe a little older. It was unusual, but not incredibly so, to find people that young here. Or was he another one of those people whose ages were far more vast than they appeared?

The blue-haired girl (it seemed to match her hair, of course, and the strange short-skirted uniform she wore) was already reaching for an empty one of the cups.

[flipping_bird]

"If you're offering," Robin said with an answering grin.

He studied the girl thoughtfully. They'd never spoken, he was sure of that, but there was something --

"We've talked over the journal network," he said after a moment's thought. "You asked me what I thought of this place ... Mercury, right?"

[waterfell]

She bowed her head slightly in acknowledgment of the identity. Was he someone she was meant to know, then? Disturbing, the thought she had somehow overlooked somebody. She glanced slightly away as she tried to recall. No, nothing was coming to mind. Mercury was sure they hadn't met face to face. As to whether they'd spoken, there were many people she'd spoken to and hadn't met; it didn't help her to narrow down the possibilities.

"You should be more polite, and introduce yourself." The chiding was mild, ironical, almost teasing. A gloved hand held out the empty cup, and abruptly it was filled with well-crushed ice. The corner of the girl's mouth lifted in a self-deprecatory half-smirk. What a waste of energy, she'd have been reprimanded in her world. Here, it was simply something to pass the time and cool down from the heat.

"What sort of flavor?"

[flipping_bird]

Robin nodded in return, pleased that his guess had been correct. Score one for the boy detective! "Robin," he said by way of introduction.

He blinked at the suddenly appearing ice. "Nice trick," he said, impressed. "Flavour?" He scanned the bottles on offer. "Don't suppose you have cola?"

[waterfell]

Trick? Yet the boy didn't seem to mean anything insulting by it. How strange. Although seated, Mercury raised her head slightly, straightened her posture a little before introducing herself.

"From the Dark Kingdom, senshi of Water and Knowledge, Mercury. I'm pleased to meet you." Doubtless she'd expressed those exact words to him already, but face to face was different. It also underscored why she was able to sit here with the water at her command. It was hers, a part of her, her birthright from her guardian planet

She relaxed her posture again, glanced to her side where the bottles sat. She shook her head. "No, not at all." She listed the flavors she did have: cherry, strawberry, blueberry, apple, lime, orange, and mango.

[flipping_bird]

Robin responded to the more formal greeting with a short bow. "Likewise. Your question gave me a lot to think about."

No cola? Robin considered the options available. "Cherry then. And thanks."

[waterfell]

They always stood out to her, those simple words. Trivial courtesies. Thanks. They meant something when they were rare. She didn't respond outwardly.

Mercury reached for the appropriate bottle, pouring some of the cherry-flavored syrup over the ice. It was cold, but more than that, it would not melt in the least, despite the heat, at least not until it was eaten.

Perhaps because of that very fact, Mercury ate her own at a leisurely pace once she'd poured for Robin and handed him the cup. "Eat well!" she said by habitual ironic politeness.

[flipping_bird]

There was something in the girl's manner at odds with her words and her outward cheerfullness. Robin accepted the iced treat with another nod, and sat. He took a spoon of the ice, wondering how to open conversation.

It was a few minutes before he said anything, and that was not because he was busy debating conversation starters. "This is good," Robin said, when his manners finally caught up with him. "Really good. I hadn't realised how long it's been since I've had one of these."

[waterfell]

No one ever questioned a cheerful person deeply or considered a cheerful person aloof and strange. Neither did a cheerful person crumble or feel pain if they were treated cruelly. Someone cheerful was not timid and shy and lonely or pathetic and weak. Mercury lived in an existence now that depended on two things: fighting, and maintaining that certain man's interest in her - lest he cast her off or even destroy her for failing in one or the other. So Mercury was cheerful, playful, mischievous, amusing, fascinatingShe ate her own snow cone slowly, savoring the bites and letting them melt in her mouth before swallowing. Her tongue was probably beginning to turn color, a small and normal pleasure. It flickered once or twice as she licked at the cold ice

[flipping_bird]

"And is it?" Robin asked. Either he hadn't worked out that the snow cone's weren't melting, or they really were that good. "Entertaining I mean."

Mercury's mention of the last week made Robin frown but he answered the question lightly enough. "More or less. There's a few repercussions, I guess you could say. We're dealing. You?"

[waterfell]

"Oh yes," she answered. Mercury was not so full of her admittedly large pride that she could not appreciate the humor in being reduced to making ice for snow cones. Besides, it was providing her with an intriguing cross-section of the Econtra population. She was also bored, with the cuff preventing her from adequately pursuing her true purpose and mission. Well. Consider it a vacation! Half of the place certainly seemed to.

She did not. Mercury glanced at Robin now, a little more seriously. "I wasn't changed," she told him. "And there's just Belldandy to worry about now. She seems to have gone back to her normal self but her sister seems worried." The blue-haired girl said this as if it mattered little, but did add at least an outward reason for her involvement: "Belldandy lives in my apartment."

[flipping_bird]

"That's good," Robin said, absorbed in catching a stray drop of cherry that was threatening to escape his cone. "Wouldn't be fair if you weren't getting something out of this."

Robin paused, considering Mercury's words carefully. They made sense, seemed logical enough, but something about them -- almost sounded like an answer he'd give. "Belldandy? I can't say I know her, but I'm pretty sure I've heard her name before over the network."

[waterfell]

As if to punctuate her point, another round of ice appeared in Mercury's cup. She grinned at Robin before reaching for the orange syrup. "It was too hot anyway," she complained, playfully petulant to a mild degree. The flavoring made it onto the ice without incident, and she sampled it. It was excellent. "So I thought I'd cool off a little!" she finished airily.

Raising her head from her dessert again after the initial bite, Mercury glanced towards the pond. "Belldandy is one of the goddesses. Skuld's sister, and Urd's sister. All three of them are here." She'd become caught up with several of the deities present in Econtra, for one reason or another; the guardian soldier protected by the planet Mercury supposed it was only natural and to be expected.

With that, Mercury took a few more bites of her snow treat before setting the makeshift bowl aside. She picked up a tiny bit of the ice from inside it, closed her hand, and when she opened it again a small, perfectly sculpted, bird sat there. A robin of course.

[flipping_bird]

That would never stop being cool -- no pun intended. Robin nodded in approval. "Excellent plan."

Robin followed Mercury's gaze to the pool, wondering what the connection there was. "Three sisters? Wow. That's got to be a first for this place. Though when I think of it ..." Melaka and Harth, Mokuba and his brother, Quatre's 'brothers', Tim and Dick ... "I know four sets of siblings here. Wonder if the Warden has a thing for family? Guess it's too bad I'm an only child."

He blinked then raised an eyebrow at the ice robin. Well, at least it hadn't been a girl. "You must be very popular at fancy dinners."

[waterfell]

"What the Consulo targets are our energy signatures," Mercury pointed out. "It's normal that family would have similar ones in some cases." Her own mother, if she came... Mercury pushed that thought aside. Still, it was no surprise the other sailor senshi were here, those girls who also had the power of their guardian planets flowing through them, or the shitennou who had once been Earth's protectors as well.

Robin's next remark caught her off-guard and she glanced at him a little blankly before connecting it to the small ice sculpture in her hand. "Not for a long time," the once-princess commented, quickly regaining her equilibrium. She almost wanted to laugh at the wit that had thought of that so quickly.

"I told you before," she pointed out, "I'm the senshi of water. It's mine. She turned her head and tilted her head slightly downward to indicate her sword. "This is also ice. But, you're welcome to try melting it." An impish grin.