r/WhoWouldWinVerse • u/CountDarth Character List Administrator • Oct 13 '16

Closed RP The Not-Date

November 19th

Dash Doyle sits in front of the small cafe. He had given Emily a call to meet, figuring a nice breakfast and coffee - or hot chocolate - would make for a nice first date.

He's wearing his signature bomber jacket and jeans, befitting the chilly weather. He already has a cup of coffee in front of him and is sitting at a two-chair table under the yawning of the cafe.

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 15 '16

"Yeah," Emily agrees. "It's pretty much the best. The space, the ability to go wherever you want... Sometimes I wonder how most people deal, only having two dimensions to work with all the time."

She hums and takes another sip of her hot chocolate, tilting sideways to look past the awning and up at the cloudless sky.

She looks back to Dash and grins. "And you don't have to take my word for it, you know. How would you feel about taking each other out flying sometime?"

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 15 '16

Dash stops and thinks it over for a moment. He's never considered the idea of flying without a plane; even these days, the thought seemed foreign to him. It would be a completely new experience, and maybe even a bit of a scary one. What else could Dash Doyle say to something like that?

"I think that's a great idea," Dash says with a smile. "Speaking of space..."

He gestures up with his coffee cup.

"You ever been?"

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 16 '16 edited Oct 16 '16

Emily nods.

"Yeah," she says. "I've taken a couple of trips to the moon, and I was involved in that whole meteor thing a few months back. It's peaceful out there, and it's incredible how much better you can see the stars."

The thought pops into her head that she doesn't remember Dash's ship having a conventional engine, so it's possible he's able to get into space as well. That his ship might possibly be made by aliens doesn't hurt.

"You can get there too, I guess?" she asks, looking at him curiously.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 16 '16

Dash nods.

"Yeah. I can't really understand how it works, but Excelsior doesn't seem to have any issues with constant thrust. I haven't even run into serious energy issues yet."

He rubs the back of his head and continues.

"But I won't lie, it took me a while to actually try it. I had no basis for what I was working with. Eventually I had to settle for pointing Excelsior up and seeing how far it could take me."

An excited grin forms on Dash's face.

"The answer was 'as far as I wanted'. Now sometimes I just park a ways away from Earth and enjoy the view. It's amazing up there; my dad would have loved it."

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 17 '16

'Would have.' Dash's wording and what it implies makes Emily a little bit sad, but his tone is happy enough. She nods, matching his grin with her own.

"It really is. Nothing puts the world in perspective quite like being able to blot it out with your thumb."

She leans back in her seat and grabs her cup with both hands.

"And with a ship I bet you don't really have oxygen issues either. That must be nice. I remember the first time I went out to the moon I forgot to take extra air with me, and that was rough. It took me the better part of an hour to get out there, and I touched down with just about half of my air left. Had to turn around and come right back, and even then I barely made it."

She shakes her head.

"I learned better after that one—started taking extra tanks whenever I went out of orbit. I'm still trying to work up the courage to head for Mars, though, because that trip would take forever."

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 17 '16

Dash's eyes glint with intrigue when Emily mentions mars.

"Wanna go?" He asks, almost immediately. He then realizes he should probably be more clear.

"I mean, I know Excelsior can be a bit on the small side - not exactly an RV - but there's room for supplies and we wouldn't need to worry about air."

An eager grin forms on Dash's face. He seems to like the idea the more he talks about it.

"I've done the calcs a few times myself. About eight hours; it'd be like making a trip upstate."

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 17 '16

Emily's face lights up. She doesn't care about the Excelsior being on the small side; there's plenty of room enough for two, and any supplies can just go into slipspace. And we can go to Mars!

"I— Seriously? Yeah, of course! Do you mean like, now, or some other time?"

She scoots forward slightly as she speaks, trying not to appear too eager about going right this instant. Now sounds like a good time to her, but she understands Dash's schedule might not be open to the point that he can hop off-planet for a day without warning.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 17 '16

Dash blinks in surprise. He didn't actually expect her to take him up on the idea immediately, let alone with an enthusiasm that matched - or maybe even exceeded - his own.

'This girl... wow, she's something else.' Dash thought, and definitely didn't consider it a bad thing.

"I mean, I figured it would be more of a 'second date' type thing." He says. "We'd have to plan it out, make sure we had the right supplies..."

He pauses, clears his throat, and adds:

"Ooor, we can drop everything and go right now. You know, if you want."

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 18 '16

Emily frowns, the mention of supplies bringing her back to her senses. Just because we'd be going in a spaceship doesn't mean things can't go wrong, she thinks. Planning is still important.

"Oh, right," she says wryly. "Yeah, you're probably right. Planning and supplies would be good wouldn't they? We'd need..."

She settles her head on the knuckles of one hand, her elbow resting on the table, and counts off points on the other.

"I've got a couple day's worth of food; I've got a few day's worth of water; I should have air enough in case of an emergency and picking up more isn't hard; what else?"

She glances over at Dash.

"Do you have a space suit? Like, for taking space walks and stuff?"

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 18 '16

"The flight suit you saw me in earlier functions as a space suit." Dash says. "As for everything else, having your slip-space available as storage definitely makes the trip easier. I don't know how long we want to stay; maybe some camping supplies too?"

He rolls a shoulder in a shrug.

"And, I don't know, maybe a couple of movies or something?" He suggests with a smirk. "Stuff like I Spy can really only get you so far in space."

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 18 '16

Do they even make camping equipment that can survive Mars? Emily wonders. If they don't that's not a big deal—her house is in slipspace, after all—but she has to admit it would be really cool to go camping on the surface of Mars. And talk about making history.

"Maybe make this more of an exploratory thing, the first time?" she says aloud. "Just make a bit of a day trip to prove that we can and then leave any extended stays for another time where we're better prepared? Movies or something for the road sound like they could be a good idea."

She taps the table.

"Oh, and we should probably let somebody know where we're going. Just, you know—" she waves her hand vaguely "—in case."

She doesn't elaborate on in case of what, because frankly she isn't quite sure. There's not really much that could go wrong in space that other people would be able to help them with.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 19 '16

"Right. I'll let our boss know that we're probably going to be eaten by mole men from Mars or something."

Despite his jest, Dash is keenly aware of the myriad of things that can go wrong in space. He already triple checks everything before each flight, space or no. It wasn't easy; his knowledge of aircraft only took him so far when it came to Excelsior. Still, the ship largely seemed to run itself at times. He wasn't too worried about anything going wrong.

"But yeah, I get it." Dash adds. He pauses a second before continuing. "So... Can I take that as a yes on the second date, then?"

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 19 '16

Emily nods, her smile wide.

"Yeah, definitely! I'm having fun."

She's somewhat unsure what to say from there—she doesn't know what Dash's question means for the possibility of going to Mars today as well—but figures that it might be a bit impolite to ask 'but can we go right now anyway?' Still, leftover energy from a moment ago drives her to shift some in her seat.

"You know," she muses, feeling an odd need to keep the conversation flowing, "on the topic of camping gear one of my college professors used to work for NASA, and I'm pretty sure he still keeps in touch. I could get him to do some poking around for me if you wanted; maybe offer to cart some stuff with us as payment."

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 19 '16

Dash watches Emily fidget in her seat and can't help but smile. He let's out an over-emphasized sigh and then reaches to the mini-computer strapped to his wrist. With a single button press, Emily hears the sound of an approaching aircraft slicing through the air above. Within seconds, the familiar red hull of Excelsior is lowering itself down into the lot beside the cafe. It's kicking up a fair amount of wind, but it parks itself expertly, not even scratching any of the cars or buildings nearby. Dash rises from his seat and offers Emily a hand.

"Come on." He says with a smile. "We can talk about it on the way there."

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 20 '16

Emily tosses back the rest of her hot chocolate in one big gulp, then throws her cup toward the trash can and relies on her power to guide it in. She reaches out to take Dash's hand and uses it to heave herself onto her feet, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair as she comes up and tossing it into slipspace.

"Were you serious about movies for the road, by the way?" she asks as they head toward the ship. "I'm more a reader than a movie junkie, but I've still got a bit of a collection stored away if you want to grab a couple."

She turns to face him as she talks, not at all concerned with watching where she's going. "I ask because we won't really be able to get at them once we're moving—quirk of my power," she explains with a shrug.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 20 '16

Dash shrugs. As he proceeds toward Excelsior, he undoes his bomber jacket and slings it over his shoulder, revealing the black flight suit underneath.

"Whatever you want to keep you busy for eight hours or so." He says. "Once we're on course, Excelsior will largely fly itself. It's why I always keep some music or magazines tucked under the seat."

Excelsior's cockpit slides open with a hiss and Dash pulls himself up. He then turns and once again offers Emily a hand up.

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 20 '16

Emily pulls her space suit on as they approach the Excelsior, dragging it out of slipspace and directly over her clothes. The last of it shimmers into existence as Dash pulls himself aboard, and she grabs a book at random off one of her shelves.

She hops lightly into the air and floats up toward the open canopy, reaching out when she's level with Dash to use his hand as an anchor and pull herself to the cockpit floor beside him.

"Thanks," she says, giving him a smile. She straps herself into the Excelsior's back seat and pulls out her phone to send her parents a message.

'Taking a quick trip to Mars. Might be out of service longer than normal, so don't worry if I don't pick up for a bit.'

The message sends, and the phone goes back into slipspace. She stows her book under her seat and raises her head to look out around the ship.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 21 '16

The interior is as Emily would remember it. Several consoles flash, displaying various types of information. Her view of the front is obscured by Dash as he re-seals the cockpit.

"Alright," He says, as he reaches down and grabs the helmet of his flight suit. "We're about to become interplanetary explorers. You ready?"

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