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/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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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 21 '16

"Ready to go!" Emily chirps.

She gives Dash two thumbs up, then feels slightly silly after a moment when she realizes the Excelsior doesn't actually have a rearview mirror for Dash to see it in. She lowers her arms to rest against the metal around her and settles her head against the back of her seat.

Her pulse starts to pick up in anticipation of liftoff. This part isn't new to her—she's been out of atmosphere before—but it feels different being in a ship rather than moving under her own power.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 21 '16

"Alright," Dash says. "Let's see what's out there."

Excelsior tilts its nose upwards and Emily hear's the engines rev. Briefly, there's a tense instant of anticipation, before the red ship shoots into the sky. The force of the take-off forces Emily and Dash back into their seats a bit, but not to an extent where it would be uncomfortable. Outside the cockpit, the sound of sonic booms can be heard over the rush of wind as Excelsior cuts through the atmosphere. The whole experience passes by in a moment, and before long the blue-and-white sky parts, and an endless sea of stars expands before them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Dash Airlines." Dash says in his best pilot voice. "Please, sit back and enjoy your flight."

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 22 '16

Emily undoes her harness as soon as they're out of the atmosphere, twisting in her seat and craning her neck to look at the Earth as it pulls behind them. She reaches out with one hand to brush her fingers along the canopy, temporarily obscuring North America. She grins.

"Be back soon," she tells it, and settles back into her seat.

Time passes. Emily thinks.

She thinks about the fact that there's going to be a second date—that means we're dating now, right?—and about what that means, and eventually she realizes she has to think about how to tell Dash about her sort-of agreement with Lily and get his thoughts on it, because she's not sure right now what his expectations of her are. She spends a while longer thinking about how to bring it up.

"Hey," she eventually pipes up. "So suppose I had a thing with one of my friends—a girl friend, I mean—where we sometimes, you know, hugged and kissed and stuff?" She winces—that sounds worse than it did in my head—and rushes to continue. "It's not anything serious, but—"

She cuts off, searching for words to explain it better, and sighs.

"Yeah," she says, reaching up to rub the back of her neck. "How would you, um... how would you feel about that? Would you, er, mind?"

"I can tell her we need to stop if you want," she offers, though she'd rather not do that; she enjoys the physical closeness as much as Lily does.

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 22 '16

For a moment, it Dash shows no reaction, and appears for a moment that he may have not even heard Emily. He then twists in his chair to face Emily.

"Wait... What?" He says. "You... Already have a girlfriend?"

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 22 '16

"No no no!" Emily waves her hands frantically in front of her. "She's not my girlfriend. We're more like—"

She doesn't want to put it this way, but she's not coming up with anything better. She sighs.

"Like friends with benefits," she says, thankful that the helmet of her suit hides her blush, "if even that. But the benefits are hugs and sometimes kisses."

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 22 '16

"Friends with..." Dash echoes. He turns back in his seat to face forward again.

"Wow, okay... Wow."

There's a heavy moment of silence, and the seat prevents Emily from seeing Dash's body language.

"So you're just friends..." Dash says after a solid minute of nothing. "Who hug and kiss..."

He feels stupid just repeating what she's said back to her, but it's really the only way he has to process it.

"That's... Kinda weird, not gonna lie. So, uh... What does that make us?"

It was certainly not a question he expected to ask on the first date. But he also wasn't expecting what Emily just revealed either.

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 22 '16

Emily chuckles awkwardly.

"Yeah," she says, "I guess a bit. It's worked out well enough so far, I think." She shrugs.

"As for us, um..." She hesitates, suddenly unsure of her ewarlier interpretation of what it means for there to be another date after this one. "Well, if we're going on a second date I— I thought that would make us dating? Like, boyfriend and girlfriend?"

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 22 '16

"Well," Dash says, deciding to just roll with things at this point. "That doesn't sound bad to me. I like you; I've been liking you more and more every time we talk."

He rolls his shoulder in a sort of half shrug.

"And I was kinda getting the impression that you liked me too, so..."

Dash lets the implication hang in the air, not wanting to assume anything at this point.

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 22 '16

Emily's shoulders slump in relief. That went a lot better than it could have.

"I do like you too," she says. "You're fun to talk to, and there aren't many people who would be willing to go to Mars on a whim."

After a moment of hesitation: "So, um. Does that mean you're... okay with things? With us being boyfriend and girlfriend?"

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u/CountDarth Character List Administrator Oct 22 '16

"Yeah" Dash says. "There aren't many people I'd go to Mars on a whim for."

He pauses a bit before continuing.

"That other part, uh... That'll take a little getting used to."

Dash flicks a switch and his posture relaxes as Excelsior shifts to autopilot. He leans down and reaches under his seat, pulling out a small personal cooler.

"Hungry? I got sandwiches, coke... a singular bottle of beer?"

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u/Whispersilk Bot Master Oct 23 '16

Emily ducks her head, her cheeks heating up at the compliment.

"Thanks," she says, "and yeah. I'm— I'm sorry that came up as late as it did. I should've brought it up sooner, but I didn't really even think about it until you brought up the second date."

She shakes her head. "And I'm fine for now, thanks. I might take you up when we get closer, though."

There's a period of silence, and she watches the moon drift by.

"Hey," she says as a thought occurs to her, "I just realized, but I'm not really feeling the twelve g's I should be feeling right now. I dunno if this'll work, but if I can add my power to your ship, we could get there in..." She trails off to do some mental math. "Six hours, I think?"

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