[CLOSED] she rides with the gods of the night, she rules the tides in me.

[slapfight]

CHARACTERS: Peridot (slapfight) and Feferi (fintastic)
DATE: Some nebulous time between the end of the castle attack and now.
WARNINGS: None, unless you're offended by PURE YURIS.
SUMMARY: Feferi asked Peridot out on a date. So that happened.


Peridot does not arrive at midnight.

Peridot arrives at eleven.

Being punctual, after all, is a sure sign of interest and dedication. Being extra punctural means she has time to make sure she is the most presentable. She only knows how this works because of television, but most of the rendezvous situations in Camp Pining Hearts revolve around this exact situation.

And because camping uniforms are not readily available to set what she presumes is the mood, she's produced one of the scarves she got from Woodhurst and tied it around her neck in some awkward imitation of how the campers wear theirs. It's a bit too long to be effective and mostly she just looks like she's wearing a lopsided green bow around her neck.

The entire hour she's waiting she works on poses, trying to figure out the best way to present herself when Feferi shows up. Should she lean against the tree? No, no too casual. Should she sit under it? No, that's stupid. What if she doesn't see her? Ugh. The show makes these things look so natural.

Maybe if she shakes the tree a little and lets the blossoms rain down on her? No, she'd have to keep doing it and it would ruin the effect... Maybe she can find something metal to put on the branch and manipulate it...?

As expected, she spends so much time trying to work out her sense of dramatics that she doesn't even realize when midnight comes.

Comments

[fintastic]

Feferi arrives more or less on time, running only a few minutes ahead of schedule-- partly because she was literally running. She had to get the jitters out somehow. They're not bad jitters, though; she's just excited, moreso than ever. She's gotten dressed up as nice as she knows how, with a pink skirt re-purposed from Perdition's Rest, a fuzzy powder-pink sweater she brought back from Woodhurst, and the shoes she wore at the winter party. She's like a walking testament to the adventures of Audentes, but it's the thought that counts. Not only that, but she's braided her hair, with flowers that she'd picked earlier in the day.

As she arrives, she has a blanket draped over one arm, and a little basket of snacks (mostly for herself; having a thing for someone who doesn't eat or sleep complicates a lot of potential date activities) and is surprised to find that she's not the first one to arrive. She spots Peridot easily, and skips over with a big smile.

"Oh! You're here already." She doesn't waste any time in finding a nice spot to lay out the blanket. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!"

[slapfight]

Peridot startles midway through her latest calculation of how best to climb the tree so she can jump down and surprise her- the irony that she is the one surprised wouldn't be lost on her if she knew what irony was. All she has now is the tragic realization that she's had her first fumble of the night. Stars, she cannot be bad at this. She is a Peridot. Peridots demand perfection.

So she pulls herself together and folds her arms behind her back, standing up on her tiptoes to appear taller. "Of course not. I haven't even been here that long myself." She snorts, waving her hand, like she can eradicate the last hour of uselessness with just a gesture. "I was just admiring the tree." The tree? The tree?

She turns a little blue around her cheeks as she looks at Feferi- really looks at her. If she had a heart, it would probably be in her throat about now. It kinda feels that way. Maybe her physical form can adjust more than she thought. "Holy smokes. You look... Great."

[fintastic]

"Oh! Thank you." The compliment isn't unexpected, but the tips of her fins flush a little anyway. She's not really used to getting them, not sincerely anyway. She seats herself on the blanket once it's all straightened out, and still puts the snacks between them. It's just polite. "The tree is pretty impressive, though! I had to find a way to compete with it."

She pats the spot next to her.

"Come, sit!"

She actually didn't plan for much beyond this. Maybe she should have, because she's not even sure what to say next. After all, she's never been on a real date. Wandering around the Land of Dew and Glass and fighting imps while flirting didn't really count. --would the training center have been a better place to go? She's starting to doubt herself, but it doesn't show in her unfaltering smile. She just wants to be entertaining and romantic. For all of her confidence, she's not sure she can deliver on those things, but she has to try.

[slapfight]

Peridot is utterly graceless in bridging the gap between where she was and the proffered spot, her cheeks still blue around the edges. What Feferi has is probably a more honest display of romantic intent than what Peridot has- which is an encyclopedic knowledge of teenage romance tropes just waiting for her to roll them out.

She looks at the snacks, looks at Feferi, and an idea comes into her mind. She picks up a finger sandwich and holds it up in front of Feferi's face, exactly as she's seen one of the campers do to the other camper they were trying to impress. Apparently, feeding other lifeforms is considered romantic.

But Peridot lacks the innate charisma and Feferi may or may not lack the context, and all it really looks like is Peridot turning increasingly more blue and nervous while looking as if she's planning to smash a sandwich into Feferi's face.

She's trying.

[fintastic]

If Feferi didn't expect some awkward dorkiness, then wouldn't have been paying attention all this time. It doesn't come as a surprise to her, but she's still not sure what to do with it, so she does the only thing she can think of, which is to reach up with one hand to coax the sandwich from Peridot's grip, and to clasp their hands together with the other.

"Are you nervous?" She wouldn't ask if she didn't already know the answer, and offers a lopsided smile. "Because I am. I think I already pictured things going differently... I was trying to get here early, so I could have everything all perfect when you got here!"

But Feferi's time management skills aren't good enough for that, not that she knows how early Peridot arrived anyway.

[slapfight]

Oh stars. She doesn't have context for this. It's already spiraling out of control and going off script. What does she do?

But the hand-holding... That much she knows she likes. That much she understands. There's that, anyway, and it takes the tension out of her and makes her loosen her scarf with her free hand. "It's just I've... never done this before," she chuckles nervously, debating whether she should admit that she got here way earlier than she was meant to.

To heck with it, maybe she'll think it's endearing. "I... actually got here an hour before the designated time. I wanted to impress you."

[fintastic]

Well. It is endearing, in its own way, at least to Feferi. She laughs, and pushes the plate off to the side, snacks all but forgotten in favor of shifting closer, hands still clasped together, letting them fall in the little space between the two of them, once she's settled in again.

"I know you haven't. You don't have to do anything to impress me, though. You already do that, just by being you." Gosh. Her pulse is racing. Is it obvious...? Her fins have gone completely pink, and the twitch nervously; she has to take a deep breath and decide if she just wants to come out with it. She'd wanted to have a nice relaxing evening, maybe chat a little first, make everything perfect...

Ah, but maybe she should take her own advice. Why should she try to be something she's not? That won't work. She seems to relax at the thought, and tilts her head to the side.

"It's sweet, though, that you would try. That's what I like about you. You try, even if you have no clue what you are doing! You could have just... not come, but you did! Really early, even." Okay, she can't help herself, and she giggles again at the thought. It's a charmed giggle, though. "I guess what I'm saying is that you don't have to try so hard, but I like when you do. Does that make sense?"

[slapfight]

Peridot barely suppresses a tiny squeak as Feferi scoots closer. For all that her hard light body can give off the illusion of things like blushing or sweating, it rarely comes with the accompanying sensations like heat. It's for the best that it's like that, because if she could produce body heat, she'd probably feel like a sauna.

And that's just from hand-holding and proximity. How do organics deal with this? (Not well- judging by Feferi's own pinkness.) They're clearly more resilient than she thought. No wonder Gems don't think about... relationships. They're so distracting, and demand so much focus.

But in a good way.

"I do?" She's an egocentric little maniac until someone she actually likes states unsolicited approval of her, and then she feels there has to be some mistake. "And, um... Well, I'm a Peridot. We like to be punctual." Wait no. That was a stupid thing to say. She flinches. "And, even if i wasn't- why would I not come? That's ridiculous. Who wouldn't want to hang out with you and try their best to make sure you like them?" She thought that even before she found out she was royalty. The fact didn't make her up the ante any, but it has added a new flavor of anxiety to it. Nobility of a separate race, even one as down to earth as Feferi, must have tons of landmines a suitor has to walk through.

A suitor? Did she just think that??? She shrugs hopelessly. "I am glad I don't have to try so hard to impress you, though. It means I can tell Mettaton to cancel his interpretative version of the floor show from the Rocky Horror movie in the hot springs I was going to surprise you with."

A beat. And then, "...That was a joke. I didn't actually ask him to do that."

[fintastic]

"Oh god, you know he would have, too..."

Feferi shudders a little at the thought. She appreciated Mettaton's advice, really. But he could be a little over the top at times. She's just glad he didn't try to follow her out here and film this whole thing. The thought also amuses her a little, too, and she laughs again.

"He told me you had cake for me, though." She feigns a pout, but it's ineffective at best, because she's trying too hard to not smile, and also failing at it. She can't even pin her fins back properly. "That would have been nice. What did you do with it?"

[slapfight]

Peridot bursts out laughing herself, slapping her knee with her free hand. "He would have!" The laughter breaks off, however, as she remembers The Cake. The cake that started this whole thing. And she forgot it. What kind of mega-clod does that?!

"...It's back in my room. I spent so much time getting ready, I forgot to bring it." She sounds so distraught, even if Feferi is clearly teasing. It doesn't matter. The cake was important. SHE HAD ONE JOB. "Maybe Pumpkin can be alone with it unsupervised."

That's a very large maybe.

[fintastic]

"Pumpkin can have it! I have something a lot sweeter right here."

And in case it isn't obvious that she's trying to be slick, she reaches up to boop Peridot soundly on the nose. Feferi is now in full leaning-in territory, and wondering if she should just ask the question already, or if she should let this play out a little bit longer...

Nah, what's the point in waiting? She's pretty sure they both know where this is going anyway.

"Soooo... when I do go back and tell Mettaton how tonight went, am I going to get to tell him you're my girlfriend now, or not? This is important! I want to get it right."

[slapfight]

Peridot's entire face turns blue at that nose boop, and if there was any debate about how much illusory sweat a gem can manifest, it's clear now that it's a lot. On some level, maybe Peridot did know where this was going, but it still floors her.

Possibly because in her infinite naivety, she might have thought she was reading into this wrong. Or hoping beyond all reason because it was what she wanted. Imagine! A Peridot with a-a...

"Oh my stars," she whispers, fighting the urge to fall over and back up against the tree to regroup and be more smooth- Feferi makes it look so easy. "I, um... Well."

She's going to kick Mettaton in his stupid box. She should have known he put her up to this!! He played them both!! How dare he be such a good friend!!

"I would hate to disappoint him," she starts out, and then realizes this is not about Mettaton being disappointed. This is about her and Feferi, and what they want.

What she wants.

Why shouldn't she have what she wants Percy and Pierre have? Who lives vicariously through fictional characters when they can have the real thing?

So instead of leaning back, she calls upon the knowledge of a dozen marathons of Camp Pining Hearts, and leans forward until her lips brush Feferi's. It's very quick- more of a peck, really, because she's never done it before and she's scared she won't get the reaction she expects.

"Is that answer sufficient?" At least the boldness it took to even try to kiss her gives her the confidence to sound a little bit smooth. The eyebrow waggle might have been taking it a bit too far, though.

the fifth quadrant was love all along

[fintastic]

Well, that's one way to surprise Feferi-- but in a good way. She's actually surprised that Peridot went for the kiss first, and squeaks a little in the process, but the big grin on her face says that she definitely doesn't mind it one bit.

"Yes, that is a sufficient answer! Come here!" If the eyebrow waggle is too much, then there's really nothing to describe the way Feferi throws her arms around Peridot, and starts plastering kisses all over her cheek. Excited and affectionate don't even begin to cover it.

She might make it seem easy, but she did a lot of thinking on this-- soul searching. Of course, she still has Sollux to think of. She wonders sometimes if Sollux would even like Peridot, or if they'd just fight over nerd stuff, and if they did, if it'd be the good kind of fighting or bad. And she doesn't think it prudent to try to get Peridot into troll quadrants when human romance seems enough of a challenge, and anyway it seems like a good enough middle ground to meet on.

In the end, Feferi decides that it's different enough, and if it's not... she'll deal with that problem when the time comes. No use in worry about the uncertain future, after all.

So she's happy, and it's a little bittersweet, but she's not going to let that get her down.

"...was that romantic enough? I tried to make it really dramatic, like your show!"

[slapfight]

Peridot squeaks, planting her hands behind her so she doesn't fall over (and for a lack of knowing where to put them, and allows the kissing to go on uninterrupted until she's flustered and her bowtie is askew and the grin on her face is so unbelievably dopey. Also her visor might be a little fogged up at this point.

"That was... actually better than any episode of Camp Pining Hearts," she murmurs, still a little shell-shocked. "Including the one where Percy and Pierre are trapped in that cave-in in Season Three."

Steven and Lapis are never going to believe this.

[fintastic]

"Oooh, that is a good one," she says, having never seen it. She is just going to have to trust that it is a good one, and that she did a good job at the romance thing. Feferi snuggles in, with her arms still around Peridot, satisfied that she got the hard part over with, but wondering where you even go from here, besides into wild makeouts.

"...you wanna watch it together?" She came out here for the scenic view of the tree, but magitek and chill seems like a good option around about now. It's still comfortable, and fragrant, with all the sounds of the outdoors around them.

[slapfight]

Peridot might actually poof a second time this week if wild makeouts were the next logical step in this, though it always seems to come to that in teen dramas. She's not quite ready to be Percy and (ugh) Paulette behind the boathouse sucking face all the time.

But this? This she can do. Two people, uncertain of what the heck they're doing, cuddling outside and watching two stupid boys have ridiculous amounts of subtext on Peridot's magitek.

She boots up the episode on her magitek and then wraps an arm around Feferi's waist. "So for context, this is the one after the kayak race is sabotaged and both Percy and Pierre think the other was responsible for it. It adds some dramatic tension to their interactions in the whole episode, but ultimately leads to- Well, you'll see."