Is it accurate to call this a road trip?

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet does not fidget. There is no fidgeting. She is not a creature that is capable of fidgeting, she trained the habit away five centuries ago when she realized it really ticked her off. She will sit, serenely, maybe read books while waiting, but she doesn't fidget anymore.

But right now, she sort of wishes she did.

How does one mentally prepare to go to another universe?

She has no idea. She hasn't done it before. She realizes, vaguely, that this is kind of a stupid thing to worry about. She knows exactly who she's visiting, has wanted to for a while, and it's a smart tactical decision and helpful and safe and oh goddesses what if everything is weird, what if this becomes the most awkward day of all time, what if she spontaneously combusts upon entering the gate and going to Nexus? That can probably happen. Somehow. She's not really sure how, but if she's learned anything from this past week it is that the multiverse is a strange and terrifying place. And that it is good to be paranoid.

She wastes time on paranoia. She sits. She does not fidget. And she waits for a gate.

Comments

[poll_the_stars]

"Yep. I'd say anytime, but I am pretty sure you couldn't actually persuade me to play Plasma Rain with you unless you were upset and needed something to help you feel better."

[thisvorlunatic]

"That is true of most people."

[poll_the_stars]

"That doesn't surprise me."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Anyway. It was nice meeting you," he says.

[poll_the_stars]

"Same! I can drop by again. I'll make my own gate this time?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah."

[poll_the_stars]

She smiles a bit and waves goodbye. Then she makes a gate and departs.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles refills his MP on the flight home and retreats back to his basement lair, where he settles into a pattern of wishing for spellbooks, refilling his MP, checking the forum, and replaying that clusterfuck of a conversation in his head every two minutes. He should've stuck to flirting with Lisbet. Flirting with Lisbet is actually less embarrassing.

[middlingalong]

Ivan comes downstairs at around dinnertime, with a plate of dinner. "Hullo coz. How are your various basement monsters and crushable demons today? Oh, pardon, you know your own mind I'm sure. Uncrushable demons."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles reaches into the nearest crate of zorkmids and throws one at Ivan.

[middlingalong]

It bounces off Ivan's forehead. "Ack! What gives?"

[thisvorlunatic]

Wordless growl.

[middlingalong]

"Diiiid you hit on the demon and get shot down?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"No!"

[middlingalong]

"What happened, then?" Ivan asks, picking up the zorkmid and returning it to the other zorkmids. He puts the dinner near Miles.

[thisvorlunatic]

"I flirted with him! He thinks I'm cute even when I'm making an utter fool of myself! I can't handle this! I didn't know I liked men that way! What if I ask him to marry me and he says no? What if I ask him to marry me and he says yes?"

[middlingalong]

"Wait, what? How did you get from 'no, I don't have a crush on him, though watch as I do not bet money on it' to thoughts of matrimony this fast?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"That is the eventual end goal of flirting for some people, Ivan."

[middlingalong]

"On day one? With a magical winged demon man. You're defending day one contemplation of 'what if I ask him to marry me and various outcomes' with how normal this is."

[thisvorlunatic]

"The fact that he is a magical winged demon man is precisely why it is so stressful to contemplate. If he were not winged, not a demon, or not a man, my day one contemplation of asking him to marry me would tend more in the direction of 'I can worry about that later' than 'oh God no good can come of this'."

[middlingalong]

"So, don't ask him to marry you."

[thisvorlunatic]

Growl.

[middlingalong]

"Hey, not turning every passing fancy into future groat circles works very well for some people, and I feel it has very good applicability to the winged demon man situation."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Ugh."

[middlingalong]

"There's not really a good scenario if you ask him to marry you! So don't. Get it out of your system to whatever extent he'll cooperate with, or just brood, or whatever floats your boat. And don't worry about how he'd react to a proposal because you aren't going to propose because why would you do that, Miles."