3926/Vicky's Playground

Vicky's Playground
Date of Scene:	20 February 2018
Location:	Legion Cruiser - Crew Habitat
Synopsis:	Vicky is trying to be a better friend to Lar.
Cast of Characters:	Mon-El, Redstar

---

Mon-El has posed:
    Things have at least somewhat settled down by now after the end of the Rising Tide's grip on the world's comunications and the violent events in Gotham and Bushwick. Everything is -just- starting to get back to normal...well, what passes for normal around here, anyway. Lar had once again invited Vicky aboard the Legion cruiser. She can't go back into deep space again really, but she could at least enjoy the simulators or maybe just the Sol system. Hopefully.

Redstar has posed:
The teen had been putting off calling Mon-El all day. There had been thoughts and ponderings to consider. What to tell him, what not to tell him. With a frustrated sigh she ran a hand through her hair and pushed the bottom on the subspace comm her had given her. "Hey Lar...uh...You busy?"

A few minutes later she was stepping through the portal. But she had something with her. A plastic bag with some sort of groceries in it. A box, what looked like a gigantic chocolate bar and marshmellows. There were also a couple cleaned sticks. Seems she had been thinking about this all day. "Hey...uh...I kind of had an idea. And I've been a horrible friend and I want to try and...do something for you like you did for me." A pause. "Can we use that simulator?"

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar peers at the grocery bags curiously, using his vision to examine their contents. None of the food items really look familiar to him. Well except the chocolate. At least, he thinks it's chocolate? "Sure." he says, starting over toward the simulator and hitting the button to open the doors. At the moment, the room just looks barren and empty, with nothing but line-shaped light fixtures along the walls. "Is that chocolate?" he asks, pointing at the brown bar. "And what's the white stuff?"

Redstar has posed:
Vicky grins at Mon-El as he inquires about the things in the bag, "It -is- chocolate. And you will see my friend. I had hoped you hadn't experienced it before." Then she peers at the console. "Hmmm, how...can you show me how to pull up something?" She asks. I mean, she could just randomly press things but it wouldn't be so easy. "Colorado, 10pm, August," She pulls out her phone and checks something, "9th," She finishes as she bites her lip. "I even grabbed some GPS coordinates."

Mon-El has posed:
    "Oh, are you making um, brownies?" Lar asks, since that's the only way he's seen chocolate used before. Then she asks about a particular scene for the simulator. "Oh, here." He goes over to the terminal and keys a few things into the interface including the coordinates and time. "Might not be exact, since it's based on probe readings that might not have been taken from that particular time of day. But I hope it'll do."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky leans in to peer at the panel. "Well that's okay. The showers last several days and that one is smack dab in the middle," She says curiously before popping inside. "And no, not brownies!" There is a friendly wink and grin.

It is cool in late summer Colarado in the middle of nowhere. Trees and atop a mountain on a clear night with almost no moon. Vicky glances around and moves to kick some detritus clear of a flat and rocky area.

"Gotta build a fire," She tells him as she sets her bags down. Sure, they could have simulated one already. But that is not the point of what she is doing. They're building the fire together. "Can you find some big pieces of fallen branches and smaller ones too?"

Mon-El has posed:
    "Oh? What else is chocolate used for?" Lar asks. He really doesn't know. He watches the VR unfold around them with an air of satisfaction, the hard light holograms as realistic as ever.

    Then he stares at her with a very confused gaze. "Whatever for?" he asks, befuddled. "Well, unfortunately all the branches around here are hard light holograms, so they won't really burn. But I could instruct the program to create a fire for us." At this, a holographic panel seems to appear out of thin air in front of him and he punches in a few more commands. "How big do we need it?"

Redstar has posed:
Vicky sits back and lets out a huff of breath. "Well, that sucks. I was hoping it was something Star Trekky and you could pretend light things. I mean...how interactive is the hologram?" She asks him, titlting her head. "Part of the fun is building and making a fire. But I guess we can do it the easy way.

The ring of rocks that would have held their put together fire sits. It's a medium fire, the perfect size for roasting hot dogs and making smores. "Ummmm...about this size. Will it actually cook stuff?" She tilts her head, eyeing him hopefully. "Otherwise...well..." The young woman rocks back on her heels where she crouches, thinking.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar stares at her, still very confused. "Star...Trekky? What does that mean?" he pauses. "So, Terrans find starting fires recreational?" he asks, thinking that rather strange. The requested size of fire quickly appears in the designated spot.

    "I think so." he answers her question about it actually being hot. "Temperatures can be simulated in a localized fashion, so it should work."

Redstar has posed:
"Good! It should be hot as a normal fire. Which kind of flickers a bit in heat, that's important!" Vicky says. She knows a little bit about cooking and was a Girl Scout briefly. Speaking of which she pulls out Thin Mints and Samoas from one bag as well as graham crackers of both cinnamon and regular varieties.

"It's a bonding experience. And it is always controlled, see the ring?" She points to it. "Uhh, I forgot a blanket to lay on," Then she shrugs, letting it pass. "Come sit," And she sits criss-cross style and pulls out a package of hot dogs next. "We are going to roast these first. Do you want one or two?" She asks him.

Mon-El has posed:
    "It should be." Lar nods. "Sometimes we have to simulate explosions in here, but nothing too big. The walls are heat resistant and heavily reinforced and all, but they do have their limits. This shouldn't be a problem, though."

    He watches intently as she gets out all those...different items. "Oh...a bonding experience? Interesting." he sits down next to her, peering at the hot dogs. "Oh, oh I know what those are. Those are hot dogs, right? I've had those before...um, I don't care how many." he chuckles.

Redstar has posed:
Vicky throws two onto one stick and hands it to Lar with a grin. "Hold that, don't eat it yet though," She says as she pops two onto her stick. "I bet, however, you haven't had fire roasted hot dogs. Which are the best kinds. Ones on a bbq are close, buuuuuut," She shrugs a shoulder and grins.

Her own stick is stuck into the fire and held there. This hiss and pop of the meat being cooked lod in the mostly quiet. And in that quiet she just sits there with a smile, watching the fire and the hot dogs cook. "Thanks for inviting me up here, by the way. I wanted to make up for my fit the other day...it...happens sometimes. Probably that whole blended soul thing."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar takes the stick, peering at it intently. "Oh...kay." He says slowly, watching her put some hot dogs on her own stick. "No, I haven't. What's a bbq? Is that an acronym for something?"

    "Oh, I see." he says when she starts to cook hers in the fire. He tries emulating that and sticks his own hot dogs right into the middle of the fire. "You don't need to make up for anything, Vicky. Really."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky reaches out and pulls his stick back from the center. "Along the outer edges, otherwise the stick will burn through and you'll be fishing a charred and ashey hot dog out," She must be speaking from experience. "BBQ, short of barbeque. They're containers for fire, though some use propane gas and light it to cook things. If you haven't been to one, maybe on my brithday I'll have one. Steaks on a grill are freaking DELICIOUS."

~You are so boring.~ Starr finally decides to speak up. It makes Vicky do one of her 'blinks'. The kid when someone suddenly speaks that you had forgotten about. The smile falters only a second before it is back in place.

"Mmmmm, not how I see it. You took me to explore your playground. Well...this is sort of mine," A hand gestures up at the dark night sky where the asteroid shower of the Perseides begin. "And there it is!" She seems happy and relieved. "Oh, turn your stick slowly so they get toasty all over." She shows him with her own.

Mon-El has posed:
    Whoops, looks like it was too late. Although Vicky pulls it away from the center, the stick has already burned up and the hot dogs fall down into the fire. Lar laughs. "I'm terrible at this." he says, shaking his head. "I'll try it again though, okay?" He picks up two more hot dogs and puts them on another stick, then makes sure he puts them along the outer edges instead.

    He nods at her explanation. "Fair enough." Looking up as she points skyward, he smiles. "So I take it you did this sort of thing a lot growing up?" Of course now he isn't paying attention to the hot dogs, having inadvertantly moved them into the center again. The stick and the hot dogs are now burning up quickly.

Redstar has posed:
Vicky watches the hot dogs sizzle and turn into black logs in the fire before giggling. "Oh well. I suppose we could technically just hold them in the flame to cook them, but this is how you're supposed to do it. When camping anyway," She says with a bob of her head.

A faint and reminiscent smile crosses her face at the mention of her childhood. "Yeah. There is an organization in America called the Girl Scouts. It's all about empowering and teaching young women all kinds of skills. I did a lot of the survival and outdoorsy stuff. People didn't get me then. Starr was talking constantly at that point and it was hard for a nine year old to focus..."

The hot dogs on her stick are turned and getting that nice mix of brown and a bit black. She pulls them out and gives them a squeeze with a smile. "Perfect!" Her hot dog hisses in horror before she takes a happy bite.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Oops." Lar chuckles and quickly takes them out of the fire, putting them out on the grass. "Can you tell I've never really tried cooking any food before?"

    He listens to her reminiscing about Girl Scouts. "'Girl Scouts'. But you didn't receive any actual recon training?" he asks teasingly.

Redstar has posed:
Vicky bursts into giggles when he mentions recon training. "Recon? Goodness now. It wasn't a military group. No, it teaches leadership, management, out door skills, first aid, money management, and a slew of other things. It also helps build confidence. Also supposed to form strong groups of girls...didn't quite work for me. But I still learned a lot," Like cooking on a fire.

"Here," She pulls the dog off with a bite in it and sticks it in her mouth before passing him her other done one. Slightly brown, slight black, all woodsy. "It may not have that woodiness since no actual wood. That settles it, we're going camping sometimes soon."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar shrugs. "I mean, on some planets, children are given military training from an early age. And I thought that's what scouts do. Recon. But I'm glad you did learn some useful skills."

    He takes the hot dog as she gives him the other one. "Woodiness? Well, I hope it doesn't actually taste like wood. I've never eaten it, but I don't imagine it tastes very good."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky breaks into another round of giggles at the idea of eating wood. "Oh no! It...it's a term for cooking. When you cook with wood there are different...the aroma of the wood can enhance the taste of something," She says and considers. "We'll have to wood cook, charcoal cook, and propane cook. Then you can see what I mean!"

"What about you? What was your childhood like?" She asks before taking three quick more bites of the hot dog. Gone it is. As she chews and listens she breaks open the box of graham crackers, among all the other s'mores thing she had brought.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar blushes, somewhat abashed when she starts laughing at him again, although he is sort of used to it by now. "Yeah, I know...I sound like an idiot." he admit, smirking a little bit, then listening to her explanation. "Oh, I think I get it." he says, nodding.

    "My childhood? Well, I don't remember a lot but I do remember getting whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, pretty much. Since my parents were royalty. And pretty much every family I met wanting their daughter to get married to me. And also not liking the way my parents treated people, but not really knowing what to do or say about it."

Redstar has posed:
"You're not an idiot. You just don't know about our culture. And it's cute," Vicky says with a gentle smiles, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. Then she goes back to assembling the first of the S'mores sandwiches. "We have several options tonight for you to sample, but first we will try the traditional S'more!"

The graham cracker sandwiches one chunk of dark hersheys chocolate and a marshmellow. Forgoing the stick she just sticks her hand in the fire. "They make these little cages for making these, but we can just..." And she gestures to her hand in the fire. The marshmellow begins to bubble, the chocolate melt, and the graham cracker toast. She pulls her hand back a bit to eye it, then sticks her hand a little farther from center.

Another few seconds and it is done. The dessert sandwich is passed to Lar with a triumphant little smile. "Here ya go. This is an iconic Earth thing."

Mon-El has posed:
    "It's...cute?" Lar stares at her, unsure of how to respond to that. Was it supposed to be a compliment? "Um. Thanks, I guess?" Terrans were strange...

    "Summore," he repeats the word, watching her prepare the traditional dessert with interest, then smiles when she offers it to him. "Oh, thank you." But when he tries to take it, the crackers crumble in his hand, turning it into a sticky, crumpled mess. He sighs, laughing. "Not again."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky tries really hard to not giggle. She mostly succeeds. Instead she pulls another thing from the grcoery bag. Wet wipes. An absolute needed accessory when dealing with ooey gooey marshmellows and other sticky goodness. "Okay, here, let me make another. Maybe just hold out your hand and I'll put it on?" Vicky offer as she assemples another one with practiced ease.

~You think all this is going to make things better. This goofy, silly, nothing fluff. Why do you both?~ The words whisper in Vicky's mind as she holds her hand in the fire. She glances sideways, smile a little faded at the silent conversation, as Lar cleans himself up.

(You need to be silent. I didn't ask for your opinion. Just like you haven't asked for mine, lately!) O o Vicky thinks harshly back at the demon. It is enough that the demon's presence retreats, thoughtful and watching.

Vicky lets out a sick and removes her hand from the fire with a new S'more. "Hold out your hand."

Mon-El has posed:
    "Stop laughing at me!" Lar says, trying to sound indignant but not really succeeding at it and laughing instead. He takes the wet wipes and starts to clean up the sticky mess, although he practically goes through the entire container because most of them get torn to shreds while he was trying to pull them out of the package they were in.

    Finally, he finishes up and puts his hand out as requested. "Even if you just put it in my hand, I'll still have to try to grasp it without destroying it. But don't worry, I will do my best to be gentle this time."

Redstar has posed:
"Well, you can just hold your hand like a plate. Like you're eating pizza?" Vicky offers, picking up a cracker and making an example. It is mostly on her hand, but she uses her mouth to pull it forward and eat it. It looks ridiculous of course.

"See?" She says around a mouthful of graham crackers. "You know, maybe I can help you more with the fine motor stuff. I mean...you are way stronger than me, but I did things like tying knots again and again. I also drew pictures. You need a very light touch to not push through paper or break a pencil."

Mon-El has posed:
    "Pff, that looks ridiculous, I'm not doing that!" Lar laughs, shaking his head. "I can do this, okay? I just...need to be more prepared for how fragile it is, that's all."

    "Well Kara has shared with me some of the things she used to do to try to get used to being this strong. Like trying to fold kleenex papers without ripping them. -That's- hard."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky nods her agreement with Lar's assessment as she passes him the now-readied new S'more. "Gently now. Pretend it's a kitten," She says with a laugh. "Bad analogy, cause you're going to take a bit of it. Uhhhh," She tries to think of something, obviously, but fails. With a shrug of her shoulders she puts hers together slowlyly. Eye on the Daxamite and his first experience with the ooey-gooey-goodness that is a campers treat. As excited as she is, anticipating his reaction, she even bites her lower lip.

Mon-El has posed:
    "What's a kitten?" Lar arches a brow at her, chuckling. "I assume it isn't something you would eat." He takes the cracker sandwich as carefully as possible, then slowly takes a bite out of it. Chewing thoughtfully for a moment, he nods and swallows. "Excellent. You know I don't think I've even tasted anything here that I -didn't- like." he says with a smile.

Redstar has posed:
Vicky goes absolutely wide-eyed and open mouthed at Mon-El. "Wait. Wait. You don't know what a kitten is? -HOW- can you -NOT- know what a kitten is? I mean...ah...You know what a cat is right?" She says absolutely incredulous. The process of assembling her own S'more forgotten in her shock. "They're baby cats and..." She pulls out her phone and then makes a face. "Bah! Right. In space."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar stares at Vicky blankly for a few moments before recognition lights up his eyes. "Oh, yeah. I know what a cat is. Lyle has one. So a juvenile cat. I get it!" he nods. "Very delicate, I assume. It seems you Terrans prefer them as companions?" That's how it seemed, anyway.

Redstar has posed:
Vicky nods her head in agreement. For the next little while she stuffs Mon-El full of sugar as well as herself. Varieties of S'mores involving girl scout cookies, reeses cups, and such. The entire time she goes on and on about kittens and how cute they are. Occasionally telling stories of the cats she had as a child.

Sweet treats done with she lays back and looks up at the meteor shower. "You know...you're helping me appreciate this place more. Seeing it with new eyes through you makes it not so bad I can't really leave it."

Mon-El has posed:
    "I'm glad to hear it." Lar says, smiling as she tells him how he's helped her appreciate Earth more. "I mean, you've certainly made me want to try having a cat as a companion too sometime." he laughs. "Certainly, every planet has its ills. But this one is pretty nice, all things considered. At least as far as I've seen. The government around here seems more fair and just than the one back home, anyway." he shakes his head. "My parents and the council could pretty much get away with whatever they wanted. Lots of people suffered for it, too."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky is quiet for awhile as she takes in Mon-El's words. She chews her lower lip as she watches one particularly bright meteor overhead. "Hey, lay back and watch it with me," She tells him. "And...I dunno. Our government is pretty corrupt too. I mean, I don't read a lot of political stuff. And I've been locked away from the world for four years of my life about six months ago...but things could always be better."

"About Ares..." She begins that dreaded subject with a sigh.

Mon-El has posed:
    "That may be so." Lar says, lying down next to her to watch the skies. "And of course it could always be better, but at least they don't order anyone who disagrees with or dislikes them killed, locked away or otherwise silenced. And don't even get me started on the Sorrow Cult. Not that I know everything, but browsing through your Internet revealed lots of contrasting opinions all of which seemed to be broadcasted freely and fearlessly."

    Then she finally brings up the subject of Ares. "Yes...?" He asks, prodding her to continue.

Redstar has posed:
Vicky is quit for a minute as she fiddles with the d-ring on her collar. "When I was a kid, after Starr started talking to me, I used to wish upon shooting stars. Everytime I did I wished that she would go away, or that I could make her stop, or be stronger to shut her out," She begins, her voice low. There is a pause, the rustling of a bag, and she pops a can of coke. "And it just got worse over time with me losing control and she gaining it. It was short bursts...but they were always violent. It's why they said I was crazy," She pauses to sip her drink.

~Wishes. Things to use to manipulate poor humans who don't know any better. Foolish," Starr chides in that silent peanut gallery.

Vicky manages to ignore the comment and continues, "I stopped believing in wishes and magic when I was ten. Oh sure, there were superheroes in the world. But none of them could save me, change things," She twirls the tab of her can absently. "The last few months I've learned that magic -is- real. Very real. It's the only reason I'm alive," A pause as she takes in a deep breath and lets it out. "Ares isn't just teaching me to fight, Lar. He's teaching me to conquer Starr."

~Hmph. That will never happen, pet.~ Starr says smugly before giving a laugh. ~Now you are simply wishing on gods to do the impossible.~

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar listens to Vicky's story, remaining silent until she finishes. Then he sighs. "I don't think you should trust him....but I can't make your decisions for you. I can only trust that one day you'll realize that he isn't worth all the pain he's caused you. But I'm glad you're at least open to other options too. Now that this Rising Tide business is over with, I'll have to find a time for you to meet with my friend Clint." he smiles at the thought of the man. "You'll like him, I promise."

Redstar has posed:
Vicky reaches out to take Lar's hand and give it a squeeze. "I'm not afraid of telling him I want to be done...but what if all those wishes I made were answered?" A pause and she sighs. "Everything comes with a price, Starr once told me. And I guess she is right. I am willing to try other options...meet others. But my goal is to protect the world from the demon inside me...and magic being real...well," She trails off and stares at the sky.

Now there are dozens of streaks across the sky. Some brighter and some darker. After a couple minute of quiet she says, "What are you doing tomorrow? There's a place I want to take you too...it has to do with kittens." Her head turns to look at him with a smile. "And yeah...let's meet Clint soon. I would like to be able to at least get a shake in Mutant Town."