RP Log: Nico and Emily Characters: Nico Summerby and Emily Simon Setting: A London park, following a Friday Night Lightsaber Fight Summary: Nico and Em are geeky and adorable Rating: PG, I reckon. And it had been so Disney up until the end!
Funny thing how even the usually unforgivably un-cushioned park benches could look like reprieve if a bloke needed a few minutes to collapse. Nico, in the grand tradition of over-exaggeration, had only been too glad to plunk his rear down on the bench as he and Emily reached it, letting himself slump over its back like a discarded towel. Even after all of Charity's hauling him out on jogs and to the gym and whatever other forms of torture she could think up, somehow darting around the park with a replica lightsaber, trying not to get pretend-gored by one of Emily's mates took the crown.
And there had been a lesson learned tonight: Nico was out of practice. Not dreadfully, but enough to know that in a rare moment, he had been a lesser geek for not staying up to snuff on his dueling abilities. That was real life's fault, really. Somewhere along the lines his talent for making noodle necklaces for Mum crept up a few levels, and down went lightsaber dueling to keep the world in balance. Anyhow, it didn't seem to bother anyone, and there was more than a decent helping of fun in watching nighttime park-strollers redirecting their path to go around the weirdos chasing each other with giant glow sticks.
"Kubinski," Nico started as he pulled himself upright again, "may possibly be my hero." He paused, looking thoughtfully up at the sky. "Then again, he did fake-hack my arm off twice, so I'm kinda torn about it. Wasn't he on our team?"
"I think he turned to the dark side around ten o'clock," Emily laughed, clearly weakened by all the running around and swinging Mace Windu's blade. It was the heaviest of them, but she never could resist its purple glow. "The Dark Side had a bag of pretzels, and Kubinski's commitment to the overthrow of Evil's always been a little weak."
Joe Kubinski was the owner of the lightsabers, most of which had been purchased when he was in university and his mum and dad were still paying his rent. He still managed to have enough disposable income to buy one of the new Yoda lightsabers for his 3 year old daughter, though. Little Charlotte was indeed adorable chasing around with her pint-sized lightsaber, so Emily really couldn't blame him for it. However, the three year old was definitely succeeding in outlasting all the rest of them in combat. Emily had herself collapsed onto the park bench and promptly slumped over onto Nico's shoulder. Now she'd taken it a step further to simply lie down on her back with her head resting on his leg, looking up at him as he looked up at the stars.
"Oh," Nico remarked, nodding vaguely. "Wait -- they had pretzels? How did evil get pretzels and all of us defending justice and righteouness didn't get anything?" He pulled a frown, sighing. "Next time? I vote we stock up the Jedi camp and cast eternal shame unto those pretzels. I'm thinking ice cream. Ice cream? Or biscuits. Three-course meal?"
Nico pulled his attention downward, noticing that she was shifting on the bench until ultimately settling for using him as a makeshift pillow. Something more approaching a grin was swiftly replacing the frown on his face as he met her eyes as she looked back up. "Comfy?" he asked.
"I am, thank you," she replied, giving him a cheeky smile. Emily was quite comfy, and more so when he looked down and smiled at her like that. It was really very nice when he did that, giving her warm and fuzzy and pleasantly unsteady feeling, like having two glasses of wine and stopping right there to enjoy it. It wasn't the same as watching him swing Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber at Jason when he'd gotten just a little sweaty and she just wanted to throw herself at him and see to the removal of his t-shirt with all due haste. It wasn't the same as simple friendship, either. No, this was something altogether different, perhaps even different than anything she'd felt for any previous boyfriends. It was special, and she would say with fair certainty that it was love; she just wasn't sure how or when to say that.
"Ice cream would've been a good idea tonight," she went on instead, because whether she loved him or not she definitely loved ice cream. Of course, that was a sort of wicked, carnal love that always resulted in destruction, but it was certainly fun while it lasted. "I think I'm ready for fall to get on with arriving. The heat is just not a good time anymore."
There was a similar string of thoughts spinning around Nico's skull -- at least where the subject of food wasn't taking over all. Well, somewhat similar, then. Earlier in the night when it was the lot of them ducking around like madmen and madwomen, he'd gotten so sucked into the spirit of the moment. Perhaps then his mind wasn't fully attuned to his girlfriend in a way that would have him otherwise drop everything, forget that it would not help the Light Side of the Force to have two members of the team call a 'time-out', and ask someone to cover the three-year-old's eyes.
Of course, being alone with Emily now was giving him a few ideas, and allowing some shelved ones from earlier to catch up. That cheeky smile she was flashing him was doing very little to stop his imagination, as well. He had to force his brain back onto the track of the conversation, although he did stretch his arms out behind him, casually allowing the hand nearest Emily to land on her middle.
"I'm right there with you," Nico replied. At least sitting there on the bench was giving them the chance to appreciate the mild breeze that occasionally swept through the park. "Either that or Mother Nature needs to look into air-conditioning. I could even go for being rained on right about now."
"Rain would be good," Emily agreed. "If Mother Nature's not going to install air-conditioning, she could at least start up her shower. I'm going to need one after this. Probably a hot bath, actually..." she added with a grimace. "That duck-and-roll maneuver seemed like a great idea at the time, I swear. Unfortunately, not only did it not work, but I think I've bruised my shoulder. Did it at least look good?" she asked hopefully. "It might be worth it if I somehow managed to look awesome."
She paused and laughed. "Why am I asking you? You were fighting Darth Maul at the time, I think. Is the double-bladed lightsaber not the best ever? When Kubinski showed that one the first time, I think I genuinely squealed with glee."
"No-oo," Nico countered, shaking his head and furrowing his brow. "It looked brilliant! Which I know because I turned that moment and got clipped in the shin. Had to make a case about how that didn't count as losing my leg because my balance is absolute pants." Good thing the idea was to only mime the hits, or else Kubinski and the collective group might've been mourning the passing of that awesome double-bladed replica.
"And sign me up for a hot bath, too," he continued. "I think half my joints are screaming for mercy, and the rest are waiting until the morning to join in." He grinned over at her. "And it was all completely worth it, wasn't it?
"So, so worth it!" she agreed, grinning right back at him. "We'll just have to get better provisions for the Light Side next time. Seems like if Raechael's going to insist on always getting Luke's lightsaber, she should at least bring sweets or a bag of crisps or something."
Emily found herself struck with an impulse to kiss him, which her present position didn't make especially convenient. "C'mere," she said, and in case he didn't get the idea, she picked her arm up to slip her hand around to the back of his neck. "This way. Did I mention that you look really sexy with a lightsaber? Most of the time I go for the Han Solo look, but I think you carry off Kenobi rather well."
"Or ice cream," Nico added, determined on that one fact now that it had come to his mind. Not that sweets or crisps wouldn't be welcome, but they were all easily trumped under the majesty of the cold-served treat.
His thoughts on food quickly ended when Emily's hand came to rest on his neck, brows raised expectantly. "I'd say something about Mace Windu, but in all honesty, Samuel L. Jackson does nothing for me," he admitted, shrugging. "You, on the other hand..." He leaned down, stopping before he reached her. "Are definitely going to have to meet me halfway here. I don't think my spine bends that far," he half-laughed.
Emily laughed, sitting up about halfway to kiss him once, and then going on to grab the back of the bench to pull herself the rest of the way up because it turned out her back didn't bend that far for long. While that did offend her basic laziness by requiring her to actually sit up rather than lounge, it presented a brighter side by making the second kiss much easier. She could take a little more time with it, enjoy it a little more thoroughly before letting it break with a pleased smile.
"All right, I suppose that was worth sitting up for," she allowed. "Shall we go someplace air-conditioned now, maybe? Preferably someplace air-conditioned that has ice cream?"
In the midst of the kiss, Nico had shifted along with Emily, until there was a comfortable middle ground met for them both. His hands had wrapped around her, linking once his arms were encircled around her waist. As they parted, he was mirroring a rather chuffed smile of his own right back.
"Merl --" Whoa, whoa. Wrong one. "God, yes," Nico amended quickly. "Wait. This means getting up, doesn't it?"
"It would require standing, yes," Emily reluctantly admitted. "Possibly even walking, unless my car's developed sentience and it's going to roll over here of its own free will. And somehow I suspect that even if the car did develop sentience, its first concern would not be my comfort. So are we up to the challenge, or do we need to vegetate here a moment longer?"
Nico gave it a thought. "Augh," he concluded after barely a second's debate. "All right, here's the plan: just a few more moments here would be aces, and then you can carry me the first stretch. And then..." He paused, still fairly smiling, though it was gradually turning back into a grin. He gave her an easy shrug, clearly kidding around about this grand scheme of his. "Well, we'll take it from there. Did I miss anything?"
"Sorry, have you looked at me?" she laughed. "I couldn't lift a large dog. If I'm walking, hinny, so're you." Sitting a minute longer sounded like a good idea, though. All that running and sword-swinging really was exhausting, as out of practice as she was. "So do we want to buy ice cream from a public place with cones, or are we just headed to whoever's flat's got the best carton at the moment?"
"A wise man once said that 'size matters not'," Nico countered, although he wasn't exactly able to keep a serious face long enough with her laughing. "I'd do the voice, but my Yoda is rubbish," he confessed. If it came down to it, he had a rather convincing Greebo, but that was a wholly useless talent in most cases.
"And ice cream's gone extinct at my place, so unless you're stocked..." Really, there wasn't any rush to start walking. The whole sitting, talking, and stalling was something Nico felt like a pro at.
"Jason does an amazing Tuscan Raider and a pretty respectable Bantha," Emily commented, though it was somewhat unrelated. "I'll make him do the bantha for you next time we're all hanging out."
That was not the important issue on hand, though, so Emily quickly refocused. "Sorry, we were talking ice cream," she said as she shifted. "There is a single pint of Moose Tracks in my icebox, but I think that's it. And since I might need that later, I vote for the ice cream shop. It's always better in a cone anyway."
"I've yet to hear a good Ewok, actually." Maybe it was off-tangent, but that didn't mean it couldn't be pulled into the conversation as if it belonged there. Star Wars talk came naturally to them both, so why not?
Except that impressions weren't helping with the heat, and they didn't come with A/C. "Right, ice cream shoppe. It's unanimous, then. To the Batmobile?" Nico didn't so much as budge, however. "Soon as I remember how my feet work, of course," he added, taking in a breath and waiting a few more seconds, even yet, before finally scooting to the edge of the bench and standing up. He offered a hand to Emily, just in case she needed the lift up.
She didn't really need the lift, but she took his hand anyway. "To the Batmobile, Robin!" she agreed. "You know, it's sad when the Batmobile is really more sensible than any of the other comic book vehicles. The Blackbird's a good one, too, but for instance...Wonder Woman's invisible jet? Every time I see another panel of her floating along in seated position it makes me snicker."
Of course, her Batmobile was just a VW Jetta, and therefore not especially impressive either. But really, at least it didn't make her look like she was sit-flying. That was no way to keep the anti-superhero forces from noticing one's super activities.
Maybe she didn't need the help, but at least one good thing came out of it all as their hands hadn't broken apart. It felt like a line out of one his students' stories: a couple holding hands in the park. It was the classic example what was acceptable by five year-old terms when it came to what couples did because kissing was just "ick" as he'd heard it phrased. Then there was also the bit about how his students' renditions usually veered straight off a sharp incline into a whole other level when aliens or ninjas crashed the party. On second thought, it didn't feel entirely like that, despite having an almost Disney moment vibe.
Otherwise, it was a good thing that the conversation was steadily going along on subjects Nico knew well enough. "Oh -- the Bug. If we're talking super hero transport? Blue Beetle's Bug. Hands-down, the coolest of the lot and it makes sense."
"Ooo, good one!" Emily declared, giving an approving smile. She was enjoying the Disney moment as well, despite the more Marvel-DC turn of conversation"I always thought Spiderman's web-slinging transport was a great idea in theory, but every time I envision myself doing it I end up smacking my face against Tower Bridge. That's not really the same as a vehicle anyway, though. Thoughts on the Bat-Tank Batmobile in the latest Batman movies?"
"Fun fact of the day?" Nico replied, benching Batman for just a moment. "Spider-man did have a Spider-mobile at one point, and it was as awful as it sounded. But what I wouldn't give for a pair of web-shooters..." And the ability to tap into the Force, and laser vision, and so and on because Nico was mostly sure that he'd hit all the wishes for superpowers at some point in his life.
"Bat-tank? Awesome idea, but too bulky. I'm a fan of the Keaton-era Batmobile, admittedly. I mean, that one looked like sleek, black sex on wheels." He looked over to Emily, expression clearly of a thoughtful make. "And I never thought I'd say that out loud."
Indeed, the phrasing made Emily laugh loudly with her head tilting back, as much at the surprise of hearing him say it as at the thought itself. "It's true, though!" she admitted, still not quite done laughing. It was moving into more of a snicker before finally giving up and fading out. "I mean, the Geiger-Burton Batmobile is one of those cars that makes you realize why so many people have sex-on-or-in-the-car fantasies. Nothing sexy about a Jetta, but the Batmobile? Or James Bond's Bentley? Absolutely.'
Nico couldn't stop himself from snorting back with laughter, sporting a grin that felt too wide for his face. He certainly wasn't embarrassed by his description, as he stood fully by it, but all things considered, it probably wasn't something you heard everyday. "Isn't it? As far as cars in films and on the telly... you think about the Dolorean and it's too clunky and eighties. KITT wouldn't be bad if she didn't talk, or didn't make me think about Hasselhoff -- because if I'm going to have sex in a car, that man is the last thing I want to be thinking about."
"Oh God!" Emily cracked up all over again as she clicked the lock on her not-nearly-so-sexy car and opened the door. "Oh man, now I've got that awful picture of him with the puppy covering his bits in my head! No, KITT is definitely out." She shuddered once more, trying to find anything, any other mental image to replace it. Stuck in old television as she was, there was really only one place to go.
"I'd do it in the General Lee, though." She grinned, relieved to have The Hoff out of her head. "In or on, in a heartbeat."
And thanks to Emily, now so did Nico have that picture burned into his thoughts. At least she pressed on past that before the damage Hasselhoff inflicted on his mental state was too much to bear.
"Oh, nice," he agreed as he walked around to the passenger's side of the Jetta, still shuffing through his banks of useless film and telly trivia to pick out any others. "Magnum's Ferrari," he added as he snapped his fingers. "Preferably while it's still in Hawaii, at that... And, just because my mind decided to think this one up: definitely not Christine."
"Oh no no," Emily readily concurred. "I've got no death wish, thank you." Christine reminded her of an old conversation with her father and brother, though, and she laughed. "This one time, my family got into a conversation about which Stephen King monsters would win in a fight. So we're all debating the various merits of Cujo versus Annie Wilkes, Annie Wilkes verus Carrie, Carrie versus It, and so on. Then, just after we decide that Christine could easily take out Cujo by running over him, my dad just starts laughing, right? So we're all going "What? What?" and Dad snickers one more time, and tells us he'd just gotten a mental image of an evil clown being chased by a Saint Bernard being chased by a '54 Plymouth Fury."
Laughing along, Nico threw his hands up in surrender. "Your family wins. My parents would just give blank looks about that one." Nicolaus Sr. and Holly Summerby weren't exactly in-tune with pop culture enough to follow these sorts of things. There were times enough when Nico had to sit down and explain at length the mechanics and plots of films just to be able to tell a joke. They did try, at least. He had to give them that much. Good old mum and dad.
"All right, this might be considered its own category, but how about the TARDIS? Clearly it works for some people with all the companions the Doctor ends up with..."