Lilo Pelekai is a disciple of The King. (means_family) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-10-10 01:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, gabriel, lilo pelekai, tenth doctor |
Who: Lilo + Tenth Doctor (guest appearance by Gabriel)
What: Chocolate Cake
When: 10 / 7
Where: Just Desserts!
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
He needed to get out more, meet new people. Not be alone. He knew that, intrinsically, because his first thought was that he wanted to do the exact opposite of it.
John Smith, the Doctor, wanted to hole up in his flat and never leave it because he had already lost too much. His best friend had left in real life, and his -- well. His Rose had left too. Sure, he still had Gwen, his flatmate, and he loved her dearly, of course. But it wasn't the same.
Still, he knew staying inside wouldn't help anything, and so… chocolate cake with a stranger.
Couldn't be better.
He scuffed the sole of his Converse All-Stars on the steps outside his flat and thought about how he really needed to get a car one of these days.
Lilo pulled up in a yellow VW Bug, battered and sounding like it had the consumption. She was wearing jean shorts, flip flops, and a bright red hoodie, her hair still damp and smelling of the sea. “HEEEEEEY,” she yelled, rolling the window down. “ARE YOU THE GUY WHO NEEDS DESSERTS?”
While he thought he was an excitable sort, he wasn't sure he'd met too many other people who could literally speak in capital letters. But there she was: bright, cheery, and driving the cutest vehicle that was not a TARDIS.
"Yes!" John grinned, hopped down the last few stairs and went to open the door of the car. "Yep. That's me. Desserts. Love a dessert." Especially if it came from a little shop, of course.
Lilo beamed, unlocking the door and then sitting back up. “Hi, I’m Lilo!” She offered him her hand, smiling brightly. “I’m glad you’re here, you need cheering up.”
Well, what else could he do but shake her hand? He did that, looking as enthusiastic as he possibly could with a statement like 'you need cheering up'. Because it was true, and that was sort of sad. Really sad. He was usually so cheerful, and he knew it.
"The Doctor." A pause and a lopsided grin, and he changed his mind. "John Smith. Either or. Cake is a cheerful thing, it'll do."
“It’ll start you out, Doctor.” Lilo went with that name since it was the one he’d given her first. Obviously that meant it was the one he preferred. “We can talk if you want, or not! Either way, you’ll get chocolate in your belly and I’ll try to distract you.”
"Distraction is easier when it's being allowed. I'd absolutely love to talk." Hey, at least he knew he was trouble and troubled, and was trying to work with it. Maybe the dreams really were a learning experience, because there was definitely a time he wouldn't have been nearly so helpful.
"Lilo then," he said, buckling his seatbelt and clapping his hands together once in an altogether entirely too loud way. "Been to the ocean lately? You smell like it." Okay, he was weird.
“I’m a pro surfer, so I practice every day.” She swung out into traffic, driving carefully but assertively. “I was just there! There’s no better smell than the ocean. Except my dogs. Oh, and waffles. Maybe hot dogs. The food, not my dogs being sweaty.”
She went on a bit, didn't she? Luckily, that was the exact kind of conversation he was good at. "Dogs only sweat through their paws and noses," the Doctor said, because he absolutely loved factoids. The only thing he liked better than factoids was giving them to other people. It was very elementary school teacher of him, except that definitely wasn't his job so the had to do it other places.
"Hot dogs and waffles together?"
“It’s why they pant,” Lilo smiled. “And pigs don’t sweat at all! They sure do complain about it too,” she groused. Bouncing a little, she navigated them toward a tiny sweet shop she’d found her first week living in the OC.
“Yup! Salty and sweet, activates more taste buds. Chocolate covered bacon, too.”
Ohhh, he liked her though. Despite his best efforts to think he ought to be alone in his wallowing, the Doctor never quite had been able to dislike people or company. He found himself giving an honest, open mouthed smile and nodding. "Quite right," he agreed. "Animals, they can be vocal." Of course, that was easier to know when he had his TARDIS around -- which he didn't anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't aware.
"Pretzels and chocolate," he said, keeping on the not-track they were on. "I like the crunch."
“Constantly. I didn’t know squirrels were such little pot stirrers until recently.” One day, she’d tripped on a rock and bam. Animals and languages, she understood them all. It hadn’t really gone away, and she had to admit she liked it. “Chocolate covered peanuts too, now I’m SUPER hungry.”
"There's a reason people use the term 'squirrelly'," he pointed out, seeming oddly pleased with the conversation. Probably because to outsiders it might have seemed amazingly bonkers. That was the sort of thing he tended to like, it just couldn't be helped.
"It's a good thing we're going to get dessert then." He paused, looking down at his hands contemplatively. "Thanks for that, too."
“Who was it?” Lilo reached out to squeeze his hand, never taking her eyes off of the road. “That left you alone?”
Surprised at how immediately tactile Lilo was, he rose his eyebrows up high and then closed his mouth, thoughtful. Then he grinned, and shrugged. Not necessarily happily, either. "Everyone, eventually."
“Well, yes, but I meant in a kind of right now way and less of a Sylvia Plath, Chicken Little, The Cure kinda way.” Lilo squeezed yet again before turning into the shop. “I just ... in my dreams, my parents died and I was super little. So people treated me funny, and you kinda look how little me does.”
"I look like a small girl?" He knew what she meant; sad, vaguely abandoned. He got it, of course he did, because that was how he felt. Not that he'd ever admit to likening himself to Robert Smith, either.
"In my dreams," he said, after a moment. "There was a girl. Woman, really. Brilliant. A friend." More than a friend. "She's gone now. There and here. Off somewhere else. And my best mate here," more than a best mate, "Had to move off too. She's brilliant though."
“You loved her.” Lilo nodded, still holding his hand. “I’m sorry. Nobody should have to be alone.”
He'd loved them both. In ways that were terribly different and completely similar at the same time. The Doctor only gave a vague nod and squeezed her hand a little. "No. But that's alright. There's always more to see, yeah? Can't stop just because there's no one." And anyway, he was going to get chocolate cake with a near stranger so there wasn't exactly no one.
“When you have no one, that’s when you have to find someone, right? Friends are the best.” Lilo smiled, feeling a kinship with this man immediately, like he was a long lost brother. “Come on, my treat.” She parked the car and beamed. “Can’t have you pay for your own cheer up sweets.”
He beamed, undoing his seatbelt and following her out of the car. Often, the Doctor bounced back and forth between moods, so it was really no big thing when he went from YAY to NAY and then back again in only a few short seconds. He was all in "yay" mode now.
"You're darling. Just really brilliant. I hope you're aware."
“You’re just saying that for cake,” Lilo teased, sticking out her tongue. Bouncing into the shop, she waved brightly at the guy behind the counter, holding the door open for the Doctor. “Okay, so I need two of your richest, most death inducing treats, stat.”
"Comin' up sweet cheeks!" The guy behind the counter waved back, an obnoxious wiggle of fingers followed by a too-cheeky grin (the Doctor liked him immediately), and then puttered around behind his treats counter, whistling something that was both out of tune and possibly the star spangled banner.
"Not just for the cake," the Doctor said, looking around the little shop with a delighted interest. "Although, yeahhh, it helps."
Lilo hugged her new friend. “Hey. I don’t let family stay sad if I can help it.” It was one of Lilo’s quirks, which she accounted to growing up in Hawaii - everyone was family. Back home, if you were familiar with someone (like the guy at the convenience store you saw once a week), they were Uncle So and So or Auntie Something. She’d just kept that up in her life.
"Family, huh?" John seemed bemused over that, but was a tactile sort and so returned the hug (he was great at hugs, ask anyone) with great enthusiasm.
Their special moment was ruined by the man behind the counter, who seemed delighted to ring a little bell and stick two plates up within their reach. "Chocolate lava cakes. If I need to warn you they're hot, we're doing everything wrong."
“Of course,” Lilo grinned. “You’re a new brother.” She figured that much was obvious. But when she heard the little bell chime, she made a glee noise and beelined for the counter.
Of course, the clerk’s statement made her mug a little. “Whaaaaaat? Lava’s hot? That explains why the floor killed me so often.”
Considering that he'd been adopted in this world, and had no brothers or sisters, and was the last of his kind in his dreams, the Doctor rather decided he liked the idea of having one here now. He nodded, as if accepting the mantle with grace.
"You too? Obstacle courses to avoid the floor were rough."
The clerk (his name tag didn't offer a name, only read "Yeah, whatever") only cackled, setting forks on the offered plates and waved them off toward one of the tables in the corner.
“Oh, they were growing up. One of my childhood friends always said he was a volcano spirit and then he’d move the cushions, demanding more souls. Which is stupid, volcanoes are women.” Lilo smiled, moving to plop down at her seat. She ate her cake very specifically, cutting it in half and leaning in to breathe in the chocolate smell for a while.
"Obviously." What? He wasn't going to disagree. It wasn't as if he really knew any volcanos personally in which to argue the point. He poked at his little cake until chocolate bled out of all the sides, steaming and seriously smelling like the best thing he'd ever come across.
Well, no. It would be better with bananas, but whatever.
"So what makes a pro surfer from Hawaii move to a place that is not Hawaii?"
“Well, some of the bigger competitions are upstate.” She nibbled a bit at the end of her cake, shrugging and looking down. The story would make him sad, but he’d asked. “My parents were murdered. And everything at home reminded me of them. So I just came here.”
"Oh," It was sad, and he offered a sympathetic, wet eyes sort of look over it. Not pity, never pity, but understanding. He took another bite of cake and then nodded, as if making a decision. "That probably calls for more cake."
“Oh, we’ll have a couple,” Lilo smiled lopsidedly. He was a nice man, a perfect member of her extended ohana. “So, what do you do? You know, jobly wise?”
"Jobly?" Yeah, they might actually have been related if she talked like this intentionally. Wibbily wobbly relations. Distant cousin twice removed adopted sister. He grinned madly, all teeth and crinkled crow's feet. "I'm authorly. I write books for young adults about saving the world and learning powerful life lessons while doing so. You know. Fight dinosaurs, remember to floss."
“Or flossing for the velociraptors and T-Rexes.” She mimed having T-Rex arms while giving a sorrowful wail. “Woooooe, I cannot reach my teeth, raaaaar.”
"That's where the power of friendship comes in," offered a very sagely nodding Doctor. His books were a bit less childish than all that, but it was fun to be silly about it.
Lilo giggled. “Even though humans didn’t live in the same time period as any dinosaurs, yes. I’d probably read that book. What have you written? I bet I’ve read it!”
"Uhhmm, time travel." And the Doctor? He was the expert on time travel, so there. Instead of saying, he offered her business card from his back pocket. "You can look it up later. That way I don't have to pretend to be humble." He grinned brightly before finishing off his lava cake.
Lilo took the card, then looked at the name. Her jaw dropped. “YOU. OH MY GOSH YOU’RE AWESOME.” She couldn’t help but point at him for a moment, almost accusingly. But then she wanted some cake, so her moment of abject fangirl adoration was over as soon as it had begun.
And okay, yeah, he kind of puffed up over that, clearly pleased she knew of him (which always surprised him because seriously his name was John Smith and if that wasn't unoriginal -- you know what, he wasn't even getting into that).
But he was nearly as easily distracted (and seriously! Also humble!) so seemed just as pleased to hop up with their empty plates in hand and demand more chocolate goodness from the hyperactive clerk behind the counter who now looked like he was building a house out of popsicle sticks next to the register.
Lilo danced up to the counter with the Doctor, doing an impromptu Happy Chocolate Dance. She blinked at the counter guy. “That has no structural integrity, you’ll have to reinforce it with glue.”
Counter guy gave Lilo a Look that could not properly be put to words (but was basically a 'hey, man, I know how to build a stick house, back off' look) and then shrugged lazily before leaning on the counter and offering a charming smile. "Come for more? I know, I'm irresistible."
The Doctor tittered over that, rolling back on the heels of his sneakers and staring into the case thoughtfully. He was, admittedly, a sucker for most the stuff on display and decided it was probably best if his new sister person decided.
“Ice cream, please.” Lilo ignored the flirting since she was happily taken, thank you, and instead just requested the thing that went best with cake. Just the idea of ice cream made her wiggle her toes.
Hey now! Counter guy could have just as easily been flirting with the Doctor! He wasn't, but that wasn't the point. Anyway, he didn't mean nothin' by it. Unless she was receptive, in which case he totally did.
"Ice cream! Of course!" He stuck his tongue out and gave a sigh before holding up a hand in the international sign of hold your freakin' horses, and wandering off through a door behind the counter -- clearly the kitchen.
"Good choice," John approved because, well, he did. He poked around at some random wrapped candies in a basket on the counter and then smiled. "I'm glad we did this. It's helped."
“Really?” Oh, good.” Lilo hugged John again. “So, is it just me, or is the guy at the counter adorable? I kind of want to buy him a stuffed animal or something.”
"Definitely." Yay more hugs! John took it, offered another and then twisted his lips thoughtfully. "He's adorable," he agreed after a moment. "Attentive anyway. I hope he has a dog." Which was a weird thing to say, but the guy looked like he sort of needed to chase after something happy in the park.
“I hope so too! Do you have a dog? Do you like dogs? I dream my dog’s an alien, but here they’re just dogs.” Lilo always spoke that way.
"I love dogs!" He grinned, bright and wide. "I don't have one though, not here. In my dreams I had a robot dog, though. And I'm an alien, so I think that counts for something." He always spoke that way, too.
“You dream you’re an alien? Awesome! Stitch had six arms. And he was blue.” She fished out her phone to show him pictures of her dogs, a mastiff and a pitbull, snuggling in a pile on the floor.
He peered at the pictures of the dogs, decided there was absolutely nothing better than a puppy pile, particularly when it was made up of puppies. He cooed and pointed accordingly. Maybe he should get a dog. Did Gwen like dogs? He'd have to ask. Hm.
"I'm an alien, right. I've got two hearts. And my spaceship is blue. It's quite fetching, really."
“You have two hearts now? Can I listen? Where’s your ship? Can we go to Hawaii? We could get snowballs.” Lilo leaned over to press her ear to his chest.
That was a lot of questions. Luckily, John was just used to that sort of thing, and so let her listen to his heartbeats (that'd never get old!) while he ticked off a few answers. "Yes. Yes, you already are, my ship isn't here. She was here in human form for a while but she had to leave, which is why I'm partly sad, someday I'll have it again and we'll go to Hawaii. And space. I'll take you to space. They have ice cream too." And really, he wanted to do those things with her.
“They probably have better ice cream, I’m sure it freezes cooler. Have you ever had ice cream made with liquid nitrogen? SUPER yum.” Lilo stood up, looking at him with awe and affection. “I didn’t know I’d have such an awesome brother someday.” Best random family member ever!
It was probably the random bit. He was exactly that. "I have. Not the best sorts. Just Dippin' Dots. Does that count? They call it the ice cream of the future, but really it's just present time. False advertising, really."
Which was about the time that Counter Guy burst forth with a few pints of ice cream. "Chocolate. Vanilla. Coffee raspberry orrrrr chocolate orange?" He wasn't an ice cream shop, he didn't have a ton of choices and generally stopped making any to sell (except for vanilla, don't be crazy) after a certain point in the year, but hey, there was a back stock.
“All ice cream is the ice cream of the future if you wait to eat it,” Lilo said sagely. “And no, those don’t count, you can’t even taste the flavors.” She turned to counter guy, listening to her choices. “CHOCOLATE ORANGE OH MY GOSH I WILL GIVE YOU BABIES.”
"MULTIPLE BABIES?" Counter Guy (CG.) seemed delighted over that, and John wondered what someone would do if babies were just being handed out in form of favor and payment. And then he wondered why he was wondering that and so just moved on.
"I want the coffee one!" Because what writer didn't like coffee everything?
Spoons were offered as well as a bill (hand written, numbers plus quantities of babies required), and yeah, the Doctor decided having gone out today was the perfect thing.