InsaneJournal

Tweak says, ""Everything's eventual.""

Serena (mooncrisis) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2013-08-08 14:21:00

Entry tags:

peter parker/spider-man, serena tsukino

WHO: Serena and Peter Parker
WHAT: Diffusing awkward with ice cream
WHEN: Wedesnday afternoon
WHERE: Sidewalk & ice cream parlor
RATING: Low

It had been about an hour since Serena had wound up in Kansas. So many questions swam through her head, but it all really seemed to boil down to this: there was evil in this podunk little place called Kansas. Big, apocalyptic evil, and people were brought here to fight it. Of course Sailor Moon would be here. Was she chosen because she wasn't doing anything with her life, and her friends were? Was this a test for her? These were the questions that the other people here wouldn't be able to answer. Time would tell, Serena supposed. She hated waiting.

At least people here seemed nice, Serena mused to herself as she sat down on the sidewalk. She had come to Kansas in a casual outfit, only missing relocation in her bathrobe by a few minutes. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to walk around the town being embarrassed by what she was wearing. Serena had her eyes on the ground, watching her feet tap out a casual rhythm as she waited for some guy named Peter to come find her. He said she had looked like someone he knew. A close friend named Gwen. That was odd. Serena hadn't really ever looked like anyone before. Well, except maybe that one time where Mina had pretended to be Sailor Moon. Thinking about it made Serena reach into her pocket and feel the reassuring weight of her Crisis Compact. It was the only strength she had here, all by herself. Even so, it was a strength that had never failed her yet.

After a while, Serena finally dragged her eyes off the cement to look around. She drew her knees up, hugging her arms around them while leaning her face into her legs. Once again, the questions came. How long was she going to be here? What kind of evil were they fighting? The idea that the bad guys were living her amongst them unsettled her. She was used to monsters being monsters and evil that existed out on the fringe, not mixed in with the rest of everyone. Would she have to adopt the idea that any new person she met could be a possible enemy? That thought unsettled her. She was used to being so jovial, so kind and trusting to everyone she met.

Shaking her head, Serena tried to banish those awful thoughts and questions from her mind. It was too much, and all too depressing to allow herself to be overwhelmed. She reached up and felt her locket danging around her neck like a talisman of comfort. The chain slipped around her head and Serena held the cool metal in her hands, gently opening it. As the music played, that familiar tune, her thoughts turned back to Darien and the girls. They would want her to be strong, to do whatever she could to help these people and defeat the enemy. She felt her lip quiver a little as a sniffle came out with her next exhalation. She missed them all so much.

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itsallspandex
2013-08-08 08:36 pm UTC (link)

When he had signed online, Peter found himself practically ecstatic when he saw who he thought was Gwen on the boards. She hadn't seemed to remember being here before, but she was an adaptable sort of person and she would still be her so it was okay.

Except that it wasn't her at all.

Her name was Serena and she was from Tokyo and she didn't seem very much like Gwen at all once they started talking, aside from being really nice. If he ignored the little picture on the boards, he was just fine. But ignoring his girlfriend's face wasn't very easy. Or was she an ex now that the Seal had taken her home? He wasn't sure.

Facetwin weirdness aside, she was newly displaced and someone needed to get her to the complex, so he made the offer and then she mentioned ice cream and it didn't seem like such a bad idea.

After getting a general idea of where she was, Peter made his way out of the complex and onto the streets of Lawrence. He couldn't believe he'd been here for a year already. It seemed surreal. He knew the layout of the city well, having kept up with general patrols for the majority of his time here once he'd adjusted and taken the necessary classes and demon camp. He missed his patrol buddy, but Steph had been sent home awhile go now and he'd gotten used to going solo again.

Peter didn't take long to get where Serena had directed him. He spotted her instantly. Even if she hadn't looked slighty out of place sitting on the sidewalk, lost in her own thoughts, he would have been able to pick her out of a crowd. He hoped this little ice cream excursion wasn't harder or more awkward than it should be. She couldn't help or change that she looked like Gwen, right? He shook his head slightly, he couldn't hold that against her. "Hey, Serena." he greeted her with a half-smile and a small wave.

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mooncrisis
2013-08-08 09:34 pm UTC (link)

The slow, melancholic music filled the air around her and Serena found herself humming along with it as she dwelled on the comforting memories of her friends. After a while, she stopped watching the street, instead keeping her eyes on the spinning crescent moon in the heart of the locket. Another sniffle accompanied her her breath, and Serena felt a droplet entangle in her long, curled eyelashes as her vision blurred.

A male voice brought her out of her nostalgia, causing her to look up in a brief kind of confusion. She remembered quickly, however, that Peter was coming to find her and Serena quickly brought a hand to her face to wipe the moisture out of her eyes. Not wanting him to feel awkward, Serena instinctively turned up her chipperness and practically bounced to her feet. The locket went back around her neck quickly, the pendant tucked beneath the neck of her blouse. She almost went to hug Peter, but thought better of it, and instead extended a hand staunchly.

"H-hi, Peter! Or do you like Pete? Or some other variation? Or just Peter? It's a good name. A, like, solid two-syllable name. Not too short like Bob so that's it, you know, totally unexciting, but not pretentiously long like, say, Nehelennia." Serena laughed and cleared her throat, flicking a hand through one of her long pigtails.

"I've been dutifully studying this street. I think I can say with some pretty concrete certainty that we are safe! Get it, concrete? Zing! Pun count!"

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itsallspandex
2013-08-09 01:28 pm UTC (link)

Peter pretended not to notice the tears she was wiping away. Showing up here did a lot to people and they all reacted differently. Everyone was confused, some reacted in anger, others in fear. There were always questions upon arrival, too. Loads of them, really. And only about half of them did anyone have any real anwers for, but Peter would try to answer what he could of whatever she asked.

He chuckled softly at her little ramble about names. She seemed nervous, which was probably normal. Showing up in a new place suddenly and unexpectedly wasn't really a thing that happened to most people very often, if ever. Unless they were brought here. Then everything changed. "Peter's fine." he said with a slight nod.

Peter couldn't help but laugh softly at her little pun. "Are you always this upbeat and positive?" He asked, purely curioius, not taking the least bit of issue with the idea of it. Positivity was a good thing, especially around here. Lawrence could use some positivity.

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mooncrisis
2013-08-09 05:35 pm UTC (link)

Serena was silently thankful that Peter didn't make any kind of comment about her tears, whether he had noticed them or not. It wasn't something she was quite ready to launch into, and she wanted to focus on being positive. Her big, blue eyes blinked rapidly to try and clear out the remaining moisture and her red nose sniffed a few more times. For her part, Serena pretended everything was hunky dory.

"Right, Peter." Serena gave a stout nod in reply, her long blond pigtails bouncing around her head wildly. Her hands fussed with them out of reflex while she said, "I'm just, you know, Serena. Not a whole bunch you can do with that one, haha."

Folding her hands in front of her, Serena nervously squeezed her fingers. His question brought a little blush of embarrassment to her cheeks, and she looked shyly down at the ground. "Oh! Um, I think so? I guess I don't really notice it. Um, my friends sometimes call me airhead, so I guess? I just try and, well, be happy. What's the point of trying not to be happy, you know?"

Slowly, Serena lifted her gaze until she found Peter's face, still blushing a little as she gave him a little shrug. "So, um, what is there to do around here for fun?"

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itsallspandex
2013-08-11 11:20 am UTC (link)

"Serena's not a bad name either, ya know?" He smiled slightly. She was so bouncy, he wondered where she got all her energy. Then, she hadn't been in this place for a year and dealt with all the bad that came from it. "I've never been much of one for shortening people's names anyway." he shrugged slightly.

"I don't think being upbeat equals airhead, though." he said shaking his head. "But I can agree with that. Keeping positive is definitely better than going broody and angsty all the time."

When she asked about fun things to do, Peter shrugged a bit. "I guess it's like any other town, really. Movies, shopping, stuff like that. Depends on what you're into, you know? I'm sure you can find something." He said, motioning at her to follow him as he headed in the direction of the ice cream shop. "The last couple of weekends, there's been a group of people going for laser tag."

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mooncrisis
2013-08-11 09:35 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, you think so? Haha, thanks! I guess it's not too bad of a name." Serena shrugged lightly, dancing a little into the street as they started moving. "I do, sometimes. Maybe it's because I'm lazy, haha."

As she twirled into the street, Serena's long pigtails flew around her. Coming to a stand-still, she brushed them behind her shoulders and offered Peter a little shrug, "That's what I think, too. My friends sometimes call me Bunny because I'm so upbeat and hoppy, haha. Also, sometimes meatball-head." Well, that was Darien mostly.

She fell into an easy step beside Peter, skipping every once and a while. Her hands folded behind her back, eyes going back and forth from taking in the rather unexciting scenery and looking at Peter. "I heard there's going to be a dance. Are you going to go? I guess, a major plus is that this is still modern society. Not so much culture shock to get used to. Man, I don't know what I would do without ice cream or the movies!"

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itsallspandex
2013-08-12 01:52 pm UTC (link)

"I do," he nodded and chuckled softly as she danced into the street and twirled around. "Bunny seems like a pretty fitting nickname to me." he admitted with a smile.

Peter was already quickly realizing that her friends were right, she was rather bouncy and hoppy, even skipping as she walked every now and then. "Oh, uh, I dunno." He admitted with a shrug. "I'm not much of a dancer or anything." He nodded, "Right? There are some people here from, like, centuries ago, so all the modern stuff is a pretty huge shock to some of them."

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