dollymixtures | Open Post

Dick shoves the last of his stuff in his locker and closes the door, and there's a tiny part of him that thinks he should probably think twice about breaking rules on his very first day, especially if he's resting his fledgling reputation on her ability to talk him out of trouble based on her word alone, but he also really wants to make a friend, and he's never been all that precious about rules he doesn't see the point of, so while there's a twinge of guilt, he shakes it off as quickly as it appears.

"Gotham City," he tells her as they head off down the corridor "It's... pretty different." that was saying something, swapping the big city for the small town surrounded by woods was just about the biggest change you could make, but Bruce had decided that raising a pack in the city was... not a good idea. So Beacon Hills it was.

Ariel's eyebrows lift a little with interest. She has no idea what these things are that he's offering and her cheeks go slightly pink as her face warms. So she gives a little shrug and points to him as if to tell him to pick, because he would know better than she would what she ought to have.

She snuggles into the towel a little more and considers getting up to go look before deciding that it'd be exponentially more embarrassing to fall over in front of all of his friends instead of just him; that was bad enough as it was.

Her eyebrows lift with interest. Lydia's heard of Gotham, but she's never been and she doubts she ever will be. Big cities aren't really for her, she thinks, even though she imagines she'd probably thrive in one. Boston is calling her name for college, so she'll have to adjust at some point, but for now she's just been in Beacon Hills her whole life. Lydia never realized how much she appreciated the quiet of a small town until the facade of it was broken.

"I've never been," she comments, pushing the doors open and leading the way to her car. "Do you miss it? It must be so boring going from there to this rinky dink town, huh?" she asks, pressing a button on her key and causing her Prius's headlights to blink as she unlocks it.

"You want me to pick? How about cheese," he offered, dropping the other sandwich back into the box and handing her over the cheese one "And some chips?" he grabbed the bag as well.

"Can you write? It just might be easier to communicate..." he glances over at his friends "Does anybody have paper and a pen? We probably should have asked Wally to get some..."

"Oh, I can just ask-" M'Gann starts, before smacking herself on the forehead "Hello Megan!" she steps forward and gives Ariel a friendly smile.

"I can make it so you can talk to us, in here," she tapped her temple "You just need to think something and we'll hear it, okay?"

"I guess," Dick shrugs. There were some things about Gotham that he missed, it was true, but he didn't exactly have a lot of friends there, and he grew up in the circus so travelling had never really been a problem for him "It's a lot quieter here, but that's not always a bad thing." Even the city had been quieter at first, after life on the road, but it was a dangerous, busy place and he was actually sort of glad to be somewhere with cleaner air and wide open spaces to run through - he almost couldn't wait for full moon.

"I think I'm going to like it here, the people seem nicer." he smiles over at her.

At his clarifying question, Ariel nodded, giving him a smile. This wasn't so hard, after all. Maybe it'll be just fine. When he held out the sandwich to her, Ariel smiled a little more brightly, reaching for it and whatever the chips are. Both of those are foreign words to her, so she's trusting that he's giving her something that's actually edible. It doesn't really occur to her that he might feel inclined to do anything else.

Ariel takes the sandwich out of its clear baggie and sort of...awkwardly places the bag of chips on her lap, unsure how much she really wants to eat the crinkly material, because she doesn't realize that it's just the packaging with all its bright colors. Looking up at his question, Ariel nods again and smiles. She can write. And read. So that's helpful, right?

The other girl's outburst startles her a little — why is she hitting herself? — but the warm smile contradicts it and Ariel gives an awkward, ever so slightly uncertain one back, her eyes shifting between the girl — Megan, she assumes, which is a pretty name, she guesses, for a human — and the boy who's been helping her.

The explanation has her looking a little confused and decidedly even more uncertain but, chewing on her bottom lip, she offers a little smile and nods.

I traded my voice for a pair of legs back in Atlantis, like an idiot... she's thinking and not necessarily on purpose.

In spite of herself, when Dick refers to Beacon Hills as quiet, Lydia huffs a humorless laugh, shaking her head. Maybe it's quieter for him. He's not the one with all the voices in his head. "It's something, anyway," she remarks in an offhandedly knowing sort of way as they reach her car.

Lydia pulls her driver's side door open and smiles over the top of the car at him. "Well, some of us do try," she says playfully.

Sinking into the car, Lydia settles herself in and buckles up, pushing her key into the ignition and looking over at him. "Drive thru or eat in?" she asks.

Dick can understand why she looks uncertain, offering psychic communication to people wasn't always met with enthusiastic agreement after all, but he smiles encouragingly and he's pleased when she agrees - after all, it will make things a lot easier.

M'gann links them up just in time for Ariel's thought to cross their minds and they all exchange a startled look with Kaldur.

"Did you say Atlantis? You're from Atlantis?" Dick asks her, out loud, and really that's just the beginning of his questions because what did she have if not legs and why did the trade her voice for them? He didn't want to throw a whole stream of questions at her all at once when she'd obviously been through a lot, so he held back on the others, for now.

Dick glances questioningly at her, because that's the laugh of a person with a story, and he can't help but wonder if maybe this town isn't as quiet as it seems. In fairness, the place already has a pack of werewolves, Dick wouldn't be surprised to hear there's been other strange goings on, supernatural folk tended to seek each other out in his experience. Besides, he was also pretty sure at least one of her friends was one of those werewolves, so it was possible she knew about them, or was otherwise involved in their not-so-quiet goings on.

"Some of you succeed," he smiles. He's incredibly grateful that she came to talk to him, whatever her motivations (because he was cautious enough that he couldn't rule out the possibility she did know about the wolf stuff and that was why she came to talk to him).

"I don't mind," he shrugs easily, getting into the car "But this is a pretty nice car so maybe we should eat in?"

At the realization that they somehow actually heard that, Ariel's eyes go wide and she covers her mouth with her hands in spite of the fact that she hasn't actually said anything and couldn't if she wanted to. Which, as it turns out, she really wants to.

Slumping a little, her eyes move slowly from one person to another, unsure if she ought to tell the truth or silently laugh it off. They all look as startled to hear it as she is to have been overheard.

Rather than giving a committed answer, Ariel gives a little shrug, looking uncomfortable.

You can't even keep your big mouth shut when you don't have a voice, what's wrong with you? she thinks miserably, her brow creasing. It hasn't actually occurred to her that if they heard one thought, they could hear the rest. Megan said it, but that doesn't mean it's actually sunken in as reality.

As far as Lydia knows, Dick will never have any idea that this place is anything but quiet; most of the town is in the dark about it, really. He'll be in great company. Sometimes, Lydia actually does miss that blissful ignorance...

"I do what I can," Lydia proclaims with a playful air of mock pride. Once he's in as well, Lydia pulls out of her parking spot and smiles over at him before actually starting forward. "Trust me, she's seen worse, but I meant we could either eat there or always bring it back to the cafeteria if you're worried about getting into trouble." Again, she's confident that she can easily wiggle him back out of it, but all the same, she doesn't want to be the person who's peer pressuring him into something he might not want to do.

Dick kind of has to resist the urge to laugh at her sudden surprise and the way she claps her hands over her mouth, not out of meanness but because she was just so adorable. The urge dies when she starts to mentally berate herself, and he steps forward, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, I promise. We're only surprised because, well, Kaldur here is from Atlantis too." he motioned to the Atlantean, "We don't mean you any harm, if you can tell us what happened we can try and help you."

Dick can't help but smile, she's funny and sweet and pretty and... oh no. Oh, Dick, no, don't be an idiot, do not get a crush on the first girl you meet in a new town, especially not one who is clearly well, well out of your league. For some reason, his mental berating voice sounds a lot like Jason. Sounds about right, it's usually Jason who gleefully points out his idiocy.

"Eating there sounds good," he shrugs, and maybe he's just trying to prove he doesn't care about getting in trouble, maybe he wants to spend more time with just her, either way he's probably acting in a less-than-intelligent way. He is not thinking with his brain right now.

Her brow creases with worry all the same, but the reassuring hand does make her feel a little bit better, even if it probably shouldn't.

Ariel presses her lips together, looking over at the other boy and then looking down at her lap.

I'm not from Atlantis. I'm from Atlantica. I was just...in Atlantis... Because her father had banished Ursula from Atlantica and Atlantis is nearby. It has a seedier area that she's not sure a whole lot of people know about. She didn't, after all, except that she'd been led there by Flotsam and Jetsam.

Taking a deep breath, entirely uncomfortable with the idea of them being able to hear her now that it's a reality — largely because it's taking a lot of concentration to control and focus her thoughts so that she doesn't think something stupid like

Why do you all have to be so good looking? It's really distract—

She closes her eyes and her face scrunches up as her cheeks go pink. Refocus. Maybe they didn't notice.

I wanted to come on land...there was a man. But this place is all wrong. I traded my fins for legs and the sea witch took my voice as payment. And now I don't know where I am and I only have three days and she's going to turn me into one of those gross things she keeps in her lair and I'll belong to her because I can't do anything right. I should've listened to Sebastian...

Finally, her eyes open again and she looks uncertainly up at the group.

With a nod at his decision, Lydia starts off, heading out of the school's student parking lot and into the street. They can see the Taco Bell billboard from there, a few lights down. "Eating in it is, then," she says.

Lydia doesn't frequent Taco Bell or anything — she'd never be able to keep her figure if she did — but she can't help it if sometimes she feels inclined to indulge and introducing the new guy to her friends right away doesn't feel like a great idea. Scott and Stiles would be fine but...Malia?

The thing about Malia is that she's still learning what's socially acceptable to say out loud and what is better left kept to herself. Most people probably think it's pretty weird right out of the gate and would likely be suspicious of a high school girl who clearly has no idea why a brain to mouth filter is important. Not wanting to explain that — or worse, listen to Stiles try to excuse it — is a major driver for this little field trip.

A few minutes later they're there and Lydia shuts off the car, taking off her seat belt. "I'm so here for this today," she mutters to herself with a grin. It's been exactly 46 days since her last trip here...and yes, of course she's counting.

Dick turns a little pink himself at that accidental thought, but they all politely avoid saying anything about it, instead, Dick turned his attention to Kaldur to try and get some explanation for what she was saying.

"Atlantica? Sea Witch?" he shakes his head, confused "It means something to me but... it's fairy tale, old stories from long ago..." he shrugs, there isn't anything he can really help with. Dick turns back to her.

"Okay, so... you need to find this man in three days or she turns you into something? So we just need to find out who this man is and where he is. We'll help you find him, I promise."

Sometime during the conversation, Wally had returned with a bundle of clothes, but he just joins the group to listen to the conversation rather than interrupting.

"In need of junk food?" he asks with a smile as he climbs out of the car as well "Been having one of those days?"

He feels a little glad he's there, even if she would have come here anyway, it's no fun doing this kind of thing on your own if you are feeling down, it's always nice to have a friend - even a new one.

Ariel looks frustrated as they try to piece together what she's said to make sense of it. The problem is that the rest is really embarrassing and she doesn't necessarily want to have to say it directly, but...

She sighs.

The contract says I have three days to receive True Love's kiss. If I manage it, then I get to stay up here. If I don't...well...

Her eyebrows lift a little and she frowns. Her eyes move to the boy that's come back and then she shifts them back to Dick, offering him a shy little smile.

He brought me more towels? That's so nice. You're all so nice.

Lydia bobs her head somewhere between a nod and a shake before looking over at him with a little smirk. "Something like that, yeah," she agrees. It's probably been one of those weeks, more accurately, but...yeah. She'll go with that.

"Come on," she prompts, finally getting out of the car to lead the way inside. The line is short because it's the first lunch period of the day and most students in that lunch period don't have Senior Privilege. That's a relief since they only have about half an hour to order, eat, and get back to school. Not that she's super worried about the time line, but she figures he might be. He probably has a class. She doesn't. Perks of being a genius.

"If you don't, you get turned into one of the things you mentioned," he finishes for her, glancing at Kaldur as if it's making any more sense, he shrugs again.

"It still sounds like the old stories to me," He admits "But we will help you," he adds to Ariel, his tone as usual straightforward and firm.

"He's right, we will." Dick agrees, turning to her "We'll find this man and you'll have your true love's kiss," even if it did sound like something out of a fairy tale to him too "I promise."

They share another confused glance for a moment at the comment about the towels, until Dick realises what she means.

"Oh, these are clothes," he says, tugging at his own t-shirt "Towels are for drying yourself off when you're wet, and then you put on clothes for warmth."

Wally looks pretty confused, but he hands over the stack of clothing.

He's so stoic, the one from the ocean, Ariel observes. But not uncaring, which is important. They all seem to care about finding a way to help her, and that's a relief. She's not sure they'll be able to find Eric fast enough for her to get him to fall in love with her. She hasn't really disclosed the part where she's never actually met Eric. Not really.

She looks fascinated as Dick explains that there's a difference and then she's beaming when the other boy gives her the clothes. Ariel gets to her feet, unashamed and unaware that maybe she ought to be when the towel — for drying off — drops to the sand as she rifles through the small stack trying to figure out what goes where and how to put things on.

That's so cool! I just wear seashells, usually, but I lost mine, she thinks to them, pulling out a cute little skirt and holding it up, tilting her head to look it over with interest. What's this for?

The shirts she's figured out because they all seem to be wearing them, so she pulls one of those over her head, getting her head stuck in the sleeve for a moment and flailing awkwardly, nearly falling into whoever happens to be standing the closest before she grabs onto the chair to right herself again and manages to get her head in the hole it belongs through. It's equally an awkward struggle to get her arms in the arm holes, but she manages that, too, and the shirt falls just above her knees. It must belong to one of the boys; they're taller.

"Oh yea?" Holtzmann smiled, a glint in her eye as she focused on just the one part of the sentence, leaning in towards Patty as her expression turned slightly predatory "Would you still be plenty impressed? I can give you a demonstration if you like. Could probably juggle 'em too."

Typical Holtzmann, really, to derail a conversation with flirting, and most of the time she wasn't serious about it... well, probably not. If anyone was paying attention they might notice she did it more with some people than with others, and sometimes the tone of it was just the tiniest bit different, but to a casual observer it was just her way of doing things.

Dick nods, following her into the building. He takes a deep breath as they step inside, inhaling the scents. It's partly because he enjoys the delicious smells the place had to offer, and partly out of habit - looking out for any indication of danger.

"Well, since you're in such desperate need, and since you were kind enough to bring me here, let's make it my treat?" he offers, tugging his wallet out of his pocket. It's not like he doesn't have plenty of cash, his dad's basically a billionaire after all.

Kaldur and Wally already turned around, faces red, the second she dropped her towel. Dick looks desperately at M'gann, appealing for her help. He reaches out to catch Ariel as she stumbles closer to him, glad she's at least partly clothed because he can't help but look in her direction, and wow she looks really cute with his shirt on. He blushes and pushes her gently towards M'gann.

"That's a skirt, like this," M'gann tugs at her own skirt, stepping forward "Here, let me help you." she sorts through the pile of clothing Wally brought, explaining what each thing was and helping Ariel pick what to wear while Dick turns away and tries not to think about how she'd wear those seashells and how nice she might look in them.

"So if you could tell us everything you know about this guy, we can try and find him," he says while he's waiting.

Ariel's mouth opens into a little "oh!" of silent surprise when Megan explains. It looks so different on Megan than it does without a body to cover; the shape is all different. That's amazing, she thinks, as Megan helps her sort through the clothes — not towels — explaining what each article is before helping her get herself into a pair of what Megan calls "underwear" and then "shorts" on top of those. Humans wear a lot of clothes... she thinks without realizing that she's also projecting it.

Once dressed, Ariel takes a deep breath. Everything she knows about Eric...isn't much. His name is Eric and he's a prince. He lives in a castle. He has a...fluffy, hairy, gray and white...uh... Ariel pauses, gesturing a hand down around her knee to indicate the height of the little beast he'd been dancing on the ship with, friend? That he calls Max.

She looks hopeful then, even though she's literally just told them everything she knows about this guy which is...damn near nothing.

Open Post

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lalala making things up XD

Sorry for the shortness!!

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that's okay, it happens!

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