She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. This time travel stuff is a headache. The last thing in the world she wanted was to start the mole rumors, she just genuinely didn't realize that from Wally's perspective it hadn't happened yet. The Reds attack and the revelation that there might be a mole had been so close together.]
Look, just... forget I said that. There's no mole. It was just something Sportsmaster said to mess with the team and Red Arrow won't let it go.
[Oh, hey, it's Artemis's two least favorite people in one sentence. Now can we talk about that amazing shot? No?]
Wow, that is definitely one of the most suspicious things I've ever heard. [Wally doesn't push it either (though his mutter is a little mutinous) just because this time travel stuff is a headache for him too. Not to mention that apparently he's going to forget all of it once he gets out of here anyway, or hey! Maybe even before that. Stupid circumstantial amnesia.
Lucky for them, the line finally shuffles to the row dividers and Wally automatically lines up for the front row. The line's longer but the payoff is so sweet, and even though Wally can't convince the ride attendants to give the monster doll its own seat, he just squishes the stupid thing against his chest as they lower the safety harnesses into place.
He grins over at Artemis and knocks his knee into hers, thrusting his hands up into the air.] You can't hold on! That's a cardinal rule. No hands or you didn't really ride.
[Artemis is busy making sure her sunglasses are securely tucked down the front of her shirt and totally not being way excited and a little nervous but she looks over when Wally bumps her knee.]
No hands. Got it.
[She makes a sarcastic little jazz hands gesture but before she can do anything else, the roller coaster lurches into motion. Automatically her hands shoot up next to Wally's and her eyes go wide. The car chug chug chugs up to the top of the steep precipice and she has a brief (but detailed) glimpse of the park sprawled below them and then...
Artemis doesn't scream--mostly because her teeth are clenched too tightly to let out any sound. She has a huge, adrenaline-fueled grin slapped across her face and this. Is. Crazy.]
[Wally's run faster than this. Wally's moved almost ten times as fast as this, but his feet weren't dangling in the air and his face wasn't rushing toward the ground and he wasn't gasping for breath because the adrenaline that just shot through his gut was from joy, not fear.
Artemis doesn't have to scream. Wally's doing plenty of that for the both of them.]
Woooooooooo hooooooooooo! [Wally's fists are up in the air and the coaster slings them around like a child with sugar rush and a fistful of Barbie hair. A girl behind them screams shrill and piercing, edged with panic but not quite there and Wally can't help but laugh. He glances over at Artemis; her hair keeps whipping loose and smacking her in the face but she's smiling and Wally doesn't know if he's ever seen her face look like that before. Weird.
Then the coaster flips them upside-down again and Wally shouts again, and he's gonna be hoarse by the end of the day, isn't he?]
[She catches weird glimpses of strangely precise details as the world whips by--like the exact number of seagulls perched on the top of some water ride. Maybe it's the much lower speed or just the fact that she's getting used to it, but there's none of the queasiness she felt earlier.
She can hear Wally yelling in her ear. Okay, so it's more like whooping for joy, but still. Then he starts to laugh and Artemis finds herself joining in, carried away by the giddy excitement of freefall.
Then, all too soon, it's over. The roller coaster car slows and rattles to a stop back where they started. Artemis has strands of her own ponytail stuck in the corners of her mouth and her knees are wobbly when the ride attendant comes to let them out of the safety harness. All the same, her eyes are alight and she can't stop grinning. She looks over at Wally.]
It enhances the experience! I can't believe you didn't scream. [Wally stuffs Artemister -because that's his name now, Wally has decided- under his arm as they climb out of the car and descend the stairs.]
[She files out of the car after Wally. and (apparently) Artemister. Seriously, never let her know that the monster's name is Artemister.]
How is that so exciting? I have zip-lined down sky scrapers with a bow and arrow! You can break the sound barrier in your sneakers! How is a roller coaster even on the scale of awesome things we do?
[And yet, it totally was. She's also still jazzed up on adrenaline which is make her chatty as hell.
[From the start, Wally and Artemis have been at odds but as time passes Wally's come to...well, if not appreciate her presence, at least he's stopped totally loathing it. They still fight too easy and know exactly how to irritate one another, but Wally's never seen her beam like this before and her enthusiasm just feeds back into his own. He always gets happier when people around him are happy.]
I have no idea, but it was totally wicked, wasn't it?! I mean, the drop was crazy but after that, like before the halfway point? [Wally points up at one of the loops of the coaster track above their heads.] That one there! Twisted us around and turned us upside-down, that was so sick. Oh my god. We have to ride it again before we go.
[This is a Wally West who isn't attacking her for not being Red Arrow, blaming her for something that was (sort of) out of her control, or just randomly being annoying. It would be astonishing how quickly she warms up and reciprocates his enthusiasm, but then again, she's had more time with him than he's had with her. Either way, she's not thinking about that now.]
I know, right? I could count the seagulls around the dumpster while we were upside down there and it was so cool! Why have we never done that before?
[Wally's impressed she could see that much but he's not gonna say it. Not just because it's Artemis either; more like she's already expressed her dislike for her powers, so...
Anyway.]
I dunno. Back home, you mean? Yeah, I dunno. We should get everybody go to when we make it back. Can you imagine Supey on a ride like that though? He'd probably break the harness and go flying off across the park, screaming the whole way.
[She starts laughing all over at that. Superboy on a roller coaster is an amazing image.]
What about Aqualad on one of those rides that splashes you? Bet he wouldn't even blink. [Okay, so thinking about Aqualad and Superboy gives her a twinge of homesickness, but she's still riding high on adrenaline and not ready to go there yet.]
Do they have a splash ride here? We should do one of those... Where's the map?
[Wally resolutely ignores the fact that it's a lot less stressful to make Artemis laugh than it is to piss her off. Both are fun (he tells himself).]
Yeah, they've got a splash ride, hold on. [Wally shoves the monster doll into Artemis's arms and grabs the map from his pocket, flapping it out.] There's a couple coasters on the way to it though. And some kind of adventure ride nearby, we should hit those up. Ergonomics.
We'll never get to all of it if the lines are as bad as that one.
[See, this? This right now is kind of nice. They're enjoying themselves and joking around and Artemis is even holding the stupid purple monster without complaining. Artemis has a fairly realistic idea of how long this pleasantness will last under theme-park-line conditions.]
[Yeah Wally is likewise reluctant to stand in another line like that again. 1) because he really hates it and B) because he doesn't have enough money to buy everybody ice cream again.]
They shouldn't be. That's the most popular ride here so that line is the longest, plus it broke down for a while. [Wally frowns at the map and turns it sideways, like that'll help somehow.] If we hit up the coasters during lunchtime, the lines will probably be shorter.
So we should probably eat now. [She grins crookedly at Wally] I'm guessing you're hungry, since it's been all of five minutes since you put food in your mouth.
Aw, am I getting predictable? I hate that. [Wally returns the grin though, because she's not wrong.] I think about four or five pizzas should be enough. I did just have ice cream, after all.
And he remains that way, even when they have to wait in more (but thankfully shorter) lines for the other rides, when he and Artemis break for water or to walk around and comment on the park, other people, why he's still carrying around that stupid monster doll and what does he mean, he's keeping it forever?
He's still comfortable when they get on the water ride and he ends up soaked to the bone. He's comfortable when they ride the big coaster two more times, always in the front. He's comfortable when they stop to look at the pictures that were taken on the rides and he and Artemis are sitting, side-by-side, grinning with knees touching and hands up and hair back like they're a pair of normal kids, just teenagers out having fun.
He's not all that comfortable when he accidentally (ACCIDENTALLY!!) grabs her hand during a ride, but it only lasts a second and he thinks he managed to make it seem like an accident. It was a jump scare. The stupid ride just surprised him, that's all.
Wally has a rainbow flashing plastic necklace around his neck and Artemister clutched under his arm by the time they're finally tired out, making their way to the entrance of the park and he's thinking about how he's going to run them back home and make Artemis sick again and things will go back to being uncomfortable between them.
So. Before that happens,] Hey, uh. Thanks. For coming with me. [His cheeks are a little pink as he rubs his nose and looks away from her.] It's helped take my mind off stuff.
[This has been a good day. A good normal day, and Artemis can't say she's had many of those, even before she was brought here. To think--this morning, she had never been on a roller coaster before, now she's been on all the roller coasters. She even has a favorite (it's the big one--of course).
It's remarkably easy to be around Wally. Sort of like it was in Bialya, although with less running-for-their-lives and more funnel cake. So really, it's nothing like Bialya. She tries not to think about it too much, though that does get a little tricky when Wally grabs her hand. Oh yeah, like she wasn't going to notice that. Still, she's just as happy as he is to pretend it didn't happen.
She doesn't have a whole lot of faith in their truce lasting (something always goes wrong), but this was a good day.]
Yeah... same here. Thanks. It was... fun.
[She glances over at him, wanting to make some sort of gesture of... gratitude? Friendship? Something to mark the occasion when Kid Flash and Artemis hung out for a whole day and no one got maimed. But he's looking away, so... Hmph. She quickly busies herself with getting ready for the ride back home: cowl, sunglasses, and her own hoodie (courtesy of the Six Flags gift shop--the idea of wearing a hoodie that two teenagers had sweated through and then stored, all soggy and rumpled, in a backpack all day was just too gross.)]
[Wally disappears for a second into the bathroom before emerging as Kid Flash, trying to stuff Artemister inside his backpack before forcing the zipper shut and slinging it over his shoulders.]
I can go slower if you want. So it's not...y'know, awful. [He kind of feels bad about Artemis hating being carted around by him, maybe a little offended too. Robin loves going for runs. Sometimes Robin even goads him to go faster than is technically safe (which Kid ends up doing) and then they get into trouble with either Batman or the Flash or both but it's worth it, even if Robin wobbles around and smacks into things when they come to a halt.
Whatever. High speed runs aren't for everyone. And Artemis did say it made her eyes hurt, mostly. Maybe if she keeps them closed she'll be fine.]
No, it's okay. I just spent all day riding roller coasters--riding you should be easy.
[Wait a minute, what did she just say? Oh god, no, that did not come out right. She is immediately grateful that between the cowl and the sunglasses there is not much of her face left exposed, because she can feel her face turning red. She hastily continues, trying to cover the weirdness.]
I mean, you're faster, but you don't go upside down or anything. And I think my eyes have adjusted.
[Wally's face is pretty hidden too but what's visible is scarlet. He scoffs, rolling his eyes, and just grabs Artemis up in his arms before she even finishes her last sentence.]
And you guys think I say stupid stuff. Seriously, Artemis?
The trip back isn't any more pleasant than the trip out, but it's at least devoid of any smartass remarks on Wally's behalf and he slows to a jog in front of Artemis's house, sets her down and holds out a hand to keep her from going inside.]
Hold up, don't go yet. [He digs through his backpack, pulls out Artemister and shoves the doll into Artemis's hands to hold while he looks. What he pulls out is one of those cheesy gift mugs, the Six Flags logo and the name ANNE painted on the side. Only...he'd crossed out the NNE and written in RTEMIS in sharpie.
He thrusts the mug at her.] You drink a lot of tea, right? So. Here. Housewarming present.
[Artemis watches suspiciously as he roots around in the bag, as if expecting him to pull out a grenade or something. Actually, she is seriously expecting him to pull out his hoodie and ask her to wash it.
But it's a mug. And he's right--she does drink a lot of tea. She had no idea he'd noticed that.]
Thanks...
[She pushes the stupid monster back to him and turns the mug over in her hands. That's when she sees the half-sharpiesdname. Despite herself she snorts a laugh.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. This time travel stuff is a headache. The last thing in the world she wanted was to start the mole rumors, she just genuinely didn't realize that from Wally's perspective it hadn't happened yet. The Reds attack and the revelation that there might be a mole had been so close together.]
Look, just... forget I said that. There's no mole. It was just something Sportsmaster said to mess with the team and Red Arrow won't let it go.
[Oh, hey, it's Artemis's two least favorite people in one sentence. Now can we talk about that amazing shot? No?]
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Lucky for them, the line finally shuffles to the row dividers and Wally automatically lines up for the front row. The line's longer but the payoff is so sweet, and even though Wally can't convince the ride attendants to give the monster doll its own seat, he just squishes the stupid thing against his chest as they lower the safety harnesses into place.
He grins over at Artemis and knocks his knee into hers, thrusting his hands up into the air.] You can't hold on! That's a cardinal rule. No hands or you didn't really ride.
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No hands. Got it.
[She makes a sarcastic little jazz hands gesture but before she can do anything else, the roller coaster lurches into motion. Automatically her hands shoot up next to Wally's and her eyes go wide. The car chug chug chugs up to the top of the steep precipice and she has a brief (but detailed) glimpse of the park sprawled below them and then...
Artemis doesn't scream--mostly because her teeth are clenched too tightly to let out any sound. She has a huge, adrenaline-fueled grin slapped across her face and this. Is. Crazy.]
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Artemis doesn't have to scream. Wally's doing plenty of that for the both of them.]
Woooooooooo hooooooooooo! [Wally's fists are up in the air and the coaster slings them around like a child with sugar rush and a fistful of Barbie hair. A girl behind them screams shrill and piercing, edged with panic but not quite there and Wally can't help but laugh. He glances over at Artemis; her hair keeps whipping loose and smacking her in the face but she's smiling and Wally doesn't know if he's ever seen her face look like that before. Weird.
Then the coaster flips them upside-down again and Wally shouts again, and he's gonna be hoarse by the end of the day, isn't he?]
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She can hear Wally yelling in her ear. Okay, so it's more like whooping for joy, but still. Then he starts to laugh and Artemis finds herself joining in, carried away by the giddy excitement of freefall.
Then, all too soon, it's over. The roller coaster car slows and rattles to a stop back where they started. Artemis has strands of her own ponytail stuck in the corners of her mouth and her knees are wobbly when the ride attendant comes to let them out of the safety harness. All the same, her eyes are alight and she can't stop grinning. She looks over at Wally.]
I totally knew you would scream.
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[She files out of the car after Wally. and (apparently) Artemister. Seriously, never let her know that the monster's name is Artemister.]
How is that so exciting? I have zip-lined down sky scrapers with a bow and arrow! You can break the sound barrier in your sneakers! How is a roller coaster even on the scale of awesome things we do?
[And yet, it totally was. She's also still jazzed up on adrenaline which is make her chatty as hell.
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I have no idea, but it was totally wicked, wasn't it?! I mean, the drop was crazy but after that, like before the halfway point? [Wally points up at one of the loops of the coaster track above their heads.] That one there! Twisted us around and turned us upside-down, that was so sick. Oh my god. We have to ride it again before we go.
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I know, right? I could count the seagulls around the dumpster while we were upside down there and it was so cool! Why have we never done that before?
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Anyway.]
I dunno. Back home, you mean? Yeah, I dunno. We should get everybody go to when we make it back. Can you imagine Supey on a ride like that though? He'd probably break the harness and go flying off across the park, screaming the whole way.
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What about Aqualad on one of those rides that splashes you? Bet he wouldn't even blink. [Okay, so thinking about Aqualad and Superboy gives her a twinge of homesickness, but she's still riding high on adrenaline and not ready to go there yet.]
Do they have a splash ride here? We should do one of those... Where's the map?
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Yeah, they've got a splash ride, hold on. [Wally shoves the monster doll into Artemis's arms and grabs the map from his pocket, flapping it out.] There's a couple coasters on the way to it though. And some kind of adventure ride nearby, we should hit those up. Ergonomics.
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We'll never get to all of it if the lines are as bad as that one.
[See, this? This right now is kind of nice. They're enjoying themselves and joking around and Artemis is even holding the stupid purple monster without complaining. Artemis has a fairly realistic idea of how long this pleasantness will last under theme-park-line conditions.]
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They shouldn't be. That's the most popular ride here so that line is the longest, plus it broke down for a while. [Wally frowns at the map and turns it sideways, like that'll help somehow.] If we hit up the coasters during lunchtime, the lines will probably be shorter.
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[She bumps his shoulder with her own, feeling remarkably comfortable, given the company. Call it left over adrenaline]
Come on, lets go. I want to at least get a slice before you buy them out.
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And he remains that way, even when they have to wait in more (but thankfully shorter) lines for the other rides, when he and Artemis break for water or to walk around and comment on the park, other people, why he's still carrying around that stupid monster doll and what does he mean, he's keeping it forever?
He's still comfortable when they get on the water ride and he ends up soaked to the bone. He's comfortable when they ride the big coaster two more times, always in the front. He's comfortable when they stop to look at the pictures that were taken on the rides and he and Artemis are sitting, side-by-side, grinning with knees touching and hands up and hair back like they're a pair of normal kids, just teenagers out having fun.
He's not all that comfortable when he accidentally (ACCIDENTALLY!!) grabs her hand during a ride, but it only lasts a second and he thinks he managed to make it seem like an accident. It was a jump scare. The stupid ride just surprised him, that's all.
Wally has a rainbow flashing plastic necklace around his neck and Artemister clutched under his arm by the time they're finally tired out, making their way to the entrance of the park and he's thinking about how he's going to run them back home and make Artemis sick again and things will go back to being uncomfortable between them.
So. Before that happens,] Hey, uh. Thanks. For coming with me. [His cheeks are a little pink as he rubs his nose and looks away from her.] It's helped take my mind off stuff.
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It's remarkably easy to be around Wally. Sort of like it was in Bialya, although with less running-for-their-lives and more funnel cake. So really, it's nothing like Bialya. She tries not to think about it too much, though that does get a little tricky when Wally grabs her hand. Oh yeah, like she wasn't going to notice that. Still, she's just as happy as he is to pretend it didn't happen.
She doesn't have a whole lot of faith in their truce lasting (something always goes wrong), but this was a good day.]
Yeah... same here. Thanks. It was... fun.
[She glances over at him, wanting to make some sort of gesture of... gratitude? Friendship? Something to mark the occasion when Kid Flash and Artemis hung out for a whole day and no one got maimed. But he's looking away, so... Hmph. She quickly busies herself with getting ready for the ride back home: cowl, sunglasses, and her own hoodie (courtesy of the Six Flags gift shop--the idea of wearing a hoodie that two teenagers had sweated through and then stored, all soggy and rumpled, in a backpack all day was just too gross.)]
Ready to go?
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I can go slower if you want. So it's not...y'know, awful. [He kind of feels bad about Artemis hating being carted around by him, maybe a little offended too. Robin loves going for runs. Sometimes Robin even goads him to go faster than is technically safe (which Kid ends up doing) and then they get into trouble with either Batman or the Flash or both but it's worth it, even if Robin wobbles around and smacks into things when they come to a halt.
Whatever. High speed runs aren't for everyone. And Artemis did say it made her eyes hurt, mostly. Maybe if she keeps them closed she'll be fine.]
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[Wait a minute, what did she just say? Oh god, no, that did not come out right. She is immediately grateful that between the cowl and the sunglasses there is not much of her face left exposed, because she can feel her face turning red. She hastily continues, trying to cover the weirdness.]
I mean, you're faster, but you don't go upside down or anything. And I think my eyes have adjusted.
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And you guys think I say stupid stuff. Seriously, Artemis?
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Just shut up and run?
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Wally shuts up and runs.
The trip back isn't any more pleasant than the trip out, but it's at least devoid of any smartass remarks on Wally's behalf and he slows to a jog in front of Artemis's house, sets her down and holds out a hand to keep her from going inside.]
Hold up, don't go yet. [He digs through his backpack, pulls out Artemister and shoves the doll into Artemis's hands to hold while he looks. What he pulls out is one of those cheesy gift mugs, the Six Flags logo and the name ANNE painted on the side. Only...he'd crossed out the NNE and written in RTEMIS in sharpie.
He thrusts the mug at her.] You drink a lot of tea, right? So. Here. Housewarming present.
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But it's a mug. And he's right--she does drink a lot of tea. She had no idea he'd noticed that.]
Thanks...
[She pushes the stupid monster back to him and turns the mug over in her hands. That's when she sees the half-sharpiesdname. Despite herself she snorts a laugh.]
Classy, Wally. Real classy.
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