Halloween

[hallelujahpilot]

In the end, she'd won their race. It wasn't exactly a race, except in the sense that both her and Carl are/were career military, and thus competitive as hell. Trudy is younger, fitter, used to going for her runs in an environment harder than Earth and, yes, she did whoop with triumph.

Which lead to, among other things, the fact that tonight it's up to Carl to bring the candy while Trudy makes the sheet-fort.

She's a glorified engineer, she can make a sheet balance over some chairs so it won't fall down on the candles.

After all, what is a tent without candles?

Comments

[one_man_army]

"Well, the thought of shoving you in the lake did cross my mind once or twice."

He smirks.

"But your swimming prowess might've been even stronger."

[hallelujahpilot]

"I woulda dragged you with me," she says with an evil grin.

[one_man_army]

"I might've enjoyed that."

One boot off, then another, and then he kicks off his socks.

[hallelujahpilot]

"In November. In fauxScotland. Actually, that bit explains it, so ignore me."

She liberates a bottle of beer, grabs a sugary skull, and settles back on her feet with a creak of leather.

[one_man_army]

"...mmm. So those are the pants."

[hallelujahpilot]

She grins at him. "Yep."

[one_man_army]

"I approve. Especially without the eyepatch. Scoot over."

He grabs a beer and motions for her to move aside, so he can settle in the fort beside her -- without knocking over the candles.

[hallelujahpilot]

"Looks better with wearing a shirt, too."

Or maybe she just really likes this t-shirt. A gift from Bar, and hell if she's complaining; the shirt is a band one, a trio of women from Peru rocking out with drums and guitars. Well. Female skeletons, judging from the picture on the front, with flowing hair decorated with roses.

She scoots over, lifts her hand, and clicks her fingers twice. The electric lights go out, leaving only the candles to see by.

"This," Trudy announces, "is a much better Halloween."

[one_man_army]

"While I'll never complain about you walking 'round in your bra, I've gotta say, I like that shirt too."

Carl gets himself firmly entrenched within the sheet fort, finding that Trudy has stolen what might be all the pillows from her bed and his bed, so he leans back against a pile and cracks the top off of his beer.

"So what sort of candy do we have in there?"

[hallelujahpilot]

If he didn't want his pillows stolen, he shouldn't have given her a key!

"We have...." she peers at the bucket and digs her hand in and lifts it up before letting candy fall back down, "a whole bunch of stuff I don't recognize. But Snickers! Outstanding."

Nom, nom, oh, god, actual chocolate...

[one_man_army]

He forgets sometimes that she doesn't get actual chocolate all that often, but he digs into the bucket and grabs himself a handful of what appears to be Pixy Stix.

At least, they look like Pixy Stix. Even if the wrapper is wrong.

Carl tears the end off of the tiny paper tube, and then downs half the contents onto his tongue. Mmm, blue raspberry.

(He's going to end up turning his tongue blue.)

[hallelujahpilot]

Pause in chocolate nommage.

"Judging from your reaction, Benton, that bunch of chemicals is nice."

She's Highly Dubious, but in the future, powdered candy is popular.

It's cheap to make, and so plentiful, anyway.

[one_man_army]

"It's not that they're nice chemicals, I just like the sour stuff once in awhile."

When he's had his fill of chocolate -- also, when Trudy deserves all the chocolate she can get.

"So you don't get candy often on Pandora, right? How do they get food out, anyways? Ship most of it? I'd assume there was some sort of...processor. A replicator? Like on Star Trek."

[hallelujahpilot]

"Never heard of Star Trek. But, ship it? Hell no. We got base of five hundred odd people, and the supplies roll in once every year and a bit. We manufacture a lot of the food from what's around, or we get food directly from outside or from the greenhouse."

Greenhouse here meaning 'subterranean farm', but details.

[one_man_army]

Details, indeed.

Carl considers that, and digs into the bucket for another piece -- this time, a KitKat bar.

"Do you get most of your meat from the local species or is it all MRE style?"

[hallelujahpilot]

"Both. We try not to rely on hunting so we don't fuck up the eco-system, but not gonna turn it down, either."

Beat.

"Can I have half?"

Shared food is better. Stolen food is best, but she's not sure how to steal from his hands without him dodging.

[one_man_army]

He snaps the bar into two pieces, but he doesn't lean forward to offer it to her.

In fact, he leans back a little.

"You're gonna have t'come get it."

[hallelujahpilot]

"Oh, am I?" She shifts; a hand on the ground, swinging her weight forward on her knees as she moves forward. This brings her very close, but she just meets his gaze, raises her eyebrow, holds out her hand.

"Close enough?"

[one_man_army]

Carl hands over the piece of chocolate, in exchange for wrapping his arm around her waist and tugging her closer -- she ends up half-sprawled across his torso, but he doesn't mind.

"Y'might as well get comfortable, Marine."

[hallelujahpilot]

She can totally work with this! She settles onto his lap, curling her legs around him, and putting a hand on his shoulder for balance.

"Wow, Benton, you make it sound like such a duty."

[one_man_army]

"S'just cause I love you so damn much," he comments.

Grinning, of course.

"You get to pick the next piece."

[hallelujahpilot]

"Mm, you'd better."

She'd kiss him (maybe with a bit of a nip), but there is kitkat! Nom, nom, nom.

"Oh. Am I that privileged?" She tucks a smirk away, leans over to reach into the bucket (which involves pressing up against him more, yes), and pulls out a sugar-skull.

"Which half do you want?"

[one_man_army]

"I'd say whichever half you don't, but then I know I wouldn't get any at all."

The hand that was resting against her side shifts to allow his fingers to graze over her spine at the small of her back. (If she wants to play dirty, he can do that.)

"So you take the eyes."

[hallelujahpilot]

"I'm shocked and appalled that you don't think I can share," she informs him. "Shocked."

And yet, she lifts her hand from his shoulder to snap the skull in half, passing over the jaw.

[one_man_army]

"I only comment on what I've learned from being with you as long as I have so far," he says, innocently.

Sugar is about the only thing that will melt on that lying tongue right now, which it does once he pops the piece of skull candy into his mouth.

[hallelujahpilot]

"Mm, right. And what about you, Captain 'Let Me Lure You Closer With Chocolate?"

[one_man_army]

"I figured it was classier than just grunting and pulling you onto my lap like a neanderthal," Carl retorts.

[hallelujahpilot]

"I don't mind being pulled. Sometimes."

[one_man_army]

"Oh?"

His fingers still against her back, but he presses them a little harder against her t-shirt (still a light touch, but she'll notice the increase because she's observant like that) to test the waters, so to speak.

"So what if I wanted t'pull you closer and kiss the hell out of you, just so I could find out what you taste like after havin' chocolate?"

[hallelujahpilot]

"Guess you'll have to be brave and find out."

She's not being coy, she's merely daring him. There is a difference.

[one_man_army]

When it comes to accepting the dare of a Marine, one has to think long and hard about the consequences, should you lose. Carl is willing to take the risk, in this case.

(Anything she did to him, he'd probably enjoy.)

So with one hand against her back, he brings the other up to the back of her neck, and he pulls her closer for a kiss. If she lets him, she'll be rewarded -- apparently sugar intake makes him feisty -- without delay.

[hallelujahpilot]

'Let' is a pale word to describe the enthusiasm with which she kisses him back.

Sugar, chocolate, and he's wearing that stupidly distracting kilt.

[one_man_army]

Her pants are equally as distracting -- c'mon, leather, really what did she expect -- and the added bonus of the glint the candlelight puts into her eyes when she looks at him doesn't hurt either.




"Knew there was a reason...I like Halloween," he mutters, lips brushing her jaw once they break the kiss.

[hallelujahpilot]

"No fishnets this year," she murmurs back, angling her head a little to give him better access.

[one_man_army]

He lightly threads his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck, keeping her head tilted back to expose her throat.

(It would take no more than two seconds for him to grab her skull and snap her neck, but he's not thinking about that. Not right now. Not with her.)

"I guess that means I'm in charge this year."

He's not guessing anything, given the tone of his voice.

[hallelujahpilot]

"Sure," she says, by which she means, yes, and oh, yes, please, closing her eyes as his fingers tighten in her hair. It's not violent, no, and she's not thinking of it, but there is still that thread of it running underneath the gesture that makes her breath come steady, steady, steady so it doesn't hitch with the sudden flare of desire.

[one_man_army]

"Glad that's settled."

He nips at her throat, and then at the curve of her neck and shoulder where the collar of her shirt has shifted and left skin exposed -- happy accident, that -- before returning his focus to her mouth with another kiss.

It's rougher than the first, but still not violent.

[hallelujahpilot]

The feel of his teeth lightly on her skin does make her breath hitch now, leaving her already a little breathless when he kisses her again.

She doesn't mind, and digs her fingers into his shoulder, pulling him closer.

[one_man_army]

He grunts appreciatively when she pulls his body closer to her own, and he doesn't mind her fingers dug into his shoulder either for that matter.

With one hand still tangled in her hair, the other slides between them and beneath the hem of her t-shirt, skating over the muscles of her abdomen to let his fingertips dance over her lowest ribs.

[hallelujahpilot]

Her skin tingles as his fingers slide over it, leaving a wake of nerves that almost feel like they are glowing. His grip in her hair isn't so tight that she can't move her head, and so she drops her head a bit, breaking the kiss to move her mouth to his jaw, his neck.