strangetrip | [GP] SNOW DAY

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[GP] SNOW DAY

Thor and Loki got an early start, because there was a lot to do. Almost two weeks to the day since their first small-but-successful experiment with snow, Loki was confident that he'd improved enough for a bigger experiment. Still snow, because Thor wanted it and it did seem like a decent way to try something big-ish without causing Loki unnecessary grief with the other residents. (It was an arrival day, so there would perhaps be some grief with any new arrivals, but that was entirely acceptable.)

It was before dawn when they went out into the grounds. Thor called up clouds and loaded them with water so they hung low and heavy, covering the sky so that the sun, when it rose, wouldn't ruin the event. Loki took his frost giant shape and staff (now very familiar to his hand) and concentrated on dropping the temperature. Just around the Inn and grounds, but that was enough to be serious effort.

When the snow first started, the flakes were big and wet, and melted as soon as they hit the ground, which was still on the warm side. As they melted, they cooled the ground. After an hour or so, the flakes were smaller and more powdery - real snow, not glorified slush - and they were starting to stick to the ground.

By mid-morning, the Inn and grounds were covered with a thick layer of snow, and it continued to fall.

***

Meanwhile, indoors and inspired by the snow, Hurley and Xavin decided to try and make cookies. Cooking together was fun, since neither of them exactly knew what they were doing apart from 'follow the recipe', but since the point was 'try to make cookies' they ended up with a lot of cookies. Sugar cookies, gingerbread, all kinds.

There was no way they'd be able to eat all of them.

Instead, they loaded them onto trays and hauled them to the cafe, then brought out various frostings and candies for decorating. This had been completely intentional. Completely.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"They're like... superheroes who got their powers through a mutation in their genetics." That's the simplified version of how it was explained to him, anyway.

"Dude, that's so cool!" Genetics factoring into super powers made sense, since probably Peter's DNA was changed a bit from the spider bite.

Ned suddenly had a thought. "You think maybe I might have some sort of, you know, dormant mutant gene?"

"We could try asking if any of the mutants here wouldn't mind us taking a blood sample and compare yours to theirs," Peter says. He and Liz wanted to do that for awhile already, anyway. "I just don't know whether or not any of them'd be willing."

Peter starts carving out a music note for his next cookie.

"That Storm woman seems nice. And cool. And like she could kick both our butts." But then, a lot of the people at the inn looked that way.

"Yeah, probably," he says, finishing off the music note. He's not sure Alec will like it. Maybe he should go with something else and give this one to Quill? Peter's not sure. "A lot of people here could. They've also been doing it a lot longer than either of us have."

Ned smiled because Peter had included him like he was a superhero so effortlessly. It was nice.

His attention moved to the music note. "Is that for....uh." Nope. He had no clue.

"I was thinking Alec," he says, but then he realizes that might require an explanation that Alec might not want him to give, even if he avoids giving him details beyond he plays the piano. "Or maybe Quill. He saved the universe with a dance-off once."

"What?!" That was enough to distract Ned from Alec - Alec kind of scared the crap out of Ned. Ned was pretty sure Alec was one of those people who would have definitely beat him up in high school if Alec was their same age in the same school. "That is so cool. Has he shown you the dance moves? I bet they're really cool."

"Yeah, he has." Peter grins at the memory. "I'm sure if you asked him, he'd show you, too. He's pretty proud of it."

Proud might be understatement of the century.

"Man, there's so many cool people here. I mean, some of them are from back home which is even cooler. But then others ones aren't, like those two elves that look like they came right out of a D and D book?" It was truly a nerds paradise.

"What are you going to make for Alec?"

Peter nods his agreement. The elves were pretty cool.

"I don't know," he says. "He's my roommate, so you'd think coming up with something would be easy."

And then, it hits him.

"A candy bar," he says, and he starts to cut out a wrapper out of cookie dough.

Ned looked confused. "A candy bar? That guy doesn't look like he's ever eaten one in his life." Although, Ned mostly saw him eating like crap, so how Alec stayed looking the way he did was like magic.

"The first time we met was when he was beating up a candy machine because it stole his money," Peter says. So not only does Alec eat candy bars, he also aggressively accosts machines when they prevent him from having one.

Or at least he used to. Alec had changed a lot since they last met.

"Hopefully this just makes him laugh, though." Peter's not entirely sure how Alec would react to getting a candy bar cookie.

Ned almost asked Peter if he could be there to see him laugh, but didn't. "I think he'll like it." Probably. Peter seemed to know what Alec liked.

"Oh, hey! You think you have enough dough I could make a cookie for Moana." He paused. "Wait, would that be weird?"

"It's not like I can't make more dough," Peter says, pushing aside to make room for Ned at the counter. "I don't think anyone would say no to cookies."

"Okay." Now he had to figure out what to make. Fish seemed like a weird choice. "Can you watch while I give it to her? Maybe see if she like, secretly hates me or something?" Maybe something about the islands? "On second thought, don't watch. I don't want to know if I completely flunked it."

Ned decided on a plumeria and began to shape a cookie into one as best as he could.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Ned." Peter starts grabbing ingredients for more cookie dough. He might as well get started on some more now.

"Besides, you're going to have to ask a girl out sometime, right? Moana seems really nice. If you're going to ask someone out, I think she'd be a good person to ask."

"Sure. But what if she says no? Then I have to walk around the inn being all like 'oh hey girl I asked out who totally rejected me. This isn't awkward at all'. Except it'd be totally awkward." Ned was pretty sure on that. "It'd be like me asking Betty out, her inevitably laughing in my face, and then having to show up for decathlon practice." Which was one of the reasons Ned never got the nerve to ask Betty out back home.

"There's lots of people at school who have been dumped and they still manage to come out okay." Peter starts measuring out ingredients. "Unless you're going out on a blind date with someone you just met online, you're not going to ever be able to avoid seeing that person again."

He looked over at his best friend. "So you're saying you'd be totally cool to like, hang out with someone who flat out rejected you?"

Peter hesitates.

"It'd probably be weird at first, yeah. But eventually, probably."

He kept staring at his friend. "And this is why you're the superhero." He turned his attention back to the cookie. "Okay... so. Maybe I'll try and ask her out. In the new year though. Like, you know, give her a cookie now, save her fish from the snow... build up how nice I am and stuff before I take the plunge."

"Save her fish from the snow?" Peter repeats.

"Yeah. Oh. That was part of saving her today. I gave her my hoodie and then I carried her basket of fish back to the inn." Like that was something completely normal and usual for Ned.

"That's really nice, Ned." Peter starts dumping ingredients into a bowl. "I think it's a good start. People generally want to go out with people who are nice to them, you know?"

At least Peter did.

[GP] SNOW DAY

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