Blue Meeting:

[callmegladio]

Who: Gladio + Blue Team and Friends.
Where: Dining carriage. (Change of venue, larger space)
When: Grasshopper 15th after lunch.
What: The first Blue Team meeting with the new Leadership in place.
Warnings: Unknown. Possible cuteness. Snack induced jealousy. Will update if something comes up!

To say that Gladio was nervous would be an understatement. He hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before worrying if this would work out the way he had planned. Would people be receptive to what he asked? Would people even come to this meeting? He had been assured by several people there would be at least some (who could resist lovingly prepared snacks?) but it remained to be seen.

Gladio sat at a table, there was a notepad and a pencil in his hand. He would be taking notes of things he deemed important.

Once people started filtering in, Gladio began to feel somewhat better. Calmer. He watched them milling about with a smile. It was only when he thought there was enough that he rose and gave a call to get people's attention.

"First, I just wanna thank everyone for coming. I know it was short notice, but between the mission and platform day coming up, my hands were tied.

In future I'm going to do my best to have a meeting like this before every big mission, once we get the info. I don't think a little organisation can hurt. And... with that in mind. The reason I wanted to get you all here. I want everyone to get to know each other. And I want to learn more about you all. I'd like, if you're all willing, to assign simple roles within the team to each person for missions. If you don't want to be part of that, just let me know. That's your choice." He smiled wider. "If you do... I'll get to you. If you've any questions, I'm open to them. Piccolo and WangJi are also here to answer your questions and concerns. Not just here and not just for missions, but any you have. We're here for you."

With that his smile became a grin. "Now... I know two of our number have been working hard to make delicious snacks, so do me a favour? Make them happy and dig in! Enjoy them and... chat. Mingle. Get to know your fellow blue. We're a small team, lets make us the best team!"

Comments

ota! i'm also fine with brackets, i'll match your style!

[happyends]

Sure, sure. People can just grab the snacks by themselves. They're lying there up for grabs! But Madoka just.. can't help herself. She just has to be helpful. Especially when Gladio worked so hard too to make this whole meeting happen and is still working hard to get things rearranged with the team now Ignis is gone. That just means she has to make sure this meeting is perfect.

So regardless of whether or not Madoka already knows you, she'll move up to just about anyone at the meeting, carrying a plate of cookies and with a big smile on her face, trying to seem as friendly as possible.

"Here, please try one of the cookies! I think they turned out pretty yummy!"

Ooo, cookies!

[only_one_wei]

"Hello," Wei Wuxian answered, happily snagging a cookie off of the plate. "What kind of cookies are they?"

[happyends]

"Sugar cookies!" She answers, a big smile on her face.

(Of course they're sugar cookies. Madoka looks like the personification of cotton candy, sure, but that completely matches her tastes.. Anything is yummy as long as it's sweet.)

"The pink icing was my idea.." Though Madoka says that with a tad of embarrassment. Wei Wuxian looks like an adult. A Responsible Adult, probably! Maybe he won't like the idea of pink sugar cookies at all.

[only_one_wei]

"It is my new favorite," he assured her, taking a big bite. The sugary sweetness flooded his mouth, and he made a very happy noise. "So good! How do you keep yourself from eating them all? Should I check each one for tiny bite marks?" he asked, teasing her.

[happyends]

"Ah?!"

Madoka truly is too easy to tease. It's not even like he went for it that much, and yet Madoka looks so surprised and caught off guard in an instant. Her eyes grow wide as she looks up at him, and the girl quickly shakes her head, as if the very thought that he might be assuming that mortifies her.

"N-No! I didn't try any of them, I-- I promise! You don't have to worry about that, sir! It, um.. it wouldn't be sanitary!"

[only_one_wei]

Wei Wuxian laughed and patted her on the shoulder, resisting the urge to pat her on the head as he barely knew her. "I didn't think you had, honest. But they are so very tasty, you did the team proud!"

"You were doing the archery on the mission, right? With the arrows of light? That was a lucky thing!"

[happyends]

Though the embarrassment does seem to simmer a bit, Madoka's cheeks still slightly pink, there's no resistance to the shoulder pat at all. Instead she just nods slightly when he continues to speak.

"That's right." She's flustered in an entirely different way now, really.. She didn't imagine she'd stand out that much at all! "I actually only recently started to be able to do that.. So I suppose you could say the timing really was lucky. I was glad that I was able to help everyone out.." Madoka tucks some hair behind her ear. "How about you, sir? Did the mission go alright for you?"

[only_one_wei]

He took another cookie. "You were doing pretty amazing every time I saw you. It is very lucky for all of us that you started doing it and are so good at it!"

"I survived, didn't take any damage other than what I did to myself," he said honestly. "You might have seen the golden threads I was using to immobilize the monsters? It uses the energy from my Golden Core," he said, tapping his chest. "But mine isn't as strong as it needs to be, so I am going to be working on that, so I can be of more assistance next time."

[happyends]

"You have a.. Golden Core..?"

She repeats the words slowly, like she wants to make sure she got that right. It isn't like anything Madoka has ever heard of, after all. She can't help but wonder if it's a little like a Soul Gem, since he's tapping his chest like that.

"Do a lot of people have that where you're from?"

[pleple]

"No one will be able to resist that smile." It's teasing but honest. Honest, because she adores Madoka's smile. Teasing, because she knows saying a thing like that out loud will make her blush and stammer.

[happyends]

Ple Two really is right about that. Madoka really is starting to try and learn to get more used to these compliments.. But it's still hard when Ple Two says it so suddenly, and even moreso when they're in a place where so many people could overhear them.

So Madoka's cheeks instantly turn the exact same shade as her hair.

"Ah-- W.. Well, it's the cookies that are important, n-not the smile..! But.. um, thank you anyway.."

She ducks her head a bit, really wishing she could hide behind the cookie plate in a way that wouldn't make all the poor cookies drop to the ground instantly.

".. Actually, I held behind some special cookies for you, Ple Two.."

[pleple]

Accept her praise! Ple Two smiles at the blush, enjoying how cute it makes Madoka. Even if she is overheard... she'll live with it now. She can't help it.

The smile feels more satisfying than the cookies. That said...

"Special cookies?" She's curious.

[happyends]

She nods - just slightly - before gesturing for the other to come along. Madoka walks over to the table with the snacks she and Romeo made, picking up something wrapped in cloth that she holds out to Ple Two.

If the other girl opens it, she'll find two heart-shaped cookies inside.

"I.. I made those.. while thinking of you.." She shyly says.

[pleple]

Ple Two follows along, curious. They're over here, especially wrapped just for her, and she pauses, glancing at Madoka.

Already blushing slightly, she unwraps the cookies and immediately turns an extra few shades. "...goodness..." she says under her breath, cracking a smile. "They look wonderful."

[happyends]

"Really?"

It would be hard for Madoka to hide the excitement in her tone even if she'd have reason to try. It's so obviously there - and also in the way her eyes light up at the answer.

"I-- I wanted to do something special for you! Since I was already making cookies for everyone anyway.. but I wanted yours to be different. They should taste the same, but.. you know.." The light in her eyes doesn't fade, but it's joined by a slight blush. "The shape is important.."

[pleple]

Normal cookies are still delicious. Heart cookies are full of love.

"It... it is. It says a lot." Ple Two closes her eyes, smiling. How did she get this lucky after what her life started as. "Thank you."

[happyends]

Ahhh!! That smile is so worth having made those cookies! Madoka would make thousands of them if it meant that she could always see that smile!

In all her excitement, she can't help but reach out to grab one of Ple Two's hands - leaving the other one for the girl to hold onto the cookies.

"I'm so glad you like them..!" A smile is plastered all over Madoka's own face as well. "So.. what kind of role do you think you're going to ask for from mister Gladio?"

She may be trying to find out if she could stick near her girlfriend during missions...

[pleple]

Ple Two grips back, looking up at Madoka again, at that beaming smile. That's what she needs. To keep Madoka happy... and to let Madoka make her happy too.

Hopefully they're delicious too, but that seems likely.

"I think... that because I'm small, and a good shot, I should stick to fire support of some kind." So, what Madoka should do with her bow. "Unless there's a vehicle to drive."

[happyends]

"Ah, that'd be great.. Mister Gladio saw what I can do with my bow during the last mission, so that means we'd be able to stick close together.." And what could possibly be better on a mission?

A bit more curiosity enters her smile at the last part though.

"Can you drive any kind of vehicle? Or, um, just.. you know." Madoka looks slightly awkward, like there's something she's avoiding bringing up too directly. "T.. Those things I saw in your dream.."

(She's trying to avoid mentioning anything else that happened in said dream, okay.)

[pleple]

"You're catching on very quickly." Almost like she's a natural. Almost like if she became a magical girl, and summoned the weapon that best suits her nature, she'd have a bow.

Crazy idea. "Mobile suits. Those are my specialty, but I can figure out almost anything." Manual transmission might take a minute.

[happyends]

It really almost is like that, huh, what a coincidence!

The compliment makes her smile, and that smile continues when thankfully the conversation stays away from the dream and focuses more on Ple Two's - quite impressive - capabilities.

"That's so cool..! Even things like cars or motorbikes?" Maybe the idea of someone Ple Two's age driving a car should be concerning more than anything.. But Madoka has always found the other so outright capable that it feels almost natural to imagine all the same, somehow.

[pleple]

It's easy enough to talk about mobile suits - they're simply a fact of life. As long as they skirt around what happened, it's not very concerning, really.

"I'm just tall enough to reach the pedals and such, so it shouldn't be difficult." Let the child drive!

[happyends]

Let the child drive indeed.

Especially since Madoka goes quiet for a moment. The look in her eyes almost turns a bit daydream-y, since her imagination is definitely running away with this one. Ple Two, all dressed up in a cool way, with an amazingly cool helmet, coming to pick her up on a motorbike for a date...

This is too much for Madoka's heart, even if it's a fantasy that can't exactly come true on the train. But. You know. Let the girl dream about her cool motorbike-driving girlfriend.

"You really are so cool, Ple Two.."

And while it's not strange or even uncommon for Madoka to show the other girl with compliments, there's definitely that special tone about what she's saying now that implies she's very much imagining something that makes her heart pound faster than usually.

[pleple]

Ple Two with a leather jacket. Ple Two with a pink helmet she bought just for Madoka to wear. Madoka clinging to her back while they ride through the - sunshine? The night? The sea breeze? Good taste.

"It's... just what I'm good at..." The tone is impossible to ignore, but she still has to try to downplay herself a little. "If... if we get a chance to go for a drive together... maybe we should."

A helicopter? A speedboat?

[happyends]

"That would be so nice.."

Even though half the train will have a heart attack over two kids in their early teens driving on or in something together, huh. But look, if they're allowed to fight, then they might as well be allowed to drive, right? Especially since Ple Two can do it well! No big deal!

"Let's do it. At the first opportunity we get..!"