tushanshu_logs

Characters: Scott Lang

langsyne & Makoto Kino

supremefaith
Date: January 5th
Location: Anywhere between the Wood and Metal Sectors
Situation: Baby turtle shenanigans
Warnings/Rating: None

Since the emergence of the baby turtles, Makoto's mornings would start out pretty normal, or whatever passed for normal on a giant turtle island with turtle hatchlings so big you could ride around on them (they were so cute in their eggs too, what happened?). So...normal...right! That meant getting up, dressing warmly, and popping over to the bakery so she could check inventory and get a head start on deliveries.

Alls well until about mid-morning when all of the wonderful smells coming from her bakery attract an unwanted guest. Like clockwork every morning the bakery is accosted by salivating baby turtles looking for a tasty treat. Sometimes it's the same turtle, sometimes a different turtle, but they all approach in the same manner...like miniature earthquakes come to wreak havoc in the name of munchies.

Did Makoto have anything personal against the baby turtles? Not particularly, they were cute and loads of fun when they weren't trying to level her shop to the ground...and babies had to eat, she knew that. Now Makoto wasn't exactly a science whiz or anything, but she did know that people food didn't make very good turtle food...another reason these particular encounters were distressing.

So her morning routine had changed just a bit, from running the bakery to making an effort to preserve it from baby turtle bombardment. This meant luring this morning's turtle out of the wood sector and into the water sector where it would, hopefully, find some algae and stuff to gnaw on. The only way she could ever get the little guys (little by giant turtle island standards) to follow her was to fill up a small satchel with some fresh baked goodies and tempt the turtle into chasing her. This strategy usually worked, at least today it worked, and soon she had a baby turtle scooting its way in her direction.

For a turtle it could sure give one heck of a chase, though the snow and ice blankets probably gave them an edge. Makoto wasn't quite up to her usual standards in the snow, not without a pair of skates anyway, so anyone watching could tell she's struggling. Just a little bit. But one dubious ice patch later and she's done, just done, slipping first and rolling down the side of an embankment before disappearing. It's like something you could only see in a cartoon with her feet going over her head, and she's not alone, the baby turtle is happy to follow her all the way down (because food is a very good excuse to jump off a bridge...or slide down a hill). As long as he doesn't belly flop on top of Makoto all will be well.

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Scott doesn't keep a constant eye on his turtle for multiple reasons. One: he's a guy who very much likes his sleep and free time, and turtle-sitting often makes both of those impossible. Two: he's sharing daddy duties with two other people so it makes no sense for him to be on watch 24/7. Problem is, he isn't the greatest at coordinating when his shifts are and when he can take off and so sometimes Raph ends up going unattended and it's only by accident that Scott realizes no one's been watching the turtle.

Like today.

He's doing some early morning shopping in the Water sector today, breath coming out in small white puffs as he walks, a white grocery bag slung over one arm when he gets it.

The turtle signal.

Otherwise known as he gets a whiff of a familiar telepathic voice in his head, a vague notion of food and delicious, and that's really all it takes for Scott to turn around and attempt to track down his wayward turtle child.

He finds it some twenty minutes later, accompanied by a figure he's surprised to discover he recognizes, flat on the ground.

"Makoto?" Oh man, how did she even get down there? It takes some effort to make it all the way down to where she is - and he nearly slips twice - but when he gets there, he carefully sidles over to where she is. "You okay? I hope he" a nod of the head towards the turtle "didn't give you any trouble."

Flat on the ground, pinned by a turtle flipper, and still a bit on the knocked-for-a-loop side when Scott finds her. Baby turtles sure can pack a punch...and they're not intentionally threatening so she can't fight back really, "oh man...butterflies are awesome! Bunnies too!"

Okay, she's a bit gone, it just takes her a few seconds more to stop her eyes from pinwheeling just long enough to focus on where she is and what just happened. There was the shop, and a baby turtle, and a good deal of running, slipping, falling...and oh...hello Scott, she can see you now...and actually focus on your face. Brilliant! She's even capable of mustering a goofy, sheepish smile. Even more brilliant.

"I got flipper slammed by a turtle, It's the most humiliating day of my life," and with that she bench pressed the flipper pinning her down right off of her just long enough to crawl out of the way and clamber back up to her feet. The turtle had her bag in its mouth and was munching happily on the crumbling pastries inside of it, "Fine...take it...you can have it, but I don't want to hear it later if you end up gassy...in fact don't bring that around."

Ah, the smell of defeat, but in another beat she seems perfectly okay, "ah, I'm fine for the most part, the only thing that got hurt was my pride."

She looks a little bit on the embarrassed side, which is why she's shuffling her feet in the snow, "and it's been a while too, I'm really sorry I haven't been around much."

Edited 2014-01-10 13:04 (UTC)

Normally, Scott would've laughed, waved a hand at Makoto's nonsensical words and gone on to help her up. But right now, with a turtle the size of car half on top of her he's more worried than anything else. Hopefully she doesn't have a concussion, or a sprained wrist, or any of the hundred and one things that overly concerned parental units make a bigger deal out of than they really are.

Luckily for Makoto, she seems to regain her senses and it's not long before she's upright and talking normally and Scott's nerves are returning themselves to their usual relaxed state.

"I think we've all had our pride slip and fall in front of us this winter. I've lost count of the number of times I've been used as a bowling pin by these little guys," he admits. But there's no real embarrassment in his voice over his status as a human bowling pin; it's all part of his daily ritual now and he's gotten pretty darn used to it.

There is embarrassment - or rather, guilt - in his voice over his next statement.

"Hey, no apology needed from you. You're off busy being a businesswoman and running your own bakery. I should be the one apologizing for not having dropped by as much as I should have."

Maybe he should make up for it, lend her a helping hand. Judging from the way his turtle's currently happily munching on her bag of pastries, she could probably use it.

"Tell you what, why don't we head back to your bakery? I'll help you set things up, grab a bite to eat, and keep the little guy from eating any more of your merchandise. That sound good?"

Fortunately it was just a flipper, she might have been a turtle pancake if he managed to land himself just right, but no harm was done to anything except for the bag of baked goods and maybe the turtle if he got a little bit of indigestion later on. Makoto didn't really wish the guy any ill will, but it was hard to feel sorry for his stomach if he was determined to fill it with stuff not meant for turtle consumption.

"I think most of them visit the bakery because they actually expect me to play tag with them now. Entertainment and a free snack, it's all part of the morning routine...but I can safely say that exercise is never a problem," because there's always a plus side to most any catastrophe. For Makoto anyway, she's had to really dig in and turn that empty part of her that understood she was missing something important into something productive.

"We've all had some things keeping us busy, I bet being a turtle parent's not really a picnic. And you have a daughter too, that's important!" Makoto's not about to divide his attention or stretch him too thin, but that's probably due to the fact that she was simply used to waiting.

Not that it diminishes her excitement at all when he offers to help and the company is always welcome, it's an offer that's touching enough to earn Scott a hug, something that's pretty random where Makoto is concerned. It's brief and she'll let go after a second or two, but she's obviously pretty happy about it.

"Deal! We could catch up a bit too, I bet I've missed some pretty interesting stuff trying to get the shop in order. I guess I should ask if your turtle has a name yet...I know some of them have names."

"My daughter's an adult, she can take care of herself."

It's technically part a lie - Cassie's only fifteen, after all, and not legally an adult - but she's always been amazingly capable even from a young age, and Scott trusts her not to go running around doing foolish things. Besides, she has an abundance of friends here and he's not about to drive her crazy by demanding she always be within eyesight and earshot of him.

The hug is welcome, and Scott manages a quick hug back before she lets go. He likes hugs, doesn't get nearly enough of them, and he's immensely glad that Makoto feels comfortable enough around him to hug him.

"And I'm sure I've missed a lot of cool things with the bakery, and probably lots of free food." He's kidding about that though, and the teasing tone in his voice reflects that. "As for Turtle Jr. over here.....he's a boy, and we decided to call him Raph, short for Raphael. One of the other turtle dads is an actual turtle - weird, huh? - and his brother that used to be here was called Raphael, so..."

Scott shrugs.

"It's kind of to honor him."

closed

argh sorry this is late

No worries, I've been a bit on the slow side myself

no subject

sorry for the lateness, sinuses have been making me loathe to go near computers

no worries! I'm not exactly super speedy myself right now, clearly