Surprise! [Blue Jay/Geata]

Geata honestly didn't know why they had gotten the idea to make a golden statue of Aurora with the jewelry they had stolen after the failed robbery. He had even less of an idea of why he went to Azoth to help. And the thing he understood least was why she had agreed to do so. Still, it had all happened and, as such, he and Blue Jay were now responsible for the creation of a golden statue of Aurora. They were also, even more recently, responsible for the creation of its accompanying fountain.

He didn't know the technical details on how the fountain was made, in regards to the waterworks. He had tuned out anything said by Limen on that subject, but he was aware of how it was shaped. After all, he'd done that. Jay, by virtue of super strength, pushed the fountain into place while Geata used an insane amount of incredibly small portals to carve away the excess material. Currently, it was all lying on top of the Geataland roof, to be properly disposed of later. For now, though, he was simply looking over his handiwork to make sure that he hadn't missed anything. So far, he hadn't found any flaws and was pleased with his work. And then Aurora came in.

Her reaction was a bit less explosive than Geata expected. He'd thought for sure she'd be yelling about what a waste of resources the project was or putting them down for coming up with such a stupid idea in the first place within three seconds. That had not happened, and that encouraged Geata. He supposed it may be possible that they might've actually done something positive. The odds were slim, he knew, but one could hope.

"Ta-da," Geata said happily with a flourish towards the fountain, with the statue in its proper place. "You just missed Limen, but she pitched in and helped make this. As for what this is, well. Simply put, and I think I speak for most everyone involved when I say this, this is a symbol of our appreciation for you, what you've done, and what you intend to do. Admittedly, I think Blue Jay over there actually put in more effort, but it was a group effort," he chuckled. "Anyway, what do you think? Fitting for the leader of Pandaemonium, no?"

Aurora didn't grab the can, or even push Blue Jay out of the way when he forced it into her hand. It still fell to the floor because she didn't wrap her hands around it. Even though people were trying to talk to her, all she could do was stand there in stunned silence. As they talked, she looked around the room. Between their words and all the eyes on her, her cheeks became a little redder. She had no idea how to feel about this. It was weird, awkward, and yet she couldn't be upset with them for it. It was rare for her to get anything more than a thank you, and even that didn't happen all that frequently. Even then, those thank yous always felt more like social obligation to her than genuine thanks, part of the reason she hated those social obligations so much; it made it so she couldn't tell the difference between genuine appreciation and going through the motions. There was no denying what this was though. This wasn't easy to do, and it was so absurd. Absurd enough that for the first time in a long time, she found herself unable to make eye contact with anyone.

"Why? Just--Not why but..." She rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath as she focused to compose her words. "I am not that kind of leader! It's--this isn't supposed to be about me, it's about all of us. Building some kind of monument is...weird. Is that solid gold? Is that really the best thing you could think of to do with that much gold?"

That much gold would be a drop in the bucket compared to the funds she had, but having something like that in the lobby would continue to be awkward. It made her think of the leaders of the past that would get their subjects to build these absurd things for nothing more than to feed their ego. This was done on their own volition, and it seemed unlikely that anyone was seriously hurt or killed making it, sure, but she still couldn't shake that feeling. And yet, on some level she liked it. She couldn't make sense of the contradictory emotions, but even what little she could make sense of left her feeling more happy and a little embarrassed than anything else. Her face continued to get redder the more she thought about it, and after a moment's pause she sighed.

"It can stay." Aurora paused again, trying to come up with the words to actually express what she was feeling. Nothing came that was strong enough, so she had to settle. "Thank you."

She didn't bother to pick up the soda. Aurora had no idea what they were doing with them, and she didn't want to drink it herself, so there was no point in doing so. Instead, she headed to the cafeteria with her head up high, though she was walking noticeably faster than usual.

Even Blue Jay could tell this was starting to get sappy. The only thing that would’ve made it moreso was a group hug with everyone here and Aurora at the center. He’d’ve been plenty happy to settle for that, but based on past events, it seemed very, very unlikely to get farther than the first person’s attempt at embrace. Probably then with that person’s trip to the dentist. It felt weird, though, to just leave the exchange at that and have Aurora just walk off. This was a celebration of Aurora and a monument to her, after all.

Blue Jay had originally intended to have everyone spray the sodas upwards or something (the amount of thought he’d put into this began and ended at ‘soda toast’), but when one of the unpowereds opened his can on the guy next to him, an idea dawned on Blue Jay. He trotted to catch up with Aurora, slowing to remain in stride alongside her when he caught up.

“There’s another reason too. You’re always off doing stuff, and when you’re here, you’re doing work. We don’t see a lot of you just doing recreational stuff. We thought this statue could be stand-in you for when we get lonely.” Blue Jay said with enough of an overly serious tone to make sure it was understood he was being sarcastic. “But, we do really want to spend more time with you that isn’t work. So,”

He angled the can towards Aurora and popped the lid. Pressure released, and a colorful spray of just about everything that was wrong with the country shot out at Aurora’s side in a bright, carbonated wave.

“Tag!” Blue Jay yelled pleasantly. And then he turned, stuffed the now mostly empty can in his pocket, and booked it down the nearest hallway. It wasn’t a hug, but play and teasing were the next best ways to show affection.

Several of the mooks, wet and dry alike, gave Aurora a weary look, and soon, too, began to scatter. It was the time to run, hide, and lock the doors behind you for all it would do, for Aurora was ‘it’.

Geata, for one, understood food being a high priority and also understood needing some time to process something so unexpected as suddenly having a statue. The lack of calling them idiots for stealing to prevent a theft cemented the situation as "too good to mess with." That was why, as Blue Jay got closer to Aurora, Geata could only stand there like a deer in headlights, hoping that he wouldn't do anything to mess with it and trying to convince himself that he wasn't quite dumb enough to try anything. His hopes were quickly dashed as he watched with horror as Aurora got sprayed with soda. Unlike everyone else, he didn't try to leave. Somebody had to stay and make an attempt at damage control, and clearly he couldn't rely on any of the nearby idiots, Jay currently included.

As Aurora approached, he mentally prepared for the inevitable punch. He was instead taken by surprise with a push towards the fountain. He went flying through a quickly opened portal and went skidding across the floor towards the cafeteria doorway. When he came to a stop, he simply sat there for a few moments, trying to figure out how to best handle the situation thrust upon him. The only idea that came to mind was to prevent Aurora from getting sprayed in the first place, but last he checked he didn't have time control powers. He'd have to settle with accepting things and punching Blue Jay later once he didn't have Evron in-hand. That didn't make him happy with how things went, though.

"Fucking hell," he said as he finally started to climb to his feet before looking at Aurora. "What the fuck, man? I get how annoying that is - trust me, I myself am seething over it - but that's no reason to take your anger out on me or the crap that we made as thanks to you." On the other side of him, multiple small portals opened up, leading to the various rooms in the direction that Jay had run. "Dammit, Jay," he muttered irritably through the portals. "Get back here and apologize because, surprise surprise, Aurora's pissed. And I'm the one suffering your consequences, you ass."

He turned back to Aurora and sighed. "I'm really sorry. I'll clean up this mess real quick, no worries. Is there anything I can get for you, or do for you, et cetera? He means well, as I'm sure you know, he's just a bit... you throw him off, Aurora. He's not used to wanting to be friends with someone who doesn't want to be friends in return, and he's trying to encourage you to be more friendly, put bluntly. He tries a lot harder with you than I've seen or heard of with anyone else."

With that said, Geata turned and looked at the various spots with soda. Portals opened along the floor, underneath the puddles and droplets. He couldn't actually clean it like that, as there was still residue and a little liquid from where the portals had actually opened, but it saved time trying to sop it all up. And, admittedly, he was just pleased that he was able to be so precise worth his power. Next thing he needed to do, though, was try and figure out where the various Pandas had put the mops. Geata had missed the day where Aurora designated where the broom closet would be.

Aurora wasn't the least bit surprised that Geata used his portals to avoid getting wet, but at this point she'd blown off enough steam that she didn't immediately get the urge to punch something again. He skidded to a stop not too far in front of her, and in her path to the cafeteria. She loomed over him, at least until he got up. As easy as it would have been to go around him, she didn't feel like it, so she continued on the same path even though it would take her right through him. She reached out to push him out of the way, not caring if he moved or not before then; she'd complete the motion regardless.

"Move."

She shoved the door to the cafeteria open with far more force than was necessary and made her way inside. Her good mood was completely soured by this point, and Geata talking back to her was not helping. Feeling generous, she decided to ignore his comments, since half of them were directed towards Blue Jay anyway, and focus on his desire to make up for all of this. She paused at the door, catching it as it swung back towards her in order to keep it open and prevent it from hitting her in the face because of how hard she opened it in the first place.

"Soda has a ridiculous amount of sugar among other things in it. Just getting rid of the liquid isn't going to get the floor clean. If it's not cleaned properly, it'll get sticky. I'm also going to need to get my laundry done," Aurora poked the wet spot in the sleeve of her coat. "It's absolutely disgusting. And if we're going to make this room look nice we might as well go all the way and get around to decorating it properly and cleaning up some of the water damage, the damage trim on some of the walls, and cleaning out the windows and light fixtures."

That should be enough to get him started at least. She was getting ready to move into the cafeteria proper when Blue Jay appeared again. Her glare deepened as she looked in his direction. If he kept hiding she would have been more content at this point, she had no desire to be in his presence.

"Somehow I'm not surprised that you see my happiness as something you need to spoil."

With that, she turned back around and went into the cafeteria, slamming the door shut behind her.

Blue Jay stared at Aurora like she had just plunged a knife into his chest. He’d thought himself immune to Aurora’s insults and mean words; those tactics wouldn’t work a second time, or the two-hundred fortieth something time, he had thought with actually a small amount of pride. Normally they didn’t, but unlike Aurora, for whom ‘angry and vexed’ seemed to be her neutral, Blue Jay felt Geata’s irritation and was doing the useful thing of using it to amplify his own feelings, and there was something about Aurora’s blatantly untrue insinuation of character of which he hadn’t the slightest idea how she had reached, and… as much as he wanted to deny it, he did feel kind of guilty. Blue Jay motionlessly and wordlessly watched Aurora leave, still reeling from what felt almost like a betrayal. The door slamming snapped him back.

Blue Jay continued to shoot a stunned expression at the door as he clenched and unclenched his fists as though he was trying to decide which form he liked best. Tearing his eyes angrily away, he muttered a couple of swears under his breath, decided on ‘clenched, tightly’, and began pacing. He was only wearing tennis shoes, but he made sure each step made a thump loud enough to echo a little off the walls.  Though, his feet seemed like couldn’t quite decide if they wanted to walk in a circle or back and forth, and he soon was going nowhere quickly.

“Because I still care about her.” Blue Jay spat. “Because she actually cares about all of us supers deep down and I fucking respect her for it, and because unlike half the ‘heroes’ in the city she actually bothers to put an ounce of fucking thought behind what she’s fighting for, and because she still fucking saved my ass even though we were enemies, twice, and because I can trust her, and can rely on her and it means a fucking lot to me.”

Blue Jay stopped abruptly and turned to Geata. “I’m not cleaning it up.” He said indisputably. “Neither are you. It’s one damn thing to ask us to clean up the mess, but then to think she can act like that and then tell us to fix up the whole room, and then to-” He cut off with a sharp breath and aimlessly shook his balled fist.

After a moment, he began pacing again. “I don’t want to try to ‘patch things up’ or whatever by cleaning or doing the light fixtures.” He huffed, crossing his arms and staring down at the terribly offensive dirty floor. His shoes stuck just enough to the ground to irritate him a little further. “And you know what? It’s fine if she hates me. For this and all of the other piles of shit she’s got organized and categorized against me. I can’t really expect anything else, so I don’t really care. I don’t have to try to be this perfect, flawless friend while she pushes me around. I still have the right to draw lines. I can get angry when she says stupid, untrue, mean things like that. I have every damn right to punch back and damn it I’m going to by not cleaning the fucking room.”

Blue Jay slowed to a stop and sighed, and his voice finally lowered to a more inside-approved volume. He wasn’t particularly good at shouting - certainly not for any kind of extended period of time - and it honestly wore him out. He absently unballed his hands and rubbed his still tense fingers and palms, and tiredly continued.

“If things I do piss her off, then great, I’m going to piss her off. I’m not going to change myself to try to meet her ideal of a person. I don’t owe it to her to put on some act around her, and trying to build a friendship off of that is fake. There’s not any point to it, so I’m not going to do it.” He looked at Geata like he had discovered and was going to share something very important. “She needs to suck up and stop being so selfish. I put up with all of her shit, so she should put up with some of mine.”

The anger in his voice slowly diminished as he went on, so by the time he was done he was back to his usual tone. He was still plenty upset, but the people in the neighbouring rooms didn’t need to be altered to the fact. He crossed his arms casually and turned to more fully face Geata.

“And it bothers me to see her push you around, too. I’m not cool with that, and I’m not going to let you fall into it. You’re my friend too, you know? So that’s why I’m not going to tell you were the broom closet is.” The hall to the north, the second door on the left, as it were. He cleaned up enough around the base that he knew where all the cleaning supplies lived, but this was now knowledge he was going to keep tightly to himself and there was nothing Geata could do about it.

Blue Jay sighed. “You want to go get some ice cream? There’s a new place that opened up at the edge of the docks earlier this week.” To apparently quite good business, which he was beginning to suspect was in correlation with the decrease of ice cream in the Pandaemonium freezer. “I’ll pay,” he offered.

“Ah, right.” Blue Jay chuckled awkwardly. How Geata was managing without eating, he had no idea, and Blue Jay couldn’t say he wasn’t concerned for his friend. After all, Aurora wasn’t eating very often either, and he was fairly certain it was contributing negatively to her health and mood, considering actually eating food generally contributed positively to one’s health and mood.

Geata’s sudden change in tone, to dark and ominous threats, he was pressed to believe, confirmed something was off and now Blue Jay was seriously worried. Neither of his friends were eating enough food and it was screwing with their heads.

Geata’s next action only went to support this case. Ominous words were then directed at him, to which he was about to raise question and concern when the floor was no more, and suddenly they were in the cafeteria. Blue Jay was experiencing a high enough level of confusion, aided by a moderate level of fatigue from yelling and a slight lack of balance - he had to catch himself upon being portaled - that when Geata told him to sit, he honestly didn’t know how else to react but to stiffly walk over and sit.

The portal sargent’s explanation was enough to catch him up to speed, and he began to understand what exactly Geata had meant when he asked him to play along. The slight flaw in Geata’s plan of keeping them both here was that, portals or not, trying to keep a teleporter in one place was like trying to keep a dog from lunging for the bacon that fell on the floor. It would not happen, and telling them not to was only going to make them do it faster.

But, besides that he owed Geata for trying to buy him ice cream, and Geata was probably going to incur some wrath with this maneuver and Blue Jay owed it to his friend to help him out however he could, Blue Jay did want to try to talk it out with Aurora. Even though part of him also really did not want to try to talk it out with Aurora, but that was the part of him who liked to stew with a coke. It was going to lose today’s battle.

It didn’t stop him from slouching forward at the table, though, arms crossed on its surface and his head placed atop.

“Why do you think I’m just trying to cause you pain?” He mumbled. “After everything, why do you think I’d have any reason to do that?”