Rocket 88

[Aiden]

About a month into knowing Yuki, Aiden had a secret, subconscious drive to get Yuki to open up. Now it had been four months of knowing her, and he was nowhere near his goal. Not even close. Yuki always just sat there, having no sense of humor and being the serious card of the faction. Criticizing him and Teagan for being childish, getting angry when they wouldn't eat her cooking. She was so tense, it was almost painful for Aiden and Teagan. She needed to relax, have fun.

But apparently that wasn't physically possible.

He sat at the table to munched on some funnel cake, a grin spreading on his face as the powdered sugar hit his tongue. It was so good, and he rarely ever had the chance to eat some, so this moment was a good one, unless Yuki ruined this moment too. He waited for her to eat, he knew she would like it, because he hadn't met a person yet that didn't. She did disgusted, though, looking at the mass of sweets.

She pulled a piece off, and Aiden watched her carefully. There was no immediate reaction, she was keeping a face straight, and he couldn't really tell if that faced was forced or not. His gaze never let up, though, and he continued watching her, scrutinizing her expression, until he finally saw it.

When she spoke, Aiden had a wry smile. "Nope, you're lying. You know how I know? You blink twice when you lie. I picked that up a couple weeks back. Now, tell me what you really think, or Yuki Oshiro, straight A student, will be receiving her first F," Aiden threatened. "And I'll have you know I'm very serious."

[Yuki]

Affronted by Aiden's accusation, Yuki blinked blankly at her faction leader. About how many times, she didn't count, because she was too busy trying to process this revelation about her to be preoccupied over whether she had blinked twice or more. And when exactly did he figure this out? She wondered what the hell she could've said where he had caught her in a lie. Could it have been about the times she had snuck out of tavern to go play her show? Or maybe it was about lying over what she had used in her cooking...

But never mind that.

She cleared her throat after swallowing the bit of the funnel cake she had in her mouth. "You giving me an F will by no means disgrace me. Your grading standards are completely skewed. You said that I could not pass until I tried it. And I tried it. So there," she said, her voice trailing off. Her mouth craved another bite of the dessert. "Besides," she paused, tearing off a rather large piece. "I told you it was okay. I don't see what the big deal is, I didn't say that I hate it."

As she chewed, with her hand over her mouth as a shield from any food that may escape her mouth, she hoped that they couldn't tell just how much of an understatement she had made when she said it was "okay."

[Aiden]

Laughing to himself, he was amused at Yuki's reaction. "Every teacher is skewed, I hope you realize. Besides, I never said you pass if you try it," Aiden corrected her. "You have to give the right answer, and there are two things wrong here; that wasn't the right answer, and you're lying," he said. He tore off another piece of funnel cake and chewed on it, trying to figure out how to best proceed with the girl. "That, and well, considering you completely devour strawberries anytime we buy them, I have to beg to differ."

When she tried to justify herself, Aiden smiled again. "You just did it again, Yuki. I'm telling you, I can tell when you're lying, and you're not telling us what you really think. So you like it. Big deal. What's wrong with admitting it?" he asked her, tearing off a piece and dipping it into the strawberry glaze. "It's not bad. In fact, we're expecting you to like it."

He sighed, and then shrugged. "Look, we just want to get to know you. You know us well enough, but you? You don't even budge, and honestly, its a little annoying sometimes. Emotion is good for you, you don't always have to be an alien robot android," Aiden added, taking a quick glance at the people passing them.

[Yuki]

She furrowed her eyebrows at Aiden's response. "What do you mean that wasn't the right answer? This is a matter of opinion, there is no right answer. By those standards, were I to quiz you on the tasting of my food, you would both receive absolute zeroes, since there has been nothing but the refusal to try it." She didn't know why they wouldn't go near her food. It was absolutely nutritious.

...Speaking of, strawberries were indeed rather good, and they only made the funnel cake taste even better than she cared to admit. She was silent as Aiden pinned her thoughts down by saying aloud what she could not. It took all her effort to not stand up and walk away from the table in an attempt to hide whatever it was she felt. Was this...embarrassment? No. Over liking some silly piece of food? How foolish, that couldn't be it.

"I am not an 'alien robot android,' " she glared. Though she did feel a bit...bad...when Aiden pointed out that her attitude could be annoying. But who had every understood this? People saw emotions and used them to their advantage, her mother had said. And had she not witnessed this firsthand? Being as cold as ice was the only thing that had kept people from stepping all over her, it had earned her respect.

But she supposed it should be different with Teagan and Aiden. They weren't trying to take advantage of her, right? As far she knew, anyway. She looked up at the two of them, then down at the cake, and then back up at the two. She pursed her lips tightly, not knowing how to respond.

"...ALRIGHT, the damned funnel cake is good, okay?!" she snapped, shoving another piece into her mouth and looking down to keep the two from seeing the light blush now spreading over her face.

[Teagan]

"Victory!" Teagan grinned as she finished chewing one of the most gooey, chocolaty pieces of goodness she had devoured in a long time. "No one can resist funnel cake!" She threw a fist up in the air, nearly jumping out of her seat. The reaction, given, was probably a bit over the top. In her defense, sugar did weird things to her system, the least among them giving her random bursts of energy.

"I completely agree with you Yuki," she sat back down, her arm instantly shooting out to grab another piece of the funnel cake with her fork. The sweet taste of pure awesomeness sank into her mouth. "Perhaps I should try to make something like this back at the tavern sometime." Her eyes grew wide at the prospect, and she immediately began running through a list of possible variations. "What do you think caramel would do to it? Add? Detract?" Somehow, she couldn't picture anything detracting from the taste.

"And see? Admitting wasn't that hard. Especially when we agree with you. It's good as a team to all be on the same page at times."

[Aiden]

Aiden watched Yuki with a furtive look while she loomed over the funnel cake, picking at his own and popping the occasional piece in his mouth. His finger showed traces of powdered sugar, small white blemishes while he waited for Yuki to inevitably comply. It was nearly impossible not to; he never met a single person in his life that didn't like the dessert. So for her to sit thre and tell him that she didn't like it was an obvious sign to him, she was hiding something--the fact that she was enjoying what she was eating.

All it took was a simple admission that she liked a food. She wasn't signing her life away to commit to something, it was a minor 'Oh, this tastes good.' It was how people learned what they liked, plus maybe if she had something to eat, with sugar included, Yuki might loosen up a bit. While Teagan and himself were fun and playful, Yuki was way too uptight to function sometimes.

"Actually there is only one right answer. As for your food, you need to work on your recipies," Aiden said, taking a bold step here. He could hold his own with Yuki, he was sure, so telling her that he didn't like her cooking, while not being said aloud before, meant that she was going to get angry.

"I'm not a fan of caramel, so detract," Aiden said absently, a smug smirk worn on his face after Yuki finally surrendered to them and admitted she liked the food. He took another big bite of his, and continued to hold the grin until it slowly died when he spotted something behind Yuki. He returned his stare back to his comrades, hoping they hadn't noticed. Who the hell puts clowns in an amusement park? he thought to himself. Clowns always made him feel uncomfortable when he was a child, and ever since one hunting trip in his early months with Malcolm, he even feared them. Rashakas were killers, but seeing them killing in the form of clowns? Yeah, that could scar a kid.

"Well then, shall we continue on? Lots of rides to get to," he said, his eyes looking over the various towering contraptions around the park. "I don't know what you guys want to do, I know all these already so I'm not dying to try one out. Suggestions?" The excitement died down inside him, no thanks to Yuki's indignant attitude about life.