higher, further, faster baby

“Too much enthusiasm can be a bad thing,” Donna agreed, raising her beer in a mock toast. She settled it back down after taking a sip. “I’ve come to find there’s always someone bad around, but there is still much good to be found, too.” Donna was always good at reading people, and she sensed her drinking companion was searching for something more than a few beers.

“Says who?” Carol challenged, smirking lightly as she raised her own glass. “I say too much enthusiasm is never a bad thing, if you know how to use it.” She was glowing bright and feeling bright too -- she didn’t even care about the looks coming their way because of the light show. Let them look. “Very... sentimental of you,” she noted. “You’re probably not wrong,” she said, glancing around the bar. “But you don’t usually find it in places like this. Know what I mean?” she asked, grinning. 

“And you want lil’ ol’ me to take care of him?” Carol asked, smirking just a little. She glanced down at the file again -- he was a nothing sort of jerk, but a jerk with a ship that could travel the galaxy and enough of a tendency towards trouble that it made sense for him to be on SHIELD’s radar. It was a little exciting, to have a real reason to go out there again. Not all the way out into the galaxy, since the Jerk was currently hovering in the atmosphere above New York City, but back in space at least. 

Carol would take it -- because even liquor wasn’t keeping her occupied much these days. It was taking more and more, she was even a little bit drunk right now, but she could still do this. She had nothing to prove, but she’d prove it anyway. “All right. Am I delivering him a friendly warning, or a not-so-friendly ass kicking?” 

“Pretty weak insult if you ask me” Sara commented with a small shrug. “Not very creative either” the blonde said as she poured herself a shot of tequila and drowned it. 

Carol tossed back the rest of her drink and slammed the glass down. “Do we have some kind of problem here?” 

“I’m too pumped to function.”

“I once had a man use that excuse,” Donna said with a frown. Men and their excuses. It was something she certainly didn’t miss when she went back to visit Themyscira, though she did enjoy men in their own way. “Though, I suppose you are not using such an excuse.”

Carol smirked at the woman. “Well, men are dumb that way. But it’s no excuse,” she assured her newfound companion. “It’s more like a warning,” she explained, as the glow began to expand and shimmer all around her. “Not to you,” she clarified. “But there’s gotta be a bad guy around here somewhere.” She was a little bit drunk, and a lot itching to punch something. 

“What?” Trish started, being pulled out of her thoughts by Carol’s poke. Here she was sitting at the Manhatta and thinking about Tony. Their texts were still fresh in her mind. “Yes… no… I –” she sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear, looking out at the nighttime sky. The view up here was breathtaking, and (not that she’d admit it aloud to Carol) it still couldn’t quite compare with the view from that night at the top of a skyscraper. “I’m worried about Tony,” she admitted after a beat.

Carol waited patiently for Trish’s brain to catch up on the conversation. She must’ve been a million miles away, she wasn’t even enjoying this restaurant that she had suggested. Carol followed her gaze, but even the drink in her hand and the sight of the stars didn’t do much to make Trish’s next words go down any easier. “Why?” she muttered, tossing her drink back. “He’s fine. He’s always fine.”

Carol rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might actually stick there like she’d always been warned. “Are you just in one of your moody-moods, or are you upset with me too?” she asked, poking Trish’s arm for good measure. “I called you ‘hot as a supernova’ and that’s the response I get?” 

Carol arched a brow at the tone. “Really?” she asked, leaning an elbow against the bar. “Must’ve gotten confused, since you’re a straight up bitch.” She took a sip of her drink. “Now that was an insult.” 

Carol sighed. “Those I’m not usually so great with,” she muttered, leaning back on the couch. It was rare that she admitted to not being great at anything, and even rarer that she let herself feel the crushing disappointment of that. She had nothing to prove to anyone, she knew that. She didn’t owe Tony or anyone else for that matter, a single damn thing. She had saved an entire species from genocide! She had given up her entire life to help the galaxy, when no one else could or would. All she wanted was a break, a chance to just let loose for a little while. Why was that so hard to understand? 

“Honey, I’m on fire every night,” Carol replied, smirking down at him. She landed, but didn’t let the glow fade from shimmering all around her. Maybe she was showing off, just a little. “You should see what I can do in a class-3 nebula if you think this is good.”

Carol’s touch kept pulling Trish back to earth, even when the thought of drifting off into some kind of nothing was far more tempting. Tempting until her mind reminded her of just what would happen if she closed her eyes and didn’t open them again. “Don’t want to – I don’t – can’t go back,” she gasped, trying to listen to Carol’s calm voice and keep the panic at bay, but she could feel it rising like a tidal wave within her. The panic dulled everything until it was all she could think about, until Carol said ‘hospital’. That was enough to snap her out of it.

“No hospital.” The words came out sharp and she grit her teeth in an apology. “Your place. Or mine.” Trish Walker didn’t trust people. She wanted to see the best in people, but she’d learned from a young age that that never worked out in her favor. “Please.” Trish trusted Carol. She trusted that, even if the woman was drunk, Carol would protect her. Just like Jessica. But not like Jessica. Just… safe.

“Go back? Go back where?” Carol asked, running through what she remembered of basic medical training. Jesus, why hadn’t she paid more attention? (Oh right, because the instructor was hot and -- okay, those memories were not helpful.) “You don’t have to go back to the fight, kitten, you’ve done enough,” she assured Trish, unsure if the other woman was even listening to her anymore.

Until she said the word hospital anyway. That woke Trish up in a hurry. “I don’t exactly have a place,” she admitted. She had been couch surfing between the compound and the Milano most nights, and both were a ways off from where they were right now. There was that apartment complex the bird-brain had mentioned though... “Okay, okay,” she said, letting the glow move over her whole body. “I love it when you beg, kitten, but you just save your strength, all right?” She got a grip on Trish’s arm with one hand, and stroked her face with the other. “On three okay?” she said slowly. “One --” And pop. She shoved the shoulder forward and felt it snap into place. She knew it would hurt, like a real bastard, but they weren’t finished yet. She scooped Trish up into her arms, and took off into the sky. 

(✉ → Carol✨): [UNSENT] i only liked it because– (✉ → Carol✨): ever heard ‘danger is my middle name’? (✉ → Carol✨): because i think that phrase came from someone meeting you. (✉ → Carol✨): [UNSENT] so you /were/ too drunk to remember th– (✉ → Carol✨): nobody. not anything worth talking about. (✉ → Carol✨): amazing might be a bit of an overstatement. (✉ → Carol✨): [UNSENT] i like– (✉ → Carol✨): you’re relentless.

(✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): bitch ocme to tvhe bar, we’re having drinksx (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): i fyeel like htat’s rdeally agrsseivye l (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): i’m gonna feel like something tomororw buwt itb’s fine (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): 35 is pa lfto off shots (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): we’re gonna be iwn a bar figaht carol!!!! (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): you gotta record it too svo i can see it btomorrow (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): he is lucky adn he better tknow irt! i aws that girl once bfore too. bhut i docn’t want to dgo that to himd. x (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): i ksupport you supportinug me. carol eplease! l

(✉️ ➡️ lazer hands): do you think between the two of us we’ve done it on every planet? there should really be some kind of prize for that. (✉️ ➡️ lazer hands): i’m pretty sure my debt was erased when we landed on earth. think that’s a rule. no space debt on terra. (✉️ ➡️ lazer hands): rocket doesn’t /test/ things, he just blows them up! i’m reasonably sure he won’t blow me up. (✉️ ➡️ lazer hands): okay, i’m pretty sure he won’t blow /gamora/ up, and we’re a package deal now so.

“Fuck,” Trish hissed when she felt herself being led further from the thin safety net of the middle of the small roof and closer to falling off the edge of a sky scraper. Carol was drunk off her ass, but being this high up, the space-woman appeared almost sober as Carol peeked her eyes open and looked over at the other woman’s face. Carol wasn’t just thrilled; she was… in love. Trish could see it written all over Carol’s face – being up here, so close to the expanse universe, that’s what Carol loved. It was the same way that Jess looked at Daisy when her sister thought the other wasn’t looking. A mix of wonder and understanding.

Trish’s eyes flickered past Carol and up at the sky and slowly to the city that had shrunk below them. “Okay. I’m looking,” she said and just let herself breathe, telling herself that eliminating sudden movements was to make sure her drunk friend didn’t send them careening off the edge. But she knew it wouldn’t really come to that. And if it did, there were worse ways to go. “I’m looking.”

She was drunk already, but if a single drop hadn’t passed her lips, she would’ve been intoxicated by the sky alone. The stars here, they weren’t as bright as they’d been back on Maria’s ranch. Too much light pollution, too much life in the way. But they were still shining, bright and beautiful and inviting. She could go there, right now, no strings holding her down. She could even take Trish up there, if she were just willing to let go. Falling in love with one person that seemed crazy. But falling in love with this? That was easy. 

“Do you see it?” she breathed, squeezing Trish’s hand tight. Her fingertips were glowing and she didn’t even realize it. She tore her eyes away, just for a moment, to look at Trish. “You see? Up there... anything is possible. The higher you get, the further and faster you fly -- the less anything but that matters. Do you see?” She wasn’t really asking about the stars anymore. She was asking if Trish could see her. Because her life, her heart, her soul was written up there in the constellations. You just had to connect the stars and see.

Nothing was like flying. Nothing in any galaxy, nothing in any universe. Flying was freedom, plain and simple. The freedom to go where she wanted, whenever she wanted, and have a hell of a time getting there. She had her Air Force jacket on over her suit and she was content enough to speed through the city, weaving in and out of skyscrapers and antennas -- and then she saw someone else doing the same thing. 

“Nice moves!” she called out, coming to a stop in the air above him. “We haven’t met, but I like your style.” She looped around him, taking a closer look at his tech. “Those wings are pretty slick -- think they can hold up in a race?” 

(✉ → Carol✨): okay. i peeked. barely. (✉ → Carol✨): i’m just saying that dinner at the Manhatta has a beautiful view and you can enjoy your alcohol /without/ endangering yourself or others. (✉ → Carol✨): you missed out on patsy, so i really can’t disagree with you there… (✉ → Carol✨): [UNSENT] i don’t hate it, it’s just– (✉ → Carol✨): I do /not/ have an ego. (✉ → Carol✨): princess? that’s a new one.

(✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): it’s polite bto ask but iu knew you were goocd ffo rit (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): if winning is jsut beng drnuukj evhtn hhea yim winngin arlem (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): dayi jusdt wanjt to konw hsow manyy shots unqtil you pass out (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): carol he’s telling peyople that he wcas throwing down zfor the whonor okf one oyf his fnedirs - siad sogme guy was oicmong ontzo one of his gal palrs qor whatever (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): am i gonna fighat a guy in ha baseball cap?x?? (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): i should wait for you before starting fighst ig (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): girl i’ll buy yoku onfe ogf tshoe niec rbar burgers that cost fifteen tbucks!! romance cstyle (✉️ ➡️ marvelous space queen ): i am drinking wto stop thinking. what will you drink tod?