don't put my hand next to you

[rewritethis]

[There's really nothing special about the date or anything else today, as far as Ed is concerned - it's just a reasonably sunny afternoon after a spate of showers, which makes it as opportune a time as any to go pick up a few supplies.

And why is he knocking on this door before he heads off to do just that (and it is knocking, not hammering)? Well, it wasn't too far out of the way.

She's probably not even in, right? Probably off with her friends, doing... well, who knows what she might be doing on a day when even a sane person would have a legitimate excuse to randomly break into song, provided they were about five years old? Heh, she's hopeless.]

Comments

[elementofloyalty]

...What.

[This downright shocks Rainbow out of the air, and she lands next to him with a look of disbelieving surprise.]

[rewritethis]

[He turns, raising an eyebrow.] What what?

[elementofloyalty]

So you stole it?

[Can you hear the disapproval in her voice? It burns like ice.]

[rewritethis]

It's not like they're gonna miss it.

[He unscrews the cap of the first bottle and downs about a third of it in one go.]

Anyway, like I was saying...

[elementofloyalty]

[She comes to a halt, then reaches out to seize his coat with a hoof and pull him back over.]

Ed, you do realize that my best friend relies on her drink business to get her farm through the winter, right.

[rewritethis]

[Okay, he wasn't expecting her to grab him. It takes him a second to recover before he tugs his coat right back with an annoyed huff.]

Sheesh, and you think I can't take a joke.

[He sounds a bit closer to sulky than entirely sincere, though...]

[elementofloyalty]

...That was a joke?!

[Rainbow doesn't know whether to be embarrassed or furious, so the two emotions are waging a vigorous war for control!]

[rewritethis]

Go in and ask if you don't believe me.

[Sulk, sulk. His perfect dignity-preserving plan, ruined by a minor detail like actual morals.]

[elementofloyalty]

That was a terrible joke! That wasn't funny at all! Ugh!

[rewritethis]

[The words "and yours are?" can't quite be made out through his second swig from the bottle, but his glare probably conveys them just fine.]

[elementofloyalty]

[She glares right back, not about to back down a single step!]

So. Giant drill. What happened?

[rewritethis]

[For some reason, carrying on with the storytelling after all of that isn't an appealing prospect. Instead, he reaches into his coat and takes the other bottle of juice out again to wave at her irritably.] Look, do you want this or not?

[elementofloyalty]

...You really paid for it, right?

[rewritethis]

I told you, don't take my word for it if you don't believe me. I'll even wait right here.

[elementofloyalty]

[She lifts into the air just enough to free her forehooves in order to accept the drink.]

[rewritethis]

[He sighs, tosses the bottle over, and heads off down the street at the same pace as before without waiting for her. Why did he even bother?]

[elementofloyalty]

[She isn't exactly far behind; a couple of wingbeats put her into pace with him again. She doesn't look too happy either. A bigger pony, emotionally speaking, might have apologized for thinking he was serious by now...]

[rewritethis]

[When he notices, he slows down again and looks at her. Well, that's just great. Especially on a day like today...]

...Sorry.

[elementofloyalty]

[She looks up at him, then away, awkwardly examining a really fascinating street sign.]

...Me too. Sorry.

[rewritethis]

[Now he's just looking straight ahead.] What for? I thought about it; it's just you would've thrown it away or something if you'd found out and made it a waste of time.

[There, he's reclaimed some of his self-perception.]

[elementofloyalty]

If yelling at you is a waste of time, I've been wasting my life for months now.

[Clearly, she feels either better enough to tease him, or that teasing him will make her feel better. She even nudges him a little with a forehoof to make the teasing all the more clear.]

[rewritethis]

Your loss. [He does brighten up.] So yeah, this physicist and his drill... Well, I say drill - he had a bunch of smaller ones, too. Really seemed to like them. We saw those first. Guess there's no accounting for bad taste.

[And now they're on their way to the shops he actually said he was planning to drop by.]

[elementofloyalty]

Guys seem to like drills. "A drill is a man's weapon", one of the books I read once said. Any idea why that is?

[The... awkwardly obvious answer escapes her.]

[rewritethis]

[He'd just started to take the lid off his bottle again, which means she's few seconds too early for a spittake.]

...Nope. [He sounds slightly hoarse.] Beats me. Hey, are those the kind of brushes you were looking for? [He points.]

[elementofloyalty]

Maybe it just means guys like weapons they can hold. Like drills and swords and... maybe guns, I guess, but guys like to be able to whack things directly.

[Luckily, diversion successful!] Well... they'll do. I can't find exactly the right brush, because this isn't PonyvED! If I told you how to make a mane brush would you transmute one from a normal brush for me?!

[She can't believe she didn't think of this before and it has her so excited she's practically springing through the air.]