After the playdate with Su, Chloe was feeling a bit tired. It was getting a bit late as well, with the sun setting and overall she was ready to lie down in Penny’s lap and snooze the night away after a bit of playing. Landing near the main area of the resort, Chloe stretched sighing lightly. So far, today had been a rousing success. Pissed off beacon? Check. Play with Penny? Check. Earn Su’s trust? Likely. A new and unexpected alliance? Also check...even as temporary as it would be. Perhaps once they had dealt with the Mint, she could afford to trust Veronica more with her more...ambitious project.
Grabbing a large slice of ice cream cookie cake from the nearby store, Chloe quickly texted Penny, asking if she was busy or doing anything.
Penny reply text would return almost instantly
Not doing anything that can’t be put on hold. Where are you at? I’ll come pick you up
“Near the main area. Have cake, will share <3”
Pick her up? What that meant Chloe wasn't sure, but she sat near the beach.
Shortly after Chloe sent her reply Earthbastion would fade into view as it sailed on to the beach nearest to her as another text from penny would ping
You’re carrier has arrived
She was definitely not prepared for the Earth Bastion to seemingly show up out of nowhere. Chloe stared as it sailed onto the beach, almost dropping her cake in the process before smiling and sending her a text back.
“Aw, you got me a personal cruise? You spoil me. Where ya at?”
She boarded the bastion, a small spring in her step.
In lieu of a text response a bright light would start to shine on the floor before it raced off into the ship. A moment later it would happen again and again. Giving Chloe a bright path to follow. At the same time the massive ship silently withdrew from the shore it’s course plotted for open waters before it once again faded from view.
Following the light Chloe would find herself being led to the command cabin, thought when she got there, it would be immediately obvious that it had been altered as other then Penny, who was hunched over working on what looked to be a swimsuit, the room was completely barren of any consoles. Giving an unimpeded view of the ocean on all sides save for a small steel wall where the cloaking artifact was hung up directly behind where Chloe came in.
“Hey Chloe” Penny would greet as she turned to smile at her friend. She wouldn’t stand and it was glaringly obvious that her right leg was melded into the massive ship. Likely how she was controlling it since all of the normal control interfaces were missing.
“Heyyyyy, Penny.” Chloe walked into the control room, taking a moment to take in the view. This was her first time inside the ship, and needless to say, she was impressed. She walked towards Penny slowly, taking a moment to twirl slowly to get a nice, good, panoramic view of the control room. The cloaking artifact was a nice touch.
“You know, most people don't work during vacation.” She teased with a light giggle as she walked up beside Penny.
“Cake?” She offered a forkful of the ice cream cake to the monster girl.
“Well, wouldn’t constitute this as work persay” Penny would reply holding up the Quick Change she had bought earlier. It didn’t look like Penny had done anything to it really until she folded it inside out and revealed what looked like half a dozen needles had been sewing into it.
“I was getting really tired of suppressing a flinch every time someone bumped into me, and not lashing out was getting harder and harder.” She explained with a shrug as she leaned over and took the offer forkful of cake.
“So I figured I could add an interface to these suits so that I could toggle the touch sensitivity” She would finish, her voice emitting from the corners of the room so as not to be rude and speak with her mouth full.
“Ah, I see.” Chloe used the fork to take another bite of the cake.
“Dunno why you'd wanna turn it down.” Sensitivity...controls? An impish smile formed on Chloe's lips as she considered the implications of such a system...or more correctly, of how one would actually test that.
“...buuuut, do you need some help?~”“Because I don’t like most people touching me” Penny would deadpan as she finished sewing the last needle into the suit, before holding it up for inspection.
From the outside it was near impossible to notice the alterations due to black thread on black cloth, and the needles chosen were only a couple inches long. For anyone else wearing this modded suit would be nothing but painful, but Penny was unique since she could meld with her element.
“Yeah, I’ll likely need some help fine tuning it” Penny would reply to Chloe overlooking the mischievous tone the smaller girl had asked due to her focus on verifying her work was done. With a final nod to herself she stood her her leg unfusing as she rose, no reason to get the EarthBastion caught up in the swimsuit madness as well.
She would take a moment to focus on what she was wanting before picking up the new suit. Once she did her entire body would start to shimmer as the new swimsuit started to reform the illusion over her.
“Oooh that feels weird” Penny would take a moment after the light show faded away to twist and stretch a bit as she got accustomed to the new sensory input she was receiving, as it was an odd mix. A sorta patchwork feeling of being both transformed and untransformed.
“Well I dunno about how it feels, but you look fantastic.” Chloe smiled. Ah, Penny really was adorable. The Dark Magical Girl took a slow walk around the other....only to give her side a quick poke as she passed by.
Penny would squeak in surprise at the unexpected poke, mostly out of surprise but not entirely
“That tickled” She would explain as she rubbed the spot she had been poked absently.
Tilting her head to the side she would close her left eye letting her system diagnostics boot up under her closed eyelid.
“Good feedback for a possible baseline though” She would murmur as she reviewed the data.
Stifling a laugh, Chloe considered this for a last time. Morally questionable, might make Penny mad, was hilarious...personally she couldn't find any downside to this.
“Heh, that's good.” Chloe walked up behind Penny, using her wings to lightly lift herself off the ground. She enveloped Penny in a tight hug, her head resting on her shoulder, making sure that the mechanical girl could definitely feel her chest pressing into her back.
“How's this?”Penny’s breath caught in her throat at the surprise hug, as the sensation was so utterly unique. Due to the scattered sensitivities there were some points of contact that Penny couldn’t really feel anything, effectively dead zones for the sense of touch. Some points of contact had the inverse issue, however, and were hypersensitive, blaring beacons of touch that were near impossible to ignore and Yet others still were simply normal and what Penny would normally expect from contact.
It was a bizarre sensation, and it took the robotic girl a moment or two to regain her barings
“It’s.. really weird.” she would reply shaking her head softly to try and keep her thoughts on task.
“Pretty sure I’ve gotten enough data to work with though”“Eeeeh, really? Just from two little love-taps?” Chloe innocently replied.
“I think you need more data. I have scientist friends, and they tell me the more data, the better.” Chloe's hands moved down to Penny's sides, quickly brushing her fingers across the other girls skin, as she began violently tickling the other girl.
Penny’s reaction was immediate, as she started squirming and laughing due to the ticklish assault.
“Ch.. Chloe! St.. Sto... Stop!” She’d call out in between bouts of laughter as she worked to pull the smaller girl off her back without hurting her.
“I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the laughter.” Chloe giggled, not relenting in the tickles. She wasn't letting Penny get away so easily now that she had her all by herself....and watching someone squirm like this was something Chloe didn't get to see very often. Up until it seemed like Penny had enough, she wasn't gonna let her go.
Eventually Penny would reach the limit of her patience of trying nicely and would just grab Chloe’s writs before twisting and falling, forcibly ending the tickling and pinning Chloe.
“I told you to stop” Penny would say as she tried to fight down her smile, her face flushed from all the laughing.
“Wah!~” Chloe gave a small squeal of surprise as Penny laid on top of her.
“Did you now?~” She asked innocently, glancing off to the side.
“Hmm...not that I mind you being assertive and being the top, here.”Penny’s flushed features quickly darkened as a blush came forth at Chloe’s statement. But before she could get completely flustered an idea came to her causing her to smirk.
“Is that so?” She would ask as she angeled herself so she could look Chloe in the eye.
“Then you wouldn’t mind if I...” she would say as one of her hands slowly moved down the pinned girls side
“Did this!” Penny would exclaim as she returned the favor from earlier and started up her own assault of tickles.
Rather than keeping the smaller girl pinned, which she knew she could do if she wanted, Penny would allow Chloe to break free, after she had delivered a suitable amount of retaliation.
“H-huh?! HEY!?” Chloe had not anticipated her adorable little Penny would even attempt retaliation like this. In fact, this was very much not okay. Nope. She was the tickler, not the one to be tickled!
“Hahaha, h-hey come oooon!” Despite Penny not wanting to keep her pinned, Chloe had about as much physical strength as a drunk kitten compared to Penny. The dark magical girl squirmed under Penny's relentless assault.
“That's not-no-you st-ooo-op!” Finally, Chloe managed to break free from the stronger girls grip, scooting a bit away from Penny and giving her a small pout and a glare. Chloe had mixed feelings on what just happened. On one hand...Penny. On the other, she wasn't supposed to be the one who wasn't in control. Not ever.
“Since when did you learn to be so assertive, hmm?” She sighed, before reaching a hand out and for the briefest of instants, the thought to put Penny in her place crossed her mind. After all, how dare she try and humiliate her like that?
“...fuuuu, not that I really mind, heh.” She ended up giving Penny a playful poke on the cheek. Standing up, Chloe stretched, rubbing her sides softly.
“But if you do that again, I might get a liiiiitle tiny bit upset. So don't.”“I won’t” Penny would promise as she nodded her understanding
“Not unless you tell me otherwise” she understood that she crossed a line, of sorts, when she took control away from Chloe and It made her feel special to know that her action was being taken so well.
Leaning back Penny’s left eye would start glowing as she started working on evening out her sense of touch.
“I’ve always known how to be assertive” Penny would state easily
“It was waking up with the ability to crush cars with nothing but my hands that had me learning to become more passive” She would explain with a shrug before grinning slightly
“Though my sense for retaliation I picked up from you”It wasn’t long until she was done with the recalibrations, something that had been significantly sped up by all of Chloe’s ‘extra data gathering’ if Penny were to be honest, and she was reviewing the last bit of code involved with settings when a thought occurred to her. Earthbastion was designed to act as a mobile fortress, and in that capacity there was a section of designated for crew quarters. The robotic girl had already been planning on sleeping in one of the bunks there, as she still didn’t fully trust the Island or the dolphin, but why waste such a fantastic view?
With that question in mind Penny partly reintegrated with her ship and started moving mattress, blankets, and pillows, out of the crew deck and into the command room.
“You want to crash here for the night?” She would ask as the first of the bedding supplies started to pile into one of the corners of the room.
“Heh, my little Penny's all growing up.” Chloe smiled softly. A bitter statement to make for her, considering what it might imply, but she made every effort to swallow her negative thoughts.
“Crash here for the night...is that allowed?” Chloe asked curiously.
“Trust me, that Dolphin is super annoying.” She exhaled, folding her arms.
“Ran into Sally and Sylvia earlier, and he made me of all people have to apologize to them. Not gonna go into detail about what happened, but needless to say, it was really, really, annoying. Except for the part where he made them apologize to me. That was hilarious.” She giggled, walking over to Penny.
“...buuuut well if your insisting, I'm not gonna say no.”“No idea, if I’m being honest, but that’s not going to stop me from doing it.” Penny would answer as she set about making her preferred nest of pillows and blankets
“And I’m not surprised about the Dolphin, this entire thing still makes me think of the Lotus Eaters.” She would add with a grimace.
“Anyway, I hear that…” Penny would trail off as her left eye emitted a few quick flickers of light and a moment later she would drop her head into one of her hands to hide the forming blush.
“Really? Another one?” she would mutter somewhat embarrassed, as she had just received Chloe’s solo no hands drink challenge pic. One that was much easier for Penny to get distracted by.
“Hm? What's the matter?” Chloe turned to Penny, noticing the fact she was very obviously trying to hide something.
“Imagining us doing something tonight?” She smirked.
“...oooor are you getting embarrassing pictures from someone?~”“What?” Penny’s head popped up in startled surprise at Chloe’s initial insinuation a denial on the tip of her tongue, said denial never got spoken as the mischievous girl got it right on her next guess, causing Penny to sputter out as she blush grew more pronounced
“It... It’s not my fault there is a service delay here!” She said in the vain hope it would work as an explanation.
“A service delay, huh?” Chloe mused.
“Are you sure? My service seems to work fine.” She idly placed a hand on her hip.
“And you seemed to have got my text asking where you were was fast enough. Lying is no good, Penny~”Penny flinched slightly at being caught in a lie, though in her defense she had forgotten about the picture message. She had originally received it during the Volleyball match she had participated in early but, knowing Chloe as she did, had set it off to the side after setting an alarm as a reminder so she wouldn’t get distracted mid game.
“Ah…” Penny stalled, sheepishly scratching her cheek as she tried to work out how to un-mess her situation. Something that was made much harder by the fact that not only did she have Chloe smirking at her, which was slowing becoming Penny’s favorite look, but the picture was still open taking up a good part of her view.
“Well, you see…” Penny tried starting despite having no idea where she was going to go with her own defense.
“It’s…” Something that was readily apparent by her rambling attempts
“There’s…” Eventually she just ducked her head and hoped for the best
“Sorry?”“Heh,” Chloe chuckled softly.
“My dear little Penny lied to me. How hurtful.” Her amusement seemed to vanish with a hurt sigh.
“I've been so very, very nice to you. I shower you in so much affection it's starting to wear thin. And what do I get in return? Lies.” Chloe forlornly looked towards the ground.
“How will you make it up to me, I wonder...?” It was extremely difficult to tell if she was just messing with Penny, or she did in fact, feel hurt. But as some say, there is always some truth in a lie.
Penny for her part simply assumed that Chloe was messing with her, as it was something she expected from the other girl, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t reply with an honest truth in return.
“Just one lie so far” Penny would correct as she picked up one of the blankets she had set aside
“But I do apologize for it, and as for making it up to you” She turned back to Chloe and slowly walked over to her, the blanket draped over her arms
“At the store, not sure how much you’ve browsed it, but I stumbled across something kinda interesting. Someone has made plushies of some of the more prominent Girls in Penrose, and they got one of me in my prior form. These plushies are 5 Gold normally, but I cut a deal with the shopkeeper, and I’ll be able to pick the Plushie of me for just a Gold when we get back to Penrose.”Penny took the blanket and wrapped it around Chloe like it was a cloak giving the smaller girl a soft hug as she did
“I was planning on giving it to you as a surprise gift.” she would explain leaning back a bit, so she could smile at Chloe
“but let me know if that’s not enough, and I’ll keep working on making it up to you”This was not the answer Chloe had been expecting. She had been expecting more furious blushing. More teasing on her part. More adorable stuttering from her robotic friend. And now here she was, being wrapped in a blanket and snuggled and being offered a doll. Not just any doll. A doll of her Penny. A doll of her precious little Penny. This time, it was Chloe's turn to be incoherent. She hadn't seen the doll herself, but a doll of Penny? How could she not simply die from something likely to be so adorable!
“Eh?” She began, trying unsuccessfully to form words.
“But-that's...well-?!” A shade of red slowly began creeping its way through her cheeks. Her breathing became heavier. It was difficult to remain calm.
“...Ahahahahahahah.” Chloe gave a mildly erratic seeming laugh as she held a hand to the side of her face.
“A doll? Of you? Penny, I don't even-ahaha, uhm, hold on I uh, my heart isn't ready for something that adorable, ahah....” It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her hands off Penny. In fact, she was pretty sure - Before she could even finish that thought, she practically tackled Penny, wrapping her in a tight hug, giggling in a manic manner.
“Make it up to me? Pennnnny you adorable thing! Ahhh, a doll of you? It'll be so cute -well not as cute as the real thing, but eeeee!~”Penny had underestimated the impact that her choices would have on Chloe, thus she was a bit caught off guard when Chloe chose to glomp her. She returned the hug, barely noticing the room shifting, as they pitched backwards and fell into the nest of blankets that Penny had set up earlier.
“It’s not that Impressive…” Penny tried to mumble, blushing furiously all the while. She was a bit overwhelmed by the display of affection that Chloe was showing her. Penny had never really doubted it when the petite spirit mage said she loved her, but it was getting easier and easier to simply accept it, and reciprocate. Which made it harder not to notice the situation they were in, or to forget the teasing words from earlier.
“I just wanted to give you something back” She said meekly, trying not to blush harder at the manic, possessive look in her friend’s eyes.
“But I’m glad you’ll lo-” The word got stuck in her throat and she swallowed before moving on
“Like. Glad you’ll like it” she finished as she averted her gaze.
“Of course I do!” Chloe replied happily.
“Really, really, really like it.” She didn't seem like she was going to let Penny go anytime soon.
“I’m glad” Penny repeated, smiling as she pulled another of the blankets over both of them, seeing as Chloe wasn’t going to be going anywhere. The love wasn’t both ways yet, but it was close. There was just one thing Penny wanted to get closure on first, but she would worry about that later.
For now it was time for sleep, curled up with someone special, a good way to end the first vacation day.