Cryo-7

by Metal Pony Fan

Stormy and Radio Go Shopping

"What do you think of this one?"

Radio looked over at the shirt Stormy picked out. "I'm with stupid," he read off the bold letters. "I like it, but I thought we were picking a shirt for you?"

She laughed and stuck it back on the rack. "Oof, I walked straight into that one."

"Check it out, this one matches my mane." Radio grabbed a bright tie-dyed shirt off the rack. On its front was a grotesquely detailed toad with samurai swords strapped to its back. Every bump and wart was painstakingly rendered in crosshatched ink lines. He stared at it. "What?"

Stormy nodded slowly, before laughingly saying, "Matches your face too."

"Ouch." Radio put it back and glanced out the window behind them. Across the street, at the cafe where he and Stormy met, a waitress was boxing up his cheesecake for him to take home. He didn't even get to taste it yet.

The moment he suggested a date to Stormy, she got really quiet. She looked really nervous, almost embarrassed by his sudden air of confidence. But, it didn't last.

She grabbed his hoof and nearly dragged him out of his seat. It seemed she had taken the suggestion to mean that the date would happen that very moment. It caught the colt off-guard, but he saw no reason to refuse. He asked to get his cheesecake packed to go, and Stormy dragged him across the street so she could buy a shirt to wear.

He looked back at the filly he was shopping with. She found two more shirts, but instead of holding them up, she was quietly comparing them. These two must be serious candidates for purchase, not merely good for a quick laugh.

"Hey," he said quietly, breaking her concentration. "What are we going to do? On our date, I mean. Have any ideas?"

She lowered the shirts, a blank look on her face. "Uh..."

"Hmm." Radio shrugged. This was off to a great start. He flipped through a few shirts, and held up one he thought she might like. "How about this?"

Stormy glanced up, and immediately shoved her two back on the rack. "Ladies and gentle colt's, we have a winner." She snatched it from Radio and looked it over. "Super Awesome Badass," read the big block letters, and added below, in script that looked like it was written with a marker, was, "and still totally cute." She held it up to herself, smiling at Radio. "How's it look?"

"Good," Radio answered quickly, turning away in embarrassment. Totally cute was a totally apt description, and that big smile was dangerous. "It suits you."

He brought a hoof to his stomach. It was churning. He was so nervous right now. It was his first date ever! Was this really OK? She knew he was genetically modified, and said it didn't bother her, but she didn't know the full extent of it. He would never be able to tell her the full extent of it. Would that become an issue in the future?

She watched him for a moment. As he clutched his stomach, she felt her own twist in dread. He said it didn't bother him, was that a lie? She knew just how revolting her scars were, had been told such many times. It wouldn't be that easy to just ignore them.

Stormy looked down at herself behind the shirt she held. How could anypony ignore this? The crisscross lines of ugly, bumpy skin that covered her chest, burns where her fur refused to grow back, were hideous. Her back was much the same. She could only count herself lucky that the doctors noticed her adverse reaction to the nutrient gel before applying any to her face or legs. Her wounds there were treated with primitive salves, and the, thankfully few, scars hid well under her fur.

"Radio, I'm not sure I can do this." She was quiet, and wasn't sure if the colt could hear her over the sound of his rummaging through the clothing racks . "It's the scars...I know it is, this was a bad idea," she muttered to herself. She walked over to Radio, forcing herself to speak louder. "Radio, I'm sorry, I-"

"What's wrong?" Radio asked quickly, cutting her off. "Oh, I bet I know," he said with a smile, not giving her a chance to respond, "you didn't bring any clothes, so I bet you didn't bring any money. No worries, I've got you covered. The least I can do for all the trouble I caused. And besides, they're buy one, get one, I'll get a free shirt!"

Stormy tried to bite back a smile. "No, Radio, I-"

The colt held up his hooves as his smile faltered. "Please, wait. Let me say something?"

She stopped, and both ponies stared at each other for a moment. She noticed the worry on his face, and nodded quietly that she would hear him out.

"I heard you," Radio said quietly. "I heard you muttering to yourself just now. Maybe you thought I didn't, but my hearing was one of the things genetically enhanced. And, I'm no good at feigning ignorance, so I'm just going to say it. It's not the scars. I really am not bothered by them. If I am doing something that makes you think I am, please tell me, I promise that it's only because I'm nervous."

She nodded quickly. "I guess I am, too." Closing her eyes, she took a slow breath. "I'm sorry, I'm so used to my scars being the first thing anypony notices... And the only thing colts my age focus on is how nasty they are."

"Then give me a chance to be different." He held his hoof up, slowly holding it out to her. She watched, not moving as he carefully touched a large scar at her collarbone. "So, um, what sort of things do you like to do for fun?"

His smile was so nervous, that Stormy couldn't help but smile herself. It was probably the best thing Radio could have done to ease her mind. They were both so awkward at this! It was reassuring, in a sad, pathetic way. "Flying and vr games," she answered with conviction. "And, I'm kickbutt unstoppable at both. I beat Dark Souls Fourteen, Nightmare Edition with under a thousand deaths, without cheats, and I can break the sound barrier any day."

"You can?" Radio asked, surprise overriding his earlier unease. "That's awesome! I didn't know anypony else could do that."

"Wait," she put up a hoof, "you beat DS:14 :NE without cheats too?"

"What? No." Radio shook his head. "No, I like games, but I haven't played that series. I was talking about breaking the sound barrier."

"You can do that?!" Stormy's mouth hung open for a second, and her eyes went unfocused as the gears started turning. "Holy crap. We've got to go flying one of these days. There's an airfield for stunt flyers a few kilometers South of the campus. If we find an empty timeslot, we could go all out. Oh, man! I haven't gotten a chance to go all out in weeks, and I've never flown with anyone else who can hit mach one."

"Three," Radio corrected offhoof. "But, yeah, that would be great! I haven't flown supersonic with another pony since I was a foal. I usually get stuck keeping formation with Stinger-class Aerojets, or light attack fighters. Even then, I can't fly supersonic around them, or things get messy."

Stormy's smile disappeared, and she squinted at Radio. "Hold up. Did you just say three? As in, mach three? As in you can hit three times the speed of sound?"

Radio leaned back as she leaned in, shying away from her inquisition. "Yeah," he slowly admitted, "that's my limit in normal atmospheric conditions. It's lower if there's excess wind or anything."

The young mare didn't ease up on the suspicious glare. Instead, she took it further, standing up and putting her eye level a little above the sitting colt. "Are you bullshitting me right now?"

Radio realized she was trying to intimidate him, but knowing didn't keep it from working. "About what? My flight speeds have been very carefully documented, along with all my other physical benchmarks. If you apply for a special permissions security clearance with the Furian government, I could show you. I've been pretty much decommissioned, so that much shouldn't be a huge deal anymore."

"I can't believe you actually said all that with a straight face." Stormy backed down, sitting in front of the colt. "And let me get this straight. Since you are some sort of military project back on your homeworld, and all super-genetically enhanced, are you even allowed to just randomly start dating somepony you just met? Wouldn't you have to run some sort of background check on me, or something like that?"

"Oh, I already did," Radio answered quickly. He pointed over his shoulder, in no particular direction. "Back when you told me your name, I entered it into my pad, and before we came over here, I connected to the Furian Intelligence Agency via the cafe's subnet. You said you were from the solar-domes, and there were only three Stormy Skies in GA records for that settlement, and they all came back clean. More or less."

"You what?" Stormy brought a hoof to her face. "Overlooking the obvious creep factor of running a background check on somepony you just met, didn't you say your furry planet was outside the Assembly? How did they check Assembly records?"

Radio swallowed hard, realizing that if he was a spy, he would probably be dead by now. "Um, classified?"

"Don't, 'um, classified,' me, colors." She leaned in close, whispering, "Your planet's the one behind all the hack attacks that have been on the news, isn't it?"

Radio blinked. "Maybe?" He squeaked out. "Can you blame us? We want to know what we're getting into. It's a trust, but verify, sort of thing... Oh, and they want me to, uh, get an iris scan of you to make sure it matches the one in your criminal record."

"An iris scan?" Stormy demanded. "Who the hell do they think they are? And what do they mean by criminal record? I don't have a criminal record!"

The shop owner, hearing Stormy's outburst, leaned over his counter to get a better look at the two pegasi. "Everything all right over there?"

"Yes," Stormy called back, "my friend just tried to tell a very bad joke, and I may have overreacted. I'm almost ready to check-out."

"Uh-huh." He leaned back with a shrug. "Just so you know, I've got security cameras in here."

Stormy shot Radio a dirty look, and he raised his hooves in surrender. "Sorry," he muttered quietly, "I didn't read the whole thing, but it said you were arrested for destruction of property. They took a mugshot and iris scan. Isn't that kind of the definition of a criminal record?"

Stormy winced, letting out a quiet groan. "Ugh, that's right, I put a brick through the bitch's window. They didn't actually press charges, but I guess the arrest records still exist."

"The same, 'bitch,'" Radio made the air quote motion, "with the parade float?"

"Yes, ugh, don't remind me." She tapped her hoof, impatient with how long it took to push the memory of that gaudy, paper-mache, monstrosity out of her mind. "They put the thing on display outside the school for weeks after the parade. And why aren't you more freaked out about my criminal record?"

"Can't be worse than mine." Radio shrugged. "I, 'borrowed,' my first spaceship at the age of four."

"And, I'm running an inventory audit," the store owner muttered, flipping through a magazine, "the second you leave."

"Well, fuck you, too!" Stormy bundled up her chosen shirt and tossed it at the front counter, landing it with precision next to the snide worker. "Ring that up, and we'll be on our way." With a snort, she muttered, "asshole."

Radio's eyes were wide as she stalked off to pay. "You swear like my mother," he muttered to himself.

Author's Note:

Sorry, it's a half hour late of my Wednesday schedule.

Here's the toad from the shirt a little larger.

Comments

[Timuri]

This is great. Not a lot going on, but a fun bit of awkwardness and laughs for two young pegasi....and a snarky store clerk.

[Foxfax]

All hail Toad-gozaru!

[Bum]

Damn, good writing and drawing? You're good. Can't wait for more!

[Ytak]

Those two are awkwardly adorable and I hope that, at the very least, they end up super awesome friends.