(2016-11-07) Repressed Issues and the Eternal Dance
Repressed Issues and the Eternal Dance
Summary: Training, questions, and surprises.
Date: 2016-11-07
Related: None
NPCs: None
Scene Runner: NA
Players:
tabitha..dianli..nolan..ixiie..dyna..

She was cautioned against pushing herself too hard too soon, but Tabitha has places to go and things to learn so she's not /quite/ disobeying doctor's orders. As she stands in her red-trimmed white training leotard with the red Athena symbol between the shoulder blades, Tabitha is doing what to her was a normal workout before her kidnapping and torture. She's on one of the workout mats stretching out before starting a runthrough of her martial arts forms. She has several striking dummies arranged around the mat and several training versions of her weapons (knives, sword, and tonfa) are strapped to her body. She isn't wearing anything to hide her lack of hair or the multitude of recent scars on her body. Just a strip of red cloth covering her missing eyes.

It's time for practice. Her minders are very insistent that she needs to do this. And, to be fair, somewhere deep down Dianli knows that it's true. Still, rebellious teen, yadda yadda yadda. They can make her practice, but they can't make her like it. Or dress appropriately.
Tabitha, it turns out, is far more interesting than practicing. Dianli stops at the entrance and leans against the frame, watching with admiration, keeping quiet by force of habit.

It's still his first day of school and Nolan is still getting accustomed to everything. He was about to head into the gym, but there's a young woman that's blocking the doorway. Polietly clearing his throat, the young man offers Dianli a smile. "I think there are bleachers you can watch from?" he offers to her sincerely as he offers a slight bow of his head and a warm smile with his mismatched eyes. "Hi, I'm Nolan."

Ixiie bolts into the gym, careening through the couple at the doorway and trying to look around at everything at the same time. "What's that thing? I don't know how this works! Can I hit this? Why are there benches? Why do you have nunchucks? We're underwater! I bet I can lift this! Ow… Nope."

With the distance and her aura drawn in closer to allow her to focus, Tabitha hasn't yet sensed Dianli or Nolan's presence. Ixiie, however… Tabitha doesn't break her movements as she flows from one stretch to the next, connecting the motions in a sort of dance. But she does smile a bit at the imp's enthusiasm. "They're not nunchucks. They're tonfa, or nightsticks. Used for blocking and nonlethal takedowns." She drops her handa to the mat and kicks up her legs to move into a handstand. Once she's got herself balanced vertically she bends her arms down to lower herself then pushes back up. "The benches are for people who want to watch. Or sometimes for lectures during gym class."

As Ixiie shoves past him, Nolan is pushed forward and finds himself pressed uncomfortably against Dianli and his cheeks flare bright red before he grips the sides of the wall and braces himself to try to push back, stammering quietly. "S-sorry!" he manages. At least he brushed his teeth before he came down here.

"Oh, sorry," Dianli mumbles before Nolan is thrown into him. Trying to duck out of his way as the imp knocks Nolan into her, she fails, instead accomplishing keeping her face at his chest level. She freezes a moment, then, inanely, selects to keep some form of conversation going. "I didn't want to disturb her concentration," she adds, gesturing to Tabitha. It takes a few seconds for the rest of the social niceties to sink in. "Zhang Dianli," she finally adds. "Call me Dianne if you prefer."
Beat.
Then her own blushing starts as she realizes the awkwardness she's in. She ducks under one of his arms and steps into the gym, opening the distance between them. Her eyes then rake over him appraisingly.

Tabitha continues her vertical push-ups, only doing thirty reps before rolling forward to a sitting position with her legs in a V to finish her warmup with some toe reaches. With Dianli coming forther into the gym she's now close enough to be inside Tabitha's sense range. A brief wave is given in her direction between stretches.

Dianli's not the only one doing an apprasial. Looking over the lithe young woman, Nolan gets a little smile, and his blush may show his mismatched eyes a little further. And his smile may show just a hint of the braces he wears. As he does so, he doesn't realize it, but a little <3 sign appears next to his head, but as he notices it, the tall technomancer ahems and shoos hit away before he turns his attention back towards where Dianli was gesturing. "Do you know who she is?" he asks as he moves to stand next to the girl as he offers a quick wave back, the red tie of Athena around his neck.

Dianli blushes more at the sprite and turns away, stepping into the gym all the way. Seeing Tabitha's wave she returns it briefly and turns again, facing Nolan. Almost but not quite failing to look him in the eye. "No, sorry, I'm new here. I don't know very many people at all." She turns to Tabitha. "I'm Zhang Dianli," she says. "You're very good at that." Her eyes flick over to Nolan again, then away. "How long have you been studying?"

Completly unaware that she's playing inadvertent matchmaker, Ixiie points at something that has her rapt attention. "You have a sword! I wish I had a sword! I'd be all like…" followed by a series of swooshing noises and what are most likely really awesome ultimate swordfighting moves.

"Tabitha Jones." The introduction is given in response to those from the other two. She doesn't do the usual Coral Springs bit of including her team when introducing herself to new students since her leotard has her team color and symbol. She plants her hands flat between her legs and pushes up to lift herself off the mat. She does a smooth backwards swing far enough to get her feet back underneath her, then pauses before shifting from warmups to workout so she can be properly social. "I've been combat training in one form or another since I was five weeks old, so not quite eightteen years." Her tone makes this a simple statement of fact. Ixiie's excitement gets a nod and a small smile. "Yes, but this one is just a training blade. No edge to speak of. If you want to see very nice swords, you should talk to Gabrielle. She's probably the best swordmistress in the school right now."

Stealing another glance from Dianli, Nolan pays more attention to what's going on with the training, a wary glance at the Imp. "I am Nolan Keene, of Wicoagord." he greets with a formal bob of his head. "Miss Waller suggested that I could use some combat training but I wanted to get the tour out of the way first. You are very well trained, Miss Jones." he offers formally, but he's probably had a lot of the same training in a different field. There's another quick glance towards the shorter dark-haired girl before his attention returns to Tabitha and Ixiie. "Oh, I can.. uhm.. I think."

Putting his hand on the small device on his side for a moment, he concentrated, and a sword wielding knight forms intio existance, complete with a lifebar over his head. And listed as LVL 2.

A blue nimbus begins to form around Dianli, bright sparks forming at the tips of her rising hair. She makes the "OK" symbol with one hand, then opens her thumb and forefinger, a bright arc of electricity discharging between them.
"I've been doing some training of my own," she says, "since childhood. Not very physical, however, I'll admit. I'm not really into physicality."

"I bet I could be a swordmistess. I'd probably be the best swordfigher in…" At that moment the thing that's been trying to get Ixiie's attention for the last minute or so finally makes her turn around out of curiosoty. "You!", she yells, pointing at Nolan, "Are you following me or something! Why are you following me? Stupid wizard follower guy!"

Tabitha's eyebrow ridges raise over the top of her blindfold as the knight is summoned. "Nifty. Sparing partner?" Dianli's electrical demonstration gets an equally impressed nod of her head. "Very nice." She doesn't react to Ixiie's outburst at Nolan, figuring the imp's just overreacting most likely. It does seem to be her thing. Then she gets a thought of Ixiie and Kaylee combining their… enthusiasm. This causes a small shudder that she shakes off. Instead she focuses on responding to Dianli. "I've got a few tricks beyond just the physical, but this is sort of a therapy session so I'm just focusing on that."

Dismissing the swordsman, Nolan frowns a little. "I was already here." he points out. "You pushed me into Dianne." There's a snort at that as he considers and smiles a little at Tabitha. "Something like that. I usually just support other people." the young man offers as he blinks at Dianli's display. "Oooh, that's neat." he offers to her, reaching over to touch the electrical aura a little.

Dianli panics as Nolan reaches for the arc, stumbling back and losing some of her control. Arcs fly out from her body as she sits … hard! … on the ground, finding the shortest path to ground.
"Don't do that!" she hisses, the blue nimbus now brighter, the sparks at the tip of her hairs glaring a bright blue. "I kill people with that stuff!"
Then, hand to mouth, she widens her eyes as she realizes what she's just said. "Imeanthatitsdangerousandpeoplecandieifthey'renotcareful…" a stream of indistinguishable words spews forth, switching mid-course into another language. The nimbus glows brightly, fades, brightens even more, fades, as she screws her eyes shut and starts reciting something to herself under her breath. Something that features a word sounding like "Anita" or something quite frequently. The arcing and nimbus begin to fade.

Dyna enters the gym as Dianli panics and sends electricity arc'ing in every direction. She's far enough away to not be threatened, even as tracking lines wash over her visual output. She's frowning but a quick glance might reveal that it isn't purely the uncontrolled energy surge.

It seems like Dyna has finally picked up one of the school uniforms. Blouse and vest, slacks instead of the skirt. It is all worn to what appears an exacting standard and her red hair has been pulled back into a ponytail. Dyna's expression, however, brings to mind a petulant cat forced into some kind of novelty outfit.

One of her hands is obscured by a dark glove, however, and Dyna herself is covered in a few minor wounds and bruises - probably a remnant of the incident at the dance club.

As Dianli's nimbus fades, Dyna makes her way towards the group.

Behind her blindfold, Tabitha's eyebrow ridges rise up sharply as first Nolan does the insane and reaches out to touch Dianli's charged aura, then at Dianli's reaction. The girl seems to get herself under control so she just shifts her face towards Nolan. "Probably not the wisest of moves." She's on one of the workout mats surrounded by about a dozen striking dummies, with practices weapons strapped to her body over her red-lined white Athena leotard. Her eyes are covered in a red fabric blindfold, but other than that she's made no extra effort to conceal her current lack of hair, multitude of recent scars, or the glyphs that cover her body save for head, hands, and feet.

The new arrivals get a glance as they approach close enough to enter her sensory field. So many people around convince her she should pay wider attention so she allows her aura to expand out to its full, newly expanded radius. Those whose senses extend out into extra dimensions might feel a slight pressure as this happens, but it's otherwise kept invisible.

Surprisingly, it seems that not only can Nolan handle Dianli's aura, he grows a little stronger by it. There's a blink at the young woman's reaction and Nolan holds his hands. "Hey, hey, it's okay.. it was like.. one of those orbs, with the lightning in it? When you touch it with your fingers, it arcs to it. It was kinda cool." he admits as he moves to kneel down next to Dianli showing her his hand to prove his point. "See, I'm good. Let me help you up?" he asks, offering her his hand as he glances back to Tabitha, his blue eye sparkling a bit. Apparently his world seems just fine with energy.

Dianli opens her eyes and stares, shocked, at Nolan. "How?…" She lets herself get helped to her feet as she watches Nolan, like a deer watches onrushing headlights. Once getting to her feet she takes a step back again, warily eyeing Nolan. "You should have been burned by that." Not bragging. Not fearful. Just matter-of-fact. "How did you…"
At about this point she realizes where she is and that there's witnesses. She wraps herself in her cloak of standoffishness again.
"I guess," she says quietly, "that if I'm going to meet people able to deal with me, it would be in a place like this."

With Dianli backing away from him, Nolan looks confused, and then he steps back himself. "Ah.. I should go. I apologize." And with that, he moves to slip out of the door, his expression slipping into blank confusion as if he just messed something up as he gives Tabitha a weak smile. Well, maybe she was right after all. Just in an unexpected way.

"Pfft. So he didn't get zapped by lightning," scoffs Ixiie the Mood-Slayer, "I don't get zapped by lightning all the time and you don't see me running around telling everyone I'm super immune to lightning." She pauses for a moment. "Well, not this week, at least! I'm not hanging around in a room with a wizard! I'm storming out!!" she says, storming out.

And then there were fewer. As both Nolan and then Ixiie exit the gym in various states of hurry, Tabitha watches them leave, gives a small shrug, and turns back to her workout. She starts unarmed and at half speed, kicks and strikes being setn at the dummies with precision and enough power to cause the semi-fluid putty they're filled with deform to a degree suggesting fractured bones in a living opponent. After a moment she starts to slowly increase her speed. While she seems to no longer be paying attention to the others in the room, this is proven false as she asks Dianli, "So I take it you've had some accidents with your power in the past?"

"I …" Dianli watches Nolan slip toward the door helplessly, unable to come out with the words to stop him.
"How to make friends and influence people," she mutters ironically to herself once the moment passes. "I think it's time for me to train," she says quietly. "If you're not impervious to electricity you might want to keep some distance." She finds an open spot on the gym floor and stands (slouches, really) in something that doesn't even resemble a combat stance or … much of anything. Again the nimbus starts, as does the arcing, but this time the arcs flash in patterns and spirals and such that form very much what could only be called an energy kata. Obvious offensive and defensive postures play out around Dianli without her doing much in the way of bodily movement herself; none of the superhero movie histrionics of energy projectors practically doing modern ballet in directing the forces under their control.

The interplay between Dianli and Nolan doesn't make much sense to Dyna. He wasn't hurt. Confusing. She looks as if she's about to say something but then Dianli is training and Dyna backs off - she's not exactly impervious to electricity. Even with the distance she gets, as she heads to the training dummies where Tabitha is, she gets occasional interference.

She runs through a few quick strikes, fists pistoning squarely into the dummies. She doesn't look at Tabitha as she says, "You appear to have recovered."

With her aura extended out to its fullest extent, Tabitha feels/sees/hears/smells/tastes everyone in the gym. But most especially she feels the energy buildup as Dianli begins her own training workout. Eventually she just can't help herself. She doesn't have to take much, just a bare fraction of a percent of the electrical output, but even that is enough to send a shiver down her spine that's just this side of indecent. One side effect is that the overspill causing interferance with Dyna's systems is eliminated as if Dianli were doing her workout behind an EMP shield.

She almost doesn't catch Dyna's comment, but after a beat she nods between strikes. "For the most part. A friend came to medbay and used their healing magic on me. It fixed… most of the worst injuries." She makes a gesture to her eyes as she shifts to a new striking dummy to let the previous one reform. "Some were beyond fixing."

After a while, Nolan slips back into the gym. Trying to be unobtrusive, the young man moves to the sidelines to take a seat on the bleachers and pulls one knee up to his chest to rest his chin on his knee as he watches the women train.

Dianli frowns in her concentration as something minutely reduces the strength of her charge fields. Her eyes rake over the gym, seeking the culprit, before spotting Nolan. A rare ghost of a smile flickers over her face, before vanishing again behind her mask of concentration. She stops slouching and actually manages to stand up straight, all the while keeping her energy kata alive. Then, in a move that is purely showing off, she walks out of the energy shell she's created, keeping it alive while she goes over to where Nolan is, sitting on the bleachers some distance away but on the same row.
"Sorry," she says over the sound of tortured air. "I'm not good with people," she adds after a short pause. "I didn't mean to make you upset," she finally concludes.

"I am sorry that we were not able to save your eyes," Dyna says, somewhat blandly. Her blows shift slower, more strength going behind each strike of her fists. "We were as fast as we could," she continues. "But we should have been faster."

She steps back, watching her striking dummy reform. She gives it a slight push, as if seeing it for the first time, and watches how the material within moves in response.

"Wasn't your fault." Nolan offers, knitting his fingers together absently, a nervous little motion as he watches Dyna and Tabitha train and his attention drifts to Dianli again. "It is my first day in this dimension - my parents wanted me to fit in as best as I could, and sometimes I forget that I'm not in my home dimension, and should have been more discretionary in my action instead of violating your personal space."

Dianli watches her own electrical show from the outside, in something approaching the ham-fisted symbolism of a hack author. "I don't think you did anything wrong," she finally says. "I think I panicked because I'm not used to having people who can touch … that." She gestures at the energy shell that's pulsing around where she used to be standing. "Everybody else who's ever been …" her voice trails off as something dark takes over her face. The energy display stops, suddenly, with no warning. The nimbus around the girl vanishes. Her hair comes down again.
"You just surprised me, is all," she says. I don't take well to surprises and I reacted badly. Forgive me?"

Tabitha shakes her head briefly at Dyna's apology. "You were fast enough to stop me from being killed and my orphan sister from becoming host to… something far worse than they had already brought through." Her next few strikes on the dummy she's working on are done at nearly her full strength as she lets out a tiny portion of the bad from her captivity. This time the dummy is not going to reform, and if it were a person would have been reduced to a ruptured sack of jelly. "He took my eyes before we'd even left Earth." Then her voice drops almost to a whisper. "Good girls don't glare at their father." Another dummy is broken with her next kick.

Dyna seems to accept that, but the force of that next blow from Tabitha causes her to stare at the brutalised training dummy. "That," she says, "Is one training dummy that will not threaten us again."

And then Tabitha's kick breaks another. "And that one," Dyna comments. "I do not have a father, but it is my understanding they do not extract the eyes of their daughters. Have you considered an artificial replacement?"

There's a blink as Tabitha demolishes a training dummy and Nolan swallows hard as he watches the young woman and listens to Dyna's offer to Tabitha which makes him look confused for a moment. "You can do that here?" he asks Dianli, a little awed at the idea before he shakes his head. "You have an awe-inspiring power and the looks to match and for a moment I was just drawn in. It was pretty silly." he admits as he considers her. "I didn't mean to send you into a panic. So, we forgive each other, and try to figure out how to make it up, alright?" he asks Dianli with a slight grin. "As I'm the newcomer here I'll let you figure out exactly what that make up consists of."

Tabitha's monologue and violent demonstration capture Dianli's horrified attention. "What kind of place have I been put into!?" she asks. "We're kids, right? People are getting their eyes plucked out!?" Her breathing quickens its pace and the nimbus (and hair) rises again. The utter normalcy and almost banality of Nolan's ensuing conversation then sink in and the clash of tones hits something in her head and starts her laughing.
"Eyes plucked out next to the eternal dance," she says. "What a place. What a place."
She manages to quell her giggles. "But seriously, what's this about rescus and eyeball plucking? I thought this was a high school?"

"Most daughters don't try to kill their fathers, either, but he deserved it. Just wish I hadn't failed seven-odd years ago. Would've prevented a lot." Tabitha stops her workout after she destroys the second striking dummy. She shakes her head at the mention of artificial eyes. "I'd rather not risk it. Only Father knows enough about my species to do work like that without risk. I don't actually need them anyway. I've got this." With a slight mental twist she causes the part of her aura that's within a few meters of herself to shift into visibility for a moment before reverting it back to its unseen state. "It provides a wealth of sensory input along with its other uses."

Dianli's outburst draws her attention to the two on the bleachers. Since she's decided to end her workout she goes over and joins them there, standing with one foot up on the lowest bench. "Of course this is a high school. But one that houses several dozen of the most unique youths in the world. That circumstance tends to invite… interesting situations." She brings a hand up to gesture to herself. "In my case, I was created and grown to be a leader of a terrorist army called Helix Group." This is a not a comforting name to anyone old enough or informed enough to remember the 2009 Gardens Massacre, where upwards of 35,000 people were killed in simultaneous chemical attacks at Madison Square Garden and Boston Garden arenas. "I wasn't quite the dutiful daughter our leader wanted, however. See, I had this small defect called a conscience. One thing led to another, led to me ending up here, led to him kidnapping me back and, well…" She taps her blindfold.

Dyna pulls up a seat on the bleachers. "I see," she remarks. "Thank you for explaining." She knows about the Gardens Massacre, it was one of the things she was taught - what some people could do with their power if they so chose, the sort of thing she resolved, and was programmed, to stop.

She rests her hands, one gloved, the other not, in her lap. Dianli's laughter draws a flat stare from her. "It is a high school," she comments. "It is also completely unlike a high school."

The conversation between Dianli and Nolan has her attention then, though. "It could consist of a date," she says, sounding quite earnest!

"Well, I mean, sure, you can get your sight back, but you have to travel to the northern caves, recover the all seeing ruby from the Dark Dwarves, and the take it to the forgemaster beneath the Dragon Chasm, and once that's done, you have to earn the golden crown of the wood elves to be made into pair of frames for the ruby lens, and then you get night sight and plus three to your charisma scores.." Nolan rattles off without much thought to it as he looks towards Dianli. "What's the eternal dance?" the young man asks in confusion as he keeps his distance this time instead of trying to quell the girl's emotions.

"My father was about my age when he was pulled into Wicoagord to save the lands from an invasion. That was nearly twenty years ago." he admits as he considers the injured young woman and the redhead that are slowing their practice. "I suppose that would work as a replacement for eyes." Though he doesn't realize that's not what Dyna meant by artifical replacement. Standing up for a moment, Nolan considers and then goes over and sets a hand on Dianli's shoulder. "We're in a school, but we're all here for each other, and noone's going to be on the outside looking in, cause you know, like Tabitha was rescued from her .. really evil father."

As he listens to Tabitha's story, there's a frown, but then Nolan seems to cheer up a little as he looks between the three women. "Here's what I see.. a woman that has overcome her upbringing and training to do her own path, and figure out exactly what she wants to do with her life. Another woman who was caught up in a situation she could not control, but instead of allowing it to devour her and control her, she's come here to figure it out. I was sent here to keep my world from being destroyed as my people were being taken over one at a time by an unknown force, taken away from their jobs and livelihoods to go off to try to follow in the footsteps of my father, and failing that, exploiting the entire world. Until I find out what caused it, I am contained here, as I was the reason that the rift occured in the first place. But we're supposed to rally around each other and help out, and that's why we have the teachers, staff, and mentors that we do." he offers as he doesn't know of the Gardens Massacre or anything else of the Helix Group, after all. Though the idea of a date causes the young man to blink owlishly and little confused question marks appear around his head as he shoos them away again.

"Maybe not having parents is a blessing," Dianli mutters to herself hearing Tabitha's story. Then, at Dyna's intervention in the eternal dance, she flushes red, gaping at Dyna, then, seemingly of their own volition, her eyes jump over to Nolan. Then back to Dyna. Then back to Nolan. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish in the air, or like someone whose words are colliding as they try to escape her throat.
"A date?" she finally manages to squeak out. "Like a date date? Like … uh … like …" Her voice peters out before she asks plaintively, "What do people even DO on dates!?"

"They go to see a movie," Dyna offers, in that blandly helpful 'here is a fact' way.

Tabitha nods to Dianli, her face solemn. "Indeed. Most days I greatly prefer when I was just 'Tabitha Jones, the burn scarred orphan girl with no memory but a promising music career'. Remembering who I was before that… nothing but trouble, really." Here her mouth does tick up in a bit of a smile. Nolan's… disertation causes her eyebrow ridges to rise up from the top of her blindfold, although as he continues she just gets more confused at some points. "That sounds… really complicated. I think I'll just stick to using my aura in place of my eyes."

When talk shifts to dates she smiles genuinely and folds the leg she had up on the bench underneath her body as she sits. "My girlfriend and I go out for tacos and then dancing. Or just stay in and relax."

There's a pause for a moment as Nolan glances over at Dianli and he asks in a meek voice, confused as if he's sure he's even doing it right. "…would you like to go on a date with me, Dianne?"

Hands clasped in her lap, Dyna watches Dianli and Nolan. With no experience in this area, all she has is the knowledge that she's gained from others - which she had just attempted to douse Nolan and Dianli in, like it'd do something.

She doesn't say anything at this point. She's too busy watching them like a hawk.

Dianli blushes even harder at the direct question. "I …" she starts. "You …" she starts again. "We …" she tries again for a third start. Then giving up on starting completely she jumps into the middle. "I could certainly do with a companion when I go into the nearby town this weekend," she offers. Pulling on her spotty recollections of pop culture gleaned from out-of-date films she adds, by way of suggestion, "There might be a soda shop or something?"

As she makes it sound more.. impersonal, Nolan nods his head. "Into town? Sure, sounds like fun. I know there's a party for newcomers tomorrow, if you want to go?" he asks with a little shrug of his shoulders. "But sure, we can find a soda shop or something."

"There's an excellent coffee shop in town, yes." This is Tabitha's contribution to the date talk. Coming back down to an emotional even keel she starts to clean up the mess she made when she broke the striking dummies. Not that she moves from her seat, mind you. No, her aura does all the heavy lifting, picking up the broken bits, putting away the still intact dummies, and then rolling up and storing the workout mat. "There are also several other places, but the coffee shop isn't a bad spot for a trial run." An eyebrow ridge quirks up at the mention of the gettogether for new students. "Yes. I'd heard it was being hosted by a… bear." A brief shrug follows. "I'd planned on swinging by to see who all had started here during my absence."

"I will be attending that party," Dyna states, nodding when Wojtek is mentioned as the host. "It is hosted by a bear," she states, "But he is a very polite bear. More than one might expect when considering the average attitude of bears in the wild." While she says this, her attention is purely on Tabitha's aura and its work.

"A party? Tomorrow? For newcomers?" Dianli seems honestly surprised. "I … would like that," she finally decides. "Let's go together." Guiness is calling. They want to offer the "most indirect 'yes' to a date offer" award….
"I've met a bear here. Woztek or something like that? He startled me." That last to Tabitha. "I met Dyna at the same time," she adds. "It was … interesting."
The working of Tabitha's aura is of momentary interest, but pales in comparison to the attention from Nolan, it seems. "What should I wear?" she asks, looking up at Nolan. "I don't have a lot but I could probably find something appropriate. I just don't really know what is."

"I will see about making the party tomorrow, but if I can't make it, I'll send a note." Nolan promises before he chuckles. "I don't know, be.. yourself?" he asks her. "Maybe they can help with that." Because a robot and the girl with daddy issues can give great advice, right? "I'll see you later?" And with that he gives a wave to the others before he starts towards the exit.

"It's an informal event, as I understand. So whatever you feel most comfortable wearing in public would be my advice." Tabitha doesn't need to put much mental focus into her remote tidying up. Benefits of an artificially designed parallel processing neuron structure. She nods with Dyna gives the bear's name. "Yes, him. I met him briefly outside the dance club last night. He was part of the rescue party?" This question is given to dyna, whom she already knows was one of her rescuers. Nolan's departure prompts a quick wave. "Take care, Nolan. See you back at the muesum."

"He was," Dyna replies. "He was knocked unconscious towards the end of the expedition. I carried him out." She waves to Nolan as he goes, but hte question as to what Dianli should wear just draws a shrug from Dyna. Then, "Not this," she says, gesturing to the uniform she's wearing.

"Bye, Nolan," Dianli actually manages to get in before it's too late. She stares off into nothingness for a few moments. Then…
"Did I just actually get asked out on a date? Did I actually just say yes?" She glances over at the other two girls. "This doesn't happen to me." She takes a deep breath, holds it a second, then releases it. "So what happens at dates? I'm guessing movies have it wrong since they always seem to wind up in bed."

"Yes you were. Yes you did." Tabitha offers a quiet smile to Dianli, "And dates never have to end up in bed. My first dates usually involve some form of food, a leisurely stroll, and a healthy dose of silence both awkward and not." She doesn't include her all-night 'no sleep sleepover' last night in this tally. "Sometimes there's ice cream." She reaches over to place a comforting hand on Dianli's shoulder. Her touch is slightly electric and considerably warmer than human normal. "It'll be fine. Just remind youself that he's nervous, too."

"You did," Dyna tells Dianli, "And it does. But I do not know what happens. I have never been on a date before. I know movies are involved, probably at a cinema. After that, my knowledge is limited. Tabitha has better advice."

Dianli nods at the girlsrobot and non-human alikeand stands up. "Well, I'm going to have to figure out this whole thing. I guess more things my minders mean for me to learn here." She heads toward the doors of the gym, pausing before exiting. "Thank you both for being here. This wouldn't have gone well, I think, without you." And then in an instant she's gone.

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