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Daphne had made an ally in the park the other night, but she'd also made a friend, and, just as importantly, an accountability buddy. The other girl had also ran from her duties from a long time, but now, they were going to get back into it.

In Daphne's case, she couldn't quite get back to her duties given the situation, but she could work on fighting back against they Chaos on Earth. They could both work on getting stronger, together.

That meant training, and so after a quick text conversation, Daphne had agreed to meet Mary in the same part of the park as before, only this time she'd brought a few thermoses of cold water and a small bag of oranges to share after they'd worked up a sweat.

"Mary? I'm over here," she called out once she felt the familiar aura.

Daphne gave a little gasp as Mary practically bowled into her. The other girl was energetic, but honestly, Daphne didn't mind. She wrapped her arms around Mary's shoulders and her tail around Mary's waist.

She hadn't been hugged like this since-

She didn't want to think about how long it had been.

"Oh, you met Soleiyu? That's amazing. He's been helping me so much. I'm sure he can help you, too."

She pulled away a little so that she could talk without having to worry about smashing her face into someone's hair. "And to space? You mean Mary? You really are going to have to tell me everything!"

Although, she couldn't quite match Mary's enthusiasm, asking about that. She was nervous that it would just mean that she was going to hear about another dead word. Every report made her stomach twist.

"I don't know a lot about fighting, but I found some videos," she said quickly, pulling a offbrand smartphone from subspace. "I thought we could practice some of the moves?"

"You like cats?"

It wasn't like Daphne needed any more excuses to like Mary, but her smile widened anyway. "I do, too! Of course, they're popular and sacred on Daphne since we resemble them and all," she pulled away from the hug to wave at her tail, "But I liked them even more than some of the others did."

It was partially because they didn't have the same expectations of her that humans did, but there was no need to get too into all that when they were here to fight.

She turned to her phone. "We can start with one for beginners, then? This one says Basic Stances and Moves. That sounds important."

While the video loaded, she added, "I'm glad you liked your planet. That sounds amazing. I'd love to see it sometime, too."

"Okay," said Daphne without hesitation, because she'd found that she quite liked working out, and building her core, and of course Mary was so sweet and energetic that Daphne was willing to try just about anything with her. It was only a second later that she asked, "What's yoga?"

She might have been immersed in Earth's culture for a few months now, but it still took a while to pick up everything.

The video was loaded at that point, though, and so she gave it her full attention, eventually propping it up on its popsocket so that she could stand up and try to copy what the guy way doing.

"So you're supposed to stand like this, I think," she said, and she tried out the stance with her knees slightly bent and more weight on the back leg than the front. She had followed along with just a few of these videos already, so she might have a small advantage on knowing what to do.

"And your hands go like this," she added, furling her fists with the thumbs tucked to the side, not underneath.

Daphne's focus was completely on the video. She was trying to make sure that exactly forty percent of her weight was on her back food, and sixty on her front foot.

She didn't even notice Mary coming at her until it was too late.

"Woah! Hey!" she said, turning quickly.

The stance did work, though. She just rocked back, and that was where the energy of the punch went. Her attention was broken, though. She whirled around to face her friend, fists curled. The karate chop was easier to dodge, although it still brought a smile to her face.

"You're amazing," she agreed, but while Mary was distracted with her bragging, Daphne launched her own pulled-punch attack at Mary's arm.

Mary's attention clearly wasn't on the video, so Daphne turned away from it as well. If Mary didn't have perfect form, it was fine. Daphne would just have to make sure that hers was good enough to protect both of them.

For the moment, though, she faked a cough. "Oh, what's this?" she said, and grasped at her chest. "The sneak-attack assassin's poison has kicked in?"

She was far from a good actor, but part of her studies had been making sure she was cultured. She'd been taken to plays. She'd watched movies. She knew how the darker and more dramatic of these stories left.

"The princess is going to join the dragon-" she lowered herself to her knees and then flopped back herself, reaching up to the sky for a second before she flopped her arm down too. "In death."

Instead of pausing for effect, she just sat back up. "The end. Want some orange slices, Mary?"