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Solia heard that.
And she knew just what to say.

"Well there is always your hands." She said with a grin.

Great question there, huh. she flipped through several answers in her head and partially typed each out on the phone.

About the same as before.
I'm afraid of making things more awkward than they are which I'm doing anyway so good job on me.
The timing's all wrong and that's not fair for either of us.

What did he even mean by "still recovering"? Or even "I think"? Physically, emotionally, mentally, all of the above? Was she overthinking? Arlkdjsflsjsl Stormy was doomed to indecision until she actually approached him which . . . wouldn't be right now.



Wow, that sounded dumb once it was out there. She hastily added another text as the music swelled, for a moment horrified that someone had decided romantic music was appropriate--and then she heard the odd recorder wheezing and exhaled a sigh of relief. "Little cloud," she agreed. "I'm not a force of nature, so . . . puffy cloud in the sky it is."



"Not so new," Stormy added lightly as she put the phone away. "I got here around Thanksgiving last year--"

And then she stopped as Nevada made introductions. And stared for a bit. It wasn't a particularly harsh stare (was Stormy even capable of that?), but it was definitely a scanning one. So this was the Alaska that tore Nevada up so much . . . For a moment she felt genuine elation that her friend's twin was up and running and she wouldn't have to worry anymore, but a realization hit her soon afterwards, and the beam that had begun to form on her face faded away.

"Oh . . . No, I get it." And she did. But it was hard to hide the reluctance in her voice; having a roommate had been unexpectedly nice . . . "Just 'cause you're not in my room anymore doesn't mean we stop being friends, okay?" Stormy told her with a light touch to her shoulder. Then she turned her gaze back to Alaska with what she hoped was a better smile. "Nice to finally meet you. Nevada's mentioned you . . . a lot . . ."

And there went Alaska to find a different group. Stormy blinked and felt an odd lump in her chest that was unrelated to Gale. She passed Nevada a look that asked if she did something wrong.

The crude answer elicited a chuckle from Sin's lips, and a rueful brush of his dark hair. "Ah, there is." Sin gave a amused smile to Solia. "But isn't it always more fun to ease your heart with another person?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He didn't seem perturbed by Solia's crudeness at all, finding it fun.

His arm was pleasantly caught was another woman. "Is it my lucky day?" He slid a glance down to the hunter, but he made no move to disengage his arm. "Did I interrupt your fun conversation with the other group? My apologies."

"But I assure you that I'm a pretty fun guy." He pointed to himself, grinning at Alaska.

Clarice had left a retro-styled dress on the bed, next to Clerise's only pair of earrings (studs, plain) she hadn't yet lost. On the floor was was a pair of reasonable flats, done in the same navy and white as the dress.

This was official or something like it, and while Clerise was still displeased with the world at large, she bitterly slunk into the meeting room, just in time to watch someone's property get turned into electronic bits.

What else was new.

Literally the only 'formal attire' Heidi had to her name was by pure chance and pure chance alone, the dress she had worn for her date with Tuck, complete with pink converse. She had at least done her hair in two braids instead of just letting it get everywhere, it was starting to get longer than she was used to letting it be. Should she cut it? Maybe that'd be a good idea, but braids were fun. She'd think about it.

The Moon trainee peeked into the room and her eyes widened. Dang girl that's a lot of people. At least she recognized some of these faces. She walked in quietly, 'sneaking' her way toward Tuck first just as a long-haired woman left his side. He was the closest person to her in the room, after she bothered him she would go see everyone else. Heidi poked his side once she was close enough, grinning up at Tuck after looking him up and down. "The army doesn't give formal wear?" She teased affectionately, toying with the one and only necklace she owned.

Candace had been delayed by what to wear. Formal wear, she loved formal wear. She was so damn excited about formal wear. But how formal were they talking here? Black tie affair? Just something nice? Just something presentable in public? Who would be there? Anyone she needed to impress? Why were you not more specific Aria. It was half tempting to text her leader back demanding to know the answer to her questions. Candace wisely did not do this. Instead she had stood in her closet looking at her options again and again and again, finally settling on the always appropriate little black dress, and a pair of zebra print heels. It would do, she supposed.

Her arrival told her she'd made the correct decision. A confused look was given to Solia in particular for..whatever...she was wearing...

...

She was not going to get into that.

And then there was Natasha's highlighter dress.

Yes, she had made the right decision to not go as all out as she would love to. A curious look was given to the leaders and assistants, seeing all of them gathered was uncommon and it very rarely boded well for everyone overall. Aria and Lance were given smiles and waves, but her heart stopped when she spotted H. Oh, it had been so long since she'd seen him. She wanted to go to him, sit on his lap and tell him she missed seeing him. Dakota's wearing a suit, Atropos said loud enough to drown out Candace's very serious consideration of going to H. It worked, it distracted her away from all thoughts of H and she looked around in search of the young man. Oh! He was with Molly and Wash! And Jerry!

...And Sasha.

Not so wonderful.

"Hello, dear," Candace greeted Dakota first with a sweet kiss. "Sweetheart~." She greeted Molly next, giving the girl a kiss against her cheek before she 'finally noticed' the other three. Her face lit up with surprised joy as she looked to each person, taking Dakota's hand in hers and giving each of them a bright smile. "Hello Wash, Sasha..Jerry, you look very handsome tonight." Candace was so glad he had put a little more effort into this than she had worried he would. He really did look better, nervous as always but more himself. She figured he would appreciate the compliment more.

On the note of Jerry cleaning up well she turned her attention on Dakota, squeezing his hand and smirking as she stepped back enough to look him up and down, gently tugging on his hand to make him turn a bit for her so she could see the whole thing. "I didn't even know you owned a suit. I didn't believe Atropos when she told me how you were dressed." It was a very pleasant surprise.

The doctor smiled at the large (mostly) well-dressed gathering in a manner that may indicate that he currently approves of their existence. It might also mean he's contemplating how difficult it would be to remove bloodstains from his white tux and if an untimely demise here and there would be worth the bother.