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"Dancing! You're so lucky, it's so nice to go out on the town." For a brief moment, Hvergelmir was transported by the image of being a young girl taken out dancing by this tall, pretty senshi. It seemed pretty romantic to her.

"A show's a great way to mix things up. There's an okay production of Footloose on right now, if you want a dancing show. Skip Mamma Mia!, the cast is, um, not the best. But for fantasy shows she might like, Wicked's ending next week, and starting Friday they're opening up Into the Woods just down the road. Wicked's a little more light-hearted, Into the Woods is Sondheim, so it's kind of snarky and biting. They're both great in different ways, depending on what you like. The theater scene here's not bad -- like I said, Mamma Mia!'s the real dud right now, but most companies will put on a good show."

"Ah," Hvergelmir said, frowning, a little abashed, "that's the one, yeah, that's Wicked. You might not like it, in that case -- a lot of the foundation of the book's still there, including some of the grosser stuff -- but they've toned it down a lot. It's -- how should I put the difference between Wicked and Into the Woods?" She pressed a thoughtful finger to her chin. "Wicked's -- heavy subject matter given a weirdly light treatment. Into the Woods is light subject matter given a weirdly heavy one."

She pondered it a little more, scratching her head. "Once Upon a Mattress will be in town in a few weeks, they're doing advanced sales now. It's completely lighthearted as musicals go."

Hvergelmir shrugged off her apology with a smile. "Well, I mean, musical culture's not, like, culture culture, it's just more expensive than the movies, if you ask most people. I'm just a fan -- I like all the song and dance."

She always had. And the simple, kind of juvenile storytelling musicals frequently employed, the costumes and the bright lights -- it was comforting when life could be so dull and complicated.

"Once Upon a Mattress is a musical based on The Princess and the Pea -- it's really cute, the princess in it is from this backwater kingdom, so she's really gruff and unrefined compared to what they're expecting, and she's so vibrant, she kind of sweeps the prince off his feet all the more for it. Romantic, not too sobering. It's fluffy and fun."

Hvergelmir smiled, glad to have hit upon a more helpful suggestion. "Well I'm a theater lover first, and a knight second," she said, punctuated with a silly wink. "And a hopeless romantic -- if I get to help you plan a special date with your special someone, I'm thrilled."

She accepted Chariklo's mercy, her wishes and her warning with what she hoped was slightly more somber dignity.

Of course I don't know what I'm doing. None of us do, do we?

But maybe she was wrong. Maybe everyone else knew exactly what to do, and Hvergelmir was the only one that felt lost and confused all the time. Maybe.

"Don't worry. I'm sturdier than I look," she promised. Hvergelmir extended a hand for the Dark Mirror senshi to shake. "It was nice to meet you, Sailor Chariklo. Good luck on your date!"