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Unfortunately, Antony must have done a half dozen horrible things to karma over the past life or two. Fate was not kind to the slightly uncomfortable boy between the weather and location.

A faint humming drifted towards him and he looked up to see a teenager approach from the other side of the row of machines. She paused at the first one, not even glancing at him, and considered her options. As she thought, she wound a piece of teal hair around her finger. After a moment, she wrinkled her nose and moved on to the next one. Before long, she was at his machine, bending over slightly to study the buttons. Her pink skirt swayed a bit as she shifted her weight back and forth before straightening. Then, not even looking sideways at him, she said quietly, "Hello, Antony."

That brought her around to him and she faced him head-on with a pretty little smile. "I forgot how tall you were," she answered in what appeared to be a slight non sequitor. "And thank you. It just happened and Mama's still working on my wardrobe."

Delilah laughed softly and, unseen by him, rolled her eyes. "I think I feel priveleged to have seen you like this," she returned. Then she stepped behind him and carefully helped him capture his hair, smoothing her hands expertly from his temples back to grip it all in low ponytail. "Do you have a band?"

"Three days" came the unperturbed answer, calm and tranquil as a mountain lake. Delilah's hands moved expertly to smooth his hair better. "Uncle Kiet only just let me out of the house," she added as if that made any sense and did not sound at all like a kidnap situation. "Would you like it braided again or just a tail?"

"Not really. Mama explained it to me." She paused as she adjusted his hair and wrapped the band around to keep it in place. Then she absently smoothed a hand down the silky length of it before pulling her hands away. She edged back around him so she once more stood in his view and her little smile was wry. "Uncle Kiet isn't used to children growing up so fast and he thinks of me as his daughter. I did have to promise him that I would keep my clothing on. I don't know what that was about. I always do. We aren't on Mama's home planet, after all. I think he's silly but he's sweet so I forgive him."

She tilted her head, studying him. "Have you been running?" she asked. A pause as she searched her memories. "With Iggy perhaps?"

At the mention of Shade, Delilah had also looked around expectantly. When there was no sign of the tall, older man, she refocused on Antony. At his offer, she smiled once more. "I would love to. I haven't seen you in ages."

As if his words sparked a notice in the temperature, Delilah wrapped her arms around her torso, hands gripping low at her sides with the unfortunate result of cleavage-ahoy. "Just the thought of ice cream makes me shiver," she agreed. She released herself and instead laced her fingers behind her back and looked off to the side, staring into the distance for a moment. Then she smiled and looked back to her friend, taking in his expression with secret amusement. "There's a cafe just outside the park. Mama used to take me there when I was little. We can get something warm to drink."