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Said carrot-topped Intermediate was in the process of avoiding her duties for the day in favor of a nap.
Or, more exactly, an attempt at a nap. She hadn't slept much the night before and felt primed for a well deserved snooze, only her brain wouldn't shut off.
Her phone tinkling wasn't really helping either.



With that settled Abbi rolled over in her bed and snuggled down.
...For all of two seconds.

For a long while Abbi frowned at her phone, both before and after the two texts arrived.
On one hand, she could give the man what he wanted with another bottle of whiskey and be done with that personal favor.
On the other, she could actually get out of her room and socialize and at least eat something nice.



Her bed was pretty comfortable, but the call of actual food was too tempting.
The hour was a kindness more to Chance than to Abbi, for she didn't put much thought into her appearance other than properly brushing her hair and grabbing something she considered simple from her closet. Paired with her customary thigh highs and a pair of white lace up boots, she deemed herself ready.
...With forty-five minutes left to spare.
Unwilling to wait at the portal she brushed her hair again, made it actually look nice with matching ribbons, then second guessed herself and changed into something fancier.
"This is stupid." She scrunched up her nose in her mirror before she flounced from her room, just to keep herself from changing again.

And with all her attempts at delays, Abbi still arrived ten minutes early.

Standing around looking petulant about going out surely didn't suit Abbi, but it didn't stop her from doing just that until Chance arrived. A momentary frown was turned to him, at first she thought it was just another Portal tech come to berate her for loitering, but she smoothed into a smile and a lackluster wave a moment later.
"Hey Bones. Oh, yeah you think its ok?" Clearly unconvinced Abbi took a step back to twist and turn in her dress, careful not to give a twirl mostly because this was not the sort of dress to twirl in. Not if she didn't want to give a particular kind of show. About to say something self deprecating, the girl stopped and pointed at Chance.

"Does your shirt have constellation on it, that's SO COOL where did you get it?! I totes want one!" In a rush she bounded over to him, leaning in to inspect the shirt and grinning wildly. "I bet they only make it in bro sizes, huh? I bet I could fit an extra-small, aw man that's really awesome. A+ Bones." Hopefully obvious admiration was the male equivalent of being called cute.

Once more stepping back into her own bubble, Abbi gestured at the portal.
"We should get going. Have any ideas of where you wanna go? We obviously can't go to our home towns, its best to avoid the whole state just in case. So, yanno, nothing in Connecticut. Sorry if you had like, a favorite restaurant or something there." She laughed lamely at her attempt at a joke, already wondering if she could run away.

"Good to know for the future." She said it idly, half distracted with committing the idea to memory. There were lots of people she knew who did the same thing, but Abbi figured they wouldn't soften their words, either from kindness or simply not finding sharp edges necessary, and she was in dire need of kindness.
"Storenvy is kinda big too. But good on you for knowing Etsy." Conversation wasn't the dreaded thing she had psyched it up to be, especially with someone as easy going as Chance. Still, the teen regretted her isolation, having agreed to going out at all, the outfit she'd chosen.
Woe, thy name was Abbi.

"I'm fine with whatever!" The phrase popped out of her mouth before she'd fully listened to what he had to say.
He was asking her... Opinion?
How long had it been since someone had given her equal weight in the decision? One where she hadn't decided beforehand and then had to hedge and skirt around having hurt someone's feelings? One where there would be little to no fight, where her preferences were actually considered?
Abbi opened her mouth to again say she didn't mind, that he was the one who'd had the idea and the one who should chose.

But instead she sighed and tilted her head to one side, a tiny smile edging in that she turned up to Chance.
"Ya ever been to New York City, Bones?"

Not really sure how to answer, for once she wasn't very familiar with something and thus could not spout off about their current web status, Abbi shrugged and settled on a mumbled reply. "Shopping in stores can be fun." She didn't feel very confident about anything, not about having agreed to dinner or her suggestion, but the teen was going to try.

Abbi took a deep breath, let herself think about how fun it was be to visit her favorite city. Both her hands folded behind her back and she rolled back onto her heels, leaning forward a little. In her head Viveca coaxed the teen toward softening up, as together they could visit a fun place, the ghost and girl could share something they'd only experienced before in memories.
"Guess that means I'm gonna make one of your wishes come true then." With a wave of her hand she trotted over to the portal tech, whirling back around at the last second to look up at Chance.
"Since I decided on where to go you have to pick where we eat. Or at least... Yanno, narrow down our choices." Abbi paused, blinked for a beat and pointed at the portal.
"The Big Apple a-ok by you, Bones?"

A thoughtful hum left Abbi as the portal flared to life, a finger tapping against her chin.
"Are fairy godmothers good?" Both her hands came out in front of her, a motion of 'hold on' as she took a breath to explain herself. "Ya know how we fight the spooksters... I thought fairies in general were pretty cute, but apparently they've got some spooky ones. I fought a guy with a fairy weapon, it was super pretty, the weapon I mean well he was pretty too but... Yanno... You think I can be a good one?" It was all silly conjecture, but it was something to talk about while they waited.

The wait wasn't long and Abbi bunny hopped through the portal, deposited into a back alleyway she didn't recognize. Not that she was acquainted with the alleys of New York, of course.
Quick to whip out her phone and connect to a map, she waved the device at Chance a moment later.
"I'm comfortable with literally whatever. My food taste is that of a bro; If its edible I want it." Her focus shifted back to finding where they were, typing in places to go, the possibilities endless.
There would be plenty of time to hit a few stores (sorry Chance, gonna have to take the lady shopping) and maybe she could even convince him to go to a bar with her. Her fake ID was packed into her bag so it would be perfect and--

Abbi stopped, forgetting that there was someone else along on the ride. The past few times she'd ventured out had been alone and it hadn't been since before Halloween that she'd gone to Prague with Jack. Every other excursion had been solo.
"So uh! You wanna... Sight see or something?" It was his first time, and since he'd mentioned wanting to visit, it was highly likely there were a few places he wanted to see.

Maybe it was the fact that her favorite city was waiting just at the end of the alleyway, or maybe the simple effort put into getting ready and walking around with someone was the reason, most likely it was his comment, but Abbi turned a true smile at Chance. It was a little lopsided, but she turned her gaze away a moment later in hopes of hiding her blush.
"I do run pretty Chaotic Good." Was her reply, one hand quick to brush away a curl from her face simply for want of something to do. She hadn't realized how much she needed someone to tell her something nice, but she felt silly for appreciating it so much.

"Right!" Abbi chirped with an over-the-top clench of her fist into the air, skittering forward a moment later to coax Chance toward the exit of the alleyway.
"There's so much to see! And do! And eat!" Now her excitement started to pour out, the teen did a tippy-toed dance and wiggled around.

For a moment she paused, thinking his question over, but laughed quickly after.
"I think I've got a place you might enjoy. Maybe, we'll see. But uh, we should probably save that toward the end. It'll be a good endcap."
As she neared the edge of the alleyway she peeked out, the sunlight still strong enough that the streetlights hadn't turned on yet.
"You wanna get any shopping done? I should probably stop at a bookstore, oooooh! Maybe we should purikura! That'd be fun! And oh oh! We have to get bubble tea! Also, if anyone asks if you wanna buy a watch just ignore them." Abbi may or may not have begun to vibrate.