At some point during their short walk to the diner Amy's hand had slipped into her own. Something she hadn't noticed until she'd had to let go to open the diner's door. Maybe it was a little childish, but she relished the friendly affection the gesture held. It had been so long since she'd had any friendly physical contact with someone her own age and her father wasn't the most physically affectionate person either.

A small bell tinkled softly as the door opened, alerting the waitress who just waved them towards a booth. Not the most upmarket of places, which was good. Taylor mentally tallied her remaining funds with a well disguised wince. Seven hundred dollars might sound like a lot for a working class teenager to have on hand, but when it comes to building magitech it's a pitiful amount.

Eating out was expensive, well, more expensive than eating in. But they needed the semi-privacy that the diner offered, wide open sight lines and a lack of other patrons at the current hour ensured they would be unlikely to be overheard. Silence lingered over the table like a thick smog. She was saved by the arrival of the waitress, a middle aged, slightly plump woman with a forgettable face.

"What can I get'cha girls"

The thick drawl and smokers rasp startled Taylor slightly, expecting softer somehow given her appearance. Delving into the menu she went for a simple cheeseburger and a soda. It wasn't like she had fast food often enough to worry overmuch about what she ate when she did. In fact she'd only eaten out twice in the last two years, three times if you included her previous 'date' with Amy, Vicky and Dan?

Amy had ordered a chicken burger wrap whilst she'd been trying to recall the name of Victoria's date, she hadn't thought she was bad with names or faces, but she couldn't picture him at all. She tried to picture Vicky and the details poured in, the shape of her eye, the curve of her swanlike neck, the..

"..aylor?"

Amy was looking at her concern painted over her face. Guilt hung heavy in her stomach. What was she doing, that was Amy's sister she'd been daydreaming about, whilst Amy, her maybe girlfriend sat across the table! She'd offer to pay, yeah, she'd treat Amy today. God this was hard.

"Sorry, just distracted. My suspension ends monday.." She trailed off at the widening of Amy's eyes, shit, she hadn't told Amy anything about being suspended. She hurried to explain, about the bullying, about the locker, once she started the floodgates opened her mouth betraying all her deepest, darkest secrets.

"..and it was just one step too far, it was something my mother gave me, I just snapped. I slapped the traitorous bitch, once, only once. But that was enough for the school"

She felt lighter for having told her story, it felt like she'd been talking for hours, but the lack of their order proved otherwise. Months of bullying condensed into so little time, it seemed to cheapen everything she'd been through. Despite not going into detail it felt like it should take longer to describe the campaign waged against her at school.

At some point during her tale Amy had shifted around the table, a soft, thin arm pulling Taylor into an awkward half hug. It felt good, really good. Deprived of friendly human contact aside from her father for so long made the simple gesture all the more comforting.

A pair of gentle thumps announced the arrival of their meals, the contents of the plates sliding around slightly at the unnecessary additional force imparted by the now surly faced waitress.

Conversation turned to the relatively safe topic of Taylor's cape career, how long had she had powers "About a month" where she got the professional looking costume "Mom's" and the obviously Tinkertech visor "Mom's" Taylor found the expected conversation easy, right until the next sentence. She paused to consider what to say before a plausible lie came to mind.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed when I found her lab, I don't dye my hair after all."

She felt somewhat guilty, but she didn't want to sound crazy like so many "magical" capes. Gesichtkreis was easy to mistake for any other Tinkertech device, her powers could be explained away as a weird Shaker/Mover combination. It all boiled down to occam's razor, what was more likely. Either she was a cape with a grab bag of powers, daughter of a cape with a grab bag of powers that had been delusional, or she was really the lost heir to a magical space faring empire in another dimension.

If she hadn't seen the sheer number of book Gesichtkreis had on file she'd have been inclined to believe her mother was one of those capes too. The sheer number of files, the detailed history books alongside school level texts, magical textbooks alongside cookery books. Faking so much just didn't make sense, the number of files was simply staggering. The files she couldn't access, not until the auto repair functions finished bridging connections in the damaged device at least.

She wouldn't have shown Amy the files Gesichtkreis had in its memory even if it was functional, despite how comfortable she felt around her. Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. She thought back to all the hushed midnight conversations with Emma, all the secrets shared, each at risk of being exposed since her betrayal. No. She was glad Annette hadn't told her anything before her death, for she would surely have told Emma at some point, sworn her to secrecy. An oath that would now be suspect. Would she do that to her? Would she go that far to hurt her? She didn't know, and hopefully would never have to find out.

The burger couldn't hold a candle to the meal they'd enjoyed together at Fugly Bob's despite being similarly priced, and the waitress's bad attitude helped further clarify why the diner was nearly deserted, the only other occupant a blonde girl in a Red Sox cap hunched over a salad at the far end of the diner. Taylor took the bill before Amy could glance at it, standing to pay.

"My treat"

She made her way to the counter to pay ignoring the protests coming from behind her.

They had ended up wandering around downtown somewhat aimlessly, just walking and talking about whatever came to mind. The recent endbringer battle went unmentioned by unspoken agreement, too soon, too public a place despite the thin foot traffic. They were just passing a small movie theater when Taylor pulled to a halt, a poster catching her attention. *New From Aleph, Tangled* read the large letters above the odd image of two faces peering out through a wall of hair.

She'd always enjoyed Disney imports from Aleph when she was younger. The entertainment industry on Earth-Bet had stalled, much like high technology, the endbringers weren't only to blame for that, the Tinkertech bubble of the 90's had set some of the largest companies back years worth of research and development on it's own. No the endbringers had only prevented further developments, high tech labs tended to be juicy targets for the Simurgh and her siblings.

She was surprised to find herself tugged into the theater, already filling up with bodies young and old as they filtered in towards the screens.

"I..I just want to check the times… I know it's silly.." Amy looked so nervous as she spoke, like she was revealing some deep dark secret. Taylor suppressed a chuckle. She'd been looking for an excuse to hang out more, to feel Amy out on the whole joke/maybe-not-joke date thing. This would be perfect, they'd watch a movie together, that was something people did on dates, right?

The line was momentarily empty, a sign of approval from above? Random chance? Taylor didn't mind which, she strode forwards.

"Two for Tangled please" paying for both tickets before Amy could even begin to voice a protest.

"My treat, since I asked you out" Amy gaped slightly, the implication that this was a date rendering her speechless before a small grin caught her lips. Phew, that settled that. It was a date. She was on a date with Amy… A second date with Amy Dallon… Panacea… She was dating Panacea…

A swarm of warm butterflies danced in her stomach, it was almost nice in way. Did that mean Amy was her girlfriend? Was she really gay, asking another girl on a date felt kinda gay to her. This wasn't some friendly misunderstanding anymore, it was a real date. She pushed the thoughts to one side as they settled into their seats. She'd worry about it all later, for now she had a movie to enjoy in good company.

It was already dark by the time they left the movie theatre, the nearby skyscrapers glittering in the dim early evening light, chatting about the movie they'd just seen when Amy noticed how dark the streets were.

"Crap! I'm supposed to be home in.. Five minutes" She said as she glanced at her watch to confirm the time. Her face somewhat panicked as she dug around for her phone, dialling a number rapidly.

"If I call Vicky now I might make it home on time… Crap crap crap, voicemail…" She'd begun pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, as if hoping moving would help prevent her from missing her curfew. She was chewing her lower lip nervously whilst looking skyward.

Taylor glanced around, a nearby alleyway looked empty enough for her purpose. Leading the distracted Dallon was easier than she thought it would be, if she'd had some ill intent it would have been the perfect time to catch her completely off guard. A single sweeping move and the deed was done.

"Eep, t..t..Taylor?!" Arms instinctively wrapped around her neck completing the bridal carry she'd initiated. A quick calculation had them bounding to the top of the building they'd been stood at the base of.

"Relax.. I'll have you home in no time… Well if you tell me where to go" She paused, hoping she hadn't make a huge mistake before Amy seemed to gather her wits and point towards Captain's hill and rattled off a street name.

"Trust me?" A hesitant nod reassured Taylor of her plan, one, two, three steps and they were sailing through empty air towards another rooftop on their path. Arms tightened around her neck, but relaxed as she found her pace. Amy watched in wonder as the city heights disappeared in mere paces, acrobatic leaps taking them over residential streets with ease, the entire journey had taken less than two minutes, finding an appropriate spot to stop had taken more effort than the run.

"Wow.."

They walked the rest of the way, Taylor insisting she see Amy to her front door despite how nice the neighbourhood seemed. The butterflies were back, dancing their merry jig. They stood on the sidewalk outside of the Dallon household facing each other lightly holding hands.

"I had fun."

"Me too."

"Well, Goodnight."