Girl Talk [2430-1-2-Thurs 9pm]

[Cassandra Nida]

Cass stared at the reply she'd just gotten. Was... was he asking her on a date? No. No! He was just being friendly! Just asking if they wanted to get dinner while he showed her around. But... if it was just friendly dinner, he wouldn't have said she could turn him down and not worry about it because it wouldn't mean anything if she said no to eating with a friend but it would mean something if she said no to eating with him and he was more than a friend.

This was all far beyond Cass' ability to deal with. She didn't go on dates. She never thought about boys. Her life revolved around robotics, and the only man in her life was her daddy. There had never been an opportunity for boys, not considering what she was. If anybody had found out...

But. There really wasn't any reason to hide it. If Klove had seen her bounty then... he probably already suspected she wasn't totally human. And if he suspected and he was still maybe asking her out, did that mean she could actually go on a date? Assuming that... this was a date.

Cass' head hurt. She didn't know anything about boys beyond the basic biological differences. She needed somebody who did. But who? She quickly ran through the list. Solomon? No. So much no. She barely knew Blaine. And Booker was nice, but she had a feeling he would offer to beat Klove up. Caden? Cass had a sinking suspicion he would tease her about it. Reese was still mostly a stranger. Magdalen would have been the obvious choice, but she seemed distant. Something was bothering her, and she didn't need anything this stupid weighing her down.

Olive? Well... she was a girl. And she probably knew about boys... or at least, more about how to deal with boys. She she probably wouldn't laugh at Cass.

Cass took the padd with her and stepped out into the hall. She knocked on Olive's door, waiting nervously. Cass didn't want to keep Klove waiting too long, or he'd think she was rejecting him and she didn't want him to think that. She just needed to talk to somebody who understood these things better than Cass did.

[Olive]

Olive was sitting in her room trying her best to let the discussion at dinner sink in. She wasn't quite sure what to think about the fact that Cass wasn't all alive in the normal alive sense. Olive was still processing all the new species she was encountering, not to mention the levels of technology the humans were spreading around space. To combine them into... a technology species? It was more than her brain could handle.

There was a knock at the door and she twisted off her bed to go and get it. She slid it open, surprised to see Cass there. She'd forgotten that Cass was going to be more permanent on the ship now. She must be trying to get to know the crew better, Olive deduced. She smiled, trying not to feel awkward. "Hi!"

[Cassandra Nida]

"um. hi." Cass held the padd in her hands, fidgeting with it as she tried to organize her thoughts. Here was another thing Cass wasn't too good at. Friends were something other people made, not her. What was the proper etiquette for asking for help? It had seemed so easy with Klove, but he had just been so willing to give it. What if Olive said no?

Well. If she did, Cass would have to figure that out on her own. It wasn't exactly like she had a lot of choices in the matter. "can I ask you something? do you know anything about boys? like... as in dating boys or going on dates or figuring out if you're being asked out on a date by one because I don't know anything and... I need some help."

[Olive]

If Cass was feeling as awkward as she looked, maybe Olive's inside awkward feelings weren't so out of place. Apparently, as she soon realized, the awkwardness wasn't about the same thing. Cass was asking about... boys??? Well, she was still a girl, no matter what species or half a species she was. That was a comforting thought.

Olive grinned at the question. Well, questions. Or maybe it seemed to be an ongoing question, Olive couldn't quite tell. "Boys? I know about boys!" she beamed. "Come in! Come in!" She quickly waved Cass into her room, peering around in the hallways to make sure no one else was around.

[Cassandra Nida]

Cass came in, looking at Olive's room. It was nice, and Olive had clearly made it her own space. It made Cass a little sad to think that she didn't really have anything of her own, besides her tools. She would have to figure out a way to change that, but it probably wouldn't be easy now that she was low on funds.

There was a crudely carved horse that seemed to have a place of honour, which puzzled Cass for a bit. Why would you choose something that was so badly done? But then she realized it probably had sentimental value, like the first circuit she'd ever programed with her dad. It was an awful mess and barely worked, but he'd kept it in his study on his shelf with all his awards.

Cass turned back to face Olive, not really sure where to begin. "thank you. I just... I've never really dealt with boys before. I mean, not boys in the dating sense. and now I don't... I don't even know what to do."

[Olive]

Olive shut the door behind them and tried listening carefully as Cass started rambling off about her dilemma, but she was having difficulty following what on earth said dilemma actually was. "Kay wait, slow down!" Olive waved her hands in front of her. "You gotta start at the beginning!"

She crossed the room once more. "Here." She pulled her chair out from her desk and motioned for Cass to sit down, and then she took a seat on the edge of her bed and waited for Cass to get comfortable. She was a bit excited. She hadn't thought she would get to do this on the ship, especially since it was so full of big guys. She'd tried asking for boy advice from Sol once, and that had been a disaster, which was weird, cause you'd think asking a boy for boy advice would make perfect sense. Sol really didn't know anything about boys or girls, it seemed. Olive had concluded that he'd definitely lived alone in the forest too long for his own good. She hoped he was getting some girl advice from the guys!

[Cassandra Nida]

Cass took a seat by the desk, composing herself. The beginning. Well, at least she didn't have to go too far back for that. "before I got passage on the Adeala, I tried to get onto another ship. there was a boy there, and he really helped me out. he gave me this." She held up the padd for Olive to see, "and he told me out to figure out what ships to get on if you didn't want to go through a background check and all that."

"I've been messaging him off and on. I couldn't do this this week because... well. you know. but I just sent him a message now, and I said we were going to the Underworld and he said he was going there to and... then he said he'd be happy to show me around, and that we could get something to eat together and... is he asking me on a date?" Cass felt kinda stupid saying it outloud. How could you not know if you were being asked on a date? She thought it would be more... obvious.

[Olive]

Olive listened carefully, pondering the whole situation. He was definitely a helpful sounding boy, but it could be either because he was just helpful by nature, or because he was trying to impress Cass. They kept in touch, which meant he liked her enough to keep talking to her... but was it friends or more? She tapped her chin in thought.

He was willing to show her around and wanted to get something to eat... well, in Olive's world, feasting always meant something special. She was pretty sure there had been food involved with the boys who had wooed her over the years. "Sounds like a date to me!" Olive suggested. "And boy, he sounds nice!!"

[Cassandra Nida]

Her heart lifted a little, even as she felt a little panic. She was being asked on a date, a real date with a real boy. To get something to eat, and to look around. She would have laughed about how it took Cass being hunted by the government to get a boy to ask her out but... it wasn't actually all that funny. Just kinda sad.

"He is really nice." Cass smiled a little, thinking about how nice it had been to hug Klove, and now noble he'd been, giving her money back to her instead of keeping it. "And kind. And.. and he's really cute." She blushed a little, like an idiot. At least she was doing this in front of Olive who seemed to get it instead of somebody else. Cass would have died if someone laughed at her for this.

[Olive]

"Well cute's the most important part!" Olive grinned. It wasn't really, but it was always really nice when cute was a factor. It made things so much easier when there wasn't an ugly face staring at you. "You have to introduce me when we get there!"

Olive had easily gotten past the weirdness of all the metal inside Cass already. Deep inside she was still a regular girl with regular girl problems... in need of a regular girl friend. They were a weird pair, but Olive decided they could definitely be regular girl friends even though they were so different from each other. She remembered back to her first attempt at bonding with Cass. That failed attempt at cooking hadn't really ended well. But, maybe now that Cass wasn't as scared to talk to everyone, it would turn out much different.

[Cassandra Nida]

Cass smiled. It would be nice to introduce them to Klove, and see if they liked him as much as Cass did. She hoped so. "I will! Maybe he can tell us some more about the Underworld and what you can do there. All the stuff I looked at on the Network was vague..."

She quickly drafted up a reply and sent it, not wanting to leave Klove hanging any longer, then she shut the padd off. Cass was really glad she'd asked Olive. "... have you dated a lot of boys?" She asked, suddenly curious about Olive's own dating history. Cass knew that not dating wasn't exactly the norm, but she didn't even know what the norm really was. Olive could probably tell her a little more.

[Olive]

"Oh yeah, here and there," Olive nodded. Granted, that was if she viewed dates the same way that humans did. Probably not completely, since humans had so many other things they seemed to do, but the basics still had to be there, right?

"Especially in spring," Olive smiled fondly. "That's when they really like to bring flowers and be all handsome and try to impress you!" They always tended to act strange when they found out about her friendship with Sol, though. She could never figure out why, since the fauns weren't particularly anti-human or anything.

[Cassandra Nida]

Spring? Why would the seasons matter? Maybe it made a difference if you lived somewhere where you actually noticed the weather. There wasn't much difference on Terra, other than that it got colder in winter, and warmer in summer. Sometimes, if it got cold enough, there might a little snow when you went outside.

Cass smiled at the thought of faun boys trying to impress Olive. Clearly, it hadn't worked since she didn't seem to have a boyfriend. Or maybe she just wasn't looking for one. Until Klove asked her on the maybe-date, it had never really occurred to her that she wanted one. She really wasn't sure if she did want one... but it would be nice to try it out.

"Do they always bring gifts? ... should I bring a gift?" Cass asked, suddenly worried about the proper etiquette. She didn't want Klove to know she didn't know anything about this. He looked like he knew a lot of things, and there would be nothing worse than Cass embarrassing herself in front of him.

[Olive]

"Not always," Olive shook her head. "Just sometimes, when they're trying extra hard." She grinned, thinking of the various flowers she'd received over the years. "See cause it's a gift, but they also like to outdo each other in where they get them. Some of the prettiest flowers grow in the hardest to reach places, you know. Weird places, in cracks in the stone in the mountains and things like that. That's hard work to get those! Only a few of them ever bother with that."

Olive pondered the second part of the question for a bit. "I don't think you need to bring one. I think it's mostly the boy's job for that anyway. Unless it's a thank you gift? Those are nice too and you definitely have stuff to thank him for!" Olive was only guessing at how humans dealt with gifts. It couldn't be too different from the fauns. Sol used to make her things all the time, and he was like a big brother to her. Unless he just picked that up from the fauns since he spent all his time away from humans, Olive realized. Boy, she still had a lot of learning to do when it came to humans...

[Cassandra Nida]

"oooh..." Cass understand competition, and wanting to prove you were better than someone, or that you deserved the prize most. She hadn't really thought about dating as trying to get the prize but... it made sense. If they were worth wanting, they'd probably have other people trying to take them too. Cass didn't have anybody else after her, so Klove probably wouldn't have to bring flowers. And, they were hard to get outside of some planets... or at least really expensive.

But a thank-you gift might be a good idea. She'd have to figure out if she could make something for him, or maybe pop out before he knew they were there and get him something. Of course, that would mean finding something on the Underworld by herself. Maybe she could get it for him while they were out, assuming it wasn't too expensive. She was going to have to think on this more.

"Thanks Olive." She said, smiling at the faun. It was funny, she hadn't thought much of Olive the first time they'd really spoken. But now? She kinda liked her. "I've never really had anybody to talk to about this sort of stuff. It was always just me and dad, and he's wasn't... we never talked about boys."