~Videl~

"Stop wiggling around, V!" Sienna squeaked, trying to keep Videl's hand still.

"It tickles!" Videl giggled.

The glowing pen-tool Sienna was using on her sent weird vibrations through Videl's fingertips, and one touch coated her fingernails with a shimmering, pink polish.

"I'm almost done," Sienna promised, moving on to one of Videl's pinky nails. "Just hold still!"

"I'm trying!" Videl laughed, enjoying Sienna's expression of concentration.

"There!" Sienna chirped, a few moments later, after finishing the last one. She clicked the tool off and set it to the side, so she could grasp both of Videl's hands, and turn them this way and that, to display her handiwork. "What do you think?"

"I love it!" Videl exclaimed, wiggling her fingertips and admiring the way the polish glittered in the light. "You're a wizard!"

Sienna screwed her face up and burst out laughing. Videl was so glad that she had taken up Sienna's offer of a sleepover. Sienna still shared private quarters with her parents, which was supposedly a thing that most families did, until their children wanted to marry. As impossibly huge as the Titan Starship seemed to be, there wasn't an over-abundance of empty rooms, Sienna had explained. Apparently, the children who wanted to move out of their parents' quarters - without marriage documents - had to petition for a waiting list. And most had to share quarters with roommates, once they were approved. Men and women weren't allowed to room together, unless they were married (or related by blood.) Allegedly, the process would be streamlined when the Titan Starship Maintenance Division finished building the new wing, and more people would have an opportunity to live on their own, with the availability of more private quarters.

Sienna told her that she had been on the waiting list for months since she'd completed her schooling on the Education Level. Sienna said that she was hoping that she would be one of the lucky ones that didn't have to share quarters, with a girl she hardly knew as a roommate. Videl wondered for a moment why Sienna couldn't just be her  roommate, but quickly banished the thought. Sadly, in that situation, Sienna would still be living with a girl that she hardly knew, now that Videl was a different person. Videl also wanted to say that she didn't think that it was so great living by herself, but she didn't want to be rude. Videl figured that Sienna didn't really see the possibility as a lonely one, but more like the freedom of solitude after sharing quarters with her parents her whole life.

Videl pondered how long that she had been living without her parents, and what happened to them. The way the nurse had referred to her as having no family certainly made her believe that they were gone in a way that was permanent. Her parents would have been in her contacts, if they were reachable, if they were still alive. Her parents had died, she was sure of that, but how? When? And she must have lived with them, so had she moved out of their quarters when she finished her schooling? Or was she living in her parents' quarters now? That thought sent a chill through her body, thinking about that second door next to the one for her bedroom. She was unnerved by the likelihood that the private quarters she lived in were not only haunted by the ghost of the real Videl, but the ghosts of her parents' lives, as well.

She knew the answers to her questions would assuredly be inside the digital diary she had forbidden herself to access, and she tried to tell herself repeatedly that she didn't really have a right to seek them. That life wasn't hers, and the questions didn't need to be answered. What good could come from it, anyway? Her parents were gone. The real Videl was gone. And as advanced as the futuristic medical science of the world around her was, there was no bringing any of them back. Dr. Sharp had told her that the best thing she could do was allow those she trusted to fill in the blanks for her, and Videl knew that Sienna could tell her more about herself than most. The trouble was, she was afraid to ask - to remind Sienna that she was an impostor wearing her best friend's body. It felt selfish to repeatedly bring attention to the irrevocable way Videl had been changed. And a very big part of her just wanted to pretend everything was normal.

As Videl joined Sienna and her parents for dinner, she felt entirely welcome, like it was something she had done often in the past. Even with them all being aware of how she had lost her memories - Sienna had made sure to tell them about the situation, no doubt, before Videl came over. Videl assumed that Sienna hadn't wanted them to say something wrong, or ask her something she had no way to answer, and she was grateful. Sienna's parents were warm and polite, and her mother was a fantastic cook. The food was absolutely delicious, and Videl wanted to ask if her mother was open to the idea of giving her some cooking lessons. Of course, she didn't, though. The real Videl wasn't into cooking, and she wanted to avoid shining a light on the fact that she didn't feel the same way. She felt uncomfortable about bringing up anything that made her different, like doing so would be rubbing it in Sienna's face or something. She was still worried that her best friend might not like her if she became too unlike her old self, despite her hopes. She knew that it was ridiculous - she had already revealed her new passion for cooking, so why was she afraid to bring it up again? Sienna hadn't reacted negatively to the information, and it seemed like such a trivial change.

Just relax, V . . . you're being neurotic about this. It's not the big deal you're making it out to be.

At least with Kane and Dare, she'd been able to just be who she wanted, without worrying about not meeting certain expectations. Sienna was sweet and it seemed unlikely that she wouldn't understand that Videl was a different person now. Who wouldn't be, after losing everything? But Videl didn't want to risk alienating her closest friend, so she figured that it was safer to not be too  different, whenever possible.

Better safe than sorry . . .

~Kane~

Dare had some appointment to get to right after their gym session, so he didn't join Kane for what was becoming their usual, post-workout vending machine breakfast. Honestly, he was getting sick of the typical vending machine food, but after a long, intense work-out, the last thing he wanted to do was stand in line. He just wanted to eat something quick, and get to the shower. The water pressure was lousy in the locker rooms of the Gymnasium Level, so most people skipped it, in favor of the more efficient showers in their own private quarters.

Kane's hair was drenched in sweat and slicked to his forehead, and the cold of the air-conditioning caused his sweaty clothes to chill his skin. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, and pushed it back off of his face. He started to take a bite out of his protein bar, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. For a half-second, he thought it would be V, and he was disappointed to see Darcy instead.

"Hey Kane," Darcy purred, her red-painted lips curled into a smirk. "Where have you been hiding?"

His ex-girlfriend would be a knockout, by most men's standards. She had mid-length, wavy, auburn hair that leaned closer to red than brown, and blue eyes that were always accentuated by sleek, black eyeliner. She was tall and leggy - constantly traipsing around in skirts that were too short. At least when they dated, she had the decency to cover up more, for his sake, but after they were broken up, she seemed to have been on a mission to flaunt her body for any male attention, in mostly failed attempts to make him jealous. Kane hated to admit to himself that it had worked for the first few days, annoying the hell out of him, but after that, he'd recognized it for what it was. Pathetic.

He looked her up and down with undisguised distaste, rather than interest. He was clearly sweaty and clad in what could only be considered gym clothes, so her question might as well have been rhetorical. It was fucking obvious where he'd just been.

"What do you want, Darcy?" Kane asked, not even bothering to mask the exasperation in his tone.

"Oh, boo!" Darcy pouted in a way that she surely thought was sexy. It might as well have been a snarl compared to V's precious pout the night in the Aviary/Arboretum Level. Darcy's pout evoked no desire in him, whatsoever. Not even a twinge. If anything, it aggravated Kane that she was even trying to be cutesy with him. "I just missed you, is all." Darcy tried for a seductive smile. "Is that so wrong?"

Kane rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "What are you really here for?" Kane demanded, leveling her with a stern glare that displayed he was in no mood to deal with her. "I don't have time for your bullshit."

"Hmm, you don't look very busy over here," Darcy crooned, stroking the back of her fingernails against his triceps on the arm that was closest to her, to which he responded with an exaggerated jerk away from her unwanted touch - as if her fingernails were coated with acid, instead of blue polish. Don't fucking touch me, bitch.

Darcy nearly growled in frustration at his reaction, and folded her arms over her chest.

"But fine, I just thought you'd like to know that I won't be your date to the Cotillion."

Kane nearly laughed in her face.

"Excuse me, but I don't recall asking you?"

Darcy turned crimson, with humiliation or anger, he couldn't tell. Maybe both.

"Sean Dillard asked me!" Darcy flipped her hair over her shoulder, looking smug.

"I'll be sure to send him my condolences," Kane replied in a somber tone, like the Sean guy had suffered a death in the family.

Darcy looked like she was about to burst when he turned to leave. Unsurprisingly, he heard her scurrying to follow him, clearly not through with their conversation.

"Well, who are you  going with?" Darcy practically shrieked.

Kane stopped just long enough to spare her a withering glance. She was fuming about this situation not going like she'd hoped, but she had a cocky sneer on her face, as if she believed that he hadn't a single clue who would go with him. He hadn't abstained from dating anyone since their breakup for lack of options, unlike what she surely hoped was the case. Darcy had just left a bad taste in his mouth that had soured his perspective on girls in general, since then.

"Honestly, I haven't given it a single thought," Kane admitted, truthfully.

He hadn't even realized that the Cotillion was coming up so soon, and it wasn't something men were really excited by. The Cotillion was an odd tradition on the Titan Starship - that was loosely based off of an ancient ball, from back when people still lived on the Ground. Kane wasn't sure what the original social dances were for, he'd never paid attention too much in the preparation classes he'd had to take for his first one. But whatever it used to be for, here on the Titan, the Council organized it to encourage the young men and women to find someone to marry. The Titan Council was all about marriage and babies - preservation of humanity, the circle of life, and all that shit. Kane couldn't care less about the event, and would definitely skip out on it, if it wasn't mandatory for the unmarried youth to attend, once they'd completed their Education requirements.

But the smirk on Darcy's face split into a grin of malicious satisfaction, thinking she'd won some competition, and she was right about him not having a date to speak of . . . yet. Kane got way too much pleasure out of watching her face fall when he said,

"But don't worry, now that you've reminded me," Kane walked away, calling back over his shoulder as he said the last part. "I've got someone special in mind."