~Videl~

Videl liked to think that her cooking was improving after a whole week of trial and error. When she wasn't poring over online recipes and cooking, she busied herself as much as she could cleaning with strange supplies and devices she'd found in the broom closet. Her favorite was easily a feather-light contraption that had different blinking lights that she'd managed to figure out after a few days. It had settings that could vacuum the carpets, mop the floors, and it even folded in on itself to become a handheld device, if needed, that had a sweeping laser that sanitized surfaces such as the counters. She hated the thing at first, because it had been extremely difficult to understand how to work, but she felt a sense of accomplishment every time she unraveled the mystery of each function and each time she employed its usage successfully. As pathetic as she knew it was, the cleaning device became like an odd, little robot friend. Once she'd enabled its voice command setting, and programmed it to respond to a few basic phrases, it spoke to her in its tinny, disembodied voice. Videl began chattering away to it like it was her imaginary roommate. She even gave it the name "Belle," after a princess in another ancient movie she'd watched the other night before bed. Belle's blinking standby light, when "she" was not in use, was a yellow color which made Videl think of the dress of the princess in that movie. Videl began sidling Belle next to her on the couch for company, even sharing her pink throw blanket with the machine. It made her feel just a tiny bit less alone.

Videl was gradually becoming more comfortable in her private quarters, now that she had created some memories of her own. It almost felt like it was her home. But the time for bed filled her with dread each night. She would force herself to lay in the bed, covers drawn tight around her, the fear of another nightmare keeping her wide awake. A few nights, she laid there like that for so long, she would move back to the couch to watch a comedic TV show, or another princess film - giving up on the possibility of sleep altogether - only to find herself so tired she eventually passed out, anyway, waking with a scream or a sob at the nightmare that followed. The nightmares were so vivid, yet when she was awake again, they faded so quickly that she could hardly remember a thing about them. The rage and terror that tainted her upon waking made her upset - she didn't deal with any emotion even close to that in her daily life, so far, and it felt like they weren't her feelings at all. They were gnarled, twisted emotions and Videl wanted none of them. She was eager to shake them off each morning and start her day, wishing the days would fly by faster so she could be through with the unsavory symptoms. She had stopped feeling dizzy, stopped feeling voraciously hungry, stopped feeling like she could drink a gallon of water each morning - after the third or fourth day, but the nightmares came every night without fail, ruining any chance she had of getting quality rest.

Every day, the dark circles under her eyes seemed to get darker, and the only thing that reassured her that things would be okay was rereading the part of the article she'd searched that stated cryo-sleep symptoms were temporary, and would wear off. One more week, she kept telling herself, one more week and she could sleep like a normal person should. She could handle it, she could deal with it a little bit longer.

Videl must have nodded off on the little chair in her miniature dining area, waiting for her pizza to bake that she'd made from scratch, because a shrill, alarm-like sound woke her to the smell of smoke. She hadn't set the timer - she had wanted to check it periodically rather than risk the pizza ending up like the small roast she'd followed the directions on the other day that had turned out dry when it was supposed to be succulent. She had decided that relying on the times and temperatures to be 100% accurate was foolhardy, and it was better to keep a close eye on the food she cooked to prevent food waste. She hadn't thought for one second that she would fall asleep, when she was so excited to try her first pizza.

"No,no,no,no!!" Videl cried out, jumping up so fast that she knocked the chair over sideways. She jerked open the oven, chiding herself for not setting the automatic shut-off timer as she used a silicone oven mitt to pull out the ceramic pizza stone. The smoke billowed in her face and she sputtered and coughed. Her eyes watered as she examined what was left of her beautiful pizza - only a charred, black disc remained. Had she slept through the oven's alarm for long enough that it would be that burnt? How exhausted was she? She wanted to cry over the ruined food, and she knew that was pitiful and childish. Every grocery item had been completely free, the Starship didn't require payment for basic necessities. Even the pizza stone had cost nothing. Sucking it up, she tossed the molten pizza down the garbage chute, and went to find a way to shut the oven's siren off. She started to get frustrated by the smoke and the sound, the difficulty finding the right setting, the fact that her exhaustion had caused this, the cooking failure, Cryo-Level 3 - just about every single thing she could be upset by at that moment. 

But thankfully, she found the right function, and the oven began sucking the smoke out of the air, the alarm finally silenced. After five minutes, it beeped and a message flashed on the screen for her to close the oven door so that it could begin its self-cleaning procedure. Videl did as she was told, her agitation dissipating. Now she was left only with the disappointment in herself. She huffed and wrinkled her nose at the burnt smell that still lingered in the kitchen, despite the oven's attempt to remove the smoke and filter it away to who-knows-where. It would probably cling to the air for a while, reminding her of her mistake. 

Videl really didn't trust herself to cook anything else, just yet, as sleep-deprived as she was. And as much as she enjoyed Belle's company, she had to admit to herself that she was going a little stir-crazy in her quarters. So, with only a little rattle of anxiety in her bones, she changed into a pair of jeans and a pink tank top. She was finally going to venture to the Cafeteria today. She decided to wear a pair of black tennis shoes she'd found in a row of shoes she'd discovered under the bed the other day when she was vacuuming. She was almost tempted to toss the white shoes from the cryo-chamber down the garbage chute when she'd found the hidden treasure, but she just placed them next to the others, reluctantly. After she had the "new" shoes on, she caught a whiff of her hair when she stood back up and sighed. The burnt pizza smell had permeated her hair! Videl frowned and stared at the perfume bottles, feeling conflicted. She felt like the items on the dresser were precious, she didn't want to touch them, but if she wanted to leave her quarters, she couldn't very well walk around smelling like that. 

With a small whine in the back of her throat, she chose one and sprayed herself down with it - concentrating on her hair - quickly, as if the faster she could get it back on the dresser and out of her hands, the less likely she would be "caught" using it - like a little girl sneaking into her mother's room to play with the magical, feminine items in her purse. The perfume smelled floral and had hints of citrus - the wonderful, bright smell lifted her spirits if only by a degree or two. She hadn't been back to the Cafeteria since her confession to Sienna. Like Videl had expected, Sienna had needed some space to grieve and come to terms with things. Yesterday, Sienna had sent her a long message apologizing for not calling, and offered to meet her for dinner, but Videl sent one back saying she'd just stuffed her face with almost a dozen homemade, stuffed potato wedges, although she assured her sincerely that she understood why Sienna had distanced herself and that it was more than okay. Sienna thanked her for not being upset, and made sure to let her surprise be known that Videl was cooking for herself. Sienna's surprise confirmed for her that the real Videl had not cooked at all. A piece of her felt bad for setting herself apart from that girl, like she was selfish for wanting to do her own thing - be different. But another piece of her wanted to smile a little at the confirmation. She felt like maybe it was okay to be someone new, rather than try to mimic a ghost of a person she knew next to nothing about. Perhaps she could be whoever she felt like, and Sienna would like her anyway. At least, that's what she hoped for. 

~Kane~

After a fucking week of Kane's eyes playing tricks on him, he hardly believed when he actually saw V in the Cafeteria. She was standing in the queue, fiddling with her holo-menu while she waited. It looked like she was playing some bubble-popping game and she was smiling as they burst into sparkles or tinier bubbles under her fingertips. She was wearing jeans that accentuated the curves of her hips in a way that made him want to trace the denim with his hands, and that made him uncomfortable as hell. Even with dark circles under her eyes, she had no right to be that attractive to him. And it was aggravating that he felt a surge of possessiveness when a guy standing near her gave her an obvious once-over. V wasn't his girl, unlike Dare had supposed a week ago, she wasn't someone that he  should even be looking at that way, so why was he cracking his neck and popping his knuckles like he wanted to knock the guy out for appraising her looks? He fought the urge to growl from deep in his chest, and willed himself to get his head straight. Not my girl, not my fucking problem. 

Dare stood beside him while Kane had been getting a sandwich from the vending machine, and noticed Kane was frozen in place. Over the past few days, the short conversation with Lars had left Kane with a bad taste in his mouth, causing him to dip out and avoid running into him every time he saw Lars - not wanting to deal with his inevitably crass comments or the way they hit Kane differently now. And consequently, he and Dare had started to hang out more. They had just been gym-buddies before the Cryo incident, but they were quickly becoming real friends. Dare was chill, carefree and he had a much healthier sense of humor than Lars. The real thing that had brought Dare and Kane closer together was actually when he had confided in him about the situation with V. Dare had become increasingly aware of how distracted Kane was in the Cafeteria, eyes scanning the crowds every spare moment, and asked him what was up. Tired of having no one to talk to about the strange new reality he was dealing with, and knowing Dare had never met the Videl of the past, he felt comfortable spilling everything to him. Dare was only mildly shocked by the whole story, and without Kane even having to ask,  he assured him that he wouldn't say anything to anyone about it. Kane had known him for less than a year, but he already knew Dare was a genuine guy, that he would stand by his word and keep it to himself.  And aside from how blunt and honest Dare was, Kane also knew he wasn't going to risk losing a reliable spotter in the Gym. 

"Ah," Dare nodded, his eyes following where Kane's gaze had fixated. "She finally came out of hiding."

Kane finally reached down to retrieve his sandwich from the vending machine slot, and then stood to his full height, never taking his eyes off V. 

"Want to go talk to her?" Dare asked, with a knowing grin.

Without waiting for Kane to answer, Dare started walking in her direction, and Kane followed suit, trying to ignore the nerves that were sending chills through his veins. As they neared her place in line, Kane saw "New High Score!" flashing on her holo-menu, accompanied by digital fireworks. 

"Yes!" They both heard her cheer under her breath as she bounced in place slightly, her dark hair swishing and catching the light with the movement. 

"Congratulations," Kane said, from just a few steps away, making sure to stand to the side of the line of hungry patrons. 

V whirled around to face him and her cheeks reddened immediately. 

"Oh, thanks," she stammered, thumbing the holo-menu off. "I've been stuck on that level." 

She smiled bashfully, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Must have been a pretty hard level, if that's what you've been doing all week." Kane didn't smile back, but his tone was lighthearted enough to convey he was joking.

"U-um . . ." V squeaked, her golden eyes shifting from Kane to Dare like she'd just noticed Kane hadn't approached her alone.

"This is my friend - Dare," Kane offered quickly, clapping him on the back. "Dare, this is V."

Dare gave her an easy smile and a wave. "Hey."

V returned his smile and nodded, her eyes flicking back and forth between them. "Nice to meet you," she mumbled shyly.

"You, too." Dare replied, and without skipping a beat, he asked, "Why don't you come sit with us once you grab your tray?"

Kane wasn't sure if he wanted to give Dare a roundhouse kick or a grateful hug. He definitely wanted to spend more time with V, but he also didn't want to scare her off for another week. Kane cleared his throat and added, "If you want to hang out, we'll be over there." He pointed to their normal table in the upper tier dining area, quick to give her a way out of accepting or rejecting the offer right away. He didn't want her to feel pressured to eat with them, when she hardly knew them. With that, he and Dare veered toward the stairs and made their way to the table. Once they were well out of earshot, Dare laughed.

"You should have seen your face!"

Dare mimicked an expression that was a combination of shock, anger and fear. 

"Dude," Kane scolded him, but he couldn't help but laugh, too. He really didn't know whether to reprimand Dare's forwardness, or thank him for it, so Kane opted to choose his reaction when she took up the offer or didn't show. As they waited to see what V was going to do, Kane wanted to scold himself, more than anyone. He hadn't felt this off-balance over a girl since School, maybe not even then. He wanted her to think he was cool - wanted her to like him. 

What the fuck is wrong with you?  Are you 12 years old? Get a grip, you pussy-ass bitch.  

Ever since his last relationship, Kane hadn't felt a thing for a girl, besides their bodies. And even on those occasions, they were one-way tickets with no refunds. He wasn't taking any return trips. He wasn't interested in going out with anyone, didn't want girls to get attached, and didn't give a shit about any of them. What was he doing, now? Kane was ignoring every rational thought that told him not to let a girl catch feelings, not to want anything more from them than a roll in the sheets - to keep himself at arm's length at all times. He specifically chose girls that he wouldn't think twice about, yet here he was, nervous and excited just to talk to one. This was a bad idea, Kane realized, maybe it would be for the best if she turned them down. He didn't want to feel like this, like some random girl had an advantage over him. He was the one who got chased. He never had the desire to go out of his way to impress someone. Especially someone like Videl, who wouldn't chase a man if her life depended on it.

But this girl wasn't Videl anymore, he reminded himself. She was V, not some random bimbo at a party. She was delicate and breakable, and he would be an idiot if he thought he could one-and-done her. She didn't deserve that sort of treatment, so she'd be wise to stay away from him, because he wasn't about to let himself turn into a bumbling, eighth grade boy over any girl, no matter how attractive she was. Kane refused to be nervous, to worry about her any more than he would worry about anyone else. She was just a chick, and he was resolved to not let her affect him like she was anything more than that. 

She sure as hell didn't mean anything to him. She was just a girl who didn't hate him anymore, and that was interesting, so he wanted to get to know the new her. It wasn't an interest in dating her. Not at all - that would be fucking stupid.