Energy drain, huh? She noted her own battery and yep. Low. She’d have to either buy a charger or bum one at the mansion. Nice!

An older, more mature Amelia would have commented on her interesting relationship with vampires, and the undead. The one that was almost a running gag. But she wasn’t that person right now. Though she had blasted zombies with a shotgun just the other day. For her.

She smirked slightly at the comment about nightmare batteries. “I can only imagine.”

Quickly, Amelia traded numbers with the energy vampire. The whole energy drain thing sounded like a pain... but was also kind of cute. A cute pain.

The text came in, and Amelia chuckled. Random emojis, a lightning bolt, a tongue, and a middle finger. She started a reply text with a panda, a thumbs up, and a peach. After a moment’s hesitation, she deleted the peach. When she glanced back up, Adelynn was tearing into her snowstorm like she was the plot of Twister.

Watch out for flying cows, Amelia thought.

The girl had already put her phone away. Amelia hit send. Adelynn would see it later. When her phone was not dead. And, she would smile.

The young clothing manipulator took a minute to update her contacts list, punching in the name Adelynn. She input the nickname Addy. Yes, this was the bridge she wanted to die on. If the other girl saw, she would probably kill her. But Adelynn was too cute of a name not to remember. So there. And it would display as Addy, for everyone else. Her little secret. Under Company, she did not type in yes please, but she thought about it.

List updated, Amelia turned her attention to her own ice cream.

“So what kind did you get?” She asked, spooning a bit into her mouth. Yum!. “I got cookies and cream. Because it’s one of my favorites.”

With gelato, she always got stracciatella. With snowstorms and cones, it was usually cookies and cream or cookie dough or chocolate.

Adelynn had a spot of ice cream on her nose. Amelia noted this, but did not immediately tell her. She figured the other girl would notice, and get it eventually.

“My family has a restaurant,” she said after a minute. “They do a great cookies and cream. Also, gelato. Stracciatella is fun to say... and fugging delicious.” She smiled hungrily

“One day, I willlearn how to make that gelato. And then the world will be doomed.”

"I'd say you get used to it, but it still pisses me off. Portable batteries help a little bit but I drain those too so it doesn't buy a ton of time." She shrugged. Addy would get the text later, when her phone was on charge, though it was probably for the best that the peach had landed on the cutting room floor. Oh, Addy definitely would have had something not nice to say had she seen Ami put 'Adelynn' into her phone. But she didn't see it, so Ami would live to make Addy squirm awkwardly another day.

"I got chocolate chip cookie dough," she commented, seemingly unaffected by brainfreeze, as her ice cream had already been vanquished. "It's my favorite," she added with a smirk, unaware of the bit of vanilla ice cream that adorned the tip of her nose.

"See, that's cool, your parents have a restaurant. My...dad has a car dealership, and...mom is a defense attorney," she said, the words 'mom' and 'dad' coming out like they were curse words, dripped with venom and disdain as she said them. However, the disdainful look faded into her usual smirk.

"Maybe it will be, though that sounds like I world I'd like to be a part of," she said slyly.

The tone of voice when referring to Adelynn’s parents had not been lost upon Amelia. Talk of ice cream was much more enjoyable. And gelato.

Adelynn smiled slyly, and Amelia smirked. They shared a moment.

That ice cream was still on Adelynn’s nose.

“My brother Aurum is a defense attorney,” she said after a moment. “Trying to save the world one woman at a time... or at least, he was before he found his wife and stopped being a skirt chaser. Which is lame...”

She pouted. “I actually enjoyed trying to set him up. Not that he needed any help or anything. Dude looks like Ryan Reynolds if Ryan Reynolds was pissed at you for trying to set him up on dates. Now I guess he’s married and has, like, a million kids or something like that.” She laughed. “Maybe he knows your mom?”

Amelia moved on. “You got any brothers or sisters? Someone who gets on your nerves, but who you’d also die for?” She shrugged when she said it, but the tone was sincere.

Addy found herself relaxing, even after the mention of her parents. It was actually nice to be around someone that wasn't Veronica; to have someone else that actually wanted to be around her. And this girl was damn hot, too. Wait...where the hell did that thought come from? She felt her cheeks tint lightly at the thought, but managed to shake it away. They were having a moment, after all. No need to ruin it.

"I don't know. Nothing lame about wanting to find someone to settle down with," she commented flatly with a shrug. "Ohhh...so you fancy yourself a matchmaker," she teased lightly. Think you could find a match for me? did not escape her mouth, but it did rattle around her brain. "I mean...it's possible, but he wouldn't be missing much if he doesn't," she said dryly, her tone becoming less interested as her mom came up in conversation.

"Oh, I have a sister! A twin, actually. We're not identical, but her name's Veronica. We resemble a good bit but we're fraternal. And surprisingly enough, I'm the nice one" she said with a sly smirk; she wasn't lying about that, when she thought about it.

That was true, there was nothing wrong with finding a person you wanted to spend your entire life with. But she’d been having fun, dammit!

Adelynn had a sweet sentiment. And Amelia found herself explaining the whole matchmaking thing. Adelynn, with her sweet sentiments, thought it was amusing. Teased her.

Amelia took a bite of her hamburger and thought things over.

The mention of the mom made Adelynn retreat a little. And Amelia hadn’t even meant her brother might have dated, or should have dated, Adelynn’s mom. Or even that he ought to know her, really. It had just slipped out.

Note to self: leave the parents alone.

She moved on. Siblings was a much better topic.

“Twins, huh? Interesting. Yeah, I can see you as the nicer one. Does your sis go nuclear when you borrow things? My brother always used to do that. Even when I was gonna bring it back the very next day!”

“Yeah, you’re definitely the nicer one,” she decided. Her voice shifted towards a teasing tone. “And so sweet and understanding. You didn’t even fry me when you caught me trying to steal your clothes. And you could have done it like—“ Amelia placed her index and middle finger together, and snapped. “That.”

In the air above her hand, a spectral see through simulacrum of a hand hovered and mimicked the snap. It vanished a moment later. Just long enough to notice.

“Um. Wow.” Amelia blinked, staring at her fingers. “Never done that before. Uh. So anyways. What were we talking about?”

Hadn’t it been something about stealing Adelynn’s clothes oh crap. Her Freudian slip was showing. Where the hell had her mind been at?

Ah well. She could just play it cool and move on. Maybe the girl had not noticed?

“Anyways. I’m sure we both have loads of sibling stories. I’d much rather hear about you, Addy.” She smiled winningly.

"I've never really borrowed clothes or anything, no. When my powers surfaced, though I fried her amp by accident. And mine. And our phones. And my TV. And there was a time after that I thought she hated me," she found herself blurting. "Sometimes, I still wonder..." She murmured, blushing beet red and turning her attention to her hamburger, hiding her emotions behind food. Maybe it was easier when they were uncomfortably flirting. At least then there was still kind of a wall there. Besides the thought of kissing her kept her from knowing Addy's secrets. Otherwise she was apparently an open book around this girl.

"They weren't mine yet but after talking to you I realized I wouldn't mind." Whoa. Deeeep blush. That wasn't how she meant it at all...And then some weird thing happened. Was that a spectral hand?

"Hold on. Did you do that?" she asked, her eyes growing wide as she finished her burger and polished off her fries. That was...quite the spectacle, as Addy had zero table manners whatsoever. "That was cool."

She wanted to hear about, Addy? "Well I uh...I play in a band with my sister and two other people; Sonarstatic Rebellion. I play lead guitar and do background vocals. I can also play bass and just about anything with strings, at least a little bit. I like to draw." She shrugged, not realizing that now, on top of the speck of ice cream on her nose, she now had a bit of ketchup on her chin.

That was rough. She almost spoke about when her power had first activated but, what, that was just a few days ago for her and she’d had a girlfriend then. People don’t like when you talk about your exes even if it’s actually more about you— Amelia just listened.

Poor amp. Poor phones. Poor TV. And Adelynn thought her sister hated her, so poor Adelynn too.

Amelia ate a bite of ice cream. A bite of burger. She gave Adelynn a moment to get that blush under control though part of her wanted to tell the girl her sister couldn’t possibly hate her, even if she made her mad. Family is family. That felt like a personal topic though, and Amelia did not know Veronica to be sure.

“That’s no fun.” She said. “All the frying. And your sister— yeah, you’re definitely the nicer one.” Amelia continued, into the teasing and the compliments and the snap.

Her comment... and then Adelynn’s comment. Wha— maybe that had been why Amelia’s focus had flopped and her snap had summoned something she’d never seen before.

What exactly had Adelynn meant by... had she meant that those clothes hadn’t been hers... but after talking to her, Amelia, Adelynn wouldn’t have minded if Amelia had... stolen... her clothes. Nawww. Just bad phrasing like she had done. So why were they both blushing?

Amelia tried to play it cool. And Adelynn asked about the power display. She mopped up some ketchup with her own fries. Took a burger bite.

“I don’t know. I think it was an accident. Pretty cool though, I’ll have to experiment with it later.” She smiled. Shrugged one shoulder. Then changed the topic, like ‘anyways, let’s talk about you!’

Adelynn played in a band? That was pretty neat. With a name like sonar static rebellion, Amelia sensed that maybe Adelynn’s sister had a sound-based power? Amelia listened to everything she said, but she couldn’t help noticing the big of ketchup in addition to the ice cream speck...

“That’s cool. I love music. What kind of music do you two play? I’m really into indie and Alternative. Can’t play a lick, but I can rock a karaoke machine... and art is cool.”

She ate some ice cream... and joined the speck chin club. With ice cream.

“So what do you like to draw?” She asked.

"I mean...I love my sister, and I know she does too. Sometimes it's just...." she sighed. "I know it's because I'm the more emotional one. People just show affection differently, I guess." Luckily everything turned around with the introduction of the weird hand.

"You should; that could prove useful," Addy replied with a nod as she looked down at her empty plate, she hadn't even left one speck of ketchup, except for the one on her chin. And the ice cream on her nose.

"Oh, we play a lot of punk rock, usually. I play more than that; several genres actually, but as a band we normally stick to the rebellious stuff, to fit with our aesthetic. As much as I'd love to expand our horizons, that doesn't seem like it's in the cards yet." Another defeated sigh. Maybe one day she'd get the rest of the band on the same page.

"I draw a lot of designs, fancy artistic stuff usually. You know, flowers, dragons, decorated hands raising the middle finger..." she said with a smirk. "Maybe if we meet again I can bring my sketchbook," she suggested, blushing lightly at the thought of making plans to see each other again. Wasn't it too soon for that? Was it, who knew?

As she spoke, her eyes were drawn to Ami's lips. Or more specifically...her chin. "Hey, uh, Ami? You got a little something on your chin," she said, her voice more flat and casual, as if she'd just said it had been raining outside.

“Yeah.” Amelia nodded. “They do.” Some people did show affection differently. This was true.

—

“Punk rock is cool.” Amelia said. “Branching out though... yeah I hear ya. That’d be nice. Show you’re more than one thing.” People always are. Thinking they react one way, are one way, was a disservice.

For instance, she liked punk and pop and Disney music, of all things. And more. Amelia could even stomach some of the things she usually didn’t like, like metal music where they screamed. It had its place. Sometimes, a little screaming could be good. ... like in the soundtrack to one of her animes.

“Bet you’re pretty good,” Amelia said, smiling.

Adelynn said she also liked art. Drawing. Dragons, pretty flowers, hands flying the middle finger.

Amelia laughed. “I would like that. I like that last one. Perhaps, you can expand to dragons and flowers flying the middle finger, too. Like some of those Alice in Wonderland flowers on acid.”

She could picture the flower, now. Brightly colored, angry, with reddish eyes. Proudly flying the bird at a caterpillar for the whole world to see.

“I like to draw, too. Mainly doodling. Pandas, stuff I see, like people and places... and clothing sketches. You know me.” She grinned. “All about clothes.”

“Sometimes,” she admitted. “I like to draw people just for their clothes. If an outfit pops, I like to capture it and keep it. You know? For later?”

Her doodling skills were nothing superlative, but she could get the job done. And clothing sketches can work, even if they’re rough. Get some colored pencils and you can color coordinate.

“Drawing those things gets you thinking about the colors and patterns on the clothes, and how they were made. The weaves.” She said. All sorts of good stuff. Stuff that maybe kind sorta clicked with the sort of things one might consider when constructing clothing with bulletproof weaves...?

Her thoughts of Adelynn and doodles were interrupted as the girl herself drew Amelia’s attention to something embarrassing. On a normal day, she might have been mortified. But Amelia had decided, she would not let herself become embarrassed by this. She could be comfortably awkward around Adelynn. Besides— Adelynn had a little schmutz, herself.

“Thanks,” she said. Her napkin rose to pat at the ‘little something.’ And then, Amelia looked Adelynn’s way and hesitated, as if noticing something for the very first time.

Yes, she could be comfortable. And, she could be calm, and helpful, and—

She leaned forward with her napkin, and wiped away the bit of ketchup on Adelynn’s chin.

“You got a little something too, right — there. And,” with a clean section of the paper napkin, Amelia went for the nose. Her eyes met Adelynn’s eyes as she dabbed the ice cream away. They lingered a moment.

Smooth. She could be smooth.

Amelia grinned impishly at the girl, face maybe a little closer than usually might have been expected. And, because stealing a kiss felt a little bit like fighting dirty, and she felt a little self conscious about the whole thing suddenly, Amelia laughed lightly at herself.

“Sorry,” she said serenely, voice a little low and breathy. “It just hit me. In the books and the movies, right there... that would have been right about when the incorrigible scamp went in to steal a kiss and sweep the girl off her feet.” Or guy, if that was your thing. “But maybe that’s a bit too sudden.” She said. “... unless?”

She arched one amused eyebrow at Adelynn, and flat out asked it. “This might get me punched, but can I kiss you?”

"Sure punk rock is my aesthetic, but it shows skill to not be a one-trick pony. Versatility," she replied, sitting back in her chair, having fully demolished her food. "Well, I like to think I'm pretty f---ing awesome," Addy replied with a smirk.

"That much wasn't that hard to figure out, you're an open book," the electric teen teased, rolling her eyes slightly. "Though maybe we can swap sketchbooks one day. Show off a little, yeah?"

The conversation shifted to how apparently neither of them had a clean face, and Addy felt her cheeks blush red when Ami leaned over and wiped her face clean. Their eyes met and they were stupid close.

Ami's words made Addy shift a little uncomfortably, but she kept a straight face and maintained eye contact, trying to maintain that tough persona that had eluded her all day. "You shoulda just ****ing went for it," she murmured. "Woulda been better than asking and ruining it. I should punch you for asking such a dumb question." Her face stayed just as straight and serious, though still a dark shade of red.

Taking a shaky breath, Addy reached out and put a hand on Ami's shoulder before closing the distance between them in a surprisingly gentle kiss.

Adelynn had said she preferred not only having one trick.

“Versatility,” Amelia had agreed.

The girl took to her compliment like a fish to water. Amelia chuckled at the language. Pretty fsssking awesome indeed.

Apparently, her clothing love was plain as the nose on her face. Adelynn rolled her eyes playfully, then suggested they sometime swap.

“Sure.” She said. “Think I can manage flowers. Though I’d probably just wind up drawing cool punk rock outfits. Maybe the dragons could model.”

Things occurred, and Adelynn blushed. That tough persona, Amelia saw the cracks in it. So she just sat and waited for her kiss. When it finally came, it was well worth the wait.

It was gentle, and it lasted just the right amount of time. She sort of melted into it. After it was over, Amelia sat back in her chair, happily satisfied.

In a breathy voice, she said. “Mmm. That was nice.”

She reached out and placed her hand on Adelynn’s hand. “I’m still glad I asked, you know? Even if I’m a mood killer. Had to make sure you wanted to.” Her voice warmed, and her eyes lowered and she blushed. “It’s nice to know you’re wanted.”

That was all. Just that.

"Hey, dragon in a leather jacket and a studded choker would be badass," Addy confirmed with a nod and a sly smirk.

Post kiss, both girls were happy, and Addy's face was a light shade of pink. That tough persona never stood a chance. "It was, yeah," she breathed softly, agreeing with her. She shuddered as Ami's hand rested on her own, and she moved it so their fingers could entwine.

"Yeah, but I still think you shoulda gone for it. Worst I coulda done was punch you, she said with a shrug. "But...yeah. It is nice to know you're wanted. To know that someone can want that sort of thing from me, er...you." she blushed deeper, looking at Ami as the silence sort of settled in. Not knowing what to do, she leaned in for another kiss.

Yeah. She was still operating on the post-kiss high. The kiss had been nice, on both sides. And the closeness? She liked how Adelynn was holding her hand.

She liked a lot about Adelynn at that moment. The blushing was just a small part of it. The openness... the dropped guard. The things the other girl said. The follow up.

Adelynn had told her she should have gone for the big impromptu kiss anyhow, because “the worst I coulda done was punch you.” Amelia had just smiled at her and brushed a thumb across the girl’s hand. Not lessening the comment, not dismissing it. Making a note for the future. Giving the other girl a subtle nudge to keep talking. Which she had.

Adelynn had kept talking. It was sweet. She leaned in for another kiss. Amelia met her half way.

If they kept this up, they might get thrown out of the food court. Milkshake Monarch Man had started to notice.

Amelia let the kiss linger.

Addy was out of her element. The kissing, the closeness, the hand-holding. None of this was anything she was necessarily used to. But...she liked it. A lot. And now for several reasons, the blonde was glad she didn't end up fighting this girl over a jacket.

Ami met her halfway this time, and the kiss lingered. Addy let it. She knew the Milkshake Monarch guy was watching them, she knew they were probably going to get thrown out, but she didn't really care. The one hand gripped Ami's as the other hand grabbed the table and she leaned forward more, eyes closing.

She got so lost in the moment that when she heard someone clear their throat, she jumped and nearly hit her head against Ami's. Did she? She wasn't sure. Standing there was the Monarch guy with a mall security guy who obviously had no chance being an actual cop which was probably how he got here. With that, the two of them were shown the door, and Addy gathered her things with a sheepish grin as they were led out of the restaurant.

"Well that was a hell of a first date, eh?" she said after they were out of the food court and in the main part of the mall again. "At least it was just the one place and not the whole mall? Unless you take that as a challenge..."

Of all the silly, stupid, infuriating little things— someone nearby had cleared their throat. The kiss had broken, lamentably. Because Adelynn had startled out of her little reverie. Foreheads had conked, a glancing blow!

Amelia had said “Do you mind? We’re kind of in the middle of something.”

They had been escorted out of the place. She had grabbed her things, and flown the Monarch the bird as mall Security man had led them ineffectually away. It was a gesture of which Adelynn would approve. And then, they were in the main concourse, embarrassed and amused.

One hell of a first date, indeed.

Amelia smirked. “Yep.”

Would she take getting thrown out of the whole mall as a challenge? “Nope!” She said. She cupped one hand around her mouth to block out others from hearing, and leaned forward in a ‘just us girls’ sort of whisper. “Between you and me, the only ways I think we could manage that are setting things on fire, or public indecency. And I’m all out of matches.”

She smirked, and stood tall.

“So anyways, I’ll call you. Or text you. I gotta do a bit more shopping ‘round these here parts.” She jabbed a thumb at the mall.

When the moment was right, she snuck a quick kiss good bye.