Deep Underground

The leader sounded peeved.

"Who the hell would have expected Teylon and his group to be at that dome at that time, for God's sake!"

"Could it have just been a coincidence?" said Terrence.

"Too much of a bloody coincidence for my liking!" said Arnold.

"But, but, it was the first week of the school holidays, and this is exactly the sort of thing that Adalace would do, both to search for her beloved VIC-20, and also to get time with Sarsaparilla. And that diary and photo definitely indicate that the VIC-20 was at the dome." said Teresa.

"I know. The whole thing is odd. And Adalace is a damn nuisance!" said Arnold.

Terrence had one of her GPS spoofing units in front of him. The outer casing had been removed, revealing a hodgepodge of circuit boards connected with a messy tangled web of wires. He poked at it with his finger.

"She is also extremely good. How she managed to get this thing to work, and work well, in spite of the fact that the GPS is designed not to be easily spoofed in this manner, and how she managed to discover all of the required passwords, is pretty amazing. Our chief programmer could hardly believe his eyes at the way she did the coding to drive this thing."

"Well, she is our only esp ability enhanced programmer we have ever had." said Prakash, "So we expect nothing less from our Adalace."

"But at this rate, she will no longer be our Adalace. Teylon is, step by step, subverting all of our preparations for claiming her. Not to mention our plans for the other teenagers." said Lenny. He sounded very aggrieved.

"And every time we try to do something about him, he somehow evades us!" said Arnold. He was also in charge of assassinations.

"And, really, we can't get a grip on how he is doing all of this. And, for that matter, why. Are you sure that it is just him? Maybe he has help?" said Terrence.

"Actually, that's a good point. Someone else who is calling the shots, and somehow has impeccable sources of intelligence on our movements, and some sort of ability to kill people, but who, for some reason, does not communicate the full picture to Teylon." said Lenny. "What about it?"

"Ah that might be the Esmeralda person they sometimes mention!" said Teresa.

"Even if it isn't, we might as well call her Esmeralda, just so as we have a name to go by." said the leader.

"We need to think about that." said Arnold. "But, for the time being, what are we going to do?"

The group was silent for a while, as they pondered the possibilities. After a while, the Prakash spoke up.

"According to the psychological models we have of these kids, it should be impossible for Sarsaparilla and Adalace to end up in a permanent, stable, relationship. There are just too many difficulties. And yet, they are showing signs of successfully working through them."

"That's Teylon's damn influence!" said Arnold.

"So, anyway, it's occurred to me that Sarsaparilla is our least valuable resource here, what with her having no esp abilities at all. I really think our next intervention should target her, and not Teylon. Once she is out of the picture, we should have no problem in claiming Adalace."

"Sounds like an idea." said Lenny, "Any further comments?"

"But, even if she has no discernible esp ability, she is still a candidate for recruiting into our organisation!" said Terrence.

"Sorry, but she isn't yet a prime candidate. There was supposed to be another two or three years of slowly pushing her into our required direction. And, even then, the forecasts suggest it could be iffy. But, now? With Adalace and Teylon? I don't think we any longer have a chance, even if she doesn't successfully become a couple with Adalace." said Arnold.

"I suppose so." said Terrence.

"May I suggest we think carefully about how we do it? We want to minimise the chance that this Esmeralda person can interfere with us." said Arnold.

"Agreed. Furthermore I think we should wait and watch for a while, and pick our time carefully." said Lenny.

After some more discussion, Arnold updated the minutes, and they moved onto the next item in the agenda.

----------------------------------------

 Sarsaparilla: A gathering at her place.

"Ouch!" said Sarsaparilla with a yelp, "He bit me!"

The mean little thing! And after I fed him lots of yummy food!

The he that she was referring to was a small kitten, borrowed from the girl who lived next door to her. Sarsaparilla was currently trying to cuddle it, but the kitten had suddenly started complaining.

"Ah, I think he has reached his limit for socialisation tonight," said Teylon, "Cats are like that, you know. They can only take so much before complaining."

He carefully picked up the kitten from Sarsaparilla's hands.

Hey, he didn't bite Teylon! What's he got that I don't?

"When it comes to that stage, the best thing is to give them some space and let them calm down."

Teylon put the kitten down into its basket, which was currently on Sarsaparilla's bed. The basket came with an extra small towel, which he draped over the top of the basket.

"There you are, puss, have a nice little sleep."

Adalace nudged Sarsaparilla gently in the ribs. "Oh, the poor little kitty, he found you much too scary, didn't he?"

"I am not scary!" said Sarsaparilla.

Adalace is now teasing me? That's kind of nice.

"Here, have one of these fresh prawns to cheer you up." said Adalace.

With a cute grin on her face, she speared a prawn with a plastic fork, and pushed it towards Sarsaparilla's mouth. Who opened it and ate the prawn.

Now I'm being fed by her!

There was a burst of laughter from everyone else as they watched this.

"Well, if you can embarrass me then I can do the same to you!" said Sarsaparilla as she picked up a small vegetable roll and presented it to Adalace. Who bit and ate it without any hesitation. Some more laughter from the others.

It was cramped in Sarsaparilla's single room. There were only three chairs; the others had to make do with the bed. Although both Leroy and Maggie had the option of sitting down in mid air, as the conditions permitted. The food was piled upon the study desk, and everyone held their plates in their hands.

The party is going well. The first party I have ever hosted. And Adalace looks gorgeous!

"Gee, I wish I had someone to feed me food." said Erasyl. He sounded wistful.

Tough luck, boy!

But someone else must have felt more generous.

"Oh, I don't know, perhaps you might like me to feed you something?" said Maggie, a big grin on her face.

Erasyl looked momentarily surprised, and then he matched her grin with one of his own.

"Ooh, yes please!"

So Maggie reached out and picked up Sarsaparilla's carving knife. Thirty centimetres long, bright stainless steel, razor sharp edge. She skewered a piece of pineapple on the end of it.

"But I'm only offering that service if I use this knife. Now, do you trust me?"

By now, Maggie's grin had a certain predatory look to it. Erasyl visibly gulped.

"Ah, well I certainly trust your moral intentions, ah, no doubt about that. After all, you protected all of us the other day, and, well, the only problem is, what if you slip or you fumble the knife right at the wrong moment?"

"Hah! This might be stainless steel, but it conducts electricity, so I can still grip it with my magnetic ability. And my muscles might tremble or be inaccurate, but my magnetic ability can control movements down to microns. So there is no way that I could accidently slip and cut you!"

Everyone else was watching intently.

"Well, in that case, sure!"

So Maggie presented the foot long length of razor sharp gleaming steel to Erasyl, who gingerly plucked off the piece of pineapple from its end, and ate it.

Claps from everyone else.

"But, don't worry, you don't have to feed me!" said Maggie.

"Oh."

Hmm, Erasyl looks slightly miffed. Poor boy, no girlfriend for him. He's trying to pretend he doesn't care by looking at my pictures.

Sarsaparilla's pictures were mainly posters, tacked onto the wall. They were all spectacular shots of Earth side hurricanes and storms and cyclones.

"You like extreme weather?" said Erasyl.

"I sure do! We never get that sort of weather on Mars, since our domes are nowhere near big enough to hold them. It must be amazing, to be standing out in a storm, feeling the wind whipping past, or travelling in one of those storm watcher aircraft as it flies through the eye of a hurricane."

Sarsaparilla was getting a little excited here, and Adalace looked at her with a touch of wonder. As did most of the others.

"Wouldn't it also be rather wet? And, maybe, a little dangerous?" said Maggie, breaking the spell.

In the silence after that, a small, muffled, meow was heard.

"Hello," said Teylon, who checked the basket, "He's not in his basket. I think he must have jumped out and crawled through the slats under the mattress. He's under the bed somewhere."

"That's a nuisance, there's a lot of junk crammed in there." said Sarsaparilla.

Leroy looked at the side the of bed, only to immediately discover that it was a solid board.

"Huh, what I do to get to the insides is to roll the mattress up on one end or the other, and then remove some slats." said Sarsaparilla.

"Hmm, for us, I think it would be easier if Leroy takes one end, and I take the other end, and we lift it up and move it sideways. If everyone else squeezes themselves next to the space in front of the door, there is enough room. That way, all the stuff under the bed stays where it is, and we can then easily find kitty." said Maggie.

"OK" said Sarsaparilla. She, Teylon, Erasyl, and Adalace squashed themselves in front of the door, in the space between the desk and the wardrobe, while Leroy and Maggie casually floated up, inverted themselves, and each grabbed an end of the bed. From their point of view, it was like hanging from a bar, except that in this case the bar was the end of the bed, and they were hanging upside down, with their feet touching the ceiling.

Fortunately, they had taken off their shoes already, so Sarsaparilla's ceiling didn't end up with muddy footprints all over it.

As usual, Maggie's skirt miraculously draped itself skywards, maintaining her usual modesty.

Maggie has such gorgeous legs!

By chance, Sarsaparilla was able to see both Teylon and Erasyl briefly noticing her legs, then looking resolutely away.

Boys are so disgusting sometimes! But at least they didn't keep staring...

Sarsaparilla's eyes turned towards the now exposed contents under her bed.

He body shuddered. A look of absolute horror appeared on her face.

No! No! How could this happen?

She opened her mouth to say something, but it was too late. Leroy and Maggie had put down the bed, and everyone had gathered around the contents to search for the kitten. Sarsaparilla just stood there, mouth open, her body frozen in place.

No! Oh my God no!

"There's kitty!" said Teylon. He reached out and gently stroked the kitten, then had a good look at what the kitten was playing with. It was a small ziplock bag with something in it.

"Eh? That's strange, that looks like my missing tie clip..."

"And, it has my name written on the label..."

He looked in bemusement at Sarsaparilla, She slowly sagged, then collapsed onto her knees. She put her hand over her face, as if to block out the sight of a room full of people trawling through her things, but she spoilt the effect by spreading her fingers and peeking through the gaps.

This is a nightmare...

Adalace reached out. "Hey, this is my hair clip!"

Her voice dropped in volume. "Also with my name tag..."

Erasyl and Leroy simultaneously picked up a zip lock bag each.

"Ah, so that's what happened to the brand name tag on my nice sports shoes." said Erasyl.

"And my pen with the carved wooden handle." said Leroy.

Maggie took a zip lock bag that had a small broach. She saved her comment, however, for the remaining bag.

"But, if there is one for each of us, why is there one more?"

She picked it up, and read the name.

"Kaydence. Who's she?"

The clear plastic bag contained another hairclip, a colourful butterfly. She held it up to the light, and then looked at Sarsaparilla. Everyone else was silent and still.

"Please! Don't touch it!"

Sarsaparilla's voice was anguished; she was now holding her own hands and agitatedly making washing movements with them. She looked down at the carpet.

"Kaydence."

She started crying.

"Kaydence, my friend from five years ago. It was so hard at the orphanage. They never had enough money to properly look after us, we weren't important enough for them to bother. We had worn out second hand clothes, slept in crowded bunks, had indifferent teachers for our school classes. Our caretakers couldn't really care less for us, and bullying was barely kept under control."

Sarsaparilla was still kneeling on the carpet. She bent over, face just above her knees.

"But still, it wasn't so bad. Not totally bad. We had our friendship groups. My friend was Kaydence. We slept in the same room, played together, schooled together, and protected each other from the bullies."

Sniff, sniff.

"As long as I had her, my life wasn't all that bad."

"And then, one day, a couple of men came in, presented the matron with a few forms to sign, and they took away Kaydence. Just like that. The matron said that she had gone to another orphanage because of better educational facilities. But, I never heard of her again. I tried to get her email address, but was told they didn't know it. I was left alone."

Sarsaparilla was crying in earnest now.

"By accident, her hair clip was left behind when the men packed up her meagre belongings. So I claimed it."

"That was the only thing I had left of her."

"I never managed to make any more friends. Probably I tried too hard, or something. It began to depress me, which, of course, made it even harder to make friends."

Everyone else was listening, in total silence, each holding a small ziplock bag with their name on it.

"Eventually I came here. I just had to get away from that orphanage with the threadbare carpets and cold memories of being abandoned."

"I was determined to do my best. Not to let my past grind me down. I did my best to present a cheerful front, to smile nicely, to be positive about life. To get good results in my studies. To somehow find out what my esp ability was and to develop it. But spending all day being bright and sweet and cheery was so exhausting. Sometimes, when I just couldn't keep up my spirits, I would sit on the floor here, and take out the memento. Hold it in my hands. Remember my friend. All by myself..."

"And then, this strange man introduced me to Adalace. And Maggie. And the two boys. Just like that, my life began to look up."

"Naturally I stole some mementoes. I couldn't help myself. Just in case one of them disappeared, I would have something to remind me of them."

More crying.

"So, yeah, I'm a thief. I stole from my friends."

More sobbing.

"This is so horrible, so mortifying. You're all going to leave me now, just like my other friend. I'll be left alone. And if you take those keep sakes, I won't even have anything to remember you by!"

"I hate being alone..."

There was a flash of movement and Adalace thudded onto the carpet next to Sarsaparilla, facing her. She put her arms under Sarsaparilla's shoulders, hoisted them up until Sarsaparilla was facing Adalace, then Adalace wrapped her arms around her.

"Stop this crap! Stop it right now! I have no intention of leaving you, you idiot!"

"Huh?"

"I don't care if you stole my hairclip. Hell, you can have a dozen more if you like. As soon as I buy them, of course. But you're not running away and neither am I!"

"Adalace... you're crushing me..."

"Oh, sorry."

Adalace loosened her hold; she put her head next to Sarsaparilla's.

"So you can stop crying, OK?" she said.

"Huh, yes. And you can too."

Mutual sniffing from both of them.

There was a box of tissues on the bookcase. Maggie grabbed a handful, then knelt next to Sarsaparilla on the other side from Adalace.

"Here, you two, have some tissues."

She put her arms around both.

"And, really, I don't mind either. In fact, it's kind of touching that you would want to have something to remember me by. I didn't have any friends, either, you know, before this group."

Maggie wasn't crying, but she did look suitably solemn.

Sarsaparilla managed to get her breathing under control. She wrapped her arms around Adalace, looked at Maggie and said thanks.

Leroy sat down near them. "I'm with Maggie on this one. I'm really happy to have you as a friend."

Erasyl knelt down. "Ah, so am I."

He has actually got some tears in his eyes? I never...

The last to act was Teylon. He sat on the ground where he could see Sarsaparilla, and fidgeted with the zip lock bag containing the tie clip.

"Sarsaparilla, well, I'm like Maggie in that, well, I feel..."

Teylon, the slick and accomplished con man, never at a loss for words, was beginning to stammer.

"Well, I suppose you could say I'm feeling... honoured that you consider me as a friend. Hum, I err, have every intention of maintaining your friendship. Ah, if that's OK?"

Sarsaparilla nodded her head.

I'm being smothered in kindness and friendship here. It's so warm. It's so warm in Adalace's arms...

The cat gave a loud meow, sprang up onto the table and pinched a piece of left over ham. He settled down contentedly as he chewed it.

The tension evaporated and everyone laughed.

Twenty minutes later Adalace and Sarsaparilla were sitting, side by side, on the bed, arms around each other. None of the others were present. The room was clear of any detritus left over from the party, the others had set to with enthusiasm to clean up. The cat was sound asleep in its basket on the chair. All of the souvenirs were back in their proper place, under the bed.

"It was pretty transparent, wasn't it? They were all determined, without saying a word, to leave us alone in each other's company." said Adalace.

Sarsaparilla giggled.

"Yes, it was. It's really nice of them. And, did you see, Erasyl actually had a few tears!"

"I know, I saw it too. Beneath that yucky exterior he must have some good points! And, I don't think you saw, but Maggie noticed him also. And she looked so surprised!"

"Did she?"

They sat in silence for a while.

This is very nice, but I think we are both starting to get embarrassed. We are sitting on my bed, after all...

"Well, I think I should make a move." said Adalace.

"OK. So, perhaps we can meet again soon?"

"Of a course! I don't suppose that, say, tomorrow afternoon after my shift finishes would be too soon?"

"Not at all!"

They made plans, and then they got up. They stood awkwardly for a moment, briefly shook hands, and Adalace left.

----------------------------------------

Sarawatch: Hearing some choice gossip #3

I'm tired of reading detective stories from a long gone century.

I'm bored of all of this... Although Teylon and his motley crew certainly provided a bit of excitement there for a while.

Sarawatch yawed, kicked back her chair and stretched.

If a member of the public sees me through the glass, then tough.

Just then Adalace appeared. She opened the door, walked though and went to her office. She did not appear to notice Sarawatch at all.

My, she's certainly pre-occupied today. Not to mention the fact that her displays of cuteness have gone down quite dramatically lately.

Next, Teylon walked in the door. He did not have his usual mostly neutral but with a trace of confidence look on him; in fact he also looked a bit pre-occupied. So pre-occupied that he walked right past Sarawatch without seeing her. However he had no choice in seeing Adalace, since she suddenly appeared in front of him, coming out of her office door, carrying some papers.

"Oh, hi."

"Hi"

They looked at each other. Since Adalace was so tall, they gazes at each other were level. A small and somewhat embarrassed smile from Adalace and a small and concerned smile back from Teylon.

"Ah, did you make plans to meet up again?" said Teylon.

"Yes, after my shift this afternoon." said Adalace.

Big grin from Teylon. They both noticed Sarawatch at the same time, and both switched to their normal expressions. Adalace put the papers on the desk, and returned to her office.

Now what is all of that about?

She jerked her thumb in the direction of her office. "Teylon, if you please?"

"So, another advance in the budding romance. With a little help from Teylon and extras."

"That's right."

"But why did you have that pre-occupied look when you came in?"

Teylon frowned and looked worried.

"Well, the thing is, I don't quite know what's happening. In my Earth bound life I was a complete loner, but here I seem to be expected to look after five somewhat problematic teenagers, and what does that have to do with my main task?"

"Who knows?"

"And, there's Sarsaparilla's inclusion of me amongst those she considers as her friends. Nobody back on Earth would have done that, not even some of those, err, long term ladies I associated with. That made me feel... well I'm not quite sure what the hell I'm feeling. I mean, what does it all mean? It's not just Sarsaparilla, of course. All of the others... ah, what am I supposed to do with all of this? And I really can't get a handle on how I should react to them..."

His voice trailed off and he gazed blankly ahead.

The total loner, never needing anyone, is now fully involved with five teenagers. In a wholesome way, of course.

Humph, he doesn't recognise his own emotions in the matter.

Poor thing.

Sarawatch smiled. "I am sure you will work it all out. Just give it time."

Esmeralda is being a bit devious with her plans, isn't she?

Sarawatch suggested that Teylon staff the front desk for a while, while she went out for a walk.

Let him sit and stew for a while.

----------------------------------------

Adalace: Her first date

Adalace looked down at her feet, enclosed in brand new, fashionable, shoes. They were a dark gold colour with a red trim. They had moderately long heels, but not too long, after all she was already a tall lady.

Sigh. I brought these shoes especially for my first date...

The shoes are a success...

But why can't my date be a success too?

She moved her eyes from her shoes, and tried to sneak a look to her side. Only to get embarrassed when Sarsaparilla did exactly the same thing. Their eyes met, they both got red in the face, and both went back to looking at their shoes.

They were currently sitting on a park bench, ostensibly to watch the sun go down from across the river. But they only thing there were aware of was the wide gap between them.

"This isn't going very well, is it?" said Sarsaparilla.

"No, it's not. I just wish... I mean, I'm sure we are really suited for each other..."

"Yeah, sure we're suited. I'm sure!" said Sarsaparilla, with some sarcasm, "But how would I know, if you keep all your secrets to yourself? After all, you know all of my dirty laundry. Struth, everyone in our group knows them by now. And, God help us, we all know Teylon's worse secrets! And he's an ancient old man! So why can't you tell me yours? I known without a doubt that you have some."

"Cause I don't want to! I mean, I will, one day. I promise! But not quite now! It's all too much at once!"

Sarsaparilla squirmed with frustration, turned and glared at Adalace.

"OK, OK, keep your secrets! For now. But you had better tell me them soon!"

"I said I promise I will! You don't have to keep hammering the point!"

They took a breather and tried to cool off.

In between them, on the bench, was a half-eaten ice cream. Half eaten, and the part that was uneaten was now uneatable, since it had melted. The sticky residual had oozed over the wrapping paper and was dripping down onto the bench, leaving a mess. This represented another conflict they had had. That is right, on their first date they had managed to have two separate fights about two separate issues.

"And what's with this obsession of yours to always share every bite of food?" said Adalace.

I'm not the only one with problems, you know! Bloody hell, we could have just brought two ice creams, instead of having a big fight over one and wasting it.

Some mumbling from Sarsaparilla, then she spoke up.

"Because, because, at the orphanage there was never quite enough food. We often went hungry. Not always, not a lot, but still. And, so, for Kaydence and I, it's one of the ways we shared our lives. We shared our food. It provided a bond between the two of us."

"So, of course I want to share my food with you! Why can't we?"

This is so painful, are we really compatible after all?

"OK, I understand, I understand. But, that's not what I have ever done. I suppose because I was an only child, and my parents fed me quite well. I can't complain about how I was treated."

"Lucky you." said Sarsaparilla, with some resentment showing.

She reflected about this for a moment, and then spoke again in a much more kinder, gentler voice.

"As in, you really are lucky. Kaydence and I would sometimes watch the other school kids, the one with parents, being picked up after school. Their mothers, or sometimes fathers, with big smiles, greeting their children and then all going off. We used to construct elaborate fantasies about how happy those kids were, in their family homes, with their own biological parents and brothers and sisters."

Sarsaparilla sighed loudly.

"Of course, I now realise that we were totally unrealistic about how happy those family lives were, but nonetheless..."

"Hmm, sorry, sorry." said Adalace.

"Perhaps we can try again with the ice creams?" said Sarsaparilla, "And, and, don't worry, this time I'll pay for my own."

Actually, the girls did not have two fights, they had three fights. Sarsaparilla expected Adalace to pay for the shared ice cream, since; after all, Adalace had much more educational grant money that Sarsaparilla did.

"Yeah. OK. After all, it's all right for Teylon to pay for us all, since he is rich from his ill-gotten gains. But I'm not that rich!"

"OK, no need to go on about it!"

They both stood up. Adalace scooped up the remains of the ice cream and dropped it in a nearby bin. Then they looked at each other, both looking uncomfortable.

Do I ask her if we can hold hands, or not? Does she want to, or maybe she doesn't? This is so difficult!

Fortunately Sarsaparilla must have been asking herself the same questions.

She held out her hand. "Say, why don't we go to the Frenzy, where we first met? And, well, ah, since we are supposed to be dating, would you like to hold hands?"

Hand in hand, feeling very self-conscious, they wandered along the streets, heading for the Chocolate Frenzy.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

----------------------------------------

Sarsaparilla: Her first date

Damn, it's packed.

"Oh, I forgot, it's now prime time for the Frenzy."

Sarsaparilla was standing just inside the entrance, looking in dismay at the dense, elbow-to-elbow crowd. Every table was taken, some tables having standing room only. Half a dozen wait staff were extremely busy taking an endless stream of orders, another three or four were behind the counters, frantically making them. Grandma Frenzy herself was present, not actually doing any work, just surveying her domain and making sure that things were proceeding to the standards that she expected.

Adalace, standing behind Sarsaparilla and still holding her hand, looked over Sarsaparilla's shoulder and agreed.

"So, what do we do now?" she said.

At this point Grandma decided to intervene. She walked over to them and said:

"Oh, hello dears, I'm afraid that we're a bit crowded at the moment, huh."

At this point, she tilted her head slightly and seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment, she resumed:

"I remember you two, you were in that group of teenagers with that older man, weren't you?"

Before they could think of anything to say, she gestured to them to follow her.

"What say you go to the function room? I've got no bookings for it at the moment."

A few minutes later, two girls were sitting in the function room, listening to the muffled sounds of the crowd outside. Those sounds suddenly increased as Grandma opened the door and came in with their orders.

"There you are, dears."

She set down the tray.

"Going by the way you were holding hands, I take it you two must be dating?"

I didn't expect to have to admit it publicly so soon...

"Ah, yes." said Adalace.

Grandma, who seemed to be in no hurry to go back to the rush hour happening outside, beamed a friendly smile at them.

"That's nice. If I remember correctly, you were by yourself the first time you came here," she said as she looked at Sarsaparilla, "You didn't look too happy, then. But it makes a difference to have someone special, doesn't it?"

I could have sworn I had on my sweet, hopeful looking smile back then. She must be very astute at observing people.

"Yes, it does, well, err."

"Well, apart from arguing all the time." said Adalace, finishing off Sarsaparilla's sentence.

Ouch, that's still painful, even if it is true.

Grandma raised one eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

She tilted her head slightly and paused for a moment. She put on a friendly smile.

"Well, it's not for me to say what you need to do, but, hmm, perhaps you're trying too hard? If this is your first date, then maybe start with something easy to talk about. You know, perhaps like discussing your friends. Or that older man. He seems to be a nice person, I'm sure. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future to talk about the more deep and meaningful stuff, you know."

"Huh, yes I suppose so..." said Sarsaparilla.

"Anyway, I must be back to the fray. Take your time and don't forget to eat your ice creams before they melt!"

The two girls were left by themselves in the function room.

"Actually, Adalace, I feel a little bit better already. It's not as if she said anything really profound or something. It must just be the effect of talking, no matter how briefly, with a neutral party."

A small giggle from Adalace.

"Yeah, you're right. It does make a difference. I think that by ourselves our negativity reinforces itself and tends to get out of control."

"And, this is all new to us, isn't it? I've certainly have never had a girlfriend before. Even if I was sort of in love with Kaydence. Anyway, I think she liked boys."

"And I didn't even know I liked girls until recently..." said Adalace.

"So, let's follow her advice. Let's talk about something easy. And interesting." said Sarsaparilla.

"Like Teylon!"

They both laughed.

“He’s certainly fair game. And a really really big target for gossip!” said Sarsaparilla.

“I’ll say! Expert conman, a deplorable love life with only prostitutes, an Angel of Death talking to him, and he can kill by saying ‘Judgement’!”

The ice broken, they set to and started the deconstruction of Teylon.

They had a smashing great time.