Scene #9678: Dress Me Up, Dylan!

Owner	Pose
Regulus	'Hey Dylan! Remember me? It's Regulus*! I was gushing about fab you were and we were also talking about clothes and I realized I lost most of my wardrobe in the Storm and could use some help picking out new stuff, and you're the lady with the best sense of style I know! Petra told me the Quilt's got a lot of great cheap places.' The Regulus in the message has a little star emoji after it. And after the text there's directions to a Warpgate in the Quilt. It isn't hard to find Regulus because she's got her portable record player blasting music at near-max volume and she's dancing in the middle of the street, having collected a not insignificant number of locals into the impromptu dance party. She's less organized it and more pulled people into joining her in the dancing by having enough energy to spare that she's infected people who got too close and while the dancing isn't particularly unified, people are having fun. Regulus is performing the twist, wiggling her hips up and down along and kicking her feet from side to side and occasionally kicking her feet up and clapping her hands. She didn't bring APPLe along but she is given something of a wide berth because of how big her dance movements are. Sometimes...she even hops. The song being played right now is Dear Mr. Fantasy, it's already halfway through the song. o/~ Dear Mr Fantasy, Play Us A Tune Something To Make Us All Happy Do Anything, Take Us Out Of This Gloom Sing A Song, Play Guitar, Make It Snappy o/~ The impromptu dance party is happening at a portion of The Quilt which has fused a suburb's downtown along with a village's corner store and a city's mainstreet and three police cars have pulled up against one another as the cops argue about whether they are allowed to take her in and whose jurisdiction this is. A town guardsman on horseback has joined them, making loud proclamations that are drowned out by the music. Regulus hasn't noticed them yet. There ARE loads of thrift stores though there's definitely some clashing tones there. And Regulus's guitar case which she's left open near her seems to have accumulated some cash so she's been at this. She isn't wearing what she wore at the Motherlobe. Rather, she is wearing a red beret with a star pattern on it with what looks like two guitar strings traveling down the the star. She does have sunglasses, but they are less dark than what she had at the Motherlobe and she's wearing them on top of her head rather than on her face, so her eyes are readily visible. She's wearing a green bow around her collar, fastened together by a small record button. Her sleeveless dress is similarly colored with a couple of white rectangles along her right side. A belt around her waist ensures the dress doesn't comes across as too 'baggy'. She's got her red jacket with more star pattern around her wrists and is wearing white boots along with her red stockings.
Persephone Kore	DCruise: hey! DCruise: of course I remember you dummy DCruise: you were amazing! DCruise is typing... DCruise: i am?? DCruise: i mean uh sure i'd love to! DCruise: i've never like, bought multiverse clothes before DCruise: it's not hard, right? DCruise has deleted a message. Her messages come through on some kind of weird proprietary half-compatible network, but they do come through! ... Dylan isn't often in real, big cities. She leaves Sapient Heuristics, sure; but she tends to go to Concord functions, or to other space stations. Places with dozens or hundreds of people, not Earth's (or Earths') thousands and millions. Here, she's a stranger in a strange land. The aura of emotional warmth that leaks off of her, that wicks others' feelings towards her in turn, is still palpable within twenty paces but muffled by the crowd. You don't need to look at her stickered baseball bat, or the way she wears her body, to know that Dylan Cruise is a foreigner here. Empathy can be a bit straining. It's nothing the psychological wellness of a mature SH subject can't handle, but almost everywhere else is unhappier than Sapient Heuristics, you know? Almost everywhere, excepting Regulus's little party. Dylan slips through the crowd shoulder-first with a soft "'scuse me", then leans against the brick building wall nearest Regulus, shuts her eyes, and taps her bat against the sidewalk in time with the music. Deep breathing. Slow smile. She's dressed pretty much like Regulus remembers her, though the bomber jacket has new scrapes and patches from its misadventures since. She's a good percussionist, you know. "Hey. Who is Mister Fantasy, anyway? He sounds nice," is the first thing she says, as the song finally winds down. "And, uh, how come those guys have guns?" is the second thing, tilting her head towards the cops.
Regulus	Regulus doesn't really know the Sapient Heuristics lowdown, though she did know that there were telepathic kids there. Does she know DYLAN is psychic? Probably not, but it's a fair assumption. Could the party be an attempt to help ease off an empathic burden on Dylan? Is Regulus that smart?! Let's be honest, she probably would've done something like this even if she was waiting for a pizza delivery. Creating these situations is partly why Regulus keeps ending up in jail. Frankly, if Dylan was as psychic as a rock, she'd probably at least hope and expect it'd improve her mood at least. Regulus is sort of all in on this kind of chicanery. She's really into it, too, which is probably why she doesn't know Dylan immediately, though it also doesn't help that her eyes are closed. It isn't until the song winds down and her eyes pop back open, she notices there's been another presence which distracts her from putting on another record. "Woah! Dylan! When'd you get here? You brought percussion! Fab!" She means the ... bat? "Mister Fantasy is a pseudonym that can fit any entertainer, the song's about the feelings that musicians can bring out in others, getting people to forget their troubles for a while. It's actually not the happiest of songs, since it's also about how musicians can suffer for their work, but that's also sort of the deal artists know they're getting when they get into it. I was about to put on White Room!" She notices the jacket. "Oh it's been updated! Where's this one from?" She points towards one of the newer patches. ''Ah, uh, how come these guys have guns?'' "Huh?" Regulus asks. "What guys?" She turns her head around and notices the cops and then she startles a little and ducks her head down so that she's less visible in the crowd. "The guns are there to make them feel tough but they sometimes get a little ... excited about their toys, you know?" Regulus's emotional wavelength is still pretty upbeat, though there's a worried undercurrent. This isn't the first time Regulus has had a run-in with these 'police officers' and she's determined to keep Dylan's interactions with them as minimal as possible. "They're easy to lose though. Here--" She takes Dylan's hand and they vanish together. Regulus slips through the crowd, collecting her guitar case along the way, and moves out the other end which might lead the street party a little unsatisfied as there's no more music immediately going. As they pull away from the crowd, Regulus keeps on moving until the cops are firmly out of sight before reappearing with Dylan beside a thrift store called The Retrodobe with the picture of what looks like an arcade cabinet combined with a wardrobe closet on the storefront sign. "Sorry 'bout that, love. You've got good rhythm!" She nods to the bat. "How've you been? Is this your first time to the Quilt? It's mine, actually--"
Persephone Kore	"Oh, so, it's a song about... you? That's kind of cute," says Dylan. She didn't know Regulus is the type of gal who likes to be called 'mister', but hey! Then... "Oh, toys? So, like, they're not real guns? That's a relieee-- uahhh, hey!" Regulus tugs her off-balance to vanish, despite Dylan's bafflement. She's distinctly not white, she has a ""weapon"", and for whatever it matters through the Translation Effect, she's not currently speaking English. Getting her away from cops is probably the right call. . . . Dylan staggers on reappearing, then looks down at her own hand (she can see it again!) and blink-blinks off her disorientation. She's used to people having special powers, but not that one! "Wow... Hey, um. You seem pretty stressed out, Regulus. Do those guys not like you? Do you want to talk about it?" she says while straightening out her jacket, with a nonchalant-but-earnest concern. Her eyes wander up to the sign. She mouths 'woah' in silent approval, then her eyes wander back down. Casually, she tosses her bat up to 'choke up' her grip to the halfway point, toting it like an umbrella rather than a cane. "I am a pretty great drummer, you know," she adds as a little out, in case Regulus doesn't want to talk about her feelings towards cops. "And, uh, I don't get out much? I dunno if I talked about this, but I live on a space station mostly. Earth's a long way to visit 'n all." She leans next to the door, ready to follow Regulus's lead on when they'll go in.
Regulus	''Oh, so, it's a song about... you?'' Regulus blinks, "Oh, I mean, not me, musicians in general sure." She does have a Regulus song recorded that is about Regulus. That's normal right? She's not going to make Dylan think she's conceited, is she?? Dylan's cool, and also--like--she's a friend! And she has to not lose friends because she is still remembering about the time Lilian said she had no human friends and they had that talk about how hard it is to make friends when your situation changes and ahhhh! ''Oh, toys? So, like, they're not real guns?'' "Um, they're real. Man, it'd be nice if they were just toys though huh?" Regulus says. She is not going to try and teach Dylan about racism, even if she's not really sure about Sapient Heuristics' deal, that feels like an awful thing to do to people. And frankly, even if they were unarmed cops, she still wouldn't want to--like--get Dylan arrested. Today's supposed to be a fun day! So instead she says, "The police don't usually get along with me. And since you're with me, I don't want them to get a bad impression of you 'cause of it." The Regulus Stress Meter is lowering the longer police aren't in sight, though! The proper feeding and caring of your Regulus involves keeping her away from cops. But strangely enough, the Regulus also has a tendency to do things that tend to attract the attention of the police. It's weirdly convenient that things are like that for the police! Not so for Regulus who intends to keep doing those things but would prefer if the police stopped ruining her good time. But Regulus isn't really weirded out by Dylan's reaction to the police, she actually finds it pretty charming, like--wouldn't it be nice if everyone could react this way to them? "I could tell, you were a natural back there." Regulus can't worry about the bat because it's clearly a percussion instrument not a weapon and honestly it's a stylish look for Dylan to carry around. "We should do a jam session sometime, it'd be fab as all out." Still no cops, and she's stopped running, so her heart rate's starting to return to normal. "I think I heard a bit about that. Petra said there were, um, telepathic kids there but I didn't hear much else. Is it a--" Regulus racks her brain. "Like a space commune? You know, my name is Regulus, but I've never actually been up there." Her eyes sparkle with interest. "It's gotta be a gas living amongst the stars. Can you see the Earth from there, or are you even farther out?" She does step inside the thrift store, for multiple reasons. One such reason is that being inside the store means it is less likely that they will be noticed by the authorities. But also it's because that's why they came along! "Let me know if you see anything you like...!" Despite the name, the Retrodobe isn't video gamey at all and there's a pretty wide selection of outfits, Regulus almost always starts with the jackets when preparing an outfit so she's peeking at a selection of them, lingering at a black leather jacket with flared sleeves around the forearm.
Persephone Kore	"Huh? Those were the police?" Dylan is familiar with the concept of 'police' abstractly, of course. She glances back over her shoulder. "Why do they need real guns to feel tough, then? Is something the matter with them? ... I should go talk to them." Dylan no!! Fortunately, Regulus has lots of other interesting topics with which to distract Dylan from the idea of having a heart-to-heart with the cops about their fragile masculinity. "Oh, uh, yeah! No, we're out by Pluto. The Sun is barely even the brightest star, out there. I saw pictures of Earth, but that's all for a long time, you know?" she says, ducking inside. "I guess you could call it a 'scientific community'? Or maybe a commune, yeah. I mean, I guess it's also a lab, but it's really just..." She stops, inside, briefly immersed in the study of a rack of kitschy jewelry and leather belts. "... Whoa. I mean, it's 'where I'm from'? Like Earth, to you. Too big to put to words." Puffing up for a second, hand to her chest: "All of us subjects play an instrument, too. Or sing! You'd have a great time there, I bet." Jingle jingle jingle. Dylan is captivated by rummaging through the stand of shiny things, but she's oddly moved, too. "There's a lot of love in this one..." "Oh, that one feels sad." "Mmm, I want to like this belt, but..." "Aw, nobody wanted you." She turns around a minute later, glancing back at Regulus hovering near the black jacket. Dylan scoots close, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Mm, it's a good jacket, but you look best when you're colorful. Pair that with, like, a sunset-orange bandana or something?" She stares at Regulus's face a little too long, picturing it, and then feels awkward and looks away. Aww.
Regulus	Regulus frantically does her best to discourage Dylan about talking to cops about their fragile msculinity. Maybe Regulus is the one who will not survive today, actually. But fortunately the conversation moves onto space bases by Pluto. She is imagining, like, something that's a bit like Laplace honestly with the way Dylan's talking about it, but combined with like a K-12. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'd love to visit for sure, if it's possible." She's unsure about that because it is a space commune out by Pluto and also Petra and Lilian seemed concerned about the wrong kind of people going, even if they also suggested Regulus wouldn't really be a problem. Regulus isn't really accustomed to not being 'the problem' in any given situation, usually she's either in a bind or getting out of a bind. The period of time that she's neither in a bind or in the process of moving in or out of the 'bind' state is vanishingly brief. She smiles. It's nice they respect music. Sometimes it feels like a subject that's increasingly shrugged at by society. "Well now you're really talking, you've got a whole band ready out there. That's incredible! You beat me to the stars." She winks. And because her glasses are atop her head instead of on her face, it's actually visible! ''There's a lot of love in this one...'' ''Oh, that one feels sad.'' Regulus catches herself staring at Dylan because--it's not really weird to her, persay, that clothes can have feelings tied to them, that maybe a skirt can be lonely or a blouse can be well loved and reluctantly let go. But the way Dylan talks about them makes Regulus care more about thrift shopping than she did before. It's no longer just about getting cute oufits on the cheap. She's rescuing them in the way someone might rescue a pup at a shelter and bring it hope, or bring in a lost cat in and sheltering them from a storm. Regulus pries herself away to look at the clothes, smiling at them as she sees them in a new light. Truly, Dylan taught her something about fashion today. "When you're right, you're right. Oh I do love scarves and bandanas--and the color matches my sign--" She means her peace symbol which is sort of sunset orange colored. "Match that with some leggings and it'll really pop with a skirt and jacket combo--Oh!" She rushes over to a belt with a star pattern buckle. "Gotta stick to the starry theme, really really important." She looks back just in time to see Dylan looking away. "Hmm... Have you ever worn hats before? It'd be shame to cover your hair up, and maybe it's the bat talking, but a baseball cap would look great on you."
Persephone Kore	"Huh? Oh, uh, sure! I don't see why you couldn't visit," Dylan says, smoothing down some imaginary wrinkles on her jacket's sleeve while she regains her composure. "You're with the Paladins, right? There was some bad stuff a few years ago, but I think everything's loosened back up with the factions now." Her cheeks darken just subtly, when her fashion sense is complimented. "W-well, uh, y'know. I'm sure almost anything looks good on you. Doesn't take a genius." Hats...? Blink-blink. Her eyes wander over to a rack on the far side of the store, showing off flowery sun-hats and fishing caps and headscarves, and a dozen things between. "... Huh. I could try it," she says, walking over to the big hat-rack hesitantly. "I don't really wear Earth stuff a lot, but it could, like, commemorate the outing, right?" Hats are 'Earth stuff', but baseball bats aren't? While she browses through the selection, she adds off-handedly: "The main thing about it is that, uh... there's psychic kids there, right? And they're supposed to be visionaries for the new future. So we don't want to teach them shame, or make them feel like they should be a way Earth wants. And, of course, a lot of 'em can feel your heart. So it's important to like... suspend judgement, while you're there? That's all." She looks back over her shoulder from the hat-rummaging at Regulus, and the peace symbol. "What's the 'sign' for, anyway? Is it like your signature?"
Regulus	This might be the first time someone has ever confused Regulus as a member of the Paladins and it might be the last time someone has confused Regulus as a member of the Paladins. It takes Regulus by surprise enough that she has to pass a quick time event to avoid reflexively agreeing that she is a member of the Paladins in the same way she'd say 'Yes. I am supposed to be here.' to the police still out there, no doubt still looking for her. Fortunately she deftly dodges such dangerous deceit by deciding that deceiving Dylan's no good. She doesn't really think that Dylan is going to hold it against her. "Watch actually, I'm helping Vertin out." She's filled with the urge to brag a little!! "They're basically on a quest to save our world from something they call 'The Storm'." See? She's cool! She's on a QUEST! The fact that Dylan doesn't know she's not Paladins doesn't really suggest to Regulus she might have some affiliation with the Concord or anything, lots of Watch people don't know each other for instance, and it's not like everybody's in a 'team' anyway. "But you know? I noticed that. I'm still pretty new to the multiverse so I'm not super keen on the details, but I think it's great that uh--that things have loosened up for sure." Better than the alternative, that's from certain! ''Doesn't take a genius.'' "Well the important thing is you said I looked best when I'm colorful." Regulus assures Dylan, full of seeming inexhaustible pep. Regulus is someone who loves living and living has a particular meaning to her. "Fashion is a kind of communication, after all. Sure, it's part of your presentation--trying to look good and everything--but that's just the first layer! Then you cna think, 'hey, what am I trying to communicate with others here, what kind of person do I want them to see when they look at me'. Like, for example, I always gotta have a star pattern somewhere on me, you know? And then there's stuff I usually want up on me somewhere, like glasses or an apple or peace badge--" This is the first that Regulus is learning that hats are 'earth stuff' but she'd be the first to admit that she hasn't seen people wear hats on worlds that aren't Earth. But also, like, Regulus hasn't been on worlds that weren't Earth pretty much. Does putting on a hat bind you to Earth's gravity? Regulus tentatively lifts her hat off her head when she thinks Dylan isn't looking and puts it back on. Her feet stay rooted on the ground which is what usually happens when Regulus isn't wearing a hat, but space feels like something that might be infectious. She can't really be sure. She moves on to examine various colored leggings, thinking about the psychic kids long enough that Dylan ends up asking her about the peace sign before she even puts her thoughts together.
Regulus	"Oh! the peace sign?" Regulus mimics it with her fingers. Regulus is from an era that she actually knows that the original meaning of the peace sign was to be a call for victory through unity, but in her time it's meaning is somewhat different so she focuses on that. "It was a sign that people in my time picked up to call for--and cheer on--peace." She beams. "Speaking of fashion, it's an important symbol for me! So I wear it a lot too. I've got a few signatures, I guess. Peace sign because I love peace, apples because APPLe is my best mate, records because I feel music can change the world, and stars because ... Well, a gift came to me from the stars once, and I guess I've been drawn to them ever since! Even though I've never been up there." She pulls out some orange-red leggings and slides them over her arm. That's probably why they were so upset at the idea of Mesmer vistiing the kids. "I think I can do that. Lilian and Petra made them sound super sweet, honestly." She thinks for a moment. "--You, um, mentioned it was like a ... lab commune? How'd it come to be?"
Persephone Kore	"Ohhh. Huh! Wow," says Dylan, still rummaging through hats. Obliviously: "I'm not sure I've ever met a Watchman before. You're less, uh, sneaky than I thought they'd be? Honestly, I didn't know you were a big world-saving hero either..." Oh nooo. Now she sounds a little more embarrassed! Peace, though... "I didn't know peace needed people to cheer for it that badly," Dylan says, but rather than skeptical, she sounds a little sad. It must be true; Regulus wouldn't say it otherwise. It just isn't very happy to contemplate the world where that would need to be true. She perks up a moment later though, turning her back on the hat-rack temporarily to show off her heavily-stickered bat in self-satisfied fashion. "Yeah! Everything means something about you. See, I've got these play-blocks here," indicating a sticker with her thumb on the bat, "because if you 'break' them you can just snap 'em back together. The band-aid next to it means the same thing. And all the hearts and stars are for, like, the idea of a universe of love, right?" "I guess overall--" little gesture up-and-down Regulus's outfit, with the bat-- "you're saying you're, like, spontaneous and cool, and vibrant, and you're gonna show everyone a good time. And I want to seem like... someone reliable and solid. Someone you can put weight on. Because even if I can't help being a crybaby, I'll be okay in the end, right?" By the end there she's gotten herself a little embarrassed again, thumb rubbing her cheek. The hunt for a Cool Hat to take home reabsorbs her. "Oh, it's, uh... Sapient Heuristics was founded by Doctor Carpathia a couple decades ago. She thought there was a kind of psychic powers you could teach to anybody, anywhere in the Multiverse, that could make wishes come true. And she--" But before Dylan can put together the whole mission statement, she finds what she's looking for, slaps it on her head, and tuns around on her heel. "Oh, hey! Look at this one. Not bad, right?" It's an old foam-and-mesh sky-blue baseball cap proudly saying A BIG BASS GETS ME WET, with a picture of a big fish splashing underneath it. It almost totally eclipses Dylan's short curly hair. She's so proud of it, beaming with her babydoll eyes. The hat makes her look like a huge douchebag.
Regulus	Regulus doesn't want to tell Dylan that most people see her as a member of the Watch before she opens her mouth which, come to think of it, might be because she dressed and acted like someone who would be one before she opened her mouth. But she says, instead, "I think the Watch has a lot of quiet people, sometimes you gotta be loud if you want to change stuff." She pauses a moment and then adds, "And I can turn people invisible." And her confidence in her ability to do that will never be challenged by some tall lady in a black dress with a spike through her head, no way no how it's a perfect defense for getting away or getting in to places. Everything will always be fine forever. "Woah..." Regulus says. "Yeah! You know exactly what hearts and stars are for! You're brilliant, love!" Sure, she's talking about her stickers, and such, but that doesn't mean Regulus doesn't agree, and that her own stars don't represent something of a similar hope for herself. She bobs her head excitedly at her Dylan's further expression of her understanding of Regulus, yeah that's right she is all those things! And then her head bobbing slows as Dylan explains what SHE is. Wait, doesn't Regulus also want to be seen as reliable? And solid? And someone others can put their weight on even if she's a crybaby? It's the crybaby part that really gives Regulus pause, Dylan doesn't seem like a crybaby to her, but she hasn't exactly seen Dylan in a situation worth crying over. Regulus hasn't cried for several hours straight in a while though so after that thoughtful pause, she's nodding excitedly again. "Dylan sounds pretty marvy." She hesitates realizing that maybe this is a word Dylan doesn't know. "It means marvelous." She adds, since people have gone 'marvy?' at her about 30 times now. ''A BIG BASS GETS ME WET'' Okay, Regulus thinks, was she just wrong about Dylan and hats? She thought more of her hair would be visible, is this the issue? That she doesn't see the hair? Or is it because it's about a big bass getting her wet? She has to be careful! Dylan is the maybe the sweetest gal she's ever known and for the first time THE EYES are used against her rather than vice versa. It turns out that having THE EYES to wield doesn't make you RESILIENT to THE EYES of others. She must protect this smile, Regulus vows, those bright eyes! And she has to consider that BECAUSE OF THE CORRUPTION OF A LIFE LIVED ON AN IMPERFECT EARTH that maybe it just looks this way because of her POISONED SOUL. No, she has to be sure. And she has a way to hatvestigate this situation. "Hmm... what does the hat say?" She nods to the stickers, as if to compare and relate. "Do you like fishing?"
Persephone Kore	"Marvy...?" Dylan starts to say. Then, scratching the back of her head: "Oh! 'Marvelous'. Haha, right. You know, there's a girl who comes by sometimes who says 'starvelous'? But, uh, like stars, not like starving." In a little lull, after, she dips her head and picks up on Regulus's momentary drooping with a tender-confiding look: "You know, uh... I think you're plenty reliable too, Regulus. It's just focusing on 'a shoulder to cry on' dependable, versus 'cheering people up' dependable, right? I think they're both really important." This is slightly undercut by the fact that she is, as she says this, wearing the outrageously stupid hat. What does the hat say? "Oh, I'm glad you asked," Dylan says perkily, one hand on her hip and the other coming up to adjust the brim. "It's about, uh... outdoorsiness, right? I mean, mostly I guess I'm indoorsy, but Sapient Heuristics is a big station, so it's an outdoorsy kind of indoors. And appreciation for the majesty of life, not that I get to see animals a lot, but the bass looks like it's having a lot of fun..." She keeps talking, but at some point her words might fade into a tinnitus-obscured blur of horror. Dylan has no idea. "... and it really feels like the owner was proud of it, y'know?" Oh, god.
Regulus	Regulus doesn't immediately cotton onto starvelous coming from Hikaru partly because she is not an AI that can't forget but also partly because she never actually met her in person and Regulus doesn't linger on people she's only known through the phone. She may not be Lorentz Butterfly but she's a Social Butterfly and it's the people she meets in flesh and blood that linger strongest in her mind and heart. But while Regulus isn't a cryptid hunter or an alien hunter, she is particularly into the romanticism of the stars and space. It's partly why Sapient Heuristics has a strong allure but also just a touch of unease with the fear that even this seemingly idyllic fantasy that was but a distant possibility in her time is somehow already existing out there somewhere in some other space. "You know, when I'm from, they had only just started sending people into space. There was talk about making it to the moon someday, but then The Storm hit. I'm guessing they must have managed it eventually." Would the Moon be safe from the Storm? She never asked about that because if they didn't make it to the moon in 1966 they certainly haven't yet in 1929. She bets Schneider would go nuts about popping over to a space station even more than Regulus would. And Regulus would absolutely pop the hell off. She tilts her gaze up to the ceiling, imagining it. "Starvelous... Starvy..." She thinks it over. You know, if everybody is mistaking 'Marvy' already, she might as well use 'Starvy' too, she's gonna have to explain it anyway! "I get asked about Marvy a lot, I guess it fell out of fashion but I still like it." She has been something of a crybaby herself lately, honestly, which was a surprise to her (and will be an even bigger surprise to her later) because she thought she was nothing but good cheer and good times and the galaxy's great cheerleader. But she's been crying a lot more lately. Maybe she just, for all the troubles she's experienced as an arcanist in the UK, hadn't faced anything beyond she could handle. And now she's in real danger, and now she's lost her timeline, and now she has people to worry over rather than just being the one who gets worried over. "I'm actually a crybaby too." Regulus admits. "I want to cheer everybody up, maybe that's why I care about changing the world so much--It's not always easy staying upbeat, but it's harder to get other people to smile when they're already hurting. I think pets are good at that sort of thing. If a dog sees that you're unhappy, they'll run up and comfort you even if they don't entirely get it." Sonetto foreshadowing?! "But yeah, you're right. I shouldn't be harsh on myself." She almost forgot about the fucking hat. She looks back to the hat and quietly wishes they were still talking about the difficulties of being emotionally reliable to your friends whether it be a shoulder to cry on a light shining up a room because how does she navigate this without making Dylan sad?? Dylan explains the hat. It IS an outdoorsy hat, Regulus thinks. The bass DOES look like it's having fun. And honestly, the owner of the hat probably WAS pretty proud of it. But there's one other element of the hat that's not being talked about here and Regulus is returned to the state of having to decide whether to warn Dylan and maybe hurt her feelings, or to not warn her and the latter is something she can't do so--she must be a brave little lion. "Yeah, yeah, that all makes sense. Though just to warn you, on Earth at least--or I guess I should say, on the Earth I'm from I don't wanna assume, the uh--the phrase 'gets me wet' usually refers to sexual arousal. I'm guessing the previous owner found it really funny. The play on words."
Persephone Kore	"I think pets are good at that sort of thing..." "Oh, they are?" Dylan has never had a pet before! Ironically, there's not a lot of room in space for them. "That's really cool... I think I wanna be like a pet, too." But then she's sobering up, lifting the hat from her head and looking at it at a wary remove. She chews her lip in deep, uneasy thought. Could 'A BIG BASS GETS ME WET' really betray her like that? Would the honorable erstwhile hat-wearer's psychometric imprint truly lead her astray? "Oh. Well," she says, "I don't think fish are an, uh, turn-on for me really?" Not that she'd be certain yet, being from space and all. "They're not really my, uh-- I mean, you'd be closer to my type. If I had a type. You know." A long philosophical pause ensues as she stares in deep focus at the hat. "... Well, how can I keep people from getting the wrong idea?" Oh no. She still thinks it's salvageable?! "I guess I could just tell them that it doesn't mean that, right?" Dylan no!!! "You're really sweet though, y'know. Thanks for, uh, looking out for me, and all."
Regulus	Before Regulus can digest the phrase 'I think I wanna be like a pet, too,' she has to consider the phrase 'I don't think fish are an, uh, turn-on for me really?' which forces Regulus to consider are fish actually a turn-on-able thing? She thinks about Rita, who is the most adorable fish person she knows (also the only fish person she knows) and she concludes after some thought that Rita is not a turn on for her which is strange because she thought for sure that as a pirate captain, a woman who is part sea creature should be? Is she betraying her principles as a pirate for not being into mermaids and ladies-who-are-also-krakens? Or is it because Rita was turned into a lady-who-is-also-a-kraken against her will and has sort of accepted it? Maybe she shouldn't be too hasty. Maybe if Rita was happy being a kraken it'd be a different story but because she wasn't, it's just not right? Yes, that could be it. Rita's a wonderful friend and sometimes wonderful friends become krakens against their will. It's happened at least once, so it could happen again, and Regulus should be ready to be understanding. Before, she was ignorant, but she can't let that be the next Rita's problem! Her time in leftist circles have taught her that sometimes you have to self-educate rather than rely on the gentle corrections of others! She hesitates, thinking about Ozhira. But no that's different. That's bugs or something and they seem perfectly content being terrifying in ways that make Regulus feel queasy. She returns to the present after activating her ultra instinct form for a moment there. "Yeah, I mean, I think animals get this sense for when people are unhappy. Some people underestimate how smart and empathic animals can be sometimes. That goes for humans too, of course." ''I mean you'd be closer to my type. If I had a type. You know.'' Regulus blinks twice. She has been called someone's 'type' before and then sometimes they made out and sometimes fucked but it always felt like they were wrong about that because ... well she wasn't relaly sure. But wasn't it supposed to be as liberating and exciting as the free love movement itself? "People have compared me to cats lately." Regulus admits, though generally sort of in a way that didn't feel entirely complimentary. "But you mean like, a 'cheering you up' type? So there could be someone to be a shoulder to cry on and someone to make everything nice?" Unfortunately for Dylan, Regulus isn't the type to tell her that she should conform to societal expectations of what makes an acceptable hat. A big part of the free love movement was about having the right to wear what you want! Has Regulus betrayed her principles by warning Dylan??? She should be supportive. Maybe in Dylan's hands, the hat will be redeemed. "If it makes you happy, you should wear it." Regulus decides. "I mean, yeah, people might get a bad or wrong idea, but like--it's going on your head. Nobody should get to decide that for you. I'm not sure it'll be easy to convince people on Earth it means something else and if you don't want to deal with that, I sure wouldn't blame you." She pauses a moment and then adds, "There are probably a lot of hats with happy fish on them too, though, if you'd rather think it over. We can look around more and find more." Also to be fair if she's mostly wearing it in space, they might all just find it totally fab anyway?
Persephone Kore	"Oh, uh, yeah! I mean--" Dylan might be brash, and reckless, and a little too sincere and straightforward, and a million other things, but when it comes down to it she is smart. Of course she picks up on Regulus's blinking hesitation, about being called 'her type'. To keep things simple for Regulus, it'd be better to lie. Dylan does not know how to. "... Well, no." Her face scrunches slightly as she finds the words. "What I meant was, you're really pretty and smart and cool, and I could probably crush on you if I wanted to. But, uh, I don't think I'm crushing on you now? And so if you're not into me, that's whatever, you know? It's not like I don't have enough people to be into already, ahah... and, um, I think we are, like, support-compatible too." Rubbing the back of her head with cheeks just slightly pink, her attention turns back to The Hat. "Hm," says Dylan. "... You know, you're right. I bet I can find another hat that's even more perfect," she finally says, thankfully (thankfully!!!) hanging it back up on the hangar. "'There's plenty of fish in the sea'. That's an Earth saying, right?" "I'm sure there's someone this hat is just perfect for, too. Like... if I take it, and it's just not right for me..." "... Then maybe I'm taking it away from someone dating a mermaid or something, right?" she says, dead-earnestly.
Regulus	Regulus isn't so dumb as to have missed the undercurrent here but her hesitation is coming from a different place here so she feels like she really needs to correct the record in at least one respect. "Oh, no, c'mon Dylan. Of course I'm into you. You're a kind, cool, stellarly fab girl from space who totally blows my mind and gets me thinking in ways I'd never think on my own.--And yeah, we're totally like support-compatible, for sure." Regulus's hesitation is for reasons way more silly than that! She takes a moment to figure out how to put this so Dylan understands her situation and her deal. "I've dated before, and I've uh--slept around before. The free-love movement was pretty casual about it and nobody was all that mean about it, but I think they could tell I wasn't really into it--the sex, I mean--because they always wanted to stop hanging out after even if we got along real marvy before." She's not sure that's actually helping explain so she adds, "And I don't want to disappoint you like that if that's important to you and then we stop hanging out. But if you're cool with dating a musical pirate lady who--isn't really into fucking or at least hasn't figured out how to be yet, then-yeah, I'd be happy to. I want to get to know you better now more than ever." She smiles as she reaches out for another fish-related hat that she has spotted. It's also fish related. It's a similarly colored cap to the first one but this one has a sort of greenish to pale grin pufferfish on it. The pufferfish is smiling happy. Maybe it, too, is having a good time. She offers the hat to Dylan. "Try this, does this hat feel like a more perfect fit?"
Persephone Kore	"Oh. Huh. Um," Dylan says, and scratches her cheek with a fingernail. Her back to the hat-rack, her gaze wanders the store. You might think she's checking to see if any of the other shoppers are paying attention, but Dylan doesn't know shame even if she knows embarrassment. She just isn't sure where her eyes should go! "I... don't know? I mean, not that I'm super looking for more people to sleep with, but--" she says, self-consciously fumbling for words while her face slowly heats up. Her arm hugs her bat to her side, like it's a comforting stuffed animal. Stickers, lend her strength! "--I say 'crush', and 'dating', but those are mostly, um, Earth words too, you know?" she manages. She turns to move to a rack with Walkmans and old MP3 players, but gestures for Regulus to follow. "The grown-ups-- I mean, the researchers talk about them, and 'marriage' and stuff. But Phony would say that it's best to just let all the feelings run together, and not name them. That every friendship is its own thing, and when you put a label on it, you start treating it like something dead instead of something alive." "So, uh, I don't really think I want to change our friendship to be the thing most people call 'dating'? That's like, dinners and movies and stuff, right?" Restlessly, her fingers pop open a cassette player, revealing the well-loved hand-labeled tape inside. "But I, like, do like you. You're marvy. And cute, and stuff. So... I dunno, let's do this again soon?" Dylan lamely finishes, just as she's turning back around and beholding the pufferfish hat. "... Oh! Oh, that's really cute! Haha, it's like a weird ball? Or like the sun, you know, with a smiley face. Do they really make fish like that?" Dylan dons it, proudly beaming. It... still makes her look kind of like a frat bro. Sorry, Dylan. But at least now there's not a sex joke on it!
Regulus	Regulus nods at first. As long as Dylan doesn't leave this store upset, she will call it a win. "Oh yeah, that's a good point, I'm thinking all this Earth stuff and there might be a whole different context for you." She listens to Phony--whom she doesn't actually know and hasn't...actually heard about?... But she's assuming they're a friend from Sapient Heuristics and has no other idea about her at all. And honestly, though, she's kind of in awe at the idea of something like the free love movement being reinvented in space but, like, with the weighted clothes tossed aside. "Wow...! Phony sounds really smart. Even in the movement we just created more labels instead of making more of them. I mean, I think we wanted the same thing in the end but we went about it differently ... or maybe, that was just a step to doing what you were talking about, I think we were trying but we named things so we could talk about it." ''I don't really think I want to change our friendship to be the thing most people call 'dating'?'' "Yeah, that's not what I call dating, but that's what a lot of people call dating. What I call dating--" She pauses. "Well, maybe I won't call it that, actually. I'm gonna try to bring some of that stellar charm into my own life." She beams. "Let it all run together. And we can offer to do things and if it's like 'nah, not into that' we don't gotta do it. So long as I get to know this cool customer before me, I'm happy." Honestly, Regulus isn't very much into stuffy dinners in the first place, she'd rather grab milkshakes somewhere and move. She IS into movies, but it's not really what she'd call dating either. If she were to put it into two words, she'd consider it as 'Scampering, together' but not in any clinically defined way. But the hat! "Yeah! There's fish like that in the oceans, and--honestly, they're finding new critters under the sea all the time--some even cuter and more...luminscent?" Maybe she could ask Rita some time about what's really deep down there on her world? Or would that be rude. Maybe it'd be rude. Maybe she should just look at the internet. "I'll even get it for you, my far out fab friend!" Regulus announces proudly, heading to the counter and slamming a mix of sharpondonty and loose change on the counter that maybe adds up to the total? Either way that doesn't stop her from getting cuffed the moment she heads out of the door with her something-begotten goods by one of the police officers that was looking for her because she totally forgot about it-- --but that's okay, Dylan will clear the whole thing up no problem because she's so nice.