"See you." Off he goes!

She emails him two restaurant options (sandwich place, fried dumpling place).

He tosses a coin and picks the fried dumpling place.

And she's there at dinnertime, dressed in the same outfit she put on post-swimming but in different colors.

Sahde isn't in the same outfit but pretty much just as casual.

"Hi! Nice to see you again."

"You too, how are you doing?"

"I'm great! How about you?"

"Doing fine. My little sister's recital is tomorrow and she's freaking out but I managed to get some work done around her."

"Ooh that's cool, what does she dance?"

"Modern rhythmic is her focus, she wants to do background dance for singers or something like that, but she does a few kinds."

"That's awesome. Why'd she pick that?"

"It was one of the things she aptitude tested for and she likes the music that goes with it. And it's doable solo. She likes social and pair dancing too, but it's harder to practice on your own and she likes the flexible schedule."

He nods. "So she doesn't have your qualms with being assigned grey."

"It works okay for her. And my dad."

"My little brother is probably gonna go the same route as my father, and my little sister is too small to really have a track."

"She one or two?"

"Two, he's four."

"Three's pretty good."

"They're actually half-siblings, my mother died when I was less than two and my father remarried."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Thank you. It's been a while, and I don't live with my father anymore. We've had our—differences." He shrugs. "But I still see my siblings every now and then."

"I don't make enough money to live alone anywhere that doesn't price in the assumption that all the grey residents know self-defense so it doesn't matter if the area's high crime."

"My father made us get self-defense training so that wouldn't have been a problem but I do actually manage to get enough money to not have to deal with that."

"Lucky you. I got special tutoring in how to fall safely that didn't include the rest of the martial art."

"Why specifically how to fall safely? The balance issues?"