"Red. You?"

She points at her violet hair with a grin. "This shade of violet specifically, purple more generally. If you could have any one superpower, what would you pick?"

"Omnipotence. But- if I have to pick something more reasonably scaled- hmm, that's a bit difficult. I'm still tempted to go with something that would let me bootstrap into more powers, but that feels a bit against the spirit of the question. Something informational, that made me smarter or broader. Something like- being able to split into multiple copies of myself that could merge, or being able to accelerate how fast I can think, or just straightforward supergenius. If it's gotta be something more classical than any of those- telekinesis, probably. It lets you do so much. From party tricks to flight."

"Oooh. Reaching high. I approve. Informational powers are of course absolutely lovely, anyone who thinks the flying brick is more strategically dangerous than the oracle or the supergenius is suffering from a failure of imagination. And teekay is a great pick from the classics. One thing I've suspected is that if you're really clever with your use of it — like very lightly grabbing the air around you, or something like that — you could turn it into personal-scale radar.

"As for me, assuming omnipotence isn't on offer but big things still were, I'd find time loops a bit tiring but extremely satisfying. It would be a bit uncomfortable to retry personal-scale things with friends and loved ones, but being able to make sure all the big important stuff gets all the retries it needs would be so worth it. Barring that, just for purely personal satisfaction I'd have to go for shapeshifting."

"Ooh, shapeshifting would be nice. You could be so many different animals! And I'd bet you could parlay it into immortality."

"Exactly! So many options there. And I definitely love being able to stretch a power into immortality.

"And if you were in a relationship and your partner got some stressful news, especially at an ill-suited moment, would you rather they tell you about it immediately, or wait for a better time to bring it up?"

"Hmm. Depends on the scale of the news, and the scale of the delay. If it's time sensitive any amount at all, definitely quick. If they need a bit of time since it's stressful, and them taking that time isn't going to cause massive problems- then a bit of delay is fine. But all else equal I definitely prefer sooner. And- if you take some delay- there's always the temptation to take yet a longer one. Better to go sooner for that reason as well, I think."

"I absolutely agree, though I run a little more patient about it for my own tolerance, assuming I trust them enough."

<Well, there's our answer,> Hailey notes. <We're gonna need to take her somewhere private and explain after a bit more hanging out here, long enough to plausibly be the deliberately-planned next stage of the date.>

And without the slightest hint of delay, Sable continues, "If you like museums, what's your favorite kind of museum?"

"You know, I'm somewhat fond of them but haven't been to many. So, I suppose the answer would be that I don't like them enough to have an answer to that question, just yet. But- hmm, I definitely lean more towards history or natural history over art. You?"

"Those and also science, over art," she replies with a nod. "Favorite book or series thereof?"

Oh no, is she too shy to say it out loud? She is maybe too shy- wait, Sable is nice. And she should know in advance if Sable is the kind of person who'd judge her over something like this.

"It's an incredibly long bit of cowritten scifi/fantasy fanfic. You, uh, have almost certainly not heard of it. The- basic theme is that characters from interesting reinterpretations of two different settings are thrown together and have massive culture clash that combines interestingly with surprising similarities they both have. It'd almost be fair to call large parts of it social science fiction. And it's also sort of- a bit of a mystery? It's really long, it's got bits of lots of things. Romance, mystery, tiny bits of action. All rather shockingly well done."

There. Hopefully Sable won't judge her about that.

"Oooh. That honestly sounds really fun to read. You've got to share it with me later. As for mine, I'm torn between a rather long and much smarter multi-book rework of an old fantasy series, which takes the previously cardboard main villain and turns him into an utterly fascinating anti-villain; or perhaps a particularly dark superhero deconstruction story that I like in large part for the absurd wealth and variety of fanfic it has inspired."

"Wait, a long dark superhero deconstruction story that inspired a lot of fanfic- are you talking about Annelid?"

A sudden burst of laughter spills out of her. "Yep!"

"I love Annelid. Read it all in one breathless week or so, a few years back. Woke up, read Annelid, went to sleep, repeated."

She grins and nods. "Same. Every moment I could steal, crammed it all into a week. It was intense."

She hums a bit, then asks, "Have you read the Nursery series? Took me a while to find that, but it's ruined me for other xianxia."

"I have! It's incredible. Not- smart in the same way the last thing I mentioned was, but- incredibly enjoyable to read. And the main cast- I love their interactions. He does such a good job drawing all of his characters fully in the wordcount he has to play around with, it's really impressive."

"I know, right? There's such richness to it. I absolutely love it. Oh, what about the Bright-Bough Trade Guild setting? I really enjoyed the mix of worldbuilding and romance in that."

"Oh, that I haven't read. I don't think I've heard of it, actually. What's the premise?"

And so they spend the next hour and change talking about shared interests in various media, suggesting things to each other, and getting to know each other.

Eventually, Sable suggests, "This has been delightful, and I'm definitely going to remember this coffeeshop for how nice a time I've had here with you, but would you like to come see one of my favorite little scenic spots near here?"

How likely is it that this is a prelude to kidney theft?

It is not kidney theft. That, much like secret mindreaders, is one of the things that things never are.

Also, Alethia can handle herself in a fight, and she's got a bit more muscle on her than Sable does. And is in Actually Good Shape. Unless Sable's got a gun, Alethia can just run away very fast if she needs to.

Also, she just- is not even slightly worried about that in real life, it's just the sort of question she habitually asks herself.

"That sounds nice."