[color=dbdb70]"Yes, mother. I'll be there at 7:00."[/color]

Even as she hung up, it occurred to Dalia she didn't quite remember when she'd started only using the formal term of address for her mother. She'd intentionally begun a gradual transition in her late teens, but the smoothness had cost her the satisfaction of knowing when she'd finished. Although, Dalia wondered if she'd have felt satisfied at that point.

She shook her head, barely. There were more important concerns than her mother trying to create dates for her, of late. She was either going rather insane, or starting to share her mind with strangers across the world. The former seemed more plausible, and the latter preferable. Probably. Definitely. She decided on definitely. She had nothing to hide.

Dalia made her way out of the locker room she'd taken the call in, and across the gym's padded flooring, carrying a bag of clothes under one arm, with her shoes sitting atop it. A little girl sat in a line of children watched the woman walk by, an expression of awe on her face. Dalia knew the martial ability she'd displayed that afternoon didn't merit any positive impression, but the child didn't have the years' experience to recognize it.

Dalia had been volunteering with a relative novice, teaching the civilian variant of their nation's martial art to children. She had been distracted by noises half-heard from around the world; the beeping of hospital instruments, birds calling on a coast, and various other side-effects of employment. Her distraction had caused her to be instinctively less cooperative than she should have been, which would merit an apologu the next time she saw the young man who'd been teaching the class.

For now though, the grown-up smiled at the adoring child, and the returned joy seemed to confirm this had been the right decision. This smile was an easier lie than most emotions she affected. There were sure to be any number of other avenues for disappointment that taught the child disappointment. If a smile was all it took to help show the opposite was also possible, it was worth the small dishonesty.

When she passed outside with her shoes finally on, the myriad, disorderly scents of urban life greeted her, and she reveled in the sense a moment. Various other smells not from her surroundings found her, and Dalia spent some time on those, as well. The novelty fascinated her. Still, she left well within time to catch her preferred bus.

[center]-•-•-•-[/center]

The best compliment to her apartment building available to Dalia was that it wasn't filthy. Her keys were instinctively held in a grip which would be useful in an emergency, her bag of clothes ready to be thrown as a distraction if necessary. Keeping the possibilities in mind was a practice, to Dalia. Still, she was not prepared for someone to be in her apartment with her after she closed the door.