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Nicole was grateful for the moment to catch her breath. As she plopped down, she felt her knees lock together for a moment and thought back to her school days - kids circled around each other, daring each other to lock their legs together into rigid planks and see who passed out last, playing their stupid kid games. Of course, Nicole was no exception. 

But she was totally grown-up now, and way beyond testing something that dumb, so she made sure to unlock them after [i]just[/i] four seconds. After she'd made sure she had a bit of the old 'staying conscious' magic. Penny approached her just as she spread and stretched her legs, testing her ankles with little twirls. She grinned coquettishly back at Penny as her bespectacled teammate inquired about their relationship status, and leaned in to give an emphatic smooch to the Siscian girl's freckled cheek.

[color=ec008c]"Nahhh, we're like this,"[/color] she confided, locking her index and middle fingers in a tight cross. [color=ec008c]"Thick as thieves always, Penny, you know that. Great firepower out there."[/color]

She leaned in and munched on her own energy bar while she listened to Aiya stoke Dana's fire a little. She had to giggle. Aiya was as relentless a flirt as Nicole herself, but it was brilliant watching Dana completely no-sell it and start going off on another tangent about Guardian Gunslinger Alexis and making friends.

[color=ec008c]"You tell her, Dana!"[/color] crowed Nicole in support of her teammate, when she was between mouthfuls of granola. [color=ec008c]"Yo[i]uuuu[/i] tell her. Nothin' wrong with it at all. You're doing great, babe."[/color]

Cordelia was a little less prepared for Aiya's onslaught, and Nicole felt her mouth twitch in empathy for her roommate. She knew that, despite her best efforts, Cordelia was still adjusting to the idea of replacing Astrelle - a phantom that the new arrival to their team had never even seen before, yet still hung over her as surely as the grey and indigo storm clouds above. Nicole was still grappling with some of the implications of her friend's transfer herself, but she was doing her best to treat the one-time butler with every bit of the encouragement and zest she fronted for the rest of the team, too. Maybe they all needed to go out together. Force her to enjoy town the same way Nicole herself had, and Vanna too.

Her smile widened and she swung around on her perch, lifting up her legs and wrapping them around Cordelia's midsection. Nicole's right leg tucked between her midriff and her tightly drawn legs, wedged underneath her head protectively.

[color=ec008c]"You girls don't think I'm that jealous now, do you? Think I need to try and keep all the hotness to myself?"[/color] she asked the two nobles playfully. [color=ec008c]"You can dance if you want to, Cordy. All my best friends love to dance. Especially with each other."[/color]