![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
om_quicksilver posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
om_mainPredictably enough, tipsy Pietro spends most of their birthday party bouncing off people like a pinball. Awkward turtle Simon makes friends with a "popular" kid. Alice dances like a star and discusses tattoos--temporary and not.
After hugs and high fives, Pietro listed gently to the side of the room to dig in the "special" cooler he and Lorna had prepared. Oooh, pomegranate! He snagged one of those and took the cap off, then stood; lightheaded, yep, but not spinny. The problem with superspeed was that's. Six minute dance interval was enough to lose the buzz. He knocked back a quick swig to remedy the situation, then glanced around the writhing room full of kids for someone to annoy--because it was their birthday, dammit.
As the track shifted into something more on the Hindi end of things, he spotted Simon--Bellamy, that was. Who he'd hardly ever spoken to, which was kind of weird, but the guy just kind of faded out--no pun intended ha! And he had his camera. Oh, hey! Idea!
Pietro approached, running one hand through his wild hair and chirping: "Hi there. Having a good time?"
Simon raised his eyebrows as Pietro seemed to suddenly appear by his side - and he didn't think he had even used his speed to do so. And he was talking to him! Simon wasn't sure they had ever had a real conversation before. Although maybe Pietro would realise his mistake before this could be called a conversation, and would wander off to somebody more interesting; that wouldn't surprise Simon. Still, for now he smiled awkwardly at the other boy. "It's a good party."
"Well, it's more a bunch of people writhing than an actual party, but we like it," Pietro agreed, in full on Twin Mode for their (not his) birthday. He sipped again. "You need a drink? This is pomegranate and vodka, but Lorna and I secreted some other spiked juice in."
Okay so he was supposed to be keeping it on the DL because Erik toooootally knew he was up to something, but dude was just so, like, awkward. A little medication never killed anyone.
"I'm alright, thank you," Simon politely turned him down. It wasn't that he didn't drink, it was that he didn't want to take any alcohol away from the people whose birthday it was. It seemed rude. He was certain that Nathan would have jumped at the opportunity, which was proof of how rude it was, truly.
"Sorry." Pietro's tipsy grin became momentarily apologetic. "Not trying to push alcohol, just offering. Was that weird? I didn't mean it to be weird. Just, you know. Birthday revelry." He gestured broadly with his pom-and-vodka.
"It wasn't weird," Simon assured him with a small smile, now wishing he had said yes, if only so Pietro wouldn't be self-conscious about it.
"Less weird than inflatable donkeys," Pietro agreed, all brightness again. "Get any footage of that?"
Simon began to turn an interesting shade of pink, the blush visible even in the party lights. "No, I didn't." Much as he loved Nathan, he wished that his friend was a little less... Nathan, at times. That would have saved Simon the need to say, "I don't actually like inflatable donkeys."
"I figured." Pietro chuckled and clapped Simon on the shoulder briefly. He wasn't usually touchy with people he didn't know, but a quick back slap was easily done when he was drinking.
"I learned the first time I talked to Nathan not to take anything he said too seriously." But it wasn't said unkindly; he'd never forget what Laura said, about Nathan dying to protect his friend--Simon, Pietro assumed, even though he didn't know the story. There was more to dude than he wanted people to know, and Pietro could respect that. Even if he wanted to flick him in the forehead half the time.
"That's a good rule with him," Simon agreed with a small smile. He didn't know why Pietro was being so friendly to him. He clearly was one of the popular kids, and Simon... was not. Still, he could try and make conversation. "Are you having a good birthday party?"
"It is the best," Pietro said almost confidentially, leaning nearer to be heard over the thudding bass. "You didn't know me last year. This is like--like five hundred times better.
"Oh but! Speaking of!" He waved one hand in the air, having just remembered what he wanted to ask. "Did you get us dancing to Gross just now? When we went all Roma on this place?"
The question made Simon smile again, as did the easy proximity and enthusiasm with which Pietro talked to him. He should know better; usually, when popular boys talked to him, it ended badly. But people like Alison had been teaching him that sometimes, the popular kids truly could be nice. "I did!" Simon confirmed, and held up the camera, getting it to record again. "Would you like to say something to immortalise the moment?"
"Yes!" Pietro struck a pose, bottle held high. "We made it to seventeen! Go team Maximoff! Also, if you're seeing this, hiiii, Dále!" He made kissy-lips in the general direction of the screen. "Can we show this to our mom? She hasn't seen us dance in like forever."
After he said it, he realized the flush in their faces and, well, probably even they way they were dancing would probably betray the fact that they were about five minutes from being hammered. But hey!
"I'll make a montage, and you can show it to whoever you like?" Simon offered with a half-smile, after ending the recording. He might actually do two versions, one of them mutation-free, just so they really could show it to anyone.
"Okay, long as I don't look too wrecked." Pietro laughed and took another drink--stupid fast buzz wearing off! Where was Tony Stark and his endless tequila when you needed him?
... okay no nevermind. Bad idea. Beautiful, but bad. Like Tony himself, really.
Pietro clapped Simon on the shoulder again. "Do I look super wrecked? Or can it be written off as, like, flushed with birthday excitement and dancing?"
"I think you're alright," Simon said with another smile, one that stretched a little wider. It was the repeated friendly contact; it was, against all expectations, making him relax a little, and think that this might be real. Although Pietro was a little 'wrecked'.
"That calls for another drink." So he took one. Then held the bottle out to Simon. "Sure you're good?"
"...maybe just a little," Simon agreed, after a second or two. It was safe, he thought; Pietro really seemed to mean it.
Pietro flashed to the drinks table, grabbed a red plastic cup, then flashed back and started pouring out some pom-and-vodka for Simon. "I swear I'm not sick or anything. Neither is Remy. Ha! Sorry, that's kinda gross--don't worry though, there's enough vodka in here to kill anything. Lorna and I made sure of it."
There was a gust of wind, and suddenly Pietro was pouring him a glass. "It's okay," Simon assured him with a hint of a smile, amused and relaxing a little. "Thank you," he added, when Pietro handed him the red cup. "Are you and Remy a couple?" Yes, he had seen them together (he saw a lot around school), but that did not necessarily mean that they were.
"Yyyyeah," Pietro's grin went a little dopey, but he took another sip to try and stop it. It failed, but whatever. "He's kind of beautiful." Which would've been a semi-embarrassing admission if Simon had any idea the multiple levels on which Pietro intended it, but as it was, it was pretty much just stating the obvious. Like. Look at him.
Simon blushed a little at what Pietro said, mostly because he wasn't exactly a good judge of boys being beautiful, but he still managed to string a few words together. This was far from the most blush-inducing thing he had lived through, after all. "It's good if you're happy." It was a cliché, but he meant it.
"Very. And often." Pietro smirked wickedly, but as he pulled his gaze off his pretty, pretty boyfriend it fell on Alice, who met his eyes. She looked like she had something to say--and they hadn't even danced yet! What the hell! "Okay, I'mma go grab Alice for this next song--I'll email you about the thing, kay?"
"Not if I e-mail you first," Simon answered, which was his own awkward sort of banter, sold with a small smile.
Pietro grinned and flicked Simon a salute with his free hand as he sauntered off. Man, something about the name "Simon" just meant "awkward turtle" didn't it? Still, totally cool guy--why hadn't they talked properly before? Seemed like a huge oversight--
But Alice was there, looking all fine as shit, and Pietro was even more easily distracted than usual. As the track shifted into some funky Daft Punk (yay!) he slipped into the rhythm, dropped off his bottle on a nearby table, and pulled up close, hand going directly to her hip. He offered a cheerful, "Hi!" and that was all.
"Hey honey," Alice greeted him with a bright smile, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as their hips found the right rhythm together. "Enjoying your party?"
“We are indeed,” he agreed, not even imagining that “you” was meant as the singular. “How about you? I mean, you look like you’re having a good time, but you always do.”
"It's because I always am," Alice confided in him, eyes twinkling. "What is there not to enjoy, really? Awesome party - awesome caked - good music, pretty mutants everywhere, and you're dancing with me. What's with the fake ink?" she asked curiously, tapping the spot on his arm. Unless it was a Wentworth Miller reference, she wasn't getting it.
Pietro chuckled. "The goofy pyromaniac appealing to my sister's love of Jane Austen. She assures me he is not hitting on her, but actually loves and writes romance novels, so I'm not gonna kill him for it. Yet.
"Wentworth's the hero from Persuasion. Kind of an ass, but totally hot."
Alice had to laugh; of course it would come from Johnny. "I'm pretty sure he's not hitting on her, yes." She had yet to see Johnny actually hitting on anyone; he seemed to prefer watching others and writing about it. "And I have no idea who that is, but as long as he's hot, I fully support your not-ink."
He grinned and slipped his palm into the small of her back with the same easy familiarity with which they moved together. Perks of having had your friends naked in bed at one point or another, as far as Pietro was concerned, even if his fucking around days were done. He could live vicariously through Alice, now. "Very, very hot, yes."
Okay, so he wasn't that into Ciaran Hinds, but Rupert Penry-Jones? All day.
"Next year at this time, hopefully I will have convinced Wanda to come with me to get real ones."
"Do you know what you want to get?" Alice asked curiously, a lot more interested in that than in fictional characters, no matter how hot.
Pietro grinned down at her sheepishly. "Wellllll, it's kinda nerdy but also awesome. At the moment I'm thinking I wanna get the equation that expresses Newton's Second Law of Motion--aka the Law of Acceleration. It's "Capital-F-equals-M-A". Force equals mass times acceleration."
F=ma was perhaps not the most badass thing ever but for a speedster who worked like he did, come on! "I may be talked into something else before then though. I mean, a year is a long time. Especially for me."
"Honey, if you can't hold on to the idea for a year, it's a good thing you're not getting it tattooed on your body," Alice pointed out with a smile - speedster brain or not. Unless he really did want to keep laser-removing tats off of his skin.
“It’ll probably fade in a year or two anyhow, with the way my body works,” he admitted with a grin. “But I’m not adverse to touch-ups.”
"Seriously?" Alice asked with raised eyebrows. "That is sweet. I mean, unless you really want something for the rest of your life."
"There is one thing I will need for the rest of my life. And she's here, and it's our birthday." Pietro grinned and swung Alice around a little, the rearranged the angle of their hips to the beat. "As for the rest, I don't know. I just know what I want right now. And I kinda got it, not gonna lie."
Alice laughed at the little spin, easily going with it; Pietro's giddiness was clearly infectious. "Yeah? No trouble in paradise?" That was definitely good to know, because he deserved everything he wanted, as far as she was concerned.
"Alice, there is more trouble than I know what to do with, to tell you the truth," Pietro admitted. "But so far nothing we can't handle." And the we was vague because it could've meant anything. Him and Wanda, him and Remy, even him and Alice and every fuckin one else in the room, really. "Or that's my story for tonight, anyhow.
"I get sick of being thinky."
Alice's mind had firmly gone to the Remy place as she asked her question, and his answer made her frown, but at his conclusion, she nodded decisively. "You got it. No more thinkiness tonight." And, as if to prove her point, she took his hand, spun him under her arm, brought him back to her and dipped him back.
Pietro had to do a little ducking and weaving to make it happen, but he went within naturally--hey he was good at following. As he pulled up from the dip, he made a sound that was remarkably like a giggle. "I am swooning, Alice!" But he'd caught he frown, so still grinning, he said, "And just for the record, don't worry, the thinkiness is nothing you'd have to defend my honor over. Remy's good to me. Way, way too good."
"Good," Alice stated with a small smile. "I'd hate to have to damage that body." And she wouldn't touch that face. Because seriously. And she was talking complete bullshit, obviously; her smile gave that away.
"It would be criminal, yes," Pietro agreed with a smirk. "Speaking of bodies--did you enjoy reacquainting yourself with your old one? Suuuuuper hot, by the way." Not more or less hot, just hot in a different way--a very Alice way. Somehow.
"I'm pretty sure that was the best birthday present I ever got, and that includes the New Mini I got for Jenna's 18th," Alice replied, and absolutely meant it. They were just not even in the same league.
"Eames is the sweetest of all sweet peas. When he told me about that I was just like--n'awwww." Pietro swiveled his hips and shifted them both around in another little twirl. "Mutants for the win."
"We rock," Alice confirmed with a bright grin, shifting so they would be properly aligned for a hip check. Because that kind of statement should be followed by something way better than a fist bump - hip check totally qualified.
Hip check, yes! This accomplished, Pietro laughed again. "To getting totally spoiled on your birthday."
"And to dancing your ass off on your birthday," Alice added with a grin, looping an arm around his shoulders again as she fell back into the rhythm.
After hugs and high fives, Pietro listed gently to the side of the room to dig in the "special" cooler he and Lorna had prepared. Oooh, pomegranate! He snagged one of those and took the cap off, then stood; lightheaded, yep, but not spinny. The problem with superspeed was that's. Six minute dance interval was enough to lose the buzz. He knocked back a quick swig to remedy the situation, then glanced around the writhing room full of kids for someone to annoy--because it was their birthday, dammit.
As the track shifted into something more on the Hindi end of things, he spotted Simon--Bellamy, that was. Who he'd hardly ever spoken to, which was kind of weird, but the guy just kind of faded out--no pun intended ha! And he had his camera. Oh, hey! Idea!
Pietro approached, running one hand through his wild hair and chirping: "Hi there. Having a good time?"
Simon raised his eyebrows as Pietro seemed to suddenly appear by his side - and he didn't think he had even used his speed to do so. And he was talking to him! Simon wasn't sure they had ever had a real conversation before. Although maybe Pietro would realise his mistake before this could be called a conversation, and would wander off to somebody more interesting; that wouldn't surprise Simon. Still, for now he smiled awkwardly at the other boy. "It's a good party."
"Well, it's more a bunch of people writhing than an actual party, but we like it," Pietro agreed, in full on Twin Mode for their (not his) birthday. He sipped again. "You need a drink? This is pomegranate and vodka, but Lorna and I secreted some other spiked juice in."
Okay so he was supposed to be keeping it on the DL because Erik toooootally knew he was up to something, but dude was just so, like, awkward. A little medication never killed anyone.
"I'm alright, thank you," Simon politely turned him down. It wasn't that he didn't drink, it was that he didn't want to take any alcohol away from the people whose birthday it was. It seemed rude. He was certain that Nathan would have jumped at the opportunity, which was proof of how rude it was, truly.
"Sorry." Pietro's tipsy grin became momentarily apologetic. "Not trying to push alcohol, just offering. Was that weird? I didn't mean it to be weird. Just, you know. Birthday revelry." He gestured broadly with his pom-and-vodka.
"It wasn't weird," Simon assured him with a small smile, now wishing he had said yes, if only so Pietro wouldn't be self-conscious about it.
"Less weird than inflatable donkeys," Pietro agreed, all brightness again. "Get any footage of that?"
Simon began to turn an interesting shade of pink, the blush visible even in the party lights. "No, I didn't." Much as he loved Nathan, he wished that his friend was a little less... Nathan, at times. That would have saved Simon the need to say, "I don't actually like inflatable donkeys."
"I figured." Pietro chuckled and clapped Simon on the shoulder briefly. He wasn't usually touchy with people he didn't know, but a quick back slap was easily done when he was drinking.
"I learned the first time I talked to Nathan not to take anything he said too seriously." But it wasn't said unkindly; he'd never forget what Laura said, about Nathan dying to protect his friend--Simon, Pietro assumed, even though he didn't know the story. There was more to dude than he wanted people to know, and Pietro could respect that. Even if he wanted to flick him in the forehead half the time.
"That's a good rule with him," Simon agreed with a small smile. He didn't know why Pietro was being so friendly to him. He clearly was one of the popular kids, and Simon... was not. Still, he could try and make conversation. "Are you having a good birthday party?"
"It is the best," Pietro said almost confidentially, leaning nearer to be heard over the thudding bass. "You didn't know me last year. This is like--like five hundred times better.
"Oh but! Speaking of!" He waved one hand in the air, having just remembered what he wanted to ask. "Did you get us dancing to Gross just now? When we went all Roma on this place?"
The question made Simon smile again, as did the easy proximity and enthusiasm with which Pietro talked to him. He should know better; usually, when popular boys talked to him, it ended badly. But people like Alison had been teaching him that sometimes, the popular kids truly could be nice. "I did!" Simon confirmed, and held up the camera, getting it to record again. "Would you like to say something to immortalise the moment?"
"Yes!" Pietro struck a pose, bottle held high. "We made it to seventeen! Go team Maximoff! Also, if you're seeing this, hiiii, Dále!" He made kissy-lips in the general direction of the screen. "Can we show this to our mom? She hasn't seen us dance in like forever."
After he said it, he realized the flush in their faces and, well, probably even they way they were dancing would probably betray the fact that they were about five minutes from being hammered. But hey!
"I'll make a montage, and you can show it to whoever you like?" Simon offered with a half-smile, after ending the recording. He might actually do two versions, one of them mutation-free, just so they really could show it to anyone.
"Okay, long as I don't look too wrecked." Pietro laughed and took another drink--stupid fast buzz wearing off! Where was Tony Stark and his endless tequila when you needed him?
... okay no nevermind. Bad idea. Beautiful, but bad. Like Tony himself, really.
Pietro clapped Simon on the shoulder again. "Do I look super wrecked? Or can it be written off as, like, flushed with birthday excitement and dancing?"
"I think you're alright," Simon said with another smile, one that stretched a little wider. It was the repeated friendly contact; it was, against all expectations, making him relax a little, and think that this might be real. Although Pietro was a little 'wrecked'.
"That calls for another drink." So he took one. Then held the bottle out to Simon. "Sure you're good?"
"...maybe just a little," Simon agreed, after a second or two. It was safe, he thought; Pietro really seemed to mean it.
Pietro flashed to the drinks table, grabbed a red plastic cup, then flashed back and started pouring out some pom-and-vodka for Simon. "I swear I'm not sick or anything. Neither is Remy. Ha! Sorry, that's kinda gross--don't worry though, there's enough vodka in here to kill anything. Lorna and I made sure of it."
There was a gust of wind, and suddenly Pietro was pouring him a glass. "It's okay," Simon assured him with a hint of a smile, amused and relaxing a little. "Thank you," he added, when Pietro handed him the red cup. "Are you and Remy a couple?" Yes, he had seen them together (he saw a lot around school), but that did not necessarily mean that they were.
"Yyyyeah," Pietro's grin went a little dopey, but he took another sip to try and stop it. It failed, but whatever. "He's kind of beautiful." Which would've been a semi-embarrassing admission if Simon had any idea the multiple levels on which Pietro intended it, but as it was, it was pretty much just stating the obvious. Like. Look at him.
Simon blushed a little at what Pietro said, mostly because he wasn't exactly a good judge of boys being beautiful, but he still managed to string a few words together. This was far from the most blush-inducing thing he had lived through, after all. "It's good if you're happy." It was a cliché, but he meant it.
"Very. And often." Pietro smirked wickedly, but as he pulled his gaze off his pretty, pretty boyfriend it fell on Alice, who met his eyes. She looked like she had something to say--and they hadn't even danced yet! What the hell! "Okay, I'mma go grab Alice for this next song--I'll email you about the thing, kay?"
"Not if I e-mail you first," Simon answered, which was his own awkward sort of banter, sold with a small smile.
Pietro grinned and flicked Simon a salute with his free hand as he sauntered off. Man, something about the name "Simon" just meant "awkward turtle" didn't it? Still, totally cool guy--why hadn't they talked properly before? Seemed like a huge oversight--
But Alice was there, looking all fine as shit, and Pietro was even more easily distracted than usual. As the track shifted into some funky Daft Punk (yay!) he slipped into the rhythm, dropped off his bottle on a nearby table, and pulled up close, hand going directly to her hip. He offered a cheerful, "Hi!" and that was all.
"Hey honey," Alice greeted him with a bright smile, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as their hips found the right rhythm together. "Enjoying your party?"
“We are indeed,” he agreed, not even imagining that “you” was meant as the singular. “How about you? I mean, you look like you’re having a good time, but you always do.”
"It's because I always am," Alice confided in him, eyes twinkling. "What is there not to enjoy, really? Awesome party - awesome caked - good music, pretty mutants everywhere, and you're dancing with me. What's with the fake ink?" she asked curiously, tapping the spot on his arm. Unless it was a Wentworth Miller reference, she wasn't getting it.
Pietro chuckled. "The goofy pyromaniac appealing to my sister's love of Jane Austen. She assures me he is not hitting on her, but actually loves and writes romance novels, so I'm not gonna kill him for it. Yet.
"Wentworth's the hero from Persuasion. Kind of an ass, but totally hot."
Alice had to laugh; of course it would come from Johnny. "I'm pretty sure he's not hitting on her, yes." She had yet to see Johnny actually hitting on anyone; he seemed to prefer watching others and writing about it. "And I have no idea who that is, but as long as he's hot, I fully support your not-ink."
He grinned and slipped his palm into the small of her back with the same easy familiarity with which they moved together. Perks of having had your friends naked in bed at one point or another, as far as Pietro was concerned, even if his fucking around days were done. He could live vicariously through Alice, now. "Very, very hot, yes."
Okay, so he wasn't that into Ciaran Hinds, but Rupert Penry-Jones? All day.
"Next year at this time, hopefully I will have convinced Wanda to come with me to get real ones."
"Do you know what you want to get?" Alice asked curiously, a lot more interested in that than in fictional characters, no matter how hot.
Pietro grinned down at her sheepishly. "Wellllll, it's kinda nerdy but also awesome. At the moment I'm thinking I wanna get the equation that expresses Newton's Second Law of Motion--aka the Law of Acceleration. It's "Capital-F-equals-M-A". Force equals mass times acceleration."
F=ma was perhaps not the most badass thing ever but for a speedster who worked like he did, come on! "I may be talked into something else before then though. I mean, a year is a long time. Especially for me."
"Honey, if you can't hold on to the idea for a year, it's a good thing you're not getting it tattooed on your body," Alice pointed out with a smile - speedster brain or not. Unless he really did want to keep laser-removing tats off of his skin.
“It’ll probably fade in a year or two anyhow, with the way my body works,” he admitted with a grin. “But I’m not adverse to touch-ups.”
"Seriously?" Alice asked with raised eyebrows. "That is sweet. I mean, unless you really want something for the rest of your life."
"There is one thing I will need for the rest of my life. And she's here, and it's our birthday." Pietro grinned and swung Alice around a little, the rearranged the angle of their hips to the beat. "As for the rest, I don't know. I just know what I want right now. And I kinda got it, not gonna lie."
Alice laughed at the little spin, easily going with it; Pietro's giddiness was clearly infectious. "Yeah? No trouble in paradise?" That was definitely good to know, because he deserved everything he wanted, as far as she was concerned.
"Alice, there is more trouble than I know what to do with, to tell you the truth," Pietro admitted. "But so far nothing we can't handle." And the we was vague because it could've meant anything. Him and Wanda, him and Remy, even him and Alice and every fuckin one else in the room, really. "Or that's my story for tonight, anyhow.
"I get sick of being thinky."
Alice's mind had firmly gone to the Remy place as she asked her question, and his answer made her frown, but at his conclusion, she nodded decisively. "You got it. No more thinkiness tonight." And, as if to prove her point, she took his hand, spun him under her arm, brought him back to her and dipped him back.
Pietro had to do a little ducking and weaving to make it happen, but he went within naturally--hey he was good at following. As he pulled up from the dip, he made a sound that was remarkably like a giggle. "I am swooning, Alice!" But he'd caught he frown, so still grinning, he said, "And just for the record, don't worry, the thinkiness is nothing you'd have to defend my honor over. Remy's good to me. Way, way too good."
"Good," Alice stated with a small smile. "I'd hate to have to damage that body." And she wouldn't touch that face. Because seriously. And she was talking complete bullshit, obviously; her smile gave that away.
"It would be criminal, yes," Pietro agreed with a smirk. "Speaking of bodies--did you enjoy reacquainting yourself with your old one? Suuuuuper hot, by the way." Not more or less hot, just hot in a different way--a very Alice way. Somehow.
"I'm pretty sure that was the best birthday present I ever got, and that includes the New Mini I got for Jenna's 18th," Alice replied, and absolutely meant it. They were just not even in the same league.
"Eames is the sweetest of all sweet peas. When he told me about that I was just like--n'awwww." Pietro swiveled his hips and shifted them both around in another little twirl. "Mutants for the win."
"We rock," Alice confirmed with a bright grin, shifting so they would be properly aligned for a hip check. Because that kind of statement should be followed by something way better than a fist bump - hip check totally qualified.
Hip check, yes! This accomplished, Pietro laughed again. "To getting totally spoiled on your birthday."
"And to dancing your ass off on your birthday," Alice added with a grin, looping an arm around his shoulders again as she fell back into the rhythm.
