“I don’t,” Kori confirmed with a sad little smile, all for show, as she tugged up the hem of her skirt to show him the simple black flats she’d dug out of her belongings for the night. “I thought heels and a ball gown were a little too much, since I’m out of practice walking in one and I’ve never worn the other.” She had always wanted a ball gown for her wedding dress, but she shook the thought away as quickly as it had shown up. “And you’ll just have to keep waiting, mister. They really would only work if you had worn the Phantom costume,” she told him. “They’re probably not as funny as I think they are either.” She wasn’t exactly known for being overly humorous.
She laughed, amused by the stereotypical opinion about tights. “Be honest, if they had put their mind to it they could have gotten you into tights,” she mused. “I don’t think it would be as bad as you think either. Men always think that tights are the worst possible thing in the world, and they’re really not that bad.” She wasn’t exactly thinking about the many ways they could be embarrassing, so her mouth was just going off on it’s own. She laughed again when he almost seemed to be goading her into teasing him; it was unexpected. “But I’m usually the one discouraging the teasing of others,” she reminded lightly, scrambling in the back of her head to think of some way to tease him about his costume if he persisted about her being creative enough to think up something.
“She does,” Kori confirmed. “But it’s what I love about her.” She loved a lot of things about her best friend, and really only wanted her to be happy. “Chivalrous, hmm? I would never have guessed that Robin was the type.” But she would be the first to admit that it had been a while since she’d read the folklore.
It was hard to keep her hands from going to the tips of her ears to see how hot they were. The tips of her ears always went a little pink when she was complimented, and there was the awkward swell of uncertainty in her chest at how to respond. It felt like ages since she’d been complimented by anyone that wasn’t a sibling or Rae, that even though Toby was a friend it left her floundering for a moment. “Thank you,” she said finally, with a little smile that she hoped didn’t look as shaky as it felt. “And you’re right, she was the kindest of them.”
“And a few people who probably should be paying more attention to their actions than they are,” she added, furrowing her brow a little when Toby’s smile seemed to fade when he caught sight of his sister and daughter. She shouldn’t ask about it though, probably it was nothing, a simple parenting concern thing. “I keep getting worried that someone is going to drink too much and end up wobbling into that fire,” she said, though had she known it was such a concern for him she would have taken better care not to say it.