"You can pay, for a start," Nora said, that impish smile appearing on her face again. It was very hard to tell if she was kidding or not. She strode through the programs and took a seat at the bar. "A drink, please."
The bartender scowled at her, but she pretended not to notice.
Cor chuckled again and shook his head before joining her at the bar. “Make that two. Her's is on me.” he told the bartender.
"You'll also have to pay for everything she and her Bit breaks," the bartender said stiffly, picking up a glass and filling it with energy, pushing it across to Cor.
“Now, is that any way to talk to a paying customer?” Cor asked coyly as he accepted the drink. “But I’m sure it won't be a problem.” he smirked with a playful wink.
"He only talks to me this way," Nora said smoothly, accepting her own drink. She waited until the bartender was out of earshot before muttering, "Otherwise, this place would be more empty than it usually is."
It was then that, over the sparse murmurings of the crowd around them and the clink of glasses, she heard a few stray notes of a song. Her heart seemed to expand and then shrink to the size of a pea: this was Kaira's favourite song. Her lashes dipped slightly, then she stirred her drink absentmindedly and took a sip, subconsciously humming the song under her breath.
"Still… someone could use a little refresher on manners." Cor said, giving his opinion before taking a slow sip. He sighed as he let himself relax and listened to the music. Though he raised a brow slightly when he noticed Nora humming along with it. "You like this song?"
"He wasn't programmed with any," Nora said sourly; when he asked her about the song, her lashes dipped again and she absentmindedly rubbed the light strip on her chest, a nervous tic. "Yeah, I guess."
Cor set his drink down and chuckled indulgently at her remark about the bartender, turning to look at her. Considering his job, he had to “get along” with a lot of different programs to get what he needed, and the best way to do that was to read them carefully. He recognized her little action and nodded slightly. “Would it… Umm, would it be out of the question for me to ask you if you’d like to dance?” he said gently.
Nora stiffened, sitting up straight, staring at Cor like he had suddenly announced he was a User. Dance?
Yes, Bit said, zooming around Nora's head and repeatedly bumping into her shoulders. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
"You really think so, Bit?" she murmured absentmindedly.
Yes.
"If Bit approves…" she said cautiously, standing up, "then yes… but just for one song."
Cor almost felt himself shrink under Nora's gaze… He was tempted to fight the feeling, as he rarely let himself react to expressions like that, but this time he didn't. His face flushed slightly as he turned to look away from her when he heard Bit encouraging her. Daring to look back at her, he nodded and stood up with her. “Just the one.” he agreed, relieved and a little surprised that she had accepted.
Nora nodded and stood up, glancing cautiously at their abandoned drinks, hoping the bartender wouldn't think they'd left and steal them. Bit seemed to sense her thoughts, bobbing up and down above the drinks.
Nora glanced at Cor out of the corner of her eye and then proceeded to carve a path right through the dancing programs, slipping into the middle of the (somewhat sparse) crowd, where the dancing was at its most intense.
Cor followed her onto the dance floor, feeling just a little nervous. He’d definitely been dancing before and wasn't half bad but this was a little new. Maybe it was just the way he and Nora interacted that made him nervous. He couldn't… didn't let anyone get to know him anymore, for obvious reasons, but he was oddly comfortable around the snappy Siren.
Nora was dancing. Maybe it was her old Siren programming, but she had a perfect sense of rhythm, stepping perfectly in time to the beat. Dancing was one of the few times where she felt like herself; she wasn't even bothered that the DJ's from End of Line were in charge of the music.
Cor smiled softly at her skill before he joined in the dance, trying to match her rhythm. Honestly, he was just a little off compared to her but that might have just been his character. Ever since he started hacking as Black Light almost everything he did was just slightly off though fortunately not so much that it was suspicious.
One side of Nora's lips twitched into a smile for a split second. A little off, sure. Nothing she couldn't fix.
"Out of practise?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
His face flushed slightly as he nodded, surprised that she picked up on that fact. “It’s not every cycle I get to dance with a program as talented as you.” he smiled playfully. That one he was definitely going to blame on the drinks.
"I'm a former Siren," she said sleekly. "Rhythm's in my code." Was he turning pink, or was it just the lights?
“I picked up on that almost as soon as I saw you.” he admitted, still smiling at her. “You may have been repurposed but no one can really alter base coding. So as far as I'm concerned, you're still a Siren.”
She raised her eyebrows. "In case you haven't noticed, I own a club. I'd hardly call that Siren work."
Cor shrugged. “So? A Siren owning a club isn't a bad thing. It's actually pretty cool. I think it gives you an interesting perspective.” he told her. “Could even be an advantage.”
"An advantage how?" Nora asked, glancing at him sideways, one eyebrow arched. And it wasn't a rhetorical question - she really was curious. Not that she was planning to be in the club very much; vigilante work would, and always had, made her schedule unpredictable, to say the least. And now she had that other one to look out for…
“Honestly, I'm not sure.” he admitted. “I guess it really depends on you. The way you see things.” Cor sighed slightly. “I… I knew a program. She was an artist but she tried to help the ISO’s and she was very good at it. It took a long time before anyone caught on to her. She even had me fooled for a while.” he added with a nostalgic chuckle.
Nora didn't quite know what to make of this. It was rare that she even talked to anyone, let alone had anyone tell her anything like this. She didn't know how to react.
"You talk too much," she said eventually, with the tiniest smirk. "Dance."
Cor shook his head slightly at Nora's voice to pull himself out of his memories. He didn't know why he told a complete stranger about Tetra. It wasn't like him to bring her up at all or even talk that much unless he was dressed up as Black Light. He managed a small smile at Nora and nodded. “Ok.”
And they danced. And the song ended. Nora, still absorbed in the music, barely noticed.