dreamingflowers

Young Justice

_{E P I S O D E T W O : S U I T U P}

COVERT OPS

_SOUNDTRACK

K O B R A'S M O U N T A I N HQ

---

^{May 20rd, 2021 | 04:55a.m. | La Hoya, Argentina}

Squad A and B were closing in on Kobra HQ lead by Talon and Rain respectively. The members of squad B took up vantage points in a semi circle around the base. Gold Rush covered nearly half of the area using his clones. Brightheart had a birds eye view on the factory from the air and Hex stalked the shadows. In squad A Mirage was key in successful infiltration, by studying the guards patrol routes over the course of an hour they were able to find multiple entry points. The safest entry point could be reached through the roof. The team managed to find a way up there and were discussing a plan of action.

Metamorph was given orders to investigate the automobile he came across in the pine forest a little ways outside of the factory. He was currently separated from squad A, either Brightheart or Coal could spot him and call in Hex as back up. The car looked suspicious, there was no one inside. Out in the snow signs of a struggle could be seen. There was a container filled with a mystery substance, it had leaked, leaving a trail from the car back into the direction of the factory.

Rain and Nymph were operating the comms together relatively smoothly, relaying important information to both squads. They managed to find an efficient way to work together, only talking when needed, as small talk only made their inherent unease around each other worse.

Young Justice

Location: La Hoya
Interactions: Squad A and B

---

Prior to exiting the jet and venturing out into the snowy peaks of La Hoya Daphne had transformed herself. She felt her skin tighten due to being exposed to the cold, but just like every other physical pain it was lessened. The nervous system of her plant form was a unique blend between fauna and flora. It caused her to be able to withstand the low temperatures better, at least that's what she hoped. With only her head exposed her hair fluttered in the wind, snow getting caught on the surface of the leaves.

She squinted at Viktor, her eyes narrowing to watch his masked face. His speech was militant and clear cut. Daphne was beginning to get used to it. This was important to all of them, but it seemed particularly important to the stoic hero. She didn't know why, maybe because leadership was split between him and Talon. It was probably something else, if she knew him better she might have known where his motivation came from. One thing she did know for sure, she didn't want to disappoint him and her team again. Daphne was determined to succeed.

Talon said something to the team. It was unexpectedly.....nice? Or at least, she knew he wasn't an unkind guy, but this was something he wouldn't usually say. These were the kind of words and emotions he struggled with. They´d spent time together in short but meaningful intervals, one of their activities included sign language lessons. Daphne wanted to include Talon in the team. Communication was the first step. Sometimes during her lessons she caught a glimpse of this other side of him, underneath the shades.

"I suppose we should ask for your permission for breakings in the bathing room or are we expected to hold our excrements in until the mission ends?"
Daphne turned to Aleen´a and stifled a laugh at the same time. They could always count on the alien girl to say something funny to break up the tension. Daphne shook her head, still smiling.
“No Brightheart, if nature calls you don’t need permission to go”

Wait….maybe using figure of speech wouldn’t be the best idea. Aleen’a often took things literally which was understandable. Next thing you know Aleen’a was going to try to use their coms to call a pine tree. Daphne attempted to sheepishly correct herself, blinking the snow out of her eyes.
“I just meant that if you need to pee, you can find a quiet place between the trees and go there”

Coal flew on out ahead of them and she watched Casper's spirit companion go off into the distance.The falling snow combined with the still dark night sky made it difficult to see clearly. After a couple of seconds Coal had already disappeared. She also needed to find a vantage point. Somewhere where she could keep an eye on things and communicate with the team. Daphne turned to squad B, her voice just loud enough to be heard, in order to keep a low profile.
"I'll scout on ahead and find a vantage point and start up our comms"

With a determined nod to squad B she started towards the hills leading to the Kobra factory. The backpack carrying the radios and earpieces was strapped to her back. She glanced back every so often, just to make sure to not lose sight of the team. So far she was walking in a roughly straight line towards a hill. After a while she was starting to get tired. Daphne sucked in a cold breath and looked around. There was a rock jutting out of the snow, it was large enough to hide behind. She walked up to it, trudging through the heavy snow.

This spot looked pretty good. She took off the backpack and put it in front of her, the snow crunching under the weight of the equipment. Alright what was she supposed to do first at comms? They only had one training session using everything, but it couldn’t be too difficult right? She got the radios installed without problems. Daphne was impressed with herself. This kind of stuff usually took repeated tries for her to get right. She was the kind of girl who couldn’t even hang up a frame and here she was operating a military style communications set.

She turned on the radio for a test, if she did this right squad A would now be able to hear her.
“Uhh hello...guys…?”
Daphne quickly corrected herself, remembering radio etiquette.
“I mean...Squad A, this is Nymph, I have set up the comms and we’re now online, over."

Young Justice

Location: Communications complex
Interactions: Squad A and B

---

Daphne listened to Viktor attentively, taking in everything he said while trying not to worry too much. She nodded along until she heard his comment about abandoning half of their team. The thought alone made her sick to her stomach. They couldn't really be doing that, could they? Daphne stared at Viktor in disbelief. She didn't know how to react, so she simply stayed quiet. The rest of the team was getting ready too. She was going to make herself useful. It wouldn't help worrying about this now.

Ja had the right idea, it was clever to bring something to eat. Over the last two weeks Daphne had everyone's favorite snacks pretty much memorized. She got to work on making a whole bunch of sandwiches, packing them into labeled bags. Four would probably be enough, if she brought some other stuff too. It was like prepping lunch for ten kids. Daphne was used to mothering others and herself, a result of growing up without a mom. She put a lot of thought and effort into her prepping. It was obvious she paid attention to details, using Aleena's favorite jam, catering to Zach's sweet tooth, Talon's peanut butter and banana combo, Ja's tangy baobab spread, Kassandra's love of tuna salad, Felix a spicy omelet (which she didn't make from scratch, using one they had left over, don't tell him!), even Viktor's weird combination of turkey and cheddar. The teen girl kept a close eye on the clock, she knew neither Viktor nor Talon would appreciate late comers. With that in mind she cleaned up after herself, setting up a new objective. Changing into winter clothes and bringing some blankets and pillows in case anyone wanted to sleep.

The prepped lunches were transferred into a bag. She looked at it, deciding on bringing them with her or leaving them there for now. Hopefully she wouldn't forget them, it wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes her head was in the clouds and stuff just passed by her. Daphne got done changing into winter gear surprisingly quickly. It took a stop to the supply room, to find everything. Winter clothes weren't exactly on her list when she was packing to move to the HQ. She decided on a white turtleneck, a knitted hat, gloves, grey pants, white boots and a stone colored coat. It was light enough to blend into the snow.

Daphne got down to the hangar lugging two heavy bags behind her, cheeks flushed. It looked like she was going on some kind of ski trip.

"All ready to go!" She said slightly out of breath and with a smile on her face. It was best to keep smiling because she knew what they were going to be facing. They were in this together.

_{E P I S O D E T W O : S U I T U P}

COVERT OPS

_SOUNDTRACK

K O B R A'S M O U N T A I N HQ

---

^{May 20rd, 2021 | 04:00a.m. | La Hoya, Argentina}

The jet was parked inside a clearing in the pine forest, cloaked so no one would see their landing. The mountain region was covered with small patches of trees huddled together, steep hills and winding pathways. The weather was a complete turn around of the sunny beach days in Happy Harbour. A thick layer of snow covered everything, the clouds adding to it continuously. The air was crisp and clean, but something was of. In the distance Kobra's factory operated in secret. Using binoculars would allow to the team a view on everything that was going on. One single road led up to the gates of the factory which were watched by two armed guards. A couple more roving guards were patrolling the outside perimeter.

The team was standing outside in the cold, grouped close together. In a couple of minutes squad A and B were going to split up, each responsible for an important objective. Equipped with night vision goggles and ear pieces they set out on their first mission!

Young Justice

I'll be moving us forward this weekend ^.^
We'll arrive on location and split up following the lead of each squad.

Young Justice

Location: Communications complex
Interactions: the Team

---

No one said hero life was easy and the past two weeks were definitely proof of that. Her time was divided between learning how to control her powers, combat training, a study session with her dad and school. Daphne hadn´t been sure which one was the worst, probably the training with the Martian Manhunter, which at times was more like intense physiological therapy. After the incident during their first combat training Daphne asked her mentor to help gain better control of her powers. It was the first time something like that had happened. She thought she understood her powers. It turned out studying them under controlled conditions at her father´s lab was not at all the same as being out in the field. So even though she knew what they could do, it did not help in controlling them.

Together they figured out her power responded strongly to her emotions. Which made sense because it was fear that caused her metagene to activate a couple of months back. Negative emotions were the source of her powers and that made them dangerous. They protected her from everyone and didn´t differentiate between friend or foe. Daphne worried her powers had a sentience of their own, but the Martian ensured her they didn´t. It was more similar to the immune system of the human body, fighting to protect and maintain balance. They had long talks about her insecurities, doubts and fears. It left her vulnerable, sharing so much of her inner self. The Martian always respected her boundaries, only resorting to telepathy when Daphne had trouble putting words to her thoughts. Their hard work paid off. She learned to use her hair like a fifth limb, able to control the movement like she´d move her arm. Talking to plants became a little easier, she was now able to understand them better even if she was distracted. The bark like armor was still the same, she couldn´t use it at will, not yet.

Her full schedule also meant she couldn´t spend as much time with her team as she wanted to. Whenever she was free, which wasn´t often,she spent most of her time lounging about, trying to recharge. Her near constant exhaustion meant she purposefully stayed away from the more lively members of the team, namely Alisa, Aleen´a, Felix, Zach and Ja. She couldn´t match up to their cheerfulness and didn´t want to bring down the mood. Instead she often found herself in the company Casper, Talon, sometimes Kassandra or even Viktor. With Casper she enjoyed quiet movie nights, despite Cole´s critique of her movie choices. The bird had a particular distaste for sappy movies, which were her favorite. It was the only thing which disgusted the animal enough to make him momentarily leave the lounge, giving them some peace and quiet.

Combat training was something she still despised. She searched for a style of fighting that was comfortable for her. After a couple of sparring sessions with the combat savvy members of the team she had an understanding of the basics. She kept at it and slowly became more skilled in countering physical attacks. It went against Black Canary´s combat philosophy, but for now this worked.

She listened to Batman, paying close attention. This mission might not be the ideal activity to bond, or well actually maybe it was. They were walking into a dangerous place together and watching out for everyone´s safety was always her first priority. Daphne watched Alisa explain the holographic projection of Batman to Aleen´a which made her laugh. She covered her mouth with her hands, forcing herself not to laugh out loud. It was endearing to see Aleen´a figure out how everything on Earth worked. She reminded Daphne of a little kid, who saw everything for the the first time. Daphne was about to walk over to them but stopped when Talon demanded their attention as their current mission leader.

Squad B, patrol duty, she could do that. Right?
She glanced at the members who were going to be on squad B with her. Viktor would be leading them, it made sense. He was going to be blunt and harsh. Even though it wasn't the way she would go about it, Daphne had come to accept their differences more in the past two weeks. His attitude bothered her less and she tried to keep out of his line of fire as much as she could. Felix and Aleen'a were there too. Daphne joined up with her squad, standing next to Felix.
"Hi guys, so squad B, we'll probably need to bundle up" She said, referring to them being outside in the snow.

Batman simply nodded at Talon's question, not saying he agreed or disagreed, leaving things ambiguous. He closed the briefing with a final instruction.
"You'll be leaving in an hour, Alisa will be the pilot since she doesn't tire, make sure to rest up on the way, you're going to need it"

Young Justice

Hi guys!
We made it to episode two! Here are some important notes to get us started. They're mostly about the two week time skip.

❁ Weekly combat training. The team continued to learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses and future challenges they would have to face together.

❁ Red Tornado acquired a Jet plane for the team to deploy during missions out of the country.
Cybergirl, Talon and Rain all received lessons in order to be able to operate the Jet controls and fly safely.

❁ The Martian Manhunter worked with Daphne to mentally guide her through her some of her fears and doubts. Because of his patient and skillful guidance she now has better control over her powers.

❁ Daphne gave everyone on the team a gift after their shopping trip. She snuck it into their rooms. It’s wrapped in green wrapping paper with floral decorations and matching ribbons. Metamorph received a green sleeveless hoodie, Viktor a set of workout clothes, Talon a dark blue long sleeved shirt, Cybergirl a hair clip with turquoise stones, Brightheart a pink scarf headband, Hex a pink ribbon for his tail, Gold Rush a custom engraved basketball with his name on it, Zatara a purple silk tie and Mirage an aquamarine headwrap.

❁ School started back up for those still attending. It can be mentioned on occasion in posts, but school isn’t a big part of the rp.

❁ Any sort of changes in character dynamics and relationships can be worked into the story whenever you like. Whether you have pre determined changes (like the hiking trip interactions), or something you make up on the spot while you're writing. Both are great!

❁ For everyone who's wearing a costume, try to come up with a sort of wintery themed/covert version of it for this mission. Like the more muted colors they wore on the show.

❁ For some characters the start of individual story arcs will be set in motion during this episode.

Young Justice

_{E P I S O D E T W O : S U I T U P}

COVERT OPS

_SOUNDTRACK

S E C R E T S A N C T U A R Y

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^{May 19rd, 2021 | 19:00p.m. | Happy Harbour, Rhode Island}

"La Hoya, Argentina."
Red Tornado had gathered the team inside the communications complex, with a blue hued hologram of Batman standing in the center of the room while the multiple screens behind him displayed maps and blueprints of a factory owned by the cult of the Kobra. They were a pseudo-religious criminal organisation that often relied on a muscle mass increasing drug known as Kobra Venom.
"This factory is the source of a dangerous and illegal chemical."
The maps shifted to show pictures of the inside of the factory and several red dots were spotted around the map.
"Heat signatures show the factory is still operating at full capacity, but no shipments have been confiscated for weeks."
"This could be connected to a theft at Gotham University labs, of which Kobra is the prime suspect, but we need harder evidence."

From his side of things, Batman slightly narrowed his eyes, studying their faces calmly, assessing to whom this next sentence would be of particular importance. He'd read about their progress in the two weeks the team was formed. It was safe to say he was far from impressed.
"That's where this team comes in."¨ He moved his cape behind his back.
"This is a covert recon mission only." The bat's body language was stern as he pointed towards none of them in particular.
"Observe and report, if the Justice League needs to intervene it will."

Batman then used a remote to swap to a larger map of La Hoya.
"The plan requires two drop zones." The drop zones appeared on the screen indicated by zone A and B, located strategically through the mountain region. The mission required two squads, where the team would be divided according to their skill and powers. One squad was tasked with infiltrating the factory to retrieve proof. The other team was going to patrol the perimeter, keeping a close eye on any contraband leaving the premises to be transported.

Batman was asked who would be in charge. He focused on Red Tornado momentarily before answering in his usual deep and even toned voice.
"As this mission is strictly covert we´re putting Talon in charge"

Young Justice

AND

Location: Happy Harbor Mall

---

Daphne attempted to head into a accessoires store but her path got blocked by Viktor´s tall frame. He seemed to have come out of nowhere. She hadn´t seen him coming and now he was suddenly right in front of her, staring down at her with his deep green eyes. He made her nervous. Viktor spoke to her and she tensed up a little. Another order. Before she could protest he pushed a baseball bat into her arms. She struggled a bit to hold it, it was made of metal, instead of the regular wooden ones. Daphne placed her bags down on the floor. She tested the weight in her hands, imagining having to make a swing with it. Maybe if she did something useful for him she could lift his mood a little. She wasn't even bothered he called her short.

She looked up at him carefully and noticed he wasn't looking at her anymore, he was staring at something behind her. Daphne glanced over her shoulder. There was nothing out of the ordinary there, just people going about their day, shopping to their hearts' content and their wallets' limit. Confused at Viktor's odd behaviour she dropped the bat at her side. Her brows furrowed together and she stared at whatever Viktor seemed to have been looking at, answering him hesitantly. She was unsure of what was going on.
"I uhmm....think it's okay, not too heavy and.....I..I could use it if I need to."

"Come, we can walk and talk."
Daphne cringed inwardly. Talking.... with Viktor.
Well she couldn't say no. In her imagination she could, but in reality she was too polite for her own good. Putting on her best fake smile she powered on.
"Sure...we can do that...." She returned the bat to him and grabbed her bags. The bag with Felix's basketball was getting pretty heavy combined with the other items. The handles of the bag were leaving indents in her palms, so she shifted the weight around every so often. It made it manageable.
"So...how do you like the mall?" Daphne had no idea what to talk about.

"It's adequate." He answered plainly. Viktor didn't strike her as the talkative type of guy, so it surprised her he wanted to walk and chat. She explained to him that she still had some shopping to do and he tagged along silently. Maybe he would grow bored after a while and leave, she secretly hoped that might happen. The stores she went into were mainly targeted at women, stores which Viktor would probably never voluntarily enter.

It hadn't escaped the attention of a sales woman either. She was adjusting the clothes of a mannequin and tried to start up some small talk with Viktor and her.
"Wow I can never get my boyfriend to come in here." Viktor glanced around the store at the comment, trying to deduce why anyone would be averse to entering the store with their relationship partner.

"Why not? Is he intimidated by female clothing?" Viktor answered. His eyes fell on Daphne who appeared to be flustered by something. "I think it is a good thing to help your girl friend shop if she needs assistance" He widened his eyes towards all the bags Daphne was holding.

Daphne’s face blushed green with embarrassment. She’d never heard Viktor talk this much. It was odd, his face and tone stayed stoic, but the things he was saying were actually pleasant. Not his usual sneering. It was a change and it gave her mixed feelings. Daphne was still holding a flower hair pin, intending to buy it for Alisa. She couldn’t make up her mind and was constantly worried Viktor would converse with the sales woman again. In the end she placed it back in the stand, right underneath a matching pair of earrings, staring at it wistfully.

A couple of minutes later they were walking on the other side of the second floor. There were a handful of stores still left to go. Daphne passed by a Veronica Secret store when an idea popped into her head. Viktor wouldn’t follow her there for sure. Okay, it was kind of mean, but he was making her nervous and she couldn’t pay attention to her shopping.

Daphne stepped into the store confidently and could almost taste the freedom. Saved by satin robes and lace underwear… or so she thought. Viktor entered the store just as easily. Not even fazed! He noticed a few guys were loitering at the front, but he continued to trail Daphne. He noticed he was getting a little more attention in this store. "Are men not allowed to enter this store?"

"Viktor...are you sure you don't want to wait outside?"

"I'm always sure. Is there a problem, Daphne?" Viktor replied rather sternly.

Young Justice

Location: Happy Harbor Mall
Interactions: -

---

Daphne stood in front of the interactive map of the shopping mall. There were options to select the type of store and products you wanted to buy. She didn't need those because she had an idea of what she wanted to buy. The map showed all of the stores and their location in the mall, that would come in handy. Her plan was to split the gift buying into guys and girls. The guys would be easy, there were usually less options. Something neutral and useful in everyday life, like a solid colored shirt. She looked at the available stores, Cara, J&M, Forever 23, Flourish, Beyond Bathing, JL Max and a whole lot more. Daphne was surprised at some of the available stores. Compared to Gotham Happy Habor could barely be considered a town. She walked to her first destination, looking at the list on her phone. A set of workout clothes for Viktor, a long sleeved shirt for Talon, a green sleeveless hoodie for Ja, a purple tie for Zach, something baseball or soccer related for Felix. She knew he practiced both sports by checking out his social media. Casper was probably the most tricky. On one hand there were a ton of things she could buy, but on the other hand......

It would be nice to not go for the obvious. She wanted to get him something with thought and attention behind it. She had a strategy for these kind of challenges. She would know what to get him when she saw it, meaning she had to wander around a couple of stores. One of her favorite things to do. Just browse and come up with ideas. Daphne stepped into Forever 23, trying to ignore the women's section and making a beeline for the mens clothes. They had a great selection and she immediately started to browse. She pulled out a couple of options for the guys, feeling blissful. She loved buying things for someone else. After about an half an hour of careful consideration, comparing and swapping out sizes she'd managed to find something for Viktor, Ja, Talon and Zach. Daphne pulled out each article of clothing for one last check, to see if there weren't any stains or holes in them. When she held up Viktor's shirt and shorts she started to doubt again. She'd gone back and forth on his size twice and she still wasn't sure it was a good fit for him.

It would be annoying if he had to return it and that was the last thing she wanted. Daphne felt like annoying him was all she'd done so far, so the gift had to be perfect. She sighed and hugged the clothes to her chest, a frown on her face. After a couple of minutes of quiet pondering Daphne decided to go back and compare the size one more time. That was likely going to make her doubt more, but she was out of ideas. Feeling decidedly less enthusiastic she went back to the sports section, grabbing the same shirt one size up and holding them next to each other.

Daphne sighed, rubbing her temples in frustration. She cupped her face with her right hand, staring at the shirts sideways.
This was hopeless....
She looked up at the ceiling with pleading eyes. Maybe the answer would come down from shopping heaven?

"Are you checking if there is a second floor?" A girl spoke up standing beside her jokingly.
Daphne turned to her and shook her head with a slightly defeated smile.
"I saw you from over there, trying to figure this out" She said, pointing to the shirt situation.
"I think I can help you out"

"Cameron get your butt over here!" The girl called out to her brother sitting on the edge of a display table full of jeans. Cameron sighed, clearly done with his sister's shopping trip.
Daphne smiled more cheerfully this time, turning to the siblings next to her.
"Oh that would be really great, usually I don't have any trouble with this, but I really need to get the right size."
Daphne sized up the girl's brother Cameron, he was about the same height as Viktor, just not as muscular. The girl offered to let her brother try on Viktor's clothes to get the sizing right and Daphne gratefully agreed. When they walked over to the dressing rooms, the girls chatted a bit and Cameron followed reluctantly. He tried on both shirts but Daphne still wasn't convinced.

"You're really helping me out, thanks so much for that. Could you....uhm...try on the large on top of your hoodie?"
The teen girl didn't really know how to put it gently. He just didn't have the muscle mass to fill out the shirt and she needed to see how it looked. It couldn't be floppy or too tight, it had to be just right.
"You heard her Cam, her boyfriend's built" Lea laughed, throwing the hoodie back at her brother.

Daphne took a sip of her jasmine iced tea but nearly spat it out when she heard Lea's comment. Tears sprung up in her eyes and she coughed, trying not to spill on her white top. She took out a tissue and cleaned up her face and cup. Good thing she was wearing waterproof make up today.
"You okay girl?" Lea snorted, while Cameron mumbled to himself.

After they helped her finally settle on a size Daphne thanked the siblings one more time with many excessive thank you's and smiles and they went their separate ways. Daphne picked up a custom engraved basketball with Felix's name on it along with his alias Gold Rush. She managed to spot something for Casper too, in the most unexpected store too. So far she was doing great. All she needed was something for the girls and cute gift wrapping paper. She dropped her iced tea in the trash can neatly and took the elevator to the top floor. The mall only had two floors. Daphne stepped through the elevator doors and was on route to the next store, absorbed into her own thoughts.

Someone tailed the teen girl discreetly, following her from the elevator. He kept his distance, looking just like any other typical shopper. He went into each store she did, watching her from a couple of aisles down, sometimes even crossing paths, pretending to browse items.

Young Justice

Location: Happy Harbor Mall
Interactions: Talon

---

Daphne stared at the message on Talon's potential new phone, blinking a few times. She reached out to take the phone, but decided against it, her hand retreating back to her side. Josh and her were not friends. Daphne wanted to keep it that way. She watched from the sidelines, meeting him from time to time during the rare times she attended a school party, or through mutual friends. He was the perfect example of why her dad never wanted her to have a boyfriend during high school. He would become a distraction and shift her focus from studying. He was past the point of second chances too, with the way she saw him treat others around him. It wasn't easy to get her angry, or for someone to make her dislike them, but Josh did pretty well on both of them.

The tricky part was making it obvious she didn't want to be around him. She didn't have the guts to voice her dislike of him to his face. Daphne looked up at Talon, seeing her own reflection in his shades instead of his eyes, which still remained a mystery.
"No we're not friends, he's someone I go to school with" She explained with little emotion, looking at the direction Josh had disappeared to.

Daphne put her mind to their current objective, finding Talon a phone. She walked up to a display table where multiple color options could be seen for the phone the clerk recommended. There were only three options, silver, black and blue. She frowned, looking disappointed. Even if the phone wasn't for her, how could they only make three options? Hopefully the cases were good, they could spice up the phone with a fun case. Again she realized she had no clue what Talon actually liked.
"There are only three colors, I'd go for the blue one but it's still kind of plain, we can get a case to with it"
Phone cases were the best part about a phone anyway, you could swap them out and coordinate with your outfit. Though she was pretty sure Talon wasn't the kind of guy who would keep fifteen phone cases. Daphne looked at the available cases, picking them up and turning them over, checking the designs with her keen shopper's eye.

She showed him a couple of typical neutral ones, something most guys would like.
"How about.....this one?, or maybe this?"
Daphne pulled out a dark blue one with white flowers and showed it to him with a smirk.
"Or this?"