As Johnny Approached, She Hesitated For A Moment Before Tentatively Extending Her Hand Towards Him. "The

Mantis returned the warm smile, her antennae twitching slightly. "Yes, thank you," she replied with genuine appreciation. "The transition has been smoother than expected, and everyone has been incredibly welcoming, and it's been rather fascinating learning the ways of humans. The internet has been very useful in learning Earth customs, too so I've been watching a lot of videos on that."

Wanda had her mouth open ready to say something, but the other woman cut her off before she could speak. She laughed and nodded, reaching out for the bubbles. "I was going to ask you how you were doing, but you seem to be doing alright." She blew some herself, before turning a warm smile to Mantis. "Are you, though? Settling in? Everyone being okay?"

Mantis was thankful that Loki didn't ask more about her history with Ego; eventually she would open up about it all. But at that point in time it was just too fresh of a wound to go and reopen. She uttered a soft thanks before her smile of appreciation turned into amused laughter as Loki described the happenings of home. "How lucky that she can communicate with them though! At least you'll never have to guess what the animals are thinking? There's probably a lot of people who'd be jealous of that ability. As someone who's thinking of fostering, I am one of those people."

"My father used me as a political pawn. Found out a few years ago." Loki looked up at her. "I get it. I promise. It sucks beyond reason to talk about, so we don't have to." His expression was softer when he said it, but didn't say anything else about it. At the shift in conversation, he scrunched his nose. "Do I not like it? Eh. I don't mind it. But my fiancé enables it, so there's a difference." He smirked, but then shook his head. "I think she can actually talk to animals, funnily enough. Which would make a lot of sense. Apparently her magical abilities manifested in nature, so I'm guessing that's why she's attracting them."

Mantis grinned at Johnny's reassurance, feeling a surge of confidence as they swayed to the music. Her antennae twitched with excitement, picking up the rhythm of the song as she followed Johnny's lead. Despite the unfamiliarity of Earth's customs, she found herself enjoying the moment, her worries melting away with each step. "Oh, well, this really isn't too difficult at all," she commented after a moment. "Thanks for dancing with me," she said softly, meeting his gaze with gratitude shining in her eyes. "It's really nice to just forget about, you know, everything that's happened. Even if only for a moment."

He smiled and took her hand, leading her to the middle of the dance floor. "I have danced with worse. I promise." Johnny kept his hand in hers and placed his other at her waist. "Besides, this is type of fancy ass dance isn't really custom anymore, so I think a lot of are out of our comfort zones." He smirked, "You're doing fine."

Mantis's smile grew tense at the mention of splitting up siblings, the comment having stirred up her mixed emotions about helping Ego with his mission to find a Celestial heir and what he'd done to those that didn't share his abilities. "Siblings are important, I'd never break them up if it could be avoided," she replied, doing her best to keep her emotions from bubbling over onto him. The sadness Ego brought upon her was the last thing she'd wish on anyone. "And don't tempt me with the zoo idea! The zoo is amazing, I'd live there if I could. Animals have such interesting emotions, and their feelings are much simpler to understand sometimes. It sounds like a dream, honestly."

He snorted softly and leaned his head against hers as they walked. "You can justify it if there's a sibling pair. Can't split up siblings." Johnny tilted his head enough to look down at her and smirked, only lifting it completely when they got to the ice cream shop. Reaching out to open the door for her, he continued, "Seriously, though. I'm excited for you. I think it'll be really good. And look, if this whole superhero thing doesn't work out for either of us, I'm totally down for opening our own zoo."

Me flirting: Your aura is pretty.

She tilted her head, her large eyes blinking in contemplation. "Oh, fostering," Mantis repeated, while absentmindedly petting Luna. The pup was content in her lap, her head flopped to the side so her tongue was hanging out of her mouth. Mantis was glad that Johnny had brought them in, they were quite amusing. "That sounds like a good plan, even if it would be hard to say goodbye to them when they get adopted." Giving the dog one last scratch behind the ear, Mantis looked back at Johnny. "Think we should take this play date to the park?"

"Yeah, of course." He smiled at her and nodded. Johnny moved so Noelle could curl up on his lap. "I get that. It's like having a fluffy toddler around," he smirked, ruffling the puppy's hair, looking up at Mantis. "There's a thing called fostering, though. It's when dogs at the shelter need a home, but they stay with foster families while they wait to be adopted. So that way you could get the feel for having one, but it's not permanent. You can try it out."

"It's easy, Peter! Just let the music guide you. Feel the rhythm and let your body follow. You don't need to worry about your hands, they'll find their own groove. Trust me, dancing is like tapping into the universe's heartbeat." She extended her hand towards him, a hopeful smile lighting up her face. After a while, dancing on Earth didn't seem all too different than dancing anywhere else in the universe. "Come on, just one dance won't hurt!"

"Look, I'm refusing for your benefit, I swear!" Peter insisted, laughing. "I have no idea what to do out on a dance floor. Like, what do I even do with my hands?"

She had seen some amazing inventions in her travels around the galaxy, however none intrigued her quite as much as the human device known as a 'smartphone.' All of Earth's knowledge, right in the palm of her hand. Not to mention all the adorable creatures she could stand to watch, probably her favorite part of the device. "He fell into his bowl!" Mantis squealed in delight as she turned her screen to share the video of a puppy tripping into his water bowl with the other.

Mantis tilted her head slightly, her eyes fixated on Eddie. "No, can't say I know the meaning of LOL," she admitted, her antennae twitching in curiosity. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she observed Eddie's amused expression with genuine interest. The feeling washed over her, a smile of her own tugging at her own lip. "Is it perhaps a human expression for joy or amusement? Because that's all I can sense right now."

Eddie glanced back at her, a light scratch on his temple before his arm wrapped back around his knee. "You don't know what LOL means?" He lightly chuckled, relaxing a little on the floor as he talked with Mantis, he liked her. "Lucky you, I ain't going to tell you as I don't want our texts being filled with them."