I felt Sera shift under me and my eyes cracked open. It was later in the evening, the sun was going down, and the sky was lit up in an orange glow. I yawned and lifted my head, looking down at Seraphim to see how she was holding up, her wounds had been pretty bad, and while she'd seemed ok after having that drink, I was still worried that she'd appeared to be missing some of her organs. She was rubbing her face, her fingers tracing her third eye as she woke up. Her hand found the sack of juice I was holding and took it back, taking another swig of it.
"Are you feeling ok?" I asked "I really think we should get you to a hospital. Even if it was a fight against another chosen, because you're registered, it'll be free..."
She hummed, and rubbed her stomach "I'm fine, I don't need any sawbones or snake oils, I'm alright, now."
I glanced down, and jumped as I saw her wound. Where she'd had a gaping hole in her gut, there was now a monstrous mouth, teeth jutting out over the lipless opening. I watched as it opened slightly, a slimy tongue flicking out, the shallow maw shiny and pink inside. Seraphim saw me staring, and laughed, running her hand along the teeth in an almost loving motion.
"You like it? My god doesn't want his chosen to die, Candy, we can live through quite a lot if we let our god have a bit of us in return."
She held her arms over her head and opened her new mouth wide, there was a coiled tongue inside, and a throat that seemed to go past where her back should be, violating physics in the process.
"Holy fuck..." I said, scooting away "Wait, you gave part of your self to your god? What does that mean?"
"I cannot give you too much information, but my god likes to have a physical form, and I'm willing to let him overlap mine to get that if it means I stay alive." Sera said smugly.
She pointed at her third eye "It's not the first time he's saved my life..." She pulled down her neckline, showing a smaller mouth with more human looking teeth just above her right breast "Or the second..." she stood and turned away from me, pulling her robe up to show a cluster of yellow slitted eyes on the lower part of her ribcage "Or the third."
I stood up and stared at her more closely "So... you can't die? Because it looks like that extra eye on your face came from a headshot..."
"I can die same as any other, Candy." She said "But I do admit to being harder to keep down. That's why I'm telling you this, despite the danger. If I do experience another encounter with 'spacegirl', then I may need you to administer this medicine to me, even if I don't appear to be living at the time."
"I... Fuck..." I said "That's a lot of responsibility, this is a lot to take in..."
"Don't think about it too hard, please." she said "It's not good for you."
"You-" I frowned "...Is this something I could get in on? If I die, can I drink that juice and come back?"
Sera shook her head "No, my god doesn't know you, you'd need to be converted for him to even feel you, much less push into you."
"Ok..." I said "I'll remember this, obviously. I- I just need to get you the medicine and put it in your mouth?"
"And some on the wound, if I'm very far gone." she nodded.
This was... much different than any other chosen power I'd seen so far. There were chosen with multiple powers, of course, and lots of chosen could regenerate large amounts of damage, but Sera seemed to be something else. Flight, transformations, a kind of healing that made her god manifest on her body, the beams of light, even her sword was some kind of blessed. There were plenty of chosen with more powerful abilities than her, but it was very rare to see a chosen with a variety of powers that all felt as powerful as hers. No wonder the people at the GGDS gave her an A rank...
I felt strange, being trusted to be her lifeline, to literally be the one to bring her back if she died. She trusted me a lot, even giving the details of her powers to me in a way that most people would only tell their teammates. Were we teammates? We were in the same section after all, and we would be working together eventually, though all her patrols so far had been solo, due to her rank.
I watched her as she pulled her burned robes off, leaving her in her underwrapings, and started trying to clean the dried blood off of her legs and stomach. My eyes fell on a strange symbol burned into her chest, between the breasts, just under where her robes usually fell around her shoulders. It looked like a tattoo, if it weren't for the texture, it made her already altered body look even more alien, but looking her up and down, I was now 90% sure she actually was a human, or at least, was a human at some point.
Pushing her body out of my mind, and looking at her trust of me reasonably, I had> given her a name, gotten her a job and a house, and saved her life, so I was probably the most trustworthy person in her life right now. It made sense, but it felt odd too, like I'd tricked her into trusting me or something. I was trying to get closer to other chosen and the girls, those were both parts of my 5 step plan, and she didn't quite fit into that, but... I felt like I owed her more trust than I'd given her so far if she was putting her life in my hands.
"Hey, Sera?" I asked, leaning against the railing of the porch "Have you ever wondered what my power is?"
She stopped rubbing at the blood and glanced over at me "It's flight, and I presume a form of strength and durability, isn't it?"
"Well, all of us in Lorgiaia's angels have those, but we also have a secondary power too, a stronger one..."
"Oh?" She looked at me curiously "I wasn't aware of that, do you try to keep that hidden?"
"Not exactly..." I said "We're vocal that we have powers, but mine is unique. Right now, we're telling everyone my power is flying fast."
"I'm guessing it's not?" She said, looking me up and down "Why tell me if it's not common knowledge?"
"It's not flying fast, no. And... call it a show of faith, for you telling me how your power worked and trusting me with that medicine."
"Fair enough, so, if it's not flight, what power do you have, Candy?" Sera said, her arms folded over her chest
"I..." I struggled to explain it "I fold people into edible things."
"What?" she asked, her eyebrows bunching together, making her third eye squint suspiciously "You fold people?"
"I can pull someone through themselves, and they end up looking like something to eat, like a slice of pie, and the universe thinks they're a pie or whatever they turn into, but if I eat them, I get stronger..."
Sera's eyes's widened "Oh, I see... That's a very good power, how do you?..."
"I don't know, I just feel the pull when I touch someone's skin. It's why I wear gloves and stuff, if I touch people, I can feel a spark in them, and I don't know how not to pull it out, it draws me."
"Facinating..." she said "how many times have you used it?"
"Just once, I can't turn them back, so it's pretty much like killing them, and... I don't want to kill anyone."
"Candy..." she said "being willing to kill in combat is very important, and getting familiar with your skills is a must."
"I just- I don't think I can do it again..." I said looking at the blood on the ground "I wanted to be a chosen to be famous and to inspire people, not to kill them."
"Killing people is very inspiring, though!" she said encouragingly "I think you should embrace this power. No one would ever stand against you if they knew you would eat them if they tried." she looked out at the twilight streets around her house "If it wasn't such a danger to those around me, I'd be much more open about my... habits when it came to ruffians. Really scare them, make them fear me before they ever see me."
"...Maybe, yeah." I said "It doesn't seem to bother you as much as I assumed it would, to be honest, maybe others would take it well too?"
Sera snorted "I'm used to the idea. Not of 'folding' people, but... the other part. I assure you, when other people find out about that part, they will see you as a monster, same as any of the others."
"We really don't like to use the term monster these days..." I reminded her
"They'll still call you one." she said "I say lean into it, be scary. You wanted to inspire, to be famous? Make people fear you and everyone will know your name."
I should have known she'd have this opinion, or a similar one, but she wasn't saying anything I hadn't already considered. I'd thought about how to leverage my powers to my advantage, what to do to make them valuable, but I'd come up blank aside from "Threaten to eat people and hope it went over well with the target audience". I could make it a theme, like, be super cutsey about it, and act like it was a silly, fun gimmick, and just pretend I wasn't dooming people to a fate worse than death. I'd felt powerful when I ate a single bite of Homicide, and another had let me crumple his desk, from what Alele said, I could maybe even get away with being too scary for my PR team to tell me no...
"I might try that later, but not yet. While we're setting up our team dynamic, I want to keep it under wraps." I said, pushing the idea aside for now
"Very well, I will keep it a secret, but I still think it would help to use it." she said "You could be a very, very powerful woman."
A sound from behind us made me flinch, and I spun to see Drizti and Galorna walking up the sidewalk towards us.
"Hey Candy! Hey Seraphim!" Drizti said "It's nice to meet you. Galorna said you might be here, Candy!"
I blocked their view of Sera with my body as she waved and ducked inside her house, hopefully they hadn't seen the extra body parts she had, I didn't really want to explain those...
"Uh, I guess she didn't want to meet you, Driz..." Galorna said
"No no, she got... cut, and we were dressing her wound, she's getting new clothes, I bet." I said, glancing at the door
"Oh, gosh, that's some cut..." Drizti said looking at the blood on the porch "Were you two patrolling? I thought you were off until tomorrow."
"I was bored, and she was patrolling. We... ran into each other." I said. Telling them she tried to one vee one Spacegirl most likely wouldn't endear her to them, Spacegirl was a city treasure.
The door opened and Seraphim stepped out again, wearing her casual robes and slightly damp. She must have washed the blood off her while she changed, I looked down at my blood covered outfit, and de-transformed into my normal state to clean up.
"Sera, I was just telling Driz about that cut you got, she was worried about the blood." I told her, stepping aside to let her out.
Seraphim nodded "Yes, I was accosted by a ruffian, but I gave them what for. I'm more than fine now, though."
"Are you sure?" Galorna asked "This much blood... We can take you to the hospital, Sera."
"She- she's a regenerator." I lied "So it looks way worse than it actually was."
I didn't know why keeping Sera's secret was so important to me, I just got the feeling bad, bad things would happen if I told them too much about her. Was that an after effect of that juice I'd had? Or just me taking Sera's word that it was dangerous to talk about?
"Oooh, lucky..." Drizti said "We'll have to remember that, I can transfer wounds to people, so maybe we can transfer people's wounds to you in a pinch!" she smiled proudly at Seraphim, who gave a forced smile back
""Ah, well, I still scar, and badly at that..." she said "I'd really prefer to keep my body as un-marred as possible, if that's ok with you."
Drizti looked downcast "Drat... I thought I'd found a cheat code for my power..."
"There are other regenerators, Driz." Galorna said "We'll meet another one eventually."
She turned to Sera "Speaking of though, I hadn't even heard about you having that power, you really do have a lot of tricks, I'm happy you're in our section! You're very powerful, you'll be a huge help moving forward."
"I was just telling Angel Rouge that she herself could be a powerful... chosen, if she'd only allow herself to use her powers." Sera said, glancing at me
"Uhhhh what powers?" Galorna said, her face going blank
"I already told her about my thing, Galorna." I said "She and I swapped some information about our powers, it's fine."
"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about your power without church approval..." Drizti said "This seems like a bad idea..."
"It's my power, and it's in my body- or, soul or something, so I'm the one who decides who gets to know." I said grumpily
"Still, the first person you told just encouraged you to start killing people." Galorna said sternly "...No offense Sera, it's just not PR friendly."
"I take no offense, horned one." she said, amused "I don't know about 'peayar', but I do know that people will flock to follow her if she demonstrates her power."
She looked at me and frowned "If it works the way I presume, she could even best me in single combat, unless I stopped her from afar, and her flying abilities would make that quite difficult."
"Well, I don't think I'll ever fight you." I said "I hope..."
"It's still fun to chat about it though!" Drizti said "Me and Lucy did that, we tried to figure out who'd win in a fight between everyone."
"That's- hm..." Galorna said "Actually, that sounds like a good team dynamic exercise, I'd like to do that as a group sometime."
"So who would-" I started "Oh, wait, yeah."
"Alele." Me, Drizti and Galorna said all at once.
"As long as she gets more practice in, that is." Drizti said "But she brought you back a bunch, Candy, and me once, so I put great odds on her."
"Alele?" Seraphim asked "I don't know this one..."
"Ah, Angel Cobalt." I said "Sorry, I guess we forgot to use code names, since it's just us."
"I see, and her power is to raise the dead?" Sera asked
"No, it's time travel." Galorna clarified "She can jump back in time three seconds and do stuff over again."
"I... see how that would be difficult to counter." Sera acknowledged "I think I could work around it though."
"You make it sound like you're planning on taking our team out or something." I said "Don't get weird about it."
She laughed, and patted my back "Don't worry, even if I have to go through your team to get to the heretics, I'll leave you alive."
"Oh, how touching..." I said "Are you sure you're not scared I'll eat you?"
"The thought had crossed my mind..." she said, a small smile still on her face "I'd be honored to feed your power."
"Well... We need to be getting back to the base..." Galorna said "It's almost time for the shift change. Cand- sorry, Angel Rouge, are you coming back with us?"
I nodded "Might as well, I need to get in training today still."
I turned to Seraphim "Hey, I'll see you later, it was nice hanging out! Well, aside from the injury."
I was happy to notice that I really had enjoyed my time with her, and I was even looking forward to seeing her again soon. I really could make this 'networking' and 'friends' thing work after all.
"Ah, I enjoyed our time as well!" She said, curtsying "We shall have to meet again, maybe for an ale, or training, or even for you to train me in the ways of this place's communication, those small round machines with pictures!"
"You mean phones? Yeah, absolutely, I thought you said you couldn't have one though?"
"I will be very careful." she said "I wish to explore the possibility, though. I am being recognized because others see me on their machines, and I would like to see myself on them as well."
"Oh, I've seen those videos!" Drizti said "You get really rough, but people like how you look, I think you'd be pretty popular if you got on CirNet."
"Candy's great at that stuff, she's got almost twice as many followers as me." Galorna said "She can hook you up."
I looked at Seraphim, an idea forming in my head "...Yeah, I'd love to do that for you, I'll help you figure it out, no problem."
"Thank you for your grace, my friends." Sera said "I must retire now though, I know you must leave, and I am very tired from the mer- mm. From regenerating."
"Ok, well, see you around, nice meeting you!" Drizti said.
Sera waved, and slipped inside her house, the smell of incense, spices, and something familiar wafting out to me as she closed the door. Dangers aside, I was so, so curious as to what could be in her house, was it a still for the juice she made? A pet? Was she making magic brews or something? I'd find out one way or another, eventually.
~~~
I stepped back into our building, waving goodbye to Crystal. It'd felt nice to patrol again, I'd gotten a good night's sleep last night, despite my nap with Seraphim, and my and Crystal's time out was uneventful and peaceful, and because it was in the afternoon, we'd stopped in at a couple shops to 'inspect' them, and I'd gotten a treat.
My next time out would be tomorrow night, and it was a later shift, it'd start at 8 at night, and go until 4 in the morning. I wasn't looking forward to it, because I would have to stay up all night tonight and sleep in the day tomorrow and then do it again that night too and it was a weird time to get off work, only the diner would be open, so my breakfast options would be limited. Apparently having our shifts end and start at different times was supposed to make them un-predictable for criminals, and make us more aware of our surroundings.
I found I was not usually very aware of my surroundings at 4 AM one way or another, to be honest.
I was scheduled to be patrolling with Lucy, which could be nice, and that one member of the Unchosen, the drone girl, whatever her name was. She could fly at least, so she would be more useful than Crystal at covering ground, but I didn't really know her past our introduction and a single 'hello' when we met at the shopping center once. Still, I was slightly apprehensive about it, and I was still dreading the day 'the other one' of the unchosen would tag along with me on a patrol. I heard from Galorna the first time she'd run into a civilian on her route, they'd actually reported her as a threat to the GGDS. Galorna and Mourner had shown up, only to find the bug girl curled up in an alleyway, unable to handle the woman's screaming.
...That pathetic display aside, I still was too afraid of her to be around her.
I looked around the lobby, I'd expected to see Alele and Driz here, heading out to meet up with Mourner, but it looks like I was alone. They must have already left? That was fine, I had stuff to do, anyway. I dug in my pocket and pulled out the map I'd been marking on while I patrolled this afternoon, and headed for the offices on the far side of the lobby from the shop and cafe, and stepped inside. There was a drone of typing, printing, quiet talking, and the occasional phone ring, a collection of sounds I'd heard in the backgrounds of shows, but I'd never expected to hear in person. I was a farm girl, why would I ever step foot in an office?
As it was, I hardly ever came in here, this marked maybe the third time I'd been here, and it took me a few minutes of wandering to find what I was looking for, the executive offices. There was one for a church head that I'd never seen filled- they mostly just called in the orders and decisions- but the other one was a large office with a partners desk in it. Oori was on one side, and Debbie was on the other, an engraved nameplate reading 'Willa" covered by a sticky piece of paper reading 'Debbie' in front of her.
Oori looked up from his computer and smiled at me "Hello, back from patrol? How'd it go?"
"Well, I guess, nothing weird, but I wanted to give you this..." I said, handing him the map "I marked all the buildings without a way in, the fake ones, I mean. Some are attached to others so maybe they just had ways in I couldn't see? But most of these are absolutely fake buildings."
"I don't see how a building can be 'fake'," Debbie said "if it's there, it's got four walls and a roof, it's real."
I glanced at her. This wasn't her thing, I was talking to Oori, and she had no business butting in. "They're hollow." I said bluntly
"Well, I'll get this to the research team," Oori said, taking the map "they submitted a request on a couple of the other ones already, but we haven't heard back yet."
"Hopefully they figure it out soon..." I said "I looked around at other sections, and it seems like it's mostly around us, maybe two to four sections away from us will have these, but past that, nothing."
"You think it's something to do with the location, then?" he asked
"I don't see why you're so worried about it," Debbie cut in again "I can almost assure you it's just zoning or city planning or something."
I ignored her "I don't know if it's the location as in, the area we're in? Or as in, someone around here has something to do with it, but yes, it's very locational."
"And your other teammates consider this odd as well?" he asked
"They do." I confirmed "Lucy didn't really care too much, and Drizti didn't quite understand why it was so weird, but we're all interested overall."
"Hm, ok, well we'll put this on the board as our top priority." Oori said "I'll let the others know to keep an eye on them during patrols, and I'll bring it up at our next team meeting. With any luck it'll be your first big breakthrough once you solve it!"
"How wonderful, publicity for looking at empty buildings..." Debbie said dryly.
"Thanks, Oori." I said "It might be nothing, but solving mysteries and stuff like this is much more my speed than fighting people."
"Your 'speed' is going fast." Debbie said firmly "And you're the only one of the team with an official takedown on your record, so fighting is your 'speed' too, like it or not."
"..." I bit my lip. She was still in charge, even if she did seem to be trying to hold me back and slow down my follower count with her stupid 'no selfies on patrol' rule
"I'm going to go, I've got a late night photo shoot later, because I'm staying up for my shift tomorrow? And I want to relax in base form so my mana's full for that."
"Alright Candy," Oori said "thank you for your hard work, and if I hear anything, I'll let you know!"
"Just make sure to follow the rules, no brands, no panties, no violence." Debbie reminded me. For the upteenth time.
I gave a tight smile, and stepped back out of their office to head to my room. I liked Oori, I just needed to find a way to get just him, instead of having her be there each time. I shouldn't hate her so much, but she'd been riding my ass a lot more since I hit twenty thousand followers, and being honest with myself, I kind of resented her for making me cut my hair. Even if I'd agreed, I still blamed her, overall.
I rode the elevator up to my room, and de-powered, leaving me in my lazy day clothes, a pair of sweat pants and one of my dad's t-shirts. It was falling apart, but I still wouldn't let myself get rid of it. The door dinged open, and I stepped out, almost colliding with Lucy, who was getting on.
"Oh, oop, sorry..." I said, catching myself on her shoulder with my hand. I instantly felt the connection, the spark worming into my brain, her essence, and it tasted like vanilla icing. I gasped, and threw myself to the side, crashing to the floor with a thump, scrambling away from her. Was I too late? Had I-
"Uh, fucking weirdo. Gods, you won't even touch my shoulder?" Lucy said angrily "I stand by my choice to shower alone, gods..."
I sat up and shook my head "N-no, L-lucy, no, I- I touched you..."
"Yeah, I noticed." she said darkly "and you freaked ou- oooohhh shit, you're not gloved..." her face paled "I was almost..."
I nodded "Sorry, I- I tasted you, Lucy, it was really close." I shuddered "You tasted really good, too, very sweet..."
"...I can't even make a joke about that right now." Lucy said "Fuck, girl, glove up in public areas, gods."
"I'm sorry, I- I was just walking like 10 feet to my room, I'm so sorry..." I said "I transformed in my room before patrol, so no gloves, I just- fuck..."
Lucy looked at me for a second, and then made a face "It's whatever. Just be more careful. And... I'm sorry I implied you were like, I dunno, transphobic or whatever. It's just, like... easy to blame my problems on that, so I get a little sensitive."
"No, no, I get it." I said awkwardly "I can imagine people are weird about it. I'm not. Weird. About it I mean."
"No, you're just weird in general." Lucy said "I get weird vibes from you, like you don't treat me like, I don't know, like I'm real or something. I took it personally, like, I assumed it was because I was trans, but fuck, you do that to everyone. That initial impression of you though, it stuck in my head, I guess, sorry."
"I just- I'm really bad at people." I said "I see you as real, I just- I have a hard time acting the right way."
"Are you like, autistic or something?" she asked, tilting her head
"Oh, uh, I don't think so, I just don't understand people, or how they work." I said. I was pretty sure I'd know if I had autism, right?
Lucy shrugged "Well, you're going to be dealing with people, like, every day from now on. You'll get better."
"...Yeah, I guess."
"Anyway, I'm going for pho, want to join?" she jutted a thumb at the elevator "...Once you put on a pair of gloves, at least, seriously."
"Oh, uhh, no, I'm good." I said "I have a photoshoot later, I need to get rested and ready."
Lucy pressed the elevator button with her keycard and stepped inside "Fair enough. This shop isn't on the approved list, anyway, so... I wouldn't want to drag you into breaking the rules."
"Lucy, really?" I said, annoyed "You got shot the last time we went to an unapproved place..."
"What? Oh, damn, sorry, can you repeat that?" she asked as the door slid closed "I didn't quite catch that last p-"
I watched the lights change, showing the floors as the elevator went down. The odds of there being another super villain owned shop in our area were pretty low, but not zero... I stood up, my hands still shaky from the panic at almost folding Lucy, and licked my lips. I could swear there was a slight taste still there, what was that? Cake frosting? I hadn't tasted Homicide until I'd bitten him, and I hadn't tasted Alele either. That said, I'd had to fight to fold Homicide, and I'd just barely felt Alele's spark. With Lucy, it was like her spark was begging to be folded... Was my power getting stronger? Or was it something else? It was impossible to tell without testing it, but I almost felt like I was... hungry, on a deeper level than physical.
That was concerning.
That was also an issue for a later time, I had a photoshoot to get ready for.
~~~
I took another bite of my cone, and kicked my feet against the old bridge, feeling very happy with myself. The night had gone great, and I thought the pics looked honestly amazing, with my natural glow shining slightly in the darkness.
"Ugh, I still don't know how you can bite it..." Forica said, shuddering "If I did that, my leaves would curl, gods..."
I took another bite, making a big show of putting my teeth directly into the ice cream "Mmm, it's sooo much better this way..." I said as I chewed
"I'll stick to licking." she said "I heard people who bite ice cream are psychopaths or something."
I pulled the cone away from my mouth "Do you really think I'm a psychopath?" I asked, curious
"I have no idea." Forica said "That's the point, you can't really tell if someone is one, right?"
"I don't know, I haven't really looked into it." I said "You're the second person today to try and diagnose me with something, I don't care about that stuff, I just want to get CirNet followers."
"You know..." she said thoughtfully "If you did get diagnosed with something, you could post awareness stuff and like, post tips and help for other people who have the same diagnosis. Those accounts do crazy well, especially when it's a more interesting diagnosis."
"Oh, sure, let me be the psychopath poster child, that's great for PR."
"You could show that maybe it's not so bad? Like, you could prove it's ok to be a psychopath, and still be successful."
"I- I'm not a psychopath though, or if I am, I don't care, I just want to have a normal CirNet account..." I said, angrily
"Ok! Ok, just spit balling. Pretty sure the 'bites her ice cream cones' diagnosis was thrown out years ago anyway." she said "We got some great pictures tonight anyway, and I think it'll give you a big boost."
"Yeah, I think so too." I said "Hey, did you see I got a selfie with Genki?" I asked proudly "That got me a ton of followers."
"I did see, yeah, she's super popular, but she's mostly a thirst trap poster, so you'll lose some of those followers as they realize you're not posting the kind of stuff she is."
"Oh, drat, ok..." I said "Should I be?"
"It... would help." Forica admitted "But Debbie would murder us both, so no, don't do that, please."
"Fucking Debbie..." I muttered
"Well..." Forica said "She's a necessary evil."
"I can figure out my own social media, she should stick to public appearances and stuff." I said, frustrated
"I've seen too many magical girls fall into being... not kid friendly if they're not managed." Forica said "They're supposed to be heroes for kids, but one of them I know of even started a skintube account. Ended up being forced to just do that, her church cut her funding and she wasn't strong enough to go solo..."
"Well I'd never do that." I complained
"Yeah, I know. But... it's good to have at least a little bit of rules." Forica said "To make sure you never end up on skintube."
"What about you?" I asked "You're a model or something, right? I'd assume you'd be all over that kind of thing. It'd get you a ton of followers, I'm sure."
"Angel Rogue, I am a minor." Forica laughed
I flushed "Ah, fuck..."
This was not a conversation I should be having with a teenager. I'd forgotten she was 16. Was that on me for not focusing? Or on her for acting like an adult? It couldn't be on her, she was a kid, was I just that bad with people?
"Uh, I should... get back to base..." I said "I've gotta get ready for tomorrow night, by- uh, staying up, and I don't want to-"
Halfway through, I realized my excuse didn't make sense, and I stopped.
"Candy, look." Forica said "You can run away at the first sign of controversy, that's fine, that's good PR, or you can just forget about that dumb comment and let me show you some places that'll help you stay up tonight, and wear you out for the morning."
"I- I don't know." I said "Like clubs? You can't go into clubs, you're a kid, and I really shouldn't be seen going into clubs with a kid."
"Yeah, clubs, I have a press pass. I won't drink or anything, we can go in separately or something, meet up inside."
"I... no, that's a cool offer, but no. I- I can't do that. Something would go wrong, or someone would take a pic or something, just- no."
"Fine, no problem." Forica said "But they're great places to network!"
"Maybe a different day..." I said. "Look, just give me the names, I just- I'm ok being friends, but going clubbing together isn't ok."
"Well... Dang. I guess goodnight, then." Forica said as I floated up off the bridge "Maybe I'll send you the names, maybe not. I just want someone to dance with is all..."
"Yeah, well if you do send them, I'll check them out..." I said "I- I'll see you later, thanks for the pictures, I'll see you later."
I took off without waiting for a response. Going to a club and meeting new people, new chosen, even, sounded amazing, but the optics of going clubbing with a 16 year old were not great, and the morals of taking a teenager clubbing were pretty much non existent. I liked the idea of the clubs though, I'd need to figure out a way to find them though...
And, I supposed, find a way to avoid skin contact in a room full of moving bodies...