I stood in the kitchen, eating marshmallow cereal out of the box with my hands, flipping through my phone. I'd never really found out what happened last night, I just remembered setting up a fight with... someone, later today. Hopefully the important bits would come back to me as the day went on. The elevator slid open and I glanced up, waving at Lucy and Alele as they came into the kitchen. Lucy had a huge grin on her face, and Alele looking like someone had just taken away her ice cream cone. My smile faltered, and I frowned.
"Hi, what's... new with you guys?" I asked
"It's amazing, I have a girlfriend!" Lucy said, flapping her hands "We had a long talk last night, and she was all trying to apologize for stuff, and we started hugging, and then we kissed!"
"You... and Alele?" I asked, a pang of something I didn't want to think about shooting through my chest "I thought-"
"No, her and Galorna." Alele said, her mouth a tight line.
"Oh, that makes more sense!" I said, smiling. That was good, right? They fit well together, and it'd been almost two months since Galorna broke up with Saara-
Oh, fuck. That part I remembered.
I looked at Alele, and she looked at me harder. This would be tricky... I was too scared to just not tell Galorna Saara's message, because if we didn't tell her and Saara found out, there was no telling what kind of magic-y things she'd do to us. I folded up my snack and put it away slowly.
"Well, I'm happy you two found each other." I said politely
"...You two are being weird about it, Driz was just happy for me, what's going on?" Lucy asked, looking between us
"We have a fight planned today!" Alele said quickly as I opened my mouth "It's in the park, the good one, with the ducks. We paid a bad guy to lose to us in our secret identities, and it's super illegal, so we're really nervous about it."
"You paid for a rigged fight?!" Lucy said, looking back to me "That's- people can get their powers stripped for that!"
"Yeah, but we're not going to be like, ourselves." I said "We're going as Comfit and Trigger Warning."
"What is it goes wrong? What if your helmets get pulled off?" Lucy asked "What if the bad guy refuses to lose?"
"Oh, they'll lose." Alele said "We're friends, it's all cool."
"You're friends with a fallen?" Lucy asked "That's not ok..."
"Comfit and Trigger Warning are friends with a fallen." I explained, vaguely remembering a person in an odd tech-y outfit from the night before "We're not really them, it's a disguise."
"You can't just say that anything you do in your alt-costumes doesn't count because you're 'in disguise'." Lucy shook her head "I'd blow them off, just don't show up."
"We really have to show up, we need this..." Alele sighed "We have like, no followers on our joint account."
"I for one am hoping that we can use this to get recognized as official heroes without having to register." I said "If we're famous, we don't have to have a section, right?"
"No?" Lucy said "You still technically need a section, everyone has a section."
"Well- what about Spacegirl?" I pointed out "She doesn't have a section and she's popular."
"Spacegirl might not even be a chosen..." Lucy said "We don't know anything about her, she could be working for a super scientist or something. If they can't prove she's a chosen, she doesn't have to register."
"So we just pretend to be unpowered!" Alele said "That's not too hard."
"I don't know, your whole thing is being a pre-cog, and when I eat my gummies I'll be able to bench press a truck..." I said
"...I thought those were just a joke gift from that lady, they actually give you power?" Lucy asked
"Well- uh, yeah." I said "That's why I've been saving them."
"How did she get them? I thought only transformed people gave you power..." Alele said nervously
"Yeah, were they there when you showed up?" Lucy asked "I know you said she had them in her house, but why?"
"I don't- she's scary, ok?" I said, crossing my arms "It's not like I had a chance to interview her or anything, the worms work like a weaker version of my transformed sweets, that's all that matters."
"I don't like that..." Lucy said "What if she figured out how to clone your power and they're all actually living people she transformed?"
"Look, I'm not asking questions, so you stop asking questions," I snapped "if they're secretly people, we don't know about it. There's no reason to not eat them based on information we don't have, she probably just had that old man we fought make some with like, super science or something."
"...I'd want to know if I was eating people..." Alele said
"Has our contact messaged you yet?" I asked her, changing the subject
"Huh? Oh, yeah, they said they'd meet us at like, three thirty this afternoon, they'd be walking the park and we could just go up and fight them." Alele said, nodding.
"Should I be there in case something goes wrong?" Lucy asked
"I mean, maybe in your base form..." I said "People would see the wings otherwise and wonder why you're not helping."
"...Oh." she said "I really don't like going out in my base form..." she looked over her shoulder at her wings "...I just feel so much more like myself like this, even the wings feel natural now."
"Weren't you taking shots to make your base form more like yourself too, though?" Alele asked
"Yeah, but the estrogen gets 'healed' out of my system constantly, and even faster when I'm transformed," she explained "so I'm only getting the effects of it if I give myself a shot before bed and sleep in my base form, and waking up in my base form is horrible, I feel so gross..."
I looked her up and down "So... what's the plan, then? Just like, keep expanding your mana pool until you never have to un-transform?"
"Literally yes." Lucy sighed "It sucks, I have every trans girl's dream power, but actually transitioning is pretty much impossible like this. I might still get an orchi, but like, it would heal back eventually anyway."
"Orchi? Is that the... main surgery?" Alele asked
"Uh, no, sorry, orchiectomy, like, I'd just have the parts that make testosterone removed." Lucy explained
"I don't think our regeneration is that good..." I said "I cut my hand a few days ago, and it still took a full day to heal up."
"Yeah, it's slow, but it's complete regen." Lucy said "I could lose a finger and it'd grow back. It'd take months, but it'd grow back."
"How do we know that?" Alele asked "The only major injuries we've gotten were healed by Drizti."
"Drizti grew her tonsils back over the last couple months, she had them taken out as a kid while she was in the cult, and they're back now." Lucy said
"Couldn't that just be her power?" I asked "Like, maybe she took someone else's tonsils by mistake?"
"Nah, she can't heal healed things." Lucy said "We were trying to see if we could move the scars on my legs around so I could wear shorter skirts, but scarred tissue doesn't count as a wound to her power."
"So why didn't the regeneration heal your scars then?" Alele asked
"...That's a damn good question, actually." Lucy muttered "Maybe because I'm spending all my mana on staying transformed? That's my best guess at least. So... maybe I could get surgery after all, it'd heal too slow to notice, I bet."
"That's... very good to know..." I said "Why haven't we had a meeting about this?"
"I don't know, I guess I just never told Galorna so she never set one up?" Lucy shrugged "I'll talk to her about it when she's off patrol though, so we're all on the same page."
"Ok... Look, I have to go get dressed for the fight, are you going to tag along or not?" I asked her
"...No, just... be careful." she said "And seriously, I'd maybe not eat the gummies. If they really are people..."
She shuddered "I wouldn't risk it, is all."
"I'll keep that in mind..." I said "Come on Alele, let's get changed and we can hit up the ice cream shop in the restaurant district before it's time to fight."
"I don't want to fight on a tummy full of ice cream, I'll watch you eat though." Alele said
"...That sounds like a weird date, just watching someone eat ice cream? I'm glad I'm not tagging along now." Lucy said, shaking her head
"It's not a date date, it's just hanging out before a mission, we're not dating." I said
"I think we can just say we're dating at this point, Candy." Alele said "We hang out every day, and I like you, and you like me, so..."
"Who says I like you?" I protested "I like you, yeah, but like, date like?"
"I've seen the way you two flirt, just because you play hard to get doesn't mean you're not into her." Lucy laughed, opening the fridge to get a bottle of soda
"Whatever, I'm not in the mood for this, I'm going upstairs." I said rolling my eyes.
"Ok, sweetie! I'll see you out front then, ok?" Alele said teasingly
I shook my head and walked to the stairs, I wasn't ready for a relationship, even if we did get along like that. She was fun, and I liked her sense of humor and how she didn't care if people thought she was rude, but dating a teammate was still out of the question right now, we just had too much going on.
~~~
An hour and a half later, we were standing on the sidewalk looking into the park. The ducks were visible from where we stood, coasting on the water, and the overall vibe was peaceful and calm, the wind gently ruffling my wings and hair. I pushed the rest of my ice cream cone into my mouth and popped my back.
"A'right, le's fin' some'ere to de-transform sho we can fight... whoever i' wash." I mumbled around the mouthful of cone
"What do you mean 'whoever it was'?" Alele asked as we walked for a small bridge with a bathroom under it "We're fighting Fem-Butch, remember?"
"Oh, really?" I asked, swallowing "No, I don't, last night is mostly a blur, I don't even remember getting into bed for some reason."
"You were acting kind of funny..." she said, pushing open the bathroom door "It was about when Fem-Butch started talking about the gods using us to play a game or something. I don't know, it hurt my head, but you just flew away."
"A game?" I asked, confused "What kind of game?"
"I don't know..." Alele said, shifting into Trigger Warning "I wasn't really following it."
"Hm..." I said "Well, maybe we can ask her about it again after we beat her."
I transformed as well, and we stepped out of the bathroom into the park again. I looked around for any sign of Fem-Butch, but I didn't see her anywhere. The park was mildly busy, and we'd gotten a few stares in our magical girl forms before ducking off. Hopefully no one had seen us go into the bathrooms and come out as two different heroes. I kind of remembered Fem-Butch dressing differently than usual, some kind of armor suit? She must have been the tech-looking person I'd seen before my memories got fuzzy, I'd be able to see her pretty easily, everyone here looked like they were just spending a day relaxing.
"Hey, let's go check out the other side of the pond, if we spend too long sitting around, she might just fuck off..." Trigger Warning said
"'K... So are we paying her for this? Or..."
"No, I think she's doing this out of the goodness of her heart?" Trigger Warning said "I don't really know what she'd get out of it, other than maybe fame, but she's a pretty generic looking grunt character, so I don't expect her to get many followers anyway."
I waved at an elven lady and her kids feeding the ducks and shrugged "Maybe it's a clout thing? She is under cover, right? Maybe this helps sell that cover or something."
""Yeah, maybe. Hey there she is!" Trigger Warning pointed
I looked up and saw her sitting on a rock outcropping close to the tree line, her arms crossed and her back mostly to us. I knew she'd most likely already felt our abilities and knew we were there, but as... whatever her alter ego was called, she couldn't act on it yet. Trigger Warning pulled out her phone and turned on the camera, panning it around to point at the two of us.
"Today, we two warriors are patrolling the park here in Valley City... The good one, with the ducks..." Her voice was hollow and spooky again "It's quiet today, too quiet... We've not seen any crime of any kind, almost as if... something is scaring it off..." she passed me the phone as she finished talking.
I pointed the phone at my helmet and made the screen on it do a closed-eyed smile "We're doing our best to keep all our fans safe! Whatever is prowling around this park, we'll be sure to track it down and find it, no problem!"
"Wait... Comfit, is that who I think it is?" Trigger Warning growled
"I dunno, Trigger Warning, who do you see?" I asked back, tilting my head. I pointed the camera at her as she pointed at Fem-Butch, who'd looked up to notice us.
"It's one of our oldest foes... Robo-Grunt, here for a rematch, it seems." Trigger Warning said, posing like Galorna did when we sparred
"Oh, fudge pops..." I said "Right in the middle of our video, too..." I set the phone on the ground, making sure it didn't roll away and was still pointing at the area we'd be fighting in
"Robo-Grunt!" Trigger Warning called out "Comfit and I are here to protect the good people of Valley City, why are you terrorizing this park?"
'Robo-Grunt' didn't answer, but instead jumped, and kicked off the rocks they were leaning against, rocketing towards us with incredible speed. Trigger Warning stepped to the side and grabbed their leg as they passed us, spinning and tossing them across the grass, where they flipped and landed back on their feet, unharmed.
"Hold her off, Trigger Warning, I gotta start my sugar rush!" I said, pulling out a gummy and pushing it under my helmet. I hadn't been sure if I wanted people to know I 'powered up' from candy, but... Angel Rouge wasn't known to be stronger after eating sweets, and if I could help it, she never would be, so I thought it'd be safe to let this character express that part of my power in public. As the gummy kicked in and I felt myself get stronger, the world seemed to slow down slightly, and my heart thrummed with a beautiful flutter. I felt amazing... I grinned, watching for an opening to join the fight.
Robo-Grunt dashed up to Trigger Warning, doing a slide kick as she got closer, but Alele jumped over them, stepping on their head and rolling back away, putting Robo-Grunt between the two of us. I took my opportunity and dove at them as they stood, carefully punching them across the jaw in the way Galorna taught me, making it look bad, but also making sure the hit was still easy to roll away from. They did just that, rolling with the punch, and using the momentum to spin into a roundhouse kick. I grabbed their leg as it swung, and caught it in mid-air, hearing a hiss as it stopped.
The hiss made my mind race, wondering if my helmet would filter out gas attacks, but as their leg twisted under my hand with a whine and I figured it out; they were using light power armor under their armor plates. That's why they were taller and bulkier than I remembered. Well, that made this part easier then... I rotated and yanked them off their feet, throwing them at the rocks from before, trying not to use too much strength. They slammed into them back first, cracking the largest one down the middle and rolling to their knees. I was already charging and Trigger Warning was running next to me, we'd hit them hard and win, and we'd be-
"Let her hit us here, throw yourself backwards a little." Alele hissed over the coms
I clenched my teeth, but I had to trust her, she was the one who could see the future after all... I pulled my fist back and pretended to get ready to punch, bracing myself as Robo-Grunt bolted to their feet, their fist slamming into my jaw and knocking me head over heels backwards. They'd used their power armor for that punch, my chin hurt through my helmet... Trigger Warning had managed to dodge, but in doing so had cornered herself against the rocks, and she threw up her hands to block Robo-Grunt's next attack, a two fisted hammer punch that slammed her back into the wall hard.
"Hands off my partner, Bozo-Grunt!" I yelled, and tackled them from the side, giving Trigger Warning a chance to escape and get to the other side of them, cornering them this time.
"Ok, that's been about two minutes, that's about as long as anyone will watch a fight on CirNet without getting bored, let's wrap it up." I said over coms.
"What do you say we end this, Comfit?" Trigger Warning said as we cornered Robo-Grunt
"On your mark, Trigger Warning!" I said, doing the same one-legged pose I did when I'd tried to fight Illuminous
Robo-Grunt posed too, sliding their feet into a braced fighting stance. We all lunged at once, I kicked out, my leg catching them in the stomach, while their fist hit my side, driving me to the ground. Trigger Warning was right there though, and punched them into the rock, their helmet bouncing off the hard surface with a clang, and they tumbled to the ground, unmoving. Trigger Warning stomped on their chest, grinding her boot into their chest plate and shook her head at them.
"Don't try to move, I've already foreseen every possible way you try to get out of this, and all of them end with you getting put right back down again." she said, puffing out her chest.
I got up and jogged over to our phone, picking it up "Gosh, Trigger Warning, that was pretty close, but at least we won this time!" I said, pretending to forget the phone was still recording.
"That's because my power gets stronger after fighting someone once, I can predict their moves even better once I've seen them in action." she replied "Now, hand me my phone, I have to call this in."
I tossed her the phone and she grabbed it out of the air and holding it up to her mask "Ah, the recording is still going, hopefully it caught some of that fight. I'm glad we were able to share this fight with you, fans. It's not our first one, or even our most impressive, but it's still an important bookmark in our crime fighting journey. This is Trigger Warning and Comfit, Valley City's newest heroes, signing out."
She ended the video and sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Gods, that was stressful... You ok?" she asked, looking down at Robo-Grunt
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm wearing armor." she said, looking around to make sure no one was watching us too closely. "You guys hit really hard though, I need repairs in three places..."
"Ah, sorry..." I said "I was trying to hold back, maybe I shouldn't have powered up..."
"That was you holding back?!" Robo-Grunt- or, Elma now, if her voice was any indication- said "You're not even transformed!"
"Yeah..." I said "We got buffs in our base form when we were chosen, and I have candy that replicates my power to a small extent, making me even stronger."
"How strong are you powered up and transformed?" she asked "Like, are you as strong as Lady Guillotine?"
"I don't think I could beat her in an arm wrestling contest, but I'd be able to lift her blade and kinda swing it a little, I guess." I said
"Damn... We need to find you guys some real villains, fast." Elma said
"So... other than that, how did we do?" Alele asked, finally stepping off of her chest
"You did ok, it was a little clunky. Hopefully it looks like you guys are just bad at fighting, instead of being bad at fake fighting." she said "Thanks for taking the hits, and implying I already beat you before. I might be a better fighter, but I can't compete with time travel and super strength. Those little wins you gave me will go a long way in helping my cover."
"No problem, do you need us to send you the video to check and see if it's ok to post?" I asked
"Nah, use your judgement, I- oop, civilian coming this way..." she said, going silent
A young blonde lady carefully walked up to us from around the bend, carefully looking between all three of us.
"Uh, hi, is the fight over?" she asked politely
"It is, miss. We managed to put this evil doer in their place." Trigger Warning nodded firmly
"Ok, that's- that's good. I saw a sighting of you two pop up online, and it said it was close by, so- uh... I'm looking for autographs?" she said
"Candy, this is the intern from that one fight we had. The one who was looking for her baby?" Alele hissed at me over coms "What the fuck is she doing here chasing heroes?"
I looked at her in surprise, sure enough, it was the young lady from before, looking nervous and shy. I decided to see where this went, it wasn't like she was a chosen, after all.
"You wanted our autographs?" I asked "We'd be happy to give them, of course, but why ours? We're nobodies."
"I saw in the report that you were unregistered combatants, you're not with the GGDS, right?" she asked, looking back and forth between us
"That's... restricted information, that wouldn't just pop up on our Chosen Creeper page, who are you?" Trigger Warning said, her voice spooky and hard
"Oh, sorry! I have a... roommate with access to the GGDS systems. Legally, of course. I was just helping her, and- Well, anyway, I'm really glad to see there's people out there who still want to make the world better and don't have to buy in to all the propaganda the GGDS puts out. I admire you for being independent, taking a stand against the corrupt system!"
"Ah, ok..." I said. That tracked, of course a minion would think un-registered heroes were on her side... I was concerned that she had access to official GGDS documents, and that the GGDS already had documents about us for her to access in the first place, but I couldn't really bring that up without giving away that I wasn't as anti-GGDS as she seemed to think.
"We'll be more than happy to do autographs. It's always nice to see someone appreciate our work!" I told her, making my helmet change to star eyes and a flashing grin
"It's very hard to be a hero without registering." Trigger Warning said "Honestly, we've been threatened by other heroes just for trying to keep people safe in 'their' territories."
"That's disgusting..." the woman said, shaking her head "The GGDS doesn't care about keeping us safe, they just want to get money, promote the top gods, and stay in charge... Hey, um, I do some organizing for some pro-unchosen rights groups, are you two un-chosen? If so, would you like to attend one of our rallies?"
"We... are chosen..." I admitted, no point hiding that "...but we don't belong to a church, and we don't support or promote any gods. We're still heroes, though."
"That's perfect!" she said "That still fits the message, we mostly just don't like the way the churches use their chosen to recruit, propagandize, and start violence. If you've rejected your church and are still heroes for the sake of helping people, you'd be great poster children!"
This... was dangerous, but it could be useful to me anyway. This lady could be Comfit's Forica, so to speak, promoting her and pushing her 'brand'. I switched to coms
"What do you think?" I asked Alele
"...Let's chat with her in DMs for a while, but I think it could really help us out a lot." she said.
Out loud as Trigger Warning, she spoke "We'll consider it, send us a message on CirNet. I'd like to know more. No promises, but I could see us doing that much for you, if our views align."
"Thank you so much!" she said, and pulled a pad of paper from her purse "Um, can I get two sets of your autographs? One made out to Hiram, and one made out to- uh, no one, just the names?"
"Sure thing!" I said, and took the pen from her. After I signed my name on the pages, Trigger Warning took the pen and the lady pointed to Robo-Grunt
"Could- are they awake? Hiram would want theirs too, he loves soldiers like them..." she asked, sounding almost afraid to ask
Robo-Grunt rolled over onto their side and painfully lifted a hand, reaching out. Trigger Warning sighed, but held the pad of paper for them as they scribbled their name on it sloppily and fell back over with a thud. They were playing up their injuries to make the lady more comfortable around them for sure, they were fine a minute ago...
"Thank you so much!" the woman said "I'll message you two later, My name is Chrissie, by the way! I really hope we can work together, thank you again!"
As she left, I turned to Alele and frowned "Are we about to join a terrorist group for clout?"
"If you do, I won't tell anyone." Elma said, sitting up "Fuck, it sounds like they're the same group that protests in front of our building sometimes. I think one of your team mates is with them, the giant bug girl?"
"She's not our team mate." I said firmly "She's just another hero in our section. Godsdamnit, will we have to hang out with her? I might just ghost then..."
"I think it's worth a shot anyway." Alele said "After all, it's a built in fan base, right?"
I weighed the options of having to see and spend time with Amaryllis and getting a huge surge of followers, or... staying un-popular and getting at least half of my patrols away from her, guaranteed. It was a tough choice...
"We'll think about it." I said "Now, uh, Robo-Grunt, you need to escape or something, right?"
I glanced over to where she was laying and blinked. She was already gone, no trace of her.
"...Never mind. Fuck, Alele, did you see how she did that?"
"No, I... don't want to. It'd ruin the cool."
I nodded, that was fair, it was pretty cool. I needed to figure out how to do that myself...
"Anyway..." Alele said, her voice singsong and sweet "I heard you call me your 'partner' during the fight, it felt right, didn't it?"
"It was hero partners! Not like... I- We're literally partners, it's not like that!" I said, feeling myself blushing under my helmet
"Mm, if you say so. Personally, I thought it sounded nice...~" Alele said, and walked off towards the entrance of the park, her hips swaying in a way that let me know she just assumed I'd be watching her walk away.
I was watching, yes, but the fact that she'd just assumed I would be was still annoying... Still, I wasn't about to be rude and not keep an eye on her as she left the dangerous park full of threats, right? One of those ducks could attack at any minute, that jogger could be a fallen chosen, the lady on the bench could be a super scientist. That was the only reason I was watching her, not because I was playing into her games, I was just being a good team mate.
I felt something inside me twist, and I bit my lip. I wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer, something had to give...
~~~
"No, I said I wanted 'meat free' finger sandwiches, not 'finger-free' meat sandwiches..." I said angrily into my phone "What animals are you using that have fingers anyway!?
"No, over half of Lorgiaia's followers are vegetarian, you can't just send them anyway, gods, do I need to find another catering company?
I paced the cafe "It's in the email! I said it over the phone, It's not my fault-
"No, look, is the ice sculpture going to be done in time at least? Ok, and it has a round base with a hollow dome for the lights? Yes, a giant rose. Ok. Ok. Yes, just- I'm not reimbursing you for the fingerless meats, it's your job to read the emails, just make them veggie, gods."
I hung up the phone and sat down at the cafe counter hard, slumping on the slightly sticky wood surface.
"Rough day?" Arnie asked, sliding a smoothie and a slice of cake over to me knowingly
"I just- why do I bother typing it all up if they never read the emails?!" I asked, shaking my head
"You might want to be a little nicer to them, I know I'm a lot more likely to care about a customer who treats me kindly than one who snaps at me." he said, leaning against the register
"I tried that..." I said "I've been nice the whole time, and then they try to tell me all the sandwiches are going to be full of bison? Really? Did they even look at the order?"
"Bison sandwiches are pretty good..." Arnie mused "Maybe they were confusing you with someone else?"
"I'm just glad they didn't try to give us boar sandwiches." I sighed, taking a bite of cake "The church leaders would flip, might even try and sue..."
"That's true, yeah." he said "Still, you have almost a full day to get everything ready, I'm sure it'll all be ok."
"What about you?" I asked "Are you going to be staying up late to make enough cookies and cakes for the party?"
He laughed "I'm not the one who makes the sweets, Candy, I just sell them. They come from a church affiliated bakery, delivered every morning. We're just getting extra tomorrow. Speaking of, are we charging for stuff? Or am I giving it out?"
"The pizza, sandwiches, and hor dourves are free, and so is the punch, the water, and the little cups of ice cream later in the evening. If anyone comes to you and asks for anything but a water, you charge them normal prices- no, actually, charge them 20% less if they're wearing LA merch."
"Ah, good idea. Should I put that on the special board tomorrow?" he asked
"Yyyyes, that's good, do that." I nodded, and sipped my smoothie
"I'm honestly looking forward to this." Arnie said, watching Drizti float around the room with her balloons and streamers, hanging them from the drop ceiling "It's usually so slow aside from breakfast and lunch. We hardly ever get any evening customers."
"Maybe this will seed the idea that people can show up any time?" I asked "I've only given out like five autographs total so far, and I had to introduce myself to the customers first for those... I'm here all the time, you'd think people would want to see me. The line was out the door the first day."
"I think it's more that we're a ways away from the city center, and you aren't... don't hate me for this, but... you're not popular enough for fans to make the trip out to see you casually yet?" he said "The first day was a huge event, I even saw it advertised on the big screens around the city."
"I'm trying to be popular, though..." I sighed "I do so many photo shoots and public appearances, and our trading cards still only debuted at less than two blessings each on the secondary market, ten for the foil ones, and under thirty for the pre-signed ones. We were on the packaging for Lorgiaia's sake, you'd think they'd be big sellers..."
"That is pretty rough..." Arnie agreed "That's just slightly over the rate for the more popular abominations. Still, the low prices are the only reason I was able to afford a full foil set of your cards."
I looked up at him "You collect our merch?" I asked "But- you know us. Isn't that weird?"
"I like to support my friends." he said casually "And if those friends are badass magical girls, I'll support them by buying shiny pieces of cardboard to put in a book with other shiny pieces of cardboard."
I snorted "Ok, just don't get weird about it. It'd suck if the guy who gives me my breakfast every morning turned into a fanboy."
He grinned and shook his head "Don't get a big head, I'm not a fanboy, just thought it was cool to see you guys on card packs in the checkout isle."
I finished my cake and picked up my smoothie "Suuure, fanboy. I gotta go make some more calls, but hey, I'll let you know when the Lorgiaia's Angels lunchboxes drop, 'K?"
He laughed, and I turned to go to the other side of the room so I could call the company that was supposed to be bringing the dance floor to set up tomorrow morning. I stopped short and took a step back, looking up at Galorna standing over me with a grin on her face and a knowing look.
"Alele's going to be jealous, you know..." she said teasingly.
My eyes widened "I- you- he's just- oh, fuck you, stop that." I said, flustered and annoyed
"Hey, I'm allowed to tease, after all, I did something about my workplace crush." she said confidently, following me as I walked away.
I slowed down. This... was as good a time as any. I turned to face her "I needed to talk to you about that..."
She frowned "Is it about her not being willing to un-transform around me anymore? Because we're working on that, we've-"
"No- it's... You know my and Alele's alter egos?" I asked
"Yeah, what about them?" she nodded
"While we were in costume, we... kinda ran into Saara a little bit..." I admitted
Galorna instantly stiffened "...And?"
"We mentioned we knew you so we could get free info from her, and she- I'm going to be honest, she looked like shit. Just, out of costume, a mess, drinking a lot, and she... wanted us to give you a message."
"Do I want to know what the message was?" Galorna asked quietly
"I think you need to hear it..." I said "She said her predictions were wrong, she made a mistake, and she needs you back, screw the consequences..."
Galorna slowly sat down at the closest table, looking down. She was quiet for a few minutes, and I slipped into the seat across from her to wait on her to be ready to speak. It wasn't fair of me to spring this on her, but she did need to know, and sooner than later, if it had any effect on her and Lucy's relationship. I felt almost scared, like I was nervous of what she was going to do or say, despite it not having anything to do with me. I wanted to take a sip of my drink to take my mind off of it, but somehow I thought that'd be disrespectful.
Finally, she looked up, her eyes watery with tears and shook her head "No. She doesn't get to say that. She doesn't get to decide 'screw the consequences' when I'm the one who had to deal with the consequences in the first place. I was willing to do that for her, but she broke up with me without giving me that choice. She doesn't have the right to just change her mind when it's convenient for her."
She was crying now "I finally got over her, I finally got someone I can love and be around, to grow with, and she thinks she's important enough to just swoop in and make me throw all that away? Fuck that, fuck her, fuck all this."
She looked at the ground and held back a sob before going still again "...I have patrol in an hour with Kiri and Mourner, Candy, could you cover for me? I... need some time."
"I've got to..." I waved at the room, half set up for the party and sighed. I was the one who told her, so it was kind of my fault anyway. Maybe Kiri would understand if I blew off the later half of my patrol to get some sleep, and I could do my phone calls from anywhere...
"Yeah, I'll cover for you. I'm sorry to drop this on you like that." I said, patting her arm.
She flinched at my touch, but didn't move her arm away "Yeah, it's... thanks for getting the message to me. Just please, don't interact with her again, ok?"
I nodded "Ok, I promise."
I didn't know if I'd be able to keep that promise, but seeing her quietly cry at the table and knowing I caused that, all of me wanted to...