We all sat around the living room, the air filled with chatter and laughter. I was content to just sit and watch the others interact, my body and mind were so, so tired, but people kept dragging me into conversations. Ryllis was much more relaxed around me now, and I was doing my best not to say or do anything that would come across as hurtful to her, but she was still eyeing me every so often, her multiple pupils sliding around slightly as she watched me sip my after-dinner drink. Pendra on the other hand, was being actively hostile to me. I'd been victim to her hissing at me, flipping me off, and threatening to bite me, although she at least got fussed at for that last one.
I felt bad for what I'd done to her, up close I could see one of her legs was missing now, just a stump that ended at the first joint. She had a lot more, yes, but it made me feel icky to know I maimed a child, even one as terrible and creepy as Pendra. I'd offered to play her fighting game with her to make up for it- she was trying to get everyone at the party to versus her on it- but even then she refused to talk with me.
At least everyone else was getting along with me though; Mod had told me a long story about some other robots she'd met and that somehow ended with her letting Dahlia join The Unchosen, Kiri kept asking if I wanted more cake (the answer was always yes, the girl could bake), and Inky was warming up to me too, trying to get me to dunk my hand in her so she could 'use it as a base for when she learned how to make hands'. Apparently she thought I had nice hands... I assumed it was the opera gloves, everyone's hands looked good in opera gloves.
"Candy, did you want to play?" Galorna asked
I focused on her and smiled "Sorry, I was thinking about something, play what?"
"We were going to do two truths and a lie, want to join?" Tipsy asked from their place on the coffee table
"That seems like a dangerous game to play in a room full of heroes..." I said "Someone might say something they don't mean to."
"We're all public, it's fiiine" Kiri said "Come on, let's all play, I can go first!"
I guess me and Ravel would be the only ones here with secrets to hide... That I knew of, of course. They could all be secretly living double lives, and I'd never know. Everyone else was already on board, so... I pursed my lips and nodded "Ok, yeah, let's do it, I'll join in."
"Yaay!" Kiri said "Ok, ok, um... I have a degree in accounting, I've never kissed anyone before, and... I write fanfics about chosen, including some I've met..."
"Wait a minute..." I said, pretending to be suspicious "I'm a chosen you've met..."
"I think that one's a lie." Ravel said "No one would ever admit to that."
"What's wrong with fanfiction?" Mod asked "I write fanfiction..."
"What's fanfiction, yo?" Dahlia asked
"Uh, it's like, writings that fans make of chosen or tv shows or something. Like, fan made stories." Galorna told her
"Oh." she said "Then I think you've actually made out sloppy style before, that's my guess."
"I vote accountant, she's too high energy to sit behind a desk." I said, looking her up and down.
Everyone cast their votes, and they came out to seven votes for fanfics. Kiri smugly crossed her arms and shook her head.
"Nope!" she said "I've never been kissed by anyone! The others were truths!"
"I've never heard anyone be so proud of that before..." Inky said "We need to find you a partner, girl."
"I've had partners, I just didn't want to do anything with them." Kiri said "I just like the emotional connection, and maybe some light cuddles."
"Fair enough, I get it." Ravel said "Who's next, are we going clockwise?"
"I think that makes the most sense." Ryllis said "Which puts me next..."
She rubbed her metal mouthpiece as she thought "Hm, ok, how about... I've memorized the periodic table and atomic weights, I've jumped over a school bus on a motorcycle, and I'm allergic to cucumbers."
"Oh, the cucumber thing is true, I think." I said "We used to put cucumber peels out to get rid of-" I glanced at her and winced at her raised eyebrow "...Uh, different kind of insects."
"I've heard of that, actually!" Chrissie agreed "I think it's got a chemical they don't like or something."
"I call bullshit on the school bus thing though." Ravel said "There's no way that's real."
We all cast our votes, unsurprisingly, no one voted for the periodic table one. If anyone would memorize that shit, she would...
"Well, it wasn't the school bus thing..." she said "When I lived in my old hometown, some of my friends at the time decided to try and get me 'out of my shell'... this was before my transformation, so no pun intended, but they made me do a weekend long stuntman course that was in town. I wasn't alone on the motorcycle, a real stuntman was behind me helping me hold the handlebars, but I did actually do the jump."
"Ohh, that's so much fun..." Drizti said "I wanna try it..."
"Here, this is me mid jump..." Ryllis said, showing us her phone
The picture was low quality, from back when phones were new and shitty, but there she was, human as I was... I couldn't see her face because of the helmet, but seeing her on the motorcycle like that, no shell, two arms, no extra bits, it helped me see her as... just a little less scary.
"So if it wasn't the bus, what was it?" Tipsy asked
"I'm not allergic to cucumbers." she said "Most regular roaches aren't either, that's a myth. I figured it'd trip you all up."
"Ahh, sneaky..." Inky said "I like it. Who's next? I can't see from in here."
"I am!" Drizti said "Umm... I'm from a cult, my favorite flavor of juice is strawberry, and I can't whistle!"
"Drizti, that's too easy." I said "Most of us here know you too well."
"It's not that easy." she said "I think it's a mystery to most people!"
"Ok, then we can vote on it." I said "Who votes whistling?"
Most people's hands went up, then slowly the rest of the group's hands went up too.
"Yeah, see?" I said "You whistle all the time, and you had strawberry juice with dinner just now."
"But- there's a lot of new people who didn't know I was in a cult..." she said, dejected
"Not to offend, but I've know people who've left cults before, and as soon as you said that one, I pegged it as true." Ravel said
"Yo, I just left one, and for real, I clocked you at one of my sisters in spirit from the moment I saw you, true facts." Dahlia nodded
"Well let's not be mean now..." Mod said "Driz, I think you did a very good job for your first time."
"It's not my first time..." she mumbled "We played in the compound sometimes..."
I patted her back "Hey, it's fine, it's just for fun. Here, it's my turn. See if you can guess mine, ok?"
She smiled at me, but she still looked slightly disappointed "Yeah, what're yours?"
"Mine are... I'm supposed to wear glasses but I hate the way they look, I've been doing yearly taxes for the past seven years, and I'm a member of a union." I said carefully
"I highly doubt you've been doing taxes since you were fifteen." Galorna frowned "I think that's illegal, right?"
"Is there a union for heroes?" Ryllis asked "If they let in non chosen, I'd be interested."
"If I told you that, it'd give away the game..." I said
"I think she'd look pretty good in glasses, so... I think the union too." Kiri said
"Ok then, cast your votes!" I said confidently
Most people voted on the taxes, but there was a little more of an even spread than I'd expected. I pretended to brush off my shoulders and buff my nails as they all looked at me expectantly.
"I've got perfect vision, actually." I said, after letting them wait a few moments "I've been doing the family taxes since I was a teen, and I'm technically still a member of the farmer's union."
"Oh, a farmer's union, I see." Ryllis said. Her voice was robotic and emotionless like always, but she sounded slightly disappointed somehow too
"Hey, we can be tax buddies!" Kiri said "We can get together and do our team's taxes!"
"Actually since we're a branch of the church, our team doesn't pay any taxes..." Galorna said "But we do still have to pay personal taxes, and we can set ourselves up as sub-contractors, I think? I'll need help with that, from... either of you, I guess."
"Ah, the broken system in action, punishing the people who refuse to join the theocracy..." Chrissie said, rolling her eyes
"Can I go yet?" Inky asked "No one cares about taxes, is there anyone in front of me?"
She pulled a blob of herself up and... looked around? She took in the room at least, and decided the people on the table could wait their turns it seemed.
"Alright, here's my three..." she said, her bubbling voice sounding chipper "One! I am a fallen! Two! I have eaten someone! And three! I can't swim!"
"Ohh, this one is hard..." Tipsy said, shaking their head
"Fuck, I assume- I hope- you haven't eaten anyone?" Ravel asked
"Language!" Chrissie said, glaring at her
"Place your bets..." Inky said ominously
After we voted- I voted she wasn't a fallen, it's be bad publicity to mark her as a fallen after doing that to her, right?- she laughed and sloshed back and forth "Wow, I'd hoped it'd be harder! But most of you guys are right, I can swim just fine. I can even eat the water if I want, it just takes a while to convert to more of me than solids."
"You were pretty oily when I touched you, I assumed you'd be ok in water, yeah." Chrissie nodded "Are we... getting the little ones now? Or are we going to Galorna?"
"We can get the little ones, I need more time to think." Galora said, pointing at the coffee table
"Me! Me!" Pendra said, waving her hands. She hadn't been voting, she'd barely been paying attention, I didn't know she was even aware of the game, to be honest.
"Uh, ok Pendra..." Chrissie said, frowning "Tell two truths and a fib, ok?"
Pendra thought hard, her legs tapping rhythmically on the table "Uhh, I lieks mangos, is a inssec, an... am best at games."
"Well, I know you're not the best at games because I kick your little butt all the time." Mod teased "And I'm pretty sure I watched Galorna and Dahlia beat you earlier too..."
"Am the best! I push tha buttens and kik ur azz!" Pendra said, waving her hands in frustration
"Ok, calm down baby, let's all vote, ok?" Chrissie said gently, petting her back
Unsurprisingly, everyone but Chrissie voted that Pendra wasn't the best at games. She huffed and crossed her arms, refusing to look at us. Chrissie pulled her into her lap and hugged her to her stomach, looking at the rest of us apologetically.
"I'm sorry, she's just tired, this is a lot of stimulation." she said "And the answer is that she's not an insect, she's actually a myriapod, which is a different kind of arthropod than insects."
"Oh, even I didn't know that..." Ryllis said, tilting her head "You learn something new every day, I guess."
"It's nice that she's learning about herself." I said, hoping she'd hear me from where she was curled up "I can't imagine it's easy to find information about yourself when you're a non-standard body-form."
"Mm, yes, she's very proud of being herself, and she tries her best to study about herself every day." Chrissie nodded "She's getting pretty good at reading just because she's been trying to get through the books on centipedes I got her from the library."
"So... my turn?" Tipsy asked "This is hard because most of my memories are gone, but... I have a daughter, I used to be a chosen before I died, and I'm actually pretty scared of clowns."
"Nice ones!" Drizti said, her previous sadness apparently forgotten
"Well the first one is too sad to be a lie..." Mod said
"That could be a trick, I'd do that, have a fake sad lie, pretend to be vulnerable or something." Inky said
"Yo the last one is just whack tho, who's scared of a clown?" Dahlia asked, confused
As we voted, I felt... a strange sense of peace in me. I was still so, so tired, but I was... relaxing more or something. I was honestly kind of enjoying myself a little, which I hadn't been expecting at all. I looked around at the others, all lax and easy, with the exception of Pendra still pouting, and I wondered if this was what having a regular friend group was like. Our time at the base was nice, we'd have movie nights every so often or eat together, but we felt more like a family than friends. An instant family, snapped together out of thin air... I imagined a cup of ramen with all of Lorgiaia's Angels in it with a label on the front reading "Instant Family! Just add powers!"
We were a crappy family sure, we got along ok, but there was a sense of mixed cohesion where we knew how to fight together and we knew how to spend time together, but it still felt like we were work friends who'd found themselves sharing a house and sped through the whole 'bonding' part. Aside from Alele, of course. She was... different. I didn't know if it was the extra time I'd spent with her as Comfit or if it was just her being the only team member aside from Drizti to actively try to be my friend, but she felt different, more special than the rest.
"The truth is... I wasn't a chosen!" Tipsy said proudly "I think I worked in a food store or something, but I didn't have powers."
"Mm, so... your daughter..." Chrissie said "Do you know where she is?"
"I don't even remember her name, I lost it in Samsara." Tipsy said "I miss her, but I don't know anything about her except that she's an elf... or maybe a half elf? It's weird to miss someone I don't know anything about, but I'm ok about it."
Ravel patted them on the back "Hey, if you do remember more info, we'll absolutely find her for you, no problem."
"We can help too, if you ever have something to go off of!" Kiri said
"U-us too." I said, glancing at Galorna, who nodded at me
"Aw, thank you guys!" Tipsy said, smiling and hugging themselves "Ravel, I think it's your go!"
"Yup, mine are as follows." Ravel said "I've fought Miss Missile in a one on one and beat her, I play guitar, and I'm a licensed bartender."
"Well, your fight with Miss Missile was in the documents I gave- uh, one of my operatives." Chrissie said "So I know that one is true."
I wasn't so sure... I knew Miss Missile had trouble keeping her opponents alive at the best of times, and Ravel was made of highly flammable, easily exploded cloth. After we all guessed, Ravel nodded.
"I did fight Miss Missile, true, but I only survived because she let me go. If she'd actually attacked, I'd be dead right now." she said
"Well, shit." Galorna said "I was hoping you'd have actually beaten her, that'd be an amazing story..."
"Please stop swearing, I've had to say it three times now..." Chrissie said, pointing to Pendra
"I'm sure she knows all the swears already, Chris..." Mod said "It's not that big of a deal."
"It's not about her knowing them, it's about her thinking it's ok to say them." Kiri said, and Chrissie jabbed a thumb at her, nodding
"I'm sorry about that, I'm usually good about that..." Galorna said "I'm good with kids, I just- I forget there's one here."
She sighed and shrugged "Anyway, mine are kinda hard, I've had time to think. First, I spent a week as a living statue once, second, I don't have a driver's license but I am forklift certified, and lastly, I did goon work for fallen before I was chosen."
"I live with you and I'm having trouble with this..." I muttered
"If you have a forklift license and you've never taken me on a ride, I'll be very upset with you." Drizti said, narrowing her eyes at her
Everyone guessed, and the room was leaning heavily towards the living statue one as being false, but once we had the tally, Galorna shook her head.
"Nope, I was a living statue for a full week once, no joke." she said
"I didn't take you as one for performance art..." Ryllis said
"I wasn't performing, my ex accidentally froze me in place once trying to cast a shield spell on me." Galorna grinned "I was stuck like that until the mana wore off."
"Damn, that sounds like a nightmare, dawg..." Dahlia said, shaking her head
"It wasn't great, that's for sure." she mused "Anyway, I was a goon before I was chosen, but I never really worked for fallen, I was usually working for crews, my bosses were all baseline."
"Do you still have the contacts for these crews?" Chrissie asked, suddenly interested
"I- no, I cut all ties." Galorna said with finality
"Ah, I see. Sorry..." Chrissie said, and shrank back slightly
"I guess that means it's my turn!" Mod said, wincing "Oh boy, these are... fun... My systems hate me lying, and I've had to manually shut off my lie detector to play fair, so I'm at a slight disadvantage here, I think, but for mine... I'll say that... I run on a series of batteries that chain together instead of one big one, I have no sense of smell at all, and I sometimes run simulations in my head of what it'd be like to be a fleshie working at a coffee shop instead of an artificial life form working as a hero."
"The last one is too specific to be a lie, and the first one is just boring, it's option number two, she can smell stuff." Inky said
"That... seems right." Ryllis said "As her best friend, that is also my assessment."
"Yo, I'm coming for that title..." Dahlia said, pointing at Ryllis "She's my main g, we're gonna be tight, yo."
Ryllis shrugged, unbothered, and we all said our guesses, much to Mod's annoyance.
"I- oh, come on, you all just copied NK." she said rolling her eyes "That's just group think, it doesn't count. It's... true though, I can't quite 'smell' stuff, but I have a way to tell what smells are around me with sensors."
"Um, I like to run simulations in my head too, Maud." Drizti said "I like to imagine me and the rest of the angels all being adventurers in the golden ages!"
"That's... hm." Galorna glanced at her with a slight frown
"I don't think Galorna would be allowed to be an adventurer back then..." I told her "Oni only got rights a little while ago, and even if she pretended she was an ogre, they only got rights during the great war, hundreds of years after the golden ages..."
Drizti looked at me, confused "Uh, it's not real, Candy. It's just in my head. I can decide she's an adventurer if I want to..."
"That's... a good point, sorry." I said, feeling stupid
"I gotta go, it's my turn now!" Dahlia said, leaning forward "Ok, word up, firstly, I once had cancer for over a decade, I'm a broken copy of a dead woman, and I'm legally registered as a domestic terrorist, but only in some places."
She glanced at Mod "Stay out of this one, aight? You know my whole life and all that biz."
"Yup, I won't vote on this, no problem." Mod nodded
"I think... there's no way she's a terrorist." Kiri said "She's too sweet!"
"I mean, I was legally a terrorist for a while." Ryllis said "After I broke containment in Canyon City with Maud."
"Me and Ravel are terrorists!" Tipsy said "We're actively being hunted!"
"And I was almost declared a terrorist too, once." Chrissie said "Uh, well, an alter ego was, I guess."
It took a bit of arguing, Inky brought up the 'faking sad truths to trick people' idea again, but eventually the collective settled on the terrorism thing as the lie.
"It's true, that's the lie, no lie." Dahlia said "I'm not a domestic terrorist in some places, I'm a domestic terrorist in every place."
"Uh, what." Inky said flatly "Dahl, we share living quarters, what the ever-loving f- uh, frick do you mean you're a global terrorist?"
"The dead lady I'm a copy of? Her name was Moonflower, and she blew up a bunch of turbines in my home city." Dahlia said "It was a big deal, people died from it... Even though she died in the end too, the city still put her on the watch lists. I was made from an older backup straight from my template, but legally I'm still the same person, so when they brought the crime records over from my home city into the GGDS database, it registered me as a terrorist because of her."
"You mean you were labeled as criminal despite never having broke the law?" Chrissie asked "That's the kind of thing we're trying to fix here, I'll try to get you a hearing to protest that, that's horrible..."
"Oh, um, well it's just listed as a prior, so it's not a big deal, but I'd like that, thank you!" Dahlia said with a small smile
"Ok, see, look." I said "You did it again, you dropped the... lingo, you're talking normal, what's up?"
Her face fell "Oh, it's- I don't know, it just shuts off sometimes- my system I mean, and... I stop talking like that, I'm sorry..."
"You don't know how to manually shut it off?" Mod asked "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry, I didn't know... I'll go over it with you later, I know a few tricks."
Dahlia nodded at her and gave her a side hug "Ok, that sounds good... and can I turn it back on, too?"
"We'll talk later, but yes, I'll help with that..." Mod said, hugging her back
"You know..." Ryllis said "I could go in and shut the language modifier off fully, or even edit it, however you want."
Dahlia's eyes widened and her mouth went thin "Oh, that's... a lot to think about, I don't... uhh..."
"I think it's my turn?" Chrissie asked, clapping her hands
Pendra jerked at the noise, but it got everyone's attention and got Dahlia out of the spotlight. It was weird to think about someone editing someone else's brain, adding things and removing them. I understood why Dahlia was worried, I'd be worried too. I'd never let anyone into my brain; editing or changing stuff up there risked me not being me anymore. I shuddered slightly at the thought and took another bite of cake as Chrissie started her turn.
"Well, most of you know me by now..." she said, smiling at us "But how well do you know me? Let's find out... I once kissed my boyfriend while hiding in a storm drain, I've had my DNA manually altered, and I'm currently getting a degree in entomology."
"I can't see details that well, does she have horns or something?" Inky said "I want to know how obvious the DNA changing is."
"You're pretty sure about that!" Chrissie said "Any reason why?"
"Uh, your daughter is half insect. Sorry, um, myra-pod, you gotta have something weird in you, or else you f- dated a giant bug." she said
"I'm dating a lovely goblin gentleman, actually." she replied "If that helps."
"Ok, ummm I think I know, actually." Kiri said "Let's vote on it..."
We all cast our final votes. I was pretty sure she was a baseline human, but it was hard to tell with some people. I voted for the kissing one, just to be safe.
"And the lie was..." Chrissie said dramatically "I'm not studying to be an entomologist! I'm a research major, with a focus on chemistry! But I am shifting my focus to bio-chemistry next semester. I'm planning to minion for a super scientist eventually."
"Oh dang, that's really cool!" Ravel said "I didn't know they had degrees for that!"
"Yup! It's to honor my father, he was a super scientist botanist who helped dryads even back before they were registered people." she said "In fact, the DNA splicing I got was from him, I'm ever so slightly part aloe plant!"
"Does that mean Pendra is part plant too?" Tipsy asked, looking at the now-sleeping child
"It does, and what's more, she's actually part mushroom too!" Chrissie said "She's an arthropod, a mammal, a plant, and a fungus, all in one!"
"I never would have guessed..." marveled Drizti, staring at Pendra
"Alright, that was fun!" Kiri said "I know it's getting late though, and some of us have to get ready for the late shift in a few hours, so... we should go ahead and wrap up."
"Ah, that's me, I'm on the late shift." Ryllis said, standing up
"Me too, I'll stay here and head out when you do if that's ok. And... Dahlia, it's your first shift without Maud, isn't it?" Galorna asked
"Yeah, it- it is." she said "But with my systems down like this, I don't know if I can do it... I've only been on one, and that was with my systems up and Maud helping me."
"I can help you, and I have no systems either." Ryllis said "It's ok, we'll be there too."
"If you want your systems back up..." Mod said, and glanced at Pendra and whispered in Dahlia's ear
"Oh, what?" she asked, blinking "That's... ok, I'll wait until I'm outside to do that though."
I was curious, but not curious enough to ask, so I stood up and gestured for Ravel to follow
"We'll be out of your hair, then." I said, smiling at everyone "Thank you so much for having us!"
"Thank you so much for coming!" Kiri said returning my smile "We have to do this again soon!"
I didn't know if I had it in me to do it again 'soon', but I did have fun... I'd like to do that again, not just to bond and earn up friendships in case I needed them later, but because I actually wanted to see the people again. I was surprised at myself, but I wasn't complaining. Drizti hopped off the couch and waited as Ravel finished hugging Tipsy goodbye, and held out her hand.
"Hello Ravel, may I carry you home? I'd like to, if it's ok!" she said with a grin
"I'm ok with that." Ravel said, climbing onto Drizti's arm "Apparently Candy here doesn't like being seen with dolls, so that works out."
"Aw, she's just worried about her image," she explained "my image is silly and fun, so I can be seen with dolls and no one would care!"
We finished saying our goodbyes, and headed home, my head full of thoughts of truths, lies, and a new understanding for the people I worked with. I just wished the others in our section would have been there, I'd have loved to hear Sera's answers, or Alele's, but I'd most likely already know them. Still, it might have been a chance to learn something new about her, if she'd played against my knowledge. I'd have to see if she'd be interested in playing with me some time...
~~~
I walked into my apartment with Drizti close behind. She was laughing at something Ravel told her, and I rolled my eyes. We had a little less than a couple hours before Alele was off her patrol, and I didn't really want to entertain anyone for that time, I just wanted to crash and get a nap in before Alele showed up... I had a patrol tomorrow afternoon, but Comfit was supposed to make an appearance at yet another protest in the morning, this time one protesting the statues of old knights and warriors who'd made fortunes off killing what were, at the time, considered monsters.
I got it, it had to suck to see a giant statue of a guy who slaughtered your ancestors on display and being celebrated, but at the same time... it was so long ago, why did anyone care? No one was hunting or killing goblins now, there were no recent wars with orcs or anything. It didn't matter though, if the people who were effected by it wanted them taken down, it wasn't my place to question it, I'd just add my voice to theirs, and let them do their thing, I guessed.
I cleaned up slightly as Driz admired my all-but-forgotten diorama on the table. I hadn't touched it in almost two weeks now, and I was starting to feel the guilt of ignoring a project, even if it was one I chose for myself. I moved my helmet off the couch and looked around for a place to put it, I could just drop it on the outfit in the basket next to the TV, but that might make the clothes all wrinkled, the table was full, there were snacks all over the counter... I sighed and walked over to the locked mini-fridge, setting it on top. At least it could be used as a shelf, it wasn't good for much else...
I walked back to the center of the room and waved at the sofa "Well, did you two want to sit?"
"I'd love to!" Drizti said, picking Ravel off the table and walking over "What will we do?"
"I'll tell you one> thing we'll do, we'll set some boundaries." Ravel said, wiggling out of her hands and onto the floor "Ask before you pick me up, every time, got it?"
"O-oh, uh, yeah..." Drizti said "I'm so sorry, I should have known better..."
"Don't be a butt, Ravel." I said "She was just giving you a hand."
"Still, please ask." she said firmly "Anyway, what are we going to do? Watch tv?"
"Let's play that racing game!" Drizti said "You have enough controllers for all of us, and I want to get better!"
"..." I was too tired to focus on driving around in a little kart, but she was the guest "Ok, yeah, I'll turn it on."
I set up the games console and got the controllers out. I didn't play many games these days, mostly just the racing one, a couple party games, and a game about running a farm, but I had one of those controller stands that charged the remotes when they were on it, so I didn't have to worry about running out of batteries even if I didn't play often. I walked back to the couch and passed them out to the others and started up the game.
"Alright, Ravel, in this game, the point is to-" I started
"I've played kart racers before, I'll be fine." she said "Does this one have a start boost?"
"Uh, a what?" I asked "I don't think so..."
"I'm sure I'll figure it out." Ravel said "It's usually pretty simple."
We started the game, and sure enough, Ravel somehow got a boost the instant the flag went up, blasting ahead of Drizti and me, sliding around the turns and boosting almost constantly somehow.
"Whoah, you're almost as good as Lucy!" Drizti said "She usually laps me by now though. She does the slide-y thing you're doing too."
"It's drifting, you just turn and brake, then turn the other way, and you slide." she said, showing her on the controller
"That's too much to think about..." I said, laying over on the side of the sofa "I'll just drive like normal."
"And that's why you'll lose." Ravel said, hitting me with a backwards thrown item
"I was wondering..." Drizti asked as she tried to figure out the slide "How did you and Candy meet? She got in from a patrol last night and you weren't there, and then this morning she came down for her volunteer thing and you were on her shoulder. How did that happen?"
I stayed silent, this was her mess to deal with...
"Wellll..." Ravel said slowly "We'd met once or twice before when she was out in her motorcycle outfit..."
"It's not a motorcycle outfit." I said "It just has a helmet, it's a hero outfit."
"She's called Comfit, with the helmet on." Drizti added "It's a secret though!"
"Right, well I ran into her a few times before," Ravel continued "and after I busted my friend out of their holding cell and freed all the other weirdos like us to make it easier to escape, I had to hide out. I was having trouble hiding around the city without getting caught, so I dropped my friend- Tipsy- off at the shelter, and remembered Candy here. I came to her asking for help, and she was more than happy to give me a safe place to stay while we looked for a way to send me home."
It was close enough to what really happened that it'd be easy to remember, but I was confused why the order she took Tipsy to the safe house and met me were swapped... It wasn't important, but it was a weird thing to lie about.
"Oooh, I heard a little about that tonight!" Drizti said "You were talking to Ryllis about it, right? You're an offworlder!"
"Yyyup." she said, finally lapping Drizti "Anyway, I'll be staying here until things settle down at least."
"You do know I have at least one, maybe two friends in the Downtown Queens, right?" I asked her "At minimum Fem-Butch will probably show up here at some point to hang out, if not Miss Missile."
"Fem-bitch never saw me." Ravel said "She only met Tipsy, sewed up a tear on their suit for them. I fixed it better with my powers though, once I freed them. Miss Missile would recognize me for sure though, so give me a heads up if she's going to be here."
"I wish I got to be friends with all these people..." Drizti said "The only chosen outside section 247 I know is Ice Pack, from the Valley Nurses. The others never responded to my messages, and she's so busy she barely talks to me."
"I think they're kind of clique-y." I yawned "I invited them all to the... event, a few weeks ago, and only Trauma Response got back to me, and she messaged me after the party was already started."
I wondered if things would have changed if the Nurses had been there during the attack, if they'd have been able to help at all, or if they'd just have gotten hurt too...
"Mm, I want to go to one of those chosen support groups they hold sometimes." Drizti said "Not to really get support, but to make new friends."
"We have a lot of friends, Driz." I said "You got a new one today, even."
"Four new ones!" she smiled "Ravel, Tipsy, NK, and Dahlia!"
"Yeah, see? You're fine, just focus on the ones you have." I told her
"But I want moooore..." she whined
I started another race and shook my head "Whatever, you're a grown woman, I guess, I just know it's hard to have too many friends."
"I found having a small, close knit group of just a few friends is better than having a huge collection of people you just know." Ravel said "I'd focus on getting to know your current friends better."
"Yeah, I guess so..." Drizti said "I just miss having so many friends I couldn't go ten feet without running into one. Seriously, in the cult, I was friends with everyone, we all were! It was great..."
"The cult was great?" I asked, making a face
"Well- no, it wasn't, I guess." Drizti sounded guilty "But I miss having the people around me..."
"We can be those people for you." I told her "It's ok, we understand. We'll be here if you need us, just let us know how we can help, any of us on the team."
Drizti looked at me nervously "W-well, there is one thing I miss most of all..."
~~~
The door opened and I heard soft footsteps across the floor, stopping just over where I lay. I opened my eyes and smiled at Alele staring down at me, her eyebrows raised.
"What is this all about then?" she asked under her breath
"Just something Drizti wanted, I'll wake her up if you like." I whispered back
Drizti curled up closer to me, her head pressing into my chest through the blanket. She made a small murmur, but didn't move further.
"No, that's ok." Alele said "She looks... comfortable. Why is she wrapped up like that?"
"It's how she used to sleep with her siblings and parents during family nights." I said "Wrapped up in blankets and in a pile."
"I see..." she said "It looks cozy enough, I guess. I was looking forward to doing something similar to you myself, though..."
She looked around the room "Where's that doll person from this morning? I thought she was going to be staying here."
"I'm here..." Ravel's muffled voice came from inside the blanket "Just got wrapped up in here, and I don't want to move and wake her."
"Come on, un-transform and get on the couch with us." I said "I think if I scoot forward, you can slide in behind me... or maybe over me?"
"I'll... just sleep in my own bed tonight." Alele said "But I'll be by in the morning, around eight, so we can go to the statue protest, sound good?"
"Noooo..." I whined softly "I need my girlfriend..."
She bent over and kissed me on my shoulder, and patted my leg "Hey, we've got forever together, one night is fine, I'll see you tomorrow, 'k?"
I sighed and shook my head as Alele slipped out. It was fine, or it should be, but now I was mildly annoyed at Driz for taking away my Alele cuddles. I knew that wasn't fair, I'd agreed to hold her while she napped, but I still wanted to bop her on the head or something.
Or... something. I could taste her, but I wasn't that mad, just mildly annoyed. I was curious what she'd taste like though, she was green so something green flavored, if Alele being blueberry was anything to go off of. I pulled the blanket back just enough to expose her forehead and stared at it. Could I be quick enough? It could be passed off as an accident if I messed up, she was the one who wanted to be in my lap after all.
I took a breath and braced myself, then quickly dipped forward and kissed her as quickly as I could. I felt the flavor rush through me, it was... sugary, a melody of different fruits, cherry, apple, watermelon, so many flavors, all mixing together, I had no idea what she was, a pack of candies? Some kind of mixed fruit pastry? The flavor was sticky, in a sense, I just wished I could get a better feel for where that sticky was coming from... I looked down at Drizti's sleeping face and I considered going back for a second taste, but I couldn't risk it. She was one of my best friends, if I turned her by accident, I'd never forgive myself...
I covered up her head with the blanket and lay back down, licking my lips. I had a long day in front of me, a long week, really, and I needed to calm down and get some sleep.
Somehow, I was still awake when Alele came back into my room to get me the next morning, still spinning the flavors of that one kiss around in my mind.