Iron Station Savage Masks IC IV

[JoyWonderLove]

Sophia looked at Yuki as though she had just shared a zen koan, her mind hitching on the barbed wire of the question asked about the use in being upset or angry. Even as the topic went on to communicating with her boyfriend, Sophia turned away a little to reach for the familiar comfort drink, somehow unexpectedly disorientated. The burning gulp was little tasted or savoured, her chat partner kept in the corner of her eye as the question repeated in her head again. It still didn’t make much sense.

Yuki was impossibly naive in reading others, and disturbingly mature in self-direction. Quick to make a friend, but slow in building her relationships. Trusted to protect a city, but unclear on threats to her private life. A Japanese shapeshifter to her core. Even growing up in a place as cosmopolitan as California, Sophia had quite literally never met another girl like her. She wiped away the sweet foam around her lips with a napkin as Yuki blushed again, for obvious reasons.

“Bet it will,” Sophia agreed quietly, but sounded certain, even happy. She was surprised by her own lack of resignation. “What’s the saying? Love is patient, love is kind. You got this.” She glanced over at the table with all the others, and they felt an island away. The little corner they were in could have been called intimate, if the circumstance was different, if she had somehow arrived months earlier, if she didn’t care about the legacy. But some things were more important than her own desires.

“I’ll make sure to do whatever I can to repair my side of the damage, apology aside. He must be special if you’re this into him. Besides, I gotta try putting in my name for chief bridesmaid from now, right?” she teased. She grasped her drink by the handle.

“You up to joining the others?”