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41 – A Short Discussion of Wishes
Her father’s office was never a place where she’d been welcome. It was a place to avoid when he was at home. A place she was only summoned to when she was in trouble. Somewhere that she snuck into when he wasn’t around, as he’d refused to put the good astronomy books in the larger library. There was something already comfortable and homely about Ryan’s office. He’d welcomed, not just accepted, her setting up her laptop in the seating area of his office, offering advice while she worked on introduction modules. The fact that the coffee table was the perfect height for using a keyboard while sitting on the floor.…
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40 – Adventures in Shopping
Stef brushed cookie crumbs off the required Agency-wiki pages on goblins and looked up. ‘Um?’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Thanks for this, but–’ She swallowed the rest of the cookie. ‘What’s the deal with the Court and what’s going on now? I’ll tackle this stuff on my own,’ she said, poking at the folder, ‘but learning stuff in context is more likely to stick.’ ‘It’s complicated,’ Curt said. But it was in a way that she was starting to learn was “I’ll give you a short explanation” rather than “I don’t want to explain anything to you, leave me alone you stupid bitch”. ‘I’m kinda smart,’ she said. ‘You can try to explain…
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39 – A Lack of Scholastic Achievement
Stef pulled on her seatbelt, then pulled her phone from her pocket and tucked it into the centre console as Curt settled himself into the driver’s seat. ‘You understand,’ Curt said as he started the car, ‘this is another one of those conversations you should probably be having with Agent Jones or a Tech, right?’ ‘I didn’t, now I do, but try anyway?’ He pulled out into traffic and immediately hit a red light. ‘Hell, Newbie, I don’t even know if you know enough about agent creation and physiology or whatever you’d call it to get to this stage. What do you know? Tell me that, and I’ll build on…
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38 – Glitter and Dust
Stef stared. If she’d been asked what she was expecting, she wouldn’t have been able to put it into words. Whatever that vague idea she’d had though, this wasn’t it. It was the same ice-cream shop they’d been at last night. It looked different by the light of day – ice-cream stores, like parks, were something that should only exist in bright daylight. By the light of morning, the colours of the paint, and the chalk illustrations were far cheerier, inviting customers in to experience all the homemade flavours. The only thing that hampered the shop’s cheer was the police tape. The blue-and-white tape sectioned off the area around the…
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37 – Observations and Evidence
There was a knock at the door. Stef looked up from the sliding wooden puzzle from hell that Jones had sent as a get well present and stared at the door. ‘Um?’ ‘Me, Mimosa,’ came a woman’s voice. She quickly ran through the catalogue of people she’d met and tried to identify the voice. It was probably- ‘Magnolia,’ Magnolia clarified. ‘Open up.’ She hopped off the bed, stumbled, then opened the door. Magnolia – dressed in another cute dress that still somehow conveyed the impression that she could kill with a pinkie finger – smiled. ‘Perfect, you’re already dressed like a nerd, come on.’ She looked down at the Spider-Man…
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36 – Breakfast, Blue & Biscuits
The cafe was busy, but not too busy – full of morning people, but also a few people who looked at least marginally unhappy to be awake so early. Fortunately, they’d been able to find a booth towards the back with no one in the next space – meaning any Agency conversation should be relatively safe. Unless someone decides to try and kill us again. That’s statistically unlikely. Stef stared at some of the unhappy people, and wondered if she belonged in that category or not. Being awake this early was- She sipped from the orange juice that she’d ordered. There was the requisite coffee cup there as well, but…
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35 – Simple Stories
Stef stared at her reflection in the wardrobe mirror. At the weird, dual reflection caused by the sliding doors overlapping each other by a few inches. It was probably a metaphor for something, but she’d always just enjoyed trying to be quick enough to outpace her own reflection. A stupid game she’d used to play when doing ballet practice, chasing and dancing with her mirrored doppelganger, all while keeping her technique tight enough as not incur her instructor’s wrath. She’d closed the door this time – not that Ryan was the kind to wander in like Dorian had done, but having four walls to herself for a couple of minutes…
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34 – The Starlight Before Dawn
There were glow-in-the-dark stars all over the inside wall of her wardrobe. Most of them were at the level under the bottoms of the t-shirts she could bother to hang up. All of them were quiet now, not having absorbed enough sun to activate them like tiny Kryptonian babies. Stupid, useless, and broken, just like her. She pulled a large cushion over her head. It was big and heavy, one for sitting on, but the crushing weight was comforting, helped bring her back down to earth, helped keep her in her own body. It had been stupid to try. It was always stupid to try. Do anything different, and the…
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33 – Nothingness
Someone was holding her hand. Stef stirred and tried to squeeze the hand back, but her fingers closed on empty air. Dream. She must have been dreaming about the accident again. She shifted and tried to roll over, but her bed felt strange. And something was holding her arm back and- Tangled in the sheets. She was- She shifted back to the comfortable position, but something still tugged at her arm, something- ‘What’s-’ She braced herself, and brought her hand up to smack herself in the face – it hurt, but it got her brain engaged. She opened her eyes – panic rose, but petered out like an impotent storm,…
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32 – Subscript
There was a knock. Ryan opened his eyes, saw nothing but blue, and closed them again. There was peace. Weightlessness. Calm. Safety. Another knock. Thoughts started to become more clear. He breathed in and felt liquid blue rush across his tongue. He was in a tank – that meant he’d been injured. That meant- The feeling of serenity dropped away as recent memories crashed into his consciousness. He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling for where one of the exit wounds had been, and felt nothing but smooth skin. He was safe. He was- He wasn’t the only one who’d been injured. He focussed on his HUD, brought up…
