Darker London

GIRLS!! LOOK OVER HERE!! IT'S A NOTE ON THE KETTLE FROM YOUR MOTHER! COOEE!! WHY NOT READ ME WHILE THE JUG BOILS!!

I SUPPOSE ONE OF YOU MIGHT ALSO HAVE A BOY OVER SO IF THIS NOTE IS BEING READ BY A BOY, HELLO!! TELL ONE OF MY GIRLS THERE IS A NOTE HERE WAITING FOR THEM. KEEP THE BEDROOM DOOR OPEN, HAHAHA! (I AM KIDDING! IF YOU ARE HERE, YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN HERE ALL NIGHT!! IN WHICH CASE I ALREADY KNOW THE BEDROOM DOORS WERE CLOSED! GOOD WORK KEEPING YOURSELF SECRET FROM PRYING PARENTS! IF YOU LIKE, WHY NOT STAY AND MEET US?)

GIRLS! I HAVE TAKEN YOUR FATHER OUT FOR A MORNING RUN. HE TELLS ME THAT YOU WILL WORRY THAT HE WILL OVERDO IT SO I AM HERE TO TELL YOU NOT TO. HE WILL NOT OVERDO IT. HE WILL JUST DO IT! AND SO WILL I!

IF YOU TURN AROUND YOU WILL SEE ANOTHER NOTE. IF YOU LIKE, YOU COULD SEE WHAT THAT NOTE SAYS AS WELL.

( ... )

Stephie’s interaction with the outside world was limited, these days. The three places she spent the most time were Thomas’s, the hospital for work (and Tasha, and lately Tal), and Vic Lane. None of these places really required her to be anything but herself.

Even back when she used to work at Apocalypse Records and have normal-people customer interaction, there was still Jinx and Mr A and Flick who were all in the know and there wasn’t a whole lot of pretending-to-be-normal she had to do. But since dropping that so she could really concentrate on flying (and Marie) she didn’t even have the fake-it-for-the-customers stuff anymore. Which did mean that doing normal things like picking Marie up from school felt really weird, because school was the outlier.

School was the outlier because it made Stephie feel like the outlier. School always had; but it wasn’t just a hangover from her own school experience, where she’d only ever fit in with Josie. No, Stephie did not know how to naturally be part of this community because everyone else was so normal. It made her feel a bit like her shithead teen self to think it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Stephie didn’t know if she had it in her to make friends with new not in-the-know people, but it was going to have to happen at some point.

( ... )