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Agreeing to train Herald was stupid. When he'd asked her - she had intended on saying no. But, much like how she had found herself agreeing to help Ortega with Argent a few months ago, her mouth had opened - and she had found herself saying "Yes, Of course I'll help you." instead of "No - why won't you just leave me alone?"
Then, once she had said it - she couldn't un-say it - not when herald had brightened immediately, smiling and thanking her. The annoying buzz of his surface level thoughts. Happy. Excited.
So now, Stefany was stood up on a roof - trying not to feel nautious, half from the height and half from the nerves. Herald - Daniel - he had told her his name. Why had he gone and done that? Trust. He trusted her. You didn't need to be a telepath to know that. Just the way he held himself around her, trying to hard to be casual - confident, but his nervousness was leaking through.
Daniel was bent over slightly - trying to catch his breath. A rare moment in which he wasn't floating - they were level now, and Stefany didn't have to crane her neck to look up at him.
"I was wondering..." He said - breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Wondering...?"
"Did you want to go get a coffee?"
"Coffee?" Why did D- Herald want to get a coffee.
"Uhm. Yeah - I thought we could chat, without hitting each other for once." He said. "Unless you don't want to..?"
"No- No I'd like to. We can get coffee - Sure."
"Great!" He smiled again. "I know just the place. C'mon." And he opened his arms up, for Stefany to grip onto.
-
Coffee with Herald. This was normal - this is what acquaintances do. Get coffee with eachother; order coffee, make small talk, drink coffee, leave. Easy.
They sat at a table in the corner of a small indie coffee shop - the type that has fifteen different milk alternatives and even more types of teas and coffee blends.
The waitress bought them their coffees, smiling as she placed them on the table. Herald smiled and thanked her by name.
"You know her name?"
"I come here alot." Herald took a sip of his coffee. It was more milk and sugar than coffee - the colour of it a weak milky brown.
"That so?"
"Yeah. The coffee here is good - It's not too busy either." He was right about that - it was midday, what should have been a lunch rush, but there was barely anybody but them in the coffee shop.
Stefany doesn't say anything to that - just takes a sip of her own coffee, stronger, less sugar.
"I'm glad you said yes." He says.
"Why?"
"Because I want to get to know you. Not just as Sidestep. Or just as my trainer."
"I'm not your trainer - I'm just training you."
"Isn't that the same thing."
"No. It's not. And you need to stop thinking of me as Sidestep - I'm not - I havent been in almost a decade."
"Okay... I mean I guess I get it."
"Do you?" He doesn't. He thinks he does, but he doesn't.
"Maybe not."
There's too many unshielded thoughts - somebody annoyed after ordering the wrong thing, a barista tired at the end of their shift. Somebody outside has dropped their coffee, it's raining outside - too many forgotten umbrellas. Stefany drains her cup.
"You're not how I expected Sidestep to be." Herald admits, dragging Stefany back to reality - distracting her from the budding headache.
"Huh?" What does he mean?
"I just never expected you to be so..." What? Angry? Jaded? Rude? Broken?
"Well - " He's trying to find the right words. "You're so fashionable. Sidestep only ever wore her suit or a hoodie."
"What? Fashionable?"
Stefany is aware that her outfit is not exactly boring and plain. But she was done with that - she had spent years, stuck in bland outfits, oversized hoodies and neutrals. Too afraid to stand out.
Not anymore.
If there was one thing she was certain of - it was that she was through with hiding.
So - she had begun to dress how she wanted to. Brighter colours, patterns. She had even dyed her hair blonde. And Ortega had had alot to say about that, when she had walked into Rangers HQ - Ortega had hardly recognised her. That was good. Being different was good.
Then she had started playing around with layers - two jackets at once, thin enough to not make her too warm. No jewellery - too heavy and noisy.
Then. Shorts. A part of Stefany craved to be able to wear shorts. In the hot - sticky Los Diablos heat, where girls who exercised and even those that didn't, ran around in short shorts. Stefany couldn't do that.
But again - she was done being told what to do. A pair of trousers soon fixed this. An eccentric mix, nobody else was doing it. Shorts over trousers - freedom over confinement.
"Yeah! The shorts over trousers, I've never seen anybody do it! But it looks so good - and your cropped jacket." He continues. "I mean - I'm not sure it's for everybody, but I definitely like it! It's cool, not everybody's as bold as you are."
"What - gonna start copying my style now?"
"No... - Well, Uh, maybe? If you think I could pull it off."
"Herald I was joking. But I mean - sure, go for it, I'm sure you could pull off anything, Flyboy. Go buy a pair of shorts."
"Wh- Flyboy?" Herald blushes, and drinks the last sip out of his cup. "You really think I'd look good wearing shorts? Over trousers?"
"This was nice." Stefany says, not answering his question. She opens her mouth to say that she's leaving. "We should do this again sometime." The words come out without her realising.