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Amanita may not have been a mind-reader but it was clear by the way Dani and Hernando were huddled together whispering that they could use the benefit of a more experienced sapien. "You guys doing okay?" she asked.
The rest of the apartment was still asleep, except Lito who'd been hogging the bathroom for an ungodly amount of time—again—and Will who was updating the board with every tidbit of new information no matter how small. Now that Bug had brought better equipment, he and Nomi were back to business.
"Lito is…" Hernando, with all his intellect and eloquence, struggled to find the right word.
But Dani jumped right in. "When the other sensies are PMSing, can Lito feel it? Because he's being extra extra this morning and we're trying to figure out how concerned we should be."
"Oh my god, yes." Amanita had practically cried she laughed so hard hearing that story. "Apparently the first time almost killed him."
"I knew it!" Dani exclaimed.
"This really is incredible," Hernando stammered. "Being able to experience these things firsthand—empathy in its purest form—it could be the end of sexism and homophobia, and every other form of bigotry!"
"Well, Whispers did famously lobotomize a god-fearing, self-loathing sensate so he could use his zombified body to murder a sapien preaching tolerance at a mosque…so we're not quite there yet," Amanita said with a shrug. Not to mention Whispers murdering the rest of his cluster. "But if Lito's feeling it, at least one of these ladies needs croissants. Stat."
"Oooh, we're coming too." Dani grabbed Hernando's hand.
Nomi was passed out on the sofa with Bug—which was fucking adorable—and Will was too focused on his whiteboard to notice them. Amanita gently kissed Nomi's forehead to rouse her, not wanting to disappear without alerting anyone. "I'm taking the other sapies for croissants. Be back soon."
"I'm up," Nomi mumbled like she'd been caught sleeping in class, immediately going back to work on her laptop. She hadn't even come to bed. She and Bug were at it all night. They could definitely use some croissants.
"We're getting close, huh?" Dani asked, taking one final glance at the increasingly detailed whiteboard before Amanita led them out the door.
As terrifying as it had been to see Nomi experience Wolfgang's torture, at least Amanita was aware of what was happening. Dani and Hernando had been completely blindsided by all of it, then whisked away to London and now Paris. The two of them were still learning the ins and outs of sensacity, which Amanita would be the first to admit it could be a lot.
"We're close," she said confidently. Wolfgang's absence may have been most apparent in Kala—not that Amanita had met her or the other sensies before his abduction—but despite Wolfgang generally not saying much, she could still tell the difference in Nomi. They missed him. And even though she hadn't technically met him either, Amanita missed him too.
Not to mention he was probably the only one apart from Hernando and Dani who wouldn't be annoyed by Lito's histrionics. Though they might've been close as well.
"Lito can certainly be a handful, PMS not withstanding…" she started.
"He feels things very intensely," Hernando said as they walked. "Even before being…um…reborn as a sensate, he has this passion for everything, and his ability and willingness to convey raw emotions is honestly inspiring—"
"That's a beautifully poetic way of saying he's a total drama queen," Dani interjected with a laugh.
"Yes, he is that too," Hernando relented.
"I love a good drama queen," Amanita said. "Just not so much before my second cup of coffee."
"Why do you think we stick with espresso?" Dani joked. "Anyway I'm glad it's something carbs and chocolate can fix because he's about to lose his job and considering Kit Wrangler's influence in the film industry, Lito may never work again."
Hernando's shoulders slumped and he removed his glasses to more thoroughly rub his face. "Are we even helping, being here? I'm a teacher, and Dani is—"
"A mostly failed-actress, soon to be a failed-talent agent."
There it was. No matter how much they loved him, doubt had its way of creeping in. She'd been there with Nomi many times herself, wondering if and when their lives would return to any semblance of normalcy.
Amanita gestured for them to sit at a charming little park and took both of their hands. "I know this is hard. We're fighting a nefarious multinational organization that's literally assassinating people. But look how far we've come! They tried to lobotomize Nomi. They tried to do even worse to Riley. We broke Sun out of prison. We stole their biggest asset from right under their noses, in their facility." She didn't bring up the fact that the longer they held onto Whispers and Jonas, the likelier it was for something to go wrong. "And we're getting Wolfgang back. Soon. That'll make Lito feel better. Hell, if he does get fired, I'm sure Wolfgang would love a word with Kit."
They glanced at each other and nodded in unison.
"As long as we're together, there's nothing we can't do." She determinedly stood up and waited for them to follow suit. "Now, to address a bigger crisis than BPO, Kit Wrangler, and maybe even global warming combined—"
"Lito experiencing PMS," Dani said.
"Croissants," Hernando added.
"Stat."