“It was really, really good. She understood and then all of us were talking for the first time that lunch. Weld, Ashley and I were all talking about very different things, pressure, differences, and the rest of the world feeling like something that presses in on us. But we were on the same wavelength, with Mr. Armstrong chiming in now and again to clarify or add a point. When the group started talking about wanting to make a team, I think that was one of the things that made it something I could be really interested in, instead of something where I had to say ‘yeah, that’s cool, but what about Ashley?’.”

“I can picture that scene. Was it what Armstrong wanted?”

“I snuck a look at him, and he looked pleased as punch. That was the last time we all got together. I wonder if that moment was what he was going for, and he considers his work done now that it happened.”

“It’s taken me a while to get that far with the group. I’m not sure I’m all the way there.”

“I’ve had to deal with it too, realizing it’s not all peaches and cream.”

“Peaches and— You mean peachy keen?”

“Either,” Sveta said.

She was giving me a cheeky look, probably because she knew I’d react. I rolled my eyes.

“Reality is a thing,” Sveta said. “Stuff’s going on.”

“The honeymoon period is over,” I said.

“Yeah. It wasn’t really a honeymoon. More like it was nice when it was an idea, but once we executed it, we had to deal with stuff.”

I nodded.

I double checked my phone, which was still in my hand, then pocketed it.

“Was there another moment?” I asked.

“I went over to her apartment once, before a session. Not long after the lunch thing. It’s nice, she seems to save up to buy nicer things, but there are gaps. So she has a really, really nice black leather couch, a black glass coffee table, a nice television, and a piece of art on the wall that looks expensive… and then for the rest of the room it’s moving boxes to sit on and put stuff on.”

“I can sort of understand that. I don’t think it’s unique to her. When you first move out on your own, most of the time, I think you get other people’s leftover stuff, or thrift store stuff. Everyone’s getting started over anew now.”

“Yeah,” Sveta said. She shrugged awkwardly, like it was a motion she hadn’t practiced much. “But she loved all the things she had, so much. There was something there. I could see the person she might have been, without powers, or the kid she was before powers. When I was defending her to you, in the first days we were with the group, that’s what I thought of.”