Yoshiro, Alexis and Angelica
Earlier, Los Angeles, July 8th
Sitting outside of the ice cream shop which Frost Bite had led them to, Yoshiro idly scooped a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Her thoughts were still lingering on the events in the Stars’ HQ, and she found her gaze wandering over to the titanic building across the street – the vibrant blue and yellow colours of the superhero team’s logo still clearly visible even from down at street level. The whole day still seemed surreal to her, the meeting about Red was fresh in her mind and yet she felt like she’d hardly had a chance to think about him since then. Yoshiro felt a stab of guilt, but quickly tried to push it aside. They would prove Red innocent, she was sure of it, but Roy was right – they would have to do it properly, and that would take time. If they did anything rash, then they would just wind up getting him into more trouble than he already was. Sighing to herself, Yoshiro wondered where he was at that instant – did he still realise that there were those on the outside rooting for him?
Looking up, Yoshiro offered Alexis a friendly smile. The pair of them had been mostly silent since Angelica had left them to their own devices. Where could they even start to unpack what they now knew?
“So, what do you think about all that?” Yoshiro began, deciding that they had better discuss it before Frost Bite got back. “It all seems crazy to me. I never really thought about Frost – I mean Angelica’s – parents before, but Captain Quake? I honestly don’t know how she’s put up with him for so long if this is how he’s been treating her mother.” The telepath looked over to her friend, trying to gauge her response. She hesitated slightly before continuing, wondering if it she was being stupid to bring up her next question. “Hey, I also meant to ask you about that autograph. I mean, it’s fine I guess, but don’t you think it was a little mean to do that in front of, you know?”
Upon being reminded of her little stunt at the Stars’ headquarters, Alexis could only respond to Yoshiro with a sheepish smile. “Oh, um, I guess it might have been a little mean, but I symbolically flipped them the bird afterwards, and I don’t think I was gonna get a second chance at getting one, especially after this meeting.” She said before shoving a few spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream into her mouth and enjoying the flavor for a few moments. “And you know, it isn’t even for me. I wasn’t lying when I said I have a buddy who’s a big fan of the Stars. Having a bargaining chip like this is going to be a big help in my plans, but I can’t tell you any more than that.” A mischievous smile appeared on her face as she pronounced the final words.
“And um, about Angie…” The tech wizard began, her speech becoming a lot less lively as she adopted a more reflexive expression. “Well, I wouldn’t know where to begin, really. I knew her before, but I didn’t really talk to her at school or anything and even when I tried to befriend her as Frost Bite, she didn’t tell me a lot about herself, so, I’m just as surprised as you are.” She explained, looking up at the building in front of them and frowning. “I’m just glad she came to us for this, though. Maybe we weren’t all that helpful, but I don’t want to think about what would have happened if she had come here alone.”
Yoshiro raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly Alexis was up to. The younger girl already had a mischievous streak to her name, and there was a certain glimmer in her eye that told the telepath that this was part of some wider scheme of her’s. She thought she had some ideas of who Alexis’ ‘friend’ was, but Yoshiro decided now wasn’t the time to try and confirm her suspicions.
“Yeah, it looks like this has been weighing on her.” Looking up at the tech wizard, Yoshiro offered her a friendly smile. “You’re a really good friend for coming here with her. I feel like I sort of just happened to stumble into this, but she really trusts you.” Glancing at her effectively empty cup, a thought struck her. “I feel like I’ve hardly seen half the team actually being kids, you know? Angelica and Roy seem like this is their entire life - I can’t picture them just going to the movies to hang out.”
In response, the blonde girl chuckled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. They really fit the ‘brooding, dark hero’ archetype, even if only one of them deals with shadows and stuff.” She said, opting to ignore the comment about Yoshiro being somewhat an outsider in this situation; she disagreed, but it didn’t feel like something worth expressing at the moment. In any case, though, knowing that Angelica trusted her was nice, and she hoped to continue proving that she was a friend worth trusting.
“Although… you know, at least one of them has been doing stuff befitting their age since the team formed, what with cooking burgers on the beach, or starting to hang out a lot with Wendy.” Alexis stated, her words making it more than obvious which one of the two ‘brooding heroes’ she was referring to. An amusing thought crept into her mind and the tech wizard chuckled yet again before shooting Yoshiro a conspirative glance. “It would be really cute to see our little Angie here in that sort of situation, don’t you think? But don’t tell her I ever said that, because she’d probably try to kill me. Maybe literally.”
Just as the younger of the two girls had finished uttering those words, a third one arrived, returning to the ice cream shop after going off to do whatever it was that she had to do. “Hey, Icy Daisy! How’d everything go?”
“Good” Angelica said calmly, seemingly in a slightly better mood then before. “I got my mom out, she’s on her way home. I didn’t get a chance to see her though.” She said, looking a bit troubled at that thought. “I was wondering if you two would be willing to do one more thing with me...Maybe, just go visit her?” She asked, clearly sounding self conscious about her request.
Yoshiro offered Angelica a friendly smile, her cup of ice cream lying empty on the table in front of her. “Sure thing, if you think us being there will help.” Inwardly, she felt a surge of triumph as the formerly cold and reserved ice user seemed to open up to them. It was a nice change from earlier in the day, Yoshiro felt like they were actually doing some good for one of their friends. “If you’d rather, we can also just wait outside while you say hi to her.” She said. Next to her, Alexis nodded along as she stuffed her face full of chocolate ice cream in order not to delay the group.
“Sure - thatsh what friendsh are for!" The younger girl said eagerly.
Angelica let out a small laugh at Alexis’ behavior, clearly a bit amused. She then nodded and waited until Alexis was done eating before leading them down the street. They walked for about ten minutes, chatting amongst themselves while they walked. Angelica didn’t talk too much but that wasn’t uncommon anyway. She at least didn’t make the mood as tense as before. Soon they had reached a part of the neighborhood that was clearly not as affluent as that of Stars’.
They came upon a brown apartment building, walking inside, Angelica quickly glanced through the list of tenants, pressing the buzzer with the name Diana Simmons on it.
“Who is it?” A voice said from the intercom, it was a woman’s voice, and it sounded tired.
“Mom, its me, Angelica.” Frost-bite said back into the intercom.
“Angelica?” The voice said, much more energetic now. The buzzer clicked and the door to the lobby opened.
“Come on” Angelica said to her friends, leading them up the stairs. The building had clearly seen better days. The paint on the walls was chipped, and the rugs in the hallways seemed like they could use a good cleaning.
They reached apartment 307, and Angelica took a deep breath before knocking.
The door opened quickly after the knock, and suddenly a woman had pulled Angelica into a fierce huge. “Angel baby, it's so good to see you!” The woman said affectionately. Angelica’s mother had blonde hair like her daughter’s but hers was shorter and thinner. Diana was a pretty woman, who looked similar to Angelica, but her face seemed a bit unnaturally thin. Her skin was pale too, it was clear she had seen better days.
“Hi Mom,” Angelica said softly, taking off her mask and hugging her mother tightly. When she pulled away from the hug she gestured towards Alexis and Yoshi.
“These are my friends, Alexis and Yoshiro.”
Diana seemed to perk up at the mention of Angelica having friends, “Friends? That’s wonderful news sweetie.” She said with a smile, making Angelica blush slightly.
Her mother turned to the two guests, holding out her hand to shake, “It’s wonderful to meet both of you! So how do you know my Angel here?”
The first one to accept the gesture was Alexis, eagerly shaking Diana’s hand. “Nice to meet you too, ma’am! I can really see where Angelica got her looks from.” She said, making finger guns at the mother after her compliment. Then, she walked over to the daughter, casually throwing an arm around her neck as she began speaking. “Me and Tangy Angie here, we go way back ma’am. It all started out in the jungles of Vietnam. There she was, fresh out of ammunition and surrounded by the enemy, when suddenly…” The girl related her obviously fanciful story, pretending to herself that she had everyone in the room enraptured. However, a flick to the nose was enough to stop her before she had progressed very far.
“That’s enough, Alex.” Frostbite said in a deadpan.
“Ow… fine.” The blonde girl mumbled, before looking back at Diana. “Anyway, suffice to say, we’re thick as thieves, right Angelica?” She said with a grin on her face as she pulled her friend closer, enough for their heads to touch. A moment afterwards, she pointed at Yoshiro. “Oh, and Fishy Yoshi over there, she’s pretty cool too.”
Yoshiro offered Diana a wave, wearing an amused smile behind the other two girls and the boisterous Alexis. It was always interesting to see the contrast between the usually collected and reserved Angelica and Alexis’ more excessively outgoing personality. The two of them made a perfect pair. “Hi Ms. Simmons, we got to school with Angelica back in San Diego.”
Diana couldn’t help but laugh gently at Alexis’ humor. “Well, my daughter seems to have found two wonderful friends. It’s great to hear, considering how serious she tends to be.”
“Mom… there’s some things we need to talk about.” Angelica said in a serious tone. She took a bundle of bills out of her pocket and handed it to her mother. “This is from my father, I used the rest to get you out this afternoon.”
Diana frowned at that. “I don’t need his money. I don’t want it.”
“Mom, you do need his money.” Angelica said firmly. “You think I wanted to go and ask him for it? No, but I did it because it was the only way to get you out of jail. What happened? You’ve been clean for months now.”
“Angel I was, and still am. It’s just hard… Sometimes it feels like I’ll never really be past
It.” Diana looked on verge of tears at this point.
“It’s okay mom, I believe in you. And I’ll always be there when you need me.” Angelica said, pulling her mother into a gentle hug.
They hugged in silence for a few moments until they pulled apart and Diana agreed to take the money.
“I promise mom, one day I’m going to be a professional, and I’ll give the life you deserve.”
Diana smiled at that, “I know you will Angel, I have no doubt you’ll be great. But money isn’t the only thing that matters okay? You being here means more than any paycheck, so make sure you surround yourself with good people, that’s what’ll make you happy.” She said in the form of motherly wisdom.
Angelica blushed a little, looking embarrassed. “I will mom.” She said simply.
The four of them then hung out in Diana’s apartment for a little while, it wasn’t exactly a clean or spacious place, but Alexis had volunteered them to help clean. When the girls were done, Yoshi’s telekinetic abilities were particularly useful there, the apartment looked a lot better.
Diana was smiling brightly by the time Angelica and her friends left the apartment, and the three walked down the stairs and towards the helicopter that had brought them here.
When they got to the helicopter, Angelica took the driver’s seat and spoke to her friends. “Thanks.” Angelica said as they took off. “My mom really liked you guys. I wanted to bring you there because well… My mom worries about me not having friends.” She said, looking a little embarrassed.
Yoshiro smiled at Angelica, feeling a stab of sympathy for her. “Well, that’s not something that she’s going to have to worry about anymore. You’ve got us now, not to mention the rest of the team.” The girl offered the ice user a thumbs up to highlight her point, but paused as she remembered that she maybe hadn’t been the most considerate of friends herself. Glancing over to Alexis, Yoshiro called out over the sound of the rotor blades to get her attention.
“Hey, Alex. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the meeting earlier.” Pausing, she tried to find the right words. “I’m sorry for being so high-strung, I just felt helpless. I thought that nobody else spared even a thought for Red and just wanted to throw him under the bus. It really means a lot to me that you helped me out despite all that, and I realise that I never thanked you for it.” Yoshiro offered the other girl an embarrassed smile. “You’re a really good friend Alexis. But I was wondering how you were doing too? I noticed that you seemed a bit, you know, withdrawn at the meeting and figured that something may be up.”
The blonde girl made her best attempt to smile reassuringly at Yoshiro upon hearing her apology, and then grinned at the compliment. However, when her muted behavior during the meeting was brought up, the grin quickly faded away. Alexis remained silent for several moments, carefully thinking through her next few words. “Ah, haha, yeah, I guess I was acting weird back there huh?” She said sheepishly, offering a bit of an awkward smile to the Asian girl. “Um, nothing bad’s up, really. It’s just that the whole thing with Red was making everyone tense and I thought it’d be better if I just kept my emotions under wraps. It’s… one of those weird things I can do, you know? Like not sleeping or always having a lot of energy. Just… one of the perks of being me, I guess.” She said with a weak chuckle, though her smile died down quickly.
“...I don’t like doing it much.”
Angelica frowned at Alexis’ comment, it seemed like something was bothering her. It was strange that she wasn’t sleeping, what could that mean?
“Is that some kind of ability you have Alexis? I didn’t know you were able to go without sleep. That would come in handy for me sometimes.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I haven’t told you guys? Honestly it’s not something I go around telling everyone, because it’s kind of weird, but yeah, I’ve never really needed to sleep like everyone else, I just sorta have a lot of energy even when I exercise or whatever. Sometimes nights get pretty boring, but it’s time I can spend working on my projects.” The younger girl explained.
Concerned, Yoshiro tried to offer Alexis a friendly smile even while she worried about what exactly all this might mean for her. “I mean, not needing to sleep does sound pretty cool. I don’t really know what I’d do with all that time!” It had to be some kind of power, nothing else could explain it. But that explanation didn’t quite sit well with Yoshiro. Alexis’ thoughts had definitely felt muted during the meeting, not just restrained. It was as if the girl had entered into some kind of a trance, with her emotions just not being as vivid as usual. But how something like that tied into not needing any sleep was a mystery. Lightly punching the other girl in the shoulder, Yoshiro put the her concerns to one side. Smirking, she chided Alexis. “You’ve been holding out on us! What other secret powers do you have tucked away? Next thing you’re going to be shooting lasers out of your eyes or something.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” Alexis replied, clearly amused at the thought and in a better mood than when she had first brought up her unusual talent. “Frankly if you think about it, it’s pretty different from most supers. Instead of a big, flashy superpower, I have, like, lots of little quirks that make me different from others. They’re pretty weird, too; I don’t think anyone else in our team here can’t sleep and stuff like that.” She commented.
Then, as if to change the subject and poke fun at one of her friends at the same time, the blonde girl swung her arm around Yoshiro’s neck, a mischievous smile now on her face. “Aaaaanyway! Speaking of things that were brought up back at the meeting, Yoshi-girl, do you happen to have any plans for when we manage to get Mr. Handsome Guy out of his cell?” She asked. It was pretty hard not to have noticed the way Yoshi acted around Red, after all, and in addition to that, Alexis figured that a little bit of stealthy optimism couldn’t hurt anyone.
“What, me?!” Yoshiro responded defensively, a rush of colour flooding to her cheeks as she suddenly found herself on the spot. “N-no, I mean yes. I mean, of course - don’t you guys? After everything that he’s been through we should probably have some kind of celebration once he’s out. That’s what friends do for each other, right?” Yoshiro’s flustered smile wavered as Alexis continued to look at her with a disbelieving expression. “I mean, sure he’s handsome, and cute. But I mean, we’re just friends. Besides, he’s way too cool for me anyway - it wouldn’t go anywhere. N-not that I’ve ever thought of it!”
The words did little to convince the other girls and Yoshiro squirmed under their gazes. With a groan, she gave in and sunk her head into her hands. “Urghhh, guys I need help.” She whined. Her voice was muffled by her palms as she sulked in the back of the helicopter. “I can’t get him out of my head, but I don’t think he’s ever even considered me like that. And I bet that he’s always gotten all the cool girls, you know? The ones that are always popular with the guys.” Glancing up from her moping, Yoshiro looked towards Angelica. “Hey Angie, you’re cool and aloof - how do you do it?”
Angelica was a bit taken back by Yoshi’s question. She wasn't used to being described as cool and aloof before. “I don’t know, it’s not like it’s something I’m actively doing. But I guess, when you fight criminals and killers regularly, small talk just doesn’t seem to matter too much.”
“See, that’s what I mean. You can just go out there and be a hero without breaking a sweat, like Red. He’s out there doing what’s right no matter what people say about him behind his back, out there putting his life on the line.” Yoshiro let out a sigh, glancing down out her own fists, still bearing some wounds from the harsh training on the island. “Meanwhile I can hardly hold my own even when you go easy on me. I’m just so useless at all this hero stuff that I don’t know why he’d ever be interested.”
Angelica reached out and put her hand on Yoshi’s shoulder, which was slightly awkward both because Angelica wasn’t too comfortable with human contact and the two were sitting together on the helicopter.
“It doesn’t come naturally, at least it didn’t for me. It takes time and effort, but you can get there. Besides, the gruff hero type is overrated, trust me.” Angelica said with a small smile.
“Yeah! Don’t sell yourself short, Yoshi. Like, sure, maybe you’re not really the brooding, cool dudette that you think you should be, but you’re trying really hard to make your way in this whole hero business, and that’s pretty nice too.” Alexis chimed in, eager to make her friend feel a little better after nearly causing her a mental breakdown by asking her about her crush. Of course, that didn’t mean that her mischievous side had gone to sleep (such was, after all, impossible); far from it, in fact, so, parallel to the train of thought that focused on helping her out, she had an amusing idea to get her flustered some more.
“Besides, his loss if he doesn’t think you’re good enough for him, you know? You’re a great girl, and you’re not bad looking at all either. If I were a boy, I’d be all over you.” She said with an amused grin on her face, winking at the girl just for effect.
Yoshiro blushed at Alexis’ comment, struggling to respond. “You guys think so?” She eventually managed meekly, knowing how pitiable it must have sounded to the others. Alexis’ compliment clearly put her on the back foot, and Yoshiro didn’t know if she should respond to the younger girl in kind. Would that make things weird? Biting her lip, Yoshiro decided that she may as well try and get all the help that she could. “What should I do then? I’m sending him all the signals that I can think of - I just don’t understand why boys are so blind, you know?” She hesitated, a sobering realisation striking her. “Maybe he’s just not interested in me.”
“Maybe your signals are less obvious than you think.” Angelica offered. “You are a telepath and an empath after all. Your affection is probably more obvious to you then him.”
“That said… I don’t think it’s the case that he’s not interested in you.” Alexis spoke up again. “I mean, let’s look at the facts, shall we? I’m pretty sure you two had a lot of chemistry going on--you know, before he went off by himself and got in trouble, I mean.” She stated. “Not to mention, if the issue really is that he’s blind to all the signals that you’re sending him, well, that has an easy solution, don’t you think? Just, you know, spell it out for him. He won’t be able to play dumb any more if you do that.” The blonde girl suggested. She knew it was easier said than done, but as things stood, it was probably Yoshiro’s best shot. As soon as Red was exonerated, anyways.
Yoshiro looked at Alexis in horror, her ears burning. “No way! I can’t ask him just go up and ask him out of nowhere. I don’t know, I just feel like it’s always been me chasing after him - like at the dance I had to go and ask him. I thought something would happen then, but nothing.” There was some truth to Alexis suggestion, and Yoshiro knew it. She’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t considered trying to ask Red herself, but every time she just couldn’t work up the nerve. What if he said no? Would they still be able to even be friends? Trying to justify her own fearful hesitation, Yoshiro shrugged. “Besides, aren’t guys meant to be the ones to ask us?”
“Pfft. Where do you think you live, girl? This isn’t a Jane Austen novel, it’s the 21st century. Sure if you want you can wait for a cute boy to pay attention to you and ask you out and all that jazz, but honestly, competition is the name of the game. If you’re after someone special, better ask him out before someone good enough for his standards beats you to the punch, or you’ll end up regretting it.” Alexis stated, and then continued in a lighter tone. “Of course, if you feel like you’ll need a little bit of moral support or some set-up before you can muster the guts to do that, we’re here for you. Angie here owes us a favor, and I’m a sucker for a good romance, so I’ll be happy to help!”
Angelica rolled her eyes at Alexis’ comment, but ultimately nodded. “I don't much about romance, but if I can help, sure why not?” She said, shrugging as she continued to fly the helicopter.
After a little while more of chatting and conversation, they had arrived back at Wonder Island. Angelica parked the borrowed helicopter in the hanger and hopped onto the ground gracefully. Yoshiro followed closely behind, stretching after being cramped inside the small cabin for so long. Turning towards the other two, she smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
“Thanks for the trip guys, I actually had a good time - we should do it again later.” Yoshiro paused, mentally kicking herself as she remembered that Angelica probably wouldn’t want a repeat trip to be quite the same. “I’ve got to go meet someone Naja told me about, but I’ll see you later.” Turning to walk off, Yoshiro paused for a moment - hesitating before asking for one last thing. “Hey, umm, so I just wanted to say - do you guys mind not telling anyone about what we talked about? I don’t really want it to be common knowledge.”
“Fat luck, girl. You’re not exactly the subtlest around your crush.” Alexis teased as she climbed out of the helicopter last, jumping off and landing with a little maneuver, briefly striking a pose for no other reason than to amuse herself. “But sure thing! I ain’t gonna tell a soul about what happened here in this helicopter, they can find out by themselves.” She said with a bit of a mocking grin as she waved at the girl, making it clear that all of her teasing was in good spirit. Rolling her eyes, Yoshiro offered offered a final wave in return before walking back into the Tower.
After Yoshi had left, Angelica turned back to Alexis. “Hey, thanks again. I know today must have been a lot, but you made it a lot easier…. I guess what I’m trying to say is, thank you for being my friend Alex.”
The usually energetic and excitable girl, upon hearing these words coming from Angelica, simply offered the other girl a soft smile. “No probs. And thank you for opening up, Angie. You probably can’t tell but it makes me pretty happy, it means a lot to me that you trusted me enough to share your burdens with me. So yeah, thanks for… accepting me as your friend, I guess.” The blonde girl expressed before falling silent for a few moments, having run out of words to say.
“...Ah, what the heck.” She said suddenly, quickly closing in on Angelica and pulling her into a hug, something that must’ve been quite awkward for the older girl. “C’mere, you Californian Elsa!” Alexis spoke cheerfully, tightly embracing her friend.
