Is It A Date? No! Really!

Chapter 15 [https://www.rellawings.com/superluminal/chapternum/chaphead_15.jpg]

In the days following the rave, both Quinn and Goonie had been continually nagging Leona to call Sarah and ask her if she wanted to hang out. Even though the two had exchanged contact details and although she really wanted to call the kitty, it took Leona a good while to pull the trigger because she was just too shy.

“Ooooh—your first date—how cute!” Quinn teased as she drove herself and Leona to the meetup location. The car they rode was Quinn’s new ride, purchased with her hard-earned savings from playing at parties and raves. In fact, she had not lied when she explained that the last bit of money Quinn needed would be hers after completing that last gig. All those pennies had turned out to be enough to afford a used convertible in decent condition. The pink flamingo-pink paint job her new car sported didn’t thrill Quinn, but she planned to earn more and eventually customize it to her liking.

“Don’t call it that! I’m a girl and she’s one too! We can’t assume that she likes girls. This is JUST hanging out, got it?!” Leona yelled.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that. This from the girl whose face turns beet red whenever the subject of Sarah comes up. Uh huh—” Quinn laughed.

“Quiet, you!” Leona yelped and curled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them as her face reddened to the aforementioned beet color. “I can’t let her see me blush like this… I don’t know—it was probably those cute ears of hers. I’m sure it’ll pass.”

“Are you telling me you like guys? You want to find a husband?” Quinn looked askance at her little sister.

“Noooooo! I haven’t thought about anything like that! Relationships are weird, scary and way too much for me right now.” Leona chewed her lip.

“Okay—take Jason. Tends bar, babysits while elder sisters run amok and is a boy. What’s not to like? Did you think he was interesting at all?” Quinn asked with a little smile.

“Not at all! He was friendly, if a bit of a jerk. No, I didn’t—” Leona groaned, remembering the bartender.

“How about Frank or Dave?” Quinn asked, setting Leona to blinking. Who was Dave again?

“No! Frank fixed me up with Sarah—w-wait… I didn’t mean it like that.”

Quinn pressed Leona, smirking, “O-ho. It’s definite then. So you remember them all, but when you looked at Sarah, ka-pow, your face turned redder than a ketchup bottle. You cannot tell me you weren’t having some strange thoughts.”

Leona winced and squirmed. “Oh, fine… I did—those ears were just so fuzzy—”

“Huh, is that all this is about? A fetish for nekomimi? Really? You’re quite the oddball.” Quinn said as she took a sharp turn at a light.

“This coming from the oddbally-est person I know.” Leona pouted, staring at her sister with her now olive-green-hair. Wasn’t it a bit too soon to change again? There was absolutely no way Leona was going to dye her hair that shade, no matter how Quinn begged! Olive green? REALLY? All she needed was a red tint up top to complete the fruit look!

“Tch… C’mon… What about her butt—or her skin—did she have nice boobs?” Quinn asked.

Her sister was surely deeply in the lesbian camp. “I did NOT STARE AT HER—” Her butt or her boobs? She only needed the nekomimi, thanks!!!

“You did though… Sarah had your eyes fastened on her the whole time you talked. I know a smitten girl when I see one, so don’t squirm out of it. You’re a million years too early if you think you can get one past me!” Quinn laughed.

“Damn it… I—a—am——” Leona flushed more.

“Yup! Now let’s see where things go!” Quinn flashed a cheshire grin.

A short time later, they pulled up to The Cobbles, an open-air mall near the ferry on the north-side of San Isidro. It was one of the more ‘tourist-y’ areas in the city and was therefore markedly more well-maintained and policed. The place included a fine view of the sister city, Seaside City’s skyline, across the bay.

Lately crime rates had been skyrocketing in San Isidro. Ever since the local hero had gone awol because of bad publicity, things had been going downhill, so to speak. Criminals had taken it as a license to do whatever they wanted in the absence of any superheroic activities.

The aforementioned heroine’s codename was Cheshire, like Quinn’s smile, but with her lack of recent appearances, her name was quickly becoming ‘what-was-it-again?’. She was a skill-based heroine, at least peak-athlete levels of physicality, but nothing too crazy. The problem was that apparently there had been a couple of occasions where she didn’t exactly return the goods stolen by the hoodlums she beat up. Word on the forums hadn’t exactly instilled Leona with a lot of hope of seeing a sudden turnaround and a triumphant return from her.

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Speaking of the forums, since Leona continued to be a fan of heroes and all the news related to them. It was big news to hear about the ultimate downfall of Black Angel and the near ending of her favorite heroine, Mistral, somewhere up in the Rockies that night. The coverage was nothing but flattering and sympathetic to Mistral when they reported the death of the S+ rank threat. Apparently, the exact opposite outcome wasn’t too far off from happening.

While Leona was turning her thoughts back to the present, Quinn found a parking spot, smoothly slid into it and after pulling her key from the ignition, she jumped out without even opening the convertible’s door. Leona smiled at her wild older sister and emulated her by leaping out as well, demonstrating her hard-gained balance and athleticism. She landed with aplomb on the door and skipped down to the pavement of the lot. Quinn golf-clapped with a warm smile and rushed to the other side of the car. “C’mon—let’s go see your totally-not-a-girlfriend.”

“Don’t say things like that in front of her or I’ll ban you! I’m sure she’ll hate us!” Leona growled as her sister ruffled her carefully styled hair. “And don’t mess up how I look—damn it—” She pouted and readjusted her hair using the car’s passenger side mirror. Quinn watched her with a knowing look.

“I won’t. Pinky promise.” Once Leona had gotten her hair back in order, they headed into the open-air mall area. After waiting a brief time at the food court, Quinn yanked Leona over while she was still anxiously looking around for the absent Sarah. “Don’t stress—let’s get a nibble. My treat.”

She pulled her to a hibachi stand where they got a hearty pile of teriyaki beef on rice apiece. They went to a nearby table, now also toting large cups of sweet tea. They enjoyed the meal and Leona wiped her forehead as she ate. Her body had heated thanks to her, thoughtlessly taking the side that wasn’t shaded.

“Careful, bum, you’ll get a heat stroke eating hot food under the scorching sun when it’s this toasty. C’mon over here and rest in the shade with me.” She patted the seat next to her. Leona nodded and moved around the table. She sighed in relief and noticed there was a better view of the beach and the skyscrapers across the way from this position. Sometimes she wished she could take a trip, but they’d never gone over there for any reason because Goonie was busy with running Au Naturel.

The pair enjoyed their meal together until familiar ears peaked through the crowd of the food court. Leona jerked to her feet and hollered, “Sarah!!!”

“Ahahaha—Mission complete.” Quinn winked. “I’ll leave you lovebirds alone, then. Wouldn’t want to spoil any potential juicy situations by accident with my big mouth. But I’ll be around—spying from the sidelines.” Quinn smirked and when she lifted her fingers to wiggle them like a villain, she actually pulled off the look. Her words had Leona blushing and she hid behind her hands. “See ya later!” Quinn excused herself, taking her trash with her.

Arriving at the table, Sarah watched Quinn retreat with a puzzled expression. “Why’d your sister go so suddenly? Is she busy?” Sarah asked with a small frown.

“Ah—um—yes, she’s busy. Anyhow, um—what kinds of things do you like?” Leona asked lamely.

“We already talked about that at the rave, but I’ll tell you again if you forgot it already! I kind of understand, though. It was super loud.” Sarah barked a laugh. “I like anime and catgirls—they’re like the CUTEST THINGS IN EXISTENCE!” Sarah’s squeal after saying that startled Leona.

“Wh-what? You didn’t mention those at the rave—you like girls? Like—like?” Leona asked, stumbling.

“Like them? Of course! W-wait—not ‘girl-girls’—just catgirls are like the greatest things in the world, really! I want to be one! If I had to choose a power, I’d want to be one! Nyaaaaaa!” She balled up her fingers into mock paws and tilted her head, licking her lips. “Speaking of which, is there a stand that serves fish sticks around here?”

Leona nearly fell over. “Ahahahahahahaha! Of course! There’s a seafood kiosk over there—you can get all the fishies you want.” Leona giggled.

“Yay! Saved! I see you’ve already eaten! I’ll go get some tasty fish and I’ll make sure my tail sticks straight up so they’ll know how happy I am!” Sarah hopped a little. Leona laughed again.

“I’ll come with you. Anyhow, what were you doing at that rave? Someone like you doesn’t seem like the type—I mean, neither one of us is Quinn.” Leona pointed out as they walked back to the stands.

“Hmmmm—I was there because some of my friends I met in a MOBA invited me. They’re the type, it seems—and I was so nya-ny they said they had to meet me. I think I was too weird for them in the end, so they kinda ditched me.” Sarah pouted.

“More like too innocent and sweet.” Leona smiled.

“Yush! That’s me.” Sarah nodded, laughing. “I’m a really boring person, I know. Too dull. There’s nothing really interesting about me.” Sarah laughed. “We’re religious—and people kinda think that’s boring if they can’t relate. I mean—it’s a really, really, normal family—with absolutely nothing special going for us except for our exceptional faith, though Dad has a great job. We go to church every Sunday and we were all baptized. I think Mama even does the ‘tongues’ thing I never got.”

“Your family really sounds devout when you put it that way.” Leona smiled, wondering what she meant by ‘tongues,’ but she didn’t ask.

“Yeah—it’s a tradition——ever since way back, we’ve been religious. I think my great grandfather was a preacher. But I’m kind of the black sheep.” Sarah blushed.

“More like a ‘black cat.’” Leona giggled. “Why? You seem totally normal.”

The corner of Sarah’s lips crinkled upwards as she said, “Because I want a little more from life than just what the Bible teaches. That’s why I went to a rave. Not that the Bible’s against them specifically or anything. The Bible doesn’t have much to say about raves, actually.” Sarah looked around as though she still wasn’t sure why she was even here. “My parents don’t know where I went.”

“I see.” Leona nodded. “You’re brave to do what you want, even if you know your parents might get angry. Anyhow, you said there were some so-called friends that invited you, right? What game did you and those ditching jerks play? Maybe I know it?”

“Oh— Banners of the Bold! —and I don’t just like MOBAs— I’m also crazy about MMORPGs— There's this one called Realms of Valor that’s just absolutely amazing. It makes me feel like a genuine hero! Hehe——even though half the time I’m delivering cheese to some random NPC or some other weird character makes me pick up rat tails or FedEx questing all over—but if you don’t count the menial labor bits, I feel like a real warrior!” she glowed as she delivered that statement. “And I love rhythm games too, music, normal RPGs—the kind you play alone and—”

As they continued to exchange life experiences and all about what stirred their passions, a certain kitty got her fish and once she had it, she even purred convincingly.

Sarah shared she had made no friends until today since she recently moved from the lonely northerly state of Montana. California had proven to be a change in contrast, but she was nothing but happy to be on the west coast.

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