Iron Station Savage Masks IC IV

[mmdeforrest]

November 8th
Providence
“Your wife is… something else. She’s brilliant,” Emi says with quiet earnestness. “And I’ll confess that her theory is correct. I do hear thoughts. I try my best to block them out, but you’re correct as well. It does make it easier to maneuver through conversations. There are people that can completely block their thoughts from me though. John is one of them.”

“You think you have it bad?” Joe said with an amused expression, “Imagine trying to surprise a woman like that for her birthday, Christmas, and anniversary year in-year out. I consider myself a lucky man that Valentine’s Day is standardized.

“Still, once I found out that a woman with Daphne Blake’s looks and Velma Dinkly’s brain would give me the time of day, I didn’t look back.”

Me smiled a little mischievously when he recalled his conversation with Mary last night but decided not to mention it.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, studiously not turning to face Emi, “I didn’t suspect and Kate and Stephen don’t know. I’m glad to hear John still has free reign to at least try to surprise you—at least on those days he isn’t trying to live his life by formula.”

As Kate comes down the stairs, Emi shifts topics with Joe, leaning her shoulder into John’s sister as she hops up beside her. “I’ll take some straight blueberry ones. It’s been awhile since I’ve had some.”

Emi gives Kate a sideways grin as she and Joe speak about not breaking John, but stays quiet, wanting Kate to tell the story if she wished.

Once Joe rounds the corner, Emi glances over at the other girl, the shakes her head and smiles. “I got the chance to peek just a little while ago. She’s very thorough. I’m sure that she’ll know that I’ve looked as well.”

Kate rolled her eyes while giving an exasperated sigh. “Welcome to life in the FPO.” Kate’s mind almost ran off track when she noted the implication of that statement. “We had a chance of getting John before you arrived. It would take all of us working together to get Mom. ANd even then, odds are we would get to the moment before we sprung our trap and she would turn the tables.”

Kate can see a small smile at the corner of Emi’s lips as she asks about Grayson. “He’s one of my best friends. Of course John is nervous. John overthinks everything.”

“What did you want to know about him? I can tell you basics. He attends Bastion College with me and is an astrophysics major. He’s also a talented musician.”

“It’s good to know some things haven’t changed about John since taking up the mantle of Iron Station’s occult protector or Magister Magius* or whatever he is calling himself when making a speech.

Spoiler: * Translated from the Latin

Show

Master Magician

“Not that I or any other Kelley would ever do such a thing,” she concedes with good natured self-mockery.

She looked at Emi, becoming a little more serious—and a little more nervous for John—before looking away. “If Big Brother is nervous, I am guessing Grayson—like three quarters of the other straight men on the planet—has a thing for you.

“There are other questions I am not going to ask,” she continued as she noted her father walking to the front of the house to call up to Stephen and find out how close to being ready he was—even though he already knew the answer. “If John is nervous, that means he spends a good bit of time with you. Given that Grayson arrives at Bastion in your Porsche too often for the two of you not to be colleagues on some level. And if John isn’t telling us those details, that’s information I don’t need to know.”

She looked at Emi seriously. “My family and Jefferey have gotten used to keeping things quiet, given Dad’s deployments. That supposition will be safe with us—well, Mom and me. I don’t know if Dad or Stephen suspect or not.”

“Secret or not, it can’t be easy for you,” Kate observed sympathetically, thinking of the handful of young men she had to friendzone over the years—and of all the time John had spent relegated to that role. “I hope Grayson and John aren’t making it difficult for you.”