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Now while Pete had never even let Sofia meet 53\/3N , it didn’t take much for Sofia to admit technology had managed to evolve past her. That threshold was met when she arrived at Maddie’s place to hang out with her & Pete, and a hologram stared her in the face.
Sofia had just hung up her coat, kicking off her Louboutins and walked into the living room area of Maddie and Pete’s apartment when a full person seemed to appear out of nowhere. So she punched it- or rather- attempted to punch it. When her hand seemed to pass straight through it, she turned to Pete and asked, “why are video game enemies spawning in your livin’ room?!”
Pete, who’d just returned from the kitchen with a fresh pot of tea, began to laugh. “You just tried to punch Maddie’s friend, Margaret.”
She turned back to the figure that had stood up to her fists and watched as the woman crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. “Hello Maddie’s friend Margaret. I feel like I should say sorry but you did spawn into a room without warning and I do feel justified in my actions.” She took a step back to inspect the hologram a little more. Margaret seemed to sit in a large office chair, wearing a business suit and holding what seemed to be a mug labelled “daddy”.
Margaret shrugged and sipped from her mug. “I guess that’s fair. Hey Pete, I like your shirt.”
Pete looked down at his chest, finding one of his usual fishnet shirts. “Thanks.” He put down the large teapot he was still holding and gestured to Sofia. “This is my friend Sofie, by the way.”
Bewildered, Sofia moved to the couch. In thirty seconds she’d tried to fight Maddie’s friend, who was then revealed to be a hologram, who seemed utterly dismissive of her? Which felt at the very least a little insulting since Margaret herself was very pretty.
Pete noticed her silence. “Hey, are you okay?” He bumped his knee into hers.
She scratched her head. “I think technology just jumpscared me. Can I have some tea?”
As Pete poured two cups of tea, Margaret leaned forward and put her mug somewhere out of sight. “As much as I’m enjoying watching two buds just hang out in their living room, can either one of you get Maddie for me? I need a favour.”
Behind Margaret’s chair, a red haired woman with a laser eye and a gun hand appeared. “Miss Margaret, Barry’s been asking if- oh, who are your friends?”
Sofia pressed her hands to her eyes. “Hey, Pete? I think I’ve lost it. Whatever the fuck it was.” She lowered her hands and stood up, to see if it’d normalise the event a little bit. Instead, she watched both women eye her for a second before turning their attention to each other. Feeling the blood rush to her face, she took inventory of her outfit. Tight black jeans with ripped knees and a cropped leopard-print sweater that hugged her biceps. At least she had nothing to worry about in those terms.
“Hey Sid, can this wait? I need to have a quick chat with some friends first,” Margaret said as she wrapped an arm around Sid’s waist.
“Of course. You can just tell Riva when you’re done.” With a quick wave of her gun arm, Sid disappeared from sight.
Sofia blinked twice and shook her head. “I’m goin’ to find Maddie before you do somethin’ weirder.”
~~~
The second time Margaret appeared, it was inside Sofia’s apartment during movie night. Esther firebolted the hologram, leaving a scorched hole in the wall through which Ricky’s axe flew. Pete jumped so bad he became a potted plant and Maddie laughed so hard she cried.
“You! What are you fuckin’ doing in my home?!”
Margaret looked bewildered, taking in the chaos she’d created. “Um. Maddie?”
“Yes?”
“I think maybe Sofia’s right and you should put a warning on my hologram.”
“Maybe?!” Sofia repeated. “You caused a hole to appear in my apartment!”
Esther and Ricky exchanged a sheepish look before starting the mending process. It was pure luck that her neighbours hadn’t been home.
Maddie promised Sofia that she’d put a warning on the hologram before retreating to Sof’s bedroom to discuss whatever Margaret had to talk about.
With a quiet poof, Pete returned to human form and groaned. “Why do I feel dry and sandy?”
“‘Cause your girlfriend’s friends with a maniac who loves to jumpscare us.” Sofia pulled Pete up from the couch and into the kitchen to get some water.
Later that night, as Sofia flopped onto her bed, she got a phone call from a weird number. She wasn’t planning on picking up but then the words “PLEASE PICK UP I’M TRYING TO BE NICE” appeared in her room.
Muttering a curse, Sofia picked up her phone. “Haven’t you done enough today? And also can you see me right now? How does this hologram thing work?”
Margaret laughed. “Alright, Sofie. No, I can’t see you right now. Would you like me to?”
Sofia mouthed a curse as she felt the blush rise to her cheeks again.
“As for how it works- long story short; it’s basically like a phone call without having to pick up. I could’ve just holo’d you but I felt that you may attempt to kill me again.”
Sitting up, Sofia replied, “just holo me.”
Within seconds the form of Margaret appeared in her bedroom, this time wearing a tight dark green skirt and a white button up. She sat crooked in her chair with her legs swung over one of the arms as she held a phone between her fingers. “Hi.”
Sofia raised her eyebrows. “To what do I owe this honour?” she deadpanned.
“I wanted to apologise.” She held her hands up in mock surrender. “Maddie and I have been friends for a while so usually I can manage to text her before I holo in. But lately we’ve been talking about some major upgrades to our ship that she could do, so it’s a little time sensitive.”
Sofia decided to leave the whole ship thing for later, she could just ask Maddie about that. “For how long have you been able to just appear in my apartment?”
“Maddie brought the device with her. It’s over there, near your PJs.” Margaret pointed between Sof’s rumpled sheets. “She left it here because I told her I wanted to apologise to you but I guess she forgot to give you a heads up.”
Sofia picked up the small black device, flipping it over in her hands. It had two obvious buttons, a red and a green one. She pressed the red one and Margaret disappeared, laughed, then pressed the green one.
Margaret reappeared looking a little ruffled. “Hey!”
“You deserved that and you fuckin’ know it.” Sofia grinned.
“That’s fair,” she sighed. “Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for ruining some of your nights. After Sunday I won’t be popping in unannounced anymore, I promise.”
“Sunday?”
“We’re coming in tomorrow for a few days so Maddie can help make those upgrades.”
Sofia leaned forward. “You’re going to be here tomorrow.” A plan was forming in her mind.
“Yes. Do you have any recommendations while we’re in NYC?”
“Just one. If you pop in unannounced in real life you are going to get punched.”
Margaret laughed. “Okay, feisty.” She glanced at something out of Sofia’s view. “I should let you go now, it’s getting late. You can add me to your contacts if you’d like.”
“Uhuh, I’ll call you if I ever need… a ship.” Sofia grabbed the holo remote. “I’m leaving this in my living room since you can pop in unannounced.”
“Why, got a booty call coming over?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
Sofia pulled her hair out of a ponytail and ran her hands through it. “No, the only piece of ass calling me this time of night is you.”
“I don’t hear you complaining about the view.” Margaret leaned forward, grinning.
“Alright babe, I’m leaving you in the living room,” Sofia said- though she couldn’t help watching the way Margaret’s shirt left a nice view. “If you need anything, you should probably call Maddie because I’m no tech guru.” She got up and walked the device to her living room.
“What time do you get up?”
“Don’t make me take out the battery.”
“Alright, fine.” Margaret leaned back. “Sweet dreams.”
“Yeah, yeah I’ll ask Pete. Goodnight.” Sofia pressed the red button and sighed as the room went dark. “I don’t even understand what I’m dealin’ with,” she muttered to herself.
~~~
As promised, the giant hot dog shaped ship docked early the next morning. Because it wasn’t a regular ship and actually a fucking spaceship they decided to land it in the yard of Sofia’s monastery. She had been involved in that decision, mainly because the backup idea was trying to cram it into Gramercy or landing it in central park. And Sofia was not going to let Em suffer like that.
The rest of her order looked mildly distressed as the Wurst landed and a collection of mismatched people came out. Sofia shook her head and returned to her office. She’d have to wait until all the hubbub was over to get her revenge.
When part of the ship’s crew had set out to explore NYC, Sofia left her office again. She’d taken the time to cast Pass Without Trace, and smiled to herself as she easily slipped into the ship. It didn’t take her long to find Margaret’s office, where the woman was sitting in her office chair going over some paperwork.
Sofia pulled the chair back. “Hello.”
Margaret jumped three feet into the air, yelling what Sof could only assume to be intergalactic curses as paper went flying everywhere. Breathing heavy, she turned her chair around and looked at Sofia with wide eyes. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“Revenge, babe.” She grinned. “It’s what you deserved.”
Rubbing her chest, Margaret said, “I guess that was fair. Can you help me pick up these papers now?”
Together, they reorganised Marge’s hellscape of files and stacked it neatly on her desk.
Margaret eyed Sofia’s workout clothes with zero subtlety. The tight leopard print leggings and sleeveless top did exactly what Sof wanted it to. “You look different today.”
“That should be my line. I have to be honest, I didn’t think you owned sweats.” Sofia reached out and tugged on one of the strings of her hoodie. The basketball shorts were an interesting choice.
“I don’t have any calls today, nor do I have to go outside so why would I dress up?”
“For me.”
“For you?” Margaret sat up in her chair.
“Are you honestly going to try to convince me you didn’t think it’d be a little funny to try and surprise me?”
Margaret toyed with the hair tie around her wrist. “Okay, true. But I wasn’t going to do it in the morning, and I would’ve changed first.”
Sofia smiled. “Well, since you’re already dressed like this I think it’s time for you to be ambushed by my work.”
“What do you do exactly?” Marge looked around the room with concern, as if more Sofias could pop out any moment.
“I’m a monk.” Sofia pulled Margaret out of her chair and pushed her down the halls. “You are going to check out one of my classes.”
“Is it meditation?”
“Fuck, no.”
~~~
Margaret lay on the floor of the dojo, ignoring Sofia’s outstretched hand. “No, I've had enough of this. This is not an intermediate self defence class. This is a Sofia offence class for me.” She pulled up her hoodie to wipe the sweat off her face, too tired to enjoy the way Sofia’s focus slipped.
“I have to be honest, I thought you’d be better at this.” She tugged at the end of her ponytail.
“What part of tech girlie do you not understand? Battles are when I do my online banking.” Marge propped herself up on her elbows.
“Oh most of it, probably. I didn’t think your girl with the gun arm was doing all the lifting for you.”
“Sid?”
Sofia nodded.
“We live on a spaceship. My average movement is generally pretty limited.” She reached out and pulled herself up via Sofia’s arm. “While I appreciate you showing me your work-” she squeezed Sof’s bicep. “I can promise you that if you’d let me watch I would’ve been much more appreciative.”
“Alright, babe.” She rolled her eyes but didn’t pull away. “Let’s take a shower and I’ll make it up to you.”
“In the shower?”
Sofia punched Marge in the arm.
After her shower, Sofia reached into the back of her locker. She always kept one more upscale outfit at the monastery, in case they’d have visitors or investors. Margaret seemed like the kind of woman who’d appreciate her dressing up and as much as annoying her was fun, she’d only be there for a few days and Sofia was not about to let time go to waste. She pulled on the neat black trousers and red sleeveless top, adding her Louboutins as a finishing touch. Dressed for success, she set off towards the spaceship again.
Margaret looked a lot happier in her business casual suit, the workout clearly not sinking into her muscles yet. She was, however, not done complaining about it. “I’m going to need about 10 cups of coffee to bring my energy back up again,” she said as they walked through the streets of NYC.
“Ah, you’re one of those. Well I’ll buy you coffee, I can’t promise you 10 cups.” Sofia shot her a look as they rounded a corner. “Mostly because I think you’ll spontaneously explode.”
Marge followed Sofia into a small corner cafe as she replied, “nah. That’d be too embarrassing of a way to die.”
“How do you take your coffee?” Sof gestured to the blackboard up on the wall, where many different coffee and teas were written out in neat handwriting. On the right side it showed several cookies, cakes, as well as their allergy information.
“Matcha latte, please.”
“You allergic to anything?”
Margaret raised her eyebrows but replied no. “Not unless you have material not from Earth here.”
“I mean, we got you now.” Sofia gestured for her to find them a place to sit while she ordered.
After a moment of looking around, Marge decided on a booth against the back wall, where the walls were decorated with famous authors from the Harlem Renaissance. At least, that’s what the little labels said- Margaret didn’t know much about American history. But the picture of Nella Larssen was wonderful.
“Here you go.” Sofia slid Margaret’s matcha latte across the table, along with one of the cafe’s homemade chocolate chip cookies on a colourful plate. She sat down on the opposite side of the booth and smiled.
“Thanks.” Marge picked up her mug. “Hey, is this a date?”
Sofia opened her mouth then paused, something fluttering in her chest. “Why do you ask?”
“So I know how to behave.”
“Is what I’ve seen from you not date-behaviour?” Sofia laughed.
Margaret laughed, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m less of a butt when I know I have a shot.” She tilted her head and looked at Sofia from under her lashes.
Sofia leaned forward. “Yeah, you do.” She sipped her coffee before saying, “yes. Yes, it is a date, if you’re cool with that.”
“Good. Then let me start by saying that you are so beautiful.” She took Sofia’s free hand, intertwining their fingers.
Sofia coughed and sputtered, setting down her coffee before she could choke. Squeezing Margaret’s hand, she pretended that hadn’t thrown her off balance. “Thanks. I’ve never seen someone look both so professional and so mischievous in a suit.”
“There’s gotta be time for both.”
The two women spent the next couple of hours getting to know each other in a way only two people from completely different worlds could. Hopping from topic to topic, telling stories that no one else could possibly understand. After a while, Marge joined Sofia on her side of the booth, pressing her knee to Sof’s and playing with her black curls.
“So…” Sofia bit her lower lip. “Do you think y’all will come back to Earth sometime?” She tapped her fingers on Margaret’s forearm.
“Yes,” she replied without a second thought. “Yes, if I have anything to say about it.”
“Cool.” She took hold of Margaret’s collar, pulling her closer until she could feel her breath on her lips. “I don’t want to wait around.”
Margaret craned her neck trying to close the distance but Sofia pulled back slightly, grinning. “Now who’s making me wait, hm?” She whispered, her eyes on Sofia’s lips, placing her hands on Sofia’s thigh.
“What can I say, you’re cute when you want something.” She moved her hand to the back of Margaret’s neck and kissed her.
She pulled back for a moment, savouring the feeling of Sofia’s lips on hers. Then, grinning, she pushed Sofia against the back of the booth and kissed her again.
Sofia wasn’t sure how she’d ended up here, making out in the back of a booth with a woman from space, but she didn’t think it mattered. The people who understood her best were always those from similarly weird and wild worlds themself. And for her, that was Margaret. There was a form of simplicity in the connection- one where they could ask any questions they needed to and express any feelings they wanted to. So when Margaret asked her if she wanted to get out of there, she grinned and nodded.
Together, they set off for Sofia’s apartment.