StV: Metamorphoses and Magic, part one

"Sophia?"

Abigail Johnson took some comfort in the fact that the sorceress was the same age as her, since she was on Team Dragon and Abby wasn't on any of the teams at all. The extent of their social interactions so far had been one awkward lunch and a double-date, which Sophia had attended with her teammate Wrecker and Abby had attended with Sophia's brother Lyceus. 

Wrecker -- Cedric Johnson, though as far as Abby could see no relation of hers -- was sitting beside Sophia. The rest of Team Dragon was elsewhere, or else Abby wouldn't have approached them. She didn't want to interrupt the team, she just wanted...

"Oh, hi!" Sophia -- Charm, if she was using her codename -- looked genuinely glad to see her. "Sit down, please." 

Abby circled the table, put her lunch tray down, and say. 

"How are things going with Lyceus?" asked Cedric, before she could get a word out. He didn't make it sound like a challenge or an accusation, though; if anything, he sounded... worried. 

How much does he know? She wondered, and then concluded: Not much. "You know we're not really an item, right?" she asked. 

Cedric blinked. "Oh," he said. "Okay."

She glanced at Sophia. "I'm not saying I don't like him, and I enjoyed the hell out of watching Casablanca with you all, but I don't think the two of us are really going anywhere, if that makes sense."

Sophia nodded, eyebrows slightly lowered and lips slightly pursed in a way that could be curious or worried or thoughtful or all three. It wasn't quite a frown, though.  "That's quite a movie choice for people who aren't romantically interested, though."

Abby made her shrug look casual. "I can enjoy the feeling of romance without automatically transferring it to the person I'm watching it with," she said, though honestly she did see some similarities between Rick from the movie and Lyceus here in reality.

"Oh," said Cedric. "Good." 

"Okay, but look," Abby said, trying to get back to the reason she'd sat down with them. "After the movie, Cedric did something. Something I could feel... and something that apparently most people can't." She focused on Sophia. "He said I should talk to you about it."

"Did he?" asked Sophia absently, and then her expression hardened for a bare moment before she smoothed it over. "He thinks you're sensitive to sorcery?"

Abby nodded. "It felt like a wind moving through the world around me, if that makes any sense."

Sophia hesitated for a long moment. Then she said, "It does." She glanced at Cedric. "I'm going to need you to sit this one out, big guy." He nodded happily. To Abby she said, "Let's get together  after classes tomorrow and take a walk up towards the gates."

"I'll be on the front porch," said Abby.