Team Foster-Keefe one shots!

#45: Normal

Sophie didn't know what had come over her. One minute she was laying on her back, under her covers in her still surprisingly soft pyjamas, just staring at the swirly plants on her canopy. The next minute, she was up and hyper and getting ready, even though it was the middle of the night. Sandor hadn't even tried to stop her, just helped her pick out what kind of outfit to wear, and seemed to know that she needed to do something. She was just looking around her bedroom, trying to remember how everything in her old bedroom would have looked scattered around her room at Havenfield, and then she started making plans, and it suddenly felt empty. The only thing Sandor had asked was where she was going, and that was that. Of course, he'd come along, but Sophie had gotten used to it.

As she walked up to the spectral mirror, Vertina clicked to life, with a small smile on her face and a flip of her long black hair. Of course, her first words of the day were going to be snippy, but that was Vertina, and Sophie couldn't do anything about the mirror's special personality.

"Woah, you look like a mess. When was the last time you actually tried to conceal those under eye bruises?" she asked with a look of disgust on her face. Sophie had learned to ignore comments like those.

"The last time... was when I last stood in front of you. So if you want to do that math, feel free. I need help with hair. Out of my face, but still presentable," Sophie requested.

"Who are you trying to impress? Is it the brunette? Oh I hope it's the brunette," Vertina commented with a certain wispy look in her eyes, like she wished she could have a chance to impress someone.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone," Sophie started, looking down at her shoes like they were the most important items in the world. She stuck one foot behind the other, pointed, as she tried to cover up her horrible lie. But she wouldn't admit it to Vertina before she admitted it to herself, that's for sure. "I just want to look nice. And if, hypothetically, I was trying to impress anyone, it would not be Fitz. That's where that conversation ends," she arches an eyebrow at Vertina, making sure to get the message across that she did not want to talk about her love life. She had given up hope that Fitz might like her after seeing how long he had gone without ever actually finishing what he'd started under Calla's tree so long ago. She didn't even know if he remembered. Plus, he had started spending so much time with other people, she barely saw him anymore, mostly only when they were talking about the Neverseen, and every problem they have. So, not exactly happy conversations. There weren't many happy memories being made anymore. The last time she'd seen him, he'd taken off his cognate rings, and Sophie decided that maybe it was time she took hers off as well. But she did not want to muddle her good mood. Not when she was doing something impulsive. The first non-deadly impulsive thing she's done in awhile. The thought makes her feel normal.

And with that, Vertina was off with her intricate instructions for Sophie to follow, and she tried to weave her hair into the shape Vertina was describing, having to loosen it and tighten it and let it fall a few times before she was finally satisfied with the braid twisting from one side of her head, around the back, and diagonally down the other, hanging loosely over her shoulder. Her hair was now so long that it reached her waist, almost to her hips, when it was just straight.

Now, all she had to do was successfully sneak out, which she found was not too hard, what with the whole light leaping and teleporting deal. Teleporting seemed too loud for the middle of the night, and while she hated light leaping after her fatal incident with Dex and the almost fading away, she still had to do it. She ran up the stairs to the Leapmaster, trying not to be too loud, especially with Sandor behind her. She whispered out the name of her destination, and as quietly as she could, she leaped there, leaving behind no trace of her sneaking out.

When she and Sandor glittered onto a pasture, she tried to remember why this was the first place she had come. And when she remembered, she threw away the thought again, saving it for when it was really important, though she doubted it would ever be. She was here for one thing, and one thing only. Impulse.