Renegades: KotLC

Backpacks and Darkness -9

sensitive topic ahead:

"What... are all these for?" Koen asked as he and Evander dug through the heap of clothes the girls had stolen that morning--

Sophie stopped short, her mind latching onto the word. Stolen. She'd stolen those clothes. Stealing was bad. She was bad.

... It wasn't that bad, though... Right? Sophie was still a good person, after all. And, they'd probably needed these clothes more than anyone who might've actually had the money to pay for it. Right?

"Kenna?" Sophie swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "What are all these clothes for?"

Silence. With every passing second, Sophie's heart beat that much faster. There was a good reason. There had to be. Yet, why couldn't Sophie calm herself? She needed to stop. If stealing meant she were one of the Renegades, she had to get used to stuff like this.

"It's for you!" Rajni happily informed, her bright smile once again melting away all of Sophie's worries. Sophie eyed Kenna, who nodded.

"Rajni mentioned that you'd been wearing that same elven dress forever, so we figured that's all you had. Sorry we didn't tell you; she wanted it to be a surprise, but we didn't know your style so..." She gestured to the mountain of clothes and shrugged.

"We could've helped," Koen grinned. "I've got amazing taste in clothes."

Kenna looked him up and down, before meeting his eyes and flashed a weak smile. Koen frowned, examining his outfit. "What's wrong with flannels? They're the ultimate clothing! They can work like jackets when you're cold, can be style hundreds of ways, there's buttons, and pockets!" He eagerly gestured to the two pockets at the top of his red flannel, also unbuttoning it, and tying it around his waste to reveal a faded yellow shirt with a comic reference beneath.

"I like it," Rajni said.

Koen smirked. "You're smarter than Ken."

"Or you're both idiots," Kenna barked, and Evander snickered.

"Language!" Rajni whined.

"Sophie, what do you think?" Koen asked, gesturing to his flannel.

Sophie held her breath, everyone's eyes now on her. She opened her mouth, though nothing came out. What was she supposed to say? Kenna wouldn't kick her out of the Renegades for something as stupid as this, would she? Or... was this an invitation? Was she expected to side with Koen and even things out?

"... Koen isn't wrong? I mean... flannels do kinda have lots of uses and styles and ways to be worn and definitely come in handy for other things and have decently cool designs and sometimes they've got, like, two pockets and stuff..." The words came out so fast, even Sophie wasn't sure exactly what she'd said. It must've been good enough however, because Kenna wasn't throwing a total rage fit. Which was... nice. While her brown hair slightly resembled Fitz's, she wasn't Fitz. She wasn't going to yell at Sophie for having a slight difference of opinion. She wouldn't blame Sophie for things that couldn't be controlled. And she didn't simply like Sophie for her looks. She'd accepted her for her personality.

Sophie had to admit, it was... refreshing. When she came back into the real world, the siblings were all wearing the same grin.

"See?" Koen said. "If Sophie agrees with me, then it's definitely true."

Evander scoffed. "It's still three against two, Ko! Do your math!"

"Bet against Sophie and you'll always lose!"

"You two are just idiots," Kenna retorted. Rajni elbowed her.

"I dunno," Sophie said. "I was the smartest of my high school. I think you're just in denial."