Masion tightened the straps of her gas mask as far as it would go and took a deep breath to make sure it was working. She carefully opened the first door, then the second after making sure it was completely closed behind her. A hand on her shoulder made her jump, and she immediately spun around, fully prepared to hit the perpetrator with her book bag.
Instead, her hand was grabbed before it could connect. The hand had painted nails - black with his ring finger red - and was soft in the way only those with wealth could in this world. "Lucifer, you startled me! How didn't I hear you coming?"
"Because you're distracted maybe? Fuck if I know. You ready to go?"" Lucifer released her hand and gestured behind him at the last door. The anti-contamination process had just completed and a majority of the others had begun to leave the building. Masion pushed him aside and began to walk out into the smog. There had been a break out from one of the quarantine facilities a few days back, and the air was especially thick with mana.
Masion went to adjust her mask before remembering how dangerous that could be. She's be screwed if she inhaled too much, and adjusting the mask could break the seal. Lucifer followed closely behind, watching the road in front of them. Before they went to cross he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her in a different direction.
"Gah! Why did you do that?" Masion really didn't like how often he touched her. She didn't know if he meant any harm, but it still made her angry. "Haven't you heard of boundaries?"
Lucifer looked at her as if she was the one who was confused. "You were walking the wrong way. How else was I meant to correct you?"
The way he said it made it seem like the most obvious thing in the world, but the words he was speaking were fundamentally wrong. Masion went silent for a long moment before realizing. Lucifer was raised in a cult. Cults weren't exactly famous for teaching their children through kind words and soft actions. He probably had been raised with heavy hands and harsh discipline.
"There are better ways to help. Just… tell me next time, okay?"
Lucifer nodded, but didn't look any less confused. It seemed she had hit the nail on the head with his confusion. It might take time and effort, but Masion would at least try to help. She didn't like leaving perfectly fixable things broken. By the time she made this decision, they had arrived at a large structure that seemed to be an abandoned workshop. Above the door was a large welded metal sight reading "Sabere's Garage." Below that was a smaller sign reading "Beware of the cat. He purrs."
"Does Sabere have a cat?" Masion asked, suddenly exited. She had never seen one herself, but they sounded adorable.
"No, she doesn't. She is just a jerk." Lucifer looked pissed enough that Masion had no plans to ask any of the many follow up questions she had. She was sure that there was a story there, but didn't want the rant that was sure to follow her asking.
Lucifer went up to try the door knob, but as soon as he turned it a loud crash sounded behind them. The both of them spun around to be greeted with on of the strangest sights Masion had seen all day. A tall girl wearing cargo pants, a crop top, fingerless gloves, and goggles on her head had appeared behind them. She dropped the large number of mechanical items and metal scraps into a cart. The cart was attached to a sort of rail system that lead the contents into the building. The girls hair was in a high ponytail, showing off her undercut. She might just be one of the most beautiful people Masion had ever seen.
"Lucie! How's my favorite kitty doing?" The girl lightly punched his shoulder, but before Lucifer could argue she moved to address Masion "You must be Masion. I'm Sabere. Lucie has already told me everything about the project, you ready?"
"Oh yeah I'm totally already brainstorming but we should probably talk about it first just to make sure we're all all the same page?" By the time Masion was done speaking Lucifer was hiding a giggle behind his hand, and Sabere just smiled.
"Let's head inside first, alright?" Sabere spun around and fished out a set of keys from her pocket, but Masion wasn't paying much attention to that. No, instead she was focused on the way her hair feel as she pulled it out of the ponytail. The way her crop top had a large oval cut out of the back through which she could see bandages. Masion recognize that back. She had spent way too long watching it to not. This was the girl who she spent hours starring at during class.
Masion was officially fucked.