Iron Station Savage Masks IC IV

[PK-Leon]

December 5th
Mall Walking

Ryker crosses his arms and thinks a moment before he shakes his head. “No,” he says before he looks away. “I don’t think she’d wanna see me anyway.”

"Okay, I'll admit that the car ride when we dropped her off at the Wendy's was awkward as @#$% but that definitely wasn't the impression I got at the hospital. Just saying," Louis observes with a shrug.

"Hey." He announces without preamble.

"Do you think Stella like's mysteries?" He jerks a thumb at the offending section of stories. "I thought it might be cool to get two copies of a mystery and, like, argue over whodunit."

Iris seems to sense their gazes upon her and looks in their direction. She says something to her friend, who glances at the three of them, but nods to Iris and heads deeper into the bookstore.

Iris makes her way around the low shelves to the three boys. She smiles at Louis. “Hey, Louis, right?” At any hint of confirmation of his name, she continues. “I thought I recognized you.”

"I'm told that a lot of women love that kind of thing but maybe we can get a second opinion?" Louis replies to Raph, nodding at Iris as she heads their way.

Louis flashes a smile in return, "Yeah, that's my government alright. You've got a good-" The team lead reconsiders his choice of words in the moment but forces himself to commit rather than to draw any unwanted attention, "eye."

She looks at ‘Derrick’ and Raphael. “Are you guys friends of his?”

Ryker nods, knowing that his voice would give him away if he answered.

She looks a little perplexed at ‘Derrick’s’ silence, but shrugs it off. Her right hands plays with the small silver heart pendant attached to her velvet choker necklace. “How’s Izzy?” she asks Louis.

"Sorry, I should've introduced them from the jump. This is Derrick and that's Raph." He thumbs back at the delinquent duo. "Don't take the silent treatment personally. It's usually hard to get him to shut up but he's actually a little shy around women."

"Izzy? She's amazing." Louis' mind is flooded by a deluge of emotions and memories of the time he'd spent together with the musician over the past few weeks. The realization of how much time had passed since he'd last saw Iris suddenly hits him as does the nature of her question. "And doing fantastic after the incident back at the safehouse. I don't think many people would've bounced back as fast as she did after something like that. I know she'd appreciate you asking too." He smiles on his girlfriends behalf.

"What about you?" Louis asks innocently. "It's been a minute."

"I take it the Christmas spirit's also compelled you to get a little holiday shopping done early or do you just happen to be in the market for a new book?"