"Okay, Sadie told me to take you to see the tallest building in the city and here we are." Sable waved her hands at the skyline. "What do you think? Great view, right?"

Sable felt dumb for even asking. Felicity was far too occupied by the wind that whipped her hair all around. Even if it hadn't been so windy, Sable wasn't even sure how much Felicity could see with her hair in her face. She never seemed to run into anything but she also always seemed a bit in the clouds.

"Let's go do something else," Sable decided. She didn't dislike spending time with the self-proclaimed oracle. Felicity had a kind of ethereal beauty and it was restful to just sit with her. But she definitely felt like Sadie was using her as an unpaid babysitter. Take her to the tallest building? Sable could do better than that! "What do you want to do right now?"

"Could we get pizza?" Felicity asked. She'd gotten her hair under control by pulling the knit cap Lee had given her down over her eyes. It looked pretty ridiculous.

"C'mon, you eat pizza all the time!"

"It may be the perfect food," Felicity said quietly.

"I know a great cafe just a little way down the street," Sable suggested. "They do the best cheese sandwiches!"

Felicity seemed off in the clouds again and Sable felt annoyed that the woman hadn't been paying attention. But still gazing off at nothing, the sphinx answered. "Cafe. Yes, we should go there. Right now."

"Sure! Let me just grab my purse from the bench and we can go!"

"But-"

Sable crossed the rooftop. On such a windy day, it was deserted except for herself and Felicity.

Or it had been. A crab in athletic gear was swinging Sable's purse around the tip of her claw.

"Hey!" Sable objected.

"Sable!" Felicity called from across the roof.

The mouse ignored her. "Hey, that's mine!"

"Purse-snatching at 1000 feet! You've been put in a pinch... by Snipstream!" The crab cackled.

Sable lunged to try to grab her purse but the crab shot off like a rocket, flying through the safety fencing surrounding the roof. With a surprised squeak, Sable found herself pulled along the crab's wake. Right off the building.

She took my money, Sable thought. Because her mind didn't want to come to terms with plummeting to her death. How am I going to get sandwiches with no money?

She tumbled in the air, the wind ripped off her jacket, and she wound up staring right down at the ground. Oh.

And then... she was slowing down. Sable felt strong arms grab onto her. Her view of the ground was replaced with a gently smiling face.

"I gotcha," reassured a familiar voice that Sable couldn't place. "Don't worry, I gotcha."

Then they weren't falling at all. They were hovering in place. It dawned on Sable that she had been saved from a very stupid death by a superhero. She was sure she'd seen her in the news and on social media but couldn't remember what she was called. Power Panda? Pretty Panda? Punchy Panda?

"I'm going to go chase... ugh... Snipstream. Do you want me to set you down on the ground or back on the roof?"

Sable stared at the panda dumbfounded in awe.

"Oookay. Um. Ground is closer."

The panda set Sable down on the ground. Sable staggered and sat down heavily on the steps.

"You okay if I go?" Pretty Panda asked.

"i'm good," Sable said.

The panda was unconvinced but flew off. Sable sat on the steps of the building staring after her for several minutes. Everything had happened so fast. She'd been on the roof with Fel- Oh, she should probably go tell the sphinx she was okay!

--

Later, they ate dinner in Sadie's room. Pizza, of course.

Sable hadn't told Sadie and Alyson what had happened yet. And she'd asked Felicity not to say anything yet. Sable was still turning it over in her head.

Alyson was filling the silence by once again talking about that space adventure podcast with the supposedly hunky panda. Felicity becoming part of their friend group had been a great opportunity for Alyson because Felicity was too polite to tell people to shut up. So Alyson could happily babble on about it while Felicity happily ate pizza.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," Sadie said to Sable. A hint of concern was present in her voice but she quickly hid it. "How'd the trip to the city's tallest building go? Do you need Alyson to shut up so you can tell us about it?"

"Hey!" Alyson reacted.

"I..." Sable thought about falling off the roof and how safe she'd felt in Pretty Panda's arms. She looked over at her purse, which had been left for her with the resident assistant. A little calling card with a doodle of Pretty Panda giving a wink and an OK gesture had been left with it. Sable was feeling a completely natural and normal amount of admiration and gratitude to the superhero. "I think it's okay if Lee keeps talking about her imaginary space captain boyfriend. Pandas are... cool."

"I'm surrounded!" Sadie proclaimed. She threw herself across Felicity's lap. "You're the only one still sane, oracle! Protect me from the pandemonium!"

---

After I gave Sable a job working in the same bookstore at Mei, I thought how funny it would be to have a Superman-Lois Lane-Clark Kent situation going on where Sable is enamored with superhero Problem Panda but barely spares a thought for her co-worker Mei Zheng.

Mei recognized her as the 'girl from my job' and was very proud of herself for not using her name.

Luckily, since Sable lives in a silly mishaps universe, she won't be traumatized by what happened. The most lasting consequences are the metaphorical hearts in her eyes when she thinks of that Pretty Panda.

---


Mei Zheng and Sable Faisselle owned by me
Art by  xizana