She's been thinking about that, too, lately.

"I think... that might just be how it is, for me, with people I haven't known for a while.  I was nervous around you, too, at first, but you turned out okay."  Grin.

She grins back. "Maybe she will turn out alright, who knows? Just... I want you to be careful, you know? Don't want my best friend getting hurt."

There's a familiar stab of guilt, at Raine's words.  Both because Raine obviously thinks so highly of her, and Raine doesn't know what Bryce's wish was; and now because she feels like she's going behind Raine's back in... (In what?  Accepting the League's contact information from Tobi?  Not letting Raine decide for her whether to get in touch?)

But she smiles, nonetheless.

"...It seems like Tobi's already turned out okay, honestly.  We fought the owl-witch together, to stop it from getting to the city and hurting people, remember?  And she was the one who was tracking it."  And that was how they'd met.

"Definitely, I think she's better than most, but - people can be deceptive, you know?"

Why doesn't she ever back off

She shrugs.  Noncommittally.

She'll sort of sideways hug Bryce. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

Hug.  "S'okay."

Snuggle.

She'll drop the Tobi issue.

For now, at least.

Snuggle.

Lianne doesn't get significantly better about keeping in touch with non-magical friends as the year progresses and school ends, unfortunately.

It's hard, and becomes harder the longer she waits, and there's this barrier between them all - 

Yeah, neither does Kaylee.  Her parents don't press the issue, but they're still palpably Concerned, and she hates hates hates keeping secrets from her dad.

But she's got Lianne to talk to, and the rest of the League.

"Hey," Lianne says one day, while they're hanging out and sort of waiting for graduation. Classes are in the 'exams are over so we're making you all watch Inspiring movies' phase. "My mom okayed the road trip. Since I got mostly A's somehow. Sister's debating coming along but she needs to get ready for college so hopefully not..."

Quiet, then, "But I'm not sure telling Emma would be a horrible idea. Tobi manages to have someone normal in the know, and... Emma's not super nice but I think? She wouldn't be horrible about it?"

"What was Tobi's advice?  That they should know the risks and know to stay out of trouble and have some way to help on their end... If she's gonna come along it would be useful for her to be able to cover with your mom, I guess.  I don't think I know much about your sister.  What's she like?"

"Hm. She's good at staying out of trouble, and - good at knowing risks? And being level headed? But - if I met an alternate universe version of her that sacrificed a nation for immortality I wouldn't be surprised. She's a pretty good liar - mom believes her on everything, and so do most people. I think she already knows something's up, too."

"But she's protective of me. She's gotten into it with mom, before, when mom was being mean. She's given up opportunities to help me."

Kaylee nods.  "She... sounds like she'd be a good choice to cover for us with your mom, yeah.  She sounds like she'd be good at that.  ...Do you want us to tell her together?  Or on your own?"

"On my own. If she reacts poorly I don't want her knowing for sure about you being magic too."

"  - Okay.  That sounds, um -

Are you sure you want to tell her?"

"Yeah. I think I'm just being paranoid."

"Okay.

Your family sounds - really tough, sometimes."

"They are, yeah."

"You know, if you ever - need to get away - you can come to me, right?"

(In whatever sense she decides to interpret "get away.")

"I do. Thanks, Kaylee."

"What are friends" 'girlfriends' "for?"

Friendly shoulder bump. "Helping me stay sane, apparently."

Bump!  "Always happy to help."