We're back, baby!
That's right, after a long hiatus, we are back with the new, improved Intricate. Sadly, we still don't own Legion of Superheroes. Hope you enjoy it!
Smallville, Kansas, was known for being a quiet town. Mostly. A certain very small house with a certain very large family could change your opinion of the town in two seconds flat if their house was the first place you visited. Five bedrooms, thirteen people. What could possibly go wrong?
"TIMOTHY! BILLY! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!"
That, apparently.
Not far from where the earth-shaking howl of rage emanated stood two small six-year-old boys, their soft caramel hair in bowl cuts, big brown eyes wide with the thought of having been caught so soon. Timothy-the younger twin by two minutes-turned his gaze to his older brother, uncertain of what to do. Go to their doom bravely, or evade it for as long as possible before it came to them anyway? "Uh..." His single-syllabic question hung in the air, before Billy sighed and answered him, scratching his head.
"She'll only yell more if we go. But if we run, she'll still find us…" he pointed out, hugging himself.
The decision was unanimous-trudge off to where their foster sister was undoubtedly waiting with that scary, pinched look on her face, tapping her toes, and face the consequences of their previous choice of playtime. And yes-there she was, standing by the back door of the house, tapping her toes, with the scary expression on her face. As soon as she caught sight of the twins, she straightened up, her ice blue eyes fuming. "Tell me," Kylie began, folding her arms and rooting the boys to the spot with fear. "Why did YOUR father build a wall on the open part of the hayloft in THAT barn? " Her arm flung out to point at the sturdy, large wooden building in question, waving slightly. Timothy swallowed. Despite everything, his first instinct was to lie.
"Uh...because it was draughty? " he tried, chewing a hangnail nervously. Kylie shook her head, her hair gleaming in the light of the evening sun. It was blonde, so pale that it looked white, contrasting with her skin which was the colour of milky coffee. She was small, and slight, Japanese by birth but as rude as a stereotypical American. Pursing her lips, she regarded the other twin.
"Wrong answer. Billy? "
The boy in question looked at his feet as he kicked the dusty orange ground with the toe of his sneaker. "Dunno... " he replied, as nonchalantly as he could manage.
That gave the white-haired teen cause to explode, and when Kylie Hoshida exploded, it was very impressive-at least, if you weren't the target. Thankfully it was only a grenade this time, not the usual Chernobyl-like catastrophic event that left her sizzling and in need of a therapist.
"Bullshit! You two KNOW that's my bedroom but you went in there and ransacked it anyway! "
"No we didn't! Bobby did it!" Timothy's wide-set eyes looked at her imploringly, and she exhaled slowly. Bobby was the twins' imaginary friend, and she wasn't about to crush two little kids' dreams. She wasn't a total bitch.
"You told me Bobby was visiting family in China."
"But he came back, and you know how he likes messing things up." The boy started to suck his thumb, playing up his innocence.
"Okay then. What did Bobby want? " Kylie already knew the answer, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to make them confess anyway. She was incredibly close to really pitching a fit. God help everyone in a six-mile radius if that happened.
"Your diary..." Came the timid reply.
"I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING DIARY! "
"MOMMY! KYLIE SAID THE 'F' WORD! "
"KYLIE HOSHIDA! WATCH YOUR TONGUE! "
The last shout came from Mardi, the twins' mother and Kylie's guardian. A strict, no-nonsense woman, she was probably the only person that the latter truly admired-aside from her best friend, Clark. However, her hearing wasn't always great. Ah, well. She'd get the actual story soon enough. Still, Kylie let out a long groan."I'm an idiot. " Just as she was about to search out Mardi, however, the ancient, crackly doorbell rang, and she was awarded a brief respite from the thought of having to put yet ANOTHER five dollars in the swear jar. "I'LL GET IT!" she yelled, leaping over the twins as all the kids rushed to answer the door first. Every single time that stupid bell rang, it was like matches had been lit under all their feet. "STAMPEDE! "
Sprinting to the rickety wooden door, she threw it open, panting, to see Clark standing calmly on the front porch. "I WIN!" she crowed triumphantly.
"Hey, Kyles," he greeted, completely unaffected by the chaos. After all, he was used to it by now. He and Kylie had been best friends since they were kids, and they were now seventeen and fifteen respectively. He was in her house more or less every time he wasn't in his own. She gave him a rare grin.
"Saved my ass." Her voice was an almost inaudible whisper. He smirked.
"Don't I always?"
Another voice sounded behind them, and Kylie turned to see an older woman, sturdily built, with white sprigs in her russet hair. She stood with a hand on her hip, her stained apron she'd had since forever hanging off her, bags under her eyes. She was a small woman, but Mardi had a presence and a power in her stance and voice that commanded people to pay attention to her, and she never put up with bullshit. She eyed her foster daughter with stern grey irises, an eyebrow raised.
"Back before ten, unless you're staying with the Kents tonight, young lady," she instructed. She trusted Clark to be a gentleman around Kylie-well, he didn't swing that way, in more ways than others. His face became apologetic as he looked at his best friend.
"I still have to pack for Metropolis... sorry, Kyles." The girl shrugged, still grinning. She was determined to spend one last Friday night with him.
"I'll help you. It's Friday! We're supposed to stay up all night watching Adam Sandler movies! "
Her enthusiasm was infectious, and he soon began to smile too. He didn't really want to spend the night moping, anyway, and being with her was one way to prevent it. "So true. I'll bring her by tomorrow morning, Mardi. "
"All right. Have fun. Stay safe!"
The dark-haired teen turned his smile to the woman whom he considered his aunt. "Will do, ma'am. "
"We will. I'll be back in time to wash up the breakfast dishes." Grabbing her shabby denim jacket and slipping it on, Kylie hugged Mardi once, tightly, before leaving. "Bye!" The Smallville Annual Fair was hardly anything to look forward to, but it was better than staying at home and possibly being yelled at for two hours.
The pair ambled down the empty Kansas street in comfortable silence, until Clark turned to her and gave her that goofy, lopsided smile of his that she found adorable. "Billy and Timmy still wondering where your 'diary' is? " he asked? Clearly, he'd heard what had gone on. They only lived a couple of minutes away from each other. She returned his grin.
"Yep. Little do they know, I'm walking next to it," she laughed, as he threw his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. His dark blue eyes shone happily behind his affectionately termed, 'Granny Glasses.' Knowing that she was probably hungry-because to be honest, she was always hungry, she could put more food away in one sitting than him and a whale-he led her through the fair gates and towards the row of stalls that had delicious smells wafting from them.
"So. Fair food first?"
"No shit. I'm starving!"
"Just this time, when the guy says he has no more corn dogs left, don't tell him to go and look." It was a fond memory of last year, when the fair had come and Kyles had been playing her favourite game-Spoiled Little Rich Girl. She cracked up laughing now, remembering the look on the stall keeper's face, as if he had been bitch slapped with a fish.
"Oh come on! That was funny! " she snorted, shaking with laughter.
"He was 7 feet tall and built like a dump truck! I thought he was going to kill me! "
"Oh, like he fucking could!" She punched his arm, slightly harder than she'd meant to, and immediately had to pull her hand back, shaking it and crying out. "OW! Why the FUCK do I keep doing that?! " His grin turned into a smirk that was almost smug, but Clark could never be smug.
"Because you're an idiot? " She glared at him, her famous Death Glare that every bitch in town knew about, and looked like a combination of the Antichrist, a basilisk, and a frozen volcano, if that made any sense. At any rate, it was scary enough to make quite a few people run for the hills, and enough to make Clark (pretend to) flinch. He was immune to it by now. "Please stop that... " She let out a scoff.
"Don't fake that it affects you. I know it doesn't, Clarkie. " A deep chuckle rose in his throat.
"Let's get some food in your face before you get even crankier. "
"Now we're talking!" Her slow, snail-like pace turned into a cheetah sprint towards the food stands. If there was one thing that would make Kylie Hoshida run, it was the thought of putting food in her face. "HURRY UP! "
"Hey!" Caught off guard, he ran after her, but his gait without using super speed was much slower than hers, especially with his new, clunky black shoes. He eventually gave up, leaning against a stand where you had to throw balls at cans to win a prize. "DON'T BUY THE LAST HOT DOG! "
"YOU HAVE ONE ALREADY! " She reached the food stalls, looking over at him as she choked with laughter. "Once again, I WIN! "
"Yeah, yeah, WHATEVER. Go get some food on a stick."
"Let's go!" She ran back, grabbing his hand, and started to drag him, but two seconds later his glasses fell off, forcing him to pull back.
"Kyles. Kyles! Glasses."
"Dude, we both know you don't actually need them." She stopped anyway, just to show willing. She didn't want to fight with him when she wasn't going to see him for six months after tonight. He scrabbled around for them, eventually locating them and settling them back on his nose. Impatiently, she shrugged. "I'm getting food." She was two seconds from walking away when something on the game stall caught her eye-a giant, plush snow leopard, complete with long furry tail. Her 'I WANT THIS I NEED TO HAVE THIS' instinct flared, and she smiled in that way that a tiger might when sizing up its prey. "On second thought, I want the giant snow leopard." Her wallet at the ready, she took out three dollars and slapped them on the counter. The bored-looking attendant suppressed an eye roll, handing over three balls and droning his way through the standard intro.
"One stand of cans knocked down for a small toy. Two for a medium. Three for a large," he told her, his voice monosyllabic and vaguely annoyed. Kylie sighed. Why was it that assholes were also dumb as a bag of mentally challenged rocks 99% of the time?
"I know that, dipshit," she retorted pissily, taking a couple of steps backwards with her clutch of balls. Ha! She could do this with so little effort it made her want to laugh. Pulling her arm back, she took aim, waited, and fired. The first cans fell to the ground with an almighty crash and clatter, and the attendant's slightly incredulous face brought a mischievous grin to her lips. He lit up a smoke, watching the action, now sort of wanting to know how this would turn out. The thought in the back of his head was that if she knocked all the cans down, his boss would be pissed that they lost one of the giant plushies for three bucks, but at least it was entertaining for now. The second ball was thrown, and the second lot of cans went down in a jumble of sounds. Triumph was imminent, and Kylie was tempted to start singing 'Eye of the Tiger'.
"Go, Kyles!" Clark beamed, as she aimed at the final stand. Lean back, aim, and…
Suddenly, something else caught her eye, startling her and making her turn her head. Something similar to a…green person…was walking along the lines of stalls, looking around curiously. Her turning her head caused her arm to move, and the last ball fell short of the cans by a long shot. The attendant gave her a satisfied, 'ha-ha' look, and folded his arms.
"Bad luck. Still, one of the medium toys? " he asked, his cigarette dangling between his lips. Normally she'd have given him what for and added in a lecture about how smoking in a CANVAS stall next to FABRIC toys was one way to burn the place down, but she was too busy trying to figure out what the holy fuck was going on.
"The fuck was that? " she murmured to herself, looking off to the side distractedly. Her curiosity was needling her with the urge to go and look. Clark looked on, both amused and disappointed for her. Making fun of her would bring her around-it always did. He shrugged.
"Your last remaining brain cell? " he quipped, a smile tugging at his lips. She rewarded him with another glare and then turned it on the douchebag stalltender.
"Give me a panda. " She was referring to a row of furry pandas in the Medium Prize row. Turning to them, the older man pulled the most lopsided, bug-eyed, sad panda toy off its hook, handing it to her with a pompous smirk.
"Thank you kindly," he said breezily, and started stacking the cans again. Kylie looked at the toy with disgust. It was filthy, and ripped, and…she could NOT give this to one of her foster siblings. No way in hell. She pointed imperiously to a much newer, nicer looking one, put out.
"Can I have that one?" Her voice wasn't so much asking as telling him, 'You WILL give me that toy,' but he clearly didn't give any sort of fuck.
"No. You get what you're given. Now go away, you're blocking other customers." Finished with the cans, he blew a pathetic smoke ring, leaning against the stall again. She darkened her glare.
"But sir, it's a gift for a four year old girl. "
"Not my problem, now go AWAY. " She decided to play dirty, a favourite pastime of hers when she wasn't getting her way. And she really wanted to get her way.
"Hmm... Hey Clarkie? How much do you think it would cost to get this place shut down? " she asked innocently, idly twirling a strand of white hair around her finger. Her friend, however, seemed very distracted, looking off into the distance with a frown.
"I don't know. Kyles, can you just take the toy? I don't feel so good," he muttered, starting to shift as if he had a bug or six hundred in his jeans. She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh. What's a billionaire gotta do to get a decent toy around here?" She threw the attendant a 'fuck you' glance that said, 'I could buy the fair if I wanted to, bitch', but it just wasn't enough. She stopped, turned around, picked up a rock, and lobbed it towards the last set of cans. All five were knocked down, and the attendant fell over in surprise, slipping onto his ass. Clark hooted with laughter, hardly immune to THAT.
"I think he just peed himself!" the dark haired boy guffawed, holding his stomach. She grinned, but looking at the toy, sighed. What a measly excuse for a prize.
"I can't give this to any of the kids. It's filthy and falling apart," she complained, considering throwing it away. He shook his head.
"It's not THAT bad. Just wash it off. I'll sew the rips up. Good as new." She smiled. Ah, Clark. He always managed to put a positive spin on an otherwise crappy situation.
"Thanks. Now, speaking of peeing, I need to go. I'll be back." It was true, she did. It would teach her not to drink six glasses of water before coming out. He groaned theatrically.
"Ah, yes. I forgot you have a squirrel sized bladder."
Walking away, she cast the panda over her shoulder, knowing he would catch it. "Just hold this, moron."
He huffed and stood, the derelict toy in his hand. "So I hold the panda."