(1.2) Human
Riley stretched as she awoke, cramped slightly from being in the wrong position for sleeping for most of the bus ride after she had shifted in the middle of the night. She shook her head to clear its grogginess. She sat up and pulled out her phone to check the time.
She still had an hour left in the bus ride.
She could handle that.
The rain began drumming on the roof as she sat back in her seat to wait out the time.
Joy scooted backwards, despite the pain raging through her head. Her wild eyes flickered about her in panic as her hands scrabbled through the dust. She hit the wall at the back of the road.
The human in front of her looked behind himself, then turned back to look at her. "You know, I really didn't think that I looked that bad."
Joy stared at him. "But- I- You-"
"Yes?"
She blinked. "Who are you?"
"My name's Reynie, not that it matters a bunch. What about you?"
"I…" Joy blinked. "I'm Joy." The words vibrated through her mind, and she hunched again, gasping.
He rolled his eyes and grabbed at her arm. He had barely touched her skin when his aura burst into golden light. He began chuckling.
"You're a silly one. Come on, I'll get you some food."
Joy winced slightly, but he hauled her to her feet. She started to walk with him out of the alley.
Riley dismounted from the bus and shrugged her backpack farther onto her shoulders. Her feet splashed into a puddle as she dismounted the bus's stairwell. The wind cut through her thin hoodie, and she pulled up the hood to try and counter the pulsing cold and drizzling rain.
She huddled under the bus stop, and watched as the bus pulled away in a puff of smoke. The rain that had collected on top blew off the top of the bus in a short shower. Riley shivered a little, looked left and right, and took a seat on the bench, rubbing her hands together.
I need a plan.
Riley pulled the backpack from her back and rifled through it, organizing its contents on the bench seat beside her. A cell phone, a sleeping bag, three books, a debit card, and a spare change of clothes sat on the wooden bench.
Argh! I didn't even bring any food. Or extract money before I left. I'm an idiot.
Her hands clenched slightly, but let go quickly.
Well, I guess the first step is getting some cash. I need to do that as soon as possible before Mom notices that it's gone and I can't get any more. Then, I can get some food.
She stuffed everything back in her backpack, snatched the debit card off the bench and walked towards the center of town through the sprinkling rain.
Joy's eyes flicked left and right as she was half dragged out of the alley and onto a street. People were wandering about, glowing different colors. Reynie, whose own aura was burned into her brain, was still chuckling slightly.
As they walked through a crowded portion, a red aura'd person knocked into her, and a small amount of gold rippled out from the spot where they touched. She tried to continue watching him, but when she turned her head, the pain spiked. She winced.
Reynie guided them off of the street and into a cafe. The bell over the door jangled, and the glass door shut behind them.
They walked across the room, and he helped her slide onto a cloth seat. Joy lay down her head on the table and stared out into the cafe. She shut her eyes and tried to shut out the pain.
She gave a little chuckle.
When I said that I wanted more time to become better, I didn't mean like this.
Her head throbbed, and she winced.
At all.
Riley pulled the cash she had just extracted from the ATM, all five-hundred dollars of it, and stuffed it into her backpack. Flipping her backpack back over her shoulder, she ducked around the wall and walked into the rest of the corner store.
I'm going to want a lot of fast snacks. Trail mix is good.
She pulled a bag off of the shelf and snuck to the back of the store, where she grabbed a bottle of water. Then, she paused.
I don't have the cash to pay for too much if I want it to last.
Her eyes flicked back and forth, and she noticed a security camera in the upper corner. She looked about, noting the cashier was sitting and looking at his phone, and went into one of the aisles. She ducked down as if to grab a snack, and slipped several pieces of food surreptitiously into her backpack. She stood back up and walked to the register with her bottle of water.
Unbeknownst to her, Headquarters rumbled.
Joy's nose twitched. She wasn't sure quite what that smell was - she hadn't had a real need to smell anything as an emotion, after all - but she immediately knew that she wanted some of whatever was making it.
Her eyes blinked open, and she sat up as much as she could. Her head protested, but she propped herself up on one arm and looked around blearily.
In front of her was a plate. She knew that what was on it was bacon and eggs, but only because she had seen Riley eat them before.
Reynie was sitting across from her. "They're yours. I got them for you." He scooted the plate closer to her.
Tentatively, she reached out a hand and grasped a fork. She took it and looked at it this way and that. "I… uh…"
Reynie rolled his eyes, and Joy could see a flicker of green flashing over his aura. "Take fork. Apply to food. Bring to mouth."
Joy lowered the fork to the eggs slowly, and applied some pressure so that a piece broke off. It crackled slightly. She stabbed the piece, and it came up with her fork. She tilted her head, and put the piece in her mouth.
It was… warm. And… well, she didn't exactly have anything to compare it to, but she thought it was tasty. And greasy. She swallowed.
She could feel it slightly, going down away from her mouth. Joy remembered learning a little bit of human biology from Riley's science class, and knew that the food was going into her stomach.
She blinked. Her... stomach rumbled.
Reynie cracked a smile, and pushed the plate closer.
She smiled back at him, and lowered her fork to take another bite.
Inspector Chandler was worried.
He hadn't had a missing child in several months - pretty good for a large city like San Francisco. He knew that he should have expected something to go wrong for someone.
The subject had moved here just three days ago, and went missing yesterday. She most likely ran away, since all her stuff was packed up from her room. He looked down at his desk, where he had put pictures of his subject, Riley Andersen.
She had been happy, and had no real reason to leave. Her parents hadn't noticed anything unusual, except for a single fight the night before. There was something off about this whole thing.
He just wasn't sure what.
All he knew was that he was going to find out.
