I own nothing!
By the time she exits, Irene and Mystique are slumped across the bed, exhaustion felling even the seemingly-tireless shapeshifter, who appears corpselike from the instant she closes her eyes. The only thing destroying the image of her as a body is the snoring which issues from her mouth. Irene follows suit and Marie, equally exhausted, pulls out a sleeping bag and snuggles into its depths.
Chapter 36: A Day in Amity Park
Marie silently watches the crimson sun set behind the outline of Amity Park from her position on the balcony above the first floor. Despite the room number, which had implied a position on the lowest level, it turned out they were positioned in the third story to the west. Apparently, room numbers only apply to rooms that are functional. This place, as bare and ugly as it is, is reasonably nice.
She's been lying on the balcony for about half an hour now, waiting for her parents to return. Flat on her back, she can see the world's highest places. It's like the reverse of flying, where one might see the world's lowest places. Her clothes cling to her body with dampness. She'd been hot when she woke up and found the note telling her Rachel would return in an hour or two with supper. Irene had still been sound asleep. She'd filled the chrome sink with ice water and dumped her clothes in. Once they'd been soaked through, she'd put them back on and laid herself out on the balcony to absorb the last of the sun's heat.
The town is mostly silent, but she can hear a party going on a good distance away, and she's sure the music rattles the house it centers on. The lights in the streetlamps have just come on, sending brilliant white light across the grassier spots in the city. A few people appear to be sitting on benches near the lamps, as though moving from the lighted spots will bring burglars on their heads.
The world is quiet at night, and it holds true even for Amity Park. As darkness falls, she believes it will choke out the sounds and all will go totally silent, suffocating even laughter and anger. She half-believes the night itself is an entity in those moments, but dismisses the bewildering question of the presences flitting in her peripheral vision as Rachel interrupts her drowsy ponderings.
"What are you doing there?" The creaking of the door alerts Marie soon enough that she doesn't scream or otherwise show shock.
Marie blinks her droopy eyelids for a minute, not deigning Rachel with a response. Even though she had slept an entire afternoon and morning earlier, she's still sleepy. Besides, she deserves this soul-calm, even with poky cement stabbing her. That's what she laid a towel out for, that and making sure she doesn't get foot-rot or something from a former resident, hopefully one who hadn't left because they had died. Staying in a dead human's hotel room isn't very appealing.
"I brought back some Nutella from the dollar store down the road. I guess you're too busy relaxing to eat it," Rachel smirks, turning and leaving.
In a moment, Marie is on her feet, all curiosity and philosophical ponderings disappearing. No way will Rachel get the chocolate before she does! Within a moment of setting her foot on the false wood floor, though, she hits a slippery spot and falls hard, landing on her butt with a yowl of pain and shock. It's like stepping on a banana peel, only less visibly there. She rolls onto her side and sits up moaning.
Upon resuming her feet, the girl notes Irene, who sits calmly at the tiny wooden table eating a spoonful of melty chocolaty goodness. The smell permeates the air even for such a comparatively big range. Not giving the slipperiness of the floor any attention, Marie hurtles the rest of the way to the table where she leans across as far as she can, trying to grab the jar of Nutella. Irene calmly moves it closer to her body, practically cradling it against her chest to keep Marie from grabbing it.
Marie lunges under the table, popping up on the other side, but by the time she's made it, Irene has suspended it almost a foot above her reach.
"Marie, wipe up the water you spilled on the floor doing whatever it was you were doing and change clothes. Then we'll see about getting you some Nutella before Irene eats it all. Hurry up!"
Dignity lost in her attempts to get the chocolaty substance, Marie sighs gravitasciously and slides her feet protestingly to her bag, where she pulls out a new pair of jeans and a shirt. In the bathroom, she changes clothes quickly and rushes back, hopeful. By the time she returns, however, a new smell radiates from the kitchen, that of sardines and chips. Marie guesses they got it from the dollar store, and even though she doesn't really like sardines that well, she wants food and the Nutella has been hidden.
She wipes up the water and settles in a chair, pushing it up to the table with what little upper body strength someone of her age can have. Within moments, she's stolen several drumsticks and starts gobbling them down. Who knew sitting in a plane for hours could garner such an appetite?
She listens to the adults talk over her head, impatient to get something done.
"Irene, have you had any visions about why Marie might need to come here?" Rachel enquires.
"No, I'm afraid I haven't. Mostly it's just little bits and pieces of foretelling. There's a girl around here who we need to find. She's been hospitalized at wherever their hospital is. She should know who we need to see, or at least she's connected. And we already know the boy is in school, so the girl is likely a teenager herself." Irene offers.
"What if I pose as a teen for a few weeks or until we figure out who we're after? I've posed as one before so I'm sure I could pull it off again." Rachel states.
Irene hesitates, "It's been a while. Do you even know what teens are like?"
"I'm sure I can catch on." Rachel is confident.
"And what about the lack of school since it's summer?" Irene points out logically.
"It can be managed. I'm sure with a little scouting I can find my way into the inner circle. They're probably the richest kid on the block or something like that. When I find my door in, I get into a party and I make some friends. After I make some friends, I can figure out who Marie needs to meet."
They seem to be ignoring that Marie is the one who had the visions, so she quickly reminds them. "Um, you won't recognize them. I will!"
Rachel turns her attention to the younger girl, "Once I've narrowed down the possibilities, I'll take them to meet you, introducing you as my sister or something. Then you'll be able to identify them and we can hurry up and get them to avoid whatever you're supposed to make them avoid. In the meantime, Irene might have a vision to help me narrow down the possibilities. We really only know that he's a teen and he's a boy. You say he's really powerful, as well. Do you remember anything else?"
"No," Marie utters a little dejectedly. She wishes, since she's thrown herself headfirst into telling them about him, that she knew more.
"Will you tell us if you remember more?" Irene emphasizes.
"'Course I will."
Irene and Rachel seem a little doubtful, but they return to their scheming.
…
The following morning the trio makes a run to the mall for food and teen-appropriate wear. The wear is both clothing-wise and skin-wise. Rachel is surveying what teens appear to like most around these parts. She knows if she wants a chance of getting into the upper echelon of teen society she has to be attractive.
She observes several potential people to imitate, aside from making herself so unnaturally curvy and skinny it's practically sickening. There's a blonde by the name of Starr and a Latino named Paulina. From the number of girls and guys hanging on this "Paulina's" every word, she's in the highest ranks. Rachel takes mental note of the social order. A Chinese or Asian teen almost large enough to appear full-grown goes by the name of Kwan and appears to be dating Starr. Paulina is going out with a traditional football man, blonde and muscular. Guessing by the looks, Kwan is the smartest of the humans. The blonde is a meathead-jock stereotype if ever she saw one.
She decides on an appearance and ducks behind a pillar in a rare camera-free zone, transforming into a ridiculous girl she wants to laugh at. She looks downright freakish, she notes, as she glances in a reflecting window.
The girl she uses the appearance of has jet black hair, tanned skin, and amber eyes. The eyes are a little touch straight out of boredom land. She doesn't want to stick with the old commoner look, and she might as well attract attention. She tries to avoid appearing threatening as a love-interest, that way she doesn't make enemies of the top dogs, but she still has to look good enough to get into the ranks. Money and looks are key, after all.
She uses the ridiculous versions of "sexy" that appeal to some people, with an unnaturally thin waist that would surely signal anorexia in a girl who couldn't reshape her bones at a moment's notice and gives herself cartoonishly big breasts, before toning it down a little. She likes mocking people's ideas of perfect, but even idiots would notice something was wrong about her figure. She expands her waist a little and brings the chest size down. She looks horrible, but she's probably every teenage boy's wet dream and that's the intent. The clothes, of course, are revealing, since trying to attract attention without skinny clothes is pointless, but she makes a point to wear normal jeans, even if the shirt is intentionally expensive.
Next comes the approach. She struts up to Paulina with a bold step, telling herself she gets a smoothie and a doughnut for making herself do this. Taking a deep internal breath, she pitches her voice higher and asks, "Hi, I'm new here in town. Are there any good clothing outlets here at the mall?"
Paulina pauses, staring. Rachel is reasonably sure she's being assessed on threat level, especially since the males are staring at her, too. Tensions rise like rubber bands preparing to snap until Paulina states, "Who're you?"
Okay, questions. That's a good sign, Rachel tells herself. "My name is Rachel Adler. Yours?"
Once again she gets a pause. "Paulina Sanchez. Over there" gesturing to a side store, "that's a good place. Most of the clothes around here are crap."
The threat has passed, and Rachel realizes she's probably been approved on the grounds that she won't ever be here again. She lets the rich girl keep her ideas and disappears behind another nice pot of plants, changing back to her proper human self, making her way back to Marie and Irene.
"I've introduced myself," Rachel reports. "Now I've just got to make them stay friendly. Chopped ham?"
"Sure. You never know when you'll need a good sandwich. Marie already got the whole wheat bread and jam and I blame her for the cereal. Good luck-and what's your name?"
"I'm using my real name, Rachel Adler. Like it?"
"Works for me." Irene grins. "Just be careful about name-mixing."
…
Next on the list of important things is registration. They don't realize it until they've been there for a few days, but they're supposed to sign a visitor sheet telling the government about them and their reasons for being in Amity Park. Since they can't exactly put down "Following a prophecy made by a six year old", they go with "For business." They aren't sure why they need to register to go anywhere, but it helps them into the environment. Strangely, 'for pleasure' isn't an option.
Rachel Adler, Teen Supermodel, makes it into the big leagues (so to speak) within a few days. She's pretty sure it's because Paulina is afraid to not keep tabs on her, but any excuse is a good excuse. Not long afterwards, she brings up the idea of a huge summer bash and persuades Paulina to throw one. She gets stuck with a lot of the decorating but in the end it works out. It'll be worth it as an introduction to the crowd of teenagers she has to pick a single mutant from. It'll be at her house and all the teens are coming. Rachel wonders how she'll put up with human idiocy for much longer (though social ranks are common in all cultures, with mutants it's based on power levels, not so much riches).
This is important information for my readers-make sure you see it!
This is part of a two-part update. On the day after tomorrow-or something like that-I will post the other chapter.
I have started a side story called Montage which will feature little snippets of life during, before, and after Hidden Phantom.
I do need to put my education ahead of my writing, so I will not be doing/continuing VALKA for quite some time.
That's all! Please leave a review and maybe a little bit of a snippet idea! This actually includes AUs as well as short pieces. I may also begin a little side story at some point in the same universe(basic setting, several events different) with a little surprise in it. It likely wouldn't be longer than 10 chapters. Oh, and to make you feel better about the wait, the next chapter is about 9000+ words excluding the AN, so about 17 Microsoft Word sheets at Calibri 11 font!
-MialinK