Dusk/Dawn
01/03/11
Once again Taylor Hebert found herself walking from the closest bus stop to The Champion's District, this time with the intention of acquiring something that would help her do something she never thought she would actually do; both making and actually committing to a New Years resolution. In this case, she was on her way to McCullough's Music for a book on how to play the flute, after all her mother would more than likely want her to not have her flute go to waste especially with its recovery and repair by her eccentric neighbors and their odd grandson. This wasn't a decision made likely and she did tell her father, who was surprisingly OK with this endeavor and fully supportive. At first she was quite confused, after all the very sight of her mother's flute was enough to bring her father to tears prior to her father's odd affliction and sudden recovery. A strange change in his behavior but a welcome one. Her father was keeping true to his word of no longer drinking and actually trying to be a proper father again, he was under the impression that it was his drinking that had made him become such a drastically angrier and more aggressive mess.
The growling and rumbling of her stomach broke her thoughts on her father's changed behavior, and she silently cursed her haste to leave the house without eating. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it; M&M 's Market. She still had quite the sum of money from that pompous ass had forced into her hand the other day, popping in for some snacks to tide her over wouldn't hurt. Taylor walked to the market door, ready to satiate her hunger. Suddenly the door swung open striking her in the cheek and making her yelp at the sudden and quickly fading pain.
"OH SHIT!"
Evidently it was a girl who had recklessly opened the door. This girl was fretting over Taylor, entering her personal space and trying to gently bring her inside the market.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" the girl cried "Let me help!"
"It's alright-" Taylor tried to reassure the girl that she was fine, hoping that she would stop touching her "-it's not that bad, I'm fine"
The girl either ignored or didn't hear her and continued fretting, gently bringing Taylor inside the market, much to her chagrin.
"Is anything broken? Oh my god, I don't have insurance! Wait!" the girl continued her frantic and panicked spiel "I can get a part time job at the market and do the stock market! Wait I'm only fourteen I can't get a part time job! I'm going to have to sell a kidney!"
Taylor had enough, she quickly grabbed the girl's arms and brought them down to her sides.
"Stop! I. Am. Fine." she said looking in to the girl's dark brown eyes "It was not that bad. Please stop."
The girl's eyes went wide and then she let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Yokatta! I'm sorry!" the girl said "I wasn't looking when I opened the door."
Taylor held up her hands, hoping to get this strange girl to stop
"Really it's fine, I'm fine."
The girl put her hand up to her face and bit her thumb in contemplation. Taylor took in her appearance; standing about her height, wearing a brown parka with the faux fur lined hood up, some semi-baggy jeans, and work boots. An ensemble more appropriate for a boy than a fourteen year old girl.
"Let me make it up to you" the girl said hammering her fist into her open palm
Taylor's eyes darted around and she slowly attempted to back away from the strange girl
"Look, appreciated, but I really don't think that's-"
"Nonsense!" The girl interrupted with sunny cheer, taking Taylor's hands in hers "I beaned you with the door, you clearly came in here to get something, allow me to make it up to you!"
Taylor continuously protested and attempted to get away, but this strange girl had a sense of gravity about her that she couldn't quite escape. The girl guided Taylor to the plastic patio furniture by the restaurant section of the odd hybrid eatery and Asian market. Reluctantly, she took a seat
"Papí!" The girl cried out "Dos òrdenes de asada fries! On me!"
Taylor heard the cook laugh heartily, and salute with his spatula
"Sí mija, right away!"
The girl sat across from Taylor, unzipping and removing her parka as she did, revealing a black shirt with a yellow-red-yellow stripe across the chest and above that a squiggly white line with a dot above the rising squiggle on the right.
"My name is Lily, my parents own and run the store." The girl explained, a flash of realization reaching her "You want something to drink? On me."
"Taylor." Taylor said shortly "Again, this is too much, you really don't have to do this"
"Nonsense!" The girl said again with a wave, then grabbing a pair of half liter glass bottles of Coke from one of the fridges "Can't have a meal without something to drink!"
Lily sat down across from Taylor, popping the bottle caps off with a bottle opener off her key ring before sliding Taylor's bottle to her.
"So." Lily began "What brings you out to the Champion's District?"
Taylor gave the strange dusky girl a look of utter confusion
"How do you know I was heading there?"
Lily chuckled and gave her a placating wave "It isn't just that shopping center, that's just the center. The four blocks around it are very much a part of it."
Taylor shook her head in confusion, squinting her eyes trying to wrap her head around that.
"That's kind of weird. So it's not just the shopping center, but the four blocks of unrelated businesses and offices around the place? Just arbitrarily like that?"
Lily smiled brightly "Yup!"
Taylor sighed and then took a sip of the coke "Alright, what do you know about this place? Cause before December I didn't even know this place existed and I have lived here my whole life."
"Well, it's the kind of place you either find by total accident when you need it most or when someone tells you about it." Lily said with a shrug "Kind of an open secret I guess. Nobody's really hiding it or whatever, just one of those things that when you know, you know, y'know?"
She really didn't
Before Taylor could continue with her line of questioning, Lily's father came out from behind the grill and set down a pair of Styrofoam containers with wrapped plastic cutlery and several small plastic cups filled with sauces and chopped vegetables
"Enjoy yourselves señoritas, as always the papas were cut with love and pride, the asada was seasoned and grilled to perfection, and the salsas, guacamole, and pico de gallo have been made separate if you would prefer just the fries, cheese, and meat." Lily's father said with a flourish and the vague impression of a waiter at a high class establishment, clashing with the apron with many grease stains and casual clothes he was wearing.
"Gracias papí." Lily said accepting a peck on the top of the head
Taylor opened the container, releasing a delectable scent of meat and potatoes instantly making her mouth water. Breaking the hunger trance she was in, Lily clapped her hands together and gave a mighty shout
"Ittadakimasu!"
Taylor cocked a brow at that, a strange word that she had heard Greg from school mention once; weeaboo. While she may not have been one hundred percent certain on the meaning, she felt that maybe this strange Hispanic girl may have been one. When she began eating however, Taylor's expression changed to that of bile fascination. The girl tore into her food in such a way as to somehow just skirt the line of basic table etiquette but also still tear into her food like a ravenous animal. Absentmindedly, Taylor speared a chunk of cheese, meat, and fries on her fork and ate it slowly as she watched the girl devour the food. The simple yet elegant combination of the savory meat, the starch of the fried to perfection potatoes, and the melted cheese broke the trance upon her. Taking another experimental bite and savoring the flavor. Unlike the girl across from her, Taylor continued eating the delectable, and free, dish slowly and calmly. Lily took a moment to take a swig of her coke to wash down the food that had been reduced to smears of salsa and guac against the styrofoam container.
"Oishi!" she said after a very unladylike belch "So! What do you think about the big news?"
Taylor paused mid bite and looked at the strange perky girl
"What do you mean?"
"You know, PHO getting hacked and stolen by some super hacker, Nilbog dying, Heartbreaker and his kids getting assassinated?"
Taylor was rather surprised at that sentence, three impossible things mid brunch.
"Really?" She asked as she slowly closed the food container and leaned forward towards Lily
"Yeah!" Lily replied, digging through her pants pockets and producing one of those touch screen smart phones that had become popular in the last few years, on the back of it was a golden horn logo. "Check it out. Be sure to tap Bagrat's links"
Lily handed the phone over, Taylor taking it gingerly and seeing a strange mobile version of PHO on the screen. Even if it weren't a mobile version, Taylor recognized that the site had gone through several visual changes; for one there were a handful of new boards; Traffic Reports, The Art of Ass Kicking, an entire NSFW board that could only be accessed by people with accounts, and an anonymous segment that seemed indicative of that one website that got taken down when they started unmasking capes. The thread that Lily had on screen was the first of these "Traffic Reports" and had hit seventy-seven pages before being locked by the new head admin and owner DoktorD. Evidently DoktorD was also advertising one of the new features with his avatar; a looping gif of a hooded skull wearing rainbow shutter shades and lolling a rainbow tongue. Taylor clicked on the first link; a press conference from the Canadian Prime Minister.
According to the PM's speech; the Canadian government hired an independent private contractor to assassinate Heartbreaker and deal with his Heartbroken. Heartbreaker was confirmed dead along with many of his Parahuman children, the Heartbroken that could be rehabilitated were taken to the appropriate facilities and in many cases reunited with their families, the Parahuman children that didn't resist are in isolation and being vetted to see if they are fit to join society under new identities, or in the care of their mother's family where appropriate. The Prime Minister attributed many mysterious deaths and disappearances around Canada and the United States to the independent contractor, saying that they had very reliable intelligence that they were all Heartbreaker's agents and time bombs. What shocked Taylor the most was that the Prime Minister had admitted that his own daughter was among the Heartbroken that couldn't be rehabilitated and had taken her own life, then giving a scathing dressing down of the Protectorate and the Guild. Saying that if they had been more proactive or competent, his daughter and the daughters of so many others would still be alive and free. The Prime Minister also had announced a massive scaling back of funding to the Protectorate and Guild and it being reallocated towards a laundry list of programs and further training to local and national law enforcement.
Tapping the back button on the screen and following the next link, to a press release by the Protectorate regarding the events at Ellisburg, Taylor began reading, her eyes furrowed in intense concentration. Taylor read the press release at least six times over trying to squeeze as much information from the rather vague wording, the press release implied that the Protectorate had sent in an infiltration team to assassinate Nilbog with great assistance from a survivor that managed to survive over a decade within the Ellisburg Quarantine Zone that they made contact with under unspecified means. This contrasted greatly with the post by DoktorD that said it was all that survivor and the PRT did nothing. Taylor was more inclined to believe the Protectorate's press release than some "super hacker" and knew that it was clearly the Protectorate finally able to take the fight to a monstrous villain.
Taylor handed the phone back to Lily "That's crazy…" was all she could say
"I know right?" Lily said with a smile and a nod "Everyone's been talking about it, a lot more than all that crazy spoopy-spooky stuff down in Mexico. I mean El Presidente does a midnight address in the heart of Sinaloa on New Years, that's pretty damn weird. How had you not heard about it?"
"I was cleaning the house with my father." Taylor replied, recalling the surprisingly relaxing and comfy bonding experience "Fixing thins that were left aside for too long."
"Makes sense" Lily said with utter sincerity before a look of shock replaced it "Damn! Got sidetracked, meant to ask; What brings you to the Champion's District?"
Taylor shook her head and gave Lily a small smile, she noted that despite being quite similar to Madison's facade of kindness, Lily seemed completely genuine. Normally she would be be wary of such people, hoping to blend in and be unnoticed. Taylor attributed to a sense of warmth about this strange girl, altogether she seemed like the sun after a particularly dreary and cold period of time.
"I'm on my way to McCullough's Music." She said truthfully "Was hoping to catch Saoirse and ask her if she could help me get a book or something on learning the flute."
At the mention of Saoirse, Lily brightened "You know my madrina?"
"I don't know what that means." Taylor said truthfully
"AH! Sorry." Lily said, sheepishly "It's Spanish for godmother, when I'm excited I start going in to Spanish, Japanese, Spanglish, Japanglish, or when I've been speaking Japanese for a while. Engrish."
"Yeah, she's my neighbor." Taylor was yet again stumped by this very strange girl "You actually speak Japanese? You're not some weeaboo or whatever they're called?"
"Hai! To the first thing, not the second." Lily said with a salute "I'm a hafu, my dad's Mexican, mom's Japanese. Martin and Makoto of the M&M Market!"
Taylor chuckled at the display of the girl's apparently very genuine and natural positivity and radiance
"So, have you met Saoirse's grandson yet?" Lily asked
"Yes I have."
"What's he like?" Lily said with lights shining with enthusiastic curiosity "I just got back from visiting my Baa-chan in Tokyo, and haven't had the chance to visit yet."
"Well, he actually works at their store whenever he can." Taylor said with a smile "He's probably there now."
As soon as Taylor finished her sentence, Lily gave a deep gasp and then split her face with a wide smile. Before Taylor could ask if she was ok, Lily sped off to grab a plastic bag and gave her father a peck on the cheek along with a "Bye daddy!" before returning to the table and sticking one of the bottle caps back on to Taylor's bottle of Coke.
"Pack up your stuff." Lily said, vibrating with excitement "We have to go now before we miss him!"
Cautiously, she did so. Lily then put her parka back on and took Taylor by the hand and dragged her out of the store with great speed. In what seemed like only a mere moment, the pair of girls were in front of McCullough's and Taylor was almost completely out of breath.
"You're a lot stronger than you look." Taylor said, giving Lily a glare "Felt like I was a damn kite in the wind."
Lily only chuckled and gave Taylor a conciliatory pat on the back
"Sorry, I got a little excited." She said with a big smile "You know, with legs like that I figured you'd be a runner. If you want a work-out buddy, I have a plus one guess pass for the gym I frequent."
Taylor intensified her glare but mentally considered it. It would help if the Trio ever got back on their bullshit, and maybe this girl would make a good friend. Maybe.
Taylor walked past her new tentative acquaintance and through the door of the music store. Sitting at the desk was a rather bored and antsy looking Walt Connolly and a very strange black cat with a white spot on its chest was sprawled out over the front desk. Upon their eyes meeting, Walt's expression changed to a small smile.
"Welcome back." he said with a sigh of relief "Saoirse's out and all I've already done everything I could possibly do in the store."
Taylor looked at the cat and then back to Walt. "What's with the cat?"
Walt glared at the cat and then gave Taylor a pained look "It followed me home and won't leave me alone, Finn and Saoirse have decided that a pet would do me some good and made me adopt it."
"Neko da!"
"Oh right" Taylor thought to herself "Lily was here too."
Taylor and Walt watched as this strange perky girl slowly walked up to the cat, uttering nonsense baby speak, and then cuddling with the cat to the creature's joy
"Who's this?" Walt said, for lack of anything else coming to mind
"Walt. Lily." Taylor said gesturing from one to the other "Lily. Walt."
At the second utterance of her name, Lily perked up and locked eyes with Walt. Her face splitting in a wide smile.
"Hello!" she said while embracing him tightly "It's so nice to meet my god-nephew!"
Walt's eyes went wide with shock and his posture stiffened. Walt's gaze quickly went from his current trapper, to Taylor, and even the strange cat. Begging either Taylor or the cat for help
"Um. Excuse me miss Lily?" he said nervously "Can you please let me go?"
"Not done yet." Lily replied, purring along with the cat that seemed rather smug
"Lily." Taylor sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose "He asked you to stop. Stop."
With a pout, she reluctantly did.
"Console me neko-kun…" she muttered as she picked up the cat and embraced it "The hugging of my god-nephew has been cut short."
Before the inevitable awkward silence fell between the three, Saoirse walked through the door beaming as she saw Lily and Taylor.
"Ah! I see the both of you have met Lily." she said with a chuckle "Taylor, I was wondering when you would come in again. How can I help you?"
Taylor took a deep breath "I want to learn how to play the flute. Could you help me?"
Saoirse smiled warmly "As a matter of fact, I know just the person to be your teacher."