"We still need to get a new car, Dad," Taylor said as she squeezed her tail into the front passenger seat. "Something with more room for Lizard-Americans."
He watched with a smile, shook his head, then started the engine. "Things got on top of us recently as you're well aware. I told you we'll get one. Perhaps we can look around next week."
"You should ask Amy's mom to help, she probably still has some 'terrify car dealers' power left in her," she commented, making little finger quotes, which made him grin momentarily. After a short while, as they were heading down the street, she asked, "Do you like your coat? Is it warm enough?"
Looking down at it for a second, her father nodded, smiling widely. "I love it, Taylor. It's very warm, very comfortable, and very cool. I think Lisa wants something like it now as well. Not to mention half the guys in the office. Zephron was eyeing it in a sort of acquisitive way this afternoon."
"He'd never fit into it, even with the folded space," she replied. "I'll have to come up with a standard DWU jacket or something. They all wear pretty much the same thing."
"That would probably go down very well, actually," he nodded. "Not a bad idea." Glancing at her for a moment, he said, "Lisa was extremely impressed with your warping of nature to make it, in fact. She was also annoyed that she didn't see it herself."
Taylor shrugged, smiling. "Even Lisa can't think of everything. None of us can. It took Varga and me hours to come up with it and when we did it was all like, 'Huh, that's obvious.' Which it was in hindsight."
"Often the way," he agreed. "So, who's coming to this little party? I'd guess from what you said this morning most of New Wave at least."
"Yep. All of them other than Crystal, she couldn't make it. Plus Eric, my Eric that is, not theirs, Rich, Mandy, and Lucy."
"All right." He gave her a suspicious look, which she returned with an innocent one. "No one else?"
"I… may have invited Kurt and Lacey," she admitted, smiling a little. "And Lacey's mom. Unfortunately she couldn't come, she's still not feeling very well. They've got a neighbor looking after her."
"I see. Well, that sounds like an interesting group. I expect we'll have a good time."
"Hopefully," she replied, looking ahead with a hidden smile. "We'll have to see."
He gave her another look, even more suspicious this time, but she didn't expand on her comment. Returning to driving he headed for Downtown and the car park.
"Can I drive?"
"No."
"Aww."
"You're the one who said you could always fly everywhere, Vicky." Amy gave her sister a stern glare. "My truck, my rules. I drive."
The blonde nodded sadly, then grinned at her in a total mood change. "Not bad, you sounded just like Mom."
"That's what I was going for," Amy smiled.
"I heard that, you know," Carol said from behind them.
"Oh, I know," she replied, looking over her shoulder, still smiling. "You were meant to."
She'd offered to drive the family so Carol and Mark could drink if they wanted to. All four of them got into her truck and she started it up with one hand while pulling her seat belt on with the other. "It's a very nice vehicle, Amy," her father said from the rear seat, looking around with interest. He'd obviously taken his anti-depressants today, he was much more in the now than was often the case. Once more she wondered about the idea of giving him a symbiote. It was something she'd been pondering ever since she came up with the things. There were some remaining problems, of course, but…
She wanted the man she knew he could be, and sometimes was, back for good.
Deciding to talk it over with Taylor and Lisa later, she nodded, smiling at him in the rear view mirror. "I like it. It's really comfortable and handles well. And Ianthe can fit in the back."
Her three passengers looked around to the rear window, which opened into the covered pickup part of the truck. "A little too small for Raptaur, though, probably," she added. "Not to mention she's kind of heavy. Around a ton which might be too much for this. Ianthe's a lot lighter. Still heavy, though."
"You really do have some odd friends, Amy," Carol sighed.
"But they're good friends even so, Mom," she giggled. "I have a lot of fun with them." Indicating, she reversed out of the driveway, then put the vehicle in drive and accelerated away. "I've had a lot more fun since I first met Saurial than I have had in years."
"I've certainly noticed you've cheered up a lot," her mother commented, smiling a little. "I suppose that's a good thing, despite the somewhat… unique… company you keep."
"You like them, Mom, I know you do," she said, overtaking a slower car. "If nothing else they put twenty grand into the family in one day and gave us all new costumes. Which isn't a bad thing, and I know you enjoyed yourself on Tuesday."
The older woman looked mildly dubious when she checked the mirror, but eventually and slightly reluctantly nodded. "I suppose."
"It was nice of Taylor to invite us all," Vicky said brightly, clearly trying to change the subject. "I like her dad."
"So do I, Danny's a really nice guy," Amy replied. Reaching out she turned on the radio, turning it down and letting it play soft background music. "I'm glad she did as well."
"How many other people will be there?" her father asked.
"Um… about eighteen or nineteen in total, I think. Including us. Some people from school, some of Danny's friends from the DWU. He doesn't know about them."
"I see. Thank you, Amy."
They were silent for a while, Vicky gently bobbing around next to her to the beat of the music. Eventually her mother asked, slightly tentatively, "Out of interest, do you happen to know how many of the Family there really are?"
Amy shared a glance with her sister, who looked quietly amused. "Not for sure. I know about six of them."
"Six!" Carol stared at her. "I only know of four."
"Saurial, Raptaur, and Kaiju, they're the ones the public knows about, then Ianthe came along. But they've mentioned another one, Umihebi, who spends most of her time in the sea. She's… kind of big."
"Bigger than Kaiju?" Her mother's voice was somewhat uncertain.
"Bit bigger, yes." Amy tried not to burst out laughing. "Sort of a sea serpent, that's how she was described to me. And there's another one of Ianthe's branch of the family, a sister of hers I think, she's apparently about the same size and shape only a different color. Ianthe said she'd probably visit soon, she seemed quite eager to show her around. They really like the city."
"Oh, god," Carol sighed. "We're going to be up to our necks in lizards at this rate." She said it very quietly, though. Mark patted her hand gently.
"It's not that bad, dear," he comforted her. "And they're all good people, so far at least." Meeting his adopted daughter's eyes in the mirror, he asked, "How many different branches of the Family are there?"
"I'm not sure," she replied, thinking that they should probably work this out at some point. Since they were designing them from scratch it was easy enough, but she didn't feeling like sharing this information. "Raptaur's side are the ones with the most contact with… well, us, I guess. Ianthe's side are still learning, but they seem to like it so far. But it explains a few of their slightly odd mannerisms."
Amy didn't really want to lie to her parents, but she couldn't see any way around it. Telling the truth would instantly get Carol screaming at her, and if the PRT found out god knows what would happen. Biotinkers were practically the Parahuman equivalent of sex offenders in their eyes, rightly or wrongly, considering the examples of Nilbog, Bonesaw, and in some ways, Blasto. They only ranked just below human Masters in the PRT's threat assessments, and probably even higher than that in the eyes of the public.
It was far better to be a Family biosculptor and be seen as just a weird alien lizard thing with some odd skills, than the biological daughter of a major villain and a Biotinker, or whatever it really was that her powers made her. That way led to persecution and trouble, she had no doubt at all, and Lisa's power backed her up. So that was out. Maybe one day the truth could come out, maybe not, but she wasn't going to risk either her family or her Family on it. Not with the way the legal system was stacked against Parahumans with uncomfortable abilities. She had zero interest in ending up trying to prove her innocence to anyone, but presumption of guilt was practically certain under the circumstances.
Ironically, it was only meeting Taylor that had made her sure that she wouldn't one day snap and do something terrible. It still gave her nightmares about how close she had been to that before, something she could recognize in hindsight when she thought back to her state of mind a few weeks ago. The thought made her shiver internally a little.
Mark was watching her with a somewhat intense look in his eyes, one that made her wonder for a moment how much of her internal musings he could work out. The look passed and he smiled faintly. "You make it sound like you think they really aren't human, or Parahumans, Amy."
"You know I couldn't tell you anything like that one way or the other, Dad," she smiled back.
"Of course. I won't push. You're doing right by your friends which is good. I'm just curious about them."
"That's fair enough. All I can say about their origins is that it's a little odd, but not bad."
"All right." He was silent for a moment. "So, if I have it right, Raptaur's branch of the family is… engineering and law enforcement?"
"Kind of," she grinned. It wasn't a bad guess. "Human-Family interactions as well. They like making things. I don't think you'd call them Tinkers, not like Armsmaster, they learn the hard way, but they also have some really weird ideas. Raptaur seems to get on very well with Armsmaster and Dragon. Legend as well, for that matter. They were talking for hours yesterday about something."
She noticed that Carol had relaxed a little. "Legend was there?" her mother queried. "And he trusts them?"
"He seems to," she agreed. "I don't know the details, but I was there in the morning when Ianthe came, then they arrived and we were asked to go away for a while because of some hush-hush project." She genuinely didn't know all the details of whatever weapon that Taylor was making with the odd group that had assembled, the girl had said she'd promised to keep it quiet, and Amy hadn't pushed. She'd find out sooner or later, that was pretty certain. Lisa hadn't asked either although Amy could see she was massively curious.
"Ianthe has some very cool abilities that let her heal as well, although it looks kind of weird. Her side of the family are… I guess the doctors, researchers, that sort of thing. Scientists, in a word."
"Not fighters, then."
"Oh, I wouldn't go that far. She's extremely strong and fast, nearly as tough as Vicky, and has some interesting built-in weapons." Amy checked the side mirror, then indicated and pulled out around a stopped vehicle. "She's not someone to take lightly."
"None of them are as far as I can see," Mark agreed. He shook his head a little. "Things certainly seem to have changed around here recently."
"For the better, do you think?" she asked, genuinely curious about his opinion. Her father considered the matter for a moment.
"Yes, I think so, despite the weirdness," he finally replied. "I know there's much less crime right now, people seem happier about the future, so it's all good from that point of view. The giant lizards are a little odd but they seem friendly."
Vicky snickered. "And have strange ideas about what's funny," she said.
"You laughed," Amy grinned.
"Of course I did. The ideas are strange, but they're still funny." Her sister looked at her with an expression of good humor. "I don't know how you managed to drag us all into the weird world of Amy Dallon, but so far I'm enjoying it."
"You met Saurial before any of us."
"And fucked it up big-time. I'm just lucky she had such a good sense of humor about it and was willing to let it go. I made a total mess of the introduction just because I was in a shitty mood." The girl abruptly looked upset for a moment. "It was really embarrassing."
"Hey, she said she didn't mind, none of them did," Amy smiled reassuringly. "It's all in the past. Let it go. You won't do anything like that again, and Raptaur likes you. She let you pull those buildings down, after all."
The blonde Dallon sister smiled again, looking like she was remembering something nice. "That was fun."
"Collateral Damage Barbie doing something useful for once," Amy smirked. Her sister gave her a sideways look, making her chuckle.
"Thanks. I like that name so much."
"It suits you."
They looked at each other, then stuck their tongues out, before laughing.
"Girls, please, a little decorum," Carol sighed. "Eyes on the road, Amy."
"Yes, Mom," she replied with a last glance at Vicky, who was still grinning.
Letting herself into the BBFO office, Lisa locked the door behind her, then disabled the alarm before heading towards Amy's workroom. Using the key which Taylor had made for her at the healer's request, she unlocked it and turned the lights on. Going into the second room she smiled at the dormant form of 'Ianthe'. "Hello, my scaly friend," she said softly, crossing her arms in front of her and grabbing the bottom of her t-shirt, then pulling it over her head. Soon she was standing there in her underwear, folding her clothes neatly and putting them on a nearby shelf out of the way.
She inspected the two-thirds complete form of the second bioconstruct, her own personal one, barely able even now to contain her excitement. Three weeks ago the mere idea would have probably made her cringe, if not stare in shock, but now all she felt was anticipation. Lisa could hardly wait. Stroking an exposed part-organic, part-metallic hip-bone, she studied the creation, letting her power look for flaws. It didn't find any and seemed as pleased as she was.
While she hadn't mentioned it to her friends, she could almost swear that in the last few days her power had started to feel like it was genuinely enjoying itself. Since the upgrades from Amy, it worked better, more smoothly, and without pain, and she was sometimes convinced she could feel a tiny thread of happiness coming from somewhere that wasn't her own mind. It was slightly freaky, but despite that she didn't mind.
Whatever the power was and wherever it came from, having it happy and contented was almost certainly better than the alternative, in her view. If only because it cooperated and didn't give her migraines, which she didn't miss in the slightest. Her thoughtful look was replaced with a smile again as she turned back to 'Ianthe', reaching out and putting her hand on its head in the activation signal. Stepping back she watched as the huge reptilian creature opened its eyes and stood, looking at her.
"Hello, Ianthe," she said quietly. The bioconstruct dipped its head and she stroked it gently. The damn thing was like a huge cat in some ways, mixed with a dinosaur. "Time for some more fun." It watched her as she made the hand signal to prepare it for use. It was already in the process of lying down before she even finished, making her smile. "You're learning," she commented, watching the access slit open up, then kneeling down.
A few minutes later, she locked the workroom behind her, putting the key into the pouch that was part of the harness she wore around her scaly torso, something Taylor had come up with the previous night. Her friend had pointed out that Ianthe needed places to store things and had designed and made several sets of 'clothing' for different purposes. This one was sort of a utility vest with sealed waterproof pockets that strapped around the reptilian body, fitting closely and tightly, color-matched to her scales like Raptaur's armor was. It was barely visible unless you were looking for it.
Scratching the back of her head with one talon, Lisa looked at the table and the box sitting on it, grinned, then went and sat on her tail at the computers, deciding to troll PHO for a while until it was time.
"Hello, Miss Hebert," the man at the door said pleasantly, smiling at her as he checked the register he had next to him on tall stand. "Your table is ready, two of your guests have arrived before you."
"Thanks," Taylor said, smiling back. "Everyone else should be here soon, I hope."
"That's fine, there's no hurry," he replied. "Please follow me." He led them to the back of the restaurant, past a number of other tables full of diners, to where three of the rectangular tables had been pushed together and covered with a very long tablecloth.
"Hello, Danny," one of the two people sitting there said happily, standing up when she spotted them.
"Lacey, it's nice to see you. How is your mother doing?" Taylor's father replied, meeting her as she reached out and hugged him.
"Not too badly," Lacey replied, turning to Taylor and hugging her as well. "Hello, Taylor. I haven't seen you for quite a while. You've grown."
"It must be over a year," Taylor agreed. "Thanks for coming."
"It's our pleasure," Kurt, who had also stood, said with a smile of his own. "Thanks for the invitation. This is a nice place. From what I'm told it's hard to get a booking these days."
"Not if you know the right people and mercilessly abuse that fact," she giggled, which made him roar with laughter.
"You've taught her well, Danny," Kurt grinned, shaking hands with her father, who looked proudly at her.
"I've tried. She seems to have worked a lot of it out herself," he replied. "She'll be teaching me soon."
Lacey sat again, while Taylor's father pulled a chair out for her, which made her amused. He sat down next to her having taken his coat off and hung it over the back of his chair. "Mom sent her apologies for not coming but she's not up to it right now," Lacey said. "She's recovered a lot, though. Much more than the doctors thought likely. Hopefully that will continue. She's in good spirits if nothing else, just a little weak and easily tired."
"I hope she does get better, I always liked your mother," Taylor's father smiled. "Strong old woman."
"She's that for sure," Kurt grinned. "And quick tongued with it. You should have heard some of the things she said when Lacey brought me home." He shook his head respectfully. "Didn't take shit from anyone, never mind some kid from the docks who was after her daughter."
Lacey was looking amused and winked at Taylor, who giggled. "She was… unimpressed," the older woman said confidentially. "Poor Kurt had to prove himself. In olden times she'd have sent him on a quest or something. You know, bring me the flower from the top of the highest mountain in a faraway country, something like that. She had standards."
"Which I finally met," Kurt snickered. "It took a while though. She was looking at me suspiciously for years."
"Dad liked him immediately, but Mom took a lot more convincing," Lacey chuckled, reaching for her water glass, then taking a sip. "So, who else is coming? This table is pretty big."
"Some friends from school," Taylor replied, pouring herself and her father some water as well, then putting the jug down. "And most of New Wave."
"New Wave?" Kurt queried with a look of surprise.
"Yep. You know Amy Dallon is a friend of mine, right?"
"Danny mentioned it. The girl has been hanging around the yard a lot as well with the Family. Now that's a strange bunch." He shook his head in wonder. "When I came back after New York I didn't expect to see giant lizard-people running around pulling buildings down."
"It seems to have worked out pretty well, though," her father noted.
"It has. I'm very pleased with everything, just really, really puzzled," Kurt smiled. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, we're getting a lot of work out of it. Best thing to happen in decades."
"Glad you think so."
"So, anyway," Taylor said as the two men looked pleased with the situation, "New Wave. They helped out a lot on Tuesday, they're Amy's family, and I thought it would be nice to invite them. Plus some friends from school, and a few more people."
"A few more people?" her father asked, looking at her with his eyebrows up. "Who would that be?"
"That would be them," Taylor grinned, pointing. He turned around to see Zephron, Mark and a woman she knew was his wife Suzanne, and John, the guy who had been with Zephron when she and her father had taken on Winslow weeks ago, all walking towards them. Like the rest of them, the new arrivals were dressed very nicely, which she privately thought made Zephron at least look like a hit-man or something. She wondered where he'd found a suit that nice in a size that large. The guy was enormous, nearly as big as Amy's uncle.
"I see," her father said, glancing back at her. "Anyone else you invited?"
She just looked at him, making him sigh faintly. "Something weird is going to happen, isn't it?"
"No comment," she smirked.
"Girls. Teenaged girls particularly. Too sneaky for my own good." Shaking his head, he stood up to greet the new arrivals. "Hi, guys, thanks for coming."
"It's our pleasure, Padrone," Zephron rumbled, winking at Taylor, who grinned. Her father sighed again.
"Must you?"
"Yes. I must." The huge man looked pleased with his own wit. "Boss."
"Just sit down and stop embarrassing yourself," her father instructed sternly, pointing at a chair. Zephron snapped off a crisp salute which made Mark laugh, then sat obediently.
Taylor listened to the adults talking, feeling pleased with how things were going. She was looking forward to her surprise later. A familiar scent from the doorway direction made her look over, seeing Amy and Vicky enter moments later. She excused herself and got up, heading over to them. The healer looked her way and smiled, waving.
"Hi, Taylor," she said. Vicky greeted her as well, looking pleased.
"Hi, guys. Where's everyone else?"
"We parked next to Aunt Sarah, Mom and Dad are coming with them," Vicky remarked. "Any moment now." Sure enough, seconds after she spoke, Taylor could smell and hear the rest of the combined Dallon and Pelham clan approaching. Soon there were a large number of people standing around. She greeted all of them, Amy introducing her to the family members who hadn't met her before, then waved to her table.
"Over here, everyone."
Leading the way, she waited as the introductions were made. As the new arrivals were in the process of sitting down, she noticed more people coming in, so went over to greet them as well. Mandy and Lucy were first, followed by Eric and Rich only about thirty seconds later. "Hi," she smiled, hugging the two girls, then shaking hands with the boys. "Looks like that's everyone now." Turning to the man who had greeted them, who she knew was the manager, she added, "I'll get everyone to work out what they want. Can you send over the drinks menu as well, please?"
"Certainly, Miss Hebert," he replied, motioning to one of the waiters, who nodded back and quickly headed towards a cabinet on the wall.
"Ooh, Miss Hebert! How formal," Mandy giggled. "You have pull in this town."
"Yes, I do, and don't you forget it," Taylor replied with equanimity. "Not only do I know the Mayor's sister's handbag, but restaurant managers are as polite to me as they would be to any random person about to spend a lot of money in their restaurant." Mandy snickered at her dry tone, following her back to the table with the others trailing along.
Yet again, a whole series of introductions were made. Mandy and Lucy initially both seemed slightly overawed at meeting an entire family of superheroes. They soon realized that they were just Amy and Vicky's parents and relatives, not something from a comic book, and became much more relaxed pretty quickly.
Eric, from school, and Eric, from the Pelham's, ended up sitting next to each other, soon talking about all sorts of things, Rich joining in happily. Mandy and Lucy were listening and making the occasional comment, mostly jokes from the former, who seemed in very good spirits. Taylor met Amy's eyes, smiling at her. All their friends seemed to be having fun.
Having made selections of drinks, everyone fell silent for a few minutes while they read the menus, finally coming up with a long list of starters and main courses. The waiter was kept busy for nearly ten minutes writing it all down, but eventually he'd collected the menus, thanked them, and disappeared again.
Taylor looked around at the people about the table, all of them apparently getting on well and talking to each other, smiling to herself. It was nice to see. She spent some time chatting with Kurt and Lacey, catching up with them since she hadn't seen much of them for a fair while. Eventually, she picked up her glass of coke and stood, flicking it with a fingernail to produce a chiming clink. The conversations died down as everyone looked at her.
"I'm glad everyone could make it," she started. "I just wanted to express my appreciation to our friends, both old and new, for coming to help me celebrate my father's forty-fourth birthday in style. He may be old and decrepit but he's the only father I have so I want this to go well." She smiled down at her father, who was looking amused at her little speech. "Obviously, at his age he'll probably have forgotten all this by next week, but at least I'll know I did my daughterly duty."
"Thank you very much, Taylor," he commented with a grin. She bowed a little to him, grinning back.
"My pleasure." Turning to the table again, the people around it all snickering, she finished, "To Danny Hebert!" Holding up her glass, she was pleased when everyone else stood up and repeated the toast, clinking various drinking vessels together for nearly a minute.
Sitting down again, she nodded to the waiter who had been approaching as she started, and had politely paused during the toast. He returned the gesture, waving on two colleagues who were pushing trolleys covered in plates. "This is all on me, by the way, so don't worry about ordering anything you want," she added.
"Are you sure, Taylor?" Lacey asked with mild concern. "The bill is going to be very large with this number of people."
"It's fine, Lacey, I have more than enough money for… reasons I don't want to think about," she smiled. "I'm happy to spend some of it on Dad. It's only fair after what he's spent on me over the years."
The older woman seemed a little unconvinced, but also pleased at her words. "You're a very good person, Taylor," she said.
"Thanks. I'm not sure I am, but I try."
Beside her, her father put his hand on her shoulder, making her look at him. His face was alight with pride. "You are, believe me," he said in a low voice. "Thank you for all of this."
"Anything for you, Dad," she replied in a similar tone.
Exchanging a look for a moment, both of them smiled, then waited for their food to be served. "Who had the beef panang?" One of the waiters looked around the table. Lucy raised a hand.
"That's me."
"Here you go, miss," he replied, walking around and placing the dish in the middle of the table in front of her. "Please be careful, the bowl is very hot." He and his colleagues had soon efficiently served everyone else, then removed the trolleys. The first waiter looked around at them all.
"Does anyone require anything else?" he asked.
"Can I have another coke, please?" Rich asked. The man nodded, making a note on his pad. Several other people ordered more drinks, and two more bowls of rice were needed, but in the end they were all satisfied and happily eating.
"This really is very good," Zephron commented after a while. "I haven't been in here before. From what I heard it's doing very well these days." He looked at Amy, who grinned. "Thanks to you and a friend."
"Saurial and I both like Thai," she said. "It was a very good meal. If they got some good publicity out of it, it seems fair, they went to a lot of effort to accommodate us."
"They seemed more than happy to make a late booking for her," Taylor added with a smile of her own. He looked at her, as did most of the others. "If you know a celebrity, it should come with benefits."
"And I'm not celebrity enough?" Amy demanded, although she was obviously trying not to giggle.
"You are merely the city's, no, perhaps the world's, premier Parahuman healer. Saurial is cute." Taylor smirked at her friend, who rolled her eyes, then laughed, as everyone else grinned. "The cute lizard girl apparently ranks higher than the mere healer in the publicity ratings. Or it might be something to do with her very, very large sister." Looking around thoughtfully, she added, "I don't think Kaiju would fit in here."
"She could stick her hand through the main door if she was really careful," Vicky giggled.
"But all the food they have in the entire place wouldn't be enough for even an appetizer," Mandy pointed out perfectly straight-faced. "I doubt there are enough eggs in the city to do more than take the edge off her hunger."
"Presumably she could snack on the kitchen fittings to make up for it," Rich suggested. Mandy nodded thoughtfully, as Lucy started laughing next to her. "If we don't have enough squashed sunken boats, I mean."
"I think the bay is full of those," Taylor's father noted. "Although when she runs out..." He shrugged, while everyone stared.
"There's all the wrecks in the ship's graveyard, Dad," Taylor pointed out.
"We need to salvage those, not have her eat them," he told her sternly. "She can eat the ones she can catch at sea. Those are ours."
"Oh, dear, why does that make me worry about the poor fishermen?" Sarah Pelham said with a smile of amusement. "Don't tell her that boats in the water are fair game."
Everyone chuckled, then the conversation moved on. Some time later, Taylor was listening to her father talking to Lucy. She'd mentioned to him that her friend was something of a reptile-lover and wanted to meet the rest of the Family. "I hear you have a pet iguana, Lucy," he said. "Isn't that a little difficult in this climate? I believe they need quite warm temperatures."
"Dad built a really neat terrarium for him into my closet at home," Lucy replied, clearly very interested in the subject. "The closet was huge, way bigger than I needed, so he used half of it to make Newell's home."
"Newell?" her father queried, looking a little puzzled. "That's an odd name for an iguana."
"Dad suggested it when I first got him," the girl smiled. "He liked the music of that musician Iggy Pop, whose real name is..."
"...James Newell Osterberg," John completed for her. She nodded.
"Iggy the iguana was too silly. Newell is a little classier. He seems to like it, anyway."
"How can you tell?" Mandy asked. "He mostly just sits there and looks at you."
"He likes it," Lucy insisted. "And he does more than sit there. Sometimes he runs around like an idiot, mainly in summer when it's hot. This time of year he's a bit sluggish, I'll admit, but he's good company. And pretty as well."
"How old is he?" Taylor asked.
"I've had him since I was ten, so about six years old, now," Lucy replied. "Green iguanas live about twenty years or so, I'll have him for a long time yet. He's pretty big now as well, he's nearly five feet long."
"The thing curls up in her lap like it was a scaly cat," Mandy confided to the table, making Lucy look mildly embarrassed. "I tried stroking it once and it bit me!"
"It was only a little warning bite, Mandy," Lucy protested.
"It hurt!"
"If he'd really wanted to bite you, he'd have broken your finger, though," the Chinese girl smiled. "He just drew a little blood."
"See?" Mandy sighed, waving dramatically at her friend with both hands. "The girl's crazy. She lives with a man-eating lizard in her closet. No wonder she wants to meet as many members of the Family as she can."
"Reptiles are neat," Lucy insisted. "Lizards especially. Ones that can talk are even better."
Meeting Amy's eyes across the table, Taylor grinned. Several other people were doing much the same, including Eric, who was on Lucy's other side. Shaking his head a bit, her father said mildly, "I see. A fan, then. Taylor mentioned that. If you'd like to visit the yard, you're welcome to. There are normally one or more of the Family somewhere around."
"I'd like that very much indeed, Mr Hebert," Lucy said with a shy smile.
"I told you, Lucy, call me Danny, I don't mind. Any time you want, as long as your parents don't have any objection. Amy can bring you if you want, she knows her way around."
"Thank you," she said, in a very happy tone of voice.
"That goes for the rest of you as well," he added, looking at Eric, Mandy, and Rich. "It can be a dangerous place, of course, but as long as you're with someone who knows the risks, it's fine."
"Thank you, Mr Hebert," the other three chorused, then added "We mean, Danny." It was nicely synchronized, making him grin.
"That's a very nice coat, Danny," Amy's uncle said a little later, looking at the thing where it was on the back of the chair. "I've been trying to work out what sort of leather it is. It's obviously real, not plastic, but I can't place it."
"I'm not surprised," her father said, lifting one arm of the coat and looking at it for a moment. "Dragon leather is pretty rare."
"Dragon… leather?" Neil repeated with a funny look. Taylor grinned as her father chuckled.
"So I'm told. Or rather, a copy of something that could be called that. Taylor commissioned Saurial to make this for me. Apparently it's based on the skin of some flying reptile that's extinct now. It's really comfortable."
Practically everyone was looking at the thing with astonishment by now. Taylor heard Vicky muttering very faintly under her breath, "Extinct flying reptile? There never were any flying reptiles. Not since the dinosaurs di..." Her muttering stopped and her eyes grew round as she stared at the innocent coat. Taylor watched, feeling very amused, as the blonde had apparently jumped to a completely wrong conclusion from a standing start.
Amy, who had obviously heard as well and was desperately trying not to laugh, looked at her for a moment, then tore her eyes away and stared at her plate, her shoulders twitching a little.
"I see," Neil finally said. "How… unusual."
"It is. I'm very pleased with it indeed," her father said, looking it. "It's warm, waterproof, and even has a built in hood. It came with matching gloves as well. It's a wonderful birthday present." Putting his arm around Taylor's shoulders for a moment he gave her a one-armed hug. "Thank you, Taylor."
"You're welcome, Dad," she replied. "I'm glad you like it."
"That… girl… has some impressive talents in the field of bespoke clothing design," Sarah remarked. "I suspect she could make a considerable income in that alone. Perhaps she should speak to that other independent, Parian. I hear she's very talented in the field as well."
"I'll mention it to Saurial the next time I see her," he replied. "They seem to have a number of marketable products already, though. I think this was mostly a favor more than anything else, but I'm very grateful for it."
About to say something else, he spotted someone coming in the front door, stared, then sighed a little with a look at Taylor, who returned it with wide-eyed innocence. "Oh, lord," he muttered very quietly.
Everyone else became aware that the restaurant had gone completely silent, only the sound of a dropped fork breaking it. They exchanged glances before following his eyes.
Just inside the door, 'Ianthe' was looking around with great interest, smiling a reptilian smile. She'd had to duck quite a lot to come in, the door only being about six and a half feet high. "Hello, purveyor of enticingly-scented food," she said in jovial tones to the manager, who was staring at her. "I am looking for Danny Hebert."
The man nodded with a somewhat jerky effect to it, then turned and pointed their way. "Aha! Thank you very much," the huge lizard smiled. "Please don't let me keep you from your work." Heading in their direction, 'Ianthe' walked very delicately between the tables, the end of her tail sweeping across a couple of them and barely missing everything, which made Taylor grin inside. Lisa was clearly enjoying herself immensely.
Arriving at their table, where everyone, along with the rest of the restaurant, was watching with mixed expressions, the large violet-blue lizard inspected them all. "Greetings, everyone. Hello, Lucy and Mandy." Lucy waved to her with a broad smile. "I was asked to visit on behalf of the Family. Unfortunately everyone else is busy at the moment, but we wanted to present Danny Hebert with a token of our friendship, as I believe is common among your people to celebrate the day of your birth."
Lisa was clearly enjoying herself a little too much, Taylor thought, catching the look in Amy's eyes. Her friend was visibly barely restraining hysterical laughter at the performance.
"That's certainly one way to put it, Ianthe," her father said with the tiniest of sighs, glancing at both Taylor and Amy with a look of resignation. "Although you certainly didn't have to go to any trouble."
"Nonsense, it's no trouble at all," the reptile smiled. "You and your organization have done much to help us since Cousin Saurial first came here and we're very grateful. The Family looks after its friends. After some discussion, we decided that a decorative present might be a suitable gift, to serve as a reminder of us to you."
"I doubt that I will need too much reminding," he grinned.
"Perhaps not," she laughed. "Even so, this seemed appropriate. I hope you enjoy it."
Holding out the box she'd been carrying, she handed it to him. It was about the size of a shoe-box and quite heavy judging by the way it dipped as he accepted it. "It's nothing special, merely a rather nicely detailed scale model of one of our famous buildings, but it's pretty, we think. I haven't seen anything like it here. Some of the construction methods we use are probably unique, thinking about it, they're a Family secret."
Now everyone was looking at the box, with varying expressions ranging from curiosity to trepidation. Somewhat uncertainly, her father glanced at her, then lifted the lid of the metallic box, which hinged open. He gaped, before slowly closing it again, slightly pale-faced. His mouth opening and closing a few times he blinked hard, then repeated the action.
"What does it look like, Danny?" Kurt asked, his face awash with wonder.
"I… can't do it justice with mere words," her father mumbled after another short pause during which he peered into the box.
"Show us, then," his old friend urged. Taylor was stifling a massive grin, the reaction was even better than she'd expected.
Just a touch unwillingly, her father reached into the soft padding inside the box, then removed an object about six by six by four inches, putting it carefully on the table. Everyone looked at it, even some people from adjacent tables half standing to see. There was a very long silence, during which the Lisa-inhabited 'Ianthe' bioconstruct looked pleased.
"What the hell is that?" Carol Dallon finally said in a soft, wondering, and disturbed voice.
"I have absolutely no idea," her husband remarked, also staring with wide eyes.
"I told you, it's a tiny copy of one of our famous buildings at home," 'Ianthe' said, looking a little hurt somehow. "The real thing is much more impressive, I agree, but this is nice."
"How does it do that to my eyes?" Eric Pelham moaned, blinking furiously. "It's making the inside of my brain itch."
Several people nodded vigorously. Quite a number of them were also blinking, or looking at the gift sideways or at strange angles.
"How many sides does it really have?" Zephron slowly queried. "I only ask because I count four and I can see five of them from here without moving."
Danny picked the thing up after several tries and rotated it in his hand, causing several people to flinch. "Oh, god, that's horrible," Mandy yelped softly. "When you turn it that way it looks like it's turning in several other directions at the same time, at least two of them opposite directions!"
Taylor was more than satisfied with the result of nearly two hours careful work. The thing was more or less a stepped pyramid with a series of columns on top supporting a flat roof, but made heavy use of her and Varga's fractional-dimension method, which made it somewhat indeterminate as far as both position and true appearance went. The final object was as alien a thing as any she could come up with, completely unlike what it had started as. She'd had some difficulty in stopping Lisa playing with it the night before, her power apparently even more fascinated with the thing than her original cuboids. Wondering if all Thinkers would react like that and wondering how to find out, she reached out and took it from him, holding it up and wiggling it back and forth.
"It's really cool," she grinned.
"God, don't do that, Taylor," Vicky muttered. "I could swear it's looking at me."
"Really?" She inspected it closely. "Weird. It looks strange, I'll grant you, but I can't see any eyes."
"There aren't any, but it's still looking at me." The blonde girl seemed very worried.
Putting it on the table, Taylor picked up a bread stick and poked it into the array of columns at the top of the thing, watching with satisfaction as the end came out at a strange angle from the side and not the back.
Lucy went pale and closed her eyes. Carol was staring unblinkingly at the thing. "Hey, look at that! Isn't that weird?"
Reaching out from the other side of the table Amy pushed her finger into the same nest of little columns, grinning when it came out a couple further along on the same side towards her. "That's the freakiest thing I've ever seen," she laughed. Her sister was now staring at her in mild horror.
"You've been around them too long, Ames," she muttered. "How can you do that?"
"It's easy, look, you stick your finger in here and it comes out there."
"I do not want to stick my finger anywhere near that thing," Vicky snapped, then went a funny color as Amy wiggled her digit, making it appear and disappear in several places, at least two of them simultaneously. "Oh, god," she added faintly, also closing her eyes.
Pulling her finger out again Amy held it up, smiling. "See? It's fine."
Taylor's father, who had been staring with an open mouth during this, shook his head a little and deliberately looked away from the weird little thing. "Um, thank you, Ianthe," he said to the large reptile who had been watching with interest. "It's very… very… Family."
"We thought you'd like it," 'Ianthe' replied happily. She glanced around the restaurant. "Is it always this quiet in here? Seems a little odd. Oh, well, human customs, I'm still learning." She shrugged a bit. "I need to go, but it was nice seeing you all. Saurial and the others asked me to pass on their best wishes, they said."
"Thank you, Ianthe," Taylor's father said after another look at the present. "It was very, um... nice of you to stop in."
"It was my pleasure. I'm sure we'll see each other again." She nodded to them, then turned away. Taylor noticed she glanced at a man sitting by himself in the corner who was watching intently, pausing for a moment, then moving on. She casually looked at the man herself, cataloging his scent for future reference. At the door, 'Ianthe' smiled at the manager, who hadn't moved an inch since she'd come in, then ducked her head and left.
The silence lasted for another solid minute. Eventually, without saying anything, her father picked up the gift with only three attempts and very carefully put it back into the box, closing the lid. As soon as it was shut a certain tension went out of the room. Taylor looked around, wondering if perhaps she'd slightly overdone it. All she wanted to do was give her father something interesting for his desk, and also get into the public mind the idea that the Family was associated with eldritch buildings.
It was barely possible that the impression was a little stronger than she'd anticipated.
Inside her head, the Varga was for some reason laughing so hard he couldn't speak.
Shrugging minutely, she resumed her meal. People would get over it sooner or later.
It was only about the time that the dessert menu arrived when everyone finally stopped giving the box on the table nervous glances.
Over dessert, Taylor's father suddenly said, "Oh, while I remember, Amy, I spoke to my friend and got you the information we were talking about the other day." He reached behind him into a coat pocket, pulling out an envelope which he handed across to the healer, who stopped eating her chocolate profiteroles to take it from him. Opening it she pulled out a set of paperwork which she scanned briefly, before smiling. "That's all the documentation on what you need to do if you're interested, along with the contact number of who to call."
"Thanks, Danny," she replied happily, slipping the paperwork back into the envelope and putting it to one side.
"What's that, Amy?" her father Mark asked curiously.
"A suggestion was made that I might be able to get a permit to make my truck considered a medical emergency vehicle," Amy said after looking at him, picking her fork up again. "Danny looked into it for me, he knows the right people in the police to ask about it. Looks straightforward enough, an advanced driving course and a first responder's driving course on top of that."
"Cool," Rich commented with a grin, while Carol and Mark looked at each other. Sarah seemed somewhat approving. "That would mean you could have emergency lights and a siren?"
"Yes. That's the idea. It might come in handy some time."
"State and city laws allow it for private vehicles, after the right permits are given," Taylor's father said. "Red lights in this state unless you're a fire engine, then you can have blue ones as well. You can get hidden ones that don't show when they're off. If you want to go ahead with this, the guys in the vehicle shop can easily fit them for you."
"I'll read it later and work out how to do it," Amy replied. "It sounds like a good idea."
"It's quite a responsibility at your age, Amy," Carol noted with a vaguely worried look. Her daughter glanced at her and nodded.
"I know, Mom. But it could also be very helpful. Don't worry, I'm not planning on driving to school with a siren on to get there faster."
"I should think not," her mother said with asperity. "That would be highly irresponsible."
"Joke, Mom," Amy giggled. Everyone smiled as Carol sighed slightly.
"Sometimes it's difficult to tell with you, Amy," the older woman said, but she seemed slightly amused now despite herself.
They discussed the idea a little more, then the conversation moved on again, everyone having fun and enjoying themselves. When they finally finished at about nine o'clock, Taylor was happy to pay the fairly significant bill and leave a generous tip, feeling it was well worth it. Especially with the slightly odd interruption in the middle.
She thought it likely that the restaurant would have even more of a reputation now.
"Are you going to put it on your desk, Dad?" Taylor asked on the way home, glancing over her shoulder at the box on the back seat. Her father gave her an even look, then went back to watching the traffic.
"I think… probably not," he finally sighed. "Your little ornament is the single creepiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life, and I'm including some of your more disturbing forms in that. How the hell did you make it look like that?"
"Lots of practice," she shrugged. "I thought it came out pretty well."
"It's obvious to me that your giant friend has had a stronger effect on what passes for your mind than I thought," he remarked, shaking his head. "Trust me, to normal people that thing is… what's the best word for it? Oh, yes, entirely fucked up beyond rational thought."
She giggled a little, as he sighed again, somewhat heavily. "I understand the idea behind all that, I think, and I can't say I completely disagree with your little performance. Even though Lisa does the alien lizard thing way too well. At the same time, I think it might be a good idea to tone it down just a little before someone ends up genuinely needing Arkham Asylum."
"Point taken, Dad," she smiled. "I'll make sure that Ianthe learns human customs pretty fast, just like cousin Raptaur."
"Please, for your old man, so he can actually sleep at night." Her father reached out and ruffled her hair. "Lovecraftian pranks aside, and I have to admit despite myself it was impressive, thank you very much for an excellent evening. I enjoyed it a hell of a lot. Well, most of it. There was a bit in the middle that was a little peculiar."
"I enjoyed it as well. I think everyone did. It was nice having so many people together for a birthday like that, it was like one of Mom's years ago."
"She would have enjoyed it as well." He smiled. "And she'd probably have found your little gift endlessly amusing, especially the reaction other people had to it. Your minds are far too similar sometimes."
"Thanks, Dad," she laughed.
"I'm not totally sure that's a good thing, mind you," he added, before turning the radio on. "Not sure at all."
They listened to classical music the rest of the way home, both content.
"Weird, wasn't it?" Amy said brightly when they were half-way back. "I wonder if I could get the Family to make me one of those."
"You will not bring something that would give an Elder God nightmares into my house, Amy Dallon," her mother moaned, rubbing her forehead with her eyes shut. "I still can't stop seeing that damn thing. Poor Danny."
Grinning to herself, Amy glanced at Vicky, who was mumbling under her breath, apparently trying to work something out on her fingers, and not liking the result. Amused, she looked in the rear-view mirror at her father, who was sleeping the sleep of the well fed and pleased, smiling slightly to himself.
Happy with the evening, she relaxed and drove steadily homewards.
Two hundred feet down and nearly six miles from the bay entrance, Lisa chased a school of fish, laughing like an idiot. She was having a wonderful time.