Sep. 7, Public Transit, Vancouver; After School
"It says the X-Station game that best suits me is…" Heather waited for the screen to change, then read aloud the results, "Dance If You Want 2016."
"You like dancing?" Thorne asked.
"No," Heather slumped. "This MustReed quiz is shit." She chuckled.
"Okay, my turn," Thorne said with an unnecessarily-determined nod.
"Sure. So, which of these colours do you like?" Heather asked, reading off her phone screen.
Thorne looked through them… They were all rather pleasant colours. There was a lavender purple, a deep, abyssal blue, a seafoam green, and an autumnal red. "Hm…" he mumbled while looking through them.
"It's taking you a long time to pick a colour," Heather commented.
"Sorry, uh… is this decision going to effect the plot later on?" Thorne asked jokingly.
"I mean, probably not," Heather replied with a hearty chuckle. "Just pick one."
"I like the… red," Thorne said with finality.
"Red it is," Heather nodded, and tapped the red square. "Next, which set of armour?"
"Hm…" There were four pictures of armour. The one Heather had chosen was a masculine-looking black one with a huge gauntlet on the left hand and a scarf around the neck. There was also a female model wearing a skimpy set of gold armour with see-through red fabric underneath it. The third option was a cool Viking-looking set with horns on the helmet. Lastly, there was a set of armour with fox ears and a fox tail, both made of metal. "I think… I think I like the bottom-right one," Thorne answered.
"The fox one? Really?" Heather questioned.
"Yeah. It looks cute, I like cute things."
"Pick a building," Heather instructed.
"The cabin, like you," Thorne nodded.
"And… your X-Station game is…!" Heather waited for the results to load. "Monster Lover!"
"Is that that one open-world game with all the gigantic monsters that you get to tame and keep as pets?" Thorne asked for confirmation.
"Yeah," Heather answered. "The cover it's showing on here is from Monster Lover: Generations."
"Cool! I'm down for that," Thorne chuckled. "Oh, is that the mall?" he asked, seeing a large, wide building appear in his vision.
"Yeah!" Heather confirmed. "Where do you wanna shop first?"
"I don't know any of the stores here," Thorne reminded.
"Oh, that's true, you're a newbie. Well," Heather said, getting up from her chair and grabbing the handle on the ceiling, preparing to unboard the bus. "If it's all right with you, I wanna stop at Teamension and get a nice cold iced tea."
"Oh, there was a Teamension in my hometown," Thorne smiled. "Sure. I love tea."
"Good. Who doesn't love tea?" giggled Heather as the bus came to its stop.
Sep. 7, Lavendera Mall, Vancouver; After School
"I don't remember hearing about this mall before. I feel like I'd hear about a mall this big in Vancouver," Thorne pointed out.
"Actually, it's kinda recent. It just got built about two years ago," explained Heather. "But thanks to the location, it got big fast."
"I see…" Thorne nodded. "Show me around!"
"Let's go!"
Inside, the mall was sleek and modern. There was a fountain in the middle of the main wing of the mall, with stairs nearby. There were already people sitting at the benches around the fountain. Thorne looked up to see a skylight casting down over the fountain.
"Teamension is on the second floor," heather explained.
Thorne followed her there.
"Thorne." Thorne heard something from inside his pocket. "Can you hear me?"
Thorne pulled out his phone and put it up to his ear to make it look like he was taking a call. "What's up, Seven?"
"I heard you were going shopping," Seven said. "Might I recommend buying some things to take into Psykonet with you when you return?"
"That does sound like a smart idea," he admitted.
Seven continued, "If you're buying tea, there may be some teas with healing effects that may be strengthened by the presence of your Persona."
"I see," nodded Thorne. "I didn't even think of that. I'll look into it."
Thorne went up to the shop counter. An employee was there to see him right away. "Hi there! What can I get for you?"
"Hm…" Thorne looked at the selection of teas on the wall behind the counter. "Do you have any teas with 'healing effects'?"
"As a matter of fact, we actually do!" the employee enthused. "Is there a specific taste you're looking for, or any specific ingredients?"
"Nah."
"Perfect. I'll bring down your options for teas with strong healing qualities. Or, healing quali-teas, if you will." The employee turned back to the wall of tea tins and brought down a few. "Here we have a eucalyptus-heavy tea. You may think of eucalyptus as a topical remedy, but it's actually good for your insides too. Oh, we also have a popular activated charcoal tea. It's kind of bitter, but it has sweetening ingredients in it like fruits. Activated black charcoal is really good for cleansing your body of foreign substances. It would be really handy if for any reason you found yourself inflicted with poison."
Thorne chuckled. "You'd be surprised."
"I… am not gonna ask," the employee said. "See anything you'd like?"
"I'll take both," Thorne said.
"How much would you like? We have 25g packs, 50g packs, and 100g packs," the employee explained.
"25g of each should be good for now," Thorne nodded. He waited for the employee to package the tea, and bag it, and hand it to him.
"Do you have a Lavender Points Card?" asked the Teamension employee.
"Huh?" Thorne sounded. "What's that?"
"Some companies have points cards, but Lavendera Mall actually has its own points card that can be used at all of the outlets in the mall," explained the androgynous employee.
"I see… well, I don't have one." Thorne rubbed the back of his hair.
"You can get one at the Customer Service counter by V.G. Games." The employee pointed in the direction of the store. "It's also across the hall from the book store, if you're having trouble finding it. Anyway, your total comes to $20.30"
Thorne used his debit card to complete the transaction, and took his purchase with him. The second floor wasn't really that high up, but looking over the railing the first floor seemed farther down than it should have seemed.
"So," Heather asked after taking a sip of a vibrant blue iced tea, "where to next?"
"Can you think of any stores that would carry anything useful to our… excursions?" asked Thorne.
"Hm…" Heather pondered. "The pharmacy?"
"Good thinking," congratulated Thorne. "Where's that?"
"The go-to pharmacy around here would probably be SpendWay, right?"
"I 'unno," shrugged Thorne. "I guess."
"That's down by the back parking lot. I'll show you." Heather led Thorne to the large grocery store. There was an empty shop across the hall.
"What's going there?" Thorne asked.
"Nobody knows," Heather said in a mock-mysterious tone. "Some people think it's gonna be another big-time store like SpendWay. Other people think it's going to end up being a whole new area of the mall. I'm not sure, myself. Would be cool if it was a whole new area, wouldn't it?"
Thorne shrugged. "I haven't even been to all the stores that are currently here yet."
"Well, we'll find out what's going in there soon, since the proposed date for the construction to be complete is in only a month!"
"I feel like there'd be more done by now if it's only a month away," Thorne noted.
"You silly," Heather scoffed. "That's just a display, so that there's not a bunch of construction equipment in the middle of the mall."
"Oh…" Thorne blushed, rubbing the back of his hair.
"Okay, I'll look around, and I'll get whatever I think will help us," Heather nodded. "Anything else we need besides drugs?"
"Hmm…" pondered Thorne. "Nothing I can think of. Let's focus on getting medical stuff."
Heather and Thorne regrouped at the self check-out registers. Combined, they had purchased two packets of antibacterial ointment, two packets of burn cream, and two packages of stick-on bandages.
"I think that should do," Thorne said tentatively.
"Okay, perfect!" Heather smiled. "Let's get on our ways home now. I already got homework from my first block teacher…" she groaned.
Sep. 8, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Shortly Before School
Thorne had woken up feeling much more refreshed than yesterday, thanks to having a good rest. He had arrived at school with a slightly better attitude than yesterday as well. He passed by Heather, and attempted to wave at her.
She ignored him again today…
Thorne looked closely at the girls she was hanging out with… He didn't recognize their eyes, but he did recognize their face shapes, lips, and notably their hair. Were these the real Maggie and Sam that Heather had mentioned? Thorne sighed.
He couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"Heather, by the way," Maggie began, "that picture you posted last night was really cool! That outfit was so nice!"
"Oh, heh," Heather blushed. "Thanks."
"Yeah! It looks like something I would wear!" Sam commented.
"Oh, that's nice…" Heather said blankly.
Thorne noticed that Heather looked uncomfortable… He sighed, feeling sorry that she felt she had to put herself in that situation just for people to like her.
"Oh hey, man," Thorne also heard someone say. It was one of the sports team kids, as evidenced by their outfit. "That Psykonet thing…" The boy looked around, before not-really-whispering into his friend's ear. "I heard one of the students found it on their phone?"
"Whoa," the other sports kid responded. "Who?"
The first guy shrugged. "I don't know, man. I just heard it was someone."
"It's probably just some prank using the rumours," the other kid chuckled.
"Yeah, that's probably true, but still... I only heard of the rumour yesterday. Isn't it a little early for people to starting using it as a prank?"
"Maybe. But it's a dumb urban myth anyway." Both of the boys brushed it off with a laugh.
Sep. 8, Room 208 (Mr. Manning's Room), Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; Class Time
Thorne was excited to see Marc in his first class. Marc was early, just as he had been yesterday. His books were already open, and he was sketching something in the corner of one of his notebook pages.
"What'cha drawing?" Thorne asked, sitting down next to him.
"Oh, me?" Marc asked. "I am drawing a… hm… a jellyfish."
"You like jellyfish?" Thorne asked, slightly confused.
"I think they're elegant," Marc commented.
"I see…" Thorne smiled.
The lesson began before long.
During the rest of his classes that day, he remained quite, as to abide by his unfortunate contract with Heather to only converse when absolutely necessary.
Sep. 8, Goldhelm Secondary School, Vancouver; After School
Thorne ran up to the bus stop, but it was simply no use… he'd missed the bus. And to add insult to injury, it was raining as of fourth block, too. He slouched upsetly, his bag weighing on his shoulders.
Before he knew it, there was a hand extended in front of him. Inside the hand, he saw the curved handle of an umbrella. He looked up. There was a girl standing there, with a raincoat (the hood drawn up) and straight dark-brown hair which rested on both her shoulders. She was ever-slightly dark of skin, and had earthy green eyes. When her gaze met Thorne's, she smiled. "Here, take my umbrella for now. It looks like you need it."
"Huh? Oh, I couldn't…" Thorne responded.
"No, I insist," the girl pressed. "I have my own raincoat. Uh… but I am gonna need it back when I get to my house."
"Well… if you insist." Thorne weakly smiled and took the umbrella. He opened it and held it over his head. His hair was already dripping from the rain. "What's your name?"
"Sara Dyll," the girl answered. "You?"
"Thorne Blackwood."
"Wow, now that's a cool name!"
Thorne chuckled.
"Wanna walk home together?" Sara asked.
"I… I live all the way on the outskirts of town…" Thorne sighed. "But I might as well walk to a public bus stop."
"Sounds good. So, I don't think I've seen you before," noted Sara. "And trust me, I'd notice a new face. I'm the President of the Student Leadership Committee. Which is, like, not to brag, but, like, the second-best thing to being the Student Council President."
Thorne chuckled. "My queen."
Sara blushed, grinning widely. "We have a small storage of umbrellas and raincoats in the Leadership Room that we lend out on an honour basis. Not a lot of students know about it."
"Sounds helpful," commented Thorne.
Sara changed the topic. "So, there's this cupcake place kinda close to school… wanna get some 'cakes? It's a little expensive, for cupcakes, but I mean, I like stopping in and getting a single cupcake to snack on."
"Are you asking me out on a date?" Thorne asked, chuckling.
Sara froze. "Wha-!? How dare you jump to conclusions like that!?"
Thorne's face flattened, "Whoa, geez… uh… sorry."
"Well… do you wanna go?"
"Yeah, sure, what's the place called?" Thorne asked.
"Sweet Dreams," Sara answered with a nod.
"Ooh, sounds fancy," Thorne commented.
Sep. 8, Sweet Dreams, Vancouver; After School
Sara was right about it being a short walk away from school. It wasn't very busy, either. In fact, no one was in the patisserie when Sara and Thorne arrived. Sara walked up to the glass display case. There were lots of freshly-decorated cupcakes on display. They came in all different colours.
"Hello there," greeted the busy shop owner, who had a smear of baby blue icing on her pale cheek. "How can I help you?"
"Can I get a S'Mores Cupcake?" Sara asked.
"I'll get that for you right away," said the shop owner with a nod. "Anything else?" She grabbed a pair of disposable gloves from underneath the counter.
"That's all," Sara answered.
"And for you, sir?" asked the shop owner.
Thorne hardly heard himself being spoken to. He was mesmerized by the intricate cupcake topping designs. Each one was topped with an utterly perfect swirl of thick icing, each a different colour. Thorne's eyes were drawn to a few options. First, a mint-green-iced chocolate-mint cupcake with a fresh mint leaf poking through the icing. Second, a blue-iced cupcake with blueberries stuck into the swirling icing. Third and finally, a creamy chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker embedded in the swirling icing. A small sign excitedly proclaimed 'Melted marshmallow INSIDE'!
"Um, sir?" the shop own asked again.
"Oh gosh, sorry." Thorne shook his head. "Uh, I'll have a S'Mores Cupcake."
"Two S'Mores Cupcakes, coming right up!" the woman grinned, and put the two cupcakes into tiny boxes with see-through tops. "There you are. Is that together or separate?"
"Sep-" Thorne started.
"Together," Sara interrupted.
"Oh…" sounded Thorne. "All right then."
"Awesome," the shop's owner nodded. "So, your total is $8.90."
Sara paid using a shiny black debit card. "You can thank me later," she smugly said.
Thorne chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I owe you, I guess."
Thorne had forged a special link with Sara: The Empress. Symbolizing femininity, the pursuit of fulfillment, and the acceptance of inevitable emotions, Sara's quirky personality would show Thorne ways of treating life that he otherwise may not have learned.
The cupcakes were as delicious as they were aesthetic, and Thorne and Sara munched on them as they conversed across the table about Thorne's experiences being a new student at Goldhelm.
"So, shall we part ways here?" Sara suggested.
Thorne nodded.
"I'm gonna need my umbrella back," chuckled Sara.
(CHAPTER EDITED DUE TO INCONSISTENCY.)
