"Well, well. Lookie what we got here. Fresh meat."
Fiona managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the rather cliché situation. She'd only just arrived at juvenile detention, and as she hadn't eaten in a couple of days was far more interested in the tray of food than dealing with half a dozen gangers. Or ganger want-to-bes.
"Look, I'm really hungry." She protested half-halfheartedly. "Can we do this after dinner?"
The ganger wannabees, as she decided that's what they were; seemed to chuckle among themselves and one of them actually punched one of her palms with her other hand, suggesting that things were going to get physical.
This time, Fiona did roll her eyes at the even more cliché response. "Stunball." She declared in an almost bored tone before dropping the aforementioned spell on the group.
As expected, they dropped over with barely a sound; and Fiona paused only long enough to give the one who'd been dumb enough to actually try and stop her a rather savage kick in the ribs before stepping past and finding a place to eat in relative peace.
The guards had at least enough compassion to let her finish eating before taking her to the warden. Her punishment had been surprisingly mild: a week in solitary. After the third day, however; agents from the government turned up to poke and prod her. She'd never actually found out which branch they'd belong to; but she'd ended up not only registered as a spellcasting magician, complete with a SIN.
She'd never had a SIN before.
She'd been left on the doorstep of an orphanage in the middle of the night when she was still a baby, and had remained there until after she'd turned five. Her pink hair and red eyes were enough to make her a target for whatever form of abuse, usually the verbal kind; that the other kids felt up to inflicting upon her. The addition of elongated ears and iridescent wings, only served to further isolate her from the others.
It had been somewhere her fifth year that the verbal abuse turned physical. A few of them had planned to give a beating in the middle of the night, but she'd been expecting it. So when they attempted to jump her, she simply rolled out of bed and flew away.
She'd never looked back. She spent the next week or so on the streets; stealing food when she got hungry, and sleeping in whatever cramped nook she could find. It had been during one of her grab and run attempts for food that she'd plowed into a older looking human male. He'd managed to collar her, mostly because she'd ended up on her backside as a result of the collision.
It turned out that he'd once been a wage mage of some talent, before finally being forced to retire due to advancing age. And after paying for what she'd tried to steal; he ended up taking her home as his apprentice. She'd spent the next seven years under his tutelage, and he'd taught her how to control and use magic. In the last year or so, she was certain that he had lost his mind; which was only confirmed by him referring to her as his daughter.
Their relationship had ended a couple of days before she'd wound up at her current residence; as she'd been forced to call upon the authorities once he'd gone from senile to just plain dead. And as she was both a minor and unregistered, she'd ended up being passed between agencies for a few days before ending up in juvenile detention.
Which had brought her to where she was. The clothes that she'd been given had fit poorly; and instead of actual shoes, she'd ended up with a pair of slippers that clearly had come from the lost and found. She'd had to make alterations to both; through use of the Fashion spell that she'd been taught, though it'd taken several tries in both cases before she was satisfied with the results.
She'd had to alter the shirt to have an open back and a otherwise tank top appearance; as she'd never actually get a regular shirt on due to the size of her wings. She'd left the pants as pants, though she'd long since come to prefer wearing a skirt of some kind. The slippers were suitable, as she rarely walked far; though the color hadn't been to her liking.
And she'd finally...finally gotten her first decent meal in days when the welcoming committee had made itself known.
She spent the first day or so catching up on her sleep. After that, she'd amused herself by a few astral forays around the facility; though only a few spots were actually warded against astral travel. So by the time day four had rolled around, she was about as settled in as she was going to get.
The numerous examinations, both physical and otherwise; had lasted for several more days. Though she hadn't actually been told the exam results, she'd been able to eavesdrop anyways. And that she'd learned how to blend in with the rest of the astral had helped immensely in that regard. It had also been made clear to her when she'd arrived that she wasn't going to be allowed out of the building. Most probably because her being a "flight risk" was more literal than figurative.
She'd been studying the toes of her slippers in contemplation of possibly changing them when the door finally opened. The guard, who she knew was one of the nicer ones, walked her from the solitary ward to one of the few semi-private rooms. Fiona felt that it was as much for her protection as for protecting the others from her.
Her new roommate was the rather spoiled daughter of a high ranking Tir noble who was going through a rebellious streak. Which explained her presence, though she'd only arrived a day or two ago. Her new roommate looked up upon her arrival, though her attention until that point had been buried in a book of some kind.
Fiona had never actually learned how to read and write; instead she'd learned everything by her old teacher demonstrating and having her learn until she got it right then practice until she could do it without thinking.
"You like poetry?" Her roommate asked after the door had been closed behind them.
"I don't know how to read." Fiona confessed hesitantly.
Her roommate didn't immediately answer, apparently taking a few seconds to make up her mind how to respond. "Then I'll teach you how, Wings."
"Wings?" Fiona didn't know she'd just acquired a nickname or not. "My name is Fiona."
"Well, Fiona." Her roommate responded. "I feel that we're going to be really good friends."
Fiona opened one eye to find her roommate hovering nearby. "We're having hot dogs," the pixie announced, as finding out what was for dinner had been the purpose behind her current walkabout.
"Great." The other replied with a small smile then bounced back to her bed on the other side of the room. The purple haired elf plopped down and resumed reading the book that she'd abandoned while Fiona was out of body.
Fiona picked up her own book, which was one of a few made of actual paper. The process of learning to read had turned out to be slower than the pink haired pixie had expected, and the very few reading materials that were lying around made out of paper were hardly sufficient to satisfy her newly found fondness for reading.
They had to make do with paper copies because her roommate was a Technomancer, which meant anything electronic was off limits. Though Fiona was relatively certain that restriction was about as effective on her roommate than the stay inside restriction was for her.
They'd been together about a month now, and they'd quickly gone from friends to best friends to sisters. That revelation had settled in the other day when Telsa had absently referred to her as just that. The little sister that she'd never had. Telsa was, in fact, about two years older than Fiona; and it was already starting to feel both natural and normal.
Telsa was the only child of the Luigsech family; and her father, Allan, was a marquis. The Luigsech family was heavily involved in computers and cybersecurity, in the latter case a part of the Tairngire defense network. As for Telsa, she'd apparently been involved in some criminal activity that would have landed anyone else in real prison instead of juvenile detention.
As for Fiona, someone had finally caught her on one of her astral wanderings; and she'd been taken to see the warden. When asked, Fiona had calmly admitted that she'd not only been doing astral wanderings around the facility, but had been doing them since she arrived. The admission had caused the warden to first turn pale then a rather crimson color. And while the warden hadn't spoken to her further, it really hadn't been necessary, as someone was coming to ward the room tomorrow.
Setting up and breaking wards was part of what she'd already learned; and figured that she'd better wait a while before tearing down whatever one they put up tomorrow. As for Fiona, she was looking forward to dinner: hot dogs where her favorite.
A week had turned into a month. A month into a year. And a year into four years.
Their casual back and forth banter had been interrupted by a rapping on the door, which announced that they were about to have visitors. As was expected, the pixie hopped out of the bed where she'd been kneeling and stood quietly waiting. The door was opened to reveal a rather pale warden, which incidentally wasn't the same warden of four years past.
"My lady, it's about your father." The warden stated almost hesitantly. "I'm afraid that you're needed immediately at home."
Fiona shot Telsa an involuntary glance, aware that the use of the title indicated that only something bad could have awarded it to her.
"She comes too." The suddenly elevated Marquis, thumbed in the pixie's direction.
"Of course, milady. As you say."
And that was how Fiona had been adopted into the Luigsech family.
She'd stayed at her newly formalized sister's side, as the elder quickly grew to take on the family duties and responsibilites. As for Fiona, she stayed at the family estate for another two years; at which point of time she moved to Seattle in order to try and make her own path. And while they might be apart, the two sisters still talked all the time; and Fiona still made the trip home from time to time. The Luigsech estate was home, but anywhere Telsa was would inevitably end up as home.
As for the death of Allan Luigsech; a quiet investigation by some of Tesla's old friends turned up both dirt and a bit of payback. As Fiona, now also known as Wings, went along to keep her sister in the loop.
And that was how Fiona was introduced to the world of Shadowrunning.
Telsa seemed to stare at what ten minutes before had been an aluminum framed bicycle. "How did you just...it was only..." The purple haired elf seemed at a loss for words and clearly flabbergasted by the entire situation.
"It just kinda happened?" Fiona replied tentatively, as confused by the situation as her older sister seemed to be.
Fiona felt bad mostly because the bicycle had been a birthday gift; and had been quite fun for the not quite ten minutes that it had lasted. In that short amount of time, and less than the length of the mansion's driveway; she'd turned the wheeled ride into a pretzel as result of contact with one of the trees that lined the driveway.
Fiona had never had a birthday present before, as the bicycle had been her very first. Or for that matter, she'd never had a birthday before. After working through the rather extensive and clearly bureaucratic process of getting Fiona formally adopted into the family; Telsa had then turned her attention to figuring out when the pink haired pixie's birthday actually was.
A check of the records from the orphanage that Fiona had been when she was small...smaller...gave an approximate date; within about a week or so. That accomplished, it had been a straightforward matter of simply picking a day. And now, her birthday was the thirteenth of July.
And that just happened to be today; and so there'd be a party, presents, and cake. The surprise had been total, and Fiona loved the chocolate cake.
"Hey, Frank." Fiona gave a high five to the bouncer at the front door, having bypassed the entire line to her favorite nightclub.
"Hey, Pixie-kins." The burly ork replied then tilted his head to the doorway. "Go on in." He added, opening the door for the flying pixie.
Fiona flashed her best smile then floated on in, pretending not to hear the grousing by the people still waiting and the bouncer's curt response.
As always when she went clubbing, Fiona was wearing an Armante dress and a pair of silken slippers. Real shoes really weren't needed as she didn't do very much walking in general; and the slippers were far more comfortable. She maneuvered between the patrons on the very crowded main dance floor, headed for the main bar. She'd been coming her for about a year, at least one night a week.
Once at the bar, she accepted the offered shot glass of a dark elven wine. She took a sip before drifting around to the stairs that lead to the VIP lounge. While it wasn't strictly necessary for her to use stairs, it also made the various non-fliers around her more accepting of her presence. As was expected, the owner of said nightclub was leaning against the railing and looking out over the various assembled patrons.
"Busy tonight." Fiona said conversationally to the other woman as she moved to float next to her.
"All thanks to you and your blog." The other woman replied in a French sounding accent.
Jeanette DuCharme had been the owner of this particular nightclub for about five years, and Fiona knew that the French accent was as fake as her high class persona. The pink haired pixie had hit it off with the human female, though it had taken several visits to the club for that to happen. As Fiona tended to be a curiosity, mostly because she was a pixie; and it was normal for club owners and that of other establishments to want to get to know her better, or at least meet her in person.
Fiona had moved to Seattle shortly after she'd turned eighteen; though it hadn't quite been for the reason most people assumed. Those like Fiona were few and far between, and fewer still interested in advertising. She'd started a weekly simsense blog shortly after getting settled in, and the number of followers continued to climb as she continued to blog.
By nineteen, Fiona had gotten herself known in the talent agencies; mostly for modeling but with the rare simsense recording. Now Fiona was twenty-two, and starting to become recognizable by those who made the decisions in the fashion and modeling profession.
She'd originally come to Seattle as part of a shadowrun, and decided that staying in the city was safer than having any possible baggage follow her home to Tir and her older sister. But that didn't keep her from popping "home" from time to time to visit.
As for this evening's over capacity crowd, that had been the result of last week's blog; where Fiona had done a bit of recording in the nightclub. Name recognition was still a form of advertisement, and she hadn't minded sharing a sneak peek at the behind the scenes for her faithful followers.
And so Fiona sipped her wine and watched the patrons floating around the club in a dance unique to the time and place.
"And it's your favorite pixie blogger, AstraNova." The first letter of her stage name was drawn out a bit theatrically, as she often did while doing a recording for her blog. "Today, we're here out in Renton in a volunteer park clean-up." She continued without so much as a pause. "Some of you out here today are followers of my blog, and so let's get things rolling with a big 'thank you' to everyone who came."
"With me is one of those regulars, so please introduce yourself." The pixie pointed with both hands to the troll who had been waiting next to her.
"I'm DeathMetal2525. AstraNova rules!" The troll blurted out, apparently nervous at being included in the recording.
"Thanks for that, DeathMetal2525." Fiona tucked her hands behind her in a cute pose and hovered, waiting a few seconds before returning to the anxious troll. "And so what do you have there?" She gestured to the mangled can that the troll was holding.
"It's a beer can, that someone just threw away." The troll responded, holding it up so that she could see it better.
"It looks like someone had a party and didn't invite you-know-who." Fiona pointed to herself to emphasize who she was talking about.
It wasn't until time for dinner that Fiona had gotten around to reviewing the recording before uploading it to her page. The clean-up had gone remarkably well; and Fiona, as well as several other mages, had sent water spirits to give the park a rinsing off once the volunteers had finished with the trash pick up. Admittedly, it had looked much better when they were done then when she'd arrived.
She reached for a hot dog sitting on the plate next to her computer monitor while she waited for the upload to complete. Hot dogs were still her favorite.
Fiona took a little while to do some catalog browsing, poking through the latest fashions as she munched absently on dinner. It was about an hour after she'd finished updating her blog that the phone chimed for attention. "Hey, sis." She greeted the caller with a friendly tone and a warm smile. The two of them were still as close as they'd been ten years earlier, and she never expected that to change.