Sparks Fly
It was a warm, late morning on the first Saturday of September, where Megan Cruz found herself at the Kokugaku Library, anxiously checking her watch for the third time as she waited for her company. Due to all the trouble her father had contributed to a few months ago by labeling BH6 and Globby as fugitives when all the former did was prove the latter was innocent of his crime, the young reporter felt that maybe she could look into the prejudices such reformed criminals face and prevent such a vindictive overreaction from happening again.
She had already met with the gelatinous hero and his boyfriend to see what their lives and motivations were like before and after turning over a new leaf, but today's interviewee was the mother-daughter duo High Voltage, who currently were performing community service dancing as part of their release from prison. Thanks to Megan's connection to the police force, she got their parole officer's number and asked to relay her request, which finally got answered a few days ago.
The teenager sat back in her chair as she gazed around the large area, noting a couple young adults on the computers in the corner, a black-haired girl about her age reading a textbook while doing her homework and an elderly man who appeared to work at the library as he was pushing a cart of books down the aisle. Megan then pulled out her phone and decided to text a quick message to Hiro about seeing if they could hang out at Joe's Diner tomorrow. As soon as she hit send, she heard a female voice say, "Excuse me, are you Megan Cruz?"
The brown-haired individual looked up from her device almost immediately and was greeted to the sight of a taller, young blonde about a year or so older than her. She was wearing a purple top with a cute bunny on it along with white capris, but she also appeared to be a bit nervous as she stood before Megan. It had been over six months since the reporter had last seen her in person, but instantly recognized her as Juniper of High Voltage.
The supersleuth gave a short "Oh" as she scrambled out of her seat to stand up and properly greet the reformed dancer. "Yes, I am Megan Cruz and you're Juniper, right?" she inquired as she politely extended her hand.
"That's my name. Don't wear it out," the taller of the two lightheartedly quipped as she shook the offered appendage, her apprehension melting away a little.
When they stopped their introductions, Megan then gestured to the chair across from her and said, "Please, take a seat."
"Sure," Juniper simply replied as she sat down, not really certain what else to say given that she just knew this was supposed to be an interview of some kind.
Once Megan was in her chair again too, there was a slight awkwardness that hung in the air until it occurred to the younger teen that something was off. "Hey Juniper, if you don't mind me asking, where's your mom? I thought she was going to be here too," she inquired.
The reformed teen's eyes went wide in surprise for a moment before she looked more apologetic and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, but my Mama had to run some errands. I think she had to get some groceries and wanted to see about scheduling a checkup for the two of us just to be sure we're still doing alright you know."
"Oh, because of the-" Megan started only to stop when she realized what she was about to say, worried about how sensitive the dancer might be in regards to her traumatic experience.
Juniper knew where the other was going with her statement however as she avoided Megan's gaze and finished it with a quiet voice, "Mutation? Yeah, I'm sorry again and I understand if I make you uncomfortable, especially since you were there that night, weren't you? You do look familiar."
Now the supersleuth felt guilty as she quickly informed Juniper, "No no no, it's not that, I mean, I was there, and you and your mom are amazing dancers by the way, but I was afraid I'd upset you by bringing up those memories; although I guess it would likely come up anyway when I interviewed you, but either way I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression."
"Oh," was all the young blonde said as they fell back into awkward silence, although she was blushing a little now from the compliment Megan had given her. After about 10seconds, Juniper smiled and said, "Thanks. I'm uh, glad you liked the performance, even though it was mostly Mama."
"Sure, sure, but your dance moves were still great too," Megan replied almost immediately, followed by avoiding the other again for a moment. "How about we just get started with the interview? I'm curious to learn more about you and your mom," the reporter suggested gently before flashing a small grin of her own.
"Yeah, that sounds good," the older teen agreed as she straightened up in her seat while the second one got her notebook ready.
They then looked at each other once again as Megan kindly informed the other, "Now, just so you know, you don't have to answer any question that are too personal or uncomfortable, okay? I may want the truth, but I know you've already been through a lot and I have a tendency to go overboard with my persistence, so tell me if you want to skip something."
Juniper felt her cheeks warm again at how considerate this relative stranger was treating her, so she merely nodded and said, "Uh-huh," making Megan's smile brighten too.
The supersleuth looked down at her notebook and finally got started as she asked, "Alright. #1: What situation led you and your mom to commit crimes? Was it tough financial pressure or more personal reasons?"
Juniper blinked before she furrowed her brow in thought, contemplating the right words as she scratched the back of her head and slowly said, "Well, I think in our case, it was a bit of both. You see, it was initially due to hard times as even though my Mama is a brilliant electrical engineer, she got laid off when the company she worked for, Ohms & Co, had to make some cut backs."
She paused to stare at Megan, who although was jotting everything down, managed to give her an expression of sympathy as she nodded. "Anyway, it's always been Mama and me since daddy passed away when I was only three, so I don't even have any memories of him, but Mama said she and him loved music and would spend hours dancing; guess it's in my blood, ain't it?" Juniper continued with a small happy grin. The reporter quickly returned the gesture as she stopped writing for a moment, followed by both avoiding the other's gaze when each felt they looked too long.
The young dancer was first to speak again with, "Sorry for getting a bit offtrack."
"It's no problem at all Juniper. This is part of your story and thank you for sharing it with me," Megan assured her before she appeared a bit sadder herself. "I'm sorry about your dad. I actually lost my mom when I was five and I only have a couple memories of her left; it's probably a big reason my dad can go overboard on trying to protect me, even though he often goes about it the wrong way," she admitted, feeling the need to explain her father's actions without defending them.
"Ah, really? I'm sorry for your loss too," Juniper kindly replied with a sympathetic smile.
The brown-haired teen couldn't help but visibly appear happier at seeing someone understand her similar experience as well as how open the other was already being with her. "Thanks. Hopefully your mom isn't as paranoid about you gaining even the slightest independence," Megan half-joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Juniper chuckled a little and said, "She can be sometimes, but she mainly just gets on my case when I don't want to do my chores like making my bed or taking out the trash."
"Yeah, been there, done that with my dad, so I usually try to do it now as soon as I realize there's something up to avoid a lecture," Megan remarked with an annoyed eyeroll. They then both shared a laugh for a few seconds before a shush came from the older woman a couple tables over.
"Sorry," they whispered in unison.
"Okay, now I'm sorry for getting offtrack. We were still on question one," the younger girl told the dancer as she held her pen again.
"Oh right, where was I?"
"Something about your situation being both."
"Oh yeah. Now I remember. Anyway, our thieving started off as a way to fill our financial need while delivering it in a stylish show, or at least that's how it was when I was able to join as Mama still had to do some thieving when I was younger as she got laid off like I said; but since dancing and music were so passionately ingrained in us, we did it for the admiration as well as it felt good to be praised for the hard work we put into perfecting our art, even if it was illegal," Juniper finished answering, flashing a sheepish grin at the end.
Megan wrote down everything as she nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I can't really condone the crime part, but it sure looked like you and your mom had a fun time when it came to performing."
"For the most part it was, although we had a little spat over some dance moves, but we made up and were back to braving this reformed lifestyle together shortly afterward," the taller teen replied, feeling more relaxed with each moment.
The young reporter proceeded to flip her notebook page and stare down at it as she read, "Well, that's good to hear. Now, for the second question, I was wondering what made you and your mom decide you were 'gonna go good?'"
Megan gave a quick wink when she was done and Juniper chuckled for a moment at the reference, even if that night ended up being a disaster, followed by telling the other, "I think it was the time we spent in prison that made us change our ways combined with the fact we'd just reconciled. It made us realized that maybe we should stop the criminal lifestyle if it was going to drive us to hurt ourselves and others; plus, we'd never been to jail before as well as the confined spaces, the guards and most of the people in there were not pleasant at all. I'm just glad I had Mama there for support even though I'm sure she was nervous and scared too."
"I can only imagine. I'm glad you had your mom there too. It's still crazy they had you tried as an adult, but then I guess you would have been in juvie alone and that would have been terrible too," the young reporter consoled her fellow teen, showcasing a sympathetic smile as she paused her writing.
"Thanks," Juniper simply replied as she returned to gesture. She was quiet now as she patiently waited for Megan to finish her notes.
When the other was done, she performed the same practice as before with flipping the page and then informing the dancer, "Well, it looks like you answered part of my question already about when did you decide to become reformed, so that just leaves me to ask was it easy to do it?"
The tall blonde folded her arms on top of the table in front of her and proceeded to sigh, looking a little more distressed at what she'd likely have to confess. She took another deep breath in and out before turning to Megan with resolve and replied, "It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing to where we are now. It may have been easy to decide to be good, but…" She trailed off as she avoided the high school student's gaze, letting her eyes get a little misty as she continued. "…we really backtracked when we were forced to work for that awful woman."
"Diane Amara," Megan softly chimed in, albeit with a guilty expression since the truly uncomfortable moment was here at last.
"Diane, Liv, whatever her name was. She derailed our plans for so long and took our humanity and freedom to choose in the process, turning us into her obedient, monstrous minions. I don't remember a lot from our time there, but to think we could have done so many awful things in her name and not even know it, it's just so scary and it's hard not to feel like you're really a bad person if you couldn't fight that control," Juniper sullenly responded, tears prickling the edge of her eyes and threatening to fall.
The young reporter looked at the other with sadness and uncertainty on what to do next, but clearly knew she needed to do something. After a couple seconds, she proceeded to slowly extend her left arm across the table and gently rest her hand on the dancer's arm, making Juniper face her fellow teen and giving Megan her full attention.
"I'm sorry for what you went through, but we've only known each other for less than 20minutes and I think I can say with certainty that you're a good person and what happened wasn't your fault; and if you want, we can stop the interview right now, whatever makes you more comfortable," Megan considerately offered, exuding nothing but patience and compassion.
The blonde teen briefly looked at the hand for a few seconds, not saying anything as she blinked and let a couple tears drop to clear her eyes of them. She then faced Megan again, knowing that she wouldn't put up a fuss if she did call it quits and finding immense comfort in being reminded that not everyone saw her and her mom as monsters. She took a deep breath and with her free hand, wiped the remaining tears off her face before she smiled again and whispered, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," the second teen said as she returned the sentiment. She decided to withdraw her hand now and placed it back on her lap as she waited for the other to speak again, who currently appeared to be debating whether or not to stay.
About 15seconds later, Juniper evidently made her decision as with a bit more determination written on her face, she told Megan, "I want to finish what we started. I think I said all I wanted to about that horrible woman though, so the rest shouldn't be as bad." She then paused as she tried to recollect what the question was before it came to her, prompting the reporter to get her pen ready as the other continued.
"Okay, so as for the rest of it being easy, it was a long wait afterward in jail and it took the two of us a fair amount of effort to stay out of trouble so we could get down to community service. It did help that the parole board gave us lodging for now, but we have to start looking for a new place soon since our hours should be up in a few months. So, overall, I'd say it took hard work, but we earned our way out and it feels good knowing how far we've come." Juniper's sadness seemed to wash away as she spoke, proud of her and her mom's accomplishments that even her trauma couldn't taint.
Megan jotted down the brief statement, followed by looking at the taller teen with another genuine smile. "That's great to hear you're doing well. Have you been having a lot of fun with community service?" she asked.
"Is that one of the questions for the interview?" the other teen responded with a slight head tilt.
Blushing a little now, the supersleuth flitted her eyes as she slowly said, "Not really, I mean, it could be if you want. I was just wondering since you're a great dancer if it feels the same teaching people compared to just performing."
"Oh, well…it actually has been a really great time. It can be frustrating when the students don't want to listen, but for those that are truly there to learn, it's so rewarding to see the look on their faces when they finally execute a move right; performing is still a lot of fun though, I won't deny that," Juniper answered with enthusiasm and a little wink, making Megan giggle.
"So, you got any more questions on your notebook there or…" the tall blonde trailed off but was legitimately curious.
"I think I have just one left. Let me check…yep. Just one, and it's what do you do to keep yourself from going back to crime and what are your goals as a reformed criminal?" the teen promptly informed the other after another turn of the page.
"That seems more like two instead of one, but I'll still answer it," Juniper noted with a sly look.
"Okay, fair," Megan conceded as she scratched the back of her head and gave a sheepish smile.
"No worries, but back to your question, Mama and I keep ourselves from returning to our old lives mostly by reminding ourselves of how hard we worked to get here. Plus, all the trouble crime dancing got us into both with the law and ourselves made a great deterrent as well," the 16yr old responded, adding a sadder tone at the end as she briefly looked away. Megan nodded in understanding but didn't say anything this time since she knew what her interviewee was referring to; she also didn't have to wait long to wait as Juniper spoke again a few seconds later to finish her piece.
"As for our goals, we're going to stay on the path of being law-abiding citizens with our own apartment and good jobs so we don't have to result to thievery again. I'm hoping we can at least still incorporate dancing into our new lives, whether it's performing, teaching or maybe I can join a club in school and do it there too; attending public school is something else I hope to do since I've been homeschooled for a long time now, but high school is where I can meet new people and it's when all the dances are supposed to happen, so it'd be nice to experience them without having to crash one, you know?" the tall blonde said with a bright smile, clearly excited about making that future a reality.
The 15yr old couldn't help but smile too as she felt the other's happiness, admiring her aspirations for wanting to keep the lives they have and even wanting to continue her education. "That sounds awesome Juniper. I really hope it works out and I would especially love to see you two perform again. Have you and your mom looked into any schools yet?" the supersleuth inquired with genuine enthusiasm.
"Oh…umm, I think there's only been two we've looked at so far. I believe it was the Hanawa High School and the other was Todoroki High," Juniper answered after a slight delay.
"Cool. I go to Shimamoto High myself. If you don't wind up there, then I guess that means we'll have to be rivals," Megan playfully responded with a wink, letting the other know she was only kidding.
The young dancer proceeded to giggle, which got her fellow teen to start too, resulting in another "Shh" being sent their direction.
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
The moment had past as they now stared at each other with their little grins as uncertainty hung in the air of what to do next. Juniper eventually broke the silence as her mood seemed to drop and she hesitantly asked, "So…I guess this means the interview's over, huh?"
Megan's smile dipped in realization as she briefly looked down and softly said, "Yeah."
"Well, I hope I did a good job then," the tall blonde replied, scratching the back of her head as a bit of joy returned to her face.
"You did great June," the brown-haired teen promptly told her as she gave her best supportive smile.
Juniper's eyes went wide as a small blush came to her cheeks and inquired, "Did you just call me 'June?'"
Now it was Megan's turn to blush as she flitted her eyes away and remained silent. When she managed to find her words, she let out a long sigh and admitted, "Yes…I guess I did. Listen, I know this may sound silly or that you think I'm crazy for even suggesting it, but I had a nice time getting to know you a little, so…I was thinking…it might be fun get to learn even more about you and maybe you'd like to know more about me. Feel free to say no of course, but it seemed like you had a good time for the most part too and it doesn't even have to be here. We could do the park or there's Joe's Diner that's really good too; that way we can chat and not worry about being too loud. So…what do you say?" She gave a warm smile at the end to hopefully help her cause, especially since she'd at least like to be friends with the reformed criminal.
Juniper almost couldn't believe what she was hearing, with the only thing keeping her from really doubting the other's sincerity being that their short conversation had been so fluid overall and she did actually have a nice time talking with Megan. The young dancer blinked as her cheeks turned red again from the sudden pressure she felt to give an answer, even though all her fellow teen did was show nothing but patience. Maybe…I could give this a shot. She was really kind to me and might also be able to help me adjust more too. Megan does seem like the type of person who knows how to have a good time, she pondered as she glanced to the side for a moment. Juniper took in a long breath that she slowly exhaled as a grin spread across her face, looking at the reporter once more. "I'd say that sounds like a great idea. I haven't actually been out much since we were released from prison. How about we do Joe's Diner first? I don't think I've actually gotten to eat there," the 16yr old said, feeling a flash of embarrassment and guilt for what happened the last time she was at the restaurant.
With the other's acceptance of her offer, the nervousness in Megan's system was almost instantly replaced with relief and giddiness. "Sure, I'd love to take you," she simply but wholeheartedly replied as she pushed her chair back to get up, making Juniper mimic her actions. Once they were standing, the shorter of the two came over to the taller one and cordially asked, "Mind if I walk you out?"
Juniper let out a soft chuckle and playfully said, "But we hardly know each other, Megan. Aren't you worried what people will think?"
The reporter snorted in response before slyly telling her, "Nope, not at all."
The young dancer smiled brightly once again as she walked along with someone she could safely say was her new friend out of the library; from there, the duo found themselves lost in conversation about future plans on when they'd meet again, other places around the city to visit and how much they were looking forward to all of it.
NOTES
I made this as a gift for TheSparklyKitten, but I hope anyone else that read this enjoyed how their little interaction went and at the potential for future meetings to happen. ^_^333 I think it would make sense that Megan would try to rectify or at least help mitigate the prejudice placed on reformed criminals as well as it would make a great segue to her meeting not just High Voltage, but others like Globby and Felony Carl, which I did actually write about but still need to type it up. :) I may have to write more of these two on their future dates. ;)
I'm currently trying to finish a Christmas story with Globby and Felony Carl hosting a Christmas party for BH6, so fingers cross I'll get done in time because I'm not waiting a whole year to post it, but I know posting it after the holidays means it doesn't have the same effect. :/
"Cutscenes" should be back in 2 weeks with the next story being a shorter one with Supersonic Sue coming out of retirement. ;)