That night at dinner time
"you know Cat if you do build a house here the girls that live here will never let you and Tori leave" says Andrea
"so I shouldn't build a house here then, is that what you're saying" asks Cat suddenly nervous about being in the community
"that's not what she meant, the edibles are working but it's messed with her focus, she meant they wouldn't want you to leave, they love the representation you, Tori and those kids provide, there are girls like the ones you helped get a junior record label here in this community, however they feel like society is oppressing them to the point that they can't ever get that chance to show the world they're more than a disorder" says Sabrína
"how many, I could get a label representative here this week, they're looking for more kids, even ones with the disorder, talent is all that matters to them, ok well talent and manners" says Cat
"four that I know of that sing openly and would kill for a chance to show the world they can be productive members of society, two are actively thinking about joining the four in wanting to show the world they're human beings and one that sings when they think no one is watching" says Sabrína
"if you could choose one to get accepted right now who would you choose" asks Tori
"definitely the last one, she's the top talent of the bunch, she's some sort of intersex, I don't mean that in a bad way, the doctors can't even agree on a definition for her, she was born with girly parts downstairs but nothing upstairs, when upstairs growth normally happens she got nothing, the doctors panicked and put her on puberty blockers until she was ready to decide who she wanted to be, unfortunately now they're pushing back on her saying she's wrong and even if she was right, her family can't afford the medication required to fix her hormone imbalance anyway" says Sabrína
"what do you mean by 'accepted right now', do you have a hand in it or something" asks Sabrína, slightly skeptical of the whole idea
"Cat and I are two of the four artists that requested the juniors label be created in the first place, Olivia and Mo being the other two so yes we have a say, we can essentially sign one kid each to the label every six months, everyone else has to go through the normal process, get that girl here and I will get her on the label, how old is she" says Cat
"she's fifteen and hates the puberty blockers, she wishes doctors would give her estrogen that she doesn't have enough of, something Rebecca has consulted on and told me as such" says Sabrína
"given her age I can just manage to get her on the junior label, the cut off is sixteen, after that she'll be moved to the regular label if she makes enough money, if she's as talented as you say then she definitely will" says Cat
"find a way to get her here tomorrow so I can email a sample 9f her singing to the label to make things official, I have contracts in my bag she'll also have to sign" says Tori
"her parents opened this motel last year hoping to make a little extra cash, the building was pre existing, it's what was left from a three floor hotel, ask to speak to Ashley, she's a big fan, her style is a mix of yours and Cat's style" says Andrea
"you're sure she'll make big money" asks Sabrína
"let's put it this way Sabi, YOU had faith in me from the beginning, even before Andi, before anyone else even thought I could make it big like this, if you say she's very talented then she will make lots of money" says Cat
"I'll stop by the main office to tell Mary that you want to talk to Ashley about a special record deal offer, Sabi, we should really get going Anita doesn't like being alone for long periods of time" says Sabrína
"whose Anita" asks Tori
"our kitten, she was brought in by a concerned beach visitor, Anita was their pet but they were too busy to take care of her and felt they were hurting her by not being there for her, they were hoping someone in this community could take care of them, we stepped up, Annie as she tends to respond to, she has separation anxiety issues, luckily where Sabi and I work is pet friendly so when it's our shift we get to bring her, she's clingy so that's why we didn't bring her here but it's almost time for her dinner so we really should be going" says Andrea
"I'd love to visit this kitten, maybe tomorrow for lunch Tori and I could visit, one thing Tori and I want to do is bring money into this place, as nice as that former Governor is by paying for your heat and hydro, he seems to have done little to actually make this place look good" says Cat
"he was paying to keep the streets and sidewalks clear of snow but his wife had recently had a kid so he couldn't focus on us as much, his daughter has Cerebral Palsy, she's his first daughter, he's putting money away for her, we don't blame her for our misfortune, if I had a daughter who would need lots of medical care I'd be shifting where I put money too" says Sabrína
"what do you do for the big snow storms, surely this town isn't expected to fend for itself, you have no equipment to clear streets or sidewalks" asks Tori
"it depends on how much stays on the ground, if it's more than a foot New York City and the state, sometimes even smaller cities on the east coast of Long Island send their snow plows once their cities are cleared, anything less than a foot and we take care of it ourselves, we were lucky to be approved for a state online learning program, so the kids group up in the houses with internet access for school, we have a literal school building but it hasn't had power in two years and it's never had reliable internet access, it takes too much power to keep running for online school" says Sabrína as they leave
The next morning with Ashley
"wait so this is like a legit offer, what about the other girls here who can sing, will they get a chance too, I'm an outcast even here, I wouldn't want to give them a reason to bully me" says Ashley in shock that she's actually talking to Cat and Tori
"yes this is a real offer, Sabrína says you're extremely talented, I have a contract for you to sign but I need a recording of you singing a song for the label to hear so they can justify me getting you signed to their shareholders, you're on the edge of the junior label age limit so if you do well you'll be transferred to the regular label after your sixteenth birthday" says Cat
"what about my look issue, I don't look like a proper girl, I have nothing upstairs but everything downstairs, I don't want people looking at me like I'm a freak" asks Ashley
"I had a lengthy fight with your doctor this morning, I threatened to sue him for caring more about statistics of the condition and how very few boys are born with it than he cared about you as a living person, he emailed me your file and said 'she's your problem now', I forwarded your medical files to Rebecca Vega, Tori's aunt who is the master of these things, she said you're biologically a girl, that your variation of intersex was quite rare, basically when you were inside your mom growing, you had enough genetic information to grow female parts but after you were born your body shed 'unimportant' genetic data for some reason, your period is so light because your body knows just enough to shed the lining every month but not enough happens to give you more flow, you'll be coming back to Los Angeles with me for treatment, free of charge" says Cat
"that's insane, I've never gotten that kind of confidence boosting help before, I'll be allowed to return though right, technically we have the infrastructure for a hospital and a pharmacy but they cause some sort of power surge that blows the entire town and several towns around us until power is cut, my dad was a doctor, his brother was an electrician, at least before they moved here and gave up everything so that I could be safe, my uncle says the hurricane broke something connecting the pharmacy and training hospital to power, some sort of major ground fault across mains voltage, whatever that means, my uncle always used words I couldn't understand" says Ashley
"I assume you have a girl that you want to come back for, yes you're allowed to return here once your treatment starts, Tori's aunt assures me it's an easy fix, she said that basically your body doesn't produce enough girl hormones to start chest growth, you'll be on the meds for a year to see if your body can adjust to the healthy levels on their own after that, if they return to how they are now, you'll be on the meds for the rest of your life, now please let me record you singing, it will finalize your contract with the accountants at the label" says Cat as Ashley nods and sings
4 minutes later
"wow, Sabrína was understating just how amazing your voice is" says Tori
"wait Sabrína told you about my singing, I would have thought it would have been my mom, she always wants what's best for me, she's told me for years that I need to be auditioning for record labels" says Ashley
"yes, it was Sabrína, why does that surprise you" asks Cat
"it's just she always seems to disassociate when I sing or talk, she lets me do that for hours on end, she listens to everyone and we look up to her as a moral compass, she'd make a great mayor for this town but she detest politics and refuses the job when we nominate her" says Ashley
"yeah she doesn't do politics, she doesn't like being center of attention, though she is the reason why I kept going and eventually got signed, she really is my original fan, I spent years trying to prove to her that I'd never make it big, only to prove her right in the most shocking way possible" says Cat
"are you going to build here, we could use a role model like you coming here a lot, there are rumours that you're going to invest into this town, are they true" asks Ashley as Cat's phone goes off
"I definitely want to build a home here, it would likely be a vacation home for me, Tori and my friends, two of them are our twins who also have the condition, as for if I'm investing money into this town, I have a meeting with the financial advisor for the mayor this afternoon, it's not a matter of if I'll invest money here, it's a matter of how much I end up investing, my bank account linked to my music keeps growing in size, exponentially in fact, I was able to pay my heat, electricity and water bills for the next three years all at once, sign the contract, the label approved of our choice to sign you, when you come back from Los Angeles, you'll be returning with recording equipment" says Cat
"but we have internet issues, a severe lack of internet connectivity in the town, how can I be expected to send them my recorded music without internet" says Ashley
"we delayed you coming in because Cat was on the phone with the member of Congress for this district, they were under the assumption that this town had not been resettled after the hurricane, that error has been fixed, the president is sending a team to bring this town back up to a normal standard of living requirement, all buildings will be checked and repaired, this motel will be replaced with the old three story hotel that was here but I told them that your parents restored this building so it functioned, they said they'd still own the property, the government is passing a disaster recovery bill to repair this town, that includes the hospital, pharmacy and the grocery store, two doctors will run the hospital as it is small enough to only need two, though there will be a team of nurse's brought in who are certified to work with people with the disorder who understand what its like to have it, same for the pharmacist who will be brought in" says Tori
"so I assume they'll hire from the surrounding area, they don't like us much, a few have spit on me, one time they got me sick" says Ashley
"they're priority is the town first aside from medical professionals obviously, the supermarket owner that ran that grocery store is selling the store once it's rebuilt to a local family for ten dollars, they'll take care of shipping but whatever family ends up buying the store will run the store independently of the franchise" says Cat
"I didn't know companies did that, at least I've never known that to be true, what about the hospital, will it be locally owned" asks Ashley
"no, it will be a state funded hospital, my aunt Rebecca will be the doctor in charge, though by video not in person except for holidays, if anyone has any problems with a doctor you'll be able to leave her an email and she'll deal with it, everyone who lives permanently in this community will get free health insurance for up to a year and a half starting today, after that it will be a modified rate geared to the average income of the Town, as the average goes up so will the rate, it's a special rate scheme for this town only" says Tori
"I heard you're getting Sabrína to make dresses for your online concert stream, how does that work, is it donation or do you have to buy tickets, Sabrína and Andrea can barely afford food for themselves, let alone kitten toys, food or litter" asks Ashley
"Sabrina will be our personal seamstress, let's just say their money problems will be over, I will not force her to keep her money though, I expect her to keep enough money to cover expenses but she'll likely give away most of the money to those worse off than they are" says Cat
"you should know, my parents aren't here legally, they fled to America to make sure I'd be safe" says Ashley
"I don't understand" says Cat as Tori closes her eyes, praying there's a really good reason for Ashley's parents being here illegally
"I know it sounds bad but I'm half Jamaican and half Brazilian, we came from Brazil, they'd decided that girls with the sex aging disorder were too tempting for young boys and were to be killed upon police being notified of a girl having the disorder, my sister being the loose tongue she is mentioned that I had the condition to my crush's parents as they were preparing Suzy for our play date, turns out Suzy also has the disorder but her parents couldn't afford plane tickets to get her out of Brazil, they asked my sister to take Suzy and get our parents to flee Brazil, luckily mom and dad had been planning a summer vacation in Jersey, we went on the vacation and just never went back home, not that Suzy could at that point anyway" says Ashley
"are you saying they killed her parents" asks Tori
"her parents, her relatives, my relatives, anyone related to us that didn't tell them where we were, three months after we landed in new Jersey, a month after that Suzy learned that they were killed and stopped talking to me, said I needed to be punished for destroying her family" says Ashley
"does she target anyone else or just you" asks Cat
"just me, she glares, snarls and growls at me" says Ashley
"sounds to me like she wants you to confront her" says Tori
"I don't do that, I don't confront people, if someone says they're mad at me then I believe they're mad at me, I don't do that whole sub context thing, it doesn't make sense to me" says Ashley
"are you autistic" asks Cat
"we think so but the doctor refuses to get me tested, said there was enough wrong with me to risk adding something else" says Ashley
"when you're in LA getting that hormone treatment, let Rebecca know, she'll do any test asked of her if there's enough evidence and parental approval for the test" says Tori
"I'll get my parents to write a note stating every test the doctor wouldn't get me tested for, Bipolar was another possibility as my aunt was Bipolar as is my big sister, she runs the tech at the motel here, our parents are tech illiterate" says Ashley
"that's a great idea, get them to sign it as well, she may still require verbal permission though" says Tori
"ok, I have to eat, I've been avoiding a meal since my mom told me you asked to see me, I can't keep food down when my anxiety spikes" says Ashley
"we leave in four days, then a week in LA and you'll be back here with recording equipment and internet for the whole town, hopefully they have the pharmacy up and ready by then too" says Tori
"wait they're starting construction and stuff right away, people might not like that, it's like an invasion of privacy for us" says Ashley, shocked about the suddenness of the work expected to be done
"they won't stay within the walls of the community unless invited, their plan is to stay just outside of the city walls at night until the work is done" says Cat as Ashley's mom knocks on the door
"come in" says Tori
"there's a federal agent looking to talk to you Tori, I'm not entirely sure why but federal agents have been all over this town this morning asking questions about the buildings" says Mary
"ok, Ashley go with your mom, fill her in on what we told you" says Tori as Ashley nods and leaves and the federal agent walks in
"oh hey uncle Henry, what's up" says Tori surprised at the visit
"we were tasked with making sure the buildings were secure per Cat's call this morning, the construction company and team want to get started as soon as possible" says Henry
"and you needed to talk to us why, I asked that you guys be independent of me, I'm not funding this by myself" asks Cat
"it's about Suzy, she flagged me down and told me that Ashley's family and herself were here illegally, she wouldn't elaborate so I was wondering if Ashley told you anything" says Henry
"they're from Brazil, probably that rogue province, she said having the disorder had been ruled illegal and punishable by death because it 'distracted' young boys, they'd planned a vacation at the Jersey shore a few years ago and at the same time Suzy's parents were discussing play dates with Ashley and Suzy, their word for actual dates, apparently Ashley's big sister spilled the beans about Ashley having the disorder and Suzy's parents acknowledged that Suzy also had it, they begged them to take Suzy with them to Jersey so she'd be safe, as soon as they'd landed Ashley's parents got news that their families had been killed as the local police went searching for Suzy, Ashley and her sister, they've applied for asylum every year they've been here, only to be denied, if they go back they'll all be killed" says Tori
"ah yes that province, it's a thorn in the side of Brazilians the world over, makes them all look bad, I'll see if I can figure out why they were denied asylum, though the most likely reason is because Suzy isn't related to them" says Henry as he texts his superior
"before they came here they were more or less dating, from the information Ashley gave us, they haven't exactly been on good terms, apparently Suzy blames Ashley for her family getting killed, as if being illegal citizens in a foreign country wasn't hard enough, I need to talk to Suzy asap" says Tori
"I'll get her here in a few minutes, she did mention wanting to talk to you about something, Cat you're going to be late for your meeting with the financial advisor for the mayor, the mayor may be a teenager but I've never met a more responsible mayor in my life, she explained every issue this town has, why several major buildings didn't have power and why the roads were in such bad condition apparently there's a major electrical problem in the school and the training hospital, we've got electricians working on it right now, at the very least they'll be electrically safe to power up by the end of the week so they can be community spaces for warmth, the internet company you requested is coming next week to install temporary internet access lines until the ground thaws at which point they're going to replace all the old wiring with the latest technology, this town will have the fastest internet in all of Long Island and most of lower new York state, the surrounding towns will also be getting lectured about their treatment of this town, honestly this historic town only remains standing because of these people, they repaired what they could so it was livable, we're just finishing what they started" says Henry as Cat leaves after putting on her and Tori's coat for warmth
"what's to happen to these buildings, this motel used to be a three story five star hotel, one of the best on long Island" says Tori
"the contractors will pull things back to bare bones and fix the concrete up so it can be restored to that three story hotel, the former franchise agreed to sell Ashley's parents the rights to the building when it gets restored, we plan to make this a destination town again once its rebuilt, even if its just the hotel and beach that are the main drawing points for people and no we don't plan on letting outsiders buy houses here, we want the people living here to be proud that they live here, it's not well known and the records are spotty but this town was one of the main union underground Railroad 'un-slavery junctions' as the mayor called it, it included ship docking access, last year they found piles of freed slave records, the list of former slaves that made their way through this town isn't exactly small, anyway I'll go get Suzy" says Henry
15 minutes later as Suzy enters
"hi, I heard that Ashie was here, she got a record deal didn't she" asks Suzy
"you have no right to be so mean to her" says Tori
"you'd lash out too if you were an illegal citizen, while I understand that my parents did the right thing sending me with Ashie, in my head someone has to be responsible for their death, I never meant to be so aggressively angry with her, if anything her big sister shares most of the responsibility for bringing me along but she's Bipolar and mentally fragile, if you yell at her she could attack you even if you spout nonsense so I couldn't get angry at her, she made the right choice, nobody deserves that record deal in this town more than Ashie, she's so pure" says Suzy
"she feels like you don't love her" says Tori showing that she knows more than she's letting on
"probably because back in Brazil, the town where we lived is very homophobic, yet I told her I'd be with her forever no matter what but the moment I landed here and found out my whole family was dead I screamed at her, I hit her, I can't forgive myself for that, it scared me that I could even be violent, I thought I didn't have a violent bone in my body, my parents were extremely pacifist, they'd give in before they even consider fighting, knowing now that I have the capacity to physically harm her, it scares me, I'd sooner just be friends and have her live than us date and she end up in the hospital or worse dead, she means that much to me, if that means she doesn't feel loved by me then I'll have to live with that, her life means more to me than our combined happiness because without her in my life I simply can't BE happy" says Suzy
"what was your plan for telling the FBI that you're in the country illegally" asks Tori
"the mayor said they were here to help take stock of just how expensive the repairs will be so Congress can factor it into their debt or whatever, I have never understood money talk, it always confused me, I figured if they were here to help then maybe they'd help me, Ashie and her family not be illegal citizens, it's not like we haven't tried to be legal citizens or anything, we don't sell drugs, we don't do drugs unless they're prescription drugs and we aren't out killing people, I can't understand why the government has denied us citizenship, we're good people" says Suzy
"I have to ask if Ashley likes being called Ashie, honestly it's really cute" asks Tori
"back in Brazil she liked it, I haven't had the guts to say it here, not after what happened when we got to America, even trying to say it makes me feel like I'm denying I hurt her and I can't not deny that" says Suzy
"if she forgave you, what were your plans, what was to be your future" asks Tori
"to be together forever, as in marriage, even if she forgave me though my parents last words to me were 'you have one chance Suzanne, one chance to prove you love her, if you fail you have to at least try and find a boy you love', I promised them on my life that I wouldn't take their trust for granted, I ruined that chance before I even had a chance to spend a second with her here in America, my family took promises very seriously, as I do as well, I can't simply look past my sudden anger and say it was a one time thing, I simply can't do that, I have no family here to consent to medical tests to figure out why I lashed out like that, therefore I have no choice but to deny Ashie and I an us" says Suzy
"she's coming with us to LA in a few days to treat her hormone issues so she can grow a chest like she was supposed to years ago maybe you should come along, if it's all in your head then my aunt will figure it out and fix it so you can know for sure you won't hurt Ashley ever again" says Tori
"but I like her how she is, I don't care if she grows a chest like all girls do, like I have, the women in her family don't grow big chests anyway so I don't see why it matters" says Suzy
"it's not about changing who she is, she got the junior label contract easily, the label was quite excited to have someone on the junior label at the older end of the age range, low girl hormones for a girl can cause problems in more ways than you can imagine, it doesn't just extremely slow down puberty, it can have mental health problems as well, she wants to look and feel like the girl she feels she is in her head, it's important for her, it's not going to make her any different, she'll just feel more comfortable in her body" says Tori
"and I'll get help too if I go with you, I'm just not sure I trust being in a plane, I'd never been in a plane before and after I was I lost it on Ashie, if I go with you I want to be handcuffed so I can't hurt her, it's important to me that she be safe from me until I know exactly what is wrong with me" says Suzy
"that request can be accommodated for, now go take care of yourself, I'll come get you when it's time to leave" says Tori
"ok" says Suzy as she leaves
At dinner that night
"Tori are you nuts, Suzy absolutely can't come with us, she might hurt Ashley" says Cat angrily as Ashley works on her meal
"she LOVES Ashie Cat, we can't change that, the only reason they're not dating is BECAUSE she's afraid she'll hurt Ashie, Suzy values Ashie's life more than her own happiness, she deserves to find out what is going on with her, she asked to be cuffed for the trip Cat, there's no risk, there is such a thing called pressure anger disorder, the belief is that difference in air pressure can cause hallucinations or sudden mood swings" says Tori as Ashley's jaw drops
"s-s-she called me Ashie" asks Ashley in shock
"yes, that's all she called you, she never said Ashley, whenever she talked about you she said Ashie" says Tori
"that seems odd" says Cat having gotten different information about Suzy from the mayors assistant
"no it's not odd, that's what she used to call me back in Brazil when we were together, it's an endearing term, like when Tori calls you Kitty, it's the same thing" says Ashley
"do you have any idea what might be wrong with her" asks Tori looking for Ashley's input on the issue
"I don't know about air pressure but the air quality is definitely worse here than back in our home town and she has issues breathing as it was, it's definitely worse here, she was fine on the plane, we'd been kissing when it landed, she was all shy but also excited to spend time on a real beach, the moment she took a breath of the air outside the plane it was like she flew into a fit of rage, it was extremely unlike her, she's more pacifist than her parents and that's saying something, the only person she ever hit was my bully back home, he'd insulted me and she took offense, she didn't even hit him very hard, just enough to get him to back off, any other time it was all about negotiating before violence, nothing I did that other people did even got her even a little bit angry, I actually liked when she defended me, I'm submissive by nature, I actually found her defending me hot, if I'd known how at the time I'd have probably made love to her for it" says Ashley
"that's disturbing, the problem is that the people who work for the mayor think she's a threat to you physically" says Cat as Ashley laughs
"that's hilarious, I lift ten pound weights for ten minutes twice a week, she can't even do three reps of two pound dumbbells once a week, how is she going to put enough force behind a hit to hurt me, she's more likely to hurt herself hitting me than she is actually hurting me, when she hit my bully it wasn't the hit that scared him, it was that the school pacifist cared enough to try, it was the thought of what she'd go to to protect me that scared him, for example her dad was a cop and my bully had been known to put me in my locker when I'd get bold enough to try and make him back down, we'd only began 'play dating' that week, after she stood up to him he literally fled, he changed schools to get away from her and the consequences that possibly hurting me would land him, his dad's serving time for murder so he's deathly afraid of jail, he only ever did enough to scare us, he never actually hurt us, last I heard he was dating his guy best friend from high school" says Ashley
"so if she's not a threat why would the mayors staff think she is" asks Cat
"because of that outburst she had, plus any guests my parents do get that bring kids, the daughters sometimes hit on me, she'd snarl at them, they think she'll hit customers because she hit me and they don't want their only town income stream to stop, honestly the hit slap didn't even leave a mark, it didn't even hurt, I was more hurt by the fact that something made her hit me than the hit itself, nobody understands her" says Ashley
"I asked her what the future would have been if she hadn't hit you, she said 'together forever as in marriage', I have to wonder if the relationship had been arranged by your parents" says Tori
"absolutely not, my parents leaned homophobic, her parents WERE homophobic, in third grade the school got concerned that we might be in love, they went to her parents and said they should be open to the idea that Zuzu could be in love with me, they threatened to sue the school for even thinking that Zuzu could love a girl, we started to stop hiding our feelings from them after we knew the school was safe, then the church noticed and confronted them about their homophobic views, there wasn't a church for a few dozen miles that was big enough to be considered a real church, mostly ones run out of people's homes so they couldn't sue the church without being kicked out of it, they called the dates 'play dates' and they meant it literally, it could only be play not real, it took several years and her dad's fellow cop outing that they've been hiding a kid with the disorder and that it was illegal to do that before they even considered letting Zuzu leave with me as her girlfriend, they made her promise that she'd make sure it was actually love before doing anything like kissing or making out, that was the last conversation she had with them before they were killed" says Ashley
"that's her main issue right now, at least as much as she has said to me, she feels like she broke that promise by hitting you" says Tori
"yeah it would have broken the promise she made her parents but not the promise she made to me, she promised me she'd be with me forever, she used to pull my hair all the time as it used to be a lot longer and always in braids, though that's only because I intentionally got into situations where she'd have to hold me back so I wouldn't fall, again that's me being submissive, I liked that she'd take control of the situation to protect me, I miss her kisses, they were always soft" says Ashley
"fair enough ill let my aunt that she has two patients coming at the end of the week for priority care" says Tori
"ok" says Ashley as her mood suddenly perks up