Part 1
Private Network
-Griff
-Tiffany
-Mother
-Steps (100% Complete)
-Heart Score (+)
-Doctor Beacon off
-Mother (Ping 1500m)
The plan had been to move on to the next adventure. But the blowing of a horn had brought most movement to a halt. Heads rising skywards before all around them started their exodus. A message from Mother set them on a path back. The movement of bodies created a river current that dragged them along. They had to use the Happy Tug to get anywhere.
It meant leaving Tiffany behind who would not accept a goodbye, but she had a family of her own calling her. They parted ways, by replacing a dramatic goodbye with a wink.
-Mother (Ping 150m)
Once they touched ground they were in a new world. The cold vanished and the heat flipped her equilibrium. The body mods suddenly cooled, the tech took up the challenge with alarming gusto. Cool air burst from her as if she were smuggling a snow blower under her bra. Griff sighed and wriggled like a cat against a particularly comfy leg, patting himself as his clothing bounced and fluffed up and down. It looked like he'd farted out a hurricane. He was about to take off the jacket, too impatient to let the bodysuit do the cooling. Hugging from behind Kate shoved him and walked them along, using him as a battering ram against the crowd.
-Mother (Ping 100m)
Like victims of an open drain, people slowly surged towards Mother's ping. The numbers of short bodies, youthful eyes, expressive and colourful outfits were endless enough to make Kate feel mundane! What on earth did Sakura see in her? The droves of kids condensing, started as dozens and become over two hundred. Faces and faces and faces all in their own world, their own gravities leading them to the associated adults.
[Active Ping! High Priority MOTHER Active Ping!]
A buzz charged through her head like a brain freeze. That being , a notification from Mother. Before she could respond they collided with a kid in pink. Sakura, arm in arm with a very familiar giant.
"It can't be-" Kate said.
It was the Mechanic.
The tall, remarkably good-looking wall of a man with the goofy accent. They made eye contact… then stared. To say they were looking at each other would have been a criminal overstatement. To look was to do. And they were both too brain dead to be actively doing a damn thing! They were victims of the other's existence. They were deer in the headlights. He gaped, his mouth opening and closing. It was clear he was determined to break out of their moment. He gave up and settled with a caramel smile.
"Oh, holy shit. It is you!" Sakura declared to the deaf in countries far away.
The sound didn't quite transfer in the midst of the chaos. Sakura made a throat noise and an invitation activated. A new joint private link formed with her Sakura and Griff.
[PN – Connect – Tanaka Sakura]
"Now, we have private connect? Nice." The syrupy 'Sakura voice' poured into her skull.
-New line connected. Anon
"Hey, car gu'rl." Came that woody goofy voice.
Ouch, she thought, but to be fair, Mechanic wasn't exactly his name was either.
"Hey, Mechanic guy."
They grinned in the most awkward disjointed way. It was like she'd rented someone else's bones. Which was its own syrupy sweetness.
"You, know each other?" Sakura asked.
"Not only do we know each other, he saved my life." Kate said.
"Mine and mom's too dummy." Griff added, not to be left behind.
"Yeah, I saved their whole family." He said, with a sarcastic puff of his chest.
"When? I thought you were a new girl." Sakura asked, her confusion expanding infinitely.
"Yesterday." He said.
"Technically we moved in today." Kate said it in such a way as to lay bait.
And hot damn did their faces changed! They were vampires staring at a virgin offering. Kate had to throw her hands up.
"Okay stop you weirdos! 1) No, I have not made a schedule. 2) I've already been given an idea of what it's like in this city and 3) I get what you're looking for. And no, I haven't had time to process, it let alone decide. And right now, I just wanna sit with my mother."
"Who?" The giant asked.
"Who's my mother?" Kate asked, caught by that.
"No he askin who tell you, was it Jackie?"
Kate pulled a face at Sakura's question which appeared to make Sakura glow. But why? What about Kate's look had been the equivalent of being told the right thing by the perfect person? And Sakura was so adorably hot. Mr giant's brow rose, bemused. But why?
Kate's sense of understanding was muddied and gross. She felt coated in it. Which made her tired. But she wasn't done. She would not be stupid. And giving up would make her stupid. Ignorance was one thing, settling down staying ignorant was another. She'd wade through the muddy feeling, she'd play along until she found the exit.
A thought hit.
Was it because she pulled a face at hearing Jackie's name? Huh? Was there more to the Jackie thing? Did they all know each other? Okay, what if she kept Tiffany's name back? Fine, but who else did she know? The Viking twins? What about the triplets?
"The triplets with the blue eyes told me all about it." Kate lied.
"Which one?" Sakura asked.
Of course Sakura knew the triplets.
"The one with unique blue eyes.
"Which… one?"
"Em?"
"No." Sakura said shaking her head.
"What?"
"Just no. She didn't."
The absolute surety, the blow off, kinda hurt!
"How would you know?"
Sakura just stared, a bemused smirk twisting her lips. She wasn't even trying to be cute or endearing. Kate was simply being reassessed. As if she'd be able to read Tiffany's name inside of Kate's eyes, collar bone and thighs. With a soft shrug, Sakura stepped up, held her hand, and pulled!
Sakura marched them, Griff included through the crowd and right up to their mother who pulled Kate up.
-Mother (Ping – Cancelled)