Abigail Fairchild

Brady nodded. ‘You can say that,” he said as he stared down at the photos again. “I was thinking about a golden retriever, but then there’s the border collie and the Brittany Spaniel.” he looked down at the photos again, picking out the breeds of dogs that he mentioned out of the pile. 

“Oh!  So you’re thinking of leaning towards a larger dog breed,” Abigail said.  She’d pictured him getting something smaller as a first pet.  “Well, if you want something loyal, I’d go with the Retriever.  Collie’s need a lot of space to run around as they are more herding animals.  Spaniel’s are sort of a nice mix of the two and are on the smaller size, so of those three I’d personally go with that one,” she said pausing for a second.  “I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”

He nodded. ‘They are big responsibilities, and she is okay with getting one, but I want to surprise her with a really nice dog and we’ll just take turns taking care of it-and sometimes at the B&B we’ll just have him out and meet the costumers and play with the kids every once in a while.”

“So you could say he- or she- would be an employee at the inn,” Abigail said with a little giggle at the thought of a dog wearing a nametag.  “I suppose I could help you.  Is there a breed you were thinking of in particular?”

 Harper pulled out the money and handed it too her before taking her cookie dough cone. “ They have all kinds of things. I mostly like it to be background noise.” she explained as she took a bite. Oh yes, this was the perfect sweetness without being too sweet. “It helps me focus better when I am studying if I have background noise.” she explained further. “ how do you like working here so far?” she asked.

Abigail took the money, put it in the register and handed back her change.  Since there weren’t any other customers, she figured it’d be okay to talk to the other woman.  “Study?  Are you a student at the university?”  She asked curiously.  Maybe they had a couple classes together and didn’t even know it.  “It’s alright.  It’s not the most glamorous job but it pays the rent so it’s not bad.  Could be a lot worse.”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shifted from foot to foot. “It feels weird to do something helpful but also bad in the same five minutes. New experiences do that, ya know?.” Kevin grinned. Before she could respond to anything else, kevin pulled out a slip if paper and wrote something on it with what is a before unseen pen. “Anyway, here’s my didgets.” Kevin cheered with a smile before handing her the paper. “It’s getting late and my shift starts soon.” Kevin winked as he turned on his heels and stepped away down the street. “See ya later!”

“ Oh, Cone for sure.  It adds a nice texture to the soft cookie dough. “She said with a light laugh. “ I wish I could visit japan some day. But for now I will settle with youtube videos and the travel channel. How long have you worked here?” she asked as she got out her wallet so she could pay when she was done.

Abigail nodded and started to scoop out the dough, putting it in one of the waffle cones.  She added the sprinkles on top before handing it to her.  “Youtube videos?”  The girl asked.  She knew of the website of course, but she wasn’t the type to spend her free time on it.  “I didn’t know they had those things on there,” she said thoughtfully.  “I’ve worked here for about a month now.  That’ll be 4.95$”

 “Oh good, I was hoping it would be. Though did you know in japan salmonella is basically unheard of because their eggs are so fresh. They even eat raw eggs over rice or dip their cooked meats into them like a sauce. “ Harper responded as she looked over the different flavors of cookie cough. “ Ohh, I will take a scoop of the butter pecan with some salt Carmel sprinkles.” Harper answered as she pulled her long hair back over her shoulder and smiled.

“I’ve heard that, yes,” Abigail said thoughtfully.  She’d never been to Japan and she’d never get the chance as far as she knew, but she read about the eggs and how they used them.  “Did you want a cone or a bowl?”  The girl asked pointing to the display.  The other woman looked familiar but she couldn’t place how or why.

The lights of the police vehicles swirled down the street and away into the evening. Disappearing just as soon as they came. “Well hey.” Kevin walked up to Abbey and rested his hand on her shoulder. “It looks like you’ve become an everyday hero, Girly.” He shot a smile in her direction and patted her shoulder a bit. Like a father to a son after winning a baseball game.

The man scooped every single shining egg out of the bag and held them close to his chest before walking away.

“That was one hell of a situation.” Kevin crackled his fingers with a chuckle.

Kevin displayed a sideways smile towards the girl. In awe if how the plants would bend abd move so fluidly. “Hell yeah! Way to go Abbey!” Kevin chirped in approval in seeing the shy little lady display her powers for the sake of stopping a crime. The purse fell again, but this time instead just gently flopping onto the ground, without spilling it’s contents. The woman clawed and groaned for the bag, but not before Kevin simply walked over and retrieved it himself. He made his way to the barely conscious man and showed him the mass of eggs. “I believe these are yours, sir ” kevin smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about jacking up your face by the way.”

Kevin stopped pummeling the man. Letting the battered man slump back onto the bags of garbage. His breath was heavy, his muscles tightened, his skin burned a soft red. Kevin hadn’t beat on anyone in a while. He missed but also hated the feeling. He turned to face the girl, a glimmering flame of wrath glinted and died away in his eyes for a second. Kevin straightened up and catched bis breath, back to sanity now. “My bad.”

“My eggs.” The beaten man gargled

“Huh?”

“Those were my eggs, my younglings. That theif woman stole them.” The man coughed as the police cruiser skidded over.

“What what?” Kevin questioned as if the man had spoken another language.

Abigail couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when Kevin stopped.  The man looked as though he was breathing and that was confirmed when he spoke.  The girl frowned when he mentioned the eggs.  She knew some mutations were more severe than others but she didn’t realize some could lay eggs.  Why not though?  Anything was possible.  Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she wanted to ask him questions about it but now wasn’t the time.  She turned her attention back to the woman who was already trying to flee the scene.  She couldn’t just stand by and let her get away could she?  She police were starting to arrive but the woman could be long gone by the time they realized what was happening.  

Kevin gripped the scaly man’s shoulders and trusted his body away from the woman, breaking the bag’s strap and sending pearly-beads everywhere. Kevin sent the man flying into a pile of trashbags on the outer edge if an alley. Kevin launched at the man and held him up by the collar, a vein throbbing on the side of his head he brought the man close to him. “What kind of scumbag are you?” He grunted at the man before punching him down. The woman gasped and quickly made haste to start to pick up the pearl that had spilled out. The scattered pearls somewhat bobbed or kinda moved a bit on their own. Kevin didn’t mind it though, he was busy pummeling the attacker.

His eyes had wandered to the pedestrians strolling around outside. Someone’s attention span isn’t as long as everyone else’s. But Kevin quickly snapped out of staring off into space and rested his focus back onto Abbey. “Well, only about a year or so.” He replied looking at her, only to have his attention ripped away at she sound of a woman’s scream. The sound revibrated with force throughout the area right outside the shop window. A lizard mutant had his claws wrapped around the purse strap of a three-eyed old woman. A tug-o-war between the theif and the lady. “Help! Somebody help!” The woman cried out, her voice riddled in fear. Kevin shot a glance back at you before charging out the door without a word.

Kevin never met someone so interested in him before that wasn’t a school guidance counselor. “Well, yeah. Certain regions and areas are very up to date and have tons of advanced tech and are privileged. So I’ve heard.” He smirked explaining himself. “But in my village’s region, we never really imported anything. Everything we needed, we would grow and raise. Heck, the sweetest thing I’ve ever eaten was a cinnamon roll. But sugar wasn’t a resource either, so my mom would just use honey. So i didn’t experience to nuch fancy stuff out there unless i hiked really far.” Kevin did his best to try to comprehend the woman’s questions, but he always had trouble relating.

His head jolted up in surprise that she hadn’t already asked him to leave, but the fact she was acting curious about his power almost left Kevin perplexed. No one, especially a woman, was ever as curious about his mutation than she was. A rush of relieve flooded over him. “Well. I can control it and use it at will. I got it from my dad’s family lineage.” He smiled, straightening back up. “But it gets much harder to control when you’re mad, that’s for damn sure.” He chuckled at her childish questions. “Well, I’ve probably pulled off my room door a thousand times growing up from my fits. And I’ve never had a can of soda, so i wouldn’t know how to explain haha.”

For a second nervousness built up inside Kevin. He didn’t want Abbey to be afraid of him, he found some mutants did when he told them of his mutation. “Hah..well..” His focus went around the room as he would shift his feet in his stance. ‘What does it matter anyway. I’ve never been afraud if being myself before, why be afraid because of this easily startled-looking woman?’ He reassured himself in his mind. Plus she would find out eventually. “Haha… Well… I kinda threw him across it.” He softly gulped “I’m a super strength mutant.” He smiled

His gaze returned back to her. His smile now gone. “Oh..um.” He took a moment to think and scratch the back of his head. Like he’s a child explaining how he managed to break a vase to it’s parents. “The thing is, i kinda got into a fight with this one guy one night during and after party…” His voice became timid and almost debating if he should tell her. “I kind of messed that guy up pretty bad… Really bad..” He slightly chuckled. “And he ended up on the other side of a lake.”

He turned to face her again. The look in her eyes spoke volumes of what living in a cage of a city like this your entire life must be like. “Abbey” he responded with a serious tone. “It’s so much more than any park you could ever visit.” His blue eyes were somehow warm lile fire (if that makes any sense) as he stared into hers. “It’s all uncharted, that’s what’s different. It’s yours to explore out there, you never know what could happen.” He noticed how close they had gotten on the counter. “The villagers and i all knew each other. Their middle names, their children’s age. We could rely on each other, like on big family… Until, they found out.” His happiness seemed to die out a tad, remembering hiw he got in here in the first place.