the fun has arrived!

The banter was appreciated — a welcome change from than the nonsense most people seemed to spew around this town. Vitani found herself wanting to punch people more than reply. But this conversation was fun, and a grin played on her lips in response to not knowing what she would say next. Unpredictable. She liked that. “It’s whatever you want it to be,” she took a beat, winking at Taige when she spoke again, “beautiful.”

Taige had been called a lot of things - many of them not very nice - but beautiful was definitely a rare occurrence.  Like, yeah, she was shaking what her mama’s pasty white ass gave her.  She knew she wasn’t terrible to look at, but...beautiful?  Her instinct was to laugh it off, but...damn.  Vitani said everything with such conviction, like the possibility of someone proving her wrong wasn’t even in the realm of reality.  Taige swallowed her giggle.  Wow, her mouth was dry.

“Why don’t you get over here, then?”

So giving up coffee was a lot harder than I thought it would be. On the bright side this is only my fourth cup today. So I’m going to take that as a win. Just let me have this one, alright?

“The hell you tryin’ to give up coffee in the first place?”

“That so?” Vitani stepped back, looking her over. “It’s a nice body. I can vouch for that.” Her gaze moved back to Taige, a playful tone to her voice this time. “I might need some convincing on how hard it is to keep up with, though.”

Taige twirled around once or twice more.  Then paused with that coy little smile a child gets when they spy an open cookie jar.  “Okay, is that an invitation for a race or...something more scandaloso?  ‘Cause I could go either way.”

“Not trying to tell you how to live your life or anything,” Vitani drawled, taking a long sip from the cherry Coke in her hand, “but you might wanna be more aware of your surroundings. If someone was out for revenge, you wouldn’t see it coming until it was too late.”

“‘Scuse you, this body was built to dodge the danger.  Hell, danger can’t even keep up with me half the time.”  Taige licked the tip of her finger and hissed when she poked her backside.  “Greased lightning, baby.”

“D-Do they both like different things or are they picky o-or do you just put a lot of pressure on yourself to make their gifts good?”

“Hey, breathe, dude,” Jared chuckled.  “Kind of a little bit of everything.  Like, my ma really likes joke gifts, but I don’t wanna get her a can of jumping snakes every year, y’know?”

A-Am I the only one who thinks mother’s day shopping is hard?

“No way, dude.  I feel you.  It’s the worst.  But maybe mine are just hard to shop for.”

This was some company she could get used to. Someone that could speak about death so lightly. Someone that wouldn’t turn down a challenge. Taige was much better than most of the people Vitani had the misfortune of interacting with. She might go as far as to say she enjoyed it, and that was a compliment she wouldn’t give to most.

A smirk playing on her lips, she nodded in approval. She had no proof that they were her oldest or creepiest teacher, but as long as someone got that text, she was satisfied. “Alright, my turn. Hit me with your best dare, but make it juicy. I’m feeling brave.”

Taige drummed her fingers against the back of her chair, clicking her tongue.  There was a careful line she had to ride here.  Sure, Vitani was braver than the average Jane, but she didn’t exactly seem like the gross-out, see how much dirt you can eat without throwing up kind of brave Taige was used to.  More of a femme fatale brave.  But hey, Taige wasn’t complaining.  It gave her an added challenge.  “I dare you to streak across campus.”

“I guess so,” she replied even though she did not, in fact, guess so. She hadn’t always had this attitude. The people that knew her now would be shocked at the girl she used to be. She was so happy, bubbly, optimistic. But it had never mattered. If life was going to keep knocking her down, she just wouldn’t bother getting back up. “Nope. Anyone with my luck should know not to gamble.”

“Okay, what is your deal, then?” she cried, throwing her hands up.  “Are you allergic to fun or somethin’?  ‘Cause that’s kinda the vibe I’m getting right now, not gonna lie.”  The girl was pathetic.  And coming from an environment where even the really obnoxious girls had some semblance of a backbone was...unnerving.  Like a disturbance in the force.  Taige wasn’t trying to be rude for once, but she was still inches away from whacking the girl upside the head to see if cognitive recalibration would do the trick.

“Oh. Of course, that was so silly of me. You don’t get called it a lot do you, darlin’?”

“Meh, not that much but enough, y’know?  Most of the time, though, it’s just ‘this bitch be crazy,’ which I’m not entirely opposed to.”

“Completely understandable. I don’t quite like the term sassy used as a derogatory word against girls. Like men can be assertive and be called a boss, but when women do it we’re called sassy or a bitch. I call it knowing what i want and who i am.”

“Retweet that!” she cried, pushing an invisible button in the air.  “I wear my bitch badge with pride, though.  We’re taking that one back.”

He loved New York. He preferred the sleepy towns of the south but the activity in this city helped him not think. There was a lot of guilt that came with being who he was cursed to be. He could feel the fire in his bones start to simmer as he watched a man tug his dog too hard. It began to burn even more as a parent too busy in their phone was unaware their child was walking into the street. Lightning pushed down the demon trying to escape him and quickly pulled the toddler back unto the sidewalk and patted the parent to let them know. He kept walking as the demon screamed for a punishment that was undeserved. It was a wonder he led a pretty normal life besides it. He stopped on the corner when the light turned red and checked his phone. 

“Car is coming.” He said it without looking up but his instincts told him someone wanted to cross the street and an idiot was speeding down the road. Having a demon in him made him sense death or possible death. Real helpful and real creepy.

Taige’s father told her she had been born in New York, but she felt no connection whatsoever.  Pretty much like the rest of her life.  The draw quality was obvious - big and flashy.  Historical and modern all at once.  But Taige’s main takeaway was...loud.  But hey, it was filled with enough weirdos that people didn’t stare at the girl with the white circle over her eye when she walked past.  That was refreshing.

She raised an eyebrow at the guy on the corner, who didn’t even have the decency to look up at her.  A thought crossed her mind to knock his jaw, but instead she tightened her fists in her pockets.  “Ten bucks says he won’t hit me.”  

Now turning around and not watching for his reply, she sauntered out into the street, making sure to take her time as her left foot hit every white line while her right hit the gray asphalt in between.  swerved into the turn lane at the very last second.  The driver leaned on the horn and shouted obscenities out the window.  Taige just shrugged with a knowing grin, finally turning back to the nuclear scientist on the corner.

“You’ll be putting your jaw back on right if you don’t give me some answers.”

ORIGIN STORY

Lamarr Bailey had very little faith in himself as a single father, so he sent his daughter Taige to what he thought was a groundbreaking new enrichment program that proclaimed to be far healthier than the typical fostering circuit.  In reality, however, it was a secret government experiment that implemented mutant powers to young children.  Taige soon developed what the doctors referred to as probability manipulation, and also garnered a reputation for herself as “the dangerous one.”  Her temper was blinding, and she would quickly react with violence to anything she didn’t want to do.  Most of the other children in the group were afraid of her - except for two.  

Okay, maybe Tantor was a little afraid of her, but nonetheless he and Tate made real efforts to try and be her friend.  Taige was understandably reluctant at first, but those boys got under her skin and into her heart.  Even though they were constantly pitted against each other for training purposes, they quickly formed an unbreakable bond.  But good things, however small, can’t last forever.  Lamarr eventually discovered the truth behind the project and broke her out.  She never knew what happened to her boys - whether they died or became weapons for the government or whatever.  She may keep an ear out for mutants matching their descriptions, but she refuses to become some soft-hearted wuss.  

Of course, now she was practically a grown woman with her own demons and they didn’t have any connection beyond a few strands of DNA.  Trying to become a family was out of the question.  So Lamarr once again shipped her off to where she could be looked after.  And he did his research this time.  Now, all this “heroes and villains” jargon around Walt is nothing but crap in Taige’s eyes.  She sees the world entirely gray.  Nobody can be entirely good, and nobody can be entirely evil.  Just give her an incentive for using her skills and she’ll put the hurt on just about anybody.

ABILITIES

Long story short, Taige has probability manipulation.  Long story long, her power is subconscious, triggered by stressful situations, and only affects things in her line of sight.  For example, if she’s caught in a hail of bullets, one move is all it takes for her to dodge them all without a scratch.  But if she just stands still, well, she’ll obviously die.  She’s also pretty stellar with guns, knives, and pretty much any other kind of weapon.  She’s basically a walking action flick.

CONNECTIONS

Something told her Taige was going to pick dare. Too bad she didn’t have any money to place. “If I didn’t play nice, someone might wind up dead,” she said, spoken like it was a casual joke and not an actual possibility. “I dare you to text a your oldest or creepiest teacher that you’ll fuck them for an B minus. Your choice. I’m playing nice.” 

“Eh.  A little death puts hair on your chest.  So to speak.”  Taige raised an eyebrow.  Definitely a different kind of dare than the ones her boys usually put her up to, but nonetheless she had a reputation to uphold.  With only two seconds of masked hesitation, she whipped out her phone.

That battle ax she had for her finance class must have been the oldest.  So she tracked down the lady’s email and started to type.  Dr. G, you and I both know my grades are terrible.  I’d make you a very happy woman if you could raise em just a bit.  :p  Then she flashed the screen at Vitani before hitting send.