Ravensdagger_Headpats

“Surprised you didn’t call yourself a big pussy,” Taylor muttered.

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Cheshire made a low growling sound at the back of her throat. “I ain’t no pussy. You’re the only pussy here.”

“Can, can you stop saying that?”

Cheshire’s grin matched her namesake’s. “Pussy, pussy, puss-”

Taylor reached out and placed a hand on the girl’s head. “Stop,” she said before bringing her hand back. It was stopped when Cheshire, with a speed that didn’t match her frame, grabbed her wrist.

“Do that again,” she demanded.

“Do what again?” Taylor asked. “Ask you to stop? I think I’ll be doing that pretty often.”

“No, the patting, do it again.” Cheshire moved Taylor’s hand over her head, then bopped it down a few times. She scowled as it didn’t have the effect she wanted.

Giving up on understanding anything that was happening in her life, Taylor patted Cheshire on the head.

Cheshire shivered, her grin turning dopey and a giggle escaping her as Taylor continued patting her head. After a dozen pats, her leg started thumping against the floor and Taylor decided that her limit had been reached. “Yeah, no,” she said.

Cheshire snapped back to reality and glared at Taylor. “Y’er the worst big sis ever,” she growled. “Gimme more headpats.”

“No,” Taylor said with barely concealed exasperation. She started pulling out clothes for her to wear to school. A glance at the clock on her nightstand revealed that she was still a little early. “I need to have breakfast, and maybe I’ll have time to do some of my homework,” she said.

“What ‘bout y’er mornin’ exercise?” Cheshire asked. She was still fixated on Taylor’s hands as they tossed jeans onto her bed.

“I don’t do morning exercise.”

Cheshire snorted. “No wonder y’er all flabby then.”

Taylor twitched. “Yeah, whatever,” she said.

“C’mon, we could go runnin’.” She started jogging on the spot, padded, pyjama-clad feet thump-thumping on the floor. “Get ya in shape.”

“I’m perfectly in shape already,” Taylor said through gritted teeth.

Cheshire giggled at her. “Yeah, cause round’s a shape.”

Taylor had the impression that her morning was going to be a long one.

* * *

Breakfast was a quick affair of cereal and milk and homework next to her bowl. She scribbled down responses to math questions as quickly as she could while Cheshire slurped milk from her bowl and left a huge mustache across her upper lip.

“Alright,” Danny said as he bustled into the room, one hand tying his tie and the other moving his briefcase over to his chair. “I have to get going. Got a meeting this morning. See you this afternoon?” he asked before patting Taylor on the head.

“Yeah, sure,” she said.

“You too,” Danny said before patting Cheshire’s head on the way by. Her eyes widened and her fang poked out in a silly grin at the contact. “Behave you two!” he said on the way out.

Taylor glared at the girl across from her who was humming contentedly at the contact. “Right, I’m off,” she said as she grabbed her completed homework and unceremoniously stuffed it into her backpack. She swallowed the last of her cereal in one gulp and stood up, flinging her back over one shoulder as she did.

“Y’er leavin’?” Cheshire asked. “Not that I care or nothin’.”

“I’m sure you don’t,” Taylor grumped right back. “You’ll be okay staying here?” she asked.

Part of her was leery of leaving a kid alone in her house. Another part figured that she could probably take care of herself. If she was even a real person and not some sort of... projection thing. Ever since she woke up, the thought of heading over to the PRT to fix everything was on her mind, but it wasn’t something she could do before the schoolday was over.

It was one thing to think that she might be a parahuman, it was another to skip school on a hunch.

“I’ll be fine. Never needed ya anyway.”

“Good.”

Taylor slid her other arm through the straps of her backpack, and with one last look at Cheshire to make sure she was behaving, she left.

A moment later the front door clacked shut, leaving the house empty save for one little girl who was left pouting at her empty bowl. “This is bullshit,” Cheshire said.

Chapter Two

School was a bad idea. Taylor didn’t know what she was thinking when she had left that morning.The more time she spent away from home, the worse the gnawing guilt in her stomach grew. She found it hard to focus in class, and the breaks between classes were spent fretting.She had made a mistake.Not a huge one, she figured, but definitely a mistake. She tried to think of other things. If she was a parahuman, a fact that she was still on the fence about, then that wasn’t the kind of thing she should be ignoring. But there she was, at school instead of at home trying to learn about her power.Her pre-lunch class with Misses Knott was spent on PHO while trying to get an inkling of what was going on. If Cheshire was part of her, and judging by the tingle in her stomach at the thought of the little girl that was the case, then she was probably a projection, or something of the sort. Maybe.Projections were usually some sort of energy thing, and Cheshire was pretty real-looking.She ended up giving up on the search.Every post and thread about finding out if you were a parahuman ended with some PRT agent’s post about visiting the local branch to find out. The constant transparent advertising was getting to her.When the lunch bell rang, Taylor left to find a place to eat. She was aiming for one of the bathrooms on the second floor, but she found one of Emma’s friends washing her hands there and decided not to risk it.So out she went, enjoying the fresh if humid early spring air while beelining for one of the benches next to the school. In the warmer months it would be a hang out spot for some of the older students, but there weren’t many who were willing to brave the slight chill just to eat under the sun.She was halfway through her sandwich when she heard feet rustling through the grass behind her. She closed her eyes and hoped the sinking feeling that came over her was a false alarm.“Poor Taylor,” Emma’s smooth voice said from over her shoulder. “Eating out here, all alone,” she said with false pity.“Emma, leave me alone,” Taylor said.“It’s a wonder that they let you eat so close to the school. You know, dogs aren’t allowed on school property.”Taylor ignored the laughter of Emma’s friends, though she did notice that Sophia wasn’t around. She was probably waiting to ambush her when she went back in.“What’s wrong, Tay Tay? Wanna go back to cry to your mommy. Oh, wait, that’s right,” Emma said.Taylor’s hands balled into fists and she was ready to turn around and run off when the sound of footsteps running across the grass to her side made her turn. There was a black blur that resolved into a running Cheshire.The girl was moving so fast that when she stopped her feet left a furrow in the grass. “Bitch! Don’t talk to my big sis like that!”Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.Cheshire’s right leg swung way, way back, then came shooting forwards in a kick that lifted the girl off the ground. The end of her foot connected between Emma’s legs with a dull thud.Taylor was in just the right position to see the confusion chased by pain wash across Emma’s face before all the blood was drained away and she crashed to the ground with a wordless shriek.“Yeah, that’s right, ye’r a bitch!” Cheshire spat down at her.Taylor shot out of her seat, hands going towards Emma who was rolling in the grass. She paused, at a complete loss. This was not a situation she had ever prepared for.Emma’s cronies didn’t seem to know what to do either, and for a panicked moment everyone just stared as Emma cried and grabbed at her crotch.“We, we should call the police,” one of the girls-Madison, maybe-said.“Oh shit,” Cheshire replied, eyes going wide.Decision made, Taylor grabbed Cheshire by the wrist and started walking away at a brisk pace that had the girl jogging to keep up. “What the fu-heck was that?” Taylor hissed.“I was tryin’ to protect ya, moron,” Cheshire said.“I don’t need protecting,” Taylor shot back as she stepped off the school lot and onto the sidewalk before the school. She looked both ways, then dragged Cheshire across the road with her. “I was fine on my own. What were you even doing there?”“Yeah, sure ya were. And I was bored.”“Bored? You left the house because you were bored?” Taylor felt that she couldn’t be blamed for the note of desperation in her voice.“Yeah.”Taylor’s grip grew a little more firm. She didn’t know where she was going, exactly, but it was away from Winslow and whatever trouble Cheshire had just caused for her. “We need to have a talk about you just kicking people.”“I ain’t just kick someone, I kicked that bitch because she was being a bitch at you.”“Could you stop saying bitch?” Taylor asked.“Don’t wanna... bitch.”Taylor had the impression that any kind of arguing would end in an endless back and forth that would lead nowhere, so she held her tongue. As soon as they were a few blocks away she let go of Cheshire and slowed her walk to a more reasonable pace.“So, now what?” Cheshire asked.“I don’t know,” Taylor said. Her things were all back in school. She didn’t want to go get them. She also didn’t know what to do about Cheshire. “I really don’t know.”“Hmph,” Cheshire said as she crossed her arms. “Ice cream.”“What?” Taylor asked.Cheshire glared up at her, pout in full display. “I help ya, now ya go to pay me. I want ice cream... and headpats.”Taylor scrunched up her eyes. “You know what, screw it. I want ice cream too.” And Cheshire wouldn’t be able to run away from her questions if she had food in front of her. Probably.

Chapter Three

There wasn’t a line in the ice cream parlour, probably, Taylor reasoned, because it was just past one in the afternoon and everyone had better things to do. It did mean that the bored twenty-something behind the counter gave them a wave and waited for the pair of them to order with an expression that silently screamed ‘kill me.’“So, what do you want?” Taylor asked. She had one eye on the tubs full of ice cream behind a glass partition and another on Cheshire to make sure she didn’t pull a fast one and make a mess. She was also counting her pocket money in the back of her mind. She probably had enough that she didn’t need to worry, but ice cream was always expensive.“I want that one,” Cheshire said as she pointed at the most god-awful mix of neon coloured ice cream.“Uh, are you sure?” Taylor said. She pointed to the much tamer flavours right next to it. “Those ones look less likely to give you a stomach ache.”“Hmm,” Cheshire said as she leaned onto her tippy toes to look into the display. “Y’er right. I’ll have a scoop of that one too.” She pointed at the chocolate flavoured tub.“Two scoops?” Taylor said, a note of contrite surprise in her voice. She felt a pang when she realised her mom had used the same tone on her, once upon a time.“Yeah, two scoops,” Cheshire confirmed.“I think you’re better off with just the one.”Cheshire turned to face Taylor, fang poking out and looking extra sharp. “Did you see the look on that bitch’s face when I decked her in the cooch?” she asked. Her voice was high and strident, enough that the girl behind the counter heard it all clear as day and was suddenly paying them a great deal more attention.“Cheshire.”“Betch’a she won’t be able to walk straight for, like, a week.”Taylor gave it much thought.She thought about encouraging that kind of behaviour in Cheshire.She thought about Emma’s face going pale.She thought about the squeak that escaped her lips before she started screaming.“Yeah, okay, two scoops. With sprinkles.”Their orders placed and Cheshire’s impatience bled off by her bouncing on the spot, the two girls made their way outside and found seats across from each other under the shadows cast by a parasol.Cheshire grinned at her cone before she started to chomp into it with happy little noises and the occasional growl.Taylor watched her eat for a moment. She had to admit, in the privacy of her own mind, that while Cheshire might have been a bit of a pain in the ass, she was also damned cute. “So, how did you find me anyway?” she asked.Cheshire rubbed the back of one hand across her mouth, spreading yellow and blue ice cream from her lips to her cheeks. “You go to school, duh.”“Yeah, I know, I meant... did you get a sense that I was in trouble or something?”If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.“Nah. Told ya, I was just bored.” She took another bite off the topmost scoop.Taylor nodded and started on her own cone before it melted over her hands. So, her supposed power didn’t keep an active connection with the... clone? Was it a clone if the duplicate wasn’t like the original? Or maybe she was.Taylor eyed Cheshire for a moment, wondering if she had run into a similar girl around Winslow, or maybe on her way home. How close had she come to Shadow Stalker? Was Shadow Stalker in any way similar to Cheshire?She had a whole lot of questions and only so many ways to get answers. “So, Cheshire,” she began, grabbing the girl’s attention. Cheshire looked up and blinked big brown eyes at her, the far end of her ice cream melting over her knuckles without her noticing. “Do you have... memories of the person I, uh, cloned you from?”“Nah,” Cheshire said. She went back to her ice cream. She was doing a real number on the cone, taking big bites off the top and swallowing them whole. Then she paused, eyes going wide before filling with tears. Her free hand came up and started rubbing at her forehead.“What’s wrong?” Taylor asked as she sat up.“My head hurts,” Cheshire whined.Taylor slumped back into her seat. “Press your tongue to the top of your palette, it’s just a brain freeze,” she said.Cheshire waved her arms around and smacked the table while her feet kicked under it. It took all of half a minute for her to calm down and start glaring at the remains of her ice cream, then she bit into it.With a final, decisive chomp, the girl finished off her cone a moment before Taylor finished her own. “We should head home,” Taylor said as she got up. She picked some napkins from a dispenser and placed a hand on Cheshire’s head to keep her from moving too much.Like a lightbulb going off, Cheshire froze as soon as Taylor’s hand landed and she let her cheeks and chin be rubbed clean without fuss or protest until Taylor let go of her head and she turned a glare up at Taylor. “What’ch’a do that for? I ain’t no baby,” she said.A few women walking by, both in their mid thirties if Taylor had to guess, laughed and hid their mouths as Cheshire ranted. It only tossed fuel on the flames.“Yeah yeah,” Taylor said with no feeling. “You’re a big girl. Now come on, we need to get home.”“What? I don’t wanna go home. And we need to walk off the calories,” Cheshire said. She pointed off towards the Boardwalk. “Let’s go that way,” she said.“I’d rather walk back home,” Taylor said.Cheshire snorted. “You would. It’s cause y’er lazy. It’s all gonna go to y’er ass, ya know. C’mon.” Grabbing Taylor’s hand, the girl started pulling her with surprising strength towards the far busier Boardwalk.Taylor sighed. This was her life now.