Ravensdagger_Headpats

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four Crochet wanted to buzz with excitement like a fly caught in a cup, but with a huge effort of will she tamped down on all of those emotions and instead made sure to at least look like the respectable little sister Big Sis expected her to be.One hand tucked in Big Sis’ own, the other pressed up against her tummy to help her stand tall and proud as she walked, her shoes click-clacking on the sidewalk with every step and her extra big purse swaying by her side. This was exciting. Crochet was going to meet someone very, very important. Not only that, but it meant spending a few hours alone with her Big Sis, not a single other sister in sight.The shop they stopped before was small, more of a hole in the wall than a proper storefront, and it looked like it has been recently patched up. The windows were clean, but surrounded by old frames that had been painted over. The sidewalk was cracked all around the entrance, but someone had filled in the cracks with asphalt.‘Parian’s Boutique’ read a sign hanging above the doorway. It looked like a place that was trying very hard to look presentable and fix itself up. Crochet immediately approved.Behind the windows she could see pretty, colourful dresses on a few mannequins and giant teddy bears and plush tigers sitting around on stands. She was practically buzzing with excitement to rush in and see everything, but she wasn’t Cheshire, so she looked up to Big Sis and gave her a demure smile. “Are you ready?” she asked.“I could ask you the same,” Big Sis said. It was clear that Big Sis was as nervous as Crochet was excited.Crochet gave Big Sis’ hand a squeeze. “C’mon,” she said. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”The doorbell jungled as they walked in and were immediately greeted by a pleasant voice. “Hello, and welcome to Parian’s. I’ll be with you shortly!”Crochet blinked a few times to adjust to the slightly brighter room, then let go of her Big Sis’ hand so that she could do a proper twirl.Old, well worn wooden floors, racks on every wall with spaces left open to display completed dresses and plenty of teddy bears, lions, tigers, octopi and other fluffy animals staring at her with a thousand button eyes.She grinned at the room, her power stretching out to pet every plush and rub against all the pretty dresses.At the bad of the room, standing next to a counter and talking to an older woman with a big plastic bag by her side, was Parian herself.The doll woman was in Crochet’s customary pose, hands folded above her tummy, head tilted down just-so and dress pooling around her legs. She said something to her client, then bowed at the waist when the lady said goodbye.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.Big Sis and Crochet moved aside to let the lady pass, then focused back on the cape. “How may I help you?” Parian asked.Crochet stifled the butterflies and took a deep breath before bowing the same way Parian had just done. “Hello Miss Parian. My name is Crochet. This is my Bis Sis.” She paused to give Big Sis time to wave. “I was hoping I could talk to you?”She said mean words to herself in her head. That wasn’t supposed to be a question.“Of course,” Parian said, and Crochet could hear the laughter in her voice.She would just have to make do. “I was hoping that we could compare notes on dressmaking and fashion and other such things.”“I see,” Parian said. “Are you planning on being a little dressmaker?” she asked.Crochet wanted to deny it. She wanted to grow up to be a big dressmaker, one that made the prettiest dresses for her Big Sis, and if they actually behaved, her other sisters too. But looking at Parian she knew that she would never be tall, or big. “Something like that, yes,” she agreed. “Would you like a sample of my work?”Parian brought a hand up to her doll mask’s mouth. “Sure, as long as I don’t have any other clients I can give you a few minutes of my time,” she said before turning to her Big Sis. “Ah, did you want a seat while we... talked shop, as it were?”“Ah,” Big Sis began, then froze up.Crochet grabbed her hand and gave it another squeeze. Hand squeezes were the body’s way of telling someone that you were there for them. “My Big Sis is a little shy,” she explained.Big Sis coughed, a bit of red climbing up her neck. “That’s not it. Actually, I was here to apologise for something,” she began. “But I don’t want to ruin Crochet’s big moment. She’s a huge fan.”Crochet didn’t huff, not in front of Miss Parian. She wasn’t a huge anything.“Well then,” Miss Parian said. “How about you show me what you’ve made, and we can compare notes?”Crochet nodded and flipped the top flap of her purse open. With a tiny bit of concentration, she had her power seep into the dresses within, but not the costume at the bottom. It wasn’t time to reveal that to Big Sis yet.Her homemade dresses floated out and came to hovering stop next to each other, all displayed in a neat row for Parian to see. She was really proud of the one she had made from a shower curtain Pop had found in the basement. The 70’s neon psychedelic vibe went well with the creme sash around its hip and the black and white highlights along the fringe.“What?” Parian said as she took a step back. She looked between Crochet, the dress, then Taylor and back again. “You’re capes?”“No, they’re dresses,” Crochet said. She gestured towards the dress for emphasis.Big Sis pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can explain.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

“So,” the tall girl said. She wasn’t looking directly at Sabah, instead focusing somewhere around her feet.She should have been nervous. A strange pair of capes waltzing into her store out of the blue was always a good reason to panic. But then, most capes didn’t seem this shy, or nervous, and Sabah had certainly never seen a cape as adorable as the little girl looking up to her big sister with wide, guileless eyes.“Okay, I can explain,” the girl said again. “Right. My name is Taylor, like Crochet said, and I’m sorta-kinda a parahuman,” she admitted.Parian nodded slowly. She didn’t want to spook the girl, not if she could do something to her or her shop.“My power lets me make — this part’s hard to believe — little sister versions of other capes.” Taylor fiddled with her fingers, then gestured between Parian and Crochet. “And, yeah. I kinda used it on you, mostly not on purpose. And I wanted to say sorry.”Sabah had two and two and when she put them together the answer was ‘little Sabah clone.’ She stared at the girl standing in front of her, the girl using her power to hold up an awful, awful dress in the air behind her. “Okay,” she said.“Okay?” Taylor asked hopefully.Crochet started to smile.“No, not okay,” Sabah bit back. She didn’t know how she was supposed to handle this. “Can you turn your power off?” she asked Taylor.“And kill Crochet?” Taylor asked right back, her horror clear as day.Crochet’s eyes widened and she took a small step to the side, as if to hide behind Taylor. “No, no, nevermind,” Parian said.Crochet looked up at her... progenitor? Older sister? Master? Then moved towards Parian again. “I’m sorry if we’re making you uncomfortable, Miss Parian,” she said. “Big Sis is great, but she’s not so good at talking. I really did just want to compare notes about fashion, and, and if you don’t want to be my mommy, that’s okay.”Sabah decided not to open that particular jar of worms. Instead she took a deep breath and turned towards Taylor. “When you... copied me, was it about a week and a half ago?” she asked. There was a vague memory of meeting Taylor about that long ago floating around, but it was after an event and she had met plenty of normal looking folk just like Taylor.“Yeah, about then,” Taylor agreed.“Okay,” Sabah said. “Then that’s about the same time as my powers went weird.”“Your powers did what?” Taylor asked.“They were less responsive, a bit slower. I hardly noticed. I thought it was a head cold at first. It’s passed, they’re back to normal now,” she said, adding the last to reassure the panicking girl.“But you’re okay now, right?” Crochet asked. “Big Sis didn’t hurt you?”“I suppose she didn’t,” she admitted.Crochet nodded quite seriously, the expression ill suited to such a chubby-cheeked little face. “That’s good. If Big Sis had hurt you while you two were making me, then that would be an awful crime.” She then gestured at her dress. “So can you to make up so that we can talk about fashion?”Sabah wanted to have a seat, not talk about fashion, but then Crochet looked at her, eyes pleading for attention and the most awful piece of clothing floating over her shoulder. Her lower lip trembled, her eyes filled with unshed tears and she started blinking rapidly to keep them in place even as she joined her hands together in pleading.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.She folded.

* * *

“Wow, that’s low, even for you,” Lisa said.Telling Coil off over the phone like that was probably not a good idea. In fact, it was downright rude. But he was an entire bagful of dicks and deserved every ounce of rudeness she could shovel onto his plate.She figured she was getting bonus karma points for telling him off while he was asking her oh so nicely to kidnap someone’s munchkins.“Now, now, Sarah,” Coil’s voice oozed over the line. “I hardly believe this is beyond the Undersiders’ abilities. Or did I perhaps misjudge the competence of your team?”She huffed. “I’m not saying we can’t do it,” she said. “I’m saying that it’s pretty low. Kidnapping a politician or some businessman probably wouldn’t be an issue, but this is a kid you’re talking about. Grue at the very least will protest on principle alone.”She felt bad about throwing Brian under the bus. Sorta bad. Mildly discomforted, really. But he was an easy excuse to get out of doing the job. Not that it sounded hard. She just didn’t want to do anything Coil asked on principle.“Then I’ll leave it to you to persuade your team leader. I want those children, my little Tattletale, and I want them sooner rather than later.”“Do you even hear yourself talking? Those stranger danger videos aren’t guidelines on how to act, you know. Kind of the opposite.”“Joke all you will. You’ll get the job done if you know what’s good for you. The information has been sent already. You should have received it by now.” The line went dead before she could get another jab in.She sighed and started thumbing through her phone.Finding the email and opening it, she found herself looking at three profiles, each one for another young woman. Taylor Hebert, the eldest daughter of the Hebert household, who in every picture looked a little worse for wear as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.Her power hinted that she was the family’s mother figure as well as the older sibling and it was a lot of work for her. Coil wasn’t sure if she had powers or not, and there wasn’t enough there for Lisa to guess either way.The other two profiles weren’t as large. Cheshire Hebert, a short, black skinned girl that wore a mischievous smile in every picture, and Crochet Hebert, who had middle eastern features and held herself up as if wanting to seem taller.Lisa glared at the images. They were clearly all sisters. Her power and mind told her as much, but they were also all of different ethnicities. Different mothers, maybe? Different fathers? It was obvious that they were siblings, but something was off about it.She dismissed it after a moment. The two younger girls were probably little more than a year apart. Easy enough for the Undersiders to grab. The problem came from their powers.Well, she still had some time to work it out, and to find a way to convince Brian to act.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Cheshire realized it was a mistake two minutes into the ride. “So, where’s the candy?” she asked as she hugged Mister Mittens closer.The cat didn’t seem to mind her handling him anymore, not ever since she had become a kitty-predator too. He just let himself be squished to her tummy, legs splayed out and face set in a kitty pout that was aimed at the boy sitting across from her.There were two people in the van, a tall blonde girl at the front who was driving, and the boy who had offered her some candy to get in. His face split in a big grin. “What candy?” he asked.Cheshire blinked, ears twitching forward to listen to him properly. “What’d ya mean, what candy?” she asked. “Ya told me that if I got in the van, you’d gimme some.”“Yeah, but did I say I’d give it to you right away?” he asked.She considered that for a moment. He hadn’t said that, but it was kind of said-without-being-said. “That’s shit. You told me you’d gimme the candy, so deliver, asshole.”“Câlisse, you’ve got a mouth on you, huh?” he asked.“Yeah, everyone has a mouth, dumbass.” She smiled to show off her fangs. “See, I’ve got a predator mouth.”“Uh,” the boy said. He leaned back in his chair to talk to the girl driving. “Tats, how do you handle children?”She snorted. “The hell would I know? Just keep her calm, idiot.”“Idiot?” he repeated. “I’m sorry, is this shit-on-Regent day?”“It will be if you don’t give me your candy,” Cheshire said. She was growing real tired of the two and their stupid candy-less white van. Plus it stank of dogs. Looking around and pushing herself up to see what was behind her seat, she couldn’t find any candy. Just boxes with rope and a bunch of handcuffs and stuff.“Alright, so how about I give you candy when we get to the loft?” Regent asked, gesturing with both hands as if presenting her with a deal.“That’s stupid. You didn’t say we had to go anywhere to get the candy,” she pointed out. Now she was getting real irritated. Plus the seat was squishing her tail under her butt and it was really uncomfortable.“Hey Tats,” Regent asked.“What?” The driver snapped.“Do we have any candy at the loft?”Cheshire couldn’t believe her predator ears. “Are you fuckin’ serious?” she asked. “You know, I’m startin’ to think this is some sort of scam.”“What made you think that?” Regent asked.“Cause you two are real suspicious,” she said. Mister Mittens started to wiggle in her hands, so she let him go. He moved over to the next seat over and flopped down for a cat nap.“Are we really?” Regent asked. “Hey Tats, am I suspicious?”“Regent, I swear to god,” the girl said.“You know, if this is one of those kidnapping things, I’m going to blow you,” Cheshire said. She could feel the comforting weight of her dart gun pressed up against her leg.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.The van swerved as the girl in the front’s head snapped around. “What?!” she asked.“She said-” Regent began.“I heard what she said! She... oh, for the love of god, she’s got a blow dart.” The driver snapped back around and swerved back into their lane.“That’s right,” Cheshire confirmed. She wiggled around to try and get it out of her pocket, but it was stuck because of her belt. Grumbling, she made it phase out of her pants and presented it to Regent. “See. I’m armed and dangerous as hell.”Regent snorted and reached to the side of his chair. He pulled out a big black gun. “So am I,” he said.She shrugged. “That’s just a gun,” she said. “I ain’t impressed,” she lied. It looked a whole lot cooler than her blow gun, but Big Sis had gotten the blow gun for her, so it was better.Regent blinked a few times, then turned to the driver again. “Tats, she said my gun wasn’t impressive. I’m feeling emasculated.”“What’s that word mean?” Cheshire asked over the low grumbles of the girl in front.“It means you’re making me feel girly,” Regent answered.She frowned. There wasn’t anything wrong about feeling girly. “Hey, Tits, is that what that really means?” she asked the driver.The girl’s hands went white around the wheel and she hunched forwards when Regent started to laugh. “Yeah, Tits, explain what the word means!”“It means,” Tits said through gritted teeth. “That he doesn’t feel good in his own skin. Something I’m sure will only get worse when I start beating the shit out of him.”Cheshire nodded slow-like. She understood now. Reaching out, she patted Regent on the knee. “It’s okay, Mister Regent. I didn’t feel good in my own skin too for a bit. But then Remedy, that’s my sister who’s a bio tinker thing, she made me more of a predator, and now I’m all better!”“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about this,” Regent said.“Concerned,” Tits suggested.Cheshire shrugged. “Right, well you two don’t got any candy, so I’m gonna fuck off, alright?”“Uh, no?” Regent said.“Don’t try to stop me,” she said, raising her blow gun. “Or I’ll blow you for real.” Threat delivered, she pushed off the floor at the same time as she phased herself. The van moved on under her and left her floating to the ground. Then, the moment she touched down, she phased back and jumped to the side.A car honked at her, but she ignored it as she watched the van suddenly moving faster. Huffing, she looked around and tried to figure out how to get home.Then she froze before snapping around to look at where the van was speeding down halfway across the block.“Oh shit,” she said. “I forgot Mister Mittens.”