RE: A CYOA in Worm or I think my name is No No
09-07-2020, 05:09 PM (This post was last modified: 09-12-2020, 07:47 AM by Bob Schroeck.)
09-07-2020, 05:09 PM (This post was last modified: 09-12-2020, 07:47 AM by Bob Schroeck.)
**
Akane
Just off the BBU campus was a little dive eatery that mostly served the students when they wanted something other than cafeteria food or takeout. From the sign over the bartop where you ordered it wasn’t much, just a half-dozen tables and booths, with a jukebox, cheap beer, and greasy food. Right now though, the most important thing was that it was effectively empty, meaning it was someplace with a calm atmosphere. Sitting Taylor down I went and ordered us a couple of sodas and a basket of fries before coming back to her and sliding into the booth next to her. “Taylor,” I said softly, “Taylor look at me.”
The look in my friend’s eyes when she looked at me wrenched at my heart and a part of me wished I had hit that damn redhead harder than I had. I will make her regret this somehow, I thought as Taylor suddenly grabbed me and buried her head in my chest, sobbing. My response was to hold her, making soothing noises and holding her. After a few minutes, a voice said, “There was a time when young women were at least somewhat respected by the men around here.” I looked away from Taylor to find the bartender/waitress setting our drinks and fry basket down on the table. “And when they weren’t respected, the people who didn’t respect them learned to fear them.” The look in the woman’s face turned hard with that comment, “She’s your friend, right?” she asked, and I nodded. She nodded back before continuing, “You find whoever hurt her and make it right if you can, if you can’t you call me or come find me, Some of the boss’s girls didn’t go to prison, and others have gotten out since”
I smiled at her, “Thanks,” I said, and she nodded before walking back towards the bar. Turning my attention back to Taylor I sighed. “Taylor listen to me ok?” I felt her nod against my chest and rolled my eyes. “I need you to think back for a minute and tell me, who has been telling you that you were not cute.”
“Well,” Taylor said, her brows knit in concentration. “It was everyone at…” and that was when the realization hit her. Taylor’s reaction was to jerk back like she had been slapped, her face turning into a snarl. “Emma!” she growled, and I nodded even as I took her by the shoulders.
“For whatever her reasons, she did this to keep you down, to break your spirit,” I told her and then chuckled. “Besides,” I continued. “If you weren’t at least cute, you wouldn’t have half the school watching whenever you walk past.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Taylor countered huddling in on herself.
“Am not,” I returned. “I’ve personally watched Aaron Kilpatrick, Dennis, Chris and Tracey Perkins all follow you with hungry eyes as you’ve walked away.”
“Dennis is scared of me,” she mumbled causing me to raise an eyebrow. Taylor saw the unvoiced question and chuckled a bit. “Caught him stealing the mallow jars for a prank when I needed them for last week's fudge, and I, well I threatened to engulf him in bugs if he didn’t put them back or tried it again.”
That she had the gumption to do even that much was a step in the right direction and I pulled her into a hug, “Good girl,” I said smiling, “and while it could explain his partner in crime, that doesn’t explain the baseball team captain or the head cheerleader checking out your butt as you left the room.”
Taylor snorted, “Akane, I’m too tall, my mouth is too wide, I’m skinny as a rail and I’m flat as a board, no one is going to want me.” Unvoiced I could hear the, “I’m not good looking,” in her tone and I shook my head as I put a finger to her lips.
“Taylor,” I said with a slight smile and a shake of my head. “Think for a moment about the other girls that were in that auditorium, the ones that were there to model the clothes. All of them were skinny as rails, most of them because they live unhealthy lifestyles to keep the weight off. Yes, they are almost all shorter than you, but they want your height so that they can look skinnier than they already are. As for the rest, you’re still in that gangly coltish stage of growth, give it a couple of more years and you are going to be breaking hearts and your father is going to be answering the door with a shotgun,”
That earned a giggle and a smile from her so I continued. “I want you to eat these fries, and drink that soda, and then we need to get back over and do a walk through on the runway before we go home. I’m going to see if I can’t get someone over to help.” Taylor nodded and I got up before grabbing my cup and heading toward the bar. Pulling out my phone with my other hand I pulled up my contacts list and picked a contact to dial. “Hey Vicky, are you busy?”
“Not particularly,” the blonde Alexandria package answered, causing me to smile.
“I need some help and I think you would love to make your sister all flustered again,” I told her. “If you at least will come over to the college’s auditorium I would appreciate it.”
“What do you need help with there?” she asked.
“We need to teach Taylor how to strut.” Was all I answered.
**
**Sabah**
“I’m obviously missing something,” Noelle had commented as Akane led Taylor out of the auditorium. My response had been to snort at her statement as I took up the slacks before turning to face my teacher’s assistant.
“You think?” I asked just a touch sarcastically before turning the pants inside out. “The girl has apparently spent the last eighteen months going through a special kind of hell and Akane and I had to calm her down when I broached the subject of her modeling my clothes. The girl has practically no self-confidence and I have a funny feeling as to the why.”
“Shit,” the blonde commented. “What’s your feeling?” Noelle asked.
“That at least one of the two girls who were supposed to model for me was involved in it,” I answered. At that point I turned my attention to the slacks and started stitching the hem into place, losing myself in the repetitive motion.
**
My attention was pulled from finishing the slacks as the main doors to the auditorium slammed open to show three silhouettes standing in the doorway, “Let's do this,” a voice I didn’t recognize stated as the bodies moved through the room toward the stage. As the doors closed I could see it was Akane, Taylor and a…and Victoria Dallon, Because of course they could get Glory Girl to come over and help Taylor, I thought as I rubbed my eyes.
Akane made a beeline for the sound board and the computer there that would provide the music for the fashion show. Walking over to her I could hear her muttering “No, no, hell no,” followed by her lifting an eyebrow at what I could only figure was one song choice as she said clearly, “Who the hell do they think they are, Rick James?” before shaking her head and pulling up the computer’s master music list. “Ah, here we go,”
**
**Sunday, January 16, 2011**
Danny smiled as he eased himself into the auditorium seat as Emily sat down between himself and the Dallon sisters. Vicky had somehow convinced Amy that she would enjoy the fashion show or at least that it made more sense for her to take the night off and join them both here and at dinner as opposed to spending another night at the hospital. They would have almost filled the row with Carol and Mark, but the former had an early court appearance in Boston for the Bad Canary trial tomorrow and wouldn’t have been able to join them for dinner, while the latter was having one of his bad days and was home in bed. “Excuse me,” a low voice rumbled from Danny’s other side drawing his attention to a large Asian man with what was obviously his daughters. “Is anyone sitting in these seats?”
“They’re open,” Danny answered taking a closer look at the two girls. One was a little older than Taylor and Akane, maybe eighteen or so while the other was more than likely a preteen of maybe twelve. “Is yours a student or a model?”
The man blinked for a moment as his girls moved to sit down, “I have one that is a student,” he answered smiling. “But not here and not learning fashion, my wife runs the modeling studio that is providing the majority of the models tonight and she wanted to be here to ride herd on them. Herding cats is more accurate in my opinion but what can you do right?” Danny smiled and nodded at the comment. “After this we have to go open the restaurant for the year too, so it’s going to be a long night.”
Danny smiled at that, “That would mean that you are Kenta Horaki correct?”
The man lifted an eyebrow but nodded over the heads of his daughters, “I am,” he answered. “Who are you, if I may be so bold?”
“Danny Hebert,” Danny answered standing and offering his hand.
Kenta took the offered hand and shook it while smiling. “You run the Dockworkers Union,” he replied and Danny laughed shaking his head.
“I’m just the head of hiring,” Danny returned, and Kenta shook his head.
“From what I’ve heard,” Kenta countered. “If you didn’t keep beating your head against the wall that is city hall half the city wouldn’t be livable and nobody in the union would have legal employment. You do good work, what has you here?”
“Daughter got talked into modeling for one of the students,” Danny answered. “Favor trading at its finest.” Kenta nodded at that smiling.
“Let me guess,” Kenta said, his smile turning a touch feral. “She took the place of one of the two that ended up going to jail for some high school prank turned near deadly.”
“Her and her newest friend,” Danny answered with a chuckle. “The student asked them to model for her since no one else was available.”
Kenta nodded, “My wife was very put out by the stuff that they are accused of doing,” he growled. “They have been blacklisted by her and everyone that she could influence, at least until they turn eighteen.”
Danny’s response was a low whistle, “Blacklisted before they even get out of the house,” he said, a smirk gracing his face. “Serves them right.”
“Daddy,” the younger of the two girls said, breaking into the conversation and drawing both of the adult’s attention. “You are being rude,” she finished.
Both men looked down at her, Kenta smiling but both of their eyebrows raised. “And how am I being rude my little flower?” her father asked.
“You haven’t introduced Miranda or myself,” the girl answered. “And you are literally talking over our heads.”
Danny had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing at the girl’s precociousness. Kenta on the other hand sighed, a smirk crossing his face before solemnly looking at Danny and addressing his daughter’s comment. “Danny, these are my younger two daughters, Miranda who is eighteen, and Nemuri who is twelve. Girls, this is Mister Hebert.”
Nemuri smiled wide while Miranda rolled her eyes in exasperation with her sister. “It is a pleasure to meet you both,” Danny replied with a smile and a slight bow.
“Is that your wife?” Nemuri asked indicating Emily.
Danny grimaced slightly, the pain of his loss showing for a heartbeat before he answered. “No,” he said. “That is the aunt of my daughter’s friend, her name is Emily Piggot and she is the director of the local PRT branch.” As he answered he noticed Nemuri’s eyes got big at that while both Miranda and Kenta seemed to freeze in place.
“Interesting,” Kenta commented as he finally sat down in the aisle seat of the row. A moment later the lights all dimmed, and a young blonde woman stepped up to the microphone stand that was set off to one side of the stage.
**
(Edited by Bob to remove color/font markup for readability)
Akane
Just off the BBU campus was a little dive eatery that mostly served the students when they wanted something other than cafeteria food or takeout. From the sign over the bartop where you ordered it wasn’t much, just a half-dozen tables and booths, with a jukebox, cheap beer, and greasy food. Right now though, the most important thing was that it was effectively empty, meaning it was someplace with a calm atmosphere. Sitting Taylor down I went and ordered us a couple of sodas and a basket of fries before coming back to her and sliding into the booth next to her. “Taylor,” I said softly, “Taylor look at me.”
The look in my friend’s eyes when she looked at me wrenched at my heart and a part of me wished I had hit that damn redhead harder than I had. I will make her regret this somehow, I thought as Taylor suddenly grabbed me and buried her head in my chest, sobbing. My response was to hold her, making soothing noises and holding her. After a few minutes, a voice said, “There was a time when young women were at least somewhat respected by the men around here.” I looked away from Taylor to find the bartender/waitress setting our drinks and fry basket down on the table. “And when they weren’t respected, the people who didn’t respect them learned to fear them.” The look in the woman’s face turned hard with that comment, “She’s your friend, right?” she asked, and I nodded. She nodded back before continuing, “You find whoever hurt her and make it right if you can, if you can’t you call me or come find me, Some of the boss’s girls didn’t go to prison, and others have gotten out since”
I smiled at her, “Thanks,” I said, and she nodded before walking back towards the bar. Turning my attention back to Taylor I sighed. “Taylor listen to me ok?” I felt her nod against my chest and rolled my eyes. “I need you to think back for a minute and tell me, who has been telling you that you were not cute.”
“Well,” Taylor said, her brows knit in concentration. “It was everyone at…” and that was when the realization hit her. Taylor’s reaction was to jerk back like she had been slapped, her face turning into a snarl. “Emma!” she growled, and I nodded even as I took her by the shoulders.
“For whatever her reasons, she did this to keep you down, to break your spirit,” I told her and then chuckled. “Besides,” I continued. “If you weren’t at least cute, you wouldn’t have half the school watching whenever you walk past.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Taylor countered huddling in on herself.
“Am not,” I returned. “I’ve personally watched Aaron Kilpatrick, Dennis, Chris and Tracey Perkins all follow you with hungry eyes as you’ve walked away.”
“Dennis is scared of me,” she mumbled causing me to raise an eyebrow. Taylor saw the unvoiced question and chuckled a bit. “Caught him stealing the mallow jars for a prank when I needed them for last week's fudge, and I, well I threatened to engulf him in bugs if he didn’t put them back or tried it again.”
That she had the gumption to do even that much was a step in the right direction and I pulled her into a hug, “Good girl,” I said smiling, “and while it could explain his partner in crime, that doesn’t explain the baseball team captain or the head cheerleader checking out your butt as you left the room.”
Taylor snorted, “Akane, I’m too tall, my mouth is too wide, I’m skinny as a rail and I’m flat as a board, no one is going to want me.” Unvoiced I could hear the, “I’m not good looking,” in her tone and I shook my head as I put a finger to her lips.
“Taylor,” I said with a slight smile and a shake of my head. “Think for a moment about the other girls that were in that auditorium, the ones that were there to model the clothes. All of them were skinny as rails, most of them because they live unhealthy lifestyles to keep the weight off. Yes, they are almost all shorter than you, but they want your height so that they can look skinnier than they already are. As for the rest, you’re still in that gangly coltish stage of growth, give it a couple of more years and you are going to be breaking hearts and your father is going to be answering the door with a shotgun,”
That earned a giggle and a smile from her so I continued. “I want you to eat these fries, and drink that soda, and then we need to get back over and do a walk through on the runway before we go home. I’m going to see if I can’t get someone over to help.” Taylor nodded and I got up before grabbing my cup and heading toward the bar. Pulling out my phone with my other hand I pulled up my contacts list and picked a contact to dial. “Hey Vicky, are you busy?”
“Not particularly,” the blonde Alexandria package answered, causing me to smile.
“I need some help and I think you would love to make your sister all flustered again,” I told her. “If you at least will come over to the college’s auditorium I would appreciate it.”
“What do you need help with there?” she asked.
“We need to teach Taylor how to strut.” Was all I answered.
**
**Sabah**
“I’m obviously missing something,” Noelle had commented as Akane led Taylor out of the auditorium. My response had been to snort at her statement as I took up the slacks before turning to face my teacher’s assistant.
“You think?” I asked just a touch sarcastically before turning the pants inside out. “The girl has apparently spent the last eighteen months going through a special kind of hell and Akane and I had to calm her down when I broached the subject of her modeling my clothes. The girl has practically no self-confidence and I have a funny feeling as to the why.”
“Shit,” the blonde commented. “What’s your feeling?” Noelle asked.
“That at least one of the two girls who were supposed to model for me was involved in it,” I answered. At that point I turned my attention to the slacks and started stitching the hem into place, losing myself in the repetitive motion.
**
My attention was pulled from finishing the slacks as the main doors to the auditorium slammed open to show three silhouettes standing in the doorway, “Let's do this,” a voice I didn’t recognize stated as the bodies moved through the room toward the stage. As the doors closed I could see it was Akane, Taylor and a…and Victoria Dallon, Because of course they could get Glory Girl to come over and help Taylor, I thought as I rubbed my eyes.
Akane made a beeline for the sound board and the computer there that would provide the music for the fashion show. Walking over to her I could hear her muttering “No, no, hell no,” followed by her lifting an eyebrow at what I could only figure was one song choice as she said clearly, “Who the hell do they think they are, Rick James?” before shaking her head and pulling up the computer’s master music list. “Ah, here we go,”
**
**Sunday, January 16, 2011**
Danny smiled as he eased himself into the auditorium seat as Emily sat down between himself and the Dallon sisters. Vicky had somehow convinced Amy that she would enjoy the fashion show or at least that it made more sense for her to take the night off and join them both here and at dinner as opposed to spending another night at the hospital. They would have almost filled the row with Carol and Mark, but the former had an early court appearance in Boston for the Bad Canary trial tomorrow and wouldn’t have been able to join them for dinner, while the latter was having one of his bad days and was home in bed. “Excuse me,” a low voice rumbled from Danny’s other side drawing his attention to a large Asian man with what was obviously his daughters. “Is anyone sitting in these seats?”
“They’re open,” Danny answered taking a closer look at the two girls. One was a little older than Taylor and Akane, maybe eighteen or so while the other was more than likely a preteen of maybe twelve. “Is yours a student or a model?”
The man blinked for a moment as his girls moved to sit down, “I have one that is a student,” he answered smiling. “But not here and not learning fashion, my wife runs the modeling studio that is providing the majority of the models tonight and she wanted to be here to ride herd on them. Herding cats is more accurate in my opinion but what can you do right?” Danny smiled and nodded at the comment. “After this we have to go open the restaurant for the year too, so it’s going to be a long night.”
Danny smiled at that, “That would mean that you are Kenta Horaki correct?”
The man lifted an eyebrow but nodded over the heads of his daughters, “I am,” he answered. “Who are you, if I may be so bold?”
“Danny Hebert,” Danny answered standing and offering his hand.
Kenta took the offered hand and shook it while smiling. “You run the Dockworkers Union,” he replied and Danny laughed shaking his head.
“I’m just the head of hiring,” Danny returned, and Kenta shook his head.
“From what I’ve heard,” Kenta countered. “If you didn’t keep beating your head against the wall that is city hall half the city wouldn’t be livable and nobody in the union would have legal employment. You do good work, what has you here?”
“Daughter got talked into modeling for one of the students,” Danny answered. “Favor trading at its finest.” Kenta nodded at that smiling.
“Let me guess,” Kenta said, his smile turning a touch feral. “She took the place of one of the two that ended up going to jail for some high school prank turned near deadly.”
“Her and her newest friend,” Danny answered with a chuckle. “The student asked them to model for her since no one else was available.”
Kenta nodded, “My wife was very put out by the stuff that they are accused of doing,” he growled. “They have been blacklisted by her and everyone that she could influence, at least until they turn eighteen.”
Danny’s response was a low whistle, “Blacklisted before they even get out of the house,” he said, a smirk gracing his face. “Serves them right.”
“Daddy,” the younger of the two girls said, breaking into the conversation and drawing both of the adult’s attention. “You are being rude,” she finished.
Both men looked down at her, Kenta smiling but both of their eyebrows raised. “And how am I being rude my little flower?” her father asked.
“You haven’t introduced Miranda or myself,” the girl answered. “And you are literally talking over our heads.”
Danny had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing at the girl’s precociousness. Kenta on the other hand sighed, a smirk crossing his face before solemnly looking at Danny and addressing his daughter’s comment. “Danny, these are my younger two daughters, Miranda who is eighteen, and Nemuri who is twelve. Girls, this is Mister Hebert.”
Nemuri smiled wide while Miranda rolled her eyes in exasperation with her sister. “It is a pleasure to meet you both,” Danny replied with a smile and a slight bow.
“Is that your wife?” Nemuri asked indicating Emily.
Danny grimaced slightly, the pain of his loss showing for a heartbeat before he answered. “No,” he said. “That is the aunt of my daughter’s friend, her name is Emily Piggot and she is the director of the local PRT branch.” As he answered he noticed Nemuri’s eyes got big at that while both Miranda and Kenta seemed to freeze in place.
“Interesting,” Kenta commented as he finally sat down in the aisle seat of the row. A moment later the lights all dimmed, and a young blonde woman stepped up to the microphone stand that was set off to one side of the stage.
**
(Edited by Bob to remove color/font markup for readability)
Wolf wins every fight but the one where he dies, fangs locked around the throat of his opponent.
Currently writing BROBd
Currently writing BROBd