Dollhouse
"I should have called ahead."
In Brockton Bay there is a store. A clothing store, to be precise. Quite a special store, in fact. What truly makes it special isn't its aesthetic or the high quality of its products, but the fact that it was run by a parahuman. The Dollhouse and its proprietor, Parian, were not household names yet, but to those who kept track of such things, both the movements of parahumans and the movements of the fashion industry, Parian and her store were well known. However, while the Dollhouse and Parian will both have large parts in this little story, we don't start with them, not quite.
"I really should have called ahead."
Instead, we start in an alley across the street from the Dollhouse, where a young girl was pacing and talking to herself. This was Taylor Hebert, and she had a plan, a plan that she now doubted. Dressed in a threadbare black hoodie and frayed jeans, Taylor hardly looked like someone that had business at the Dollhouse. But that was her destination, if she could only work up the courage to walk through the door.
"She must be super busy, right? And this isn't exactly the sort of thing you just spring on someone out of the blue. She might panic. I should go home, call first and set up an actual appointment." Taylor stopped pacing and ran a hand through her short, ragged black hair. "Ugh, I'm just chickening out, aren't I? Am I? Damn it! Why is this so hard? That's it, I can't think like this!"
After briefly looking over her shoulder, Taylor closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was no longer flesh and blood. Her skin was porcelain, her eyes were glass and her silken hair was long and flowing once more. Taylor looked down at her articulated hands and once again took a moment to marvel at her powers. She was now a living doll, able to move with power and precision than a human being could never hope for. Her face was frozen, her eyelids the only things that could move, but that was fine. She was frozen in beauty, after all.
Taylor sighed in relief, despite being unable to move her mouth, and lacking the ability to breathe. She could always think clearly in this form. It wasn't that her emotions disappeared, or were even dulled. She simply kept the ability to think rationally no matter what she might be feeling at the moment. Self-control was what this form offered, which was strange. Dolls were solely under the control of others. Turning into a puppet shouldn't make you free.
Taylor looked back to the Dollhouse, and made her choice. Yes, she should have called ahead when she had the chance, but she was here now. Yes, Parian might react badly, but that risk was fairly minimal as far as Taylor knew. So long as she remained polite and non-threatening, there shouldn't be any issues.
Flipping her hood up to hide her porcelain face, Taylor walked out of the alleyway and across the street. Pushing open the door, Taylor heard the tinkle of a bell and the soft call of "Coming!" from further into the store. However, what caught her attention was the style at work in the store. The inside matched the name it seemed, with light pastel tone dresses and suits on mannequins, dolls and other toys on the shelves and a giant stuffed teddy bear in the corner.
"Hello there. Sorry for the wait, I was just organizing the back. Now then, how can I…" Taylor turned to face Parian, the one who was talking. It was easy to tell who she was, what with the elaborate dress and porcelain mask. "Help… you…" Taylor couldn't see Parian's expression, but she could tell from the way she trailed off that she was at least somewhat stunned by Taylor's appearance.
"Sorry," Taylor said instantly. "Sorry, I should have called ahead or something. I was hoping you could help me."
"Um, okay…" Parian still sounded hesitant but at least she wasn't attacking Taylor or freaking out. "I'm not sure what I can do to help you exactly. Especially if you're with the gangs…"
"No!" Taylor shook her head violently. "No, god no. I was just hoping I could get your advice, that's all. See, I'm new to the whole superpowers thing and, well…"
"Okay..." Parian didn't say anything for a bit.Taylor supposed she was thinking about what to do. Maybe she was trying to figure out if Taylor was lying, but that would be tough without facial expressions to judge. "Well," Parian said, "I guess I can talk to you at the very least. I don't know how much help I can be though. Would you like to sit down?"
"If you'd like. I have no issue standing if that would make you more comfortable, though. It's your store," Taylor said, trying her best to be polite.
"In that case, I'd like to sit and talk like civilized people." Parian answered. "Follow me. There's a table in one of the back rooms."
As it turned out, there wasn't just a table back there, but a full tea set, a small fridge on the floor and some armchairs in the corners. It was a fully furnished break room.
"I'd offer you tea," Parian said as soon as they sat down, Taylor putting her hood down at the same time, "But I'm not sure you can drink like that. Is that okay?"
"That's fine," Taylor answered. "I'd have to change back first to drink, but I don't have a mask, so I hope you don't think I'm impolite to decline."
"You can change back?" Parian asked, clearly surprised. Taylor nodded. "Oh, that's good. I'm afraid I had assumed you were one of those poor monstrous capes that were stuck looking they way they do. That or you were a tinker creation."
"No, my power allows me to change into this doll-form and back," Taylor explained. "Um, I am a tinker though. Or, at least, I think I am. I have all these ideas for how to upgrade this body…"
"Really? What sort of upgrades? Have you done anything yet?"
"Well, I could build in a taser, and launchable and retractable limbs, and flight packs, and wall crawling…" Taylor realized she was rambling and probably would have blushed if she had actual blood in her cheeks. "I haven't done anything yet. The materials would be… expensive."
"Right." Parian nodded. "Well, you seem to have a good grasp of your capabilities. I'm not sure exactly what you need my help with."
Taylor somehow made a sound like she was taking a deep breath. "I was hoping I could talk to someone relatively unbiased about what it means to be a cape and what my options are. I already looked up everything the PRT had to say on their website, but I was hoping to get a second opinion and you seemed like a better option than the gangs."
"Relatively?" Parian questioned.
"Nobody is completely unbiased," Taylor said. "I know, for example, that I'm slightly biased against established authority. It's probably why I'm looking for a second opinion in the first place."
"All right then…" Parian slowly nodded. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to start with?"
"Could you tell me about being a rogue?" Taylor asked. "Not that I don't want to be a hero or anything, but my fa- my family doesn't have that much income in the first place, and as I said, tinker supplies are expensive."
"Well, you're right that going rogue is the way to go if you want some income. The PRT does pay, but if you're a Ward – I'm not guessing your age here, just covering my bases – if you're a Ward, then all the money they pay you goes into a trust fund," Parian said. "However, in my experience, if you do go rogue, you need to get yourself established quickly or else the horror stories the PRT puts on their website will come true and you'll become part of their statistics. And even then, that won't stop the gangs from bothering you."
"You still have trouble with them?" Taylor asked. "Even with your store and everything?"
"Mhm." Parian nodded and didn't elaborate.
"And… do you think joining up with someone already established would help with that?"
"Probably. Why, did you have someone in mind? You mentioned you were a tinker, so Toybox might be an option—"
"Actually, I was wondering if you might hire me."
Parian didn't say anything in response. She may have been a little bit stunned by what Taylor suggested. Seizing the initiative, Taylor talked quickly.
"I was thinking that maybe I could act as a mannequin or something since we have a similar look and if anybody caused trouble for you, I could take care of them."
Parian titled her head to the side. "A bodyguard? No offense, but you seem a little delicate…"
"I can lift a car and punch through steel."
"Really?" Her surprise was easy to hear. "You're not just saying that so I'll hire you, right?"
"I can show you if you like," Taylor answered confidently.
"Well…" Whatever Parian was going to say, she was interrupted by the bell on her front door ringing. "Oh, I'm sorry! I completely forgot that I had an earlier appointment. Please, wait here and I'll see if they can reschedule."
"Don't worry, I can come back later," Taylor said. It wasn't like she had anything else to do. "Or I could just wait. I don't mind."
"Well, this hopefully won't take too long," Parian said. "If you don't mind, would you please wait?"
"No problem."
Parian sighed in relief. "Thank you for being so understanding. It shouldn't take long for me to deal with Miss Barnes."
Woo! Yet another Alt!Power Taylor fic! Hopefully this one will stand out a bit from the crowd. I don't think anyone's tried the direction I'm taking this before.
Anyway, I'd like to thank
@Cailin and
@BeaconHill being my beta readers for this story. You two are great.
rofl:
