[X] Approach, it's just a furby.
It's just a toy, what's the harm?
Curiosity won out.
That is the thought in Taylor's head as she walks closer to the thing, half hidden under the lid.
"Kah ay-tay!"
The thing was, in Taylor's admittedly limited experience, furbies were just plain creepy. Even if they weren't found half rotted in a trashcan.
Half rotted was the best descriptor she could find for it; she could see the framework for its ear through a missing part of its fur. It had seen better days. A common sentiment.
Vaguely, Taylor could remember that she had gotten one at one point, though it had also ended up in the trash. Both of her parents were unenthused by it turning on in the middle of the night. Repeatedly.
If Taylor was being honest, the only reason she was approaching the damn thing was to make sure that she was seeing things and that it's eyes really weren't tracking her. Was it juvenile? Yes. 100%. That did not change the fact that she would rather know than having this feeling of being watched follow her back home.
"Ah-noo! Kah moh-moh boh-tee-tay!"
It was when she was right next to it, that she noticed something else. While the fur on it was crimson, deep enough to be almost purple and it's secondary colour was a dark grey, there was a two tone scheme going on with the red- an ugly dull brown spiralled up through it. Almost as if...
Time slowed.
That urge to jump from high buildings, the same one that exists for someone to do something stupid, like cut themselves… Taylor could feel it. The cognitive dissonance of the abnormal in a normal place.
The call of the void.
A sick sense of curiosity, the type that wants to see
She pulled the trash can's lid up.
A roving, pulsating melody of black scurried at the intrusion, flitting about, waiting for the intruder to leave them to their prize.
It wasn't desiccated, despite having been picked over scavengers for clearly a while- black beetles scurrying around in multitudes, crawling, scrambling over each other, tearing at their feast. Liquid of a very known nature seeped from two orifices, contrasting the rest of the reddish, yellow blend.
The furby sat in its other major orifice, jagged yellowed shards gripping it loosely in place as putrid crawling forms covered it's bottom half- newborn organisms feeding for the first time.
Taylor's hand let go of the lid.
It clattered on to the top of the head, dislodging the toy with a sulfuric pop.
The furby lightly bounced off her and onto the sidewalk.
Taylor screamed.
The past few days had been… stressful for Taylor.
Finding a decomposing body, getting maggots on her and puking before having to talk to the police after someone gave a call had not turned out to be the ideal end of day. More surprising was that someone even called the police- turns out a girl screaming in the nicer parts of town actually warranted a quick response… who knew?
Her dad had kept her from going to school the next day. He hadn't let her stay home either, taking her to his tiny office. At least she had been able to get some progress on the makeup schoolwork done. Ther-
"Taylor! Hi!" Two warm hands clamped down on Taylor's causing her to jolt slightly as a serious looking Nikki shook them lightly, "How are you?! You missed school yesterday, and you look pale!"
Green eyes blinked. Right, Nikki wouldn't know.
Taylor shrugged. "I'm fine." Which wasn't inaccurate, if one changed the definition of the phrase.
Nikki continued to stare for a long moment before nodding, face untensing for a given measure. Nikki always wore a smile on her face, without fail, the current one merely morphed from a worried smile into a more neutral one.
"Want to hang out after school? I'm free!"
Nikki's suggestions:
[] Accept: Become a Mallrat.
[] Accept: Acquire cheap food. Consume a hideous bob. From Fugly's.
[] Accept: Go to the boardwalk and window shop. Be a poor tourist.
[] Accept: Nikki hasn't been on a guided tour of PRT ENE HQ. Be a guided tourist!
Taylor's suggestions:
[] Accept: Write in
Decline:
[] Decline: Go spend more time getting ready for your debut (i.e. the cape related vote)
[] Decline: Nikki is great and all, but maybe some alone time is needed? Maybe another friend?
Author's note: Beep boop have an updoot.
...I will say that I sat down to write this chapter with the plan to eat right afterwards. The rice didn't look quite as appetizing after this.
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