a pleasant disturbance| open

After a long day of working at the Garrison office, Melanie was ready to relax and unwind. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to go grocery shopping, so that was out of the question. Usually her pantry was well stocked, but she had been on base for too long and it had slipped her mind that she would eventually need the necessities.

This is what lead her to the mall, sitting outside some strange Chinese restaurant in the food court. Call her lazy, but she had no intention of doing anymore work today. Personal errands could wait until tomorrow and she was starving, though she had to admit that she was feeling uncharacteristically lonely. Maybe she should have called a sibling (or two) to join her.

Deciding that people watching would be much more interesting than wallowing in her own thoughts, Melanie began to observe those around her. A few students had taken up residency in one corner of the food court, while couples seemed to dominate the areas nearer her. A few other groups of friends were laughing and talking quite a distance from her vantage point, but nothing amusing was really happening. That is, until Melanie noticed someone making their way towards her, tray in hand.

Today was Tylar’s first day on her own. No shadowing the bubbly Apollo boy who always seemed to forget she’s was his sister, no reporting regularly to the supervisor to make sure she isn’t an idiot, nothing. She was alone and it was glorious. So she decided, after her first successful day treating Garrison trainees, that it was about time to visit the mall.

Assimilating to Concordia had been a slow process for Tylar. She had left the mall for last because it seemed to be the core of life in Concordia and being surrounded by hundreds of powerful freaks had made her feel uncomfortable. But it was the last place on the island she hadn’t at least walked by so here she was, finally.

Upon first arriving, Tylar had sat down near a central fountain and tried to stay out of the way. It amazed her how unphased the Demi-Gods were by someone using magical powers. She understood that they must be used to it but when some random person goes sliding across the floor because a girl froze the tiles at his feet, it seemed like that would draw some attention. How could they possibly be okay with all that?

Of course, Tylar realized that her power was a little less…visible. She understood that it wasn’t necessarily going to show that she was immortal and could make other people become that way, and after a few interesting conversations with her fellow Healers, she decided that maybe it was better to keep that information to herself for the time being. Apparently you couldn’t trust everyone here.

Her thoughts her interrupted by the sound of her growling stomach. She hadn’t even realized she was hungry until she finally let herself breathe in the food smells of the mall around her. After taking one final glance around the fountain area, Tylar stood up and started to follow the smell of soy sauce. Suddenly, she was standing in line at a kind of gross looking Chinese place and wondering how she had ended up there. She backed out of line and, still gripping her tray, turned to look around the tiny room. Now was her chance to make conversation. Her eyes finally landed on a girl sitting alone, which apparently was almost impossible in this stupid town. Tylar pushed through a couple who looked like they were about to rip into each other, “Whoops.” She breathed sarcastically, smiling at them. She then turned to see the girl again, ignoring their looks of hatred, “Hey.” She offered, sitting down without bothering to ask if it was okay, “Is this place any good?” She asked, looking down at her empty tray before pushing it to the side.

Melanie studied the girl as she walked up, admittedly amused when she busted up one of the obnoxious couples. She was sure she didn't know this girl, and her actions reeked of newness. No one got between an aphrodite girl and one of her guys and the new girl had done just that. Sure, it would probably end in disaster later, but right now it was entertaining.

For a second, Melanie wasn't quite sure whether or not the girl was talking to her, and when she was sure she didn't know if she should answer. Deciding that there wasn't any harm in it, she weighed the options before replying. "If you want Chinese it's the only actual place to go. A few residents make the legit stuff from time to time, but this is pretty bad."

"The 24 hour pizza place is fairly good, there's a mexican restaurant somewhere around here that I've heard is authentic, and he food bar has all sorts of nice junk food. It just depends on your poison." Melanie stated, looking around as she talked. Damn, they needed more restaurants. Maybe Aimery needed to jump on that bandwagon...

Tylar pursed his lips in thought. She didn’t care too much Chinese food to start with and getting news that it wasn’t even good? No way was she going to eat there. She shrugged lightly and left her tray untouched to the side of the table. No use in touching it if she wasn’t planning on eating anything anyway.

Now she had to wonder if continuing to sit here would be weird. Thinking about it, she figured it might be, but that she had already imposed and everyone else looked to be in their own little world with their clique. She was the only other person who didn’t have a posse to distract her or drive Tylar away. So staying seemed like an okay-ish option, right?

Finally coming to her personal decision to stay, Tylar smiled, “I’m Tylar Evans.” She said, suddenly remembering it was customary to introduce your parent as well, “Daughter of Hebe?” She said in almost a questioning voice. She hadn’t met any brothers or sisters on the island yet and wondered if maybe she was the only one.

"Melanie Thorn, Daughter of Hades." She said, while thinking through the implications of the minor goddess. She was familiar with most, but Hebe didn't have any other kids on Concordia that she could immediately think of. The minor gods and goddesses didn't get around as much as the other did, in her opinion. "Hebe is a new one. Goddess of youth, correct?"

She knew she was right, but small talk required legitimate conversation, so Melanie would roll with it for now. The hesitation in the girl's voice suggested that she was a newcomer, which would make sense. Obviously Tylar wasn't quite at ease with her parentage yet or at least not with feeling the need to announce it.

Tylar shrugged, "Uh, yeah. Youth." She confirmed, glancing at her own hands. She didn't really want to advertise her power because so many people would take advantage of it. She could give someone immortality. It was kind of...seductive...that way her power worked and she was concerned that she would be in danger if she told too many people, "She's cool I guess. Nothing like Hades though. He's gotta be a cool dad. And he probably doesn't look like an eight year old." She shivered, "I met Hebe once and she was barely half my age. Really weird."

"Hades is an asshole, but yea. He's better than most of the parental figures around her. At least I've met him more than once." Melanie said, taking a sip of her drink while thinking over Tylar's strange reaction to her mentioning that Hebe was a goddess of youth. Oh well, if she was dangerous than Melanie would have already heard so that she would know to keep her on the radar. "Which group are you with?" The girl was interesting, Mel would give her that.