The curious incident with the gumball machine in the daytime

[Silv]

Rose Wilson was frowning at the empty gumball machine like it had intentionally offended her. It had, really, since it had eaten her quarter before she realized the dumb thing was empty. The girl gave the machine a good whack, causing it to rattle like an angry snake, before sitting still again. She was pretty sure it was mocking her. Y'know...if vending machines could mock people.

“You didn't even give me a gumball!” she complained. “I want my stupid quarter back!”

It was the beginning of the end for that particular gumball machine. It didn't matter to the youngest Wilson that she was currently in a crowded mall, or that it was the time of day that most of the other highschoolers decided to prowl it like wild animals. She was pretty much secluded in this corner of the mall. Especially since the nearest shops were a knitting store and one of those kitchy little rock and roll music ones that might have been cool in the eighties.

Still in her school uniform Rose would have probably been the picture of schoolgirl innocence with her long white hair and blue eyes if she weren't currently bear hugging a gumball machine while swearing at it in a foreign language. The machine rattled dangerously in protest to the rough handling and the girl swore a little louder to make up for it. It appeared that the girl and the machine were evenly matched. The gumball machine tipped back and forth dangerously before standing tall on it's cylindrical base and mocking her again.

Without checking her surroundings to make sure nobody was watching the schoolgirl suddenly dropped into a fighting stance and struck out at the stupid gumball machine with enough force that it exploded in a shattering of plastic and quarters. The sound was loud enough to turn heads, but the smallest Wilson didn't seem to care as she stooped down to snag a spinning quarter off the ground, and looking incredibly smug, sauntered away from the wreckage.

[Deleted]

It had been a while since Paige visited the mall; mercenary work didn't leave her with much free time. Now that she was free of that responsibility, she figured that she'd return to her favorite music store. Sure, that meant putting off the task of getting a place to stay, but she didn't want to think about how she was to survive next week, not now. The route to the store passed through a food court, and upon arriving, she couldn't fathom what she was seeing. Dozens of other onlookers were watching a school girl smash through a vending machine's glass like tissue paper, sending dozens of quarters spilling onto the marble floor. Instead of making off with all of that money though, the girl picked up a single coin then walked away with a look of absolute satisfaction on her face.

(...Uh, I think she might be a meta-human.) Thought Paige, who watched as the some of the onlookers got over their shock in order to flock around the fallen quarters like vultures. She had to wonder what kind of meta-human would go to the trouble of vandalizing a vending machine and only taking one of many quarters...

She wasn't going to try and find out, of course. Nothing good came out of pissing off random meta-humans, especially when they prove how dangerous they are, and that girl was looking pretty damn dangerous. So she walked past the scene of the crime and continued on her way with thoughts of how Neil would react to her telling him about that girl. It was then that she realized that the school girl was right in front of her, seemingly taking the same directions towards that music shop. Luckily, she wasn't close enough to suspect that someone might be following her by accident.

(No big deal. Just ignore her.) Thought Paige, nonchalantly. Though part of her wondered how the school girl would react if she thought that someone was stalking her. She might just decide to smash her into a million pieces, definitely not something she wanted to imagine. Just to be sure, she tried lagging behind a bit.

(Wait, why am I letting her scare me? If she wants to get pissed because she might think I'm following her, then let her. I'm a meta-human too, I think I could take her!) Those indignant thoughts led Paige to sped up her pace so that she was almost side by side with the school girl. Idly, she stole a glance at her with a trained expression, or lack of, to be precise. 

[Silv]

As she walked away the peasants descended on what she'd left of the gumball machine. The girl barely glanced back, rolling her eyes, but figuring it didn't matter. It was only a bunch of quarters. And now she was kind of like Robin Hood! Stealing from the oppressive force of the...gumball machine to give to the poor...opportunists. Alright, not exactly a Robin Hood story for the modern age. It would do though.

Suddenly there was a body to her other side and Rose's head quickly turned to stare at this new redhead besides her. The other girl looked like she was trying to keep pace with the youngest Wilson's easy, leggy strides, and that made the younger girl frown. “What do you want?” she asked in a fashion that was probably more provocative then necessary.

[Deleted]

(Oh boy.) Thought Paige, noting the hostility in the school girl's voice. Maybe that sudden burst of self-confidence could have come at a safer time...

Paige tried not to focus on how the girl was frowning, so she looked just past her and focused on various things going on in different stores. "Uh, nothing?" She said, she briefly glanced at her, "I'm just walking, and I'm not a vending machine in disguise." A lame retort, but she couldn't resist after that ridiculous display of strength this seemingly average school girl gave. It was getting more unbelievable now that she was actually meeting her, because the girl didn't look or sound a day over fifteen. She had to remind herself that meta-humans came in all shapes and sizes, there was always more than meets the eye.

"Speaking of... how did you punch that vending machine to bits?" Paige inquired as she looked ahead. Damn, that music store wasn't getting any closer...

[Silv]

When the redhead said she wasn't a vending machine in disguise the frown on Rose's face gave way to a smirk of amusement. “You sure?” the schoolgirl asked. “Maybe you're here to get revenge for your fallen comrade?” it was a laughable idea but not beyond the realm of the impossible. There was a green dude who could turn into any animal. Maybe there was a person who could turn into any object and she'd just-

It wasn't worth thinking about. The dumb thing had eaten her quarter after all.

Then the other girl was asking about how she'd smashed the stupid gumball machine. “Uh.” Rose looked like she'd just been asked the dumbest question in the history of ever. “With my fists,” she held them up for Paige to see, and sure enough, there was blood on her knuckles that was quickly drying to a darker tinge. “How do you punch them?”

[Deleted]

(Good. Made her smile.) Thought Paige with relief upon discovering the school girl had a sense of humor.

Though from the way she answered her question with a straight face, Paige had to wonder if she was all muscle and no brains. She couldn't help rolling her eyes, that wasn't what she had asked at all! "No shit, genius," She snapped, "I was asking if you had super strength." She said, using a tone one would reserve for a small child.

By now Paige could see the music store, an isolated little place that plenty of people passed by due to its lack of obnoxious advertising. Paige, on the other hand, appreciated the sort of exclusiveness that knowing about the store entailed. And now that she was there, she figured it was time to ditch that violent (and dumb) school girl.

"On second thought, never mind." That was all Paige said before she started walking away from the school girl without so much as a backwards glance. Sure it was rude, but the girl would've done the same. Probably.

[Deleted]

In the distance, from deep within the crowd of quarter-hunters, an anguished cry could be heard. "Magic Gumballmaster serial number eighty-nine-bee-oh-six-four-one-one-four! What have they done to you!?" The short boy who had just finished proffering the question knelt by said machine's apparent grave, picking up the shards that once made up the late automatic vendor's plastic sphere of confectionery containment.

The noise had won the boy some glares and despective glances, of which he remained ignorant as he tried to piece the device together. Eventually he managed to gather enough of the pieces together for a group of little spiders to climb on and weld in place, forming the rough shape of the gumballs' container, which the boy perched on top of the dispensing contraption as he checked the main structure for faults, muttering all the while, "Man, you were getting retired tomorrow. What heartless monster does this to a machine on its last legs?"

With a few turns of a wrench and a good shove, the machine was back on its base, and the crowd was recoiling, as hundreds of spiders took to the floor of the mall in search of stray quarters and carrying them back to the asian teen, so he could pop them back into the machine's security box. "I swear, I'll find whoever did this to you, and I'll give them a piece of my mind big enough to crack THEIR heads in thirty-two pieces," He mumbled to nobody in particular, as he closed the box and a group of spiders locked it.

[Silv]

At first Rose had just figured the other girl was curious about why she'd hit the gumball machine. Now, she wasn't entirely sure. The young lady with the white hair frowned when the redhead snapped at her. She shouldn't have asked such a dumb question. She was bound to get a dumb answer that way. But when she used such a patronizing tone of voice, Rose's temper flared, especially when Paige walked off.

Without putting terribly much thought into her actions the little bully reached out a hand to grab at Paige and pull her back before she could get too far. The girl closed the distance herself, with an almost predatory gleam in her eyes. "Why do you want to know?" she asked in a low voice, her teeth revealed in what could have been a smile but was probably more of a snarl.

[Deleted]

Before Paige knew what was happened, the school girl had taken her by the wrist and forcefully turned her around. While this in itself was in violation of her unspoken "don't touch me" rule, the fact that the girl was practically in her face, snarling, quieted any discontent that she might have been interested in voicing. For a while, she wasn't quite sure how to answer the question. Considering the girl's mood, a wrong answer probably meant she'd be spitting up teeth. "Just... curious, that's all," She said, staring at the girl long enough for her to gradually push her back a little, just enough to have some breathing room.

All of a sudden, a sort of anguished scream reached Paige's ears. Whoever it was was somehow loud enough to make themselves known over the general hubbub of the mall. The voice was talking some nonsense about... a vending machine? Oh, and finding someone who broke said vending machine, nice. "Looks like someone's looking for you," she said, hoping that the girl would be smart enough to leave the scene and most importantly -- leave her alone.

[Deleted]

Nobody got away with assaulting gumball machines when Toyman was around. Detective Okamura was on the case.

The hardboiled investigator began his quest for answers by questioning his first witness: Himself.
Unsurprisingly, that yielded no answers, as the person being questioned was looking for the same information. Go figure.

But enough horsing had been performed in a round perimeter. Detective Okamura moved to his first true suspect: the girl with the suspiciously bloody knuckles, who seemed to be in the middle of propositioning a redhead rather forcefully, he added to his mental sidekick's notes. Chimpy was his name, and he wasn't human, because an animal sidekick always gets you more ratings.

The romancing would have to be interrupted for the sake of justice, that much was clear.
"Ladies, I apologize for interrupting your date, but this is a matter of Magic Gumballmaster security," He pointedly gazed from the bloodied knuckles, to their owner and back again, "Were you perchance witness to the crime that just took place?"

[Silv]

Rose glared at Paige. "Curiosity can get you killed," the schoolgirl warned, blue eyes flashing dangerously, before she dropped her grip on the redhead and swiveled around to glance at the cause of the earlier disturbance. Now she knew he was looking for her. Though, she couldn't fathom why the tiny Asian kid even cared about some stupid old gumball machine. If given the opportunity, however, she would gladly make him regret it. 

"It's not a date," the youngest Wilson intoned, her almond shaped eyes narrowing at the boy in front of her. He wasn't even the kind of kid she liked to kick around for fun. He was so far off her radar he barely mattered. The pointed look she gave him illustrated this. "And maybe I was," the bloody fist he'd been pointedly looking at raised in a not-so-subtle hint that she was just as confident breaking faces as she was gumball machines. "What's it to you?"