Arrival: Chapter 1.12 (Luciana)

When Luciana came to the hangar, it was with a hurried step as she tried to keep up with Mr. Kibble, her service dog. Of course Mr. K wasn’t an ordinary dog, not anymore anyways, after an accident that had awakened her powers he’d been transformed into something… more than a common dog.

“So many people!” Mr. K said, using his mutant dog-hands to sign the words. 

Mr. K lacked the proper vocal cords to speak human, but he’d learned sign language a long time ago. Luciana wasn’t Deaf, but her parents were.

“Puppy, slow down!” She asked, carrying some heavy luggage, she had definitely over packed, but she hadn’t wanted to leave anything important behind.

Mr. K stopped and she caught up, giving him a scratch on his head. At a glance he looked like a giant German Shepherd but the proportions were all wrong. He had hands and thumbs, and could even walk on two legs, at least when he felt like it. But most importantly Mr. K was smart, he could communicate, he could even read and do math!

Luciana registered and went to her assigned bus, she looked for a seat when Mr. K’s tail went full wag and he barked excitedly. 

“Look, another dog!” 

Toward the back of the bus, a black labrador hung partway in the alley, lying under a bench. Mr. K went over to greet his new friend. Luciana followed him with a sigh, Mr. K was a very friendly dog.

While Mr. K greeted his new friend, who was very hesitant to interact, Luciana gave a look to the dog’s owner. On the bench itself sat a black girl, about fourteen, with dark brown skin, her hair was tied into many braids, and her face framed by round glasses.

“Hi, I’m Luciana, people just call me Lucy tho,” She said with a smile, extending a hand.

The girl’s expression remained flat. She took her tablet and typed something, the tablet reading it outloud. “What do you want?”

Lucy blinked. Okay, that had been a little rude, but she had just sort of walked to someone on public transport and started a conversation, which was a big taboo usually.

“Sorry, I just thought I should say hi since our dogs are getting acquainted.” Lucy said, “This is Mr. Kibbles, what is your dog named? Mr. K say hi.”

Mr. K popped his head above the seat, gave a little wave. 

“She’s Nimue.” Her tablet read out. Before it was finished she typed another message, “You named him Mr. Kibbles?”

“I was two years old when I named him,” Lucy shrugged, “He used to be called Rover but Mr. K stuck.”

Mr K pouted, signing to Lucy. “We don’t speak that name!”

The girl blinked and typed fast. “Did the dog just use sign language?”

“He’s a very special puppy,” Lucy answered, “Can I sit here?”

“Why not.” The girl answered. 

Lucy sat down. Maybe the girl was mute? She seemed to hear fine but knew sign language?

“What’s your name?”

“Kavin.”

Lucy arched her brow. “Kevin?” Had she mistyped? Kevin wasn’t a very feminine name at all!

“K-a-v-i-n.” She spelled.

“Never heard that name.”

“It’s Tamil, and was my mom’s high-school’s best friend’s name.” Kavin replied. 

“Oh, cool!” Luciana said, “Do you speak ASL?” she first asked out loud then in ASL.

“Some,” Kavin replied using her table, “Don’t like it.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Takes too much focus, it’s tiring.”

“Oh, well that’s fair,” Luciana shrugged. 

Silence fell between them, and Kavin started chewing on her collar. All throughout this time Kavin hadn’t looked at Lucy, who was starting to clue in. Perhaps Kavin was autistic like her brother? That’d explain a lot, Lucy thought.

Lucy opened her backpack, taking some sweets out. “Candy?”

“Sure,” Kavin answered. 

Lucy took out a bag of mixed candies and chocolate bars, letting Kavin pick from them. She quietly ate some while focused on her tablet. Luciana took a peek and saw she was working on blueprints for something.

“Wow, that looks like smart-people stuff! Are you a hypertech?”

“I’m working on the heat-transfer system of Pridwen.”

“What’s a Pridwen? Wait, isn’t it the brotherhood of Steel’s ship in Fallout?”

Kavin gave her a quick annoyed look. “It’s my mecha.”

“You have a mecha that is so cool! What does it look like?”

“You talk a lot.”

“Oh, Sorry?” Lucy answered, “Would you rather I not?”

“It’s fine.” Kavin sighed. 

“Where is it?”

“Back home.”

“Where’s that? I’m from Miami.”

“New York,”

“Oh you’re a local, that’s cool.”

Kavin didn’t answer, going back to her work. She’d probably seen this conversation thread as done, and Lucy decided it was maybe better to give her some space and time, not be too overbearing. 

So instead she took the hour-long drive to work on the most important thing; her social media pages. She had fans to update after all!

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