Thea Duncan stood on the landing, looking down at the Spiked Pit. The moment she'd slipped into her dress, she felt more settled than she had all day. Sure, she wore more casual, but still dark clothes sometimes...and she did have some outfits more suited to when she wanted to go for a bank loan, but...this was her. Literally, because as soon as she donned it, her male parts had retreated inside her body, never to be seen again.
The twenty-six year old looked rather satisfied at what she saw. She'd had to make some compromises, which had pissed off her friends...but they were usually pissed off anyway. She wanted this to be a place where the marginalized could be accepted. That was mostly Goths...her primary demographic, but she wasn't going to turn anyone away. That's why she'd read Grave the riot act about that teen who had shown up. What if she was looking to break out of whatever conformity prison was trapping her? And her friends had scared her back into the proverbial closet?
Thea was tied into the local community in a way that Agatha never had been. She had family in town, she'd gone to the local high school and somehow, despite not always attending class, been named salutatorian at graduation. She was half convinced Principal Smith had ensured she didn't get Valedictorian just so she wouldn't have to make a speech. But Thea had said a few words anyway when she came up. She still had an awkward relationship with the school administration, as she had shown up when some of her teenage patrons had told her about how they were being treated.
She glided down the stairs. She could see Grave in the DJ booth setting up the playlist for the night. She wondered if she'd had any luck on booking some bands...she really wanted to have live entertainment at least once a week. Grave had excellent taste in music and had found some great acts, but many of them needed to be talked into coming out to the burbs.
Simon was across the room behind the bar getting things in the small kitchen ready. Thea had found the 24 year old when Simon was a freshman, still experimenting with the Goth lifestyle, and she and Grave had taken Simon under their wing. The Spiked Pit only served simple bar type food.
Pleased she didn't need to tell anyone to do anything, she turned her attention back to the mystery of the day...the unexpected blackouts the three of them had had. Grave's had gotten her arrested...not that she needed much help doing that. She had a long history of mouthing off to the police. If it just been her, Thea would have shrugged it off. But Simon on the other hand...
She decided she needed to talk to her customers...see if any of them had heard of any such thing.
Meanwhile, it was still early, but Zara McMillan was planning on going to the Pit that evening. She was already pissed her best friend, Gena, wasn't coming. Her friend had texted her that she was staying home with her family. Apparently, Gena's sister Myka had gotten abused by that prick, Steve Farber. Zara didn't understand it...Myka was pretty boy-crazy at times. She flirted with boys, sometimes acting like a complete moron around them. At the same time, she was also a star athlete and one of the most popular girls in school...with the girls...because obviously the boys liked anything that filled out a bra. Well, not anything if her lack of love life was any indication.
She turned the corner and nearly bumped into Karyn Black. "Hey, watch it," Zara said.
"Me?" Karyn said. She was a Senior, and not going to let the younger kids, Goth or otherwise, pull something like this. "You were the one not watching where you were going."
"Fuck off," Zara said.
Karyn scowled. "That's your answer to everything you don't like," she said, continuing on. It did crystallize a decision for her. She'd been thinking about going into teaching...but if she had to deal with kids like Zara, with bad attitudes...maybe she'd be better off with elementary or middle schoolers.
