Dana was starstruck and dumbfounded – no way in all of existence had she been lucky enough to find the avatar of the goddess on the first day! But here she was, sitting in the presence of the one who was gifted with godly powers to change the world. Dana almost felt blasphemous that she was just sitting there. A part of her – one that suspiciously sounds like Clarice’s friend Denice – wants to get on her knees and bow to the avatar, but majority wins, so Dana holds herself back.
It’s even possible Taylor doesn’t know she is an avatar of the goddess – Tanya started the idea that perhaps the goddess ensures that the avatar is unaware of the power gifted to them, so as not to corrupt them and allow for the best changes to happen – so, all that would do was confuse and startle the poor girl.
So, Dana shoved all that in the back of her mind to deal and process later and stuck her hand out to the two, “Oh, my goodness, it’s been so long, Maggie! And Taylor, I have heard something’s about you!”
“I hope good.” Taylor teased.
“Enough to make me jealous to a point,” Dana then lightly elbowed Maggie, “You lucky girl, you.”
Maggie blushed bright red, “Oh, stop, you. I remember when you and Gabriel would awkwardly kiss behind the bleachers and think nobody saw you.”
Bright red faces, stuttering splutters and rash, hurried denials came abound – causing some of the other folks to start laughing at the scene presented, before resuming their conversation, filling Maggie and Taylor in on what they had missed, and such.
As they continued to make small talk, Dana caught what time the clock was showing, “Oh, goodness! Look at the time! I need to check in by six or I’ll lose the room!”
“Oh, shit! You better hurry then,” Janice turned to see it being 20 to 6, as Dana got up to get her things with Gabriel there offering help to move her things to the hotel faster, “The closest hotel I know is close to 20 minutes away!”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine if they walk quickly.” Maggie said, giving Taylor a major side-eye. The other subtly nodded and set to make sure Dana doesn’t loose her room, as the duo hastily apologizes and rushes out the door.
A minute of silence later, Michael pipes up, “Well, they could’ve planned that a little better.”
As they walked away, Gabriel turned his head so that he can keep a peripheral look at the house to see if anyone is watching them. Nobody. So he took his chance, “So, who is it? Or is it none?”
Dana just held back the excitement vibrating in her, “It’s Taylor. She’s the avatar!”
‘Huh, that was actually pretty fast,’ Gabriel thought, “Taylor…hmm…”
“Don’t believe me?” Dana shot him a skeptical look.
Gabriel shook his head at that, “No, it’s not that. I’m trying to recall if anything else had changed majorly before my folks got cattified since Maggie and Taylor got friendly.”
“…that’s fair, but yeah, I am 90% certain the goddess chose Taylor.”
“Only 90%?”
Dana set to explain that, “Clarice told us that when it comes to magic and gods, to always leave a little room for doubt, just in case, say, the avatar gave their abilities to someone for a day for some reason. Don’t ask for details, Clarice gets a little odd with the details after some nights of not sleeping when she’s got something to study, but the idea is there.”
“I see…” Gabriel conceded, “But how exactly will you confirm that Taylor is the avatar?”
“Well, other than that otherworldly glow she shows, I didn’t lie about needing to check in by six,” Dana points out, “And if my suspicions are correct, I could check in even later…”
Dana was right. They got to the hotel by 7:00, via taking a more scenic route, and, despite the hotel policy of giving no-show rooms to other paying guests, Dana’s room was waiting for her to be used. Gabriel accepted defeat and is now on-board Taylor the Avatar train.
But now new questions… “What exactly will you be doing now? Your mission kind of ends here.”
Dana shrugs, “True, my main objective was to see if the avatar really is here. But Clarice is no dictator. I can just chill and meet up with some old friends and come back at the end of the month with my findings. Not to mention, I can probably get some concrete data to show who the avatar is to the rest of the commune.”
“Makes sense,” Gabriel nods, but a new thought – maybe even a worry – appeared, “But now that you know, and the rest will know…what exactly will you do with Taylor then?”