Julietta found herself wandering around town after dealing with the idiot who was mooching off of her. She just absent-mindedly started walking off down the street after walking around a mall, needing some fresh air and time away from a crowd. She didn't have anywhere to be.

Eventually, Julietta stopped at a mostly deserted coffee shop and got a Frappuccino. Something sweet to cheer herself up, even if she knew it wouldn't actually do that. It was cold outside, and the fact she got a cold drink made the barista look at her funny. Julietta smiled at that. Being a fire esper, she was never cold. There were many more perks to that as well. She could use her abilities to make herself warm, she could never be burned, and she couldn't be touched unless she wished it. She just wished that last ability came to her before that one fateful night years ago, when some monster took her and painted her with scars, inside and out.

That was well behind her now. It used to bother Julietta and give her such terrible night terrors, but she had grown so much since then. However, she felt the same sadness she did once more. Her love had left her, and she was once again all alone with her thoughts.

"Damn her." Julietta huffed under her breath as she sipped at her coffee, feeling anger bubble up inside her, but the sadness quickly returned. It was her fault for falling for someone who was seeing another.

Julietta then saw her reflection in a window next to her, seeing her odd appearance of black and white stripes. For a long while, she neglected her body because she hated how she looked. Kids teased her when she was young. Even into her teens. That too seemed so far away to Julietta. She didn't hate herself anymore

What Julietta felt was lonely.

Juliettas attention was then drawn to the sound of a car cranking but failing to turn over, across the street, followed by a string of curses and a hood popping open. Julietta looked at the owner of the car and was immediately interested by what she saw. A wolf of androgynous appearance, a multitude of piercings, green nose and inner ear fur, and small scars all over.

"God damn piece of shit!" The wolf exclaimed.

Julietta decided to intervene. She built cars as a hobby. A jump start would be no problem. She got up from her seat and approached the wolf across the street with her coffee in hand.

"Hey." Julietta got the Wolfs attention, speaking with a slight southern accent. "What's wrong with your car?"

The wolf looked over at Julietta. "Well I'll tell ya..." they looked at the name written on the coffee cup. "...Julian; Son of a bitch won't start."

"It's...Julietta, actually." She chuckled. "I know cars, can I take a look?"

"If you want to."

Julietta looked at the engine bay with a stern concentration. "The car is cranking, so the battery isn't dead."

Julietta confirmed her hypothesis for a cause by removing a spark plug from the engine, seeing it was charred black.

"As I suspected, you need new spark plugs. I have some in my car, if you want to wait."

"Be my guest. Doesn't look like I'm going anywhere. Names Storm, by the way."

"Storm? odd name." Julietta commented.

"What of it?" Storm raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I like it." Julietta eased back.

Both punks were testing each other's boundaries, so Julietta decided to quit while she was ahead and go get what she needed. Half an hour later, she returned with a couple spark plugs, and installed them.

"Okay, try it now." Julietta said

Storm turned the car over successfully.

"Holy shit! It worked! Thanks!" Storm exclaimed.

"No problem." Julietta said as she gathered her toolkit and started back to her car.

Julietta suddenly heard Storm's car turn off and footsteps following her. She turned around to be greeted with a phone camera flash. Julietta didn't like the unsolicited photo, and grabbed Storms arm

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"I...thought you looked cool. I wanted to get a picture of you." Storm replied, unsure if that was a good idea.

"You could have asked if I wanted a picture." Julietta huffed.

"I thought people would be taking pictures of you all the time. You totally got a cool fur pattern.

Julietta let Storm go. "No...not really. I always get teased because of it."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. Honestly, it's a relief. I'm used to people just jeering at me."

"Jeering?"

"Making fun of me. I had to be home-schooled because of it."

"Im...sorry. didn't mean to dredge up bad memories." Storm apologized

"No..." Julietta sat down on a curb. "I'm sorry. I'm just really frustrated right now, you didn't deserve that."

"What's got you in knots?"

Julietta sniffled. "I got dumped."

Storm sat down next to Julietta on the curb, knowing exactly the feeling she was going through. "Oh, that's a bitch..."


Storm looked at Julietta for a second and saw something of herself in her. She knew how sad she was when she got dumped, and wouldn't wish it on anyone else. "Hey. You wanna hang at the mall?"

"I just came from there." Julietta said

"Yeah, but you didn't buy anything."

"...yeah...alright, fine. Got nothing better to do."

"That's the spirit."

The two acquaintances entered the mall, and Julietta actually looked around this time instead of wandering. First stop was an obvious one. Stanley's. A punk goth's dream come true.

"I wanna get a couple new piercings." Storm said as they browsed the gauges and industrial piercings.

"You do have a lot of metal on you." Julietta mentioned. "Check this out." Julietta hung her tongue out of her mouth, showing a stud pierced through it, and the fact that the tip of her tongue was split to make it forked, like a dragon's.

"Whoaaa, you got your tongue split? That's fucking cool!"

"Yeah...I was a pretty rebellious teenager to my dad." Julietta said.

"Heh. Nice."

Storm held up her phone, motioning for Julietta to join her for a selfie. Julietta held the phone and showed her tongue for the photo. The two laughed and had a good time perusing all the suggestive knick-knacks in the store, as well as trying on outfits.

Julietta came away with a couple new pairs of skinny jeans, and Storm found themselves some boots they loved.

Julietta took out her card at the register. "Allow me."

"What? No, no. We just met, I can't let you pay for all this. This stuff is expensive." Storm was shocked that Julietta would be willing to just throw nearly $200 away.

"No, Its nothing. Honest." Julietta insisted and paid. "Look, I haven't had this much fun in a few months. I want to thank you for that."

"Aw, shut up; you're gonna get me all misty-eyed." Storm said while the two left the store.

"So. I'm curious. Did you ever get your car checked or serviced before? Those spark plugs looked gnarly." Julietta asked

"Oh, I used to be a taxi driver."

"Ah, that explains it."

"You like cars?" Storm asked with a raised ear.

"I...LOVE cars. I'm a mechanic..."

"Oh so you must have a pretty cool car, huh?"

"Yeah...wanna see it?"


Julietta led Storm over to the parking garage, and left Storm with their jaw dropped at the sight of a highly customized 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.

"Dude! Are you loaded or something?"

"Ehh...kinda." julietta was apprehensive about her money. "I really don't like talking about it. Its why I don't really hang out with anyone either. All everyone ever wants is money."

"Well I don't want your money." Storm said. "But..."

"You want to ride in the car?"

"So much!"

"Get in!"

Julietta ignited the very loud engine and took off. However, somewhere in the back of her head, she knew that Storm would end up in the same position as all her other potential friends. The reason why nobody ever stayed near her. Still, she held out hope that maybe Storm could be different.


Art and OC Storm by:  stormie-hills