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Taylor Dalton was a lot of things.
An adult, for one, even if just barely.
They'd been taken- Misted, in Riley's words- just at the start of their summer after graduation.
The mist made things a little awkward, between those who knew each other before. You stopped aging once you entered, but those outside kept growing. The best example was of course the Prescotts, but the Lakeview kids had their issues too.
The original four to disappear were misted just before the school year could end, and Taylor right after. The tutor had just gotten used to the mist when their best friend Yara was taken too, a year older than before.
Taylor was a Chaoxing fan, for another thing. It was a bit of a hyperfixation, although really it was just great music. In the mist, Taylor quickly learned to keep their fan excitement to a minimum. They wouldn't want to make Chaoxing uncomfortable, and getting misted at a concert was plenty enough. Instead, Taylor focused on gens.
That was the only other thing that people knew, really. Generators. Intellegence. Math. Taylor was a genrusher, so they didn't usually see the killers. Sure they could heal, but there were better healers. They could hide, but anyone could do that. They couldn't even run.
Helping was all they were known for.
Really, it wasn't a bad thing. Taylor loved helping, and they worked well with loopers. But compared to some of the others, It felt like no one really cared for them. It wasn’t like there was much to see on the surface. A math tutor wasn’t exactly more interesting company then a famous influencer or an heiress, and even Yara had somewhere else to be. Cora always made time for Taylor, but he was so busy all the time and Taylor always felt like a bother…
Taylor sighed, twisting another wire into place. It was practically second nature, and sometimes It could get a little boring. but they’d long since finished the large textbook of math problems that had been brought with them to the mist, so the generators were the only place they got to do any sort of math.
Taylor was so focused on their thoughts, they almost missed the increase In their heartbeat and the red light rounding the corner. Luckily, they dove out of the way Just in time to avoid the hammer smashing through their generator.
Silenty cursing their lost progress, Taylor quickly vaulted behind the subway car and ducked into It. It was a stupid mistake, really. They’d known that Jun was being chased by Ye-Jun on the walkways right above their gen, and if they looked down at their communicator Taylor was sure they'd see some message about being detected.
It was too late to hide and move to another gen in Shifty Station, because Ye-Jun had found them. Now, Taylor had to do their least favourite thing. Chase.
Already slightly tired, Taylor ran for the stairs and up to the roundabout in the center of the station. Maybe someone would see Taylor struggling and offer some help, although it wasn’t likely.
Thump, thump, thump. Taylor could hear Ye-Jun and the mist’s awful music accompanying him. They could feel their pounding heartbeat, and the idol’s heavy footsteps.
There was something about those footsteps that caught Taylor's attention, even as they tried to focus. A little voice inside their head, the same one that had made them giddy with excitement when Cora asked for help calculating how often they were sent into rounds.
A pattern. Thump, thump, thump-thump tap, thump-thump thump-thump tap tap tap.
Idol lunged, knocking Taylor down with a brutal blow to the spine and tossing them off to the side. Taylor was sure they screamed, but their mind was focused on the intricate trot Ye-Jun developed as he left.
A pattern.
— — —
Taylor ended up bleeding out that round, their least favourite kind of death. It always made their head sort of foggy. They once had a panic attack when they woke up unable to remember basic long division.
Taylor didn't get another round for the rest of the day, and didn't get The Idol for a few more still. So It wasn't surprising when the detail got a little foggy.
It wasn’t until they were hanging out with Yeona that something started to turn in their mind.
Taylor got along with Yeona pretty well, all things considered. They felt a sort of fan camaraderie with the girl, and they made a routine of going to her cabin to share their collection of pop vinyls.
“I still have no idea how you got this!” Yeona chirped, stars in her eyes as she admired the glossy pink cover of Taylor’s most limited edition vinyl. The special release cover of Starburst: Chaoxing and STAR*STRUCK’s collab album.
They hummed, pleased. "I don't mess around when it comes to XingXing. Those idol fans didn’t stand a chance.”
(Taylor broke their arm getting that album, but Yeona didn’t need to know that and also it was totally worth it.)
Yeona giggled, and carefully set the vinyl down on her dresser.
"Well," Yeona said, reaching past Taylor to pull a vibrant purple case off the shelf, "I was thinking we could do this one tonight? It's mostly Han-Gyeol or group songs. and you mentioned he was your favourite…”
Taylor flopped down on Yeona’s bed, bangs tickling their nose as they listened to the starting song.
They frowned. It was fast paced, clearly something crowds were supposed to stomp and clap along to. Probably the idol’s, too. It was good, but more than that, it was familiar.
“Hey Yeona? Have we listened to this one before?”
The fangirl paused, glancing over with a tilted head. “No? I’d definitely remember listening to PUNCH!, I love the chorus! Why?”
Taylor sat up, listening to the beat.
“I swear I’ve heard this before… it’s so-“
Thump, thump, thump-thump tap, thump-thump thump-thump tap tap tap.
Taylor gasped.
— — —
A proper theory needed more evidence, so Taylor asked to use Millicent’s tape recorder. It was a weird feeling, since perk swapping caused such odd effects sometimes, but it wasn’t too bad.
It did, however, cause some curiosity.
“Are you trying to be less active or something?” Nathan asked during a round. It was an understandable question, seeing as the bodyguard was definitely the main benefactor of Taylor’s tutoring.
(It was probably the only reason he even noticed at all, but Taylor wasn’t sure how to feel about that, so they just smiled.)
“I’m investigating! I can see why Cora does this, it’s fun. Not quite math, but close enough.”
Nathan blinked slowly, probably pondering the idea that math could ever be fun, and gave Taylor an unsure half-smile. It was an expression the tutor had seen directed at Yan when she started talking about high society politics.
“That’s great, I’m glad you’re having fun. But what does that have to do with Millicent’s perk?”
Taylor’s grin widened, and they pulled Nathan over to the generator on the boardwalk to chat. As their foot hit the wood planks however, a scream echoed over the buildings.
Emery, Taylor’s mind supplied. Inside Iris’s store.
Dakari had died earlier, and they had no other healers, so Taylor swallowed their disappointment and stood with a quick ‘I will go rescue!’ In chat.
Taylor glanced at the gen a few steps away as they typed another question into the communicator. ‘What killer?’
‘Idol.’
They grinned. “Come on Nathan! I’m going to give you an example.”
— — —
As Nathan led Ye-Jun out into the street, Taylor got to work helping Emery.
Taylor liked Emery, really. Another genrusher, but one with more dramatic flair. They were nice though, and willing to talk to anyone who’d watch their tricks.
“Ah… much appreciated, friend.” He grimaced, leaning back Taylor began to tighten bandages around his leg. “Although, I wasn’t expecting you. Isn’t someone here borrowing Millicent’s recorder?”
Taylor’s smile tightened, but they tried not to get upset because it was fine. Really, it was fine. “That’s me.”
Emery blinked, and glanced down at the large recording device Taylor had borrowed. “Oh… sorry Taylor. You don’t usually switch perks, I didn’t notice.”
“I know.” Emery wasn’t wrong. Taylor had switched with exactly three people before this, and only one had been of their own request. “It’s alright, it’s new for me. Let’s go, I think Idol is coming back.”
Taylor grabbed Emery, shoving him towards the locker even as heart began to pop out of his chest.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t look.” They promised, and turned to face the red light rounding the corner.
Ye-Jun locked eyes with Taylor, and grinned. Taylor was terrified, but Emery couldn’t be hit again, so they steadied their breathing. Then, they turned the recorder on.
Taylor circled around the counter, keeping Ye-Jun’s back to Emery’s locker. The magician was taking ages to vanish, and Taylor got the feeling he’d gotten distracted. But there was nothing Taylor could do but run for the room they’d come from.
Taylor vaulted over the flowerbeds and turned, only to see the idol had stopped his pursuit. He’d spotted the hearts popping out of the locker and stopped to open it, but Emery had escaped just in time.
Ye-Jun scowled, and Taylor was already outside the store.
They still got hit that round, but Taylor managed to get multiple recordings of the idol’s run. It was a success in their mind.
(And maybe, just maybe, Taylor’s joy was added to by how Emery had come up to them after the round. How he’d thanked them personally for the save, and asked if they had any tips for looping as a slower person.)
— — —
Taylor had never really payed attention to Dae-Jun Pak outside of the mist.
Sure, they’d known exactly who he was, but they weren’t reciting every song by memory. Taylor had a casual appreciation for StarStruck, pulled in by online friends and the Chaoxing collab.
They never thought of Dae-Jung outside of StarStruck as a group, not until StarStruck was gone. But Taylor wished they had, because Dae-Jung was really nice to them.
He was actually the first person Taylor had met in the mist, and he’d been very kind aside from mistaking them for the mist’s first teenager.
That, alongside Dae-Jung’s continued patience with them and Yeona’s endless good reviews, was the reason a Taylor felt comfortable asking for his input.
They approached during weekly campfire night, because Taylor knew they wouldn’t be distracting anyone from anything. Campfire wasn’t mandatory, but it had become such a sacred tradition that even the killers showed up sometimes (with rules about who they could sit near).
“Oh, Taylor!” Dae-Jung smiled, clearly in a good since Ye-Jun hadn’t shown up for once. “It’s been ages since I saw you! What do you need?”
It hadn’t really been all that long to Taylor, but maybe it just felt like that because they didn’t have many conversations just for the sake of conversation.
They smiled awkwardly, and took a deep breath. “Hi, Dae. I um… I’ve been working on an experiment, and I need some help, but it involves StarStruck. So if you’d rather I ask Yeona-“
“No! No.” Dae-Jun assured, though his demeanour put Taylor on edge. “It’s alright. I’m trying to get over it. Can’t have something like that weighing me down here.”
Taylor frowned, but nodded anyways.
“I have a recording, and I want to know if you recognize it.”
Dae-Jung shuffled over on the bench so Taylor could sit and fiddle with Millicent’s recorder. The voices and laughter around them almost covered the audio as it began to play, but they were sitting far enough away for it to be heard.
Dae-Jung frowned. His hand twitched, instinctively trying to get into a dance position long ingrained into him, and proving Taylor right without even responding.
“Ah… that’s the beat to PUNCH! It was probably Han-Gyeol’s favourite of his songs, but the choreography was always a little difficult…”
Taylor nodded. “Thought so. What about this one?”
The next recording was from just before Taylor had been downed in Cliffmack, and they didn’t recognize the new beat that had thrown them off Ye-Jun’s rythm. Dae-Jung however, clearly did.
“That… that song never released. It was supposed to be in our comeback album, before…”
Dae-Jung trailed off, and glanced at Taylor uncertainly. “Where did you hear this?”
“That’s the thing!” Taylor exclaimed in excitement, “It sounds like music, but it isn’t the song at all! These are recordings of Ye-Jun’s footsteps!”
Dae-Jung’s face paled, but Taylor was too distracted to notice.
"I didn't recognise the beat at first, but It's a pattern, y'know? and then me and Yeona were hanging out and-"
Taylor trailed off, glancing up at
Dae-Jung and finally realizing that perhaps this was not a story the idol would want to hear.
“Dae-“ “I have to go.”
Taylor watched the idol scurry away, prickling shame building in their gut.
Taylor hated the feeling. It was the same feeling as when they found out Yara spoke about them to Chaoxing behind their back. The same feeling as when they make a mistake getting off a generator, or were left alone for rounds at a time.
Taylor turned off the recorder and stood, resolving to return it to Millicent and head to their cabin for the night.
They walked off, not noticing the pair of curious eyes watching them leave.
— — —
When Cora sat beside Taylor at the next campfire, they didn’t think anything of it. She often sat near the tutor.
“Taylor, what was the investigation I’ve heard so much about?”
Taylor nearly fell off the bench in surprise, and they heard the conversations around them quiet slightly. People always listened when Cora spoke.
“I- sorry? You’ve heard of it?”
Cora nodded, eyes alight with gleeful interest. “Nathan told me you were preforming an investigation. We are not often in rounds together, so I haven’t had the chance to ask…”
“Oh.” Taylor’s posture loosened slightly. “Um. Yea, I was working on a theory about how much of the killer’s speed was mist favouritism. I haven’t exactly…”
Taylor hadn’t worked on it since that day with Dae-Jung, motivation slipping out of their hands like water, but Cora seemed to understand.
“Would you like to talk about it?”
And just like that, Taylor’s world lit up.
They weren’t sure how long they talked for, just that Cora was smiling at them and he wasn’t the only one. At some point, others started to surround them too.
Taylor was a bit overwhelmed, really. The last time they’d spoken to so many people at once was… their for at day? They couldn’t quite remember, and Taylor sort of wanted to retreat.
But at the same time Cora was asking questions, real questions. Not just “Oh that’s nice have you told Yara yet” but “Do you think this could expand to the other killers and their speeds? How about survivors?”
Some of the others were asking questions, but mostly they were sitting still, letting Taylor let out all their ideas.
“Who cares?! Gosh you’re loud.”
Taylor froze somewhere in the middle of a hypothesis about taking advantage of the pattern to stay on running beat as Yronica snarked from somewhere behind them.
They had never liked Yronica, but something about being on the receiving end of her words always made them curl up a little. Someone (Eman?) quietly argued with Yronica, but Taylor wasn’t really listening.
Then Cora grabbed Taylor’s hand, and everything was just the two of them again.
“I care.” Cora assured, and she stared into their eyes through their bangs with such intensity and how could Taylor not believe it?
So, Taylor smiled. Their chest warmed.
It wasn’t until much later, when Campire was long finished and Taylor was walking back to their cabin alongside the investigative journalist, that they realized they were still holding Cora’s hand.
But neither chose to do anything about it, so Taylor just walked on and thought about doing this mystery stuff more often.