Taylor didn’t care how embarrassing Cheshire thought it might be, or how much she complained, or how red her face went when a few passing women commented on how cute she looked, there was no way she was letting go of the girl’s hand.

She figured that the moment Cheshire was free the girl would find some way to cause a ruckus.

“We’ll get to the end of the Boardwalk, then turn back for home, okay?” Taylor said.

“That’s not even a whole mile,” Cheshire said. “Y’er still gonna look like a frog.”

Taylor’s eyes didn’t twitch because she had more self control than that. “Do you have to keep insulting me?” she asked.

“I bet it all ends up in your thighs,” Cheshire continued. “It sure as heck ain’t ending up in y’er boobs, ya know.” She made a cupping gesture with her free hand, then looked up at Taylor and gave her a toothy grin.

“You’re a real pain in the ass,” Taylor said.

“Nah, I’m awesome is what I am.”

She kind of wished that she had as much confidence as the four-foot-nothing girl next to her. Taylor looked up when she felt Cheshire’s grip on her hand tightened and found that the girl was looking off into the distance.

Following her line of sight revealed a massive toystore with a gathering of people, mostly mothers and their children, circling around in a rough semi-circle. And in the middle of that gathering was a life-sized victorian doll, or at least a woman in a costume.

She curtsied to the crowd of children and adults, then, with an extravagant bow, she turned and gestured towards the front door of the toystore where a giant lion with a lacy mane and button eyes shouldered its way past the door and roared at the crowd.

There was gasping and cheering as the lion stood on its big, fluffy hing legs and began to dance.

Taylor looked down when she felt Cheshire tugging at her and was soon lost in the guileless ocean of two brown eyes that looked up to her. “Please?” she begged.

“I don’t know, you’ve hardly been behaving yourself,” Taylor said. Any guilt she might have felt was washed away with the thought of how much trouble she was going to be in the next day.

“Please?” Cheshire begged. “I’ll behave. And you’ll be the best big sis ever, yeah?” Her eyes grew wider and wetter, the were practically sparkling.

“I’ll hold you to it,” Taylor warned. It took all of a second for the meaning to register with Cheshire and she whooped with joy before escaping Taylor’s grasp and shooting across the street.

Cursing, and glad that there were no cars on the Boardwalk, Taylor jogged after Cheshire and caught up with her on the edge of the crowd, bouncing up and down in a vain attempt to see over the shoulders of the adults on the edges.

Remembering what her mom used to do when she was that age, Taylor grabbed Cheshire by the shoulders and turned her around. “Get on my back,” she said as she crouched down.

Not having to be told twice, Cheshire hopped onto Taylor’s back and wrapped both arms around her neck. She soon had Cheshire’s cheek pressed up against hers as the girl leaned forwards to watch the giant stuffed animals playing and dancing.

Taylor tried to enjoy the show despite the weight on her back and the little knees digging into her kidneys and kicking out every time the animals did something particularly exciting. It was an impressive display. She had no idea how the doll-girl’s powers worked, but they seemed to lend her a lot of fine control over her stuffed animals.

The musical accompaniment was a little lacking, and was certainly aimed at the younger members of the audience, and there was no real story to the show, just big animals acting silly, but it was still enjoyable.

After a good five or so minutes the animals, now half a dozen in number lined up and--to a chorus of cheers and a change of tune--bowed towards the crowd.

Taylor clapped and Cheshire tried to join in without falling off.

The crowd was quick to disperse, a lot of them heading into the store where a couple of young clerks were handing out coupons by the door and the doll-cape was making tiny teddy bears for excited kids. Taylor took one glance at the price tag for what was essentially a teddy bear and blanched.

“We should meet ‘er!” Cheshire said.

“I don’t...” Taylor began, but an idea that hasn’t really solidified yet started to prickle at her. If Cheshire came to be because she had presumably been close to Shadow Stalker at some point, then how close to the doll girl did she have to get to do the same to her. “Okay,” she said.

“Onwards!” Cheshire said as she pointed forwards.

Snorting, Taylor adjusted Cheshire’s position on her back with a hop and moved towards the cape in the victorian dress. She was, perhaps, the most approachable cape Taylor had ever seen. It made sense, seeing as she worked with children.

Waiting a bit for the press to clear up, Taylor found a moment to come close when some of the kids ran back to their parents to beg for cash. “Uh, hi,” Taylor said. For all that the doll-cape wasn’t intimidating, and was a whole foot shorter than her, it still felt awkward to come close.

“Hello,” she said with a smooth, gentle voice. “Can I help you? Or maybe interest you in a plushie?” She looked up at Cheshire, then tilted her head to one side. “I could even make one to look like your... daughter’s onesie.”

Taylor felt her face burning up. “She’s my sister,” she was fast to say. “My little sister.”

“Yeah, she ain’t my mom!” Cheshire added. “Big sis, can I have a plushie?”

Taylor was glad that Cheshire was on her back. It saved her from having to endure the puppydog eyes she just knew the girl was aiming her way. “You don’t need it,” she said. “And I couldn’t afford it besides.” Turning back towards the cape, she tried on a smile. “I just wanted to say that I liked your show, it was really neat. Are you, um, sponsored by the store?”

“Not quite. They pay me to help advertise, and I make a small profit off of the dolls and plushies,” the cape explained. “It’s not too much, but it’s an honest living.”

“That’s really cool,” Taylor said, and she was being honest. She could only hope to find that kind of independance one day. “A-anyway, I should be going. My sister is getting grumpy.”

“Bitch, I ain’t grumpy.”

“See,” Taylor said.

The cape tittered. “I do. I’m glad you enjoyed the show.” She extended a hand and Taylor was quick to grab it for a shake.

The moment their hands touched she felt a weight settle into the pit of her stomach, filling a hole that she didn’t even know she had. “It was nice meeting you. C’mon, Cheshire, let's get back home.”

“Y’er no fun!” Cheshire protested.

Taylor ignored her. She had bigger things to worry about.