Nylonians (EMCSA 2021)
Part 1 (Julia)
My name is Julia Hanson, I work for a small government agency that investigates otherworldly threats. This ranges from paranormal to extraterrestrial. Thought of as a joke by the official agencies, we have been given the nickname WSA. This is meant to stand for Weird Shit Agency. Despite being used as an insult, we have embraced this moniker. A few days ago, I was completing paperwork on a paranormal case when my former partner, Ashley Diaz, approached me. At 40, 10 years my senior, Ashley taught me everything I know. Diet and daily workouts have kept her in top shape and the focus of aroused gazes from men and women alike.
I'm no exception to this as I slightly lowered my black framed glasses to admire the fit of her baby blue pant suit. Working my gaze up, perfectly applied makeup drew focus first to plump, dark red lips, then to her deep hazel eyes. A recent perm put wavy curls in her long black hair. After discreetly eyeing Ashley over, I greeted my former partner with a joking salute. "Good morning Miss Director."
"At ease," she replied amid a light chuckle. "I know you just had a rough solo outing with some ghost hoaxers, so I got a softball for you to break in your new partner."
"Fresh from the academy?"
Ashley shook her head and handed me a folder containing files for the case and my new partner. "Josh has been out of the academy for a couple years. But he's still very green and is having trouble keeping up during missions."
I looked up from the file and rolled my eyes. "I'm guessing that's why he's been pawned off on us?" Ashley gave me a nod and I changed topics to the case. "You're not lying about this being a softball. All official observation facilities deemed this small meteor shower insignificant."
"True, but its sudden nature along with some odd coloring in stills from the storm accompanying it has me curious."
I read through more details of the case and let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, I'm all for an easy one to break in the new guy, but this is beyond easy, it's nothing."
Ashley lightly laughed while turning to exit. "I know, just take a drive through the countryside, run a few tests and start building a repour with Josh. I'll have a real case ready when you get back."
When she was gone, I released my flowing blonde hair from it's confining bun and read through both files once more. "What a waste of time."
The next morning, I met Josh for the first time outside the agency office."Why do we have to drive that?" He asked while pointing to a white mini van.
Before responding, I took a few moments to look over my new partner. The 25 year old's black, thick framed glasses and short, side parted brown hair gave me accountant vibes. Physically he looked in decent shape, just not peak physical condition preferred for main field agents. "It's part of our cover," I replied while opening the back hatch.
"We need cover for a simple assignment like this?"
I nodded, "given the unique nature of our agency, we find it best to blend into an investigated area with an appropriate cover story." With Josh still looking confused, I elaborated once we got into the van and began our journey. "We've found that people have a natural hesitancy with authority figures. So a couple years ago, Ash...Director Diaz and I stared using cover for investigations."
"Does that work better?"
"We still haven't found any ghosts or aliens, but this method has gotten us more honest answers from community members and led to the discovery and shut down of numerous hoax operations."
Josh gave an understanding nod, "that makes sense. Is the possibility of hoaxing the reason for this assignment."
"Nah, there was a real meteor shower, albeit a small one. The Director mentioned odd coloring in some stills, but I figure she's just having us spin or wheels for your first time out."
Through 8 hours of driving, I learned Josh's father had been a secret service member in the 80's and was his main reason for joining the agency. "However," he explained during hour 6, "despite my best efforts, I just can't keep up. When I put in a transfer request for a non-field role they bounced me to you guys."
After construction set us back another hour, we decided to stop for the night in Omaha and drive the final 3 hours to Shadyville in the morning. We both slept in a bit and enjoyed the motel's free breakfast before heading out around 9:00.
As we made our way into the small farming town, citizens peppered the sidewalks along Main Street while going in and out of various shops. "What do you think that's about?" Josh said as we neared a diner at the end of the street.
"What?" I asked while pulling into a parking space.
"Damn near all the women are wearing nylons."
Josh's comment prompted me to take a quick look and sure enough he was correct. Women in attires ranging from dresses to jogging shorts had their legs clad in various colors of nylon. "That is odd?"
"Do you think it has something to do with our case? I mean, we're in the business of odd, right?"
"Maybe," I said as we exited the van and approached the diner. Inside, a good ninety percent of women were wearing nylon including all the female staff members. A few moments after sitting at a booth near the back, we were approached by our waitress. Her uniform was a white collared shirt with long sleeves rolled up to her forearms. A knee length black dress was worn over that with it's straps resting on either side of the shirt collar. The 20 something's legs were clad in ebony pantyhose a couple shades off from her flawless skin tone.
She gave us menus and flashed a cherry red smile. "Good afternoon my name is Maxine, our special today is chicken fried steak served with mashed potatoes and our house made country gravy."
"Sounds good to me," Josh replied."
"Sure, I'll do that as well."
"Very good, can I get you folks something to drink? We have homemade sweet tea, lemonade and canned soda."
I opted for the sweet tea, Josh ordered cola. As we waited for our drinks, a pair of women at a table near the window caught my attention. One looked to be in her early 20's with the other closer to my age. The younger had her medium brunette hair pulled into pigtails. She wore a tight, white tank top, denim shorts and suntan hose that steamed into a pair of brown cowboy boots. The elder, a ginger, had short pixie cut hair and was wearing a grey collared shirt under a hoodless, army green sweatshirt. Her lower half was dressed in tan khakis and brown hiking boots.
"Check that out," I whispered to Josh." He followed my gaze to the women as the ginger was given a retro looking, egg style nylon package. The base was metallic black with a pink logo depicting a naked woman in silhouette. The egg portion, also metallic, had a light tan color.
"Maybe it's her birthday or something," Josh quietly remarked.