“Linda! Guess what! I got a letter from my new agent! She says she’s got a whole bunch of gigs lined up for me!”

"A new agent? So soon?"

"Yeah! Which means more stage time and more money! Let's go out to celebrate!"

“Sorry I'm busy with work.”

“Aw! Come on! How often do we get a chance to celebrate?”

“Work has got to come first, sis.”

“You're starting to get worry-lines. Pimples too. Are you stressed? What are you writing?”

“Butt out.”

“Linda, take it easy. I just asked a question." Lily peers around the corner of Linda’s laptop screen. She takes notice of the kinds of articles she’s been writing.

"Why the Eagle Badge corporation must be stopped."

"What Needs to be Done About Homelessness." 

"Where Do We Go From Here About Taking On The Rich & Corrupt."

"You're writing news articles?”

“Yeah?”

“You're sure they're not stressing you out?

“I can handle myself, Lily. Unlike you, I don't run away from reality and face it head on. 

“Linda…”

Linda grimaced with regret. "I'm sorry Lily, but I have a bunch of articles to write that have deadlines, and I'd prefer to not involve you in them. They'd only upset you."

“But are they upsetting you?”

“Like I said, I can handle myself. Why not celebrate on your own. I'd prefer to work in silence anyways.”

Lily let out a deep sigh, "Alright, but next time you're coming with me."

“Whatever.”

Lily left the apartment and wandered the streets. Daylight was still plentiful so she wasn't too worried about staying out late. She decided to take her stroll towards the local trolley, something she hadn't ridden in a long time. They were fun in a childlike sense of whimsy, which Lily definitely had. She couldn't take them to work since they didn't really have a stop near the Molly-Wood.

Once she got on, she had to sit back and watch some of her favorite views of town, enhanced by the sun beginning to set. The golden waves of the rocks and sunlight mixed with the city lights and colorful billboards and wall paintings was a sight Lily would never get tired of in a million years.

After some time, she came to one of her favorite places in town, Pier 55, a pier full of shops, restaurants, and venues overlooking a massive oasis. The oasis pier was pretty run down, even for having a renovation or two in its time. It still had much in the way of shops and restaurants and food stalls, but many of them looked like they were in a state of disarray. There were also plenty of empty lots and shuttered storefronts.

Still, Lily saw the beauty and wonder of the pier and its attractions. The beauty of oasis water glistening in the evening in the moonlight was breaktaking, a true wonder of the desert.

The storefronts were always a pretty sight when window shopping. The sales people around the stores however…

“Excuse me miss! Care to try on some of our summer dresses?”

“I say, your hair is looking a bit frizzy, why not come in for our spa special!”

“You're looking a bit stressed out, care to soak in one of our oasis water hot baths?” 

All these promotions and aggressive salespeople were driving Lily wild, especially when she had a pretty empty purse. If money was no object, she would indulge in it all. Heck she would even pay for others to indulge in such as well. Alas she had to say no to it all. It may have been nice to dream about, but none of these things were going to happen.

“Cream dumplings! Get your cream dumplings!”

Lily's stomach grumbled. She hadn't had cream dumplings in forever, and the last time she nearly ate a truckload's worth. She approached the stand.

"Um, how much for one?"

“Come back when you're not a broke kid. Now scram!” Lily pouted her cheeks and left.

Lily slumped her head and arms over a railing overlooking a bit of the oasis water. She mumbled to herself openly. "Man, all these sweet sweet deals and cool stuff, and I can't even buy a stupid cream dumpling… It sucks being broke."

"You're preaching to the choir, kid," 

She spotted a man nearby on the pier to her left with a casted fishing pole in hand.

“Isn't fishing here at the pier illegal?”

"I'll start caring when the police come in."

"Well to be honest, you're not going to catch anything with the bait you're using."

The man turned with a grimace on his face. "What? You being annoying is going to bring in fish? Would you like to try?”

“May I?” The man hands her the pole, and she enchants it with a peculiar light, sparking bits all over the hook with a ball of light on the tip.

"Is that magic? What the heck is that?"

“It's called Bait Wisp. Fish can't look away. In fact most animals everywhere can't look away."

“Whatever it is, it better work-”

The fishing line caught a bite immediately, and a strong one at that. Lily tried to help the man by pulling the rod with him, but the line snapped, sending both the man and Lily flying back onto their butts. When they scrambled back to their feet, they saw this massive pale lump of flesh skirting the surface of the water, then disappearing slowly into the deep dark water in the night.

“What the heck was that thing?!” Lily asked.

“That was Titan Carp! That thing's eaten many a fisherman. Swallowed them whole in fact. There's a huge bounty for catching it. Do your spell again!”

“Are you crazy? That fish was bigger than a house! We'd be the next fishermen it would swallow whole!"

“But think of the bounty. I'll be rich!”

“We'll be rich, you mean-” Lily shook her head, “I-I mean I'm not doing it again! What's money to us if we're eaten?”

“Yeah, you're right… How ‘bout a high five!” The man grabbed Lily's hand and forced her finger to cast the Bait Wisp spell again.

“Hey! Jerk! How’d you even do that?”

The man took the peculiar light and baited it onto a spare fishing pole and cast it out.

“You're going to get in trouble! And in more ways than one! Stop!”

“Any kind of trouble is worth the money, plus we just need to play this smart. If we just-”

Right then, the fishing line caught something huge again, the strength of the pull made the man trip up and nearly let go of the pole. Lily, out of instinct, grabbed onto the line, and this time it pulled her off the pier and onto Titan Carp's fin. As it swirled around on the surface of the water, Lily held on for dear life on its back fin. She managed to get herself a position on the fin to where she was riding it like a sail. As the water creature skirts the surface of the oasis, seemingly oblivious to the passenger on its back, Lily hatched an idea. She knew of a way to conjure the Bait Wisp to an extent that would satiate the beast. She snaps her fingers then takes the Wisp into her hand pushing more and more of her magic into it. The Wisp grew and grew, and as it grew, Titan Carp took notice and started splashing up and down seemingly trying to get at the great treat upon its back. This made holding on to the fin harder, and somewhat exciting for Lily. It reminded her of surfing, something she always wanted to try but never had the chance or money.

Lily took the massive Bait Wisp magic ball of light and threw it out onto land. Titan Carp leapt out of the water to gobble up the wispy light and they both crashed onto the nearby sand. As the fish flopped and shook around on the shore, now beached, Lily took a moment to try to dry her clothes and hair as a truck with a siren came to her aid.

A man leapt out of the response truck, “Are you crazy?! You thought you could take on Titan Carp all by yourself?”

“Eheehee, you could say that…”

The ranger lent Lily a towel. “Did you know there's a bounty on this thing? It's been harassing our fishing boats and even eaten a few people.”

“I am aware, and after what I just went through, it would be most appreciated.” Lily beamed a bright smile after drying her hair as best she could.

“Here ya go, four hundred dollars.”

“That's it? I thought this thing ate a bunch of fishermen?”

“Do you want it or not?” 

Lily sighed, “Fine…” 

The first thing Lily did with the money was buy warm clothes and change into them in the store's changing room. The second was to buy a bunch of cream dumplings. As she was about to dig into them, the fisherman from before came running up to her.

“Holy hell! You're still alive!”

“You were expecting me to get eaten huh?”

“Maybe, but did you get the bounty?” 

“So what if I did?”

“I want a share”

“Hpmh. You didn't even do anything.”

“Yeah well… I told you about the bounty in the first place.”

“Fine. It was only four hundred dollars anyway, you can have… twenty.”

“Fifty.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Deal!” Lily hands him the money, “Sucker, I would've taken fifteen easy.”

After all the excitement of the early evening, Lily almost fell asleep on the trolley ride home. At least the sugar from the cream dumplings kept her awake long enough for the walk home up to the apartment.

“Linda! You won’t believe the adventure I was just on! You should’ve been there!”

“Sis… Help me…”

“Linda?!” Lily finds her sister curled up in her bed, coughing up a lung.