Tira's not her mother's pride and joy, not her father's favourite child, not her older brother Drew's funny little sibling, nor her second older brother Jacob's chaos buddy, her third oldest brother Trey's study sister, her older sister Callie's sister or her younger brother Dominic's comfort person. And quite frankly? She doesn't care that much. Now, her family doesn't necessarily neglect her, they know she exists, knows where her bedroom is, she even sits with them for their weekly dinners.
It's just that she's more so a coworker than family member. Again, she doesn't care, Tira will still treat them the same way. Heroes in Auretruth tend to work together in select roles. Her role was in her room, at her desk, or in the secret hero room. They send her information, riddles, cases that the are too busy for and she solves key parts before sending it back for them to finish solving.
It's nothing crazy, but it keeps the stress of the amount of piling cases off of the family's backs, plus, it makes Tira feel useful. Like right now, the 16 year old girl's working on determining physical identifiers of a corpse found in a random alley near the High District. The corpse itself had to have been sitting there for a few days, with a passing thunderstorm between. It's missing the victim's head, legs, arms, breasts and genitalia. Which means, most identifiers have been disposed off before the corpse was dumped.
Tira's dark brown curls are pulled back and away from her face, greasy bangs held back with a stupid-looked headband. She nibbles at her pencil, her braces catching in the reflection of her monitor. She's paler than her other family members due to not leaving your home for any major reason. Her amber brown eyes close for a second too long before opening once more, sleep trying to capture her, but she'd be a failure if she succumbed.
The issue is that the body's massacre is unlike how many rogues in Auretruth dispose of the bodies of their victims. The numerous picture angles of the corpse sits on her monitor as mini notes already made by Trey are displayed on her propped up ipad. She sits with her legs to her chest on her wheeled desk chair as she doodles in the margin of her notes subconsciously. She's been doing stuff like this for nine years now, when she was seven, yet this stumps her. The most she has to work with is essentially a slab of meat with a bit of skin.
Surely this victim had something? Something on their torso that the killer - or killers - hadn't noticed. There was a mole on the left collarbone and a mole on the right hip, as well as a piercing hole in the stomach - no jewellery. But that was it. Pale skin, moles, belly button piercing. Judging by the way the hips sit Tira could determine that the victim is a woman. Age? Unknown. Height? Unknown, though the torso is quite long.
She's lost in thought, desperately scanning the monitor pictures as her margin doodles turn to sharp scribbles that break the paper, when the door opens and light floods her almost dark room - save for her lamp. A shadow looms at the infiltrating light and shes glances at the individual before returning to the pictures.
"Woman. Belly button piercing hole above belly button, dark mole on left collarbone, lighter mole on right hip." She recites robotically, her eyes drifting to Trey's notes on the case this far. "My guess is a model from the Diamond District. Torso is tall and skin seems clear enough to pass as an Auretruth Elite." Tira decides to add on, finally looking to Trey.
He's moved from the door to behind her chair, looking at the corpse pictures, then at her notes, then back at the corpse pictures desperately, as if trying to find at least one thing the girl missed. Nothing. He makes a noise between a sigh and a groan and she could feel his disappointment curl in her stomach. It's sickening and she feels horrible for failing him. She watches as Trey rubs his forehead and bite the side of her cheek, looking down at where her pen broke paper. "... I can visit the crime scene tonight, there might be something police missed..." She murmurs out hesitantly. It's not something she does, Tira isn't trained for that, but she hates the idea of not being helpful.
Trey's face softens and he nods. "Yeah, if you could that'd be great, I don't have the time right now with the new prison break." He states, eyeing the body for a few seconds longer before heading to the door. "I'll send you the coordinates. Make sure to take pictures of everything." He hums out, his attention already on something different. He leaves, closing the door on the way out.
Tira leans back in her chair, looking up at her ceiling before cursing loudly. Why did she offer that?! That's not her field! Now she actually has to leave her room - leave the lakeside mansion - and examine possible evidence out of her comfort zone. She can't do this! Dad only actually trained her on how to observe and think logically. She wasn't one of his soldiers, Tira was one of his computers. Computers don't work when out of their socket.
Sighing, Tira stands up and stretches. She's been working for hours now on the body, with little breaks in between to solve one of a villain's puzzles for Jacob. Her limbs are sore and her eyes sting as if someone poured chlorine in them.
She changes into more appropriate clothes, because no one wants to visit a crime scene in pyjamas, before heading to the secret room. If she was going to examine a crime scene she needed to have the correct gear. And no, it wasn't a hero suit, she doesn't have one of those nor does she want to wear one of them. It was a kit made specially for evidence collection.
As the secret sliding door opens to the secret room Tira's eyes land on her Dad typing away at the giant database monitor, his posture straight as a line, as if attached to a pole. Up higher were the sparring rings where Callie and Dominic were sparring weapons free. She doesn't expect them to stop their sparring when she enters and they don't. Tira looks to her Dad who hadn't so much as glanced towards her yet, though she knows he knows it's her. A father's intuition if you will. If it were anyone else he would have said something already.
She holds back a sigh before making her way over to the supply cabinets that run along the sides of the cave. She proceeds to scan over all the kits that her mother, and sometimes Tira if she's not too busy, prep and pack. Finding the black box the size of a makeup kit she takes it off of its shelf before heading to the log book and writing the time, date, who's taking the kit and what kit is being taken.
As she's about to head off her dad speaks up, his voice gruff from not using it for a few hours. "Tira." She freezes, her head turning to him. He hasn't spoken to her since dinner last week when he asked her in person to collect files on a corrupt elitist and send them to him. She hates the part of her that's hoping he'll turn and look at her, hoping he's somehow had a massive epiphany and wants to be close with his second youngest.
It's hopeful thinking, something she wishes to squash until it's nothing but a flat surface that could once generate a thought. Instead of saying what the childish part of her wanted to hear he merely states "If you're going out can you check up on a woman, according to her family she's been locked up in her room for days and refuses to talk to anyone unless they're a hero." He doesn't even look to her, as if that was too much effort for him. A bitter feeling condenses in her gut, it's not fair. Not fair how he treats her like a distant coworker. Not fair how he treats everyone else with the love of a father - even Drew's girlfriend! She isn't even apart of the family yet but she gets that love?!
Whatever. Tira takes a deep breath in before nodding. "Yeah, I can do that. Send me the address." She confirms calmly before walking to the sliding doors. Her dad doesn't say anything else, simply continues typing like his life depends on it. She exits the secret room and slouches against the wall, drained and annoyed. "Why thank you Tira! What would we do without you Tira?!" She mimics in annoyance. One of these days she'll get back at them. One of these days she'll make them realize her worth!
But for now, she has no choice but to put those thoughts aside. Walking towards the front doors of the mansion her focus on a different task than petty revenge. She has a job to do, and she won't stop until it's completed.