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 Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:23 pm
Leaving o_O In which Joshua learns that a new candidate has been picked to take care of Candice as promiced and he fights to keep her...Amirynth It had been a busy day in the offices but things were finally comming together. After the unusual shut down in sector 16 and the loss of power to half the building which caused a lot of scrambling for unsaved files and the like, Joshua was beat. He leaned back and streached his aching fingers, massaging some life back into them and wishing for someone to pound on his shoulders for a bit. Glancing up at the clock he grinned, thinking of the new package he had slipped into his bag. A game that was in progress had been 'saved' to the wrong file and Joshua wanted to take it home to tweek it. Candice had become quite the player and he really wanted to test her mettle against his. But first he had to finish backing up these few files. The programmer turned back to the computer with a sigh. S.H.R. Agency Jim had been prowling the halls before making a stop at his office and grabbing a folder marked 'top secret'. Making his way down to a certain office he streightened up a framed picture on the way, humming slightly to himself. It had been three months since Joshua had taken Candice under his wing and Jim was sure Joshua was ready for a change. He had noticed the programmer had seemed more stressed out and haggered recently and decided to take matters into his own hands. Reaching Joshua's door he rapped on it smartly before openeing it up and barging in. Amirynth Joshua looked up, a little startled at the late visitation. Most people had left by now, only the ones who were behind on their work or who had no where else to go stayed this late in the evening. While having Jim around in the building was not that unusual, having him show up at the door with a smile was. "Oh Hi Jim... How can I help?" Joshua hoped it wasn't another problem they had found with the new coding, there was enough on his hands at the present time. S.H.R. Agency "Good news!" Jim said cheerfully, brushing aside a stack of papers in a chair and sitting down. He waved the red file in front of Joshua. With all this mess happening, either Jim had finally snapped or he really had the best news in the world. "I know of a way to help you out, get rid of some of that stress, Josh!" He handed the file over, knowing it was hopeless anyway to keep Josh from the top secret information. "I think it's a near perfect match." Amirynth Joshua looked confused, on one hand Jim was way overly cheerful considering the mess the department was getting into, or he was getting promoted. Either that or Jim had jumped off the brink and was floating in the briny deep, a thought he definatly entertained for a moment. "Near perfect match for what?" Joshua couldn't think of asking for a match to anything, more like a search for something that didn't match and stood out like a sore thumb. Not like those types of files came around often, that would be way too easy. Eyes captured by the red folder he wondered what was in it that was making Jim so excited. Probably crack or something though the programmer wryly. S.H.R. Agency Jim shook his head, "Why don't you take it? You look like I'm trying to hand you a bomb or something. You're too stressed out." Not like he was the one to be talking. At some point, he'd even told Ace to get out, and he was generally so good with his boy. He waved the file at Josh again. Inside would be a picture of a lovely woman, looking maybe her late thirties, though the file said she was in her early fifties. Annetta Livingston was her name, and the file on to detail the things someone had thought were important to detail about potential guardians. Spriggin's picture was also in there, indicating the child they wished to put with her. Amirynth The programmer looked over the folder for quite a while. He frowned for a moment before looking back at the papers. Clearning his throat he glanced up at Jim before his eyes dropped back down to scrutinize the folder once more. In his mind thoughs came tumbling forwards, not being helped by the face that Jim was right about one thing... he was seriously overworked right now. "Ummmm... Wow..." Joshua was at a loss at what to say not to mention he had no idea what was going on. Slowly his mind put two and two together. Nah, can't be, what had he done wrong? The geeks mind wandered back over the past three months searching for something that might have happend to get Candice removed from him. What is that time she had found those magazines? It wasn't as if it was that hard to explain the differance between Mac and PC's even if she did end up getting some ideas from those codes, who knows maybe there would be a little hacker in her... Hastly Joshua moved that thought to another realm, it might be thinking like that which is what the folder is talking about. He read over the file again. The guardian seemed very extroverted and even had two dogs and a cat. There was children Candice's age in the neighborhood, it seemed like a very nice place to raise a kid... S.H.R. Agency Slowly, Jim's smile faded, "You're not happy about this. You got attached to her, didn't you?" Jim sighed, "Josh, you work too hard to have a family...And I know... Josh, listen." Jim rubbed his eyes. He hadn't told anyone this, not even Charles. And now he was going to share something intimate with....just one of his employees...and one that was a pain in the butt at that... He sighed again, "Josh, my wife is demanding a divorce. My baby, our youngest, doesn't even recognize me most of the time. Our oldest has taken to hiding when I come home. She says I make everything bad, but that's because the mrs is always upsset with me, and she has every right to me... My life... our life.... is this place. Ace doesn't mind messing around here, and is horror when he doesn't get to see me, so it's one thing that's been thrown on me." He swallowed. And because they had started arguing, he had worked harder, trying to avoid thinking about it. It hurt too much, and he didn't deal with it much. "I love my family," his voice had lowered considerably, "but, Josh... What is one little girl to the services we need to do to keep the world from imploding on itself?" He looked down, then shook his head. All of a sudden he switched to his boss-voice, because being boss was a heck of a lot easier than being human, "Josh, you can't adopt her. You can't do it, it's not possible. You can't have both." Amirynth Can't have both? Joshua got a glimmer it wasn't what he had done that was the cause of this change of guardianship, it was what he was doing. The very thing that kept him going was now a hinderance to Candice's well-being. Joshua closed his eyes, thinking hard. Things had gotten much busier over the month, more so than normal. It wasn't just the increase of children to protect but an in crease of bombardment from both sides. The programmer sighed again, the problem was that Jim was right, not entirely, Joshua didn't think he'd ever get to a marrageable stage, but he had a point. "I guess..." He was about to concied the point but then an Image of Candice flashed across his mind. "But I can't... I promiced her..." He also rememberd another promice he had made when they both started out together. He had said that if she wanted to leave, she sould say something. Other than the minor skuffled that always happen when two persons live together, nothing major had gone wrong. Well there was the time she broke her leg... The geek winced at that memory... and the few times they had clashed over training... What Jim said had a lot merit but Joshua couldn't bring himself to go with the decision. "What if I quit and just took care of Candice? Would that work?" As soon as he uttered those words he knew it wouldn't work, his skills were too valuable here, or at least in the computer department.
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:23 pm
Leaving o_O - part 2 S.H.R. Agency Jim stared at Josh, and after several moments of processing, nodded slowly. He was so tired looking again. He spoke lowly and slowly, "That.... might be best for everyone. For you.. and..It'd--it'd sure save the company a lot of trouble of working around your hacking and troubles you cause...And..." Jim never stuttered like this. He looked around the cubicle. "...maybe we'll get some organization in around here...And it'll keep the girl from bothering around...Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll give you 48 hours." "You don't like us anymore?" Ace, who looked around eight, though he was older, stepped slowly in the room, "But you should, Dad was just saying how much he liked you, and he was going to make things better for you...And I like playing with Candy too... Why don't you like us anymore?" His dad had been about to do something good, but this was bad... so...so that meant that Josh hated them and wanted to leave... Jim struggled to block out Ace's words and disappointment. He stood suddenly, needing to get out. Now. His body language unconsciously conveyed the same messages it did when he was yelling at someone who'd made an inexcusable mistake, except this time it wasn't directed at anyone, "I have work to do. I'll turn your passwords off in 48 hours. Good-bye, Josh." Malis Delnaria Joshua's vace visibly fell. He had expected at least some protest... maybe even a flat out refusal? What was he thinking? That Jim would fall on his knees and beg Joshua to reconsider? Jim wasn't the type to play around or beg. As it was the brief period of sincerity had wierded out the programmer. Joshua shook head slowly before turning it into a nod. "Right... well I'd better start gathering my stuff up..." He paused for a moment as if bearly registering the kids apperance and speach. Jim liked him that much? Joshua knew better than to mention it even in questioning. Ruffeling the kids hair he smiled lightly. "Oh I'll still be around, Candice still trains here and such. You'll get to play with her when she stops by the visit." Turning back towards Jim he put out his hand. "It was great working with you, Jim. I'll try and stay out of your hair." Not that he was going to leave the daterbases completely free of protection. There were some last minute programs to cook up that would keep the databanks safe while he was gone. S.H.R. Agency "I'm notta ALLOWED to have nothing to do with the super kids though..." Ace pouted. "Anything. Not allowed to have anything to do with them. And people who do not work with me are not allowed in this part of the building," Jim corrected both briskly, automatically, and took Josh's hand in a firm, but also brisk and brief handshake, "I'll send reccomendation letters to you shortly should you ever look for another job." He turned around smartly to leave. "Dad? Can I have your cellphone?" Ace tumbled after Jim, and his father handed it over without even looking at his son. He didn't think about the time, and assumed the call had something to do with his mother. "Thanks!" He ran off to the abandoned cubicle...the one that no one liked for some strange reason... and dialed Candice's number. "Candy! Candy! We got an EMERGENCY," Ace whispered urgently into the phone when she picked up, "'Member how we said we hadda look after our dads 'cause they don't know how to themselves? Like they won't eat or nothing if we don't remind them a million times? They've REALLY done it this time! My dad fired your dad and they're both about to cry about it, but they both keep saying that it's a good idea but you can TELL that neither of them believe it, but they're too turtled-up to know it! And I don't even know what happened! Daddy said he was going to make things BETTER for your dad, and was really happy and excited-like but all of a sudden that didn't happen! UGH!" Ace would have folded his hands to pout at that time, except he was holding onto the phone. It was funny, how excited he was about the whole thing, and dead serious about looking after the men, "We gotta DO somethin'..." Malis Delnaria Joshua nodded and turned to start packing up his stuff. After he got the piles of binders into one corner he looked at the rest of the office. This was going to take a bit... Making a quick decision, he threw the mounds of paper into an avaliable box and made it generally 'cleaned up' before turning back to his computer. Better get started with those fortifications... Logging into the database he started working, his fingers tapping ferously over the keys. While he was protecting the secret files and making sure all of the lock-bots were recounted and tagged he installed a few other programs he had been working on. Anyone who tried to hack into these databanks were going to be into a little bit of a surprise. A few virtual firewalls and everything looked good. Most of the programs were set to go off when his number was deactivated which left him ample time to roam around and finish up a few projects he was working on. There was also the matter of that backdoor he had found...Candice was playing her videogames when the phone rang. Ignoring it with rolled eyes at first she changed her mind at the last minute and dived for the reciever. "Mushi mushi!" Today she was japanese. At least until he heard the frantice voice at the other end. "Number One! Whats up?" Ace was the only one who could get away with calling her 'Candy' it was her secret codename that only he knew. She had given him this after he beat her at Mario Smash Bros. the first time he'd ever played the game. Listening to the babbling on the other end she grew worried. he was right, she often had to make sure Joshua ate, how he had survived before she turned up the child had no idea but she wasn't about to have them live on the street! Where would she be able to plug in her games. "Why did he fire him? Oh eM Gee! What are we going to do?" She tried to think fast, maybe Uncle Jim had found out about the games Joshua had been bringing home for her to play... "Geese, they really did screw up didn't they." S.H.R. Agency When Jim got to his office, he sat down slowly, closed his eyes, and took some very deep breathes. It was ok. It was all going to be fine. Maybe he'd just lost one of his better people, but he'd always survived in the past. He'd do it again. He looked around the office and then scooted at his desk to pull up Joshua's file... and instead ended up looking at some other problem...something that was logic-based, that he could get himself good and lost in. "Yeah, they ALWAYS screw things up! Dad really needs to learn how to take care of his people..." Ace sighed and shook his head, "I don't GET it... Why do people do stupid things like this? I mean, they both KNOW they're all-wrong, but they don't know! It's....it's.... Needs fixin'! But I dunno how..." Ace looked worriedly at the wall ahead of him, and started playing with his shoelaces. When Mom tried to help things, things got worse. And when he had tried to point things out in the past, it just hadn't worked... Candice had earned his respect, and she was really smart like their dads word, except she was smarter because she had social skills... So...so...she HAD to know! Amirynth "I don't know! Oh fiddlesticks!" Candice though for a moment. "Hold on, I think Josuah left the teleporter here somewhere. I'm comming over, this is like a rescue mission or something. We need to convene somewhere secret." A few crashes came over the phone as Candice knocked over a few magazine piles and other things. "Ahh! here it is!" She twiddled the dial at bit and then grinned to herself. "OK No. 1, here's the plan. I'm gonna teleport into the garden, it's gonna take me a bit to get through the wall but I'm pretty sure I can get through the alarm systems now." Not that she had been practicing... nope, not at all. "Give me the count of ten then call me on the wakitalkies, I'm on channel three. Oh and stay hidden until I come find ya. We need to keep this a secret until we've figured out something so that the adults don't do anything else stupid." S.H.R. Agency "'Kay," Ace simply agreed, "I'm in the abandoned cubicle...the one most people won't even look at." Ace had puzzled and puzzled as to why a bunch of otherwise straight-minded men were so supersticious about the one area. Even his father tended to walk around the place, once he was sure no employees could see that he also bought into the stories. No one had ever told him, although he'd gotten a funny reaction out of Uncle Charles once, and been forbidden to go near the place... Oh well, it made it a child's safe haven anyway. Ace never had had any problems with it before. Ace counted very slowly, probably taking twenty seconds to do what Candice had intended to be ten.... and then called her on the ever-present walkie talkie of his, "Candy?" He whispered. Ace looked around, he wondered if he cried about Joshua until he got his way if that'd help... He wasn't usually a whiner, that was strictly forbidden, but he'd also discovered that when he did, he usually ended up with what he wanted in the end...Even a whipping came before it. Joshua and Candice were worth that much, at least! Amirynth "Mr. Toaster, the Streusel has entered the building." At the sound of Ace's voice Candice turned down the walkitalkie so that the sound wouldn't give her away. Getting through the wall was easier now, a testiment to how she had mastered her powers, or at least her consentration, since taking under Joshua. Staying silent and making sure she could remember her way through the maze of cubicles, Candice counted under her breath so that she would keep her consentration. Around 75 she had to duck under a desk as two interns wandered past, arms holding stacks of papers. Tempted for a moment to skoot by and toss them in the air to see their reactions she squashed that feeling. There were more important things to do right now than cause a ruckus. The kid bowed her head and waited for them to pass so she could be on her way.
"Ok... I'm here, fill me in as much as you know." She had only gotten to the part of something being good for Joshua had thurned out bad. What had Jim offered that made Joshua act in a way to get himsefl fired? And what were they going to do for money now he wasn't working? Candice knew that money was important, it's why her parents fought over the bills and why they split. She shuddered slightly, this Jim/Joshua thing was turning into a messy divorce!
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:38 am
Leaving o_O - part 3 S.H.R. Agency A!ce took a big breath like he was going to go into a long detail about what happened, "I don't know" He threw up his hands in asperation, and paused. When Candice kept looking at him like she expected more, he finally continued, "Well... See, Dad was all whistling and smiles and happy... He even picked me up and we got some snacks after school...You KNOW he's gotta be happy when he does that... And when I asked him why, he said that he was gettings lots of things figured out and settled in and that he was already doing things nice for people, so he thought he'd be nice to me too..." Actually, Jim had something it far more embarressing than that, but Ace wasn't about to admit that his father was like normal dads and could embarress him, "And he said a few things, and your dad was a part of it... And he was happy again when he got out this file and brought it to go talk to your dad, and so I finished my paragraph in my book and went after and by the time I came, they had looked like it was Ghost Festival Day and Dad was firing your dad and they both looked like they hated it!" He hadn't taken a breath through that explanation, and now stopped huffing and puffing, all over-excited about the whole thing, "So NOW what?" Amirynth "Hmmmmm...." Candice hunched down and thought long and hard. She absentmindedly poked her finger through the leg of the desk as she thought. "Well if there was something about a folder, maybe he had some information on that ghost character Joshua is always going on about. I dunno... Oh no!!" Candice looked over to Ace in shock. "What happened if Jim though he had the ghose character and then figured out that it might have been Joshua who did all that stuff! That must be why he fired him!" She waved rainbow coloured arms over her head, forgetting for a moment that they were suppost to be quiet. S.H.R. Agency It had to be something amusing to see the two, they were both a little too expressive with their hands. Ace put his hands over his mouth, eyes wide, "No way! Dad's already forced him not to work for weeks and weeks.. He KNOWS he's not the ghost! Even if he does say he his sometimes... Bad things STILL happen without Mr. Josh bein' around," Ace frowned, "Maybe your dad insulted mine? Or...what if your dad didn't LIKE my dad's good thing and made him made so he fired him? Or, or..." Ace's mind tried to find something a little more feasible than all that, frowning, "Maybe he got Mr. Josh a better job and they don't like it?" What could be better than working HERE though? Amirynth "I certaintly don't know... maybe another government got hold of him. Like the feds, or the men in black!" Things were certainly getting chaotic with their wild ideas, not like that was an unusual occurance. The last time they had decided that aliens had taken over the brains of half the people who worked in the office and wel... lets just say that the two of them had been forbidden to enter the board room after that. "Or maybe Jim told Joshua he couldn't work for a few more weeks. I know Joshua was going stur-crazy when he was in the house all day, he came back as soon as he was allowed. He almost lives here sometimes." Candice gave an exasperated sigh before continueing. "So maybe Jim was gonna give Joshua another extended vacation and then Joshua refused... And So Jim FIRED HIM!" She though for a moment. "So if Joshua doesn't have a job anymore how are we going to live?!" S.H.R. Agency "Dad gives me twenty dollars a week for allowance," Jim offered, "'Sides, every OTHER time he's fired Mr. Josh, he hired him again 'cause he says everyone else is dummies, and he don't want Josh getting pulled in by the others...OH NO!!!" Jim hit himself again, "What if Mr. Josh is one of the OTHERS now! That means we gotta attack him and stuff! What's gonna happen to YOU?" Amirynth "You mean like invasion of the body snatchers?" Candice had spent too many late nights infront of the television. She looked over at Ace with large eyes. "Maybe they both have turned over and this is just a ruse to get Joshua out without any suspicions aroused. Then he's gonna work for the others while Jim works as a spy..." The kid looked from side to side to make sure no one was around and then leaned in close. "Have you noticed any odd changed with Jim? Maybe he's been acting wierd or different... anything that would give us a clue about what is going on." Actually to her memory, Jim had been a little more gruff towards her a week or two ago, Candice mulled on that thought for a moment, her apparant peril escaping her mind for the present. S.H.R. Agency Ace blinked, caught off guard. He rubbed his hands together, "But how would we know which one is more different? If MY dad was different, then yours would act different 'cause my dad is actin' different and...and...the same way around! So it could be either one, or BOTH...You know, they're both here at weird hours when no one else is and stuff... Like..maybe it's 'vaders that take control through electronics and we gotta get them to the desert or like China or somewhere where there ain't no electronics to starve them off!" Amirynth "Hmmm... I think your right. I thought it was just stress but Joshua does seem to be a little more agitated than normal... and absentminded..." Candice tapped her chin as she though of a plan. "OK, what we need to do is find a way to re-set the teleporters. Do you think you can snag Jims? Or do you have it with you?" She braught out Joshua's and grinned. "I'm sure I can figure out how to reset it to somewhere in the desert... not China unless you can speek Chineese?" Scrunching her nose she elabarated on her plan. "What we'll need to do is find Jim and Joshua and then nuse the teleporters to send all four of us to the desert. We'll have to find a rock or somethin' to tie them too... at least until the control over them has gone away." As an after though she added, "I think you should go after Joshua, I'll go after Jim... it'll be the element of surprise!" S.H.R. Agency "Yeah! You're a genius! No wonder you got Mr. Josh as a parent...I gotta teleporter here. Da forgot he gave it to me ages ago, and I save it for emergency situations only." He nodded, all seriousness, "Which dessert do you wanna send them to? The one here in America, I guess, 'cause then if we're got, we won't get in big trouble. And we should do it as SOON as possible... So tell me when you're ready, and I'll get Josh. And we'll save 'em and everything will be good again!" He didn't get up and jump around,b but he was all bouncing energy now, "Then our dads can make a special something to find out all the other bad guys and take 'em to the dessert too." Amirynth Candice bent down over Joshua's teleporter. After poking and prodding it a little she frowned before looking up. "Umm... do you know of any deserts in America?" While she was pretty good with technology, she had failed geography twice. Turning back down to the 'porters she managed to open it up to a dial, two buttons and a small interface window. The button turned on the menu and after making a wild guess at Joshua's password she used the scrolling wheel to in put the new destination. She held out her hand for Jim's. Candice wanted to set them together so they didn't accidently send them to two different locations. S.H.R. Agency "Uhhm... Isn't... uhm... Well, my teacher said the north pole was sort of like a frozen desert." He paused, "Do you think Santa was an early Evo, the real one..? OH!!! Yeah! Death Valley, I heard of that once, 'cause Thomas said something about it once. Where's that at?" He scrunched his face up. "I could look it up online or something..." Ace sighed, "Dad won't let me have one of the little computers, he says those aren't even on the market yet." Amirynth "Wait! I know Death Valley... I had to a project on that place once." With newfound vigour she scrolled down the list of registered locations and let out a small cheer when Death Valley showed on the radar. "Here you go, make sure not to press any buttons until you have Joshua in hand, I don't know if you will have another chance." As a safey catch she had made it a one time teleport so that it would re-set back to home after it was done in case something went horribly wrong. "I'll go find Jim, he's probably back at his office by now, I hope you know where to find Joshua..." S.H.R. Agency "Ok!" And, to complete the absolute geekdom and over excitedness, Ace put his hands on Candice's shoulders, "Good luck, we can do this!" And gave the secret signal. He jumped up and ran off, himself not having to be secretive about it. They knew he was there.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:21 pm
Leaving o_O - part 4 Amirynth Joshua had put a few final touches on the extensive program he had just written. Well actually just put together from existing programs... it still did what he wanted it to do. The database was like a gothic fortress now, complete with digital flying buttresses and boiling oil at the entrances. Sighing he leaned back and looked around at the office. His shoulders were slumped as he fought for the decision he had made. It had to be done, Jim even said it, I can't have both. Along the wall was a photo taken shortly after Ace was born. Jim had asked him to be a godparent which he had been delighted in being. There was so many years stocked up and he had thrown it all away. Running his hands over his face and ruffeling his long, tangled hair the programmer reflected on times passed, not noticing how much time was passing him right now. S.H.R. Agency "Mr. Josh, hey!" Ace skidded into Josh's office, expertly dodging debris that was flown around. He pounced into the man's lap, "Guess what!" All beaming happy and excitement... but he had to ASK Josh to guess, because he had to make sure he didn't already know. If he already knew, then they needed a new plan. Amirynth Will if there was one thing to knock him out of it and bring around a whole new set of problems... Joshua turned around in surprise and tried to pull his hair in somewhat of an order just in case Jim was following. "Oh Hi...OMPH!" Joshua was almost bowled over as the boy came over ans almost slammed himself into the programmer. "What am I guessing about?" The suddeness had left him pretty much speachless and his mind tried to to the mental equivelant of a U-turn. S.H.R. Agency "Wee-eelll, let's see, you're guessing about something that is going to..uhm..." Ace grinned, "Show off the wonderful talents of the best little boy ever." Why not stroke his own ego while he was at it? Amirynth "Qoi?" Joshua was stumped. "Umm... What genra would the talents be in?" He looked Ace all over and tried to figure out if it was something the boy was holding, or something he had done... "Did you.... did you get a new hair cut?" The programmer was so taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere that he didn't even wonder how Ace had gotten from 'why do you hate is' to 'Guess what!' S.H.R. Agency "Nope! Alright, I'll SHOW you!" As he had been on Josh's lap, he had manuvered and made sure the man didn't have his own transportation device, he knew him well enough to know where he kept it. And now that he was pretty sure he was safe, he transported them both, and the chair, to the desert, "I'm gonna protect you!" he was thrilled to no end. Then his face went blank, "Uh oh..." He and Candice had completely forgotten about needing the rope-part. * * * * * * * * * * Amirynth Candice slunk along the narrow passageways between the cubicles. Making her way towards Jim's office she tried to figure out how she was going to get close to him without alerting him to what was going on. Peering around the corner she could see he was on the phone with someone. She decided to wait until his back was turned. By staying incorporial maybe she could sneek under his chair and at the last possible moment turn back solid and activate the teleporter. S.H.R. Agency At this time of night, on the phone meant that Jim was arguing with his wife about something, "No, for your information, I DON'T care what--" His wife was possibly be the only person that would dare interrupt an already upset Jim. He tapped angrily on his desk, then snapped his cellphone closed, cutting off whatever angry response she was giving. He put the phone down and turned to stare at his computer screen, not to work, but for nothing else to stare at. Amirynth Candice cringed for a moment as she crept into the room on all fours. As long as she was partially incorporial she couldn't be heard. She wiggeled her way around a table that was on the wall and used it's paper covered surface to hide under. Inching closer Candice chewed on her lip... just a few inches further and she would be within her goal... as long as he didn't get up off that chair! S.H.R. Agency Jim sighed and rolled his chair back, calling Ace as he did so. He hesitated a moment, then bent and picked up the phone as he called Ace again, obviously about ready to get up and find his son. Not that he wanted to be on his way home, but Ace had school in the morning and needed to get to bed at a somewhat decent time. Amirynth Ahhhh nuts! Candice had to think quickly on her feet as she saw Jim get up about to wander off to find his son and with that destroy their plan. Staying incorporial she leaped through the chair and, after quickly making sure nothing was 'inside' something she switched back, grabbing hold of Jim's left shoe. "I'll save you Jim!" she yelled at the very last minute and slammed her thumb down hard onto the teleporter.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:25 pm
Leaving o_O - part 5 S.H.R. Agency "What on---" Jim began to demand, but then found himself on unstable ground as he was teleported on the side of a sand dune. Jim started to tumble over, and quickly twisted his body to fall forward, knowing that there was a person behind him. That only meant that he ended up face-first in the sand. "Candy, Candy! Did YOU remember rope!?!" Ace was waving his hand wildly, now trying to hold the much bigger Josh down by himself. Amirynth "Oh shoot!! Well it's an almost perfect plan." She landed with a short roll on the edge of the dune and glanced over to Jim before looking back at Joshua. Candice had to giggle at the boy sitting ontop of a disgruntled man who was almost double the size. What was probably keeping him down was the fact that the programmer never excersized if he could help it. Pointing towards Jim she put on her most fearcest voice and spoke. "You have been trapped far away from any computer influences. Push out the voices that have told you to do naughty things and be whole again!" OK, so she had snagged the script from an evangelist program but it worked... in a way they were casting out the evil spirits... Joshua groaned as Ace smashed his knee into his ankle again. "Can you please let me up, it's not funny anymore." With the boy on top of him he hadn't quite noticed where they were yet and so assumed it was the park or something. "I really don't need this today." Joshua attempted to push himself up be the smashed wrist wouldn't hold the combined weight of boy and man. With a whoosh he crumpled back into the sand. S.H.R. Agency "Omph! Candy! How long is this gonna take!?" Jim, on the other hand, trained regularly because he always expected to be attacked at some point. Just not by kids. He sat up, furious, "WHAT exactly ate you trying to save us from, young lady? Vitamin defiency?" He waved upwards to the night sky, "WRONG time a day!" Geez, it was chilly at night on the desert.... Amirynth The best way to solve being yelled at was to yell back, Candice took a deep breath. "We're trying to save us from you!!!" She paused for a moment when she realized she had gotten her words switched around before shrugging, it was still true. Continueing with her tangent she kept on yelling, stoping her foot a few times in the sand. "You two have been taken over by something sinester!" The stomping didn't do much considering her foot was going into the dune, instead of displacing it but she didn't notice, her rage pushing her on. "You both have been acting funny! And one minute your nice and the next your yelling!" Her voice rose over the empty desert as she voiced her fustrations to the world. Joshua had grown silent when he heard Candice yelling. How on earth did she get here... and why? He puzzeled over that for a moment before the words started sinking in. Was that why she had shown up? Ace was still sitting on him so he decided staying still would be a good way to keep the boy from jumping on him again. S.H.R. Agency Jim stared. Why did girls always have this tendency to tell him off about things like that? Women! He really, really couldn't understand them, "You know what, when you get to be my age and have to take care of really important things, you'll understand. But I am the adult, and THAT is all you have to know now! You will respect mine and Joshua's decisions, and you WILL NOT play these games any longer! If you can not be responsible with those things that we have given you, we will take them away." "Nah-UH! You're not even my dad, why do I gotta listen to YOU?" Ace demanded, "We'll stay here 'till the aliens come out of your brains!" Jim stared at his son like maybe he'd grown a second head. Amirynth "You are the adult?! You are about as adult as Joshua! Oh you mean well but its us who take care of you not the other way around." Candice was on a role... all the building fustrations of being uprooted, the times when her Mother had told her to stay quiet and go upstairs when Daddy and her fought. All she wanted was a happy family with no troubles, was that too mcuh to ask? "You fired Joshua when he works his hardest for you! Why else would we think you are not right in the head?! You need to sit here until you both have come to your senses!" She folded her arms and glared at Jim and Joshua, one of them would crakc, she knew it, call it womens intuition or whatever, but if one cracked the other would follow. Joshua wisely kept his mouth shut but his mind was reeling with the statements Candice was yelling out to the world. But wait... I quit... he didn't fire me... Joshua attempted to get up to correct Candice on that but the sand was too slippery and he flopped back down. Not before he got a glance of their location. Where the hell are we?! S.H.R. Agency im wasn't used to be challenged, even his wife only challenged him on mundane things... Was this little girl not ONLY doing that, but calling him a child in the process? He started laughing, a deep belly-laugh at how ridiculous it was, "Child, keep to your own buisness. Give me your teleporter now. You too Ace." Ace hesitated, but took his courage from Candice, "Nah-uh! You heard her! You can't even eat when you're 'posed to, and you can't even keep a good person around, so we gotta look after you! And you're gonna make up and apologize and be my dad again now!" Amirynth "NO!" Candice shook he head and waved the teleporter around. "We're not letting you go until you both have come to your senses! You don't even know if this goes home, maybe we're all stranded out here..." She let the threat sink in before continueing. "If you are good at buisiness you would see that Joshua is a good worker. Do you want him to work for the bad guys? Why are you casting us out into the street? Maybe it's you working for the bad guys and Joshua found out?" Some of the ideas they had discussed under the desk seemed to ring with a little truth in them now they were here in the dunes. "Otherwise why would you fire him unless you had some ulterior motive." Joshua managed to roll himself from under Ace and partially stood up. In a soft voice he tried to make his way over to the raving girl. "Candice... Jim didn't fire me... I quit." He took a deep breath and caughed as sand got into his throat. "They were going to give you to a new guardian 'cause I've been at work too much and not been at home to take care of you." S.H.R. Agency Ulterior motive? Jim's eyes flashed with anger. He didn't even hear Joshua's words, as angry as he was, "How dare you?" He growled now, biting back the snap that came to mind. He wouldn't hurt the child like that. "I'm putting my life into making this a decent company, I've lost my own family in the process," He waved a hand at Ace, "And now you've convinced my boy I'm not even his father? You rot---" He stopped again. No, he would not insult her. He would not hurt the girl. He closed his eyes and took a breath, trying with everything to keep himself in control. Oooh... Ace hadn't missed Joshua's words, "But, but...Dad's NEVER home! Does that mean I gotta get a new dad too?" he sputtered, then stopped, hearing Jim's tone. Oh, crud. Nothing good ever followed whenever Jim got upset. He looked wild-eyed at Candice. This was NOT going as planned. He would have preferred to see the aliens crawl out of their heads and get away! Amirynth Candice did catch Joshua's words however and now it was her eyes that were flashing. "You talk about loosing your family? What about mine! My mother won't even see me! I don't know where my Dad is! And now you were going to take me away and just give me to someone else?" Candice started to pace along the top of the sand dune. "Is that what we are to the agency, just some kids to be placed? Like pets or something?" Candice waved her arms about, punctuating her sentances with stomps. "And you!" She spun around and pointed to Joshua, "Why did you quit? Just give up like that? What are you going to do now? What are we going to do with bills? And rent?" Candice didn't know about the agency credit card... Joshua blinked in confusion as the small typhoon turned on him. "Well I..." He could hardly get any words in edgeways and flailed slightly as he tried to stay somewhat afloat. "I can explain... I think." S.H.R. Agency Jim sighed as Joshua floundered and jumped to his defense, "No, you are NOT pets to just be placed, and THAT is why you either need a better home where you can be taken well care of, or Joshua needs to find a less consuming job. You are important, and we want you to be in the best of possible places." Jim was fishing around his pockets for his teleporter now...Where had he put that thing. He eyed Candice suspiciously, not putting it past her that she'd thought about snitching it from him, "Ace, we need to go home. Your mother called..." Ace was always a good fall-back. Ace hesistated, and looked again to Candice for direction. They sure didn't SOUND like aliens.... Amirynth "My best possible place is with Joshua, he actually pays attention when I tell him stuff AND he can do a lot more with computers than I've ever seen." It was easy to tell that Candice had developed some kind of awe towards the man who had stumbled his way into her life. "Look... " Candice was finally calming back down as her brain sorted everything out. "Uncle Jim... you need Joshua. He is a great asset to your company, if he needs to work less, tell him to. Make it so he can only come to work a few days a week. I don't know." Candice faltered, she knew how important Joshua's job must be to him to have spent so many waking hours at the offices. "Have him work from home, with the teleporters, it's not like he'll be that far away if something major goes wrong... At least then I can still bug Ace once in a while" She sent a half harted grin in the kids direction. S.H.R. Agency Jim's focus split into two... Had she just called him 'Uncle Jim?' And was she... making sense? A... baby of all things! He tried wiping some sand off his face, but only succeeded in getting more grit in his eyes. He took a breath, trying to calm whatever side it was. She was forcing his disorganized thinking into some sort of organized thought....and the socially inept to be socialable. He eyed Joshua, "I know Joshua. I know how he is.... Look, he wouldn't be able to keep himself to just a few days a week... there's no way...He can't limit himself like that. And if he's working for the company, he's got to be AT the company, for security reasons..." He sighed, "You know how I threatened you with your life last time we found you working off-site, Joshua." He spoke as if it had been the man trying to deal with him, "Maybe I should have you work the hours the kids are in school only or something..." He struggled, then huffed, looking down. "I need you." Ace grinned, loving this. It was working! Aliens or not, he and Candice WERE dissolving injustice. He looked at Joshua. Uncle? He liked that idea... Amirynth Candice grabbed the silver lining she had managed to weedle out of Jim. "Right then! Joshua can work until I get out of school and I'll come over to the office to collect him. You know... just to make sure he get's home." She eyed the confused programmer as his brain sorted out the sudden turn of events. "And if something happens that needs his vital attention, I could always come with and do my homework in the cubical nearby." She gave Jim a look of complete innocence and well being and hoped that this would solve the issue that had caused such a rift between Joshua and Jim. Joshua shook his head as he heard the young girl take matters into her hands. She had managed to single handedly stand up to his boss and not only got his job back but possibly managed to fanangle an accord as if she was a deeval in a multi-dimentional market place. He saw her with new eyes, this little girl was growing up before him and it seemed that he was a catlist. Right then and there he knew he had made the right decision when he has chosen to stick with Candice. Getting his job back would be icing on the cake. S.H.R. Agency "That sounds reasonable." Jim spoke each word like it was a sentence on it's own. "GOOD! Than you can do that for me too!" Ace bounced up in excitement. "No, son!" And Ace fell back, eyes wide at the snap. He dropped his head, carefully concealing whatever emotion went through him with that, "Yessir." "Now can we go back?" Jim demanded. Amirynth "Yes Sir!" She stuck out her hand and grabbed his, shakeing it firmely as if to seal the deal. Catching Ace's eye she pressed the button on the teleporter. If her messing with them had been correct, they should end up in Joshua's office. Right back to where this fiasco started. Joshua noted the crestfallen look on Ace's face and made a note to talk to Jim later about it. While he was no social butterfly, Candice was teaching him some pretty heady stuff. When she dissapeared he reached over and lightly touched the boys arm. "Lets go home Ace." he uttered softly. S.H.R. Agency Jim was baffled...Someone so young acted so old. Maybe they had been right when they placed her with Joshua. He gave her a ghost of a smile. And then they were back in the office. He felt himself thaw out from the cold, cold desert air, and his eyes blinked at the sudden light, only stinging more. "Yeah, I think it's time to call it a night," even more rare words from Jim as he looked vainly around for something clean to try to wipe his eyes with, "Let's get cleaned up, your mom's expected us home." Ace shrugged Joshua off, and was the first to get himself out of the room, before Jim had even finished talking. Candice was so lucky! She got the best of both worlds! But...he...he'd gotten to help. So, he should be and would be proud about that. Because things would be even better now. They had to be Amirynth "Night then Jim." Joshua looked around at the almost cleaned up room. He had to admit... it did look better this way. A lot cleaner at least, but something was missing. Reaching into one of the cardboard boxes he pulled out the photo that had been tossed in there earlier. Putting it back on the wall he started at it for a moment with a slight smile. He was going to have to get a picture of Candice to put on the wall next to it... Looking around he didn't see her.Candice spotted Ace leaving the room and ran out into the hallway. Catching up to him she gave him a quick kiss on the cheak. "Thanks Ace! You might not have cool nifty powers but you're a hero to me." Almost as quickly she ran back to help Joshua with fixing the teleporters back to the settings they were at.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 9:23 pm
Christmas is on it's way. Joshua told me to write a christmas letter to send to Father Christmas. My Mum never let me do stuff like that so this will be kind of fun. Here is what I have written so far:Christmas letter Dear Father Christmas -
I hope your reindeer are feeling good. Make sure Rouldolph has his nose extra specially bright 'cause I need to make sure you get through ok. I'm staying with Joshua now, not my Mum so I hope you will be able to find me ok. He said I gotta write a list of a few things I want so here they are -
A new game system (like the Gw33 or the Nanocube)
A bunch of new games (I really like RPG's and racing games)
A few books would be nice
Movies (like that new animated movie that came out)
A Zano (Which is like a Gpod but cooler)
Anything else you think would be good
I'm going to convince Joshua to buy me some carrots so I can leave them out for your reindeer. Do you like cookies or cake best? I'm going to try and make both so you can choose. I gotta go help Joshua clean up now so I'll send it right after.
-Love Candice heart
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 9:23 pm
in which Joshua and Candice get to go on a Hawaiian Cruise... Spriggin So we got to go to Hawaii! It was soooo awsome. They had fire jugglers and stuff. And they have people running around wearing grass around their waist and nuts on their boobs. Joshua told me not to stare but I think the drums were pretty cool. They made us eat a wild pig that had been baked in the sand all day in a firepit. I didn't want to try it at first but I guess it wasn't that bad...
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 9:29 pm
On the subject of Growing Up... Ace After school! YEAH! Thirteen year old Ace had just gone through a growth spurt... and where he'd once had things timed into perfect skids, he no longer did. He spurted up the steps, skidded around a corner (nearly crashing into the drinking machine...) and went to walk respectfully passed the security people. And then rushed down the hallway. He'd already been warned about the changes, mostly because he'd quizzed on it... And he already had guessed by his being "strictly forbidden" to enter the empty cubicle that it was still the Ghost Area that no one wanted to have anything to do with. Foolishness! But as Ace skidded into his once protected fort, he rammed right into a corner, and didn't duck QUITE enough... Ooh, ow.. Ok, that was taller before... Stupid growing up... He ducked in and took a look around, then narrowed his eyes. Someone was LIVING in here...! This was HIS spot to live in! Geez, now he was going to have to find a way to report it without actually admitting he'd been in the area.... Ugh, complications... Well, now to get to the bottom of it... Ace went further into the cubicle to rummage around. Spriggin Candice had been writing in her journal, something she had been required to do recently for class. She had decided to make it a little more interesting by making up stories to fill up the pages. Laying on the floor in the 'forbidden cubical' she scowled at the paper and waitind for something to inspire her. It had gotten so boaring the past year, though Joshua worked at home mostly, he still had to come in on occasion to upload his latest additions and programs. Thus she spent precious gaming time in the offices, something that was actually a brilliant idea for otherwise she would never get her homework done. However, school was finally out and, barring this 'summer assignement' she was free to do as she pleased. Swinging her feet in the air, the teen waved the pencil in front of her face before glancing at the other journal near by. Well she wasn't going to come up with any fluff right now, might as well write something more meaningful. Putting pencil to paper she began to write what was going through her mind right now.
Schools out but nothing's changed right now. Been meaning to go out and watch that new movie but haven't found anyone to go with. Training progressing well... found a new glitch in Joshua's program so he's in his office right now fixing it... She found a certain satisfaction in finding his glitches, especially as they helped the programs even more for the newer supers they had gathered up. Would be nice to have someone to hang out with again...
Thump! Crash!
Candice looked up, her eyes narrowed. She wasn't suppost to be there and so scuttled up onto her knees, shuffeling backwards through the cubicle wall hoping that the old lady on the otherside had gone for the night. She would wait until they passed before taking a peek through and making sure the coast was clear. Ace Ace didn't want to touch anything...not right away... laptops had a tendency to blow up in high security places if you just decided to touch them. He remembered THAT incident well, still had the scar from it actually... Ace chuckled. He couldn't wait to get himself into binds again. He never knew how he managed it, but fun always found him when he was around Dad and the geeks... What Ace didn't have a problem with picking up was papers and books, so the journal that had fallen to the floor was now picked up. What an oddity to find in a place like this! .... Wait a second... Ace looked around. This had to be Candice's! But she couldn't be here...Josh was never around anymore. Not EVER. And that meant Candice had been scarce too. Why would she be holed up here...? He opened the book up to find a name, and got distracted by words on the page. A summer assignment? He grinned, yup, this was Candice alright, and if he knew Candice, she was embellishing SOMETHING... So he flipped to last written pages to figure out what great scare was going on these days. After all, he was sure between the two of them, they could find a solution to it. Or manage to poke holes through it's perfectness. Or get each other into vast amounts of trouble. And still accomplish whatever goals were set forth. Sometimes Ace thought maybe Candice's real mutant ability was to create trouble and safe ways out of it. Ace started laughing when he caught the last sentence. Yes! Absolutely yes, that was her real ability! He looked around. He wondered how much trouble he'd be in by her if he borrowed her things without saying so. Playing a "Ghost" prank would be a great way of reintroducing himself. Without further thought on the matter, he snatched up the laptop and her snacks (she wasn't getting those back) and started to leave to find a place to stash it all. Spriggin Candice waited behind the cubical wall, ears straining to hear the noises on the other side. She wished she could become invisible, then she'd be able to look through the wall to see if the coast was clear without anyone seeing her. As it was she would have to wait until there was no more noises. The teen could hear some movement and prayed that the worker had not found her books. It would be hard enough to explain to Joshua why she was in that cubical again, let along, loosing such a good place to study. Wiggeling her toes, she stared at them through her sandals, thw braids in her hair falling across her face. Through the past year she had grown quite a bit and her hair was even longer than before. She hadn't really gotten around to cutting it, just braided it to keep the long red strands out of her face. Her bright blue eyes still shone with mischief but her lythe body was showing a little less childhood pudge and a little more roundness in certain areas. While she would never be a buxomness beauty, she was definatly growing up.
After deeming that the other side was safe, Candice poked her head through the wall just intime to see a figure leave. Judging it safe she scooted the rest of the way through, ice blue eyes widening to see the void of books. He had cleaned her out! With a quick scowl she darted out of the opening and looked around, he had managed to escape her sight. Glancing back into the cubicle she spotted that there were a few things left, namely her stash of comics and a few biscuts. He had taken her stash too... This meant war! Crouching down, Candice got ready for when he would be back, she would pounce upon him and demand the return of her stuff! There were things in that journal that no other soul was suppost to read! Ace The thing was that Ace _didn't_ come back for quite some time. He first stashed away all of her things here and there...In safe places that used to be really safe and he assumed still were... He had the couth not to tear out pages in her journal, but instead grabbed jumped on a computer and typed up some fun hints to find it all again. He figured if Candy didn't figure out the thief wasn't either himself, her dad, or his dad by the time she got to the last one, she was a lot denser than she used to be... ...And then, before he could get back into the room, his dad pulled a surprise on him... He was actually going to LEAVE the compound to take his boy out to eat. Yeah, score! Ace had turned into a skinny thing thanks to growing some, and he could eat enough to get himself kicked out of an all-you-can-eat buffet. If nothing else Jim had said or done told Ace that he'd missed him, then spending two hours in the middle of the day eating and shopping for various things fathers had to get for boys who stayed with them certainly said it. So it took a good three and a half hours before Ace, walking on cloud nine, scooted a motorized car into the shunned cubicle. Geez, he was smarter than just to WALK in there... Candy'd probably already had a barrel of tar and a bag of feathers for him, and he knew she wouldn't think twice about it! Spriggin And she waited... About an hour later she had eaten the cookies and fumed a bit. Whoever had taken her stuff wasn't comming back. Well she needed to get her homework done and so huffed and grrrr'ed for a bit before deciding to stalk the trail of the thief. Oh he'd hear about it when she caught him, for now she had to be content with growling to herself. After pokeing her head in to Joshua's office and making sure he was still working she wandered over to the secretary incase she had seen anything. No such luck, the older lady had gone for the night. Sighing, Candice turned around and kicked the corner of a cubicle. Well she could go back and wait some more or go find something to eat, her stomach was now rumbling and she had no stash to eat from.
Making her way down staires she gathered some food from the cafeteria, making a face at the jello before getting an idea and harvesting some more. This would make good ammo. In a spur of the moment she grabbed a second plate of sandwitches and braught them up to Joshua. She would check on the cubicle on her way over and then eat with him. Candice was almost positive he had probably forgotten to break for lunch anyway. Still no sign of the thief when she crept past, the teen made a cozy dinner with her guardian before she made her way, jello in hand, towards the Ghost Cubicle.
It was then she saw the remote-controlled car and the figure holding a remote and put two and two together. With a growl she pounced him from behind, not thinking about the chance that he'd loose his balance as she hit him with all her weight. "Give me back my books you thief!" Jello went flying and she could feel herself slipping. Hands caught at cloth and all hell broke loose. Ace Well, hell isn't a place of laughter, so maybe it wasn't quite that.... Ace, of course, had all audacity to start laughing after he got over the fact he was being jumped on...The jello...that was SO like Candice! "I'm no thief, I'm an Easter bunny in training! Instead of taking all your precious colored eggs, I took the precious books! I see you brought Jello-nummies for me!" Jim had insisted on Ace taking self-defense classes, and that was one thing he didn't stop. Even with Candice on his back like that, Ace managed to swing his body around quickly, ducking as he did so to try to catch her off balance and slip her off. The most of his concentration, though, was on keeping both him and her from getting hurt...But it'd be a plus if he had her land in that jello she'd slung! Ace kept on grinning like an idiot, obviously enjoying this reunion--even if it wasn't really a reunion just yet. Spriggin "What the?!" In a reflex she went incorporial and slipped through his body with that odd cold sensation as if her arm had fallen asleep. She was about to turn on him and toss the jello at him before realizing that it had vanished from her hand. In the same moment she recognized who this male was and that she was now kneedeep in the floor. Damn momentum... "Ace! What the heck are you doing here! I thought you had dissapeared for good!" Candice swung around and pulled herself out of the floor and in the same movement enveloped him in a tight hug. He wasn't the only one who had been taking defense classes, though her's also were tailored to her talent.
"Wait until you see... Wait... How on earth?... What are you doing here?" She suddenly realized Ace was now taller than her by half a head. "Oh wow, you've grown!" Ace Ace laughed, enjoying Candice's reaction to no end. He at first had taken a bit of a double take as she went -through- him, but it was a reaction that quickly disappeared as he filed it away under "normal." That was right, Candice really did do that. His grin not only was amused now, but a little bit proud, "Yeah, I've grown a bit. And yeah, I made it back! I--uh--basically went so bad on Mom that I made her kick me out." That part wasn't something he wanted to admit, but Candice would figure it out sooner or later anyway. He shrugged, "I wanted to be -here.- You're so much cooler than any of the other jocks out there," Ace rolled his eyes. He used "jocks" to describe anyone that wasn't a geek or a nerd in his book, because, ya know, when you grow up the son of a geek/nerd, that immediately became cool in your book, "Not to mention wrecking havoc in a tight security area is much more fun than ANYTHING anyone in Oregon could throw at me!" Spriggin "Awwww, Ace... ya shouldn't be so hard on her, it's not her fault..." Candice frowned slightly before brightening up considerable. "But it's sooooo cool to have ya back here. It was soooooo boaring." She made a face and pretended to wilt before his very eyes. Just as fast she bounced back with a grin. "Well thank you kind sir, it's not every day a girl like me get's called 'cool' or even cooler than the average jock." She made a small bow before grabbing his hand and ducking him under the desk... they only just fit.
"Shhhh...." Putting her finger to her lips she glanced out and twisted her head back and forth, trying to figure out what she had just heard. "Ohh..." looking down at the remote control car, candice realized that it was the source of the noice. "Geeese Ace... I though we had gotten caught." Rolling her eyes at him she realized they had probably made quite a bit of noise in their small reunion. "We need to find somewhere to chat and catch up" Candice scrunched up her nose, trying to think of a good place to hideout and yet make as much noice as they wanted. The loss of her books had been completely forgotten. Ace "Well, most people are too dumb to know better!" Ace said, shaking his head. In his eyes still, 'Candy' was amazing, but most people didn't -get- it. He shrugged as he went on to reply to everything said, trying to look nonchalant, but he'd tensed and his eyes glared a little, "I wouldn't have been so hard on her if she hadn't been so hard on Dad. He's saving the world. She shouldn't be such a dolt about it. Besides---" That was about when Candice shushed him and ducked him under the desk...Ow...eh, hiding around was going to be a lot tougher if either of them grew much more... He blinked at the car, and smirked, "Oh, I'm sure someone's bound to investigate the bangings and squealings, unless they're even MORE frightened of some abandoned room.... I never could figure that out." He looked quizzically at Candice, but knew she was right. They needed somewhere safe. "Why not... be normal...and hang out in the lounge or something?" Oops, Ace had grown up mentally a little too. Two years ago, he'd have constructed an elaborate plan to get to a park somewhere before Candice would pull a teleporter out on him to shut him up. Spriggin Candice had never though that the 'abandoned cubicle' might have been because of her practicing in there, thus she never mentioned it to Ace. The fact was that it gave them a quiet place to play around and 'helping' the myth along was always to their advantage. Their combined imaginations and creative ways of their ideas were unique to them and both kids had reveled in it. Thus is was a bit of a change to have Ace come up with a streight fowared answer for once. Candice would have noticed if she hadn't been staring at the little car with a new plan hatching in her brain.
"Ok... what we need is a diversion, then we can scoot across the left wing until we reach the printer room. Then if anyone sees us we can wander off to the lounge and no one will know where we came from." Candice explained the plan as she tried to think of a good diversion. The toy car would be the perfect bait, it was just a question about how... While pondering on the best way around it, the teen stopped. "By the way... what were you doing with my books anyway?" Ace Ace raised an eyebrow at Candice, then nodded. Well, she was right. He didn't want to be caught being bad on day one. Dad had warned him, and he didn't want to get sent completely away from any family, "And we have to pick up the jello since we don't want anyone to know that you were battling thiefs with desserts. You got something to wipe it up with?" Ace crawled from underneath the desk and took the paper off of the toy car to wave in front of Candice's face. He was grinning. If she wanted her books back, she was sure going to have to EARN them! "Wouldn't a better distraction be throwing jello at people? Hey, can you make other people go all ... ... fuzzy... yet? Or is it still a selfish power?"
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 1:49 pm
On the subject of Growing Up... (part 2) Spriggin "Ohhh... I wonder if I could..." Consentraiting, Candice grabbed onto Ace's arm and turned herself incorporial. She willed him to do the same, hoping that it was working right. "Ya feel anything?" Suddenly her arm slipped right through his and she lost her balance, while Candice was sure that he must have started shifting at least, it didn't completely happen. Shifting back she made a face. "Well that sucks..." She sat there for a moment, going over her training and experements, in her head. The teen was sure that she could do it, it just had to be a matter of leverage.
"Well my clothes go incorporial, and if I am holding something in my hand it shifts with me... maybe I just need to get closer..." She glanced over towards Ace and suffered a quick flash of 'ewww... boys are gross' before chiding herself, this was Ace, he was much cooler than the rest of the guys. Not only that but now her curiosity was peeked and Candice wanted to find out if she could do this. Ace "Maybe if I give our secret signal while you're trying," Ace winked. He totally didn't even think about the closeness as they came by each other. He was too interested in seeing what it was like to be able to go through stuff, "I can't believe you never tried! You've got the coolest power ever, be nice and share it...." He paused a moment then reconsidered, "Well, the second coolest power ever. The coolest would be being able to control electronics.." Spriggin "Hmm... ok... here goes." Wiggeling close so that her arms were almost completely wrapped around him, Candice entwined her fingers around his hand and then proceeded to poke them through the cubical wall. If things went well she should be able to pull his hand through to the other side and then pull it back out with no problem. She felt the cold tingeling that came with moving her hand through an object and she focused on making sure it was his hand that was going through also. Suddenly she felt her hand slipping on his and scrunched her eyes closed, her breathing comming hard as she gently pulled their hands back out of the wall.
"Oh my gosh!!! We did it!!!" She grabbed him in a big hug, feeling a wave of elation pass over her as the dizzyness took over. "Woah... That hasn't happened in a while." She grabbed her head tightly, feeling the throbbing that came with the heavy consentraition. Ace "Awh, awesome, you ARE the coolest!" Ace hugged Candice, and then steadied her as she became dizzy, "Yeah, well, soon you'll be able to do all sorts of stuff and not get dizzy at ALL," Mischiviousness sparked his eyes, "We could totally move rooms and stuff without anyone ever figuring out who did it how." He took an experimental step back, not wanting to go too far if she'd maxed out her strength, "Sssoo, getting out of her without being caught...Hey, has any cool place in town turned up? I'm sure our dads wouldn't mind us hanging out someplace." Spriggin "Well there is that pizza place... Ummm.... Killer Pizza From Marz." She rubbed the back of her neck and winced, hoping the head-throbbing would go away soon. "It's got all manner of things gathered from old school Sci-fi shows, like StarWars, StarTreck, and It Came From Outer Space!" She chuckled lightly remembering her reaction when she had first gone to check it out. "But yeah! This is so cool! If I can phase with you we could get away with soooo much!" Candice grinned as her brain went overboard in comming up with ideas. Picking herself up slowly, using both Ace and the desk for support she made her way through the cubicle door. She looked both ways out of habit and moved quietly to the side. By now the office was almost silent, it was pretty much into the evening now. "I think if we tell Joshua where we're off to, he can tell Jim ne?" Candice began to make a beeline towards her Guardian's office. "That way we won't get a 'No' and we'll be able to hang out until he calls me to go home." Ace Ace's eyes shone, "No way, that has to be the best place, it'd be better if it was only Star Trek, but I can't argue too much," Ace grinned, he was a solid Trekkie, and didn't care too much more about the other space movies. Unrealistic and foolish, he thought of them, "I don't think Dad would care either way, he was awesome today! Can you believe he took me out and everything? I'm so siked to be back here!" "Hee-eey.... Mr. Josh-bob-tail person!" Once they were safely out of the Ghost area, Ace trilled down the office hallway, not really caring who was around to glare at him, "We need taxi money and food money!" Spriggin "Awww but what about all the other Star-shows?" Candice was a die-hard StarGate fan and thus often had long fun 'arguments' about who was cooler between Jack and Kirk and which was the better ship, Enterprise v.s. Promethius. She skirted around a corner chatting loudly with Ace as they made their way through the corradore. "Wow, that is cool of him! He's mellowed out a lot from when we were kids." Candice remembered how furious he used to get when they got caught fooling around or at their usual antics. Now she was older she could see why he might have been mad but she still thought he went overboard sometimes.
"Hey Joshua!" She interupted him as she came into the door. "We're one our way out to that Killer Pizza place and I was wondering if you wanted to spot us some cash? I figured you were gonna have a late night tonight so how about I'll give you a call around 10 or 11pm and get you back home. Sound cool?" Candice gave Ace a quick grin before turning back towards Joshua. Joshua looked up as Candice and Ace wandered in. He had heard from Jim that Ace might be back and was all smiles when he saw the boy. "Ahh Welcome back Ace. Sure, Candice, you can get something to eat..." He ran a hand through his long hair and glanced back at the computer screen. "Yeah, I'm gonna be here a while, it's fine. 10pm sounds good." He nodded and fished for his wallet. "How does $25 sound? That should be enough for pizza and drinks?" Ace "I don't know about lightening up!" Ace laughed at Candice's quick conclusion, but didn't bother explaining the humor in it. "Heya, sir!" Ace waved and held back a chuckle at the disarrayed office. The man seriously needed some home-keeping classes or something. "$25? Sounds fantastic for the food, but it won't get us any sort of transportation there," He tried to weasel his way into getting more money out of the man. Shoot, if they were going out, they might as well try to get the best out of it. Spriggin "Transportation? Arn't you going to use the teleporters to get there?" Joshua looked confused for a moment before adding two and two together. "Oh right. can't use them in public places too often, suppost your right." Digging back into his walled he pulled out a few bills. After staring at them a little longer with a puzzeled expression he shrugged. "Well it looks like all I have left is $30 more, will that work?At a $55 profit, Candice was not worried at all. "That'll be fine, if we need anymore I'll just pop back here and snag your card." She grinned as if to show it was a joke but in all reality she just might be able to do that and Joshua wouldn't even realize he had already given her cash. He was still not the most observant person in the world but Cnadice thought the world of him. "Now make sure you eat something before we get back... don't want you starving to death while we're living otu a night on the town elsewhere." With a wave to her guardian she grinned at Ace and motioned for them to get moving. Ace "Thanks a bundle!" Ace gave Josh a swift hug and bounced back beside Candice, waiting until they'd walked out of earshot of Joshua before starting to babble to her, "Should we do taxi or bus? Think we have time and money for a movie as well? I'm not sure that anything's good out...man, Mom had me in bonds, I don't know what's gone on in the real world! How's things been going for you anyway? Are things really better around here? I'm sure it went down a few bits in style without me around, but, hey, I'm back and able to save you all!" As expressive as ever, Ace finished his questions with a quest of salvation, twirling around with his arms wide open as he did so.... Oh, and accidently-on-purposely knocking Candice upside the head as he did so... Spriggin Candice rolled her eyes as he listened to the inane chatter that floated around her. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she had missed Ace's babble. Grinning she managed to almost duck under his flailing arms and then saw the open hallway stretched out in front of them. "Yeah, sure, things are styling with you around, we were all stuck-in-the-muds until you came back." She giggled and started sprinting for the door. "But now ya have t' catch me, or are you still too slow." Pumping her legs she made her way towards the exit as fast as she could. "If there are no movies out I'm sure we can go to the arcade nextdoor!" Candice called back over her shoulder as she ran. Ace "If you've been stuck in the mud, I'll get you in no time!" Ace went to go after her, though his limbs still didn't seem to work quite together yet... He didn't know how to use their length to his advantage yet either, and his catching up to her would end up being her mercy. "Arcades are always nice!" he answered, frowning a little as he did so and thus dropping the ball of calling the usual challenges to one another. Luck would have it that they came outside as a taxi was driving by, and Ace called it immediately. He looked quizzically at Candice, "Y'know how much it costs to get there from here? I don't feel like being ripped off today." Spriggin "Hmmm... let me do the talking." Candice opened up the taxi door and called inside. "Heya there, what is the fare to get to the raceway?" It was the furthest movie theater she could think of...
The driver turned and looked over his shoulder. "Tat'd be 25 bucks lil miss. An' it'd be more is ya need me t' wait."
"Well shoot... I only have $15" Spriggin flashed the ten dollar and five dollar bills and then grimiced. "And that was suppose to pay for food as well... do you know anywhere closer?" She looked at him with a winning look and hoped he would buy the sham and give them a better rate for somewhere about half the distance.
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