Welcome to Gaia! ::

Easter Egg Hunt: An ORP where Chris and Rory meet Orli and search for easter eggs!

Blue Boy the Babysitter: Stuck with Antony as a babysitter, but at least Chris has Rory with him! He also meets Irelia. ORP

For a long moment Shade hesitated, looking over the class and examining the younger children. Rory hadn't been a kid for long, he noted. In fact, he was pretty sure this was her first, maybe second, gym class. She was standing so close to Chris he was afraid she'd trip over the poor boy.

"Today we're going to work in pairs," he told the class. "Come up with three different games you want to play, I'm talking skipping rope, racing each other, or something else, just as long as you have to move, and we'll go from there."

Okay, so he wasn't that creative of a teacher some times. It wasn't going to hurt them to think as well as play, after all!

There were LOTS of new people here, and not many of them that she knew well enough to just relax around. Thus the little girl had reverted into her shy state. But at least her best friend was here, even if Wisp, Orli and some others weren't.

"You don't mind being my partner?" she asked, looking up at Chris hopefully. School and gym were something still new to her, and were more complicated than just going to day care.

"Nope," he said. "It's fine. Uncle--I mean, Mister Shade's a real good teacher." He looked at Shade. "We're gonna pair up," he said.

Shade grinned, not about to mention that he had seen that coming months ago. "Sure, kid. Just come up with three different things to do and tell me," he added before going to talk with the other groups about their choices.

Rory had her hands in front of her, rubbing them nervously. Oddly, she was very nervous about this, and didn't know why. After all, there was no real reason to -be- nervous. They just needed to come up with some games.

And there weren't swings or monkey bars, were there? "Wellll, we could race!" she suggested. "But I don't think there's a jump rope made for you, though," she added in a small tease.

"We could do tag," Chris agreed. He wasn't built for jumping rope. "Or we could climb the rope!" Which he did, often, and it was tough enough to support his weight. Then he paused, remembering something. "I went to find Polly the other day."

She was just about to comment on the rope climbing - something she had never really done before - when Chris mentioned Polly. Her eyes went big. Polly had been missing, and he had been hoping to see her in school.

"Is she okay? What happened? Where'd she go?" Rory asked, forgetting that they were to be planning games to play.

"She's okay, she's okay," he said. "She got adopted. But she's not on Gaia anymore. The lady said she'd send a message when she was settled, though, so we know she's alright."

"Oh," she replied, but didn't look very settled about that information. "Is she... is she on a different planet? Like my grandparents are on a different planet?" she asked, as if Chris would know.

"Uh huh," he said. "And we'll figure out how to get there," he added so seriously that it meant he had been thinking on it for a while. "And see for ourselves she's happy, and if she's not..."

God help the person that made his friend unhappy, was the unspoken words after that. "This time I'm not gonna let it be like last time," he added, instead.

She beamed up at him, as if he were some hero and he just done something impossible. "Good! And I wanna go too when you find out where! I save some things to give her. Polly woulda liked the egg hunt," she said. If he knew where Polly was, there was no doubt that Rory would go there, right now.

"And if she's not, Polly can come home with us! She could stay with me, and we could share a room!" Apparently having Polly live with her too was something she had thought about.

He nodded, not going to argue about who got Polly as their little sister. What was more important was finding out where she was, and if she was happy there.

"So, decided yet?" Shade asked as he approached the two.

"We're going to race, play tag, and climb the rope," Chris said, looking around. "Nobody's taken the rope yet, so can we start there?"

Rory looked up Shade sweetly, no longer shy of nervous. She was too full of joy to have those other emotions in her. "I want to try to climb the rope," she told him, knowing full well that Chris was an excellent climber, and she wasn't much of a good one. But, that didn't mean she didn't want to try. "So, can we start with that?"

"It sounds like a great idea to me," Shade said cheerfully. "Everybody else is avoiding that option. So you guys play on the rope and in fifteen minutes I'm going to tell everyone to change games, alright?"

"Sure, that sounds good," Chris said, grinning. "Um, Un--Mister Shade, have you heard anything about Polly?"

"Good, thank you!" Rory added. Everyone seemed to hesitate when it came to questions about Polly. But she was happy that Polly was out of that other home, and that was something she couldn't stop grinning about.

Besides, the idea of seeing her friend again just made her grin. Then she went for the rope.

Chris followed her, telling her how to climb. "Wrap your legs around the rope and pull up, okay?"

"And that's it?" she asked him, looking uncertainly about the rope. It was hiiiggghh up. But she gripped the rope bravely. "Like this?" she asked, starting to pull herself up. She had seen Chris do something like this before. Though, the pulling up was more difficult than the holding on with her feet.

"You're doin' good!" he said, discreetly moving so he could catch her if she fell. "Just one hand over the other until you reach the top!" Honestly he was surprised she had gotten as high as she had without freaking out about the height.

It was because she had decided not to look down. Last time she looked down, she had freaked out. But she was a bigger girl now! Heights shouldn't bother her!

At least, that's what she told herself. Of course, about half way up, she had to stop. Her feet supported most of her weight, and her arms kept her up right. "This is hard work!" she informed Chris.

And didn't look down. In fact, she didn't even look around. Her attention was either on the ceiling or on the rope.

"But you're doing great!" he encouraged her. "Can you go any higher?"

"Um.... maybe..." she answered, not really certain. Don't look down, Don't look down.... One hand over the other, pull up, grip the rope with your feet....

She got other two paces before she realized something important: "How do I get down now?" she asked. Part of her wanted to let go, and have Chris catch her. Something just said that would be fun!

"You either climb down the same way you climbed up, or you loosen your hold and slide down," he told her, still staying right where he could catch her in case she just decided to drop down. Something told him that it wasn't that far off of a decision.

"Um, Okay," she said, and started to lower her self in reverse. But she didn't like this so much, and the idea of sliding sounded painful. So, several handaspaces down, she stopped again, very tempted in asking him to catch her.

But no, she had to do this! Chris wouldn't always be around, right? It was best to do this yourself! She started to go down again, looking very determined to do this herself. Even if she was scared. Going down meant looking down.

"You're doing great!" Chris called up to her, somewhat astonished she hadn't asked for help when she looked down. She really had grown up when she became a child! "Keep coming, you've only got a few feet left to go!"

Once she reached that few feet marker, she let go and fell to the ground. "I did it!" she cheered with a huge grin. "I went all the way up -and- down!" she beamed at him in pride, even though her arms and hands hurt.

"Good job," he said.

"Five minutes!" Shade called out.

"I'll go next," Chris said, climbing up the rope easily and staying up there with a grin on his face. "I like it up here!"

She stuck her tongue out at him as he was up there. "It's too high!" she protested. Never mind she already climbed up there. Though seeing him up there, she felt more proud. She actually did it!

"Do you wanna race, or play tag next?" she asked him, still admiring the fact he wasn't worried about heights. Even if he was tall.

"Let's race!" he said, climbing halfway down before jumping off and landing in front of her with a grin. "You've got longer legs now, so who knows how fast you'll be?"

She grinned at him. "We'll find out!" she said happily. Frankly, she was very curious herself. There really wasn't enough room to really, really run at home.

She waited for Chris to take here wherever they would race.

"We can run around the outside part," Chris said as Shade called for them to change games. "We usually start over here," he added, leading her to the edge of the gym.

"Okay! Do you often race?" she asked, skipping along with him and going to the edge of the building.

"Once in a while," he admitted. "But I have to go slow, so they don't get mad at me."

"You're fast then?" she asked, really curious. Of course, she already had to walk faster just to keep up with him.

"Sorta," he admitted a bit sheepishly. "It's cuz I've got four legs instead of two."

"Then you are fast!" she said, stopping once they were on where he has said they should be. She looked around, and at the path that they should run. "Sooo, first to the wall?" she asked, meaning the wall opposite them.

"That works," he said, taking his running stance. He'd let her win, he decided. To make her feel more confident. "On your set," he said... "Get ready... GO!"

On go, she took off with a grin. Her pace was like any other child's for all of five paces, then something odd happened. It was an odd thing that happened when ever she did this: everything sped up much to fast.

Rory gave a yelp as she realized this, and her balance was lost. The girl tumbled over, and rolled a bit on the ground. Then she just laid there a moment. "Ow."

"Whoa," Chris said, a good fifty feet behind her. "Rory? You okay?" he asked, bounding over to her and looking down at her curiously. "You break anything?"

"Like the speed limit?" Shade asked from behind him.

She gave a goofy, sheepish grin and pushed herself up. She wasn't hurt, but 'OW' just felt an right thing to say when you fell on the ground. "Yeaaaah, I'm okay. It happens and I usually run into walls," she admitted sheepishly.

Well, run into walls or fall to the ground.

"Interesting," Shade said. He looked at Chris for a moment. "You told me that earring of yours makes you weaker, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Give it to her," he said. "Just for a little bit."

"But... I'm not super strong," she said, giving him a confused look. Why did she need the earring if she wasn't super strong....?

"My guess is that super speed is a physical ability, just like super strength," Shade said, taking the earring from a hesitant Chris. "Just try it on and try to run. If it works, we'll get someone to make you one, as well."

"But, um...." she started, letting Shade put the earring on her. She was willing for a test. "Shouldn't I get used to running fast? I trip every time, though, but I don't really get hurt," she explained. And she really did want to learn how to run fast, actually. Everyone she met had something very cool about themselves and she had always been just plan.

Now, she could run! And she wanted to run more.

"This won't take it away completely, just tone it down, right, Chris?" Shade asked. The earring had interested him, and he WAS the kid's unofficial uncle, so he had found out a lot about it over time. "Once you're in control of a portion of your speed you'll be better able to control all of it."

Rory smiled up at Shade now, finding that explanation a very good one. She really did want to learn how to control it. "Okay! So, can I run now?" she asked them both.

The earring also felt odd on her ear. She wasn't used to something there and one hand went up to touch it. Would she have to get something like this too? She kinda hoped not....

"Go for it," Shade said, motioning for her to run. Chris didn't move, he looked worried, as well.

Rory nodded, taking a breath before she went back to the starting point. Once ready, she ran again, making sure not to aim for anyone incase she ran into them.

This time, after the five paces, the running was better. It was fast, but not super fast. The run was also at a good speed for her not to be startled, so she had more control over it. She grinned at this fact.

"See? She's fine," Shade told Chris.

"But what about me?" Chris asked, irritated.

"Just don't touch anything."

After several moments, Rory returned to them, grinning in a very pleased manner. She wasn't even out of breath. "That was fun!" she said, then reached up for the earring, "But I can't keep this, it's Chris' and he needs it so he doesn't break things."

"We'll see if we can get you one of your own," Shade said before blowing his whistle. "Next game start!"

Chris shook his head. "You're a lot faster than I am."

She blinked at Chris, then gave a sheepish smile. Other than drawing, she hadn't been good at many things that him. She wasn't about to tell him that she couldn't sing, either.

"I'll jog for the tag game?" she suggested. "It doesn't happen when I jog!"

"Alright!" Chris said, already running away. "But you're it!"

Wisp Darnell had, in fact, pretty much wanted to go and speed over to the Deakon house the night she had returned: but there had been a ban on leaving the apartment for reasons she only found out later, and once she woke up attempted to get dressed, brush her teeth, shower and eat breakfast all at once. This worked as well as it usually did (ie, not terribly), but eventually she had pulled on her ripped-up overalls and her favourite and slightly equally ripped-up tie-dyed t-shirt, struggling to put on her hi-tops as she raced out the door. She very nearly caused a couple of traffic accidents as she put her curly blonde hair up in a ponytail as she rode, hands-free and not thinking about it, Jace's monstrous old bike eventually squealing to a halt outside of the Deakons'.

Knapsack tugged off, she was nearly horizontal in her race for the door, pushing the doorbell twice for luck and hopping from foot to foot in her agony. (This time, at least, she checked the front yard to see if Christian was there. No Chris.)

"Coming!!" a duel set of voices called. They were deeper than they had been, and they went on to say, "We're not buying anything, in case you're wondering!" before the door opened and Chris looked out at the rainbow colored girl blankly.

"You still look like a rainbow exploded," he told her, so shocked at the sight that his words escaped his lips before making it through his mind.

"CHRIS!"

Not at all offended (he knew personally that looking like a rainbow had exploded was the look that Wisp was going for), the blonde girl flung herself forward at him. Obviously, the fact that he had grown up meant one very important thing: he had graduated to become her jungle gym once more. "Chris! Chris! You grew! You're humungous! I missed you so much! This is the coolest thing ever! You're like a tank!"

Rory had been hanging out over at Chris', then when he answered the door, she head a very familiur voice at the door and went to inspect it. At the door was a very brightly colored girl who did, indeed, looked like a rainbow exploded. She gasped.

"WISP!" she cried, then tried to get around Chris to see the other girl. Rory was much bigger than what she had been, too.

Chris patiently let Rory climb over him, used to it by now. "Where you been?" he demanded. "Get in here!" he added a bit belatedly. "Ma!" he yelled over his shoulder. "Wisp is back!!"

"Wisp?!" Missy almost screamed, storming down the stairs. "Wisp! Come in here!!"

Wisp was laughing out loud at this point in sheer delight: she had springboarded off of Chris to fling herself at Aurora, safe in the knowledge that Rory would not conveniently sidestep and let Wisp splat into the wall. "Rory too?!" She was laughing even as she spoke, and as rarely happened, was immediately putting on a prismatic lightshow of rainbow twinkles around her head. It looked like a psychotic suncatcher. "Rory! Rory, you're beautiful! I want to draw a bazillion pictures of you, and, and -- Missy!"

And, of course, there was beloved Missy, who the girl threw herself at much more gently than she had belted at Rory and Chris. She hugged her around the middle and looked around at everyone, blue eyes dancing. "I grew, didn't I?" she said. "I grew whole centimetres!" (This was not impressive in light of the fact that Rory and Chris had put on nearly whole metres.)

Rory laughed, having given an 'ooph' when she got spring boarded into by Wisp. Not that she cared so much about being used as a landing pad. "Where have you been? I missed you!" she told the other girl.

"And ---" she stopped, blinking a moment. "I can't tell! I grew too, and you were already big and--" And she couldn't tell if Wisp was bigger than before or not!"

"You're both still little," Chris said as his mother cooed over Wisp happily along with Rory.

"So tell us where all you've been!" Missy said, pulling them all towards the kitchen. "I made cake! Actually I made two cakes."

"It was chocolate," Chris said evilly, licking his lips.

"Chris!" Missy said, only to sigh and shake her head.

"Two cakes." Wisp looked as though she had died and gone to Cake Heaven. "I'm never leaving ever again."

She swarmed into the kitchen with the rest, apparently more than happy that her two friends now towered over her: she dropped her knapsack on the counter. "I got you all souvenirs," she said, "only Jace helped me pick out Tyler's, only I told her that he totally didn't shoot anyone any more, but it's a really pretty throwing knife if you look at it art-tis-tically." Wisp liked things artistic: she had used her star sprinkles in order to paint a huge, colourful tree down one of her arms, its roots curling around her elbow, which was actually fairly cool for a kid and made lots of people stop and stare aghast that a tiny blonde child had such a huge tattoo. "She would've come over, I guess, but Mom is taking her to the cemetary, or something. I don't know. Chris, did you eat the chocolate cake?! You have grown up with jerk genes! Rory, he's grown up with jerk genes!"

Rather than recriminatory, Wisp just sounded impressed.

"He did!" Rory agreed earnestly. "And he keeps calling me short! I'm not," she said and added a tongue-stick-out aimed at Chris. "And you better not have eaten the -other- cake!" she added, giving him a poke in the arm. Not that it would hurt him, course.

Then she looked back at Wisp. "Oh!! I can do something special now too! Like you can color and Chris is strong? I can run fast!" And land on her face, usually.

"It's the stopping she has trouble with," Chris said dryly. "And I only ate one of the cakes, I promise. It was just begging to be tested, you know?" He pulled a chair out at the table and sat down. Obviously he planned on having MORE cake.

"You only get one slice," Missy told him as she headed to get the cake for everyone. "Tyler's gone shopping, I'm afraid, but he'll want to see you as soon as he gets back."

"That's so perfect." Everything was perfect, obviously: Wisp hopped up on the chair next to Christian and hugged into his arm, one finger absently tracing a red lightning bolt down his arm and a pinky adding in the shadow. Then the lightning bolt got given an angry face. "Rory, I knew you'd develop your super power. Now we can get to our plan of being a super hero team."

"Super hero team?" Rory asked, just a little puzzledly. She had been distracted watching Wisp paint on Chris' arm. The puzzledness went away as she grinned. "Well, I got a power now!"

"Oh! What all did you bring??" Cake and gifts! It was like a birthday party or something!

Chris watched the tattoo curiously, remembering how hard it was to take off Wisp marks without her help. Or, impossible, actually. "Shouldn't Rory be the lightening one?" he asked curiously. And he, of course, would wind up being the tacky "thunder."

He already knew how this trend went.

Missy passed out plates of cake. "How's your mother, Wisp? And your sister? We've missed them, too!"

"Oh, they're fine!" Wisp switched arms to the pretty light-skinned girl next to her: instead of a lightning bolt, she started in on drawing a cheetah with green spots. She also tried to eat the cake with her left hand as she did this, squinting in concentration. "Jace got, like, mega brown in Africa! I lolled! And me and Mommy learnt French all the time. I can sort of speak French now but she says my accent is really, really bad. Bien!"

Distracted again and the cheetah done (it wasn't that bad, even if it did have green spots) she dug in her knapsack once more. She took out a tissue-paper parcel, and unwrapped it a little before pushing it over the counter at Missy. Missy was also gifted with a melting smile: Wisp adored Missy. "I got you some earrings and a necklace," she said, as the tissue paper was pulled apart more. A pair of beaded earrings -- blue and white -- sat nestled in the paper, along with a fringe collar. "I thought they were pretty."

More things got dumped out of the knapsack as she went through it -- an apple, a sketchbook, some gum -- as she pulled out two more lumpy presents. Another beaded length of fringe -- green and red and yellow -- sat in Rory's parcel: it had actually come to life as a necklace, but would be better off as a bracelet. There was also a rolled-up sheaf of paper, the same as the rolled-up sheaf of paper in Christian's parcel, which also contained an enormous fang and a bottle of sand. "That's a crocodile tooth," Wisp pointed out artlessly, "and the sand is mysterious good-luck sand from the Kalahari. And the paper is because I missed you both so much, that wherever I went, I decided I'd draw the landscape but I'd also draw you in it. So you came along on the vacation with me in Spirit."

Another tissue-paper parcel was dumped on the table: it contained a wickedly sharp, oddly-shaped throwing knife with a number of points, squarish in shape with an ivory end. "And that's Mr. Tyler's," Wisp said. "Jace picked it out. She would have come along, I guess, but she's in a weird mood."

"It's lovely!" Missy said, promptly putting it all on. She really did like them! Of course, seeing as it was Missy, she would have loved anything. She adored Wisp just as much as she did Rory.

Chris grinned at the sight of the tooth, picking it up and looking at it. He was about to comment when she mentioned Jace again. He hesitated instead, frowning as he remembered that Jace had gone to the grave. "Well... um..." he said slowly, wondering how to explain it.

"Oh wow!" Rory said, taking her things and looking them other. The necklace was turned into a bracelet as she paused in her eating of cake, and examing on cheetah tattoo. She grinned a chocolate grinned to her best friend, then hugged her since she was in hugging distance.

Then she went about examining the pictures to see where all they went. "You had a good time though? Even if we missed you and you missed us!" she was now super happy, and energetic because of it. But then at Chris' tone, she calmed down and gve them curious looks.

"It was awesome once I got well," confirmed Wisp, who also had a matching chocolate grin. She glowed: the little rainbow prisms would still pop up every so often, out of everyone's peripheral vision. "We went on a safari and I saw this huge pride of lions and warthogs, and gazelles. And we stayed in this little cottage and there were heaps of poisonous snakes! I bet you would've liked the gazelles, Rory. They can really zoom."

Obviously this was what Wisp found exciting. "Even Mom had fun," she said, "she took us around and showed us everything, and she seriously loosened up at times. Mom really needs to chillax." Another bite of cake. "And Jace had fun, too, she's really cool when she's not trying to be, like, hardcore. I wish she'd come over today," she added meditatively. "I don't know why she's being bizarre, because Harper's in heaven and that's a happy thing, right?"

It was probably entirely Christian's fault that Wisp wanted to be a burgeoning Catholic. Father Higgins had his work cut out for him.

"So you know he's dead?" Chris asked. "We had a memorial service and everything. But a lot of people miss him now." He looked down at his empty plate, wondering when he had eaten it.

Missy sighed. They were far too young to deal with death! But it seemed they were growing up fast in more ways than one.

Rory, who didn't know Harper and there for was detatched from the whole death thing, played with the frosting bits on her plate. Wisp and Chris both knew Harper, so this was more their conversation.

But Wisp took it better than Chris!

"Mommy told me this morning," said the blonde girl. "I didn't know him as well as Jace; she told Jace last night. But it's weird, you know? She didn't cry or anything; she just got real quiet."

She took a fingerful of frosting, possibly to make herself feel better. "We didn't get the message that he was dead until we were back," she said, "but that's not a surprise, 'cause we didn't have a lot of phones in Botswana."

Chris nodded.

"It was a tragedy," Missy said quietly. "Which is why I want all of you to promise to not forget that this sort of thing can happen very easily. All it takes is one little candle to burn down an entire house."

Chris had a betraying thought, one that told him he'd probably survive even if the house burnt down. Without a mark on him.

"Yes ma'am," Rory said obedantly. It was more to just say something again than not. Then she looked around at Chris and Wisp. The mood needed to be changed.

She spotted Chris' earring. That was a good enough topic change. "Chris' got an earring that makes him weaker! So he doesn't accedently smush things!" she told Wisp informitivly.

More than happy to change the subject, Wisp immediately investigated Christian's ears. "That looks wicked," she said enviously. Of course, her ears had been pierced for a while: little paper Japanese good-luck stars dangled from them, affixed to little lengths of chain. "I hope you can still smush things, though, Chris. You're going to be my sidekick, you know?"

"How come I'm the sidekick?" he asked her curiously. "What all can you do? Other than drawing on people?" It was a rude question, but being a sidekick was a slam to his ego!

"Ok, then you can be -my- sidekick!" Rory told him happily. "If you can keep up!" she added with a wicked little grin. The girls were now teaming up on him, something Rory didn't used to do but she was discovering it was fun!

"I'm the oldest," Wisp informed him airily. "And I have the most ideas, and I know all about justice, and I know about freedom. And I can start to do this. Just watch."

She moved back on her chair and eyed her plate; she spun her pointer finger around in the air, more to assist in her concentration than anything, and with the other hand grasped the Rainbow Belt insignia that she had currently pinned as a belt buckle. Suddenly, a little transparent flicker of rainbow whirled around her finger, and she snapped it down with a crack. It hit the plate, made it wobble a little, and fizzled out immediately.

"Okay, that kind of sucks," she admitted, "but I'm getting better at it. I'm going to be training from now on. In-between flute and French and soccer. We should all train together, you know? We'll get Rory running so fast she'll beat the Flash. Kickin' rad!"

"You can... kick a plate's butt," Chris drawled.

"Christian!" Missy scolded. "I'm sure it will be very impressive when you've gotten more practice, Wisp," she said happily. "I can't wait to go clothing shopping for it!" Because with Chris there neither of the girls would get hurt, after all. It sounded like a lot of fun to her!

"Yeah!" Rory agreed happily, grinning impishly at Chris, because he was being a party pooper, and she was up to no good. That and the thought of Chris in spandex was just funny to her.

"And Wisp and I will get better and train and everything! I've been working on the running, too! And you'll get better at rainbow whip thing!" Which, in her opinion was really cool.

Rory was immediately high-fived. Wisp loved Rory. Having another girl superhero on the team? That was just great. "Of course I will," she said, "we're going to be the best superhero team ever, especially if Missy helps us with outfits, and we're going to show the Man that he can't keep us down!"

Who the Man was, it wasn't readily apparent.

Chris was swinging his bag over his shoulder when Rory caught him. He had just finished his last class for the day and was planning on going home and getting some gaming in. Thanks to the earring he didn't have to worry about breaking the controller, after all. And he had just gotten a new game for his Wii.

He looked at her, wondering if she wanted something to do with the superhero idea. He didn't want to be a superhero. Wasn't it enough that he got strange looks every time he walked down the hall?

"So, Wisp is looking for ideas for our super-suits--" Rory said, oblivious to the gaming-needs of Chris. She already knew he was being all grumpy about the super hero thing, but it was for play! And the whole idea seemed fun to her.

He grunted, slipping his other arm in the bag strap and starting to walk out of the room. "I dun wanna," he muttered.

"You don't wanna?" she asked, blinking at him. Then she trotted off after him. "What do you mean you don't wanna?"

"I don't wanna do it," he said patiently. "She's got another wild hair, an' she's gonna wind up getting herself killed cuz all she can do is make a little rainbow whip which can't even break a plate, and all you can do is run into walls."

For that, Rory glared at him. "I'm getting better with the running, and she's going to get better at the rainbow whip. That's why we're -training-," she told him. "Because we're not yet good enough, but we will be!"

His so matter-of-fact way of putting things suddenly irritated her, for some reason.

"Really," he said. "Just because of that 'training' you think you two will be good heroes?" he asked. His voice seemed older with this question, as did his eyes. "What happens if they have guns?"

"We are going to be trained better, I got Antony to teach us how to defend ourselves," she replied, feeling the need to defend herself against the older voices of Chris. It.. felt like a challenge. Had she been younger, she might have backed off.

Besides, they hadn't talked about the gun thing yet. So, she wasn't going to answer.

"Look, I might be bullet proof," he said, turning to look her in the eye. "But I doubt you are, and I know for a fact that Wisp ain't. Think about that."

"Well," she said slowly, after a moment. There was no way she was going to give it up. Not easily. Her shoulders were squared and her hands held on to the straps of her backpack that was over her shoulders. "For one, I wasn't thinking we were going to do anything that involved people with guns," she told him honestly.

"For two, being young superheros doesn't mean we gotta do -that- dangerous of things. That'll also give us time to think about what to do with guns. I could probably out zig a bullet---" And Wisp? What would Wisp do? That was a good question. One she was obviously thinking on.

"Y'wanna come over? I got a new Wii game," he said. He didn't know if she was a gamer, though. He wasn't, really, but Wii was fun. And it would get her off the superhero kick, right?

Her shoulders slumped as she looked at him for a moment. No, she wasn't much of a gamer, herself, and playing with him would be fun. But.... She shook her head.

"No, I have other plans for this afternoon," she told him. "Maybe some other time." She hesitated to move for a moment. What was the superhero trio without Chris? Then she frowned slightly to herself. They could have an all girl team, if Chris didn't want to play.

"If you don't wanna, you don't have to come and being the strong man with a hit of a jerk. Irelia can handle the jerk thing. But it would be more fun with you," she added before turning from him to walk off.

He scowled, chasing after her. "Don't be stupid!" he said. "Someone's got to keep you two from getting yourself killed!" he snapped. "I want you to give it up!"

"I don't want too," she told him, head held high in the air as she walked. She needed this, she realized. She needed to do the superhero thing. It gave her a -goal-, it meant that her controlling her running was for more than just.. well, controlling her running. It was to -do- something with her speed. It was a purpose.

"And if you don't want us to kill ourselves, then you should stay!" she added. Of course he'd think that, she thought a bit irritably.

"I know that already!" he said. "Don't you think I've realized that? But it'd be a hell of a lot easier on me if you both stopped now." She was mad at him. This was the first time Rory had ever been really mad at him...

He didn't like it.

She shook her head again, looking back at him. Now that he wasn't going to leave the group, she felt better. Still irritated, but not as much so. "We don't wanna," she told him again. Then gave him a little smile.

"Besides, when Wisp really likes an idea, you know it's difficult to get her away from it. So, let's be superheros. It'll be fun!" she reassured him. Or at least attempted too. But she wasn't just going to up and leave Wisp, either! The other girl had -just- returned!

"Sure, you say that now," he muttered. "I don't believe it for a moment. And I sure as hell ain't wearing tights, got that?"

Now she really did grin at him. It was one of her beaming grins that lit up her who face. "Oh come on, you know you want to be cool and wear spandex with us!" she teased him. Like they could find enough spandex to even fit him!

"Sure I do," he muttered. "It's right on top of my list of things to do." He paused, sitting down in the hall and tugging his bag off. "Uncle Shade gave me a cd to listen to..."

It had the word "Hellspawn" written across the front.

Rory tilted her head, then walked towards him as he was sitting down. Now he was up to something. "Hellspawn?" she read, seeing the cd. It looked different from any other cd she had seen. So, that meant it had to be a different type of music.

Maybe? She looked up at him curiously. "Is it good?"

"I haven't listened to it," he admitted, looking at the cd as well. "But..." He opened it, showing the CD. The face on the disk looked a lot like what his could turn into when he got older. "Look."

Her jaw dropped as she realized the likeness. It was like Chris, only older and bigger. And much meaner looking. It didn't scare her, oddly. Probably because she knew and liked Chris a whole lot. But it did shock her.

Her sea green eyes darted back to him. "That.. that looks like you! Well... only and meaner lookin and not -exactly- like you... But--"

He nodded. "I dunno if it was just drawn or if... if he's really in the band," he admitted slowly. "I think I'm gonna listen to it tonight."

"I think that's a good idea," Rory said, smiling at him again. "Tell me what it's like? And you can probably look up the band on the net. Then you should be able to tell."

Though it was odd to see someone else like Chris...

He nodded, still looking at the CD for a moment before he closed the case and slipped it back into his bag. "Yeah," he said. "I'll do that."

But what if it was a singer like him? Then what would he do? It wasn't as if he had ever seen someone that looked like him before! It was--it was embarrassing, he guessed. Weird, definitely.

"I'll come over later to play with you," Rory then promised, smiling and un-angry at him again. Then she bounced on her toes, wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Have fun!" she told him, and started to head off again.

He was flushed purple for some reason as he stared after her. Then he shook it off and headed for his dad so they could go home together.

Tests: Chris gets caught hanging out at a game center by Jace.

Rockhard and Easy: Chris and Jace have auditions to be in the band. Wisp gets pissed. (ORP)

Aurora was still worried about her two best friends. She had talked to Wisp, to find out what was going on with her, and found out some things about Chris, as well. There was some adventure that she had missed out on that had guns, shootings and Chris getting mad.

Frankly, she wanted this whole situation solved as quickly as possible. She missed hanging out with both of them at the same time! And the look on Wisp's sad little face! It was horrible! It needed to be fixed! Best friends weren't allowed to be upset for so long!

That was why she was hunting down Chris during school. Not that it was difficult to find him.... "Hey Chris? Can I talk to you a moment?" she asked him in her sweet little voice that was laced with worry.

While waiting for his dad to finish work, Chris had wound up on the playground, hanging upside down from a pole as he read a comic book. He looked up from his reading as he heard her call.

"We don't got a band meeting," he said. "Not yet, at least."

"That's okay, cuz I don't wanna talk about the band," she told him, standing in front of him while he hung upside down. Just because of they were in the band together didn't mean she only wanted to see him about that! "It's about Wisp."

He scowled. "I don't want to talk about Wisp," he muttered, swinging slightly as he went back to reading his comic book.

"Well, I don't care if you want too or not. I'm tired of you two fighting, and I talked to her! She's all sad, Chris! Really sad!" she told him, reaching out to take his comic. He'd try and ignore her with that thing!

"She was shot in the HEAD Rory," he said harshly. "I don't know what happened, the gun exploded or something, but she could have DIED and it woulda been her own fault if she had!"

Rory's eyes went huge at that and she paled slightly. Wisp was shot? Shot but not hit! How, she didn't know, but the fact someone was willing to shoot a kid was.. well, horrible!

"But-but she said it didn't work!" she fumbled around for the words. "I mean, I don't want her shot at either! I don't want any of us shot at and all!" Then she stopped, collecting her thoughts and taking a deep breath. "I don't think she realizes that the gun actually went off and that she was lucky."

"I don't know how it worked, but I saw him pull the trigger. I'm not going to watch that again," Chris said. "She can do whatever the heck she wants, but I'm not going to do it. I'm going to stick with the band idea."

"She thinks you hate her, ya know," she told him softly. Then she sighed, crouching down so she was so much more lower on the ground and hugged her knees. "I don't want her shot either, but I can't abandon her."

"I don't hate her," Chris said. "But she keeps dumping us," he went on. "First she grows up before we do, then she runs off for months on end, and now, as soon as she gets back, she's dragging us into some crazy idea that involves guns and scary guys that make me want to hurt them."

He looked at her. "I know what I'm gonna be like when I'm bigger, Rory."

"How? That cd with the guy that looks like a bigger you?" she asked him, looking up at him again. She had her own sad face on, though it was mixed with irritation. The idea that Chris would hurt someone was just plan silly! Chris wouldn't hurt someone on purpose!

"The music... it reminded me of stuff," Chris said. "Like it was in the back of my head. And I was a lot bigger in the memory. A lot bigger," he repeated. "Like the size of a mac truck. And I'm twice as strong now as when I was a baby, Rory. If I keep getting stronger with age--"

She gave a little sigh, realizing that Chris still wasn't over his strength problem. Not that she saw it as a problem. He was Chris and that meant that he was kind, and didn't hurt people even if he wanted too.

But she stood up again reaching out this time to rub his hairless head. "So.. you're going to get bigger and stronger, huh?" she asked him needlessly. Those memories he was talking about didn't make any sense to her. "But you're not going to change being you Chris. You're not Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, or anything. It's not like you to just go up and do bad things."

He looked at her, his gold eyes shining slightly unnaturally. "I almost did once," he whispered hoarsely. "I don't want to do it again."

She reguarded him closely now, not pulling away from him or even stopping the petting on his head. Now she saw more of the problem. "You're not a monster, Chris," she told him softly, more seriously now. "It's good that you didn't hurt them, even if you got close to it," she added. Her idea of Chris was now altered more.

Then she smiled at him. "And I understand, so, I wont ask you do to the superhero thing. I'll go with her, so she doesn't get into trouble. You know she's going to do it one way or another. But you really shoulda not been so mean to her about the band. You might coulda used it to distract her away from the hero thing."

He flushed slightly, suddenly realizing that she was petting his head. "Um, Rory?" he asked. "I need your help with somethin..."

"As long as it doesn't involve me singing, okay!" she told him with a smile. The realization that she was going to have a lot of work on her hands hasn't yet hit. But she wasn't going to leave Wisp.

"I should say... I'm sorry," he muttered, looking away from her. "But I'm not, really. But I should be, so--"

"So....?" she prompted him, finally pulling her hand away from his head when he turned it away from her.

"So... go shopping with me," he muttered. "And I'll get her something, I guess. Mom says presents help with that sorta stuff."

Rory's face brightened up greatly with that suggestion. "Okay! I'd like that! And afterwards, if you want, we can go back to your house and play games on your Wii," she suggested to him. He had invited her over for that, after all.

"Yeah," he said as he dropped down from the pole. "Alright. I got a new game, too. It's called Mario Party. It's pretty fun. You wanna go now? Or do you haveta tell your mom first?"

"Um, I'll have to tell my mom, but I'm sure she wont mind if I go home with you, if that's okay with your parents, and all," she told him, thinking about it quickly. "I'll be missing violin practice..."

"We can do it tomorrow," he said quickly. "I'm not in any hurry, or anything."

"But you still should apologize," she told him, hands going on her hips. Then she smiled again at him. "But okay, we can go tomorrow! It's more warning for our parents, after all."

Alright," he said. "We'll go tomorrow."