Welcome to Gaia! ::

It took him half the day to get the guts up to do this, Chris thought as he casually crossed in front of the tree where Wisp was sitting all alone, eating her lunch. His wrist flicked and a small bag landed on her lap. It was one of those shiny ones that moms got for their kids to use as gift wrapping.

Hanging from the handle was a little note that said in broad black marker writing, "I'm Sorry." He wasn't, really, he told himself, but he was supposed to do it.

Wisp had stiffened immediately, pausing in the middle of eating some raisins, obviously not knowing whether him flicking things at her was a call to war or otherwise; he hadn't paid any attention to her before, as though she'd been living on the surface of the moon, and her gut immediately clenched up in tangles as he finally made his approach.

Her hands fumbled with the little bag; when she opened it, there was a keychain there, of a yellow bunny rabbit. Yellow, pretty much her favourite colour (if she had a favourite colour) bunny rabbits, one of her favourite animals (if she had a favourite animal).

The box was immediately dropped from nerveless fingers as she stood up, upsetting raisins, bag and all, and there were two bright spots of colour in her cheeks: for a moment it seemed as though Wisp was going to yell at him. Then she simply launched herself at him bodily and buried her face in his midsection, trying to stretch her fairly small arms to get around him, which never really worked.

Aurora had been watching this from the sides, happy that Chris finally made his move. Even if he didn't look sorry for it! It was quite clear to anyone that Wisp needed it.

And it was boring without the other girl around. Wisp made a lot of things fun. Now, hopefully they could just get along again! The idea of Wisp not wanting to do anything dangerous was so out of the question, though.

Since he was still walking it wound up with Wisp riding him like a pony, clinging to his waist like that. "Oh c'mon already," he muttered. "It ain't that big a deal."

He was flushing purple, though, because it WAS really that big a deal. He had missed her, and just as soon as she got back they had started fighting! It wasn't good!

"It is that big a deal," said Wisp, muffled, into him, and if she had been a little younger she would have cried; her shoulders were shaking a little but the feeling passed, glad instead, face still buried and terribly terribly relieved. Incoherently, she added: "Please please please please please don't leave me ever again. I won't leave you either if you don't leave me."

Rory watched this, crossing her arms with a smug little smile on her face. See? This was a good idea! Chris had just been hardheaded about it! Why did boys get stupid sometimes? Why?

She wasn't going to speak till it was done, however.

He sighed. "Alright, already, I won't, okay?" he asked. "You can stop riding me now. Did you... did you like the patch?" he asked just a tiny bit shyly. He looked around for Rory, feeling uncomfortable with the situation.

"Patch?" It was only then that Wisp finally looked up and detached from Chris; she ran back to get the little bag, clutching the bunny keychain in her finger, rifling through the bag to get it. When she did, she immediately ran back to stand beside Chris again, obviously fearing that if she left him too long he would go away. She looked up at Rory and smiled radiantly; she was bouncing from foot to foot, laughing in delight. "You really got these for me? Was it Rory's idea? Thank you!"

"Chris picked it out! And the keychain was his idea too," Rory said proudly. She had wanted him to get her a stuffed animal, but Wisp was happy. That was fine!

She walked to the two now that they were done.

"Yeah, but..." Chris sighed. "You can join the band if you want. I dunno what you'll do, though, cuz we've got the instruments taken care of. But I guess you could help Jamie with the lights and stuff or something?"

"I can do fliers," said Wisp immediately, who had been thinking it up secretly with heart pangs ever since she'd found out about the band. "You know, like advertising? And I can paint the posters, and the CD covers, if you guys get CDs."

Life was suddenly good again.

"See? That is a good idea! We'll just check the spelling and stuff," Rory said, grinning at Chris. Finally their little trio was all back together! She just wasn't sure how Chris and Jace would deal with the likely bright colors Wisp would have used.

"Just remember we're ROCK, not POP, got it?" Chris asked dryly.

"Hey, I do rock!" Wisp said defensively, immediately mimicking an air guitar. "I do rave, too, and trance, because I heard it at a game Antony was playing and it's awesome -- " but seeing Rory's and Chris' expressions: "but rock, rock's cool too."

Rory laughed and hugged her colorful friend. "Good! This is going to be so much more fun with you in the band, now, too!" She then beamed at Chris. He did so well!

"Yeah, yeah," Chris said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "And we need R.H.E. shirts, too... like a logo, or something I guess. But no rainbows."

"No rainbows," said Wisp. "Got it."

They could have maneating bats if they wanted them.

"Sissyyyy," Kashmira whined, tugging at Rhye's short leg. "I wanna ride him now!" They were outside the local grocery store, riding on the old mechanical horse that stood in front. Every time the horse stopped Dyer would pick the one riding off and replace her with her twin. But this ride seemed to be going on longer than usual and Kash was getting impatient.

Dyer, being a typical father, was reading a case study only a few feet away, ignorant of the fight that was about to break out.

"It not done yet! I still get to ride!" Rhye replied, stubbornly holding on to the horse. This was fun! Or would be in Kash didn't keep nagging at her. That ruined the whole thing and irritated her. "Dah-deeeee, sissy's being mean!" She pouted greatly about this fact too.

"But this is takin' too long!" Kash complained.

"Wait your turn, Mira," Dyer said, not even glancing up. He heard no screams of pain, after all, so all was well according to his logic. Besides, verbal arguments meant that they would grow up to be good lawyers in the future.

Rhye sat up high on her seat, pleased that she won the argument. Kash was just being impatient!

Aurora hesitated at the door of the store, seeing Dyer. She remembered him from the music shop. And there were two little ones around the pony that he seemed to be watching. She grinned. "Hey! These yours?" she asked, walking towards them.

He finally looked up from his work and grinned, that sharp grin of his. "Hello, Rory, it's good to see you again. Yes, these are the girls, Kashmira and Rhye. Rhye, Mira, this is Rory. You're going to be going to school with her soon."

Kashmira went silent, looking up at the older girl in awe. She was so much bigger than she was! Slowly she raised a hand, waving at her before moving closer to the horse.

Rory, being aware of her bigness to the two little ones, crouched down. "I'm Aurora," she told them. "It's nice to meet the two of you finally," she told them. Twins! Who knew the two cabbages would be twins?? And they were cute!

Rhye was silent now too, seeing the new girl. The thrill of being on the horse was lost too. Just in time, the horse stopped it's moving.

It must have been strange to have two pairs of identical red eyes focused on her with such grave attention, but Kashmira didn't thing of that. She just hugged her sister's leg, feeling shy. "I'm Kashmira," she said, flushing slightly and unknowingly throwing flirty into her expression as she gave a little smile.

"I'm Rhye," her sister said, lacking the unknowing flirt in her own tone. She had a bit more frankness, however. Like stating a fact that she was Rhye and that one shouldn't make more out of that statement than what was there.

And she wanted down. In moments like this, she didn't want to be even this far from her sister. So she brought her other leg around and slipped off the still horse. Then took her sister's arm, holding on to that too.

Lord they were so cute! Rory wished Chris was here, so that he could see them too. He might startle them, but they'd get over it as soon as they learned they could climb all over him. "What are you two up too?" she asked them.

"Horsie," Kash said, pointing at the horse behind them. "He don't got no name," she added with a nod as she hugged her sister back. Now that they were closer she felt more bold. "Is like the song!"

Dyer tried not to laugh, knowing that his and his wife's music had already affected the little girls.

"Horse with no name, huh?" Rory asked with a grin. Their eyes were so red! It was like looking into a pool or red. "Hey, isn't your mama is around here?"

"She's in the store," Rhye answered, keeping hold of Kash. She was confident in the fact nothing was going to happen. Daddy was just over there and if he thought they shouldn't be taking to the older person, then he'd stop it. Her red eyes studied the other girl bluntly.

"Do you want to meet a friend of mine? He should be out here soon with him mom. We're getting food for our camping trip," Rory told them.

Another new person? Kash looked up at their daddy, earning an encouraging nod and a smile, so she figured he knew who the friend was, too. "Okay," she said as the door slid open behind them.

"I don't like the saddle bags," two voices said at once, sounding irritable. "It's bad enough I get used as a horse--" Then he stopped as Kash turned to look at him, blinking his gold eyes twice.

Kashmira just stared at the big boy, her jaw dropping open in shock. He was-- "Ginormous!" she said, pointing at him.

Her word 'Ginormous' and the pointing were all mimic in time by Rhye. She was also gaping.

Rory grinned. "This is Christian. He's my friend," she said, still crouched on the ground. "Chris, this is Kashmira and Rhye. Dyer's girls."

He promptly sat down, making his mother roll her eyes. "At least move away from the door, Chris," she said, trying not to laugh. The sitting was to make him look smaller, but the little girl in green didn't look too traumatized as she tugged her sister towards Chris.

She stopped, looking up at the boy seriously, pouting slightly. Then she started walking around him, her eyes traveling over every inch of him. Chris tugged at the collar of his shirt, wondering what she was doing.

"I dunno," she finally told her sister, shrugging.

Rhye was doing the same thing, studying him over with a critical eye. At her sister's statement, she shrugged back. "We could," she answered simply. "Wanna?"

Rory was just smiling to herself. Chris was always funny with new people.

"I ask," Kash agreed, turning to Missy. "Where you put quarter at?" she asked, ever so seriously. She pulled out her quarter, holding it up to the redheaded woman.

"Um, what?" Missy asked.

"We want ride," Kash said, pointing up at Chris. "Is MUCH better than no name horsie."

Rory couldn't stop laughing at that statement. It was a good thing she was already close to theground to begin with!

Rhye gave her a confused look before turning back to Missy and Chris. "But.. both of us could fit!"

"But Chris isn't a ride!" Rory said, trying not to laugh now and failing.

Kash stepped in front of Chris, holding up quarter. "We ride?" she asked, determinedly ignoring the "not a ride" statement. He was the most awesome ride she had ever seen and she wanted to ride him!

"Um, uh," he said. "Fine," he said with a sigh. "But I don't need the quarter." Then he leaned forward, so they could climb on. Kash squealed happily and grabbed onto his horn, pulling herself up on his back.

Rhye also squealed in joy and grabbed the other horn, hauling herself up on to Chris' back as well. Then she beamed at Kash and wrapped her other arm around her.

Chis was so nice. But it would be Chris if he wasn't nice! Rory got up and took the bags away, so that the kids would have more room. Then she stepped next to Missy's side.

"You hold on tight, okay?" Chris said, wondering why he was such a sucker for cute girls. Maybe it was the tails, he thought as one furry tail wrapped under his arm to hold on. He felt a sense of kinship with tailed kids.

"Go! Go! Go!" Kash said, rocking wildly to try and urge him forward.

"Goooo!" Rhye said, also with her tail wrapped around him.

About that time, Creola stepped out with her bag. She saw her two girls on the much bigger boy - whom she remembered him. "What's goin' on?" she asked after a moment.

"Mommy! We got a ride!" Rhye said happily.

Chris finally started walking, back and forth in front of the store, his tail swishing behind him to make it seem more like riding an animal. They were so little that he didn't dare go faster than a slight trot.

"He's a good kid," Dyer said, watching them with a hint of amusement. Missy smiled at that statement.

"He's such a sweetie," she said. "But I do believe he's also doing it because he's a sucker for pretty girls."

"You'd be amazed how many girls hang around him," Rory added, not sounding bothered by that.

Creola relaxed now and smiled at Missy. "Ah'm Creola," she introduced. "An' that's Dyer." Her arms held bags in them, so she couldn't offer her hand.

"And those two little dolls riding my son are yours?" Missy asked, shaking the hand that Dyer offered. "They're adorable! Do they go to school yet?"

"Not yet," Dyer admitted. "We're planning on waiting until they're older to start them in school. Creola's at home during the day, and that lets them bond with their mother better."

"Oh, I wish I could have done that," Missy said. "I'm a jazzorcize teacher at an all women gym called Curvables, and my husband, Tyler, is the janitor at Liberty."

"When they go to school, Ah'm gonna be so bored," Creola admitted. Yes, she was lucky to be able to stay at home with them, but that was going to end some time. "Dyer's a lawyer workin here," she added, as if to explain why she could stay at home and take care of the kids.

"Faster faster!" Rhye cheered, enjoying herself.

"Nuh uh," he said. "You might fall off, then I'd feel guilty."

"Awwww," Kash complained. "Chris fun ride!" she added, as if that would fix the problem of him feeling guilty. He laughed and headed back to the others.

"Rides over," he said, crouching down so they could get off.

"Awww..." Rhye pouted but started so slide off as well. "Was fun!" she then told him, beamingly.

Kash leaned forward and kissed the back of his head. "Thank you!" she said before slipping off as well and rushing to her mom. "Mommy, Mommy, we got to ride the best ride ever!!"

Chris was bright purple.

"You'll be okay?" Tyler asked Chris as they pulled to a stop in front of Ze'zee's home. "Remember, Mom's got her cell--"

"I'm spending the night with Rory, Dad," Chris said. "It's the usual thing. Nothing's going to happen. Heck, even if the house caught on fire I'd still be alright."

"Good point," Tyler drawled. "Well go on. I'll be back to pick you up tomorrow. Around lunch or so, maybe a little earlier."

Chris grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder before he climbed out of the car and headed for the front door of the house. His parents needed some alone time, which was fine with him. He stopped and rang the doorbell, sitting down to wait for someone to come to the door.

Chris spending the night had been prearranged. Unfortunately, or fortunately, something happened between when it happened to now. Aurora grew into a teenager. Now Zee felt that her daughter was old enough that she could watch Chris. There had been an emergency meeting for the orchestra that she had to go too.

So, the one to open the door was Rory. "Um, hey Chris!" she said, giving him a sheepish grin.

He paused, blinking, but his dad had already driven away once he saw the door open, so he couldn't go back and ask what in the hell he was supposed to do in this case. "You grew," he said finally, stupidly. She was taller than him now, when he was on all fours.

"Yeah... Um, want him to come back and get you? Mom had to take off too," she said, yet still stepped aside so he could enter. "I mean, I don't blame you for thinking this really, really odd and all."

Wow... she could totally look him in the eye without having to look up now! That was surprisingly cool.

"No, um, I mean... you're pretty," he said finally. "It's okay. It's not like I didn't see this coming. Um, can I come in?" So it had happened. He was a little kid compared to her. And she was his babysitter.

"Of course you can!" she said, letting him in with a grin. He thought she was pretty? Good! At least he wasn't that freaked out about her growing. But then, they had talked about it at the camping trip. "And I really thinking that can't ride on your back any more," she added, a bit remorsefully.

He walked in, looking around as if expecting everything else to have changed as well. "I could still lift you," he said, not thinking about it. "So your mom's not here?"

"There was some kinda emergency meeting, or something like that. She said she'd be back later," she said with a shrug, shutting the door behind him. Then she headed into the kitchen. "We can order pizza for dinner, too," she added.

"Veggie lovers?" he asked as he followed her. She looked good. Like those girls in magazines. She was cute and smelled good, and was older--

Dammit, he was going to be sooo irritated when Antony saw her.

"You still don't wanna try meats, huh?" she asked him. She was -so- getting a pepperoni for herself. And thoughts of seeing Antony like this hadn't even hit her yet. It was bound to happen, and he wouldn't have a reason to be irritated at her age, any more! He'd probably find some other reason, however.

"Um, I was thinking about having another band practice soon," he said as he watched her call the pizza place. "But you're gonna stand out now, and we're still kids while you're--"

"Ah, crap..." she replied, looking irritated about this. "You're right, I am going to be big, bigger than you, now. Well, maybe I should just go in the back? They it wont be so noticeable."

"I have to admit something," he said slowly. "I still haven't figured out how to sing right."

"What do you mean you haven't figured out how to sing right?" she asked, blinking at him. Then she took a seat at the kitchen table, leaning her elbows on it, and her chin in her hands as she waited for the answer. "You've always been able to sing well."

"Well is one thing, right is another," he said, sitting at the table and looking down. "I tried. I went in and tried using the piano, but my two voices couldn't ever sing the same note. I can't sing right. Not like they teach you to."

"Sing for me?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. It was as if she thought he had changed when she grew. Or maybe her hearing had changed?

"I don't know," he muttered. "I feel stupid. It was my idea, you know?"

She rolled her eyes at this. "Sing for me. Let me hear the way you feel the most comfortable singing. If it's good, then it's not you. You have two voices and singing lessons are made for people with one voice," she told him.

"Fiiiineee," he said. "But only a little bit." He felt more self conscious when singing for her now. She was a teenager. A grown woman! But he opened his mouth, starting to sing one of his favorite Hendrix songs.

"Remember, singing like you want too. And don't be nervous!" she told him, seeing and hearing that in his voice.

He stopped, making an irritated face, then tried again, his voice stronger this time.

"Oh, remember the mocking bird, my baby bun
He used to sing for his supper, baby
Yes he used to sing for his supper, babe
He used to sing so sweet
Since my baby left me he ain't sang for two long days

Oh, remember the blue-birds and the honey bees,
They used to sing for sunshine
They used to sing for the flowers
They used to sing so sweet
But since my baby left me they ain't sang in two long days

Hey pretty baby, come on back to me
Make ev'ry body as happy as can be

So, baby, if you'll please come home again you know I'll
Kiss you for my supper,
You know I'll kiss you for my dinner, yeah!
But, ah, if you don't come back you know I'll have to
Starve to death
'Cus I ain't had one kiss all day now."

And suddenly the words made a lot more sense to him. He flushed, stopping abruptly.

She smirked at him now. "See? You sing perfectly fine! Heck, you sing more than fine. No body here on Gaia sings like you do!" As far as she knew, anyway.

"Oh," he said. "It's not too bad?"

"Not at all," she told him seriously.

"Okay," he said. "Is the pizza here yet?" he asked, because suddenly the words "Kiss you" and Rory were seen in the same sentence and he didn't know what to think about it.

He was too young for her now. She probably realized he was just a kid.

She glanced at the clock, not having a clue what was going through his mind. If so, she'd enjoy it. "Na, not yet. It should be here in a few more minutes. So, what do you want to do tonight? Did you bring your Wii with you this time?" she asked him curiously.

Then got up to get them some drinks.

"Oh, yeah, yeah I did!" he said. grasping at the subject. "We can play Mario games after pizza, alright?"

"Good!" she said happily. "And I brought out my game cube, so we can play some good old Mario Cart," she told him. Then looked sheepish a moment. "Um, you don't think my growing is a bad thing, do you?"

"No!" he said, just as the doorbell rang. "That's probably the pizza guy," he said.

"I'll get it," she said, grabbing the money and heading for the front door. She couldn't help but grin at his reaction. It was more of a reaction when she had changed to being a child. Seriously, being a teen was starting out awesome!

She then opened the door. "Six pizza's, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, for um--" The pizza guy stopped, staring at her in shock before grinning. "Helllooooo there, um, my name is Jake--"

Then a demonic looking guy peered around her, his eyes glowing in the evening light. And he growled.

"Pizza! Here!" Jake said, shoving the pizza over and racing away.

She looked at the pizza boxes in shock. "So.. the pizza's free right??" she called out to the man who was running for his life. Then she went back in. "Pizza's here!" she told Chris with a grin.

He took it from her. "He didn't bug you, did he?" he asked as he carried them in one hand back to the table and put them on top. "I mean, he was kind of... sleazy."

"Well, he was odd," she told him, following him into the kitchen. "I've never had a pizza guy introduce himself to me before." Then she went to find the pepperoni pizzas. She separated the veggie lovers out for him, as well.

"He was--" He stopped, shaking his head. "Yeah, odd," he said simply before digging in.

After heading back to grab what would more than like be neaded: a large tent, sleeping bags, matches and other nick-nacks that one took camping without taking a day to pack, Aurora headed for the door way to the island. Chris more than likely had gotten a hold of Tock and both would be heading there, probably with Polly. Well, she didn't want to miss out.

But when she got to the invisible door she saw Tock and Chris, but no Polly. It was oddly quiet between them and they seemed to just be staring at each other. It was the kinda staring at eachother that made her think one was going to do something to the other, and each knew it.

She was puzzled. "Hey guys! I got the camping things," Rory said, going up to them with the large bag of supplies. She seemed to have no problems carrying it.

Chris jerked first, looking over at Rory. "We're going," he told her before walking through the hole in the wall. His tail disappeared last and Tock finally spoke.

"I'm coming with you," the teenage gator man said. "But ladies first."

"Rory!"

The shopping mall crowds, none of whom were noticing anything out of the ordinary, parted as Wisp Darnell pushed her way through them; she wrapped her arm around Rory's arm, looking bewildered and woebegone, looking from the wall back to Rory with one distracted look at the teenage gator-man before looking back at Rory again. She seemed a little out of breath. "I saw you from the other side of the market," she said, a few bags hanging off one arm, "what's happening, Rory?! OMG please don't think I'm a bad friend, I love you and the wall just ate Chris, what."

She added a vague, "Hi," to Tock, which was accompanied by a slightly dimpled grin, but then she looked back at Aurora.

It took Rory half a moment to regester just who she was talking too, then her eyes widened in shock. "WISP! Look at you! You grew too!" she cheered, hugging her friend suddenly. She was now completely distracted from what they were supposed to be doing.

And she felt like the bad friend, having not gone to see one of her two best friends when she got older. She grinned sheepishly. "You are -not- a bad friend! Ever. Who ever said that was stupid." Then she took a breath. "You remember our younger friend, Polly? Well, she wanted to go off on a treasure hunt, back on the island where she lived with this guy," she pointed at the gator-man. "That's Tock, by the way. Tock, this is Wisp. Anyway, so, we can't let her go alone, since she's still little and--"

She stopped, remembering something and looked at Tock. "Where's Polly, anyway?"

"She's fine," Tock said. "She grew up on this island, you know. We could just let Chris hunt her and the boys down while the three of us get to know each--"

Chris's head came through the wall. "What's taking so long?" he demanded irritably. Then he looked at Tock, his gold eyes narrowed dangerously, as if he knew what the teen gator man had been doing already.

Wisp had faceplanted accidentally in Aurora's boobs, and had gotten the giggles for it. They untangled as they swapped a superheroine-ly high-five. "I know Polly, she's the cute redheaded kid," she exclaimed. "That's so superhero of you! That's rad. You're upholding to serve and protect, Ror."

She hugged her again emphatically before untangling. "How long are you guys going to be gone?" she said, "I'm so sad, I want to give you a million makeovers and go bikini-shopping with you, because WOW look at your boobs, I think they're bigger than Rel's and Rel has like, mammoth boobs -- Chris, you gotta look after Rory and Polly while you're there, okay?

"And Tock," she added, and she winked at him.

"Mammoth boobs?" Rory repeated, looking down at herself. She couldn't be that big! She shrugged if off quickly however, since it wasn't really her boobs that were the mammoth ones, and looked back a Wisp with a pout. "You mean, you don't want to come with us, running through the jungle?" she asked.

Then in a conspiratorial way, since she saw the winks thrown at Tock, she leaned down to whisper in her friend's ear: "Camping. One tent. If you don't come, I'll be abandoned. Do you really want that?" She nudged her friend.

"Oh," said her friend, "I want to come so hard!"

For some reason, Wisp's face fell, and she took Rory's hands in her own much smaller ones. "But oh man," she said dolefully, "I have a date, Ror. I have a date with NACHO GARCIA. Isn't that like the coolest thing ever in the whole entire world? What if I miss it? It's on Friday. Do you think we'll be done before Friday? What if we're not done before Friday? I don't want to cut anything short and I was planning on dyeing my hair and, omg, Nacho date, right?"

Rory's face was set and she did the math: date plus hair dye, plus shopping. It was -so hard- to miss the shopping! And she knew just how bad Wisp wanted that date. Then, unexpectedly, she grinned. "Tell you want, if we are not done by Friday morning, then I will run you right back to the door, and we will go shopping for your date and get your hair dyed and everything! Then I'll come back to continue the hunt."

"And if we are done by then... I'll do the shopping thing with you anyway!" she promised. "Does that sound good? And think of the adventure you could tell him about!"

They were totally ignoring the face that the boys were glaring at each other while they had girl-talk.

Wisp laughed out loud at that, and she playfully punched Aurora's arm. "LOL, like I want to talk," she said, which left Aurora to make up her own mind about exactly what the smaller blonde girl wanted to do on a date. It might've been something perfectly innocent. "We're going to go see a movie. Or something. Antony organised it. I owe him, like, for ever, right? But just let me text Mom and Jace and Iree, tell them where I'll be, you know? Hang on a sec."

She pulled her cellphone out of her pocket, immediately tapping out a message. "I hope Mom doesn't mind me missing the school," she said, "it's in the service of superherohood."

Rory grinned, not about to make a comment on that. You never knew! Chris, sadly, was still to small, so... that sucked. He's grow, though, when his body was ready too!

The fact that they were skipping, she left alone. She had gone to school diligently till this stage, it was like she earned time off for good behavior, or something like that. Then, while her friend was texting away, she finally looked at the boys. They were still glaring. She put a hand on her hip. "So, who's going to help carry these things? They're not light."

"It's cool," said Wisp, still tapping, lifting the bags up and down without looking at them. "I'm tough."

"I'll get it," they both said at the same time, only to glower at each other in response. Dammit, Rory was HIS, Chris thought, jealous for real for the first time in his life, even though he wasn't thinking it through.

On the other hand, Tock was thinking that a teenage girl shouldn't be stuck with what was, despite his size, still a kid. So--wait--hot damn, TWO of them! He turned his dangerously toothy grin on Wisp. "You have anything you want to bring? I can carry it."

Little greenish sparkles momentarily danced their way around Wisp's head before she waved them away, giving a broad grin to Tock; it made the small blue star on her cheek crinkle a little, and she held out one of the bags. "Wow, you're really nice, I don't have much," she said, "good thing I brought my knapsack, right? Done!"

The message was over; obviously Wisp thought it better to not have an argument, and simply leave notice that she was going. "Okay, let's do it to it," she announced.

Rory forked over half her things to Chris. He was still a hell of a lot stronger, so she had the back pack of nick-nacks while handing off the heavier things to him. Having Chris jealous was... Interesting! She was glad, though, that Wisp would be around. She wasn't sure just how much of that she was going to be able to stand.

Thank God he wasn't a teenager yet! Visions of fights danced in her head. There would be property damage for sure, if Chris and Tock had an all out fight. Then she looked back at Wisp. "And now we go through the magic door," she said and stepped through the wall where the rest of Chris waited.

"And might I welcome all of you to my home island," Tock said as he stepped in last, waiting for the others to enter. "Home. Which is where I am the non acting captain of a pirate crew to the west of here."

Wisp put one hand up to squint at where he'd indicated, absolutely delighted with the surroundings; she had a grin on her face that stretched nearly from ear to ear. "But where's Polly?" she said. "Did she go off already? Are we the suckiest babysitters or something?"

It was kind of a worry.

"Apparently she started the treasure hunt without us," Rory drawled slightly. Then she looked to Tock again. He let Polly go off without even waiting for them to get there. Eesh! Even if she grew up there, she had Tock looking out for her! "Do you have any idea where she's headed? A direction, maybe?"

What she didn't realize was that Polly wasn't alone.

"You really think he has a say in what Polly's doing right now?" Chris demanded darkly. "He pissed her off. She ran away from home and now he's chasing her down. But he's gotten distracted by a couple of pretty faces, haven't you, Tock?"

"I said already," Tock snarled. "She grew up here. The only ones that'll have trouble on the island are you three!"

"I wouldn't say that," said Wisp, and the grin was still on her face. She was looking around at the jewel-bright colours of Neverland like a satisfied cat; she patted her pouch of Star Sprinkles to make sure it was still there, and the Rainbow of Light at her belt, and looked more and more smug. "You might not know this, but I'm actually a fully-fledged awesome superhero, and Chris and Rory are my sidekicks, right? This is rad chillies. So long as she's safe, I'm cool with that."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Eesh, I'm tough! Not like Chris, but I'm more resilient that others," she voiced. It was something she had noticed while in school, comparing herself to other kids. When she fell hard, her knees usually didn't get scrapped and bloody, nor did other parts of her. Chris probably hadn't realized this, and if he had, it probably didn't matter to him. She was still a girl.

"And I've been camping before, yatta yatta, stuff like that. I'm not little," she added, giving both boys a serious look.

Tock looked at Chris, opened his mouth, then snapped it shut, since obviously there wasn't going to be any problem with him being in the jungle. "Fine," he muttered. He turned, looking out at the trees and finally showing his worry. His little girl, who had only just grown, was out there with--with two idiot boys that knew the place, but were hut brats nonetheless.

"Dammit, she just grew the other day," he muttered, unaware it was aloud.

"Is she like your little sister or something, Tock?" said the blonde superheroine-apparent among them, kneeling down by a particularly vivid flower and leeching the colour out of it. "That's really cute. I kind of have a little sister -- well, Jace is now like, major league little compared to me. I wouldn't worry about HER, though."

Tock looked at her blankly, the concept of Polly being his sister so foreign that he couldn't come up with a reply.

"He's raising her," Chris said, looking around and picking a direction at random to go. He had no idea where the kids were, but there were a couple of broken limbs this way. "Like a dad. Cept he's younger."

"I'm her captain, not her dad," Tock muttered finally, although secretly the "dad" word worked fine for both of them.

"Guardian, dad, captain, call it what you will, but you are still like her parent. You look out for her and stuff," Rory said even if he knew that, following Chris. He was actually going some place and she was tried of just standing around. They did have a dead line, after all.

Then she looked at Wisp. "I wouldn't be worried about Jace being anywhere alone. With those metal legs of hers, all she had to do is kick something, and she'd rule," she commented with a grin.

Wisp's laughter was bright and ringing. "True, man, dat," she said, following after the others and tucking some incredibly orange star sprinkles into her pack. Wisp had a bad tendency towards weird, weird dialects. "OMG, she's been in such a bad mood lately, though -- ever since me and Iree grew. I think she feels left out, you know? I mean, I remember when I grew and Chris didn't, when we were little, and I was dev-a-stat-ed."

"I still haven't grown," Chris called over his shoulder. "Seems to be a new habit of being stuck a stage younger than you two."

"Wait... he's as old as you two?" Tock asked, distracted. They were heading for the mountain, but it was as good a starting place as any, he figured. What with the treasure hunt.

"Older than Rory," Chris muttered irritably.

"Yep, I'm the youngest out of them," Rory echoed. "But for some reason, I grew first this time," she shrugged it off, moving aside a branch as she walked on. Good thing her shoes were nice and broke in. There was going to be a lot of walking to do.

"And Jace is probably mad because everyone's going before her," she added then, looking back at Wisp.

"Yeah," said Wisp, "she doesn't like being left behind, and I guess it's like, even harder when me and Iree are both grown up and Iggy and Antony are both grown up, it's like Chris is the only one left -- does she talk to you about it, Chris? Because she's been like, out of the house 24-7."

Chris blinked. "Antony?" he finally asked. "What does Jace have to do with Antony?"

"Dude, Jace and Antony have been friends since the crib," said Wisp, puzzledly. "He's Mom's pet -- and, well, friends probably isn't right, more like rivals, though I think only Jace is like 'I am your rival!' and Antony is like 'uh okay.' They're always arguing and stuff. But they argue so much they're, like, pals."

"I'm a witness to that, too," Rory pipped in. "When he was giving those self defense things? Jace came in to challenge him and all. So yeah, I'd say they're rival-friends."

Chris snorted. "How anyone can be friends with that stuck up b*****d, I got no clue." Obviously he was still in a bad mood. "And you two," he added. "Stay away from that jerk, he's probably dating three girls already. If anyone could keep it organized, he could."

"Did anyone happen to actually SEE the map that Polly has?" Tock asked, bored with talk of people he didn't know and could care less about.

"Actually," Rory said, slowing down a moment as she really thought back to that day. "I did. She showed me the map for a moment, when she held it up to the sun. From what I remember..."

She crouched down and cleared a place on the jungle floor from the twigs and leaves and things that were there. Then took a twig and drew what she remembered of the map. Course, it wasn't very good. She didn't really study it. But it might give Tock an idea of where to head too.

Wisp leant over to watch her avidly. "Rory has the best memory," she boasted, as though Chris didn't know it and as though Tock cared any.

Tock looked at the map. Then looked at it again. "Are you SURE the X was over these trees right here?" he asked after a long, long time.

"Those are trees?" Chris asked. "Look like scribbles to me."

"Yeah, those are trees."

Rory gave Chris a small glare for that comment. "They're trees, thank you very much. Wisp has color, I don't." Then she back at Tock. "At least you know where to head now. Then she stood up, going to stand next to the other girl.

Boys!

"Well," said Wisp, "I thought they were trees," and both of them looked like slightly haughty teenagers; the slight blonde girl hugged her friend's arm reassuringly. "They were very abstract and inspired trees. Let's go."

Tock sighed, running a hand over his face. Now he knew exactly where and how he'd find his little girl.

Upside down and surrounded by fairies.