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AriyaLauna apparently likes to fight with Charles:


Charles took in a deep breath to compose himself for a moment. "Look, if Megan doesn't want to train, then she won't have to train. That's it. Whenever she wants to, you can give us a call. Her power is latent, so shouldn't cause to much problems. Just know that when she gets older, things may get seriously out of hand when she hasn't learned to control her power, and some serious accidents may happen."He did shot her an annoyed look. "Look, I understand you're mad right now, but I can assure you that all the other guardians are doing just fine and are having no problems. I happen to know Flashcharge far longer than you and I can ASSURE you, he will NOT be turning. Ever."

"Well maybe I'm just not right for this then!" AriyaLauna had, at first, been a little ashamed of herself, he'd spoken so calmly, but now he was attacking her, "Apparently I can't do anything right myself," she began to choke a bit on tears, " I don't have a freakin' big operation to be taking care of, yet I'm messing up with one little kid. Must be me." she shook her head, "Maybe the only mistake you've made is choosing me then, if everything is else is ok. You're obviously such a better person than I am, and handle so much and with greater ease..." she shook her head again, "No, forget it. I'm--I can't leave Megan alone too long," she turned around, embarressed by her tears and outburst, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't... shouldn't have done that."

He moved forward and put a hand on her shoulder to pull her back. "Hold on you. We're not finished yet." His voice had deepened and sounded harsher than ever. He had never spoken to a guardian like this. "Look, we chose you for a reason. Why do you think we sought out guardians were the children? Because we, as in the government personell, are simply not suited to deal with children. I have no critisism for you. Only admiration. I just do not and will not accept any kind of insulting behaviour towards me, the Agency or our Supers. I understand Flashcharge can be a pain sometimes, but he's a good kid, and daily risks his life to save us all. You should not judge him so quickly and just based on what Megan feels. I understand you want to keep them seperate, and we will, but you should not judge him without knowing him." He took in a deep breath. "I am not claiming to be better than you. For the love of God, I'm just a man, one who can barely keep up with everything, who is stressed all the time and dead tired from all the unexpected trips and visits I keep on having to make just before another disaster comes up and someone gets killed." He was shaking now, and another red gleam was visible in his eye. This time lasting much longer than that one time in the bedroom. But as soon as Ariya could focus on it completely, it was gone. Charles took in a very deep breath and closed his eyes to calm himself. "Look, I apoligise. It is just that I consider Flashcharge a very close friend of mine. And I do not take kindly to my friends being insulted. Just like you don't take kindly to being shoved around like this, and the way we're treating Megan now." He smiled tiredly at her. "You should probably visit Megan now. I think she's waiting."

"It has nothing to do with what Megan says. I almost never hold the same opinion she does," AriyaLauna had pulled away from Charles grasp, she didn't look too accepting to anything that he had said, "I told you a month, maybe you should make sure you have another guardian, because when this is up, I don't think I'll be staying." She waited a moment to see if he'd be answering her, butwasn't too keen on staying with this man very long.

Charles looked sadly at her. "To be Megan's guardian is all up to you. If you want to leave her, then I will respect your decision and we will find a new guardian for Megan."

"I don't want to leave Megan. But I hate everything else about this."

"What? What is it I can do for you?"

"I don't know!" AriyaLauna took several breaths, the comment hadn't been a sarcastic one, but as she was about to go on about her problems, it could easily be construed as one, "You pull a country girl like me up out of her home, dump her stuff in an apartment, without ever saying what's going on, away from all her friends and in a freakin' big city when she's terrified of being around big crowdsand I suddenly don't have my same job, which is dealing with HIGH SCHOOLERS, not ten-year-olds. I haven't had experience with kids Megan's age since college.. And I'm torn from my church, and can't make any friends here because I'm too busy Megan doesn't do something like run off...do you know how much of a miracle it is that this is the first time you've found out about her running off? And every time I seem to talk to my boss... or whoever you're associated with... I get hollered at, and I've been terrified twice in a week over that girl's life and it's not like I can TALK to anyone, because then I'm somehow giving out some kind of information that I shouldn't. And what if it's too late? What if I've already put her on some sort of hit list? What then? I can't seem to connect with anyone and---" she stopped suddenly, having merely confused herself because of the disconnectedness of her own speach.

"I'm sorry about all of that. But you ARE allowed to speak to others and make friends, as long as you don't say a word about the Agency, Supers and Megan. This is all for safety, surely you understand it?" "We gave you a chance to decline the offer, yet it was your choice to accept it. You can still quit if you want to, but you don't want to. What is it that I can do to help?!" Charles was probably as frustrated as Ariya was right now.

"You don't understand," AriyaLauna sighed, "Forget it."

"I guess I don't." Charles shook his head, "But I won't forget it. We'll talk about this later, after we both have gotten some sleep and aren't so worried." He turned around and walked to the exit. "Megan'll be fine. Good evening."

"Sorry. Bye," AriyaLauna nodded and turned around to go back in the room. Megan was already asleep. That would give AriyaLauna plenty of time to think.

BURNT, SORE, BUT BONDING:

Megan was sent home with AriyaLauna early the next morning. She'd only slept half the night, and AriyaLauna hadn't slept at all. She'd been read to and they'd watched movies. Apparently Megan's condition wasn't horrible, she was able to go home the following evening.

The little girl was, of course, extremely sore. AriyaLauna spent all her time the beginning of that week in Megan's room, ready to jump anytime Megan wanted anything. At first, the child figured that she was being watched to be sure she didn't do anything wrong. It infuriated her, but she was too sore and tired to arue.

By the end of the week, though, when megan was more or less alright, she had rather begun to enjoy the extra attention. For Megan, it was a week of at first being forced not to react so heavily, but that had resulted in forced observation of AriyaLauna, and thus forcefully not being so self-centered. She was having to reconsider a lot of what she thought of her guardian. For AriyaLauna, it was a blessed week of less hollering and arguing and more game playing and relaxing.

The big surprise for both of them came at the end of the week when Megan decided to challenge AriyaLauna again.

"I hate supers."

"I'm only going to make you go back once, unless something special happens. You don't have to train."

"They're mean and TRY to hurt people!"

"Well, they are a little self-centered."

Megan huffed, a little annoyed and surprised that AriyaLauna hadn't tried to fight it. She tried a different angle, "They aren't people."

"Well, they're... Well, no. They aren't like us."

Megan was really surprised then. She paused, staring at AriyaLauna as if she'd just been slapped, but then took a brave breath, "I'm like them."

"No you aren't."

"But...but I have special powers!"

"But you aren't like THEM. You're a lit--young lady with special powers, and you're in touch with reality. In reality, not everyone can fit a mold, and they think everyone can. They're wrong."

"They're bad."

"No! No, I didn't say that. They're very good, well-intentioned people. They're just mistaken. It isn't your fault that any of this happened. You have special powers, but that doesn't mean that you aren't normal. You just can do something extra. Like---like... Some people are espeically good at Math. You're just especially good at something different."

"I'm not bad?" Megan was looking more and more confused as she tried to understand this. It wasn't her fault? The adult was saying it had been other adults fault, not hers?

"Of course not! You haven't done anything bad yet! You're not bad until you hurt people just to hurt them."

There wasn't an answer to that for a long time. Megan pulled up her book to pretend like she was reading, but after several long minutes of trying to blink tears out of her eyes, she finally put it down, "Yes I AM. I am 'cause I can't help it 'cause I got powers!"

AriyaLauna blinked, now the one that was surprised, "Uh.. Well.. uh. No. Not true. Who said that?"

"EVERYONE says that! Cassidy and Linda and Pappy and the teachers and--_"

"No, no, nonono! Wrong! Just.. just because you have..." AriyaLauna shook her had, at a loss for words.

"It's TRUE! What about that lady that blew ev'r'body up? And...'Nd the guy that murdered ev'rone 'nd--"

"Shh, shh, no. What about the people without special powers that kill and steal? Does that mean every person is bad? What about people with special powers that do really, really good things and never hurt anyone? They're good, aren't they?

"Pappy always said I was bad though."

"But you dad thinks you're wonderful."

"HE'S been in jail! And he's the only adult that likes me!"

"I think you're wonderful! I love you, Megan. You're just hard to get along with sometimes."

"S'your job. You're just part oft the gov'nment."

"No. No, I'm not," AriyaLauna denied that almost feriously, "I just got here by accident, just like you did. I argue with those people all the time."

"Arguing with the gov'ment is bad... Then you're..." Megan looked even more confused. But this woman wasn't bad, but she did bad stuff...

AriyaLauna guessed Megan's thoughts, and took a breath, "Everyone is sometimes bad, when they make mistakes, or they do things out of anger, or when they're beng very, very thoughtless. I think Flashcharge made a mistake and wasn't thinking, but he isn't BAD. He's a very good person, he's considered to be a hero. Even the nicest person in the world can do bad things, that doesn't make him or her bad. You just have to remember that being good takes practice and work and thought. Being bad is just doing what you want all the time and not caring about anyone else."

Megan didn't answer that, and after a few minutes AriyaLauna stood up to go pace in her room. She had just said a lot of things that made herself ashamed about how she'd been acting toward Charles, Flashcharge, and the agency in general. And had learned something very seriously wrong about the way Megan had been taught to think. So that was what was wrong. Poor Megan! Well, she would see to it, and then it would get better. Now that her little charge had unwittingly given AriyaLauna something of a key, she'd be able to help for real. And it had taken a "bad" act to do it.

The messenger shot an annoyed look at the letter in his hand. He wasn't sure if he liked delivering all these messages. And he had so many more addresses to go. He wondered what those governement guys were up to.

Sighing he walked over to the house and pressed the doorbell. When the door opened, he handed over the message. "Here ya go, m'am." He shuffled a bit. "I'm s'posed to be waitin' for yer answer." he stood back, awaiting the answer rather impatiently.

The letter contains the following message:


((If this message interrupts your ongoing roleplay, please continue to claim all post you need. AFTER that, PM the mule with the request to have the post removed and reposted.))

**Space Saver**

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