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The Usual Suspects have become a clique to be respected and feared.  They occupy a table in the corner of the lunch room near the back door of the cafeteria.  Other cliques give them a respectable distance to conduct whatever ilicit transactions they might need to.

Thursday the table has a visitor;
(http://www.kfaq.net/marvels/2011/Faces/Jonathan_Elliot.jpg)

"Hi, I'm John Elliot.  I'm looking for,"  he glances at a slip of paper in his hand, "Sylvia Avery-Vaughn."

Donnie quirks a pale eyebrow and immediately goes on the defensive. "What for, if I may ask?"

"I was told she's pretty much the managing editor for the school paper.  I was hoping to get a spot as a staff writer, maybe cover the sports stuff."  He looks around, "You mind if I grab a seat?  I'm still new and finding people to talk with has been a little rough."

"uh, sure. I guess. She should be along any time. We don't have a dedicated sports writer right now. Usually COlin, Sarah or Sylvia cover the games and stuff."  Donnie reaches out his hand. "I'm Donnie."

Megan made her way into the lunchroom feeling a bit sad after the accident that had hurt Diane.  It almost seemed like being on the cheerleading squad right now was a jinx, if this kept up, there would no squad left by the start of basketball season.  She noticed John over by the table Dave and Greg secured for the others, talking to Donnie.  She waved, but continued on towards where the remaining cheerleaders were sitting.

“Hey.”  She said as she sat down.  She took a get well card from her bag and handed it to Chloe.  “Got this to take to Diane after school.”  She said as she handed the other girl a pen.

John shakes Donnie's hand and sits down.  "Thanks.  So, is this the table for the paper or just friends?"

John catches sight of Megan and waves in return.

Donnie grins. "People have begun calling this the 'Usual Suspects' table. I think Dave came up with the name and has slowly disseminated it throught the school. A bunch of us are newspaper folk, but not all. So I hear you already took Megan Howell out for coffee.."

Sarah enters with her lunch sack and spots Donnie talking to an outsider, a stranger... at their table!  What could this mean???  Danger?  Mayhem?  Monsters storming the halls?  Oh wait...   She sits down at the table and smiles at both boys.  "Hey... are you our new QB?  I'm guessing because of the muscles and the rumor that our new star was a hottie.  If you're not thats okay you are still cute.  I'm Sarah Rollins, welcome to the table.  No doubt the cheerleaders will swoop down upon you to "rescue" you as soon as they spot you." 

She cracks out her sack of goodies and places a cookie before Donnie & the newcomer.  "Just out of curiosity... what brought you to our little table of infamy?"

"He's here trying to pick up newspaper chicks. Watch out." Donnie smiles sardonically.

Sylvia's making her way toward the lunch table, nose buried in a book she's covered with a butchered brown paper grocery bag.  She had to hit Kel up for one.  According to Mitzi, disposeable grocery bags are the devil.

Plunk.  She seats herself next to Donnie and doesn't even notice the new guy.  Instead she launches into a blind recitation of hellos.  "Hi, Dave.  Hi, Greg.  Hi, Sarah.  Hi, Colin.  Hi, Kel. . . ."  It goes on from there regardless of whether the person named is seated.

"Sylvia. Someone here to see you." Donnie watches for her reaction, jealousy button buzzing slightly..

sotto voce, "playing the role of Sylvia Avery-Vaughn for today will be a paperbag.  More information on the bag can be found in your programs."

Sarah makes a loud interrupting cough near Sylvia.

John takes the cookie with a thank you and nods, "Yeah, I got the QB slot.  Hopfully I wont screw it up."

After Sylvia sits and Sarah makes her joke about the paper bag John adds, "She could draw a face on it, the teachers at my last school wouldn't notice it wasn't a real face."

"Nyuh?"  Sylvia looks up, counts faces, and figures out which of these things is not like the others.  "Who're you?"  Blunt girl when she wants to be, our Sylvia.

Once the rest of the cheerleaders at the table had signed, Megan got up as she said, “I’m going to go get Sylvia, Kel and Dallas’ signatures as well.  See you all at practice.”  She then made her way over towards the Usual Suspect table, smiling at everyone as she got there, though she gave John a somewhat wider smile than the rest.  “Hey everyone.”  She said to the group before she focused on Sylvia and held out the card and pen to her.  “I got a card for Diane Sylvia, getting the squad’s signatures.”

"Sure," Sylvia chirps, and scribbles the usual "get better" message with lots of hearts and smilies.  "I think someone's out to eradicate the pep squad.  We should quit before we're dead or expelled."

Megan chuckled slightly, though Sylvia’s statement did almost seem to be true.  “Well, I don’t scare that easily, so guess I will take my chances.”

"I'm John Elliot.  They said you were the manaing editor for the paper.  I was hoping to get a staff writer position.  Donnie was just saying you don't have a sports writer, I'd be happy to do that if you could use me."

Wow, John sure is trying to get involved in as much as he can.  Megan thought, somewhat impressed with how much he was wanting to take on, though given his interest in going to medical school, every little bit would likely help.  “Well, I am going to see if I can’t hunt down Kel and Dallas to be sure to get everyone’s signatures.  I think that we will be rather busy at practice this afternoon, readjusting our routines for one less person, yet again.”  She did not even want to think about how they were going to have to adjust things, but pretty much knew what they would have to do, which included eliminating one of the pyramids they did as they just did not have enough people now.  They would have to come up with a replacement, but not likely before Saturday’s game.

“Well, see you at practice Sylvia.”  She said with a smile.  She then looked over at the others, the smile still in place.  “See you all later.”  With that, she turned and started towards the exit to see if she could find the two boys on the squad.

"I'm the what?"  She casts a suspicious look at Donnie and whichever other of the newspaper folk are at the table.  "Who said that?  It's a lie, a cruel and vicious lie, but yeah, if you want to write the sports articles, it's fine by me.  You might have to wrestle Kel for it."

"Yeah, I'll see you later."  John says as Megan leaves.  It takes a minute for his attention to come fully back to the table.  "So, I was told to talk to you, and here I am.  Donnie was nice enough to let me sit down, and Sarah gave me a cookie.  I feel at home kind of.  I really appreciate this.  I'm trying to get situated, but so far everyone has been pretty nice so it hasn't been too bad."

"That's because you don't know what's in the cookie."  Sarah grins.  She takes a bite out of a good ol balogna sandwich without another word. 

Donnie raises and eyebrow at Sarah and with one finger, pushes the cookie in front of him away a few inches, then wipes his hands on a napkin.

ooc: hamming it up for the new guy.

John stops chewing and looks down at the cookie.  He pauses a moment and then shrugs, going back to chewing.  "It tastes good, so I guess it's not important what's in it."

Sammy comes flying into the cafeteria (figuratively speaking) and screeches to a halt at the Usual Suspects' table.    In a very animated manner she says, "Where were you guys?  That section of the bleachers that collapsed is right next to where the band sits.  I was able to reach over and pull up some girl who was dangling from one of the bench pieces, but I couldn't do anything else without..."  She belatedly spots the new boy.  "Uh, hi.  I'm Sammy."  She quickly glances at the faces of the others at the table, trying to figure out what's going on.  "Are you, uh, joining the table?"

Colin wonders why he's always late for lunch. Nearly everybody is already there.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen." he looks quite tired but happy.

He notices the new guy, and studies him for a moment.

"John Elliot, the new quarterback? Hi, I'm Colin Crow." he offers his hand with a smile. He practiced a bit switching to ghost sight without changing expression, so now he tries it to give a look to his aura. He doesn't look dangerous, but his friends are slowly turning him into a more cautious guy. After introductions he takes a chair and sits down besides Sarah.

"Ooh, cookies! Is there one for me too?"

"I was planning to... take some pics of the ruined bleachers later, in case we make an article on it. Anybody wants to come with me?" Colin is still a terrible liar, so pretty much everybody can tell there is more about it than taking pictures.

"I'm so there."  And who can miss that little look Sylvia throws Donnie, as if she's asking by telepathy if he'll attend the next sideshow act by the Amazing Colin Crow?

Sarah puts a cookie in front of Colin.  The cookie has a  ;D in the middle in icing.  "I'll always tag along."

"Ah, I hope so, I'm joining the paper."  Joh stands up and shakes Sammy's hand, "John Elliott, nice to meet you.  That's cool that you were able to help someone."


"Yeah, hi."  John shakes Cloin's hand, "Nice to meet you Colin."  Colin's ghost site shows a white aura around John, clean of marks and threads of color.  It's bright and Colin almost squints from the brightness of it before shifting his vision back to normal.


"I'd love to."  John says, "I want to get a look at that too.  Seems awful strange to have happened, and since strange around here seems to mean people with super powers I'd love to look."  He looks around for a minute, "Unless you think I'd be crowding you guys."

As Megan got outside the cafeteria, she could not help but think about John again and how he seemed to be pursuing so many activities.  The drive he seemed to posses was perhaps even more alluring to her than how cute he was, but then she reminded herself she had only just met him last night, and their “date” (was it even a date?) on Saturday might not lead to anything.  Besides, after the way she had let herself go so hard after Greg, she was somewhat cautious about letting herself get to worked up about any guy too quickly.  She would just have to wait and see what happens, especially as lots of girls would likely start vying for his attention.  Focusing back on the present, she tried to think about where she might find Kel and Dallas.

Sammy is still not sure if this guy is joining the newspaper or is getting in for something more, something, oh, along the lines of paranormal adventuring.  But, he is cute, so she drops into a seat next to him and continues to try to figure out if he is just some guy or a paranormal looking for friends.  She accepts his praise about her helping somebody with a shrug and a smile -- she was just there, and the girl needed help, that's all there was to it.  Really.  Nothing to see here, move along citizen...


Sammy looks at him probingly, and asks "Are you on a hunt for people with super powers?  Awful things been happening to people around here because of powers being used in bad ways; why would you want to get close to that kind of trouble?  Are you looking for a story, or something else?"

"I'm not on the hunt.  I just..I'm intrigued by the stuff that's been going on.  I want to go to medical school, maybe specialize in paranormal medicine, to help people I guess.  Teens have it hard enough without having to try and figure out paranormal powers on top of dating and acne and all the other junk going on.  No one should be shut out, and I think that's what happens to people with powers sometimes.  They usually have to hide themselves and lie to the people they love.  That's got to wear on you.  I try to think about that and all the stuff we're going through now, it's just boggling."  John stops talking and looks around.  "I'm babbling, I'll shut up now."

Donnie's eyes are wide. "Well it's a good thing you came along then, because we all have superpowers."  At everyone's surprised look, he stands and says "Sylvia can turn into Spectacular Paper BagLady, Sarah is secretly the Cookie Queen, Kel can change his hair color at will, Sammy is Can Save People From Falling Girl, and we haven't quite figured out what Colin does yet, but I, I am the  mighty Sarcasmas, King of Sarcasm!"

He ducks back down to his seat as everyone starts throwing food at him. "I was only kidding! OW! Who threw threw pretzel?"

"Why paranormal medicine?" Sylvia asks John, meditating on the weirdness of it.  "I mean, what is it about them and you?  What's the connection?"

"Genetics interests me, and most paranormal powers are a result of genetics.  I find it fascinating that having a certain gene makes it not only possible to survive , let's say an exotic chemical bath, but somehow also allow that bath to change you so you have super powers.  It's just something that has always interested me."

"But why not study Huntington's disease or diabetes or something like that?  Something for which a cure could affect millions of people?  Is it just the freakshow thrill of working on someone who can . . . turn invisible or hulk out?"

"My powers aren't genetic.  It was an explosion of a radioactive cookie in the old abandoned cookie factory."  Sarah smiles.  "Hey somebody needs to fix the supers up.  And if you want to do something as humanitarian as being a doctor I don't think I could question your motives about it.  Fortunately Sylvia has no problems in that area so you better spill or she'll chase you around the room.  She made a junior cry the other day.  It wasn't pretty."

"Did you see him run to the nurse's office?" Sylvia asks Sarah with beaming pride.  "I think, when I accept my Pulitzer prize, I'm going to recount that story in my speech."  They're probably joking.

[At least, I hope so.  :)  ]

"Well, as much of a minority as paranormals are, doctors that specialize in treating them are even more rare.  I just thinkt hat in the grand scheme of things I can help plenty of people as a doctor, and the small portion of the population that doesn't usually get helped.  I guess maybe it's the idea that heroes need someone to look after them too."

"Have you ever been tested for the R factor?  You could be paranormal, too.  It's going around like the plague."

"No."  John says flatly, "Never tested."  John looks around the lunch room for a second and then back to the table.  "Hey, you guys seem to know Megan.  Is she seeing anyone, I mean regularly?"

"She's regularly seeing someone," Sylvia says, giving the table a frank, innocent look.

Sammy rolls her eyes.  "Oh crap.  Not another Megan fan!"  Shit.  Outside voice again!  Change the subject!  Say something, quick!

Hurriedly she says, "Be careful poking around here, all right?  There are some really weird things going on at Oak Park -- I've had the bad luck to be right there when some of them have happened -- and it'd be awfully easy for you to get hurt.  You don't want to attract attention from the bad paras while you're seeking out the heroes -- and they're here somewhere, just listen to the school gossip and you'll hear what they've done, and I've even seen some of it.  You might just force the heroes into having to save you too.  Just... just be careful."  

She realizes she's probably said way too much, so she takes a big bite of her sandwich to keep herself from talking.

"Well, I kind of like her.  I'm not sure I'm a fan yet, but I'd like to find out."  He smiles, "I think it's cool that you're worried about me when you barely know me.  That's really nice.  As for being careful, that wont be a problem.  I have an over protective mother, so I know all about being careful."

Sylvia looks at Sammy like she's not sure what to make of what came out of her mouth.  But she'll back Sammy up all the same.  "Yeah, uh.  Careful.  Paranormals are a shifty bunch."

She looks at him hard, and she's not laughing.  She's deadly serious.  "I'm not being overprotective, or worrying too much.  Since the school year started, my best friend has been attacked.  I was there when a teacher and another person were attacked in the girls locker room.  I was there when a boy was attacked in the hallway outside my classroom.  I watched another boy being attacked by bees, then dropped from several stories up.  That's not all of it either.  I watched another boy die when he was gone after.  I don't want to watch that again, not if I can help it.  So please, just... never mind.  Just remember that the girl who keeps people from falling tried to warn you, but don't expect her to send you a card when you're in the hospital."  She stands up abruptly.  "I forgot, I have a quiz to study for.  I'll see you guys around."

John watches Sammy go and turns back towards the table.  "I get the feeling she thinks I'm not serious about being careful."

"How careful can you be?  Do paranormals go around with warning labels?"

Colin looks at the cookie, then back at her, with eyes that could melt a block of ice. A little thing like this, and despite all the horrors of the world, his heart stays warm. There are people all around, so he only leans in to  give her a little kiss under her ear, and the contact with her neck sends shivers down his spine.


"No, I don't think so." he gives a quick nervous look o his other friends, but this time he's sincere.


Colin just looks at him strangely.
The stuff *we* are going through?
Uhm, that analysis of his wasn't too far off. Either he's quite perceptive, or...


Colin just laughs.
"Don't you remember? I'm the scary Memory Lord. The one that's gonna embarrass all of you at your weddings with the stories you though you forgot."


"Sylvia!" he gives her a stern look.



"It's not that. No amount of carefulness would have saved the guy who died."

He stops, realizing he can't explain much further than that.

"John, have you ever met a paranormal?"

"What?  She dates people."  Sylvia shrugs.  It's nothing more than word play to her.

"Don't worry. You have eaten of the Magic Cookie. The Cookie Queen has marked you under her protection. But watch out for those who shift into Paper BagLadies. Or Werehorses. They bite." Donnie gives Sylvia an innocent look. "What?"

Sylvia, who doesn't typically blush, goes beet red around the ears.  Donnie wasn't supposed to say anything about the biting.

*munch* *crunch* *slurp*  "Where did you transfer from John?"  asks Sarah after polishing off a cookie of her own. 

As Seth was walking around the corner, He almost bumped into Megan. He dropped his books (he wasn't in the habit of carrying a back-pack), from surprise.

Just kinda staring at her, he doesn't say anything and the silence is elongated by it's awkwardness.

"Hi"

A million things go through his head. Seth hears a lot, and he heard about the new guy that Megan had gone out on some date with. And he was like the quarterback or something...He felt a little green with envy

"Hi, Seth".. She said. and suddenly he just decided to do something he would never ever do....He grabbed her by the waste and hand, and pushing her against the wall, made out with her. She was resistant at first, but then she gave in. Man was she a good kisser.

He looked at her. and wanted to tell her how beautiful she was...

---

"Seth..." It was Megan.

He was day-dreaming again, of course. Keep your head out of the clouds lover-boy. She might be going to homecoming with the quarterback for all you know.

His concentration returned and he looked at. Looked at the books.

Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you. How's yourday? He asked as he bent down to pick up his armfull of crap...

I must be the lamest guy at school

Megan looked at Seth a moment as he bent down to get his books after almost running into her and then standing there in a daze for a few moments.  She then knelt down as well to help him gather his books.  “Not too bad, considering our acting captain for the squad broke her leg in the bleacher collapse.”  She replied with a smile.  Standing back up as she handed him the books she had picked up.  “I was just getting the rest of the squad to sign a get well card now for her, as we are likely going to be really busy at practice tonight, have to rework pretty much all our routines for one less person now.  So I’m looking for Kel and Dallas.” 

Lance Harbor, one of the guys from the football team is passing and stops as Megan mentions Kel and Dallas.  "I think I saw them down in the equipment room doing some karate stuff."  he says, then heads towards the table where his regular friends are sitting.

"No, but neither do sociopaths or rapists.  If they do they're subtle labels that you really have to look for, or know how to look for."


"Well with that thought no amount of carefulness will save you from every possible scenerio.  It's all risk mitigation, you use caution to help the things you can control and you try to react quickly to the things you can't.


"Uh, yeah.  My dad worked for the government, I met a few growing up."


"Maryland.  Mom worked in Baltimore and dad worked down in D.C"

"Oh. Famous ones?"

He waits for a moment, then asks again.

"What kind of job gets your family to meet paranormals? And he doesn't work for them anymore?"

“Thanks Lance.”  Megan says with a smile as the Junior walked by, mentioning where Kel and Dallas might be.  “Well, I should go get this card signed.  See you later Seth.”  The blond cheerleader says as she starts off towards the equipment room, not particularly surprised to hear the two were practicing martial arts, something they often did before and after cheerleading practice.

"Famous?  I guess.  I met the old Eagle Force once, and some of the people from Omega Squad.  The reason we're here now is mom and dad retired."

Colin notices that John hasn't answered his question.

So he tries again, hoping to catch him by surprise.

"And you John? What are your superpowers?"

It looks like a follow up to Donnie's joke. But Colin's face is totally serious.

John stops talking and looks at Colin for a second.  He smiles and says, "I'm almost completely obtuse."

"Finally, a guy who admits he's not always right."  Long pause.  Sylvia looks at the faces around the table.  "Right angle?  Not obtuse?"  There is an acute lack of response.

"It would be funnier, if I wasn't likely to fail Algebra this quarter."  John says flatly.

"It's geometry," Sylvia mumbles with an apologetic shrug.

"It's math, and math is not my best subject."

Gotcha!


Colin smiles too. And he's even so polite he chuckles at Sylvia's explanation of her joke.

John, you and I have got to spend some time together.


Colin jumps at the opportunity.
"If you need some help, I'd love to lend a hand. Somehow, this year I rock at Algebra."

Sammy comes back, redfaced and unable to meet anybody's gaze.  "It's hard to study for a quiz when you don't have your notes.  'Scuse me." She drops down on her knees and crawls under the table to retrieve a green binder that somehow fell out of her bag.

"Sammy, quiz aside, is it all right?" Colin asks, concerned as usual.

"Bad at math?"  Uh oh Colin...  "Me too.  I can add and subtract but as soon as you toss in letters I'm pretty useless.  I get by but it never sticks.  I can get the homework but by the time a test rolls around... nothing but static." 

Sammy flashes a grateful glance at Colin.  "I'm ok.  I.. I just worry too much sometimes, that's all. Thanks."  She looks over at Sarah.  "If Colin can't help you, I might be able to.  My dad taught me some tricks to get me ready for this level of work, and suddenly everything made sense.  Its almost intuitive now."

"You should try to give me a real chance to help you sometimes, instead of running away." he chides her jokingly.


Colin looks at Sarah.
"That's not a bad idea. Maybe Sammy's way works better than mine for you."

There's just a little bit of a frown on his face. He would have loved to be able to help her and spend some more time with her.

Friday John joins the Usual Suspects at lunch and offers up copies of all the newspaper articles for the fires.  Each is noted with the address.

OOC: This is probably a duplication of work that someone else has done (Sylvia?).

Along with the articles are pictures of the scenes as they were this morning and a map with the locations plotted out.

"I took the pictures this morning on my way in.  I didn't know if they'd be any help, but I figured you guys might be able to gain some useful insight from them."

As soon as he sees John, Colin slaps his forehead. With all that happened the day before, he forgot to tell the others about him. He takes a mental note to do that soon.

Colin Quickly checks the articles, but he already has them. Instead he takes a look at the map.
"Good idea, John."
Now, if this was a movie the dots on the map would surely form a pattern that would lead the investigators to the culprit. Colin isn't very confident of that, but he examines it anyway, just in case.

Then he looks at the pictures. He's not sure what kind of insight he could get from them, though.

Blackbird? How are you? We haven't talked in a while. At the burned warehouse I was given a vision so strong my friends could see it too. I guess this girl is important. Can you give me some advice about how to find her?

You'll probably think I only talk with you when I want something of you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.

Colin cranes his neck around looking for Sarah. He's got something to ask her.

"So John, you have your first game tomorrow. How's the team?" then a thought comes to his mind "Do you have to... hold back on the field?"

Sarah enters on cue from the lunch line and smiles at everyone before sitting next to Colin.  She sits very close by, her shoulder brushing his and her hip next to him.  She smiles again just for Colin before setting out her food.  She puts out her salad and juice and sprinkles a few croutons across the top with a little dressing from a squeeze pack.  "Hey there!  I actually made it to lunch for once.  Amazing huh?  I got my math done to the overlord's satisfaction and I'm free to socialize."

Colin's eyes drink Sarah up as if she was water in the desert.

"I'm really glad you could make it."

He rummages through his bag and hands her a flyer.

"I found this this morning. There's this nice band playing at the club on Parkside Avenue tomorrow, and i was wondering if you... would like to go there with me? I have been missing you." he tells her, leaning in.

Sarah reaches for the flyer.  "What's a nice band?  Classical music or something?"

"No, they're a rock band. The Pebbles. They're no much famous yet, but I've heard one of their song at the radio, it was a nice ballad. Maybe Seth knows them. I thought it would be kind of cool." Colin explains.

Looking at the map Colin can't help but feel that he knows those streets for some reason.  OOC: Make an Int check to remember. (Apply any feat bonuses.)

When Colin looks at the pictures he sees ghosts.  Shifting the angle of the picture changes the ghosts some.  Straight on it's one ghost, surrounded in flame.  Tipping the picture he sees other ghosts, like a gathering.  His guess is that the other ghosts are people that attended the party that was held in each location.


Don't worry yourself, we will have your whole life together.  You must make time for all parts of it.  Finding her wont be the problem, it's what you do when you find her that will determine the future.


"I have a lot of practice at that."  John says.  "I also have a system for making plays and stuff so I'm not taking too unfair an advantage of the other side."

OOC: Intelligence check (1d20+5=18) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=839866)


"Uhm... John, can I keep them? I have to go to the library later to do some research, and these could be useful.


Colin nods to himself. He only hopes he will be able to help her.


"There was a talk of genetic and drug testing for school athletic groups. You've heard of the problems we've had with that new drug, superman, haven't you?"

Sarah smiles happily, "Definitely cool. I'm in as long as we're not off on a mission impossible.  Do you want to meet somewhere?"  Sarah munches away at the salad happily.  "You know... this rabbit food isn't half bad.  We were all out of bread for sandwiches and I just couldn't think of anything clever to make this morning." 

Colin smiles too. "I don't know. You tell me."


Colin looks at the salad, and for a moment he feels very bad. He wonders if it will ever go away. The False Sarah, that day, took a salad. He opens his true eyes and looks at her, just to make his heart feel better. He has learned to like very much her brilliance, and her strange double shadow.

There are newspaper boxes on the corners of those streets.  You have a list of the boxes in case you need to get extra copies of the paper, so that you can tell your supplier what box you got them from.  Those boxes might all be on the same delivery route.


"Sure."


"Oh yeah, I know all about that.  I read some of the articles and the stuff your guys did in the school paper."

OOC: All seems normal

Megan makes her way into the lunch room as normal, smile and cheerful attitude in place.  But, as she notices John over at the Usual Suspects’ table, she does not make her way straight towards the other cheerleaders as normal, waving to them and indicating she would be there in a bit.

“Hey everyone.”  She says with a smile as she comes up.  “How are you all doing?”  After people reply, for those that do reply, she focuses on John.  “Hey John, I realized something last night after you called, don’t know why I think of this earlier.  I can bet your feeling a bit behind in classes, and in addition to the Freshman Lit class we have together in the afternoon, we also have the same teachers for two other classes, even if it is at different times.  I would be more than happy to get you copies of my class and reading notes to help you in catching up.”  She said with a warm smile.

He takes Sarah's hand, filled with a relief she cannot understand.

"Let's go eat somewhere before. Mmm, what would you like? Thai, mexican, italian? Or someplace fancier?"


"Hi Megan. I'm quite tired but I'm fine. What about you?" he asks. There's just a little stiffness in his back, thinking of the evening before, and of his other friends that still have to arrive.

"That would be awesome.  I appreciate that."  John can't help but smile, "You wanna stick around for a while, I brought some stuff by about those arson fires, I thought they might be something we should look into."

OOC: The GM just had a continuity flash, John wasn't there for that.  So, I'll assume he was looking into them independently and wanted to share what he had with the group.

Sarah sees Colin decompress from another mysterious tension and wonders if it is another vision or something else only Colin knows what...

"If you'd like... how about Thai.  I just want some of those crispy shrimp appetizers with some chili dipping sauce.  Mmmm." says Sarah. 


Sarah responds to Megan brightly, "Hey there!  Want to join us?"

Megan had given Sarah a warm smile in response before she had sat down and started talking to John.


Megan tried not to think about the fact there was a camera hidden in her room filming in thermal imaging every time she was in there as she replied, “Yeah, I know that feeling, but then I am busy as always.” 


Megan’s smile broadened some as she replied.  “Cool, when would you like to try to get together to go over stuff?  I’m sure you likely have some pre-game rituals you will be going through Saturday, so I wouldn’t want to disrupt that, maybe Sunday afternoon or evening?”

When he asked if she wanted to stick around about the arson fires, she glanced around at the others briefly, and nodded, waiting to hear what might they might have on the events.

Sammy enters the cafeteria with a group of kids, laughing and smiling at something somebody said.  She glances over at the Suspects' table and her smile falters.  Pasting it back on, she gives a small wave in the table's general direction and keeps on moving.

Sarah notices Sammy's wave. I forgot to call!  Sarah winces at her own mental shout.  She climbs out of her chair, putting her hand on Colin's shoulder for support and says, "I'll be right back." 

She heads over towards Sammy and company and approaches the table a little shyly.  She didn't really know any of these kids except second hand and didn't want to intrude.  She smiles at Sammy, "Hey there... got a minute?"

Colin can't quite tell how the thought of Sarah enjoying those appetizers for a moment takes off and goes in... embarrassing directions.
Shaking his head, he just says "Ok. Good. I like Thai too."

Brain? This is Colin. You'd better behave. Or else. What if they hear you downstairs? You don't want that, do you?


As he's left alone with John and Megan, Colin raises his eyebrows.

"Well... We kinda already looked a bit into the arsons... We've come to the conclusion that one of these buildings have been used for a party, and at this party... there was a... gang rape." he says frowning.

"We think that the paranormal responsible for the arsons is a girl, the victim of that rape. We're trying to find her before... well, as soon as possible. She needs help. We're trying to find those responsible for the rape too. And what you brought today could be a real help with that, John.

As for the other thing, the one we talked about yesterday, I haven't got a chance to tell them yet. We've been... distracted."

"Sure."  Sammy gestures at the others at the table.  "Heather, Janie, Ty, Zach, Aaron, this is Sarah.  She's with the school newspaper."
Sammy turns back towards Sarah.  "Do you want to talk here, or somewhere else?"

Sarah smiles and nods at each of them... "Heather, Janie, Ty, Zach, Aaron... hi.. I'm sorry but I totally suck with names so if I see you later I'm going to forget so don't think I'm some snob or anything I just have a bad head for names... and math.. but nevermind that."  Grinning foolishly she turns back to Sammy.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't want to interrupt your lunch or take you away from your friends.  I just wanted to say sorry for forgetting to call you last night after I said I would.  I'm an idiot and I got caught up in stuff.  Can I talk to you later?  I could call or we could go hang at the Tasty or something after school if you aren't busy?  Are you busy?  Is there practice?  Whichever way you like... but I just wanted to talk a little."

Megan had looked away from Colin and the table as Sarah went over to talk with Sammy, but she quickly had her attention pulled back as Colin explained some of what they had learned about one of the arson sites.  Snapping her head back towards Colin, she had a shocked and horrified expression on her face.  “A what?”  She asked, somehow managing to keep her voice down.  Her eyes dropped down to the pictures of the arson sites on the table as her voice dropped, the look on horror still on her face, along with one of sadness.  “That’s…terrible.  I..couldn’t even imagine.”  She could not help but shudder slightly as she looked back at Colin.  Given what he had described when he had worked to help Katie, Megan had a feeling that Colin had seen the event replay, the look she gave him was one of sympathy. 

Colin lowers his eyes. "It was definitely terrible. She is going out for revenge, and I think we should stop her and help her before she does something she won't be able to live with."

If she hasn't already done it.

Sammy nods at Sarah's questions.  "No big deal.  I wasn't expecting a call; I kind of figured we were all done for the night once Colin got his stuff and said Donnie was okay."  She shrugs apologetically.  "There's a game tomorrow, so there's definitely band practice after school.  I'll probably be free after that; all of my friends have dates, so I'm on my own -- oh, right.  Colin and you probably have something lined up.  Aaargh!"  She smiles.  "How about you call me whenever you feel like it?"

"I can meet you or call you after practice tonight.  Colin wants to go out tomorrow to see a band called the pimples.. no that's not right.  The Pebbles?  I don't know but it could be cool.  If your dad is still in the dark it might be better to meet outside of your house and not on the phone.  I'll split some french fries with you at the Tasty?  I'll just grab a booth after school and do homework and nurse a milkshake til you show up,"  Sarah offers.

"OK, I'll find you there after practice."  Sammy motions towards the Suspects table and grins.  "You'd best get back.  Colin's giving you puppy dog eyes.  Poor baby."

Megan nodded solemnly.  “Yeah, I could see her wanting revenge, I probably would to.  But your right, she needs help and while I might want to try to justify her actions, she is clearly moving into the realm of premeditation, the law likely would not be to lenient on her if she seriously hurt or worse, killed, one of those responsible.”  The situation was a very difficult one, while the blond teen could easily see herself wanting the same revenge, and perhaps it was deserved, allowing the girl to do so could only end up further ruining her life, but it likely, at this point the girl did not care.

Letting out a breath, after a moment, Megan looked back at Colin.  “Well, hopefully on a slightly lighter note, I have something I think I would like you to take a look at.”  She said as she reached down and opened her backpack, taking out the note that she found in her locker on Wednesday.  She held it out to Colin as she went on, “If we’re lucky, this is just harmless and nothing to fret over, but I found this in my locker right before lunch on Wednesday, along with a single rose.  I had Sammy look it over and compare it to the note her friend got from that bee guy, and they didn’t match.  But the wording used in this note still kinda gives me the creeps.”

(ooc SO, John has not replied to Megan’s suggestion for times to meet to go over old notes and such ;))

OOC:
Megan/thevshi - this what you were looking for?

http://groovygamers.com/forum/index.php?topic=2783.msg83015#msg83015 (http://groovygamers.com/forum/index.php?topic=2783.msg83015#msg83015)

"Sunday is good."  John says, "Maybe after six, the folks like to have a sit down dinner on Sunday night.  I could come over after or we could meet at the library."


"If you're right, then we should try to find the people responsible too.  If we can't convince her to testify or press charges, then we have to protect them.  As much as that must sound pretty backwards.  If we do find her, is there someone that we can have her talk to, someone that can give her the help she needs?"

“After six is great.”  Megan replied with a smile.  “Probably best to come over to my parents.”  She added.

 (ooc no OS, that wasn’t it :)  But thanks. This likely takes place before the talk about the arsonist and Megan giving Colin the card from the secret admirer :))

Sarah grins at Sammy, "Oh don't worry about poor Colin's puppy dog eyes.  He's tougher than he looks.  He has to be considering some of the stuff he's been seeing lately..."  She shakes her head at that dark thought.  "But my salad is getting cold.. er warm.. what does salad do?"  She shrugs and gives the rest of the table a quick, "Nice to meet you all, see you around."

She waves to Sammy and heads back to the Usual Suspects.

Finding her spot next to Colin she is happy to eat her lunch in peace.  She smiles at her boy one more time, "Anything dire come up while I was gone?  Please say no."

While she's munching she slips her cell into her lap and taps out a message to Sylvia.
"Run tomorrow?  5 am?"

Colin takes the note and reads it.

"It does? I'd say it's kind of cute, in its own way."

He closes his eyes  and tries to feel if there is something about it, if only to make her friend stop worrying.


"I definitely want to find them too. And... you're right, we should look for someone who can help her, but first I need to talk to her. I think there is something that I can do for her."

I hope there is.



"No, I was just explaining them about the arsons. How is Sammy?"

He feels a little guilty for leaving her that way the night before, but... he had to. It was starting to be wrong.

As Colin stated the words were kind of cute, Megan smirked slightly.  “Yeah, they could be read that way, and hopefully that is all it is.  But if you think about them more literally, then they get creepy.  ‘all the attention an man can offer?” 

She managed to give Sarah a smile as she rejoined them.  “Yeah, he was filling us in on things, hopefully there is something that can be done to help that poor girl.”

There is a swirling of color and light around the note.  It remains in focus while everything else fades into something else, some place else.  


The world swirls back into normal focus, and Colin is staring at the note in the lunch room.

Colin resurfaces from his vision with a slight grin on his face and gives her the note back.

"Nope. Nothing creepy. It's as cute as I said. When he musters his courage, please be kind. Don't break his heart." he tells her.

He smiles at it in his mind, as he looks at Sarah, thinking of how it would be nice to give her all the attention a man can offer. Then he looks down in sudden embarrassment and he shifts on his chair.

Yes, brain, I know that's not helping. I'm sorry.

Megan takes the note back as Colin allays her fears.  “That is assuming he ever does.”  She replies, rather relieved it is not some psycho.  “But I will be gentle.”  She glances over at John, knowing that it might be hard to not break the mysterious boy’s heart, given what she was starting to feel and hope for with John.

Dave arrives late to the table.  He says his helols and hands Sylvia a USB Flash Drive.  "This is that stuff you asked for."  he says, and then heads off to get some food.

It surprises the hell out of Sylvia, who seemed to want only to get a beverage to go with her soy mozzarella sandwich.  She sneaked into the lunch line and planned to sneak out again, but now the jig is up.

Sarah asks Colin quietly, "What kind of band is it?  Should I be dressed for a mosh pit a dance or just stand around casual stuff?  And dinner?  Is the place you have in mind fancy or casual?"

"They're young. They're quite good. They sound a little like the Counting Crows in their own songs, but I think they're going to do mainly covers tomorrow. I... I was thinking casual. But if you prefer otherwise, I'll comply. Either way, though, please wear comfortable shoes. I really want to dance with you. I've been dreaming about it."

After Sarah came back, her and Colin began quietly talking, possibly talk of some date or something, a thought that made Megan smile, happy for the two of them.  With the more serious conversation apparently over for the moment, she looked over at John, who had fallen a bit silent and gave him a smile.  “So, do you have some pre-game ritual to psyche yourself up?”

John's attention returns to the here and now at the sound of Megan's voice, and his eyes come up to hers.  "No, not really.  I just go out and play.  What about you, any rituals before a game?"

“Do you count fixing your hair and putting on makeup as a ritual?”  Megan replied with a grin.  “But I do like to listen to the music we have dances for before hand.  I’ll think about the dances one time through, but otherwise just listen to the music and get myself excited about being out there and trying to get the crowd into the game and behind our team.  But then, I guess a lot of what we do is scripted, the dances and cheers and all.  You have to go out there and be ready for whatever develops.  Sure the plays might be practiced and planned out, but you don’t know when you will call which plays.  We know that during the first timeout, we will do a particular dance, and at the break after the first quarter some other dance.”

Elrod Janush catches up to Sammy, "Hey.  Got plans for Saturday night, if so cancel them.  We're going to the after game party.  I've decided you don't want me to be nice and ask, so I'm just lsaying it out.  Cool?'

Sammy stares open mouthed at Elrod.  "The hell?..."

Realizing that she's giving the world an all too intimate look at her (thank you dental floss and genetics) cavity free teeth, she snaps her mouth shut.  Then she opens it again and words come streaming out.  "OK, take that back, you're nice, I like you, but... what?  I mean, if you want to hang out with me, I can do that, and if you've really gone off the deep end and want to ask me out, I've already officially said yes once for crying out loud, and a bunch more times unofficially.  You haven't done anything to make me regret it, not yet anyhow, so how about you be nice and ask instead of ordering me around, so I can have a chance to be nice in return and say "Why yes, Elrod, I'd like that very much!  I was hoping you'd ask me out!"  Who knows, if you're polite, I might even let you hold my hand when my chaperone isn't looking!  She only looks evil, but she has a soft heart."

"That would be so against my base nature though."  Elrod says.  "I was asking, in my own slightly off-center way.  So, you can either have nice, or you can have me, but I need to know which one it's gonna need to be."  He pauses, but not long enough for Sammy to speak, "Wait, I have an idea.  Let's iron all this out Saturday at the party.  I'll pick you up after the game, and we can have a fight and make up there, it'll be a blast.  You game?"

OOC:  hope this isn't double or triple posted... connection timed out...

Sammy starts laughing, not a simpering little giggle, or even a mild chortle, but a deep rich belly laugh.  When she regains some control over herself, she says, "Yeah, sure, why not.  Pick me up at my house.  You'll have to come to the door though.  Dad doesn't let us go until he inspects the boys."

"Well, I hope he's not looking for structural flaws.  I'm loaded with them."  Elrod says, then leans in and kisses Sammy on the cheek, "Catch you later T-bone."  And he's gone into the crowd.

OOC: Make a Will Save DC 12

OOC:  ...and then, dear reader, he kissed me... (Will Save) (1d20=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=844969)

Swoon?

OOC: A little.  But that's not what the Save was for.

OOC:  guess I'll just have to wait and find out what it is for then, huh?  Oh, bother.

Sylvia comes out of the lunch line and homes in on Sarah in her scary way.  She's there to pass information about the suspicious cheerleader wannabes.  "Hey," she says, and for a second it's like they're meeting on a shadowy film noir corner instead of in a crowded lunch room.  "Can you and Sammy do some quiet investigation?  These are our suspects for the cheerleader hits, I think."

Sarah nods happily.  "Glad to do some actual legwork on one of the many mysteries.  I'm getting together with Sammy later today anyway."

"Excellent," Sylvia says, all Chris Carter terseness, then scoots away before Donnie sees her.

Friday, Lunch Time. (assuming the bleacher investigation was Thursday)

Donnie comes into the lunch room, plopping down his bookbag. "That's it I'm out of World of Warcraft. I was booted form the guilsd because I haven't been playing very much. Punk-bastards. After all I did for them.. "

He sees Colin. "Hey. I don't want to drudge up old memories, man, but I want to take care of the witch thing soon, ok? I have refined my spells as much as I can, and not using them is retarding my learning. Maybe we could look for them at the Halloween party? It'd be perfect to get some casting done;l no-one would really notice, I think. Anyone seen Sylvia? She said she had some plans tonight with her sister, and i wanted to talk to her. Her phone is off."

"Hey John, Hi Megan. Look, Megan, I apologize for losing my temper yesterday. Something set me off and I went off the deep end."  He shrugs andgoes to buy lunch.

"Well, on the bright side, you got your Epic item shipped at home..." Colin offers with a smile.

"Didn' t we already talk of this? Anyway, I'm fine with that. Only thing... Are you sure they won't be busy somewhere else, and will surely go at the party? After all, I could expect of witches to... work  that night.
And nope, no Sylvia around here. You're worried?"

Donnie grins at Colin's Epic  comment. "True."


"I know. I just want to get it over with."


His attention fades a bit as he looks around the cafeteria, a wistful, still in the bloom of new love, puppy-dog look in his eyes as he looks for his master girlfriend. "No, I was just missing her, since she will be hanging out with her sister tonight doing sisterly things."

(ooc give a girl a chance to answer ;))


Megan looked up from talking with John as Donnie greeted the two of them.  She gave him a smile and nodded.  “Its okay Donnie, I sort of lost my temper as well.  I think we all have things weighing down on us.”

John looks up.  "The party isn't on Halloween, so it's not like some big witches night otherwise."

Megan listened to the discussion about trying for the witches during the Halloween party, trying to focus on what was being said instead of the fact that she was going to be going with John like they had planned yesterday evening and then talked a bit about the details a bit more on the phone later last night.  She looked at Donnie and said, “Donnie, I clearly have no clue about what you have been working on to deal with these girls.  But, are you certain that it is something thing that won’t be noticed by anyone else?  Like John said, they might get together on Halloween night, possible somewhere isolated.  We know who they are, maybe we could follow them and deal with them then?  That way we can be sure they are all together.  The party is going to be huge, and spread out, they might not be all together for very long.  But you two know a lot more than the rest of us about dealing with them, the rest of us are just there to back you up if for some reason we need to.”

Donnie looks at Megan speculatively, then obviously decides to level with her and John. He looks around, then in the air between himself and the two he draws several magical symbols in the air, recasting his daily Bitch Patrol spell. Golden motes of light follow his fingertip and sparkle  in the air, lingering for several seconds as he completes the mystic pass.
"I know this is new to you, John, but Megan already may have heard that I am a spellcaster. I have been researching spells to keep the witches from hurting others or themselves. Optimally, if we could capture a number of them together, my binding spell would have a greater effect. I have, however, grafted on a continuing aspect to the spell, somewhat like a contagious magical disease, that will leap from one witch to another in close proximity. This will only effect certain witches, ones specified when we discovered what they had done to Colin.
What others can do for me is to will me their energy, focussing your will and intent on making the binding 'stick'. Surrounding the target or targets would work best, and I figure that would be damn easy to do at a masquerade party without raising their suspicions until it is too late.
This spell, which I have dubbe 'Do Unto Others' is the most humane, non-violent, and subtle of the spells I could come up with, and is often used by white witches and other magical traditions to keep spellcasting troublemakers from hurting or using other people."

John just looks at Donnie for a few seconds.  Then he looks around at the others at the table, then back at Donnie.  "Damn, we didn't have anybody as cool as you guys at my last school."  he says, a strange sort of bemused smile on his face.

Megan looks at Donnie a moment after he casts his protection spell and explains his plan.  “Wow, that’s awesome Donnie.”  She said.  “Here I thought we might have to beat them up or something…though I think Sarah might still want to do that.”

She thought a moment and said.  “I guess the party might be the best time to try for them.  Hopefully we can get them all in the same room for that.”

"Yeah, I imagine she does and I'll hold one down. But lets make sure they can't do anything back first."

Colin raises an eyebrow for a moment.

"Donnie, my magic probably works differently, but...  if I tried something on someone thinking 'take this, you bastard, so when you'll be powerless against me I will kick your ass'... well, I'm quite certain it would come back to bite me."

Donnie purses his lips at Colin. "It was a joke, Colin. They will be written off to me after I have cast the spell. Their influence will no longer concern me, as hopefully their power to hurt others will be broken."

So I shouldn't thump them?  Figures.  Sarah takes a big bite of salad and keeps her mouth closed.

Colin looks at Donnie, then at Sarah, and gets quite sad.

"Why do you all see me this way? It's not what I meant. I'm not 'saint colin'. They did what they did to me, and tried to kill you, do you think I really care if you even rough them up a bit? I was just worried about you, Donnie. I simply wanted to say that magic is not something to be taken lightly.

Since when it's a bad thing to worry about one's friends? But if I bother you, you just tell me, and I'll shut up."