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An effort was made to get a look at the damaged section of the bleachers.  John suggested after practice was over, so that most people would be clear of the campus.  During a break in practice he talks to Megan and lets her know that they're gonna look them over, and invites her to come along.  Afterall, one of her friends was hurt in the accident.

When the group manages to get together and make their way over they are greeted with a truly bizarre site.  The bleachers are built in sections that are bolted together.  The metal piping that makes up the framework is the same kind used to make cyclone fences.  All of the cross beams are melted through, unevenly, and this caused the section to fall.  It was probably fine until ten or so people got on it, the added weight caused the small  brackets that are used to keep the long poles close together to buckle and send the section crashing down.

Looking at the cross beams it looks like something dissolved them, not like a torch was used or anything like that.

Megan realizes that this is the same section Diane sits in religiously when she comes up here.

OOC: Everyone that went make a Notice check DC 21

"What cold do this?"  John asks looking at the raw end of one of the crossbeams.

Notice (1d20=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=827688)

Megan looks around, a slightly cold feeling coming over her as she said.  “I have no idea, but this is the section of the bleachers is where Diane always sits.”

OOC: Notice check (1d20+9=24) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=827701)

Colin takes some photos, not because he really wants to, but mostly because of John. He hoped to have a chance to talk to him in private before getting here. He doesn't like secrets.

He also hopes that, if there is something to be seen here, he doesn't broadcast it like at the burned warehouse. It would be quite difficult to explain. Nonetheless, he feels he has to investigate. What if it happens again, and a kid breaks his neck rather than his leg?

As soon as John looks away, he runs his hand over the ruined end of one of the beams, bracing himself for something (he hopes not too blatant) to happen.

OOC:  Notice the bleachers (1d20=20) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=827683) +2 for a roll of 22


The marching band drilled in the parking lot next to the football field.  When band practice was almost over, the director gathered everybody into an undamaged part of the bleachers and went over administrivia, then let them go.  Sammy waved goodbye to her friends as they left, saying only that she was going to hang around and watch the rest of football practice.  She casually made her way over to the damaged bleachers, going as far as she could go without crossing the warning tape blocking off the collapsed area.  She is laying along a bench, leaning over the edge at a somewhat precarious angle and taking a long hard look at the damage as the others approach.

Notice ROll (1d20+1=18) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=827734) Damn good roll, but impossible for me w/out a Nat 20

Donnie looks interstingly at the bleachers, and wonders if Mr,. Heap was missing some chemicals from the Chemistry department. "Some sort of  acid maybe?" He looks at the ground beneath the melted sections for any odd holes or spots acid might have dropped.

Sylvia's more interested in the human angle.  "Who hates cheerleaders?  Is it just a cliché that cheerleaders are a symbol of high school social oppression, or is it a fact of adolescent social structure?  Has a cheerleader ever been mean to you?" she asks whoever's at hand.  "Is there resentment simmering behind the eyes of the disenfranchised?"

"You mean besides you?" Colin tries to joke, but can't keep a straight face enough for it to be really funny and chuckles.

"Hate doesn't always need a good reason. Actually, most of the time it has a really absurd or petty one."

"Cheerleader hating is so 2005. I think it's an inside job. Was someone outed from the team besides Janush? Someone didn't make it at tryouts and stopmed off, screaming 'I'll get you for this if it's the last thing I do' as she ran away crying? Maybe some eager young cheerleader taking out the competition for the squad leader position.."  Donnie looks appraisingly at Megan, then quirks a smile. "Duh-da-duuuh!"

He states in a stage whisper. "Sarcasmos strikes!

Sammy leans over even further to get a better look.  She's not afraid of falling; if she slips, she'll just float.

"Well, I knew I'd never be a cheerleader, so I did the next best thing; I took up trombone so I'd always have a way to knock a cheerleader flat on her butt if I ever needed to do so.  But that's just me.  I'm pretty sure I didn't do this though.  Wasn't Diane the head cheerleader, and Lisa before her?  Maybe Donnie's right, and it's another one of you guys setting them up.  Who wants to be head cheerleader?"  She starts chanting softly to herself "Ten little cheerleaders went out to dine; One choked her little self and then there were Nine.  Nine little cheerleaders sat up very late;  One overslept herself and then there were Eight..."

"Sinister," Sylvia says, gruesomely thrilled.  "It's not me," she's quick to say.  "I'd rather be managing editor than head cheerleader.  Looks better on your college apps."

Megan felt a little odd about being her investigating this with the group at John’s invitation.  Though Kel had asked her the day before if she had wanted to go with some of them to investigate the latest arson (which she had had to turn down because of the debate meet) other than the regular training sessions with Jack and the shopping trip on Sunday, she really did not see much of the others or have an idea of what they might be up to.  

“I don’t think it’s part of the social structure in all schools.”  She replied to Sylvia’s comments.  â€œDuring the summer at camp, there were some squads that had some girls that would hardly be called the social elite of any school.  They were really nice though.”  She looked over at the other girl as she continued.  â€œBut why does it necessarily have to be that a cheerleader has ever been mean to whomever is behind this?  Couldn’t it just be frustration at not being able to obtain what one desires?  Not because of being rejected, but because of the simple fact there are only a few of us, the majority of guys in high school will never get to date a cheerleader.”

Megan looks over at Donnie with a frown.  â€œVery funny.”  At Sammy’s question, she replies.  â€œNo one really.  Lisa was the main force behind the squad, the others, even Diane, were just along for the ride..”  She looked over at Syliva as she continued.  â€œWhy do you think Lisa had me with her during your tryouts?  And had me going over routines we could do after Dawn was forced out after her makeout session?  The other girls just don’t have the drive.”  She focuses back on Sammy and Donnie.  â€œAnd who want’s to be head cheerleader?  I would lie if I said I didn’t, but I sure wouldn’t resort to removing the competition.  After all, Lisa let me in the team when most of the time they don’t even consider freshman, and the other girls have been nothing but welcoming.  So keep your stupid jokes to yourself.”

"No, more like 'Ten little cheerleaders went out to dine; One kissed an emo-geek and then there were Nine.  Nine little cheerleaders sat up very late;  One got caught screwing the quarterback in the closet and then there were Eight..."

Donnie shuts his mouth to try and keep the gallows humor slipping out. "You know, cheerleaders have taken a serious blow this year. That is wierd."

"Dizzaam Megan. I am just tossing out possibilities. I'm not accusing you of anything."

“And your making light of the fact my friends have been being hurt and driven off the squad and out of the school.  You don’t see me making jokes about Rory or Rob do you?”  Megan replied as she focused back on the bleachers, though she knew there was little she could add to investigating this.  If someone was targeting cheerleaders, which seemed all the more likely now, how long before they came after her?  She would welcome it, but so far whomever was doing this had not done anything direct. 

Sylvia seems focused on the investigation.  "It seems like someone's knocking out cheerleaders, and I'd like to know who and why, just in case it's someone who's going after the whole set."  She pauses.  "It could be someone on the inside.  It could be someone who bears a grudge.  Is there someone who showed up both at the initial tryouts and at the replacement tryouts?  That would give us a lead on the jealous wanna-be angle."

Donnie's face loses all traces of humor."Rory's fucking dead. Big fucking difference to one rich cheerleader screwing the quarterback in the goddamn closet and getting kicked out of school. You don't talk about Rory."

Sylvia hears the tone of Donnie's voice and looks up from her preoccupation with the scene.  "She didn't know Rory."  It's supposed to explain and excuse, perhaps.

"Actually Megan, I'll admit it might be stupid, but what I was saying was not a joke.  I was paraphrasing a poem that was at the center of an old mystery movie, Ten Little Indians.  People kept getting knocked off one by one, and this reminded me of that."  Sammy is still upside down, and is swinging slightly.  The motion disguises the swirling of her hair.  "You shouldn't overlook a possibility just because its uncomfortable.  And maybe it wasn't aimed at her.  Maybe it was aimed at the band by someone who lives upstairs to a trombone player, and can't stand listening to the practice anymore."

Megan looked back at Donnie as she replied.  “Like I said, I don’t, but you can show a bit more courtesy.”

She then looked back over to Sylvia as she replied.  “I really doubt it is anyone on the inside, if it is, she should be in the drama club.  As for someone mad about not getting on the squad, there were no initial tryouts.  Most of the squad carried over from last year.  Lucy and I were chosen by Lisa over the summer to fill the spots from two seniors who graduated last year.  As for the replacement tryouts, I have the list of everyone that tried out at home.”

(( http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=827774 woot, Kel, observant as ever...))

Kel has leaned off to the side, a bit out of it from the whole events plus cheerleading practice just was a lot more work and a bit more awkward than usual.  He sighed slightly as he felt some tension building.  Then Sammy says something that catches his eye, "Got a point, what if it wasn't supposed to get her at all and she just happened to break her leg, I mean anyone could've broken something from a fall like this.  Did she have a dick of a boyfriend, or a bitchy friend?"

Megan looked up to Sammy as she replied.  “I just don’t think any of the other girls are capable of it, they are lost without direction right now, if one of them is behind it, she sure isn’t jumping forward to take over.  If I hadn’t spoke up during practice today, we would never have practiced the changes we had to make to the routines for Saturday.” 

She smiled slightly at the other girl’s mention it could have been targeted at herself instead of Diane.  “I doubt it was you Sammy, it seems a bit too much of a coincidence that things have happened to three different girls on the squad.”

Ask Kel asked about whether Diane had a boyfriend, Megan nodded.  "Yeah, Steve Grainer, one of the football players.  He's not a jerk or anything, though she does feel he doesn't devote enough time to her."

(ooc Added info about Diane's boyfriend)

When Megan mentions that no one jumps forward, Kel says, "What if they're just biding the time to make it seem like they're not eager at all?"

Sylvia looks annoyed, just around the edges, then turns to the wreckage of the bleachers with a kind of desperate intensity.  She doesn't want to deal with the bickering.  It's just static, and the static's been closing in lately.


Sylvia takes the assessment of the squad with a grain of salt.  No one's above supicion.  "I'd like to see that list if I can, get a sense of who tried and how they feel about it.  Sarah and Sammy could talk to them."  She bites her lip.  "This takes some planning, especially if we can consider all the cheerleader attacks related.  Someone with technical skills.  Think the girls on the squad can remember who they've turned down for a date over the past year or so?"

Kel snorts a little at Sylvia's last question, muttering something about counting stars in the sky, but then he adds something helpful, "Wait, didn't someone just something 'bout acid, and someone needed to connect into the school announcements to take Janush out...so it's gotta be someone who knows their way around computers and labs.  What if we got a bunch of turned down nerds who are getting revenge?  Or one of the girls manipulating them."

Megan shrugged.  “I guess, but none of them really have the drive.  Lisa made sure not to surround herself with girls with enough ambition to try to take over from her.  I think she might have felt safe taking me as I’m a Freshman.  Maybe she wanted to take me under her wing and leave the squad to me after she graduated.”  As she said that, her mind was racing a bit, as some things seemed to possibly click.  Lisa had early on pushed Megan towards dating Calvin.  It had seemed to be the popular matchmakers arranging appropriate matchups for their younger members, but could it have been something more?  A distraction for Megan to keep her from thinking of trying to take over from Lisa (which she would not have tried anyway)?


Focusing back on Sylvia, Megan replied.  “Yeah, I’ll email you the list when I get home.  As for a list of guys they have turned down,”  she chuckled, “I’ll see what I can do, but it might not be complete.  I can think of a few that I have heard girls mention…”  She suddenly stopped as something else that seemed off clicked into place.  “Lucy tried to make a play for Logan Darklighter on the first day of school.  She told us the next day that he had blown her off.”

Sammy is still hanging around.  Donnie feels an invisible hand stroke his hair soothingly, but he shouldn't have a clue that it was really a tendril of air guided by Sammy.

"I could join the science club, poke around a little bit there.  I've been hanging out in Mr. Heep's lab some afternoons, so its not that much of a stretch.  It might not be voluntary, if it is them; who would get a big kick out of telling little geek boys what to think, by promising them something they'll never have?"

Sylvia shoots Kel a look of mock exasperation, a little levity to try to let Donnie's sincere anger dissipate.  "Brilliant deduction!  I couldn't have said it better myself."  Then she's serious.  "So who are the suspects?  Who's got the skills?  AV club?  Computer club?  I mean, it's ridiculous to think in terms of stereotypes, I know, but we've got to start somewhere . . . "  Long pause.  " . . . Colin?"

There's a meaningful note in her voice.

"You think that's suspicious?"  Sylvia tries to imagine the power of the pom-poms.  "Is Logan dating someone else?  Is she just not his type?"  But if the question is really, 'Are all cheerleaders desired by all boys?' she needs to ask a boy, someone without his girlfriend standing right there.  "Kel, is Lucy your type?"

[   :angel:  ]

Kel is caught off guard by the question aimed at him.  His mind is still swimming from earlier and being walked in on by Megan.  He shrugs and says without much conviction, "She's a nice gal, I'd go out with her...yea."

“I don’t know if Logan is dating anyone.”  Megan replied to Sylvia.  “But Lucy said he told her he likes his women ‘more mature.”

She then focused back on Sammy.  “Well, if you want too do that Sammy, I can mention your interest to the president of the science club for you tonight.  He and the other members of the Con Debate team are coming over to my parents’ to celebrate our stomping Proviso West in the debate last night.”  

As she spoke, Megan glanced down at her watch and said.  â€œOh crap, speaking of which, I need to be getting home and getting things ready.”  She stopped and looked over at John before she said.  â€œUmm, I am sure you can come to John, as you are going to be an alternate and all.  It must just have slipped Laura's mind to mention it, I'd like you to be there, and you could get to know the guys on the team better.”  Though that would make what the team had to do to set up for their little sting this weekend all the more difficult.

"Sylvia, that's as ridiculous as saying every girl wants to date the quarterback."  She looks at Megan schmoozing John and quietly adds "Oh wait.  Maybe they do."  More loudly she adds, "Thanks, Megan, but I think I can manage to work my way into the science club without too much trouble."

"But would anybody?  I mean, is it weird that Logan turned her down?"

"You know, this makes no sense. It's no help either. We can all go playing clue in our heads, each find a different culprit, accuse each and every student at school and get angry at each other too, but it won't bring us closer to understand what happened here.

I mean, things have been weird lately, but suddenly cheerleaders are at each other's throats just for the power? 'I have to get rid of her so *I* can be the leader'? Every time I saw them, they went along famously.
Suddenly every geek can be suspected of everything, just because they *might* know something about chemistry, that everybody with a library card or internet can find out in a minute? Thank God and the Great Spirit T.J. moved, or he would have already been arrested.
Come on, let's all calm down."

"Let's start back from what we can actually see. It's not like someone shot Diane, but these beams were definitely sabotaged. Still, their collapse could have hurt a lot more people. Actually, the bleachers needed more people than only Diane to collapse, and even though she's the one most hurt, she's not the only one. So, while we could assume she was the target, since she used to sit right here, it's someone who doesn't bother that other people get hurt too.

And you see, this is weird. Those morons with the cameras, they wanted to make a point, and took care that the whole school got it. This... is different. No one came up to say 'we did it and this is why'. This looks like something out of anger, rather than a plan. We've had plenty of anger lately. People with guns, people taking superman... people starting fires."

He pauses for a moment.

"Let's try to find out how they did it. Mr. Heep is no Grissom, but he's very competent in this kind of things, maybe he can find out something. And let's try to see if someone was really angry with Diane. Though... what could she ever do to deserve this? You can't try to kill a girl just because she doesn't go out with you."

Kel nods a bit then some more, "Yea, totally, most guys would go for it."

"I'll try to find out who else got hurt, just in case Diane wasn't the real target." Colin adds.

"Would you be angry if you thought a girl was making fun of you by asking you out?  Old reflexes can be hard to shake."  Sammy flips her legs loose from the bench and drops very gracefully to the ground.  "But you're right, Colin, we should try to look at the evidence and not just jump to conclusions."

"Brilliant," Sylvia says, and this time she's sincere.


"You can if you're nuts.  Poor impulse control defines a lot of crimes of passion.  Id overcoming the super-ego."

Donnie sighed, trying to vent his anger at Megan's callous disregard for the difference between getting kicked out of school and dying because some jagoff hyped on Superman decides to pound on you. It was hard, and he did not understand why his anger flared so. Everything was so..so vivid lately. The flashbomb girlfriend, the dragons, getting shot at; it made him react so strongly, emotionally, viscerally.

He feels what feels like Sylvia's hand running along the back of his head, and he turned to giver her a grateful smile, but she was still in 'Spanish Inquisition' mode ten feet away and ignoring the world around her. He looked around, but there seemed to be little breeze.

He squelched a feeling of annoyance that Sylvia had not tried to calm him. That was petulant, and the last thing he needed was to be a petulant brat.

Still, his anger simmered when he glanced over at the blonde teen, with her dream-girl body, expensive clothes, and utter unshakable self-confidence. She knows nothing of what life is like on the other side of things. Everything is just handed to her.

The only reason he now cared to find out who the culprit was to assure that no one would try to harm Sylvia.

Sammy bends over, picks up a piece of damaged metal and pockets it, then wanders over to Donnie's side.  She notes that he still looks upset, not that she can blame him.  She didn't even know the boy who died and it had greatly upset her; it must be a thousand times worse for Donnie, who was his friend.  She looks at him and in a low voice asks,"You gonna be all right there?"  More loudly she states,  "Its kind of cold.  I'm taking my piece of metal home and showing it to my dad.  He's a civil engineer who works for architects, so he knows a lot about what might be able to damage material like this beam, or he'll know somebody who does.  I might have a nice mug of hot chocolate when I get there.  Anybody want to come along?"

Donnie shrugs and half-smiles gratefully at Sammy. "Yeah, I just lost my temper there. I keep that up, I'll end up like, uh, someone I don't want to be. I'll shut up now. Maybe I will join youo for hot chocolate though." He looks to Sylvia to see if she was going, or possibly looking to her for permission.

Nine days.  It's only been nine days since Donnie caught up with her after the spat with Colin.  But teenagers are like dogs.  Nine days seem like nine weeks, and from the perspective of a relatively innocent fourteen-year-old that's a long-term relationship.  Sylvia, sort of analyzing and reacting at the same time, finds herself gravitating back to Donnie and grafting herself to his arm.  "Sure."

She looks at Colin, hoping he's had some flash of insight he'll share when they're away from John.

Sammy smiles at Sylvia.  "You too?  Cool!  Colin?  The pictures you took would probably help; that way Dad can see how the bleachers collapsed, and that might tell him something important.  Maybe if you take a couple of pictures of the sections that aren't damaged, too, front and back?  From those, he might be able to guess how much metal was eaten away, and definitely see how the thing is put together.  If I ask nicely enough he might take the stuff into work and run it through the structure stress simulator this weekend."   She looks around.  "Anybody else?"

Colin takes another look, all around, and takes the photos Sammy asked for. He makes a point to touch each damaged beam.

Is there anything you can show me here?

"Sammy, I'd love to come too, only... there's something I should do before. If you could keep that chocolate for me too, I'll be right there in a few minutes."

As they move away, he tries to get a hold of John.

"Have you got a minute?" he whispers.

John looks up, having been absorbed in thought.  "Oh, sure.  I don't think I'm gonna be much use here.  Whoever did this though climbed all up and around these supports to do it, so they had to have some athletic ability."  He looks up at Sammy, "If you want some company in the science club I'll go with you, tomorrow?  I'm interested in getting involved with them."

OOC: Those that made the Notice check eventually spot a chunk of metal with a fingerprint etched into it, like it was melted into the metal.  Also, there is a kind of uniformity to the damage.  There is a gap of about three inches missing from each section.  One side the pipe is tappered, and the other it's melted at a slight angle.  Looking it over, and then putting your hand up to it it dawns on you that it sort of looks like what might happen if you grabbed the pipe in your hand and then were able to close your fingers (while dissolving the metal).

Donnie (I think) looked on the ground near some of the damage trying to see if drops of anything might have fallen to indicate acid.  There are drops of metal, like they melted and then hardened again.


Colin get's John's attention and he nods, "Megan, I'll catch up to you.  I'm gonna chat with Colin a second."  He turns his attention back to Colin.  "What's up?"

“Okay, I’ll be down by the entrance to the lockers.”  Megan replied with a smile, though she wondered why Colin might want to talk to John.  Turning with a slight twirl of the skirt of her uniform, she started off back down towards the field and the entrance to the lockers.  As she went, she could not help but remember the time her and Calvin had come up here under the bleachers one time after practice to make out a bit.

Sammy nods affably.  "Sure.  We can storm the High Tower together."  She digs around in her coat pocket and pulls out an old business card for a local musician's store and a purple pen.  She scribbles something on the back.  Her expression is blank, except for a laugh lurking around the corner of her eyes.  "Here's my number in case you can't find me.  Sometimes things get busy and I catch myself flying from place to place trying to do everything that needs doing.  No rest for the wicked."

John takes the card and looks at it, slipping it into his pocket.  "I know what you mean."  he says, a smile on his lips as well.  He takes the notepad from his pocket and tearing a sheet from it scribbles his number on it, giving it to Sammy.  "In case you need to get a hold of me."

OOC: If I remember correctly, only Colin and Sammy made the notice check, so I'm going to play accordingly.

As Sammy picks up the piece of metal for her father to analyze, Colin notices that just beside that there is another one, with a strange mark on it. He leans to look better and Sammy notices it too. The two look at each other for a moment in silence, wondering if it's just what it seems. A fingerprint. Colin tries to put his own fingers over it, trying to make it fit, and it definitely looks like a hand melted the metal while squeezing the beam. It was no geek that did this.
Just when Sammy is about to speak up, Colin passes rapidly a finger on his lips.
"Not yet." he whispers to her, making an imperceptible nod towards John.

After she invites the others to her home, he nods at her again, urgently, and just after that he asks John to talk a little in private. He hopes she understands.



"Well, it's a bit complicated..."
He takes a look around to make sure no one's eavesdropping.
"Look, I know we just met, but there's a part of me that really wants to trust you, and... I think I should better listen to that part. I was told to follow my hunches."

Pause.

"I mean there's a chance I could be doing something incredibly stupid here, but, well, you're interested in paranormals and... here I am. I'm one. It's not the best kept secret of the universe, but I'd appreciate if it could not spread, ok?"

"Besides, the same part of  me that tells me to trust you, also tells me you didn't say everything about why you're interested in paranormal (I really don't like this term). You didn't tell what was your father's job, and neither why they didn't retire to, say, Florida but came here, of all places.
That and what you said today, about having to hide and to lie, and... it looked like it was something you felt too, so I was really wondering if you...

Well you don't know me, but I swear I can keep secrets too."

Sarah comes running up, flushed and with an embarrassed grin.  "Sorry I'm late... what did I miss?  I uh.. got my hair caught in my locker"

John looks back at the others as they're getting ready to go, and sees Sarah arrive.  He looks back at Colin, his voice is low, "That's a big leap to trust me on your instincts.  I appreciate that, I really do.  I know what it's like to have a secret that big, and want to have people to share it with.  Strangely though, there is no big mystery to why we moved here.  I want to go to the University here when I graduate, but I guess it could also be chalked up to a 'Convergence of Improbability'."  He looks back at the others again, "I guess some of the others do too?  You seem a pretty tight group, hard to keep secrets.  I envy that, being able to share that with others.  I'm one too, paranormal that is."

Donnie looks at Sarah, a half smile on his face. Sylvia is on his arm, but looks distracted. "Lessee, Everyone is a suspect, I found little drups of puddled metal, but the bleachers weren't cut by a torch or anything. We thought that maybe someone was targetting the cheerleaders, since there have been three embarrassed, kicked out, or hurt byt the incidents so far, Megan was being a bit of a bitch and I lost my temper at her and cussed her out, Sylvia tried to set Kel up on a date with some cheerleader named Lucy, Sammy has invited is over for hot chocolate, and Colin is over there having a heart to heart with John, who is still, if you remember, under the protection of the Cookie Queen." He looks to Sylvia. "Did I miss anything?"

"Megan's sending me a list of the girls who tried out for the pep squad.  I was hoping you and Sammy could interview them, see if anyone has 'crazed supervillain' written on her forehead."

"Ooh!  Hot Chocolate!" replies Sarah cutting straight to the most important issue. 

Colin sighs in relief. He's not getting crazy. Well any crazier, at least.

He waves at Sarah, gesturing he'll be there in a moment.

"If you think that's big leap, is that because you don't know me yet, and what my world has become. I do stranger things.

The others... know about me. And you'd find them understanding. I cannot tell you more than that, you understand? It wouldn't be right. As I said, I know how to keep secrets.

There are many things you should know, about this school and what happens here. There are dangers I wouldn't want you to run into. That's why we came to check here. I... my talent is... well I have an insight into many things. Like who to trust, or what happened somewhere, or who touched something. And this incident, for instance, it's a paranormal's doing too. We should meet sometimes so I can explain you everything, and, anyway, I'd really like to help you with math, if you need it.

So... if you don't mind, what do you do? And would you like me to arrange a meeting with someone like us, or you'd rather wait?"

John nods as colin mentions that it wouldn't be right to talk about the others.  "You're a good person Colin, your friends are lucky to know you."


"Well, lots of stuff.  It seems like every few months I'm finding some new thing I can do.  Mostly I'm strong and I don't usually get hurt."  He's quiet for a second, then smiles, "You know, this made me reailize there is someone I really need to tell this too.  If you don't mind, I need to get going.  If it's all the same to you, I'd like to keep this just in the group for now."  With that he's gone to meet up with Megan.

Sarah adds, "Oh and Donnie, John ate the cookie.  He's not under my protection, he's in my thrall."  She turns and waves back at Colin and John. 

Sylvia's setting Kel up on a date?  I thought she was into him?  I'm so clueless.  I really need to pay closer attention to my friends and not just sit around moping about my own problems.  And Megan was bitchy?  Kinda unusual.  Oh a little obnoxious and sometimes a know-it-all but she's pretty sweet.  Now Sylvia can peel the paint off a wall...

"We're all suspects of bleacher assault?"

OOC: I assume that continued conversation is done enroute to Sammy's house?  I'll just continue to use this thread for that part as well.

"Us?"  Sylvia blinks, having lost her train of thought in the mere physical comfort of having returned to her host organism, Donnie.  "No.  Not unless you've got something to admit, Sarah.  Secret yearning to be on the pep squad?  You could take my place if you did."

(post moved)

Sarah fakes cheering,
"No chance!  No way!
Public speaking turns me gray!
I'll puke... and fall!
So much for your football!"

Sylvia laughs.  "You can do it!  You can cheer! / You can have my spot next year!"

Sarah holds her hand to her head like a gun and drops her thumb.  "Not for all the cookies and hot chocolate in the world.  Besides being a cheerleader is too risky these days.  Now if we could get a gymnastics program up and running I'm in.  But I hate competitions... and travelling all over the state...ugh.. never mind.  I'll just keep practicing on my own." 

Suddenly Sylvia's totally focused.  "You practice on your own?"

As the group enters Sammy's house through the kitchen door, Sammy yells out "Mom, Dad, I'm home, and I brought lots of company!"  She gestures and tells the others to make themselves comfortable, and starts things going on the stove for the hot drinks.  She calls out again, "Hey Dad?  Can you come here, please?  I have a puzzle for you."

Sammy's dad comes in from the garage wiping his hands.  It appears as though he might have tried to fix something on the car, not always a good sign.  "What's up kiddo?"  he says, glancing around at all the new faces.

Eek! "Oh nothing big.  Mostly a lot of tumbling anywhere I can throw a mat.  I don't do any serious floor work because without the right floor I'd be busted up in no time.  I like jumping around the jungle gym stuff and at the skate park stuff as well.  Its not straight gymnastics but it gets you used to taking a roll on something beside a mat or the dance floor.  Would you like to try sometime?"

"Ok. See you."

He rockets on his bike to Sammy's house. He has many things to tell, and arrives, bringing the bike to a screeching halt, just as Sammy's dad makes his entrance. His revelations will have to wait a little longer.

"Yeah," Sylvia says, as if that single affirmative can convey six months' worth of pent-up gym-junkie jonesing.  There's something she doesn't get out of pep squad--focus, maybe--that she's hoping maybe Sarah's Jedi training can help her find again.  "I would so totally be all over that."

Sammy gives her dad a hug, then pulls the piece of bleacher metal out of her coat pocket.  "What would corrode a piece of metal like this?  It came off of that section of bleachers at school that collapsed last night at the end of practice, and... I told you about that, didn't I?"  The expression on his face indicates that no, she had neglected to pass on that little bit of information, along with so many other things lately.  She feels a twinge of remorse.  She quickly moves on.  "These are some of my friends from school... guys, this is my dad."

Donnie waves from where he is pouring packets of powder into the set-out mugs. "Hello!"

Sammy's dad looks over the metal fragment, he goes to a drawer in the kitchen and after getting it open rumages around for a magnifying glass.  He looks over the metal making some noises of interest.  "Well."  He studies it some more, apparently forgetting there are people in the room and that he started a sentance.  After few minutes of looking the metal over he looks up with his brow furrowed.  "Probably an organic corrosive of some kind.  I can't think of one right off that would do this quickly, so those bleachers were probably unsafe for a while."  He looks around the group then back at Sammy.  "You guys playing Scooby gang and checking out something mysterious?"  His question is piercing, but his tone is one of humor, like he knows it's a joke to suggest it.  "Be careful."  He hands the metal back to Sammy, "I need to get back to the garage and finish this wiper blade change."  With that he heads back out.

Sammy stands there staring after him as he heads back out into the garage.  "But we have pictures too...", she says weakly, her face starting to flush with embarrassment.  She looks down at the piece of metal in her hand, then lays it very very carefully on the counter.  "Sorry, guys.  I thought... never mind."  She takes a mug.  "Thanks, Donnie."

A few minutes later Sammy's dad comes back.  "Okay, crisis averted.  Wiper blades are harder to get on then they look."  He goes to the kitchen and gets a glass of juice.  "So, this bleachers thing, do they know how they collapsed?"

Sammy quits feeling bad about not telling him stuff, for tonight at least.

"I didn't think you were interested.  How they collapsed?  Colin has pictures that shows where things broke, if that's what you mean.  Some kids were sitting on them and on the sections around them when they fell.  I was sitting right next to them when it happened, and didn't notice anything weird until it happened and then I was too busy pulling somebody out to pay much attention to anything else."

Colin shows Mr. Jameson the photos he took of the collapsed bleachers on his digital camera. He lets him study them, even though he's afraid it'll be pointless, and takes his mug of chocolate from Donnie.

"Mr. Jameson, do you happen to have some chalk or putty handy?"

Suddenly he feels tired. So many things happening, so many people to stop, so many people to help... They can't solve a problem that three more come out. Maybe they're not doing it right, but what more could they do?

"Ah, silly putty.  It's on the workbench in the garage."  His tone is distracted as he looks over the pictures on Colin's camera, twice.  "Well, it was no accident, that's for sure."  He rattles off a flurry of interesting information about the construction of the bleachers, interesting to engineers and builder.  "This doesn't make sense though, because that metal was corroded, that's a time to potency process.  Whatever ate through that metal did it fast, and I can't think of any normal organic that would do that."  He looks at Sammy, "You pulled someone up, that's great."  he sets everything down and gives Sammy a hug.  "I'm very proud of you."  He looks around at everyone and his expression becomes one of confusion.  "Honey, can we talk for a second, in the den?"  Without waiting for an answer, he goes over to the door and once she's inside he closes the door.  

"Sam, these kids aren't in the band, and that one boy looks a little rough around the edges.  what are you guys up to?"

As Mr. Jameson closes the door behind himself, Colin gestures at his friends to get close.

"Sammy's dad is right, it was nor normal acid. It was a paranormal. Someone who sweats acid or who can make his hands became hot to the point of melting metal. He made a little mistake though, because he left his fingerprint on a beam there. That's why I asked for some putty. it's like he could close his hand around the beams and dissolve the metal. So we have two... no, three dangerous paranormals out there... unless it's still the girl we saw tonight."


"And there's more..."

"They're on the school newspaper?" she stammers out.  "I just wanted to know what happened, that's all.  A lot of weird things have been happening this year, a lot of paranormals popping up, and I'm just trying to figure the weird things out because they keep happening right in front of me..."

"Can we run the fingerprint somehow?  Maybe whoever did it has a record.  Poor impulse control and all that."

"Sure we can. It's a paranormal, so it should become a case for the PCD, and Chris will surely help. But if it's new one, just like us, chances are he (or she by the way) has no record yet. And I'd rather be sure it isn't our fiery girl before giving her fingerprints to the police. As Mr. Jameson comes back, I'm asking if fire could do that too instead of acid."

"Wouldn't fire leave other marks?  Smoke?  Wouldn't someone have smelled or felt something?"

Sarah grins, "Cool we can do some warm up stuff and then some free running.  I want to start practicing more of it because... well you know."

"Probably yes, but the same could be said for acid. Everyone would smell it. But paranormal talents aren't exactly famous for following strict rules."

Sylvia nods, eyes sparkling.  She probably whips out her little Hello Kitty notebook and tries to schedule an appointment, but despite her usual anal retentiveness, she's giddy with the idea of going off to do some rough-and-tumble gymnastics with Sarah.  There's a little bouncing and maybe even squealing.

Sarah just smiles at Sylvia.  I think that's some of her inner cheerleader escaping... or maybe its her escaping from her cheerleader?  Whatever, it'll be good to have somebody along.
-----
Sarah accepts a hot chocolate from Donnie with gratitude and blows on the top to cool it down for a while.  cold powers.. that'd be cool.. ugh pun'd myself.  But handy for fixing drinks to the right temperature.

She listens in with half an ear to the science talk as it goes sailing past her.  Melting or burning metal fast with acid... "If it happened very fast people would be screaming for help by the time they smelled any fumes.  Or maybe most of the damage was done earlier and then just one key support was swiped out?  I mean no one ever checks the bleachers to see if they are safe.  They've been safe for every event for the last five years so who is going to check that?"

"That's true. It has likely been done before, when there was no one around to smell the fumes.

There, I could have swore it had been fire, but if Mr. Jameson confirm that it was indeed an acid, no matter how strange, I'd be somewhat relieved."

Sammy's dad has the look of someone who is unsure, but willing to trust.  "Okay, as long as you're being safe.  No matter what you're still my little girl, I'm always going to worry about you."

He gives her a quick hug and the pair go back into the kitchen with the others.

Colin asks about if the damage could be done by fire instead of acid.  "No, heat like that would have left stress marks on the surrounding metal, and it wouldn't have pitted the metal like this.  This was certainly some kind of organic acid."

"Yeah, I know.  Don't worry.  It's not like I'm dating the rough looking one; even if I wanted to, he's all into some cheerleader.  And the others are all paired off, so no worries there either.  And I promise that I'll let you or Mom know if there's something I can't handle, okay?"



"Like digestive acid?  Or something else?"

He closes his eyes for a second, then looks at Sammy.  "I doubt it, maybe a salt based corrosive.  Seems to me a digestive acid would have left less pitting maybe."  He doesn't seem certain, this type of science is not his strong point.

"Like The Mummy," Sylvia chirps.  "Could this be the ultimate B movie?  Curse Of The Mummy Cheerleader?"

"A mummy.  That's just creepy."  Sammy shudders. "I never thought I'd prefer to imagine a paranormal with acid powers over something else.  At least acid can be neutralized.  Too bad this probably wasn't just some kids doing unauthorized science projects under the bleachers, where the acid off gassed and corroded the metal above."

"Sorry kiddo, no chance it was an accident.  Whoever did it was trying to make sure that particular section came down, if it were an accident I'd expect to see damage in other places and Colin's photo's pretty much rule that out."

"Guess we all should start carrying around boxes of baking soda, just in case.."

"Snrk!"  Sarah giggles at that image.  "Acid spitter with a mouth full of baking soda... lovely.  Maybe we can find someone with the mutant power to create diet coke and we can load them up with mentos."

Sylvia giggles.  "The Carbonator?  The Fresh-Maker?"

"I was thinking maybe ...  The Foam"  Sarah finds some redi-whip and sprays it on her coco.  After a drink she apologizes.  "Sorry I know that's not very helpful to the case.  I'll be more serious."  A statement ruined slightly by the foam mustache. 

Sammy shoots the other teens desperate glances as they make jokes about finding paranormals and giving them goofy hero names, hoping to telepathically pass the message My Dad doesn't know about my powers! but she fears it may be too late unless Dad is too distracted by the puzzle of the bleachers and doesn't make the connection.

"Hey, if it is a paranormal, then maybe a scraping might yield DNA.  It seems like a long shot, but if it's secreted from someone then it might have DNA.  Of course, that only helps if you have a reference sample so I guess it's more a thing you'd use at prosecution."  Dad looks around and smiles, "I watch a lot of CSI."

Sarah smiles at Sammy's dad.  "Hey me too!  I love that show... but you're a scientist.. don't you like, laugh over the mistakes and stuff?  I mean I have the advantage of being clueless so it all sounds good to me."

"Well,  yeah, but it's still fun to watch."  Sammy's dad heads back towards his den, "Well, you guys have fun and be careful."

Sammy waits until she's pretty sure her dad has started up whatever game he's playing right now, then says "Well, it looks like I'll be joining the school newspaper staff.  My dad asked how I knew you guys, and I told him you were with the paper.  I forgot to warn you, he" her voice drops "doesn't know.  It's been hard keeping something that big as a secret from him.    I don't much like it."

"Then... why don't you tell him? I mean, he seems nice... Ehm, sorry. Not my business."

He takes a long sip of warm chocolate, and sighs.

"I have something else to tell you. It's about John. What do you think of him?"

"Nice enough. Hope that doesn't change with Megan's sinking her claws into him." Donnie sips at the hot chocolate and stares around the kitchen at the wall ornaments and pictures.

"Oh nice Donnie, sure you aren't the master of cattyness?" quips Sarah. 

Sammy shrugs at Colin's question.  "It's complicated."

She gets up to get the cookie jar and bring it over to the table just as Donnie makes his remark about Megan.  She sets the cookies down and sits back down in her chair, shifting it ever so slightly in Donnie's direction.  She sympathizes with him.  A lot.

"Meow." He puts down the mug.

"Sorry, Sarah. I know you are friends with her, but she equated two of her fellow cheerleaders with what happened to Rory. Kissing some emo guy and having a mental breakdown over it or getting caught f- er, boinking the quarterback in the closet and expelled is not nearly on the same level as Rory getting attacked and dying as a result of a drugged up punk. With all due respect to the tradition of cheerleading, the group, present company excluded," He nods towards Kel and puts a hand on Sylvia's,  "are normally the snottiest, richest snobbiest of the girls in the school. Crap like that happening to them begs to made light of, especially since what happened caused no one bodily harm. Everyone here knows it is my nature to make light of bad things, it's my way of dealing with them. Megan does not know that, but her comments painted her the perfect example of what I just described the cheerleaders as. Snobby, overconfident bit- uh, jerks that feel their opinion is more valid, or more right than anyone elses, just because they made it."  He munches on a cookie, then looks around. He puts his backpack on his lap, which suddenly looks much more filled than it was before. He drops the remains of his first cookie then two more in the back. Crunching can be heard.
 
"Now what happened most recently is different, I agree. This takes things to another level. Someone tried to actively harm her and others. That cannot be tolerated to continue. Though there are some I wouldn't mind seeing taken down a peg or two. I hope the ninjas are still out there, keeping an eye out for the oppressed."

"Donnie, you are my friend. If you got expelled, even if it was because you did something stupid, you can bet I'd miss you, and I'd probably react badly hearing someone joking about you. She didn't equated the two things, she asked you to stop, albeit, I admit, in a really blunt way. Maybe, if you knew her a bit better, you wouldn't think she is that snobby or overconfident. And you can't generalize on cheerleaders like that. How many of them do you know well, except Sylvia and Kel? Would you be happy if people made judgments on you based only on the fact that you like roleplaying games? There is more to Megan, and to Sylvia and to Kel and to everyone else, than being a cheerleader. She puts on a costume at night, and goes around helping people, and she even got injured several times because of that. And I've never seen her denying help to someone who asked her."

"I'm sorry, Donnie, I didn't mean to be harsh, but this is not something to get angry about. What we saw tonight, that is something to get angry about."

Sylvia puts her other hand over Donnie's.  He's been acting funny, and while she chalks it up to whatever stress comes part and parcel with his newfound legacy, some small, sick part of her likes it.  When Donnie's angry, he speaks up.  He's not afraid to tell someone to step off, and Sylvia wishes she could do the same.  She wishes she could just be angry (or fearful or lustful) and let it show.

Instead, she says, placidly, "Back off, Saint Colin.  If Donnie's mad, he's mad.  Don't tell him he's wrong for being angry."

"Isn't it wrong to make people feel like charity cases?",  Sammy asks.  She looks guiltily at the other girls.  "I loved the Homecoming dress I bought the other day with you all, but I took it back to the store and got my sister to help me find something else because the first made me feel bad when I looked at it in the closet.  I was not pretty enough, not smart enough, not wealthy enough... I didn't want to feel bought and paid for too, like I had to trade being able to look good on one night for the privilege of being a backdrop to her.  When we all went out together to help that girl Katie, in my head I was calling us 'Velocity and Friends' -- like I was not important, or the rest of us either.  I took back the Halloween costume stuff too, and went with something different just because it would be mine, and any success couldn't be attributed to her golden touch."  She stares down at the paper napkin she is twisting around in her hands.  "I get so jealous sometimes.  I wish my biggest problem was worrying if the college of my choice's school colors complemented the rest of my wardrobe.  She acts like she'll not get in wherever she wants to go, and that is such bullsh... boloney."

"People do make fun of me, Colin. I may not have your rose-colored glasses and see the world in a different hopeful light. I have been through it, been the target, been made fun of for my hobbies. So what? Everyone does. Pain is a part of growing up. Get thicker skin. Some people just get away with it because it is socially acceptable.

Why does Megan do it? Have you ever questioned that? Is it for honestly helping people, or is she in it for the glory? She already has a police contact, talks with them semi-regularly, has been vocal and visible in several high-profile and public cases. What does that tell you? She's a glory-hound. She likes seeing her face and ass in the paper. She's just like her father. Have you forgotten her costume? It says HEY LOOK AT MAH TITS. She does not get off easy because she puts on a mask. Fu-Forget that. And do you know her better than I do? Are you a secret member of the Megan club? She certainly does get a lot of boys on her chain of fools. She's moving through the group pretty fast, not to mention half of the rich popular guys of the school. Seth's going to the dance with her, she's dated Greg, Cal, now John. Kel couldn't keep his eyes off of her at the meeting at Sylvia's. If he had looked at Sylvia that way, I'd have knocked his head off or died trying. Are you looking to become another easy trinket on her thousand dollar Tiffany diamond bracelet too?"

Donnie's voice had been getting louder and more strident as he spoke, and Sammy's eyes kept darting to the garage door, hoping her father wouldn't hear the tone of his voice. All of the sudden Donnie gasps, looking down at his hand where Pip glared up at him, little claws digging into his wrist and drawing beads of blood. Donnie looked around at the stunned faces of his friends, and finally at Colin's shocked face. He colored deep red, eyes wide. "Colin, I.."  He grabbed his backpack, Pip giving a squeak of surprise and falling back in. He went to the back door and takes off running down the street, scrubbing at sudden tears in his eyes. What the hell was that?

Sylvia stares, then throws Colin a disgusted look.  [Poor Colin.]  She takes off after Donnie, throwing on her coat as she goes.

Colin is a little at loss for words. He opens his mouth, then he closes it, but no words come out, as his frown gets deeper and deeper. There's something wrong here, but he's not sure what. Finally his forehead relaxes and he finds the words he was missing. He already used them before. Sylvia maybe remembers them.
"...It's a friend's job to tell you the truth, even the parts that you don't like to hear."


Colin takes a long look at Sammy, then at Sarah, looking on her face for signs of confirmation of what Sammy just said. Then he turns again.

"Sammy, I don't know what happened when you went shopping. But when we went out to help Katie, we went because Chris asked me, and I asked you. We weren't helping Velocity, that at the time we didn't even know was Megan. She found her before us just because, well, she's fast, and because I lead you all in the wrong direction. But how can you say you weren't important? If it wasn't for you and your mom who's telling what would have happened to Katie? You are important, Sammy. You helped Kel against the snake spirit, you saved Donnie's life! I'm sure you're important for those who aren't in a hospital now because you were there to catch them when the bleachers collapsed, for your friends who got attacked by the bees, and for all those who won't be buying superman because you stopped their pushers. You deserve to feel important.
Megan may have it easy, but being pretty and rich doesn't mean she's not entitled to her fears too."


Colin at first frowns, then he gets angry and tries to stop him, but Donnie keep raising his voice. That's when he gets scared. This is not Donnie. This is...
Oh, no! No, it can't be!
A totally panicked expression paints on his face, and drains color from even his bronze skin.

"Donnie, stop!" but his friend is out of the door before he can look at him with his ghost sight.
Colin leaves everything there, jacket, backpack, everything and runs after Donnie, nearly shouldering Sylvia out of his way.

Tell me it's not what I think! Tell me it's not what I think!

He remembers perfectly, that's his blessing and his curse, the feeling he had around that card, Rory's ghost thoughts, his nightmares...

Tell me it's not that!!!!

"DONNIE!!!"

OOC: Aargh!  Postapalooza

Sarah is speechless...

Donnie was acting hotheaded and did Pip... bite him or scratch him?  What the heck was that? 

When Donnie runs off with Colin following Sarah gives chase.  She was going to talk to Donnie and find out what the hell he was going on about.  She stops for half a second and glances at Sammy.  "Gimmie a call later Sammy would you?"  And then kicks it into high gear.

Sammy wonders if she ought to go chasing after Donnie too.  What am I gonna do, swoop in there and fly off with him?  Somebody would definitely have more than a few things to say about that.  Nah, people left stuff here, I'd better just stick around.  I can check on him later.  She takes the discarded mugs and plates off the table and puts them in the sink to wash later.

Donnie makes it about four streets before his lack of training finally makes him stumble to the grass near a hedgerow of shrubbery, gasping for air and a painful stitch in his side.

He pulls himself off the grass into the hedgerow, lying on his back and gasping for air. He had dismissed Pip almost imediately after leaving Sammy's, the little dragon squealing in protestation.

Donnie's backpack lay flaccid beside him, it's open mouth trailing cookie crumbles.

Sarah books it down the street after a glance in either direction.  When she finds Donnie resting on the grass she plops down a couple of feet away from him.  After a moment when their breathing slows down she asks, "You okay Donnie?"

OOC: Sorry to do this, but could I get a Search roll from those looking for Donnie.  DC is 16.

1d20=20 (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=833655)

OOC: Bam.  No one escapes the Sarah.  Oh and I also just followed the cookie crumb trail.

Search (1d20+2=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=833723)

Blinded by tears, apparently.  Or ambition.

OOC: Search for Donnie (1d20+3=22) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=833772)
No one escapes the bird and his boy, either. :)

Colin arrives, just a few seconds after Sarah. And sees them both lying on the ground. For a moment, a nameless terror clouds his vision and nearly stops his heart, then he sees they are both breathing. He fights the tears that keep on flowing from his eyes to open them to the ghost light. He takes good looks at them both, and slowly walks towards them, trembling, his expression unreadable and his throat still unable to express what he thinks or feels.

Sammy goes into the den and sits down next to her dad, who is watching TV.  She doesn't say anything.  After a minute or two, she leans comfortably against him, resting her cheek along his upper arm.  She allows herself to be drawn into the story on the screen flickering in front of her.

Donnie and Sarah can almost feel the spirit dancer's gaze upon them for a moment. Then something seems to happen in him, making his knees buckle, and he nearly falls down just between them.

His heart is beating so fast and so hard he wonders if they can feel it thundering. He looks at the shrubs all around them, for a moment, trying to regain control of his breathing and of his thoughts, that are flaying around blindly.

"Donnie, I..." he tries to say, but when he raises his eyes to meet his friend's face, he can't take it anymore and his eyes overflow with tears again. He grabs his friend by his shoulders and holds him tight, while he's shaken with heavy sobs. His anger, his fear, and most of all his relief boil up in his tears, while he can barely draw enough air in for a moment.
"I was afraid you were... I was afraid you would..." he tries to say among sobs.

After this explosion, Colin begins to calm down again. He wipes his tears away with his sleeve, feeling really tired, and more than a little embarrassed.
"I mean... please don't ever scare me this way again. God and Great Spirit, I almost... never mind.

I didn't want to patronize you, or belittle you, or anything. I'm sorry that I got you so angry. Please tell me what I've done, so I can never do that again. I don't want to fight with you. You're my best friend, Donnie. What happened to you?"

">Huah, huh, hah<. Dunno..*gasp* >Hwah<. I just got >huh<, really angry, indignant."  Donnie's breathing begins to even out. "I was just so pissed off at Megan, angry.. and..when i was talking about her, >huh< it just felt like something inside me pushed. I felt like I was right to be disgusted with her. Like it was good to be angry.. I don't understand it. Can't be the dragon thing, or else Pip wouldn't have scratched me. He was angry with me for going off on you like that."
Donnie scrubs away drying tears from his face.
"Everything has been so vivid lately. Joy, anger, humor, desire, whatever. It's all been just. I can't describe it. Like I was experiencing twice the satisfaction of my enjoyment, twice the humor of a comedy. Like I hadn't been living life to the fullest before the dragons. And Sylvia. Everyhing is just so much, you know?

Did Sylvia come after me too? I feel like such an ass. She probably thinks I am an idiot.

I-I'm sorry Colin. You didn't deserve that."

Sarah looks startled at Donnie, "Oh Donnie!"  She looks at Colin and asks both of them.  "Maybe you got hit with whatever happened to Rob?  Whether it is or something different, we'll get this figured out.  "

She grins sadly, "I really wanted to yell at you.. and now I just want to give you a hug."  She glances at Colin, "Don't worry, I don't think the emotion thing is contagious, I'm just being girly."

Colin lets his friend go, and there's one of his smiles below his moist eyes.

"Hey, it's ok. I probably did instead. I mean, I should know better than get in the way when people just need to vent. And what happened yesterday... well I'm sure it didn't help. I didn't mean to broadcast the vision that way, I would have never wanted you to see... that. I know perfectly how you, feel I feel like that too most of the time. there's always something new to look into, a new problem, someone to help, someone to stop, except that we haven't stopped anyone yet. We just keep on getting more problems. We should find some way to... relax too."

He lets out a deep sigh.

"We have to help each other get over things. I mean, I was afraid that you were...turning into a red hulk. That you were going to die too, and I... can't afford that. It can't happen again, right in front of me. Not to you.
You see? Maybe we've had a little too much in the last month or so. I need a break. Only I can't take it otherwise someone will make the school explode or something like that. We need to find... some balance."

"I'm tired too. The paper route, school, the newspaper, homework, and investigations. Sometimes I feel like I have no more a life of my own. And I see you much less than I'd like to." this last part is for Sarah.

"So, yes, if you feel it's too much, I feel it too. Just put out a sign -I'm about to explode- so I can duck in time next time.

Sylvia... she went after you too. Maybe she took a wrong turn. You'd better call her, she'll be worried. And..."


Colin frowns.
"No, she doesn't think you're an idiot. She thinks I'm a jerk." he says, sadly.


"No, I checked. It's not magic. Fortunately." for a moment, a moment Colin has the feeling there's something he should remember, something important, but as soon as it comes it's gone. "It's probably nothing."


"Hugs are always good. I want one too." he smiles at her.

Sarah asks Donnie cautiously, "Do you really feel that way about Megan and the cheerleaders or were you just blowing off steam?  It's okay... I don't want to start another argument or anything... I just want to know."  She bites her lower lip, not really wanting to know for sure.  If Donnie hates Megan I'm stuck in the middle and I hate that.  Like that time between Greg and Dave on the merit of the Star Wars saga.  They didn't talk for a week.  Well not until Greg told Dave in Yoda voice, "Pass me the ketchup you will." 

She looks around into the night.  "Maybe we should go find Sylvia?  She must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque." 

Then she makes sure to give Donnie and Colin big hugs because she needed them as much as anybody.  She gives Donnie another little look of concern, "Did Pip hurt you?  Are you okay?  Do you have dragon germs or anything?  Need rabies shots?  Mystical rabies shots?"

Colin waits silently. He would have dodged the topic, but he also knows this is important for Sarah. Megan is pretty much her best friend.


"Donnie, call her. What if she is as worried as I was? I'm going back to Sammy's, I left everything there, so I can tell the others we're all fine. We all have had more than our healthy dose of emotions for the week."


"You're the best, wondergirl." he whispers to her as he holds her tight. "The best."

Donnie looks arouond, a strange eagerness on his face as he looks for Sylvia.

Then his face clouds for a moment and seems to shut down. "I don't know. Maybe not. Things are utterly amazing with Sylvia." He blushes to the tops of his ears. "We've, uh-"  he glances nervously at Sarah. "Gone farther than I thought we would, in such a short amount of time."

He opens his backpack and suddenly Pip is there, looking forlorn and sorry. Donnie smiles a bit sadly and scratches him under the chin. Pip's long snake-like tonge whips out, cleaning off the drying blood from the puncture wounds on his wrist. He looks back up at this friends.

"Everything gets fuzzy when I am near her. I don't know if it's teenage hormones, love, whatever, but I seem to lose myself a bit when she's near. I have a hard time concentrating on anything else. I guess it's just first crush, first love. I don't know. This is all new to me. She's so ambivalent sometimes, but only in public. Private moments or phone calls are just..intense. "

Sylvia, for what it's worth, has set off in what she thinks is the direction of Donnie's house, but this was her first time at Sammy's, and she's only becoming familiar with the neighborhood.  As she walks, she thinks about the look on Donnie's face as he stormed out--enraged and then mortified.  One moment he was lashing out at Colin--the next, running away.  She might have thought it was unlike Donnie when she first got to know him, but in the time they've spent alone with one another she's come to realize the jocular goofiness he presents on first meeting is just his armor, his disguise.  He puts it on to protect himself from the unkind wounds the world will inflict on a fat kid who talks about dragons, and while it stops the blunt trauma of verbal abuse, it doesn't do much against the kinds of injuries they've suffered lately.  Rory's death and every other awful thing they've seen have festered.

Kel has been kindly lounging against the refrigerator throughout the entire discussion.  At first he just let everyone else handle all this investigation stuff, chemistry and science weren't his thing, in fact for a little bit he had been distracted thinking about everything going on in his life, let alone all the super-heroics.  Then Donnie had started mouthing off, again, been doing that a tad too much for a happy-go-lucky guy who likes to play Dungeons and Dragons.  Kel's fists had already formed when Donnie had talked about her being snobby and over-confident, while it was really Donnie's perceptions being heavily skewed, Donnie was smarter than that or at least Kel had always figured he was.  He had nodded happily at Colin's comment, as annoying as Colin could be sometimes he knew just what to say, Kel for a moment thought he wouldn't have to actually ram his fist through Donnie's face.  Sammy's comment had totally thrown him off, jealous of Megan, he shook his head, Kel had always figured that all the girls he knew were way too different to possibly get jealous of each other, they were all after different things in life, right?  Kel shook his head as the conversation continued, well more importantly, Donnie's ranting still continued, and Kel's fists were back somewhere at glory hound Kel had already started moving inbetween people and the little shadows that pop up in a house like Sammy's so he could just bring his backhand across Donnie's head, but then he stopped when he brought up all the guys.  He started talking about him, Kel was a bit thrown off to say the least, after all who he dated was his business and his reasonings were not up for judgement, certainly not by someone who didn't even know what he was talking about.  Then all of a sudden he stormed off, and everyone else chased after him, rushing out after the boy who fnally said too much.  Kel shook his head as Sammy puttered about and then left the kitchen.  Alone again, Kel thought, and then he shrugged and walked out.  The street was empty except for one lone figure, Sylvia, he walked up to her and said, "You ok, Syl?"

Sarah nods to Donnie, "Whatever you guys are comfortable with... That means both of you right?"

Sylvia stiffens as if, in turning, she expects to see someone else to go with Kel's voice, someone unwelcome, but when she sees Kel standing there, her shoulders fall.  She shakes her head.  "What the hell just happened?  We need serious therapy."

Kel shrugs, and pats Sylvia on the shoulder lightly, "Not a clue Syl, but I'm feeling alright.  A bit slighted that Donnie thinks of me like that, since it's not his place but otherwise I'm good.  I think all this shit is hard enough without all of us getting this stuff.  Summoning dragons, flying around Chicago, seeing into the past.  It's going to mess with us one way or the other."

She nods and puts her hand over Kel's for a second.  They're comrades-at-arms, and even though their battlefield looks like an upscale Chicago suburb and they've got no visible wounds, the casualties are stacking up.  "You're mad because he said you were staring at Megan?"

Kel gives a small heh, "The entire thing was annoying.  But inferring that I wanted to be, I believe he said, an accessory to her Tiffany bracelet was just not right.  It's not his place to worry about who I'm dating or Megan for that matter, and he really doesn't know her or me well enough to be talking about that kind of stuff."

Sylvia feels for Donnie, all the same.  "We get angry; we get stupid.  It's crazy that we keep going to school, keep pretending that everything is normal, when it's so not.  The other day I heard these two girls talking about some other girl who'd stolen somebody's boyfriend, and I swear, I really wanted to throttle them for a second."  There was an incident later that day--a little cat fight over a boy that sent one of the participants to the hospital for stitches.  "I'm not surprised Donnie's mad.  He's entitled.  We're all entitled."

Kel shakes his head, "Getting angry is all fine and good.  But taking it out on Megan, or the guys she dates?  He's got no real reason to be angry with her, he's got you, it's not like he got snubbed or something.  And getting angry with John or I for liking the girl?  He barely knows either of us, hell he only met John."  He sighs, "We're all going to get angry, but we have to learn to deal with what's actually making us angry.  And I really don't believe that Donnie gets that worked up at people he barely knows.  He treats Megan like she's one of the girls from Bring it On or Mean Girls and never gives her a chance.  I just can't see how she can make him angry when she's barely said more than a few words to him.  Like I said, anger's great, but we can't get mad at each other for stuff we don't even know.  It's bad enough we all got powers, there's no reason to be at each other's throats, should be helping each other."  Kel shrugs and then mutters, "Colin's a lot better at this touchy feely crap than me."

"But see, that's the thing.  It doesn't make sense.  Anger doesn't make sense.  It's like fight or flight, right?  If we were animals and something riled us up, we'd either attack or run away.  No reason for it but survival.  Only humans try to make sense of it."  She sighs.  "Anyway, he's not mad at Megan.  He's mad at whoever killed Rory.  But Megan was right there, and she said the wrong thing at the wrong time."

Kel nods and then sighs, "I guess.  Still though, he needs to be able to reel that in, save it for when we find Vandross, whoever he is."  He then looks over at Syl and says, "Do we all have any big plans for the weekend?:

Donnie looks at Sarah and Colin. "Again, I'm sorry. I don't know why I got so angry. I will call you later tonight, ok? I think I am gonna take the next couple days off from training, magical studies, and wierdness things, but I need to talk to you." He gives Sarah an apologetic smile and trudges off, cutting through yards. Pip leaps into the air and quickly beats upwards into an overwatch position.

Sylvia flashes him a look, wary and guilty.  "I've got something on Friday, game on Saturday.  Don't suppose you know anything about breaking and entering, Shinobi?"  She says it lightly, but there's a dead-serious gleam in her eye.

Colin waves at his friend, and thinks about what he said about him and Sylvia. He takes Sarah's hand in his own, helping her on her feet, and can't shake the feeling that... for him it's different.

He's lost without Sarah, not when he's with her. When she's there, everything seems brighter, less confused. He doesn't need glasses anymore, but with her, he just sees better. It's new, and intense, and scary too, sometimes, because he's afraid to burst his dream bubble if he stares at it too long.

He kisses her hand as they walk back to Sammy's.

Kel laughs a bit, "I might have a trick or two up my sleeve.  Not much good at doing things like picking locks, but I could probably bust a lock well enough, and do it quietly to boot.  I'd also make a great second story guy."

In return Sarah grabs Colin by the collar and leans in and gives him a quick kiss on the mouth before dashing off.  Nothing too steamy because Donnie was right there and just recovering from an emotional tidal wave.  "I've gotta get home before I turn into a pumpkin.  Curfew is calling.  You both be safe okay?" 

Sarah waves one last time and heads for home at a jog.  Wonder if there are any muggers out there tonight? *sigh* Probably not.  Not around here anyway.

Sylvia's damned tired of reacting.  That's the trouble, she thinks.  They're always chasing after someone who's two steps ahead.  "Let me throw this out there as an idea for further refinement.  Note that I'm not saying this in front of Colin because I don't want him telling me how naughty this is.  I'm just throwing this out there for tactical consideration."  Preamble done.  "Logan Darklighter's our primary connection to the card that killed Rory.  We should be checking him out, following him, looking through his garbage, searching his room.  Real subtle, so no one ever notices.  What do you think?"

Kel smirks, "I'm for that."

"So think this through with me here.  What do we need first?  Presuming Logan's our perp, dabbling in magic or something like that, he might have some kind of security up.  If it's magical, we'll need Donnie or Colin to look the place over--or at least tell us what to look for--right?  And then we either need a night when everyone's out of his house or we need a distraction.  What's that . . . surveillance?  We watch them?  Figure out what their schedules are?"

Kel shrugs and then says, "I'm for a more direct approach, break in during the middle of the night when he's home tape his mouth then grab him, tie him up and interrogate."

Sylvia gives him a look.  "Yeah, and if he's not our guy, what then?  That's four years of juvie, at least, and I'm not sure Arizona Flats--"  The federal penitentiary for paranormals.  "--has a juvie program."

Kel smiles, "The law might apply to Kelly Stilley but not to a mysterious figure known as Devil Dog.  Besides if he is our guy, then we'll end up doing it anyway."

Sylvia cringes, wondering what she's unleashed.  "Okay.  Even I have problems with beating an innocent guy for information he doesn't have.  But it's a start."

She goes through the steps in her head, not a fast thinker but a hard thinker.  "So first things first, we should cruise by Logan's and see what his place looks like, get the layout.  And I don't care how much of a ninja master you are; we're not going to be able to stage an assault with additional people in the house.  We'd at least have to catch him alone."  She pauses.  "Do you know where Logan lives?"

Kel sighs, no one ever wants to do what needs to be done, "Not a clue.  I figure we'll have to do some scouring for that.  I wouldn't be surprised if he's home alone, or at least out alone a fair amount.  It won't be very hard to get him alone, but when that happens, what then.  What exactly are we looking for?"

"My original plan was just to get in there, look around, look for receipts, components, books.  I don't know."  She looks grim and exasperated suddenly.  "We're going to have to get Colin in there, I'm thinking."

Kel strokes his chin, "Not sure, he might not want to even tread that fine line of going against the law.  But he would be a good asset.  Also looking for stuff from that place in Chicago, where all the witches get their stuff, if he has anything from there chances are good we might be able to figure it out.  Plus anything really incriminating, like stock piles of superman, or ingredients for that love goo."

Sylvia nods.  "So step one:  reconaissance.  Step two:  insertion."  She thinks.  "I'll ask Dave to tell us where Logan lives.  He can tell us what the house is like and who lives there."

Kel nods, "Sounds like a plan, we gotta be precise about this."  Kel smirks, thinking: and then I kick his ass from here to next week.