A Bit of Snowball Mischief (Wren)

[Kailin Bishop]

Snow always seemed to excite Kailin. Most all people seemed to hate it because of the freezing cold conditions it brought with it, but the white reminded Kailin of something pure and natural. Plus, she loved making snowmen and having snowball fights with her siblings whenever they wanted to. Today, though, she decided to be a bit mischievous, which wasn't all too uncommon. She had done plenty of interesting things to catch the attention of other in the past. But today it seemed she was going for a bit of a snowball fight. She wore a pure white, insolated coat with a matching knitted beanie, scarf, and of course gloves. All the better to hide in, right?

People didn't seem too interested in coming outside today, which was understandable, and those who did seemed slightly bitter about the entire ordeal, it seemed. People huddled within their coats and tried to hide their faces. Kailin may have been in a mischievous mood, but she didn't want a fight. She knew better than that, definitely.

The blonde collected a ball of snow in her hands and waited to find the most...likely candidate to throw the snowball at. She kept peeking her head out from behind a tree to scan the crowd for her victim, and when she found him, she threw, and watched as it hit his arm. Kailin didn't shrink back when she saw him spin around. Instead, she waved her gloved hand and had a teasing smile on her lips.

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren didn’t dislike snow, per se, although it was only technically frozen rain, and Wren hated rain. It just seemed more likable, somehow; probably the way it floated gently to the ground instead of accosting his person and making him immediately invisible.

He didn’t mind the cold, either, much. He tried his best to keep moving, which kept him warm. Today was no exception: he’d only started jogging about five minutes ago, but he’d already worked up a healthy resistance to the frigid wind. He wasn’t jogging quickly – he was a slow-and-steady kind of guy – but he was jogging nonetheless.

Until, that is, something hard hit his upper arm (right in the biceps!) and exploded against the thick fabric of his navy sweatshirt. He spun around, startled, and nearly slipped on the wet ground in the process.

He looked around. The campus was covered in white, and so it was a little hard to make out the girl lingering by the tree several meters away; she was wearing a white coat, a white hat, and even white gloves. The one thing Wren did notice was the curl of her blonde hair under the hat and the pink of her lips, even from far away, tinged with the blush of cold weather. In his dark navy hoodie and black knit hat, he’d probably been an easy target.

She waved at him playfully.

Wren smiled, and the smile broke into a grin. He also huffed out a small, embarrassed laugh and looked down. He pondered his options. If he kept jogging now, he thought, she’d probably just think he was no fun – he didn’t want her to think that. She’d gone out of her way to engage him, after all, and…

Well, she was pretty, too, right?

Not that he was really thinking about that, or anything…

“Alright,” he laughed, after a moment’s pause. “I mean, you asked for it, so…”

He knelt into the snow and picked up two fistfuls of the stuff. It was nice, wet snow, perfect for snowball-making; he packed it together deftly with his un-gloved hands, which had started to fade slightly. It was bitterly cold against his skin, but he didn’t mind.

He stood after he’d finished his handiwork, lifting the snowball and showing it to her with a wave of his hand.

He raised his eyebrows, just to give her fair warning.

Then, he wound his arm back and commenced the attack.

[Kailin Bishop]

He really should have known he would have been such a prime target. He was contrasting with the snow with his navy blue attire. Plus he looked to be relatively relaxed from his steady jog. She could have gotten that impression entirely wrong, but her skills of reading a person hadn't seemed to fail her just yet. She trusted her judgement, and that hasn't bitten her in the ass just yet, thank god. Kailin giggled at the stunned expression on the boy's face, and then a challenged shined within her green orbs as his look of shock switched to a full on grin. Perfect. He was in!

The first snowball was thrown, and she dodged it quickly, hiding behind the tree as she collected some snow in her hands. The cold seeped through the waterproof fabric, but Kailin didn't mind. She was about to enjoy herself a hell of a lot. She could have asked the twins to play, but they always had the advantage, being gestalts /and/ twins, it was practically an unbeatable duo. Taking a deep breath, Kailin emerged from behind the tree and threw.

He had a few shots in between that hit her, and she was laughing and panting, trying to create as many snowballs as she could. Her only two covers were the two trees exactly parallel to one another. She wouldn't be hiding for long, since she enjoyed running about. Even the sting of the snowball when it came in contact with her body was welcomed. It had been a while since Kailin had any fun. It had always been school, school, and more school. Winter was a beautiful time, especially for Kales. It gave her a break.

"Hey!" Kailin called out as she peeked out from behind her cover. "Before any of this continues, we should at least introduce ourselves. I'm sure Mystery boy does have it's perks, but I'd like a name." Her voice was light and teasing, and the tone was not too high in pitch, but not too low, either. It was perfect in Kailin's eyes. She wasn't conceited, she was just confident and loved herself like any woman should.

She stepped out from behind the trees and to the midpoint of where the two stood, her hands up as if to say 'don't shoot', but the grin never faltered. "I'm Kailin," She said, "Kailin Bishop."

[Wren O'Hara]

The snowball arced perfectly through the air, but the mysterious snow-throwing girl behind the tree ducked out of the way just in time; his carefully-made ammunition fell harmlessly somewhere behind her with a dull plop.

“Ah, lame,” he said, although he was still grinning. He was definitely in good shape, but he couldn’t rightfully claim to have the best aim on campus. He bent down to gather more snow. As he did, though, another snowball smacked into the top of his head. It crumbled instantly and began to melt; he put a cold-numb hand to his face, which had turned a little transparent.

“Oh, cheap!” he called out good-naturedly, his mirth evident in his voice. He quickly finished packing together another acceptable snowball and threw it with a little more force. It hit the back of her jacket, and Wren allowed himself a very quick mid-air fistpump.

They traded throws for a while, running and dodging and generally having a fun time. He didn’t go unscathed, by any means – her aim was apparently a lot better than his – but he got in enough hits to be proud of.

It wasn’t until she called out from behind the tree that he realized he was a little out of breath. He cradled the snowball he’d just finished making, raising his eyebrows in acknowledgment.

“What?” he called out. He still had that goofy grin on his face.

She told him what, and he grinned more widely. He watched her move away from her cover with her hands up; he let the snowball in his hands fall to the ground, forgotten. She stopped in the middle of the courtyard. He rubbed his freezing, faded hands on his snow-splattered hoodie before closing the distance between them.

She was even prettier up close, for what it was worth. Not that he was thinking about that, or anything.

“Hi Kailin,” he said, a little breathlessly from the cold. He cleared his throat. “I’m Wren. Er, O’Hara.” He added his surname as an afterthought, since she’d given him hers. “I mean, not Wren Er O’Hara. Just Wren O’Hara.”

There was a beat of silence. He looked down at his hands.

“My hands are really cold now,” he informed her with a chuckle.

[Kailin Bishop]

The boy wasnt overly tall, by her standards. Kailin was a relatively tall girl, so most guys, if not over 6'0" were not much taller than her. That could be am issue with heels because no man wants to have to look up at their girl, or any girl, for that matter. What she really noticed was broad shoulders and a grin that reached each end of the boys face. It was endearing, and it made him look quite attractive, to be completely honest.

Kailin listened intently as he spoke his name, and gave a soft laugh as he stumbled over his last name. "Well Mr. Er'O'Hara," Kailin teased lightly. "You should have worn gloves. You never know what kind of dangers are lurking behind trees!" Her hands went up and she wiggled her fingers in his direction. This had to be the least serious she had been in a while, so she was obviously taking advantage of the moment.

"And you also," She began, diving down and grabbing a hunk of snow before Wren knew exactly what was going on, "Should never let your guard down!" Kailin hit Wren, gently of course, in the chest with her poorly packed snowball and ran.

[Wren O'Hara]

She was almost as tall as he was, but Wren didn’t mind; of all the things he was self-conscious about, his height wasn’t one. It did, however, make the conversation feel more intimate – most girls he knew only came up to his shoulders. By those standards, Kailin’s face was much closer to his.

He tried not to think about that, although he supposed that if he happened to blush, he could pretend it was the cold instead.

She called him by his verbal mishap, and he huffed out an embarrassed chuckle and let his gaze fix on the ground again. If they ever met again, ever, he was pretty certain that he wasn’t going to live that one down for some time.

“Yeah,” he agreed, still staring at his hands with a serious expression. He cleared his throat as she gestured amusingly with her fingers. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Sorry.”

His face was still straight, due to a concentrated effort on his part, but his hazel eyes were sparkling with mirth. He was still hanging on her every word when she bent down to scrape up some snow, and he was in no way prepared – mentally or physically – for the snowball to the chest.

“What? Hey!” he called after her, temporarily frozen in amused disbelief. “That’s cheating, you called truce! Those were peace negotiations!” he said all of this to her retreating back, raising his voice so as to be heard.

She didn’t stop running, though, and he shook his head, grinning to himself.

“Jeeze,” he mumbled, bending down to pick up another large fistful of snow despite the protests of his bare hands. He formed a large, ominous looking snowball and lifted it with both hands. He squinted at the tree.

“You can’t hide the whole time, either,” he teased, throwing the large snowball so that it shattered against the bark of the tree.

[Kailin Bishop]

"I said peace for introductions!" She responded as she retreated back to her tree where her stash of snowballs remained stacked on top of one another. Her breath was clouding her vision slightly as her breaths became more frequent. She wasn't physically tired just yet, being that they had just started. It was actually quite welcomed, the physical activity, because it warmed her body . With every breath, however, cold air tickled her lungs. Her nose crinkled out of discomfort.

The impact of snow against bark caused the entire tree to shake. Kailin jumped back as Wren made his announcement. The blonde was very much aware that she couldn't stay hidden forever. She was simply collecting ammunition. "You never know! I mean, it's really nice back here. And safe from snow bullets!" Kailin peeked out from the right side of the tree and threw a snowball. Purposely, it landed at his feet. Hopefully that would distract him enough for her to rush out to the other side and hit him with the remaining two snowballs she held in her arms.

"I don't hide. I reload my ammunition. If you want to win this, you have to take my base from me!" This, Kailin realized, would be quite an interesting day if he managed to take her 'base' from her. It could be viewed as capture the flag, almost, which had to be her favorite game in Phys. Ed. She glanced at him with a teasing smirk, the words 'come and get it' clearly visible within her green orbs.

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren sighed amusedly again; his breath rolled into a foggy cloud in the cold. He wasn’t sure that he would be able to keep up this bare-handed snowball making for much longer without getting frostbite, which meant that he needed to take the proactive approach.

The first thing he needed, he reasoned, was something to hide behind – there weren’t any trees in his section of the courtyard, and her aim was killer. He looked behind him; the only thing that he saw by way of cover was a brushed metal picnic table by the entrance, which was covered in a couple inches of snow. There were icicles hanging off of the edges, and there were a couple of gaps that a snowball could certainly fit through, but it was better than nothing, and that was… well, something.

He jogged hurriedly over and crouched behind it. He peeked over the top cautiously, so that the top of his hat was visible.

Kailin was still by the trees with a predatory gleam in her eye. From this angle, he could see the snowballs that she had piled up behind her tree-base. Christ! She’d made a zillion of them. He’d been making them on an as-needed basis.

Not putting on gloves this morning had clearly been a tactical failure on his part. Take over her base of operations? There was just no way.

He cradled his sole snowball, which wasn’t even that big, and sighed.

“I surrender!” he called out, waving a bare, transparent hand. “Seriously, I give. Mercy,” he laughed, carefully extracting himself from his position behind the table.

[Kailin Bishop]

Wren took a position behind a table, which effectively blocked him from her view. There were a few holes through the snow covered picnic table, but her aim wasn't that precise. Behind the tree, her ammo was running out and her body was beginning to ache. Kailin worked out, yes, but she wasn't used to trudging in the snow back and forth, dodging snowballs. The tickling in her lungs turned to an all out stinging, but the immense enjoyment she was receiving from this activity kept her going. That is, until Wren called for a truce.

Holding a single snowball in case it was a hoax (she didn't doubt it since she had done that to him earlier), Kailin walked out behind her fortress and eyed the boy skeptically looking for any hidden ammunition that he could reach for at a moments notice. Instead, her eyes seemed to be glued to his hand, or rather, lack of one. Kailin, being in an all meta family and a meta-human school, knew that powers came in various categories, but never had she seen one so... transparent. Where his hand once was, there was nothing. Kailin's eyes widened and she dropped the snowball.

"So that's your power? Invisibility?" She said as she jogged up to where Wren stood. She grabbed his arm with her glove, not even asking if it were alright. She figured he'd be grateful for the warmth. She took her other free hand and clasped the air where his hand should be, and sure enough, she could feel his hand as if it were clearly visible. "But if your power is invisibility..." Then why didn't he just go invisible and win the fight?

She glanced up at him and laughed. "First off, I want to know about your power. Secondly, it can wait until we get warmed up. I'll pay for hot chocolate for the two of us since I sort of brought you into this without warning. Deal?"

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren brushed the snow from the knees of his jeans, which were now soaked. He stood, then, and saw Kailin eyeing him critically. He raised both invisible, empty hands in a defensive posture.

“For real,” he said. “Anyway, I’m not a cheater,” he added with a teasing smirk.

They met in the middle of the courtyard again, and this time she surprised him by grabbing his spectral, cold-numb hand with her gloves. It made him a little uncomfortable; the only thing he hated more than turning invisible was other people noticing that he was invisible and subsequently commenting on it. He let her, though, because it would be rude to do anything else, and because she didn’t seem freaked out or amused like most people did.

“Sorta,” he replied half-heartedly. “I can’t really control it.”

He instantly regretted saying this, because it made him sound like a slacker or something. The majority of powers could be turned off, although some took more practice than others. Wren’s power – much to his chagrin – was completely biological, a complex reaction between the cells of his body and the water, and there was no way for him to put a stop to it. It would be like trying to stop his brain working, or his heart beating, or his lungs breathing.

She didn’t seem fazed; also, she was still holding his hand.

His cheeks were red. From the cold, obviously…

He gave her an amused look that blossomed into a small, shy smile. It was the first time a girl had ever asked him anything like that.

Not that he was thinking about that, or anything.

“Deal,” he replied. “And marshmallows,” he added, as an afterthought. He didn’t drink hot chocolate without marshmallows, and his hands were really cold.

[Kailin Bishop]

"I wasn't cheating! I was simply bending" the rules." Kailin stuck her tongue out and her nose crinkled from the cold.

"That's fine," Kailin said absently towards the comment about his inability to control his power. Kailin, at sixteen, was still only barely grasping the true potential of her ability. Baby steps, her instructor would say. But Kailin didn't want baby steps. She wanted to be there already. But she knew that if she pushed herself too hard, she'd go nowhere. "I can only hold illusions for about 30 minutes. Any longer and they start to fade and I get debilitating migraines and sometimes I have to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Not everyone is destined to control their power, but if they know their limits, then that's the true power, I think."

Kailin pulled away from Wren, realizing how close they were to one another and the stiffness in his limbs told her to back away. She could blame it on the weather, but they had been running furiously, so his limbs wouldn't be stiff like that unless he was uncomfortable. Body language reading really did help in times like this. "Well come on then. Off to the cafeteria for some hot chocolate with marshmellows and then we'll head to the student lounge or something to talk."

Her hands and body were quite warm due to the faux fur within the coat, and the same with her gloves. But her face was incredibly cold. "Off we go to wonderland!" She chimed.

[Wren O'Hara]

“That’s a very fancy way to say cheating,” Wren said kindly, still smiling at her. He then listened with interested as she began to talk about illusions, which he assumed must be her power, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have brought it up randomly while they were standing in the cold.

He was also impressed by her wise words regarding powers and control and limits, because he’d never thought about it that way. And, for a moment, it made him feel a little better.

“Sorry about your migraines,” he said finally, after a few moments of silence. His good friend Dante also got migraines. Actually, almost everyone he knew of got migraines – if at least one person wasn’t absent from each class due to a migraine, it was a very special occasion. It made Wren feel a little guilty – his power didn’t even have side effects.

Well, not physical ones.

She was already talking about Wonderland, though, and Wren chuckled good-naturedly. He stuffed his transparent hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt and fell into stride beside her.

“That’s a very fancy way to say cafeteria,” he mused, looking up at the snow-grey sky. He chanced a quick look over at her. She looked really happy.

“Thanks, by the way,” he said randomly. “I mean… that was fun. I haven’t had a snowball fight in ages.”

He followed her into the main building, and was immediately grateful for the warmth.

[Kailin Bishop]

"I'm used to them, I guess. Most people with these mental or even some physical powers suffer from migraines. One of the more annoyingly common side effects of being a meta." Migraines were common throughout campus for that very reason. The ones who were not able to control their powers well enough to suppress the side effects usually suffered the consequences, giving them motivation to improve. "Just gives me a reason to try harder. No need to apologize."

Usually the mentioning of her inability to do something frustrated her, but Kailin was in far too good of a mood to let that happen. Sure, her lungs were stinging from the cold and her cheeks were bright with a blush, but she was excited and pumped. Plus, for what it's worth, she met someone new today and she was getting hot chocolate. What more could a girl ask for in the winter time?

"Well I just had an incredible time, so any other activity will seem dull in comparison. I have to spice it up somehow, you know. Sure, the cafeteria may be a dull and mundane place to go, but it has hot chocolate, which takes me to a wonderland all it's own. I'm a sucker for chocolate anything." Kailin explained. She turned to him and kind nod of acknowledgement. Kales would love to see how he would do in a planned snowball fight, like the boys vs. girls annual snowball fight between all of hammel's students. She'd drag him along to that if she had to. Oh how much fun that would be...

"Hm? Oh, neither have I. I would have played with the twins but if you call me a cheater," Kailin stuck her tongue out childishly as she entered the building, "Then you should see John and Jacob. They're awful."

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren found himself smiling as she told him she’d had an incredible time. She was very straightforward; he found himself inexplicably attracted to that.

“Me too,” he interjected conversationally as she professed her love of chocolate. Most food was fine by him, of course, but there was a special place in his heart reserved for nachos and grape soda and chocolate. They made their way deeper into the warmer building, although their pace was somewhat leisurely. Wren could feel the chill slowly seeping out of him.

“The twins?” he asked casually, politely curious. She’d introduced herself as a Bishop, he remembered, which meant that she was no doubt one of the many who attended Hammel. Indeed, he had English with one Bishop, and track practice with another. Admittedly, though, he didn’t really know how many Bishop siblings there actually were. He’d never bothered to count; there had been swimming to be done.

He made an educated guess.

“Your siblings?” he added. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he smiled apologetically at her.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. But you did kind of cheat,” he said, amusement evident in his voice. They reached the cafeteria, then; he got to the door first, and so he held it open for her. “I forgive you, though,” he added.

[Kailin Bishop]

"My youngest brother's. Gestalt pair. They have an insane love of using their 'connectedness', as they put it, against us. The only sibling they don't murder in games like these is Devlin, and that's because he has duplicates." Their family was huge, with a total of 14 members. She was one of twelve kids, and those who didn't really know the family found it shocking when they came over or were told about them.

"I have 11 brothers and sisters. My youngest siblings are Savvy, at 14, and John and Jacob at 15. Then there is me, I'm 16 by the way. Then Lany, 17; Katy, 18; Gaige, 19; Claudia, 20; Gordon, 21; Aura, 22; Zach, 23; and Devlin, 25. I don't know why there was a random gap, but after that two year difference, my parents couldn't seem to stop having kids." The thought almost seemed unbearable, being pregnant that many times in a row. Kailin shoved the thought out of her mind as quickly as it had arrived.

"Either way, cheating or not, I still kicked your butt." Kailin wasn't competitive athletically, but she did enjoy light teasing from time to time. And, from what she had noticed, Wren made it quite easy for her to tease him. He took it so well, too. Kales gave him a quick thank you before entering the cafeteria and gliding towards the cafe machine. She grabbed two of the insulated paper coffee cups and placed the first under the nozzle. "Milk or Dark, Wren?" She inquired.