Hide and Seek! - Ginny and Jean -

[Christina Byrne]

Christina looked in the mirror at herself. Her short blond hair was back in a ponytail, high up on the back of her head and held by a silver bow. Her shirt was plain gray with pink stitching and she'd accessorized it with a pink belt with a large bow on the front. She'd rummaged it out of her mom's closet, the clothes from way back when, when she herself had been a teen. Most people wouldn't dare to wear clothes that old, but Christina thought this belt added a nice flair. She wore regular, dark blue jeans and black converse - perfect for walking quietly.

She headed out of the room and down the hall. She, Ginny, and Jean had planned for a game of hide and seek in the research labs. Technically, this was way against the rules. That's why Christina was assigned to show up first. She would go in and check the all clear. If someone was there, she could explain that she was new at school and still learning the way around, she'd gotten lost. If it was clear, as it should be by this time, she would leave the signal by the door to let Jean and Ginny know that it was safe to come in and get the game started.

As she walked across the yard, Christina stayed behind the buildings, trying to stay out of sight but look inconspicuous at the same time. It wouldn't do for someone to see her go into the labs and rat them out before the game started. That was the most exciting part though - the thrill of knowing you could get caught any minute. She walked up to the door, putting her actress on, and looked around like she was wondering if this was the right place to be. Had to put on an act for any curious onlookers, right?

The small blonde opened the door and darted inside closing it behind her. The dim lights in the hallway buzzed quietly. So far, so clear. She walked to the door that said STAIRS in red letters and opened it, still pretending to look confused in case someone came and discovered little Christina Byrne wandering around. She carefully walked down the steps and opened the door at the bottom. Coast was clear and the area was perfect. They'd been right. Many hiding places in the huge underground lab. This would be great. Christina ducked out of the room and did a quick sweep of the rest of the building, ensuring no one was there. She came across only one person, in which she'd heard the footsteps and ducked into a supply closet. The man walked out of the building with his coat and bag and didn't appear to be coming back.

Smiling, she walked to the front of the building and opened the door. She hung two rubber bands, one thick and the other thin, to let Jean and Ginny that it was safe to come inside. Once this was done, Christina walked back downstairs and sat in a chair in the lab, close enough to a wall that she could phase through if need be but close enough to the door that both would see her when they walked in and looked around.

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny was trying desperately not to hover while she waited for Christina to give the all clear. She was sitting in the quad, Math book open and notes around her in disarray in an attempt to look casual and innocent. This effect was undoubtedly ruined by the leather cuffs around both wrists, along with the fact that she kept glancing over at the Research building. Of course, she thought those glances were discreet, but had anyone been watching her they would have noticed that these 'discreet' glances were frequent and with the furtive, head-bowed appearance of someone trying very hard to be sneaky.

She knew very well that Christina had to be careful not to get caught, but the wait was excruciating. She wanted to begin, already, and the longer they waited the more risk there was of someone walking by at an inopportune time.

After what seemed an eternity she stood, stretching in would-be-nonchalance, taking her time to check her surroundings. There was nobody in sight (though with meta-humans this didn't necessarily mean anything) and so she meandered over to the large, blue metal doors that guarded the secrets of the Research labs.

She'd been inside before, just often enough to recall a spacious building with plenty of interesting places to hide. Granted, she'd always been accompanied by her father (or rather, she had accompanied him, as she otherwise had no business being there) but what would one little time playing hide and seek hurt?

Obviously, she didn't really believe she was allowed to be there, or she wouldn't have asked Christina to play look-out.

A smile flitted across her face as she noted the two rubber bands on the door handle's. Excellent! Time to play.

She pushed open the door, back straight, trying to look as authoritative as possible just in case some invisible (or simply hidden) person were around to see her go in.

The younger girl was sitting just inside, and Ginny gave her a conspiratorial grin. "Good job!" She whispered, glancing over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't been followed before shutting the door behind her. "Jean in yet?"

She peered around the foyer, but failed to spy her itty bitty minion. No matter, she was sure he would be right behind her. At least, she hoped that he would be, because they really needed to start soon. Christina could phase into the wall if an adult walked by, but Ginny had no such useful skills. She had her status as James Campbell's daughter and Chase Kilbourne's step-daughter, which would be of dubious use if they were caught.

[Jean Manne]

Jean was scouting the perimeter, which was the only thing he could think of doing until Christina gave the all-clear. In truth, it was simply because he was far too excited to stand still. This was going to be one of the funnest things he’d ever done ever, and there was no way he was going to pass this up. He reflected that college must be pretty awesome, since Ginny seemed to know how to take regular boring games and making them a million times more exciting. It did occur to him that they could get caught and it might not be by a nice person like Ella. But that was the whole fun of it! Besides, Ginny was an adult. She could probably just say she was escorting them somewhere.

As he circled back around the quad for the fifth time, he saw Ginny disappear behind the door. And yes, there were the rubber bands. He was good to go! Forgetting to be sneaky entirely, Jean broke out into a wide, excited grin before remembering himself and smothering it. He tried to look as casual as possible as he sauntered over to the door. He wasn’t as experienced as Ginny, nor was he as good an actor as Christina, so he probably just looked ridiculous, but as far as he could tell, nobody took any notice of him as he strolled over and pulled open the door.

“I’m here,” He whispered in response to Christina’s question as he rounded the corner, opting to follow their lead and keep his voice low. It made things more excited anyways. Looking around sneakily, he leaned in towards the two girls, “So what next?”

[ooc: sorry for the ridiculous wait. >_<;; I had to move back home for the summer. But everything is good now!]

[Christina Byrne]

Christina smiled brightly as Ginny walked into the room and was confident that the three would at least get a few minutes of hide and seek in before getting caught. She'd already thought through her plan of what they would say if someone came in and found them, but decided she wouldn't kill the good mood by bringing it up. In the back of her mind, she had a feeling that research was done for the day, but she couldn't help feeling just a little nervous.

"Thanks! No, he ha-" The door opened and a small boy walked in. "Oh. Well, now he is" Jean was younger than both Ginny and Christina, but the three got along just fine. Jean seemed to look up to Ginny as an intelligent adult that learned all these great ideas of things to do from college. Christina secretly thought that maybe Ginny just had the mentality of a child. But hey, this certainly was more fun than homework, so she didn't argue. Countless days had gone by that she was sitting around doing nothing productive, and Ginny suggested something wild like this. Christina was fairly new at the school and quite young, so that was to their advantage if they got caught doing anything.

She shrugged to Jean's question. "All I know is I went to the risk of getting us in here, so I'm not looking for you guys the first round." She stuck her tongue out jokingly and stood up off her chair.

[Ginny Campbell]

"Speak of the devil," Ginny grinned as her little minion walked through the door almost as if summoned. "Hey, Jean." She adored the young boy; it was so flattering how he followed her around and did whatever she suggested with the utmost enthusiasm. She needed to rope Niko and Jordan into joining them, but she wasn't sure they would be quite as good as minions. After all, they were just as likely to tell James (or, worse, Chase) what sort of mischief she encouraged as they were to play along. Although, Jordan was friends with Mia, which meant he could probably keep a secret. And Niko hadn't betrayed them when they'd 'played' spies. That mission hadn't born fruit, frustratingly, but that was probably for the best. She still hadn't apologized to Chase; she wasn't sure how.

She placed one hand on her hip, the other brushing her hair behind one ear with nerves she was pretending she didn't have. "Fine, be that way." She mirrored Christina, thrusting her tongue out at the younger girl. "I'll start. The two of you'd better hope luck is on your side 'cause I'm the best at finding people." She bragged. Probably Christina's power would be useful in proving her wrong, but that didn't matter. Part of playing games was braggadocio.

"Ready?" She turned her back on the pair, covering her eyes with one arm and leaning against the wall. "Twenty....nineteen...eighteen...."

[Jean Manne]

“Hey Ginny, hey Christina.” Jean waved at his friends with a grin on his face, “You guys ready to play?” He was excited, and as such, had to consciously keep his voice low. Being quiet was key.

Jean grinned at Christina, “That’s true. Hope it wasn’t too hard.” He liked Christina, he thought she was nice, if a little serious. Jean started scanning around, looking for places to hide. He knew there was one librarian who was always in here, but all they had to do was avoid him, which shouldn’t be too hard. After all, they were playing hide and seek. The whole point was not to be found.

“Well, too bad, Ginny, because I’m the best hider.” Jean countered, looking smug. He understood the importance of bragging before a game. That, and he was pretty small, he couldn’t probably fit into smaller places that Ginny couldn’t reach.

Once Ginny started counting, he gave Christina an excited glance before dashing off amongst the stacks, looking for somewhere good to hide. Finally, he decided on ducking under a table and tucking his knees under his chin until he was a nice little ball. He would move if Ginny got closer.

[Christina Byrne]

"Hey, Jean." Christina smiled and waved, excited for the game to be played. Sure, there was always the chance that they'd be caught and get in trouble... But if you let the risk of being caught stop you from having fun, life will just be boring. "Yep! All set to play." She looked excitedly around the room, already searching for a place to hide. There were tables, cabinets, closets... Though most storing units would probably be full. She bit her lip and thought about her power. Would it be considered cheating if she phased through something to hide? Christina decided no, it wouldn't be. If you have a certain talent, you should use it in whatever situations that will help, right? The small blonde looked over at Jean and shook her head confidently. "Not too hard at all, really. No one suspects that the new girl will be doing something that could possibly get her into lots of trouble."

And it was true. Who would expect that someone new to the school would knowingly sneak into a restricted area to play hide and seek? Not many. Christina shook her head at the small boy. "Nuh uh. I'm the best hider. She gloated proudly and smirked slightly. All three seemed to know that bragging was part of the game. Though it was true that Jean was obviously the smallest and could fit into tiny spaces, Christina could phase through things to get places no one could reach. It was admittedly not a fair game for Ginny, being the biggest one and no powers to help her out. She didn't seem to care though, and if she didn't care, Christina didn't mind, either. Ginny offered to be the seeker first and started counting.

Christina looked around the room in a panic, not having yet decided where she'd hide. She smiled as she came up with a plan. She ran to the nearest cupboard, opened it, slammed it shut, and tip toed to a closet across the room, opening it silently and stepping inside. As she closed it slowly and silently, she saw Jean under a table and smirked, waving before shutting it without sound. Christina let her eyes adjust to the darkness and took note of equipment all around the room. There was a box in the back of the closet, seeming just big enough to fit someone her size. After opening it, she shook her head, frustrated. Full. Ginny was getting close to being done counting and she'd of course look in the closet. The small blonde just needed a place to hide inside the closet. Somewhere that wouldn't be noticed at a glance.

She bit her lip and pressed her ear up against the door. If she heard footsteps near the closet, she'd phase through the wall on the opposite side. The only problem with this plan would be the possibility of getting stuck.

[ooc: Oh my god, guys. I'm so sorry this took FOREVER. I've had so much going on, but that's no excuse.<3 I promise I'll try harder to reply on time, loves. Forgive me please?]

[Ginny Campbell]

"....three....two.....one!" Ginny finished her count down, her eyes squeezed shut. She'd heard footsteps scatter, and had a vague idea of which direction her quarry had gone, but they were both tiny and they were both meta. She knew that Jean's ability wouldn't help him, but she'd seen Christina during the water balloon fight and knew that she would be a more formidable foe.

"Ready or not, here I come!" She shouted, giving the pair time to secure hiding places if they hadn't already -- and announcing their presence to anyone else in the area.

She didn't plan on looking for them in any serious manner immediately, however, announcement or not. After all, it wouldn't be any fun if she found them right away! So she made a great show of looking in ridiculous places, standing on tiptoe to open cabinets and exclaim loudly about not finding anyone in them.

"Man!" She laughed, looking under a chair and unsurprisingly seeing neither of her young playmates, "The two of you sure are great hiders!"