Hundred Million Dollar Souls (River)

[Rain Tseung]

Rain walked onto the sand as she looked out at the lake. Yes, it was all beautiful; the thing that made it gorgeous was the people. Yeah, she was sappy like that, she loved seeing people love nature, and enjoy it. Instead of demolishing it, hurting them, and all that other negative stuff that affects her in more ways than one.

She carried her backpack, and a bucket with plaster, water, and a few other things that she was going to need for this outing. Of course, she also dragged River along too. Well, maybe not dragged, but he was there with her. She had the most amazing brother in the whole world. She bumped her shoulder into his arm, because let’s face it, she was not tall enough to bump his shoulder. “Shall we find some sea shells and stuff before we find a place to sit?”

Sand casting wasn’t the only thing she wanted to do at the lake. She wanted to take a swim too, because winter was upon them, and she hated winter… Not just because she could literally freeze to death outside, but because winter, and fall killed all the plants, it’s depressed part of the year for her. She couldn’t help but feel for the plants, and be sad in those seasons. Especially in Vermont, where Vermont went through all four seasons; she might have to move to Florida where it’s Summer all year long.

[River Tseung]

River was practically bouncing with eagerness as they approached the lake, switching between singing random songs and poking his sister as they walked. They didn't get to go out together nearly as much as he would have liked between school and other things, so he loved their outings like this and tried to get as much joy out of them as he could. Which was a lot.

He was dragging along the rest of the materials that Rain wasn't, and beamed over at her as she bumped him. "Sounds awwwesome. This'll be great. Ray." He giggled and ruffled her hair, eagerly hopping into the sand once they reached the edge of the shore. "Ahh, I love the beach," he sighed happily. Well, it wasn't exactly the ocean, but it was good enough for him.

It was still a little warm with the oncoming autumn, but he had also brought along his swimming trunks just in case. "I'm gonna reach the water before you do!" he challenged, then darted off towards the lake, laughing and dodging obstacles as he ran like a dork.

[Rain Tseung]

Rain enjoyed a lot of things, but being able to do something she loved with someone she loved was the most amazing thing ever. Art, and River, the best combination ever, in her whole life. As they walked she sang the songs with River, and poked him just as much, maybe more than he had poked her.

“Awesome! I’m glad there’s a lake here, or this wouldn’t be doable.” Well, she guessed they could always used wet dirt, but they wouldn’t be able to find shells, and other cool stuff. Rain Chuckled as River ruffled her hair, “Hey, Riv!” Not cool! She couldn’t even reach his head! So he couldn’t do it back to him. “I can’t even do that back to you!”


She was glad it was still warm, or else she wouldn’t be able to do this. It would be too cold for her, some of the side effects of her powers sucked majorly. “Hey!” Rain put down the bucket, and ran after River, chasing after him, looking as much of a dork as he did. Once she got close to her brother, she jumped to try to get onto his back, hopefully he would catch her, otherwise, they were both kind of screwed.

[River Tseung]

"Yeah, definitely. This place is great!" River nodded enthusiastically in agreement, swinging a bucket around in an attempt to expel excess excited energy. It didn't work; he was too happy. He chuckled as his sister complained about the hair ruffle, grinning wide enough so his dimples were showing. "Good! It's my job to make your life miserable," he teased in a very light-hearted voice, obviously kidding about it. He took both hands and ruffled her hair again, just for good measure. Of course, if it actually bothered her that much, he would stop; he wasn't a cruel older brother in the least! He just liked to tease a bit.

He giggled manically as Rain chased after him, using the speed he had gained from being on the track team to put on an extra burst to keep away from her. Still, she caught up eventually, and he let out and 'oof!' as he felt her weight hit his back. He managed to catch her without stumbling too much - thankfully, she was tiny. A few moments later they hit the water, and River stumbled to a stop, laughing uncontrollably as he tried to catch his breath. "Warn me next time!" he panted, setting Rain back down as he tried to control his giggle fit.

[Rain Tseung]

“I wouldn’t say you’re making it miserable. Miserable is such a harsh word!” River couldn’t do anything to make her miserable, nope nothing at all. She grinned as he ruffled her hair even more, and then tried to fix her hair. “You’re lucky I have short hair!” Because if she didn’t it would be so much harder to fix, and then she would be annoyed. She gently pushed River with both hands to the side, and smiled.

She disliked how River was all sportsy, she didn’t do track… But she was glad that she was able to catch up to him, even with her shorter legs. “How was I suppose to warn you?” She guessed she could have just yelled, ‘catch me’ but that was no fun. She giggled as River set her down, “thanks for not dropping me though.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

[River Tseung]

River bobbed his head in agreement. "So right, dear sister~" he sang out, grinning. He was so glad she was so much like him; he would have loved her no matter what, but it was also great they enjoyed the same things and could do so much together. "Aw pshh, you know you love it," he giggled, pretending her push was much harder than it actually was with a small 'oof!'

"I dunno!" he laughed, kicking is legs through the water. It was a bit chillier than he had expected! It might be too cold to swim today after all; but then again, he was used to swimming in rivers up in Canada, so he was pretty cold-resistant. He grinned down at Rain, sticking his tongue out right back. "Of course, I'd never let ya fall," he told her jokingly, wrapping an arm over her shoulder as they walked back to the shore. "Now let's get started, yeah?"

[Rain Tseung]

Rain chuckled, of course she was right! When was she not right? Nah, she had her wrong moments. “Hee, I don’t think you could make anyone miserable though, dear brother.” River was too nice to make anyone miserable, unless if they were miserably jealous of River, then maybe. “Yeah, you right I do love it.” She chuckled as River tried to mock her, but really she didn’t care, she knew he was just playing around.

Once Rain started to feel the coldness of the water, a shudder passed through her at the coldness. River might be able to swim in this cold water, but she would not be able to. She was much more sensitive to the cold since her powers manifested. She wrapped her arm around her brother’s waist. “Would you let me fall out of a plane?” She asked, thinking of scenarios of what River would let her do, and wouldn’t, at least not liked anyways. “Yessss! This would probably be the last time I can do this, this year.” She had also started selling these sand castings, but she would have to put them on hold till the spring. “Let’s go find shells!” She walked down the shore line, looking for really anything that would be good to cast.

[River Tseung]

"Oh, I hope not! I want to make people happy, not miserable." It was River's goal in life to make someone happy every day, be it a friend or a complete stranger; he just wanted to spread the happiness around! And he was glad that his sister had seemed to pick up his typically bubbly personality, even though they weren't biologically related. As far as he was concerned, they were.

He felt her arm wrap around him and returned the gesture, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "If you had a parachute.... Maybe. That stuff can be awfully dangerous though!" He had no desire to skydive. But if she wanted to when she turned 18... Well, he couldn't really stop her! "Well, then let's do it!" he grinned, following after her along the shore. He picked up any objects he thought would be interesting - a shell or two, some interesting-shaped pieces of wood, and other such trinkets. Once he had a good armful, he put them in one of the buckets he was carrying and set all of his materials in the sand, waiting for Rain to join him.

[Rain Tseung]

Rain smiled “Of course you do! So do I.” Probably not as much as River, for River making people happy was a passion for him, for Rain the will to make people happy was just there. It did come naturally to both of them, making people happy, which was why they were so similar. Of course she picked up on it, she always adored her older brother, who wouldn’t? Rain probably would have been different if their parents hadn’t adopted her when she was only a newborn… But she really didn’t want to think about where she would be if his parents hadn’t adopted her at all.

Rain let out a soft ‘hum’ as River answered. “It looks so cool though! Have you never wanted to skydive? There’s this one person who skydives with his dog, I think that’s kind of awesome.” However, Rain would never do it alone; she would have to have someone with her. She spinned around in a circle before looking for shells, and other things that would be cool to use. Most of the things that she picked up were shells, But she found some seaweed, she didn’t think lakes had seaweed, but it was there and she grabbed it, she also found the remnants of what looked to be an egg, she really wasn’t sure what type of egg it was, or why it was on the lake, maybe someone took it from a birds nest? She shrugged and carefully picked it up, then walked over to get her bucket, then went over to River. She placed everything she found near the Stuff River found. “Shall we place them all?” As she asked, she started to do so.

[River Tseung]

River chuckled happily. "I know you do," he replied brightly, ruffling Rain's hair again. He couldn't imagine what his life might have been like had his parents not adopted her; he was sure he would still be as happy and bubbly as he was already, but it was just so much sweeter to have someone so much like him in his life, and to be able to share these memories with her. He wasn't a stereotypical overly-protective-to-the-extreme type of older brother - he understood she needed her own space to grow as a person - but he would be on anyone in a flash if he thought they were going to do her wrong.

He shivered at her question. "I think that's a little too intense for me, sweetheart. My poor heart might just give in!" River chuckled. "What a brave dog, though! Can you imagine what it must be thinking when it's falling through the air?" he pondered. He continued to ponder as he collected his items and carefully deposited them all out on the ground, beaming at Rain's collection. "You found some cool stuff!" he exclaimed, poking at the seaweed. "It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out." He excitedly looked at her. "What's the first step? I'm afraid I'm rather clueless." He followed her motions, hoping he was doing it right.

[Rain Tseung]

She couldn’t even imagine what her life would have been like if River’s parent’s hadn’t adopted her… Would someone else have adopted her? Would she have gone into a foster family, and just stayed there? Would she have nice parents, or foster family? Would she even have a name? Considering Her parents named her… There are so many things that could have happened to her… And she wouldn’t wish it differently, never, ever.

“Aww! Well okay. I can find someone else to go with.” Rain chuckled, and poked him. “It’s not like the dog was by himself! He was strapped to his owner’s abdomen!” It would be pretty dangerous to have a dog sky dive without anyone with him. How would the poor thing even open his parachute? “well first we have to put everything into the sand, the way that you would want the plaster to take it. Like the shells you would obviously put upside down. You will always want to keep them in the sand till we mix the plaster, because excess sand can ruin it.” Rain started doing what she had told River, thinking very carefully about what to put where, and what to put next to what. There was no wrong way to casting sand, you just did whatever felt naturally, and sometimes screw ups could turn out to be pretty awesome for the end result. “Plaster is kind of awesome. But very dangerous… Did you know that a girl lost eight? Of her fingers from trying to cast her hand for a school project?”

[River Tseung]

River pouted his lips. "Well, just be careful!" he chided her in a very older brother-ly fashion. "And go with someone responsible that will keep you safe!" His little tirade complete, he smiled again and gave a laugh. "Well I know thaaaat," he teased, poking her right back. "But still, you can't explain to the dog what's going on!" It was just funny to think about. He vaguely wondered if maybe Savvy could speak to the pet and see how it felt... Hmmm.

River watched and listened attentively as his sister explained how to do it, following her lead and pushing his objects into the sand. He took the initiative and began mixing the plaster itself, following the instructions on the container until the mixture was nice and soupy. "Alright, do we put it in now?" he asked excitedly, though he looked at Rain with horror at her short story. "That's... That's awful!" he cried, flexing his hand. "We're definitely sticking to shells and other things. No fingers in the plaster." Once the things were prepared, he carefully began to ease the plaster into the shapes, making sure not to spill anything.

[Rain Tseung]

“Don’t worry I will!” She would of course go with someone she trusted, though the person she trusted most didn’t want to go with her… Granted she would also have to go with an adult, she knew that much. “Is there anything you want to do in the world, like before you die? And it can’t be anything like ‘oh I want to see this place’” She really was curious, and was curious if there was anything else they could do together before they both had actual lives and families of their own. “I’m sure the dog is smart enough to figure out what’s going on. And it can’t be that much different from dogs sticking their heads out of a car window.” The conversations they had…

Rain watched River mix the plaster together; it looked like he had done this before. She nodded “Yes! It is going to take a long time to dry.”She took the bucket from River; he mixed now it was her turn to pour it. She poured it over and into the shapes in the sand that they made. She sat down on the sand one she was finished, taking a deep breath in relaxation. “What do you want to do while we wait?” She shook her head, “It wasn’t just the plaster though. It was because the chemicals in the mix make it hot, and because they had the mix in a bucket, the chemicals of the bucket and the mix made it even hotter. So she got like third degree burns or something like that.” It goes to show that plaster just wasn’t a very safe thing, and that it should be used carefully. That had to be one hard lesson for the school and girl to find out about. “I wonder if her family sued the school because of it..” It wasn’t the greatest conversation, but she was just generally curious.

[River Tseung]

River pondered her question, thinking it over for a long moment before he smiled brightly and looked up at her. "I want to own a sweets shop," he told her. "And make people smile all day." It sort of just popped into his head randomly, but now that the idea was there, he would be determined to make it happen. "And you can work there too, if you want! We can call it, um... 'Tseung's Sweet Shoppe'." Nodding like this was the best idea he had ever gotten, he chuckled at her comment about the dog. "I suppose you're right. The first time must have been weird though..." He couldn't imagine how the animal must have felt!

River let his sister do the filling part, sitting back and wiping his hands on his shirt as he watched with fascination. "Aw man, having to wait here with yooou~?" he teased, cheeks dimpling as he tweaked Rain's nose. He shivered as she continued the story, trying not to imagine it in his head and eventually waving his hands in his sister's face, squeaking. "I don't want to hear anymore!" It was just so awful! "They should have, though. How traumatic..." He tried to think of brighter things as they waited for their craft to dry, quickly bringing up a brighter subject as the sunny boy was apt to do.