Just Hangin' Out (OPEN)

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh put his iPod into the small speaker they had in the back of the auditorium and messed a little with the volume until it was good enough to give him something to work with and at the same time not bother anyone else who might be walking by. He was dressed in black sweats and a tee that probably that was covered in pain and had more than one hole in it. It was his everything shirt, the one he wasn’t afraid to ruin because that ship had already sailed. He warmed up with a few jumps and short sprints across the floor. He then started to stretch out in preparation for a harder workout. He never really choreographed anything, at least not when he was by himself. With the team certainly, but when it was just him he just went with the flow.

As he jumped he also pumped his wings warming them up a bit. This was something that might be a little dangerous but he wanted to see if he could use his feathers while dancing. They would probably be more likely in the way and honestly if he fell or when flying into something he would probably break something, which would get him a good scolding from his trainer. But so long as he didn’t break anything no one would have to know. That was at least the lie that Ray was telling himself to reassure himself that this wasn’t a terrible idea. Ray changed the song and started to move, closing his eyes and feeling the music through his hollow bones for a moment before he started dancing. He’d never danced with his wings out, usually he wore wraps that would keep them from getting in the way or stepped on so it was strange and he cursed when he kicked one of them that was in the way.

He moved his wings and legs together and soon he was accomplishing spins and flips by giving his wings a wider area and opening and closing his wings to fit the space. He stood on his toes as the tempo raced and he kicked a leg up and flapped his wings to accelerate himself into a spin. he lost his balance and toppled into some of the storage hidden by the stage curtains. He crashed through the supplies and he knew he’d be feeling this tomorrow, but nothing felt broken at least. He opened his eyes as the dust settled and shrieked like a girl as he found himself face to face with a vicious looking mask. He jumped back and his wings accelerated him upward and he banged his head on one of the hanging lights. Falling back he grabbed for the ropes that controlled the curtains and sets. He kicked and twisted as the ropes wrapped around him. The more he struggled the more tangled he got and he ended up more or less upside down with his legs and arms tangled in the ropes. He finally forced himself to calm and he could see the mask for what it was from this angle and he glared at it.

Raylaigh tried to move but the leaver that loosened the curtains was down at ground level and he was far above that and probably looking altogether ridiculous. Allowing himself to hang Raylaigh tried to work through the tangles but again only succeeded in getting himself more stuck as he flailed. Raylaigh sighed and looked down at the ground and out into the auditorium. “Hello?” He called into the empty room, “Anyone there? Um… Help!?” Well this was just brilliant, as it seemed like he was talking to an empty room. Wonderful. Someone had to come around eventually, right?

[Genesis Kyland]

...and to better prepare yourself for adult life. Furthermore...

Genesis scuffed along the hall, backpack feeling like ten tons on her shoulders, as she listened to one of her audio textbooks. She'd put the headphones on down around her neck, because otherwise the sound was too loud. And anyway, if she wore headphones, she wouldn't be able hear where she was going.

She sidestepped a student, as well as some unknown object on the floor that she didn't want her bare foot landing on. Thank heavens there were few enough people around that the soundwaves weren't getting mixed up. Her day had been pretty good so far, it'd be a pity to mess it up now by trampling something painful. Of course, it would have been her own fault for going around with no shoes.

Shrugging her shoulders under the straps of the backpack, she began mentally planning out the rest of the afternoon. She was pretty certain there was time before dinner to get in some skateboarding, which would be nice since she hadn't been for a little while. And then...

She cocked her head, pausing in her walk to listen better. Had that been someone calling out for help? It had sounded like it... Of course, there were enough students around who would do something like that just for the fun of it, but the tone had actually sounded somewhat distressed. Weird. She clicked off her iPod shuffle and hurried for the sound's origin, hand brushing against the wall to keep from wandering into something in her hurry.

As she came to the auditorium, she pulled out one of her pens. Paused, then stepped into the room. "Hello?" she called.

The soundwaves bounced back to her, bringing back the mental picture of the stage, curtains, and... she blinked. Someone dangling, tied up by ropes? She very nearly burst out laughing, but managed to keep it to a snicker for the moment. "Well you're in quite the mess, ain't you? What'd you do?"

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh sighed, well, this was embarrassing. Raylaigh eventually stopped flailing and struggling and started to actually look at the problem. Really it wasn’t too complicated but if he freed his hands in order to free his legs he’d end up hanging completely upside down and probably not be able to free his legs without hurting his legs. This was what he got for being a chicken. Ray sighed as he worked back through how he had gotten into this mess. It had been straight up and should have been straight back down but he’d hit his head and fell back and gotten tangled. His head ached and he was sure he was going to have a nice lump on his head for that one. At least he wasn’t bleeding, at least he didn’t think so. If he was it wasn’t enough to be troubled by. But man did it hurt. And then here he was pride hurt as well.

Trying in vain to reach the rope wrapped around his foot Raylaigh was forced to give up. If he could just get a little more slack in the ropes he was sure he could kick himself free, well that or get himself more stuck. He could see the mechanism for curtain rising and falling from where he was and he was so frustrated he couldn’t just kick off his shoe and hit it. Because kicked off his shoe would require using another limb that he didn’t have. Aim wasn’t something he was missing. He’d played basketball before he got his power and a little bit after. Now he had to play noncompetitively but he hadn’t let his skill decrease. But again, that required the ability to get a projectile.

He heard the voice and laughed in relief, he really hoped that it was someone kind who would not just laugh at him but help him out. He didn’t mind if they laughed while they did so, after all, Ray kind of deserved it. “Hey! Up here!” He called back flapping his arms to grab her attention, not realizing that who he was speaking to couldn’t actually see him. When the girl came into view, Ray had a strange perspective of her. Looking at her from the top he couldn’t tell much about her other than that she had dark hair. He couldn’t see her face well from his angle and he had to keep twisting his head to try to get a better look.

His cheeks bloomed pink as he heard her giggling. He nodded and would have done more to hide his embarrassment were he not currently bound in this spider’s web. Ray chuckled in return and grinned sheepishly. “Well… uh… so…” He pursed his lips and clicked his tongue against his teeth, trying to think of a way to make himself not sound like such a loser. And he was failing. “I was startled,” yes startled was a good way to put it. “So I jumped up and hit my head then… well. Here we are. Can you help me down?” He tried his best to point. “There’s a lever over there that controls the curtain if you move that it should give me enough slack to get loose.” Please, please help me down, he thought at the girl.

Mental not to self, Ray also thought, never dance with wings. Yep, that was the last time this was going to happen. Well, in his defense if that mask hadn’t just been laying about then he wouldn’t have gotten startled. Therefore it wasn’t his fault, it was whoever was supposed to clean up back here. Raylaigh was clearly forgetting that he was the one who crashed into the orderly pile and made everything fall into disarray.

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis inclined her head a bit, picking up on the variations of his heartbeat's rhythm. Embarrassment was one quite clear. Well, that was only to be expected, given the situation. Thank heavens she didn't have wings instead of the power she did have. She'd probably have broken her neck before a Hammel recruiter even picked up on her.

"Startled by what?" she questioned, raising her head to face him as well as she could. She had to, of course. Couldn't make it easy for people to guess her blindness, it was much more amusing to see how long it took people to notice. "Auditorium ghosts? I heard this place was haunted, ya know. Gotta be careful..." She hugged herself, rubbing her arms a bit for effect, but still keeping hold of her pen. "Hanging around like a bat probably makes you an easy target." She clicked her pen a few times, focusing on locating the lever he'd mentioned.

Ah, there it was. "Hang on," she called over her shoulder as she strolled for it. "I'll get you down before they get'cha. Wouldn't want another student death in here, would we?" She gripped the lever with a faint grin. Of course, there hadn't been any deaths in here, aside from play-acted ones, that she knew of. However, if she could get a rumor started, it could be funny to hear how people reacted.

Actually, the current situation could be pretty funny, too, if she messed with it a bit before letting the unfortunate guy down. Nothing too bad, of course, since she didn't remember meeting this person before and wasn't in the habit of making enemies right off the bat. But... he did seem like somewhat of a good sport so far, so why not?

She turned slightly towards him, not yet pulling the lever. "Hey, wait, did you hear that?" she stage whispered, carefully managing her facial expression into what she'd learned and practiced with her friends as a startled, mildly frightened one.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Seeing her face Ray smiled and gave a little wave, certain she had now seen him. He was still too high to actually tell where her eyes were pointing so this was as good as it got. He smiled sheepishly, certain he was quite a sight to be seen. This girl was pretty too, now he only hoped she would help him out. Ray laughed slightly. “You’re gonna laugh… so…” he chuckled a little bit to himself and prepared his story but then she started talking about ghosts. “Ghosts?” Ray asked in a pitched voice. No, no, no, she did not just bring up ghosts. There was a reason Raylaigh didn’t want horror movies! Tim Burton didn’t count, his stories were good, horror movies had people dying and being all ghosty and scary. It made Raylaigh’s skin crawl just thinking of it.

“Haunted?” Raylaigh squeaked and started looking around for anything that might be remotely ghosty. His eyes fell on the mask again and he let out a little curse and forced himself to calm down. “Just a mask,” he muttered to himself giving the offending piece of clothing a glare. He was going to give that thing a piece of his mind when he got down. He glanced back around at the shadowed corners of the upper stage. If he got down. He began squirming anew. He didn’t want to be target. He was too young to die! Raylaigh was, among other things, gullible and though he knew and could tell himself well enough that ghosts didn’t exist that didn’t mean he had the situational awareness to acknowledge that fact when he was stuck.

“Oh thank you!” Ray said more relief in his voice than he meant and he laughed. “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” he told her and told himself since he was having a mild panic attack several feet in the air. He wriggled again and nodded to her. Raylaigh might be tall and sixteen, but he was still very cowardly when it came to things like this. Ray was reduced to thrashing again. “Hurry! Hurry! Get me down!” He said his mind now playing tricks and making him believe that something was going to come up from behind him and snag him. His wings flapped in desperation. Well, the three that could, one had gotten caught and was pinned against his calf, but all of his flapping only accomplished making him swing about like a pendulum creating a terrible creaking noise in the ropes. No good.

He laughed at himself again, telling himself he needed to calm down. Oh dear, ghosts were not fun. Not fun at all. Super scary. He looked around and tried to convince himself that she was just pulling his leg. “Okay, okay,” Ray said with a nervous laugh. “You got me, now please! Get me down.” He pleaded. Raylaigh froze where he was and his wide eyes darted around the room sudden terror lacing like ice through his bones. Ray suddenly imagined that he did hear something, a rattling of some sort. Foolish enough to miss the fact that it was the rattling of the beams caused by his own movements within the entangled net of curtain ropes. Raylaigh was as still as he could be and his eyes darted about trying to catch any sign of movement. Ray supposed he should be grateful his brothers weren’t here, they would never let him live this down. His heart was beating in his ears and finally he couldn’t take it and he flailed again. “Ge’me down! Ge’me down! Ge’me down!” Raylaigh panicked, he was never going to be alone in the auditorium again. Never again.

[Genesis Kyland]

Well, he was buying the story a lot faster than she'd expected. Nice. She opened her mouth to continue, but was cut off as she caught his heart rate skyrocket. Wow. He was really buying her story. Either she was way better at this than she'd credited herself for, or he was one of the more gullible people she'd teased. Or... perhaps he was one of those easily spooked sort. Any of those could have been possible, she supposed. But no matter which was true, she had a mildly panicked person on her hands now. Or rather, dangling much too high off the ground for such freaking out to be a good thing.

"Okay, okay, chill out, dude," Genesis shouted to him. "Stop flailing around and I'll get you down, otherwise you're gonna hurt yourself and probably break something." She waited a moment, then pulled the lever cautiously, clicking her pen constantly at this point to ensure she wasn't lowering the guy too quickly, but still at a decent enough pace.

"I was just kidding around, you know. There's no such thing as ghosts. And, well, if there are, there ain't any in here." She considered the situation again, a sudden thought occurring to her. If this guy was so quick to believe things, maybe she could use that to keep him calm in the whole detangling process. "I can sense ghosts and stuff," she added quickly. "None in here." Lowering completely, she tromped over to help him with untangling himself from the ropes if need be, pocketing her pen as she went to avoid drawing any more attention to it than she already might have.

Poor guy, really. Excitable dude who got tangled up in a bunch of ropes, then she'd gone and scared him half to death with her teasing. Oops. But live and learn, that was her motto. That, and whatever doesn't kill you makes you stranger. Or stronger. Or something like that... "You okay?"

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

So Raylaigh was gullible, and really a terrible ally in a haunted house. He was more likely to hide behind someone than be anything like a brave man he was supposed to be. He also wasn’t confident enough in the world to rule out ghosts as a very real danger. Especially because he was interested in the supernatural and things that were a little bit dark. He might love something like a good horror story but that didn’t mean he was gonna be brave through it. He was literally never going to forgive his brother for making him watch The Grudge with him. Raylaigh hadn’t slept for days and of course when he was in the shower or something his brother would make the grudge noise and Ray would flip out. He was, well, like a bird, very fleeting and very aware that when it came to ghosts he was a prey animal.

“But… But,” Ray started and realized she probably knew better than him and he forced himself to still. His wings twitched as he swung with the extra momentum he had created. The ropes creaked a little as she let him down and he sighed with relief. He briefly wondered about the pen clicking, a habit? Raylaigh stuck out his tongue at her when she admitted to messing with his head. Well now he felt even more sheepish. If this girl thought he was anything less than a loser after thing he would be impressed. He was flushed with embarrassment, not only had he been caught up in the ropes and hanging due to his own stupidity but she also had gotten him. He had to admit, she had gotten him good. He would tip his hat to her if he had free hands. And if he had a hat.

He looked around again and perked up with interest. He’d never heard of that as a power. “Really?” He asked interested and smiled with relief. Okay, so he was really gullible. He reached for the ground as it neared and as soon as he was no longer suspended it was much easier to untangle himself. He shook them off his arms and started to untangle his feet. He did the one with his pinned wing first and holding his foot up gave the wing a chance to flap. Checking over the feathers he smiled and was able to smooth them out. No broken feathers. “Thank you,” he said from floor level and started on the other foot. Shaking himself free completely he sighed with relief. For a flyer there was nothing worse than being caught in a net. he rested for a moment on the floor looking up at the girl and smiling.

He nodded and picked himself up and started to brush himself off. Raylaigh hoped she was prepared for a hug because he was going to hug her. Or rather, in a very Ray way he enthusiastically wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Thank you,” he repeated and let her go and giving her a beaming grin. “I’m alright, thanks. Geez, just…uh… don’t tell anyone, ‘kay?” He asked hopefully.

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis listened to the guy untangle himself from the ropes. It didn't sound as if he were injured, which was a relief. She'd half been worried he'd broken or pulled something from flailing around earlier. When he gave a surprised, "Really?" in reference to her claimed power, she nodded chilly. "Yeah. Made my manifestation unpleasant, since I had t'walk past a graveyard every day t'get to school." She rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you got wings, that's a fun power, I'd think."

She chattered all this while he finished getting himself extricated from the mess, only partially monitoring his progress for if he needed major help. He seemed to be getting along pretty well without her now, anyway. No reason to expend energy and attention where it wasn't needed. When he thanked her, she gave a short nod. Wasn't as if she'd really done a whole lot, just scared him silly and then pulled a lever to get him down. Nonetheless, she opened her mouth to give a, "You're welcome".

However, she was cut off by surprise as he stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. Well. That had been unexpected, but she wasn't averse to hugs, so she returned the gesture briefly before he stepped back. In the back of her mind, she told herself she really shouldn't have been all that surprised. Looking back, it'd been pretty obvious he'd be the hugging type. She gave an amused half smile.

"It's no problem." She shrugged in answer to his thanks. "Really, all I did was pull a lever."  She paused, tilting her head to the side as her smile grew a bit more. "And you mean you don't want the whole school hearin' about this? Whyever not? Y'could go on about how ya got chased into a bunch'a'ropes by a ghost'n'all, then--er--bravely fought it off despite your precarious situation." She grinned.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray’s brows jumped and he shivered. “Oh man, I’m sorry, that’s gotta suck.” He looked at her curious about how she didn’t seem to ever look right at him or meet his eye. “Are… are some ghosts nice?” He wondered, no one ever talked about good ghosts, ghosts were always the scary ones that wanted to kill everyone. With a smile Ray flapped his wings a bit. “Yeah, it comes with its price though. Oh well, what in life doesn’t?” He grinned obviously not concerned with prices. If he had to have hollow, frail bones to fly he would live with that because flying was worth everything in the world. He supposed seeing the dead would also have a price.

In all honesty the tangled ropes were easy to untangles once he could move. Being suspended had been the hard part, and he couldn’t quite fly himself free because there was just not enough space. He rubbed his head a little feeling the bump he’d received from the light and gave a little sigh looking as his hand to verify that he was not bleeding. Well that was good, no infirmary trips today, he could go on and pretend like this never happened, so long as he could get the sole witness to agree to having seen nothing. Honestly, give it a few weeks and the embarrassment would burn off and Ray would laugh and tell the story, conveniently leaving out the mask and ghosts and claim he’d been trying to accomplish a complicated move. He was a terrible liar, but a very good embellisher.

Ray took the return of the hug as her acceptance of his thanks. He was just glad that he hadn’t been stuck up in the air. He knew there were a few people here who would have done a lot more to mess with him than this girl did. Though ghosts were more believable now that he knew she could see them. Strangely enough, it gave him a little comfort in the idea that there was something beyond this life. He shrugged it off and smiled at her and shook his head. He opened his mouth to retort that she shouldn’t belittle what she did. If she hadn’t done that he’d still be stuck and out of luck.

Instead he laughed a little bit at her sarcasm, at least he hoped it was sarcasm. He nodded anyways for good measure. He was red in the face and he covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. “Are you kidding? No one would ever believe me!” He said with a residual giggle. “And I really wouldn’t want to leave out my fearless hero.” He winked at her and her smile called him to smile wider. “Speaking of, I’m Raylaigh, what’s your name?” He asked wanting to know the name of his rescuer.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Are some ghosts nice?" Genesis gave an amused smile. "Not usually. Most of them want to steal your soul or something dumb like that. So they can try'n'come back to life, you know?" She shrugged at his next question, laughing a bit. "Well, let's see. Pranks don't usually have a price, unless you get yourself caught." She paused a moment, considering. "Most things don't have a price unless you get caught, so really you just gotta be good at not being caught if you want things free." She snickered. "Of course, I'm not sayin' someone should take that too far and start shoplifting or something." Not that she really thought this boy shoplifter material. He seemed more the get-the-door-for-the-old-lady sort. Of course, there was nothing wrong with that, but the fact remained...

And his heart-rate picked up a little again. If she had to, she would guess his face was turning... well, whatever color it was that was associated with embarrassment. She always did have trouble remembering color associations like that. Not that it effected her terribly, but it did help to keep conversation as normal as possible.

Genesis laughed again at his reaction to her sarcasm. "Oh, they wouldn't believe you? I have no idea why not." She tossed her head. "And I never said you should leave me out. Just add me in as a co-fearless-leader or something, and it'd be peachy. Except for the whole getting them to believe you part. I'm guessing you aren't the best liar." Not that that was a bad thing, of course, she mused mentally.

"Oh, I'm Alex," she returned the introduction. Normally she would have introduced herself earlier, since she liked to start matching voices and descriptions with names as quickly as possible. Made things easier in the long run and she didn't have to mess so much with the stress of forgetting who someone was. "You come in here a lot?" she added, curious. She used the auditorium herself on occasion, providing there was no one around. It was a good place to practice her power, after all. The gym was all too often occupied by people practicing their power. Though that wasn't a bad thing, it was also distracting.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray shivered at the whole idea. “That’s creepy. Then would you become a ghost?” He placed his hands on the side of his face in sudden worry, “How would you know a ghost was trying to steal your soul until it happened?” Oh that was an unsettling thought. Ray raised a brow and pointed a finger at her trying to figure out if she was admitting to pulling his leg or if she was just stating a fact. Ray was really too trusting and naïve enough to ignore the fact that people would try to fool him. Really, he shouldn’t be, he was very easily tricked, one would have thought with two older brother’s he’d have learned better by now. Ray giggled in return, “Are you good at getting away with pranks?” He was hoping to trap her and deliver an ‘ah-ha’ and tell her to admit she was lying to him about ghosts. God he hoped she was lying about ghosts.

Starting to notice more and more that her eyes didn’t exactly follow his movements and as he tried to catch her eye he kept failing. Something was starting to click in his brain. He cocked his head at her curious, his own embarrassment forgotten as he considered her. In an experimental motion Ray rose his arms into a stretch over his head, passing one hand in front of her eyes and trying to get some sort of reaction from them, but also bringing it into a stretch so if he was being crazy he had an excuse for making such a motion. It didn’t make sense, she had to be able to see, it was ridiculous to think otherwise, after all she’d seen him hanging and laughed. Maybe she just had a thing about meeting people’s eye.

“Meh,” Ray stuck his tongue out at her, because he was such a mature boy. Ray then laughed, he had to admit she hit him like a nail on the head with that one. He couldn’t help but laugh, they were going to be co-fearless leaders, that was great. “I can lie,” he claimed boldly, “It’s just that well… as far as getting into precarious situations, well uh… it’s kinda something people expect.” He laughed a little at himself scratching his head sheepishly. Ever since he’d grown nearly a half a foot in the last few months and even more in the months before he’d gained a lot of extra height in too short a period of time to get accustom to the change and well, he had been tipping over himself and hitting his head and otherwise getting himself into trouble because he was misjudging distances and heights.

Ray smiled at Alex and nodded. “I’m on the dance team, so…” He trailed off with a shrug, figuring the rest was self explanatory. “But, I also like to come here and practice on my own some. Do you do any dancing?” He asked with a sly grin. He figured that was why most people came to the auditorium, that and the people who practiced for band concerts and chorus stuff. Ray considered his rescuer and wondered why she had come into the auditorium anyways. He didn’t think he was being loud enough to call someone’s attention from outside. It wasn’t like he’d been shrieking his head off, though he severely wanted to when she started talking about ghosts too. “Were you coming in here to do something?” He asked, wondering if he was going to be a distraction or otherwise in her way.

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis nodded, having quite the time teasing this guy. "Of course if a ghost takes your soul you turn into a ghost in return." She kept a straight face as he raised a finger at her, likely trying to call her bluff, or so she assumed. "Getting away with pranks..." she tilted her head to the side and considered this. "Well, if I did a lot of pranks, I'd probably be." She flashed a grin. "But I'm not about to tell how good, or how many pranks I might pull off. That could be a serious charge, after all."

She was starting to get the feeling he might be catching onto something, whether her teasing or her sight, she wasn't sure, but his heartbeat had shifted just slightly... If it concerned her prank.. Ah well, perhaps it was for the better for him to disprove the story of ghosts stealing souls to live. Perhaps it would help him be a little less jumpy to disprove it, anyway. If it was her sight, it wouldn't really be a big deal either, but... She began randomly clicking her pen periodically anyway, being sure it keep it somewhat random so it seemed more of a habit than a dependency.

As he raised his arms to stretch, the soundwaves brought back the information of one arm rising a bit closer to her than the other. Just to be sure there was enough space between them, she took a half-step back. Though she did this, she didn't think to blink or otherwise flinch at any nearness of his hand. Of course, she'd been told on occasion that that was what people did, but since she didn't naturally do it by reflex, it often just looked contrived when she tried do such things, so she'd opted for giving up on it together. Something looking contrived was just as much of a giveaway, if not more so, than not doing something at all, in her opinion.

She find herself chuckling a bit as he insisted he could lie. Naivety didn't necessarily equal not being able to deceive people one's self after all, she supposed. She'd have to remember that. "I guess wings would sorta equal precarious situations though," she mused. "Especially if you're still gettin' the hang of it." She put her head to the side as something occurred to her. "Do they say that wings on the back are harder to learn to deal with than wings on the feet? I'd think so, since there's sorta less balance and more to trip over... It's cool that you're on the dance team, though." She smiled. "Always looked like something that'd be fun." However, she shook her head when he asked if she danced.

"I'm not good at it," she stated. True enough, she'd tried dancing before, but had trouble coordinating herself enough to make it work. "I'm more a swimmer and boarder." Genesis reached back to tap the skateboard, which was only partially hidden in her backpack. "And no, I wasn't coming in here tonight. I do sometimes for the quiet, though." She shrugged. "I was just walking down the hall and heard you today. I have pretty good hearing."

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray visibly shivered as she spoke and wrapped his arms protectively around himself and gave the empty space in the auditorium a suspicious glance. He came back to her and smiled at her knowingly. She might not be admitting it but since she could sense ghosts she had been pranking him before. Raylaigh might not have identified the right prank but he was rather proud of himself for getting her to admit to committing one. “You were pulling my leg before then, though, weren’t you?” he added the question as a sort of verification. Ray laughed, he liked Alex, she was more sly than she looked and he guess more clever than she let on. He smiled at her and nodded. “Fair enough.” He replied with a curious glance in her direction.

As Ray moved he paid close attention to her and his mind dismissed the pen clicking as habitual but he didn’t miss how she didn’t blink or do anything when he moved his hand near her. His jaw dropped and he blurted out, “Can you see me?” Probably way up there on the rude scale and he covered his mouth as soon as the shock wore off. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean. I don’t mean…” He didn’t know what he was trying to say now but he was terribly afraid that he’d offend her. It didn’t make sense though, she didn’t walk with a cane or any sort of optical assistance and she had been able to see his predicament. He cocked his head at her and shook his head. No, that was rude, of course she could see him, why would she not? She must just not like looking at people or looking people in the eye.

Ray sighed at her claim and nodded. “You have no idea. I had it. I really did. But then I grew and it’s seriously like being at square one again. Sucks.” He winkled his nose and shook his head in distaste. Again Ray nodded. “Yeah, I mean I think wings on the back make it harder to do more things, like doors and maneuverability, but yeah I trip over things all the time, so I guess they both have their advantages and disadvantages. People with back wings have trouble with doors and I have trouble with walking. You win some, you lose some.” He shrugged with a grin. Well, she already knew he was uncoordinated enough to get himself stuck in a bunch of ropes, what else was different. He rubbed his hand through his hair and felt for the bump that was there. He winced a little as it was tender to the touch but otherwise it would hopefully go away.

“You should join,” he said excitedly, because Alex was kinda awesome. Ray waved a hand dismissively. “Doesn’t matter, you practice to get better. It’s super fun and the people are super cool.” Excitable Ray jumped a little with excitement. “Oh really?! Are you on the swim team? I was on that last year, but I’m doing track this year, I love swimming. And you should come skateboard with me and Maddie, she’s been showing me a few tricks, you should totally come out with us sometime.” If Alex was wondering, yes Ray could talk, he could talk about just about anything and do so for an extended period of time. He did pause for breath occasionally.

Ray smiled. “I’m glad you heard me, I wasn’t sure how long I was gonna be stuck up there. Geez, I’m such a klutz.” With a little laugh Ray looked back at the pile of ropes.

[Genesis Kyland]

Her? Pranking someone? Unheard of... She grinned a bit as he called her on her earlier tease. "Yes, just a little leg pullin', keep things interesting," she mused. "Since you hangin' several feet off the ground I guess wasn't quite interesting enough." She gave a casual shrug and opened her mouth to say more, but then he was exclaiming:

"Can you see me?"

Hm, well then. Perhaps she was losing her edge... and the stretching perhaps was actually a test after all. Ah well... She chuckled. "Why would ya ask that?" she questioned. "It ain't that dark in here, is it?" She crooked an eyebrow, faint smile tugging at her mouth again. "Or are you having trouble seeing after your near death experience? Might wanna see a nurse about that. Could be serious."

Genesis mused over the next bit of information. Having trouble getting the hang of things after a growth spurt... That made sense, now that he'd brought it up, but it hadn't really occurred to her before. "Well that'd be annoying," she said. "To have to relearn things after a growth spurt. You're probably about done with the major growing now, at least," she added. Of course, she couldn't know that for sure at all, but if she remembered right, boys only had a couple big growth spurts before they slowed down growing-wise, and from what she could tell from her mental picture, this guy seemed fairly tall...

She blinked as he stated that she should join the dance team, then laughed a bit. "Sounds fun, but it's...." she trailed off, considering. Being blind, she found it more difficult to coordinate herself to look right, and didn't really have enough interest in the area to put the energy into it. Not to mention she'd have to work twice as hard in a team setting, coordinating herself with everyone else... which would mean translating soundwaves as well as paying attention to rhythm and the exact positioning of her wings. Then there was the music, which was typically way too loud for her... She gave an inward chuckle. Nope, she was almost getting a headache just thinking about it.

"It's not really my thing," she finished, despite the pause. She nodded. "I'm on the swim team, yeah. How long had you been on it before you started track?" she asked, curious. She'd only just taken up swimming this year, mostly because water scared her and she'd only just decided to conquer that particular fear. "And you skateboard?" She blinked, surprised despite herself. "I'd love to go boarding with you all sometime. How long you been doin' it? Bet you can pull off some stunts with your wings'n'all."

Well this day was turning out even better than she'd thought it might. Finding a friend was always nice, but finding fellow boarders was even better. Yeah, she'd decided this guy was pretty all right.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray stuck his tongue out at her and laughed, mostly at himself because he had been so gullible. “Mean,” he declared the tone in his voice clearly light and teasing. He was an idiot, why not give him a few jabs, it was only right, really. Raylaigh was flushed as he laughed. Woe be unto those who cannot laugh at themselves. Raylaigh was a fond follower of that philosophy because there were so many times when he had a spectacular wipeout and it could only be funny, unless it was painful, then laughing came later when he was explaining what happened to the doctors, who at this point just declared that they didn’t want to know.

Ray ducked his head feeling ashamed when she laughed. “Yeah, sorry, you’re right, musta bumped my head harder than I thought.” He said and felt terribly embarrassed, of course she could see, why would she want to hide that? Though if Raylaigh could get past his embarrassment it would make sense. It was probably terrible, because once someone knew they might try to help, and well, Ray knew Alex wasn’t helpless, if she could see him or not. Maybe she just wasn’t wearing her glasses or something. “I’m okay, I think. Nothing too bad. Just a little hurt pride.” He nodded his head.

“God, I hope so,” he sighed. She had no idea. Not only had he grown but his wings had grown and everything was now both closer and farther away than it had been before. He was still knocking his head on low hanging things and tripping over steps because he thought they looked shallower. He didn’t make note of how he was taller than her, it seemed to be a state of being now, he was going to be surprised if he met someone taller. He was starting to surpass some of the trainers and teachers now and he wasn’t showing any signs of stopping yet. Soon he’d even be taller than his brothers. He was tempted to just stop serious training until he was able to be certain he wouldn’t have to do it all over again.

Raising a brow Ray waited for her explanation and cocked his head back and forth before giving a little giggle. “Awe, don’t knock it ‘til you try it!” He exclaimed, after all she had no problem seeing, so what was the problem? He grinned to himself, before continuing on. “I was on it for a couple years, I really like swimming and track, but they don’t let you do both so I’m trying something a little difference, I think I might go back though, I miss it and running isn’t half as fun as flying. In both senses of the word. Have you been swimming long?” He asked curious, he thought he would have recognized her, but if she’d just taken it up he probably wouldn’t know her, or if he did probably didn’t pay too much attention because they were practicing and such. He did miss swimming too, he was in a sense a flyer in both the air and water, he’d never been good at the other strokes but give him freestyle and butterfly and he was a rocket in the water. At least he liked to think so, he still lost a lot, but that wasn’t the point, it was feeling like he was going fast. Which he couldn’t do with track, cause he wasn’t allowed to use his wings.

“Mhmm,” he said and his smile turned into a beaming grin and he bounced a little bit in excitement. “I’m just getting back into it, I used to skate a lot more, but uh… my parents made me stop…” He trailed off, leaving out the fact that he technically wasn’t allowed to skateboard, but he doubted she’d tell anyone, but better to be careful. “So anyhoo, I’m just getting back into it.” He nodded his head like a bobble head. “That’s what I’m hoping for! Alex, you should totally come do it with me sometime! It would be so much fun!” Ray was bouncing on his feet with excitement. A new friend! Yes, Alex really didn’t have a choice in the matter, he was going to keep bothering her either way.

“Where were you headed? I don’t wanna keep you if you’re headed somewhere. But I’m definitely holding you to a skateboarding date either way,” he joked and pointed a finger at her, “And I will find you.” He giggled. He had missed skateboarding and he was so excited that Maddie had brought it back into his life and he remembered why he loved it so much. He could do his best to keep himself from getting hurt and then no one had to have issue with him doing it. And now that he’d met another boarder it was great. “Do you ever do any longboarding?” He asked curiously.