Just Hangin' Out (OPEN)

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis crossed her arms. "No need for 'sorry''s, goofball. Especially if you did hit your head that hard." She grinned a bit. "A pity nurses can't do nothin' about bruised pride, though. That coulda come in handy more'n once." Not to mention whoever came up with it would likely make millions off people. Though, she supposed it could be argued that shrinks were sorta like that. They apparently helped people feel better about themselves, anyhow. Not that she had any experience or interest in that area.

"Ain't knocking the dance team," she laughed. "Got enough other stuff goin' on though." She gave a shrug. "Ain't interested in overworkin' myself, like some people." True enough. Though she wouldn't consider herself lazy by any means, she definitely drew a line that allowed her plenty of time that didn't involve following a schedule or being places on time. Among other things, dance team would mean meetings and practice and the like.

"My mom made me take swim lessons," she offered in reply to his question. Worst days of her life, too. "Wasn't my favorite thing, growing up, but I figure it's somethin' useful to be pretty good at, since most people can't breathe underwater and there's so much of the stuff on the planet." A faint grin played over her face again. "Wouldn't mind bein' able to breathe under water, though. That'd be a pretty darn handy power."

Genesis raised an eyebrow at the comment about his parents. "What'd they make you stop skateboarding' for? Scared you'd break your neck or somethin', or just... that sorta people, who don't like skateboarders and think they're all delinquents or somethin'?" She'd met people like that, it was true. The moment someone found a person liked to skateboard, sometimes there was that immediate shift in view. Then again, most things in life changed a person's view of another. But this particular view change just was silly. Not all skateboarders went around pickin' fights and stealing thing. She wanted to roll her eyes at the thought.

"Oh, twist my arm." She laughed. "Don't gotta ask me twice to go skateboarding with people. So don't be puttin' tracker devices on me quite yet." She chuckled. He knew how to be friendly to a person, that was sure. "I'll hold you to a skateboard date as well, you know."

She stretched a bit. "I was headin' out to skateboard, matter of fact. S'all good though, I might not've made it back in time anyhow. And longboarding..." she shrugged. "Tried it out a few times, but it's not as fun. 'Least, I didn't think so." Not to mention, a longboard would be a heck of a lot harder to carry around. Regular skateboard was bad enough sometimes. "What about yourself?" she questioned in return.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray laughed, yep, he was definitely a fan of Alex. “Eh, I’ll be find, s’not like it’s never happened before,” he giggled. If he had a penny for every time he’d bumped his head or otherwise bruised himself he’d be a millionaire easy. “Right?” Ray agreed immediately, that would be a nice thing. Just take a pill and everything was all better. It was kind of like how in a few weeks he would be able to look back at this and laugh, but for the near future he would be far too embarrassed. It probably wouldn’t surprise people much, though, now that Ray thought about it. Anyone that knew him knew by now that if there was a way to get injured walking across a flat floor Ray would find it.

“Oh that’s good, what else are you into?” He asked curious about all of this stuff that made her not want to dance for fear of overworking. Raylaigh had to remind himself that not everyone was as bad a student as he was and people did devote time to studying. When it came to days when there was nothing going on Raylaigh could be a sloth. Mostly if he had free time and it was a nice day he would kick his heels up in the air, but sometimes it was raining and staying inside in a pair of comfortable sweats was all that he wanted to do. Flying in the rain wasn’t that hard, but it definitely wasn’t fun, and it could get hard if it was hard enough to soak through his feathers.

Ray smiled, often times swim lessons were not the most fun thing for the little ones. Raylaigh had been afraid at first but he’d also had two older brothers who were around and more than ready to dunk him and throw him around. “That would be useful, wouldn’t it?” He agreed, “I mean the closest thing to flying is swimming, but flying you don’t have to worry about the whole breathing thing.” He moved his hands about as he spoke gesturing randomly and excitedly.

“Uh… kinda yeah, I mean no, no, not the other thing,” he laughed and shook his head, “More the breaking my neck. I think they’re just paranoid.” He shrugged and didn’t feel like elaborating much past that. There had been some rather heated fights in the Hawthorne household, especially when they decided he wasn’t allowed to play competitive sports. Being restricted was a horrible feeling and he felt like everyone was treating him like he was made out of glass. Sure he was more breakable than the normal human being but he wasn’t going to spontaneously shatter into a million pieces if he fell or something. Worst he’d ever had was a broken leg and admittedly that was horrible, but all he wanted to do after was try that flying configuration again. He was of the opinion that he could learn from his mistakes and keep them from repeating. His parents were of the opinion that if he tried to do those things again he would just break all over again.

Raylaigh narrowed his eyes at her and smiled brightly in a very wicked looking grin. Of course, Raylaigh had no idea how to be anything remotely wicked but he found himself in triumph nonetheless. “Deal,” he said with a grin and stuck his hand out to make sure the deal was sealed. He was so excited to have found other people who boarded and someone who would allow him to borrow a board from. He wished he had his own but his parents had taken them all away and for a long time Kyle would by their spy and make sure he didn’t get a new one. Though, Ray smiled, a thought just occurring to him. He didn’t have to hide anymore. His parents would never know and by the time he graduated from Hammel he’d be a legal adult and he could do whatever he wanted.

“Oh really? Sorry, what are you making it back to?” He asked confused. Raylaigh wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, if Alex didn’t know. Ray nodded in agreement and when she asked if he had he nodded. “Yeah, I mean you can’t do a lot of tricks and stuff, but if you find a nice hill it’s great! I have a friend who did this thing where he would go and then get this twisty thing going and geez, we all thought he was gonna die.” He’d ended up sliding straight into the lake at the bottom of the hill, but that was beside the point. Ray stepped carefully over the ropes and grabbed his iPod from the speakers and carefully stepped back toward Alex. His stomach was starting to rumble. Was it close to dinner? Or lunch? Or snacktime?

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis chuckled a bit. She wasn't terribly surprised something like this'd happened to him before. Not much of a wonder his parents didn't want him skateboarding, come to think of it.

Well then, things she was into... She gave a shrug. "Skateboarding and swimming mostly, right now. Self defense, too. And studyin' takes up time too, ya know." She grinned a bit. "Unless you're one of the guys who thinks he's too cool for that sorta thing." Of course, she was joking. Even if he was the type not to study much, she couldn't blame him. Studying could be a boring pain in the neck, and even she felt like throwing her iPod out the window sometimes. "Anyway, I guess with flying practice, track, and dance, you're kinda slammed for time too, huh?"

Genesis nodded as he compared swimming to flying. Flying though would be a lot less frightening, for her at least. In the air, soundwaves worked great and brought back clear pictures. In water... Things were much less simple, which wasn't pleasant when there was the whole drowning danger thing. However, aloud she mused, "Yeah, but with flying you have the whole falling and killing yourself or breaking your neck thing. Both could be equally problematic if you don't do 'em right, I guess."

"Dang, if they're paranoid about skateboarding, I'm sure they were thrilled when you sprouted your wings." She was picking up on a slight change of heartbeat when they were on this subject... but she wasn't sure whether it was connected with the skateboarding conflict, or his parents directly... She briefly wondered if she should change the subject off his parents, but curiosity trickled through her. And anyway, the words were already out.

"Deal", he said. Genesis smiled a bit, not immediately realizing he'd stuck his hand out. However, a couple beats later, her intermittent pen clicking brought back the mental image, and she hurried to shake his hand, hoping he hadn't had it out for long. Handshakes... they were so irritating. Why couldn't it be like over in Asia, where everybody always bowed to everyone? That make a lot more sound than putting a hand out, and made it easier to pick up on social cues.

"Dinner," she said in answer to his next question as she pulled her hand back from the shake. "And dark. Not exactly safe to be runnin' around by yourself in the dark. And I like food, so." She tilted her head to the side, considering. "Yeah, I guess longboarding would be good for hills. Didn't really think'a that. Maybe one've these days I'll invest in one." Though still there was the whole lugging around a giant skateboard. "Do you have a longboard?" She grinned a bit as she heard his stomach grumble. Apparently he liked food too, or at least, his stomach did just then.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray shrugged. He had never been the most coordinated person on the planet but he used to at least be able to manage, this grown spurt had just turned everything to hell. People kept telling him that he’d get used to it eventually but he was having a hard time seeing that now. Right now he was eating like a machine and everything ached sometimes and sometimes he could suddenly reach things that he couldn’t a year ago. Overall it was a strange experience and he really just hoped he stopped soon so he could get used to it. He’d had no idea what he was hoping for when he wanted to be as tall as his brothers, well, in the future he’d be more careful about what he wished for.

“Psh, studying, what’s that?” Raylaigh laughed in answer to her question. In all honesty he did try, he just got distracted easily. And if he didn’t get it he was less inclined to spend time struggling through when he could be flying or something else. He shrugged and bobbled his head as if he couldn’t decide on a yes or no answer to that. “It depends I guess, I like being busy so it’s all good, and it’s all fun, so that helps too. You know what the problem is? They made the days too short.” He nodded, yes that was the problem. “I don’t think it’s too much, I mean I still have plenty of time for studying and stuff.” Sometimes it was overwhelming when everything piled on at the same time, but otherwise it was completely doable. Ray loved being active and he wasn’t someone who liked a lot of time alone.

Ray laughed and nodded, he could not dispute that fact. “True, true,” he agreed, “Luckily I’ve never broken my neck or died doing either. I guess I’ve got someone pretty good watching out for me.” His poor over worked guardian angel. He gave her a sideways glance. “Do angels count as ghosts?” What if there were soul stealing angels? Didn’t that go against what an angel was supposed to be then? Ray shrugged, he’d never thought about it, but then again he’d never meet someone who could see ghosts. The fact that they existed at all changed everything. Ray should really have a sign over his head that warned people of his naivety.

His smile faltered, but just for a moment and he hoped that she didn’t catch it. “You have no idea,” he said implying more than what was said. His father had been so upset when Kyle got powers and then there was the divorce. Ray didn’t think his father liked him much at all because he was meta, he saw way more of Van and Andrea than he saw of Kyle and Ray. He didn’t know how much to read into it, but he got the feeling his dad didn’t like him much cause of his wings. His mother, however, was thrilled. Worried, but thrilled. “They didn’t used to mind, but then well, I got injured one too many times and they took it away.” That hadn’t been a pleasant discussion. For once in Raylaigh’s memory his parents had been united on something, he just wished it wasn’t something to be taken away. “Anyhoo, doesn’t matter, my brother’s gone and they never have to know.” He grinned, he was a such a rebel.

Looking down at Alex he cocked his head and wiggled is fingers wondering if she was some sort of germaphobe or something, but then she hadn’t freaked out when he’d hugged her. He was about to drop it when she took it. He smiled and let the issue drop. Really, Ray was about as observant as a rock. He wondered if maybe she was a little slow on the uptake, but quickly dismissed that, Alex was a clever and quick witted person. Ray nodded in understanding. Dinner. Dinner was important, as were all meals and snacks. Snacks were very important too. Ray giggled a little, if he didn’t have a rapid metabolism he’s be as big as a house. He cocked his head. “It’s not so bad on campus though,” he said, at least he didn’t think so. Night flying was always fun and besides a few rule breakers and curfew breakers, of whom he was probably included, it seemed pretty clear.

“Mmm, yes, yes food is great.” He shook his head. “No, I used to but not anymore.” He pouted, his parents pretty much had come and made sure to clear his room of the boards. And before when Kyle had been around to spy on him he had to be careful about who he boarded with. “I’ve been thinking about getting a new one, if I do you can definitely try it out.” He put a hand over his stomach and giggled. “Well, Alex, my stomach is demanding food, since you like food would you like to have the noms with me?” He grinned, he was such a child and a child of the internet. “Unless you wanna still go boarding some, I don’t know what time it or when the sun's supposed to be setting. All I know is that when I’m hungry, I’m hungry.”

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis laughed at his answer. "Oh, you know, that thing you do when you stare at your notes?" So he was one of the not-so-academically minded ones, it seemed. Not that she was going to judge for that, there was a time when she didn't care much about it either, mostly because she'd found it so darn hard to study without sight. And after that she'd gotten in with that rowdy crowd that didn't care much about grades, sight or no. Though she'd evened out somewhat with the whole "don't care about no grades" attitude, and now did her best to get as many B's as possible, she could now understand both mindsets, and be comfortable around both. Except for the obsessive A students maybe...

Angels? Alex laughed. "No, ghosts are disembodied spirits who want bodies. Angels are..." she shrugged. "I dunno, they walk around with wings and halos, don't they?" She pondered, wondering if she could start another line of teasing with the question. She didn't really know a whole lot about angels, just that their existence was as debatable as the existence of demons. And ghosts too, really. However, they were different from ghosts, because ghosts was a more generic term, and therefore easier to stretch tall tales from. Angels... easier to get the bluff called on, and if she got her bluff called on that, then it could call her ghost story into question too. So, she decided to just leave it at that. "No idea if there's soul stealing angels, never heard of them, but I guess anything is possible. What do you think?"

Yeah, the uncomfortable beat of his heart was definitely connected to his parents. Bad experience, maybe? A pity if there had been... she wasn't about to ask though, and was even about to change the subject when he mentioned his brother being gone. What did that mean? Curiosity rose, and she decided to act on it. If he'd really minded that much, he wouldn't have mentioned it, right? "Your brother's gone as in... moved, or...." she trailed off, not wanting to actually say "dead"... Sensitive a subject as that could be, she had a feeling that wasn't what he'd meant by "gone", his breathing and beat weren't consistent with it she didn't think.

"On campus ain't bad, yeah." She shrugged. "I usually go to the park or somethin' though. Nice to get off-campus sometimes." She pondered. Should she mention the whole, skateboarding in the dark being dangerous because you couldn't see as well? He hadn't mentioned it... so maybe not. She didn't want to draw attention to something too obvious and get suspicions going again. Such a fine line to dance...

"And that sounds like a deal," she said in answer to his offer of letting her use a longboard if he got one. A good deal, too, 'cause it would mean she wouldn't have to spend money on something she might end up not liking even after playing around with more. She chuckled. "I'm chill with getting noms with you," she said, grinning a bit. Truth be told, she was getting along toward being hungry as well. Whether because of the power of suggestion or because it really was that time was another matter, but ah well. "I'd guess it's about dinnertime," she mused. "If not we can always sneak in and raid the kitchen or something." The last bit was more of a joke than anything. Though she had raided the kitchen before, she rarely did so with other people. and rarely just because she was hungry. Usually for a dare..

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

“Oh, so sleeping?” Ray said nodding like he knew exactly how that was going to go. If Raylaigh could absorb knowledge and pass his classes via sleeping on his notes he would be doing a whole lot better. Ray did try, he did his best but he was much more inclined to have fun and if something was boring he couldn’t make himself focus on it for too long. He couldn’t even imagine doing it without sight he would probably never study again. Well, Raylaigh was also struggling in most of his classes, they were hard and he was pulling midlevel grades, he didn’t mind too much, he got upset when he failed because even when he did try it never worked out well for him, he was just stupid, he supposed.

Ray nodded along and shrugged, “That would make them rather inconspicuous wouldn’t it?” He laughed and then looked at his feet and lifted a foot fluttering his wings for her to see. Ignorant to the fact that she couldn’t. “That would make me an angel wouldn’t it? I can find a halo of some sorts around here.” He looked around and all he could find that would remotely be like a halo would be the ropes that had been his trap before and he wasn’t about to go picking them up and putting them back on, in any way shape or form. He was in an auditorium where they did plays and such there had to be something around here. Oh well, he shrugged it off and was ready to dismiss it and then she continued on and all Raylaigh could do was shrug. “I guess, I mean angels are supposed to be the good guys right? So why would they steal souls? Unless you count the Angel of Death. I think he at least takes souls.”

Alex asked about his brother and Ray nodded, “Yeah he graduated last year, he totally used to by my parent’s spy, he’s an ass-hat.” He rolled his eyes, he loved Kyle but only about as much as someone loved cough medicine. Something that was nice to have on occasion but still left a bitter taste in the mouth. “So, now that he’s gone he can’t very well tell on my about anything. Which means that now I can do thinks like skateboard and get my ears pierced without anyone running to tell my parents.” Ray smiled pleasantly and shrugged. He was very glad that he was no longer having to look over his shoulder because not only did his brother graduate but so did his ex. His awful ex. He was so happy now. Everything was so much better now, Raylaigh was loving life. The flyer was free and he could do what he wanted with his life.

Raylaigh nodded in agreement, it was nice to get off campus sometimes, the people of Pilot Ridge were all pretty nice and accepting of meta humans as it seemed very few left when they graduated and even more returned if they left. It was their safe haven. The once place on earth where they wouldn’t have to hide who they were. It was little wonder that they’d found haven in Vermont and little other that this was where their fight for equality had started. And meta humans were sell on their way but the struggle was hard. “Yeah the park is nice, but it’s also probably hard to see where you’re going. Or where there’s gonna be a crack in the sidewalk or something.” He shrugged, he’d taken many a spill because of an unseen crack in the pavement.

Ray hoping a little in excitement, “Sweet!” The flyer laughed and shrugged, “Yes! Oh man, I’m hungry. You ever get that moment where you don’t realize you’re hungry and then you think about it and you’re like really hungry?” He asked of Alex wondering if she was crazy like him or if he was just in general hungry all the time. It was probably closer to the latter, but he didn’t really care, he wasn’t gaining weight and honestly if he did it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing. Ray ran and hopped off of the stage letting his wings slow his momentum into a smooth landing. He smiled and gave a little triumphant fist pump, he didn’t think that would actually work. He turned back to her, his eyes wide with wonder. “What? You can do that?” Now that was something that probably wasn’t good for Ray to know. If he knew he could sneak into the kitchen it would be midnight snacks all the time. He giggled, “C’mon Alex, I’m starving!”

[Genesis Kyland]

Genesis laughed. "Yeah, sleeping." She smirked. "You could call it that too, I suppose. Whatever gets you by, I guess." She shrugged a bit. "I ain't the genius type that can skip through school without studying. Wish I was, but to each their own and all that." Really, she dearly wished she could get B's in all her classes without doing more than listening to the lectures. She'd known someone in her old high-school who was like that, and it drove her nuts. Of course, looking back, she wondered if he was entirely truthful about his self proclaimed "don't got time for studying" attitude.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure angels have wings on their back." She shook her head. "Least, that's all I've ever heard about. So unless you've got intel I don't..." She shrugged, and noted the raising of his foot, though likely a few moments after he'd actually raised it. However, she did notice immediately when he fluttered his wings by the sound of it, and lowered her eyes to them accordingly. At the mention of the halo, she'd also half consciously paid more attention to the fringes of her mental pictures, and felt pretty sure she sensed some circular bits of something that would have served fine for a halo. Of course, she wasn't about to inform him of this. "Well," she mused. "I'm pretty sure the Angel of Death stays put in Hell or Purgatory or wherever it is the 'bad people' go. Unless he does actually go around to all the bad people that die, in which case he'd be pretty darn busy and I don't see why he'd bother with that." She rolled her eyes. When it came to religious stuff, she wasn't a big fan.

Ah, a graduate. Alex nodded. That was much better than alternatives. Being expelled or a runaway or something of the sort. She almost mentioned that it must be cool to have a brother, or sibling at all, but decided against it. The two didn't seem to get along too well. Didn't seem like most siblings did, come to think of it. It made her kinda glad sometimes to be in her only child state.

"Only hard to see where you're goin' if it's dark." She rolled her eyes, smirking a little. "And you deal with the same thing here-- never know if there's a rock or stick or somethin' in the way. Always makes things exciting."

Genesis hurried after Raylaigh as he ran off the stage. She was careful to judge the distance as she approached the edge, not wanting to fall on her face, and jumped off after him without slowing. "Can I do what, sneak into the kitchen?" She snorted. "You can sneak in anywhere if you're quiet enough. Not that it's recommended," she added after a moment's thought. "If you get caught you'd probably get detention or something. Or just a warning." She shrugged and started walking for the exit of the auditorium. "Not that I'd know, of course, because I'd never think'a doin' somethin' so sneaky."

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray shrugged and laughed along with the girl. Getting Ray by, maybe, getting him the grades he wanted, not so much. He laughed brightly and nodded in agreement. “Me too,” he said before he thought to keep pretending that he was so smart he didn’t need to study. He shrugged it off. So he wasn’t the brightest light in the shed, it was just so hard to keep working at something when a mental block was reached. Oh well, to each their own, Ray was starting to consider alternative career paths to college, but he really wanted to fly and do things with his hands but being either a pilot or an engineer required all of the things that Ray was simply no good at. He liked history, maybe he could do something with that, that would require travel. He shrugged, he still had plenty of time to decide.

Putting his foot back down he waggled his eyebrows at Alex. He looked around and lowered his voice like he was letting her in on a secret. “Don’t tell anyone,” he said with a sly grin, he was joking around now, “Or you won’t get your three wishes.” He added with a giggle. So long as those wishes were something it was in his ability to do he would be happy to oblige. However, he was forgetting that he was thinking about genies with three wishes and not angels. They were not quite the same thing. Ray shivered, at the thought of death angels. “I don’t think so,” he said, in reference to him leaving wherever it was bad people went. If he was dedicated to clearing the world of bad people he was doing a very poor job of it. He shrugged, “Maybe he was workers, like whatever those things are called… uh the things with the badass flame sword thingies?” He waved his arms like he was swinging a sword and probably made a motion more like hitting a baseball. Also not quite the same thing.

Ray looked confused for a moment and then laughed brightly and hit his palm to his forehead. Sometimes his stupidity surprised even him. “Right, unless you’re like blind or something.” He said offhand, he couldn’t imagine being blind or how scary a feeling that would be. Ray knew if he ever went blind he would probably die, he was already highly breakable and he had wings, chances were he would last a day out on his own blind and then he would accidentally trip over a cliff or something and when he tried to fly he’d smash himself into the side or into the ground itself. Shivering at the idea Ray shook his head. He didn’t have super good night vision but it wasn’t nearly as scary. Night flying was actually very fun and very exciting. It was relatively easy to keep a sense of ground and sky, but sometimes on a still night if he got out over the ocean or something it was impossible to know which way was up.

He looked back and watched her follow and nodded. “Yeah, have you ever done that before? Oh man, you have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to do that.” He snorted in laughter, Ray lacked the ability to be sneaky or quiet. Ray followed after her running a few steps before he fell into step with her. “I’ve never gotten detention,” he said, he was bored in class often but he’d never misbehaved enough to get himself sent to detention. He didn’t like breaking rules, but sometimes it was rather exciting. Ray laughed and stuck his tongue out at her. “Lair, I bet you’ve done it tons of times.” He said and exited the auditorium with her. “You gotta show me how to do that. Oh man I bet they’re hiding all sorts of gold in there.” And by gold Raylaigh meant munchies and sweets.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Oh, so I could be in danger of losin' my three wishes, huh?" Genesis snickered. "Since when do angels give out wishes? Ain't that a genie thing?" She paused, grinned a bit. "Or is that more intel I didn't have before that I can't repeat? Whoever knew I would be learnin' angel secrets in my freetime today?" She figured Raylaigh was joking around, but where was the fun in not joking around in return? Would'a made for a boring day, that's what.

"Badass flame sword things?" Alex considered this. She was pretty sure that "bad" angels were called demons, but again, she wasn't up to scratch on her mythology. "Beats me," she finally said. "We can call 'em badass flame thingy warriors. That'd totally be what they'd want to be called." She grinned again. "Just like you'd like to be called a feather-y wing thing person, right?" What was life without teasing?

Alex rolled her eyes. "Yeah, what blind person can skateboard?" she snarked. Despite not reacting to the comment, she did wonder if he'd meant it as a hint that he was catching onto her. Ah well, it had been a good run, if he was. Not her best run, but still a good one. Anyway, he didn't seem too much the type to shy away if he found out. She'd had those people before... Jerks. However, she shrugged it off and noted his shudder. "What, got a phobia of blind people?" She grinned, having a pretty good guess that hadn't been the cause of his shudder, but not willing to pass up the opportunity. "I guess that'd be a pretty big bummer since you're a flier," she mused. "Unless you had ears like a bat or somethin'."

"Have I ever done what, detention?" She raised her head a bit, as if contemplating the ceiling, as she tapped her chin in thought. "Of course not... Do I look like the kind of girl who would get detention?" She shot him a wicked grin. "And no, I've never seen gold in the kitchen," she added, just as thoughtfully as her last sentence, though she knew full well he hadn't literally meant "gold". "If I'da seen it though, I could be rich." She turned her face toward him to "look" at him. "What would you do if you found'a buncha gold?"

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

“Right. Uh…” Ray puffed out his cheeks and let out a breath when she pointed out his error. Oops. He laughed a little at his goof. He was never one to take things hard. The smile only widened when she continued and Raylaigh decided to play along. “Since you rescued me, I’ll let you in on a secret,” he made a show of looking about for eavesdroppers and stage whispered, “Genies are just another name for us, we used to live in lamps but the living space was a little tiny.” He told her in utmost seriousness, though the smile on his face spelled otherwise. That probably sufficed to spell out Raylaigh’s limited knowledge on angels and spirits and otherwise supernatural things. Most like none at all, after all he had believed ghosts to be real.

Raylaigh nodded, “Yeah like the ones that are all muscles and look like they’re gonna kill you.” He said waving his hands in a way to emphasize ‘big’. “Psh,” Ray hissed, “Who wouldn’t wanna be called that?” He asked then she pointed out and Ray laughed and cleared his throat, “That’s Mr. Feather-y Wing Thing Person to you if you want your three wishes,” he joked right back, though he got the point. Not only was that a mouthful but it was a little degrading. He looked down at his wings, “They’re wings. They look like wings don’t they?” He asked paranoid now that they looked like chicken wings. Sure they were about the size of a seagull’s wing, and while like an ibis’s, but they were definitely wings. Raylaigh spread them, and nodded to himself, they were pretty and powerful. He looked at Alex, he needed her opinion on this.

He shrugged, “I mean I dunno, I mean I think it would be hard, but whatever floats their boat.” He supposed he couldn’t declare that they couldn’t skateboard anymore than he would have let anyone else tell him he couldn’t. Though, he had to admit that he would think it rather foolish for someone to go rolling around without seeing where they were going. He jumped a little at her accusation, at least until he realized she was smiling. “No, no,” Ray said quickly hoping she wasn’t offended, or rather that she didn’t know someone who was and was offended for them. He opened his mouth to explain and burst into laughter when she beat him to the punch. “That’s exactly what I was gonna say! I’m already a walking disaster, add blindness to that and I’m pretty sure I’d be dead right now.” He nodded along and shrugged, “That would be supper cool. I’m seen a few bats, they’re cute. They’re all ears.” He cupped his hands on his own ears to demonstrate the size and giggle to himself as he was imagining someone with actual bat eats, not with ears that worked like a bat.

“No, but you look like the kinda girl that can show a guy how to sneak into a kitchen,” he replied with a grin. She was killing him, and he had to wrap his arms around his torso to keep himself in one piece as he giggled. “Hmmm,” he contemplated for a few moments looking at his feet as they walked, “I think I’d build a tree house. Not one of those little ones, like find the tallest tree and build it right at the top. Now that would be cool. And people would have an amazing view when they came to visit. What about you Alex?” He wondered looking at her, in the brighter light of the hallway it was easier to see her, not that the auditorium wasn’t, but it had different lights, lights that cast shadow and twisted perspectives.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Another word for angels, huh?" Genesis shook her head, snickering as she did. "Never would'a guessed. Did you ever used to be in a bottle, then? And since you're an angel, are you really old, then? 'Cause don't angels live a long time?" She tilted her head to the side, waiting for his answer with an "innocently" curious expression on her face.

Alex blinked a bit as he posed the question to her about his wings. They were wings... What else would they look like? So long as they weren't featherless, she didn't get why he'd be worried about it. She brushed the quizzicalness off a moment later though-- It must have been a winged person thing. Maybe they were like models: fussing and worrying about what made them unique. Made sense, she supposed. "'Course they look like wings," she said aloud. "They're the wing-iest wings I've seen," she added, unable to resist some form of tease or sarcasm.

She laughed as he exclaimed that she'd stolen his words. "Just makes it more true since both of us thought it, I guess, huh?" She shook her head. "Though I think anyone with wings would say the same. It'd be pretty darn hard for anyone not to kill themselves, I'd guess. But what do I know about flying?" She chuckled. And actual bat ears.... thank God she didn't have those, that would be horrid. It'd be "good luck" trying to fit in anywhere, anyway. It could be hard enough sometimes as it was.

"Can and will are two very different things," she stated in a serious tone. "Wouldn't want either of us getting caught or in trouble, now would we?" She shook her head, still jokingly "solemn". She could, of course, show him how to get in, but she rarely let people in on her methods. Not only could it get her in trouble if someone found out, but not everyone was capable of not getting caught. And no way was she showing some newbie how to do something that could get him in trouble. "Anyway, if I showed you and you went nabbing food too much, you might get fat and then how on earth would you fly?" She tossed her head, flicking hair from her face. "Think'a that."

Her face went somewhat thoughtful as he turned the question back at her. What would she do with gold... the answer came up not long later, very clear. "Travel," she said decisively. "All over the place. Mountains, ocean, forests, deserts." She grinned. "Never stay in one place more than a year."

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh nodded with a sureness that he didn’t feel. Ray raised a brow and gave a sly smile, he was just pulling all of this out of his rear and he was pretty sure that he knew about as little about angels as anyone else. “Yeah, it was kinda awful, they are bigger on the inside though,” his lips twitched up a little and he shrugged, “I can’t tell you how old I am, that’s a strictly need to know basis.” He had no idea how old angels got, but technically he couldn’t be called a real angel right, maybe he could be a genie, genies could have wings on their feet, nothing said they couldn’t. Angels were a little better defined with wings on the back. Ray was honestly glad he wasn’t a flyer with wings on his back, it made things so much harder.

Looking at his wings critically he fluttered them this way or another. He supposed that it could be comparable to a model, he loved his wings and he took pride in them. He loved the feel of the wind through his feathers and he loved to preen them and make sure that they were not only in top working order, but looked as spectacular as he could get them. “Awe, thanks,” he said and looked up from his feet and gave Alex a sweet smile. He didn’t care if she was joking or not he was taking that compliment and running away with it. He fluttered his wings happily and forced himself to keep them still before he started walking or he’d probably have made himself look like a right fool.

Raylaigh grinned at her before he took on a serious expression. His voice was still light as he spoke and he was having a hard time keeping a straight face. “I don’t know, we really are going to have to consult the internet to know for sure.” The internet was the knower of all things, and probably soon to be the master of the universe if they weren’t careful. Ray nodded. “It’s really common sense, I mean bats do it fairly well, but people don’t have bat hearing, unless they do which would be pretty cool. But yeah I mean flying in general is just dangerous, cause you’ve already said the whole falling and dying thing. And don’t even get me started on trees.” He rolled his eyes. Seriously they just planted them so that Ray would run into them, that was the only logical explanation. Ray waved a hand dismissively, “I’m not a cloud, but I can say I know a fair amount about them.” So maybe it was a strange analogy, but one didn’t have to be a flyer to know things about it and make assumptions.

“Please, Alex!” Ray drawled resorting to pouting. He was so mature. He huffed and hung his head giving it a little shake of agreement. “You’re no fun,” he complained dramatically and huffed at her hoping that his puppy dog eyes might be able to win her over. But he’d never been good at making puppy dog eyes. He was too happy to hold it long enough for it to be effective. He gaped at her for a moment before he burst out in laughter. “I wish, I’m so hungry, Alex, I’m gonna waste away if you don’t tell me.” So Ray had a flair for the dramatic, oh well, it just came along with the territory. Ray honestly was still a little wary of people when he first met them, he didn’t go out of his way to hide his sexual orientation, but he also didn’t advertise it. One never knew when they were going to meet someone who had decided that Ray was a second class citizen just because he liked men over women. That wasn’t to say he couldn’t admire women, like Alex, she was very pretty.

Listening to her wish from riches Ray smiled. Alex was a lot braver than he was. He wanted so badly to travel but he was so afraid of the outside world. “That sounds like fun, I’ll want a postcard from every place you visit,” he said with a smiled. He was honestly in a very good place to do traveling, after all he wasn’t restricted to planes and trains and automobiles. But he was certainly not going to fly across country, that would be like running a marathon every day for a week straight. He shrugged at the idea and opened the door to the cafeteria for her.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Sounds very awful, even if they are bigger on the inside." Alex chuckled. "How much bigger are they, anyway? I always figured they were bigger on the inside, but never knew how much 'cause I didn't have an 'inside source' like I do now." She grinned a bit at her own pun, despite herself. She wasn't typically up for such word play, but how often did she get any sort of a chance like that?

Alex smiled, amused at the apparent pride he took in his wings. Hey, she took pride in her power, so why shouldn't he take pride in his? There was no judgement there, amusement or not, and that was certain. She kept pace alongside him as he started talking about the internet. She didn't have the appreciation that most had for it, since it was more of a burden to her than anything, despite technology that had been formulated to be voice commanded. Way too often it got mixed up and did something weird, no matter what you told it to do. No one had bat hearing, huh? She almost laughed at this, but managed to keep it cool. "Yeah, that would be interesting..." she mused. "Have you ever flown through clouds?" A sudden thought hit her. "What's the highest you've flown, anyway?"

"You ain't gonna waste away," she snorted. "If you were gonna then you would'a a long time time ago. What, this the first time you've been hungry before dinner?" She quirked an eyebrow. "You're skinny enough, but you ain't wastin' away, goofball. So chill and we'll see if dinner is out in just a second." She shook her head, feigning exasperation but very apparently joking.

"Done," she stated. "Postcard from every place. Sure you want that many?" She cast him a grin before stepping through the door into the cafeteria. Sure, she had no plans of travel yet, but if she had anything to do about it, she would eventually. She'd figure out something to pay for it, and if not she'd be a stowaway or something. Now that would be interesting.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

“Yeah, it makes moving a pain. I mean I never even got to get out until someone rubbed it the right way,” he gave her a wink and snickered at his own joke, he laughed harder as she added onto the joke. He was definitely liking Alex. “Not too bad, I mean about as big as the dorms. Has a nice kitchen and hot tub.” He added because how cool would that be? A hot tub inside of his very own magic lamp. Well, besides the whole being trapped in there forever. He shrugged and laughed, he didn’t really remember how they’d gotten on this tangent besides that it started with her power of ghost sensing. Raylaigh was to oblivious to realize that ghosts would have to exist for people to sense them, well, Ray was a believer now and anytime he went to a dark and creepy place, like a classroom in the morning before anyone else was there, he was gonna have Alex check it out.

Ray might be ignorant in his thinking but he felt like everyone had a little bit of pride in their power. It was what made them meta, it was what made them different and it was a good feeling. He didn’t think that there were people out there would absolutely hated their power, after all Ray was having a blast and using it to his best advantage. He loved training his power and working on getting better and better. No matter the pain, which consequently because it was Raylaigh sometimes was rather painful. Ray nodded and then nodded his head more like a bobble head. “Yeah! Oh man! That was probably the coolest thing ever. It’s cold, and wet. Very cold and very wet, actually. And limited visibility,” He laughed a little, “but they’re fun, you can usually catch a thermal or if you’re really lucky an updraft and then it’s like woosh!” He moved his hands up rapidly. Though usually if he hit an updraft strong enough to toss him it was time for him to skedaddle because some storm was starting to pop up.

“Lemme think,” he said as he pondered how high he had ever gone. He’d never actually used an altimeter or anything to test it. “I don’t know exactly, but I got past a few cloud decks. But I was dumb and didn’t do it right so I passed out and…” He laughed sheepishly and ducked his head, “Well, let’s just say my trainer is really good.” Ray figured he could probably go higher, his problem was that he had gone up all at once instead of doing a steady. “I wanna say I’ve gone like maybe a couple hundred meters or something? I dunno.” He said with a shrug. The time he’d passed out he had gone far far higher than a couple hundred meters, he’d gone high enough to the point where breathing became difficult and then his lungs, even adjusted to make altitude changes easier weren’t able to keep up.

He wrapped his arms around his waist. “I am, Alllleeex,” he whined and laughed at her reasoning. He was on the brink of starvation, or he would like Alex to believe but she was right, he had probably actually eaten not too long ago at this point. He liked snacks what could he say. “Fine,” he huffed dramatically and decided he’d get the secrets of the kitchen out of her later. He could be sneaky if he tried, or so he told himself. He would probably end up doing something stupid though and getting himself locked in the freezer or something. That would be just his luck. The nearer to the cafeteria they came the more his stomach rumbled and being inside he was about to just put everything on a plate and vacuum it into his mouth.

“Absolutely,” he said, “I’ll make a collage for you so when you come back you can remember all the places you’ve been.” Silly, stupid Raylaigh was still not clued into the fact that she couldn’t see any of them and the idea would be useless. “Anyways I wanna live vicariously through you, so yeah.” He grinned at her and made his way to the kitchen area. “Oh smells like Hammel food,” he complained lightly. Everyone complained about the food, but it was honestly a lot better than it could have been and he was totally down for getting a few slices of pizza for dinner.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Jeez, sounds nice." Alex raised an eyebrow. "Why on earth would'ya ever leave, then? Sounds nicer than this place is a lot of the time. I mean, a hot tub? And a nice kitchen? You must've had a really good reason for bailin' on that gig." She crossed her arms and shook her head. In the back of her mind, she knew she was probably getting way more enjoyment out of this than she should have been, but she also didn't particularly care.

Alex smiled as he related his flying experiences to her. He loved his power, she didn't need to see to be able to know that. It was perfectly clear in his voice, and the changes in his heartbeat and breathing when he talked about it... She nodded. Yeah, he loved his flying. She couldn't say she felt quite the same about her power... though she loved it, and didn't think she could live without it, it was for a very different reason. Her power was part of what helped her survive and function on her own, it was a necessity, in her opinion, rather than a luxury. Not that she was an invalid before her "mind pictures" started showing up.

"You've gone up high enough that you passed out?" Wow, that was pretty high... of course, being in the clouds at all was high, she supposed, but she couldn't relate that to her own knowledge as well. Sure, she knew that clouds were high in the sky, but she'd never seen them high in the sky, so how was she supposed to know? She shook her head, still somewhat in awe. She'd never really put together that flying meant you could fly in the clouds... she'd always just imagined zipping around closer to the ground, like walking, but just... not on the ground.

Alex chuckled at Ray. He amused her, he really did. Not only was he chill, but his antics reminded him of what having a little brother would have been like. At least, it seemed like what some of her friends described it as anyway, and how she'd imagined it before. That in mind, she felt like she should give the guy a clue eventually about her real power and real state of affairs as it concerned her vision. Sure, keeping certain things a secret was fun, but once she had an actual friend, rather than a friendly acquaintance, she liked to keep honesty.

"Collage would be nice," she mused. She sniffed the air, and wrinkled up her nose a bit appropriately. "Sure does smell like Hammel food. You know, if you think this stuff is bad, even if it ain't... real good food, you shoulda ate at my cafeteria. Now that stuff was bad-- woulda grown legs and walked off your plate if you weren't careful." She smirked and got into line.