Just Hangin' Out (OPEN)

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray looked at Alex and blinked at her. It sounded nice sure but… “It’s lonely,” he voice the tail end of his thought. If there was one thing Ray couldn’t stand it was being alone. He didn’t like it, he got lonely too easily and he could have a hot tub and endless desserts and it wouldn’t be any fun. He laughed and gave her a smile, just in case she thought it might be a sad statement. “And I never much like answering wishes.” He said waving a hand. He could only imagine the kind of wishes a genie had to deal with. Anything from power to love. He highly doubted that real genies had as many restrictions as Genie from Aladdin. It was probably a good thing that genies weren’t real. Who knows what would happen.

“Yeah, it was scary. I mean it’s the same kinda concept of if you climb a mountain too fast. Like a lot of people don’t do well in Denver. Same kinda thing, I went up too fast and my lungs didn’t adjust fast enough. I mean my lungs adjust pretty fast, which really makes me wish someone was clocking me that time.” He said with a giggle, but no one was really interested how fast he was going once he started coming back down at a terminal velocity. He remembered the feeling too, light headedness then there was nothing. He should have slowed down when he started feeling like his head what light, but he hadn’t, because it was Raylaigh and he couldn’t be pressed to think about things. He knew he could go higher, he just needed to so it more slowly and take some time to catch his breath, because going that fast was also a lot like running and the panting wasn’t helping much either.

Raylaigh shrugged. “I mean I’ll probably never get to like a plane cruising height but I’ve seen eagles go higher than me and I’m pretty sure I can beat an eagle.” He laughed as he walked. “What about you? I mean do you see ghosts all the time? Have you ever talked to one? I’ve never heard of that power, is it new?” He barraged her with questions as his curiosity called them up and he paused to take a breath and did his best to stall the flow of questions so she could answer them. He didn’t know that ghosts were real, though he’d heard that there was something of another plane that some people could walk in, he never really thought that had to do with ghosts. He wondered if Alex could become a ghost and walk about with them. Now that would be cool. She could be a shadow on the wall anywhere. Just a few moments and she could have the answers to a test or sneak into a sold out show. Because those were really the most important things in life.

Raylaigh was not the kind of person who would act differently around someone who might have something like blindness. Least of all Alex, after all she had shown herself more than capable enough and perhaps more coordinated than the flyer. He would probably be a little embarrassed and mildly angry that she lied to him, but it wasn’t anything that Ray wouldn’t get over in a few moments. He would probably be extremely curious and possibly blunder a bit. “It’ll be great, I’m gonna make it great for you, just wait and see.” He grinned at her. He had a little bit of talent for art, he could do it and he would work extra hard for his new friend Alex. Raylaigh was already imagining what it might look like. He’d put the coastlines on the sides and the inland travel throughout.

Ray got in line behind her and laughed shaking his head and wrinkling his nose at the idea. “Eww!” He cried, “Thank God we don’t have that. Ugh, where are you from anyways?” He asked with curiosity, he didn’t think she’d told him and if she did well, it wasn’t the first time he forgot something ten seconds after someone told him something.

[Genesis Kyland]

Oh... Lonely. Of course. A perfectly valid reason, even if she hadn't thought of it originally. Now that she did think about it though, she could very much understand it. She would hate to live somewhere with no people. Even if she wouldn't necessarily call herself the most sociable person around, she did still consider herself an extrovert. She grinned a bit as Ray added the bit about having to fulfill wishes. "That would probably get annoying after a while," she agreed. "People can be pretty darn greedy sometimes."

Alex nodded. "I get it. A little over enthusiastic about flying." She grinned. "Big surprise there." Not. She chuckled to herself. Really, it was the equivalent of when she needed to get a good view of the area, and so caused a loud noise to get enough soundwaves going, but just ended up hurting her ears instead. Ah, the ups and downs of powers. In Ray's case, literally ups and downs. "You been to the mountains?" she asked, suddenly curious about this new idea. She lived vicariously through the explanations and descriptions of places from others-- so whenever she found someone who had traveled or experienced something she hadn't before, she was quick to latch on and get them to explain themselves.

"Yeah, well, plane cruising height would be a problem," she mused. "Because it's pretty cold up there, ain't it?" That caused another thought to occur. "That mean when you go up you have to wear warmer clothes than down here? Or do you have some sort of super insulation or somthin'?" She gave a faint smile at the idea, not really expecting him to say he did have "super insulation", but similarly, not about to make fun of it if it ended up being a power of his. Surprising as it would be to her, it would also be a handy power, to not have to wear a coat out in cold weather.

Alex chuckled. Sounded like he really meant it-- that he really would make a collage if she sent him postcards. She had figured he'd been joking. Of course, just because he intended to now didn't mean he actually would later. Just like she could intend to travel as much as she wanted right now, it didn't mean it would absolutely happen. She frowned inwardly at this and pushed the thought away. Oh, she'd travel all right.

"Louisiana," she replied promptly. "About half an hour from the coast, makes for an interesting time during storm season." She shook her head as she filled her tray with the various food choices. "What about you?" she asked, pausing to wait for him. She intended to let him take point on finding a place to sit, as she didn't particularly care where they sat, and also preferred to let others take the lead when it came to somewhat more soundwave compromised places like cafeterias.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray nodded in agreement. So greedy. “And some are just weird,” he said with a shake of his head and a giggle. Well, anyone who had ever been on the internet would know that strange things existed on the internet and weird people populated it with weird things. Not all bad, but there were some things that were simply strange. Or strange things that would make Ray blush. No he would rather not be a genie answering those kinda wishes. He nodded emphatically, “You also can’t fly in a lamp,” he pointed out and giggled at her sarcasm. She was funny and Ray really liked her. She was very nice. But also sarcastic, he knew people who were sarcastic and cruel, not Alex. She was super awesome.

He nodded. “Yep. The Appalachians, not the Rockies. But I’ve heard they’re even more amazing. Compared to them the Appalachians are like baby mountains. Or elderly mountains… I can’t remember.” He shrugged dismissively. He remembered a teacher talking about them in comparison before and something about erosion being the cause of the Appalachians being smaller in size than the Rockies. Those were things he wanted to fly over. He’d heard spectacular things about them and he wanted to experience them. Maybe he’d see if Alex wouldn’t let him tag along when she went traveling. He’d gather his own set of postcards and then they could both have a collage.

“Yeah, freezing, ugh makes me never wanna go up that high. But it depends.” He shrugged. The flyer nodded. “Yeah, well sometimes.” He amended and laughed at the thought. “Nope, all I’ve got are theses skin and bones, so I need all of the coats. It depends on the season and the place too. I usually need a lot of coats in the winter, but summers not so bad. But they have these awesome things that the weather people put out that shows the temperature in the atmosphere at all the layers. My trainer showed them to me and I never go flying without looking. It’ll tell you everything about winds and temperature and you know the freezing line doesn’t come so low in the summer as it does in the winter.” He explained. The first time his trainer had showed it to him he’d though he was crazy but when it had finally clicked for Raylaigh, it had become a vital tool. He knew there was a lot of other stuff that could be taken from it but Ray only really cared about winds and temperatures. Those where what he understood and could look at quickly.

Short answer made extremely long, Ray always dressed warmly when he was gonna go high flying. If he was just gonna go a few hundred meters up to play around he could just wear a tee shirt and count on the speed of his blood pumping from cardio to keep him warm. “Oh cool!” He said brightly, all he knew about Louisiana was that it looked like a foot. “I bet, do you guys get hit by a lot of hurricanes?” He asked thinking of a particular storm that had flooded New Orleans. Raylaigh piled his plate high with carrots, fries and pizza as well as a fair amount of the ravioli they had in one of the trays. They actually had a good selection tonight and there was so much good food. “Hmmm, let’s so sit over there.” He said with a cup of water in hand. He found his way through the crowded area to a small table that had just cleared. He waited until he and Alex were seated before answering. “I’m from Northern Virginia. Just outside of DC.” With that Raylaigh took a huge bite of his pizza and was soon devouring the defenseless slice with a great deal of hunger. Alex would probably wonder where he put it all when he was finished and went back for desert.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Ah... weird stuff." Alex gave a wide, smirkish grin. "I guess that can get interesting, huh? Can't ya turn down a wish if it's too stupid, though? Or are ya bound to go through with any wacko thing someone throws out there?" Though she knew quite well that genies weren't real, she realized that if they had been a real thing, their job would have been a pitiable one. Imagine having to answer someone's beck and call and fulfill any demented idea they might have...

She nodded as he explained which mountains he'd been in, and then the difference between them. "So I've heard... But still, bein' in any mountains must'a been pretty great. What were they like?" She paused. As he didn't know about her sight, he was likely going to describe them in terms of sight... she needed to add something on to try and nudge him in the right direction description-wise. Her mind quickly slipped into gear, throwing out an idea. "I've heard they're pretty quiet, and that they make your ears pop when you go up..."

Alex put her head to the side, curious about the contraption he'd mentioned. "Sounds pretty useful. Complicated, but useful. You got one of your own, then? So you don't end up killin' yourself by accident?" She chuckled. She hadn't meant the comment as a direct job at Ray, merely a blanket statement to all fliers, since they could go up so high. Then, something else occurred to her, "Do your wings get cold up there though? Like, do they make wing mitten-type things?" She wasn't sure how someone would fly with "wing mittens", but the idea of them intrigued her, and if the rest of him got cold, why wouldn't his wings? Though, she supposed, they were covered in feathers... She hadn't really had much experience in how warm, or not, feathers could be though.

"We do get some, yeah." She shook her head. "We have swamps around, too, and mosquitoes." She wrinkled her nose. Mosquitoes were horrible, especially before her manifestation, because then she couldn't see them and the nasty things ended up biting her before she could do anything. Now, of course, they were just an irritating nuisance. She followed Ray carefully to the table, relieved when they got seated without incident. "Oh, so have you been to the capital before, then?" She'd been once, on a school trip. Of course, it hadn't awed her much, but it had been fun to be with all her friends. She noted Ray's wolfing down of his pizza slice, and repressed a slight grin. Boys... She chuckled faintly to herself before setting in on her salad and own pizza. Meals were always precarious, since half the time she had no idea what was out, and didn't always feel like asking what it was. Pizza was always safe though-- she wasn't picky about her toppings, and pizza slices were easy to identify.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh laughed, he liked this game they were playing, whatever it was. He shrugged and shook his head with mock sadness. “Alas, if it’s started with ‘I wish’ we gotta grant it. It’s part of the code. I’ll give you a little free advice. Be rather specific if you wish and be careful what it is you wish for.” He smiled and gave a nod as if he were the authority on all things wishes. Well, he was a genie after all. He would probably hate that job. Half the time he would probably spend time either sick of humanity or otherwise blown away by what people would waste wishes on. “What would you wish for if you had three wishes?” He asked. He honestly didn’t know what he would wish for. It wouldn’t be money or fame. Money was a hassle and one couldn’t by happiness. And fame was not worth the cost, in Ray’s opinion.

Nodding in agreement Ray made a thoughtful face as he tried to figure out how to describe them. “They’re beautiful. Green, sometimes misty. Usually a little bit cold. But yeah they’re nice and quiet. Well, if you’re not listening to the birds. It’s nice there. Not so many people, a lot more nature up there. At least in most places. I think they’re mysterious. Especially the ones with forests. It’s like they could be hiding anything. I mean if you don’t know where you’re going you could probably get lost for a long time in them.” He closed his eyes and pictured the smoky mists of the Appalachians. Especially when the colors started to change and it looked like the side of the mountain was on fire. Then there were the evergreens up here in the northern part of the country and it was amazing to see such lush growth.

“No, sorry, I mean it’s done by the weather people. Like weather balloons and stuff. You can find them online pretty much anywhere. I’ll show you sometime,” Ray giggled, “And don’t worry, if I can figure it out it can’t be that complicated.” Raylaigh really should have been more specific, the type of thing he was talking about was really just a graph on paper, or on a screen. He laughed a little and shrugged, if he got cold he honestly would probably decrease his altitude, simple as that. Ray’s laughter increased as he imagined wing mittens. Well that would make flying rather hard. He shook his head. “No, no, that would be cool though. I dunno, I mean sometimes if it’s really cold and raining or something, but honestly they’re just feathers. The only time it sucks in when I’m getting new feathers.” He himself laughed a bit. “Anyhoo, the feathers right now aren’t technically ‘alive’.” Raylaigh lifted his foot and stretched out his wing. “The bones here, are really well insulated, these feathers, I mean I can feel with them but it’s more of a sensitivity thing than actually feeling anything. Like if you pinched on it wouldn’t hurt, but if you pulled it then it would. Does that make sense?” He asked when he seemed to be talking in circles.

Ray made a face, he hated mosquitoes, they got them at home too. “At least here it’s too cold a lot of the time.” He shrugged. Small Vermont victories. Raylaigh nodded and covered his mouth as he chewed. “Tons of times,” he said after he swallowed. “My mom works in the capital so some of the time when we were little we’d go stay in her office after school.” He laughed a little, most of the times they had sports and were able to do that, and then when Van got old enough to watch them then they were left more alone. “Have you ever been?” He asked and took another few bites. Honestly, it was a wonder he tasted any of the food he was shoving into his mouth. He picked at some of the ravioli and then mixed in a few fries. A strange combination, but food was food and food was delicious. Raylaigh could never been a food critic, he just loved all foods too much to be critical.

[Genesis Kyland]

What would she spend three wishes on? Alex grinned. "I would wish that I could travel anywhere in the world for free, for an unlimited supply of food, and that I could stay at any hotel for free." She paused, thinking a moment, before musing, "I guess if I wished for unlimited money that would take care of all those things, though. So I guess I'd wish for unlimited money. Then I'd wish that no one would find out ever. Not sure what I'd do with the third wish." She drummed her fingers on the table. "You allowed to save wishes? And what would you wish for, anyhow? Are you able to grant your own wishes?"

Green, beautiful... Well, that was a whole lot of help. But misty... Alex could make something of that. She knew what misty days felt like, what mist felt like against her skin. She smiled a bit. Misty and quiet and full of bird songs.. "They sound nice... What do they smell like?" she asked. She always assumed they smelled either like pine trees, or like water, depending on how wooded they were.

"Oh... Well that makes more sense." Alex snickered. "I was thinking you had this giant contraption that you hauled around to see if flying was all right to do that day." Of course, she was exaggerating a little in the size she had been imagining, but it was true enough that she'd thought of something far from a weather report.

As Ray started explaining about his feathers, Alex nodded slowly, lowering her eyes to "look" where she'd caught the sound of him raising his foot and wing. Yeah... that made sense. "I knew that feathers themselves couldn't feel pain and stuff," she said. "Wasn't sure about cold. Makes sense though, sounds like feathers are pretty much like hair, right?" She reached up and fiddled with a lock of her own hair. "Doesn't hurt if it gets squished or frozen or whatever, but if it gets pulled it sure hurts."

"Wait wait wait, your mom works in the capital?" Alex stared. "What's she do? That must be pretty cool..." She considered, thinking about what it would be like to have a parent who worked in a position like that. Talk about bragging rights. "I've been once. School trip." She shrugged. "Pretty cool place. Pretty big." She gave a half smile before munching on her pizza. Really, she needed to go again, now that she had her power and could actually enjoy things like that a little more. She added it to her mental list of places to go.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh laughed, they said that money couldn’t buy happiness, but it could definitely take a lot of the pressure off. “I don’t see why not, you get three, no time limit wishes,” he replied and shrugged as he thought about it for himself. Honestly he could already fly, what more could he want? “I’d wish to be invincible. And probably for my tree house. Hmmm… and for an endless supply of food.” He smiled and elbowed her lightly waggling his eyebrows, “’Cause I’ll already have a friend with an endless supply of money.” He joked lightly. He didn’t know why he would really want a tree house in the top of the trees, probably not too many people would want to visit him. Not everyone was comfortable in the swaying branches of a tree. Raylaigh hated being lonely, but then it might be nice to have a getaway of shorts.

“Smell?” Raylaigh asked confused by the obscure question. “I never really thought about it… I guess it depends, up north it might be more piney but south maybe less pine. I don’t know, sorry.” He shrugged wishing he could give her a better description. He guessed it smelled clean because of all of the trees but he wasn’t sure. “You know we’ve really gotta get you to the mountains where you can see for yourself.” He smiled, that would be great fun. Get a bunch of people together to go for a hike in the mountains. Raylaigh was already thinking of when they could possibly do it with holidays and school. Of course it would be tough since not a lot of people at Hammel had cars and Ray was still working on getting his driver’s license anyway.

Ray laughed at the idea. “Oh man, could you imagine, I fall enough on my face as it is!” If he carried something big around like that he’d probably lose his balance a lot more frequently than he already did and Ray did not need help falling anymore. Ray was just bad at describing things. Which might make it hard for his to describe his wings. But he thought she could see them still so he wasn’t doing a very good job of it anyways. Ray nodded, “Yeah! That’s exactly it! I mean they’re sensitive to like wind and stuff but that’s the movement and all.” Raylaigh honestly wouldn’t mind if she touched his wings, he only had issue when someone stepped on his feathers or pulled them. Then it was unpleasant. When he was molting it could become uncomfortable, and if he accidentally broke a blood feather then it could be a huge problem.

“Mhmm,” Ray hummed and nodded. “It is pretty cool, she’s a speech writer for some people, she never really says who. But she really likes to write books too. She gets to take us into cool places.” He smiled as he spoke, his mother’s first love he knew was writing books, but that hadn’t really made her a whole lot of money. Yet. They all still had their hope and they believed in her, ‘cause she was good story teller. “They have some amazing places to eat and have you been to the Smithsonian museums?” He asked between bites of food. “I bet that was fun, we went there for school trips a lot, but it wasn’t really all that exciting at that point. I honestly would have loved a trip to New Orleans or something.” He was a talker and maybe that was why he was always hungry, he never stopped talking long enough to eat.

“Alex, if you ever end up in DC again, hit me up, I can show you all the cool secret stuff.” He nodded with certainty. He didn’t nibble so much as he shoveled food into his mouth. He swallowed water to get the food in his tummy faster. It was a really good thing that they had a dining hall here, he definitely ate his mother out of house and home whenever he went home.

[Genesis Kyland]

Alex grinned when Ray elbowed her. "Who said I was going to share any of my endless money?" His wishes didn't surprise her too much, though she hadn't been expecting the invincible one. It made sense when she thought about it though, and really, being invincible wouldn't be a bad thing at all. With that, one could say goodbye to being kidnapped or something of the sort, that was sure.

She smiled. Clean smelling... Clean smelling in nature was enough to go off of to form something of an idea of the mountains, at least for the moment. "Yeah, it would be cool to get a group together to go," she mused. "Maybe over summer break or something." Despite being quite sincere about thinking it would be fun to get a group together to go to the mountains, she did speak somewhat absently, somewhat distracted by her mental representation of the mountains.

Though quite curious about his wings, Alex restrained herself from asking to touching them. Not only was she somewhat worried about giving something away about her sight until she addressed it directly, but she also had no idea about how sensitive a part they were. For all she knew, asking to touch someone's wing would be like asking to touch their nether regions. Or their face even, which wasn't quite as awkward, but still made people uncomfortable a lot of the time. "So they sorta feed back information to your brain, then," she thought aloud. "Like nerves in your fingers. To tell you what your surroundings are like when it's something you might not be able to see. Like wind, like you said. Right?" She tilted her head to the side. Yes, when it came to things that interested her, she was all curiosity, and liked to make sure she understood completely.

"She writes books too?" Alex blinked. Though she didn't really read a whole lot, since braille books tended to be pricy, she did enjoy listening to audiobooks on occasion. "Does she have anything published? And no, I've not been to the Smithsonian." She shrugged. "Guess my school slacked." She flashed a grin. Ah, New Orleans. Again, not something she could fully appreciate, so she gave a mild shrug. "New Orleans is all right, if you like a bunch of buildings and things." She chuckled.

Her interest perked somewhat, however, when he mentioned the 'cool secret' stuff. Though she was pretty sure he was exaggerating, it still sounded intriguing. "Cool secret stuff, huh? I'll be sure to let you know if I ever go back. So long as this secret stuff won't get me chased by secret agents and brainwashed or something."

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh grinned innocently and batted his eyes at her. “Sharing is caring,” he said, quoting a phrase his mother used frequently when he or one of his siblings was coveting something. He broke into giggles. Money was nice and all but if he was invincible then at least he wouldn’t have such costly medical bills. Mostly Raylaigh didn’t want to have to be afraid of breaking all the time. If he was invincible then he could trip and fall and his bones wouldn’t shatter like glass and he could play all the sports he wanted like a normal person without worry that he might accidentally die or something ridiculous like that. Ray was already daydreaming about his treehouse and the spiraling stairs for the land creatures that would go up the side of the bark. It made him excited to think of the swaying motion of the tree in the winds. It would have to be a very big, very strong tree.

Ray bounced, his eyes flashing with excitement. “Wouldn’t it!?” he cried his feet having a hard time staying on the ground as he got excited about the idea. “That would be so much fun! We can get a bunch of people together and go hiking and swimming and camping.” Raylaigh was so excited it was like the plans were concrete. He didn’t have any qualms about how they were going to get there or where they would stay. He held out his hand as a sudden thought occurred to him. “I’ll have to get a longboard and we’ll find the steepest and highest mountain and we’ll see who can go the fastest down.” Ray didn’t realize that she was just throwing out the idea, Raylaigh was pretty much already planning it and thinking of who he would invite. Nao and Maddie and Alex for sure! Oh and Yancey too! That would be fun! “Oh can we? Please, please, please!” Ray would never stop nagging her until she said yes.

It might not be the same for all flyers but for Ray it was no different than touching his feet or hands. They were sensitive and he had issue if they were tugged at or abused but, he supposed it could be a little bit intimate. Like hands touching. But then Ray also had a personal space problem, so he might not be the best example. There were probably flyers out there who had a big ‘no-no’ about touching their wings. He supposed it would be harder if those wings were on their back, it wasn’t like those were easily avoidable. At least his feet wings could stay more or less out of the way. Ray nodded, he’d never thought about it that way, but it was very true. He could always get changes in winds from them. “I guess so… yeah, no that’s pretty much like it. I mean they’re not like super descriptive but I guess you could say I can know a lot about the wind.” He fluttered his wings and felt the air on his feathers just as she’d hypothesized.

“Mhmm,” Ray nodded, “She’s really good, but not very well known. Not yet at least. She’s amazing and she’s just gotta get a good break.” Ray liked to think he was an expert. “She actually had a deal with my dad and they traded fight and middle names for my siblings and me. Which is how I ended up with Raylaigh and Van ended up with Vanel.” He laughed a little. Just by the chance of being the odd numbered children. “Oh no Alex! You need to go! They are amazing! So many things to see, there’s the Hope Diamond and all sorts of things. It will blow your mind.” Ray cocked his head, “Have you ever done the Mardi Gras thing?” He’d heard so much about it, when he was of a legal drinking age he was going to make it a point to go down there and celebrate.

“You’ll only get chased by secret agents if you get caught,” he winked slyly at her, “But we’ll have to see if you’re sneaky enough.” He joked, because it was definitely him who was good at sneaking, not her. He really needed her to tell him how to get into the kitchen. Really his super secret stuff was more the non-tourist kind of things in DC. Like the small shops and hole in the wall eateries. There were also a bunch of cool things to see, DC was not small, it took several days to see everything. Hell, the Smithsonian Museums themselves would take probably a month to really comb through. He pointed a fry at her, “We could always see if you can really get into the kitchen.” He waggled his eyebrows and popped the fry in his mouth.

[Genesis Kyland]

Sharing is caring... Alex grinned a bit. She'd heard that before. Wasn't sure if she believed in it, but it was a nice concept at least. It made whoever was being shared with happy, anyway. Whether or not sharing itself should be considered caring.... She gave a mental shrug. It wasn't as if it really mattered, anyway.

Alex laughed aloud as Ray's excitement all but exploded on the idea. This wasn't really a maybe for him, was it? "I'm down with it so long as our parents are," she said. "Sounds fun-- especially if we get a hold of a longboard before we go. That'd be pretty cool. I have some friends I'd definitely invite." She paused a moment, noting the hammering of his excited heart. Things like that were hard not to notice for her. "Calm down though, you'll give yourself a heart attack or something." She smirked. "Do that and no longboarding off cliffs for you."

She nodded as he confirmed her suspicions about his wings. "It would make sense that you could tell a lot about wind with them. Feathers catch breezes pretty easily." She gave a shrug. Perhaps she was overthinking the whole thing, but without sight, one got creative and curious about other ways to get around. Plus, sometimes she still forgot that others could actually see and didn't have to worry about such things.

"Oh great, getting chased by secret agents is totally on my bucket list," she snorted, but grinned all the same. The idea of it actually sounded somewhat exciting, though she was pretty sure it'd get old pretty darn fast. Aaand, the kitchen thing again. She was beginning to wonder if she should have even mentioned that to him, amusing as his antics were on the matter. "So to prove I'm sneaky enough to not get caught by agents I need to prove I can get into the kitchen?" She raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a challenge, Wings. How about I snag a frying pan tonight and hide it in your pillow to prove it?" The grin hadn't left her face, as she was fully entertained by the conversation.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

It wasn’t so much caring when it was little things, ‘cause especially when they were little it brought out bitterness at having to share. But things like sharing money when there was a cause to be donated to, Ray thought that was caring. He knew his father donated a lot and he knew his father cared. He wasn’t like one of those businessmen who did it for the look of it, he’d told Raylaigh once that it was the best thing he could do for someone else that he otherwise could not help. He did not ‘donate’ money to Ray when he asked, because he said he could do other things for him. Though his father did occasionally give a few bills here and there.

“Yay!” Ray bounced and his wings gave him a little more lift than he intended and he bumped his head on the doorframe of the cafeteria as they walked through. Ouch, and this was why he needed to be more careful, but he just kept walking like nothing had happened. “Cool, me too, we’d have so much fun!” He really hoped that his mother said yes. He’d beg until she let him go, this was something that was happening. At least he told himself that it was. Ray laughed and then pouted at her. Longboarding off of a cliff. Now that sounded awesome. Not to mention, not technically dangerous because he could fly but it still had an air of excitement. Maybe it was just Ray but as a flyer he loved nothing more than to go high and let gravity take him away, it was like riding a roller coaster.

He nodded. Very much so, if someone blew on his feathers it would probably tickle. He placed his foot back safely on the ground and did his best to keep them there where it was safe. Well, safer. Perhaps it was similar to her with her eyes. Raylaigh really didn’t know how the landlocked could handle it. Now that he’d had a taste of the sky he really couldn’t imagine not being able to fly. Of course there was a time when he had been landlocked thanks to a fight with his ex-boyfriend which had ended with a broken wing. That had been a horrible, horrible few weeks. He supposed he should rephrase then, he didn’t mind people touching his wings so long as they didn’t do so with malicious intent.

“You’d be a great Bond villain,” Ray said with a laugh, “And I’d been your blundering sidekick that actually was the reason all of the plans failed.” He would be a terrible secret agent, there was nothing secretive about Raylaigh. Sure he could keep a secret but honestly tickle his feet and he’d be spilling all of his secrets in a matter of moments. Raylaigh crossed his arms and nodded to her. He held the position for a moment but then he became hungry again and continued eating. “It is a challenge,” he replied with a grin and leaned forward and gave her a sly look. “If you can accomplish that you will officially be dubbed sneaky.” Ray would stay up all night waiting for Alex and thus thwart her ability to finish what she boasted. “If not, then I will officially be more sneaky.” He giggled, he was not sneaky, and that was half of the fun.

[Genesis Kyland]

Alex caught the sound of something hitting the doorframe just as the mental picture of Ray bouncing echoed back to her. She snickered as she connected the two. "Don't brain yourself," she warned. "That wouldn't really help convince your parents either." Really, she was beginning to wonder if he spent most of his time in the hospital, or even just with constant bruises. It wasn't something she could tell, of course, though she'd heard that bruises were pretty obvious visually.

"Anyway," Alex mused as something occurred to her. He couldn't have been born with his wings, could he? She didn't guess so, anyway. And if he hadn't been... Ouch. "When'd your wings grow in?" she questioned, curious. "How's that work? Did it hurt?" She couldn't imagine growing a new limb. Growing pains were bad enough... Having something completely new show up she had to assume would be ten times worse.

A slow grin spread across Alex's face. "The name is Bond. Alex Bond." She folded her hands on the table, lacing her fingers as she began plotting her fulfillment of the challenge. Of course, since he knew it was coming it would be much more difficult... But hey, there were always ways to get a person clear of their room. Fire alarms and false "urgent" meetings with faculty members came to mind. Then again, she didn't have to admit she was accepting the challenge, now did she? Unlacing her fingers, she gave a mild shrug as she returned to her food. "Wish I was able to accept," she said, keeping a disinterested tone. "I'm busy tonight, though." She prided herself on never telling a blatant lie, only dodging a question or saying one thing while meaning another. Of course she was busy that night: with Ray's challenge. But he didn't need to know that was what she was busy with.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh rubbed his head and glared at the doorframe. Really, why did they make them so low, it was like they were asking for him to hit them. He giggled and his face tinted red with embarrassment. “I think they’re used to it, I mean honestly I must be a little invincible or else I’d probably be dead already,” he joked brightly. He really did spend a lot of time in the hospital. He had a lot at the beginning when he was adjusting and learning that his bones were delicate then it had decreased and then now that he’d grown again it had increased again. Well, not so much the hospital, but the infirmary. A lot of the time he didn’t think he really needed as much fuss as they gave, he was more or less equipped to deal with a sprained ankle now. The bruises were something that made it easy for Ray to hide last year if Jack had hit him. He could tell people he ran into a door because it was a completely Raylaigh thing to do. It was only the really bad ones he’d learned to cover up.

He shrugged it off not wanting to think about that jerk anymore. He had other people in his life now, and he had friend who he didn’t have to worry about talking to. He had people he could confide in without Jack thinking he was doing something unfaithful. Life was just all around better. “We’ll just have to tell my parents we’re bringing along about four first aid kits and I think they’ll be cool with it.” And well, if his mom said no he could go to his dad, but he really didn’t want to start that kind of fight. He would be with friends, they would take care of him if something happened. He had only just met Alex but he was sure and confident in her. After all she had save his life from the ghosts in the auditorium.

“Uhh…” He scratched is head as he thought back, “I was twelve, I remember cause it was like a month after my birthday.” He nodded, “I don’t really remember if the wings themselves hurt. I got sick and my mom thought it was the flu and so we went to the hospital. I was pumped up on pain meds and fell asleep and went I woke up there they were and I just remember being so hungry and the doctors wouldn’t let me eat anything until they checked everything out.” He rubbed his belly and made a dismayed face. His mother had thought he was exaggerating when he said he could eat five hamburgers and after the first two she’d switched him to something healthier but had been nevertheless shocked at how much he was consuming and not getting full. Alex was right, it had taken a lot of energy not only to grow the wings but he was sick for a few days after from losing his marrow and being hungry and feverish at the same time was not a pleasant thing.

Ray mimicked her grin. “I am your faithful genie, your wish is my command, Ms. Bond.” He asked ducking his head to her and waving his hand in mock servitude. He giggled at her face, she was a very good Bond villain, most certainly. And here he was faced with a Bond villain and he could only giggle. He would be a terribly villain, poor Alex was at a disadvantage if he was on her team. Raylaigh’s jaw dropped as she declined and he sputtered out a ‘what’ before he composed himself. “You’re just chicken,” Raylaigh accused teasingly. He honestly didn’t think she was going to do it in the first place, but at least now he didn’t have to worry about getting caught with a pan under his pillow. He nibbled at another piece of pizza and watched her over the crust. “If you don’t think you can do it, we can just forget it,” Ray said with a taunting intonation in his voice.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Yeah," Alex mused. "Wouldn't be surprised if you were a little invincible. Or at least super-human durable. Maybe it's a latent power or somethin'." She grinned. "You've got all the setup for being a superhero, if that's the case. Flight, super durability..." She shook her head. "You even have wings for all your adoring fans to idolize," she added with a faint snicker. She often liked to compare her friends to superheroes, or at least imagine what they would be like if they were one. They had superhuman powers, after all, how could she not?

"Or you could tell 'em that you have a friend coming along who has healing powers." She nodded seriously. "That would probably ease their minds more than a few first aid kits. Those can't really do a whole lot for broken bones or whatever." That was one type of person she'd not yet met, she mused. At least, not met and gotten to know well. She was fairly certain she'd at least heard of a student healer somewhere around, but that wasn't the same.

Alex couldn't help but be surprised at the extent his wing growth had affected him. Sure, she'd figured it wouldn't be comfortable, but it had never really occurred to her that it would affect someone that much. Though it did make sense now... "Sounds like a pain," she mused. "And I'm surprised you survived being deprived of food." She grinned a bit. "Mine wasn't quite that bad. I mean, I ended up in the hospital 'cause my parents thought I was sick, but." She shrugged. "They gave me some meds and those helped a lot, so I didn't need to stay for a long time or anything. Thank God. Hospitals give me the creeps." She wrinkled her nose. All the strange sounds and unfamiliar smells...

"Oh, I could do it," Alex snorted and gave a smirk. "But believe it or not, there are some things that take precedence over pranks." She tapped her fork on her plate, maintaining her smirk as she did so. "Don't worry though, there aren't a whole lot of things that take precedence, so one of these days I'm sure I'll take you up on your challenge, don't worry." She tilted her head to the side. "What about you? You pull off any pranks or whatever while you've been here?"

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

“Not durable, per say,” Ray said with a laugh, well, maybe, but then if he was really durable then he wouldn’t be breaking all the time. Maybe just quick healing, or maybe it was a bird thing. He really had no idea exactly what the extent his power related him to his feathered friends. He couldn’t communicate with birds, but he’d more than once been called bird brained and unless he was suffering from a broken limb Ray was pretty good at hiding when he was sick. Raylaigh laughed, “I’d punch one person in the face and break my hand,” he giggled and gave her a beaming smile, “That would be nice wouldn’t it, adoring fans.” Though they would probably try to pull his feathers and that would be no fun. He’d definitely have to set up a no touching policy.

Raylaigh nodded thoughtfully. “Where could we find one of those?” He asked with a grin, “You know someone?” Really that would be twice as good as having a hospital close by. The biggest challenge will be for Ray to prove that he could survive out on his own. Ray was already getting excited, he didn’t even know if they would be able to go but he was already thinking of all of the things that they could do and the people that he could invite. “What kinda stuff will you wanna do, I mean this is gonna be your mountain experience! We’ve already got hill racing and flying off of cliffs. We can go hiking and maybe there will be a cool waterfall or something.” He blabbered on and on as he took pauses for air and bites of food.

“Such a pain!” He agreed enthusiastically, giggling a bit. It didn’t seem so bad, he was pretty sure he would have been in a lot of pain if he’d actually been conscious when the wings came out. Ray laughed at her teasing and nodded giving her a look that implied he had suffered so terribly. Ray wrinkled his nose. “So did it hurt then, was it like headaches and stuff? Or something with your eyes for seeing ghosties?” He asked waving a hand in front of his eyes as if implying that there was some sort of ghost like flashlight that came out of her eyes. He really had no idea, Raylaigh was about as observant as he was coordinated, not very. He shrugged, “Eh, you get used to it after a while. A few of the nurses over at the hospital bring me sweets when the doctors aren’t looking.” He grinned at the memory. He’d been there so many times with his broken bones or other injuries that he was on a first name basis with most of them.

Ray laughed and stuck his tongue out. “Lies,” he claimed, nothing was more important. Not that he was supper sneaky or had pulled a lot of pranks. He raised his hands, “Alright, if you say so. But I will be forever on my guard.” He giggled as she asked just what he was thinking. He was the younger of three brothers, he’d been the one pranked more often than the other way around. Their poor sister got the brunt of all of their heads together. But she’d more than gotten them back for what they’d given. “A few here and there. Mostly on my brother and my ex a few times.” He blinked and immediately shoved a piece of pizza in his mouth, he hadn’t meant to include his ex in this conversation. Oops, way to go big mouth, he thought to himself. He laughed to cover it and waved a hand. “I got my brother really good this one time. I hid an alarm clock in his room and set it to go off at 3 am. Then I hid two more to go off at 3:10 and 3:20.” Ray giggled, his brother had totally deserved that for telling on Ray about his earring. “What about you, what’s your best?”