[Christian (as Ash) leads Meri to an old abandoned construction site. Being winter, the sun's gotten to nearly set all the way and it's starting to get pretty dark. Still, there's not a lot of people around. Not a good place for squatters, since there's nothing to keep out the elements and no light around for riff-raff to really cling too, so it's a fair bet no one's coming here. There's a second story that looks like it was partway finished and some piles and cinder blocks around, as well as a few pillars set from when it was being constructed, with some half-finished walls (and the fencing) for a bit of cover. He looks up the fence and then jumps up to climb it.] [Session unpause!] 06* Meri comes running up after Christian, laughing. She's breathing heavily, but she's not winded, really, and she doesn't hesitate in attacking the fence. What a precedent Christian's setting! 06* Christian hops down from the top of the fence and hops from one foot to the other, grinning up at her and waiting for her to come down. She doesn't look like she needs a catch though so he doesn't wait for her for that. 06* Meri hauls herself over the fence and climbs down the rest of the way. "I'da kept up a lot better if I still had my blades," she announces, grin on her face. 06* Christian tilts his head. "Blades?" He then reaches into his pockets and then tosses her his lighter. Speaking of setting precedents. "Here, catch." 06* Meri catches the lighter on reflex. "Uh huh. Rollerblades. It's how I got anywhere, pretty much." She looks at it. "Why am I holding a lighter?" Because I might need some light and if I do, you're in charge of that, a'ight? Maybe we can find a cinder block an' light some kindling in it or something. 01 Oh. I was wondering how you were gonna see. 06* Meri furrows her brow, then asks, "Why don'tcha use your phone or something?" 06* Christian sighs. "Well sure. If you wanna do things the *boring* way." 06* Meri giggles at Christian's sigh. "I'll go find something we can use!" And she runs off into the construction site. 06* Christian goes in after her, not quite going nearly as fast. 06* Meri navigates the various obstacles in the site with ease, just as if it were broad daylight. She stops occasionally, picking up paper or wood that she thinks might be good for fuel. Stuff that burns! 06* Meri dumps it in an empty steel garbage barrel (like the movies!) and goes to get more. 06* Christian listens to her move and lets her do her thing. She seems to be getting along pretty well. 06* Meri comes back with a second load of kindling and dumps it in the barrel. "Okay!" Light 'er up, then. 06* Meri nods, both nervous and excited. She picks up a piece of paper, lights it (after a couple of tries), and drops it in the barrel, backing away a couple of steps. The flames catch. 06* Christian whistles and grins, then looks over at her. "Nice job." He claps his hands together and holds them at the ready, ready to catch the lighter back. "Back over here." 01 Thanks! 06* Meri tosses the lighter back in a high arc. 06* Christian catches the lighter and slips it back into his pocket. He then takes off his backpack and slides it until it connects lightly with the barrel with a bit of a *tonk*. It's not heavy enough to even budge it though. Then he cracks his knuckles and steps in a small circle, looking around at the area. "Let's see what we got here." 06* Meri watches curiously. "What're we gonna do? Besides light fires." Well...I've been tellin' ya 'bout how I can put people in the hospital if I ain't careful and stuff...sometimes I come out here when I'm frustrated and stuff...or places like it at least... 06* Christian glances at her. "Would ya like ta see it?" 06* Meri blinks. "Uh... I don't think you should beat anybody up...?" Who said I was gonna take it out on *people*? 06* Meri blinks again. 01 Oh! Okay. Yeah! Well, I was gonna say...if ya *don't* we could just warm ourselves by the fire... 06* Christian nods and points to a pile of cinder blocks. "Help me stack those up person height, wouldja?" He goes over to start stacking them up himself. 06* Meri watches him do that for a moment, then goes to help. She grunts a little as she lifts the smaller blocks one at a time, but she manages. 06* Christian nods a little bit and then makes a mighty fine stack and takes a step back. He lets out a deep breath up and then back down. "Might wanna stand back..." 06* Meri nods and skips a number of steps back until she's a good fifteen feet away. She shoves her hands in her pockets, because cold. 06* Christian looks at Meri for a moment, as if implying she might not be far away enough. But he looks like he takes it as good enough, because he runs towards the blocks. At visible speed, though he is going fast. Just before he runs into the blocks he swings his arm against it, with what looks like a fast forearm slam which looks like it would probably hurt when it connects. Just before it does, 06* Christian there's a light scream in the air and a purple aura around his arm which screams louder as it connects with the second block down. As it collides with the block, the block pretty much disintigrates on impact, though some shrapnel is left. The top block goes flying and hits one of the metal posts with a loud *thonk* that's supporting the edge of the building. If Meri cares to investigate it, there's 06* Christian a rather large dent left there too. [The block is also cracked in three pieces from the impact it took too.] 06* Meri ... stares. Yup. That's what she's doing. She doesn't seem to feel the need to get closer. 06* Christian turns on his foot and sweeps it at the third and fourth block. Same thing happens, same scream, same purple aura. This time it connects inbetween the two blocks and shatters the first half of the block, sending both of them flying. These ones don't hit anything, but they do fly across the construction site before they tumble to the ground. Luckily aimed away from Meri because they definitely 06* Christian would have collided with her and well past her if she was standing in their path from her only being 15 feet away. 06* Christian stands after that and he breathes out, arms still balled into fists but resting at his sides. His jacket and jeans don't seem to have anything but a bit of cinder dust on them from the impact. No damage or tearing or anything. 06* Meri stares for a few moments longer before she opens her mouth: "That... was... COOL!" 01 How'd you do it? What's that purple glowy thing? That's not the same purple glowy thing that I see when- um- I mean, that was awesome! You hit those blocks and they went flying like really far, and they were heavy, too! 06* Christian chuckles slightly at the string of questions. "Hey hey...one thing at a time. How I do it's probably about the same answer as how you turn into a bat. Just kinda what I do...." But near as I can tell, it's pretty much like a sonic boom. Full force kinetic energy stuff. Ain't the best at explainin' it...just like an extention of myself kinda thing. 06* Meri thinks about that. "Kinetic energy... like Gambit?" 01 HEY, his stuff glows purple, too! 06* Christian winces at the comparison. "Yeah. Kind of like Gambit. Only much cooler. And full focus." 01 Well yeah, I mean, it's different. Like Gambit has to put the energy into things. You don't have to do that. Plus, you're a real person an' stuff. Yeah...near as I can tell, it's where the speed and stuff come from too. Could also make a pretty good crater here, but that's a bit more of a mess to clean up. 06* Meri nods. 01 You don't hafta. That was really neat! I can't do anything like that. Hey, you're still learning your own stuff. Don't worry about it. 06* Christian grins. "But now you can see why I'm careful, yeah?" 06* Meri nods. "Uh huh. You don't wanna hurt people too much, even if they're bad." 06* Christian nods. "Yeah." He pauses for a moment. "What's scarier is I've been goin' up a lot more who could take that..." 06* Meri 's eyes go kind of wide. "You mean like supervillains?" 06* Christian pauses for another moment as he thinks about that, tapping his cheek. "Could call 'em that, yeah. I suppose that works." He looks down at her. "Sides, I think you said you fought some too, yeah?" 01 Uh huh. Well sorta. I fought some people with powers, but nobody with like, code names and costumes an' stuff. 06* Meri shuffles closer to Christian. And the fire, hands still stuffed in her pockets. 06* Christian lets out a quick snort-laugh. "That so? That all it take to be a super villain? A code name and a costume?" 01 Well then you're working on being a *supervillain* and not just a *villain*. 01 Having powers helps, I guess. 06* Christian has a seat by the fire and warms his hands. "Uh huh. Let me tell ya somethin'. Names and costumes are just for your own ego." I mean...there's somethin' to it. Ya don't want everyone to know who ya are. But I don't think a lotta people use it for just that. 01 Well duh. Supervillains have a, um, ego problem. 06* Meri flops down next to Christian, stretching her legs out in front of her and looking at her feet. There are sneakers on them this time. Ain't just the villains all the time, kid. 06* Christian snorts. "Okay, maybe it is. One of the ones with the biggest ego problems was an ex-villain." 01 Okay? 06* Meri blinks at Christian. "I mean... I kinda need a costume just so I don't mess up my clothes. Is that okay?" 06* Christian warms his hands without looking at Meri. "Sure, that's fine. I mean jus' because you're doin' it don't mean you have no ego." 06* Meri crosses her eyes a little as she tries to follow what Christian just said. "... Okay?" 06* Christian rubs his head. "Look...just...some people let a gift they got randomly go to their heads is all. Usually the flashy nickname's part of it. Hell, I don't even tell people my code name half the time. Ain't like it's that important." 06* Meri nods, clapping her shoes together. "I guess so." 06* Christian chuckles. "So who's part of your super hero team anyway?" 01 Oh... I don't really have a team. 06* Meri fidgets a little, twisting her fingers together. "At least, I really don't *now*, but even before, I mean, there were other people with powers an' stuff, but..." She stops for a second, then continues, "but none of them would've called themselves superheroes or even heroes." 06* Christian looks over at Meri. "Yeah?" He picks up a small pebble and flicks it into the lit drum with a bong sound. "That's rough. I mean...not everybody's meant for this business but..." He pauses for a moment "What *do* they consider themselves then? What do *you*?" 06* Meri sits up a little straighter. "Well, I *want* to be a hero!" And then she deflates a little. "But I guess I'm not really one yet." Then what are ya? Gotta figure that out first before ya try to figure how to be something else. 01 I dunno. I think for most of them, they just wanted to, y'know, figure out what happened to us - why we got powers an' stuff - and protect themselves. Because not everyone with powers is nice. But not really other people? Does that make sense? Heh. Yeah. 01 When I told Mr. Farber that I wanted to help other people with my powers an' stuff, he thought I was kinda crazy. And when I told Ana, she laughed at me. So... you know. 06* Christian flicks another pebble in, this time with precision. "Sometimes ya find yourself wonderin'. But in the end, it doesn't really matter any more than askin' yourself why your eyes are blue. Or why you can be a track athlete while the next guy's a book worm." In the end, ya just are who ya are. And if ya wanna use that to help people out, that's up to you. 01 Uh huh. 06* Meri picks up a pebble herself and tosses it into the drum, hitting the edge inside with a ringing sound. 06* Christian pauses for a moment. "You've mentioned Farber and Ana before. You close?" 01 Closer than to most of the others, I guess? I mean, Mr. Farber really made me angry sometimes, but he said he was sorry! And um, Ana hates me half the time. But the other half we get along kind of okay. 01 And there was Brad! He's nice. But he kinda ran off. But then he came back! He and Ana are going out, I think. 06* Meri throws another pebble in the drum. "He had a really good reason for running, anyway." 06* Christian just listens himself as he tries to follow *that*. "Right?" 01 Uh huh. He's the one who... um... his parents, I mean... they were killed. So...you told them where you were goin', right? 06* Christian flicks in another pebble. 01 Nope. I kinda thought about calling maybe Ana, but um, I sorta lost my phone somewhere and I don't have any numbers memorized. Plus, she'd totally say she doesn't care anyway. Would she mean it? 06* Meri tilts her head thinking, then comes to the conclusion: "I dunno." 06* Christian looks at her strangely. "Then why would you call her?" 01 Because even if she *did* spend a lot of time hating me, at least she never thought I was just a kid. 06* Meri clangs another pebble into the drum. That really means a lot to you, huh? 06* Meri nods. "Yeah." Nothin' wrong with bein' a kid though. 01 I guess not. 06* Meri doesn't sound like she particularly means that. 06* Christian sighs. "You're in a weird spot. I have to say I don't know shit about what it means to be a girl." 06* Christian takes up a pebble and looks at it. "But I do remember. Bein' twelve sucks." 06* Meri pulls her hood over her head. "Yeah." 06* Christian looks over at Meri for a second. Then yanks the hood down from off her head. 01 Hey! 01 My ears were getting cold! Your ears'll live. 06* Meri thwaps Christian's hand away - if it's still even there. "Yeah, BUT COLD." 06* Christian lets it get slapped away and jumps up from his seat. "Then move around, silly. It'll warm ya up." 06* Christian gets up in a play boxer stance. 06* Meri huffs. "Fiiiine." She makes sure her backpack's set down in a safe spot, then hops to her feet. 06* Christian tilts his head and stops a bit, though it's playful and he's still hopping on his feet a bit. "Look, if you wanna put your dumb hoodie on over your ears, go ahead and put your dumb hoodie on." He flashes her a bit of a grin and puts up his dukes again, though he doesn't look like he's going to strike, just block. 06* Meri pulls her hood back on, then, and blows a raspberry at Christian. BECAUSE HE DESERVES IT. She puts her own fists up and bounces a bit before throwing a jab at him (and keeping her other arm up - Mr. Farber would be proud!). 06* Christian moves his hand to bat her jab out of the way, bouncing to the side. "Come on. You can do better than that." 06* Meri giggles and says, as she throws another punch or two, "Mom wouldn't let me box with boys." 06* Christian ducks and weaves the first one, then blocks the second one, grinning. "Why? Afraid you'd beat them up?" 01 Naw. I think she just thought I'd get hurt or something. Not like girls are any better. Ana's *mean*. Except when she's not? 06* Meri jabs at Christian again. "Nope! She's still mean then, too!" 06* Christian weaves the other way. "Man. Mean when she's not mean. *That* takes talent." 01 Uh huh. She's really angry all the time. And yet you'd call her first. 06* Christian takes a few bobbing steps back and raises his arms again. "Besides. Any boy who's gonna let you get hurt sparring with them ain't been raised right." 06* Meri bounces a bit. "It's boxing! That's kinda how it works!" She attempts another one-two combination. 06* Christian blocks and bats, quickening his step a little. "Well yeah. If you're hitting back." 06* Meri keeps her arm up as she tries another punch. "Uh huh, but that's what'd happen eventually. It's not just about punching things. They also punch back. Not doing it just 'cause I'm a girl is dumb." 06* Christian shrugs and steps to the side of the punch. "So I'm dumb. Sue me." 06* Meri rolls her eyes. "We're not *really* sparring anyway." 01 Does that mean you don't hit girls? 01 Doesn't that get kinda hard with the whole superhero thing and stuff? 06* Meri doesn't stop bouncing as she says this, but she's also not punching Christian. Hey, I *try* not to. Supervillains are different. They're tryin' to hit me first. 01 What if a girl, like, steals your stuff? Then I try to get it back. Duh. 06* Christian stops moving too, since she stopped. 06* Meri is still bouncing a little, and she spreads her arms out wide. "But you wouldn't punch her, right! Bet you'd punch a guy if *he* stole your stuff!" 06* Christian looks her over a bit and tilts his head. "Yeah, probably. Most guys would know better though." 01 Then why would you punch a guy when you wouldn't punch a girl! That sounds dumb. Isn't it dumb to punch *anyone* in the first place? 06* Meri blinks, and she lowers her arms. "No?" Why not? 06* Christian lowers his arms too. "I mean...if you gotta defend yourself, you gotta defend yourself. But the person punching you is pretty dumb for doing it." 01 'Cause sometimes people need to be punched. Like when they're gonna hurt somebody. Like, you punched a buncha guys when you found me. That wasn't dumb. Yeah? That's just about what I said, kid. But they were gonna hurt ya. And that was dumb in the first place. 01 Or like when Tyrone was being mean. I woulda punched him if Terry didn't get in the way. I don't think that's dumb. Was he gonna punch you? 01 And if he was a girl and I was a guy, I wouldn't think that's dumb either. 06* Meri shrugs. "I dunno. Probably not right then." 06* Christian shrugs. "I don't know. That's probably not dumb then." 01 It didn't *feel* dumb. But I don't think that Tyrone kid sounds like one who'd stop at punchin' girls if he's threatening you. So punching him ain't dumb. Just...you stop punchin' him when he stops. Because if you *don't*, then *that's* dumb. 06* Meri walks over to her backpack, picking it up by a strap and slinging it over her shoulders. "I dunno." 01 I don't usually think that being a girl is that super different, but it is to some people. 06* Christian tilts his head slightly. "See what I'm sayin'?" 06* Christian shrugs. "Way of the world, kid. Way of the world. The world's dumb. You'll get used to it." 06* Meri looks over at Christian. "Uh huh, but that doesn't mean you have to be dumb about it." 06* Christian looks her over. "What, I'm dumb?" 01 You are if you can't see that treating guys and girls differently isn't silly! 06* Christian snorts and grins a little, folding his arms. "See? I keep *tellin'* her that I'm dumb. But she don't believe me. Takes a kid off the street to see it." 06* Meri blinks. "Who? What?" The train has switched tracks, apparently. 06* Christian shakes his head. "Teammate of mine. She keeps insisting I'm not dumb. You should meet her. She's nice." 01 Oh. Okay, sure! Anyway, I know it's dumb. But it's kind of a habit by now. Ain't like I don't respect 'em or nothin'. 06* Meri nods. "Okay." So long as he knows, apparently. She puts her hands back in her pockets and bounces some. 06* Christian puts his hands in his own pockets, walks over, and pats her on the back twice. "Feelin' better?" 06* Meri smiles brightly at Chirstian. "Yeah!" See? And all it took is picking on a boy and trying to beat him up and callin' him dumb! Wasn't that easy? 06* Meri makes a face. "When you put it that way, I sound like a jerk." 06* Christian grins. "Only if I didn't deserve it." 01 Oh, in that case! 06* Meri switches gears completely: "Hey, do you think I should change my hair? The people at the orphanage were saying it's kinda really long, and maybe I should dye it again." 06* Christian blinks, then smirks, needling her again. His hand's back in his pockets now. "Sure you care about the opinion of this dumb boy over here?" 01 Sure! 06* Christian looks her over. "Well, what I'd tell you is not to let other people's dumb opinions matter too much. Do you like your hair the way it is?" 01 Yeah, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like it other ways. 01 Besides, I was thinking that if I changed it, it'd be harder to find me. 06* Christian taps his hat. "You could always start wearing hats." But yeah. If you wanna change it, go for it. *I* don't think it's too long, really. But I ain't a girl. I don't know nothin' 'bout girl's hairstyles. 01 Okay! Maybe I'll shave my head! (s/girl's/girls') 06* Christian blinks. "Do you *want* to shave your head?" 06* Meri laughs. "I dunno, I never did it before!" Well, the problem with shavin' it is if you *don't* like it, it takes a while to grow back. You cut a little, you can always cut more. 01 Oh. 06* Meri thinks about that for a moment. "Yeah, that makes sense." So yeah. In the end it's your choice though. For the record, I think it looks fine though. 06* Meri smiles brightly. "Thanks!" So... 06* Christian pauses for a moment. "Why do you like hangin' out with me so much anyway? Other than me bein' a superhero an' all." 06* Meri blinks. "Because you're nice and cool and fun to be around. Duh." 01 And you're, like, my family now. Kinda. I mean, I know not *really*, but you kinda are? 06* Christian chuckles. "Yeah. I know." He reaches over and ruffles her hair. "You're alright." 01 Heeeeey. 06* Meri bats Christian's hand away. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" 06* Christian laughs and bounces back. "What? Gonna punch me?" 06* Christian then blinks at the question. "Huh?" 01 What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Why? 01 'Cause it's like in two days! Well...uh...yeah. But... 01 Are you gonna spend it with your mom and dad? 06* Christian shrugs. "'is just another day." 01 No it's not! 06* Christian stuffs his hands back in his pockets. "Ain't got those nomore. Don't matter." 06* Meri frowns. "I'm sorry." Pause, then, "Does that mean you're not doing anything for Thanksgiving?" Nah. I usually just hang out. Do stuff on my own. Ain't no big deal. (I find it amusing that I have to correct things to make the grammar poorer) 01 Yes it is! 06* Meri bounces. "I know! We could have Thanksgiving together!" 06* Christian blinks and looks at her. "Wait, what?" 01 'Cause you don't spend it with anyone anyway and I don't have a family to spend it with anymore, but you kinda are my family! 01 The orphanage is gonna do this big Thanksgiving dinner thing and it's supposed to be really good, too! Why is it...look, I ain't had Thanksgiving in, like, 7 years. One more ain't gonna make a difference. 01 Nuh uh, it just won't make a difference if you don't *change* anything. Sides, just because I'm comin' to visit you don't mean I wanna make it a high profile. I ain't *that* good at actin', kid. 01 Oh, yeah, I guess... OH. I know! We could have dinner after dinner! I...what? 01 Yeah! So that way you'll have Thanksgiving dinner and Thanksgiving leftovers ALL AT THE SAME TIME! 06* Meri beams. She's a genius! 06* Christian looks at her like she's crazy. "I..." Then he thinks she's not going to back down from this and rubs his head. "Urgh, y'know what? Fine. Whatever." 06* Meri cheers a full on cheer, jumping high into the air with her arms spread out. "YAY!" But I'm tellin' ya, it *still* ain't that big of a deal. 06* Meri then runs over to Christian, giving him a huge hug! 06* Christian blinks and oofs at the hug. Then stands there for a moment before giving her two pats on the back. "Alright. Alright, kid. That's enough. Off." 06* Meri lets go (mostly) and beams at Christian. "This is gonna be awesome!" she declares. 06* Christian gives her a half smirk. "Yeah. I'm sure." 01 I'm sure I'm sure! 06* Christian looks her over. "So you're gonna want to beat me up more? Cause I'm dumb and try not to hit girls?" 06* Meri rolls her eyes. "Now you're dumb 'cause you thought I wanted to beat you up," she says, poking Christian in the side. Maybe you're dumb for not *wanting* to beat me up. 06* Christian smiles. "Who said I ever thought that anyways? I was just askin' 06* Christian shakes his head. "I'll walk ya home." 01 Okaaaaay. Do we hafta put out the fire first? 06* Christian snorts. "Well sure. If you wanna be all *responsible* and junk." 06* Meri says, seriously, "It's the grown up thing to do." 06* Christian waves her off. "Sure. You go be the grown up then." 06* Meri wanders over to the steel drum, then, and looks at the fire. How to put it out, hm. 06* Meri goes about gathering gravel and dropping it in the drum in an attempt to smother it. This may take a while, but she's TOTALLY GOING TO DO IT. 06* Christian goes with her, despite his statement, and picks up one of the cinder blocks that was smashed, using the dirt to disperse it a bit. 06* Meri puts out the fire before too long with Christian's help, then. "There!" she says, once it's done, and she tries to wipe the dirt and dust off of herself. Yup. Good job. 06* Christian glances at her. "You tell me if you keep having problems with that Tyrone kid, a'ight?" 06* Meri blinks at Christian, maybe in surprise, and then she smiles. "Okay. I'll tell you." 06* Christian nods slightly and walks her back towards the orphanage. But first they have to climb the fence back out and make it on their way! 06* Meri skips after Christian to catch up. To the orphanage! 01 [Session End!]