It's a beautiful autumn day.  The skies are clear, the air is perfect, and the forcast says there won't be rain till after midnight.  The city firefighter training facility is mostly a huge, flat, weed-potted, concrete parking lot for a now long-abandoned industrial complex.  http://rcschlotterb.iweb.bsu.edu/dscf0206.jpg  The occasional fox or other small wildlife can be spotted moving about in the far distance.  Most of the formerly bustling industrial buildings show fire damage from decades of use as practice for firefighter trainees.  https://russiandefpolicy.files...imur-sharipkulov.jpg

Today, the parking area nearest the entrance is packed with school busses and other vehicles, including quite a few news vans.

"Hi!  This is Lindsey Bowers with hotspot dot com bringing you live streaming HD coverage of the Citizen Patrol's Fire Safety Field Day Event," a pretty reporter says happily to a camera man, a huge boom mic just outside the camera's field of view, "I'm here with the world famous founder of The Citizen's Patrol, Mittens."

"Hi, Mom 'n Dad!" Mits chimes, smiling and waving at the camera.

"Mittens, what can you tell us about today's event?"

"That it's gunna be totally awesome!  No spoilers, but we've got a surprised event that I can guarantee is a first in history!"

"That sounds really exciting, but isn't this supposed to simply be a safety seminar for school kids?"

"Well sure, the whole point is to give kids _{an excuse to go on a fun field trip...} Kidding!  Safety!  The point is safety!  But can you tell me how much you got out of boooring safety lessons as a kid?  Boring stuff is forgotten within the week!  _{If it ever sank in at all in the first place.}  But exciting and fun lessons last lifetimes!  Lifetimes more likely to last longer due to very memorable safety field trip, I might add."

"So as ever, everything the Citizen's Patrol does is done with the welfare of the community in mind."

"Absolutely!  We're part of the community after all!"

A firefighter blows a whistle and waves Mittens over.

"Woot!  Time to get started!"

She runs over to the fire truck and flips on the siren and lights.  The truck rolls over to the area in front of the audience of kids and teachers as exciting music blares over some huge speakers, and screeches to a halt.  Half a dozen firefighters pile off the truck.  http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca...ources/102_02931.JPG  The siren stops and the driver, a huge man, disembarks.  http://la.cdnmob.org/sisgame_i...oes_billy_blazes.jpg  The music reaches the end of the song and the man, along with Mittens wave to the cheering, clapping crowd.

"Hi kids!" Mits' voice booms over the speakers thanks to a lapel mic, "Please welcome Mr. Bill Blazes!  Real life hero!"

More cheers and claps.  The man speaks with a strong, Superman sounding voice.

"Thank you, Mittens.  It's a real honor to be here to help teach you all how you all can do your part to help keep the city safe!"

Mits blushes and rubs behind her head.  "You're the fire chief, Mr. Bill.  I'm honored to be helping you!

"Ooh!  That looks like a fun tree to climb!"

She snatches a ladder and rushes to a tree that has dropped most of its leaves.

"Be careful, Mittens!"

"Sure sure!  No worries!"

"Better go with her just to be sure, guys."

Sure enough, by the time the firefighters catch up, Mits has already reached the lowest branch with the ladder, and "accidentally" kicks the ladder clear, leaving her stuck up in the tree!

"Ooops!"

Children giggle.  The firefighters look like they'll soon recover the ladder.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:56, Thu 27 Aug 2015.

Crystal moved along at the back of the group. Her mom had been hesitant about letting her go with these kids, especially since they were the ones who had teased her about being mute. She finally relented when one of the teachers convinced her she would protect the child.

Crystal looked up at the teacher who held her hand tightly before looking at mittens. She wanted to help the lady but remained silent.

Timothius is sitting with the other kids and watching. "Aren't you going to rescue your sister?" some kid teases Timothius. He looks back to them. "I can't carry someone else's weight very easily. Besides... I'm here to learn from the professionals." and he points at the firemen.

Timothius is very obviously a mutant, what with his being a cat like his sister. And the angelic wings on his back kind of give it away too. He notices Crystal being hand-held by a teacher and gives her a curious look. But without really knowing the girl, Timothius goes back to watching the firemen.

Liberty is also sitting with the others. The 12-year-old blonde girl is giggling with the rest of the kids as Mittens puts on a show. But there is no mistaking that reflective vest she is wearing; the mark of one of the Citizen's Patrol.

She watches the firefighters with anticipation, looking like she wants to jump into the action, but having to hold herself back.

A short fox anthro, standing only three feet tall is there watching the demonstration. She looks to see Crystal, who is currently the only child who is kind of apart from the others.

Emerald gives Crystal a friendly smile and wave, but does not approach just yet. She carefully gauges how shy the girl is first.

When Mittens does her thing, Emerald looks over and chuckles. She couldn't help but agree with Mitts' logic earlier when talking to the press. Emerald looks like she will gladly field the media if they want more questions answered.

There is another shy person here today. Namely Eli. The little boy is here with his parents and is, for now anyway, separated from the rest of the kids.

His parents spot Crystal, though, and ponder. Eli already knows the members of the Citizen's Patrol, he just doesn't want to be part of a crowd. But the parents are still trying to help their boy with his shy nature. So they approach the teacher that Crystal is with and smile in greeting.

The dad says, "Hi. I'm John Vogel. This is my wife Martha and my son Eli. Who are you and who's the girl here with you if you don't mind me asking."

Angel is at the event. She brought a lawn chair that has a cup holder and is wearing sunglasses while sipping lemonade. There is a butler-like man nearby, though the man is not wearing a butler's standard uniform. He's dressed casual like everyone there. But the man is clearly waiting on the lady.

She chuckles when Mittens gets stuck in a tree and says quietly, "I see what you did there, Mittens... cute." That last comment being genuine as Angel gets a satisfied smile.

  We are pretty sure that thanks to Comic Book Time, Joe is still 19.

  "Mittens, We're supposed to rescue cats from trees.  Not put them there in the first place."

  He can't blame angel for her choice in seating, though wonders why the lawn chair is causing Dejavu for his player.

  "Please do not hiss and/or scratch the nice firefighters."

All the commotion had woken a small figure that no one seemed to notice behind a tree not to far from the one Mittens had gotten stuck in. Soul opens his eyes and sits up looking out at the scrambling people trying to get the cat person out of the tree.

"And I thought I had seen everything." He stands checking to see the bandages around his face and body were still secure and pulls the hood of his cloak over his head and wanders into the crowd to see the entertainment.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Thu 27 Aug 2015.

Crystal saw Emerald wave at her but she only moved closer to the teacher. She tried to hide behind the teacher when the man came over and asked about her but the teacher held tight to her hand preventing her from hiding. "I'm Joanne one of the teachers and this is Crystal, she's homeschooled but I convinced her mom to let her come with us today. Unfortunately I've been unable to get her to talk." the teacher said not knowing that Crystal was a mute. Well to most people she was a mute. She didn't really like talking to people she didn't know and she had always spoken to her mom telepathically.

Nathan is in Timothius' music/visual arts class.  He too has wings, but looks human other than that.  "Same here.  I'm no flying tow truck."

He notices Timothius glancing at the lone girl and takes note of her as well.  "Aww?  I wonder why she's not with a class.  Think maybe she has cancer or something?"

Nathan was going to try and sneak over to the lonely girl to try and cheer her up with music, but some grownups dragged their kid over to her...  He looks pretty shy.  That's probably not going to work.  Oh look at that.  Girl's trying to hide.  Already not working.  Nathan puts on a mischievous smile, but when he realizes there's no way he can leave his seat unnoticed he shrugs and goes to his teacher to ask permission to go cheer the lone girl up.  The teacher looks, thinks about it, and answers, "Not yet."

Oh well.  Nathan notices Lib's vest and smiles at the idea that a kid his age can be a superhero...  but his parents won't let him join!  ;.;  Oh well.

A jaded looking overweight man with a tablet takes a seat next to Emerald.  "Ron Malloy, Fire Protection Magazine.  Willing to answer a few questions for my article, Ma'm?"

(( Do we want to go by calender time or Comic Book Time where nobody ever ages? ))

Mits sheepishly grins, rubbing behind her head.  "I won't Joe!"

From her vantage point, Mits spots the creepy bandage guy in the crowd and quickly sends a text broadcast to the Citizen's Patrol members:  Mummy!  Lurking in crowd!  Maybe injured person?

"Oh thank you so much!" Mits says to the firefighters.

"Hang on," they answer, "We're checking the ladder for damage.  Looks ok.  Now come down carefully."

The firefighters steady the ladder and Mits climbs down, frequently glancing in the direction of the mummy.  When she shows her phone to the firefighters, they sweatdrop, look around, spot BandageFace, then start taking Mits to Bill Blazes.

"Sure is a good thing you weren't alone, Mittens," he says, "The number one most important safety lesson for kids is to never be alone when away from home.  It's best to have an adult nearby, but at least have a friend with you so they can get you help if you get hurt or stuck up in a tree like Mittens just did."

While she shows him her phone she agrees, "Yeah.  And it sure helps to have an adult make sure it's safe to lend a hand.  If they didn't check the ladder and I tried to climb down a broken one...  Ouch!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:15, Sat 29 Aug 2015.

Michael wanders around the outside of the safety shpeel going on and chuckles as Mittens gets herself stuck in the tree. For now he is staying out of the way while the safety team gets they shindig underway.

"Our son is home schooled too." John replies with a smile.

....Technically true. Eli does his schooling at home.

Eli looks at Crystal, but doesn't look her in the eye at first. He slowly brings his eyes up to meet hers and asks, "Does learning come easy for you?"

There is a hint of hope in his voice, but more curiosity than anything.

He gets a text jingle from his phone and checks it quickly before going wide-eyed and looking around. Then turns his attention back to Crystal, figuring the grown-ups have this one handled.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:21, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

Emerald replies to Ron with a smile, "Sure! Gimme a sec..."

Emmy checks her phone for the text and glances around before spotting the "mummy". She quickly sends a text to Angel. Then turns to Ron again. "Ask away."

---

(OOC: I prefer normal time, so characters can age. However, I am only 1 vote and am OK with people remaining as-is if that is what everyone else wants.)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:22, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

In reply to Eli (msg # 13):

Crystal looked at the boy Eli, the moment his eyes met hers, she looked away. When he asked about learning being easy she nodded but still said nothing. She had a scared look on her face and tried to pull her hand out of the teachers.

Angel notes Michael popping by and waves at him before getting out of her lawn chair and heading over to him. "Hey, Michael... good to see you. We're just doing a safety course for the kids here. What are you up to?"

She checks her phone, sees the text and says, "A mummy...?" before looking around and spotting Soul. She looks back at Mike. "Hmm... wanna go check out the mummy with me?"

  Joe overlooked bandages boy (note to self, don't say that out loud) because he was preoccupied with concern for hairy friends.  Totally not because of narrative timing.

  Though on that note, after a glance he decides with so many people diverting their attention, he should probably still keep an eye on Mittens for now.

  "The hardest thing about the Buddy System is how impossible it is to make it sound cool."

Eli says, "....me too." and then notices Crystal trying to disengage. "Uh-I'm a member of the Citizen's Patrol... they're really nice people and there's a bunch of 'em here. Whatever you're afraid of... the only safer place...." he looks over to see the obligatory cop car. "...would be maybe the police station itself."

It's because he's assuming she is afraid of danger or the mummy that showed up.

*Too many People, too many voices, can't think.* Crystal said telepathically. Her free hand went to her mouth, shocked at being forced to use part of her powers. She finally got her other hand free and was able to get away. She headed straight for a nearby tree and slid around to the other side.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:15, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

Eli looks shocked for a moment. He blinks and says nothing, worried about what talking about voices in his head would cause.

He quickly texts the others with "Just met another super. Her name is Crystal, she's about my age and has telepathy."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:34, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

Michael smiles and gives a nod back. "Angel, good to see you. I see the safety day is off to a nice start. Just trying to get my head back in the game here," he says while Angel looks at her phone.

"A mummy? sure let's take a look," he says with a quick look at his own phone with a frown. "Remind me to give Mittens my new number."

Though hidden behind the bandages Soul cant help but chuckle at the cat women up in the tree. It had been many years since he had seen such an entertaining site. Soul continues to look at Mittens not letting the attention he seems to have drawn go unnoticed. Hm well now, how should I handle this. He thinks as the others approach him.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:14, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Nathan is curious when he notices the heroes checking their phones and leans to nudge Timothius.

"What's the message say?" he asks.

When he sees the lonely girl run and hide, he sighs, blowing up on his hair, exacerbated that the poor girl got frightened by overly forward adults... but it was the shy boy she ran from.  What could have happened?

Mits poses and considers Joe's point.  Is it called the buddy system in police forces?  It' can't possibly be that in the FBI or CIA.  "OK, 007.  Be sure to buddy up before you infiltrate the hostile compound..."  No wait.  It is called the buddy system in the Military now that I think of it!

"Nothing says it can't be renamed for fun," she answers over the speakers.  Lapel mic and all that.  "Let's call it the...  Designated Partner System: D.P.S.  Or...  The Way of the Many."

"Buddy System is cool enough for us firefighters," Bill interjects with a chuckle, "So we'll be sticking to that.  Let's move on to the next demonstration."

Mits smiles when she spots Michael and wiggles her fingers in greeting.  The firefighters start setting up a skit.  Mits reads the text from Eli, looks in his direction curiously, but doesn't see who he's talking about.  She shrugs and replies, "Yay!"

The reporter is eyeing all the texts going back and forth.  "Keeping the potential threat secret to prevent a panic?" he surmises, "Looks like the firefighters haven't been informed."

His tone is simply jaded.  He doesn't seem accusatory at all.  "I have their number.  I'll make the call for you if you think it'll be better coming from me."

Soul must not see a lot of pet videos then.  Those even add silly sound effects or sound tracks and everything.

"Yeah, cool sounding and effective are not the same thing... Usually."

OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=990zRxm_oj4

Timothius says to Joe, "Everything is cool when you're part of a team."

He then looks at Nathan. "Uh... just Mittens being silly by calling the guy in wrappings a mummy." He gets another text. "...and one from our latest recruit about finding another person with powers."

Meanwhile, Emerald smiles at the reporter. "Heh... well just like with the police, we look into potential threats while keeping it quiet so people don't automatically assume some innocent person is a villain. Basically, all it was was a text from Mittens pointing out someone was dressed unusual." She looks and points at Soul. "You need not worry. So... you had a question for me?"

Angel nods to Michael. "Sure thing. In the meantime, give me your new number?"

She then heads with Michael over to Soul. "Hello there. My name is Angel. This is Michael. Who are you?" The direct approach this time.

Liberty's attention is drawn to Crystal thanks to Nathan pointing it out. Liberty says, "I'm gonna find out what's going on. We can't afford to have trouble sneak up on us." She then reads Eli's text. "...OK, telepathy. But why is she running?" She starts heading towards Eli.

Eli, meanwhile, looks dejected when Crystal runs off. He looks at the ground and says, "...I wanna go home." and his parents look down at him before looking at the teacher. "I don't suppose her parents told you anything about why she might act this way? Or why one of them couldn't come with her?"

---

Yes, I'm all those characters. XD I'm posting them all in one post now to help keep the post order sane (as well as the number of posts)

Soul turns to the lady surprised by her actions. Most people who met him screamed and ran or attacked him on site. With a slight nod "Hello, A pleasure." Soul holds out his bandaged hand in greeting. "It has been many years since anyone has tried to speak to me in a civilized way." Souls voice making him sound no older than twenty or so,If that were only the case, he thinks to himself waiting on the young ladies response.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

The teacher looked at Elis parents, "She was bullied in school so they began homeschooling her, as to why they didn't come, I told them there was no need for them to. I didn't know she would act like this, in fact I know nothing else about her." She explained.

Michael gives a small wave to Mittens while keeping pace with Angel. "Ms. Bard, I do believe you are flirting with me," he says with a smirk, telling her the number a moment later. Somewhere in the back of his head he wonders if he heard the inflection in her voice correctly. He mentally shrugs, trying not to overthink it.

Michael nodded in greeting giving the stranger a friendly smile when Angel introduces him. He keeps back and quiet for now, observing Angel and the "mummy" man. He wasn't quite sure what to make of him, though from the sound and build he thought the stranger might be around their age. If the stranger offers his hand, Michael gives a firm handshake.

Nathan giggles and thumbs-ups at Timothius for the song reference.  He ohs at Timothius' explanation of the texts and looks around, but can't seem to spot the mummy from where he's seated.

Before he can figure out if Liberty heading for Eli is a good sign or not, her teacher speaks up.

"Stay in your seat, please, Liberty.  If you need to use the restroom, you can raise your hand just like in class."

Nathan facepalms, but he's not about to backtalk a teacher.

The reporter takes a look at Soul then nods to Emmy.  "Unusual is right.  Good to see you all are thorough and fair as ever.

"I'm following up on a study recently published by the Mutant Rights Advocacy Group that claims that public records show that mutants are more than twice as likely to be injured or killed in fires as non-mutants.  What are your thoughts on their findings?"

While conversations happen, Mits is in the meantime once again playing the victim as a song about dialing 911 plays over the speakers...

"Be a heeero!  Make the call!" 

She pretends to be injured and another play actor pretends to dial 911.  The firefighters soon come to the rescue.  Like before, TV camera professionals record the action, seemingly oblivious of Soul and Crystal.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:43, Wed 02 Sept 2015.

Liberty pauses at the teacher's instructions. Timothius reaches to touch Liberty and the girl pouts, folds her arms and sits down. That single moment of the teacher stopping Lib was just enough for Liberty to think about it and realize if there was trouble brewing, Mittens would know it.

Emerald answers the reporter, "While I highly doubt those numbers, I'll happily give my thought on why it might be: When people are faster, smarter, stronger or richer than normal people, they begin to develop a mentality they are invincible. Well people with powers are still people and so they wind up thinking themselves more capable than they really are. And what's more is the people around them start expecting them to be more capable than they really are. I think the reason they die in fires more often is probably because they are less cautious as a result of thinking themselves invincible. But that is just my take: Pure conjecture." she strokes her chin. "Liberty's power is to be physically tough. I think she would be perfect for being an example to such people because she can testify how close she came to suffocating from the smoke in a car fire."

The hero song is TOTALLY one of Emmy's. She would have gladly made a song for this event.

Meanwhile, Angel blushes from Michael's comment and says, "I... um..." and just fidgets with her phone to take the number. She glances over to Soul and takes his hand to shake it. "Sorry to hear. Here's hoping this is the beginning of you being treated like a normal human being. Might I have your name please?"

Back at Eli, his parents nod to the teacher and say, "Sorry. Good luck with the girl." and begin heading off to let the teacher deal with the girl. They have their son to deal with. Eli does one last thing for Crystal and sends a text to Emerald. "Emerald, girl hiding behind tree named Crystal. Please help her. She seems scared. Might be shy."

Emmy looks at the text, looks to see the girl who is hiding, then quickly texts back, "OK" before looking back at the reporter. "Mind if we walk while we talk?"

Crystal sat behind the tree and leaned back against it as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face before beginning to cry. She still didn't understand why her parents had made her go, but they did.

  Joe is an unfortunate example of common sense violations in the face of your abilities... Sure, it WORKED the last time he did something stupid enough to electrocute himself (which is a thankful first, and last time... so far), but that's beside the point.

  With Liberty sidelined by a lack of permission slips, Joe heads over towards Eli himself... He wonders if that's a good idea, but hopefully trying to make the kid feel better will make up for his lack of social skills right? Maybe.

  "Hey, I know you're going home and all that, but don't feel too bad.  She's probably wishing she handled things better just like you are, it happens."

Soul shakes Michael and Angels hands and steps back a little to address them both. "My name is Soul and to explain my current attire as I'm sure it must be bothering you. Firs know I mean none of you any harm I simply wished to watch the comic display. As for these.." Soul points to the bandages. ".. I prefer to stay hidden for personal reasons." 

"Well met Soul," Michael says as he shakes hands. "The attire does not bother us. As you can see," he says while motioning to Mittens and Emerald,"we have a few more visible characters around here. We just came over to introduce ourselves to a new face." He keeps a calm smile on his face, while taking stock of Soul's physique. If he isn't true to his word, it would be best to know what he might be capable of.

Liberty is correct that emotional distress usually doesn't register on her radar.  Massive natural disasters that would have killed thousands, on the other hand, she can sense weeks in advances even at high altitude and supersonic speeds.

The reporter nods and follows Emmy.  "So you don't think mutants are twice as likely to be victims of hate crimes involving arson, is that right?"

Nathan is glancing between Timothius, Lib, teacher, Eli, and the tree Crystal hid behind.  Unsure what else to do, he tries to assure Lib, "Teach knows and cares.  But she's figured out that now's not the time to be crowding over there.  Maybe in a little bit we can go over."

He then busies himself making an origami flower he intends to gift to Crystal later.

Mits smiles to see Angel and Michael are getting along well with Mummy McBandageface.  After the skit wraps up, she introduces the next demo.

"This one is about how very dangerous it is to play with fire."

"Very. Dangerous!" Bill reiterates, "Do not play with fire for any reason!"

A helmet and knee-pad wearing teenage skater Emmy, Eli, and Joe will probably recognize as Kevin rolls up to them and waves to the crowd.

"This is Kevin.  He's going to pretend to get hurt by fire.  But don't worry.  He has a mutant ability that makes him resist fire."

Liberty glances at Nathan and shrugs. "....you know, just 'cause Mittens can't sense it doesn't mean there isn't trouble. Otherwise, she'd be sensing things all the time. People live in abusive homes, you know... and I think that girl might have abusive parents."

Timothius says, "You can't assume that, Liberty, any more than someone else can assume you have abusive parents."

Liberty folds her arms. "Sure. But something has to be wrong. Eli wouldn't make some girl run away crying."

Timothius shrugs. "Like Nathan said, though... the teacher cares too. Let the grownups handle it."

Meanwhile, Angel chuckles from Michael's comment and nods. "Yeah... I'm sure Mittens, Timothius and Emerald have all been given odd looks quite often, so they likely understand your position, Soul. Of course, we all have things we wish to keep hidden. Just... know we respect your boundries, do not judge you, and are likely the best people you could come to about whatever you are hiding if you wanted to confide in someone. Though I would recommend Emerald... she's the fox."

Angel points at Emerald. The 3' tall fox is walking with a reporter towards the tree Crystal is hiding behind.

Emerald looks up at the reporter. "Don't get me wrong. Hate and racism you will have with you always. And arson activities from racial hatred is a very real thing. But fire in particular seems a pretty specific way to die. From what I know about hate crimes, it would be far more likely for them to be beaten to death." That last part said in a rather... jaded tone. But with concern in her voice, she says, "One minute please... I'm going to check on this girl."

Emerald goes to Crystal. She could stealth to Crystal, but specifically does not as she doesn't want to startle the girl. At three feet tall, Emerald is no taller than a human toddler. The fox lady says, "Hi there, sweetheart... you're Crystal, right? I'm a friend of Eli's... is something wrong?"

Eli, for the time being, just goes to watch the fire safety thing with his parents.

Crystal jumped at the sound of a voice beside her, she lifted her head to reveal tears streaming down her face. She nodded her head. *Too many people. Too many bullies. Other kids bully me cause I don't talk.* "I just want my mommy." She whispered
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Thu 03 Sept 2015.

Soul chuckles at the comment about confiding in someone considering the actual age difference between them. "I think I might need to clear something up, its not as much a problem or something I am embarrassed about it's more for those around me. You see I much like yourselves am well a little different. My body is immortal, but don't let the romanticism of it fool you, it is more a curse than anything for no matter the damage done my body will restore. The consequence being that I retain all scars and the pain is still there though I have become accustomed to it. Just as well I have not aged since my twenty second birthday. So as you can see..." Soul points at his face again "...these are more for the benefit of those around me." As he speaks Soul retains composed tone and doesn't seem bothered by any of the things he has revealed.

(ooc I said that wrong, meant that I still feel pain but im so used to it most of it is dulled)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:39, Fri 04 Sept 2015.

"An immortal?" Michael said in awed voice. "An impressive gift, regardless of how it manifests itself. Though you say the pain persists? The scars I could understand, but having the pain remain after the healing is an interesting conundrum." This last bit was more to himself, his eye losing focus a bit as he drifted off into thought.

Shaking himself, he comes back to the present. "Sorry, zoned out there for a moment. I wonder if Tim would be able to help you heal some. Best healer I know, though I'm not sure if it would work with old wounds. Only ever seen him work his magic on fresh ones."

"Something sure is wrong," Nathan answers Lib, "You're right about that.  Maybe someone she knows died.  Maybe she's got cancer.  Whatever it is, it's pretty clear she wants to be left alone.  Sure I know you're a superhero, but that doesn't mean she knows you're the best friend a person could have.  So be patient with her.  Maybe after she's had a chance to calm down she'll come out of hiding.  Besides, looks like Emerald is giving it a try now, and she's famous for spreading smiles around."

Firefighters push wheeled residential facades  (complete with open windows that have cheap curtains and blinds in them) into a row.

In front of those, Kevin pushes a big hoop, and two ramps into place, then skateboards through the hoop using the ramps to jump and land!  Kids cheer and clap.

"Wow!  Neat!"  Mits cheers, "Can I try?  I'm a skater too!"

"Like, totally!" Kevin answers, offering her the helmet and pads, "Wear these, though.  Hahah.  It's like, dangerous and junk!  Hahahah!"

Moments after the helmet comes off, his hair spontaneously combusts!  Children gasp.

"Like, woooah!  Hah.  Guess I'm too much of a hothead!  Hahahah!"

"That's part of what make Kevin unique," Bill tells the kids, "His head catches fire when exposed to air.  But he's fine since his body resists fire."

Not entirely immune to fire.  Blow torches would hurt!  Children giggle at Kevin's joke.  Mittens makes the jump!  More claps!

"That sure was fun!  Didn't seem all that dangerous."

She gives the helm and stuff back and he puts them on.

"Like, not dangerous enough for ya?  Hah.  Then like, check this out!  Hahahah!"

He lights the hoop on fire with a quick tip of his helmet!  The kids are getting excited and cheer.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 01:59, Sat 05 Sept 2015.

Timothius watches and then looks over to Nathan. "Well here's hoping Emmy can do it. I guess if anyone can..."

Liberty says, "Woah... he's lighting the hoop on fire."

Timothius says, "....why?" but can't help be enthralled like the other kids.

Angel, meanwhile, smiles at Michael and then back to Soul and nods. "Michael's right. You see the boy over there who looks like a white-furred cat angel? That is who Michael is talking about; Timothius. And his power is to heal. Even when you're fully healthy, touching him feels nice..." she glances from Tim to Soul. "...wanna go say hi and see if he can help you?"

Back at where Crystal and Emerald are, Emerald sits next to Crystal and reaches to hug her side. In a soothing voice, Emerald says, "There now... I can take you home to your mommy if you like. I would need to know where you live. Or, if you prefer, you can use my cellphone to call her and I could ask her to come here so you don't have to move. OK?"

Thanks to Joe, Eli decides not to go home after all. He offers for Joe to sit with him and his parents. "...th-thanks... Mister Darkthrone."

---

Note: While Timothius can make Soul feel better as long as Soul is touching him, healing Soul completely would probably take things like re-setting bones and such. So a more permanent solution would take time. Also, consent from the player. Tim's power can only heal Soul if Soul's player allows that. Otherwise, we'll just say it makes Soul relieved of pain only while touching Timothius. Also; Tim's power does not remove visual scars that were already in place. Soul is stuck with that. XD Sorry.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:15, Sat 05 Sept 2015.

Soul shakes his head "No that is ok, but I thank you. I have become numb to most pains and if it should work I fear that I would become unaccustomed to the feel and it will cause greater harm than good. Though I think you may have mistake my wording, I covers so little that my speech may be somewhat off. I mean to say that I still feel the pain when I am harmed but after the healing processes the pain stops." Soul looks to the show now happening on stage. "I did not mean to cause a disturbance, but if it will not cause to much trouble I would like to continue to watch the show."

Crystal looked at Emeralds face and nodded. "Can you take me home please?" She asked, her voice still a whisper. She took Emeralds hand with one of hers while wiping the tears from her face with the other.

Nathan too is excited about Kevin's upcoming stunt, but he's still concerned for Crystal, so he glances over at her direction and spots Emmy by the tree looking un-frustrated.

"Looks like Emerald is doing just fine.

"Why light it on fire?  I'm not sure.  I was distracted so I missed that part.  This is a fire safety thing, so I'm sure they know what they're doing."

The reporter writes in his pad while Emmy helps the kid.  "I won't be hard to find."

He starts heading in Angel's direction.

"That might be too dangerous," Mittens says.

"Like, no worries, babe.  Hah.  I'm like, totally fireproof!  Hahahah."

He sticks his hand in the fire for a bit then pulls it out to prove he's not burned.  Nathan is among the kids who ooh and wow.

Mits pretends to be surprised.  "Oh.  Carry on then.  Carry on."

  Joe helped someone feel better, we're as shocked as you are.  That said, he continues his shocking streak of social skills by sitting with Eli.  "It's fine, Eli. and only call me mister if it makes you feel better."

  At least Kevin has all the pyrotechnics of a stunt show, with none of the risk of horrible accidents... Well okay, he can see how some adults and children would be disappointed by that.

  Still, Kevin did just call Mittens 'babe', so there may be hope yet for those here for blooooood (at a safety awareness event)

Emerald nods to Crystal and says, "Alright. Lead the way, Crystal."

As Emerald and Crystal head off, Emerald says, "By the way, my name is Emerald. You can call me that or Ms Haynsworth, whichever is more comfortable for you."

Emerald takes Crystal to her moped and puts her spare helmet on the girl. "Tell me where to go!"

Timothius watches Emerald for a bit and when he sees her walking away with Crystal, he goes back to watching the show again. Timothius mews at the sight of Kevin sticking his hand in the fire, but looks relieved when it doesn't do anything.

Liberty raises her hand. Should she be allowed to speak up, she asks, "Hey Mister Kevin... do your clothes still burn?" Her mind is racing with things she wants to do with Kevin as she has actual experience with facing fire and winning... if still very unpleasantly. Remembering that she was naked on public television (if blurred out), her face turns a shade of red as her question kind of draws attention to that event.

Angel nods to Soul. "Let's get you a seat with Timothius and his friends. They are nice kids, so they should be good to hang out with."

Angel will lead Soul to Timothius, Nathan and Liberty if Soul lets her. She then spots the reporter coming and glances to Michael. "I can field the reporter if you hang out with Soul and the kids..."

She then greets the reporter with a smile.

Eli, meanwhile, leans against Joe, tilts his head up and smiles up at the gaming-physics superhero. "Tell me about your powers, Joe..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:07, Wed 09 Sept 2015.

Soul agrees to follow Angel. He looks to the kid sticking his hand in fire and speaks out loud without realizing it. "Ben around eight years since the last time I was caught on fire. Painful, but there are worse things." unaware he had spoke out loud he continues to follow Angel if she is still willing to lead and keeps watching the show.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Wed 09 Sept 2015.

"My name is Suna No Kouin, but Crystal works." the child said softly. "Take a left when we leave the park." She explained. Crystal continued to give direction till they pulled into her driveway.

Michael listens for now, giving Soul an an incredulous look at his comment. To Angel though he gives a grin and a shake of the head. "Thanks, but I think I'll leave the show to the young-ins. Not my first time dealing with the press. Just think of me as your backup," he says while veering off towards the reporter with her.

Mits is disappointed Emmy is going to miss the rest of the field day, but it's good to see Meltdown Girl is being taken care of without a scene.  She momentarily considers the irony that a fussy kid can be more attention-grabbing than a fiery stunt.  Speaking of attention grabbers, it's also nice to see her worries of a Mummy attack were proven wrong.

The reporter nods to Angel and Michael, introduces himself, and gets started.  "I'm looking into arson trends.  According to a recent report by a mutant civil rights group, persons with mutations are twice as likely to be injured or killed in fires.  Why do you suppose that is?"

Nathan is surprised when he spots Soul.  As much as he wants to keep his eyes glued on the stunt, he keeps glancing in the direction of the weird bandage man.

"Please hold questions till the end," Bill Blazes asks with a big smile for Liberty.

Kevin hops on his board, skates to the ramp, and jumps flawlessly through the flaming hoop!  Claps and cheers ensue.

"Nice jump!" Mits commends.

"Hahahah.  Like, thanks!  But like, I could totally do one better, hahahah!"

"Be careful!"

More successful stunts ensue.

  Since Soul's bandages don't appear to be for health threatening injuries, Joe has filed the guy under lesser note for the moment.

  "Pretty much what it looks like, I guess.  The laws of physics just seem to shrug and let me take more liberties than a Mario game."  No fire flowers though, as far as he knows.

  Joe would suggest Kevin try while the skateborad is on fire, but then it would probably break during the tricks.

Emerald answers, "Sands of time, eh? Nihongo, shaberu no?*"

*Translation: "Do you speak Japanese?"

(Emerald and Crystal exit stage left)

Angel grins at Michael, clearly appreciating his company. Then nods to the reporter. After introducing herself and Michael, she responds, "It could be a lot of things. It could be mutant haters causing arson. It could be mutants who have fire powers but no immunity to fire. It could be coincidence. It might even be a few people in some anti-mutant organization who are burning a lot of buildings. Or it could even be all the things I just listed. But without more facts, I can't really say more than mere speculation. What I can tell you is that the haters are the minority and need to get with the times. Ever since I showed support to the Citizens' Patrol, I have gotten approximately 97% positive feedback and only 3% negative feedback."

Timothius looks over to see the bandage-man. Then quickly turns his attention to Kevin and claps for the guy!

Liberty also claps and woots. Then looks over to Soul. The little girl asks Soul, "Hi there, mister. Are you OK? Being on fire isn't fun. I know; I was caught inside an exploding car once... "

Timothius turns his attention back to Soul out of curiosity.

Eli stares at Joe, his eyes getting wider with a look like a kid in a candy store. "But... how?" he asks almost timidly, but far more bold than his normal tone. "Would you mind if I ran tests with you sometime?"

"No but my mother does. She taught me a few words including my name. Betcha wonder why she named me that. It's cause I have secret powers." Crystal explained. "Or what some people call a mutation. I control wind and time." She whispered to Emerald

The reporter nods to Angel's answer and takes notes on his tablet.  "Nevertheless in light of reports like this, may fire insurance, life insurance, and other companies are now requiring customers to disclose mutation status and are setting premium rates based on that information.  This is quickly becoming an industry standard.  What are your thoughts on this trend?"

Nathan is impressed how bold Liberty is with the weird looking grown-up, but then she is a superhero.

"Then they shoulda asked you to be a part of the fire safety day, Lib.  If anyone would know how bad fire is, you would."

The fire on the hoop shrinks as the fuel is used up.  Kevin reaches to adjust one of the ramps and one of the dying flames catches his shirt on fire!

"Watch out, Kevin!" Mittens and several children warn.

"Like, NO WAY!  Hahahah," Kevin hollers, patting at the fire and running around in a fake panic.  Several fake drapes and shutters catch fire from his running around.

"Stop, drop, and roll, Kevin!  I'll call 911!"

Mits takes out her phone.

"No don't!  Hah.  Like, I'll get in mondo trouble!  Hahah.  Like, let me fix this!  Hahaha."

He tries scooping dirt onto the flames, but it doesn't seem to be doing any good.

"Make the call!" several children shout.

Mits looks like she'll be making the call.

  "Gonna be honest, I'm trying to avoid that sort of thing in general.  Even if specifics might be useful to know-oh look someone is on fire."  Yes, completely natural subject change Joe.

  "You'll probably be grounded longer if you burn the whole house down instead of just part of it."

Soul looks to Liberty and nods "Fire is indeed quit scary, and I am glad to see you are OK after such an experience. As for me I was quite alarmed myself. I was camping out in the woods at the time and rolled into the fire, turns out I'm quite flammable. Luckily I was close to a stream." Soul chuckles a little and turns back to Eli.

"I don't mind, but ill warn you any substances like medicines and other  things seem to have no effect and any samples you might wish to take will turn to dust quite quickly. Got captured by some men who were fairly curious twenty odd years or so ago, took me a while to find a way out of that one. Ended up escaping with the help of one of the staff I managed to befriend."

Liberty would wonder what kind of grown up doesn't freak out over her being in an exploding car... then realizes she and her friends are pretty much like that too. Whoever this guy is, he is clearly just as much a weirdo as Liberty and her friends. But she smiles brightly at Soul when he mentioned being glad she is OK. "I'm tough. It takes a lot to hurt me."

She looks at Nathan. "Well... given what happened to me, I think it is best I didn't volunteer after all. Besides... Kevin can skateboard and do cool stuff. I'd probably just stand there and look like an idiot."

Timothius is NOT as bold as Liberty concerning the grown-up. But Lib broke the ice, so he chimes in, "What's your name, mister? And do you want to join the Citizens' Patrol?"

Eli looks disappointed by Joe's answer, but hopeful when Soul offers himself to science. "Uh.. OK" he says to Soul timidly.

Angel answers the reporter, "That's a very good question. Many would argue that mutant status is like being born with concealed firearms. In some cases, that's true. But it also depends on your power. Take Mittens, for example. I would argue insurance should be paying her for knowing when trouble is about to strike, and thus helping avoid millions in damages. Or how about Timothius? He can heal people who would otherwise be collecting money from insurance companies to pay for their medical bills. I feel it is unfair to be charging more money to people based on simply being a mutant because, as I just pointed out, there are certainly multiple cases where they should be paid by insurance for helping the companies out. You and I both know they will not do such a thing and neither, then, should people's right to privacy be infringed upon to take advantage of how someone was born to squeeze more money out of them."

"Remember this is only a demo," Bill Blazes assures the kids.

Joe's comment makes Kevin laugh.  "Bummer!" 

Mits makes the call and the firefighters arrive, extinguishing Kevin first.  Mits is so proud of her lil bro offering to recruit BandageFace.  He'll probably be offering to heal the guy's festering burn wound soon too.  She wonders what could have possibly emboldened Shy Face to talk to Bandage Face.  Turns out Bandage Face is super nice and good with kids?  Seems all the kids are opening up to him.  So... maybe?

Nathan snickers and smiles at Liberty.  "You tough is an understatement.  Just standing still you're cooler than most."

Ron nods to Angel.  "According to the civil rights group, Mutants are being victimized twice over.  One by arsonists and then again by insurance companies.  Does the Citizen's Patrol have any plans for supporting Mutant civil rights?"

Soul looks to Timothius, "What's that, if it lets me help I don't mind joining, maybe it will kill some time for a while."

  Joe supposes the good news about Soul's casual commentary about self immolation is that eventually he'll get used to painful if not life threatening events, yay?... Though sounds like Soul is pretty accident prone, so reporter guy is probably going to overhear that from 100 feet away.

  "Pretty sure you'd at least stop drop and roll, so no standing involved liberty." wait, did he forget an important part of that sentence?

  He'll ask soul more about the forceful lab work when there are less random children around.

Timothius says, "Just signing a paper and filling out a few blanks is all it takes to join. The Citizens' Patrol is an organization focused on helping people... it's what we do. Just like this event here!"

Liberty blushes and wiggles where she is sitting upon Nathan saying she looks cool no matter what.

Liberty watches Keven get doused and giggles. Then looks at Joe and says, "Well... yeah. If I caught fire."

Angel chuckles and says, "You bet we do. We have plans for equal treatment. But being what the citizens' patrol is, we're planning to fight for everyone's rights... not just our own. Obviously, we aren't going to be spreading ourselves thin - we can only do so much at a time. But we will help people wherever and however we can."

Eli squirms uncomfortably and says, "I'm sorry, Joe. I didn't mean to make you feel like a lab rat.."

Michael makes his introductions, but keeps quiet for now. Angel seemed to have the questioning well in hand. He nods his assent to helping people whenever they can.

Nathan smiles that the injured guy is looking to help the superhero group ins spite of all he's been through.  What a guy!  He giggles at Joe's comment, thinking Joe was intentionally making a silly point.  He's also proud of himself for Liberty's reaction to his compliment.

"Like, Woah!  Hahahah!" Kevin exclaims when doused.

One firefighter puts a rescue blanket around him and checks for injuries while the others put out the burning facade.  Bill Blazes then starts giving a safety talk explaining even small fires are dangerous, don't think you can "fix things," to avoid getting in trouble, "Joe was right to say that there's a whole lot more trouble if you do try...," and so on.

Meanwhile the reporter nods.  "Good to hear.  Of course, companies are quick to point out that they're operating well within the law.  Will the Citizen's Patrol be endorsing any specific candidates or legislative initiatives to change the law?"

Bill finishes up his talk and offers to answer questions.  The boom mic is carried to be above the crowd.

Soul watches the display on stage and continues to speak to the kids. "OK I don't mind helping out, but it might be best that I not attempt to approach people alone as you can see." Soul points to his bandages.

Emerald pulls up on her moped with a car following her and she parks. After hopping off and putting her helmet away, she trots over to the car and awaits Arabella and Crystal.

Once the two are out of the car, Emerald will offer to lead them over to the others... well to the children. Angel and Michael are busy with the reporter.

Once out of the car. Crystal grabbed her mom's hand and held Bernard tightly in her other arm. They both followed Emerald over to the others.

  Joe nods to Eli "Well, I'm not the one who's had to deal with being treated like one.  So it does feel a bit selfish.  Don't worry about it."

  He looks over to soul, an comments "We have someone who's head is on fire, setting himself on fire.  I don't think you're really in strange by comparison territory like you think you are.  Unless you meet a lot of people who hate hospital patients. Though I will admit keeping bandages away from open flames demonstrations would be a good idea."

Timothius smiles up at Soul and says, "That girl over there is my older sister Mittens. She encourages the buddy system, which she learned in girl scouts, so I wouldn't worry too much about being alone."

Eli spots the moped and car pulling up and sees Crystal getting out of the car. So he scoots closer to his parents to hide himself from view.

Liberty looks up at Joe and asks, "Why is it selfish to not want to deal with problems in the first place?"

Eli says quietly, "Because Mr Soul has dealt with it and is fine with being examined?"

Liberty shrugs, "Each person is different. Some are fine with talking in front of a crowd, but many get stage fright."

Meanwhile, Angel says, "I have an established lawyer for the Citizen's Patrol, yes. I think the primary change we will be looking for is just a way to keep privacy a thing. Really, the laws that are in place pretty much cover anything dangerous mutants might do, so the public is already protected from dangerous mutants as far as the law will protect them without becoming tyrranical. The rest is making sure we protect ourselves."

Liberty raises her hand... along with a dozen other kids when questions are called for. When she is called on, she asks what she was trying to ask earlier, "Can we get firefighter outfits? Or any kind of clothing that is fire resistant?"

Emerald takes Crystal over to the kids. She points out Angel and Michael on the way, "That's Angel. She funds us and donated the beachside house we use as a base of operations. With her there is Michael, who joined us after he did some heroing of his own. But those two look like they are busy with the reporter..."

She then points at Mittens. "Over there is Mittens; the founder of the Citizen's Patrol." then points to Timothius. "And that white kitty with wings is her younger brother Timothius, the co-founder. With him is Liberty and Joe. The other boy with wings is a friend of Tim's. The person with the bandages is new... he just showed up to this event like Crystal here did."

By the time she is done explaining, she has walked to the group. "Hey kids... this here is Crystal. She's going to be staying with us at our headquarters for a bit."

Crystal nodded as Emerald explained who was who then blushed deeply when she was introduced to some of the group. She noted that Eli hid as they were coming over and she looked up at her mother.

Arabella smiled. She looked at the boy Crystal had told her about. "Eli? Right. Crystal said she was sorry about earlier and she'd like to start over if you want. I'm her mother, Arabella Bolton."

Nathan nod-nods in agreement with everyone's answer to Soul.  When he spots Crystal approach with her Mom and Emmy, he smiles that Emmy fixed things so well.  He offers his origami flower to Crystal's Mom and says, "I saw Crystal was upset earlier so I made this for her.  I picked orange because it's the symbol of the warmth of friendship."

(( This, only with orange instead of red: http://www.origamispirit.com/w...flower-1dolz-560.jpg ))

Mits smiles and waves when she sees her bro point her out.

Kevin laughs and answers Liberty, "Like, become a firefighter and you'll totally get a radical fireproof suit.  Hah.  Or like, spend a fortune to totally have one made for you.  Hahahahah."

Bill Blazes handles most of the questions about fire safety while Mits deals with the ones about the Citizen's Patrol.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Sat 19 Sept 2015.

  Well, Joe is glad to see that Crystal realized she made Eli cry as much as she was. He has just enough of a semblance of tact to not word it like that though.  "Nice to properly meet the both of you, Arabella, Crystal. We managed to talk Eli into sticking around, nice to see both of them starting to feel better."

  Mittens remains the bravest Citizens Patrol Person, for dealing with most of the paperwork pushing.

Eli stays behind his parents and keeps his eyes averted. His dad says, "Eli is... worried that he said or did something wrong."

Eli says quietly, "Start... over?" and he carefully peaks to look for Crystal. When he sees her, he makes sure to not make eye contact, staring at Crystal's feet.

Timothius just continues pointing people out to Soul.

Liberty looks at the origami flower and says, "Cool! How do I make one?"

(Angel still waiting for Reporter to respond or something)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:19, Wed 23 Sept 2015.

Arabella accepted the flower and thanked Nathan as she put it in Crystal's hair.

Crystal softly reaches to lift Elis chin. "I'm sorry, I just got overwhelmed by everything and didn't think before I mind spoke to you. You did nothing wrong." She looked up at her mother then back at Eli. "Everyone thinks I'm a mute because I don't talk. My mom don't like others knowing that I am a mutant." *I don't like to vocalize unless I have to.*

Soul seems to be lost in thought while staring at the origami flower. A flashback of Soul in his youth traveling the world hits him, he is sparing with an older woman with an origami flower in her hair, and a small group of young men are watching, Soul snaps back to himself from the sound of the commotion of the event and his shoulders shrug low "Master....."

Soul speaks more to whomever is willing to listen that anyone in particular, almost as if he is speaking to ghosts of the past. "It has been a long time since iv seen origami done for anything other than profit through decoration, it used to be used only for religious or ceremonial purposes. Like the crane, An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:27, Wed 23 Sept 2015.

"So essentially the Citizen's Patrol wants to see equal rights for mutants and non-mutants alike, is that right?"

Mits won't deny having to deal with reams of paperwork, but now there's a separate department headed by Roz for dealing with the vast majority of that unpleasant business.  Right now all she's having to sign is autographs for children, one of them having even reserved a big spot on her broken leg's cast so all the Citizen's Patrol present can sign it.

Nathan beams that his gift was well received and gladly shows Liberty the bookmarked page of his origami book.  He gives a sheepish smile to Soul.

"A thousand cranes is hard..."

When Bill Blazes announces that it is time for the fire truck tours, children cheer and rush for the trucks!  Teachers are quick to herd them into more managable groups for the firefighters to handle.

"Let's make a group of our own," Nathan suggests, "Liberty, Timothius, Crystal, Eli, and Me.  Maybe Tim can convince his famous sister to join."

He glances to Joe, Emerald, and the other awesome grown-ups present.  "And his amazing friends too."

Eli's face becomes a shade of red as his eyes meet Crystal's and his eyes water. "I... u-... er..." he gulps and says, "Thank you. I don't mind your other way of talking... and neither would any of my friends, I'm sure."

When Tim introduced Emerald to Soul, she smiles and offers a hand in friendship. Timothius ohs at the legend Soul spoke of and says, "Wow... if you had a wish, what would you wish for?"

Liberty says, "I'd wish for people to stop being mean and stupid."

Eli is now staring at Crystal's nose, but his mind races through what he'd wish for... so many possibilities. Besides, he's kinda distracted with Crystal too, so he doesn't answer Tim's question.

Angel answers the reporter, "Yes. It is often hard, however, to get equal treatment." You either press so hard for special treatment and wind up with equal treatment and people saying you think you are owed the world, or you press for equal treatment and wind up with being treated as subhuman until you do press harder. But it is probably best to not say that out loud. "Luckily, though, my friends have been met with a lot of positive feedback from the public at large."

Emerald, being right there when Soul mentions wishes and Tim asks his question, answers with, "I think everyone wishes for something similar to Liberty's wish... love. Prosperity. Understanding. Equality." But realistically, such wishes can't be granted even if wishes being granted was a real thing or those wishes would already have come to be. Probably best not to say so in front of children, though. "But assuming you couldn't have those kind of world-altering wishes granted... and you could only wish for things like power, money, or things only for yourself? Hmm... tough call. This world is filled with amazing things you can get if you just try hard enough. The most important of all, love, is attainable to anyone if they just search long enough and allow it. So maybe I'd wish to find my true love before I get too old?"
This message was last updated by the player at 04:19, Thu 24 Sept 2015.

"I'd wish for a friend like Eli." Crystal said softly as she pulled her hand away from Eli and touched the flower in her hair. *Thank you Eli, I'm glad. You may call me Suna if you wish.* she told him telepathically

  The origami crane now symbolizes grade school required reading. "Most people I've seen do Origami don't profit through the decoration, that I can think of."  Though if Soul tells him he attained immortality through paper folding, it wouldn't be the craziest thing he's seen.

  He refrains from commenting on his choice of wishful thinking.

  "Well, when it comes to most people the worst we've had to deal with in this town are some token protesters.  I wouldn't be surprised it's worse elsewhere." Mad scientists would likely be doing asshole stuff even if there weren't any mutants around.

"It may seem strange to one so young, but if I had a wish I would simply wish to die like everyone else." Soul pauses as a flashback of him grasping his masters hand as he tries to pull her from the burning ruble, she stares him in the eye puts her hand to his chest and pushes hard throwing him out from under a falling pillar that crashes around her. "MASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!" "Immortality is more a curse that a gift. Those you love will always be left behind and I will never meet my love in eternal rest." Soul pauses... "Rest would be nice..." The light seems to start to leave his eyes.

"Thank you very much," the reporter says.

He gives a polite farewell then heads over to join the others that are swamping Mits by now.

Nathan watches and listens to the others converse, wondering if he said or did something wrong that the other kids didn't show any interest in going with him to tour a fire truck.  But now he's more worried for Soul and his sad wish and his thousand yard stare.

He thinks hard about what to sing for Soul to try and connect with him and finally settles on a phrase from a classical piece he'd practiced last Easter.

♪ "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
Ich will euch trösten" ♪

OOC: From Brahm's Requiem.  Translation: You now have sadness.  I will comfort you.

Emerald frowns upon hearing the literal death wish. She wants to guide the children away, but decides it best the kids hear a positive counter before she does so. Emmy says, "We all lose people precious to us, Soul. Believe me, I understand and am sorry for your loss. But life is a gift; an opportunity to share your gifts with others and spread love and kindness wherever you go."

Emerald then looks at the kids and says, "Now get in line for the fire truck tour. You don't wanna miss it!"

Eli's face is beat-red from Crystal's wish. But when Emerald speaks up, Eli ohs! Clearly, he was so distracted with Crystal, he missed that he was supposed to be touring a fire truck. "Wanna tour the truck with me, Suna?" he asks her timidly.

Liberty looks over at Nathan and says, "C'mon. Let's go to the truck. I'm sure the grownups will keep him around for us to talk with."

Timothius nods and heads off with the other kids to the fire truck.

Before Nathan leaves, Emerald puts a hand on his shoulder and says, "Nice choice, Nathan. That was beautiful and thoughtful." Then pats his back to send him to the other kids.

Angel turns her attention to the conversation Emerald is having with Soul. She decides not to add anything for now.

Soul snaps back to reality and remembers he is near children, "I'm sorry, and yes you are correct in your statement Emerald, I sometimes get lost in memories and become distracted forgive me."

Soul nods to Nathan in thanks "Brahm's Requiem a good piece. I like the line....."

"Denn alles Fleisch ist wie Gras
und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen
wie des Grases Blumen.
Das Gras ist verdorret
und die Blume abgefallen."

(Translation is something like this if I'm correct.)------(For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man like flowers.The grass withers and the flower falls.)

Soul smiles and looks to Emerald "A flower that never falls and grass that never withers is only a beautiful thought, in truth the grass may not wilt but the land its roots have dug into will someday wash away and the flowers will be picked and thrown to be replaced, while the grass and flowers still live the world around them simply becomes a place of pain and loss they can never escape." Soul makes shore to wait until the small children are out of earshot before saying this.

Crystal nodded to Eli about the fire truck and followed after him. A smile upon the face that had been sad.

  Joe knows he should feel more sympathy for Soul.  But going all 'I wish I were dead and life is pain' in front of a bunch of children makes that somewhat more difficult.

  At least Soul seems to realize having less tact than Joe (a difficult task) isn't a good thing, if after the fact.  "Well, hopefully if you spend more time around reasonable people it will help.  Even if we might not last as long, that's still plenty of time to enjoy life instead of comparing yourself to lawn care."

Nathan is pleased to see that his singing struck a chord with Soul and he cracks a hopeful smile.  He nod-nods to Liberty and blushes with a sheepish smile at Emerald's compliment.  Nathan whispers the lyrics Soul quoted to hear the music in his head.  It's easier for him to remember the meaning of the lyrics from the notes than from the foreign words.  But it only clicks as he's being hurried to the fire truck so he just smiles and gives Soul a parting wave.

The firefighter waiting for the kids at the fire truck is none other than Kevin!

"Woah, hey there, little dudes!  Hahah.  Ready to like, check out a radical fire truck?  Hahahahahahah!"

Emerald nods to Soul. "True. But should we accept only good and not the trials that go with it? Without the fire of a forge, metal has no strength and is worthless. The fires expose the pure and show who we really are. Pain is part of life and there is no escape from that whether you live forever or not. What you make of your pain and what you do with it is what is important. There is a time and a place for mourning, and if that is what you need to do now, then I will take you someplace private to do so. But if you wish to get to know some friends who could benefit from your experience; then you're in luck. My friends happen to be some of the more receptive people I know." Kinda helps they all have powers, so they have learned to be receptive in order to be received. Emerald decides not to add just yet that due to the nature of Liberty's power, it could be that the girl may live forever also. Hard to say.

Angel raises an eyebrow. She gazes off as if pondering something. She heads for Mittens. "Hey Mittens... got a minute?"

Meanwhile, Timothius smiles brightly at Kevin. "Yeah!" he yells along with most of the other kids. Liberty, of course, is one of the loudest kids, having a slightly competitive spirit in her concerning that.

Eli, of course, did no such yelling. He stood quietly smiling and blushing in the back of the line with Crystal. And now, he just doesn't know what to say or do. Was this the right move? Well... whether or not it was, he can't deny that getting a tour of a firetruck is cool.

"Forgive me if I offended, I tend to get mopey when i talk for to long. Side effect of a long life alone I suppose. I would enjoy a chance to speak with those who I may help learn what I have lived, for who better to teach than one with experience." Soul takes a deep breath and looks back to Emerald."Why not tell the children about the first firemen and how they traveled by horse and buggy a few men at a time with buckets of water to put fires out as short a time ago as a hundred years or so."

  http://ci.henderson.nc.us/wp-c...Drawn-Fire-Truck.jpg

  "That could work, if you skipped over how much it probably didn't get the job done in time.  Saftey tips are a tricky thing when you want to get across that something is dangerous, without the grisly details about body count or the or what 3rd degree burns look like."  and that's how thirty eight people died in the great flapjack disaster of 180X

Kevin gets started with the tour showing off all the interesting dials and valves, explaining what they are and what they do.  He's sure to give definition in non-jargon terms.  He then hooks up a hose and offers the other end to the kids.  "Like, get a feel for how heavy it is empty.  Hahahah."

Sure Mittens is smiling at the reporters as she answers the barrage of questions, but her occasional glances at the fire trucks gives away that she'd rather be taking a tour with the kids.  When she spots Angel she gives a big wave.

"Hi there, Angel!  For you, I've got tonns of minutes!"

Bill Blazes offers to take over talking to the reporters so Mits and Angel can talk.

Angel says, "First of all, if you ever tire of reporters, by all means leave them to me. Especially if they are testing your patience and throwing accusations. I have experience with that, being rich and all. And don't forget Emerald... talking is literally her super power. Secondly..." she glances over to the others and then back to Mittens. "This new guy - Soul, he calls himself - apparently has the power to just keep living. Claims he wishes he could die. As a result, I suspect this guy is kinda old. He is letting his age show with a number of things he has said."

Angel then leans in to Mittens, putting an arm around her. "Third... why don't you come join the fun? It sure looked like you wanted a tour of the firetruck."

Meanwhile Emerald says, "I didn't mean to sound abrasive, Soul. My apologies. I just... well I can empathize more than you might know. Some bad memories might have made me a little less patient than normal. Your idea sounds good. Think you're ready to go tell them about those old firefighters?"

Back at the truck, Timothius can barely hold onto the hose. When Liberty gets a turn, she picks up the hose with little effort. "Say. That really does have some heft to it..."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:37, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

Soul seems to lose himself in though again after a moment of not conversing. Memories of his master flooding his mind as well as those of his past rush over him, some he though long lost as he watches the children play on the firetruck cause a mix of sadness and happiness all at once. Having had little interaction with people in the last decade or two and then interacting so freely seems to have awakened many memories he once thought lost.

At the sound of his name Soul reacts to Emerald "Yea ok I'm Happy to." Soul Follows Eli to the crowd and tells of how long ago horse driven wagons were used to carry buckets and that many men would ride along and even towns people would gather to form bucket lines to cast wader onto the fire to extinguish it.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:59, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

Crystal slid her small hand into Elijahs, she was feeling very nervous but wanted her new friend to know that she wasn't going to run. *How long have you known these people, like Emerald?* she asked telepathically.

Eli's face turns beat-red when Crystal holds his hand. He hears the question in his head and says quietly, "N-not... long. I j-just... joined them... t-two days ago." He then glances from Tim to Liberty to Emmy... "But they are really nice. I'm sure you noticed..."

Crystal looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry if I am embarrassing you." She said quietly as the line moved forward.

Mits smiles and nods to Angel's offer to deal with reporters.  "Thanks!  And I saw you and Emmy talking to that reporter guy earlier.  Was he being mean?  My reporters were real positive, so I could sic them on him if you like."  ^.~

She looks over at the others with Soul.  "Prooobably not 3,000 B.C. old like I was thinking at first, but still...  Really old suicidal immortal.  I'm gunna have to try really hard not to reference all the similar fictional characters that I'm sure he's gotten tired of being compared to.

"But yeah!  You bet I wunna join the fun!"

She hurries to join her bro and the others.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:12, Sat 07 Nov 2015.

Kevin nods to Soul's teaching with a smile.  "Dude!  Like, totally!  Hah.  That way of firefighting goes way back to like, ancient times.  Hahah.  There's dudes still doing that even today in places where dudes don't like, don't have radical pump trucks like this one.  Hah.  This babe can move water faster than like, hundreds of bucket dudes!  Hahahahahah!"

He turns a valve and the hose begins to fill with water, getting much heavier, but the nozzle doesn't spray any water.

"Pwsh!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:13, Sat 07 Nov 2015.

Eli says, "It just... takes me a bit to get used to new faces. But I'm getting better at it. I'm normally pretty shy. But it's... nice to meet another shy person, you know? I don't feel so bad about who I am."

Soul seems to be enjoying himself watching the kids reactions to his stories.

Liberty waves Joe over to join the fun. Of course, once Soul gets talking about old firefighters, Liberty, Timothius and Eli all listen curiously.

Angel headshakes to Mittens. "I assure you, the reporter Emmy and I talked to was not mean at all. He's clearly on our side. Unbiased at worst."

Emerald, seeing Soul interacting with the children, smiles and sits with the kids to listen. A kid or two, of course, want to play with her tail or pet her hair. But she clearly doesn't mind.

If Joe goes to Liberty as per the girl's request, she will sit him with her and say, "I'm know you have plenty to teach too, Joe. Though aside from that fire at the recruitment drive, what other experiences do you have with fire?"

In reply to Eli (msg # 99):

Crystal blushed, "It makes things a little easier for me now that I have a friend. My mom has to go away for a bit and is leaving me with Emerald. I've...I've never had any friends, they all thought I was weird cause I don't talk out loud to many people. I got bullied a lot till my parents decided to homeschool me."

  Joe does head on over as gestured, "Listen when a clothing tag says it will burn or melt."  That's.... Oddly specific Joe.

  He totally did not try to iron a windbreaker as a small child, that would be crazy.

Nathan giggles at Joe's suggestion.  He smiles to see Crystal is calmed down from earlier enough to be talking rather than running away.  Noting Eli's mentioning being shy, Nathan offers Eli's mom an origami space ship.

"This is for him."

He nudges with his head in Eli's direction.  Giving a gift to a shy kid through an adult seemed to work out well last time.

"No need to worry about bullies with the Citizen's Patrol around," he boasts with a fanboy smile.

Mits smiled to Angel and gave a thumbs-up.  "Good to hear!  Onward to the fire truck!"

While hurrying to join the group she smiles and waves to Emmy, Joe, and the others.  "Did I hear 'bully?'  Lemme at 'em!  Hiyah!"

She leaps into the air with a practiced, Taekwondo flying spin kick with a dramatic slap of her palm to her foot!  But while the landing would have been fine in a dojo, she slips on some loose gravel and lands on her tail.  "Ow..."

Kevin turns off the truck pump.  "Like, looks like we're doing the first aid demo next, then.  Hahahah."

He opens a big side panel to pull out a gurney.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:57, Thu 19 Nov 2015.

Soul who noticed the fall wanders over to help Mits up. "Are you ok?"

Angel was going to offer Mittens a hand-up, but seeing Soul offer, she watches instead, happy that Soul is offering.

Eli's mom nods to Nathan, giving him an endearing smile. "That's sweet of you, hon. Thanks. I'll find a good time to give it to him..."

Eli himself didn't notice, his attention mostly on Crystal. "I was the same... well... didn't have friends, I mean. I can't use telepathy. I didn't have friends because I'm shy. But once my parents got me to go to the Citizen's Patrol... well, I have friends now. And soon, you will have more friends than Emerald and I." He points. "Timothius there wouldn't hurt a fly... Liberty over there is tough and stands up to bullies... Nathan's new. I haven't really gotten to know him yet."

Emerald trots over to Mittens. But like Angel, stands by for now.

Timothius gives Nathan a hug. "That gift was really thoughtful..."

Liberty looks up at Joe. She pulls her arms inside her shirt and turns the shirt to look at the tag. "...doesn't say. Just says 100% cotton and M."
This message was last updated by the player at 20:32, Mon 23 Nov 2015.

  "Then that means it probably won't melt, just catch on fire.  Both are bad, obviously."  When clothes are on fire, that's bad.  This is your deep lesson.

  He is more surprised Mittens took a fall than anything, because concern for the hard working kitty being so widespread is a given.

Mits accepts the hand-up from Imhotep with an embarrassed grin.

"Yeah I'm fine.  Just a bruised pride.  Thanks."

She offers a thumbs-up to the others.

"Sorry 'bout the interruption."

"Like, no problemo, babe.  Hahahah," Kevin answers, "Pop quiz!  Hah.  How much presure should the pump be set for if the fire fighters want to like, douse a second story fire 200' from the truck?  Hahaha.  Too much and the hose will like, totally flail outta control!  Haha.  Quick!  The truck's computer like, locked up and the fires about to like, spread to the third floor!   Hahahahahah."

"Ooh!  Ooh!  I know this from firefighter school!"

Mits starts punching numbers on her smart phone.

"'Desired Nozzle Pressure equals Pump Pressure ± Head Gain or Loss - Friction Loss where Friction loss for a 1.5-inch hose at 15 gallons per minute is typically 1 pound per square inch for 100 feet...'"

While she may be able to recite the formula, it's looking like she's having a hard time figuring out how to apply it even with a calculator app.

---

True story:  Brother said he was on a call where this very thing came up.  He said he never imagined math could save lives quite so literally.

Nathan blushes at the compliments and returns the hug.  "Aw shucks.  Just a friendly gesture is all."

When Eli mentions his name he offers a friendly wave.  When Mits takes her fall he cringes but looks relieved when she shakes it off.  He's assuming the pop quiz wasn't meant for the kids so he just watches to wee what happens next.

Timothius and Liberty turn to look at Eli when their names are mentioned. As a result, they are also noticing the girl that is right next to Eli. They, like Nathan, also smile and wave.

Liberty looks back to Joe. "I'll... keep that in mind."

Normally, Eli would have just stayed quiet when someone else has the answer. But he has a bunch of friends to impress. And some trusted adults. AND a new friend. His boldness grows to where he raises his hand and answers, "86.8 PSI?"

Emerald comes over to Eli and Crystal and listens for Kevin's answer.

Reminder that peeps can post.

Crystal listened as Eli told her about each person on the team. Her eyes were looking at each one as he pointed them out. "I like you and Emerald the best." She said softly.

Kevin smiles at Eli's answer.  "Woah!  Exactamundo, dude!  Hahahahahah!"

He takes his had off the screen to show the computer's answer: 87 PSI.

"That's like, a lot of pressure.  Hah.  Less than half of that is like, enough to hold up a car!  Hahahah.  So like, let's go check out the dasboard command center!  Hahahah."

He leads the way to the front of the truck and opens the driver side door.  Mits follows along, glancing around and sneaking her phone into her pocket to try and hide that she didn't get the right answer.

Nathan follows along smiling.  "Nice to see the shy kids are opening up."  He hums a happy tune.

  Getting hit by water that hard sucks, even when you aren't electrocuting yourself in the process... Well, it probably would have sucked more for normal people.

  "Yeah, thanks for being a good encouragement Nathan."  Mittens too, obviously. But she already knows she's cool.

Dashboard command center... If there is a single boy in this crowd not immediately in awe at the sound of that, there is something wrong with him. Lots of "yay"s and "woah!"s from the kids as they follow Kevin.

And yes. Nothing quite like having someone you want to impress to help you open up a bit. :)

Emerald notices Mittens' pocket sneaking and Angel notices Mittens' expression, but neither really think much of it.

Timothius hugs Mittens from behind. "I caught you!" giggling ensues. "Sure is a nice day and a fun outing. You were so silly.. I'm so happy to show off my big sis to my classmates."

Eli continues to be this odd mix of shy and bold while Crystal is present.

Liberty goes to grab Joe by the hand and have him come along.

Emerald, feeling she can, finally heads over to Nathan and asks, "So are you thinking about joining the Citizen's Patrol?"

Nathan blushes and smiles at Joe's affirmation, rubbing behind his head.

"Aw shucks.  I do what I can.  And thank you for being super amazing!  You're my hero!"

He flips to his favorite sketch of the core members of the citizen's patrol and proudly shows it to Joe and Emmy.

To Emmy he answers in a pouty tone, "My parents won't let me join.  'It's too dangerous,' they say.  All I'm allowed to do is send art to fan sites and stuff.  Maybe you could convince them that a piano won't land on my head the moment I sign on."

"Oh no!" Mits giggles from lil bro glomp and pretends to try and escape.

"Whee!  So glad you're having fun!  I know I sure am!"

She pretends to hose people.  Eli's not the only one who tries to impress.  Mits is sure to showcase what she learned of the console in firefighter school.  Once the tour is over, everyone is allowed a snack break.

  Joe gets dragged along by Liberty.  We'd comment he 'lets' her but honestly, he meant it when he said she could probably win an arm wrestling contest with him.

  "We're not the only ones in it, Nathan. We just get more press than all the people having a safe and boring time sorting the already opened last year half empty jars people still put in food pantry bins."  Besides, the crazy assholes would go after Nathan anyways even if he wasn't wearing a reflective vest that makes it easier to find him.

Eli keeps close with Crystal (Who for the time being is NPC / Auto-follow)

Emerald chuckles. "I'll talk with your parents, Nathan."

At snack time, Emerald and Angel are sure to hang out with Mittens and Michael.

Liberty encourages Joe to show off his double-jump and other videogame physics things that make him super neato to the crowd of kids there.

Many of the kids speculate on what powers the grownups have and most kids believe the grownups must be more powerful somehow. Timothius and Liberty seem in agreement. They think Mittens' power to know when there is danger is beyond useful and is a huge damage mitigation power. They also consider Emmy's ability to communicate with anyone to be HUGE and was the only way they could have saved that child who was a tornado. Michael can teleport, which is awesome and was key to rescuing Liberty and Timothius both (OK, so those two have personal reasons to fanboy/fangirl over Michael). And Joe is a living videogame. And Angel is super rich like Batman.

But the fanboy/fangirl fest over the citizen's patrol also segways into chatting about how cool the firemen are. Liberty makes the comment she wants to be a firefighter because fire and falling debris won't hurt her.

So yeah... the adults get looots of endearing commentary from the children.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

Nathan nods to Joe.  "Mom and Dad seem to think I'll get kidnapped from my school by a mad scientist or fire dragon or something the day I join.  It's like they believe you're all jinxed.  I try to tell them that there's thousands of members who aren't ever in any danger, but they won't listen."

He jumps for joy to glomp Emmy when she offers.  "Thanks so much, Miss Emerald!"

Mits is happy to join in the fan talk.  She's a big fan of the other members of the citizen's patrol after all.  Praise for the fire department is right up her alley too.  "We should join the same fire station, Lib!  We'll be a super fire-fighting duo!"

More fun activities are had for kids who want to participate.  Dodge the water balloons, raffles, bobbing for apples, news interviews, fire safety quizzes with prizes, etc.  Lots of fun things for kids of all sorts.

Bump! :3

  Joe wishes he knew a tactful way to tell Nathan that he'd totally get kidnapped anyways without joining them.  "I really wish I could tell your parents we weren't, but it does feel like it some days."

  Anyways, with Liberty asking him so nicely Joe guesses he has to.   The demonstration has a bit of a snag after launches himself wall jumping between trees a bit too fast, and takes a full minute to land.  "Isaac Newton's ghost is probably crying."

Including kids of age 18 and up. Angel and Emmy definitely partake in the fun times. Which eventually encourages Eli's parents to partake. Mitts and Tim's parents are just busy making sure Mittens doesn't overdo it.

The children, of course, LOVE it.

Eli remains bashful even during fun events. But he aces the quiz, of course.

Timothius doesn't cheat by flying, but ironically that puts him at a serious disadvantage in the water balloon dodge because his wings add extra surface area to hit. He's OK at bobbing for apples, though. And does decent at fire safety in that he only answers incorrectly by thinking overcautious.

Liberty is horrible at apple-bobbing and OK at dodging balloons. She does below average at the fire safety quiz, but tries it more than once and does much better the second time.

Angel decides this is a chance to show off and be legit, so she sets up a dart board and shows her ridiculous accuracy. Then teaches kids how to throw darts.

Emerald is great at the dodge game and bobbing for apples.

Angel is happy to field the interviews whenever Emmy doesn't. Beyond that, the two ladies are sure to thank the firemen for their participation. And when it's time for the event to end, they encourage the kids to thank the men.

Kevin is quick to play along with the slow landing and places a cup of water where he expects Joe to land.  "Hah.  Like, extreme diving!  Hahah.  This'll be like, a record breaker!  Hahahahahahah!"

Mittens not overdoing would be like fire not buring, so the most her parents can hope for is to prevent her from over-overdoing.  Like trying to juggle darts in an attempt to be as cool as Angel.  Hint:  NOT easy.

Fun times are had by all, and when Nathan's parents show up to take him home he drags them to Emerald then gives her a hopeful look.

---

Looking to wrap up in a few posts.

  That poor Dixie Cup never had a chance.

  As for unrelated game times, Joe being worse than small children at them is in no way suspicious in the slightest. Nope.

Angel is sure to say nice things to Mittens to boost her confidence. Mitts' parents, of course, remind her what a hero she has been and that it isn't all that important to look cool all the time when you already took on a meteorite that turned into a dragon made of fire. "Besides... if you try to look cool ALL the time, it lessens how cool you are when you actually try to make an impression." her dad says.

Emerald gives Nathan's parents the sales pitch. Namely that children have been involved with hospitals, fire departments, police, you name it and do not wind up in danger. "There are already a couple hundred members to the Citizen's Patrol who you never hear about because the news doesn't report people who aren't in danger. They focus only on the ones who are. We do not recruit people for their ability to face danger; we only recruit people for their desire to make a difference. Be that at home, making paper doves for sick people in the hospital, making legal documents that lobby for the rights of those who have powers, or the willingness to rescue people when you happen to be there anyway."

Mittens wasn't as generous as Joe with holding back in kiddie games till daddy reigned her in.  She's doubly happy for Angel's encouragement under the circumstances.

Nathan's hopes in Emerald were not in vain.  Though his parents put up the expected resistance, Emmy is able to alleviate their fears and they give in to allowing Nathan to join...  on the condition that he is to steer clear of Mits and her "adventures."

Nathan is overjoyed and gives the grown-ups big hugs!

(End of chapter.)