Donnie stared at Mittens' hologram and told her in a deadpan voice. "You saw her 'good cop face'."

He nodded at Maverick. "Yup, it's up to Daddy. And Di and Tori are 'besties' so they won't swap for anythingi. But that's cool, I think grandpa wanted you to meet Uncle Lucas anyway, but I know some people are uneasy around famous people, which makes it hard, since basically all of my family is famous. Even I'm kinda famous which is weird because I haven't done anything yet."

Mittens laughs from Mav's describing her as having a dozen brains.  "Mittens just has a really good brain stem and runs on instinct."

She sighs in disappointment when the reality of parental consent is raised.  "No amount of self-identification on my part will sway Mr. Derring, I'm afraid.  Perhaps you can take a Mittens plush with you so that I can be with you in spirit.  Or perhaps she can sneak in.  But to do so would be against her own code of honor respecting the boundaries set by heroes.  Aha!  Video chat!"

"Skewed world view?  Mittens never considered volcanoes bad.  Even before superpowers.  Always considered them epic!  I guess if the Yellowstone Supervolcano were to go off, that could be considered bad.  But still very epic."

"Good cop, hu?  Mittens failed that test.  Was told she was 'too good.'"  (( https://youtu.be/PJ4FfIyeZPU?t=19 ))

"Will have to figure out the right balance of 'don't mention how a suspect out-witted the instructor with a misleading answer,' and re-take that test."

Mits grins at Donnie.  "Fame is great!  People will listen even if you're a silly cat making fun of aliens."

She puts on a silly alien hat (( https://assets.peterglenn.com/...0/75661_GREEN_LG.jpg )) and plods about.  "Rawr!  I'm a space invader!  I invade your space!  Nothing can stop me!"

A slightly outdated (( https://m.media-amazon.com/ima...aaa-87ad031f2b01.jpg )) Donnie action figure appears in her hand and punches her in the jaw, knocking her to the ground!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Mon 07 Oct 2019.

Mav chuckles from the silly alien hat. Secretly, he wants one, but if he's honest with himself, he wouldn't wear it often.

Maverick answers Donny, "Can't say I know what that's like... I hope being famous isn't annoying for you or your family."

It's true. Wraith isn't really all that famous yet. Which suits Mav fine for now. Honestly, the only real reason Mav would want to be famous is if it meant villains were terrified of him.

Once at the face painting booth, Maverick looks through the facepaint options and smiles. "I think you're a tiger, Donny. So that's what I choose for you. What do you choose for me?"

He looks at Mittens and Matt. "Make it interesting, Mittens. Let Matt pick a design for your face to be painted."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:57, Thu 10 Oct 2019.

  "Well, depending on if the agreeable face painting booth is up to it" Matt's own were hardly 'difficult', though.  "Neon Butterfly, because a regular butterfly wouldn't be colorful enough for Mittens."

  Should he remind Mittens that such an art project would involve being able to sit still better than the average toddler now, or at the last second?... Nah, Matt will leave that as a surprise, or for someone else to amuse themselves bringing up.

  "There are a lot of people who wish they could be famous for doing nothing, Donnie. But most of those are people who used to be famous for doing something, so I guess it makes sense you don't want to skip that step."

Donnie shrugged. "It's not so bad, I'm proud my Dad was a superhero, one of the greatest. And it won't be so bad once I become a hero, then I'll have earned it, it's just weird people thinking I'm special just because of my Dad. And dealing with all the security is hard, cuz my Dad has enemies both in politics and from his time as a hero I can't go to public school and I can't really spend time with a lot of other kids. I always have Di, of course, we're a good brother and sister. But she's got Tori and she's ok because her parents are heroes but Bella and Keith are both real little and their the only other heroes kids we know. So I'm glad I have Maverick now."

Donnie looked over the face pain selection. "Well if you're gonna do it that way then I choose a puppy, cause you're a blood hound."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:39, Sat 12 Oct 2019.

Mits is super pleased to get a giggle from Maverick with her silly antics.  Maverick, probably the most serious-face hard-to-get-a-giggle-from kid she's ever known.  So it's not for nothing that she's now worried for Donny's mental health for the lack of giggles.  In an instant, her A.I. reports to her that 50% of the world's articles relating to children who don't laugh at what other kids laugh at mention autism.  10% mention chronic anxiety.  And the rest are miscellaneous topics such as videos that dare you to not laugh, child abuse, there's nothing's wrong with your kid at all if they don't laugh out loud before 4 months old, and so on.  Worried that the parents might take offense at her concern for Donny's yucklessness, she mentally commands the A.I. to write a carefully worded email for the parents then present it to her for review.

The terminally cheerful kitty's mind balks at the suggestion that there exists a butterfly not colorful enough for her.  All the butterflies are pretty! she thinks.  But the A.I. swoops in with dozens of pictures of the most boringly colored butterflies she's ever seen!  Mind blown!  Have I been living a lie when memory says that every picture of a butterfly ever is always breathtakingly colorful?  The A.I. presents her with reasons ranging from Filter Bubbles, to the Biology and Psychology of Stereotypes to explain why she's forgotten that her public school science textbook probably mentioned that of the 20,000+ different butterfly species, many of them are not colorful at all.  Only the ones that want to advertise that they're poisonous to predators are colorful.

Thank you, know-it-all alien-tech Jarvis.

You're welcome.

"Neon butterfly!  Whee!  I love it!  And I haz the blacklight paints for it if the fair painter person doesn't!"

Mits grins at Donny's selection.  "Good choice!"

No ulterior motives of wanting to see adorable puppy face on Mav here.  That would be too self-serving for this hero!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:14, Sun 13 Oct 2019.

Maverick smiles at Donny. "...thanks. I'm looking forward to you and me heroing together some day. But in the meantime, as my own parents keep saying, I'm enjoying us just being kids."

Half-truth. Just underneath that sentence is technicalities like "That doesn't mean I can't enjoy being a hero WHILE enjoying being a kid."

On Donny's lack of laughing at Mittens? Mav figures either Donny wants to act cool around him, or he is just different. Either way, it will be worth bringing it up to Donny Sr when it's time to talk alone with the man. Donny is the little brother Mav never had, so he won't just shrug off things that so much as feel "different". That and Maverick is paranoid by nature.

What Mitts was probably imagining:
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/91/4...a251f2bdfb6f3ff5.jpg

What Mav was imagining:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals...e00e45b752c5c62d.jpg

What winds up being the case:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/56/a...py-face-cat-face.jpg

Likely result for Donny:
https://www.boredart.com/wp-co...Ideas-for-Fun-19.jpg

Maverick's very good natured about it, not minding that the design comes with a tongue hanging out (that seems to be the staple for puppy face paints). When the face paints are done, he says, "The choices all worked out well. The butterfly is amazing. Good choice, Matt."

Mav then looks at Donny. He refrains from saying Donny looks cute, despite how adorable the boy must look with tiger face paint. Maverick figures Donny, like most boys, prefers being told he's "cool" to being told he's "cute".

With a smirk, Maverick says, "Like I thought. You rock the tiger look, Donny." He then looks at a mirror to check his own face paint. "What do you think? Do I look innocent and approachable enough that people will wanna pet me?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:50, Sun 13 Oct 2019.

  While Matt (very biasedly) remembers himself as just a boring kid, his current lifestyle biases also have him aware that Donnie has been grinning plenty and talking about fun less than a minute ago, before deadpan reactions to Mittens.

  The catgirl should be used to that by now, but maybe it doesn't register to her when Matt does it because he always has a deadpan 'expression'?

  "Modern face paint has come a long way, but just shrugging and deciding 'what sounds like an early 90's trapper keeper for the face?' tends to remain the most colorful."

OOC: Is it wrong that I was disappointed Maverick didn't end up with McGruff the crime dog?

Donnie grinned. "I like yours too." He stopped for a second as if listening to something only he could hear, then started giggling for no reason the group could discern. "I'm not peeking on you" He whispered in a slightly annoyed tone. "Di likes yours too." He added to Maverick. "I like the butterfly too it is very colorful"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:28, Tue 22 Oct 2019.

A generous tip was given to the face-painter for the fabulous butterfly!

Upon seeing the adorable puppy/cub boys, Mittens flails her hands like Kermit and squees in girly glee!  "OHMYGOSH SO CUUUUUTE!"

A big McGruff plush and a Rintoo the Tiger plush appear in her arms and they both get a crushing hug.  "Eeeeee!"  (Sorry, Garfield, but Rintoo is the kitty that came to mind for Mittens.)

Mittens has learned that randomly glomping adorable children without express permission from both child and parent is illegal.  But she's far too impulsive to go through the permission process.  Hence the emergency stand-in stunt plushies.  But she's known Mav and his folks long enough that they've long since given her permission to be cuddly with him.  So she does!  And pets the pup too!

"Absowootwee, Mavvie-wavvie!  And thankies!  Glad you like my decorations.  Love yours and Donnies serrr merrrch!  I'd give him a crushing kitty hug too if I could."

To Matt she offers an item from her collection with an impish grin.  (( https://farm6.static.flickr.co...435_2925ab0c4e_o.jpg ))  Come to think of it, Mittens' mentality really could be summed up with trapper keeper slogans.

Yay!  Donnie giggles!  Mittens feels so relieved.  And now it makes sense why her comedy fell flat on him.  He was being distracted by the voices in his head!  Nothing to worry about here at all.

She smiles at the boy and flutters her eyes.  "Flap flap flap flap flap.  Butterfly Mittens thanks you for the compliment.  Mav's right.  You look grrreat!  Hi, Di!"

  Di appeared in a puff of purple smoke, giving Donnie a hug, as she said "Mav, you look adorable,  Mittens, that butterfly is sooooo pretty, I wish Auntie Penny could see that, but Tori's gonna get one like it to take home on her face too.  I think I am going to have a jaguar painted on mine."  She handed Donnie half of a funnel cake, then disappeared in a second puff of purple smoke.

Maverick blushes. Did Mittens just call him cute? Well... he could have assumed she meant Donny only until she hugged both a cat AND a dog plush. But being called cute by a girl, he has learned, is not only OK, it's "cool" among his 14-year-old peers. Depending. Either way, he has to admit he asked for it by talking about being pet.

Then Di appeared. Maverick blushes even deeper. Did Di just call him adorable? He'll have to get her back later with tickles and hugs. "...Thanks, Di." he says, knowing she'll hear his thanks through Donny even though she's no longer present.

He takes a picture of the bunch of them (Mitts, Matt, Donny and Mav). "I think it's really cool you and your sister have such a close bond, Donny. I know I've said it before, but you are both fortunate to have each other."

Mav then looks at Mittens. "Gratz on the Di approval." he gives her a hug. "And the kind words."

He then looks at his phone. "...Lifelight's on her way. She's bringing Seraph."

Mav lets go of Mitten and asks, "What did you all wanna do next?"

-Suburbs- Serena Wyndham's House -->

Lifelight is flying over the Children's Festival and looks for where might be the most ideal place to land. What Lifelight considers ideal is any place that looks like anyone who needs help or cheering up. It wouldn't do for someone to be sad or angry at a Children's Festival after all.

Her fundraiser for the local orphanage is thankfully, a simple matter of handing out fliers. Today will just be raising awareness while making people happy.

  Obviously, Tiger basketball would be the most thematic thing for a guy with cat facepaint to take from a cat wearing facepaint.  Which of course, is when Matt is given another reminder he is still not the least subtle being in a mile radius.

  It is the little things in life, like reinforcing the structural integrity of carnival games ahead of time in case avenging angels get a little too enthusiastic.

  "I'm glad to see Di is upholding the proud tradition of teleporters being ready to offer free snacks."

Seraph flew in with Lifelight, dismissing her sword as she saw where they were. She swooped in and landed with a cracking sound as her massive wings snapped out and back, bringing her into a gentle landing. She was surrounded by golden light and the occasional lick of flame as she looked around.

“What would you like me to do?”   She asked Lifelight.

"You're pretty," was Mits' Detective Pikachu-like comeback to Di's compliment.

She of course makes a silly face for the group selfie and takes one of her own.  Happy nods and thumbs-ups in reply to Mav.

"Hot dog!  Lifelight and Seraph!  Wheeee!"

Thanks to the warning, Mits is able to spot the duo's arrival just before the dramatic entrance.  You would think she'd be used to Seraph's epicness by now, but she isn't.  Well maybe in a way she is, in the sense that this time she's feeling a tad intimidated.  Seraph vs Mittens, who would win?  Find out in this limited edition... *Mittens vanishes to go hide in a corner hugging her knees, to the disappointment of all her fans.* ...One page comic book!

Uh oh!  Two blatant superheroes arriving may cause a stampede of exuberant children!  Which is probably not as bad a thing as Mits' knee-jerk instincts are telling her.  Nevertheless, to try and minimize the chaos, Mits summons a huge musical banner in the opposite direction of the arriving heroes.  The banner reads, "Volunteer!" to ensure that the distraction will not cause a stampede itself, and only be just distracting enough to allow Seraph and Lifelight a moment before the inevitable fan swarm.

Zoop!  Mits now has a large tablet in her hands.  Zwip!  A matching tablet connected via video conference to the first appears near Seraph, and a third near Lifelight.

"Welcome to the fair, Seraph and Lifelight!  This is Mittens wearing a perfect disguise, in case you were wondering.  So far, face paint has been enough for me and Matt to not cause a scene.  Want face paint of your own?  I'll treat!"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:37, Fri 01 Nov 2019.

Donnie made a deliberate point of making an unhappy face when his sister hugged him, but took the offered funnel cake. "Thanks Di, but stop peeking. You'll know if something bad happens." He told his sister before she disappeared. After a second he nodded with a sort of 'yeah' expression.

Donnie nodded at Mav. "Yeah, we get along really good, but sometimes it's nice to spend time with someone else, Daddy is really protective cuz he has people who don't like him both for being a senator and a superhero and thinks bad guys will try to get me and my sister, so we don't get to play with many other kids, or go anywhere without grandpa."

Seraph cocked an eye and gave Mittens a rather dry look. "Perfect costume. I hardly recognised you," she said a deadpan voice before smiling at Mittens. She had grown to like the odd woman so seeing her was a pleasure.

"I'm not so sure on having my face painted. They might make me out to look like a mime at which point I would have to beat them severely. But it is good to see you again."

Maverick thinks on Donny's words. He knows "just punch the kidnappers", while a valid response when little Donny has super strength, is not always going to work. Especially if the would-be kidnappers were prepared for what Donny is capable of. "That's not fair..." he says in the way kids normally do when faced with how unfair life can be sometimes.

Mav looks in the direction of Seraph and Lifelight as Mitts portals stuff to them, yet remains behind with Mav, Donny and Matt.

He then looks Donny in the eyes, gives him a smile and says, "But it does make me feel special to think I get to be the one who makes you feel unchained. We'll have to sneak and spy on people sometime... now's not a good time for that, but... sometime." he nods as if it is already decided.

Being Maverick and not Wraith... he was already starting to understand just how different the superhero life is from the 'mundane' life. Here he thought he already had his toe dipped into the superhero life before... and he kinda had. But wearing a costume, disguising who you are, and then hanging up that disguise... it is a different feeling. And he likes it. It makes him appreciate being just plain ol' Maverick. And Donny's words just kinda brought that to light.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:36, Sun 03 Nov 2019.

Mittens' video conference thingies appear! But Lifelight is still answering Seraph's question. She looks at Serena and says, "When the people come to us and ask for a demonstration, show them something you can do. Until then, help me pass these out."

She hands half a stack of pamphlets to Serena. They are basically about the local orphanage.

Lifelight looks at the video conference and smiles slowly as she says, "Hello, Mittens. Please tell Donny, Matt and Maverick I say hi. Can you hand them some pamphlets, please? I would like a horse painted on my cheek.*"

* https://store.facepaint.com/bl...anHorseStepFinal.jpg

She holds up five pamphlets. Then looks around and, if people do begin approaching, she begins handing out the pamphlets about the local orphanage to anyone who will take one.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:06, Sun 03 Nov 2019.

Seraph smiled at her friend and took the stack of pamphlets, offering them to people who stepped by their display as well as people passing by.

Sometime later in the day she stopped for a glass of water and bite to eat. "Thank you, my friend. You saved my life when you came to see me today and once more have given me a purpose. Thank you seems inadequate in the face of what you've done for me. Both you and Maggie. You're a good person, Antionette - one of the truly good ones."

Mits smirks and suggests to Donnie, "Twist your Dad's arm to let y'all spend a day with me.  I can take you to all the DisneyLands in the world in a day without you having to be even 10' away from his loving eyes.  California, Florida, Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo fast as you can say, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!"

The poorly disguised heroine smiles at Seraph's reply, though she's unsure whether to take seriously the warning about violence toward mime art, "Fear not, my friend.  Mittens would never allow your gorgeous face be marred by a mime's look.  Nay!  She would watch diligently to ensure the outcome is to your liking!"

To Mav she smiles, nods, and gives his shoulder a fist tap of approval.

Mits smiles and thumbs-ups to Lifelight, "You betcha!"

Pamphlets are thus obtained through the magic of teleportation and handed out to the others, "Lifelight says hi.  Not that you couldn't hear that from the tablet speaker."

  Di and Tori had Grandpa over by some of the other games now, and Di had managed to accrue several stuffed animals.  One of them was a very lifelike plush kitten, and another prize was a fiber-optic angel lamp.  She told Tori "I think I know who should have these.  C'mon.  Grandpa, you come too."  She led the way over to Lifelight and Seraph, and presented Seraph with the fiber-optic angel as she said "This one is for you.  Don't forget that everyone wishes they had wings, or could fly.  It's got to be one of the best tghings ever to leave the world behind and just soar sometimes."  The kitten she presented to Lifelight, and told her "I got tons of plushies, but I think you'll like this one.  Because who doesn't like a well behaved kitty?"

  Lastly, she found Mittens again, and gave her the toy doube-ended lightsaber she'd won, telling Mittens "Now you got one you can do your jedi-samurai tricks with and not worry about it doing that infamous lightsaber-slices-through-anything thing."  Presents (thus far) now delivered, she led Tori and Grandpa back to the games to either win some more, or find a new one.

Lifelight slowly moves her eyes up to meet Serena's and locks eyes with her. A bright smile crosses her face and she softly says, "Thank you. You have so much to offer this world. It will be beautiful to see you do so." and gets up to go hug Serena.

Back at Serena's apartment, Maggie lets out an adorable puppy sneeze.

When Di gives the plush kitten to Lifelight, she smiles and says, "Thank you, Di. I'll name her Trina. It is nice of you to earn things for other people." she pets the kitten gently as if it were a real kitten, then rubs cheeks with it.

At some point, the time did come, of course, when people wanted to see Lifelight and Serena demonstrate their abilities a bit. Lifelight mostly showed how her outfit can change colors and designs at-will* ( https://youtu.be/76KOUIfDry8?t=54 ), but also demonstrated being able to hover.

Lifelight will, however, walk over to Di's dad at some point.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:20, Sat 16 Nov 2019.

Seraph handed out pamphlets and spoke to anyone who wanted to talk. She was actually enjoying herself - being out of the house and doing something other than combat street thugs and super-powered villains was calming and healing in ways she could not have expected. When people asked to see her powers she extended her wings and let the flames play up and down her arms. She brought forth her sword a few times but made sure to tell any child who asked to see it that these were not toys to be played with.

The young girl walking over to her with a gift was another thing she could not have expected, nor the effect she would have on her.

When the angel was offered she took it in hands that shook slightly and fixed her eyes on it until the young girl was about to walk away.

"Thank you," she said in a hushed voice, the crack of flame more like the hissing from a warm fire that offered comfort. "For the angel and the clarity you brought me. I shall treasure both."