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.)